By Pastor John Culbertson

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God…” – EPHESIANS 2:8 (NKJV)

Whenever you study the grace of God, there’s “ditches” on both sides.  Some people say that it’s okay to sin because God is okay with everything.  Then you have other people who don’t want to talk about grace at all; they’re all about a person’s faith (so much so that it becomes works-based).  But there’s a balance of grace and faith that has to work together.

It’s great to receive no-strings-attached gifts.

The gift of grace is offered to everyone; God is no respecter of persons.  His grace is poured out continuously on everyone.  The same grace that is poured out on you is poured out on the people causing chaos and burning and murders.  But all those people are rejecting grace because they’re not receiving it with faith.

We are choosing to receive grace by faith.  We believe that what God said He was going to do, He did.  Others either haven’t heard that or they’ve rejected it for now.

There will come a day when everyone will see the truth.  Romans 14:11 says that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.  I used to think that would occur when Jesus returned because people would be in fear about it and forced to respond.  But the reality is that once all the lies and deceptions the enemy has used to cloud their understanding are removed – and people see Jesus for Who He really is – they will willingly bow to give Him what He deserves.

Thankfully, you don’t have to go through that deception to get to that point; just bow and give Him glory right now.  We don’t have to wait!  We don’t have to earn or work for it…we can get it now, by faith.  There’s nothing that I can do on my own that’s good enough; I accept what He has done, by grace.

“There’s nothing that I can do on my own that’s good enough; I accept what He has done, by grace.”

I love God for this!  I don’t have to do it on my own.  I love Him because I believe what He’s done for me is more than enough to overcome any situation.  His grace is sufficient.  It’s poured out on me so I can live free and not be bound.  So, let’s act like we’re free, like we’re citizens of Heaven where the freedom of the King reigns!

God’s love is relentless…you can’t get away from it.

If God didn’t give salvation by grace, our faith couldn’t make it happen.  Our faith can only appropriate (take hold of) what God has freely given to us by grace.

I want you to understand what grace really is.  The Bible has many definitions for the word “grace”, but in our key scripture, Ephesians 2:8, grace is the Greek word “charis”.  It means graciousness, acceptable, benefit and favor.  It’s a gift; it’s joy, liberality and pleasure.  It can be summarized in a couple of phrases:

Grace is the free and unmerited favor of God.  It’s free, unearned and unmerited.  You didn’t do anything to deserve it but it’s poured out on you.

Grace is God’s willingness to use all of His ability on your behalf.  I like to say “God’s eagerness.”  God’s arm is not being twisted to use His ability for us.  God is waiting for you to respond.  He gives you all that He has available, even when you don’t deserve it.

Over the years, we’ve talked a lot about grace, but it needs to be repeated and talked about until everyone comes to a full understanding about it.  The Greek word translated “saved” there is the word “sozo.”  It’s an all-encompassing word for “saved” or “salvation”.   By grace you are saved.

• You are forgiven of sins.
• You are healed.  So, the healing power you might need you’ve already received; it’s already been poured out to you and given.
• By grace you have been delivered.  What that implies is you’ve received deliverance from demonic oppression – depression, anxiety, anything that attacks your mind – and you’ve already been saved from it.  Good news!
• By grace you are made whole.  That’s beyond being healed; it’s restored as if nothing ever happened.  In Luke 17 there’s an account of 10 lepers; all 10 got healed, but one returned to Jesus to thank Him and Jesus said, “Your faith has made you whole (sozo).”
• By grace you are abundantly supplied and made prosperous.

You have access to everything that God has by grace!

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