Is our salvation and holy calling based on our works or God's purpose?
Salvation and the holy calling rest not on human works but on God’s own purpose and grace. Scripture declares that He saved us and called us according to His purpose, not according to our works, a purpose established in His counsel before the world began and given to us in Christ Jesus.
Les explains that this God, who created and holds everything exactly where it belongs, is the same God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling. He emphasizes that this calling is not according to our works but according to God’s own purpose and grace. That purpose was generated in the Godhead’s counsel—what Les ties back to Acts chapter 2—and was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Les notes Paul could write in Ephesians that we were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. Though it is mind-boggling and beyond comprehension, Les says the only proper response is to take it by faith because it is what the Word declares.
Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,