Articles
God Is... (3)
God Is….”(3)
By Greg King
In coming to know God we seek to know His character and His heart. While our magnificent God is loving. Our God is also gracious.
The grace of God begins in the very nature of God. He is both a God of mercy and a God of justice, and these attributes are not contradictory. The justice of God demands payment for sin, and “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). But, before the foundation of the world, God planned to give us redemption in Christ Jesus. (2 Tim. 1:9-10) “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:”
Sending His Son to pay the price of sin on Calvary is a part of the “eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Eph. 3:11). He also made known His grace in the gift of the gospel or in the revelation of the plan of salvation. (Tit. 2:11) “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,”
Some believe that you are simply saved by grace but that belief alone will only cause one to be lost and not saved. It is true that by the grace of God we are saved but that’s not all! In order for us to obtain salvation, the scriptures speak of things we must do in order to receive salvation. We notice in Eph. 2:8 that we are saved by grace through faith. So, faith saves when faith obeys. It was by the grace of God that the walls of Jericho fell but not before Joshua and the people had enough faith to do what God told them to do (Joshua 6). (Heb. 11:30) “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.”
Man cannot save himself by his own works, but he must work according to God’s plan to be saved. Philippians 2:12 tells us that we must “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.” James 2:26 says, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Even though “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen. 6:8) it was by faith in God and obedience to God that saved Noah and his house (Heb. 11:7). Without Noah’s faith, obedience, and the grace of God, he and his house would have perished in the flood just like the rest of the inhabitants of the earth. This is just exactly the way God’s grace saves us today. Yes, we are saved by grace but in order for us to obtain His grace we must have faith in Him and be obedient to His commands. We must do our part.
