My grace is sufficient for thee: for
my strength is made perfect in weakness. (2 Cor 12:9)
I believe that there are many Christians today who confute faith for grace.
Without the Grace of God, there would be no faith – for faith is a gift of God’s
Grace. True belief and faith is a creation in our hearts by the Grace of God
and His Holy Spirit working to draw us near. Since grace is a free gift, the
disposition of the heart of man cannot act on its own to draw near to God – it
must first be drawn there by grace. For if through the offence of one many
be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one
man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. (Romans
5:15) The Tenth of
our Thirty Nine Articles of Religion of the Reformation Church of England bear
this biblical truth out in its doctrinal statement: The condition of Man after the fall of Adam is such, that he
cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to
faith, and calling upon God. Wherefore we have no power to do good works
pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing (preceding or drawing) us,
that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will.
The great Reformer, Martin Luther, made the grace of God the centerpiece of his
work – Bondage of the Will – as posited by the 8th & 9th verses of Chapter Two of Paul’s
letter to the Ephesians (and many other biblical references): For by grace
are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Eph 2:8-9) So you believe you did a good deed
in coming to the Lord? Without grace drawing you there, you could not have
approached.
The subject of Grace is one of the two profound aspects of the Holy Bible along
with the Law of God. Without God’s Moral Law there could be no grace for there
would be no sin. And, to the Arminians among us, what is sin but the
transgression of God’s Law. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. (1
John 3:4) To deny
that God’s Law is morally binding on the Christian is to deny the grace made
available by Christ in redeeming us by means of that very Law.
It would take more than Martin Luther’s great book to inform us of all of the
aspects of Grace, In fact, it would take sixty-six books that we have in the
Holy Bible. This devotion cannot cover but a tiny range in meaning of grace, so
we will confine our commentary on the sufficiency of grace to the Christian
only.
As a believer in Christ, you should know that the grace of God is always and
forever sufficient for you in every condition of life. It is, as well,
sufficient at the moment of the sleep of Death that separates the Elect from
the Heavenly Paradise of God. Death is an open door to the Elect, and prison
bars for the wicked.
How is grace sufficient for us?
1) When we are weak and life’s
challenges seem insurmountable, we have a Friend to whom we can appeal. In the
words of that lovely old hymn by the German hymn-writer, Edmund Lorenze, Are
you weary, are you heavy hearted? Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus. Are you
grieving over joys departed? Tell it to Jesus alone. Jesus will not always
remove the challenges, but He will make us able to overcome them. Hast
thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the
Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no
searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that
have no might he increaseth strength. (Isaiah
40:28-29)
2) Are we tossed about on a sea of
cares, lost and without a Star to guide us? We have that Bright & Morning
Star to set our course to. For the Son of man is
come to save that which was lost.
(Matt
18:11)
If we are lost, Christ has already sent a search for us.
3) Are you sickly and wasting away
in illness and misery? Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of
the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of
the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise
him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your
faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:14-16
(KJV) Having been drawn to Jesus by just a little knowledge of who He was, the
woman taken with an issue of blood was healed by the little spark of faith
granted to her by the grace of God. (see Matt
9:20)
4) Are you desperately poor? There
is no greater poverty than that of the soul. I
counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and
white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness
do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
(Rev
3:18) That gold
tried in the fire is the Word of God. Whoever buys the Word of God by means of
the faith granted by grace shall be rich indeed. Not only outwardly rich, but
inward so. Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and
understanding. (Prov 23:23) What is the receipt of our
purchase? It is a thorough and continuing study of the Word of God in His Holy
Book.
5) Are we blind to the Light of God’s
Word? anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou
mayest see. As we have said before, there are many walking about
today who are dead (Eph 2). There are also many who have eyes to see and ears
to hear but see and hear not. Having eyes, see
ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? (Mark
8:18) (see also Ps 115:5, 135:16, Matt 13:15) If God has planted that spark of faith in our hearts by
grace, our understanding will rise to the knowledge of what God’s Word means to
us, and our eyes will be opened as surely as those two on the road to Emmaus at
the breaking of the bread. (Matt 9:30)
6) Do we suffer an inordinate fear
over the troubles of life or of our loved ones? Remember Jairus whose little
daughter lay dying? And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the
synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet, And
besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I
pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall
live. (Mark 5:22-23) But, alas, it seems Jairus had
tarried too long in finding Jesus for as Jesus was speaking, there came from
the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead:
why troublest thou the Master any further? Mark 5:35 But may I kindly
remind the reader that it is never too late to seek the mercy and grace of
Jesus! The compassionate eyes of our Lord caught the desperate sorrow in the
eyes of Jairus. 36 As
soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the
synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe. Mark 5:36 (KJV) We all know the end of that story. The
tears of sorrow for Jairus may have been for one night, but joy came in the
morning when Jesus spoke to the twelve year old daughter of Jairus, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. (Mark
5:41)
7) Are you hungry? Our Lord Jesus
Christ can feed you with an abundance that exceeds your hunger: And Jesus
took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples,
and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as
much as they would. When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be
lost. (John 6:11-12) But from which appetite does
your hunger arise? From a hunger for things of the world, or of Heaven? He will
always provide for our wants (needs) in this life, but a greater provision will
He make for our blessings in glory.
8) So your heart is filled with
sorrow? He will come to you and turn your tears of sorrow to tears of joy just
as He did for Mary Magdalene at the Garden Tomb. (see
John 20) 1 Let
not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father's
house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare
a place for you.
3 And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that
where I am, there ye may be also. . . . . I will not
leave you comfortless: I will come to you. (John
14:1-3,18)
9) So the road ahead is marred by
the fog of doubt and perplexity? The Lord has equipped us with an amazing
array of faculties to guide the ship of our souls in every kind of storm, but
the greatest compass we can own is that of a good conscience, duly informed by
the Word of God. It is that still, small voice that came to Elijah by the
mountain rock. (1 Kings 19:12) Please remember that the great
stones and floods of life remain to the Christian as to the heathen, but we
have that Voice behind quietly whispering to us. And though the Lord give
you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy
teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy
teachers: And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the
way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the
left. (Isaiah 30:20-21)
We have discussed only a meager portion of the ways in which
God’s Grace is sufficient unto us. His grace is so very abundant and broad that
our ships can never traverse the fullness of that vast Sea of Grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ; but isn’t it a great joy to sail that Sea in faith?
