Friday, June 26, 2020

What’s So Amazing About Grace?


One of my biggest mentors was the late Pastor D. James Kennedy. I only briefly met him twice in person, but his weekly Christian television broadcasts (The Coral Ridge Hour), daily radio broadcasts (Truths That Transform), recorded sermons and topical special feature presentations on cassette, CD, VHS tapes and DVD, his Christian books and his Evangelism Explosion program taught me countless truths about the Bible and the Christian faith, and I am so grateful for His ministry for the saving of souls through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

In an article by Dr. Kennedy on the grace of God based on the beloved Christian Hymn “Amazing Grace”, He asks why is it that grace is so astonishing? Let me try to name the ways. The word “grace” is defined as, appropriately, the free unmerited love and favor of God, the spring and source of all the benefits men receive from Him. Kennedy explains first. That grace is amazing because it is so rare. This world doesn’t operate by grace. Grace is virtually alien to it.  At best, we operate on a quid pro quo basis – “a tit for tat, this for that.” You pay so much, you get so much in return. This is the basic operative principle of this world. It is the antithesis of grace. Therefore, we don’t see grace in this world, and that is what makes something amazing.

Romans 3:20-24 “By the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

Secondly, grace is amazing because it is so undeserved. That, Dr. Kennedy thinks, is probably the first thing that hits people’s minds. How many people, especially people who grew up in a Christian home, think they have done pretty well, thank you. And surely, they have contributed something to their salvation. It is not so at all. Grace is given to people who are enemies, not “A” students in the class, because we are all infected with this root problem of sin.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The late great American Evangelist Billy Graham described the devastating, destructive aspects of sin which has destroyed this world: “The cause of all trouble, the root of a sorrows, the dread of every man and woman lies in the one small word – sin. All mental disorders, all sicknesses, all destructive behavior, all wars and riots find their root in sin.” 

Ephesians 2:1, 4-9 “And you He [God] made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins. God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

It is sin. Every one of us has that horrible disease in our hearts. Does God want sin in Heaven? No. He threw sin out, and will always throw it out. It is only through the blood of Christ and the grace of God that sin can be removed and we can be acceptable to Him. Grace is never sought. People don’t seek God by their own conscious reasoning. It is the grace that begins to work in our hearts that causes us to seek Him.

2 Peter 1:2 “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”

Grace is amazing, thirdly, because it is so incredibly powerful. There is nothing in the realm of human life which is as powerful as the grace of God. It is the most transforming power on this earth. It breaks the shackles and transforms addicts: drugs, alcohol, sex, gambling, or whatever else a person is addicted to. It turns the homosexual straight – thousands attest to that. It makes the lascivious, the vile, the profane, and the vulgar clean. It is the most powerful force in the world.

Titus 2:11 “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.”

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