Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.” This word grace we use a lot, it is linked to many things, grace truth, grace and peace, grace and glory and is connected with God, the God of all grace, Jesus is full of grace and truth, the wonderful grace and what it brings into our lives. Grace in the dictionary is “the unmerited of favour of God” but I find this grace is more than that. Grace comes from heaven, it is not part of the earth, God has a monopoly on it and we have to go to God for it. The Electric Company, the Telephone Company are a monopoly, you cannot get their services anywhere else. God has grace and is the only one who has it, we don’t have it, we cannot get saved without it and we cannot continue far without it. There are 3 aspects of grace. Grace of God towards us, the grace of God in us and the grace of God through us. Towards us concerns getting saved, in us concerns keeping us saved and then through us to help others to get saved. First is the loving kindness of God towards us, second is God giving us power and strength and third the beauty of spirit that is the result of His inward working.
We will speak of the grace of God toward us first. Imagine if there were someone terminally ill and there was a medicine available to help them but the medicine was totally out of their price range, but then some kind man purchased the cup of medicine and offered it to them, this is like the grace of God and through faith which is my part I reach out and take it. There are two parts to salvation, Gods part and our part, God supplies and we apply, we apply the grace of God, we have no means whereby we can obtain it but it is just our part to accept it, not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works.
Ephesians 1:6, “To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved.” One of my companions was Vietnamese, at 12 years of age he left Saigon on the last airlift before the fall of Saigon. He was an orphan, living on the streets of Saigon, no parents, they were killed or lost, so he was weeping, dirty and nowhere to go, many were like him in the city. A rich man saw this boy and said, “Come and I will give you a good home with food and you will become my child.” He came sad, feeling lost and now years later you see the difference in him, he had been given a good home, education etc and this is what God has done for us by His grace, it is His good pleasure to give this to us, all to the glory and praise of His grace, we could never obtain this for ourselves and we never cease to thank God for His favour which has brought to us so much. Then we can speak of the grace of God in us and this concerns strength which sustains us. II Timothy 1:9, “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace.” God had a purpose in the beginning for our lives and grace is the power that enables us to do what God had in mind which will accomplish the will of God and purpose of God.
Romans 5:2, “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” This grace enables us to stand right now, when I professed, I made a stand and found that there were many things against and was not long before I felt, we need to be upright, firm as there is much against the truth of God. When my grandfather came in 1919 to U.S.A., he built up a farm, built a house and a barn and recently I went back to look at the old barn and it is still standing, it was built of good material, and it had good bracing that has been the strength of the building. This grace is like the bracing, it enables us to stand in spite of the powers against us.
II Corinthians 9:8, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you.” This abundant supply of abounding grace, God has this abundant supply more than we will ever need. The prodigal came home to broad and to spare, more than he needed. Jesus told Peter that He could call on the Father and He would send 12 legions of angels, He only needed one, there are angels to help and to spare. My companion was diving before he went into the work and he would put on his diving suit then his oxygen tank and go down into the water to do what he had to do and then he would got out as soon as possible, he realised that this oxygen could run out and I am in a place where fish live and not men. We have to go out into a hostile world and we need oxygen and grace from heaven to keep us alive and to sustain us but we do not need to worry that the supply will run out till we are called to Heaven, a spiritual atmosphere, here on earth it is a hostile atmosphere.
II Corinthains 12, this tells us of sufficient grace as Paul had a messenger of Satan to buffet him, a thorn in the flesh so Paul prayed to God to remove this, he prayed once to remove this thing that he was battling against and God said, “No,” so he prayed again to ask God to remove this handicap, this hindrance and God said, “No,” so he prayed a third time asking God to remove it so he would not have to battle against it anymore and God said, “No, I’ll give you grace.” This drove him to God, made him feel humble, and made him feel his need. The Hebrews left Egypt and looked back and saw them dead on the shore, they did not have to battle with them again and there are some things we do not have to battle any more but other things all our life time we will have to fight against. On the judgment day, we will be more grateful for the handicaps, the hindering things that drove us to God rather than being grateful for the smooth sailing for these things make us feel our need.
II Corinthians 8:9, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.” These riches did not come to us automatically, it is hard for us to comprehend the riches of heaven that Jesus brought to us, and it took grace on Jesus part to do this for us. He came to be a carpenter and then became poorer than that, He humbled Himself to become a servant of the gospel, and this took grace. The servants of God today could have homes just as good as yours, have jobs just as good as yours. This did not come automatically to Jesus, it took grace for Him to do it.
Hebrews 2 tells us that by grace Jesus tasted death for even man, this was not automatic, Jesus drank the cup which held all the dregs of all the sins of the world, we think of all this black poison, His flesh shrank from it, His flesh did not want to die but for us to live. He needed to die and it was God’s grace that was sufficient for Him and this same grace is at our disposal. Where sin abounds, grace did much more abound, the world is deteriorating, we see all the problems, the heartaches we see sin abounding and we are so thankful that grace does so much more abound. The older workers tell us of the time when there were no gospel meetings in places, not have workers in every field but today in a world where sin is abounding God gives His people more help, more workers in the world, more gospel meetings, the need is greater so God gives the needed grace.
There is also a negative side to this grace, we could misuse this grace by disgrace. I Corinthians 15:10, “By the grace of God I am what I am and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain but I laboured more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” If we do not take advantage of this grace, it is disgrace, if grace does not change us, soften us, humble us, it is bestowed in vain. It was not bestowed in vain for Paul, he was a persecutor but by grace he became a preacher, a blasphemer became a saint, a Pharisee to become an apostle and he realised was not what he did but what the grace of God did, he made use of the grace of God. One time, a family made a start and after 6 month there was no change in their lives, the same as always and today they are no longer with us, grace was bestowed in vain.
Hebrews 10:29, “Hath done despite to the Spirit of grace.” When the Hebrews put the blood on the doorposts, they were not to put on the threshold, we are not to trample on the blood of Jesus, trample on blood bought things which are beyond any price our hope, our fellowship that we enjoy is blood bought.
Jude 4, “Turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness.” This just means that I can go out and do anything I want to do, any sin because it will be all forgiven, there is mercy to cover but this is doing despite to the Spirit of grace, we need to handle the precious bloodbought things reverently and with Godly fear, we have no license to sin, there is provision for sin if we are aiming in the right way, provision for our weakness but we have no license to sin.
Hebrews 12:15, “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled.” It is possible for us to fail in not obtaining the grace we need, a rock of bitterness is always wrong in a child of God, for the work of grace works sweetness. James tells us of the fountain, can it produce both sweet and bitter water, the work of God works sweetness. Someone may do or say something that makes you angry and we keep it under the surface, others do not see it, the root is there and one day, it will grow and many will be offended someday the weed will grow up and destroy all else in the garden, we blame others, they did something and they should not have done it, but the blame is on me, because I failed to obtain the grace of God, for this grace takes care of the offence the bitterness. Stephen showed a sweet spirit when the stones were falling on him, he had the grace of God. Many were hurling insults at Jesus and He could ask His Father to forgive them, this was the grace of God Jesus had. Hebrews 12:2, “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and Godly fear.” Receiving this grace will enable us to serve God acceptably.
Then there is the third aspect of grace, grace through us. I Timothy 2:1, “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” Being graceful has smoothness, a motion, an action that is not broken by abrupt lines, like a graceful skier and there is a beauty in the lives of Gods people, they have the rough edges taken off, no longer touchy or sensitive. In the world, people are polished, polish is on the outside, but grace works on the inside out. Jesus was full of grace, His life manifested a beauty that we appealing.
Luke 4:22, Jesus was in His home town in the temple service and the people wondered at the gracious words the proceeded out of His mouth, there was no mistaking the grace coming from His life for grace was working in His life. Colossians 4:6, “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt.” If you tell people the truth, it is hard to swallow and accept to add a little salt makes it more palatable, if you put salt on an egg or on oatmeal it is easier to accept. We need truth but we also need grace in being able to make it acceptable to others.
Titus 2:11, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly.” Grace teaches you how to live in this world, in one part an old priest lived in an old mansion up on a hill and then there was need for a young priest to come and he had an apartment in the valley and someone asked the young man why he did not live with the old priest and he answered that no one could live with him. The grace of God teaches us how to live so we can have peace. By nature I like efficiency, punctuality, and accuracy and so often I sacrifice grace so that I could be efficient and I realise I need to be strong in the grace of God which adds beauty, we don’t want to sacrifice grace for efficiency. Grace enables us to hay something about us that produces beauty.
Jeremiah 38 we read that Jeremiah was put in the dungeon, in the mire, the king, had put him there, so a black man came and asked if he might take him up from the dungeon so he then took 30 men with him and took some old rags and made some clouts and let them down to Jeremiah and asked him to put them under his armholes they would not hurt him when they drew him up. We may want to help people and that it does not matter how we do it, we may hurt them but grace helps us to do it with feeling.
James 4, “He giveth more grace.” I need more grace, more so as get older and how do we get it? Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” God gives unlimited provision which is found in the highest heaven as we come to the throne of God craving for it, having a keen desire for grace, obtain mercy for the past and grace for the future. James: 4:6, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, God does not resist humility but resists pride and if we have trouble or difficulties just take the humble place and God will give grace. The last words written in the bible, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.”
Truth Archive 