In Romans 10, the Apostle Paul tells us, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? A few verses later he declares, so faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Welcome to Proclaiming Christ. Proclaiming Christ is brought to you by Providence Presbyterian Church, OPC. At Providence, we believe in the power of the Word of God. God says that His Word is what He uses to bring us to spiritual life and grow us up into His image. Providence is bringing you this message from God's Word with the confident hope that He will use it. If you would like more information about Providence, please visit us on the web at ProclaimingChrist.net. That's ProclaimingChrist.net. Or just Google Providence, Madison, Wisconsin. Proclaiming Christ can be heard Monday through Friday right here on WJWD. It's Sunday night. Skip the reruns and come to a Bible study. just north of Madison and DeForest, starting this April. For more information, proclaimingchrist.net Welcome to another edition of Proclaiming Christ. I am Pastor Mark Jenkins. I pastor Providence Presbyterian Church in Madison, Wisconsin. Providence is an OPC church, an Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and that simply means that we are a Bible-believing church that strives to preach the full greatness of God, the full wonder of His grace as it's been poured out upon us in Christ Jesus. Now, we've been going through a series on the greatness of God. We've been looking at a number of different things about God. We've been examining His attributes, the things that characterize Him, and we've been seeking to note how wonderfully great those attributes are. We've been seeking to really think about them in their full glory. Because we as humans, we have the sinful tendency of always playing down God's attributes. We play down how holy he is. We play down how just he is. We play down how amazing he is in all these different ways. We even play down his love. We even play down his goodness to us. Last week, or excuse me, last time on Proclaiming Christ Roundtable we were examining the love of God, seeking to get a better grip on how great God's love really is. And this time and next time on Proclaiming Christ Roundtable, I want us to think about God's grace. I want us to think about God's grace. And this follows from thinking about his love, of course, because whenever God shows love to sinners, whenever love is expressed to sinners, it manifests grace. sort of necessarily, by definition, whenever God shows love to sinners, it manifests grace. Grace is a part of that love. So I want us to think today about the grace of God. Now, we as believers, even, need to continually come to grips with what grace really means. Sometimes we think that a message of grace is only for unbelievers. That is not true. As believers, as those who have accepted the message of God's grace, we still need to continually be reminded of it and we need to continually come to grips with how amazing God's grace really is. We sing the song Amazing Grace, we love the song Amazing Grace, but I think we, because of our sin, have a tendency to take the amazing out of grace. we have a tendency, like with everything about God, to downplay how truly great it really is. And this is revealed, I think, in a very common definition of grace. Probably the most common definition of grace is that grace is unmerited favor. Grace is unmerited favor. Now, we need to think about that, because when it comes to God showing us grace, that definition is inadequate. Grace is not just unmerited favor. What that would look like, that would be like a stranger coming up to you and giving you money, even though you never did any work for this stranger, even though you never did any favors for this stranger, you never even knew him. But you're going about your daily business and this stranger comes up to you and gives you a bunch of money. Money that you did not earn. Money that you did not merit. But he gives you this favorable gift. That would be unmerited favor. But you see, that is very inadequate when we're thinking about God showing grace to us. When God shows us grace, it's more like a man comes up and gives us great wealth even though we just stole from that man, a man that we stole from, we broke into his house, we robbed him, that man turning around and giving us a great amount of wealth, that's more like the grace that God shows to us. We have stolen from him, but he nevertheless gives us not punishment but wealth. He gives us a bunch of money even though we just stole from him. I think we could up the ante regarding God's grace even more though and we could say that God showing us grace is like a man giving us a great amount of wealth even though we just stole from him and even though it cost that man the life of his child. even though it cost him the life of his child. Here's the definition of grace that I think best fits with what the Bible tells us about it. When we receive grace from God, we are receiving unconditional and abundant favor, even though we deserve hell, and even though it costs Christ his life. When we receive grace, we unconditionally receive the abundant opposite of what we deserve at the cost of Christ's life. Let me say that once again. God's grace to us can be defined as unconditional and abundant favor to those deserving hell at the cost of Christ's life. Unconditional and abundant favor to those deserving hell at the cost of Christ's life. Let's go through and unpack this definition and see that this really does come right out of the Bible. This is a putting together of what the Bible clearly and forthrightly declares about God's grace to us. Let's think first of all about the fact that God's grace to us is unconditional. It's unconditional. In other words, He does not require something from us first. He does not look at us and require us to give him something first before he shows us grace. He does not look at us and think, oh yeah, there's something about that person that makes me want to give them grace more than someone else. There's not anything in us that moves God to give us grace. It's unconditional. For example, this is expressed in 1 John chapter 4, verse 10. It reads, and this is love. not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Later on in verse 19 it says, we love because he first loved us. You see that's an expression of the fact that God's love is unconditional. It manifests itself in unconditional grace. And this is love, not that we love God. but that He loved us. He loved us, and He sent His Son before we ever loved Him. Before we ever loved Him. Romans 5, 6 through 8 expresses this same reality about the grace of God, that it is unconditional, that God does not require something from us first. Let me read Romans 5, verses 6 through 8. while we were still helpless. At the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man, someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Let me read verse six again. For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That means God poured out his love upon us when we were ungodly, when we didn't deserve anything but wrath. That's when God loved us. That's when God decided to love us. That's when Christ died for us. God pursued us in his love. He pursued us in his grace before there was anything favorable about us, before there was any response from us. That means that his grace is unconditional. His grace, though, is not only unconditional favor, it's unconditional and abundant favor. It's unconditional and abundant favor. In other words, it's not a bare minimum sort of gift. It's not a bare minimum gift. It's not like God just gives us bread and water. It's much, much more than that. We're going to take a quick break and then we'll be right back to talk more about this unconditional and abundant favor that is the true manifestation of God's grace. We'll get back to the message shortly, but first I'd like to remind you that Proclaiming Christ is brought to you by Providence, a Bible-believing, Christ-centered church here in the Madison area. I'd also like to invite you to a Bible study we've just started in DeForest. We're holding it on Sundays at 5 o'clock. Our theme is the greatness of God in salvation. Whether you are simply curious about the claims of Christianity or are a mature believer wanting to grow in your faith, we would love to have you join us. Again, it's held Sundays at 5 o'clock in DeForest. For more information, please visit our website proclaimingchrist.net. That's proclaimingchrist.net. We're back and we're talking about the grace of God today. The grace of God. We're trying to see how truly great and astounding God's grace really is. And we're working through a biblical definition of grace. I'm defining the grace of God as His unconditional and abundant favor to those deserving hell at the cost of Christ's life. unconditional and abundant favor to those deserving hell at the cost of Christ's life. We just looked at the fact that the Bible proves that his favor towards us is definitely unconditional, and now I want us to look at biblical proof for the fact that God's grace to us is not only unconditional, it's also abundant. His favor is poured out upon us abundantly. In other words, God is not just blessing us with sort of a bare minimum bread and water spirituality. He is not just barely bringing us to life and just barely pouring out His favor upon us. He is pouring it out in tremendous ways. Let me read for you a couple verses from the book of Ephesians that make this very clear. Ephesians 1.3 reads, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. how God has blessed us, not with some spiritual blessings, not with a lot of spiritual blessings even, but with every spiritual blessing. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now, every spiritual blessing means that we're not missing a thing. There is nothing that God could give us that he hasn't, in fact, given us. His favor to us is truly abundant. That's Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3. Let me read to you from Ephesians chapter 3, verse 20. Paul is glorying in God and His grace and he says, Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. Notice what he says there. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, God's favor that he pours out upon us exceeds not only what we've ever asked of him, it also exceeds our ability to even imagine. It exceeds our ability to comprehend. In other words, we could never ask of God more than he has already given us in Christ because we could never imagine more than what God has already given us in Christ Jesus. God's favor to us is both unconditional and abundant. Unconditional and abundant. Now let's note, that this unconditional and abundant favor isn't to those who are pretty good. You know, maybe we've not earned it. Maybe we haven't given something to God whereby we deserve some of this grace. But we need to remember that we not only haven't earned his favor, we have done the opposite. We have earned his wrath. God's grace to us is unconditional and abundant favor to those deserving hell at the cost of Christ's life. Unconditional and abundant favor to those deserving hell. Now that's a hard reality. It's a difficult thing to come to grips with. but it's biblical truth. It's the truth of what our sin deserves. Remember what Romans 6.23 says, For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We focus on the latter part and that's good, the free gift of God, but this free gift of God in Christ Jesus comes to those who deserve death. And that's not merely a reference to physical death, it's a reference to full death, to physical and spiritual death, to judgment and damnation. This is, this damnation, this judgment that we all deserve because of our sin is described in Matthew 25 Towards the end of the chapter there, the scene is the judgment seat of God and he's separating the sheep from the goats and he's telling the goats, he's telling those whom have not really accepted Christ, who have not really come into a true relationship with him, he tells them He says, Then he will also say to those on his left, Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. That's Matthew 25, 41. God will say, Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. That's the death. that sin deserves, a cursedness, being cursed by God, being thrown into eternal fire. So we can clearly say on the basis of Scripture that God gives his grace to people unconditionally and abundantly. He gives unconditional and abundant favor to those who deserve the very opposite of that. He gives it to those who deserve hell. That's how great His grace really is. But God's grace, its greatness goes beyond this even. Because God does not just give unconditional and abundant favor to those deserving hell. He gives unconditional and abundant favor to those deserving hell even though it cost Him the life of His Son. God gives us His infinite, eternal favor even though we deserve His infinite and eternal wrath. He gives that to us even though it cost Jesus Christ His very life. We note this is clearly taught, again, the verses we read earlier, 1 John 4, 10 and Romans 5. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. The manifestation of God's grace comes to us, it's revealed by the fact that it cost Christ his life. Christ became the propitiation for our sins, the payment by which God's wrath is satisfied, the payment whereby God's justice is satisfied. That's why Romans 5, 6 also says, for while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God's grace is unconditional and abundant favor to those deserving hell even though it cost Christ his life. And I want us, both in closing this week and then also next week, I want us to think about the cost of Christ's life. I want us to think about the value of Christ's life and then what that tells us about the wonder of God's grace. We're going to start on thinking about this right now, today, and then next time on Proclaiming Christ Roundtable, we're going to chew on it some more. But let's look at Scripture to see what it says about the cost of Christ's life. How valuable was the life of Christ? Well, it's easy to see when we read the Scriptures that Christ's life has infinite value. When God paid for our sins by the blood of his Son, he paid with something that had infinite value. Colossians 119 and 20 says this, For in him, in Christ, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross." Now note what it says there first in verse 19, for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. When Christ took on human nature, when he became a man, he did not in any way give up his divinity. He was fully God and fully man. He left his glory and became a man, but he did not leave his nature, his divine nature. His divine person was not, in other words, reduced in value. When Christ became man, it was the fullness of God that dwelled in man. It was the fullness of God that was joined also to a human nature so that in that one person was both fully God and fully man. But think about what that means regarding then the value of Christ's life. Because he was fully God, his life had infinite value because the fullness of God dwelled in the person of Christ when he laid down his life it was laying down the life of a person who had infinite value and those things are connected here in Colossians 1 19 and 20 for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross." Whose blood? The blood of the one in whom the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. That means the blood of Christ is a blood that has infinite value. It was a blood that had infinite value because we can truly say that it was the blood of God himself. Beloved, let us not minimize the greatness of God's grace. We need to recognize that God's grace is not merely unmerited favor. It's not merely undeserved favor. God's grace is unconditional and abundant favor to those deserving hell at the cost of Christ's life. That's how amazing God's grace truly is. Well, join us next time on Proclaiming Christ Roundtable as we continue to talk about the amazing infinite grace of God. And we're going to talk about it in connection with what it means in our salvation. How we're to view God laying down his life for us. We're going to chew on that some more, because this is a topic that none of us can outgrow. It's something that we continually need to come to grips with. I mean, after all, as believers, as those who love Jesus, we must say that His love for us, His grace that He's shown us, is at the very center of our lives. And remember, if you've got any questions about these things, if you've got any questions about anything that I've said, please feel free to drop me an email and ask me the question. You can write to me at questions at proclaimingchrist.net that's questions at proclaimingchrist.net and if you're interested in learning more and reading more about the grace of God I've got a great book recommendation for you it's called putting the amazing back into grace putting the amazing back into grace this book is by Michael Horton that's H-O-R-T-O-N Michael Horton putting the amazing back into grace. And you can find that online very easily. It's a book that's still currently in print. It's a fairly recent book. but it is timeless in the truth that it conveys and it's a really, a really great read either for those who are fairly new to the Christian faith or those who want to grow up more in their Christian faith. I can highly recommend that book. But again, if you have any questions at all about anything we've discussed here, we really, our desire is for you to grow up in your knowledge of the grace of God. So please feel free to shoot us an email, questions at proclaimingchrist.net. We hope you've benefited from this message from Proclaiming Christ, a ministry of Providence Presbyterian Church, OPC. For more information about Providence, please visit us on the web at proclaimingchrist.net. That's proclaimingchrist.net. Providence Presbyterian Church, OPC, ministering the grace of the gospel in all its fullness and in all its power. Proclaiming Christ can be heard Monday through Friday right here on WJWD. It's Sunday night. Skip the reruns and come to a Bible study just north of Madison and DeForest starting this April. For more information proclaimingchrist.net