Grace is Amazing!
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God's Grace Defined “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us”
(Eph. 1:7-8). Grace is the good news that Almighty
God, acting as the Supreme Judge of all creation, did, by the death of Jesus
Christ, perform a judicial act of forever satisfying His own judgment of
death against Adam's race. "And He is the satisfactory atonement against our sin
and not our sin only, but the sin of the whole world" (1 Jn. 2:2). Grace is the good news that Jesus
Christ on the cross of Calvary became the once-and-for-all sin substitute. "For He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor. 5:21). Grace is the good news that those who
are dead in the first Adam can obtain life by being placed into the last
Adam. “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made
alive” (1 Cor. 15:22; 1 Cor. 15:45). Grace is the good news that Jesus
Christ by His death pulled the sting of death from the heart of the human
race. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to
God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor.
15:55-57). God alone accomplished this work of
grace without any interference from man. There was absolutely nothing that
anyone could have done to help God perform His act of love, and there is
nothing that God left unfinished after He had performed His work of grace.
Grace was, and is, and shall remain totally the work of God alone. Just how people feel about God's work
of grace does not change in any way His work. His truth remains true, whether
or not anyone ever believes it. What more can God do than what He has already
done? "Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which
was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began" (2 Tim. 1:9). "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but
by His mercy He saved us" (Titus 3:5a). When Paul taught grace, he did not ask
anyone to do anything—to keep any laws or join any church or do good works of
any kind. He was explaining what God has already done! What good is religion
or reformation to a dead human soul?
What good would it do to try to change those who are in Adam by
teaching them to live better lives? They cannot change! They cannot reform! They
cannot make themselves better! All are dead. God Gives Grace Grace for Paul was a life and death
matter. Man cannot earn life from God. God must give life to the dead. If we attempt to add so much as one small grain of human work to
God's work of grace in Jesus Christ, then God's work ceases to be God's work
and it ceases to be grace. Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians to defend
this very point of grace. “But
if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is
no longer grace” (Rom. 11:6). God’s grace must begin
with God. God extends grace to those whom He chooses. God does not make everyone alive.
God’s grace is extended to those whom He has determined to set His love upon.
Grace is all of God and God alone. What is “the gospel”? "I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that
called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not
another; but there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of
Christ. But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto
you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we
said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you
than that you have received, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:6-9). During his first missionary journey,
Paul shared the gospel of grace with those of Galatia. A number of them
received God’s grace that had been extended to them. Paul then founded many local churches
in the region. The Galatians were excited about the love that God had for them
and their new-found life and freedom in Christ. However, soon after Paul's departure,
the Jews from Judea came to these young believers and began to pervert the
gospel. A perversion is a twisting of the truth. So how did they twist the
truth? They taught the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according
to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved" (Acts 15:1b). They were
adding man's religious works to God's work of grace. We can better understand how the
gospel was being perverted by the legalists of Paul's day when we understand
exactly what the Bible says that the gospel is. "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which
I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which
also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you-unless
you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also
received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that
He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the
Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:1-4). There is only one gospel; there are
not many gospels. Salvation is not a matter of one person going to heaven
this way and another going to heaven that way. There are not, as many
believe, many roads to God. God has provided by the death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ the only way to heaven (Acts 4:12, Jn. 14:6). By means of this
work, God has done everything necessary to save those who trust Jesus Christ
as Savior. If this is true, then mixing the Old
Testament law or any work of man with the gospel of grace is not the gospel;
it is a perversion of the gospel. The perversion confuses and blinds people
to the truth. This is exactly how Paul felt about the matter. So serious was
this distorting of the truth to the apostle that he states that God should
curse those who pervert it. This was no nit-picky Bible fuss between people
who really believed the same thing, or the splitting of some theological
hair. The truth of eternal life or death was at stake. Mixing Law and Works with Grace Why is Paul’s battle for the true
gospel significant for Christians today? After all, no one today teaches that
a person must be circumcised to receive God's gift of eternal life, do they? Remember that Paul's fight was about
mixing law with grace. Today many, many preachers and religious leaders,
through blindness, confusion or ignorance, are teaching lies and confusing
people. Some who even name the name of Christ continue to blend works into
the gospel. This implies that a dead human being can do something to earn
God's grace or that God's work in Christ was not sufficient to satisfy all of
His divine justice. By this serious error, they place themselves squarely
under Paul's curse. Some common attempts at mixing law (or
works) and grace today include: · Water baptism vs. the gospel of
grace
The Bible reveals that water baptism
is a visible, physical symbol of the invisible, spiritual baptism which
occurs when a person trusts Jesus Christ for eternal life. God the Holy
Spirit actually immerses-identifies the believer into a permanent spiritual
union with the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13, Eph. 5:30,32). Since this is a
spiritual, unseen work of grace, water baptism is a visible object lesson
that allows the believer to show a picture of this real spiritual truth to
those who observe. The picture is not the real. Jesus Christ's death completely
satisfied God's just judgment for sin. He did not make a down payment and
require that we pick up the rest of the tab. Water baptism does have a place
in the plan of God for us, but it is not a part of the gospel. "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the
gospel," said Paul (1 Cor. 1:17). The false teaching that a person must
be water baptized to be saved is identical to the false teaching denounced by
Paul in the book of Galatians. It continues to blind people today to the good
news of God's wonderful grace. Just as circumcision played no part in saving
a fallen, sinful race then, neither does water baptism today. · Church membership vs. the gospel of grace
· Turning from sin vs. the gospel of
grace
If "turning from sins"
played a role in salvation, then these questions arise: Does my turning from
sin in some way really finish what Jesus Christ said He finished completely?
What does it mean to "turn from sin?" Which sins should a sinner
turn from? What about the sins we don't even know about in our lives?
How exactly are we to turn from them? The gospel of John, the book in the
Bible most often used to present the good news of Jesus Christ to people around
the world, never uses the word "repent." John tells us how to have
life eternal, but repentance is nowhere to be found in the book. When adding a "turn from
sin" view to the gospel of grace, a religious teacher has added works to
the gospel. The problem with man is not sins. Sins are just the
evidence of the problem. The problem with man is sin—the spiritual death that
we inherited from Adam. God is not impressed with those who abstain from
certain sins or cultural taboos in order to gain His favor. God is impressed
only with His perfect Son's finished work on the cross. As believers in Christ,
we should turn from sin, not to receive life, but because we have been given
life.
The leader of the Reformation, Martin
Luther, vehemently attacked the religious frauds that taught that as
"soon as the coin in the chest doth ring, souls out of purgatory
spring." Such frauds are at work today, insinuating that a generous
pocketbook can influence a person’s standing before God. It took the death of
the Second Person of the Trinity to satisfy completely the righteous demands
of a holy God. What amount of money could man give to help God do what He has
already done? · Doing penance vs. the gospel of
grace
Some religions prescribe special steps
to take, or penances to pay for sins committed. The performance of these
penances is somehow expected to be sufficient punishment to appease God for
their sins. God, who deemed it necessary and appropriate to bruise His own
Son in order save those who will trust Him by faith, will be satisfied with
no human effort no matter how sincere it might be. "Not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but by His mercy He saves us" (Titus
3:5). · Keeping the golden rule vs. the gospel of grace
Man, who was born spiritually dead,
falls tremendously short of the glory of God regardless of how much he
strives to love and care for others. That is why Jesus Christ had to die on
the cross for us. We can in no way add to that work of salvation, even with
such a lofty goal as caring for others.
"That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and
believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made to salvation." Paul's Jewish kinfolk had been taught from
childhood and believed sincerely that the God that they worshiped was one God
(Deut. 6:4). They also knew that their God's name was Jehovah (Ex. 3:14). God
was asking them to believe that Jehovah had made himself visible and knowable
in human form in the person of Jesus Christ. In order to be saved, the Jews must
believe that the One they had helped to crucify, the carpenter from Nazareth,
was none other than Jehovah God revealed in human flesh. To confess Jesus as
Lord (Jehovah) would mean that they recognized His work of grace for them on
the cross. To believe with the heart that God raised Him from the dead is to
believe the gospel by faith, which is the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ (1 Cor. 15:1-3). Said simply, for the Jews to confess Him as Lord
would be the same as believing that He is Jehovah God. Walking down a church
aisle and confessing Christ publicly is not in view in this passage and has
never saved anyone, but trusting in Jesus Christ will. · Obeying God's law vs. the gospel of
grace
“If there had been a law, any law, which could have given
life, then Christ died needlessly” (Gal. 2:21). The Ten Commands reveal that we are
sinful before God (Rom. 3:20-21) and point us to personal faith in Jesus
Christ where there is life (Gal. 2:16). Amazing grace is God giving life to
the dead. God gives life to the dead the moment that faith is placed in
His Son. “They
said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your
household’” (Acts 16:31). |
What exactly is God’s grace and why is it amazing? |