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THE K I NG ' S B U S I N E S S
In our study today we come close to th e h e a rt of th e Bible; close to the h e a rt of God; close to th e h e a rt of our Lord Jesus Christ; close to th e h e a rt of th e Holy Spirit. HEART OF A w onderful them e THE LESSON is this— th e grace of T. C. H o rton God! “The law came by Moses, b u t grace and tru th came by Jesu s Christ, and of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.” T h at is, for every grace th a t th e re is in Jesus Christ, th ere is a grace for th e believer. Grace is not a New T estam ent revela tion. God is th e God of grace. He m anifested grace in the Garden of Eden when He dealt w ith Adam and Eve as sinners. They were clothed by grace. He dealt in grace w ith Noah, when he saved him and his house from the w rath of th e w aters. He dealt in grace w ith Abraham when He called him and made th a t w onderful covenant w ith him . He dealt in grace w ith Israel th rough th e ir w ilful, rebellious history. He d ealt in grace w ith a lo st world when He sent H is Son to be a sacrifice for sin. We call th is th e dispensation of grace, beginning w ith th e death and resurrection of Christ (Rom. 3:24, 25), b u t God’s grace reaches back into the etern al years when He chose us in Christ, (Eph. 1 :4 ). T h at verse alone is sufficient to stagger us w ith the con sciousness of God’s grace. W hat is grace? I t is th e free, sov ereign, unm erited favor of God, and is best defined in T itus 3:4, 5. Grace is best understood in its con trast w ith law. The law demands absolute righ teousness and bestows favor upon those who keep it (Ex. 1 9 :5 ), b u t grace bestows righteousness upon law -break ers, or “ lawless ones,” “ even th e righ teousness of God which is by faith of Jesu s Christ unto all and upon all them th a t believe.” Before all other a ttr i butes of God, grace sits enthroned, th e crown jewel. God’s grace tow ard us is m anifested in His choosing us. This is
V. The Purposes of Grace, o r W h at G race Accomplishes. Sinners are justified, th a t is reck oned righteous or as though they had never sinned, by grace, Rom,. 3:24. Sinners, by n atu re dead in sins, are Quickened, th a t is made alive sp irit ually, by grace, Eph. 2:5. Sinners who were alienated from God, and rebels ag ain st H is righteous government, are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Eph. 2:6. When He shall appear, we shall be m anifested w ith Him, Rom. 8:17-19. Sinners, unbelieving by n atu re, be come believers th rough th e grace of God, Eph. 2:8. Sinners lo st by n atu re , become sin ners “saved by grace,” Eph. 2:8. This does no t mean merely th a t believers are saved from hell; b u t th a t we are saved from sin here and now, and made holy, in o th er words, we are sanctified by grace as well as justified, T itus 2:11-14. Believers are called to be a “ peculiar people” in this, th a t th e ir holy lives will make them “ peculiar” in a world of sinners. VI. The Recipients of Grace. “All men” are th e recipients in some m easure of th e grace of God. The most wicked man in th e world today owes his very existence to th e grace of God which he despises. All his bless ings come to him from th e same source. The seasons, th e crops, th e home, the fam ily, th e hum an love, all these and more are undeserved, unearned, and are his “ b y grace.” Some men lim it th e ir enjoyment of God’s grace to such things as above. O thers receive grace to accept more graee and find pardon, peace, and power, and purity, and P aradise th rough th e grace of God, and sonship, too. How much have you availed yourself of w hat God has placed w ithin your reach by His grace?
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