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HOUSMAIL HM053
14 March 2000 WHAT IS
GRACE? “Grace”
is one of those New Testament Theological concepts, often quoted, but widely
misunderstood. All
too often “grace” is presented as an excuse for evading the challenging words
of Jesus about obedience to His commandments. As used by many people it
negates the real meaning of the Gospel call to repentance. It is frequently
presented as “unconditional salvation without works”, dismissing the works
which result from true Biblical faith, and love for Jesus, as mere
“LEGALISM”. And it fails the test of obedience to the Great Gospel Commission
to “make disciples” of those who believe. As
we shall see, all of those things distort the truth. They are a subtle
counterfeit of real faith in the Gospel. It
is certainly true that the Bible says that grace is a free gift. (Ephesians 2:8) It is equally true
that we are “saved by faith”. (Romans 4:1-6) BUT THE VERSES WHICH SAY THAT DO NOT STAND ALONE! Those who
want to “live by EVERY word from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4) will quickly
discover that true Biblical Grace is NOT unconditional. And NEVER is either
true Biblical grace, or true Biblical faith, unaccompanied by works. Stripped
of all the “theological waffle” that some people like to tack on to this
word, it isn’t really a hard question to answer! Perhaps the simplest
definition is something like this: GRACE IS A GIFT FROM GOD THAT WE DIDN’T DESERVE! We
all sinned and fell short of the glory of God. (Romans
3:23) We all incurred the penalty of the varying
degrees of severity of the few or many stripes with which sinners will be
beaten on the day of Judgement. (Luke 12:47-49) And we all equally incurred the penalty of that final death
which results in everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord There
was nothing at all that we could do to save ourselves from any of it; no good
deeds that we could perform to cancel out the fact of our past sins; no
ransom price that we could pay for ourselves from our own resources. We were
lost, and there was no way back. (Psalm 49:7-8) GRACE
is what resulted when God looked down on our
hopeless lost state, and out of His love and compassion, moved of his own
will to save us from both our ignorance about Him, and the consequence of our
sins against Him BEFORE WE EVEN KNEW OUR
NEED! (Romans 5:6-8, John
1:12-13, James 1:16-18) Grace
is what happened when God did not put Adam and Eve to death on the day they
sinned. Grace is the “second chance” they received, when God promised a
saviour from amongst Eve’s descendants. Grace is God dealing with us in the
same way as he did with our first parents. (Genesis
3:8-19, Romans 5:18-21) Grace
is the future Kingdom of God, promised to those descendants who belong to the
Saviour. (Galatians 3:29) And
Grace is the conditional immortality, offered only to those who will use
their own “second chance” to seek it “by patience in well-doing”. (Romans 2:7) We
didn’t deserve to find God when we began to search for Him ..... but He
allowed us to find Him anyway. (Jeremiah 29:13-14,
Hebrews 11:6) We
didn’t deserve that God should give His own Son to save us ..... but He did
it anyway! (Romans 8:32, John 3:16) We
didn’t deserve that Jesus should die to save us from the awful penalty of our
sins by taking our punishment upon Himself ..... but He did it anyway! (Isaiah 53:5-8, 1 Peter 2:24, We
didn’t deserve that Jesus should send witnesses to seek us out and tell us
the Good News ..... but He did it anyway. (Mark
16:15) We didn’t deserve the free pardon that
resulted when we repented ..... but God gave it anyway! (Ephesians 1:6) We
didn’t deserve that when God forgave us, our sins would never again be
remembered against us ..... But He did that anyway. (Psalm 103:11-12, Ezekiel 33:16) We
don’t deserve the continuing patience of God, while His Grace trains us “to
renounce irreligion and worldly passions, and to live sober, upright, and
godly lives in this world” And
when we have finally learned to do all that is commanded of us, we may never
forget that “we are unworthy servants: we have done (only) that which was our
duty to do”. (Luke 17:10) The Kingdom of God, and immortality, will be GIFTS RECEIVED ONLY BY THE GRACE OF GOD. HOWEVER,
HERE LIES THE PARADOX over which so many
seem to stumble, “wresting the Scriptures to their own destruction”. (2 Peter 3:14-16) Although
completely free, THERE ARE CONDITIONS
WE HAVE TO MEET at every step along
the way, before this undeserved gift can be freely given, or freely received,
or freely maintained securely in our grasp. There
is a Gospel to be heard and believed before salvation can be ours. (Mark 1:15; Mark 16:16) There
are sins to be recognised and confessed in brokenness of spirit and
contrition of heart before they can be forgiven. (Psalm 38:18, Psalm 51:17, 1 John 1:9, 1 John 2:1-2) There
is a repentance to be made (Matthew 4:17), which can only be classed as genuine, when it is followed by
works which PROVE that it is genuine. (Acts 26:20) There
is a true faith which when tested, will inevitably give rise to works which
please God. (James 2:14-26) There
is a real love for Jesus, which reveals itself by its unquestioning obedience
to His commandments. (John 14:15, 23-24) There
is a standard of Holiness set before us, without which none of us will ever
see God. (Hebrews 12:14) And
there is a victory over sin which MUST be won, so that we can receive the final grace from Jesus - a
place beside Him on the throne of the Kingdom of God. (Revelation 3:21) “He
who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.” (1 John 3:3) Never
let us succumb to that apostate delusion of the mind which says that grace
can be, or will be, extended to those who continue in sin, without practical
repentance, and radical obedience. (Romans 3:8, Romans
6:1-2,15, Luke 6:46, 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12) Grace
gives the Holy Spirit to dwell within and produce fruit. (Galatians 5:22-25) And
Grace enables us, by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, to do what is
commanded. (1 Corinthians 10:13, Ephesians 3:14-21) “Let
no one deceive you. He who does right is righteous”. (1 John 3:7) Allon |