THE Scripture definition of grace, and the uses made of it in Scripture, are of all importance to man, for it is the ground, the only ground, upon which God can act towards man otherwise than in judgment. Yet man’s thoughts about, and his estimate of grace, are so low, so poor, so human, that he cannot of himself grasp or even conceive what Divine grace, God’s grace, really is. He has, if under conviction of sin before God, and under the truth of the Gospel, a sense of grace, measured by the extent of his sin, and in this sense the lost, the vile, the utterly ruined know best, and best appreciate this grace. And yet with all this there is a fear of losing it, of forfeiting it, so to speak, which comes from a faulty apprehension of what Divine grace is.
How often, indeed, one hears people, sincere souls too, speak of “falling from grace,” as if it was some quality in themselves — bestowed upon them by God, but still in themselves — from which they could fall away. Now falling from grace is never spoken of in this way in Scripture. It is never looked upon as something in us from which we could fall away, for the simple reason that we never had any grace in ourselves from which to fall (see Gal. 5:44Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. (Galatians 5:4)). Falling from grace, in Scripture, is a turning away from God’s grace, and a seeking to be justified by law. It says, “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” Here then grace is distinctly put in contrast to law; the grace of God in contrast to the law of God; what God is for man in contrast with what man ought to be for God.
As an example of what grace is, the case of a criminal under sentence of death is often referred to, and it is said that the Queen, in her sovereign power, extends grace to him, and the capital sentence is remitted. But this, true though it be so far as sovereignty goes, fails altogether to convey the right and true sense to the soul of what God’s grace is. When a man is found guilty and is condemned to death, the case must go first before the Home Secretary, and he has to find, if he can do so, extenuating circumstances on the ground of which Her Majesty may be advised to remit the extreme sentence. Now in the case of the sinner before God, there is no such inquiry made, for it is not possible for anyone, even the most clever and most highly educated, or most moral person, to find any extenuating circumstances whatever in the case of any sinner, let him be young or old, high or low, rich or poor. God has concluded all in one sentence, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Indeed, it is just because there are no extenuating circumstances to be found, no possible excuse to be made for man, that He who looked down from heaven upon men and said, “There is none righteous, no, not one,” provided from Himself, from His own wonderful and blessed resources, the only remedy that could possibly avail for man — a sinner in his sins, — for whom no possible excuse could be made?
And what was that remedy? “He gave Himself for our sins.” Here is grace indeed, but here is sovereignty too. Instead of a fruitless search after some extenuating circumstances, or some excuse in man, He meets man’s case just as it is, just as He sees it to be, “He died the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God.” Scripture says (Rom. 3), “There is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” and (Rom. 10), “There is no difference, for the same Lord is rich towards all that call upon Him.” Some, it is true, may have gone more deeply into acts of sin than others, but the same act of grace meets, and indeed is needed, for a small sin, as people speak, as a great one. And, after all, when we find ourselves in the presence of God, we do not stop to consider the amount of our sins; our one object is. How is He who is holy, and of purer eyes than to look upon iniquity, going to deal with us about them? Then we find, and, oh, how thankfully the soul owns it, that nothing but grace will suit us, and still further, that grace and sovereignty go together — are indeed inseparably linked together.
Grace is the act of sovereignty. And see how far it goes! Instead of merely remitting the extreme sentence, and inflicting a minor one, as the Queen would do on the ground of extenuating circumstances, by remitting the sentence of death and reducing the punishment to that of transportation for life, the sinner for whom Jesus died is set entirely, absolutely, eternally free. And set free by God too. God is for him; not because he is good, not because he repents and is sorry for his sins, but because he is vile, helpless, lost, ruined, and condemned, not one redeeming feature to be found, not one single excuse possible for him, and he owns it before God, whose “ goodness leads him to repentance,” i.e., to take God’s side against himself, and own it is all true that God says about him, as in Romans 3:10-19,10As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17And the way of peace have they not known: 18There is no fear of God before their eyes. 19Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. (Romans 3:10‑19) he casts himself thus on God, and God meets him not according to his deserving’s, but according to the riches of His grace in Christ Jesus. “The grace of God brings salvation” to the lost. It is the Shepherd who seeks the sheep “until He find it,” and who then rejoicing, lays it upon His shoulder and carries it home — all the way home; He does not put it down until it is safe at home.
Dear reader, do you know God thus? Do you know this grace — this act of sovereign power and favor — this Gospel of the grace of God? Glad tidings, indeed, for sinners. And God is no respecter of persons. “Ye are saved by grace, through faith; and this not of yourselves, it is God’s gift: not of works, that no one might boast.” What a blessing, what a mercy it is that there is no respect of persons with God! How could there be when all is of grace which no one deserves, or can deserve? It is this grace that sweeps away all distinction of persons, and which sweeps away all sense of deserving it on our part. And yet, alas! how many souls cling to something, a fancied something in themselves! The fact is they do not think themselves as bad as God says they are; they will own they are not good enough for heaven, but they do not think themselves bad enough for grace, and grace alone to meet them. They think their prayers, their tears, their sorrow over the past, are of some value in commending them to God, and thus they stand at a distance from the grace, and seek to merit that which in its very nature is unmeritable, the sovereign grace of the mighty God.
Reader, may you know this grace fully, and may He make you to be “strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”
P. A. H.