What do you think of when you think on the grace of God? Salvation? Christ? Obviously grace is God's undeserved favor. He gives us His grace when we don't deserve it. He has decided to love us from Heaven and rescue us from the grave, that we might live forever with Him in Glory. The grace of God is surely a wondrous subject to ponder, and His kindness toward us is what compels us to repentance and turn to Him in love (Romans 2:4).
However, there is an aspect of God's grace that not many believers understand or know. Not only does His grace have the power to save, it also has the power to uphold and sustain. We are saved from the penalty of sin, as well as its power. We are now dead to sin and alive to Christ; no longer slaves to sin, rather, we are slaves to righteousness (Romans 6).
The Bible is full of amazing promises that God gives us strength in our weakness and allows us to press on toward the goal. These graces aren't inherent within a believer, these gifts of God are given by the Holy Spirit; they are "every spiritual blessing in heavenly places" spoken of in Ephesians 1:3.
The whole point of regeneration - the Holy Spirit coming to live within the heart of man - is to make him a new creation, the old has gone, behold, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are born again the moment we first believe. This is not merely "Christianese", some antiquated Christian vernacular, being "born again" is a spiritual reality. When the Holy Spirit takes residence in the heart of man, he becomes a brand new man, and his heart has changed from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). It is a literal rebirth of one's soul out of the grave and into the family of God (Colossians 1:12-13).
For we have died, and our lives are now hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). The Holy Spirit indwells us as the earnest of our inheritance (Ephesians 1:14). The Holy Spirit is the one who makes the Christian life possible. No unbeliever can be obedient to Scripture on their own (1 Corinthians 2:14). It is only the one who has God's Spirit living within them (which according to Galatians 2:20, is Christ Himself living within them) who can endure to the end in faith (Matthew 24:13, Mark 13:13).
In light of these realities, we come to realize the grace of God is not just pardon from Hell and death, it is also the power of God to enable His children to live in obedience to Him. This obedience manifests in holiness, godliness, and the fruits of the Spirit in the life of the believer. As the Apostle Paul says, it is God who works in us, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). In Ephesians 2:10, Paul says we've been "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Therefore, not only has God ordained our works, He then created us anew in Christ, and also gives us the grace to will and work for Him. That simply means God's grace not only gives us the work, but the will to do the work.
Let's take a look at something else the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. Here, he mentions a thorn in his flesh that he asked God to remove three times. Each time, God told him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness." Paul goes on to declare he would then glory all the more in his weakness, for that's when the power of Christ rests on him.
Since we know God's grace is power to endure and also the will to do the work, then it makes absolute sense that God's grace would be sufficient in Paul's weakness. This is not some flippant reply of God, nor is it merely God's grace in salvation. God is telling Paul that by His grace, His strength is made perfect in his weakness. Why? Because when we, as broken jars of clay, do the magnificent work of Christ, the whole world will know it wasn't on our own strength, but by the power of God (2 Corinthians 4:7). Our Lord has specifically set up His work to be obvious to one and all, and He consistently uses the weak things of this world to confound the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27).
God highly prizes humility. In fact, He opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). All too often we believers think of God giving us grace as some kind of hand-waving or a smile from Heaven. No. God's grace is literal power from the Throne to live our Christian lives.
I am a believer in the doctrines of grace, those doctrines which conclude that God's grace is irresistible. Here is a link to an article at Ligonier Ministries written by Dr. Steven Lawson that further fleshes out what these doctrines teach us about the grace of God. What does it mean that His grace is irresistible? It means just that - God's grace cannot be resisted or overridden. His will is sovereign to ours, and thus, His will shall come to pass, regardless of what we will. Remember the words of the Apostle John in 1 John 5:14-15 - it is only those who pray according to the will of God who have their prayers answered. Even James, the brother of Christ, told us in James 4:3 that we ask and do not receive because we ask wrongly, to spend it on our passions.
It is God's grace, therefore, that reaches down from Heaven, turns a heart of stone into a heart of flesh, gives the new believer the will and the work, and upholds, sustains, and strengthens him throughout the course of His Christian life. If God upholds the universe by the Word of His power (Hebrews 1:3), how much more His children?
Recently in the news, there have been reports of pastors and worship leaders both apostatizing and committing suicide. I will not link to articles, but suffice it to say we have a problem in Christian circles. First of all, I do not believe those who apostatize (walk away from the faith) were ever true Christians to begin with (Hebrews 6:4-6, 1 John 2:19). According to the doctrine of regeneration (rebirth) as well as the doctrines of grace (irresistible), God cannot, and will not, lose His true sons and daughters. One cannot be reborn, and then NOT reborn. The Holy Spirit does not desert a child of God. Union with Christ is permanent. One cannot be upheld, strengthened, and sustained by the grace of God and be lost. Nothing can snatch you out of God's hands (John 10:28-29), and nothing in all creation can ever separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38-39).
Christ came to give life, and life more abundantly (John 10:10), it is the enemy who comes to kill, steal, and destroy. Christ is the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Christ completes His work in us (Philippians 1:6) - notice it is HIS work in us. Notice we are not to throw away our confidence; we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed (Hebrews 10:35-39). God is faithful to complete our sanctification (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). This is the grace of God. All of it, from beginning to end. Never once in the Bible are we given credit for our works for God after regeneration - it is all HIS work, HIS grace, for HIS glory.
In short, God's grace never fails. As surely as He upholds His universe, He upholds His children. He gives them pardon from Hell and death, as well as power to abstain from sin. God's grace is sufficient to sustain and strengthen those who are weak, and He will not allow us to fall away or perish in the flesh, even by our own hand, until our work, His work, is done. God's grace is irresistible. God's will is sovereign. Those who shrink back, those who give up, are not living in the power of the Spirit, nor in the will of God. God's grace is a subtle work, but it has great power as it is working. It is not tangible, but rather, like the wind (John 3:8). You might not be able to see where it comes from or where it goes, but you can see it's effects on the Christians, and the world, around you.
God's grace is His power to save, sustain, strengthen, and uphold His children. How many of us have testimonies of our lives before and after Christ? Do you now resemble the person you once were? Of course not, and likely, you wouldn't want to be in the company of your old self. A Christian who walks by the Spirit is walking in the glorious power of God's grace. We cannot forget this, Church. Those who belong to God are upheld by God. They will not, and cannot, fail while God holds them, which is as long as He sits upon His Throne.
Amazing grace indeed.
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