Grace Levels All Distinctions by Arthur Pink

By the grace of God, I am what I am. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 10

The very expression, the grace of God, implies and denotes that the sinner's condition is desperate to the last degree, and that God may justly leave him to perish. Yes, it is a wonder of wonders that he is not already in hell.

God is sovereign in the exercise of his grace, this of necessity, for grace is favour shown to the undeserving, yes, to the hell-deserving. grace is the antithesis of justice. Justice demands the impartial enforcement of law. Justice requires that each shall receive his legitimate due, neither more nor less. Justice bestows no favours and is no respecter of persons. Justice, as such, shows no pity and knows no mercy.

But after justice has been fully satisfied, sovereign grace flows forth. Grace has been defined as the unmerited favor of God. If unmerited, then none can claim it as their inalienable right. If grace is unearned and undeserved, then none are entitled to it. If grace is a gift, then none can demand it. Therefore, as salvation is by grace the free gift of God, then he bestows it on whom he pleases.

Because salvation is by grace, the very chief of sinners is not beyond the reach of divine mercy. Because salvation is by grace, boasting is excluded, and God gets all the glory.

Grace is a divine provision for those who are so depraved that they cannot change their own nature, so averse from God that they will not turn to Him, so blind that they can neither see their malady nor the remedy, so dead spiritually that God must grant spiritual life. Grace is the sinner's last and only hope. If he's not saved by grace, he will never be saved at all.

Grace levels all distinctions and regards the most zealous religionist on the same plane as the most heinous criminal, the chaste virgin on the same plane as the foul prostitute. Therefore God is perfectly free to save the chief of sinners and bestow his mercy on the vilest of the vile.