Lesson 58 November 24
Review:
3. The Characteristics of Grace
a. Grace stresses God’s character and man’s sinfulness
while mercy stresses God’s strength and man’s helplessness.
Grace finds its necessity in (1) the fact of God’s
holiness and in the sinfulness of man, and
(2) in the nature of God as the
Creator and man as the creature.
b. Grace is opposed
to and excludes any idea of works for merit, works done as a means of blessing
or as payment for what is done.
Grace means you never deserve it nor can you earn it even
by the old fashion method of working for it.
Romans 4:1-5;
Romans 11:6
But what about Ephesians 4:1 Does this suggest
that our works are to be worthy?
c. Grace
is the motivational principle for Christian living!
Understanding that the grace provision being in Christ is
the fountain from which divine good production is to flow as we walk by faith and
have impact for Christ. 2 Timothy 2:1
1 Corinthians 15:9-11
- This
passage point's out 3 important things here.
1. It
was grace that had saved and transformed Paul.
"By the grace of God I am what I am.."
2. It
was grace that motivated Paul.
"but I labored even more than all of them,"
3. It was the grace of God that that enabled him to minister. "yet not I, but the grace of God with me."
Titus 2:12; Romans 12:1;
Ephesians 6:10
d. Grace is to characterize the way of life for the believer in the Church age.
The biblical liberty or the freedom we have in Christ
under grace does not promote license but provides the motive and enablement
for godly living according to the law of Christ (Rom 8:2) and for the glory of
God and the love of others.
There are rules and imperatives
that God lays out in Scripture that He expects us to live by, that are a part of
the law of Christ and we live them out as we're being conformed to the image of
Christ not as a means of merit, or on the basis of merit but as a response to
God’s faithful grace provision.
1 Corinthians 10:31; Romans 6:14; Romans 8:1-5; Titus 2:12-14; Romans 12:1-2
e. Grace glorifies God because it reveals God’s person, His
glory and excellence.
God’s gracious salvation
and work for man in Christ is to the “praise of the glory of His grace.”
Romans 4:1-5;
Ephesians 2:8-9; 2
Peter 1:2-4
f. Grace guarantees the believer’s salvation.
It makes it impossible for any man to get out of the plan of God from the
standpoint of his position in
Christ. Why? Because salvation depends
on the character and work of God in Christ and not on man’s record or works.
Romans 8:33-39
Believers will be
judged or examined for their works for rewards, but not as a basis of
salvation. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15
Unbelievers will be
judged on the basis of their works at the Great White Throne Judgment, but they
are only at this judgment because they have rejected the grace work for them of
Christ at
g. Grace guarantees us of God’s love and provision for
anything we might face in life.
Hebrews 13:5-6 also
Romans