The Gift of God's Grace

 
Paul wrote to the Ephesian Church: Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works so that no one can boast.

It is important to see this verse clearly – and memorise it – for it is by grace through faith – not by faith, through grace. What is the difference? The difference is that grace comes from God and faith comes from man.

If salvation was by faith, then salvation is a work of man in which case Jesus died for nothing. In fact, Jesus need not have died for us, if salvation was by faith through grace. For Jesus could then have come through the grace of God – left us with a nice little message of how to find and earn our way to heaven, and then left – in a fiery chariot or levitated. He would not have had to die upon the Roman cross. No other religion – indeed – in no religion concocted by man – did the founder ever die for his religion before it was started. They only made other men kill and die for them instead. It is the grace of God that causes the work, life, and indeed the death of Jesus Christ to be so uniquely outstanding. That is why any effort by man to amalgamate the work of Jesus Christ with the work of any other man – be they Buddha or any prophet – is an insult to the grace of God.

Because salvation is by grace through faith, salvation is possible, - because there is grace from God – not because there is faith from man – but God chose faith as the vessel through which His grace would be made manifest. …. Why faith? -- Because faith is universally available in the heart, mind and soul of every man, woman and child.
• A child who believes in Santa Claus – has faith
• An atheist who believes there is no God – has faith
• A communist who believes in communism – has faith
• A gambler has faith – that his next bet will win
• A drug addict has faith – that the white powder he’s just bought will ease his pain
• A patient has faith – that the medicines prescribed will help him
• A criminal has faith – that he can get away with his crime.
Faith is as common to all men as flesh is – that’s why I have taught you that the substances of a man are his flesh and his faith.

Therefore, if salvation was possible by faith – and not by grace, God only needed to cause people to believe in Him and that would be enough. Jesus would not have to have died the way He did – innocent, yet crucified horribly. For it was on the Cross at Calvary that God did make known to man what grace is, - from Gods point of view.

Man’s common definition of God’s grace is God’s unmerited favour; and as one preacher said, “His ability to empower and enable us.” If that was true, then salvation could come by faith through grace – that is, by faith in God through His unmerited favour and power to enable us to be saved. – If that was the case, then man added his share of work to salvation. That is, by our faith, we believed and worked our salvation – and God’s unmerited favour enabled us to complete it! And as long as we thought that grace is God’s unmerited favour and enablement of us – we continued to add to our salvation by works, as we do to our righteousness. Like the righteousness of Christ which is a gift – we know about it, and even believed it – but we have not understood or fathomed it.

Likewise, with God’s grace, we believe in it and some of us know it – but we have not understood it, and therefore have not fathomed it enough to define it.

God has given us all the clues and help that is necessary to come to know Him – and as we come to know Him – understand Him and all that He does – and to go from believing in God to knowing God is to grow up to understanding God.

True wisdom or a truly wise man – is one who believes in God and takes the life to get to know Him and develops the love to understand Him. The fullness of Christ is not a man who can call fire down from heaven in the Name of God like the false prophet or the beast – it is not a man who believes there is God – for even demons believe and shudder. It is not a man who knows Jesus is the Son of God – for demons saw and recognised that Jesus is the Holy One of God. E.g. Matthew 8:28 When He arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon possessed men coming from the tombs met Him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”

No, it is the man who believes to come to know, that he might love and in loving – understand… who God is. Many people fall in love – but that love dies when they fail to develop understanding for each other. – For what grows love is not more knowledge or faith – but understanding; and what kills love is knowledge without understanding. We know God can heal and save and raise the dead – and we are taught, if we believe without a doubt – it will happen. – But what happens when it doesn’t? …. That’s where understanding comes in. Understanding allows you to continue to love when things don’t go the way you want. And to understand God – you must understand what grace truly is – and it is only then you will understand why Jesus had to die the way He did, that God’s grace might manifest.

So what is God’s grace? -- And why do I say, it is a gift? –
Firstly because God’s grace is a provision – Romans 5:17 For if, by the trespass of one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

God’s grace is a provision – and when Jesus came – He was full of grace and truth. – Although Jesus said “I am the Truth.” Jn 14:6, God did not send Jesus out to us, just with the fullness of truth but also with the fullness of grace. Why? Because the fullness of truth about us is that – all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:24

Had Jesus come only with the Truth – there would only be condemnation for all – for His perfect life would have pinpointed clearly how short we had fallen of God’s glory; for Jesus is the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. Hebrews 1:3 Thus God had to send Jesus – first – full of grace – and a fullness that is described by Paul as an abundant provision – more than enough, -- provided before and not as an after thought … just like His righteousness.

So what really is God’s grace and why did it take the death of Jesus to manifest so that salvation is by grace through faith – and not by faith through grace? I hope by now you can see – it isn’t just unmerited favour or power to enable. – That is man’s grace!

God’s grace is God’s ability to forgive …. To forgive His enemies; to forgive those who did not obey; to forgive those who rebelled; to forgive those who ruined His plans. It was already there – in God. Hence a provision and a gift – before God ever did anything or ever created beings like angels and man, Cherubs and Seraphs – creatures that were given a free will to choose to obey or disobey. It is God’s abundant supply of this grace – this ability to forgive – that allowed Him to create us and have the ability to reconcile us back to Himself – even after we disobeyed Him, rebelled against Him and rejected Him. The depth, width and height – the amount of this grace – was demonstrated in the life of Jesus and His death – as well as His resurrection. Jesus lived amongst us, a man whose life was nothing but a blessing to all around Him – whether they met Him or not – He healed the sick, raised the dead of friends and foes alike.

A life that was so full of compassion, consideration, empathy and courtesy – that you can call it a truly gracious life – as man would define graciousness. Compassion to raise a widow’s only son – even though the Law said touching a dead body would make Him unclean.

Consideration to not manifest 8 months wages in gold, so that Phillip could buy the food for the 5000 – but to multiply the loaves and fish of a little boy – Why consideration? Because, had Phillip bought the food to feed 5000 families in one afternoon from Bethsaida – the price of food in Bethsaida would skyrocket and cause hardship to the poor of Bethsaida.

Empathy to grieve with those who grieved – even though He knew that within a few minutes he would be turning their grief to an unspeakable joy – with the raising of Lazarus.

And courtesy to treat the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:16 “Go, call your husband and come back.” He didn’t say – “Go, call the man you are living with…”

God then took such a Life – such a Man – and allowed Him to be betrayed, flogged, tortured and hung on a cross – for crimes He never committed - and allowed Him no defence. God allowed Jesus to suffer the greatest of injustice – the death of a perfectly innocent Man…. Having lived the most gracious of life …. A death that was at the hands of the very people He came to help and save. And it was after such a life and in the midst of such a death – that God‘s grace boomed out across the eternities and disarmed all powers and authorities, all rulers and principalities and brought them to nothing – reduced their disobedience, rebellion and sin - to nothing. For the Lords cry from the cross – Luke 23:34 “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” – released what God had kept in Himself, that which He knew He had, which would allow Him to bring salvation to those who rebelled and tortured Him – even killing Him. -> His ability to forgive –> His grace that would flow out through faith -> faith from Jesus Christ to live and die as the Father told Him. -> faith from us to believe – even if it is with the last of our breathe.

And God immediately demonstrated the power of His grace to save through faith – in the life of the thief. Luke 28:39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at Him: “aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” He said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

That thief, or criminal, was the first man saved by the grace of God, let loosed by the mouth of Jesus from the cross – through faith. There and then, God demonstrated the immenseness of His Grace …. A dying criminal was saved by faith. A man, who having lived a life of crime, who would not be set free from jail – no, he was crucified to die – so, a man who would never be able to do anything to add to his salvation or his righteousness; a man who could do no works of his own – at all – that man was the first of all the human race to hear from God’s own mouth: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” There is no good works that need to be done by which we can be saved – except this one, as Jesus said: “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.” John 6:29

Once you understand this, then we will be ready to destroy every argument and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God – for the knowledge of God is found in no one else except Jesus Christ. For no one else came from God, and had always been with God from the beginning as it is written. John 1;1 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God from the beginning.

Only He, the Word of God knows all there is to know of God, about God and only He can reveal the whole of God to us – not just with faith, knowledge, wisdom, love – but with understanding. Only Jesus knew and understood what God’s grace is – and therefore the manner of life and death it took to release that grace to its fullness, so that all things might be restored. That is why He rebuked Peter and called Peter ‘Satan’ when Peter was rightly from a human perspective, offended with the revelation that Jesus would die in Jerusalem. That is why Jesus would not allow Peter and the others to oppose the Sanhedrin guards as they came to arrest Him. Jesus let slip and gave His disciples a preview of God’s grace in action when ‘ he touched the man’s ear Luke 22:61 – the ear that Peter had cut off as he struck out to defend Jesus – and healed him…. Did they see it? Did we see it? Did the church see it?

If we had seen and understood it – we would not have gone back to religious dead works as 2000 Julien years of Church history testifies to. As it is written: John 1:4 In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. And Jesus said: John 3:19 “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds are evil.”

The Light that is the life of Christ shone to show us the Grace of God – God’s ability, pre-existant, pre-provided ability to forgive sin, rebellion and wrongs – even injustice.

Through Jesus Christ – the Grace of God was made known, and through the Holy Spirit – it was distributed. – That was why God said in Joel 2;28-32 “In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. You’re young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams. Even on My servants, both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord And Everyone who calls on the Name o the Lord will be saved.”

The distribution of God’s grace would be through the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Grace, through whose power all would have direct access to God by visions and dreams and all could speak on behalf of God – by prophesy…. And all who called on the Name of the Lord would be saved – even if it were by visions or by dreams.

And we have insulted the Spirit of Grace. [Hebrews 10:29] when we have trampled the Son of God underfoot and treated his Blood of the Covenant as an unholy thing – when we think that we can add to our salvation and our righteousness by our works.

Rather it is our works that testify to our salvation and righteousness – which we have received as gifts that it may draw others to receive theirs – as freely as we received ours. If you understand this – then you’d understand why God is coming into judgement. First against those who claim to call Him Lord, Lord – who prophesy, drive out demons and do miracles in His Name to add to their righteousness and salvation – and those who love to sit and listen to Him teach and eat with Him – to add to their righteousness and salvation.

Salvation is by grace through faith – the life and death of Christ finished the work – once for all. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Christ once for all. Hebrews 10:10 The will that Jesus would live and die the way He died – to release God’s grace and make it known, and by that grace to be saved through faith in Christ to honour and glorify Jesus for his obedience.

Thus we receive the Holy Spirit, so that He might distribute to us [make known to us] the fullness of this grace, that Jesus’ obedience to the Father has released. – A grace that is a provision and since pre-provided – takes no merit to earn – and it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we were then to prophesy; to have visions and dreams; to perform signs and wonders and miracles – all of which were to draw people’s attention to God’s grace … not to add to our salvation or our righteousness. But when the church listened to James the Younger – and presumed on the Holy Spirit to approve their recommendations to the Gentiles – recommendations that went against the very teachings of Christ – recommendations to avoid strangled meat and food sacrificed to idols when Jesus had declared all food to be clean – and recommendations to avoid the drinking of blood when Jesus had insisted that unless we drank His blood there would be no life in us. – When we presumed upon the Holy Spirit to approve what went against Jesus – we lost the power of the Holy Spirit and His co-operation, and sank back into a quagmire of rules upon rules, and dos upon dos. The Holy Spirit – all the while – bided His time – and graciously remained in this world. For the Spirit of Grace understands the power of God’s grace; that in the right time, just at the right time, God will arise, and as it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge His people.” Heb10:30 - A time when God will once more display His grace – and show us our follies to their full extent, that He may once again “purify the lips of the peoples that all of them may call upon the Name of the Lord and serve Him shoulder to shoulder.” Zephaniah 3:8

The most severe punishments and judgements of God – if you now understand God’s grace, are the avenues by which He can release and make known His grace - His ability to forgive us no matter what we have done against Him, so that we might be saved, and that – forever. Without the severity of God displayed in punishments and judgements – in the horror of hell and the even greater horror of the lake of sulphur - the 2nd death; we would never repent that we might be saved.

It is the truth about humans that we rebelled against God, not when we were placed in a land of scorching heat and sulphurous fumes – but we rebelled against God in the beauty and abundance of the Garden of Eden. Little wonder that salvation came through darkness and suffering befalling an innocent man. Little wonder that it will take the days of distress that are coming and the full revelation of the horror of the lake of sulphur before every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord …. And God’s grace is displayed in the fullness of it’s as yet, unspoken, untranslated magnificence.

Yet even now – the Holy Spirit is making it known to those who seek to listen to Jesus, to come to know Him that they might love him and who would nurture that love until they understood Him – even if it takes all of eternity. It is in and through such people that God will bring justice to Jesus and use them to usher in the return of the Lord, to have his Millennium in Jerusalem, to show all creatures and creation what God had planned for Adam and Eve and all their children, had they not rebelled. And what God had planned for the children of Jesus – those who believed in Him enough to obey Him in complete holiness – complete separation from all else – how God would raise up through the Resurrection sons and daughters of God from the sons and daughters of Adam.

All this is possible because in the beginning God had a provision of abundant grace and righteousness, that He had prepared for us as a gift - the grace to forgive us when we sinned so that we could receive the righteousness of Christ that pre-existed before sin … and so set us free forever from the law of Sin and Death … into the law of life.

As it is written – to those who have, more shall be given until they have more than enough.

So it is for us to find out the answer to this question --- How much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ?

That question can only begin to be answered when you see that you are to reign in life – your life – as a king reigns. For your King is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords – and that all aspects of your life now – good or bad – are merely administrative exercises, training you to become the king or queen that you are destined to be – TO THE GLORY OF GOD. AMEN!