Grace

Like we learnt last week, every Christian is obligated to know about the new life we were called to, when God chose us and saved us. We accepted Christ, we were made new creatures. In order to live the life that God called and intends for you to live, you have to understand salvation, what it meant, how it happened, what it accomplished.

Ephesians 2:8

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.

We were saved by grace, through faith. We needed faith to accept Christ. There are two kinds of faith: natural faith, and Bible faith. Natural faith is belief in what we can see, feel, touch, smell and hear, belief in the natural. Bible faith is belief in what we cannot see, feel, touch, smell and hear, belief in the spiritual. No one has seen Jesus die and rise again, no one has ever seen the love of God or God Himself, no one has seen salvation etc., yet we believed and accepted Christ. No one heard God or the angels appear and declare “you are now saved”, yet we believed we were saved. This was not natural, it required more than natural faith. This faith came from the word of God, when we heard it (Romans 10:17), and helped us believe. God’s word is spirit and life (John 6:63), so when we heard the word which contained faith (Romans 10:8), we received faith to help us believe in Christ and accept Him. This faith was a gift (Romans 12:3, 2 Peter 1:1), and is the faith of Christ Himself (Galatians 2:16, 20 KJV).

So why did we need faith to believe in Christ? Because the news that we could be forgiven in spite of what we did was too good to be true, too good to be believed by natural faith. The news that God still loved us and sent His Son to die for us, and that we were accepted and forgiven in spite of all we did and how messed up and wretched we were, could not be believed by natural faith. The news that God came in human form and bore sins and death and saved us, and could set us free from the corruption we were living in, from evil, was too good to be true. This news is what is called the gospel.

Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jews first and also for the Greek.

This too good to be true news, that we were all accepted to God now, not having to do anything or offer any sacrifices in order to be accepted, is what is called the gospel of Christ. In the world of today, if you give anyone something free, they want to know what they have to do or pay in order to receive it. If you insist it’s free, they ask, “hivo tu?” In order to be accepted to God, before they had to offer sacrifices every now and then. After the sacrifice that Jesus made, we do not need to do anything to be accepted, except just to have faith in Christ. Once we do this, God takes care of the rest, sanctifying us, blessing us, changing our identity, delivering us, redeeming us, glorifying us, justifying us, breaking addictions, anointing us, putting in us the fruit of the Spirit and His love, equipping us with the gifts of the Spirit etc., all for free. Sounds too good to be true? That’s why it’s called gospel, meaning too good to be true news. We do not to do anything for this: this is the gospel of Christ. This gospel of Christ is the power of God that saved us, and is the one that saves everyone who believes.

Galatians 1:6-7

I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.

John 1:17

For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Acts 20:24

“But none of these things move me; nor do I [Paul] count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God…”

The gospel is the gospel of grace. Like Paul is saying in Galatians, there is no other gospel, but the gospel of grace. The gospel of grace is the power that saved you and I, that made us acceptable to God, and made us who we are. So, what is grace? Grace can be defined in two ways:

• ·         Grace is God’s unmerited/ undeserved favor.
• ·         Grace is God’s supernatural ability to do what we cannot do on our own abilities.

Grace is like a two sided coin. We were saved by grace, meaning that we were saved by God’s unmerited favor, a favor that we did not deserve and could never deserve; we were saved when God gave us a supernatural ability to do what we could not have done on our own abilities, which is come out of our sin and evil, from the yokes of the devil. As we saw in Romans 1:16, the gospel of Christ is power unto salvation. Since the gospel of Christ is grace, we can say that grace is the power of God unto salvation (salvation, derived from the Greek word sōtēria, and the doing noun of save, derived the Greek word sōzō , meaning health, salvation, deliverance, safety/ protection, preservation, wholeness, wellness). This power is what saved us, and the power that works in us.

Today I want us to deal with grace as God’s supernatural ability to do what we cannot do on our own ability. Last week we said that every Christian has the ability to live a life free from sin, and today I want to show you that grace is that ability.

2 Corinthians 12:7-9

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. ⁸ Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. ⁹ And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore mostly gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

This was Paul admitting that in spite of what people saw in him and the revelations they heard from him, he was still weak and could boast about his weaknesses. He had begged God to take away the messenger of Satan that had been sent to keep him humble, but God answered him in a way that no one expected, by choosing to give him grace. In today’s world, not many people would boast in their weaknesses, in fact many people spend lots of money in order to conceal their weaknesses. Sadly, many Christians have fallen into the same trap, of trying to conceal their weaknesses. It is rare to hear a Christian stand and boast of how weak they are; why? Because we are all concerned at one point or another of how people will see us. It is because we are hopeless, believing the lie that our weaknesses are there to stay and if people know them then they may not accept us. So we either deny them hoping they will go away, or hide them as a secret, believing they will not go away.

The moment you know about grace, you will no longer hide your weaknesses. Grace only works through faith, as we saw in Ephesians 2:8. You have to have knowledge of grace and faith in it, in order to overcome weaknesses, and be able to do supernatural things. This is why God told Paul about his grace, so that he may have faith in this grace, and know that as long as grace was there he could do all things (Philippians 4:13). Can you imagine having every one of your weaknesses transformed into strength? God’s grace is the power that does so.

God never tells us to do anything that He knows we cannot be able to. Many people wonder why the law was given in the Old Testament, yet it seemed like the children of Israel could not keep it. As we saw last week, the law was given to bring them to an end of themselves, so that they may feel like they cannot attain righteousness and holiness without a Savior. The law was not given to make them perfect or give them a right standing with God (Hebrews 7:19), as no one could keep the entire law; the law was given to bring them to Christ (Galatians 3:24). The only one who has ever kept the law successfully and attained righteousness through it is only Jesus, and it is through Him that we can be able to attain the righteousness of the law, through faith in Him (Romans 8:3-4). The only way one can be able to do everything God tells us to do is through the grace of Christ, the supernatural ability to do what we cannot be able to do on our own.

Like I have said, grace can only work through faith. We have to know about this grace, and that it works in any area of our lives where there is deficiency. Let me give you an example. God says we should love our enemies and bless them. On our own ability, we cannot be able to do that. The only one who loved His enemies and blessed them is Jesus. The only way we can be able to love our enemies and do them good, blessing those who curse us (Luke 6:28, 35) is to believe in Jesus, and receive grace from Him, having faith that it can be done, through grace. God tells us not to be angry, and to do away with wrath (Ephesians 4:31); on human abilities, it is impossible to live with human beings who are different from us and not be angry and bitter once in a while. It takes a supernatural ability to put away anger, bitterness, wrath, unforgiveness etc., and put on love, and this supernatural ability is called grace. God tells us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and love our neighbors as we love ourselves (Mark 12:30). The only way we can do this is by God’s grace, through faith in the One who loved God with all His heart, soul, mind and strength, and even loved us more than He loved Himself, dying for us: Jesus. Having faith in grace is having faith in Jesus.

Whatever God called and has commanded us to do, He has provided the grace to do it. So why is it that many Christians continue to live defeated lives? They have no knowledge of grace, and if they do, they have no faith in grace.

Hosea 4:6a

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.  

Hebrews 11:6

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Faith comes through knowledge. If you do not have knowledge about grace, you will try doing everything on your own ability, and if you cannot do it then you give up and say that it cannot be done. If you have knowledge about grace, but don’t have faith in it, it is the same thing, as grace still won’t work. This is why the Bible says that we were saved by grace, through faith. It is time that as believers we start manifesting the grace of God in our lives, doing what God commands and prompts us to do, through His Spirit. It all starts when you come to this point: if God tells me to do anything, it can be done by His grace, and I will do it. When you have faith in the grace of God, others will also have faith in it, as grace can be seen. The other day I got a word that if I know God, others will know my God. People around me who do not know God know Him proportionally to how I know Him. I reflect God to them. Same thing with grace; it can be seen, and others will know grace proportionally to the way you know about it, learning from you.

Acts 4:33

And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.

Acts 11:23

And when he [Barnabas] came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord.

Are people seeing the grace of God upon your life, or are they seeing self-effort? Are they seeing a Christian struggling to please God and keep away from sin, or are they seeing one effortlessly relying on grace and wondering how you do it? Do you live with a mentality that there are some things that you cannot do, or with an attitude like Paul’s, that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you (Philippians 4:13)? Grace is the game changer. What could not be done before can be done now, because grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).

Grace is not only power, it is also a teacher:

Titus 2:11-13

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, ¹² teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, ¹³  looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ…

Before verse 11, Paul tells Titus to speak things that are proper for sound doctrine, and tells him what to tell the members of his church to do, starting from the older men to bond-servants. After he tells them what to do, he goes right into verse 11, to talk about grace. This means that whatever he tells them to do: be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, love and patience etc., can only be done through grace. He says that grace is what teaches us how to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and how to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present age. If you thought that you cannot live soberly, righteously and godly, it is either because you did not know about grace, or you did not have faith in grace. The word of God cannot lie, and God Himself cannot lie. If He says that grace will teach you to do this, it will exactly do it. If you have a problem denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and need to live a life that is pleasing to God, grace is your answer.

How does grace teach you? When you read something in the word, believe that you can do it, meditate on doing it, and take the bold step of doing it. For example, if you have a weakness of anger, you need to believe that you can go a day, week, month etc. without getting angry, by God’s grace. It starts with believing first, by faith in grace. When you believe so, next time you are tempted to be angry, believe that you will not get angry, and by God’s grace do good and love instead. The more you do it, the more grace teaches you that it is all you need to overcome your weaknesses. Without knowledge of grace and faith, you cannot do it. In whatever area of your life that you feel weak, grace is your answer.

The grace of God will only be made manifest when you do something your mind, people and the world tells you you cannot do, depending on grace. The grace of God is equivalent to the strength of Christ, as we saw in 2 Corinthians 12:9, and it is only seen through your weaknesses. Your weaknesses plus grace equals victory. Your weaknesses plus the strength of Christ equals perfect strength. It starts with you admitting that you are weak, and admitting that you need God’s help, God’s grace, to overcome. It starts with you humbling yourself and submitting to God:

James 4:6-8a

But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” ⁷ Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

Grace is not for the proud, those who refuse to admit they have a weakness. Grace is not for those who hide their weaknesses, and remain rebellious to the word of God. Grace is not for those who do not believe they can overcome sin and resist the devil, and have accepted sin as part of their lives, saying they cannot change. Grace is for those who humble themselves, submit to God, resist the devil, his temptations and sin, and draw near to God. Grace is for the humble. I cannot emphasize enough: you have to come to an end of yourself, to an end of “I can do it on my own” and “I can’t do it, it’s impossible”, for grace to work. You have to depend on God’s grace to do everything, not just a few things.

1 Peter 5:6

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time…

Humility comes first, before grace.

Under the law, the people who believed they could please God on their own strength and effort are the ones who repelled God (the Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes etc.), and the ones that Jesus rebuked. Why? Because of pride. This is why Jesus said that blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3). These are the ones who saw themselves as poor in the things of God, and admitted to it, and they are the ones Jesus came for (Luke 4:18).  Those who trusted in their own strength to live in holiness and to please God fell short and could not please God. It is only grace that will help you to even live in godly fear, and reverence of God, with consistency:

Hebrews 12:28-29

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. ²⁹ For God is a consuming fire.

God wants us to serve Him acceptably and with reverence and godly fear, and has made it possible, by His grace. All we have to do is have faith in grace, and cease having faith in our own efforts and works. You have to stop thinking that you can obey God’s word on your own, and relying on your own efforts. You have to collaborate with grace. As we have seen, grace will teach and enable you to live soberly and godly, in this present age, and serve God acceptably, with godly fear and reverence. If grace tells you not to go somewhere, say something, do something etc., you need to obey. Do not tempt grace. Do not put yourself in tempting situation, saying that grace is there to help you. Grace will work when you align yourself to the word of God, and obey the promptings of the Spirit of God. Many hear about grace, both as God’s unmerited favor and the supernatural ability to do things we cannot do on our own ability, and go on to sin, saying that either God will still accept them, or that grace will work to help them get out of the tempting situation. The word of God talks of temptations overtaking or seizing us, not us overtaking and seizing temptations (1 Corinthians 10:13). Do not go do anything God has told you not to do, saying that God’s grace is sufficient. This is equivalent to tempting God, and it is written that we shall not tempt the Lord our God (Deuteronomy 6:16). Grace is there to help you do what God has told you to do, not what God has told you not to do.

Grace is there to help you live a victorious life over sin, and please God, but you have to cooperate with it. If you are under grace, you can stay away from sin, as sin no longer has any dominion over you. Grace is the remedy for sin:

Romans 6:14

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

At one point, we could not overcome sin. Now that grace is here, we have overcome sin, and we can live a life without sin. Do not struggle to keep the law, believing that what you do makes you righteous. If you do, sin will have dominion over you. Believe that you are righteous in spite of your actions, that it is the grace of God that makes you acceptable and righteous, not your works. When you do so, sin will no longer have dominion over you. Grace is a gift, but it has to be received in humility and by faith. Grace is not a license to sin, it is the power not to sin.

The more you know about grace, the more you will have faith in it, and the more it will be seen in your life. Grace is directly proportional to knowledge of God. Grace abounds with knowledge:

2 Peter 1:2

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, ³ as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, ⁴ by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Grace is the divine power of God, as we have seen (2 Corinthians 12:9). Grace, according to the above verses, is what has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. We have no excuse but to live in the abundance of life and godliness, which also Jesus said He came to give us (John 10:10). All these things that have been given to us are hidden in the knowledge of God, and so are released when we know God more, and consequently know about His grace. Not only are these things hidden in the knowledge of God, but are also acquired by laying hold of the promises of God in the Bible, which are Yes and Amen (2 Corinthians 1:20), by faith and patience (Hebrews 6:11-12). When we lay hold of the promises of God as we know Him more, hold on to faith and patience and thus release and enjoy all the things that pertain to life and godliness, we will be partakers of His divine nature. We have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, but that’s not it. We need to surge and press on, to be partakers of the divine nature of God, by grace.

You have everything you need and will ever need, and it is in grace.

2 Corinthians 12:9

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore mostly gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

After you have relied on God’s grace and overcome, you need to remember to give thanks to God for His grace, and glorify His grace. Grace will help you do things that will tempt you take glory to yourself, when people ask you, “how did you do this?” You might be tempted to boast, but remember the reason why God allows His grace to help us out in the first place: for His glory. It is all to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:6.

After all is said and done, let us be saying like Paul:

1 Corinthians 15:10a

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain…

It is all about Him.

Amen.

-- Sam Gitonga. 



(09/02/14 Sunday Service Sermon, Teaching Transformation Ministry.)

Brother Sam Gitonga is a Youth Leader at Teaching Transformation Ministry. We are located along the Thika-Ruai Flyover Junction (at the Thika Rd./ Bypass intersection), Next to Eastgate Restaurant.