north. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. In Ephesians chapter 2, verse
8, Paul says, for by grace are you saved, through faith, and
that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. By grace are you saved, Paul
says to every single believer. Now, I want to ask this question
this morning. What does the Bible mean by grace? We have all probably heard or
used the term the grace of God. And I've heard people say, there
go I, but for the grace of God. Even unbelievers would make that
statement. But what does the Bible mean
by grace? I hope we can set aside our preconceived
notions and see what the Bible actually says the grace of God
is. Now, you will notice in all of
Paul's writings, I just read something from the Apostle Paul,
He begins and ends every epistle. The 13 epistles that he wrote
in the New Testament begin and end with the grace of God. And
they're not just greetings and saying goodbye. They're inspired
by the Holy Spirit. And that lets us know that salvation
begins and ends with the grace of God. I love the song, Oh,
to grace, how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be. Now, other than the names of
God in the three persons of the sacred trinity, there is no more
important word than the word grace, the grace of God. When Paul referred to the Scriptures
in Acts 20, verse 32, he called the Scriptures the Word of His
grace. The whole Bible is about the
grace of God, the word of his grace. When the Lord Jesus came
back to Nazareth to preach the gospel to them for the first
time, the scripture says they wondered at the gracious words
that proceeded from his mouth, literally the grace words. The words of the Lord Jesus Christ
are grace words. I love the way John said concerning
him, we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the father full of grace and truth. Now from those words,
we learn something about what grace means. It has something
to do with the truth. Grace and truth always go together. grace, the grace of God. What is God's grace? Well, you've
probably heard this term. It means the unmerited favor
of God. I have used that term before.
Grace is God's unmerited favor. And that is true in the sense
that there's nothing you and I do to merit it. We can't be
saved by our works. Paul put it this way in Romans
chapter For, with regard to the grace of God, if it be of works,
it's no more of grace. You see, to him that worketh
is the reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt. If you can
be saved by something you do, if there's something you do that
activates God's grace, and God's grace cannot operate until you
do something to make it operate, that's not grace. That's works. If salvation is in any way to
any degree dependent upon something that I do before God can do something
for me, that is salvation by works. It's not the grace of
God. So to him, but to him that worketh
not, Paul said. but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness."
Now, grace is unmerited favor in the sense that there's nothing
we do to merit it. But if we simply call God's grace
unmerited favor, we're really diminishing it. It's kind of
like people talk about God's unconditional love. There's no
such thing as unconditional love. God loves us as we are in Christ
if we're in Christ. It's not unconditional. It's
conditioned upon us being in Christ. And Christ is altogether
lovely to God. And if I'm in Christ, I'm altogether
lovely to God because I'm in His Son. So in that sense, it's
not unconditional. It's conditioned upon being in
Christ. And God's grace is not unmerited
in the sense that if I am in Christ, Christ greatly merits
God's favor, God's blessing. Grace is God's favor. Not simply unmerited favor, but
in Christ it's merited greatly because Christ is the favorite
of the Father. When it says the grace of God
was upon the Lord Jesus Christ, that doesn't mean unmerited favor,
does it? It means utterly merited favor. And if I am in the Lord
Jesus Christ, I have the merited favor of God. Not merited because
of my works, but merited because of His works. Now, I would like
to try to make some comments about what the Bible teaches.
with regard to the grace of God, not what our church teaches,
not what a denomination teaches, not what the confessions and
creeds teach. I'm really not interested in
any of that. I want to know what the Bible
teaches with regard to the grace of God. I've heard people use
the term the doctrines of grace, and I understand what they mean
by that, but it's a whole lot better to call it the doctrine
of grace. Every time the word doctrines
is used in the Scripture. It's referring to false doctrine
and error. No, it is the doctrine of grace. It's the doctrine of the Bible. Now, every word I'm going to
use to describe God's grace is inherent in the scriptural meaning. But we're going to give these
words because most people don't, while they are aware of the phrase,
the grace of God, they don't really know what the Bible means
by this word, the grace of God. So I want us to use words, scriptural
words, that describe what the grace of God actually means. Now here's the first thing I'd
like to say about the grace of God. It's the grace of God. It's the grace of God, the infinite,
eternal, holy, sovereign of the universe. It's the grace of God,
and that is what makes it what it is. It's the grace of God. Whatever attribute God has, and
He has attributes, characteristics with regard to His character
found in the scripture, that's why the Bible was given to us
to teach us the character of God Almighty. And whatever His
character is, is what can be used to describe His grace. For instance, God is holy. That means other. There's nothing
like him in the created universe. There's no one he can be compared
to. He says, there's none like me. He is other and his grace is
completely other. There's nothing in the world
that it can be compared to. God is absolutely just and righteous. And His grace is absolutely just
and righteous. There's nothing unclean or sinful
with regard to His grace. It's absolutely just. It's absolutely
righteous. God's grace is sovereign grace,
like God is sovereign. He does what He wills. He's in absolute control of all
things. He's the first cause of all things.
And His grace is sovereign grace. He said, I will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. You see, Grace is not offered
to you. It's given to whoever He is pleased
to give it to. He is absolutely sovereign in
the dispensation of His grace. That's who God is. God's grace
is omnipotent grace. It's all-powerful grace. It's
grace that cannot be resisted. It's like its author omnipotent. It is invincible. God doesn't
offer grace. God saves by His grace. It's
all powerful grace, and I'm so thankful for that. It's grace
that will not and cannot take no for an answer. God's grace
cannot be thwarted because of His power. When He gives grace,
grace is received. God's grace is eternal grace. God is eternal. God never had
a beginning. God never began to be. So is
His grace. It's eternal grace. It never
had a beginning. It'll never have an ending. God's
grace, like Himself, is immutable. God's immutable. He cannot change. If He could change, He'd either
be improving or Going backwards, and that can't be with God. He's
immutable. He cannot change. And He cannot
change toward the objects of His grace. God's grace is immutable
grace. God's grace, like Himself, is
independent. Now, one of the glorious things
about God is He has no needs. He doesn't need something to
take place before He can act. He is utterly independent. We're
completely dependent on an utterly independent God, but God doesn't
need me to do something before He can give me His grace. God's
grace is independent grace. God's grace is gracious grace. like its author. I love what
is said of the Lord Jesus Christ, of His fullness have we all received
in grace for grace or grace because of grace. The reason you have
grace is because of grace, not because of anything in you, but
because of grace. God's grace is omniscient grace. all-knowing grace, all-wise grace
that's made a way to be just and justify the ungodly. Oh,
the glory of the grace of God. I love what Romans 5, 20 and
21 says about the grace of God. If you want to understand grace,
listen to this verse of Scripture. Paul said in Romans 5, verse
20, moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. Now, do you hear that? God's
holy law. Ten commandments. There is one
thing God's law says with regard to me and you, offense abounds. You and I have not kept one commandment
one time. Now that's the truth. And if
you would disagree with that, it's because you don't really
understand the law of God. If you understand the holy law
of God, If you see God's law for what it is, you'll see that
the offense, the transgression, sin abounds in you. But Paul
doesn't stop there. He says, but where sin abounded. Would you be a place where sin
abounds? where sin abounded, every place where sin abounds,
grace did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, now, there's a reason you're gonna die and I'm gonna
die, it's because of sin. How much power do we have to
prevent death? Somebody says, I'm not going
to die. You don't have any choice. You will die. And there's no
way we can prevent death. That is, sin hath reigned unto
death, even so in the precise same manner might grace reign. You can't prevent grace. Even
so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace reigns. That's why it's
called sovereign grace. Just like you can't prevent death,
if God intends to be gracious to you, you cannot prevent grace. Now the grace of God is described
by his attributes. Whatever attribute God has, that's
His grace, holy, sovereign, eternal, just. Grace describes every one
of His attributes and can only be described by His attributes.
Now, the grace of God is purposed grace. 2 Timothy 1.9 says, He
saved us. And He called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to His own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. Ephesians 1.11 says, In whom
we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will." God is a God of purpose. If you're saved,
it's because God purposed it. Romans 9 and 11, for the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God, according to election, might stand. not of
works, but him that calleth. His grace is purpose grace, purpose
before the foundation of the world. Now, if the grace you
have is not eternally purpose grace, it's not the grace of
God, who has the eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus
our Lord. It's purpose grace. It's grace
that's described by God's attributes, God's grace is always purpose
grace. I've heard people say, doesn't
God give everybody a chance? Salvation is not by chance. Salvation
is by the purpose of God. And the grace of God, according
to the scripture, is saving grace. It's not offered grace. Listen
to me, God does not offer anyone grace, and now it's up to you
as to whether or not you're going to accept it or reject it. That's
a false notion, and that puts your salvation ultimately dependent
upon what you do. God's grace is saving grace. There's nothing you do to activate
His grace. There's no work you perform or
feeling you have that will say, well, okay, I'll give Him my
grace. No, His grace is saving grace. By grace you are saved. Every aspect of salvation is
by His grace. I've been elected, and it wasn't
because of any goodness in me. And if you're saved, it's because
God elected you before the time began. And it wasn't because
of any goodness or merit in you. It was because of His grace.
I have been redeemed, and my works have nothing to do with
my redemption. He redeemed me by His grace. In whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace. I've been justified. And justification
is by grace. If I'm justified, that means
I stand before God without guilt, having never sinned. And that's
all by the grace of God. I've been regenerated. I've been
born from above. I've been given life from the
dead. That's by grace. It's not because
I asked for it. It's not because of any work
I performed. It's by the grace of God. I'm
persevering. It's only that one who endures
all the way to the end that shall be saved that perseveres. I'm
persevering in the faith. I'm continuing to believe. And
by perseverance, the Bible does not mean you remain religious
all the way to the end. There are a lot of people who
remain religious all the way to the end. They're going to
find out on judgment day their religion was no good. What is
it to persevere all the way to the end? It's to continue to
look to Christ only as the only ground of my salvation all the
way to my dying breath. That's what it is to persevere
in the faith. Saving grace. I love what Paul
said in Romans 11, 6, if by grace, it's no more works. Otherwise,
grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, it's no
more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. God's grace is saving grace. Now, there's the next thing that
the scripture teaches with regard to God's grace. God's grace is
free grace. There's nothing you do to pay
for it. There's nothing I do to earn
it. It's his free gift. It's called by Paul in Romans
5 15, the free gift. Now it costs God dearly. He that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all? How shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? It costs God dearly. It costs Christ dearly. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor. And that's what's taking place
on the cross. He who was rich in righteousness
became poor in righteousness. when he bore the sins of his
people, and he was utterly forsaken and abandoned by God, suffering
the full equivalent of eternal hell. It cost Christ dearly,
but it's the only thing in this universe to me or you that's
free. I love what the Lord said to that woman at the well, if
you knew the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee,
give me to drink, you would have asked of him and he would have
given thee living water. You see, everything that advertises
itself as free in this life, there's strings attached. You
can just write that down. There's strings attached. There's
nothing for free. But this is the one thing that's
free, being justified freely by His grace. No strings attached,
nothing you need to do to earn this. This is the free gift of
God. Now this thing of grace is total
grace. Total grace. I've already quoted
this scripture, but let me quote it again and think about what's
being said. Paul said in Romans 11, 5, even so that at this present
time, there's a remnant according to the election of grace. Now, the Bible teaches election. You can't really say you believe
the Bible and not believe that God elected a people before time
began to be saved and they shall be saved. He calls it the election
of grace. But look what he says after that.
He says, and if by grace, it's no more works. It's either all
of grace or all of works. These two things are opposed
to one another. Grace is opposed to works. Works
is opposed to grace. If it be of grace, it's no more
of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of
works, Don't call it grace. It's no more grace. Otherwise,
work is no more work. This is total and absolute grace. Every aspect of God's salvation
is by grace. Let me repeat, by grace you are
saved. Now, why is it secure? Because
it's the grace that's in Christ Jesus. That's what Paul said
to Timothy, be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus.
All of God's grace, all of God's favor is in Christ. That's why
you can have it. It's not dependent upon you.
It's not dependent upon your works. All of his favor, all
of his grace, all of his kindness is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's why it's so secure. I
love it when they wondered at the gracious words that proceeded
out of His mouth, literally the grace words. You see, grace has
a language. And only those who are saved
by it really understand. If you hear this message and
you're confused by it, ask God to give you light. But I know
this, the only ones who can understand grace are the ones who are saved
by grace. To everybody else, it's a foreign
language. They don't understand it, they're confused by it, they
don't know what's being said. I'll tell you who does understand,
people who need to be saved by the grace of God. It has to be
all grace for them. They understand the language. God's grace is confessional grace. Here's what I mean by that. Paul
said in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 11, by the grace of God, I am
what I am. I confess that. By the grace
of God, I am what I am. Now, what are you, Paul? Well,
I'm a sinner. Well, how can that be by the
grace of God? It's only by the grace of God I know that. The
only people who really know they're sinners are those people he has
saved by his grace. If you don't believe you're a
sinner, it's because you know nothing of the grace of God.
It's by the grace of God, I am what I am. I'm a sinner. and
I'm not blaming God for my sin, but I'm saying only the grace
of God has taught me that I'm a sinner. I'm an elect sinner. That's by the grace of God. I'm
a justified sinner, and this is what I confess. That's by
the grace of God. Why, the faith I have is by the
grace of God. It's not the product of my will.
The repentance I have is by the grace of God. It's not me working
something up. Everything, I am what I am by
the grace of God. Peter put it this way in Acts
chapter 15 verse 11, he said, we believe that through the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they.
And that is spoken in such a way as you could accurately say,
we believe that by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we've
been saved, we're being saved. and we will be saved. Salvation
is by the grace of God, and thank God it is sufficient grace. The Lord said to Paul, in light
of that thorn in the flesh that he had, and we don't know what
that thorn was, it was very painful though, and he asked the Lord
three times to remove it, and the Lord didn't do it. But here
was his answer to Paul, my grace is sufficient for thee. And that's true to every believer. My grace, he says, is sufficient
for thee. You do not need anything else. And his grace, His effective
grace. Now, I want to show you what
that means from Luke chapter six, but his grace affects every
aspect of our life. If we've received his grace and
if we're saved by his grace. Now, Luke chapter six, verse
31. And as you would that men should
do to you, do you also to them likewise? For if you love them,
which love you, what thank have you? You know, that word thank
is the same word translated grace. Where is their grace there? If
you love them that love you, what grace have you? Do not sinners
love those that love them? And if you do good to them which
do good to you, what thank have you? What, where's their grace
there? For sinners also do even the same. And if you lend to
them of whom you hope to receive, what thank have you? Where's
their grace there? For sinners also live into sinners
to receive as much again. Now, the grace of God affects
every aspect about us. I love the way Paul calls giving
a grace. He said, see that you're bound
in this grace. Also, grace affects every part of those who are saved
by grace. Thank God for the grace of God,
amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like
me. Salvation is by grace. To receive
a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send a request to
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