Lesson 3:  The Christian and Grace

 

 

I.  Into our History:

 

a. Ice Breaker:    In the 12th Chapter of 2nd Corinthians the apostle Paul states that “ a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satin”  (2 Corinthians 12:17). Biblical scholars over the centuries have set forth several theories as to what this “thorn in the flesh” could have been.  Possibly a physical ailment.  Maybe it was a result of the tremendous persecution he was having to endure at that time.  Or it could have been something spiritual, a harassing demon (“messenger of Satan”).  Whatever the source of his problem, it is clear that Paul was greatly troubled by this trial.  He asks God on three occasions to remove this difficulty from his life, and God’s answer is no.  Instead of granting Paul’s request, God tells him the following:  “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness”  (2 Corinthians 12:9).

 

Questions:

1) What exactly do you think God meant by His response to Paul’s request?

2)  Do you believe that God’s grace is sufficient for you no matter what  circumstances you may face in life?

3)  Can you recall a time in your life in which God did not give you the answer that you were praying for? …..When His answer was no? Was it difficult for you to rely on His grace alone in those circumstances?  If so, why do you think that it was?

b.  Transition:   God’s grace was no doubt sufficient for Paul in his circumstances, and it is no different for us today.  But do we really have a firm understanding of the magnitude of His grace?  If someone were to ask you “What is God’s grace”, could you tell them? What would you say?  In this weeks ACTS Group we’ll look at what it means to be saved by grace.

 

II.  Into the Bible: The Christian and Salvation by Grace

 

     a). The definition of salvation by grace:

 

1.  The word grace in it’s proper biblical sense means the free, undeserved, unmerited favor of God exercised toward the undeserving.

 

2.  If salvation is by grace, than salvation is the free, undeserved, unmerited favor of God exercised toward the undeserving (Ephesians 2:8-9). 

 

"Grace is something in God which is at the heart of all his redeeming activities, the downward stoop and reach of God, God bending from the heights of His majesty, to touch and grasp our insignificance and poverty."

 

3.  Discussion:  Can a person be saved by doing good works?

 

*Haven’t we known good upright outstanding citizens who go the extra mile in life.  Don’t their good deeds secure them a place in heaven?

           

·         No one is truly righteous (Romans 3:9-16).

·         No one measures up to what is needed to go to heaven (Romans 3:23).

·         Our “good deeds” are spoiled by our sin (Isaiah 54:5).

·         Therefore, there is no merit found in our acts of service or good deeds (Romans 3:20).

·         Therefore, we depend on the pure grace of God for salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9).

·         Works cannot be joined with grace for salvation (Romans 11:6):[1]

 

 

     b.) The basis of grace:  The Atonement (Read Romans 3:24-25)

           

            1.  Discussion: Why God doesn’t just forgive everyone’s sin purely out of the goodness of his heart? 

 

 Answer:  God would be unjust and unrighteous.  Any judge who allows all criminals to go free is an unjust judge.

           

·         God, who is pure, cannot look upon sin.

·         God, who is just, must punish sin (Nahum 1:3):[2] 

·         Being creatures, we owe God obedience.

·         We, being disobedient,

(1) deserve punishment for the wrongs we have committed (Romans 6:23),[3] and   

(2) still owe God the obedience he requires and

 

·         We, being sinful, are unable to give God the obedience he requires and cannot remove the punishment we deserve.[4]

                                   

                        We are debtors that cannot pay.

           

            2.  God makes restitution for sinners in the atonement:

a. “Atonement” defined:  To atone means to make amends, to set things right. 

                        b.  How did Christ make atonement for us?:

(1)  On the cross, Jesus is punished for all of our sins.

(2)  By the death of Jesus, his perfectly righteous life is given to us by trusting him.[5] 

 

He paid a debt he did not own because we owed a debt we could not pay.

 

                                    Grace is free, but its not cheap. 

III.  Into our Lives:

 

      a. Where do works fit in? 

We know from scripture that a person is saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ apart from any work of their own.  However, James also says that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:20).  Is there a contradiction here?  If not, what is the relationship between God’s grace and our works? 

 

1.  It is by grace alone (i.e. without works) that we are saved, but grace that saves is never alone.  If our lives are transformed by grace, then so are our actions (Read Ephesians 2:10).[6]

           

2.  Good works do not result in salvation, but salvation results in good works.

           

     b. What should we be doing?  Read Philippians 2:12 - 13 

 

1.  We shouldn’t be working for salvation, but working out our salvation (like a muscle).[7]

 

2.   We should pursue holiness not for salvation, but because of salvation.[8]

 

     c. How might we pursue holiness this week?[9]

 

     d. Prayer

 


[1] Time after time the scriptures repeat the assertion that the salvation of man is of grace.  It’s almost as if God anticipated the difficulty people would have throughout the ages in arriving at the conclusion that they could not earn salvation through any merit of their own.  Grace and human merit are mutually exclusive.  God will have no part in man’s misguided attempts to produce a salvation that includes both grace and our own effort.  It is God, and God alone, who by His grace provides His people with a righteousness they cannot, through any act of their own, secure for themselves.

 

[2]  Because our sins are against as infinite Holy God who can’t even look upon sin, we all stand guilty before Him.  Nahum 1:3 says that “ The Lord is slow to anger and great  in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.  Revelation 20:15 says, “If anyone’s name was not found in the Book of Life he was thrown into the lake of fire”.  The grace of God, His undeserved favor, does not include a decision by God to simply ignore sin.

 

 

 

[3]   The grace of God, His undeserved favor, does not include a decision by God to simply ignore sin.  He was morally bound to pour out His just wrath against those who had broken His law. 

 

[4] Neither God’s law nor the sacrificial system established in the Old Testament for the atonement of sin were ever intended to save anyone once and for all.  They were however meant to reveal to people their sinfulness, and point to the one who would save them and the only one who could save them once and for all--God Himself. 

 

[5] Jesus, the second person of the triune Godhead, come into the world and lived as a man under the Law of God.  He was subjected to all the temptations a human being can face, yet without sin.  In living this life without sin, He complied a record of perfect righteousness. He then proceeded to the cross where He bore the wrath of God that was due for all sins of God’s people, sins that had to be punished.  Jesus’ accomplishment of these tasks enabled God the Father to make a judicial declaration.  He imputed (credited)  the sins of His people to Christ, and imputes Christ’s righteousness to His people. Those who believe in Jesus, and place their trust in His finished work alone for their salvation are justified by a just God.  They are not simply cleansed of their sin, but they are clothed with the spotless righteousness of their savior.  They are declared righteous by the Righteous One. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross propitiated God’s wrath.  This means that it quenched God’s wrath against us by removing our sins from His sight.  “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.”  (1 John 4:10)

 

 

[6] It should be understood by now that salvation is a work of God’s grace from “A to Z”.  God in eternity past knew that the people He created would rebel against His perfect Law, resulting in spiritual death and separation from fellowship with Him.  His decision to redeem (buy back) His people was carried out by Christ at the cross.  We now come to the work of God- the Holy Spirit in our salvation.  It is the Holy Spirit who applies Christ’s work of redemption to our lives.  We call His initial work regeneration.  The Bible declares that while natural human beings (the unregenerate, unsaved) may be biologically alive, they are spiritually dead.  And just as a person who is dead physically can do nothing physical, the spiritually dead person can do nothing spiritual.  Remember, Paul proclaims in Romans that “there is none who seeks God” in his spiritually dead condition.  We must be regenerated, made alive, born again.  Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  (John 3:3)  This is the work of the Holy Spirit. “But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Ephesians 2:4-5).  “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:5).  Here we see regeneration clearly portrayed as the gracious work of God.  He reaches out to deliver people who are “dead in trespasses and sins”.  (Ephesians 2:1)  Scripture teaches that just as Jesus came upon Saul (Paul) on the road to Damascus with a bright light that struck him to the ground, blinded him, and forever changed him, so too does God sovereignly come into the heart of His people to restore them to spiritual life.  He places them on a new path just as Jesus did Paul.  It is God, and God alone who carries out regeneration and nothing in us merits this mighty work of His.  God’s grace is the cause.  Transformed hearts leading to repentance and newness of life are the miraculous effects of this glorious grace.  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.”  (2 Corinthians 5:17).

 

 

[7] It is very important to remember one crucial facet of our spiritual rebirth- it is just the beginning of the Christian life.  Many Christians understand in their minds and hopefully their hearts, that their salvation is entirely of God’s grace.  That being said, the problem sometimes arises when having received this free gift of God’s grace in salvation, we begin trying to earn His favor for the rest of our lives as though His grace was only for salvation.  Scripture shows us that this mindset should never be the case.  Now the God of peace…equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight.”  (Hebrews 13:20-21).  In writing about spiritual gifts Paul states: “And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all things in all persons.” (1 Corinthians 12:6).  When God regenerates us and brings about our justification, He changes us forever. But, His grace doesn’t stop there.  He begins the gracious work of sanctification (the process of being made holy).  And while regeneration is a work of God alone, sanctification is a process in which we participate with God.  It is that life long portion of our Christian walk, in which, with the power of the Holy Spirit, we pursue righteousness.  Unlike our regeneration and justification, we have a part to play when it comes to the business of living the Christian life.  We are to strive to be obedient to God’s commands, to love others, to serve in a variety of ways, to be more Christ like.  This is the pursuit in which the Bible encourages us to preserver.  We must, however, not forget that the degree to which our labor proves fruitful depends not on us, but once again on God’s grace.

 

 

[8] In his letter to the Philippians, Paul gives one of the Bibles clearest admonitions to be diligent in our efforts toward sanctification. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12)  He speaks here of salvation in it’s fullest redemptive sense which includes sanctification (Paul is not inferring here that we can earn our salvation). Paul is exhorting Christians to reverently and earnestly pursue holiness.  But we must not miss what he says in the very next verse;  For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”  (Philippians 2 :13).  In other words, as we work, God works in us, and He accomplishes His purpose.  This is why Paul can confidently tell the Philippians that “He who has begun a work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”  (Philippians 1:6)  We too can be confident that God finishes in us what He starts.  “Now may God Himself , the Prince of Peace, sanctify you through and through.  May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The one who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.”  (Thessalonians 5:23-24)  As Christians we all need to be diligent in our striving toward holy living, and be confident that God will complete the work that He has started in us.

 

 

[9] In what ways has God called you or is calling you to become more Christ like in your life?  Are you responding to His call?  Are you serving in the body of Christ (your church)? Church attendance, fellowship with other believers, and worship are all wonderful, and should absolutely be pursued.  But, this is not serving.  If you are not engaged in some form of service at Oasis, begin today to diligently seek the work that God, in His grace, has prepared you to do.