THE FIVE FOLD GRACE OF GOD

I would like to be very brief. This is the summary of what I heard on the night of 26th January 2014 in my church, at the gospel meeting taken by the man of God.

The first grace is Saving Grace. We are saved by grace through faith. It is the gift of God. Read Eph 2.8. What is grace? It means ‘not of yourself’ – ‘not by your own wisdom or strength, not by any effort of yours, not by any supposed merit of qualification’. Grace means that we are undeserving; we don’t deserve it. Grace is the sheer bounty of God, His great goodness towards us. God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense – G.R.A.C.E. – as someone put it.

We are saved by the finished work of the Cross. Read Isaiah 53.5. He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him; and by His stripes we are healed. Look at that verse again. The first 3 clauses are in the past tense; it is finished. But the last clause is in the present tense. Salvation is available for you right now!

The second grace is Surpassing Grace. Not only are our past sins forgiven, they are forgotten. You know the New Covenant as reiterated in Heb 8.12 (earlier mentioned in Jer 31.34): “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” But we are not only pardoned and forgiven, not only are our sins forgotten (cast into the depths of the sea, as Micah put it); but we are justified! Yes, Rom 5.1 declares: “Justified by faith, we have peace with God…” What is justification? It is to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ. There is imputed righteousness (and there is imparted righteousness, of which I will not talk of here); it means that clothed in the garments of Christ, we have boldness to come before the throne of grace. We become bold in prayer and we become bold witnesses for Christ.

The third grace is Sovereign Grace. The Lord Jesus has seated us in the ‘heavenly places’. We are placed far above all; we are giving power and dominion; all things are under our feet. Read Eph 2.6. – God has made us to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We are giving the authority of Christ. Unfortunately, few of us know anything about commanding and binding in prayer! Have we learnt to use the authority of the Name of the Lord Jesus to rebuke the powers of darkness, to rebuke every hindrance of the enemy, even to rebuke fever and disease (often caused by the enemy). Here is a story about Fraser of China. During his first 5 years as a missionary in China not a single soul was saved. Then his eyes were opened by the Word of God, and he learnt what it is to pray with authority. He claimed 50 Chinese families to be saved by the end of the year, and lo and behold, 50 families were saved. Read Isa 45.11 where God says, “Command ye Me!”

The fourth grace is Sufficient Grace. Read 2 Cor 9.8. “God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that you, having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.” Notice the word ‘all’ in that verse. But notice also that this is linked with your giving. Give and it shall be given to you, Luke 6.38. I’m afraid so many of us have failed in this regard. Oh, the miracles that occured during the early years of this church – how when thousands came for the holy convocations, and the elders and responsible brothers felt that they had no provision to feed them, how God in a marvellous way supplied the needs of everyone who gathered for the annual convocations – and there was a surplus left over!

The fifth grace is Strengthening Grace. Read 2 Cor 12.9. “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Paul declared in the next verse, “When I am weak, then I am strong!” When God gives you responsibility in His house, He also gives you grace to fulfil the task given.

[The man of God was very brief in his message on the subject of the ‘five-fold grace of God’ and so he did not give many illustrations of the various aspects of God’s grace. ~JK]

TR