“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me; I once was lost but now am found, Was blind but now I see.” Most people, including born again believers, do not think of themselves as wretches, but the author of “Amazing Grace” did.
Though I have found some disagreement as to exactly when John Newton wrote the hymn (1748 or 1779), it was written after a close encounter with death on the high seas. Amazing Grace was the story of his life.
Every word was pulled with pain from the dark days and the treacherous times of his early sea-faring youth to the wondrous joy of his discovery of the love of God. His epitaph, written by his own hand, tells more eloquently than any other words the extent of depth and height experienced:
“John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy.” Every line of his hymn is filled with tears of remorse because of the greatness of his sins, and expressions of joy because of the discovery of God’s grace.
Regarding his previous and wretched spiritual condition, Newton said, “I was capable of anything. I had not the least fear of God before my eyes.… I not only sinned myself, but made it my study to tempt and seduce others.”
Surely, being redeemed out of such a wretched spiritual state, as the hymn described it, helped Newton see and appreciate the matchless grace of God. Later he wrote, “I needed someone to stand between me and a holy God who must punish my sins and blasphemies.
I needed an Almighty Savior who would step in and take my sins away.… I saw that Christ took my punishment so that I might be pardoned.” But most often, those who have never gone to the depths of sin like Newton think they do not need as much of the grace of God as did Newton or some notorious criminal. If we fail to see ourselves as wretched sinners, grace will not be so amazing and awesome.
They see grace as nice, helpful—even necessary—but not really amazing. Here is something you can count on: The better you believe yourself to be, the less grace you think you need. The more self-confident you are, the more convinced you’ll be that you could get by even if God were stingy with grace. Sure, you struggle with sin, but that’s just a part of the human predicament.
All you need is some help from God and a bit of personal determination. You can make yourself good enough for God to accept you. You just need to get desperate enough to clean up your act. If grace can help you—fine.
In the New Testament, grace is the Greek term charis, and like our English word, it may mean “graciousness” “attractiveness” or even “charm.” But when we consider the meaning of this word as it is used in the New Testament theologically, it refers to the free, unmerited favor of God; to the favor or kindness given to those who can never deserve it or earn it by anything they do or refrain from doing.
Every time the thought of grace appears, there is the idea of its being undeserved. In no way is the recipient getting what he or she deserves. Favor is being extended simply out of the goodness of the heart of the giver.
The concept of grace in the New Testament, while including all the Hebraic and classical Greek meanings, is infinitely and uniquely heightened by its association with the Saviour. The lavish gift of God in the person of His Son is the particularly New Testament meaning of grace.
This is why it is quite true to say that charis is a word that has been raised to a higher level and filled with new meaning by our Lord Jesus Christ. His self-sacrifice is grace itself (II Corinthians 8:9). This grace is absolutely free (Romans 6:14; 5:15; Ephesians 2:8), and it is that which conquers sin both in its penalty and its power (Romans 5:12-21; 6:1-23).
When that grace which was revealed in Christ is received by the believer, it then governs spiritual life by compounding favor upon favor. It equips, strengthens, and controls all phases of his life (II Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 4:6; II Thessalonians 2:16; II Timothy 2:1).
Consequently, the Christian gives thanks (charis) to God for the riches of grace in His unspeakable gift (II Corinthians 9:15). Throughout the New Testament, then, the predominant thought is the grace of God in Christ which redeems us, governs us, and gives us everlasting consolation and good hope. So Who Needs Grace?
Is grace primarily for those who fall into the category of what many might think of as the more flagrant sinners? Those who classify people into various categories of sinners qualify “big sinners” as people who steal, are on drugs, abuse their spouses and children, are guilty of murder, are often drunk and disorderly, are fornicators and adulterers, and the like.
In their thinking, “The big sinner needs grace more than I do. I’m a pretty good person. Not perfect, but certainly not evil!”
But are these people accurate about who needs grace? It depends on the standard by which we judge our true condition. Every human being needs God’s grace to the limit no matter how good we may appear to be when compared to others.
Naturally, it is better to be a moral person, a good neighbor and citizen, and a decent husband and father than to be guilty of the things mentioned above, but as will be shown from our study, we all are in desperate spiritual condition and in need of God’s grace.
When compared to a holy God, we are all wretched sinners in desperate need of His grace. All the World Needs Grace Because All Fall Short of God’s Glory.
One of the reasons people fail to realize their true spiritual condition and need of grace is because they make comparisons (themselves or others) with the wrong object or standard. The issue is not how we compare to another or how they compare to us or to someone else, but how we all measure up when compared to God and His incomparable holiness.
Our problem is that we are looking at ourselves through the wrong end of the telescope. We are actually much further from God than we can imagine. The better we understand God, the more convinced we will be that there is no recognizable common moral ground between us and Him.
It turns out that we are like the boy who told his mother that he was eight feet tall, at least according to the yardstick he had made!
In the final analysis, when compared to the absolute holiness of God, we all fall far short of His holiness and stand as wretched sinners who are separated from God, spiritually dead and without life (Ephesians 2:1, 5), and under the condemnation of the moral Law of God.
This moral Law (which we have so foolishly removed from the walls of our schools) reveals all the world guilty as sinners (Romans 3:19), as separated from God, and in need of reconciliation and redemption (Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20; Colossians 1:20-22).
The apostle Paul makes this fact clear in the book of Romans. Having concluded his discussion of three types of people, the immoral (1:18-32), the moralist (2:1-16), and the religious (2:17-3:18), he then gives his conclusion regarding man’s condition—all the world is under condemnation and stands guilty before God (Romans 3:9-20, 23).
In Romans 3:9, Paul first asks a penetrating question and then gives the answer. “What then? Are we (speaking of the religious Jews of which Paul was one) better than they? (do we have some advantage by our religious works)?
No, in no wise; for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all all under sin.” As further proof, he turned to the Old Testament Scripture as his justification for this statement that “all are under sin.”
Thus, in 3:10-18 he demonstrates the whole of man’s being is under the power of sin—heart, mind, feet (ways), and his speech (portrayed in the pictures of the tongue, lips, mouth, and throat).
Mankind has a serious malady. As someone has said, we have been stricken with hoof and mouth disease. Having given clear proof from Scripture of man’s basic sinfulness, the next step is to demonstrate to whom this applies.
The question is simply, is anyone exempt? Is the moral man or the religious man? Absolutely not and verses 19-20 plainly indicts all the world as accountable or liable for judgment.
Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law (i.e., Israel to whom God gave the Law), so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held guilty to God.
3:20 For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:19-20.)
But how does the Old Testament Law show the whole world guilty before God? Though God gave the law to the nation Israel, the nation was merely an example of all mankind, a piece of the pie. In order to sample or test the quality of a pie, do you have to eat the whole pie?
No. You sample just a piece of the pie because one piece is indicative of all the rest. With verse 20 Paul demolishes the stronghold of the Jew or anyone who thinks he might be justified by keeping the Law or any rule of righteous behavior as with the Sermon on the Mount or the laws of the Koran.
Plainly put, keeping any form of law is not a means by which a person can be declared righteous before God. The Law, whether it’s the Old Testament Law or that written within the heart of man (Romans 2:14-15), is simply God’s means of showing man his awful sinfulness and alienation from God.
No flesh can obey God’s Law and be justified, declared righteous, in God’s sight. It is true that “the doers of the Law shall be justified” (Romans 2:13), but nobody can do what the Law demands! This inability is one way that men know they are sinners.
When they try to obey the Law, they fail miserably and need to cry out for God’s mercy. Neither Jew nor Gentile can obey God’s Law; therefore God must save sinners by some other means.
"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others" ~ Ephesians 2:1-3.
But God Has Provided Righteousness by Grace Apart From Human Works.
Then how does one obtain forgiveness of sin, spiritual life, righteousness with God, and a relationship with Him? The righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
God publicly displayed him as a satisfaction for sin by his blood through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed. This was also to demonstrate his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.
This righteousness is given apart from works of law. No amount of works can merit this righteousness. So then, what’s the source of this righteousness from God? It is that righteousness which has been manifested in the gospel.
But we should not be surprised. This is not something new since it is
witnessed to by the Law and the prophets. It has been anticipated
since the book of Genesis (3:15). Furthermore, this righteousness
comes to us through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all those and
only those who believe in Christ since God makes no distinction among
people like we do. The reason there is no distinction is because all have
sinned and come short of God’s glory or His perfect holiness regardless
of their evil or good. In addition, this righteousness is by grace as a free
gift and by virtue of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. This redemptive
work of Christ not only demonstrates God’s holiness (His perfect
righteousness and justice), but perfectly satisfies the holy demands of
God’s holy character. So then, no matter how much better one person
may appear to be over another, in comparison to God’s holiness, he
falls short of His holiness and stands guilty with all the world.
Apart from grace, we are all on the same road. Some people just slide
into the ditch and stay for a while. Others slide in, drag others in with
them, and set up house. Think of it this way. The Sears Tower in
Chicago is much taller than the LaSalle National Bank. From our
vantage point there is a great contrast between the height of these
buildings. But let’s suppose we changed the question and asked which
one of them was closer to the constellation Orion, which is a few
thousand light years away from the earth. Sure, the top of the Sears
Tower is closer to this stellar constellation than the top of the bank,
but does it really matter? In the presence of thousands of trillions of
miles, there is no appreciable difference in height between the two.
Don’t misinterpret what I’m saying. Of course it is better to be a decent
citizen than to be John Wayne Gacy. Of course it is better to be honest
than to be embezzling funds at work. From our point of view these
distinctions are very significant, and they are also important to God. But
spiritually speaking, even the best of us is still an infinite distance
from God. If we forget this, it is because we have overestimated our
goodness and underestimated God’s holiness. Clearly, we all need the
grace of God in view of every person’s spiritual state. “Just as it is written:
‘There is none righteous, not one,’”
Grace Is Epitomized in Jesus Christ. The lavish gift of God in the person
of His Son is the particularly New Testament meaning of grace. After
praising God for the spirit of selfless giving, seen as a consequence of God’s
surpassing grace at work in the heart of the Corinthians, Paul breaks out
in an outburst of praise for the one who is the epitome and root of all
God’s grace that so wonderfully governs our lives—“Thanks be to God for
His unspeakable gift” (2 Cor. 9:15).
Paul’s declaration, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath
appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11) is a clear reference to the coming of
Christ and shows us again that Christ is the grace of God personified;
He is the epitome of God’s grace.
In the Greek, “has appeared” stands emphatically at the beginning,
stressing the manifestation of grace as a historical reality. The
reference is to Christ’s entire earthly life—his birth, life, death, and
resurrection. The verb epephane, from which we derive our word
“epiphany,” means “to become visible, make an appearance,” and
conveys the image of grace suddenly breaking in on our moral darkness,
like the rising sun. (It is used of the sun in Acts 27:20.) Men could never
have formed an adequate conception of that grace apart from its
personal manifestation in Christ, in his incarnation and atonement.
He is the one who 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 us in Christ Jesus before the world began, But is now
made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath
abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel (II Timothy 1:9-10). The gospel message is the story of the
life, death, resurrection, ascension, and the present session of the Lord
Jesus Christ at God’s right hand. As the personification of God’s grace,
it is little wonder that in the book of Acts, this message about the Lord
Jesus Christ is called “the gospel of grace” and “a message of grace”
(see Acts 14:3; 20:24; 32). Grace Is the Means of Salvation.
No truth or teaching in the New Testament is more central than the fact
that grace—the free gift of salvation through faith alone in Christ
alone—is the means of salvation. Paul wrote, “I do not frustrate (nullify)
the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, (i.e., by
human or religious works), then Christ is dead in vain!” (Gal. 2:21).
He saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done
but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and
the renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us in full
measure through Jesus Christ our Savior. And so, since we have been
justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of
eternal life.”
Sometimes preachers who should know better speak of receiving God’s
grace as if we were expected to make a bargain with Him. I have a friend
(bless him!) who in his witness for Christ used to tell people to “pledge their
allegiance to Jesus Christ.” An evangelist gave an invitation and told the
people coming forward that they were making a “promise to follow Christ.”
I shake my head in dismay!
The potential convert is thinking, If I have to pledge my allegiance to
Jesus Christ or promise to follow Him, what will happen if I make such a
decision and then break my promise the next day? Certainly, accepting
God’s grace will result in a change of lifestyle. But we cannot expect the
dead to walk until they are raised and the blind to see until they are
healed. Sinners who have never been reconciled to God do not have the
power to change their lifestyles, even if they were to get “really
serious” about it.
To the person who says, “I want to do something about my broken
relationship with God,” grace says, “if you really understood the issues
you wouldn’t talk that way. God did something about your broken
relationship with Him, and the only thing you can do is to humble yourself
and accept it!”
Let me be clear. When you come to Christ, you do not come to give,
you come to receive. You do not come to try your best, you come to
trust. You do not come just to be saved, but to be rescued. You do not
come to be made better (although that does happen), you come to be
made alive! You do not come to Christ to make a promise; you come to
depend on His promise. It is the faithfulness of God and not your own
that gives the gift of grace. Grace Is the Opposite of Works. We have
seen that grace means the free and unmerited favor of God, but it
needs to be stressed that an attitude of legalism by which man seeks
to merit God’s favor actually undermines the impact of grace. This is
seen in a number of passages which show how grace and human
works are opposed to one another.
The first passage is Romans 4:4-5: Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for
righteousness. Paul states a basic principle in these verses. A worker’s
reward or wage is due to him because of his work. A gift, or that which
is given on the basis of grace, is totally separate from any form of
obligation on the part of the receiver. Justification is given to the one
who does not work but believes in the one who justifies. The second
passage is Romans 11:5-6: 11:5 Even so then at this present time also
there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 11:6 And if by
grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.
But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no
more work.
If God’s rescue program had included our efforts, grace would be
diminished and salvation would not be wholly the work of God. “But if it
is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no
longer grace” (Romans 11:6). Some things can exist together, but human
works and the grace that brings salvation cannot.
To clear the field for His own activity, God eliminated every work of
man—past, present, and future. His action had to be pure, uncontaminated
by our own best efforts. He had to act alone. Our self-effort was put on a
shelf labeled “Unsuitable for Use.” Grace Is Absolutely Free. In keeping
with the fundamental idea that grace is the free or unmerited favor of
God, we regularly find grace used with terms such as gift or given or not
of works. This is surely done in order to stress the free, unmerited nature
of God’s grace.
But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence
of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace,
which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many! (Ro. 5:15).
Wherefore I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of
God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. (Eph. 3:7)
As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to
another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. (I Pet. 4:10).
I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is
given you by Jesus Christ (I Cor. 1:4).
Grace, then, is the free and undeserved provision and love received from
another; it especially epitomizes the characteristic attitude of God in
providing salvation for a sinful world. For believers in Christ, the term
grace is virtually synonymous with the gospel message of God’s gift of
unmerited salvation in Jesus Christ and includes everything associated
with our life in Christ from beginning to the end.
You sometimes hear the accusation that this kind of free-grace breeds
license. Part of the answer to the license issue is that grace does not
leave us as we were before salvation, but becomes the very foundation for
the Christian life (see Romans 5:1-2). With grace comes the motivation and
ability (by God’s grace, of course), to produce good works. This is part
of the aim of God’s salvation by grace as expressed in Ephesians 2:8-9.
Which began with an emphasis on our spiritually dead condition and life
under the domination of Satan’s world system. This pre-salvation life is a
life lived out in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the
flesh and the mind. But now, by God’s grace, we are not only redeemed
from spiritual death and the penalty of sin, but unto a new life of good
works by God’s enablement (see also Eph. 4:17-31).
With salvation by the grace of God comes regeneration to new life, the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit (our enablement for living), and a new
position in Christ which forms the basis for deliverance from the power of
sin. The very nature of this salvation teaches us that grace means God has
called us to a new kind of life, one that is contrary to godless and
worldly desires. The good news of God’s grace in Christ is a message that
has, as part of its purpose, lives that are in keeping with godliness,
never license.
Since works are presented as the basis of God’s blessing in all the other
religions of the world, grace distinguishes biblical Christianity as unique
from all these other religions. Look carefully at their beliefs and you will
find man doing something to get God’s blessing, whatever that is
touted to be.
There is no division of doctrine that is not related in some way or
another—often vitally—to the concept of grace. Inspiration, sin,
salvation, Christian living, even future things are but a few examples of
related doctrines.
Furthermore, the concept of grace is the watershed that divides Roman
Catholicism from Protestantism, Calvinism from Arminianism, modern
liberalism from conservatism. The Roman Catholic Church holds that grace
is mediated through its priests and sacraments, while Protestantism
generally does not. Modern liberalism gives an exaggerated place to the
abilities of man to decide his own fate and to effect his own salvation
entirely apart from God’s grace, while conservatism holds that God’s grace
is necessary for salvation. Man is evolving, according to liberalism, into
a kind of superman who is coming to the place where he needs no outside
help, certainly not the grace of God.
Keeping in mind that Jesus Christ is the manifestation and personification
of God’s grace, it is the person and work of Jesus Christ and salvation
through Him by grace through faith that distinguishes Christianity.
People with no ear for music say that it all sounds the same, but lovers
of Bach, Handel, Beethoven, and Brahms know better. So, too, people
who lack spiritual concern or factual knowledge or both tell us that the
world’s religions are really all the same, and one is as good as another,
so that it does not matter which is yours. They also are wrong, however,
as Christians clearly see.
The figure of Jesus Christ, as portrayed in the gospel history and shown
forth in the rest of the New Testament, is unique. A Man who acted, as
Jesus did, like God come in the flesh; who spoke of Himself as the Son of
God; who identified Himself as future judge of the world and arbiter of
everyone’s destiny; who, after being crucified, came alive from the dead,
leaving His tomb and grave clothes empty, and met His disciples again;
who, having entered the world by a miraculous conception and birth, and
fulfilled in it a miraculous ministry, even to raising the dead, was seen
to leave it by a miraculous ascension; and whose disciples for two
thousand years have been sure that He actually shares their life, as they
share His; why, no other religious leader, and no other religious
experience, has ever been remotely like this! As a faith founded on unique
supernatural facts, and as a unique, life-changing relationship with its
unique divine Founder, Christianity is truly a unique religion. This fact
ought to be beyond dispute.
Nearly two out of three adults contend that the choice of one religious
faith over another is irrelevant because all religions teach the same basic
lessons about life. But such is not the case. When one compares the record
of God’s grace to us in Christ with other religious options, investigate His
claims, and assess the historical records, biblical Christianity stands
out distinct like a huge diamond on a background of black velvet.
What makes Christianity different from all the other religions of the
world? Years ago that very question was discussed at a conference.
Some of the participants argued that Christianity is unique in teaching
that God became man. But someone objected, saying that other religions
teach similar doctrines. What about the resurrection? No, it was argued,
other faiths believe that the dead rise again. The discussion grew heated.
C. S. Lewis, a strong defender of Christianity, came in late, sat down,
and asked, “What’s the rumpus about?” When he learned that it was a
debate about the uniqueness of Christianity, he immediately commented,
“Oh, that’s easy. It’s grace.” How right he was! The very heart of the gospel
is the supreme truth that God accepts us with no conditions whatever when
we put our trust in the atoning sacrifice of His incarnate Son. Although we
are helplessly sinful, God in grace forgives us completely. It’s by His infinite
grace that we are saved, not by moral character, works of righteousness,
commandment-keeping, or churchgoing. When we do nothing else but
accept God’s total pardon, we receive the guarantee of eternal life.
Good news indeed. What a gospel! What a Savior!
In some ways this has already been stressed by the passage referred to
previously, “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound”
(Rom. 5:20), but it is such an important truth it deserves separate
treatment because many possess erroneous notions about the salvation
offered in the New Testament through the person of Christ. Some think
they have been so bad that God could never forgive them. Then, there
are those who think that if a person’s sins are bad enough (and
everyone has their own idea about what constitutes the truly terrible
sins), he or she is cast off from God’s grace and will lose their salvation.
So there are two issues here: the first deals with the nature of one’s
pre-salvation sins and the effect this could have on salvation, and the
second deals with post-salvation sins. In other words, can someone be
too bad to be saved, and can someone lose their salvation once truly
saved through personal trust in Christ?
"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that , while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). When did Christ die for the
ungodly? When they were helpless. The book of Romans teaches us
that this is not the state of a few, but of all mankind. All have sinned—
the immoral, moral, and religious alike no matter how hard they may
work at being good (Rom. 3:9-10, 23). All are dead in sin and without
any ability to save themselves (Eph. 2:1f). Second, let’s again look at
Paul’s argument in Romans 5:12-21. Here Paul contrasts the universality
of sin and the reign of death in the human race with the gift of
righteousness through the one act of Christ, i.e., His death on the cross
(5:12-17). God’s righteousness or salvation is based on the record of one,
the Lord Jesus Christ and not our record. But the point that needs to be
made here is on the great problem all people face regardless of the
depth of their personal sin, namely, the reign of death in all of mankind.
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by
sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” (5:12);
“For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they
which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall
reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (5:17).
Let us suppose that you have two corpses. Is one more dead than
another? Does one need a bigger miracle to be restored to life?
Fact is, the good person who lives next to you and the criminal you
read about in the newspaper are essentially in the same predicament.
Both need the life that only God can give.
Paul’s Own Testimony in 1st Timothy as to His Pre-salvation Condition.
1:12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for
that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; 1:13 Who
was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I
obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 1:14 And
the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love
which is in Christ Jesus. 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners; of whom I am chief. 1:16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained
mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering,
for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life
everlasting 1:17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the
only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
(1 Tim. 1:12-17).
From a history of great religious pride and self-trust, cruel brutality,
and unbelief, Paul was brought to faith in Christ and transformed into
a servant and teacher of the gospel of grace. Paul became a
wonderful example of the saving grace and power of the gospel of
God’s grace in Christ. Perhaps one of the great lessons here is that
no matter how bad people may be, God can save them by His grace
which is in Christ Jesus.
But why does Paul call himself the foremost or chief of sinners?
Remember, Paul was an extremely religious man, yet he calls
himself the chief of sinners. Perhaps he wanted to make a point
about self-righteous religious people. The point is that being religious
does not exempt us from being terribly sinful with the ability to
commit horrible crimes. The religious bigotry and murderous purges
in history bear testimony to the atrocities carried out in the name
of religion.
POST-SALVATION SINS
There are those who view the loss of a believer’s salvation to be a real
possibility for those who fail in a consistent walk with Christ. The
questions that come to my mind when I hear this are: Just how
consistent must one be to lose their salvation? What sin, or how
many sins cause the loss of salvation? Sin—any sin—falls short of
the perfect holiness of God. Every person, regardless of their maturity
or relationship with the Lord, is far from perfect by God’s standard.
We all have things in our lives that fall short of God’s glory, i.e.,
we are never without personal sin, though some may be unknown.
If we say we have not sinned, we are deceiving ourselves and the
truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and
righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all
unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a
liar and his word is not in us. Where, then, do we draw the line?
Those who believe we can lose our salvation tend to classify sin
as though God overlooks some sins while He judges others. It
becomes a matter of degrees and the question arises, “Just how
bad must we become before we lose our salvation?"
Furthermore, if, having put our trust in the person and work of
Christ, we can lose our salvation by what we do or do not do, then,
in the final analysis, are we saved by works or by our record rather
than Christ’s record.
No doubt there are millions who have professed the name of Christ and
continue to live in such a way which gives no evidence whatsoever that
their profession is real. In fact, a widely reported opinion poll survey
indicated that over fifty million people in the United States claim to be
born again (George Gallup, Jr. and David Poling, The Search For America’s
Faith (Nashville: Abingdon, 1980), p. 92). Surely, if that many people
were true “partakers of the divine nature,” the impact on our country
would be profound.
There is no doubt that many who profess faith in Christ have never truly
and personally trusted in Christ as their Savior. But we must understand
that the gospel message is offered unconditionally (i.e. freely) to those
who will believe or trust in the person and work of Christ and no amount
of failure can remove them from the Father's hand (John 10:29).
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say,
Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. (Rev. 22:17).
Naturally, this does not mean there are no consequences for sinful
behavior. There are consequences for this life (loss of fellowship, divine
discipline, loss of fruitfulness, etc.) and for eternity (loss of rewards
[see 1 Cor. 3:12-15; 1 John 2:28])—but the loss of salvation is not one of
them. Grace Is Always Under Attack. You’d think that everyone would be
flocking to accept God’s grace. Not so. There are reasons that the way to
life is narrow and “few are those who find it".
Intuitively, we think that we have to have some part in our salvation, to
do some work, some deed that will make us worthy of the gift. Some do
this by working up a sorrow for sin. Such sorrow is proper and to be
expected, but it is not the basis for God’s loving favor toward us. Sorrow
does not make us more worthy of God’s grace. It might lead us to cast
ourselves upon His grace, but it will never make us more “presentable.”
Someone said to me, “When I become older, I will come to God because
then I will be less prone to failure.” Whenever you meet a person who
talks like that, you know that he has not yet understood grace. He is still
thinking that he cannot come to God just as he is.
But the belief that we cannot come to God as we are to receive the free
gift of salvation apart from human works is not new, and because of this,
grace and the liberty it gives us from legalistic demands has always been
under attack. Man has always had a problem with grace and this is quickly
seen in the early church in the book of Acts. From the very early days of
the church, it has faced the problem of those who wanted to add some
form of works to the message of grace. In Acts 15:1 we read these words:
“Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot
be saved.” Verse 5 tells us that these were men from the sect of the
Pharisees who had believed. They were members of the church and so,
from within its own ranks, a controversy broke out concerning the exact
nature and content of the message of the gospel.
As mentioned, the gospel is by nature a God-centered, grace-centered
message. As such, it offers salvation as a free gift, a gift without cost,
through faith in God’s work through His Son rather than by man’s work
whether religious or moral. The nature of the message, the condition
of man dead in sin and born spiritually blind, and the activity of Satan
make this a difficult message for people to accept. People naturally think
they must add something to their salvation for it to be bona fide.
As a result, accusations are regularly leveled against faith alone in
Christ alone. It is sometimes called “cheap grace” or “easy believism.”
But this is nonsense. The claim of “easy believism,” so often aimed at
those who preach “faith alone in Christ alone,” is a misnomer. Simple
faith—because it is so contrary to the way people think—is not easy for
people who think they must add something to the work of God.
Furthermore, salvation in Christ is free, but it’s not cheap. It cost God
the death of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thus, the message of salvation as a gift of God’s matchless grace (see
Acts 4:3, “the message of His grace”) is described as a treasure or
something deposited for safe keeping with which we have been entrusted.
Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith
and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed
unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. (II Tim. 1:13-14).
Here Paul reminds us that this message is both a treasure and a trust. And
what is this message? It is the message about the Lord Jesus that brings
men into a vital relationship with the eternal God of the universe.
Obviously, the message that reconciles us to God (John 14:6; Acts 4:12)
and gives us eternal life and life more abundantly (John 10:10) is truly a
treasure beyond measure; it is a pearl of great value (Matt. 13:44-46).
The message of the gospel—often called a message of grace— is the most
valuable thing a person can possess. But as something so intrinsically
valuable, it also needs careful guarding. There were those in the early
church who sought to nullify the grace of God by adding some form of
human works as a means of either salvation or sanctification. The simple
fact is there have always been those who peddle a false gospel seeking to
pawn off one of Satan’s many counterfeits on a gullible public.
Our message is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the message of
salvation through His person and work. That sounds simple enough, but
it is not nearly as simple as it sounds. The simple message, “believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved,” has been assaulted from
early on. Since the message is crucial to salvation and since anathema is
pronounced on those who misrepresent it or change it, we need to know
the message and guard it carefully. If we are to be true to the Bible and
to the grace of our Lord, we need to be able to share the gospel clearly
and avoid the distortions.
Outside the doctrines related to the Person and work of Christ, there is
no truth more far-reaching in its implications and no fact more to be
defended than that salvation in all its limitless magnitude is secured, so
far as human responsibility is concerned, by believing on Christ as
Savior. To this one requirement no other obligation may be added without
violence to the Scriptures and total disruption of the essential doctrine
of salvation by grace alone. Only ignorance or reprehensible inattention
to the structure of a right Soteriology will attempt to intrude some form
of human works with its supposed merit into that which, if done at all,
must, by the very nature of the case, be wrought by God alone and on
the principle of sovereign grace.
As mentioned previously, the marvelous liberty we have in Christ has
always been under attack. Either our liberty has been attacked by the
legalist who wants to inject some form of works for salvation or for
sanctification; or, proceeding down a different road, grace has been
perverted by those who want to turn liberty into license and this has
played nicely into the hands of those who want to add something to
grace.
In a number of places, the New Testament speaks about the believer’s
freedom or liberty in Christ, but what exactly does this mean biblically
speaking for the Christian? Our ideas about liberty may be skewed by our
society. For instance, the first definition given in The American Heritage
Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition is that liberty is “The
condition of being free from restriction or control.” The first definition
in Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines liberty “as the quality or
state of being free,” but then gives the following as the first
sub-definition of liberty, “the power to do as one pleases.” But
dictionaries do not provide us with an accurate definition of Christian
liberty according to the New Testament.
Liberty is not the power to do as we please or the state of being free
from all controls. Speaking from a biblical standpoint, liberty is freedom
from slavery and bondage, but included in that is freedom from sin’s
penalty and its power to dominate one’s life, and freedom from Satan's
power and that of his world system. Rather than the freedom to do as we
please, Christian liberty means the power to do as we ought by God’s
enablement in accordance with the way Christians have been recreated in
Christ.
For instance, a train is free to do all it was designed to do only
when it stays on the tracks. True liberty means the freedom to be all that
we were designed to be, but this is not a freedom that is without
restrictions or responsibilities. Plainly speaking, without law, there
could be no freedom. The law of the jungle would prevail. Even free men
are bound by certain physical laws like the law of gravity.
The governing factor for Christian freedom is the principle or the law of
love as those under the law of Christ, but free from the requirements of
the Law for either salvation or for holy living (sanctification). For freedom
Christ has set us free. Stand firm—the only thing that matters is faith
working through love.
One dictionary defines legalism as “strict, literal adherence to the law
or to a particular code, as of religion or morality.” As just stressed,
liberty is not the absence of restrictions or of law. Under liberty,
Christians are under the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2) or as Paul defines it
elsewhere, “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Ro. 8:2).
Just so, legalism does not simply mean the presence of law.
Legalism is an attitude, a mentality based on pride. It is an obsessive
conformity to an artificial standard for the purpose of exalting oneself.
A legalist assumes the place of authority and pushes it to unwarranted
extremes. Legalism may be defined as a “fleshly attitude which conforms
to a code for the purpose of exalting self.” The code is whatever objective
standard is applicable to the time; the motive is to exalt self and gain merit
rather than to glorify God because of what He has done; and the power is
the flesh, not the Holy Spirit. Legalism may produce outward results very
similar to true sanctification, for a legalist is not a non-conformist to
the code under which he is living. However, such outward results are at
best only counterfeits and can never even approximate genuine
sanctification as long as the attitude is legalistic.
The New Testament is filled with imperatives for which all Christians are
responsible. The issue in obedience is the motive and the means: Why
are we obeying these commands and by whose enablement?
In so many words, legalism says, “I do this or I don’t do that, and
therefore I am pleasing God.” Or “If only I could do this or not do that,
I would be pleasing to God.” Or perhaps, “These things that I’m doing or
not doing are the things I perform to win God’s favor.”
They aren’t
spelled out in Scripture, you understand. They’ve been passed down or
they have been dictated to the legalist and have become an obsession to
him or her. Legalism is rigid, grim, exacting, and law like in nature. Pride,
which is at the heart of legalism, works in sync with other motivating
factors. Like guilt. And fear. And shame. It leads to an emphasis on what
should not be, and what one should not do. It flourishes in a drab context
of negativism.
Basically, license simply means “permission to act” or “freedom of
action.” When we receive our driver’s license, we have permission to
drive an automobile, but only within or in keeping with the laws of the
state. If we are caught breaking those laws, we will more than likely be
ticketed and fined. But the term license may also be defined as the
absence of due restraint, of freedom that is used irresponsibly, or of the
disregard for rules and responsibility. License is freedom gone awry in
the pursuit of self-centered goals or, as Paul put it, freedom used as a
means to indulge the flesh (see Gal. 5:13). As seen above, biblical
liberty does not promote license but provides the motive and enablement
for godly living according to the law of Christ and for the glory of God
and the love of others.
In view of man’s condition that all are under sin, not just the immoral,
but also the moral and the religious, God’s grace is both amazing and
awesome. One reason grace is so amazing to people is their natural bent
to work for whatever they get. As previously mentioned, most people
have trouble with the idea that grace is something they cannot merit or
work for, or that no one deserves God’s blessing in the least. Because
of our welfare society this has changed to some degree, but most
people still think in terms of working for everything they get and they
apply the same principle to spiritual matters.
But we have seen that with God’s grace there are no strings attached.
What He gives us comes to us free and clear and this is hard for people
to accept. The fundamental reason people have difficulty with this
concept is that we are born spiritually blind. Indeed, before salvation we
face a double blindness. Because we are born spiritually dead and with
that there is a natural blindness or darkened understanding. However,
we also face the added blindness caused by Satan’s deception and this
especially applies to understanding our own condition and our need of
the redemptive work of Christ.
Because of this spiritual blindness, people naturally think in terms of
meriting God’s blessing. As previously discussed, with the exception of
biblical Christianity, if we look deep enough into every other religion of
the world we will find that salvation is based on some kind of religious
works designed to gain the blessing of God.
This blindness or darkened
understanding leads to two common errors. First, people fail to see the
depth of their sinfulness and so overestimate their ability. Second,
because they do not truly know God, they underestimate the impact of
God’s holiness on their spiritual condition and need. As a result, they
operate from a skewed perspective of both God and man.
We see shades of goodness and badness, and as long as we compare
ourselves to others, we can be quite confident that we are worthy of God’s
love and forgiveness.
We’ve all had that satisfied feeling that comes from doing our “good deed
for the day.” When we go the extra mile by taking care of our neighbor’s
children, giving some money to charity, or making an honest deal, we feel
smug about our goodness. And when we pick up the newspaper and read
about those who kill and steal, we feel pride at how different (and better)
we really are. We might even think about how much better the world
would be if everyone were just like us.
But such ideas are contrary to the revelation of God in Scripture.
According to the Bible, we all fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).
Thus, in view of God’s perfect holiness and what sinful people deserve
from God (His wrath and eternal judgment) and in view of the futility of
our works, grace becomes absolutely amazing. The word amazing means
“to effect great wonder, to astonish.”
Some synonyms are “mind-boggling,
mind-staggering, surprising.” It is no wonder that mankind has trouble
with grace because it is simply not something that we expect. It boggles
the mind and catches us totally off guard because we naturally think we
must do something or have some part in our salvation that will make us
worthy. This may take a number of forms—salvation by religious good
works, some form of mysticism, some form of religious ritual, or simply
by trying to be a good moral person.
The straight gate is the way of grace which is by the gift of salvation
through faith in Christ. The wide and spacious gate refers to the
variegated paths by which people, rejecting God’s one way through
faith in Christ, seek to climb the ladder into God’s blessing.
Again, it should be stressed that man’s difficulty with accepting
salvation as a matter of God’s grace, as a free and unmerited favor
from God, is one of the reasons that grace has always been under
attack since the very early days of the church. Several of the epistles
of the New Testament are written, at least in part, to protect the
amazing truth of God’s grace to us in Christ (Romans, Galatians,
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Hebrews are illustrations).
A beautiful illustration of the amazing aspect of God’s grace is seen in
the experience of Isaiah the prophet. As a religious Jew, Isaiah would
undoubtedly have been considered a moral and good man. But Isaiah
the prophet recorded a vision he was given in which he saw the Lord
high and exalted. The immediate result of this holy scene was the impact
on Isaiah’s view of himself and of his nation. He wrote, “Woe is me, for
I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a
people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of
hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5) Having seen God’s awesome holiness, he could see
nothing but his own sinfulness and impossible state—at least from the
standpoint of his own worthiness to have fellowship with God.
In the word amazing we have the element of surprise, of seeing that which
is mind boggling and beyond our imagination. But in the word awesome we
have a different element of response. We have that which inspires awe or
reverence because of the awesomeness of what God has done.
Psalm 103:8-12 illustrates this in praise to God’s grace.
"The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plentious in mercy.
He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He has
not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward
them that fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has
He removed our transgressions from us.
God’s grace to us in the merit of Christ will lead us to stand in awe
before God because of what He has freely done for us in Christ.
This element is seen in Paul’s outburst of praise in 2 Corinthians 9:15,
“Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” This statement, a
reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, describes Him as God’s “unspeakable
gift.” First, He is described as a “gift,” as something man cannot work
for, but second, the gift is called “unspeakable.”
The Greek word here
is an-ek-di-e„ge„tos. It is used only here in the New Testament and it is
a quadruple compound word (ultimately derived from four Greek words,
three prepositions and one noun) which shows something of the intensity
of the word and of Paul’s expression. An-ek-di-e„ge„tos came from the
verb ek-di-e„geomai, “to tell in detail, relate, declare fully.” The prefixed
an is an alpha negative and negates the basic meaning of the word as with
our terms moral and amoral. The point is clear: words, no matter how hard
man may try, simply fail to adequately describe or explain the awesomeness
of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.
God’s grace makes the promise of salvation certain because it is not
dependent on us or our record but on God’s grace as manifested in the
person and work of Jesus Christ. For this reason it is by faith that it may
be by grace, with the result that the promise may be certain. Whatever
Adam’s sin has brought to the human race (spiritual death, domination
by sin, and ultimately eternal death or separation from God), God’s grace
has brought much more. It has brought the gift of righteousness, a
righteousness given by God to believers. This gift of righteousness means
also the gift of eternal life both now and in eternity.
It loudly proclaims that no sinner, whether a mystic aspiring to direct
contact with God or a legalist counting on his good works to approve him
in God’s sight, is able in his own way to find acceptance with God.
Because another man, Adam, has intervened between him and the
Creator, still another, even Jesus Christ, must be the medium of his return
as a sinner to a righteous God. No matter how much sin has impacted the
human race and no matter how much we may sin, even as Christians,
grace has abounded beyond our sin through the merit of the person and
work of the Savior. How absolutely remarkable!!
Like a huge mountain range rising up in the distance and towering above
the surrounding hills, so God’s grace rises above our sin. Where sin
abounds, grace much more abounds!
After the apostle had reviewed his ministry in Asia and given instructions to
the elders of Ephesus, whom he had called to meet him at Miletus, he gave
them the following words of wisdom that I pray we may all give heed to:
"And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace,
which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them
which are sanctified." (Acts 20:32)