Grace: God’s Transforming Power

The difference between Christianity and every religion that has ever existed is this: The religions of world base themselves on human achievement, the Gospel of Jesus Christ bases itself on divine accomplishment. That is to say that Christianity is God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. God sent Christ to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). We cannot save ourselves because we are dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). But God’s saves us by His sovereign grace alone. Grace is one-sided; its monergistic; it comes from God alone. This blows us away when we think about it. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “The ultimate test of our spirituality is the measure of our amazement at the grace of God.”

Grace is a delightful word. The Greek word for grace is “charis,” and it is defined as God showing kindness to sinful humans, which they do not deserve. Grace is God’s unmerited favor toward sinful people in which He delivers them from a state of eternal doom to a state of eternal life. It is God’s free and completely unearned goodness and benevolence by which He forgives those who believe in Christ in spite of the fact that they do not deserve it.

Grace is an essential attribute of God. Grace has appeared in the person of Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11 states, For the grace of God has appeared. That is something that happened at a point in time. The grace of God has become visible. John 1: 14 affirms this, The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Bethlehem was where grace was incarnated.

In salvation, grace is absolutely necessary for people to go to heaven. People are sinners and cannot do anything to please God before salvation, but God reaches down and moves freely upon His people to bring them to salvation. Romans 3:23-24 explains, 23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. It is absolutely free. Our pride insists we must work our way to God, but it is not by works, but through faith as Ephesians 2:8-9 states, 8 For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. 9 not of works, lest any man should boast. It is all by grace that anyone is ever saved and it is all through faith. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, by the regenerating power of the HS alone, according to Scripture alone to the glory of God alone!

This amazing word saves us in the past, sustains us in the present and will deliver us in the future. The concept of grace humbles a person and pushes them to show grace to others. If we forget about God’s grace in our lives the enemy of our souls has won a victory. We must be grace-purposed in order to experience the abundant life Jesus talked about. May we taste daily the sweetness of God’s amazing grace!