What Is Grace?

Ephesians 2:1–9
Sunday, September 29, 2019 – Combined Service
Pastor Randy Smith

It's exciting to consider what God has done with this church. I am amazed when I consider where we were to where He has brought us today. If we are into God's honor and His purposes begin fulfilled in the local church, we have much to be thankful for. And we know all the glory goes to Him because it is a result of His grace.

Therefore, we have chosen to allow the theme of "grace" to run through this entire service. After all, our church is even named, "Grace Bible Church." Yet, lest we overlook the obvious, what exactly is grace? Grace for the Christian is sadly like love for most people. We all claim to experience it and use the term freely, but we have so much difficultly defining it.

So, I thought as we take a one-week break from Luke, that we could take some time to talk about the foundational, but often misunderstood word of grace.

How do we get it? Do have to work for it? From where does it come? Can we lose it? Is it the same as mercy? How does it relate to Christ? Is it only needed to get saved?

The title of today's sermon, "What is Grace?"

The simple acronym that we learned as a child is not bad. Grace stands for: "God's Riches At Christ's Expense." So, based on that, grace is the undeserved gift of God's best purchased for us though the cross of Jesus Christ.

Think of grace as God's undeserved favor. Think of yourself as deserving nothing from God. Then think of anything good you have received. That is a result of God's grace. [Common Grace] the air you breathe, the food you eat, the family you enjoy, the recreation you partake, [Redemptive Grace] the salvation you appreciate, the obedience to God you give – all of these plus are a result of God's grace.

Again, start with the fact that all you deserve is hell. Anything beyond that is a token of God's grace. So, what is the common response to the line, "How are you doing today?" You could be running a 102-degree temperature, just have car stolen, have half your "friends" unfriend you on Facebook and be required to spend a day at the DMV and your response is, "Better than I deserve." If you do not get that you do not understand God's grace and will have a tough time with the rest of the message.

If you are looking for a more formal definition, grace is God's undeserved favor in Christ freely bestowed upon those who deserve only His wrath so that they may be blessed with spiritual riches and the ability to joyfully obey His will.

Alright, let me back it up to really drive home this point.

I remember when I bought Julie's engagement ring. I fellow teacher of mine was married to a jeweler. He had me over one evening to examine some diamonds at his house. He told me to put two fingers together and one-by-one he placed the diamonds on my hand. Immediately his wife said, "Bert, get the black velvets." Why? Why do you often see diamonds against the backdrop of dark black velvet? Because it enables us to better appreciate the diamond's beauty.

So, let's forget what you feel about yourself, what your mother repeatedly tells you and what you learned in school about self-esteem. According to the Bible, with God as the standard, all humans are born in sin (Psm. 51:5) and enslaved to sin (Rom. 6:6). We have willfully rebelled against God and have fallen short of His righteous standard (Rom. 3:23). We are dead in our sins (Eph. 2:1). Our best religious deeds are polluted in His sight (Isa. 64:6). In and of ourselves we are without any hope of heaven (Eph. 2:12). We deserve the wrath of God in hell (Rom. 2:5).

We are the black velvet. Now here is the diamond.

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Eph. 2:4-9).

God has cancelled the debt of sin against Him (Col. 2:14) and fully removed our transgressions from His sight (Rom. 4:25). Christians have been delivered from a life of futility and eternal misery in hell (Rom. 5:9) to be the recipients of every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Eph. 1:3).

Throughout church history, arguably the most popular hymn is "Amazing Grace." Its composer, John Newton, celebrated the amazingness of grace because he compared it to the dark velvet background of his own wickedness. That's why he penned in the first line of the first stanza: "Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me." Sadly, modern people find the word "wretch" offensive and have recently altered the words of this line to read: "Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved and set me free." However, once we ignore the reality of human depravity our attitude towards God's grace will be rather ho-hum. There will be nothing amazing about it. We will see no desperate need for it and find less appreciation for the grace we have received. Quite frankly, we'll believe we deserve or don't even need it.

That is why Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, "Our amazement at the grace of God [is] the ultimate test of our spirituality"

Grace and mercy! Mercy is not giving what we deserve, and grace is giving us what we do not deserve

When we think of grace, the first place we need to go is being forgiven of all our sins. We sin daily against a perfectly holy God. One sin in a lifetime is enough to require Him to judge us, to negate any relationship with Him. But at His own expense, Christ took our sin upon Himself and received the penalty that we deserved. Thanks entirely to His work, God sees us righteous in Christ when we give our lives to Christ in faith.

Listen, brothers and sisters to these amazing passages from the Bible.

Grace releases us from the penalty of our sins. "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered" (Rom. 4:7).

Grace declares us righteous in God's sight. "Yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach" (Col. 1:22).

Grace gives us peace with God. "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1).

Grace provides us acceptance with God. "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Rom. 10:4).

Grace adopts us into God's family. "Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ÔAbba! Father!'" (Gal. 4:6).

Grace promises us a secure future with God. "Because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel" (Col. 1:5).

Apart from God's amazing grace, there would be no salvation and salvation is entirely a work of God's amazing grace.

Could Paul have been any clearer in his letter to the Galatians? "Nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified" (Gal. 2:16). What would it imply if we could be saved based upon our works? "I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly" (Gal. 2:21).

Not only do our "good deeds" contribute nothing to our salvation, they also offend God as if Christ only did a partial work of saving us and He needs us to help Him along. For this reason, the moment we think our "good deeds" are helping to achieve our salvation is the moment they become the "filthy rags" spoken of in Isaiah 64:6. We have accepted a false Gospel. We have robbed God of all the glory. We have made grace just "pretty good."

So, let's turn the corner. Grace saves us and grace also sanctifies us. And now I'll ask the question I often receive. So what about our "good deeds." Where do they then fit in?

Some will say we need to add them to Christ's work to be saved. Totally unbiblical. Others will say since we are saved by God's grace and because all of our sins are already forgiven in Christ we can live as we wish. So, the first says following God's law is necessary to be saved. The other says following God's law is unnecessary once saved. I am here to tell you that both are terribly wrong!

We are saved by grace alone, but the grace that saves is never alone. God's grace will always give us the desire and ability to follow God. The greatest evidence that we recipients of God's grace will be seen through our obedience – not to get saved or stay saved, but proof that we truly are already saved.

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them" (Eph. 2:10). "Faith, if it has no works, is dead" (Jas. 2:17).

A while back we posted this "Grace Quote" by A.W. Pink on the Facebook page. "There are multitudes who wish to escape the Lake of fire who have no desire to be delivered from their carnality and worldliness!" Below the quote I received this comment: "This quote has nothing to do with grace." Really? So, do we assume, as many Christians do, that God's grace gets us saved, but now it's entirely up to our own strength to live the Christian life?

As Paul said to the Galatians, "Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (Gal. 3:3). Do you really think for a second that we can live the Christian life on our own power, ability and intelligence? And if so, where is God after we get saved? On the sidelines giving us the glory or worse, watching our useless attempts to obey Him and then mocking us at every turn?

We can take confidence that "it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). "That He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6). Or if you want it straight up, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age" (Tit. 2:11-12).

You really ever consider all the expectations of the Christian life? Resisting temptations, maintaining peace and joy in tough circumstances, bold confidence when sharing Jesus, hearing God speak when we read the Bible, believing God hears and answers our prayers, overcoming sin, wisdom when we need it, persevering in our faith, equipped to serve Him, contentment, hope when suffering, assurance of our security in heaven, thanking and glorifying God in all situations – we need grace!

And praise God that He promised us saying, "My grace is sufficient for you" (2 Cor. 12:9). As a matter of fact, "[His] power is perfected in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9). No wonder the apostle concluded, "For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor. 12:10). Let's remember John 1:16. "For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace."

The title of this sermon is, "What is Grace?" I hope we answered that question adequately. Well, we have to end with the all-important follow-up question. "How do I get this grace from God?" The answers are very simple.

If you are an unbeliever, the Bible says your only hope is God's forgiveness.

You need His grace to begin a relationship with Him. And you receive that grace by trusting the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. You acknowledge Christ as the One who died to put away all your sins. Without reserve you dedicate yourself to Him by faith. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life" (Jn. 3:16).

And if you are a believer, you appropriate God's grace through the spiritual disciplines.

Submit to God – "But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, 'GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.' Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you" (Jas. 4:6-8).

Read your Bible – "And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified" (Acts 20:32).

Pray – "Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:16).

And be with other believers – "As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God" (1 Pet. 4:10).

Hopefully through this message you have come to a better appreciation and understanding of God's marvelous grace. We praise God that by His grace we have been already delivered from sin's penalty and sin's power. We confidently look forward to the day in the future when we will also be delivered from sin's presence when our sinful desires will be done away with and "the God of peace willÉcrush Satan under [our] feet" (Rom. 16:20). Until that time, may "grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord" (2 Pet. 1:2) and may you "fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 1:13).