Grace: What is it, how do I get it and use it?

WHAT IS GRACE?
Paul says – grace to you, but what does he mean by this? What is he wishing towards the Christians in Colossae?
Grace is an unearned good gift of God that is freely given to one who deserves the opposite.

It is important to understand that there are two types of grace, we talk about common grace and special grace.

Common grace is the underserved and unearned merit given by God to all of mankind. There is common grace in everyone’s life – family, laughter, food, shelter, work, health, talents….

Every goodness that anyone has is because Jesus came to die.

His rain falls on the unjust and waters the fields of farmers who neither acknowledge him nor thank him.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights…any good thing that happens to anyone – believers and unbelievers alike – from catching a fish to finding a wife – is a gift from God.

Now I know what you are thinking – ‘Surely some of what I have is from my earnings – I don’t just get a paycheck for nothing. I earned (deserved) my paycheck by my hard work. How can that be grace? How can that be undeserved?’

Stop and think for a moment. It is by God’s grace that you have the job, the health to do it, the education you need, the transport…it all comes from God. Nothing you have is yours. Not even earning your paycheck. And all you have is undeserved, bought by the blood of Christ.

Paul warns the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 4:7 What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

Do you try to take credit for the gifts God gave you? Do you boast about your job, your skills, your house, your car, your kids? What do you have that you did not receive?

So what is our responsibility? Praise God for his grace – for every good thing that comes our way.

If you are an unbeliever, you are taking good gifts from God while you are rejecting him. You are biting the hand that is busily feeding you – the least you can do is to be thankful.

The other type of grace is special grace. This is given only to certain people
1 Peter 5:5 “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

We have just seen that God gives grace to everyone, but in a special way, he gives grace to the humble…

2. HOW DO I GET GRACE?

2 Timothy 1:8–9…..of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began”

So special grace is not obtained by works but by the grace given before the ages began.

Special grace is only obtained from God. So you don’t get special grace by working. And according to Ephesians 2:8-9 you can only access grace through faith. So don’t try to offer your filthy rags to God and hope he overlooks your sin…..you can’t access grace through your good works, only through faith, which is itself a gift from God.

The humble get common grace and they get special grace – they have their sins covered for all eternity through the blood of Christ. Special grace only comes to those justified by his grace.

Now, if you are following this argument – you might ask ‘So no matter how much I sin – grace covers it all?’ Yes.

‘So can I just sin more if it is all covered by grace?’ well that brings us to our third point.

3. HOW DO I USE GRACE?
If you think you can sin more and grace will cover it, Paul has an answer for you.

Romans 6:1–2 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

This is because, as Paul explains in Romans 6:6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing…”

This is the miracle of salvation: when we get this free grace we don’t want to sin any more. This is not natural; this is supernatural.

So, use this grace to stop sinning. Use this grace to do the good works God has prepared for you. 1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

Keep coming to the throne of grace, and God will keep supplying you with grace upon grace.

CONCLUSION:
If you are not a believer, notice God’s common grace in your life: the rain, your family, your work, your paycheck. But know that there is a place where there is no grace… it is called Hell. Right now you are running up a debt you can never pay. Repent of your sin and turn to God and he will give you the grace to cover all your sin and erase all your debts.

If you are a believer, you too have a debt you can’t pay. But Jesus paid that debt for you, so rejoice that you can now please God through the free gift of the grace of God. Author: Cripplegate