AMAZING GRACE
Ephesians 2:8-10 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
I Cor. 15:9-10 "For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which [was bestowed] upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."
Just what is the grace of God? It has been simply defined as the unmerited love and favour of God. This is true. But I like say it this way: "The unmerited love and favor of God acting on our behalf now and forever.." The grace of God not only saves us through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, but it also enables and empowers us to love and serve Him in every aspect of the Christian life.
The testimony of the writer of these verses is a tremendous tribute to the grace of God. His story is a story of a classic and complete conversion. His simple statement, " . . because I persecuted the church of God..." says it all. What happened to him on the road to Damascus is a clear and undeniable example of the most radical change and spiritual metamorphosis one could ever imagine. The violent hatred, hostility, and horrible slaughter perpetrated by Saul, the powerful persecutor, is beyond our capacity to conceive. Is it not significant that he did it all with great and sincere devotion and dedication to his religion; just as the religious terrorists of our day purport to do? I am sure he had in mind the white hot religious fervor that drove his terrible Jerusalem campaign of persecution when he latter penned these words about his great burden for his earlier zealous companions in violence: "Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. . . " Is it any wonder the diminutive Paul would later exclaim, "But by the grace of God I am what I am!" Amazing Grace!
The testimony of the writer of that grand old hymn of the faith, John Newton, is also a tremendous tribute to the amazing grace of God. It is so familiar that few Christians need to review it to remember it. The depths of depravity and the desperate despair to which Newton had sunk is not particularly pleasant reading. Yet the words of his great testimonial song tell us God did the same for him.
But is our testimony any different? Weren’t we all brought down to the depths of depravity and overwhelmed with desperate despair when our God heard our cry and lifted us up, cleansed us and set our feet upon the Solid Rock, Jesus Christ? Can we not all echo Paul’s statement and Newton’s verses about the grace of God? Can we not all concur with Paul’s confession when he said, "This [is] a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief."? (I Tim. 1:15) As we reflect upon God’s grace together today, let us once again review what God’s grace has done for each of those who have been saved by it.
WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE. The scripture clearly states that even our faith is a gift of God’s grace. Is it not tremendous that God’s loving grace is manifest in that even while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us? (Ro. 5:8) When we look at ourselves, what are we really like? Can we argue with Paul’s conclusion that all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God? Can we contend with Paul’s observation that there is none righteous, no not one; there is none that seek after God?
Until we see ourselves collectively and individually in this true light, we cannot really know the grace of God. Until we accept the totality of our sinful depravity we will not be able to give God the glory for eternally saving us by grace through faith.
The story of the ten lepers reminds us of this. (See Luke 17:12-19) Leprosy is used throughout the Bible as a type of man’s terrible, incurable, sinful condition. When Jesus healed them of their terrible incurable disease, only one of them understood the grace and mercy of God and " .. turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God. He fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks. He was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where [are] the nine?"
What did James mean when he compared God’s Word to a mirror? (James 1:23-25) It is only when our sinful being is reflected against God’s perfection that we see our great need for Him and experience His grace in our life. But if left to his own devices, man in the flesh would rather smash the mirror than truly repent and receive the grace of God and be saved. He tends to react as the wicked step mother in the fairy tale. She could not accept the truth when she said, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all..." Man responds the same way. Left to his own sinful will he will flee God’s grace.
When I think of the grace of God I am reminded of the story of old warrior of the faith who lay dying. Evidently the descending sheet which Peter saw in a vision was playing upon his mind. He kept mumbling, "A great sheet and wild beasts and - and - and --" He seemed unable to recall the next words and he would start over again. A friend whispered, "John, it says ’creeping things’." Smiling the man exclaimed, "Oh, yes, that is how I got in! Just a poor, good-for-nothing creeping thing! But I got in - saved by grace through faith!"
Many people have not learned the simplest of truths about salvation in the Bible. They will not accept that they cannot do anything to save themselves. Then they cannot conceive that God does not expect them to do something. They can never quite believe that Jesus has already done it all. That when He cried out from the cross that it is finished, He meant it. That the great transaction was truly done and nothing more remains to be done to procure eternal salvation by those who truly believe.
WE ARE SECURED BY GRACE. It is the sealing power and authority of the Holy Spirit that keeps us until the day of redemption. It is the earnest of the Spirit that ensures the completion of our salvation. "Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." (II Cor 1:22) That’s real grace. The Hebrew writer assures we who have come to God through Jesus Christ that we are saved to the uttermost. Jude closes his short epistle by praising the God who has saved us to the uttermost and is able to keep us from falling.
As the old hymn asserts, we are prone to wander, prone to leave the God we love. We may be tempted and tested but God has set His seal upon us. We, as Job, are under His eternal protection. Our foot may slide on the slippery slopes of sin we must navigate in our trek through this sinful world of woe. But the grace of God ensures our feet can again be firmly planted on the Rock of Ages. We can be restored to full fellowship with our Father. "The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand." (Psalm 37:23-24)
In my youth I can recall hearing an old gospel song with the statement and theme: "Hold Fast To God’s Unchanging Hand..." At the time, I thought, "Great. Isn’t it wonderful to have the hand of an unchanging God to hold on to!" Later, when I truly began to better understand the frailty of our flesh I came to realize the weakness of my spiritual grip. Then the full implication of the Biblical teaching of the eternal security of the believer overwhelmed me and I was able to say, "Isn’t it tremendous to have an unchanging God holding my hand fast in His unchanging hand."
It seems just yesterday that I grasped the tiny hand of my daughter as she lay in her infant’s bed. I can still recall firmly holding her warm little hand in mine as she took her first faltering steps. I certainly didn’t scold her when she stumbled and fell. I proudly helped her up and helped her on her way. She had taken her first steps!
God does the same with us. Later, I would release my grip and she would only grasp my hand when she felt insecure. Time passed, and ultimately I released my grip entirely and placed her hand into the hand of another as the two become one for a lifetime. When I think of this, it strikes me that although the hands we may hold in this world change and the grip we have upon one another may slip or release, but the grace of God makes sure we are firmly grasped in His powerful hand to the very end of the way.
I once read of a famous artist who visited his daughter and granddaughter. While he was there, his granddaughter misbehaved and was made to stand in a corner for a good while. Being a good grandfather, he did not interfere, although he hurt for her. The next day he returned to her house with his paints and went to the corner where she had stood. He painted beautiful pictures on both sides of the corner. He painted kittens chasing their tails, lambs in a field and gold fish swimming. If she was punished again, at least she would have something to look at.
Isn’t it great that when we sin and are chastened in the corner, so to speak, God does not cut us off forever? We do not fall from grace, but instead we can fall into the grace of God. If we truly confess our sin we will find a beautiful picture of God’s grace painted there!
WE ARE SEPARATED AND SANCTIFIED BY GRACE. Those of us who have become new spiritual creatures in Christ Jesus have surely been as separated from the condition and effects of our previous nature and environment as was Paul and Newton. We are given clear examples in the gospels of the effective transformation and radical changes that occurred in the lives of those who encountered the miraculous saving power of our Saviour when He went about doing good during in His brief ministry upon this earth.
Who cannot help but marvel at the change that instantaneously took place in the condition and life of the maniac of Gadara. He was not only separated from his obvious destiny of eternal condemnation and separation from God, but was also separated from the terrible conditions related to the psychosis of his demon possession. He was changed from a dirty, stinking, naked, self destructive and frightening madman, possessing such superhuman demonic power that he could not be chained or restrained, to a cleansed, clothed and rational human being with concern and compassion for others. In response to his query about what he could do to alleviate the spiritual suffering of others, Jesus told him that he could be sanctified or set aside to serve Him by sharing the good news with others.
If further scriptural evidence was needed, we could cite the examples of those such as prostitutes, murderers and thieves who also are recorded as having such life changing experiences, through the grace of God that brings salvation to all those who will believe. In each and every case, they, as we, became His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works. Only the amazing grace of God could sanctify such saved sinners and make them fit vessels for the Master’s use. "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." (II Cor. 4:7)
This is the message of amazing grace that Paul kept repeating. That God by His grace had saved the person who was in Paul’s view the greatest sinner of all, and had separated and sanctified him to become the great gospel preaching and church planting apostle to the gentiles. This is also clearly what Newton is getting at in his grand old hymn as well. Christian history is also replete with such spiritual success stories of those who were saved, separated an sanctified by His grace to become great servants of God in their contemporary society. The list is too long and familiar to necessitate repetition. The prostitute, alcoholic, drug addict, down and outer can give special testimony to that grace. But the marvelous grace of God adorns the testimony of the "ordinary" sinner as well. Who among has not truthfully and sincerely said time and again, "There, but by the grace of God, go I..."
WE SURVIVE LIFE’S PROBLEMS BY GRACE. We know all too well that the road of the Christian life is not always smooth. We all have our ups and downs. Sometimes it seems we are more often down than up. We are not guaranteed an automatic answer to every problem. We are not promised immediate relief from every test or trial. We can all identify with Paul’s struggle with the thorn in the flesh. We cannot be sure of the specifics of the continuing crisis he faced, but we can be certain the Christ of the crisis provided the grace that was sufficient. We can be just as sure that by the grace of God we have access to the Christ of the crisis. His grace is still sufficient today for all of life’s problems.
The life of Paul and his contemporaries in the faith serve as positive examples of how the grace of God allowed them to respond to the problems and pressures of life. Paul may have been often knocked down, but he was never knocked out of the Lord’s service. Remember he said, "But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened to me have fallen out rather to the futherance of the gospel."
The problems associated with Christian living in our day are just as real as the pressures faced by Christians in the first century. But the grace of God still enables us to respond to problems and pressures in ways advancing the cause of Christ. We sometimes seem to want to abdicate our responsibility and adopt the role of mere spiritual survivors. When asked about how we are coping we tend to use the old cliche and say, "As well as could be expected under the circumstances." When all along we know we should, by God’s grace and power, be victorious in all circumstances.
The grace of God can turn problems to patience, vexation to victory and tragedy to triumph. The same pressure that can cause a destructive explosion can be harnessed to drive the wheels of progress. Pressure usually produces and the production can be good or bad. Both the Old and New Testaments give many examples of the right and wrong ways God’s people have responded to pressure as they were tested in the crucible of crisis. The mere mention of names such as Job, Jonah, Joseph, Elijah, David and Peter immediately conjures up images of proper and improper responses to the pressures of Christian living. It is clear that the grace of God is the key factor in the proper response to problems.
One of my most vivid and pleasant memories from my childhood involves working the bellows for my father and uncle, who were both trained by my grandfather as blacksmiths. I would watch as they would heat farm tools in a fiery bed of charcoal, quickly withdraw them, beat them upon an anvil and then quench them in a barrel of water. The tools were then ready for the task of tilling the roughest and rockiest of fields. It sometime takes the pressure of God’s fiery furnace and blows upon the anvil of life to produce sharp and enduring tools for His use in the planting and cultivating of His spiritual harvest.
God has promised His sufficient grace for every hour of tribulation in the fiery furnace of life. We are surrounded by His grace at every step in our life. Yet we sometimes act if we are hopelessly adrift in a sea of trouble and trial without any recourse to God’s help and power.
Once a sailing ship suffered tremendous storms and had been blown off course into the mouth of the mighty Amazon River. Supplies were low and their water supply was exhausted. The men on the ship were on the verge of dying from thirst in the hot tropical sun. In desperation they signalled to a distant ship, "Help, have no water!" The signal came back, "Dip it up!" They were surrounded by a great ocean of fresh water that reaches far up the Amazon out into the sea. In the storms of life we are always surrounded by God’s love and grace. All we need to do is dip it up!
WE SERVE GOD BY GRACE. Paul makes it clear that we can only really serve God if we yield ourselves completely to Him. He also tells us that this can only be done by the grace of God. "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members [as] instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." (Ro. 6:13-14)
If we are to comply with this command of God, we must by grace daily yield our members to Him in sacrificial and dedicated service. He is to be made Lord of our life and not merely the provider of a spiritual emergency rescue service. Daily yielding to His Spirit is a capacity we cannot develop through our own efforts. We must yield our doubts, fears, miseries and insecurities to His control before He can multiply grace and peace in our lives.
The key to yielding is unconditional surrender. We must run up the white flag and give up our fortress of self-will if we are to experience the dynamics of the mathematics of His grace. The availability of the blessings of the grace of yielding obviously comes to us through the person and power of the Holy Spirit who takes up His residence in our body at the split second of the new birth. He isn’t given to us on the installment plan. His residency in us is not quantitative. We do not need to constantly seek more of Him, chase a second blessing or pursue any particular spiritual gift. Paul said that He has already, "... blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." When we truly repent and receive Him, He is all we need because we are complete in Him!
All we need to serve Him is freely given to us by His grace. Everything related to life and godliness is available to us. We only need to discover and develop it. If the King of Kings lives within us, why should we live as spiritual paupers? Victory and abundant life can be ours if we only yield to His gracious presence and by faith appropriate His resources for living the yielded life.
But sometimes we allow sin to come into our lives and hinder the work of grace. Paul cautions that the blessings of grace upon a yielded life can be hindered by sin. "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." (Ro. 6:12) Our unwillingness to confess our sin and seek God’s forgiveness and healing may hinder our service. The floodgates of God’s grace and power can be released only when we are right with Him.
In days gone by, great rafts of loose logs were floated down the rivers to the timber mills. Loggers could be seen skipping across the logs in an effort to keep them moving freely. If a particular log became caught upon a rock or obstruction, thousands of logs could be piled up in what became a huge log jam. When the logger found this key log and freed it, the jam would be broken and the logs would glide smoothly again. Sometimes the jam would be so great, that dynamite had to be used to free the key log. The analogy of sin in the Christian’s life is clear.
WE WILL MAKE IT SAFE HOME BY GRACE. Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." This is the real essence of the grace of God.
Sometimes we act as the rural man who, having never traveled before, was given a first class around the world ticket on his birthday. He insisted upon going economy class in very situation because he couldn’t afford to pay the price he assumed was necessary to purchase the luxuries of first class travel. He did not understand that the price had already been paid in full.
As His purchased possession, we were given on our spiritual birthday a first class ticket to abundant life and godliness. In our journey through this world, we only need to use it! We not only are guaranteed a safe and sure voyage to our home port, but we are given the first class ticket of grace for our journey!
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