Grace - Definition

This is a class on grace. And the sheet that you have with all the questions on, we've only asked two of those questions so far. And as we get going, when we get towards the end, we'll go through the questions. And I want us to talk about it first. So last week, we talked about being, not being under law, but being under the principle of grace.

And that, what the word grace meant, anybody remember what the word was? What's the Greek word for grace? Charis, right. So, and we talked a little bit about how grace is seen in the Old Testament. But it's not the overriding principle that God operates with in the Old Testament. As we looked at Exodus 32 and Zechariah 12, to kind of show that like in Zechariah 12, you come to the table with God, human beings on one side, God on the other. God brings grace. Human brings bring what? Sin. That doesn't sound like a fair trade. We talked about that.

So today, and then we started talking about what grace was in the New Testament. So today, let's define what grace is. What is it? And you can We've kind of adopted the Chester McCauley definition, but I think I'd like to add some things to that. The first thing I want you to know is that grace is the system under which we live. Say that again. Grace is the system under which we live, Romans 6, 14.

Sin shall not have dominion over you. Why? For you're not under law, but under grace. So you ask the question, well, why did Paul tell us that you're not gonna sin because you're under grace? So why did he put grace in the equation? What is it supposed to do? What is grace supposed to accomplish that law couldn't accomplish? Godliness? What's that? Can we say godliness?

Keep you from sinning. It's real simple. We think that if we obey the laws that he lays down that we will not sin, but we find out in God's word that what law does is it promotes sin. It makes your sin nature exceedingly sinful. So here comes grace, and the reason that grace is here is to eliminate sin. That's really why it's here. And you know, when you first come in contact with that concept, you think, well, grace is just favors. How are favors going to keep me from sinning?

Well, let's find out. The first question, and I remember we asked this the last time we did this, why does Paul have to tell us that we're under grace? Why does he have to tell us? We don't know. That's exactly it. It's simple. If we're not taught grace, we will never get it. Never get it.

You can grow up in just the nicest home in the world, but it's legal. It's not gracious. It's not a natural way for us to think. It isn't natural to think from a gracious standpoint all the time. And the third aspect about grace is that you will never understand it until we get into the Word of God and we begin to study what it's about and how it works.

So if it's designed to prevent sin, and it's not a license to sin, it's a system to prevent sin, would you say that maybe there's a method of controlling conduct other than rules? Yeah, Mike, what I go back to is Romans 5, 20. The law came in so the transgression would increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. So that as sin reigned in death, even so, grace would reign through righteousness, through eternal life, through Jesus Christ. So when you say it's gifts or whatever, it's a principle now, by how we operate now. It's grace. It's a gracious-based system now.

You're absolutely right, but you read that coming down through Romans, and you think, well, I don't know how that works. Hence the question. Paul has to explain it. I think a lot is in Galatians, too. Law versus grace is explained in Galatians, and the contrast, and the lack of being able to mix those two. Grace, maybe I say this about, grace is a mature attitude, law is an immature attitude.

Because it's real easy for me to say to you, well just tell me what to do and I'll do it. God says, okay, here they are. Whoops, you know. But when God starts to demonstrate and we begin to understand how gracious He really is, it is the greatest motivator there is, God's grace. greatest motivator.

I think also the old man, the flesh, loves the law. So within us the flesh is always trying to seek a law, seek a work or something. So within us we have the battle between the flesh wanting law and the new man functioning under grace. You see how that works? The sin nature is all about I, me. So in order for me, I, to be acceptable, you have to tell me what I have to do to become acceptable. That's law, right? Grace comes along and says, well, we don't need you, I, anymore. I've blessed you unlimitedly. And when you find out what those blessings are, we won't have to worry about, ah, you will fall in line because you're overwhelmed by the grace. See that? OK.

Now, one of the comments that Chester McCauley made, this is kind of a, how do I say this, kind of a stab in the heart. He says, there's no more immoral, rotten, and filthy to the core with sin than a person who's a legalist. Go tell the reform guys that.

So how do we know that grace is designed to control our conduct? From the word of God. we find out in Romans 7, which we're studying on the pulpit. How many of you before someone taught you this principle that law activates sin to its peak? How many of you understood that principle? is a way we tend to think of a lot, and yet it is also pretty self-evident when you watch it in, you know, in action.

All it can do is accuse or excuse. Sure. We think that being good by a point, you know, living under some rules makes us acceptable, when in fact it makes us a major sinner. The whole principle of the fact that law activates the sin nature. Like we've been learning in Romans 7, it's not like the sin nature wasn't already what it is. The law kind of draws it out, so to speak. The law kind of finds out just what the sin nature is. The law doesn't make you sinful. you know, cause you to sin, but the flesh takes that opportunity. It's a sin, yeah, that's right. Because the law is righteous, God's law is righteous. And what's, from a self-sinner standpoint, The bigger sins that the law produces are little cool things like pride. I can look down at all those guys over here that don't take showers. They must be sinners. And I'm clean, and I'm prideful about that.

Just keeping on to where I was reading in Romans 6-1, what the flesh immediately goes to is, but what shall we say? Are we to continue in sin so grace may increase? The natural inclination is, well, I can sin all I want. That's the flesh saying that. And the answer is, may it never be.

You know, it's interesting, one of the guys that led me to the Lord was kind of a street philosopher, maybe is to put it. He had a guy come to him one time and say, you know, I know you're teaching about grace, but he said, he said, boy, if I go for the grace, I'm going to sin even more. So I think I'm just going to stay where I am. And he said, you mean sinning? He said, yeah. He said, well, good luck with that. You belong to the Lord, and you're not going to get too far down the road with that attitude.

But it is a terrifying thing to the legal-minded believer, which is all of us. To some extent, yeah. It's a beginning point of things, for sure. But it's a terrifying thing to let go of the only thing that you feel in your heart is actually a restraining sin, because that's the way you think about it. You think the law controls sin.

It's not true, but it's very hard to let go of that, trusting that grace is actually... Well, and also I think from when we taught the grace class before, originally, a long time, 20 years ago or whatever, the other is the apathy, is that, you know, the flesh wants to do something, so grace is just doing nothing. Grace means shifted and neutral. Grace is not a performance-based system, and that's contrary to the flesh.

So, that leads to the next principle, which is all human beings are under one of two controlling principles. What are they? Somebody read Romans 3, 9. What then, are we better than they? Not at all, for we have previously charged both Jew and Greek that they are all under sin. So sin is a controlling factor. That's what I'm going to talk about later. Sin is a controlling factor. Sin being missing the mark, separation from God, that's a controlling factor.

But then Romans 6.14 says, For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law any more, but under grace. So the two controlling factors are sin and grace. So if I move out of sin and am under grace, grace is the environment and the principle that keeps me from sinning.

Could you talk for a minute, because we talk about living in an age of lawlessness where it's increasing in the world. And law, which God put in place through governments, is really what protects the world because there's a penalty for wrongdoing. So it seems like what we're talking about here today is only for a believer.

The grace part? The grace part, or the recognition that you're not accomplishing what you want to do. Yeah, I think if you go back to Adam, Adam was created innocent and he was put in the garden and he was given everything. One rule. And we look at that rule and say, well, that isn't tough. Build a fence around the tree, I won't go there. He violated that one rule and what happened? Sin became the controlling factor.

So it has been for 7,000 years or so. And so how does God deal with mankind? Well, in the Old Testament, you know, sometimes he wiped out whole civilizations. He wiped out the whole planet one time except for eight people in a boat, right? But yet the Jews were, you know, if you obey me, I will bless you. That's right. That was the Jewish system. And what was it? If God said to a Jew, if you obey me, I will bless you, what is God really telling him? What does he want to teach him? You can't obey me. You have to rely on my grace. And he says, okay, here's the law. Because the Jews wanted the law. They said, we want a king and we want the law. Do you see that?

Once sin became the controlling principle, then anything outside of the human being was unacceptable. We can't even accept somebody helping us up the steps. or inviting us over for dinner without thinking we've got to pay them back or we have to be polite or we've got to eat everything in front of us or whatever.

I hope I'm doing what those people think I should be doing because I'm a guest. Under grace you don't ever think about that. The great thing about Christian fellowship is a lot of those mores just go away. Accept you for who you are and you accept me for who I am. So the law never was designed for anything other than to expose sin. That's what it's for. For a Jew to come to the realization he couldn't keep it. So when you get to the Gospels, you see these guys like Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a proud Pharisee. And what did the Lord Jesus tell him?

Unless you're born from above, you're not going to see the kingdom, and you're not going to get in. And somewhere along the line, he saw it. Or the thief on the cross. He just saw one thing. When you come into your kingdom, don't forget me. And the Lord Jesus said, today you'll be with me in paradise. What could that guy do? There are two guys up there, one of them bad mouthing the Lord Jesus, and the other one says, you know what? When you go into your kingdom, I want to be with you. And he said, OK, you'll be with me today in paradise.

The other guy's sin nature was absolutely in control. I mean, this guy even admitted that they violated and deserved the death they got. This guy never did. Let's see. The next part of this that we talked about is where the second principle of grace is that it is comprehended in Christ Jesus, Romans 5.15, but not as the trespass, so also as the free gift. For if by the trespass of the one many died, that's Adam's sin, much more did the grace of God and the gift of the grace of the other, Jesus Christ, has abounded to many. In the Gospel of John, what did the Lord Jesus bring to the world? Grace and truth. He's the only one. So it's centered around him, centered around him.

So I'm getting into some of the questions now. Should we be in anticipation in what God is going to do for us? And just so you know, it's a trick question. Should we be in anticipation in what God is going to do for us? Yes or no? Why not? Because he's already done it. That's the answer. No, he's already done it.

Can you name one blessing, one, that God hasn't already blessed you with in Christ in the heavenlies? One? Because if you can name one, then none of the rest of them are true. He says he has blessed us. But we think materially, earthly, You know, I don't have a Mercedes out there, I got a Chevy. No, spiritual blessings, one, can you think of one thing? No, I am blessed.

So then the next question is, where does grace abound then? If it came by Jesus Christ, where does it abound? I just gave you the answer in Him. You see that? He's the one that brings it. We find out about it by what is done in the Word. We look backwards to see what's there. and then it's appropriated today for our need. Is the work of the cross complete and finished? Yeah, it is. I think somebody said, God's satisfied, why aren't we? That's a good way to put it. So if Christianity is taught correctly, biblically, that's where grace is going to be found out, and where you're going to learn it, and where you're going to grow in it, and you're going to rest in it.

Titus 2.11 says, for grace of God has appeared. What did it bring with it? Bringing salvation to all men. Grace. Not a little bit of grace and a little bit of your work and a little bit of holy water. Grace only. So I think you come down to a point in your life where you have to ask yourself, is grace a dynamic? Does it really have the power to control me? What do you think? If you go on in Titus 2 verse 12, listen to this. To the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world. Titus 2, 12.

So not only does it show up, bringing salvation to all men, but it also teaches men how to live under it. But we're stubborn students when it comes to grace. So if you look at, does grace have the power to teach? These verses say it does. So what's interesting is that there's a supposition that like we're praying for Michael, right? We don't think Michael's a believer. Does Michael understand grace? Hasn't got a clue. Hasn't got a clue.

To understand grace, you have to belong to Christ. Because you're saved by grace, that's the door in. It's grace. It never is anything other than that. A non-believer, sin nature, does not understand grace. They just don't get it, because they don't have the capacity.

Mike, I keep wondering how you are saying, or what you mean by grace controls us, because the word control kind of sounds legal to you. Yeah, that's, well, I'm going to answer that two ways. let's take all controls off. Either grace is going to control me or law is going to control me, right? No, there's a third one. Or sin's going to control me. Any way you look at it, something's going to control me.

I don't control anything. That's the first principle that you've got to kind of wake up to, like, wait a minute. I'm not the master of the world. I'm not even the master of myself. So you can tell me all the rules, and if I obey them all, then I still am going to be prideful about it. So I'm still going to sin. So the question comes, well, how is grace going to control me? How is it going to control me?

You know, Mike, I'm looking here in Romans 3, and two key phrases popped out. You mentioned 3.9 earlier, about being under sin. And down 10 verses in 3.19, it says, we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law. So, under sin and under the law. And it kind of strikes me that that's exactly what Paul turns to answer in Romans 6 and Romans 7. being dead to sin through the cross. In Romans 7, he talks about having been separated from the law, dead to the law, so that we might be joined to Christ.

And that's all the work of grace, is being through the cross, separated from the sin, sin nature that controls us, and being separated from the law, So that we can be joined to Christ as our life. And I think that gets to the answer of why grace can control us. Not because grace is a principle that controls me or my old man or self or the sin nature or anything like that. But grace is the means by which we have Christ as our life. A new life source. That's what this circle is for, is to answer that question.

So somebody look up 1 John 4, 7-9. 1 John 4, 7, 8-9. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent his only begotten son into the world so that we might live through him.

The grace circle goes this way. God loves me. You start there. I love him back. Why? Because he first loved me. If he didn't love me, I'm not going to love him. But He loves me and our love for Him is a result of the love and the grace He has for me. Now you get down to the bottom here, and we're going this way.

Somebody read John 14.21. He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is He who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father. Okay. God loves me. I love Him back because He loves me. Now I come down here. Oh yeah, I obey Him. Why? Because I love Him. Why? Because He loves me. You see how that works? Now, go to, I could have made this bigger. Did I say John? Same thing. John 14, 21.

So what does God do? He loves me. I love Him back. I obey Him. Guess what happens out here? He rewards me for obeying Him, for loving Him because He first loved me. That's how it works. It all comes back to Him. That's the grace circle. That's how it works. So you ask the question, how does God control me? This is exactly how He does it. He loves me. I respond to that love by obeying Him. He rewards me for obeying Him because I love Him because He loved me in the first place. That make sense? It's one of those things that If this, what I call the grace circle, it's a little bit more expansive than this, but it starts and it ends here. I do this because of this. I do this because of this. I get rewarded because of this.

If I know that God loves me to the point that he gave his life for me, And he blessed me with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. And he said, and he says to me, I want you to obey me. In other words, I want you to believe me and I want you to walk with me. It gets easy when you start to figure out that it's all based on his love.

And oh, by the way, he put the life, that life that loves in you so that you can respond. without it being putting the rules up here. You see that? Questions about that? I mean, I talk about that on Sunday, right? We can have all the love for God in the world, we can have all the gratitude for everything that He's done for us, and we still find that we can't obey Him. And so what's the disconnect? How do we get from loving Him to obeying Him or to living this life? And it has to come out of that Romans 6 and 7. principles, where we begin to realize that not only has He loved us, but He's given us a new life.

And so it's no longer I who live, and when we have that phrase, we obey Him, we really have to frame that within Galatians 2.20. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Yeah, and see that's, in the middle I should probably put All of this is based on faith, and faith is real simple. Faith is taking God at His word.

He says He loves me, and I'm still messing around in Romans 7, trying to show Him that I love Him. He already knows. But when I finally figure out the intensity with which He loves me, I can't help but respond, because I have the life that does that.

I don't even have to think about it. You know, I guess I go back a little bit, too. It doesn't matter for us in the controlling aspect. God operates under grace now. It's not predicated on us. And I think it's basically the same thing. It comes down to us believing. That's how grace controls us, is we believe what he says. And that's where control or whatever, spiritual growth and maturity is where grace abounds, is when we start understanding what he said about us.

God operates only under grace now. He does. That's what it says in Romans 5. He does. That's how He operates, whether we respond or not, whether we're controlled by it or not. Yeah. That's how He operates. Now, we can respond to that or we cannot respond to that, and it's basically through faith. Do we trust Him? Do we understand what He's doing? So, listen to this.

Ephesians 2.4, but God being rich in mercy with His great lover and He loved us, Even when we were dead through trespasses, He made us alive in Christ.

Gratitude kind of sticks its head in there. No. Gratitude has nothing to do with it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I see. By grace you have been saved and raised up with Him and made to sit with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. When you die? No. Right now.

And in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that's not of yourself, it's a gift of God. So the Romans 7 is right in here. And it shows you, if this is the circle, most of us are stuck right here. And we know we can say the words and we know God loved us because he saved us.

But here's the thing, through this whole process, what's really happening? I related to a marriage. It's one thing to say that you love your wife and she loves you, but if she lives in Indiana and you live here, when do you see her? Do you understand? The point is that this whole thing is designed for a believer to have a growing intimacy with the lover, Christ. And as that intimacy grows, what happens?

There's a conformity that goes on. And you're conformed to his image. He's a lover, so so are you. And he's an obeyer. When he was on the earth, he never acted out of himself. He only did what the Father told him to do. And he didn't have to try hard to do it, he just did it. And he got rewarded by being raised from the dead.

So when you begin to have an intimacy through God's word with the Lord Jesus Christ, this is the way it goes. Because this is the way it went with the Lord Jesus. You see that? I found another verse that I kind of like. It kind of speaks to what you're saying here.

Second Corinthians 5.14, for Christ's love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died. I guess I like the word compels more than controls. Because we're convinced.

Look in your life. The people that you really care about, they're the ones that love you the most. Do you see what I mean? I mean, so-and-so is one of my best friends. The real reason he is or she is is because they love me. And I know that they do. And I respond. See that?

So, it's personal with the Lord Jesus. I don't think we appreciate the value of knowing Christ, but this is what happens in a believer's life. You wonder, these mature believers, why they will endure and do things or go through things and not ever even question them. because they know the lover and they walk with him every day. And that doesn't mean that, well, you don't know him so well and some guys know him better. It's not that. This is the program that grace has put into play so that we would grow in the knowledge and grace of the one who loves us.

That's what the Word of God is about. My morning reading, I take a chapter and go through my favorite, John 17. It's all about the Embassy. It's about how I and Him, I and the Father are one, we are one, all of these things. you know, righteous Father, the world has not known you, yet I have known you, and these have known you, that you sent me. I have made your name known to them, and will make it known to them, so that the love of which you love me may be in them, and I in them."

And, you know, He shares the glory with us. All of those things, it compels us to respond in love. Yeah, I agree. That's the true, true Lord's Prayer. Yes, it is. So let me ask you that one last question for you Catholics, no. Is it possible not to know this as a Christian? Yeah, it is.

Because if you're not taught this, you won't ever know. And the reason I think that God is so careful to have the way he has set up the body of Christ with teachers and people like this is really to get this message of grace and love out to every one of the members of the body of Christ. Because this doesn't come naturally. The world has no idea what this is about. Without knowing this, not a single person would walk with the Lord. and a lot of the teaching out there, you know, the porpoise-driven life, I mean, porpoise-driven life, and prayer of Jabez, and all those things are all fleshly responses on what you can do. That's exactly what they are. It's not anything about grace, nothing about what this is. It's all about what I can do.

Sure. How do I do it? And if you do it, then God will bless you. Yeah. It's not grace-based. The sin nature The sin nature keeps you from letting God love you, because you're more important than He is. As Donna says, it's all earthly. Yeah. Well, we've got to close because the singer's got to go sing. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your grace. We thank You for Your Son, the Lord Jesus in whom we live. and have our very being and we love. And we pray in his precious name, amen.