THE GLORY OF GRACE

The grace of God must come from the “God of all grace.” Grace is like God Himself and comes from Him alone. We only preach and believe the gospel of grace when we preach and believe “the true grace of God.” When the apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 1, he testifies to the grace of God that precedes even time itself. God goes before and acts in grace, initiating all the blessings of His grace to His people when He chose them in Christ before the world began. God’s grace is characterized by His action and power and is truly omnipotent grace. Since grace cannot be merited and only comes from God, it must be accurately described as His free and sovereign grace. He is gracious “to whom He will be gracious.”

Paul again in Ephesians 1 speaks of God’s grace to us in another way saying that all of salvation is, “To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:6). What a full expression of God’s grace to God’s elect.  First, when he says that God has “made us accepted,” it is literally that God has “graced us.” Graced us meaning dealt with us entirely and eternally by grace with no dependent or contingent upon us at all.  Nothing in us, nothing He saw we would do, even in spite of what we do. Furthermore, grace has to do with what God does! There is no “I” in grace except as I speak of the object and recipients of grace. Grace is all about God and something He has done, “He” has made us accepted. Then, grace is all about Christ! God has graced us “in the Beloved.”

All grace is in Christ and there is no grace from God apart from Him. It is bound up in His glorious Person and His accomplished work. It is God’s gift to all “in Him.” We are beloved because He has put us “in the Beloved” and sees us and loves us in His Son. Also, there is this very revealing and singular characteristic of grace, it glorifies God alone! It is “to the praise of the glory of His grace.” God is exclusively and properly to be praised for grace. All boasting from the objects of His grace is excluded and not only that but those graced delight in praising Him alone. Grace is in Christ and is righteous grace because it is demonstrated through Christ and Him crucified. His cross is grace to His people. “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"(Ephesians 2:8-9).

-preacher Gary Shepard

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