I know not why God’s wondrous grace!

W. Whittle (1883)

I know not why God’s wondrous grace
To me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
Redeemed me for His own.

But “I know Whom I have believed,
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.”

We have heard in the church today, “We are hoping for grace to cover that”. Is that possible or do we need to have some input into receiving grace?

Grace; wondrous grace is part of God’s nature and part of ours too, but sadly our grace is corrupted.

We all have been hurt by words that have been spoken about us and we have spoken words that have hurt others. That is not to mention pain that is of a physical nature too.

Within grace we find an element of mercy and it is in this that we find our part to play. Our part is to make a request to God for mercy so He can show His grace. However, we find it hard to show grace to our brothers and sisters.

We all want grace from God through asking for mercy when we were guilty of sin and we are legally obliged pay.

Love, grace and mercy flow from the throne of God like a river of life to revive all who call on His name and seek forgiveness, and it is available to all, even though not all call for His mercy.

Grace is part of God’s nature.

God must be merciful and He will be merciful but only to those who ask. Yes, that is right; we all need to be set free of sin!

Ezra 9:9 For we were slaves, yet our God has not left us in our bondage, but has given mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us some life, to set up the house of our God, and to repair its waste, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. (MKJV)

We have been set free from the bondage of sin and death by the grace and love of a wonderful God through the Divine sacrifice on the cross of Golgotha for the atonement of our sins.

Neither death nor sin can hold us down any more now that we have been set free. It is through this new-found transformation that we can walk in life with our heads held high and a smile on our faces.

There is a price to be paid for sin and someone must pay it. God demands justice for sin because His Divine Law must be maintained. On the other hand, He supplies by the free gift of grace the salvation of mankind through the death and resurrection of His Son because His love is so great.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. (MKJV)

Gracious

God is immutable or changeless with grace always existing as a part of His character. This divine benevolence hit its highest peak with the gracious act of Jesus willingly submitting to the humiliation of crucifixion. His gift of grace to men is a perfect description of His character; God is the one who initiated salvation in an act of propitiation. His desire is to display and make known to men His salvation, was fully manifested in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. This demonstrates His character of grace which is greater than the Law.

Nehemiah 9:17 And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not. (KJV)

God is compassionate, merciful and full of grace

Graciousness

2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, for your sakes He became poor, in order that you might be made rich through His poverty. (MKJV)

Act 13:39  And by Him all who believe are justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the Law of Moses.

Grace was shown by God from the first act of killing an animal to cover their sin in the Garden with Adam and Eve up to us today and will be shown by God forever and ever. This grace was a covering where in the new Covenant in Jesus’ it’s the blood that removes all sin up to the point of salvation. The spirit of man has been restored and the heart cleansed from sin. It deals with the new Legal rights/position of the believer purely received from God by grace.

Please note that there was no act of repentance on the part of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, even though grace was shown by God, so we must conclude that another element besides grace is needed to avoid presumption and keep us in right relationship with God. That element is repentance on our part. And Adam never repented in the Garden!

Past, present and future sins are removed by God’s perpetual grace but we need to have perpetual repentance for any new sins, so that we stay in right relationship with God.

The Mercy Seat of God represents Holiness, Righteousness and Justice of God, the final demonstration of God’s propitiation by the Blood of Jesus. The Blood of Jesus meant that God could still exercise His judgment on sin and be able to show grace to His creation.

Tablets of the Law / Grace

The record of transgression have been removed from God’s records by the act of grace. God’s grace is greater than the Law. Our new Legal position is we are under grace not the Law, but move outside of Jesus and the law by your actions then you move back into condemnation.

The Pot of Manna / Grace

The rejection of God’s provision is now covered by grace. Our new Legal position allows us to receive God’s provision.

Aaron’s Rod / Grace

Revolt against God’s authority no longer applies because of our new Legal position again given to us by grace.

Even with our new legal position we need to be aware that there are areas we still need to guard against because they will still try to master us, but by diligence we can overcome.

With Jesus bringing His Blood and sprinkling it on the Mercy Seat means God could still exercise His judgment on sin and be able to show grace to his creation.

1John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation concerning our sins. (MKJV)

The final demonstration of God’s propitiation by the Blood of Jesus is surely a powerful demonstration of God’s love to us.

1John 2:2 And He is the propitiation concerning our sins, and not concerning ours only, but also concerning the sins of all the world. (MKJV)

As we have seen propitiation satisfies the righteousness of a Holy God, making it possible for Him to show mercy without compromise, this shows the consistency of God’s character of love. God’s attributes are never compromised.

Mark 1:15 and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God draws near. Repent, and believe the gospel. (MKJV)

Jesus became the tabernacle of God in the flesh and as the first fruit of a new creation He showed us the fulfilment of the promises of God.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and tabernacle among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth. (MKJV)

1Corianthians 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ the first-fruit, and afterward they who are Christ’s at His coming; (MKJV)

It is not only the example of His life that we follow, but also the legal blessing presented to us by God.

1Peter 2:21 For you were not called to this? For Christ also suffered on our behalf, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps, (MKJV)

If Jesus had broken any of the Law, then the Divine Law of God could not be satisfied. The benefit of His fulfilling the Law is that we now have a New Legal standing. This new position is available to all whether people believe or not. It’s not about believing it’s about asking for forgiveness.

Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through Him we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice on the hope of the glory of God. (MKJV)

If the Cross of Jesus is the focal point in the history of mankind for the forgiveness of sin then the resurrection is the focal point for the delivery of all the promises of God. It is at this point that the resurrection of Jesus demonstrated to all the heavens that He was the Son of God and that death and sin couldn’t hold Him down. He had defeated them.

Romans 5:17 For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one, much more they who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by One, Jesus Christ. (MKJV)

Romans 4:25 who was delivered because of our offenses and was raised for our justification. (MKJV)

2 Timothy 1:9 who has saved us and 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 eternal times. 10 But it is now having been manifested by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has made death of no effect, bringing life and immortality to light through the gospel; (MKJV)

The judgment of death and sin against us has been absolved and we have been exculpated and exonerated. We have been vindicated, validated, legalized and exonerated by what Jesus has done; therefore, we are now sons of God. The only condition is that we have believed and repented.

It is God through His Son who upholds and maintains our position in His Kingdom. We have been exculpated from any effort to win favour from God in regards to our Salvation; we receive this by His grace and love. Once we have met the dynamics of believing and repenting, the only thing we need to do is know what the Word of God says and use it in our defence.

On application for MERCY you will receive initial salvation and then our on-going salvation is by meeting some requirements of obedience and repentance throughout our Christian life we will be saved or are being saved daily and finally we will avoid any punishments that will befall all sinners.

When we read John 3:18-21 we see that it does not nullify John 3:16 & 17 but qualifies them by saying it’s not an automatic thing that a person will receive this grace. The message is clear; if you do not believe in Jesus then you are condemned. You may know a great deal about Jesus and still be condemned!

John 3:18-21 He who believes on Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the condemnation, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, lest his deeds should be exposed. ²¹ But he who practices truth comes to the Light so that his works may be revealed, that they exist, having been worked in God. (MKJV)

Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent! For the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. (MKJV)

Grace cost Jesus everything to bring this salvation to us.  Grace will cost us our pride, stubbornness and our unwillingness to repent. Therefore, God’s grace does have a cost! All we need to do to get this free gift is ask for MERCY through the act of repentance and then for the remainder of our lives we will grow in our understanding of how we received this grace and to show grace towards others.

Remember: We have to be consistent and apply the whole teaching of the Bible to our lives. And “whole” means Old and New Testaments alike.

Let us get back to the Bible and be obedient to the commandment, then we will go in power.