526 - HAVE YOU MET GRACE?
JANUARY 6, 1980
Henry F. Kulp
Romans 5: 20, 21 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Here we have a word that is very important. It is the word, grace, which literally means, everything for nothing. But how few understand the doctrine of grace – how few have appropriated grace in their lives.
1/ In all 39 books of the Old Testament, only two verses speak of grace for the human race. In the four Gospels, it is not found in Matthew or Mark, once in Luke, three times in the first chapter of John. 128 times in the New Testament, but Paul uses the word, grace 103 times. So that means only 25 times out of Paul in the New Testament.
2/ Did you ever notice that all the Pauline epistles open and close with the mention of grace? Let us look at the book we got our text out of.
Romans 1: 7 To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then notice, Romans 16: 24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Then I Corinthians 1: 3 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
I Corinthians 16: 23 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Then notice II Corinthians 1: 2 Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
II Corinthians 13: 14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
And so we could go through the Pauline Epistles. This proves to me that Paul is the preacher of grace. His message is an all-grace message.
3/ I Corinthians 15: 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Here Paul tells of what happened in his life. He says, by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace was bestowed upon me not in vain. It was grace which changed the course of his life and which motivated him to more abundant service.
4/ Ephesians 3: 1 - 3 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
This is the dispensation of the grace of God. It is the dispensation of all grace.
5/ Romans 11: 6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
Here we see that grace and works do not mix. Whatever is of grace does not have any work in it at all. You add any work to grace and you do not have grace.
6/ Let us show you something about grace that is very interesting.
II Corinthians 8: 6, 7 Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also. Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.
Here God says when a believer gives to God, grace is the means by which man gives to God. In other words, giving is due to God’s grace in his life. Men by nature want to receive. They are always looking for something, but those who are in Christ Jesus, and have a new nature want to give, and when they give, this is called grace. In other words, they give not so they will receive something, again it means everything for nothing, but rather they want to give to God, they want to give all they possibly can to Him. How many give and then they say, ever since I’ve given to God, I’ve never been in want. This is not the reason you give to God. You give by means of grace.
7/ Romans 5: 20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
Now it says, Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Abounding grace, superabounding grace, overflowing grace. Paul is not saying, where sin increases or abounds, grace will meet the need. He is saying there is a super-abounding amount of grace, far more than there is sin. For he uses ten different Greek words translated abound.
8/ WHY DOES GOD HAVE GRACE FOR ALL MANKIND? Does the Bible reveal a reason for God’s grace? Of course it does. Let us look for a moment. Notice two great words In the Bible. Love and grace.
John 3: 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Notice the word, so. God so loved the world. In other words, in a superabounding manner, He gave His only begotten Son, and here we learn the purpose of God’s overflowing love. It was two-fold.
First of all, that man should not perish, secondly, that man might have everlasting life. So, since man is saved by grace, it has the same motive here to the unsaved man. That he might not perish, but he might have everlasting life. The sinner who comes to Christ as his Savior, then discovers the motives for grace. He can say, God does not want me to perish. God wants me to have everlasting life. God has done something about it. He has provided salvation in His grace.
9/ Now we have a second motive for divine grace.
Ephesians 2: 8 - 10 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
There we read, For by grace we have been saved through faith, and then we come down to the 10th verse. Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God hath prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
One motive for divine grace was that God might save our soul, and then the second motive is, after we are saved, we should produce good works that would glorify Him. At this point, we want to see something about the superabundant grace of God in salvation, one man does not receive more of the grace of God than another man. They are both saved by the same amount of grace in Christ Jesus. God does not say to a monstrous sinner, that man is absolutely so wicked that I must scrape the bottom of the barrel of grace for him, nor does He say of another, that is just an average man, doing average things in an average way, so he will only need an average amount grace to deal with them. He does not say of the third man, here is a highly moral man, well thought of by all his neighbors and friends and fellow workers we only need a scoop full of grace to meet his need. God’s grace goes out to sinners, whether first class, second class, or third class, but then we see God does give more grace to a believer. He gives the same amount of grace in salvation, but He gives more grace for living, working and serving.
James 4: 6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
James says, He giveth more grace, so there is grace as a motive of having good works.
10/ Notice the word, works, occurs twice in this passage. In Ephesians 2: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. The works are cursed, because they are performed in the power of the flesh, in the old nature, with the intention of presenting them to God as payment for salvation.
In Ephesians 2: 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
However, God reveals that their future good works are among the motives of His grace in saving sinners.
11/ Notice verse 10 we are His workmanship. Notice, it is God performing the good works, in and through us by grace. It is for those who are created in Christ Jesus. We are not saved merely to escape the pains of the second death, of hell, of eternal death, but to produce good works.
The same thing is clearly taught in Titus 2: 14 Christ gave Himself for us to redeem us from iniquity, and to purify for Himself a people of His own who are zealous of good works.
12/ Now we have a third motive for superabounding grace.
Ephesians 3: 10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
We could talk for many hours on the text, but here is what it means. God in His original creation, created a vast host of angels. They are the principalities and powers in the heavenlies right now. One-third of that group rebelled against God, sought to exalt themselves above God.
Isaiah 14: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
He wanted to be the appointed cherub. He wanted to have the place of Jesus Christ, and he tried to get it by his own volition, by his own energy, but now God is taking out of this world men who are sinners, greatly inferior to angels, a church, a body, and they are going to be what he wanted them to be, and his fallen host with him, and we do not acquire this by independence, by our own works, but by total dependence upon the grace of God.
When we look at the unfallen host that is in the Heavenlies, they cannot understand grace as God has set it forth, and so they watch us and they learn from us, and we teach them about grace day by day.
13/ So the third motive is to show the angelic beings, God in His dealings with individuals.
14/ The fourth motive of superabounding grace can be found in Ephesians 1: 23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
This is a verse that is breathtaking. It uses the phrase, complete in Christ, but what is the thought in the statement that God gave Christ to be the Head of the Church which is the body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.
What is the fullness of Christ? Is He not a perfect God? Oh, yes He is.
Notice, Ephesians 1: 22, 23 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
Christ is the head of the Body, we are members of that Body, a head without a body is incomplete, and the marvelous thing is that the church, the body of Christ, is the completeness of Christ. One of these days the body will be with the head in glory, but for the present time the head is in Heaven and we are here on this earth. But it is wonderful to realize that Christ is incomplete without us. Just think about that. We were poor lost sinners, deserving nothing but judgement from God, and now through His grace we have been saved, we have been made members of His body, the body of Christ, and this is the completion of Christ. What a responsibility this puts upon us to have good works, as we are part of Christ.
15/ THIS GOES UNDER THE FIRST REASON FOR GRACE.
Ephesians 1: 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
There is no room for human boasting. He made us accepted in the beloved. Remember, grace means everything for nothing, so we have been made acceptable in the Father’s eyes by the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
16/ Let us give you an illustration of what I mean. You remember the case of a woman who attempted the assassination of Queen Elizabeth I—she was dressed as a man page, and she hid herself in the Queen’s boudoir, waiting the convenient moment to stab her to death, not realizing that the queen’s attendants would very carefully search the room before her Majesty was permitted to retire. Hidden there among gowns they found this woman and brought her into the presence of the Queen. They took the dagger from her and she realized her case. She knew it was hopeless and so she threw herself down on her knees and pleaded and begged the Queen as a woman to have compassion upon her—a woman who was her intended assassin and to show her grace.
Queen Elizabeth looked on her quietly and coolly and said, “If I show you grace, what promise will you make for the future?” The woman looked up and said, “Grace that has conditions, that is not grace. It is not grace at all.” Queen Elizabeth immediately understood what she said, and said, “You are free woman.”
History tells us from that moment Queen Elizabeth had no more faithful, devoted servant than that woman who had intended to take her life.
17/ Then we have a fifth motive for the superabounding grace of God, and you remember that five is the number of grace.
Ephesians 2: 6, 7 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Notice the purpose that is here. Verse 8 says, For by grace are ye saved through faith, and you would take from reading that that it is just a matter of individual salvation. You are saved by grace through faith, but you have to notice a little word, for, that begins that verse. For by grace, that refers us to verses 6, 7.
Now, I would like to read those two verses for you as I would translate them.
AND RAISED US UP TOGETHER AND SEATS US TOGETHER AMONG CELESTIALS IN CHRIST JESUS. IN ONCOMING EONS, HE SHOULD BE DISPLAYING THE TRANSCENDENT, SUPERABOUNDING, SUPER-EXCEEDING RICHES OF HIS GRACE, IN HIS KINDNESS TO US IN CHRIST JESUS FOR BY GRACE HAVE YOU BEEN SAVED.
18/ The thought here is that you have been saved to manifest the superabounding, super-exceeding grace of God to the heavenlies. Not just that we have been saved by grace, but this is the ultimate aim of salvation. This is the fifth and last reason for the grace of God. Oh, that we might understand the grace of God and love the grace of God.
19/ I have no doubt that in ages to come, what we might call a billion years from now, the angels who look at you and me with awe and wonder and say to others, there are two of the saints. They were on earth in the time of rebellion, they were in trespasses and sin. They were ungodly sinners, they were enemies of God, but He loved them when they were like that, and His love reached to them through the death of Jesus Christ and they believed on Jesus Christ and were made saints. He did all that for them. And we will say to the angels, You were right in giving all the glory to Him, He is the wonderful One, He is the gracious one, there is none like Him.
So where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
AMEN
Ref: 01/06/1980 / 526-1 (DOC 319) HAVE YOU MET GRACE? / July 19, 2020
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