God's Common Grace

 For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, 

and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Matthew 5:45

For He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.

Luke 6:35  

Yes, God is good and does good, but He does good to all and for all, and all of us, believer and unbeliever, are the beneficiaries of His immeasurable goodness.  This is common grace, unmerited favor, bestowed upon believer and unbeliever alike. Psalm 145:9 says, "The Lord is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works."  God's common grace flows out of and is an extension of His goodness.  Oh, that those who are not His, would see and rejoice, and come to faith.  Then they would experience special grace, saving grace, which is the ultimate expression of His goodness.

Thank you, O Lord, for the common grace through which You have blessed all men; and thank you for Your saving grace, which is the greatest blessing of all. May those who do not know You consider Your common grace and in response turn to You for Your special and saving grace. 

Assurance in Light of Grace

For God so loved the world that He

gave His only begotten Son, that

whoever believes in Him shall not

perish, but have eternal life.

John 3:16

This may well be the most well known verse in all of Scripture (other than, "God helps those who help themselves."...joking here), and it portrays for us the magnificent and magnanimous grace of God; and the gospel of John is chock full of the grace of God. 

One of the ways this grace is presented to us in John is through the use of the word sent.  In John, the word sent is used 40 times concerning Christ so that we would know that it was the Father's will, the Father's initiative, the Father's plan for Christ to come down to earth to deliver men from power of sin and the consequences of its penalty.  The Father's sending of the Son is an act of grace. Grace, that is grace because it was never requested or sought out, but given freely by God to all who would believe. Grace is God's free provision of salvation. God sent His Son, of His own volition, in His own time, and in His own way to be the deliverer for all who would place their faith in Him as their Savior and accept His sacrifice on the cross as their sole means of becoming right with God. It was not Christ on the cross trying to persuade God to pardon us, but God purposefully sending His own Son in the likeness of our sinful flesh to bear His own wrath against the sin of men and women.

Understanding this great grace should also give us great assurance.  Assurance of the love of God for us, assurance of the compassion of God toward us, assurance of the mercy of God bestowed on us, and assurance of the forgiveness of God provided for us. We can rest assured because the Lord has extended the favor of His love, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness to us despite us, not because of us.

Our hope of heaven is not grounded in ourselves, but in the grace of God; and so our assurance of our relationship with God and our standing with God is not just for our life here on earth, but ultimately and most importantly for the life that begins after death. This is why Peter could boldly and confidently state that our inheritance is imperishable, undefiled, and reserved in heaven (I Peter 1:4). The grace that we experience here is only the beginning of the grace that will be lavished upon us for all eternity as Paul states that in the ages to come God will show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7).

So let our assurance rest on the grace purposed for us before creation, the grace made available for us today. and the grace to be lavished on us for eternity, all through Jesus Christ. For we have been saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8) What greater assurance could we have.

The Great Grace of God

The richness of the doctrines put forth in Ephesians is truly amazing. These doctrines are a plentiful provision for hours of meditation and enjoyment. It is always hard for me to read through the first three chapters without stopping and contemplating on one of the great truths that are included therein.

One of the things that makes this book so rich is how the the doctrines presented are interwoven with one another and support one another. One of the doctrinal strands that runs through this book is the grace of God. I am currently preaching through Romans and I have just finished with Romans 3:18, and if you are familiar with verses 9-18 of Romans 3,  you know that this section is God's testimony on sin's absolute dominion over man and its result. Man's utter sinfulness, his utter desperation because of his sin, his utter inability and complete lack of desire to come to God, and his utter unworthiness before God has been on my mind for the last few weeks. With this backdrop in mind, as I was reading through chapter one of Ephesians one this week, the grace of God presented in the first few verses literally jumped off of the page at me.

What does man need from God, the God whom man has spurned, the God whom man has sinned against, the God whose holiness we will all be measured against and found so so lacking? Man needs grace, not an idle grace, not a passive grace, not a benign grace, not an impotent grace, but an active all-encompassing, super-abounding, God-given and God-directed grace. So as Paul dives into the deep end of the pool in laying out the doctrines of salvation in the first 3 chapters of this letter, he lays as the foundation of our salvation, the marvelous grace of God, and he wastes no time as he weaves grace in at the very beginning of this epistle.

Here is a short outline of grace in the first eight verses:

The Declaration of Grace vs 2
"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

This is a familiar greeting from Paul and he uses it or something similar in every letter. In fact, it is so familiar that we tend to gloss over what is being said. Have you ever wondered why this greeting is being used, and used every time?  What is God saying to His church, His people, those that He has purchased through the sacrifice of His Son? He is declaring that grace has been given to us, mercy has been extended to us, His favor has been bestowed on us. It is a potent reminder of the wonderful gratuitous benevolence of God to us.

Paul gives us an explanation of what this grace to you means with his statement in Ephesians 2:8, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God." When we also consider this verse along with Romans 3:24 "being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." we comprehend more fully just how gracious God is in His provision of salvation. It is a gift, and through Paul's epistles He has declared it is from Me to you.

The Definition of Grace vs 3
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ."

Through the years I have heard many definitions of grace, from what the word means in the Greek to man's attempt to define it. I think this verse most completely sums up the essence of what grace is. It is God's blessing us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

Grace is God's blessing. It is a spiritual blessing upon the heart and soul of man. It has its origins and its climax in the heavenly places; and it is given and accomplished in and through Christ.There is an old song I learned in Sunday School and the chorus is, "Count your blessings, name them one by one, Count your blessings see what God has done." The blessing of grace is a multitude of spiritual blessings too numerous to count, and they go on for all eternity as we see in Ephesians 2:7 "so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." The phrase "mind-blowing" does not even come close to describing the riches of the blessing of His grace.

The Beginning of Grace vs 4
"just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world"

The grace of God did not come about as a result of the fall. No, the grace of God has been operative since before the foundation of the world. Before time and creation, God's grace was already being bestowed upon us in His choosing of us. Before we were born we were already the recipients of His marvelous saving grace as He placed us in His eternal redemptive plan.

The Purpose of Grace vs 4
"...that we would be holy and blameless before Him."

We know that the will of God for us is to be holy as He is holy in all our behavior (I Peter 1:14-16). We also know that in our flesh, in our own strength and by our own ability we cannot keep that command. It is by the grace of God that we are made adequate to be holy before Him. Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more (Romans 5:20). There is always a greater supply of grace available than the sin that entangles us. Paul shows us the reality of this in his prayers for the Ephesians in 1:18-21 and in 3:14-20. There is abundant spiritual power and abundant spiritual resources for us to be holy before Him through this grace in which we stand (Romans 5:2).

The Foundation of Grace vs 4b-5
"In love he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself"

The foundation of grace is the love of God. The love of God for those whom He would call as His own, those whom He would adopt into His family, those to whom He would give His name. Because God is love, He is a God of grace. Grace operates and flows out of the great love of God. Paul says this very distinctly in Ephesians 2:4-5 "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)"

The Graciousness of Grace vs 5
"according to the kind intention of His will"

The Greek word for "kind intention" carries with it the idea of a benevolent purpose. God's grace for us has as its end a benevolent purpose. It is for our good and our blessing and our benefit that God bestows His grace upon us. His grace for us is purposeful and deliberate, not random or whimsical.

The Result of Grace vs 6
"to the praise of the glory of His grace"

God's grace is indeed glorious, and should be praised. Inherent in praise is the idea of thanksgiving. In our praise of Him we should indeed thank Him for His grace to us. In consideration of all that His grace is and all that we have because of it, we should open our eyes to its glory and respond in praise.

The Cost of Grace vs 6
"which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved"

Grace is the unmerited favor of God. We have done nothing to earn it, and our actions and attitudes toward God in our pagan state would not warrant it, so He freely bestowed it on us in Christ. We have grace because of what Christ has done on our behalf. As I have mentioned in a previous post, we stand before God with no merits of our own, but with all the merits of Christ.

The Power of Grace vs 7
"In Him we have redemption, through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace"

Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all our sin. A line from a hymn that states well the power of grace. Sin cannot overcome grace, grace is greater than all our sin. Where sin abounds grace abounds all the more (Romans 5:20). We are forgiven our sins, not because of anything we have done, but because of all that God has done; and it is all of grace. God extends His grace to us in His forgiveness of all of our sins, having nailed them to the cross.

The Measure of Grace vs 7b-8
"according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us"

The riches of His grace are immeasurable. When we stand in grace, there is grace as far and as wide as we can see. We cannot outlive it, we cannot exceed its reach, we cannot use it up, we cannot diminish it in any capacity. For whatever we need grace is available. For whenever the need grace is available. There is no limit to the grace of God, and He has lavished it upon us. He has generously given us all the full measure of His grace, and it is inexhaustible.

We need grace from God, in all of its aspects, in all of our life.  Let us marvel together at the great grace of God that has been given to us through Christ.

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God's Grace for the Prodigal Son

The story of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32 is the most beautiful picture of the grace of God in the Bible. Grace is the term the Bible uses to describe the unconditional favor that God bestows on any and all that come to Him. It means that He is favorably disposed to those who come, He does not count their past against them (II Corinthians 5:21), He is eager to receive them and forgive them (Psalm 86:5), He will abundantly pardon them (Isaiah 55:7), and He will keep them and never let them go (Romans 8:35-39). This grace is everyone's for the asking.

In the story of the prodigal son we see God's grace for those will repent and turn to Him. God's grace is exemplified in this story, a truly amazing story of an amazing God. What makes the story so amazing and so compelling is that there is a sense in which all of us fit into the role of the prodigal. Some of us have never considered having a relationshiop with God, others of us have been close to God, but for reasons much like the prodigal in the story, we have wandered away from God. In either case we have found ourselves in a far country, far away from the love of the Father who created us in His likeness.

Despite our distance from Him, and despite the reason(s) for our distance from Him, He is eager and willing to take us to Himself if we would but lift up our eyes and heart toward Him. The picture in this story of the father lifting up his robe to run to the son coming home, is a beautiful picture of the joyous response God has when we come to Him; and this joyous response is for whomever will come, no matter who they are.

And come we may, but we must come to the Father through the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:6).  This is the way God has provided for us to come to Him, into His very presence. Christ lived a perfect life by being perfectly obedient to the will of the Father (John 14:31) for us, and then dying for the sins of all who would believe in Him and turn to Him as the Savior. So, because of His life and His sacrifice, He is the only way to come to God. It is the grace of our good God that has provided a way to come to Him and be with Him for all eternity, when we were totally impotent to make a way to Him on our own.

How about you my friend?  Are you in that far country, far away from God; or are you near, but yet so far away, as the other brother in the story. In either case, turn to God and He will come running to meet you with arms wide open and joy in His heart.

We Need Grace

We need grace, grace in abundance, because we have been called to do the impossible...to be like God, and commanded to do the impossible...love Him with all our heart, soul, and strength; to love our neighbor as our self; and to love one another as Christ loved us.  We are to be holy as He is holy, to walk as He walked in Christ, to be imitators of God and Christ, to not return evil for evil or insult for insult, to walk the extra mile, to turn the other cheek, to treat others as we would have them treat us, to live as He would live, to love as He loves, to put others ahead of ourselves, to say no to each and every temptation, to live for Him and not ourselves, to put Him ahead of all others, to please Him and not ourselves, to do all that we do for His glory and proclaim His excellencies.

Fortunately, what God requires, He supplies; and He does that in and through grace...this is the essence of grace.  In Romans 5:2 we see that we stand in grace.  In Romans 5:17 we learn that we have been given an abundance of grace.  In Romans 5:20 we understand that where sin abounds grace abounds all the more.  In I Timothy 1:14 we see the Lord's grace is more than abundant with the faith and love found in Christ Jesus.  In II Corinthians 9:8 we see that God is able to make all grace abound to us; and in II Corinthians 12:9 we learn that His grace is always sufficient as His power is perfected in our weaknesses.  In II Corinthians 3:5-6 we discover that our adequacy is from God as He has made us adequate as servants of the new covenant.  In Philippians 4:13 we see we can do all things in Christ who strengthens us.  In II Peter 1:2 God reveals that grace is multiplied to us in the knowledge of Him and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  In Ephesians 2:8 we have the truth that we are saved by grace.

Yes, friends, we need grace to make it.  We need grace to do and to be all that God has called us to do and to be.  Thanks be to God who has lavished the riches of His grace upon us so that we can be all that He has called us to be, so that His purpose will be accomplished in us.

Seeing the Measure

We see the measure of love in what it gives.

We see the measure of mercy in what it withholds.

In salvation, love and mercy are inextricably linked.

Romans 5:8, I John 4:10, Ephesians 2:4, Isaiah 53:4-11

God's Giving

God's giving to us, His free favor towards us,

 did not stop at the cross.  In fact, it began

before the cross, and will continue for all eternity.

Ephesians 1:3-6; 2:4-8

Grace Defined, Explained, and Applied

Just as Paul has given us the most concise presentation of the gospel in I Corinthians 15:1-8, he gives us the most concise definiton of grace in Ephesians 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." (italics mine)  Paul then spends the rest of the first three chapters of Ephesians explaining what this means, and tells us how God wants us to apply it in chapters four through six.

What is Grace

What is grace?  In the New Testament, grace means God's love in action toward people 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 sending his only Son to the cross to descend into hell so that we guilty ones might be reconciled to God and received into heaven.  "God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (II Corinthians 5:21).

J. I. Packer

Knowing God

Page 249

Changed and Changing

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature;

the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.

II Corinthians 5:17

 By God's grace I am not the person I used to be.

By His grace I am not the person I am yet to be.

Therefore we do not lose heart,

but though our outer man is decaying,

yet our innerman is being renewed day by day.

II Corinthians 4:16

An Evening of Common Grace

Wednesday evening was one of those special, almost magical, evenings.  We live in the Northwest corner of Midland, Texas; and I was walking around our neighborhood right as the sun was setting and twilight began.  It was one of those great, late spring, West Texas evenings when the temperature was just right and the breeze was both caressing and refreshing.  I was walking with my earphones plugged into my Iphone, tuned into the Pandora internet radio application, playing some delightful, easy listening, jazz music.  

If you have never seen a West Texas sunset, well...you have missed one of God's great beauties.  They are always beautiful, never the same, from magnificent and soul stirring to bucolic and flooding the senses with peace and tranquility.  Wednesday was no exception with colors from pink to green that melded into the azure blue of the twilight sky.

There were some ducks headed to a playa lake nearby and their silhouette against the twilight sky was like an Ansel Adams photograph.  There was the twilight chatter of the birds that I could hear over my headphones.  For the length of a yard a Robin ran along beside me as if keeping me company.  One of the Grey Foxes that inhabit the area trotted in front of me and then stopped and gave me a long look before he jauntily went on his way.

Really, quite a 45 minutes as I was drinking it all in and enjoying each and every drop, reveling in its pleasure.  I was also thinking on I Timothy 6:17 (God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy), and thanking Him for all I was enjoying: and  thinking on how God is good and does good, and that He withholds no good thing from His children.  I was enjoying not only His physical creation, but also the music created by the ones created in His image, and made available through the technology that has its ultimate creation in God.  For all things are from Him and through Him and to Him, and He is the giver of every good and perfect gift.

In thinking about all of this it occurred to me that some of the people whom I passed by on my walk were probably not Christians, not God's children; but that they were able to enjoy the same evening, the same atmosphere, the same breeze, the same scenery, and the same music as I was. They also benefit from the same technology and are able to enjoy the same sunsets because they live in West Texas.  Matthew 5:45 tells us, "He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous."  Luke 6:35 adds this, "For He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men." 

Yes, God is good and does good, but He does good to all and for all, and all of us, believer and unbeliever, are the beneficiaries of His immeasurable goodness.  This is common grace, unmerited favor, bestowed upon all those who have not merited, earned, or deserved it. Psalm 145:9 says, "The Lord is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works."  God's common grace flows out of and is an extension of His goodness.  Oh, that those who are not His, would see and rejoice, and come to faith.  Then their common grace would become special grace, saving grace, which is the ultimate expression of His goodness.

Thank you, O Lord, for all that you have given us, as man, to enjoy.  Bless Your name now and forever.

The Graciousness of Grace

I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him,

he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

John 15:5

The graciousness of grace...always sufficient, incredibly magnificent, totally beneficent. It enables us to be more than we are in ourselves by being all that we are in Him.  It enables us to be more like Him, for apart from Him we cannot be like Him.