What does the word grace really mean?
"Grace" - "...good-will, loving-kindness, mercy ... kindness bestowed upon someone who does not deserve it…kindness of God to man. (Zondervan – Pictorial Bible Dictionary)
God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden. Both of them had a very close relationship with God. Up to this point, there had been no disobedience to God. There was no such thing as death. Nothing spoiled, nothing rotted, and nothing died. They had complete freedom in the Garden and were responsible for taking care of the Garden. There was only one tree in the Garden that was not to be touched, and that was the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
When the devil enticed Eve to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and then give some to Adam to eat, God’s perfect creation was shattered. At that very moment, the perfect relationship of Adam and Eve and all future mankind was destroyed. There was now a void between God and Adam and Eve because they decided to act on their own. Man was disobedient then and man is disobedient now. Every human being born since this incident has been born with the sinful nature of Adam and Eve.
Adam and Eve knew they had made a grave error because their “eyes were opened and they realized they were naked” (Genesis 3:7). They were embarrassed and they had a guilty feeling. Guilt in our lives tends to want to make us hide just as it did Adam and Eve. They could not hide from God and we cannot hide from God. A guilty conscience is God’s way of telling us that we have done something wrong or that we have been disobedient. A guilty feeling gives us a chance to realize we have sinned and a time to ask God for forgiveness of our sin.
God did not give up on mankind, but instead was willing to give mankind an opportunity to gain a rightful relationship with Him. He gives us a choice as to our destiny. We have the choice of spending eternity in heaven or in hell. Romans 3:23 says “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Since all have sinned, all have missed the opportunity of living with God for eternity. God came up with a plan. His plan was to enable each of us to be forgiven of our sins and placed in a right relationship with him. God knew we could never reach his standard of perfection and be worthy of His glory on our own.
God’s plan included the following in His plan of salvation:
1. Justification
2. Propitiation
3. Redemption
4. Sanctification
5. Glorification
Galatians 3:24 says, “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”
“So the Law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:11). The Law makes demands on us that are impossible to keep. The Law or the Ten Commandments is a set of standards to guide us to Christ. If our salvation depended on us keeping the Law none of us would be saved.
Romans 5:18 says, “Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.” Adam was the sinner responsible for the condemnation of mankind and Jesus was the Savior providing justification for us.
I. The word “justify” means to declare free from blame. God freed man from the guilt and penalty of sin. God’s goal was to declare man righteous. Justification is a gift of God’s grace. Romans 3:24 says, “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
God’s grace to us or goodwill toward us is something we do not deserve, but because God loves us unconditionally, he wants to wipe away our sins as though they never existed.
I John 2:2 says, “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world”.
I John 4:10 says, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins”.
Romans 3:25 says, “Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed”.
Jesus came to bear the wrath or anger of God toward sin. God does not tolerate sin in any form. There is no big sin and there is no little sin; sin is sin and sin is disobedience to God. The bottom line being Jesus is our sacrifice of atonement or punishment. He died in our place and He died for our sins. God’s sacrifice of His Son was the avenue that pardoned and set us free.
2. Propitiation means to appease or satisfy. Since man had sinned, and was now imperfect, God needed a perfect unblemished sacrifice. This perfect sacrifice was “…conceived in her (Mary) is from the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:20). It would be through the shedding of Jesus’ blood that God’s holiness would be satisfied and his anger prevented. It is through the shedding of blood that sinful man can be reconciled or put right with a Holy God. God’s plan was to send his Son into the world to pay for all our sins. We cannot be justified or declared “not guilty” unless we have accepted Jesus Christ as our own personal Lord and Savior. Jesus took the sins of every person and deposited them at the foot of the cross. He bore the punishment for every sinner, although He himself was sinless. Jesus carried through with the Father’s plan so that mankind would have the opportunity to spend eternity in His kingdom.
Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’)”. Jesus’ death upon the Cross did for us what we could not do for ourselves. It removed from us the curse of disobedience of the Law.
Back in the ancient world for a slave to be set free someone had to pay a ransom or a price for the freedom of that slave. This price gave the slave physical freedom, but could not free the soul. As stated in Psalm 49, no amount of money can redeem the soul “For the redemption of their souls is costly” (vs. 8). When the time for death arrives at the door to one’s heart, no amount of money can stop it. David went on to say, “O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption” (Psalm 130:7). Only the Lord can redeem us and save our soul and he provided this by sending His Son to die upon the Cross for us.
Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Jesus served mankind and paid the ransom by shedding his blood upon the Cross. Paul wrote these words to the Ephesians: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).
What is “redemption”? From the Scripture illustrations we have quoted, redemption is a payment to set mankind free from something and that something is sin. As we said previously, a slave was set free in ancient times after someone paid a fee or a certain amount of money. When Adam sinned all humanity became sinners. Adam’s close relationship with God was severed so that there was a void between man and God. God had a plan to redeem or give man a chance to become righteous again. There had to be some type of payment or ransom and God decided that He loved mankind so much that He would send His only begotten Son into the world to pay the price for all man’s sins; past, present, and future. Many rejected Jesus, but those who accepted Him as their personal Lord and Savior, confessed their sins and planned to lead a new life were “born again” into the Kingdom of God. These people will spend eternity with their Lord. Those who rejected Jesus would spend eternity in hell. Jesus shed blood upon the Cross was the ransom paid to release mankind from slavery to sin. Man has a say as to his destiny.
Once man repents of his sins and invites Jesus into his heart…”he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Christians may look just like ordinary people on the outside, but they are different on the inside. They are different on the inside because the Holy Spirit has given them a new life, a new meaning to life, a new outlook on life, a new meaning for possessions, a new heart to show forth love, compassion and understanding to God’s other children. Christians lead a different life, a new life because they have a new Master.
Christ makes the Difference
Heaven above is softer blue,
Earth around is sweeter green!
Something lives in every hue
Christless eyes have never seen:
Birds with gladder songs overflow,
Flowers with deeper beauties shine,
Since I know, as now I know,
I am His, and He is mine.
(Wade Robinson)
Salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ. Peter said, “To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43). When Barnabas and Saul were in Antioch “The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord” (Acts 11:21). Turning away from sin (repenting) involves turning to Christ in faith. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). If you can see something, then you don’t need faith it is there because you can see it. If someone states a documented fact you don’t need faith because it is already established. When you invite the Lord Jesus into your heart, you do it by faith because you can’t see anything. By faith, a Christian expects to spend eternity with the Savior. When we ask God to forgive our trespasses, iniquities, or sins, He does so by his grace. His grace is free undeserved love for us.
Just because we are Christians does not mean that everything is going to work out the way we want. When we let Jesus control our lives, we will be much happier. He has been around a lot longer than we have. He knows us inside and out because He created us and He will give us much more that we could possibly ask for.
As Christians, we want to become more and more like Jesus and this is done through the work of the Holy Spirit. Whatever we do, we want it to be what Jesus would have us do. We want to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
Sanctification is to making holy or sacred. It means to be more like Jesus. I Peter 1:13-15 gives us a good example of how we should live. “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’”. We need to be ready for the return of Christ mentally, physically, and spiritually. We must continue to follow God’s high moral standards. We should serve others, be loving, compassionate, and understanding. We are to remain holy in everything we do. God doesn’t expect us to be holy on our own, so he gave us the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us. We must remember that God is always near and we can call upon Him when temptation tries to detour us.
Glorification will occur after the death of the Christian and it is the time the person becomes like Christ. I John 3:2 says, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” As a Christian, we grow more and more like Christ. At this time, we have earthly bodies, but after we are resurrected we will have glorified bodies. Our Christian walk will not be complete until we meet Jesus face to face. The fact of knowing our destiny should inspire us to live a life free of corruption and sin. God will help us, but we are still responsible for our actions and our lifestyle.
Conclusion:
God is a loving Father and had a plan on the drawing board when Adam and Eve made a wrong choice. Since he created them, he knew them inside and outside. They were given freedom to choose and they chose to be disobedient. Life changed for them. Sin caused them to be separated from God. His plan slowly came into play. He sent His Son into the world. God gave everyone a chance to choose their destiny, where they would spend eternity. He decided to wipe out past, present, and future sins. He provided a perfect sacrifice to bear the sin punishment. Jesus paid the price for each of us. Each of us is given the opportunity to accept or reject Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. Our choice will determine our destiny. Each Christian will receive a glorified body at the resurrection and then each will be like Christ.
Repent and Turn
Repent and turn! God calls today;
Oh, do not close thine ear, I pray!
Listen! It is the voice of love –
Grieve not that tender heart above.
Repent and turn! Now is the hour,
The time of God’s redeeming power;
Tomorrow it may be too late.
Just now wide open is the gate.
Repent and turn! Christ shed His Blood
To reconcile thy soul to God!
All has been done; for refuge flee,
Apply the blood, He’ll pass over thee.
As when the ancient Israelite,
Upon that dark Egyptian night,
Put on his door the mark of blood,
And so escaped the wrath of God.
My friend, I plead, do thou the same –
Put all thy trust in Jesus’ Name!
Not all good works, nor prayers of thine,
Can save apart from Blood divine.
But that will save! Before Him bow
Repent and turn and trust him now,
For soon will end the day of grace:
God’s wrath is coming on apace.
(Kingdom Tidings)
Amen.
