Grace is the most important concept in the Bible, Christianity, and the world. It is most clearly expressed in the promises of God revealed in Scripture and embodied in Jesus Christ himself.
In the New Testament:
- Grace means God’s love in action towards men who merited the opposite of love.
- Grace means God moving heaven and earth to save sinners who could not lift a finger to save themselves.
- Grace means God sent His only Son to the cross so that we guilty ones might be reconciled to God and received into heaven.
God's grace is undeserved. Grace is given to the humble. Grace can never be an excuse to sin. Grace is always in harmony with God’s other attributes. The only way to receive God's saving grace is can through Jesus. God's grace has appeared to all men. Grace is pure it's never a mixture of God's actions and human effort. Grace is the sovereign work of God. Grace is the source of righteousness.
To hear an audio recording of the sermon click the YouTube link at the end of the manuscript.
Ephesians 2:1-10 HCSB And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, the spirit now working in the disobedient. We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! Together with Christ Jesus He also raised us up and seated us in the heavens, so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace through His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift — not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.
This is the fourth sermon in our series on grace and our primary text for the entire series is;
Ephesians 2:8-9 (HCSB)8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
I've started every sermon in this series by saying that;
Grace is the most important concept in the Bible, Christianity, and the world. It is most clearly expressed in the promises of God revealed in Scripture and embodied in Jesus Christ himself.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of grace is;
a. unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification
b. a virtue coming from God
c. a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine grace
The definition from the NAS New Testament Greek Lexicon is;
good will, loving-kindness, favour; the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues
The Greeks used this word charis, which is translated to the english word grace, to describe favor shown to a friend.
When Jesus came and died on the cross, grace changed from being an expression only to friends as the Greeks described it, to include not only friends but
enemies too.
Last week I identified six forms of God’s Grace. They were;
Common grace - The kindness or favor God gives to all mankind believer or not.
Matthew 5:44-45 (NKJV)44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Emphasis mine)
Saving grace - The provision of salvation through Jesus.
Ephesians 1:7-8 HCSB We have redemption in Him through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
Securing grace - The favor of God by which Christians are kept secure in spite of sin.
Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
Sanctifying grace - Sanctifying grace works within the true believer causing them to grow and mature and progress becoming more Christ-like.
Romans 8:28-29 HCSB We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. For those He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
Serving grace - Spiritual Gifts that believers have been given by the Holy Spirit.
1 Peter 4:10 (NKJV) As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Sustaining grace - Grace given at special times of need, especially during adversity or suffering.
2 Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV) And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
J. I. Packer describes grace this way:
In the New Testament:
- Grace means God’s love in action towards men who merited the opposite of love.
- Grace means God moving heaven and earth to save sinners who could not lift a finger to save themselves.
- Grace means God sent His only Son to the cross so that we guilty ones might be reconciled to God and received into heaven.
To make even the slightest contribution to our salvation is to rule out the possibility of grace because we would exaggerate any contribution on our part.
1 God's grace is undeserved
By definition it’s unmerited so you can’t work to earn it. It’s a gift from God.
When you break man’s laws, you pay man’s penalty. When you break God’s laws, you pay God’s penalty, which is eternity in hell.
Romans 6:23 (NKJV) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Somebody has to pay for all the things you’ve done in life that hurt other people, yourself, and God.
But God had a plan.
John 3:16 NKJV For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
He says, “I’ll send my Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty. He will take your place so you don’t have to go to hell. You can be with me forever.”
That means everything you’ve ever done or will ever do wrong in life has already been paid for by Jesus Christ on the cross. Through Jesus you have been made right with God.
Titus 3:5-7 NKJV not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
As our text says;
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV)8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
To benefit from this gift much we have to accept it and we do that by faith, we have to believe and acknowledge that God did this for us.
Romans 10:8-10 NKJV But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
2 Grace is given to the humble
When Jesus came to earth, He came to minister to the poor, the suffering, the needy. He came to minister to those who were in need and knew it. When Jesus chose to associate with the needy rather than with the elite of His day, it greatly offended the Jewish religious leaders:
Mark 2:16-17 (NKJV)16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."
James 4:6 (NKJV) But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."
1 Peter 5:5 (NKJV) Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."
3 Grace can never be an excuse to sin
Just because God has given us grace through Jesus to cover all of our sin past, present, and future it doesn't give us license to sin. That makes no sense at all. We died to sin so we can't casually and carelessly continue to sin. That's inconsistent with our new life in Christ.
Romans 6:1-2 (NKJV)1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
Grace is God’s presence to do what only He can do through Christ’s finished work on the cross. Grace is what really produces and empowers righteousness.
Romans 5:20 (NLT) God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV) 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
1 Peter 2:16 (HCSB) As God’s slaves, ⌊live⌋ as free people, but don’t use your freedom as a way to conceal evil.
4 Grace is always in harmony with God’s other attributes
It's possible to misunderstand the grace of God by thinking that grace somehow is granted at the expense of God’s holiness or His justice. Grace doesn't set aside the requirements of justice; it satisfies them. The Christian is no longer guilty before God and need not stand under condemnation for sin, but somebody had to pay the penalty for sin. For the Christian that person is our Lord Jesus Christ:
ROMANS 3:24-26 AMP and are being justified [declared free of the guilt of sin, made acceptable to God, and granted eternal life] as a gift by His [precious, undeserved] grace, through the redemption [the payment for our sin] which is [provided] in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly [before the eyes of the world] as a [life-giving] sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation (propitiation) by His blood [to be received] through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness [which demands punishment for sin], because in His forbearance [His deliberate restraint] He passed over the sins previously committed [before Jesus’ crucifixion]. It was to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus [and rely confidently on Him as Savior].
Grace, then, meets the demands of justice and holiness it does not set them aside. Grace is never granted at the expense of God’s justice.
5 The only way to receive God's saving grace is can through Jesus
It's no secret, that grace it available to all men, but only through Jesus.
EPHESIANS 1:6-8 AMP to the praise of His glorious grace and favor, which He so freely bestowed on us in the Beloved [His Son, Jesus Christ]. In Him we have redemption [that is, our deliverance and salvation] through His blood, [which paid the penalty for our sin and resulted in] the forgiveness and complete pardon of our sin, in accordance with the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and understanding [with practical insight]
John 1:17 (NKJV) For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Remember John 3:16? I want to read it again but this time from the Amplified Version starting with the 14th verse.
JOHN 3:14-16 AMP Just as Moses lifted up the [bronze] serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross], so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life [after physical death, and will actually live forever]. “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life.
6 God's grace has appeared to all men
All God's promises and saving work from the time that He created man are wrapped up in His grace All of his blessings and gifts have been designed to lead men to repentance and salvation.
Titus 2:11 (NKJV) For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.
Matthew 5:44-45 (NKJV)44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Emphasis mine)
Acts 14:16-17 CEV In times past, God let each nation go its own way. But he showed he was there by the good things he did. God sends rain from heaven and makes your crops grow. He gives food to you and makes your hearts glad.
2 Peter 3:9 (NKJV) The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
As I have said before, grace is the source of all God's blessings.
7 Grace is pure it's never a mixture of God's actions and human effort
Grace is entirely the work of God, man didn't cause it, and it's completely undeserved. It doesn't matter what we accomplished before salvation even if it was a good thing, and it really doesn't matter what we do afterwards it's still undeserved.
Romans 4:4-5 (NKJV) Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
Romans 11:6 (NKJV) And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
8 Grace is the sovereign work of God
Since we have no claim on God’s grace and cannot contribute anything to it, then grace must be sovereign. Grace isn't looking for good men but for condemned, guilty, and helpless men and it will save, sanctify and glorify them.
Some people have a problem with that but again it’s God’s favor and He gives it to whomever He will based on the requirements that He set and they are His requirements not ours.
Romans 9:15-16 (NKJV) For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. 16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. "
9 Grace is the source of righteousness
I said before that grace is the source of all of God’s blessings to mankind, and that includes righteousness. In fact I said, a couple of weeks ago that God’s grace produces righteousness.
While the Law defines righteousness, only grace delivers it. The Law was never intended to be a means of obtaining grace; it was given to demonstrate to men that grace was desperately needed:
Romans 3:19-26 NKJV Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Hebrews 9:13-15 NIV The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
For us to succeed in this life we need the abundance of grace and the righteousness that God makes available.
Are You Still Guilty?
Have you ever sinned? If you have then you are guilty of violating God’s prohibition against sin and He says that the penalty is death. But God has given His grace as a gift to all mankind, and that gift results eternal life. The catch is that it is only available through his Son Jesus Christ.
Romans 6:23 (NKJV) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Here’s all you have to do to get this gift of eternal life
Romans 10:9-12 (NKJV) 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
Do you want it?