THE
ATTRIBUTES OF GOD
Lesson #18
The
Grace Of God Romans 5:20-21
The
source and fountain of grace is God the Father (Eph. 1:3) who
purposed in himself the everlasting salvation of an elect multitude before the
world began, and on behalf of that elect multitude made a covenant of grace
with his Son, ordered in all things and sure.
The mediatorial channel of grace is God the
Son (John 1:17). The grace of God is revealed and given to men only by the
mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. “The
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” Certainly,
that does not mean that God did not save men by grace before the incarnation of
Christ. He did. Salvation has always been by grace (Gen. 6:8). And that grace
has always been found and given in Christ (Rom. 3:24-26). But grace and truth
were fully revealed in the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ. Christ alone
always has been, is now, and shall forever be the solitary channel of grace
(Rom. 5:15, 17, 21; 1 Tim. 2:5). Grace does not come through the church. Grace
cannot be conferred by some pretentious, earthly priest, and grace is not given
through the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Grace comes to sinners
through Christ alone.
The only bestower of grace is God the Holy
Spirit who is called “the Spirit of
grace” by the prophet Zechariah (12:10). He is the One who applies the
gospel to the hearts of chosen, redeemed sinners with saving power. He quickens
God’s elect while they are yet spiritually dead. He conquers the rebel’s will,
melts the hard heart, opens the blind eye, and cleanses the soul. He gives ears
to hear, eyes to see, and a heart to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The gospel of God is the message of grace. It
is called “the gospel of the grace of
God” (Acts 20:24). To the self-righteous religionist, it is a stumbling
block. To the learned, philosophical worldling, it is foolishness. Why? Because
there is nothing in the gospel to gratify the pride of man. The gospel of God
declares that man can never be saved, but by the grace of God. It declares that
apart from Christ, the unspeakable gift of God’s grace, there is no salvation
and the state of every human being is desperate, hopeless, and irretrievable.
The gospel addresses men and women as depraved, guilty, condemned, perishing
sinners. It puts us all upon one level. The gospel declares that the purest
moralist is in the same condition as the vilest profligate, that the zealous
religionist is no better off than the most profane infidel. Without Christ,
without grace, all are lost.
The
gospel addresses every descendant of Adam as a fallen, polluted, hell-bent,
hell-deserving sinner, utterly incapable of changing his ruined condition. The
grace of God is our only hope. All men, by nature, stand before God’s holy law
as justly condemned felons, awaiting the execution of his wrath (John 3:18, 36;
Rom. 3:19). I repeat myself deliberately, our only hope is grace! “Grace is a
provision for men who are so fallen that they cannot lift the ax of justice, so
corrupt that they cannot change their own nature, so averse to God that they
cannot turn to him, so blind that they cannot see him, so deaf that they cannot
hear him, and so dead that he must himself open their graves and lift them into
resurrection” - (George S. Bishop). Our
only hope of salvation and eternal life is the grace of God freely bestowed
upon sinners through Jesus Christ, the sinner’s Substitute. As we study this
marvelous attribute of our God, I want to show you the character of grace, the
works of grace, and some of the illustrations of grace as displayed and
described in the Word of God.
THE CHARACTER OF GOD’S GRACE - Grace as it
is displayed in the Word of God and grace as it is understood by most people
are altogether different things. All the religious world talks about salvation
by grace. But few understand the character of God’s grace as it is revealed in
holy Scripture. As soon as grace is defined in biblical terms, man’s opposition
to it comes to surface. Grace is an attribute of God which, like his love, is
exercised only toward his elect. Nowhere in the Bible do we read of universal
grace, or of grace bestowed upon mankind in general. The mercy of God is “over all his works” (Psa. 145:9). But
the grace of God is upon his elect. The mercy of God is life upon this earth.
The grace of God is eternal life. Mercy is anything short of eternal wrath. The
grace of God is eternal salvation. Grace is the solitary source from which the
goodwill, love, and salvation of God flow to his chosen people. “It is the
eternal and absolute free favor of God, manifested in the vouchsafement
(infallible promise) of spiritual and eternal blessings to the guilty and
unworthy” (Abraham Booth).
Arthur Pink wrote, “Divine grace is the
sovereign and saving favor of God exercised in bestowing blessings upon those
who have no merit in them and for which no compensation is demanded.” Grace is
completely unmerited and unsought. It is altogether unattracted by us. Grace
cannot be bought, earned, or won by anything in us or done by us. If it could,
it would cease to be grace. Grace is bestowed upon sinners without attraction,
without condition, without qualification. When it first comes, it comes as a
matter of pure charity, unsought, unasked, and undesired.
In
Bible terms, grace is placed in direct opposition to works, worthiness, and
merit in the creature (Rom. 11:6; 4:4-5; Eph. 2:8-9). Grace and works will not
mix. And any attempt by man to mix the grace of God with the works of man or
the will of man is both blasphemy and a total denial of grace.
If
you will search the Scriptures, you will find that there are four things which
always characterize the grace of God. Whenever men speak contrary to these four
things they deny the grace of God. (1.)
The grace of God is eternal (Rom. 8:28-30; 2 Tim. 1:9). Grace does not
originate in time and cannot be controlled or directed by anything in time.
Grace is eternal. (2.) The grace of God
is free (Rom. 3:24). When God declares in his Word that his grace is free,
he is telling us that his grace is without qualification, without condition,
and without change. (3.) The grace of
God is sovereign (Rom. 5:21). Grace reigns, everywhere, over all things. If
grace reigns, then it reigns from a throne. And the One who sits upon the
throne is sovereign. The throne of the sovereign God is called “the throne of grace” (Heb. 4:16). When
the Bible declares that grace is sovereign, it is declaring that God is
gracious to whom he will be gracious (Rom. 9:11-18). Salvation (eternal life)
is the gift of God (Rom. 6:23). If it is a gift, it cannot be claimed as a
right. If it is a gift, it cannot be earned. If it is a gift, the Giver is free
to bestow it upon whom he will. Nothing so riles man’s hatred of God as the
declaration that grace is free, sovereign, and eternal. This is the offense of
the gospel (Gal. 5:11). Grace is abasing to man’s proud heart, putting all upon
one level, declaring all to be helpless, justly condemned sinners, dead in
trespasses and sins. Grace gives no recognition to the righteousness of man,
except that all our righteousnesses are filthy rags before God (Isa. 64:6).
Grace makes fallen man to be utterly dependent upon the goodness of God for
salvation. And (4.) the grace of God is
distinguishing (1 Cor. 4:7). Grace discriminates men from men. Grace
segregates men. Grace makes differences between men. Grace chooses some and
passes by others. God has his favorites whom he has from eternity singled out
from the rest of Adam’s race, to whom he will be gracious (John 15:16; Eph.
1:4-6; 2 Thess. 2:13-14). Grace separated Abraham from the rest of his family.
Grace separated Jacob and Esau. Grace separated David from his brothers. The
only difference between the children of God and the children of the devil is
grace. Every child of God knows it and gladly acknowledges, “By the grace of God I am what I am” (I
Cor. 15:10).
THE WORKS OF GRACE - It is
absolutely essential that we understand that everything involved in the
salvation of sinners is the work of God’s grace. There is nothing required for
our salvation that is in anyway dependent upon, determined by, or conditioned
upon man, not the worth of man, not the works of man, and not the will of man.
We are saved by grace alone (Eph. 1:3-14; 2:1-9). I cannot state this fact too
strongly. It cannot be over-emphasized. Salvation is by grace alone, without
works. God’s election is the election of grace (Rom. 11:5-6). God’s covenant is
the covenant of grace (Psa. 89:2-3). Our adoption into the family of God was by
grace (Eph. 1:5-6). The redemption of our souls by Christ was a marvelous work
of God’s grace (Heb. 2:9). We are justified freely by God’s grace (Eph. 1:7). We
are forgiven by grace (Eph. 1:7). Our regeneration and calling is by the grace
and power of God the Holy Spirit (Gal. 1:15-16). Our sanctification is by the
grace of God (1 Cor. 1:30). Our preservation in grace is by grace. And our
resurrection shall be the work of God’s grace (John 5:25-28). From the gates of
hell to the gate of heavenly glory, we owe our salvation to grace alone. When
almighty God has finished the work, he shall “bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace
unto it!” (Zech. 4:7).
THE TROPHIES OF GOD’S GRACE - The glory
of the grace of God shines forth most splendrously when we behold the
unworthiness of those whom he has saved by his marvelous grace (1 Cor.
1:26-31). Here are four trophies of grace which will serve to illustrate what I
have tried to describe to you.
1. Manasseh, King of Judah (2 Chron.
33:1-13) - Manasseh was a barbaric monster. He sacrificed his own children upon
fiery altars of idolatry. He filled Jerusalem with innocent blood. His sacrilegious
indecencies perverted the whole nation. He lead Judah into corruptions
unmentionable even among the heathen. Yet, the grace of God touched his heart,
renewed his soul, forgave his sin, and made him an heir of heavenly glory!
2. Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9) - A more blood
thirsty persecutor of God’s church the world has never known than Saul. He was
a monster of a man, set upon the destruction of God’s lambs, bent upon the
annihilation of Christianity. His thirst for violence and murder was insatiable.
His rancorous heart was filled with violence. Never did a man live who, in the
opinion of human judgment, was more certainly deserving of eternal damnation.
Yet, this godless, implacable wretch of a man is today seated with Christ upon
his throne, a trophy of the grace of God!
3. The Corinthians (1 Cor. 6:9-11) - The
people at Corinth were the most sensual, profligate people of the ancient Roman
world. They were the most vile of the vilest age in the annals of human
history. Yet, through the infinitely tender mercies of an ever gracious God, a
great multitude of them today are robed in white and crowned with glory.
4. The Man who Writes These Lines -
Indulge me a little as I make a personal reference. I cannot refrain from my
own testimony to the grace of God. I am Gomer. I am Onesimus. I am the prodigal
son. I am a sinner saved by grace. Grace chose me. Grace redeemed me. Grace
preserved me. Grace called me. Grace keeps me. Grace will bring me home.
“Naught have I
gotten but what I received, Grace hath bestowed it since I have believed;
Boasting excluded, pride I abase- I’m only a sinner saved by grace!”