“The Gospel of the Grace of God”

Acts 20:24

 

            The gospel of God is the message of grace. 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 that 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 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 in Christ is our only hope. All men, by nature, stand before God’s holy law as justly condemned felons, awaiting the execution of his wrath upon us (John 3:18, 36; Rom. 3:19). Our only hope is grace!

 

            “Grace is a provision for men who are so fallen that they cannot lift the axe 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).

 

            The only hope any sinner has of salvation and eternal life is the grace of God freely bestowed upon sinners through Jesus Christ, the sinner’s Substitute.

 

            1. 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.

 

            2. 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.” 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.

 

            3. The only bestower of grace is God the Holy Spirit, who is called “the Spirit of grace” (Zech. 12:10). He is the One who applies the gospel to the hearts of chosen, redeemed sinners by his effectual, 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 we preach, the gospel of God, that gospel which alone is the gospel is “the gospel of the grace of God.” It is that gospel which declares, “Salvation is of the Lord!’

 

Grace Baptist Church of Danville - Grace For Today Radio Message #739

2734 Old Stanford Road - Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438

Donald S. Fortner, Pastor -Telephone 606-236-8235 - Email grace@mis.net