Grace
Mike Doyle · Jul 1, 2012
Specials
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926320287172

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

OK, today we're going to talk about grace. And I'm going to try to maybe answer a couple of questions this morning. The first one is, how would you define grace? What is it? And the second question is, how does it work in the life of the believer? So some say, and the most generic definition that you hear is that grace is that I don't get the punishment that I deserve and that I get all kinds of mercy that I don't deserve and I don't get what I do deserve.

Well, I looked up some definitions and I'd like to start with the basic verse that we'll work off of today which is Romans 6.14 which says that sin shall not have dominion over you because you're not under law but you are under grace.

Okay, so Webster's Dictionary says that divine favor towards men, the mercy of God is distinguished from his justice. Also, any benefit of his mercy, which his mercy imparts, divine love or pardon, a state of acceptance with God, enjoyment of divine favor. Another definition is termed common grace, and this is comes from a Calvinist reform viewpoint and basically what it says is that God, referring to the grace of God that is common to all men, everybody to some degree or another lives under God's grace.

God's grace is manifested in the salvation of sinners. It is grace because it's undeserved. It's grace because it's sovereignly bestowed. Another Calvinistic understanding was a thing called special grace or saving grace, which extends to those whom God has redeemed.

So you could say from a worldly definition standpoint that grace is favor, kindness, it's friendship, it's God's forgiving mercy, the gospel distinguished from the law, it's gifts freely bestowed by God, it can be miracles, prophecies, tongues, It can even be Christian virtue. So what I found interesting with looking up these definitions is that they all sort of give you the idea that grace is a commodity, that it comes in little jars that are labeled common, sanctifying, divine. Even Augustine had the term he called prevenient grace, which means which means coming in advance of something. Another Calvinistic viewpoint is the thing called irresistible grace.

I come out of a Catholic background and we use the term actual grace. So what's interesting is, though, is that if grace is a commodity, then if you're going to utilize it, then you've got to figure out which jar in the shelf you need. What it really is, is an environment in which we live. And so we're going to focus on that. We're not going to spend any time talking about whether it sanctifies us, or it's actual, or it's common.

Because in John 1.17, John said that the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. So the Lord Jesus Christ, when He shows up, comes with this thing called grace and truth. The best definition of grace that I have discovered, and it was several years ago and I haven't been able to improve on it, was one that Chester McCauley came up with, and it's defined as the unmerited and the unlimited blessings from God based on the totally sufficient work of Christ on the cross. Because it's unmerited, It never puts the giver of the grace under any obligation. It can't. Am I the one making those noises? The giver just does it because he wants to do it. It's part of his character. So, two statements in this verse. One is that we are not under law. So if you take a look at the book of Hebrews in chapter 7, Verse 11 is kind of a long verse, but basically what the author of Hebrews is trying to tell the Hebrew believers is why they are not subject to a law system anymore.

And what he says to them, if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood on the basis of law, What further need is there of another priest arising according to the order of Melchizedek? The Lord Jesus is a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek doesn't come from the line of Levi. And if you wanted to be a priest in the Jewish system, you had to be born from the line of Levi. Well, the Lord Jesus was from the house of Judah. But we are told that he is a new high priest, and so he came from the order of Melchizedek.

And then the reasoning that the author gives is this. For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. The law being changed, or something is put in place of the law. So we as believers, or in that case the Hebrew believers, couldn't be under a law system because the system changed, because the priesthood changed. Second Corinthians 3, 7 through 11, when you get down to verse 11, it says, for if that which fades away was with glory, which is the law, the fade away word there is the word ketergeho, which we see a lot in scripture.

It means to nullify or to make inoperative or to put out of business. Then verse 11 says, much more that which remains is glorious. We are not under a law system because the law has been put out of business. We are not under law because it's been done away with.

Romans 7.6 says, but now we have been released from the law. having died to that wherein we were bound, so that we serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter. We've been discharged from the law.

Why? Because we died to it. It's pretty simple. I use this example a lot. My mother dies. She's in the nursing home. And during visiting hours, she didn't decide that she wasn't going to be dead anymore and get up. We can't decide from a positional standpoint that we're not going to be dead to the law anymore and we're going to serve under it.

We're under a whole new system now. And the new system that we're under is called grace. Now, grace is an interesting word because if you do a little study on it, the Greek word for grace is the word charis. And it came from a stem of a word that means something that's charming, or attractive or beautiful. We get the word charismatic. Somebody is a very charismatic personality, which means that they have qualities that are really attractive. We're hoping guys that run for political office hope that they're charismatic, that people are going to like them.

In Luke 4.2, this is an example of how the words used. They wondered at the words of grace which proceeded out of his mouth. The point is that the words were beautiful. They were attractive. They were charming. And so the Greeks used the word grace.

In Colossians 4.6, Paul says, Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know what you ought to answer each one. A believer's speech, you and I, should speak graciously.

In other words, it should be attractive. It should be charming. And the seasoned with salt part, I think, means that you should know how to turn a phrase. You should know how to say things in a way that people stop and listen to. Now, the Greeks used this word in another way. They used it as a favor done for somebody.

That highly spiritual Saint Aristotle Come on, that's funny. Here's how he defined grace. He said, it's something conferred freely with no expectation of return and finding its source in the bounty and the free heartedness of the giver. Aristotle understood from a Greek standpoint what grace.

In other words, what he means is you do a favor for somebody out of your heart, not because you have any expectation of return. You just do it because you wanted to do it, and you don't expect anybody to give you anything back. That's the second definition. The third way that they used it is in a response for a favor done. If I come to you and do a favor for you, how do you respond? Everybody got the same word in their mind at the same time. The word is thank you. Guess what the Greek word for thank you is? Keres. It's the same word. You do a favor for me, Charis. I respond by saying thank you. I use the same word back to you.

So 2 Corinthians 8.16, but thanks be to God who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus.

2 Corinthians 8.19, not only so, but who also appointed to the churches to travel with us in a matter of this grace, which is ministered by us to the glory of the Lord and to show readiness.

If Vern Peterman stands up here every week and he does a great job, you'll notice that we never take up a collection. The collection really is a thank you. I'll never forget years ago when Ben King said that's the only church he's ever been to in his life that you get to hear the sermon before you have to pay for it.

What I should say to you is on your way out the door, put your thank you in the box. When they take up the collection, it means thank you. It doesn't mean you're under any obligation. You're just thanking the person. So the only means for giving would be grace. It would not be obligation. It would only be grace. Showing your thankfulness for what has been done for you not because you're obligated. You're just thankful.

Okay, so And by the way for I don't know how many years now probably a couple decades We at Holly Hills have lived under grace. It's kind of cool that way so now In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul says, Now brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which was given in the churches of Macedonia. When he says the grace of God given in the churches of Macedonia, he means the money that they gave to support the poor Christians in Jerusalem. So, there should be, under grace, only one reason why you give, and that's because you're motivated by the grace itself, no other reason. When grace is understood, it always brings forth a thank you. It just has to.

Lewis Barry Chafer wrote a book on the subject of grace, probably the best book I've ever read on grace, but very complicated book, tough to understand. And one of the reasons is because I, like you, are not all that familiar with what grace is. So as you spend time, if you buy the book and it's available and read it, written in I think the 1930s, which leaves a lot of emotion out and Chafer makes you be a critical thinker. He pointed out seven fundamental facts about grace and I want to go through them because I think they're really critical.

He says, number one, that grace is not withheld because of demerit or lack of worth. If grace ceases to be grace, if God is required to withdraw it in the presence of human failure, God does not base his grace on whether you deserve it or not, or whether you failed, or whether you sinned. That's not what he bases it on. Grace can't be exercised where there's the slightest degree of human merit that needs to be recognized.

On the other hand, we do have a sin issue. And God took care and disposed of the sin issue by the crucifixion of the Lamb on the cross. It had nothing to do with you. It was a transaction between the Father and the Son. And He disposed of the issue of sin for His own satisfaction, not for you.

So the cross created an entirely new relationship now that God had now with man. And I've said this a lot and I hope it's clear. When the Lord Jesus died on the cross and he said to the Father, it's finished. And then the three persons of the Trinity raised Christ from the dead. Was God at that point under any obligation to save you and me? No, he wasn't. He could have said, I'm finished. I'm satisfied. I'm walking away.

I'm not going to save them at all because they don't deserve it and I'm not going to be gracious. At that point is when he decides to be gracious and he does offer us salvation solely on the basis of what's in his heart, not what any of us deserve. He loved us, but He wouldn't save us because He's big-hearted. He saved us because the sin question had been resolved and His righteousness had been taken care of on the cross.

The second principle is that grace cannot be lessened because of demerit or lack of worth. In other words, if somebody on this side of the room sinned less than somebody on this side of the room, it didn't take less grace to save them and more grace to save these people over here. Because grace has nothing to do with your worthiness. It has nothing to do with the character of the sinner. It has only to do with the character of the one extending the grace. The third principle is that grace cannot incur a debt.

When God extends His grace and love towards you, the sinner, and you respond, do you owe Him? Is there any obligation that you have in the past? Is there any obligation or reimbursement that you're going to have to pay Him back right now in the present or in the future?

Answer, no. It was freely given, so what's your response? You should already know what your response is. It's thank you. It's thank you. You can't say to God, well, you did this, so I'm going to come up with a repayment plan for the gift that you gave me so that I can pay you back.

If that's your attitude, you've totally missed what grace means. Fourth principle. It cannot be exercised in just payment of a debt. Let's say you go to the bank and you borrow some money. And on that promissory note, it says, if I feel gracious today, I'll pay you back. No, you agree and you enter into a contract that you will pay him back. So once you incur a debt, the payment of the debt or just the incurring of a debt is not gracious and the paying back of a debt is not gracious.

So Romans 4.4 says, now to him who works, The wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. So if you try to work for your salvation, or you try to work to be more pleasing to God, you have created a debt environment rather than living in a grace environment. So God now saves sinners by grace alone, apart from every human merit, is what the teaching of the Word of God is, Ephesians 2, 8-10.

You say, well, that's okay. Principle number five, then, grace must be an overpayment of a debt. So you go out to lunch after church, the bill's 24 bucks, and you tip $5. Is it $5 grace? No, it's not. Because all you've done is added on. You've added it on. It's part of the original transaction of you eat the food, they give you the bill, and you pay it. Tipping is not gracious. I know some of you cheapskates.

Now, the last two principles are probably a little bit more difficult to understand, but grace does not appear in the immediate divine dealings with the sins of the unsaved. I'm going to say that again. Grace does not appear in the immediate divine dealings with the sins of the unsaved. Now what that means is this, that sinner is never forgiven because God is big-hearted enough to remit the penalty or to waive the righteous judgment.

It's a disastrous misrepresentation of the truth of the gospel if that's the view that you have. The Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, has already taken away the sin of the world. He's already done it. The fact that Christ as a substitute has already borne the punishment and satisfied the undiminished righteousness of God against sin, that's the sole ground on which God forgives us. That's the only ground that He forgives us. It's not because He's big-hearted and it's not because He loves us. He forgives us because the penalty has been paid. So, he can exercise divine forgiveness only because Christ took care of the issue. The forgiveness of God towards sinners, therefore, isn't an immediate divine dealing with the sins of the unsaved. Well, principle number seven. How about Grace does not appear in the immediate divine dealings with the sins of the saved.

How about you and me? Does he forgive us because he's big hearted? Because we're now believers? Same principle. You and I are only forgiven because of the work of Christ on the cross. That's the sole reason. So when you understand that, it takes the emotion out of it. It takes the feeling out of it.

God is very, He's righteous and holy and He's good. And He had to deal with the whole sin issue before He could, in grace, offer salvation to sinners. Now, Chafer has a conclusion paragraph here, and I want to read it all because it includes definition and some very cool facts. He says, it may be concluded that the word grace, as used in the Bible in relation to divine salvation, represents the uncompromised, unrestricted, un-recompensed, no payback, loving favor of God towards sinners.

It is an unearned blessing. It is a gratuity. God is absolutely untrammeled, in other words, under no obligation. And he's unshackled in expressing his infinite love by his infinite grace. Through the death of the Lamb, by whom every limitation which human sin could impose has been dispelled. through the provision which offers salvation only as a gift, through the divine decree by which human merit has been forever disposed. No merit, no obligation.

Grace is the limitless, unrestrained love of God for the lost, acting in full compliance with the exact and unchangeable demands of his own righteousness. through the sacrificial death of Christ. Grace is way more than love. It is love set absolutely free and made to be a triumphant victor over the righteous judgment of God against the sinner. Pretty cool. So, definition. Grace is the unlimited, unmerited blessings from God based on the totally perfect, adequate work of the Lord Jesus on the cross. All right, let's talk about the ministry of grace in the believer's life.

It's interesting that God saves sinners by grace. He keeps through grace those who are saved. God teaches in grace those who are saved and keeps how they should live and how they may live to his eternal glory. The Apostle Paul understood that in 1 Corinthians 15, 10, and 11. Paul says this about himself.

He says, By the grace of God, I am what I am. And His grace towards me did not prove in vain. But I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. Whether then it was I or they, we preached, and so you believed. Interesting.

Grace was the thing that saved Paul. Grace is the thing that transformed him. Grace made him work and motivated his work. Grace enabled him. When you summarize the Apostle Paul's life, it is only grace. It's nothing else. No human being worked harder in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ than the Apostle Paul. Yet he says, The entire motivating factor, the entire reason he did what he did was grace.

So what I want you to do is to stop looking at grace as a commodity in little jars and begin to look at grace as a system, an environmental system in which all believers live. It's an atmosphere in which unlimited and unmerited blessings are the normal part. It's an environment that we are in. It's not something in a jar that we receive. We live in grace. So, some principles.

The very first principle is our verse in Romans 6.14. Sin shall not have dominion over you. Why? For you're not under law, you're not under rules, but you're under grace. So Why does Paul have to tell us this?

Why does he have to go through this process and tell us that we are under grace? Because if we're not taught grace, we will not figure it out on our own. Grace is not a natural way for us to think. It is tough for us to even understand grace except through the Word of God and being taught what grace is.

So what's the design of grace according to this verse? What's it supposed to do? We have in our minds that if we get a set of rules and we obey them, that we will stop sinning. But this verse does just the opposite. So grace is designed to prevent sin from reigning. That's why it's there. It's not a license to sin, but a system to prevent sin. Maybe there's other ways of controlling conduct. Maybe there is, you think in your mind, well, gee, if you tell me what to do, then I'll know what to do and I'll be able to obey.

The problem is, Paul says in Romans 6.15, what shall we say then? Shall we sin because we're not under law but under grace? He says it doesn't make any sense, may it never be. So we know something from studying Romans that the law or a law system really activates sin. It doesn't control it, it activates it. Paul says in 7, what shall we say then? Is the law sin? No, it's not.

On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known about coveting or desiring if the law hadn't said, don't covet or don't desire. But sin, taking the opportunity through the commandment produced in me, all sorts of desire and covening. And then he says, for apart from the law, sin is dead or dormant.

So I would say this to you. The biggest sins are committed by those who are legal, because they're the undercover deadly ones. Pride, envy, that kind of thing. If you understand and are taught and live under grace, it's designed specifically so that sin won't have dominion over you, that you won't sin.

We can be, as believers, under a law system, which means, as Romans 3.9 says, we are all under sin, or we can be under a grace system. Those are the only two choices we have. So a second principle, about grace is that it's figured out in Jesus Christ only.

Romans 5.15 says, but not as the trespass, so also is the free gift. For if the trespass of the one, the many died, in other words, Adam sinned, everybody dies, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, has abounded unto many. So where does grace abound? It abounds in Christ. The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. So the key to knowing grace is the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing Him is knowing grace. Now the question has to be asked, is grace dynamic? Does it have the power to control my behavior? Does it have the power to teach me how I ought to live?

If you look at Titus 2.11 and 12, Paul says, For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men. Pretty easily understood.

But verse 12 says this, Instructing us to the intent that denying ungodliness and worldly lust we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. The grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness, anything that's not of God, and worldly desires. And the grace of God teaches us to live soberly, and righteously and godly in this present world.

It's grace that does that. It's the only thing that does it, and the only place you find it is in the Word of God, and what you discover in the Word of God is the person of Christ. So, grace is incorporated in the person of Christ. The third principle is that grace is the way God operates.

Does He work any other way? I know, if you're like me, I've gone to God plenty of times on a legal basis. And I always wondered why he didn't listen to me. He didn't listen to me because he's operating on the grace channel. I'm trying to talk to him on the legal channel. It doesn't work that way.

Ephesians 2 says, but God being rich in mercy for his great love of which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. and jumping down in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace and kindness towards us in Christ. For by grace you have been saved through faith." Operating principle, grace. If you want to have a relationship with the God of the universe and the Lord Jesus Christ, it has to be on a grace basis because that's the way He operates. So you have to ask yourself another question. Well, once I'm saved by grace, is it possible not to realize that grace is an operating principle? Absolutely it is.

If I'm not taught, I don't know what it is. And so if I'm not taught about grace, if I don't learn grace, I automatically by default become a legalist because I'm always looking for the cause and effect based on what I can do to please him. Grace doesn't act that way. Is it possible to grasp grace and salvation and not grasp it in your Christian life? Absolutely.

Paul says in Galatians 5.1, for freedom that Christ set us free, stand fast therefore and don't be entangled again in the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you that if you receive circumcision, which was an issue of the law, Christ will profit you nothing. You won't get any profit. Yeah, I testify again that every man that receives circumcision that he's a debtor to do the whole law.

I'm beginning to think I'm running a little long and I might shorten this up. So I want to do one more thing and then I'll quit. So how about, see if we can get this to work. Oh, I love it. Does God speak to us in any other terms of grace? No. So what about the verses that would say, that look like they are saying, if you believe in this way, I will bless you. Isn't that a law question? Sure is. Gives you an obligation. Well, let's look at this. This is called the grace circle. And I want to point out right up here. And we're going to go around this way. The first thing is that God loves me. That's where you start. 1 John 4, 7. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God.

So you start with the fact that God loves me. And you come down to the right side and the result of God's grace and His love towards me is that I love Him. So you say, well, why do I love Him? Because He first loved me. And when you come down to the middle, the six o'clock position, we obey Him. Our obedience is a result of His loving us. If He loved us, then I respond by loving Him. The next step is that I submit myself and listen under to him. Why? Because I love him. Why do I love him? Because he first loved me. Over here on this side, he rewards me. He's going to reward me for obeying him because I love him because he first loved me.

You have to complete the circle. So many Christians do this, they take this quarter or that quarter or this half and they get stuck in the obedience part and they don't realize that the motivating factor, the thing that made it happen, the thing that makes me love God and makes me respond to Him is the fact that He first loved me. If he didn't love me, none of the rest of this would happen. You have to close the circle. So I'm going to stop there. I had quite a bit more, but we'll stop there because we have to do the Lord's Table. So let's pray.

Dear Father, how we thank you today. We thank you for the grace that you have extended to us, that we live under, that we enjoy. We thank you for the fact that you loved us, that you took care of the sin issue, and that you have offered to us, by grace, not only salvation, but the ability and the capacity to behold your glory, to abide with you, and to know you in the heavenly places. How thankful we are today, Father, and we pray in your Son's name. Amen.