Lesson 141
Romans Chapter Eleven
The Faithfulness of God
The
Doctrine of Grace (cont’d)
Ephesians 2:1-5
Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
Colossians
Though in Adam and dead in sin
before salvation, grace means the believer in Christ has a new position in
Christ which brings every spiritual blessing into the believer’s life.
This means the provision of
such things as:
1. Every believer is a
priest—members of a royal priesthood (1 Pet. 2:5,9;
Rev. 1:6;
2. Citizens of heaven and
thereby left here on earth as ambassadors for Christ (Phil. 3:20; 2 Cor.
5:20).
3. Children of God,
members of God’s family (Eph. 5:1; Gal 4:6-7).
4. Adopted as adult sons
with all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities (Gal. 4:5).
5. Gifted for ministry (1
Pet.
6. The provision is there
for life Eph
1:3; 2 Peter 1:3.
(In other words
everything needed for living the Christian life.)
1 Peter 1:4 to
obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade
away, reserved in heaven for you,
Finally, though previously cut off from God and bound for LOF,
grace means the blessings of an eternal inheritance, one which is untouched by
death, “imperishable,” unstained by evil, “undefiled,” and unimpaired by time,
“will not fade away.”
1 Peter 1:2-9
Man’s natural
tendency is to think in terms of works and merit. A salvation by grace through faith alone in
Christ alone is simply too easy. This is the view of many and it’s often called
“easy believism.”
This
is illustrated in John 6 by the response of the Jews to Jesus’ words in John
6:27.
When told they
should not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to
eternal life, which the Son of Man shall (please note) give to you…,” they
replied, “What shall we do that we may work the works (plural) of God” (vs.
28). They completely missed the point because they were thinking in terms of
human works to gain the spiritual food God had to offer.
Jesus’ response is
enlightening and orients us to grace. He said, “This is the work (singular) of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” (vs.29)
Salvation is the
work of God, accomplished by His Son, which man receives as a gift through
faith in Christ's work on the cross.
Grace orientation
and its multiplication comes through knowledge of the
Word coupled with faith.
First Peter 1:2
literally reads, “May grace and peace
be multiplied or increased.” Later, in 2 Peter
Not only do we need
to be oriented to grace, but we need to grow in our understanding of the
multiple facets of grace in all of our life.
6. The Hazards in Relation to Grace—Grace
Disorientation
Again, because of
our works oriented mentality, we tend to fail the grace of God
.
Consequently we turn to our own solutions, strategies,
and methods for life which range all the way from human good and legalism—we
ignore God’s divine operating assets or grace provision and depend on self to
do the opposite, which is license— instead of using the freedom we have in Christ is
an occasion for the flesh.
Hebrews 12:15 See to it that no one comes short of the
grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it
many be defiled;
Galatians 5:1-5,
13
a. There are several biblical pictures or illustrations
that warn of the dangers of failure to exploit the awesome resources we have in
Christ:
1. Leaning on the arm of
the flesh which leaves one in desert like conditions (Jer. 17:5-6)
2. Hewing out cisterns,
broken cisterns that hold no water (Jer.
3. Warring according to the
flesh or using human weapons to combat our spiritual enemies (2 Cor.
10:3-5) battle is in the mind
4. Leaning on the staff
of a sharp reed that pierces the hand (Isa. 36:6)
5. Walking by our own man
made fire brands to light our path (Isa. 50:10-11)
7. Axioms of Grace
a. God is
perfect therefore His plan for us is perfect.
b. A
perfect plan can only originate from and
function by the direction of a Perfect God.
c. If man
can do anything meritorious in His plan it is no longer perfect.
d. Any plan
is no stronger than its weakest link, for this reason, grace excludes all human
merit and all human ability. Point is
grace also excludes all human good, self-righteousness and arrogance.
e. Legalism and
human good are the enemies of grace, always.
f. Therefore human
works of righteousness have no place in the plan of God either for salvation or
in living the Christian life after salvation.
g. All human
good is ultimately associated with the most destructive mental attitude sins which is pride.