The Incredible Grace of God

Well, as I mentioned yesterday, we had a really wonderful conclusion to the Days of Unleavened Bread, the seventh day. And I mentioned during the sermon yesterday that I wanted to talk about the topic of grace today. And so that's what I intend to do. So if you want a title, it's actually the incredible grace of God. And we all may think, and I guess it would be good for all of us to think, what do we know? Or what do we think of whenever we think of the topic or the word grace?

It's often misunderstood, and it shouldn't be, because it is incredible, as I said. It's incredible. What the word of God shows about the grace of God. Now, it's often misunderstood or misapplied because there's a discussion or thought about the contrast between grace and law.

And somehow those are in conflict with each other, which is not the case. You know, actually, law is necessary to define sin and the consequences of sin, which of course ultimately are death. And yet, grace is necessary. It's absolutely necessary so that sinners, all of us, can be forgiven and led to obedience by the help of the Holy Spirit and through our relationship with God the Father and with Jesus Christ. So, both of those, law and grace, are needed. And it's important to see that law and grace are utterly inseparable. You can't have one without the other, or you can't fully understand what God is describing without understanding both of those terms.

So, all of us need to deeply appreciate the incredible grace of God. It is something that has been extended to us, and we want to understand the benefits. Actually, if you go through and try to define grace, grace is a word that can be used many different ways. It can be used as a noun. It can be used as a verb. There are different ways that you could use the word grace.

You could have a grace period, a period that's allowed for payment of a debt or compliance with the law. That would be one way that grace is used. Another way, sometimes people call a short prayer at their meal, grace, which is not wrong.

It's just, you know, that's what some refer to the word grace. You could also think of grace as well as, or in the way of kind of an elegance or a refinement in the way people move. Sometimes you can see some people who are extremely graceful. You know, they're very coordinated and very easy in their movement. So they could have a graceful movement.

And you actually find here, and you might certainly have seen many, many times in the beginning or the ending of the different books we find in the Bible, especially in Paul's writings, he's using it as a greeting. Grace and peace to you, brethren. And so he's extending, you know, a greeting that is to be an encouragement. It's to be an building up word. And yet, all of those, you know, they are a part of what grace is.

But what we usually find in the Christian and an understanding of grace is the definition that's often given under a religious description of grace is a free and unmerited favor from God. As manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings. That's what you would normally find whenever you read this in commentaries or other places about, you know, what is grace about? And we have often used a description that I think you would find very, very familiar that grace is an undeserved and unmerited pardon.

That would be maybe the one that I would think of first. And in many ways, it clearly is accurate. It is undeserved. And it is something I clearly have not earned. It's unmerited. And it is a pardon and a forgiveness from God. But I want to go through the remainder of the sermon today and actually go through a number of scriptures, maybe more than I normally do, because you find the word grace written throughout the Bible.

It's used over 150 times in the New Testament. And we're not going to go through all 150. I'm only going to go through about nine points about what grace, how grace is described, or how grace is used in the New Testament. And I hope by doing so that we can have a deeper appreciation, a deeper gratitude for the grace that God has extended to us. The fact that we are seated here is really by the grace of God, by His extending blessing and mercy to us. So to properly understand that we need to look at a number of things here in the Word of God. To begin with, I can just say, as I looked many of these up, the first one that I saw was that it's very clear, even in the beginning of the book of Luke, that Mary and Jesus were extended to grace of God.

We read that here in Luke 1.

I'm not going to go through all of the background of each of these scriptures, but I am going to read a number of scriptures here in Luke 1. Obviously, when Gabriel came to tell Mary that she was going to have a remarkable birth, she was going to have a baby boy, and not one that she had planned on, one that God had planned on. And yet, it says in verse 28, verse 28 of Luke 1, he came to her and said, Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you.

And she was perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this was. And the angel said, Don't be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Now, in this case, the word favor is the same words that's often translated grace throughout so many other places in the Bible.

And yet, she was being granted favor. She was being given a blessing. And, of course, she was compliant with God's direction and God's guidance, but it just uses the description. And coming from God, he was granting favor to Mary. You see the same thing with Jesus, of course, because as he grew, and you see this in chapter 2 of Luke, you see him described.

And here in chapter 2, in verse 38, this is after Anna had blessed Jesus. It said, At that moment she came and began to praise God. This was Anna praising God and speaking about the child. And then down in verse 39, when they had finished that, Mary and Joseph and Jesus, they went back to Nazareth. In verse 40, the child grew and became strong and filled with wisdom, and the grace of God, the favor from God was upon him.

So these are the same words that come from the Greek word that is for grace. And if we jump over to chapter 4, again talking about Jesus, chapter 4, verse 22. Chapter 4, verse 22. Now this is actually talking about Jesus when he was older, and whenever he was actually in the synagogue, and he was telling them that I'm here to do a work.

I'm here to preach the gospel. It says in verse 20, he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendance and sat down, and the eyes of the whole synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. And everyone spoke well of him, and they were amazed at the words of grace, the gracious words that came out of Jesus' mouth. Now again, this is just to give you an example of the many different places that the word grace and the term grace is used expressing something far bigger than perhaps we might normally just think of as grace.

Now if we go on to chapter 1, this of course, or to John chapter 1, this of course talks about Jesus Christ. And so when he came to the earth, this was a special, gracious offering that God was sending to the earth. This had been planned from the beginning. It had been planned before man had been put on earth.

There was going to be a way for redemption to come. And here in verse 14 of John 1, it says, the Word became flesh and dwelled among us, and we have seen as glory the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth. Now here we see something specifically about, you know, where does grace come from? Well, it comes from God, but in this case, it's going to point out that it comes from Jesus Christ as well.

And it says in verse 15, John testified to him and cried out, This is he of whom I said he would come after me. He ranks before me. But in verse 16, from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace. See, John was pointing out something about Jesus that was in many ways almost inexplicable and remarkable. And he goes on in verse 17 to say, The law indeed was given through Moses.

And so he makes a contrast here between the law, having come from God through Moses. But he says, Grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ. See, the relationship that we have with God, the closeness that we have with our Savior, is because of the grace that's been extended to us. The connection, the relationship, the communion that we have with them comes from the grace that is extended from God through to this Christ. So that's the first thing I want to mention. The second thing, and again, all of these are pretty obvious as we read through these verses, but I think it is amazing that we see so many different things that are connected with the topic of grace.

It's very clear that salvation, this is number two, salvation comes through grace. Here in Titus chapter 2, Titus chapter 2, I always have a trouble finding Titus, but it's before the book of Hebrews, or before the book of Philemon, that is before the book of Hebrews. But here in Titus chapter 2, it says in verse 11, actually, Titus has given a number of instructions here to men and women who are a part of the church.

He talks about the older men, the younger men, the older women, younger women. In verse 11, he says, for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passion and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled and upright and godly while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. So here he just makes a direct statement that the grace of God is bringing salvation to mankind. And if we back up to the book of Ephesians, you also see statements that are very clear in this regard.

And actually, as we get into a number of the statements that Paul makes, some of those verses are a little harder to understand, as I'm going to point out. But these, I think you'll find to be very clear. Here in Ephesians chapter 2, a section of scripture that we should read, we should grasp the significance of because it reminds us that we've been brought out of a deceived world. This world is deceived.

The devil has done a great job. He has been successful in every life to deceive man and to pull them away from the Father, to pull them away from a right relationship with God. And he says in verse 1, you were dead through trespasses and sins in which you once lived. You were following the course of the world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working among those who are disobedient.

See, this is Paul's description of the world in general, everyone today and all of us as far as in the past. He says in verse 3, all of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses. And we were by nature the children of wrath like everyone else. See, that's a nature that we have all acquired just simply by living in this world.

You know, it wasn't something we may be intentioned to inquire, but it's clearly where we were. But in verse 5 it says, God who is rich in mercy, out of the great love that He has loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, He made us alive together with Christ. He follows that up by saying, by grace you have been saved.

And He has raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Jesus Christ, so that in the ages to come, He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Jesus Christ. For by grace, you have salvation. By grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift from God.

So we can say, clearly grace has been extended by the Father. He's been extending that to us as He pulled us out of the deception, as He pulled us out of a deceived world, and He extended to us an understanding of eternal life, an understanding of being a part of the Kingdom of God, an understanding of actually what the purpose of our lives are to become and to take on a divine nature. See, this is all a part of what we see described here as grace. And in verse 8, by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing, it's a gift from God. And so it's incredible to think about how it is that salvation is extended right now to us, and ultimately to the entirety of humanity. Grace will be extended in order for salvation to be available to the entire world. The third thing we can say about grace is that we are justified or forgiven.

We are justified or forgiven by grace. Now again in Titus chapter 3, you see Titus using this description a couple of different times in his brief letter that Paul wrote to Titus. Titus chapter 3, we read part of this, at least throughout the day we did yesterday.

But in verse 4, Titus chapter 3 verse 4, Paul told him, we have been deceived, but in verse 4, when the goodness and the loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us not because of works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, this Spirit, He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior so that having been justified by His grace.

See, not only is it that salvation is made available, not only is it a gift from God as we described given to Mary and later Jesus, or certainly with Jesus as He came, but it also offers justification. Here it says in verse 7, we, having been justified by His grace, we have become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. You know, that grace gives us an understanding of eternal life. That's not floating around on a cloud in heaven right now. That's not where people are. If they've died, they're awaiting in the grave, but there is hope, and that hope in the future is going to give eternal life to people throughout eternity.

If we go back to Romans chapter 3, you also see in connection with this point about grace giving us justification and giving us forgiveness. You actually find quite a bit here in the book of Romans, as far as Paul using the word grace and giving an understanding of its concepts, but here in chapter 3 of Romans, it points out how it is that grace is involved in extending forgiveness.

It's involved in justifying us, but extending forgiveness, and that, of course, is forgiveness that comes through Jesus Christ. Here in Romans 3 verse 23, probably a memory verse that you would have in mind, it says, all of us have sinned and we all have fallen short of the glory of God. Now, that is simply a statement of fact. There are many people, you know, who don't seem to grasp the significance of that. I think all of you do.

I know all of us do, because we understand, you know, the sinfulness that God has removed from us through forgiveness is what we are so grateful for. But here he says in verse 24, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are now justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God put forth as a sacrifice of atonement in His blood or by His blood that's effective through faith.

And He did this to show His righteousness because in His divine forbearance, He has passed over the sins that have been previously committed. This is how our past, the sins of our past, can be forgiven. You know, we can be completely cleansed. We talk about that at baptism whenever we go down into the watery grave. When we go into the example of death, as we had described yesterday, and then rising out of that water, we come back alive.

We are to walk in a newness of life. And yet here he describes it as it is through the grace of God that our sins that we have previously committed are completely washed away. They are completely removed. Now, unfortunately, they are sometimes still in our memory. Just because they have been forgiven, just because they have been justified by God and by His grace, that doesn't mean that we all together forget them. Or that we might feel that we still suffer from some of that guilt.

Now, maybe not only in the past, but even more currently today. Because I think in many ways, you know, we see ourselves, as Cleo was mentioning in the sermonette, you know, we examine ourselves on a regular basis. And so we continue to see things that we need to be forgiven of. And so we need to ask for the grace of God to continue to be extended, to continue to be nurturing us.

And that clearly is a part of what's described here. But the previously committed past sins are what is described here. And of course, then we are not to continue in sin. Now, that's the fourth point that I want to make, because when we read Romans chapter 6, see, there's not a conflict between law and grace. Having been extended grace, and we still understand the value of the law, we still understand the value of law having simply the there's no way that we can keep the law enough to have salvation.

But we still need to know what sin is. We still have to have that defined. And in Romans 6, Paul starts off in verse 1. What should we say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound?

See, this was a misperception that even the people there in Rome were having. They think, well, if we're forgiven and if our sins are covered and we're justified before God, well, then does that mean we don't have to do anything? Well, Paul answers that question. That's a question that we find in verse 1. He answered it in verse 2. He says, absolutely not. Certainly not. I think it says in the New King James, in this version it says, by no means. How can we who have died to sin live any longer therein? And we're to turn from sin and move away from that, but a part of that comes from understanding the benefit of grace. Understanding that we've been extended the grace of God and that He wants us to respond out of a heart of true appreciation. Not because we have to, but because we want to. We truly want to. If we drop on down to verse 14 here, and again, we won't take time to read all of this section. But clearly, grace covers our sins, but we don't continue in sin. That's the fourth area that I want to cover here. In verse 14, it says, for sin is to have no dominion over you, since you were not under the law, but under grace. See, again, He's pointing out that, well, just because you're under grace, just because you've had the grace of God extended to you, that doesn't mean that you have no obligation or responsibility toward God regarding sin. In verse 15, He says, what then should we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? And again, He answers that, but by no means. That's clearly not the case. And if we drop on down to verse 17, He says, but thanks be to God that you, having once been the slaves of sin, you have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin. And it is by the grace of God that we are forgiven, that we are justified, that we are extended, the hope of eternal life.

But He says, having been set free from sin, we become the servants of righteousness.

That's what we want to reflect. That's what we want to be out of appreciation and gratitude to God. It's interesting to see over in Galatians chapter 5, actually, Galatians 5 sometimes is used by some who would like to claim that law is unnecessary and that grace is all that we need.

It says here in Galatians chapter 5, where we have a description of, you know, the contrast between the fruit of the Spirit or the works of the flesh. In verse 16, it says, if we live by the Spirit, or He says, live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.

So He describes in verse 17, what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh. And these are opposed to each other to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, then you are not under the law. Again, that phrase is used to say, well, you don't have to keep the law. And yet, in actual fact, it's clearly showing that if we're going to be moving away from the works of the flesh, then we're going to be moving away from sin. See, this doesn't make sense to think that the law is no longer needed. Because in verse 19, you see in verse 19 and 20, a description of the works of the flesh, and clearly fornication and adultery are involved with the seventh commandment. Murder is involving the sixth commandment. Idolatry involves the second commandment. And then there are other attitudes that are described here that are just the works of the passions of the flesh. And yet he says that all of these are to be resisted and the fruit of the spirit. We read in chapter 5 verse 22. So, some verses, as we might read them, might not be as clear as others. And as I said, Paul's writing about sin and grace can be misunderstood. But I would like to point out, if we turn over to 2 Peter, that what Paul had to say clearly supported the law. He clearly supported. He calls the law holy and just and good. He talks about, you know, are we diminishing the law? Well, absolutely not. Should we continue in sin just because we know we can be forgiven? Absolutely not. And even here in 2 Peter, you find in 2 Peter, Peter making a comment toward the end of end of this book. This is actually the end of what we have written by Peter in the New Testament. And he's making some kind of final statements. And he says, beginning in verse 15, he's talking about Paul, the Apostle. He says, also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom that was given to him. And in verse 16, speaking of this, as he does in all of his letters, and there are some things in them that are hard to understand. See, this was an admission by Peter of the fact that Paul's writing, and I've not gone through all of the verses that are more difficult. I'm going through only the clear ones right now. But here he says, sometimes Paul's writing might be misunderstood or hard to understand. And he says, the ignorant and the unstable might twist these verses to their own destruction as they do other scriptures.

But here he gives a warning in verse 17, you therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, beware that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless. See, those who are trying to diminish the law, don't be carried away by that, the error of the lawless and lose your own stability. See, we have a stability in understanding clearly the law, and the law cannot give us eternal life. We can't keep it well enough, but we certainly want to be able to know what God says get away from and what he says to pursue. And he follows this up in verse 18 by saying, but I want you to grow, to grow in grace, to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. See, he tells us to grow in grace. He tells us to grow in our appreciation. So you wonder, how can you grow in grace? You can grow in knowledge. You can gain more knowledge. You can gain more information. You can know more about the life or the actions or the words of Jesus. How do you grow in grace? By you grow in appreciating the need for the grace of God. Appreciating the forgiveness that's extended to us. Appreciating the blessing it is to understand the grace of God as God is revealing that. And you actually find Jude. If we turn over a few more pages here to the book of Jude, you find Jude making a similar statement. Again, connecting it with the grace of God and connecting it with those who would diminish the law. Here in Jude chapter 1, verse 3, Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation that we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you and to contend for the faith that was once entrusted or delivered to the saints. For he said, certain intruders have stolen in among you people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly who pervert the grace of God, the grace of our God, into licentiousness. And they even deny our Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Here you find not only Peter but Jude pointing out that you don't want to misunderstand the grace of God and the forgiveness and justification that's extended through that by having someone try to tell you the law should not be observed or it should not be respected and followed. See, I'll show you another verse here in Hebrews chapter 10 that also supports this. Hebrews chapter 10, you find in this latter part of the book of Hebrews Paul is encouraging the Jewish Christians to persevere. He's encouraging them to remain faithful and to be faithful to Jesus Christ. Moses was not their Savior, Jesus Christ is. But he says here in chapter 10 verse 26, for if we willingly persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, well then there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin.

But a fearful prospect of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries, anyone who has violated the law of Moses or anyone who did violate the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. In verse 29 he says, how much worse of a punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profane the blood of the covenant and by which they are sanctified and outraged or insulted the Spirit of grace by persisting in sin. Persisting in sin is not struggling against sin. Persisting in sin is just indiscriminately sinning and not caring. Struggling against sin is what all of us do. All of us are in that struggle. And yet what it tells us here is that we don't want to be distracted by any misunderstanding that grace in some way diminishes the law. You know, the law is still needed and grace actually goes together. The fifth thing I want to point out is in the book of Acts. The book of Acts chapter 20 describes the message, the gospel message, as grace. Here in Acts chapter 20, Paul is going to be going to Jerusalem, talking to the Ephesian elders. Acts chapter 20 beginning in verse 22. He says, I'm a captive to the Spirit. I'm on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city and imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me. He kind of knew what to expect in his day-to-day life. He said there would be problems, there will be trials. But he says in verse 24, I don't count my life of any value to myself. If only I may finish my course and finish the ministry that I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel or the good news of God's grace. See, that was a part of the message, a part of the gospel that not only Paul took to the Jews as he had opportunity, but more so to the Gentiles. The gospel of the grace of God was to be extended. So obviously the grace of God has to reach beyond, you know, just simply what most people's understanding of grace would be. It involves the kingdom. It involves the kingdom of God. And you see this a little more clearly over in 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy, Paul is writing to Timothy here. In 2 Timothy, chapter 1, Acts chapter, or excuse me, 2 Timothy chapter 1, starting in verse 8, it says, Do not be ashamed, then brethren, of the testimony about our Lord, or of me, his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and who called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace. See, God is calling us or drawing us into an understanding of his purpose for our lives.

He goes on to say in this same verse in verse 9, This grace was given to us in Jesus Christ before the ages began. But it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

See, this implies or shows that the need for the grace of God, the need for God's intervention and extension of his mercy, his forgiveness, his hope of eternal life, his understanding of the purpose of man, his desire to know that we can be a part, we can be Christians today, we can be a part of the kingdom in the future, we can be rulers or judges or princes as God might choose to assign us.

But all of that is a part of the grace that God has had in place all along. And so, grace is a description that we have for the message that is about the good news of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. Number six is that we are called by God's grace. Here in the book of Galatians chapter 1, you see Paul making two different statements here. And you see, his connection that he makes between the grace of God and God's intervention in his life.

God's drawing him to Jesus Christ, him calling him. In verse 13, it says, you have heard no doubt of my earlier life in Judaism, and I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. See, now he could clearly state that because that was the truth. He had been exceptional in his life of the past, but he says in verse 15, and so he's going to describe what we read in Acts chapter 9. He's going to describe what happened to him on a road to Damascus, and whenever he was blinded and was shown that God wanted him to be his servant. See, God has drawn all of us here to be his servants. Now, we didn't come into the church in perhaps the dramatic way that Paul did, but nonetheless we were drawn by the Father to Jesus Christ. In Paul's case, he says in verse 15, when God, who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me through his grace.

When he was pleased to reveal his Son to me that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I didn't confer with any human being. Paul is relating what his experience was and how he was brought to the point to where he could be the servant that he was, but here he points out that God called me by the grace of God. It wasn't because of Paul's zealousness. It wasn't because of even the qualities that he had. It was because of the grace of God that he had been drawn to Jesus. He had been called. To relate this more directly to us as members of a congregation, he says in chapters 1 verse 6, so here he's talking to the people who were members there in Galatia. He says, I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting or removed from the one who called you in the grace of Christ and must have turned you to a different gospel. Not that there is any other gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.

See, now this is clearly directed to the members of the church. It's directed at the congregation and he's saying you're the ones who have been called by the grace of Christ.

And so not only did Paul say he was called by the grace of God, but that all of us have been called by God's grace to grant us an understanding of his involvement in our lives, of his desire to forgive us, of his great love for us, of his mercy toward us, of his desire that we be in the kingdom of God. We find revealed here in Romans 5, and this is number seven, that we stand in the state of grace. Now physically, we're in the state of Kansas right now, and some of you live in the state of Missouri, but we all stand. We should stand in the state of grace here in Romans chapter 5. Verse 1, it says, therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is an amazing description here in the first 10 verses of Romans 5 about what the gospel message is, what his purpose for human life is.

But he says, since we've been justified by faith, we can have peace with God through Jesus Christ, our Lord, through whom, in verse 2, we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. He was making a statement about, as a member of the church, as a recipient of the Holy Spirit, as an individual who has understood the need to be repentant and to obey God and to stop sinning, you've been forgiven. You've been cleansed, and you have the hope of eternal life, and you can stand in that state of grace.

And then, because of that, we have the hope of eternal life. 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15 is where Paul also makes a statement about himself. Now, he was making it in general in Romans 5, but in 1 Corinthians 15, you see him also talking about just how it is that he got to be where he was. And he talked about how it was that Jesus, after his resurrection, appeared to others. And ultimately, he says he even appeared to me in verse 8.

And we won't go into the discussion or timing of that, but that was something that Paul had experienced. But he says in verse 10, 1 Corinthians 15 verse 10, he says, I am the least of the apostles. I'm actually unfit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God. He hadn't fully forgotten what he'd been forgiven of. So maybe we're not that much different than Paul. He remembered what had happened. He knew and watched the stoning of Stephen. He knew what it was to persecute the Church.

And yet he makes this statement, I'm the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God. But he says in verse 10, by the grace of God, not because of me, not because of what I've done, did or didn't do.

He says, for I am the least of the apostles. By the grace of God, I am what I am.

And his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I actually have worked harder than any of the others, though it was not I, but the grace of God that was with me. See, now how much credit was Paul taking for doing the job that he had been commissioned to do? How much credit was he taking for whatever growth, which I think was sizable, that God had caused to occur in his life? Well, he says it simply because of the grace of God, that I'm able to do any of the work that I can do, that I'm able to know Jesus Christ like I do, that I'm able to anticipate eternal life, which I know is sure. I'm not there yet, but I know because of faith that it is going to be given. But it's amazing, the statement he makes here in verse 10, that he could stand firm in the grace of God.

And it was by the grace of God that he was able to do what he did. In Acts chapter 13, Acts chapter 13, you also see, as Paul and Barnabas were speaking in Antioch, he describes how it is that, well, in verse 42 of Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas were going out, and people urged them to speak about these things again, the next Sabbath. They had been there that Sabbath. They wanted them to come back next Sabbath, numerous verses that show when they were meeting, what they were doing.

But he went ahead to say in verse 43, when the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts of Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God that it was being extended to them. See, not all of them understood fully what God was offering, but he was telling them, I want you to continue to grow in understanding the grace of God, to understand God's desire for human beings, to be a part of his family, to be growing in a divine nature, to take on that nature.

So, brethren, we're to stand in the grace of God. Number eight is what I mentioned earlier, that we are to grow in the grace of Jesus Christ. But one way that we should keep in mind, and this is in James 4. James 4, you see, actually, a way that we can grow, a way that we can increase the grace of God in our life.

It's a wonderful blessing. It's incredible that God has extended to us the grace of God. But here in James 4, James is writing about some of the difficulties that people needed to overcome.

And down in verses 7 and 8, we're familiar with these verses. We submit ourselves to God. We resist the devil. We can draw close to God. God will draw close to us.

See, that is a very clear definition of what we need to do in order to grow.

But to back up to verse 6, he says, he gives all the more grace. God is able to extend more grace. He's able to cause us to grow in grace. He goes on to say God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. See, what is the quality that Jesus clearly had and that each of us want to exemplify and need to exemplify if the grace of God is going to be expanding? We're going to be growing in the grace of God. If we are understanding humility, that of course reflects the outlook that Jesus had. So we can grow in the grace of Jesus Christ. We can do that by seeking humility that Jesus had. And then the final thing that I'll mention, and we see this in Hebrews chapter 4. We see a description of a high priest who is at the right hand of God.

And he tells us that because of the grace of God that has been extended to us, that we can boldly come before His throne of grace in order to receive mercy and grace to help us in times of need. See, there are always times of need in our lives. You know, many times we find that that's maybe far more frequent than we might wish. And yet we're told clearly what to do. Verse 14, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. And since we have that high priest, let us hold fast to our confession.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are yet without sin.

And so in verse 16, let us therefore approach God's throne, the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help as we need it. See, He tells us numerous things about the grace of God throughout the Bible. And clearly it is not in conflict or contrast with the law. But the grace of God involves many, many things as we've seen. And I'm sorry to have gone through these as quickly as I have. But I think it's fascinating for all of us to understand how God's grace has been extended to us. It is an incredible gift that He has extended to us. And it involves many things. It involves God's purpose for man.

It involves how it is that we are to become a part of His family, how it is that we can have eternal life. It involves salvation. It involves His favor and His pardon. It involves His forgiveness and His justification. It involves the gospel message. It involves our calling. And it involves our state of being Christians. And so I would encourage all of us, as we think about the incredible grace of God, that we even more frequently come before that throne of grace. Now we think about it, that we're actually coming before the throne of grace that has been extended to us. God is fully for us. He is not against us. He is for us. He wants us to succeed. He wants us to grow. He wants us to be a part of His family because He loves us so much. And so I hope this gives us a better understanding of the topic of grace. We haven't covered everything that could be covered, and perhaps there are other things that you will think of or you will study or we can talk about. But at least this is an overview of the incredible grace of God.