Posted on February 14, 2017 by Steven Richichi

God’s Wonderful Grace!

Colossians 1:3-6 (NLT)  We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, 5 which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.  6 This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about GOD’S WONDERFUL GRACE. 

Sola Gracia! Through grace alone.  If ever there was a “main thing” of the Gospel it is grace!  Grace has been given many definitions; unmerited favor,  God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense, a favorable disposition toward man, an influence, and for some who pervert it, it means ignoring and excusing failure and sin, etc.  But most of them omit what it is and what it does.  (There are 5 “solas”.  Sola Fide – by faith alone, Sola Scriptura  – by scripture alone, Solus Christus – through Christ alone, Sola Gratia – by grace alone, and Soli Del Gloria – glory to God alone.)

Grace is the ability God freely gives to His people to carry out His purpose.  It is unmerited, unmitigated and is never withdrawn.  It is a DISPOSITION of God’s toward His elect combined with an IMPARTATION of ability and capacity to fulfill their God given purpose.  As Scripture declares:  It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about GOD’S WONDERFUL GRACE. Grace is the engine that runs the Christian’s life.

  1. Colossians 1:5-6 (AMPC)  Because of the hope [of experiencing what is] laid up (reserved and waiting) for you in heaven. Of this [hope] you heard in the past in the message of the truth of the Gospel,  6 Which has come to you. Indeed, in the whole world [that Gospel] is bearing fruit and still is growing [BY ITS OWN INHERENT POWER], even as it has done among yourselves ever since the day you first heard and came to know and understand the grace of God in truth. [You came to know the grace or undeserved favor of God in reality, deeply and clearly and thoroughly, becoming accurately and intimately acquainted with it.]
  1. St. Augustine (4th and 5th century)  understood the depth of grace and stated it in a powerful way with his profound statement:   “Grant what Thou commandest, and command what Thou dost desire.”  R. C. Sproul says: “It is Augustine who gave us the Reformation (16th century).” So wrote B. B. Warfield in his assessment of the influence of Augustine on church history. It is not only that Luther was an Augustinian monk, or that Calvin quoted Augustine more than any other theologian that provoked Warfield’s remark. Rather, it was that the Reformation witnessed the ultimate triumph of Augustine’s doctrine of grace over the legacy of the Pelagian view of man.

What was the core issue between Augustine and Pelagius? The heart of the debate centered on the doctrine of original sin, particularly with respect to the question of the extent to which the will of fallen man is “free.”  Pelagianism is Humanism condensed.

The controversy began when the British monk, Pelagius, opposed at Rome Augustine’s famous prayer: “Grant what Thou commandest, and command what Thou dost desire.” Pelagius recoiled in horror at the idea that a divine gift (grace) is necessary to perform what God commands. For Pelagius and his followers responsibility always implies ability. If man has the moral responsibility to obey the law of God, he must also have the moral ability to do it.

Harnack summarizes Pelagian thought:  Nature, free-will, virtue and law, these strictly defined and made independent of the notion of God – were the catch-words of Pelagianism: self-acquired virtue is the supreme good which is followed by reward. Religion and morality lie in the sphere of the free spirit; they are at any moment by man’s own effort. 

Luther argued from the Bible that the flesh profits nothing and that this “nothing” is not a little “something.”  That one percent of man’s will and determination is the “little something” Luther sought to demolish because it removes the sola from sola gratia and ultimately the sola from sola fide. The irony may be that though modern Evangelicalism loudly and repeatedly denounces Humanism as the mortal enemy of Christianity, it entertains a Humanistic view of man and of the will at its deepest core.

We need an Augustine or a Luther to speak to us anew lest the light of God’s grace be not only over-shadowed but be obliterated in our time.  (R. C. Sproul is now the distinguished visiting professor of systematic theology and apologetics at Knox Theological Seminary.)

God’s grace is His GIFT OF ABILITY to His children.  It begins with salvation.  Ephesians 2:4-10 (ESV)  But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.  God has given you all the grace you need for what He wants you to do.

  1. You became a Christian when you were born again or regenerated by the Holy Spirit.  You had nothing to do with it, just like your natural birth.  Titus 3:4-7 (ESV)  But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 HE saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.  
  1. Even the ABILITY to believe came by the power of God’s grace! Acts 18:27 (ESV)  And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed,
  1. 1 Peter 1:2 (NLT) God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more grace and peace.  “Chose”  Elect:  eklektos; select; by implication, favorite: — chosen, elect. AV (23) – elect 16, chosen 7;  picked out, chosen or chosen by God, 1.to obtain salvation through Christ Christians are called “chosen or elect” of God 2.the Messiah in being called “elect,” refers to as appointed by God to the most exalted office conceivable 3. A choice or select, i.e. the best of its kind or class, excellence preeminent: applied to certain individuals  Foreknowledge  g4268. prognosis; from 4267 ; forethought: — foreknowledge. pre-arrangement.  Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)  For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.  If God selected you, you have a good prognosis – eternal life in Him.

God’s grace is given to His children TO CARRY OUT HIS PURPOSE.  2 Timothy 1:8-9 (ESV)  Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works BUT BECAUSE OF HIS OWN PURPOSE and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

  1. Romans 12:3-8 (ESV)  For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
  1. 1 Peter 4:10-11 (ESV) As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Literally EVERYTHING in a Christian’s life is a GIFT of God’s grace (ability to carry our His purpose and plan). 1 Corinthians 15:10 (ESV)  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

  1. 1 Peter 5:10-12 (ESV)  And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.  12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.
  1. Ephesians 4:7-8 (ESV)  But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”

The grace that God gives, when relied upon, leads to a life that is satisfying as well as fulfilling the purpose and plan of God.  You can get more grace.  It is available at the time of need.   In weeks to come we will see “the fullness of that grace!