2004-10-05 - The Glory of His Grace

Ephesians 1:6, "To the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the beloved."

Last Tuesday, we focused on our need to give glory to God for His grace. Today I would like to focus on some specific aspects of the glory of God's grace. I have in mind God's immutability, the freeness of God's grace, and its benevolent nature. We can see all three of these aspects in Malachi 3:6, "For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed." Here we see God's freeness, immutability, and mercy. These are all aspects we are to consider when we think about God's grace.

The grace of God has never changed. Christians like to act smart, so they talk about God's immutability, when they are trying to simply say God never changes. Wouldn't it be nice if Christians were more concerned about their sin, than they were about their reputation for smartness? Things around us are in flux all the time. They say Mount St. Helens is about to blow again. That will change the landscape of the area again. However, God's grace is not like that. God's grace never changes. It is amazing that when everything else we can think about changes at some time or another, God never does change. He is the same, "yesterday, and today, yes and forever," Hebrews 13:8. When God gives us His grace, He never, never, never takes it away. His grace, once given, is something we can stake our lives on, and many Christians have, and still do so.

God's grace is free. It is as free as air. The freeness of God's grace is not inconsistent with the sovereignty of God. The promise in the Bible is that God's grace is for all who will come. It is for whosoever. And God's Word is His revelation to us and part of His sovereignty. One of the amazing things about God's grace is that it is free. The freeness of God's grace is one of our great encouragements to tell others of the wonders of God's grace. It is free. If they can breathe, then they can have God's grace, because it is as free as air.

The last glory of the grace of God is the benevolent nature of it. God's grace has done great things. Or we might put it in the negative. What hurt has the grace of God ever done? There has never been a living soul who can blame God for the ill they have received by His grace. There are many who have not been saved by God's grace, but there is not one who can point to God's grace and speak of all the wrongs they have suffered under it.

God's grace gives us the chance to one day see God face-to-face and not be consumed. It is one of the wonders of Heaven, but it is possible because of God's grace. There are many wonders that will be revealed in Heaven, but one writer talked about three in particular that are related to each other. The first wonder is that we will see so many in Heaven that we never expected to see there. The second is the wonder of those we expected to see there and do not see there. The third wonder is to see ourselves there. That is the wonder and glory of God's grace. It is unchangeable, it is free, it is benevolent, and lastly, that it was ever bestowed upon us. What a wonder that God's grace in Christ is for whosoever, and there is no one reading this to whom that term whosoever does not apply. Such is the wonder and glory of God's grace.

Soli Deo Gloria,
T-

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