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God's Grace Defined
“In Him we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according
to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.” (Eph.
1:7-8)
Grace is the good news that
Almighty God, acting as the Supreme Judge of all creation, did,
by the death of Jesus Christ, perform a judicial act of forever
satisfying His own judgment of death against Adam's race.
"And He is the satisfactory
atonement against our sin and not our sin only, but the sin of
the whole world." (1 Jn. 2:2)
Grace is the good news that Jesus
Christ on the cross of Calvary became the once-and-for-all sin
substitute.
"For He made him who knew no sin
to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him." (2 Cor. 5:21)
Grace is the good news that those
who are dead in the first Adam can obtain life by being placed
into the last Adam.
“For as in Adam all die, so also
in Christ all will be made alive.” (1 Cor. 15:22; 1 Cor. 15:45)
Grace is the good news that Jesus
Christ by His death pulled the sting of death from the heart of
the human race.
“O
death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but
thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:55-57)
God alone accomplished this work
of grace without any interference from man. There was absolutely
nothing that anyone could have done to help God perform His act
of love, and there is nothing that God left unfinished after He
had performed His work of grace. Grace was, and is, and shall
remain totally the work of God alone.
Just how people feel about God's
work of grace does not change in any way His work. His truth
remains true, whether or not anyone ever believes it. What more
can God do than what He has already done?
"Who has saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according
to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ
Jesus before time began." (2 Tim. 1:9)
"Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but by His mercy He saved us." (Titus 3:5a)
When Paul taught grace, he did
not ask anyone to do anything—to keep any laws or join any
church or do good works of any kind. He was explaining what God
has already done! What good is religion or reformation to a dead
human soul? What good would it do to try to change those who
are in Adam by teaching them to live better lives? They cannot
change! They cannot reform! They cannot make themselves better!
All are dead.
God Gives Grace
Grace for Paul was a life and
death matter. Man cannot earn life from God. God must give life
to the dead. If we attempt to add so much as one small grain of
human work to God's work of grace in Jesus Christ, then God's
work ceases to be God's work and it ceases to be grace. Paul
wrote his letter to the Galatians to defend this very point of
grace.
“But if it is by grace, it is no
longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer
grace.” (Rom. 11:6)
God’s grace must begin with God.
God extends grace to those whom He chooses. God does not make
everyone alive. God’s grace is extended to those whom He has
determined to set His love upon. Grace is all of God and God
alone.
What is “the gospel”?
"I marvel that you are so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto
another gospel, which is not another; but there are some that
trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though
we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than
that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we
said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other
gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be
accursed." (Gal. 1:6-9)
During his first missionary
journey, Paul shared the gospel of grace with those of Galatia.
A number of them received God’s grace that had been extended to
them. Paul then founded many local churches in the region. The
Galatians were excited about the love that God had for them and
their new-found life and freedom in Christ.
However, soon after Paul's
departure, the Jews from Judea came to these young believers and
began to pervert the gospel. A perversion is a twisting of the
truth. So how did they twist the truth? They taught the
brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of
Moses, you cannot be saved" (Acts 15:1b). They were adding man's
religious works to God's work of grace.
We can better understand how the
gospel was being perverted by the legalists of Paul's day when
we understand exactly what the Bible says that the gospel is.
"Moreover, brethren, I declare to
you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received
and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold
fast that word which I preached to you-unless you believed in
vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also
received: that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the
third day according to the Scriptures." (1 Cor. 15:1-4)
There is only one gospel; there
are not many gospels. Salvation is not a matter of one person
going to heaven this way and another going to heaven that way.
There are not, as many believe, many roads to God. God has
provided by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the only
way to heaven (Acts 4:12, Jn. 14:6). By means of this work, God
has done everything necessary to save those who trust Jesus
Christ as Savior.
If this is true, then mixing the
Old Testament law or any work of man with the gospel of grace is
not the gospel; it is a perversion of the gospel. The perversion
confuses and blinds people to the truth. This is exactly how
Paul felt about the matter. So serious was this distorting of
the truth to the apostle that he states that God should curse
those who pervert it. This was no nit-picky Bible fuss between
people who really believed the same thing, or the splitting of
some theological hair. The truth of eternal life or death was at
stake.
Mixing Law and Works with Grace
Why is Paul’s battle for the true
gospel significant for Christians today? After all, no one today
teaches that a person must be circumcised to receive God's gift
of eternal life, do they?
Remember that Paul's fight was
about mixing law with grace. Today many, many preachers and
religious leaders, through blindness, confusion or ignorance,
are teaching lies and confusing people. Some who even name the
name of Christ continue to blend works into the gospel. This
implies that a dead human being can do something to earn God's
grace or that God's work in Christ was not sufficient to satisfy
all of His divine justice. By this serious error, they place
themselves squarely under Paul's curse.
Some common attempts at mixing
law (or works) and grace today include:
Many today unashamedly broadcast
the teaching that a person must be baptized with water in order
to be saved. Thus water baptism becomes a work which is added to
the finished work of God in Jesus Christ, which results in a
perverted gospel.
The Bible reveals that water
baptism is a visible, physical symbol of the invisible,
spiritual baptism which occurs when a person trusts Jesus Christ
for eternal life. God the Holy Spirit actually
immerses-identifies the believer into a permanent spiritual
union with the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13, Eph. 5:30,32).
Since this is a spiritual, unseen work of grace, water baptism
is a visible object lesson that allows the believer to show a
picture of this real spiritual truth to those who observe. The
picture is not the real.
Jesus Christ's death completely
satisfied God's just judgment for sin. He did not make a down
payment and require that we pick up the rest of the tab. Water
baptism does have a place in the plan of God for us, but it is
not a part of the gospel.
"For Christ sent me not to
baptize, but to preach the gospel." (1 Cor. 1:17)
The false teaching that a person
must be water baptized to be saved is identical to the false
teaching denounced by Paul in the book of Galatians. It
continues to blind people today to the good news of God's
wonderful grace. Just as circumcision played no part in saving a
fallen, sinful race then, neither does water baptism today.
Does a person have to be a member of a church, or a particular
denomination, in order to go to heaven? This question confuses
countless millions who are held sway by religious leaders
promoting their church or cult as the only way to heaven. God is
satisfied only with the work of Jesus Christ on the cross as
payment for our sins. When we try to add to that work by
performing certain religious acts to save us, we are perverting
the gospel, and "grace is no longer grace" (Rom. 11:6).
Must a person turn from sins in
his life in order to receive God’s life? Tremendous confusion
surrounding the biblical doctrine of repentance fuels this
controversy and trips up many sincere seekers of truth. "Turn or
burn!" many religious leaders shout.
If "turning from sins" played a
role in salvation, then these questions arise: Does my turning
from sin in some way really finish what Jesus Christ said He
finished completely? What does it mean to "turn from sin?" Which
sins should a sinner turn from? What about the sins we don't
even know about in our lives? How exactly are we to turn from
them?
The gospel of John, the book in
the Bible most often used to present the good news of Jesus
Christ to people around the world, never uses the word "repent."
John tells us how to have life eternal, but repentance is
nowhere to be found in the book.
When adding a "turn from sin"
view to the gospel of grace, a religious teacher has added works
to the gospel. The problem with man is not sins. Sins are just
the evidence of the problem. The problem with man is sin—the
spiritual death that we inherited from Adam. God is not
impressed with those who abstain from certain sins or cultural
taboos in order to gain His favor. God is impressed only with
His perfect Son's finished work on the cross. As believers in
Christ, we should turn from sin, not to receive life, but
because we have been given life.
Few teachers are guilty of
teaching that a person can buy his way into heaven through gifts
to the church or worthwhile charitable organizations. The sad
truth is, however, that many people believe that their standing
before God is enhanced by the amount of money they give to their
church or charity.
The leader of the Reformation,
Martin Luther, vehemently attacked the religious frauds that
taught that as "soon as the coin in the chest doth ring, souls
out of purgatory spring." Such frauds are at work today,
insinuating that a generous pocketbook can influence a person’s
standing before God. It took the death of the Second Person of
the Trinity to satisfy completely the righteous demands of a
holy God. What amount of money could man give to help God do
what He has already done?
Often when a person recognizes
the evil of sin within, he chooses to try to deny the
gratification of a sinful impulse. Sincere people have even
resorted to punishing themselves physically in an effort to deal
with the sin nature.
Some religions prescribe special
steps to take, or penances to pay for sins committed. The
performance of these penances is somehow expected to be
sufficient punishment to appease God for their sins. God, who
deemed it necessary and appropriate to bruise His own Son in
order save those who will trust Him by faith, will be satisfied
with no human effort no matter how sincere it might be. "Not by
works of righteousness which we have done, but by His mercy He
saves us" (Titus 3:5).
Often the Bible's beautiful
instruction for God's people to love others is elevated to
become the most important truth in the Bible. With such a high
priority placed on this command, many people may be under the
delusion that if a person simply strives to love others as he
loves himself, then his standing before God is secure.
Man, who was born spiritually
dead, falls tremendously short of the glory of God regardless of
how much he strives to love and care for others. That is why
Jesus Christ had to die on the cross for us. We can in no way
add to that work of salvation, even with such a lofty goal as
caring for others.
Many churches in the South have a
public invitation to receive Jesus Christ as Savior. The pastor
invites people to walk down to the front of an assembly, thus
making public a spiritual decision to receive the gift of
salvation made available by the finished work of Christ. This
public profession, however, plays absolutely no part in the
slightest way in the salvation of the believer. It is sad that
the public invitation is not explained clearly in many churches.
There is always the danger of someone believing that a public
profession (walking down an aisle of some building) is necessary
in order to become a Christian. The passage often used to teach
that a public profession is necessary for salvation is Romans
10:9-10:
"That if you confess with your
mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised
Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one
believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
to salvation."
Paul's Jewish kinfolk had been
taught from childhood and believed sincerely that the God that
they worshiped was one God (Deut. 6:4). They also knew that
their God's name was Jehovah (Ex. 3:14). God was asking them to
believe that Jehovah had made himself visible and knowable in
human form in the person of Jesus Christ.
In order to be saved, the Jews
must believe that the One they had helped to crucify, the
carpenter from Nazareth, was none other than Jehovah God
revealed in human flesh. To confess Jesus as Lord (Jehovah)
would mean that they recognized His work of grace for them on
the cross. To believe with the heart that God raised Him from
the dead is to believe the gospel by faith, which is the death
and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:1-3). Said simply,
for the Jews to confess Him as Lord would be the same as
believing that He is Jehovah God. Walking down a church aisle
and confessing Christ publicly is not in view in this passage
and has never saved anyone, but trusting in Jesus Christ will.
Many people believe that keeping
the Ten Commandments is how a person gets to go to heaven.
Others believe that keeping the Sabbath and going to the
sanctuary and bringing their tithes to the storehouse are laws
that are to be kept by Christians. God's law was never designed
to give life.
“If there had been a law, any
law, which could have given life, then Christ died needlessly.”
(Gal. 2:21)
The Ten Commands reveal that we
are sinful before God (Rom. 3:20-21) and point us to personal
faith in Jesus Christ where there is life (Gal. 2:16). Amazing
grace is God giving life to the dead. God gives life to the
dead the moment that faith is placed in His Son.
“They said, ‘Believe in
the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your
household.’” (Acts 16:31)
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