The Character of God’s Grace
Romans
9:15-18
All
the religious world talks about salvation by grace. Yet, there are few, very
few, who understand the character of God’s grace as it is revealed in Holy
Scripture. Men and women love to talk about, sing about, and hear about God’s
amazing grace, as long as they imagine that God’s grace is in some way
dependent upon them; but as soon as grace is defined in biblical terms, man’s
opposition to it comes raging to surface.
Grace
is an attribute of God which, like his love, is exercised only toward his
elect. Nowhere in the Bible do we read of universal grace, or of grace bestowed
upon mankind in general. The mercy of God is “over all his works” (Psa. 145:9); but the grace of God is upon his
elect. The mercy of God is life upon this earth. The grace of God is eternal
life. Mercy is anything short of eternal wrath. The grace of God is eternal
salvation.
Grace
is the solitary source from which the goodwill, love, and salvation of God flow
to his chosen people. “It is, as Abraham
Booth wrote, “the eternal and absolute free favor of God, manifested in the
vouchsafement (infallible promise) of spiritual and eternal blessings to the
guilty and unworthy.”
Arthur Pink wrote, “Divine grace is the
sovereign and saving favor of God exercised in bestowing blessings upon those
who have no merit in them and for which no compensation is demanded.”
Grace
is completely unmerited and unsought. It is altogether unattracted by us. Grace
cannot be bought, earned, or won by anything in us or done by us. If it could,
it would cease to be grace. Grace is bestowed upon sinners without attraction,
without condition, without qualification. When God’s saving grace comes to a
sinner, it comes as a matter of pure charity, unsought, unasked, and undesired.
In
Bible terms grace is placed in direct opposition to works, worthiness, and
merit in the creature (Rom. 11:6; 4:4-5; Eph. 2:8-9). Grace and works will not
mix. And any attempt by man to mix the grace of God with the works of man or
the will of man is both blasphemy and a total denial of grace.
If
you search the Scriptures, you will find that there are five things which
always characterize the grace of God. Whenever men speak contrary to these five
things they deny the grace of God.
1.
The
grace of God is eternal (Rom. 8:28-30; 2 Tim. 1:9).
2.
The
grace of God is free (Rom. 3:24).
3.
The
grace of God is sovereign (Rom. 9:16).
4.
The
grace of God is distinguishing (1 Cor. 4:7).
5.
The
grace of God is in Christ, only in Christ (Eph. 1:3-14).
Grace
is not something God offers to sinners. Grace is the operation of God in
sinners, by which he effectually saves the objects of his everlasting love.
Grace Baptist Church of Danville - Grace For
Today Radio Message #740
2734 Old Stanford Road -
Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438
Donald S. Fortner, Pastor -Telephone 606-236-8235 - Email grace@mis.net