Introduction.

1. If some first century believers were transported into Australian Churches today, they would be shocked at the emphasis placed on God as the God of love. In talking to them we would be shocked by the great emphasis they placed on God as the God of grace. While we are inclined to speak about being saved by the love of God, they were inclined to speak about being saved by the grace of God. We need to return to the Biblical emphasis in order to counter the false Gospel of the love of God that is most commonly preached in churches today. God is not a slave to love as the modern Gospel claims.
   
   
2. The word grace is an important word as the Bible links it to the salvation of sinners. Listen to the link between God's grace and salvation in Ephesians 2:4-8 ‘But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.'
   
   
3. The two most popular definitions of grace among reformed churches are: ‘God's unmerited favour towards elect sinners' and ‘God's Riches At Christ's Expense.' Both these definitions served their purpose at a time when the word grace and the concept behind the word were part of everyday thinking and speaking. In our day the word grace is a distinctly Christian word. Since September 11, 2001 the hymn ‘Amazing Grace' is the most sung hymn in America, yet the vast majority of those who sing it would not understand the concept of grace. That people no longer understand the meaning of grace should not surprise us. The writers of Scripture as they were moved by the Holy Spirit put new meanings and concepts into the Greek words ‘charis' (grace) and ‘agape' (love) that were uniquely Christian. As the Christian influence on everyday life fades we should expect the world not to know the meaning of many words and concepts that are precious to believers. Think of words like sin, atonement, propitiation, restitution, redemption, Lordship and glory. Does it really matter whether we understand the meaning and the concept of grace? The correct understanding is vital as grace is at the very heart of the Gospel. If you misunderstand grace, you are most likely to misunderstand the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Galatians 1:8 says, ‘But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.'  Any Gospel that flows from a misunderstanding of grace is another Gospel and condemned by God in the strongest terms. What does the Bible mean by grace? There are three aspects that are absolutely indispensable to the Biblical concept of grace.

1. Grace is the exercise of God's almighty power.

1. The definition of grace that says, ‘Grace is the unearned, unmerited favour of God' focuses on two truths; (i) God's grace cannot be earned or merited; grace received is always grace undeserved. (ii)  God is the giver of grace and is extremely generous. While both these truths are wonderful it may convey the idea that grace refers simply to God's attitude and therefore it is passive and needs to be activated in order to accomplish a sinner's salvation. If grace is understood as a passive attitude until activated, then the question, what activates grace must be answered. Many would answer the question by saying, ‘the grace of God is triggered by your act of believing and accepting Christ as your Lord and Saviour'. This answer reveals that grace has been totally misunderstood as it makes grace utterly ineffectual and fully dependant upon the actions of men and women.
   
   
2. God's grace is never passive. We can partly define grace as: the power of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit exerted in complete unity of purpose and harmony of action for the salvation of the elect. If grace is to be a vital aspect of salvation, then power is an indispensable element of that grace. We need to remember that salvation comes to sinners who by nature are ruled and held captive by sin. The Bible speaks of the grip of sin on human beings in the strongest terms possible. Listen to Ephesians 2:1, ‘And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.'  Sinners needing salvation are described as spiritually dead. If you are ‘dead' it means you are without any life and are incapable of any action. We use the term stone dead to emphasise lifelessness. It would be absolutely ludicrous if the curator of the Accademia Gallery in Florence asked Michealangelo's statue of King David to put the lights out when the visitors had gone. If you are dead you are incapable of responding to any stimulai. Sinners in need of salvation are dead and need to be given life before they are capable of responding to anything. Only the power of God's grace can bring life to those dead in trespass and sin. As Ephesians 2:5 says, God ‘made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) it is the element of power in grace that makes sinners alive and able to respond to the Gospel of Christ Jesus.
   
   
3. To describe a sinner as dead in trespass and sin means that the sinner is spiritually completely helpless. If we were not helpless we could respond to the preaching of the Gospel or to wise words of counsel from Scripture urging us to seek the Lord. Preaching and counsel are important, but in and of themselves cannot cause a dead man to respond. The greatest and most powerful preacher who ever walked on the face of the earth was Jesus Christ who was God incarnate and yet many listened to his preaching and did not respond because they were dead in their trespass and sin. Spiritual death puts men beyond the reach of wise advice. The power of sin's death is far too great for any man to set himself free. A dead man does not need advice, counsel, exhortation or persuasive argument, he needs life. He needs the life-giving power of God's grace. The power of grace gives life so that sinners can respond to the Gospel. When grace comes to those who are helpless they receive life.
   
   
4. The power of grace is unique in the greatness of its effectiveness. Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:6 compares it to the power God exercised at creation, he says ‘For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.' The radical and unique change that the power of God's grace makes in a sinner by uniting them to Christ is described for us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 where Paul says, ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.' The power of God's grace does not take the old man and do a renovation, rather it creates new life and a new man.
   
   
5. The power of God's grace is irresistible. Some would say that this is simply stating the obvious as a dead man cannot resist anything. A spiritually dead person may fill their natural hearts and minds with great hatred for the Gospel and the Lord's people. Saul who became the Apostle Paul is a good example of one who hated the Gospel and sought to obliterate the name of Jesus from the face of the earth. Listen to Acts 8:1 & 3. ‘Now Saul was consenting to Stephen's death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. ...^ As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.' As Saul travelled to Damascus to continue his violent persecution of Christians the power of God's grace transformed him. The power of God's grace changed Saul the blasphemer of Christ's name and murderer of his followers into Paul who declared ‘for me to live is Christ.' All the hatred in his heart and all the blasphemous thoughts in his mind could not resist the power of God's grace. God's grace is filled with irresistible power.

2.  Grace is the exercise of God's amazing love.

1. God's grace is not simply the working of God's almighty power it is also the exercise of his amazing love. God's amazing love in grace means that his power does not operate randomly or without purpose or direction. The power of God's grace is harnessed and directed by love, love that works for the good of those whom the Lord will call. B.B. Warfield said, ‘Grace is power. It does not instruct it energises, and what dead men need is energising, such energising as raised the dead. ...Power, in itself considered, may blast as well as bless.' The power that grace is always blesses, because grace is love.'  God's grace is the exercise of his almighty power and amazing love.
   
   
2. Uncontrolled power is a devastating force that causes immense damage. Think back a few years to the Tsunami that swept through parts of Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Thousands of lives were lost and billions of dollars of damage was done in a few moments. In a matter of moments the hard labour of years in building homes, offices, shops, hotels, roadways, bridges were swept away. The power of a Tsunami is to be greatly feared. God's power is far, far greater than the power of a hundred Tsunamis but it is never out of control. God's power directed by his love is always extended in loving kindness and wonderful tenderness. God's infinite love directs his omnipotent power therefore God is always gracious and merciful towards his people.
   
   
3. Think of Jesus standing at the tomb of Lazarus. When Jesus cried out in a loud voice and said, ‘Lazarus come forth' was this command barked in awesome power and authority or was it issued in the love and power of grace? Think of the raising of Jarius' daughter where Jesus says, ‘Talitha cumi'. If these words were translated literally we would read, ‘rise, little lamb'. This phrase was used by fathers and mothers in Jesus' time to gently awaken their sleeping children. The phrase is full of love and tenderness. I refer to the cases of Lazarus and Jarius' daughter as they deal with individuals and the love of God's grace is not a general love, but love which is very personal and specific. Listen to a few general statements of the love of God's grace; ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.' (John 3:16) ‘Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!' (1 John 3:1) ‘Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.' (John 15:13) The love in grace enables every believer to know that God loves them as an individual. Queen Elizabeth may be genuine when she says, ‘I love my subjects' but the love she extends is very general and not personal as she would not know the names of all her subjects. Jesus knows all who have been given to him personally and by name. Paul in Ephesians 2:4 talks about God's great love with which He loved us, and then in Ephesians 3:14-18 says, ‘For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.' Paul prays that every believer in Ephesus would know how great Christ's love is for them personally. God's love in grace is personal and individual. We are personally saved by grace and can trace the original source of our salvation back to the love of God.
   
   
4. God's love is not passive it is always in action. Listen to 1 John 4:9-10, ‘In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 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.'  God has told us and shown us that he loves us greatly. God's love was set upon us while we were God's enemies, refusing to acknowledge him as God and submit to his Lordship. God's love came to those who were totally undeserving.  Every sinner fully deserves to be cast into hell and suffer the terrors of eternal misery. To receive grace from God that transforms and recreates you in power and love is truly awesome. To receive grace that takes you as a sinner and makes you a son of God with a glorious inheritance is truly magnificent. To receive grace from God that frees you from the condemnatory power of the law is truly amazing. Grace is God's almighty power and amazing love directed at doing you good.

3. Grace is the extraordinary gift given by God.

1. Our God is the God of all grace. He extends grace according to his free and sovereign choice. The New Testament makes it very clear that we cannot claim, demand, appropriate or earn the grace of God. It is important to grasp and understand that God can give grace to whom he pleases. No one can demand grace from God based on what they have done for him or for his people. We need to emphasise this fact; no amount of religious activity - Bible study, prayer, obedience, fasting, partaking in church programmes gives you the right to expect God to bless you or help you in any way. We can go further and say that giving money to the poor or to missionaries does not earn us any right to God's favour or blessings. Your struggle to obey God's commandments from childhood does not earn you God's grace either. Nothing you do or have had done to you by the church can make God owe you grace. God gives grace as a free gift to whom he pleases. If we could earn it through works it would not be grace. Listen to Romans 4:4, ‘Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.' The things we do for God or others - our good works - if they earned us favour with the Lord, then his favour would not be grace, but rather something that God owes us according to the principle of what is just and fair. Paul in Romans 11:6 argues as follows, And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.'  God gives grace to whom he pleases, no man can earn or merit the grace of God.  
   
   
2. We need to burn into our hearts the truth about God's freedom, God is free to do anything that pleases him and which he wills to do. We know that God will never do anything that contradicts his character, but that does not restrict the glorious freedom that is his. We need to place God's freedom alongside the fact that all men and women are by nature enemies of God. (Romans 5:10)  God is free to not extend grace if that pleases him. Listen to Douglas MacMillian, ‘We cannot even on the basis of our ‘rights' ask him for mercy; the highest claim we can make on him is a claim for justice, and justice being what it is , that would mean condemnation and rejection by God. God is not in anyway obliged to pardon sinners; the very fact that he is God means that he is just as free to act in condemnation as he is in salvation.' God is under no obligation to extend grace to sinners. It is amazing that God exercises his sovereign free choice and chooses to extend grace to elect sinners. God gives this gift of grace to whom he chooses.

Conclusion.

If you are a Christian, you need to know and understand that the only reason you are a believer is because God's grace full of power and love was given to you by the sovereign free choice of the Lord himself. The fact that you have received the grace of God ought to fill you with deep humility, profound gratitude, wondrous love, and unspeakable joy. The thought that you a sinner and enemy of God did not receive judgment and condemnation as you deserve, but grace that made you a son of God and a co-heir with Christ ought to fill your heart with thanksgiving and praise.