For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works (Tit 2:11-14).
Salvation had to be accomplished totally by God, for, the one being redeemed was “dead in trespasses and sins”. A dead man is totally incapable of acting on his own behalf. Christ is the One Who died, Christ is the One Who performed the work to procure man’s salvation, and God is satisfied with His Son’s finished work. At the moment a person believes on the Lord Jesus Christ and places his trust in Christ, receiving what Christ has done for him by faith, that moment God not only breathes life into the person, but also makes up His abode in the individual. By this means, the man is passed “from death to life” and becomes “a New Creation” in Christ. The Jailer asked
“What must I do to be saved?“, Paul and Silas answered–”Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…” (Acts 16:30b, 31a).
Israel was in slavery; God sent Moses to Egypt and the Grace of God appeared unto them and brought them deliverance. In the same way that the Grace of God delivered them out of Egypt, the Grace of God has brought us deliverance from satanic slavery. That same Grace is sufficient to keep us unto the coming of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
It was the grace of God that sent Moses to the Israelites in Egpyt; It was grace that protected them from the plague in Egypt
It was grace that protected them from Pharaoh
It was grace that parted the Red Sea before them and brought them through the sea on dry ground
It was grace that took them through the wilderness, protecting and guiding them 40-yrs in the wilderness of Sinai
It was grace that fed them with the bread of heaven in the wilderness; It was grace that gave them water out of the flinty rock
It was grace that took them across Jordan at the entrance of the Land; It was grace that pulled down the walls of Jericho before them
It was grace that vanquish the enemy before them
It was grace that defeated the giants, the Anakims, the Agagites, Canaa-nites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
It was grace that took them out of Egypt, and it was grace, the grace of God, that brought them into the land of their inheritance. And likewise it’s the Grace of God that sent the Lord Jesus Christ to earth to deliver us from the dominion of darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of God.
We must ask then, what is grace?
You’ve heard grace defined as “God’s unmerited favor”, “God’s undeserved favor” or God not paying us back what we deserve; these definitions are accurate. The grace of God is multi-faceted. But the aspect of grace we’re meditating upon here is that which relates to God’s omnipotence.
Grace therefore, is God’s unlimited ability given to us in Christ and dispensed into our spirit to enable us to perform super-human feats, to demonstrate supernatural wisdom, and to exhibit superhuman strength for His glory. Grace is God’s divine omnipotence dispensed into our inner man which propels us to live supernatural lives to the glory of His Name; This is not by our power, nor by our might, but by His Spirit.
“That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 5:21).
Sin once reigned over us unchallenged. But now the Grace of God is here to reign in us through righteousness unto eternal life. The Bible even tells us “that the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom 5:20). This tells us that the law was brought in that transgression might increase, but that where transgression is increased, grace has increased much more. Sin will never outgrow the grace of God. The Scripture tells us that this grace not only outgrows sin’s rate of growth, but that it also reigns through righteousness over all things. And that we who have received this abundance of grace, and the gift of righteousness, are to reign in life. This should be your experience and mine today. Nothing, including sin and sickness should lord it over us any more, since we’re no longer under the Law but under Grace. And this is not for a future time. This is for today and for this very hour. It’s for our present day experiences.