The Grace of God

[JohnS]

CHAPTER 13

[JohnS]

THE GRACE OF GOD (Continued)

In the preceding chapter we gave several good and harmonious definitions of grace by others, and added our own thoughts in an attempt to help our readers understand the meaning of grace. In this chapter we wish to lead our readers into the various aspects of grace. Wherever grace operates it has a throne and so we shall write on

THE REIGN OF GRACE

"That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." {#Ro 5:21} Paul personifies SIN and GRACE and speaks of them as two royal figures, two queens on their thrones. He then shows what each gives to her subjects. Sin has death in her painted hand, while grace has eternal life in her white and charming hand.

1. Grace is more powerful than sin. Here is the sinner

[JohnS]

Practically all professing Christians profess to believe that salvation is of grace. You can hardly find a member of any denomination who will out and out deny that salvation is by grace. The Bible so often and so positively declares salvation to be by grace that few men will boldly deny it. But the trouble is that many think and speak of grace in such a way as to frustrate it. The grace they think of and talk about is not grace at all. It is so mixed with human work and merit that it is no more grace. {#Ro 11:6} There is quite as much in Roman Catholic literature about grace as there is in Baptist literature, but there is wide difference as to what the two groups mean by grace. In preceding chapters we have sought to tell what grace is, and where grace reigns, and what grace provides; and in this chapter we shall endeavour to show:

HOW GRACE SAVES

Before coming directly to the question, we shall lay down some principles from which to reason:

1. Salvation by grace destroys all room for boasting. No man is sound on grace who boasts of anything he has ever done or can do as the ground of his salvation. If your idea of salvation allows you to boast you may be sure it is wrong. No man can even boast of his repentance and faith, for they are the gifts of his grace. {#Ac 5:31 11:17 1Co 3:5 Eph 1:19 1Jo 5:4} All of our graces are fruit of the Spirit. {#Ga 5:22,23}

2. Salvation by grace means that God is to have all the praise for our salvation. The Father is to have all praise for providing the Saviour; the Son is to have all the praise for performing the work of salvation; and the Holy Spirit is to have all the praise for promoting salvation in us by convicting us of sin and bringing us to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. Salvation by grace does not give license to sin. There are two dangers concerning grace: one is the danger of frustrating it, the other is the danger of abusing it. We frustrate grace when we teach that righteousness comes by keeping the law. {#Ga 2:21} We abuse grace when we use it to justify a life of sin. One is the danger of Arminianism, the other is the danger of Antinomianism. The one sets grace aside, the other uses grace wrongly.

He who justifies his sinning on the ground that he is not under law but under grace, does not have the grace of God in him. {#Ro 6:14,15} The child of grace hates sin and strives against it, and when he falls into it, confesses it and forsakes it. Sin is not the habit and practice of his life. There is no sin that he hugs to his bosom and takes to glory with him. There is no sin that is a sweet morsel under his tongue. The man of grace neither boasts of keeping out of sin, nor justifies himself when he falls into sin.

In approaching our question:

HOW DOES GRACE SAVE?

We make a negative approach:

1. Grace does not save by enabling us to perfectly keep the law of God. It is our judgment that this is the way many people think grace saves. They confess that no man can of himself keep the law, but that grace enables him to keep it, and in this way grace saves. To be logical and consistent, and to have any place for grace in their plan, this must be the position of all who believe in salvation by keeping the law. Now, it is admitted, that if God should eradicate every vestige of our sinful nature, and cause us to live without sin, that would be grace indeed that would be the unmerited favour of God. It would be grace for it would be doing for us that which we do not deserve. But this is not the way grace saves, and we must voice our objections to it:

1a) That would not satisfy justice for sins already committed. God is just as well as gracious, and grace never acts contrary to justice. If the sinner should quit sinning justice would condemn him for sins he had committed in the past.

1b) That would rob Christ of any part in our salvation. If grace saves by making us sinless in character and conduct, then salvation would be by grace, but apart from Jesus Christ, for "... if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." {#Ga 2:21}

1c) If grace saves by enabling us to keep the law, then the Holy Spirit would be the Saviour rather than Christ. The Holy Spirit is the Administrator of inward grace; it is by his strength we worship and serve God. The Holy Spirit, through the word, shows us the Saviour, and makes him precious to us, but the Holy Spirit is not the Saviour. In announcing the birth of the Saviour, the angel said, "thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins." {#Mt 1:21}

1d) In the new birth the sinful nature is not eradicated, but a sinless nature is implanted. In the saved man there is a warfare between two conflicting natures; "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." {#Ga 5:17} And Paul said, "I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.." {#Ro 7:21} And this is the testimony of every true child of God, for "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." {#1Jo 1:8}

2. Grace does not save by overlooking our sins. If God took no account of our sins, that would be grace indeed but in doing that he would abdicate his throne in favour of his enemies. Our sins deserve punishment, but if God overlooked them and never punished them, that certainly would be grace that would be the unmerited favour of God. But this is not the way grace saves, for several reasons:

2a) Because it would be at the expense of justice. There can be no sacrifice of justice in salvation. Sin must and will be punished. If God overlooked sin he would be gracious, but at the same time unjust.

2b) There would have been no need of Christ