Grace - Part 2
Mike Doyle · Sep 16, 2012
Specials
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492632817966

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

So the reason that I chose this verse, these verses to be read, is because we're going to talk more about grace again today. And I think grace is one of those things that hasn't been seen or the ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of men. The things that God has in store for those who love him. So grace seems to be the theme around here these days, which is terrific because It's something that we need to learn. It's something that is, well, like I've said a lot, it's not a commodity. It doesn't come in bottles. It isn't labeled saving grace or sanctifying grace or common grace or actual grace or anything like that. It's the environment in which we live.

In John 1.17, John said that the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. With that said, we can make two statements about believers, and believers are the ones that, in verse 10, for God has revealed them unto us through His Spirit. Number one, that the believer is not under a law or any kind of a law system at all. And two, that the believer is under a grace system.

So if you take a look at the book of Hebrews, and you don't have to turn there yet, In Hebrews 7, 11, 12, the writer of Hebrews said, now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood, which is the law system, what further need was there of another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron? So we have an introduction of a new priesthood of the order of Melchizedek, and the point is that if the old system was really good, Why would you introduce a new system? The point is that you wouldn't.

For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity, there takes place a change of law also. For the priesthood was changed, there's a change in the law. So what did change? This word changed is the word that means transposed, to put something in place of another. We're not under, you and I aren't under a lost system because things have been changed. We're not under the same old system as we were before.

In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul says, but if the ministry of death, which is the law, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory so that the sons of Israel could not intently look in the face of Moses because the glory of his face was fading, How will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more filled with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, which is condemnation is the law system, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed, what had glory in this case is no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was glorious, the law fades away. much more than what remains is more glorious.

So the law had been done away with. That word we've seen a lot in Greek, it's in a lot of different places, katergeho, it means to nullify or to put something out of place, to make it inoperative. So I could say to you and you could say to yourselves that you're not under a law system because the law has been put out of business.

Romans 7.6 says, but now we have been released from a lost system, having died to that which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of spirit and on the oldness of the letter. Having died to the old system is the composite of the identification truths. Why are you not to serve under a lost system? Simple. You died. You died to it. We're not under it technically and legally because we've been discharged from it by our death with Christ on the cross. The second principle is that we are under a grace system.

Romans 6.14 says that sin won't have dominion over you because you're not under law, you are under grace. And the last time, and I think I was up here in May, June, something like that, Lewis Barry Chaffer wrote a book on grace, and part of it had seven fundamental facts about grace, and I went through each one of them. I just want to review them quickly here.

He says that grace is not withheld because of demerit. What he means by that, it's not withheld because of lack of merit. Grace can't be lessened because of lack of merit. In other words, it doesn't take more grace to save a really bad guy than less grace to save a not so bad guy.

Grace cannot incur a debt. When God acts graciously toward us, he doesn't put it in a position of debt. It can't create a debt. It's free. Grace is not extended as a just payment of a debt. You can't respond to the grace that God gave you thinking, well, I owe God something because he's been so gracious to me. That's not grace. Grace isn't overpayment of a debt.

It isn't a tip. You know, you go to lunch, get Courtney to buy. I get the tip, I'm being gracious. No, that's not grace. Grace does not appear, and these next two were difficult to understand, but I think if we go at it slowly we'll get it. Grace does not appear in the immediate divine dealings with the sins of the unsaved. Well you say, wait a minute.

The whole idea of salvation is that my sins are dealt with. What you have to understand is that your sins were dealt with before God extended His grace to you. So when He saves you, He isn't immediately dealing with your sins. He's already dealt with them and they are no longer in the way. And I'll elaborate on that in a minute. And grace doesn't appear in the immediate divine dealings with the sins of the saved. Same reason. He's already dealt with him. He got him out of the way before he extended his grace to you.

So, Chafer concluded that the word grace, as used in the Bible in relation to divine salvation, represents the uncompromised, unrestricted, un-recompensed, meaning can't pay it back, loving favor of God towards sinners. It is an unearned blessing. It is a gratuity. God is absolutely untrammeled and unshackled in expressing His infinite love by His infinite grace. Through the death of His Lamb, by whom every limitation which human sin could impose has been dispelled or pushed aside, through the provision which offers salvation as a gift by which human obligation has been forever pushed aside, through the divine decree by which human merit has forever been pushed aside, grace is a limitless, unrestrained love of God for the lost, acting in full compliance with the exact and the unchangeable demands of His righteousness through the sacrificial death of Christ. Grace is more than love. It is love set absolutely free and made to be a triumphant victor over the righteous judgment of God against the sinner.

Chester McCauley's definition of grace is that it's the unmerited and unlimited blessings from God based on the totally adequate work of Christ. So, good definitions. Let's examine some of the principles. There's a three-fold ministry. in undertaking grace that should be considered.

Number one, that God saves sinners by grace alone, no other method. The second principle is that God keeps those he has saved through grace and by no other method. He keeps us by grace. And the third principle is that he teaches us, in grace, those who are saved and kept, how that they should live. and how that they may live to his eternal glory. So the best example of that is the Apostle Paul. In 1 Corinthians 15, 10, and 11, there's a discussion where Paul talks about how he lives.

And he says, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace towards me didn't prove in vain. But I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preached and so you believed.

What you get from these verses is that God saved Paul by grace. Grace transformed Paul. Grace made him work and it motivated him to do what he did. Grace enabled him and you can summarize Paul's entire ministry. by God's grace alone. He is and was and did what he did based on the principle of grace.

Now, let's talk a little bit about things that can't coexist with grace. And I hope it doesn't shock some of you, but we'll go for it anyway. These are essential principles that if you wanted to upset grace, you would try to implement one or two of these and they would sort of put damage on what grace is. The first principle is, and this is carried on from the two things I mentioned from Schaeffer, that God doesn't deal in dealing with the sins of the lost. He doesn't deal immediately with their sins.

He's already dealt with them. And here's why. If you recognize any human guilt, then that frustrates grace. And here's why. God has to be free to exercise grace without the slightest limitation because of human lack of merit or sin. Do I need to repeat that? I'll say it again.

God must be free to exercise grace without the slightest limitation because of human lack of merit or sin. For grace would no longer be grace if its benefits were withheld from the sinner in the least degree because of their sinfulness. Grace can only be exercised where every question of unworthiness has been banished forever. So it is never a question of your worthiness.

You weren't worthy to start with. God has accomplished in the cross, and for the purpose that His supreme demonstration of grace may be realized unto infinite perfection, the Lamb of God has taken away the sins of the world, And God has laid on him the iniquities of us all. He isn't going to do it. He already did it. So the grace has an opposing principle of sin and lack of merit.

It's been removed before the eyes of God for all men. All men. Therefore, and only as a result, divine grace can be exercised towards all men. What does God do with the salvation message? whosoever will may come. Why? Because he's dealt with the sin issue. But since God through the death of Christ in absolute sense dealt with sin and the whole world, he's now free to exercise grace in the unconditional sense to lavish his riches upon the chief of sinners without reservation or decrease.

So again, it doesn't take more grace to save a really bad guy and less grace to save what we would consider a good guy. Divine grace thus waits on divine justice. So the cross of Christ was first and it had to be first because his justice and his righteousness had to be settled before he could be gracious. God never forgave a sin because he was big hearted about it or because he liked you better than the person sitting next to you. He did it only because Christ paid the penalty for the sins of the whole world.

And so Under those bases and principles alone can grace be exercised. So, now we could say that grace reigns in righteousness. It's a reigning principle, but it's grace alone and it is nothing else. Now there's a righteous throne of grace, which once was awful justice and wrath and blessing and blasting judgment has become a throne of grace. a righteous throne of awful justice.

Such is the good news which is proclaimed to a ruined world. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. That happened first. Only by the absolute removal of the condemnation of all sin could the way be made clear for an unlimited appearance of the grace of God. I hope that's clear because we sometimes spend too much time thinking about our own guiltiness and we have a sin issue or a sin problem, God, in order to deal with you and I graciously, dealt with the sin issue.

The second principle that grace can't coexist with is the recognition of any human obligation. In other words, if the benefits that are created by grace impose the slightest obligation on you and me for payment or compensation, it isn't grace. You cannot reimburse grace. You can't pay it back.

Its riches must be bestowed and received only on the ground that it is a simple gift. That's what it is. In John 10.28, the Lord Jesus said, I give unto them eternal life. I give it.

Romans 6.23, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The gift The gift is eternal life.

In order that the field might be absolutely clear for the demonstration of simple grace, God has perfectly eliminated every work of man, whether it's past, present, or future, from the terms of salvation by grace. Some quotes. It's not of works, lest any man should boast. If by grace, then it's no more of works. Now to him that works, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of death. But to him that works not, but believes in him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted or reckoned for righteousness.

Man must take salvation as a gift. We were in Sunday school this morning, we were talking about this, that it's very important as we talk to non-believers to make it clear to them that the salvation that you're offering is a gift of God alone. There's nothing for them to do but believe. And the great thing about faith is that it's a non-meritorious act. The value in faith is in what you believe, not the fact that you believed. But you get it all when you do.

So salvation, if presented in a gracious manner, will prepare young believers to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus. If they are led to Christ on a basis where there is some sort of obligation or something that they should do, or a little bit of a spiritual push-up here and there, then they might want to continue that way.

Grace does not create human obligation of any kind. The complete setting aside of human obligation as a payment of divine blessing is the only ground upon which God can be free to act in unlimited divine grace towards a sinner. That's principle two. Principle three is any recognition of human merit.

So God has to deal with the sin issue, He deals with the human obligation issue, and now He deals with the human merit issue. the fact that humanity is now stripped of every conceivable merit before God. It has been stated, revelation concerning the present relation of fallen man to God goes far beyond the disclosure that man is the sinner by both practice and nature. In and of itself, it's sufficient to cause condemnation, if that were the only, as far as that truth went. But beyond all this, God has now made a proclamation. And the proclamation is, it's judicial, and it says, all men are under sin.

Under it. Every man's under sin. Doesn't matter whether you're Jew or Gentile, all men are under sin. By this universal sentence, every individual has been reduced to the lowest level possible so far as human merit before God is concerned. Now, I recognize that in the affairs of you and me, there's legitimate room to talk about some are better than others morally, some act better than others, but such comparisons are completely eliminated from all divine observation of unregenerate men. A couple of quotes.

For we have before proved both Jew and Gentiles that they are all under sin. But the scripture has concluded all under sin that the promises of faith by Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. God has concluded all of them in unbelief or disobedience that he may have mercy or grace upon them. that every mouth may be stopped, that all the world may become guilty before God. So a conclusion can be drawn from this that every single human being outside of Christ has a standing before God. They're condemned, they're under sin, and they're all reckoned to be in unbelief.

There's no variation or decrease in this because here's the problem you have. Let's say There were four guys sitting over here and they were really good guys. And God said, I conclude that all men are under sin so that I may save them by grace. But these four guys are a little better than the rest of you. You know what the problem with these four guys have? They're not going to get saved because they don't fit the mold. They're too good to get saved. So God has to conclude That every human being is under sin so that he can save any and all.

So, one remedy that God has for the lost. One remedy. You'll never find in Paul's epistles any kind of moralizing for the world. He presents one remedy alone for human merit. And that remedy is that they believe on the person and work of the Lord Jesus. That they don't get better, that they just believe. He that believes on him is not condemned, but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. So there's no middle ground. There's no half good people. Men are either utterly condemned under the universal decree of judgment on all, or they are perfectly saved and saved in grace. So you can say that there's either Christ or hell.

That's it. Now, let's talk a little bit about the gracious work of God for man, for you and me. It's straightforward, and it may give us a measure of what grace is. And it's presented in the Word of God, and I've identified seven aspects. His work for us is based on the finished work of Christ, that it is finished. It's based on the convicting or the convincing work of the Holy Spirit, the saving work of God, and the keeping work of God, and the delivering work of God. And it's based on the work of God for your and my spiritual growth. And the final thing that it's based on is that He will present us to Himself holy and blameless.

Back to the original definition, you can't look at grace as a commodity. You have to look at it as an environmental system in which believers live. It's an atmosphere that every one of us is in, which is unlimited and unmerited in its blessings from God. It flows normally to us, and it's the work of Christ on the cross.

Very simply put. Grace has three principles. It's a system under which we live. It's understood. How do you understand and know what grace is? You know it through Christ alone. And this is really important. This is the only way that God operates today.

I live in a neighborhood now where Quite a few Hasidic Jewish people are moving in and they're very, very legal. They dress with the black suits and hats. I've noticed that on Friday night if they happen to leave their lights on, they leave them on all night because under the law they can't turn them off. Well, the problem is that they are attempting through their own righteousness to communicate with the God of the universe.

They've got a huge problem. God doesn't deal with mankind on a legal basis anymore. He deals with us solely on a grace basis. So if you go at him legally, what kind of a response can you expect? Nothing. He doesn't respond to law. He responds only to grace. So Paul in Romans 6, he asked the Roman believers two questions. He set this up with two verses in Romans 5, 20 and 21.

He said that the law came in so that the transgression would increase. The law comes in alongside your sin nature for one specific purpose, and that's so that sin would increase. But then he says, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that as sin reigned unto death, Even so, grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So he asked the question. It's one of those questions that you're anticipating what they're thinking, and so you ask it before they think about it. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may increase or abound? Where sin increased, their thinking was, well, gee, if I sin more, grace will be more. We're told that you can't out-sin grace. That's true, you can't. Therefore, the human carnal logic would say, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? His answer is, no way, can't be. The second question he asks is, shall we continue in sin because grace does abound?

Romans 6.14, sin won't have dominion over you because you're not under law but under grace. And then 15 says, what then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?

He says, may it never be. I want you to notice something. He says that, he's answering the question, how does good conduct without rules, laws, and penalties happen? How can a person possibly live under a system where there are no rules, there are no laws, and there aren't any penalties?

Grace has a tremendous ability to motivate. If you look at verse 14 here, it says that you are not under law, but under grace. In verse 15, it says, we are not under law, but under grace. The you is the voice of the teacher telling his students, you're not under law, but you're under grace. The we is the voice of the student.

They got it. They figured it out. There are lots of false assumptions that creep up regarding law and grace. One of them is that law is the only way to control conduct. Now, for society, yeah, it's true. If you're a non-believer living in a human society, Harry Ironside said, laws are the divine method to keep men alive. The false assumption for the believer is that law is the only way to motivate conduct. If I say you're free from the law, if you're in the world, you think, oh, I have freedom to sin. Or grace doesn't have any power to motivate me or to control me. All false assumptions.

The salvation and grace which God accomplishes for those who believe includes quite a few things. One is that it placed the saving one in a position as a son of God. Everybody in this room who is saved, which assumes all of you, you have been placed by the Spirit of God as a son. You have been placed as a citizen of heaven. You're no longer a citizen of the earth, you're now a citizen of heaven. You also have been placed as a member of the family of God and in the household of God. And the Spirit of God has been placed in you, and you now have the very resurrected life of Christ. If those are true, there's some results of that.

Every position demands a corresponding manner of life. It is to be expected that a rule of conduct as exalted as heaven itself will be committed to every believer. And that's what you find in the scriptures. The standard of conduct prescribed under grace is immeasurably more difficult to maintain than that prescribed under either under the law of Moses or what will be the kingdom law in the millennial kingdom. You could say that the life prescribed for us is as much higher as heaven is from the earth.

Grace not only provides a perfect salvation and a perfect eternal keeping for every believer, but grace provides as well the instructions for daily living of the one who is saved while he's being kept through the power of God. It is holy, gracious in character. It's entirely separate from and independent from any rule of life, any other rule of life that's found in the Word of God. It's complete in itself. It stands alone in scripture and it's simple. It's disassociated from any other kind of life.

Now let's look at a scripture that will help us hopefully understand this. In Titus 2, 11 and 12, Paul says, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts that we should live soberly, righteously, godly in this present world. So grace provides a peculiar or particular rule of life. Notice the first section says that the grace of God which brings salvation to all men has appeared. It's pretty clear, I would say, that he's talking about salvation.

And who is it brought to? All men. All men. It comes into the world by Jesus Christ and is now proclaimed to all men. It's a message for every man, since its provisions are universal and its invitation is, is whosoever will may come. So grace upon grace is bestowed now and to the end of the age upon those who believe. But look at the next part of this passage. It says, the passage also reveals that it has brought salvation to all men, that it teaches us.

Who do you think the us is? It's you and me. The word us does not refer to the wider class of all men. It refers to believers only. And it's the company of those who are saved. And this instruction for the daily life of the believer will be found as It is a peculiar revelation from God to Christians only. I think this is a really important distinction because whatever grace proposes to teach, its teachings are addressed only to those that are saved. The teachings addressed to Christians are never intended to be imposed on a Christ-rejecting world. Never. It's only believers. So the Word of God only appeals, the only appeal that the Word of God has to those that are outside of Christ is that they believe in the gospel of His grace. That's it, nothing else.

So as I said before, if you could demonstrate the slightest moral appeal to the unregenerate other than that which is implied in the gospel invitation, then it must be admitted that man could in some way, maybe, come up with an individual could move nearer to God by complying with whatever moral condition God laid down. The works of man would become meritorious then, and thereby there would be a third classification of humanity. And as I said before, if you're not under sin, you don't qualify for salvation. If you have some sort of merit, I say it the other way. If you're under sin, you qualify. If you're not under sin, you don't qualify for salvation. Pretty interesting, because God has declared all under sin.

So, returning to the passage now, we discover that only a portion of what grace teaches is here. And here's what it teaches. denying ungodliness and worldly lust to live soberly, righteously and godly, looking for the personal return of the Lord Jesus. It describes a really peculiar yet sweet life that God could purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous for good works.

Now, that's a little bit of the prescription for life. But I know what you're thinking. How am I going to live this life? So, if I'm a citizen of heaven, and you're a citizen of heaven, and it would be only consistent for God to call me to live a heavenly life, it must be evident that we could term this life superhuman or supernatural.

But scripture demonstrates two things, that we are called to a supernatural manner of life, but we're also given a supernatural power to exact and make that light perfect, and that power is the Holy Spirit himself. These two revelations are in the Word everywhere that you read. It's in the New Testament. Each one is the counterpart and complement to the other.

You cannot reveal the teachings of living a heavenly life without the work of the Holy Spirit. You can't do it. I think I'm getting a little long on time. Two more points and then I'll cut it off. One thing we have to realize is one theme is presented in the body of scripture that sets forth the character of conduct that's becoming to one who is already saved by grace. As to the character of the requirements which are imposed, that life is superhuman. Here's some scriptures and as I read these I want you to think Well, maybe you shouldn't think this way.

2 Corinthians 10.5, we are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. That's one of those superhuman principles.

Another one is, you're a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Or how about this one? Always giving thanks for all things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, even the Father. Always. Or walk in a manner that's worthy of your calling, of which you have been called. Or if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, We're to walk in love, we're to walk in the Spirit, we're not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, and we're not to coincide.

There's no question that all of those are superhuman. Nobody can live up to those. Therefore, the Christian standard is beyond your ability and my ability to achieve. What human resource can reproduce the very virtues of Christ? Who's able to thank God always for all things? Who will be able to live so that he will not grieve the Holy Spirit at any time?

So, that's the manner of life. Now, the theme that's also presented in the body of Scripture sets forth the fact that the life and grace is to be lived solely on dependence of the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. And that body of scripture includes all the details and instructions concerning a life of faith and a walk in the Spirit.

These two aspects of the truth are in all of Paul's epistles and all of scripture. They're the two most vital facts of the teachings of grace. There's a divine enablement provided under grace that's nothing less than the Holy Spirit himself. And there's the teaching of grace that are addressed to you and I as heavenly men.

It's a supernatural manner of life. These teachings belong naturally to us because we are heavenly. And since the saving work of God places the believer in the heavenly positions in Christ and transfers your citizenship to heaven, it's only consistent that you should be required to walk as citizens of heaven. Doesn't that make sense? Scary, but it makes sense. I would say It's Christ-likeness. When Paul said, let this mind be in you, that was also in Christ Jesus. And he said, you're not of this world. And he said, for me to live is Christ, that's what he meant.

But the way in which it's done, and I'll sum up with this, the way in which it's done by us, number one, we have to learn what the Word of God teaches us about grace. about our identification with the Lord Jesus and his death, burial, and resurrection, that we are seated in the heavenlies. And as we learn that, we learn the requirements and we learn dependence. The most heavenly-minded man and woman is the one who's most dependent on the Spirit of God to carry out this life that we've been called to live. There are three power sources that I can find. One is divine power. It's God's power. It's unlimited. It's omnipotent. The second, and probably below this sum, is the power of the sin nature of Satan in the world.

And the third most powerful person around is you and me. Well, we have a problem then. Because we're called to live on a power level number one, But you and I are power level number three. How do we do it? How do we overcome the sin nature in the world? We have, because of who we are, the ability to plug in to number one is the best way to say it. When Paul says, walk in the Spirit and you cannot fulfill the lusts of the flesh, what is he saying?

You're living in dependence on the Spirit and in the position that makes sense for who you are. To sum up, it's important for you to know and me to know who we are. It's also important to know where we are. And it's also important to know the provision that we have in order to live and function like we should.

So let's close in prayer. Dear Father, how we thank you for the grace that we live under. And it's not just that I'm sitting still. You've called me. under your grace to live a certain way, to live as Christ has lived. And you have given us the wherewithal to do it via the Holy Spirit. So we trust you, Father, as we grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus, that you do and will manifest his life through us. We thank you, Father. We pray in your Son's precious name. Amen.