Apart from our Lord’s name, the word grace is the sweetest utterance in all of Scripture. It signifies God’s acceptance of the unacceptable; His relationship with those He was only at enmity with; and His peace being granted to those who deserve nothing but His tormenting justice in the fires of perdition for eternity.
Grace is God’s unmerited favor to man—granting us what we do not deserve… eternal life and granting us the forgiveness of sins from the curse of the Law. It is God’s free sovereign will in action; redeeming for Himself a remnant people for His own pleasure, purpose and praise.
It’s Not About Us; It’s All About Him
Grace robs man of any glory and boasting; grace crushes pride and exalts the Lord Jesus Christ; grace is a gift not based on anything of worth contained in man, but only in that what is worthy of a holy God and perfectly agrees with the council of His own will.
Left to myself, full of my own goodness, clothed with the rags of my own righteousness, I am only worthy of one thing—eternal punishment in an everlasting hell forever and ever; in unmitigated fury and gall; unrelenting, undiminishing; unforgiving. In short, I am worthy only of God’s wrath. But yet, instead of enmity, He gives us His unfailing love; instead of His justice, He gives us His inexhaustible mercy; instead of His wrath, He has without consideration for any goodness in any of His creatures, poured out upon His own that He knew before the foundations of the world His matchless, unfathomable grace. Oh what a Savior in response to sinners!
G.S. Bishop defines grace this way with these powerful words:
“GRACE IS A PROVISION for men who are so fallen that they cannot lift the axe of justice, so corrupt that they cannot change their own natures, so averse to God that they cannot turn to Him, so blind that they cannot see Him, so deaf that they cannot hear Him, so dead that He Himself must open their graves and lift them into resurrection.”
That’s grace… amen?
The One Triune God of Grace
God is the God of all grace (1 Pt. 5:10); and the giver of all grace (James 1:17). His throne is a throne of grace (Heb. 4:16) that we may approach to find help in time of need. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of grace (Heb. 10:29). Grace was upon Christ (Luke 2:40); He spoke with grace (Luke 4:22); and was full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Grace came by Christ (John 1:17), was given by Christ (1 Cor. 1:4) and even foretold by the prophets (1 Pt. 1:10). The riches of grace was demonstrated and manifested in God’s kindness through Christ (Eph. 2:7). We were “chosen by God before the foundations of the earth… to be adopted as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace by which He made us accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:4-6).
The Divine Character of Grace
God’s grace is described in His Word as being: great (Acts 4:33); sovereign (Rom. 5:21); rich (Eph. 1:7); exceeding (2 Cor. 9:14); manifold (1 Pt. 4:10); all-sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9); all-abundant (Rom. 5:15, 17, 20); and glorious (Eph. 1:6). The very gospel itself is a declaration of grace (Acts 20:24, 32). God’s grace is the source for: election (Rom. 11:5); the call of God in ministry (Gal. 1:15); justification (Rom. 3:24; Titus 3:7); faith (Acts 18:27); forgiveness of sins (Eph. 1:7); salvation (Eph. 2:5,8); consolation and hope (2 Thess. 2:16).
As His children and saints, we are heirs of His grace (1 Pt. 3:7); under His grace (Rom. 6:16); received grace from Christ Himself (John 1:16); abound in gifts of grace (Acts 4:33; 2 Cor. 9:8, 14)); established in grace (Heb. 13:9); strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus for ministry (2 Tim. 2:1); should be growing in grace (2 Pt. 3:18); and should speak with grace for the edifying of one another (Eph. 4:29). Most importantly God’s grace is not to be received in vain (2 Cor. 6:1); not to be abused (Rom. 3:8); is not a license for sin (Rom. 6:1, 15); and is not antinomian (against the law) (Jude 1:4).
Grace “Rights”
It is clear to see that the Christian life is all of grace and nothing for which we can take credit for or find something of merit within ourselves to boast of. “Apart from Him we can do nothing” (John 15:5). Charles Spurgeon commenting on this wonderful reality says,
“Consider this, believer. You have no right to heaven in yourself: your right lies in Christ and His grace. If you are pardoned, it is through His blood; ifyou are justified, it is through His righteousness; if you are sanctified, it is because He is made of God unto you sanctification; if you shall be kept from falling, it will be because you are preserved in Christ Jesus; and if you are perfected at the last, it will be because you are complete in Him. Thus Jesus is magnified-for all is in Him and by Him; thus the inheritance is made certain to us-for it is obtained in Him; thus each blessing is the sweeter, and even heaven itself the brighter, because it is Jesus our Beloved “in whom” we have obtained all
And further he states,
“When Jesus gave himself for us, he gave us all the rights and privileges which went with himself; so that now, although as eternal God, he has essential rights to which no creature may venture to pretend, yet as Jesus, the Mediator, the federal head of the covenant of grace, he has no heritage apart from us. All the glorious consequences of his obedience unto death are the joint riches of all who are in him, and on whose behalf he accomplished the divine will. See, he enters into glory, but not for himself alone, for it is written, “Whither the Forerunner is for us entered” (Heb. 6:20). Does he stand in the presence of God?-“He appears in the presence of God for us” (Heb. 9:24).
The Apostle Paul brings this tremendous grand truth of God’s grace to where we live every day in Titus 2:11-13. He describes to us three practical stages of grace: 1. Saved by Grace; 2. Sanctified by Grace; and, 3. Glorified by Grace. In other words, we’ve died once to the penalty of sin; we die daily to the power of sin; and one day, we will be free from the presence of sin.
