The Wonders Of His Grace

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.