THE WONDERS OF HIS GRACE
Study Text: Ephesians 2: 8 – 9
Introduction:
- When we think of the grace of God, our minds are generally drawn to the great passage in Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
- This passage becomes much more alive when we look at the context and see how Paul tells of the “amazing grace” that brought salvation to the Ephesians and will bring it to us as well.
- Without grace, you cannot amount to nor do anything; without grace, you cannot live a righteous life. We can do nothing by our might, strength or good works; only the grace of God enables!
- Even victory in spiritual warfare is by the grace of God. Christianity is a religion of grace and nothing else – no grace, no gospel! Grace is one of the things that makes Christianity stand out amongst all other religions.
- The difference between success and failure, life and death is the grace of God! Grace is the empowering presence of God; it is the ever-present presence of God that allows us to be what God has called and made us to be, and to do what He made us to do!
- It is enough in and for everything and situation. Everything we need to survive is in the grace of God; the grace of God is the strength of God that is sufficient even in our weaknesses!
- Whatever the enemy is making us go through, the grace of God is sufficient and powerful enough to push us through it!
- We shall look at a case study in 2 Samuel 9:1-13. The passage provides for us one of the clearest pictures of amazing grace in the Word of God. God uses David as a living illustration of what grace is all about.
- David says that he wants to show “kindness for Jonathan’s sake.” The word for “kindness” is also translated “goodness, mercy, favor, and loving kindness.”
- It is the Old Testament equivalent to the New Testament word “Grace.” Grace is often defined as “the unmerited love and favor of God toward the undeserving.”
- Grace is one person accepting another in a positive manner in spite of the unworthiness of the person being accepted.
- We shall discuss under three sub-headings:
1. Grace is Extended
2. Grace is Embraced
3. Grace is Expanded
I. Grace is Extended
- David desires to extend grace to a member of Saul’s family. This is amazing in light of the fact that in those days, when a new king came to power, he usually destroyed every member of the former king’s household, in an effort to prevent any rebellion by that family.
- David had the right to execute judgment, but he chose to demonstrate grace instead. David did this, not because the house of Saul deserved it, but because of his relationship with Jonathan, and because of two promises he had made years before.
- David had promised both Jonathan and Saul that he would not totally destroy their offspring, 1 Sam. 20:13-17; 1 Sam. 24:20-22. So, this grace is extended because of another.
- We do not deserve His grace, His love and His mercy. In fact, if we received what we deserved, we would receive judgment, damnation and Hell, Rom. 6:23. Yet, God extends His amazing grace to us because of Another.
- He reaches out to fallen, depraved sinners because He loves His Son; and because Jesus died for us on the cross. Neither you nor I have anything to merit us to God, but because of Jesus, we can experience God’s amazing grace 1 John 2:12; Eph. 4:32.
- Grace gives us what we do not deserve. Observe Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
- We earn death as the wages of our sin. But by God’s grace we have a free gift. That free gift is eternal life in Christ Jesus. That gift is by the goodness of another: our God.
- When David decides to extend grace, he does so without any limits. He is looking for “any that is left of the house of Saul.” The house of Saul was the house of his predecessor and bitter enemy, but that did not matter. David also placed no limits on this grace. He was willing to extend it to “any” member of the house of Saul.
- The key word in verse 1 is “any”. David was not looking for people who met a certain criteria. But, anyone who was of the family of Saul was a candidate for grace.
- Thank God that our Lord’s amazing grace knows no boundaries! It extends to all men regardless of their past, their race, their social standing, or their deeds.
- God does not reach out to save the righteous, but the sinner, Mark 2:17. God extends His grace to “whosoever will”, Rev. 21:17; Matt. 11:28; John 7:37. Praise God, there are no limits on who can come, but grace is extended to all who will!
- David discovers that one of Jonathan’s sons is still living. He also hears the news that this man is crippled. Yet, the response of grace is not to ask what kind of man he is, or even how bad he is crippled.
- Grace does not concern itself with the man’s background, his surroundings, his abilities, his appearance, his future potential, etc. The response of grace is to ask “Where is he?”
- As soon as David hears where this man is, he sends his servants to “fetch” him. Grace said, “I am not concerned about his condition, I want him just like he is.”
- So it is with the amazing grace of God. He does not look upon us and concern Himself with our crippled spiritual condition. He looks upon us through the eyes of grace.
- He sees us exactly like we are, but He loves us in spite of what we are. He knows all about our past, our problems and our potential, yet He responds by drawing us to Himself anyway!
- When grace fixes its gaze on one of the crippled sons of Adam’s race, it cares for nothing but fetching us to itself.
II. Grace is Embraced
- For just a moment, let’s put ourselves in the shoes of Mephibosheth. He is one of the few remaining members of the house of Saul. He is living in a place called Lo-debar, which means “no pasture.”
- He is probably living each day in fear for his life; afraid that King David will come and take his life way. No doubt he is a poor man. He does not have access to the wealth or the lands of his family.
- He is a crippled man. His father was killed in battle and when the news came, his nurse tried to flee with the child and he was dropped and his legs were permanently damaged, 2 Sam. 4:4. He was five when this happened.
- All of his life he has been warned that David might find him. He lives in fear and he lives in misery every day.
- Then, one day it happens! There is the sound of horses and chariots outside the little house in Lo-debar. There is a knock at the door and in come men from Jerusalem. “The king wants to see you” they say.
- So, with a fearful heart you gather what meager possessions you have and you leave with the guards to go see the one man you never wanted to see.
- After a while the chariots arrive at the King’s palace. Mephibosheth is carried into the King’s presence. When he arrives there, nothing is like he had imagined it
- Mephibosheth has entered the presence of grace. Notice how he embraces it.
i. With A Humble Heart
– When Mephibosheth comes into David’s presence, he is aware that as a descendant of Saul he deserves nothing but judgment from the King. Therefore, he humbles himself in the presence of David.
ii. With A Happy Heart
– Instead of judgment, Mephibosheth experiences tenderness. He hears David call his name. And, then to his amazement, he hears David speak peace to his heart.
- He hears the King as he promises him restoration of all the wealth and glory that once belonged to the family of Saul.
- Then, the icing on the cake, David promises to give Mephibosheth a place at the King’s table. It is with a happy heart that Mephibosheth embraces the treasures of grace!
iii. With An Honest Heart
– Mephibosheth is overwhelmed by the grace he has received. He acknowledges that he is undeserving of such love and mercy.
- Grace has been extended and it has been embraced and nothing will ever be the same in Mephibosheth’s life again!
- What a picture this is of the lost sinner who encounters grace. When the King first calls there is fear brought about by conviction, John 16:7-11.
- The sinner knows that he deserves nothing but judgment and damnation from the hand of God. Yet, the call comes and it cannot be denied.
- When the sinner responds to the call and is ushered into the presence of the Lord, he falls down in humility, reverence and worship.
- Then, the King speaks and He reveals the fact that grace has turned away His wrath, opened His heart and His Heaven and that grace offers to restore to the sinner everything that sin took away!
- If you have experienced God’s saving grace in your life, then you know how overwhelming it truly is. Do you remember how you came with nothing and left with everything?
- What grace! What blessing! What a great, wonderful, matchless, glorious Savior we have! When His grace is embraced, everything changes.
- Does all of this mean that man is saved just because of God’s grace without any action on man's part? No, God demands an acceptance of His grace. In fact, this is so stated in our study text: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
- We can well say that grace is God’s part in our salvation and that faith is man's part. We must accept God’s grace by faith. This means that we not only believe God (Heb. 11.6), but that we believe Jesus as well (Rom. 10-9-10). We believe that God raised Jesus and that Jesus is Lord of our lives.
- We believe whatever Jesus teaches as to our salvation. This means that we believe what He said in the great commission concerning what we must do to be saved. He said, “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16).
- Being saved by grace does not rule out our accepting the forgiveness of our sins in baptism (Acts 2.38). In fact, our rejection of God’s requirements would rule out His grace.
III. Grace is Expanded
- When Mephibosheth came to David, he did not get what he deserved. He received grace. When he received grace, he also received more blessings than he could have ever imagined. Grace was expanded.
- Notice what grace provided to Mephibosheth and what saving grace provides to you and me.
i. Grace Provided A Future
– In Lo-debar, Mephibosheth had nothing. He was poor. He was an outcast. He was a fugitive. He had no hope and no prospects for his future. All he had was a pair of crutches and little more.
- But, when he met grace, everything changed! All of his present needs were met and his future was secured.
- Grace gave him something he never could have had in Lo-debar: grace gave him a future.
- The same is true for all those who experience God’s saving grace. In Adam, our Lo-debar, we had nothing! We were lost, undone and headed to Hell.
- But, when grace was extended and embraced, everything changed! What sin could never give us became ours in Jesus! For the first time, there was hope for the future.
• We are promised security – John 6:37-40; John 10:28; 1 Pet. 1:5.
• We are promised a home in Heaven – John 14:1-3.
• We are promised that our needs would be met – Phil. 4:19, Matt. 6:25-34.
• We are promised His presence all the way home to Heaven – Heb. 13:5; Matt. 28:20.
That is what grace gives to all those who embrace it.
ii. Grace Provided A Family
- Mephibosheth was adopted out of Saul’s family and into David’s. Grace gave him something that he did not have before it was extended to him. Grace gave him a family!
- Every day he lives, Mephibosheth was reminded by his surroundings and by the presence of the King that he was the recipient of grace. He was where he was because of the grace of the King!
- When a sinner responds to the call of grace and is saved; that sinner is immediately adopted into the family of God, Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:5; Eph. 1:5.
- Grace took us from our Lo-debar and brought us into the family of God, 1 John 3:1-3. May we never forget that we have what we have and that we are what we are simply by the good grace of God, 1 Cor. 15:10.
iii. Grace Provided Fulfilment
- Mephibosheth was a nobody in a house full of somebodies. There was Absalom, perfect and handsome. There were David’s other sons. There were David’s beautiful wives and daughters. There was Joab the general, proud and strong. There were princes and princesses; soldiers and statesmen; men of wealth and men of power.
- All of these took their place at the table of King David. But wait, as the family gathers, there is the sound of a crippled man coming down the hallway. There is the clump of his crutches and the sound of his feet being dragged. It is Mephibosheth and he takes his place at the King’s table with all the rights and privileges as the rest.
- Then, when he takes his seat and the tablecloth falls across his legs. He looks just like the rest. Grace took a nobody from nowhere and made him a child of the King!
- That is the power of grace! It takes the lost sinner, changes him completely and gives him a seat at the Lord’s Table.
- It takes us from our Lo-debar and makes us one of God’s children. It puts us on even footing with all the rest of God’s precious saints.
- When you embraced His grace, He elevated you to a new position. You are not beneath Abraham, Moses, the Apostles or any other saint of God. You are His child, seated at His table and His grace has taken care of your past and your infirmities. That is the power of grace!
Conclusion:
- Thank God for grace! Thank God for His saving grace. Have you been “fetched” by it? Has its power, promises and provisions been made real in your heart and soul? If you are yet to be saved by grace, and you feel like the King is calling you to come to Him, the time to do that is now.
- We cannot be saved without God’s wondrous grace. All that is expected of us is to accept in faith what the Lord is offering us. It is completely beyond the ability of man to save himself.
