Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
070120
To grasp God's grace, understand that Jesus paid for all our sin in full once and for all!
The same way we received Him, which was by grace, through faith, and not of works lest anyone should boast is the same way we are told live the Christian way of life.
God requires for us to understand it as God's means of expressing His love, His truth, or His faithfulness to mankind as an expression of God’s justice being satisfied with His righteousness working within you.
All human merit has been disposed of absolutely and forever and no divine obligation exists toward any individual.
If He treated us like we deserve to be treated than we would all be destined for the eternal lake of fire.
Grace is neither treating a person "as" he deserves, nor treating a person "better" than he deserves, grace is treating a person "graciously" without the slightest reference to what he deserves.
Grace is infinite love expressing itself in infinite goodness.
Through the unlimited atonement, grace is free to save anyone who believes on TLJC in every case and only grace can save mankind.
Grace did not judge our sins, justice and righteousness did.
The sinner is never forgiven because God is big-hearted enough to forget the payment for sin which is spiritual death or separation from God.
Under the principle of true gospel preaching, sinners are to be told that they may now stand forever pardoned before God; Isa 43:24; Isa 44:22.
ISA 43:25 "I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.
Not because God is gracious enough to excuse their sins; but because there is redemption through the blood of Christ.
When God forgives man absolutely and eternally, through the cross of Christ, He is acting as a Judge not a Father = judicial forgiveness.
For the believer, accepting this judicial forgiveness guarantees an unchangeable standing and position before God forever.
The sin issue has been dealt with once and for all and unless you understand that you can't even begin to understand the grace of God.
In faithfulness, God will correct and chastise His child who sins, but as we have noted before, there is a tremendous difference between judging and chastising.
The forgiveness of God toward the sinner is made possible only through the cross and never an act of immediate grace.
Forgiveness cancels every debt before God whereas justification declares the sinner to be forever judicially righteous in the eyes of God. One is subtraction, the other is addition.
Of the various divine undertakings then, some are acts of divine justice, and some are acts of the immediate grace of God.
Those acts which deal with human unworthiness and sin are "acts of justice."
These include forgiveness, justification, death to the law, freedom from the law, and the whole new creation.
On the other hand, those aspects of salvation wherein God is revealed as imparting and bestowing His benefits are said to be immediate acts of His grace.
These include the gift of eternal life, the imputed righteousness of God, and all of your escrow blessings.
The fact that God does this from His grace means that He was not obligated to do so for any reason whatsoever.
This is one of the reasons why a believer "loses rewards" at the Judgment Seat of Christ but never does one lose salvation.
It's not that he didn't have any rewards, he does, grace deposited fantastic blessings in eternity past "in Christ" for every believer.
The believer loses these rewards because he rejected the "grace provisions" of God!
What God does in forgiving us experientially in time is based on the cross and all that was accomplished!
By His death, Christ provided the sufficient ground for both the salvation of the unsaved and the restoration of the saved.
According to the scriptures, certain fundamental elements enter into the divine forgiveness and cleansing which takes place when a believer is restored.
There must be confession, this is the one and only condition on the human side.
Then there is absolute forgiveness and cleansing which is promised on the divine side.
Then protection is promised because of the advocate which we have at the right hand of God, TLJC; Heb 7:25.
He acts in strict faithfulness to His covenant and promise concerning forgiveness of sins.
Forgiveness of sin is based upon the righteousness and justice of God not the grace of God.
1JO 1:9 "He is faithful and righteous, with the result that He forgives us our sins [known sins] and purifies us from all unrighteousness [unknown sins]."
Notice that grace does not appear in the forgiving and cleansing of sins.
What does appear is the faithfulness and righteousness of God revealing to us the forgiveness of our sins.
It can be concluded that the word grace then represents the uncompromised, unrestricted, unrecompensed loving favor of God toward sinners.
Grace is the limitless, unrestrained love of God acting on behalf of the lost.
Grace always gives credit to God!
Legalism or religion means man does the work and man gets the credit.
Satan hates when God gets the credit which is creator-credit verses creature credit.
Here is where our Lord turned the curse into a blessing; as the principle of Deu 23:5 states.
ROM 5:17 For if by the transgression of the one [Adam], death reigned or ruled through the one [Adam], much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
Here is another principle concerning the gift of salvation which is called the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness that will reign, not be lost, but reigned or ruled in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
Jonah 2:9 But I will sacrifice to Thee With the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord."
Notice, the five last words in Jonah 2:8, which says, “Salvation is from the Lord."
The character and nature of God guarantees that God cannot cancel the forty things that He gives you at the moment of salvation because of our faith in Christ.
God cannot cancel His gifts. When God gives, He does not take it back. He has given us His righteousness and His life, so that we are qualified to live with Him forever.
Our relationship with God does not depend on our integrity, morality, virtue or failure -- it depends on His holiness and integrity.
We have peace with God because He gave us His righteousness. We do not have peace with God because of our self-righteousness.
When we “stand in grace,” this does not refer to our morality or self-righteousness, but the virtue of God.
The Christian way of life is not morality but is far above morality.
Virtue is infinitely greater than morality, but virtue can only be produced by the filling of the Spirit and the perception of doctrine.
Morality can be produced by human self-determination and the energy of the flesh.
It is God that provides the grace and our standing.
We don’t stand on our own strength; if so we would collapse.
You can’t lose your salvation because it is strictly the work of God.
You did nothing to gain, or to maintain it; it is the work of God.
God never gives His righteousness without putting it in a permanent container: our eternal security.
You cannot lose what the integrity of God gives you.
Another definition, eternal security is defined as an unbreakable relationship with the integrity of God, depending on the integrity of God.
It is an unbreakable relationship because God will not break the relationship regardless of what we do or fail to do.
Neither God nor man nor angel can cancel or destroy this unbreakable relationship with God.
Demons cannot cancel those forty things.
People cannot cancel those forty things.
Angels, both Elect and fallen cannot change those forty things.
Even the Lord cannot cancel those forty things.
You have to be arrogant to think that you can commit a sin or make a renunciation of God that can cancel the work of God!
You don’t have the power or ability to cancel it, no matter how evil you are.
Yet people are so arrogant that they think they are greater than God.
The dumbest people are those who think they can reject eternal security and who attempt to cancel the grace of God.
Rather, it motivates you to want to know this wonderful God who has provided such fantastic things for you because of one non-meritorious decision you made in a few seconds; Tit 2:11-12.
Tit 2:11-12, For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age.
Man’s failure does not and cannot cancel the integrity of God.
Man’s weakness does not cancel God’s strength.
Lack of integrity in the believer cannot cancel the integrity of God.
Failure to execute the PPOG does not cancel your eternal salvation.
Yet we are more impressed with our failures than with the integrity of God, and that’s one of our problems.
We need to be more impressed with the integrity of God and less impressed with our failures.
Salvation through faith in Christ results in receiving one-half of divine integrity, the righteousness of God.
The possession of the righteousness of God forever eliminates the possibility of losing salvation by any failure on our part.
Our righteousness breaks down because we have an old sin nature.
Therefore, we stand before God, not on the basis of our righteousness, but on the basis of His righteousness.
It is the quintessence of human arrogance to assume we can do anything to cancel or abrogate our eternal salvation.
The forty things received at the moment of faith in Christ cannot be canceled or nullified by any failure on our part after salvation.
The integrity of God is infinitely greater than any failure of man, 2Ti 2:11-13.
As another flawless manifestation concerning your eternal security we have what called, “The Family of God Rationale.”
Once we are born into a human family, we cannot be unborn and removed from that family.
More than that, believers in the Church-age are born into the royal family of God. Whether you succeed or fail is not the issue in eternal security.
1Pe 1:4-5, “To obtain an inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled, that will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are guarded by the omnipotence of God through faith unto salvation,
Since all believers are members of the same family of God and cannot lose their family identity, they also have an heirship.
Gal 4:7, “Therefore, you are no longer a slave but a son, a child of God, and if a son, then an heir through God.”
Tit 3:7, “That being justified by His grace, we might be made heirs on the basis of the confidence of eternal life.”
Next is the Body Metaphor for Eternal Security. In the royal family of God, Jesus Christ is the head, and every believer is a member or part of His body. Jesus as the head is found in Eph 1:22, 4:15; Col 1:8. 2. In 1 Cor 12:21 are some analogies from this metaphor.
The eye is a more prominent part of the body, but the hand is just as needed as the eye.
The foot is the lowest of all parts of the body, yet Jesus Christ needs every part of His body.
The foot is another inconspicuous gift. The head is Jesus Christ, Col 1:18. To the most insignificant of believers, Jesus Christ cannot say, “I don’t need you.” That’s eternal security.
This is eternal security. Because at salvation, the justice of God gave you divine righteousness. The justice of God can never divorce itself from or deny divine righteousness.
Therefore, with divine righteousness in you and the justice of God at the other end of the grace pipeline, there’s no possible way you can ever get out of this eternal relationship with God.
The Essence of God Rationale.
Twelve Points to Consider:
- He was betrayed says LUK 22:48 Jesus said to Judas, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"
- He was taken captive: MAT 26:50 And Jesus said to him, "Friend, do what you have come for." Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized Him.
- Next, He was deserted: MAT 26:56 "But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled." Then all the disciples left Him and fled.
- He was falsely accused by those in the crowd: Mat 26:60; many false witnesses came forward and lied about Him.
- He was spat upon and beat up: MAT 26:67 Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him.
- Some even slapped Him, saying ‘Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?” (Mat 26:67-68).
- He was falsely accused by those in authority: MAT 27:12 And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He made no answer.
- He was also rejected: Mat 27:21-22 “The governor again said to them, ‘Which of the two d you want me to release for you?’ And they said, ‘Barabbas.’
- He was scourged: “Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified” (Mat 27:26).
- He was mocked: MAT 27:29-30, And after weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they kneeled down before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"
- He was ridiculed constantly; Mat 27:39-40.
- Finally, He died: “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit” (Mat 27:50).