We are now living the “dispensation of grace” which began after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, which will continue until His second advent. In his letter to Titus, the Apostle Paul wrote, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passion, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives” (Titus 2:11,12). A popular definition of grace is “God’s unmerited favor.” Someone has come up with the following acronym “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.” Grace is also explained as “the goodness and loving kindness of God, our Savior, appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy” (Titus 3:4,5).
A.W. Tozer explains grace this way,“Grace is the good pleasure of God that inclines Him to bestow benefits upon the undeserving. Its use to us sinful men is to save us and make us sit together in heavenly places to demonstrate to the ages the exceeding riches of God’s kindness to us to us in Christ Jesus.”—A.W. Tozer (1897-1963).
Since God is Sovereign, His grace must also be sovereign. Hence, we have the “sovereign grace of God,” which is a divine act by God, alone. When a person is saved, he is saved by sovereign grace – nothing to be added. The reason for man’s salvation is not in man, but in God. We are not saved as a result of anything that we have done but rather as a result of God’s good pleasure and the work of His grace in our hearts.
People are not drawn to God because of any merit on their part. The fact is that God’s sovereign grace comes to them and then they come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We are not chosen by God on the basis of our intellectual abilities, skills, wealth, generosity, education, or other human situations. There is absolutely no reason why the Sovereign God of heaven could be compelled to have mercy on us, had it not been for His grace.
In setting forth the total depravity of man, Paul wrote, “We ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us” (Titus 3:3-5). Consider that God saves us from the guilt and penalty of our sins, whether these sins are in the past, present, or future. The Scripture says, “all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). Christ is the manifestation of God’s grace.
One must therefore conclude that the prime reason why everyone needs grace is because of their sin. Without exception “all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory” (Romans 3:23). The Bible also states, “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20). As a result, all are under the sentence of eternal separation from God. Therefore, absolutely no one merits God’s grace. When God’s grace is accepted for salvation, it is not the result of anything good in that individual. Paul writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9).
Christians are mightily and wonderfully blest because of sovereign grace. Paul wrote to the christians at Rome, “Through [Christ] we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2). This means that our “standing in grace” is firm as a rock because grace never varies nor changes as long as life lasts. John Kent wrote: “Sovereign grace o’er sin abounding, Ransomed souls, the tidings swell; ’Tis a deep that knows no sounding, Who its breadth or length can tell? On its glories, Let my soul forever dwell” (John Kent 1766-1843). Sovereign Grace is far greater than man’s sin.
Wouldn’t you rather avail yourself of God’s grace by repenting of your sin and trusting Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and be heaven-bound?