CENTRAL THOUGHT
Grace encompasses all the goodness, mercy, kindness, and love of God that we have received freely.
HYMN: AMAZING GRACE! HOW SWEET THE SOUND!
TEXT: Romans 8:1-17; Ephesians 2:1-9
INTRODUCTION
Grace expresses the character of God to us in such a way that demands that we have a correct perspective of it or else make a blunder of it. Grace tells us that God loves us; has forgiven us our sins; is compassionate towards us; is kind toward us; has made provision in Christ for us to be free and liberated from sin and the power of the devil; that we are adopted as sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ; and that God is preparing a place as an eternal home for us. Grace goes further in telling us that though we do not deserve the love, mercy, kindness and goodness of God, they are nonetheless freely ours through faith in Christ Jesus.
Our response to this grace of God determines who we are, how we live our lives and what we live for. At peak of material success, it is too easy to think it is because one has been smart and intelligent; at the height of spiritual victories and successes it
is tempting to attribute them to the twenty-one-day continuous fast that one engaged in; In the depth of sin, it is tempting to continue in it, deriving the most from its pleasure, and comforting oneself that His grace covers every sin.
One of the greatest ploys of the devil’s, for us to take God’s grace for granted. It is hoped that through this lesson, we will stand in awe of His grace as we live a life that far surpasses the letters of the law, and experience God’s provisions in many areas of our endeavors.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this study are:
- To have an understanding of the grace.
- To understand how God expresses His grace.
- To discuss how we should respond to the graces of God.
- To know the superiority of the covenant of grace over that of the law.
- To know how God’s grace enables us to fulfill His requirements for righteousness.
- To know how not to take the grace of God as a license for sin.
BIBLE TRUTH
Q1 WHAT IS GRACE?
Grace is divine favor received but not earned. The grace of God is clearly expressed in Romans 5:8- “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” As sinners we deserve the wrath and judgement of God, but grace made it possible for us to receive His pardon. Grace also expresses the kindness and mercies of God upon our lives that we never deserved. For instance, take an individual who gets afflicted with a disease which has claimed the lives of many individuals. With or without medication, he bounces back to good health. That is the grace of God. I could not have been because he had anything particularly different from what other persons who have been slain by the disease had. The same applies to an individual who makes success where many others have failed. Grace also refers to a period or dispensation in which the covenant relationship between God and man are predicated on the atoning work of Christ at Calvary.
“And of his fullness have we all received, and grace for grace. For aw was given by Moses, but grace and truth by Jesus Christ” (John 1:16-17). This period of grace came into force after Christ offered Himself for the sins of human race. That is not to say that God only showed started showing His favor to mortal men and women after Christ died on the cross. There were notable individuals before Christ came who knew it was simply impossible to experience the favor of God by keeping the law which they transgressed so quite easily because of their human weaknesses.
One of such individuals was David who wrote “Blessed is he who transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blesses is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit”
(Psalm 32: 1-2). Such men had a revelation of the dispensation of grace in which we are.
Q2. HOW HAS GOD’S GRACE BEEN MADE MANIFEST?
The mercy, kindness, love, and favor of God are encapsulated in the singular act of the gift of Christ to man. “He who did not spare His own son, but gave Him up for us all; how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:32). That act of God in giving us His son that we can be partakers of everything that we desire of Him-provisions, eternal inheritance, holy living and a life pleasing to him, prosperity, wisdom, etc. This is quite heart-warming to the believer who has appropriated by faith the atoning work of Christ at Calvary. He knows that God’s grace avails for every aspect of his life- spiritual, material, emotional, etc. This knowledge enables him to confidently approach every issue of life- work, schooling, marriage, professional pursuits, Christian service, etc.
Q3. HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND TO THE GRACE OF GOD?
We should respond in faith to the grace of God. We should warmly receive it into our lives with a heart of gratitude, recognizing that we did not earn it in the first instance. That kind of response to the grace of God prompts us to live a life that is dependent on the Holy Spirit in order to fulfill the just requirements of the law (Romans 8:4). We are not attempting to earn the favor of God by any effort on our part in obeying the law, but His favor upon us prompts a loving obedience to His commandments.
Our positive response to His grace empowers us for service in 1 Corinthians 15:10, Paul says, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them- yet not I but the grace of God that was with me.” As a mark of appreciation for what Hos grace has wrought in our lives, there is a deep-seated yearning to serve the Lord in whatever way He desires. His grace makes us willing to be spent for the gospel, and to put our resources (time, money, talents, etc.) for the kingdom of God.
An appreciation of the grace of God encourages us to live a life of holiness. “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’: to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright lives in this present age” (Titus 2:11-12). Whenever you observe someone act or say or express the attitude that ‘I can do whatever I want, and later I will confess it to the Lord’, you can be sure that such one had not received faith by the grace of God. God’s grace teaches us to be holy. It teaches us to live right with God. Paul asked the question, “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” the answer was emphatic, “By no means!” (Romans 6:1). When God’s grace is truly appropriated into the human spirit, he is filled with remorse when he sins. He will not for a moment contemplate walking into sin willfully to thereafter seek forgiveness. He does not take the grace for granted. It is awfully said to hear of a minister of the gospel exploit for his own self-gratification the weakness of a young impressionable mind of the opposite sex who desperately needs his help or assistance in guiding her in the way eternal life. It is none other but an individual who has taken the grace of God for granted. “You my brothers were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather serve one another in love” (Galatians 5:13) God’s grace causes us to walk in godly fear and reverence for God. It keeps us in a state in which we show grave care in our dealings with our brethren. We strive to serve our brethren in the spirit of true brotherly love.
Q4. HOW CAN WE AVOID SLIPPING INTO OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW AFTER BEING SAVED BY GRACE?
We need to be clear in our minds what it means to slip into observance of the law after we have been saved by faith. Galatians 3:1-11 will be quite helpful in bringing about this clarity. In that case certain dogmas become the operational rules in determining the state of one’s walk with the Lord. For example, one may be tied by the rule of not working on Sunday that even when there is a pressing issue that may border on life and death, the rule takes precedence. The Christian walk ceases to be a relationship with the Father in which one depends on the leading of the Holy spirit, but it now becomes a mechanistic life in which religious rules and commandments take primary place. What usually follows from this is that whenever an individual is not fully aligned to our compartmentalized religious views, we conclude that he can possibly be a child of God. Even when the fruit of the Holy Spirit can be readily observed, we cannot be persuaded to accept such one as a believer. A believer in our minds is one who talks the way we talk, dresses the way we dress, does things the way we do, and behaves just exactly the way we behave.
With the forgoing, we can address how we can avoid slipping into observance of the law after being saved. It is to develop a walk with God that is based on absolute dependence on the Holy Spirit with the word of God as a compass. “But if you are led by the Holy Spirit you are not under the law” (Galatians 5:18). We must be quick to add here that there are believers who go to the other extreme were the ‘solely rely’ on the leading of the Holy Spirit, without regard to what the word of God says. That is another error that leads to disastrous consequences. Our dependence on the Holy Spirit should be with the understanding that He uses the word of God in leading us. We depend on the Holy Spirit for power to live a life that is in line with the spirit of the law and not in the letters, “for the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). Our walk with God should not be mechanical: it should not be based on the ‘by-laws’ of any religious institution; it should be relational, drawing its resources from the Head who is Christ. This was also the failure of some brethren in the church at Colossae who “had lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow” (Colossians 2:19). Paul urged the brethren not to submit to the institutional rules, “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch! Because they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence” (Colossians 2:21,23b).
One more principle that is quite valuable in saving one from slipping into religious dogmas is walking in the love of Christ. “Let no debt remain outstanding except the continual debt of love to one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8). We are most likely to stay on course and avoid drifting into error if we walk in love in our relationship with God and the brethren. In that case our motivation for our actions is then driven by genuine love for the brethren.
Q5. HOW IS COVENANT OF GRACE SUPERIOR TO THE COVENENT OF THE LAW?
As we indicated in the study preceding this (Law and Grace part 1), the law was weak in that it could only point to man what sin was but could not deliver man from its power. That weakness was overcome by the covenant of grace. “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering”, (Romans 8:3). The covenant of grace empowered us to be overcomers over sin and the devil. “For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14).
The covenant of the law was ratified by the blood of animals, but the covenant of grace was ratified but the precious and sinless blood of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:16-28). While the blood of goats and bulls was continually she to atone for sin, Christ’s sacrifice was once and efficacious for all eternity.
One other thing that make the covenant of grace superior is because it took the laws from the tablet of stones and inscribed them in the hearts of those who believe (Hebrews 8:10). By doing so elevates is to the place of sonship.
DAILY LIVING APPLICATION
Grace is erroneously conceived in many quarters as license to do as one pleases. There can be nothing further from the truth than that. Whereas the constraining effect of the law may produce in an individual its outward observance, grace on the other hand, produces an obedience to God that is based on a relationship of love with the Father. There can be nothing more frustration as trying to please God by one’s effort; one becomes imprisoned by a set of religious dogmas that one struggles to observe in an atmosphere that is devoid of joy. When one succeeds in keeping the laid down precepts, one takes the credit for achievement. Grace puts one in the realm obedience constrained by love. Our love is not mechanistic but one of daily dependence on the leading of the Holy Spirit, with the word of God being the compass. Grace causes its recipients to be in awe of God. Such one seeks to live a life that pleases God not as a way of earning God’s favor but as a show of gratitude to His grace this is bestowed. We may safely say that anyone living loosely and carelessly with the excuse that God’s grace suffices, has not had a taste of what the grace of God is really all about. God’s grace is more compelling in causing us to live holy lives than the law.
MEMORY VERSE
Ephesians 2:8
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”