Grace (Part 5)

Grace (Part 5)

Psalm 51:1, 2 "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin." 

A plea to God for mercy is asking Him to withhold the judgment we deserve and instead grant to us the forgiveness we in no way have earned. Yet mercy only comes to all of us because of the grace of God.

We deserve nothing from God. God does not owe us anything. Anything good that we experience is a result of the grace of God.

Ephesians 2:5 "...even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved..." 

Grace is simply defined as unmerited favor. God favors, or gives us good things that we do not deserve and could never earn. Rescued from judgment by God's mercy, grace is anything and everything we receive beyond that mercy. 

There is common grace which refers to the sovereign grace that God bestows on all of mankind regardless of their spiritual standing before Him. 

-It is this type of grace that protects those we pray for who don't know Him. 

-It is this type of grace that provides assistance when we don't even realize He's in charge of it all.

-It is this type of grace that helps us bring peace and hope to the distraught and weary in times of trouble and distress.

You can say what you want, but we saw this type of grace shared by millions helping those who overcame many natural disasters last year. If not for that common grace and people showing it to their brothers and sisters the mental damage alone would have heightened the natural destruction they faced as an even greater obstacle.

Saving grace, on the other hand, is that special dispensation of grace whereby God sovereignly bestows unmerited divine assistance upon His elect for their regeneration, constant sanctification, and renewal in His Holy Spirit.

-It was saving grace that redeemed the lost through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus.

-It was saving grace that took a troubled man like Saul and made him into a Paul, who became a champion of the faith.

-It is saving grace that rescued a wretch like you and me, having been lost, but by amazing grace now found.

That saving grace is available for all who seek it. Jesus died and conquered death so His grace would be sufficient for our sins. Please know that it's yours to claim.