How many worship services do you have to attend in order to be saved?
How many sick people do you need to feed in order to be saved?
How many people do you have to evangelize in order to be saved?
Just how many good works do you have to do in order to offset the scales of justice in order to deserve heaven?
It is not unusual for a faithful Christian, on his or her deathbed to make a statement: “I hope I’ve done enough.” You can’t do enough. Ever. That’s the message of grace.
One of our favorite songs is about the grace of God and that song will serve for the outline of our study this evening.
“Deeper than the ocean and wider than the sea…” Let’s listen to the voice of the Lord: Psalm 103:8-12; Micah 7:19).
“Is the grace of the Savior, for sinners like me…” Consider Peter: Mk 14:66–72.
“Sent from the Father and it thrills my soul…” Grace was “sent from the Father” in the person of Jesus Christ: John 1:17; Heb. 10:4; 9:15. The blood of Christ served for redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant.
“It thrills my soul, just to feel and to know that His blood makes me whole:” Eph. 2:8-9. There is no amount of good works that we can pile up on a spiritual scale to outweigh the sins we have committed against God. There’s only one thing that will counteract the impact of sin – that’s the blood of Christ. Salvation is a gift of God and God designed it that way so that no one may boast.
“Higher than the mountains and brighter than the sun…” Think of Saul of Tarsus blinded on the road to Damascus.
“That grace was offered at Calvary for everyone…” Now read Paul’s words: 1 Timothy 1:12-16.
Grace could reach King David – who committed murder and adultery. Grace could reach Simon Peter – who cursed and swore that he did not know Jesus. Grace could reach Saul of Tarsus – who imprisoned Christians and abused the church of Christ. Yes, “His grace reaches me.”
“Greatest of treasures and it’s mine today…” Paul says we have this treasure in our hands: 2 Corinthians 4:5-7; Colossians 2:3.
“Though my sins were as scarlet, He has washed them away.” You know the passage: Isaiah 1:18.
Think about this… the concept of “washing away sins” through blood in the OT joins the concepts of the laver in front of the tabernacle with the sacrifice of animals. Priests you remember had to wash their hands before they entered the tabernacle to perform their rituals. One of those rituals, of course, was offering animal sacrifices. The idea, then, that one could be “washed” by “blood” joins the alter of burnt offering and the laver into a single idea. I believe God did that in anticipation of the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit that occurs when one is baptized into Christ and enjoys His blood washing away their sins. That, of course, combines the words of Paul from Titus 3:5 with the only other passage that uses the word “washing:” Ephesians 5:26. Also, some manuscripts have that same word “washing” in Revelation 1:5 (NKJV): “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.”
THE CHORUS:
“His grace reaches me. Yes, His grace reaches me. And ’twill last through eternity. Now I’m under His control and I’m happy win my soul, just to know that His grace reaches me.”
God’s grace has potentially brought salvation to all men. But too many “judge themselves unworthy” of that grace, just like the Jews did with the preaching of Paul in Acts 13:45-46. We can judge ourselves unworthy of God’s grace by refusing to relinquish control of our hearts to Jesus Christ. You might say that’s why repentance is necessary. That’s the step in which we relinquish the control of our hearts to Christ. Then, we are ready to be saved by His grace through the blood of Christ.
There is no sin that God’s grace cannot reach. We need to come to Him in humility, with the heart of a slave.
Paul Holland