The Church of Divine Guidance (CDG) Sunday morning adult bible study group is in a study on grace. These posts are my notes for each session. Please study with us. You can participate by asking your questions or making comments in the comments below. We welcome your thoughts
Foundation scripture Ephesians 2:8-9 (HCSB)8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
Jesus Christ is Himself the sum and substance of the covenant, and as one of its gifts. He is the property of every believer. Believer, canst thou estimate what thou hast gotten in Christ? "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Consider that word "God" and its infinity, and then meditate upon "perfect man" and all his beauty; for all that Christ, as God and man, ever had, or can have, is thine-out of pure free favour, passed over to thee to be thine entailed property forever. Our blessed Jesus, as God, is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent. Will it not console you to know that all these great and glorious attributes are altogether yours? Has he power? That power is yours to support and strengthen you, to overcome your enemies, and to preserve you even to the end. Has He love? Well, there is not a drop of love in His heart which is not yours; you may dive into the immense ocean of His love, and you may say of it all, "It is mine." Hath He justice? It may seem a stern attribute, but even that is yours, for He will by His justice see to it that all which is promised to you in the covenant of grace shall be most certainly secured to you. And all that He has as perfect man is yours. As a perfect man the Father's delight was upon Him. He stood accepted by the Most High. O believer, God's acceptance of Christ is thine acceptance; for knowest thou not that the love which the Father set on a perfect Christ, He sets on thee now? For all that Christ did is thine. That perfect righteousness which Jesus wrought out, when through His stainless life He kept the law and made it honourable, is thine, and is imputed to thee. Christ is in the covenant.
They were:
Common grace - The kindness or favor God give to all mankind believer or not.
Saving grace - The provision of salvation on the cross of
Securing grace - The favor of God by which Christians are kept secure in spite of sin.
Sanctifying grace - Sanctifying grace works within the true believer causing them to grow and mature and progress becoming more Christ-like.
Serving grace - Spiritual Gifts that believers have been given by the Holy Spirit.
Sustaining grace - Grace given at special times of need, especially during adversity or suffering.
First a quick summary then we will get into specifics.
Romans 3:23 (NKJV) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23 (NKJV) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ephesians 2:7-9 (NKJV)7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Titus 3:4-7 (NKJV)4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Ephesians 1:6-7 (NKJV)6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
Titus 2:11 (NKJV) For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men
It is no secret and it’s available to all men, but only through Jesus.
Grace is never a mixture of divine benevolence and human effort:
Romans 4:4-5 (NKJV)4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
Romans 11:6 (NKJV) And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
Grace is entirely the work of God, unprompted by man, undeserved by man, and without regard to anything that man can accomplish later.
J. I. Packer describes grace this way:
In the New Testament grace means God’s love in action towards men who merited the opposite of love. Grace means God moving heaven and earth to save sinners who could not lift a finger to save themselves. Grace means God sent His only Son to the cross so that we guilty ones might be reconciled to God and received into heaven. To make even the slightest contribution to our salvation is to rule out the possibility of grace. For one thing, any contribution on our part would be exaggerated in our own minds.
Since we have no claim on God’s grace and cannot contribute anything to it, then grace must be sovereignly bestowed.
Romans 9:15-16 (NKJV) For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. 16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. "
Some people have a problem with that but again it’s God’s favor and He gives it to whomever He will based on the requirements that He set and they are His requirements not ours.
Grace is not looking for good men but for condemned, guilty, and helpless men whom it will save, sanctify and glorify.
While the Law defines righteousness, only grace delivers it. The Law was never intended to be a means of obtaining grace; it was given to demonstrate to men that grace was desperately needed:
Romans 3:19-21 (NKJV)19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
Here is something that I read written by Robert L. (Bob)Deffinbaugh who has contributed Bible studies to a website that I use from time to time, Bible.org
No matter how pious legalism appears on the outside, it dishonors God by revealing a deep-seated distrust of God. Stop and think about it for a minute. Why do men insist upon putting agreements in writing? Why are legal contracts necessary? For only one reason—men are fallible. At best, we tend to forget the things we have committed to do. At worst, we never intended to do them in the first place. A legal contract gives one man a basis for forcing another to do what he has promised.
Do you really believe God is so unreliable that we must create a contract which binds Him? All of the biblical covenants are those which were initiated by God, not man. And most of these covenants are unconditional; that is, they are not conditioned by any action on man’s part, but only on the faithfulness of God Himself. Legalism by its very nature implies that God is so untrustworthy that we must be sure to get it down in contractual form. Far better it is to leave blessings in the hand of the One who is gracious.
The Proper Attitude of Man under Grace
To preach devotion first and blessing second, is to reverse God’s order, and preach law, not grace. The Law made man’s blessing dependant on devotion; Grace confers undeserved, unconditional blessing: our devotion may follow, but does not always do so , in proper measure.
Before we start today I want to read one of the devotions that I had this past week from Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotions
Isaiah 49:8
I will give thee for a covenant of the people.
Jesus Christ is Himself the sum and substance of the covenant, and as one of its gifts. He is the property of every believer. Believer, canst thou estimate what thou hast gotten in Christ? "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Consider that word "God" and its infinity, and then meditate upon "perfect man" and all his beauty; for all that Christ, as God and man, ever had, or can have, is thine-out of pure free favour, passed over to thee to be thine entailed property forever. Our blessed Jesus, as God, is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent. Will it not console you to know that all these great and glorious attributes are altogether yours? Has he power? That power is yours to support and strengthen you, to overcome your enemies, and to preserve you even to the end. Has He love? Well, there is not a drop of love in His heart which is not yours; you may dive into the immense ocean of His love, and you may say of it all, "It is mine." Hath He justice? It may seem a stern attribute, but even that is yours, for He will by His justice see to it that all which is promised to you in the covenant of grace shall be most certainly secured to you. And all that He has as perfect man is yours. As a perfect man the Father's delight was upon Him. He stood accepted by the Most High. O believer, God's acceptance of Christ is thine acceptance; for knowest thou not that the love which the Father set on a perfect Christ, He sets on thee now? For all that Christ did is thine. That perfect righteousness which Jesus wrought out, when through His stainless life He kept the law and made it honourable, is thine, and is imputed to thee. Christ is in the covenant.
My God, I am thine-what a comfort divine!
What a blessing to know that the Saviour is mine!
In the heavenly Lamb thrice happy I am,
And my heart it doth dance at the sound of His name."
What a blessing to know that the Saviour is mine!
In the heavenly Lamb thrice happy I am,
And my heart it doth dance at the sound of His name."
Last week we talked about the Forms of God’s Grace
They were:
Common grace - The kindness or favor God give to all mankind believer or not.
Saving grace - The provision of salvation on the cross of
Securing grace - The favor of God by which Christians are kept secure in spite of sin.
Sanctifying grace - Sanctifying grace works within the true believer causing them to grow and mature and progress becoming more Christ-like.
Serving grace - Spiritual Gifts that believers have been given by the Holy Spirit.
Sustaining grace - Grace given at special times of need, especially during adversity or suffering.
This week's lesson is the Nature of God’s Grace
First a quick summary then we will get into specifics.
- Grace is God acting freely with no obligations to fulfill
- Grace wholly in the giver, God.
- Grace is sovereign. It can can be given to whomever and however it pleases.
- Grace cannot act when it is deserved. o
It is undeserved
Romans 6:23 (NKJV) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If it could be earned, it would not be grace
Titus 3:4-7 (NKJV)4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
God's saving grace can be received only through Jesus
Grace has appeared to all men
It is no secret and it’s available to all men, but only through Jesus.
Grace is pure
Romans 4:4-5 (NKJV)4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
Romans 11:6 (NKJV) And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
Grace is entirely the work of God, unprompted by man, undeserved by man, and without regard to anything that man can accomplish later.
J. I. Packer describes grace this way:
In the New Testament grace means God’s love in action towards men who merited the opposite of love. Grace means God moving heaven and earth to save sinners who could not lift a finger to save themselves. Grace means God sent His only Son to the cross so that we guilty ones might be reconciled to God and received into heaven. To make even the slightest contribution to our salvation is to rule out the possibility of grace. For one thing, any contribution on our part would be exaggerated in our own minds. Grace is sovereign
Romans 9:15-16 (NKJV) For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. 16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. "
Some people have a problem with that but again it’s God’s favor and He gives it to whomever He will based on the requirements that He set and they are His requirements not ours.
Grace is not looking for good men but for condemned, guilty, and helpless men whom it will save, sanctify and glorify.
Grace is the source of righteousness
Romans 3:19-21 (NKJV)19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
Here is something that I read written by Robert L. (Bob)Deffinbaugh who has contributed Bible studies to a website that I use from time to time, Bible.org
No matter how pious legalism appears on the outside, it dishonors God by revealing a deep-seated distrust of God. Stop and think about it for a minute. Why do men insist upon putting agreements in writing? Why are legal contracts necessary? For only one reason—men are fallible. At best, we tend to forget the things we have committed to do. At worst, we never intended to do them in the first place. A legal contract gives one man a basis for forcing another to do what he has promised.
Do you really believe God is so unreliable that we must create a contract which binds Him? All of the biblical covenants are those which were initiated by God, not man. And most of these covenants are unconditional; that is, they are not conditioned by any action on man’s part, but only on the faithfulness of God Himself. Legalism by its very nature implies that God is so untrustworthy that we must be sure to get it down in contractual form. Far better it is to leave blessings in the hand of the One who is gracious.
Grace is given only to the humble
When our Lord came to the earth, He came to minister to the poor, the suffering, the needy. To the “poor in spirit” Jesus offered the riches of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus had come to this earth in order to minister to those who were in need and knew it. When Jesus chose to associate with the needy rather than with the elite of His day, it greatly offended the Jewish religious leaders:
Mark 2:16-17 (NKJV)16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."
Here is what Jesus said about another proud person.
Luke 18:11-14 (NKJV)11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.'13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
James 4:6 (NKJV) But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."
1 Peter 5:5 (NKJV) Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."
Romans 5:20 (NKJV) Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,
That doesn’t mean that we should sin more so that God will show more grace. That’s a crazy thought.
Romans 6:1-2 (NKJV)1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
We who have died to sin cannot casually and carelessly persist in sin, for it is inconsistent with our new life in Christ.
Grace must never be used as an excuse for sin:
1 Peter 2:16 (HCSB) As God’s slaves, ⌊live⌋ as free people, but don’t use your freedom as a way to conceal evil.
It is possible at this point to misunderstand the grace of God by supposing that grace somehow is granted at the expense of God’s holiness or His justice. Grace does not set aside the requirements of justice; it satisfies them. The Christian is no longer guilty before God and need not stand under the condemnation of God for sin. But someone does have to pay the penalty for sin. For the Christian that person is our Lord Jesus Christ:
Romans 3:24-26 (NKJV)24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Grace, then, meets the demands of justice and holiness rather than to set them aside. Grace is never granted at the expense of any of God’s attributes.
I don’t remember where I found this, I forgot to copy the website, but I want to share it with you:
Mark 2:16-17 (NKJV)16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."
Here is what Jesus said about another proud person.
Luke 18:11-14 (NKJV)11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.'13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
James 4:6 (NKJV) But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."
1 Peter 5:5 (NKJV) Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."
Grace is never to be an occasion for sin
That doesn’t mean that we should sin more so that God will show more grace. That’s a crazy thought.
Romans 6:1-2 (NKJV)1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
We who have died to sin cannot casually and carelessly persist in sin, for it is inconsistent with our new life in Christ.
Grace must never be used as an excuse for sin:
1 Peter 2:16 (HCSB) As God’s slaves, ⌊live⌋ as free people, but don’t use your freedom as a way to conceal evil.
Grace is always in harmony with God’s other attributes
Romans 3:24-26 (NKJV)24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Grace, then, meets the demands of justice and holiness rather than to set them aside. Grace is never granted at the expense of any of God’s attributes.
I don’t remember where I found this, I forgot to copy the website, but I want to share it with you:
The Place of Man under Grace
- He has been accepted in Christ, who is his standing!
- He is not “on probation.”
- As to his life past, it does not exist before God: he died at the Cross, and Christ is his life.
- Grace, once bestowed, is not withdrawn: for God knew all human exigencies beforehand: His action was independent of them, not dependant upon them
The Proper Attitude of Man under Grace
- To believe, and consent to be loved while unworthy, is the great secret.
- To refuse to make “resolutions” and “vows”; for that is to trust in the flesh.
- To expect to be blessed, though realising more and more lack of worth.
- To testify of God’s goodness, at all times.
- To be certain of God’s future favour: yet to be ever more tender in conscience toward Him.
- To rely on God’s chastening hand as a mark of His kindness.
What We discover When We Really Understand Grace
- To “hope to be better” is to fail to see yourself in Christ only.
- To be disappointed with yourself is to have believed in yourself.
- To be discouraged is unbelief – as to God’s purpose and plan of blessing for you.
- To be proud is to be blind! For we have no standing before God in ourselves.
- The lack of Divine blessing, therefore, comes from unbelief, and not from failure of devotion.
To preach devotion first and blessing second, is to reverse God’s order, and preach law, not grace. The Law made man’s blessing dependant on devotion; Grace confers undeserved, unconditional blessing: our devotion may follow, but does not always do so , in proper measure.
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