Josh Smith - Class 2: The Grace Paradigm

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   We finally made it. Okay, so we're going to really begin our studies proper today and start to delve into grace. And in particular this morning, what I've called the framework for grace, which is basically a simple understanding of grace. So my objective is that you'll leave here going, well, this is really basic. And that's the whole idea of what today is all about.

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   Essentially, I'm going to propose that rather than just one single grace, if you like, that there is actually... I failed at my first attempt to go instructions on this. No, I'm not there.

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   I'll just see if this catches up. Can you tap there? Yeah. There we go. Good. Right. What I'm proposing is that there is actually three stages. You can call them whatever you like. Three different graces, three stages, three parts where they're going to be described as three rooms. But there is three stages of grace.

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   And part of the confusion, I believe, around the topic is that everything gets lumped into one big grace, if you like, and there's no distinction made. But I believe, and we'll be able to show pretty easily this morning, that actually the Bible is very clear on these distinct stages. So the first of those is the manifold grace of God.

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   We're going to explain these all as we go, so don't panic just yet if you're not keeping up. And then the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And thirdly, the exceeding riches of His grace. So those are the three stages of grace which we're going to explore this morning. Right. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ only really talks about and teaches using the word grace on two occasions.

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   And on both of those occasions, they are really, really significant. So we're going to look at the first one now and the second one in our study tomorrow night, if I will. So I want you to take really particular close attention now as we turn to Luke chapter 6. So only two times Christ teaches us about the word grace.

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   And they're really significant. Okay. You'll be familiar with this teaching of Christ. It's one where he talks about that we need to love our enemies. And it's a commandment of Christ that we understand. But you'll see that this whole idea actually forms the basis of our understanding of what grace is about. So verse 27 of Luke 6.

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   Christ says, So here's our very simple understanding of undeserved kindness, isn't it? So don't just repay good for good. Don't just love your friends. Love your enemies. It's a really nice, succinct teaching of this idea of undeserved kindness. To love your enemies. Verse 32. For if ye love them which love you, what grace have you?

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   That's how, I mean the AV says what thank have ye. But it's the Greek word for grace. What grace have you? If you're just loving them which love you, what grace have ye? For sinners also love those that love them. And if you do good to them which do good to you, what grace have ye?

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    That's not grace, he's saying. For sinners also do even the same. And if you lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what grace have ye? For sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much again. Pretty simple so far. Is everyone on board with that? Yeah. Yeah? Just nod. Okay. Now here's the key part in what it tells us about God.

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    Verse 35. But love your enemies and do good and lend, hoping for nothing again. And your reward shall be great. And ye shall be the children of the highest. If you act in this way, if you show this grace, you'll be called the children of the highest. Why? Well, see what it says.

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    For he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Verse 36. Be ye therefore merciful. And the key little word in this verse is, as. As your Father also is merciful. Because the way he is merciful is he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil. And if you act like that, if you show that same kind of love and kindness, well that makes you, well the children of the highest.

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    Because that's what God, your Father, is like. That's how he acts. So this establishes something here, doesn't it? That God, God's kindness is not limited to those who are thankful or to the good. That's the opposite to that. His kindness is extended to the evil and to the unthankful. Let's just come back now to Matthew chapter 5, which is sort of like a parallel record of this teaching.

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    Once again, familiar ideas. So Matthew 5, 38. You've heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth. That's an exchange, isn't it? Kindness for kindness, so to speak. But I say unto you, you know, resist not evil. If anyone smites you on the right cheek, offer the other also.

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    We've got the coat in verse 40. Whoever compels you to go a mile in verse 41, go with him too. So the same teaching here from Christ. Give to him that asks of thee, from him that would borrow thee, turn not away. In verse 43. You've heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy.

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    But I say, love your enemy. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. And pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Why?

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    So that ye may be the children of your father. This is what makes you children of your father. Which is in heaven. For, it says, middle of verse 45. And he quotes now from Job. For, he makes the sun to rise on the evil and on the good. And he sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

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    For, if you love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same. Be ye therefore perfect, he finishes in verse 48. Even as your father which is in heaven is perfect. So here we've got this teaching from Christ. And it's telling us about what God's kindness is like.

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    So you've got someone who hates God. Despises him. Says all sorts of things against God. And God still shows kindness to that person. He's the God that sends rain on the just and on the unjust. To the evil and the good. And so it's telling us something about grace. So this first grace, which we're talking about, is what we call the manifold grace of God.

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    So this is God's grace, God's kindness, which seems to go out into all the world as if there was no condition on it. Right? So let's just see if I can get this to work. And what we're going to do here is I'm now going to ask you a few questions. And see if you can answer to me.

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    What are some of the things, rather than me just, we'll summarise this shortly. And I'm conscious of time so you'll have to be quick. Alright? I need more time for me to speak. So, on the left hand side we've got the manifold, which just means many and varied. Right? Just all different types.

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    What are some of the many and varied graces which God gives or God is kind to anybody in the world? What are those things?

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    Sunshine. Is that working? Yeah. Rain. Food. Clean water. Sorry about it. Life. Let's attempt to write scenery really quickly. Each other. Sorry? Each other. Hope. Peace. hope what do you mean by hope hope of the kingdom to come that's right hope of the kingdom to come so in what way does God offer hope Jesus yep so there's an offer of hope is that what we're saying there's an offer of hope through the sacrifice of Christ for all mankind is that available to everybody absolutely so there's an offer of hope sorry so forgiveness forgiveness is interesting so in what way does God in what way does God offer forgiveness for everybody in the world okay yep so in the way that you're talking about there I would suggest that we're going to see that that is part of a second stage of grace because because what you described to me then was something that had some sort of condition on it didn't it would that be fair in saying that I can't see who you talked actually yep would that be fair so we'll talk about that in a sense if you're interested there is perhaps an idea where there is a form of forgiveness or you might say forbearance that God has with everybody across the world in that he has a forgiving character but we've got to be careful if we're talking about like forgiveness as in constituted righteous as being in Christ okay well that's that's quite good so is everyone happy with that there's one that's missing off there his word yep thank you knew I could rely on you Luke okay

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    so let's just make sure we've got these yeah very good so a little summary of what we've seen so his God is kind to the unthankful the wicked and the unjust in a couple of places in Acts it clearly says that God's word freely given to all in fact he calls it the word of his grace we know Christ's sacrifice and the offer of hope and salvation has been extended to all mankind he by the grace of God should taste death for every man so there's this this grace that's gone out in seeking a response it's seeking people to acknowledge the love that God has has shown to us and he's and he's seeking that response um where I get the manifold grace of God is from 1st Peter 4 verse 10 and I'll just if we can just turn to that right now please the phrase that is so 1st Peter 4 in verse 10 or from verse 9 it says use hospitality one to another without grudging so here's the context it's hospitality providing shelter and food and provision and welcome into each other's homes for verse 10 as every man hath received the gift even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God and it's simply saying if God has given us everything that we have our houses our clothes our food and our shelter well we should then be ministers of that grace that gift and we should become these ministers of these many and varied graces of God to one another and to everybody as God does and so here's where we get

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    this idea but you can see it's around our needs now the needs of our needs that we have every day and one last one to add to that which is an interesting one just to reinforce this is that Paul when he took around that collection remember he took up that collection we call the Jerusalem Paul Fund that he was taking back to all the widows and the orphans in Jerusalem he simply just called it this grace instead of like calling it the bag do you call it the bag we'll hand the bag around is that what you say yeah it was like I'm going to hand the grace around that's literally what he said I'll hand the grace around put in and as he packaged it all up in the end it was probably quite a lot he talked about carrying this grace around because it was simply a gift from people from ecclesias that he visited to provide for people's need back in Jerusalem and there was no strings attached there was nothing that was deserved it was simply just a gift so here's the manifold grace of God now of course you can see clearly can't you amongst a couple of those verses that Paul wasn't carrying around in the bags salvation in Jesus Christ he wasn't carrying around the atonement forgiveness in his suitcase was he so you can see that just because the word grace is used it doesn't necessarily mean the same thing each time and this is why we need to consider it carefully and I think seeing these three stages of grace will help us really simply be able to

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    identify what he's talking about by looking at the context okay let's move on to the second stage of grace which is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and let's turn to John chapter 1 which was our reading we know John chapter 1 is introducing us to the word made flesh it's talking about Christ it says in verse 14 that the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth and verse 16 says and of his fullness have all we received and grace for grace this is a very interesting phrase the the ESV says grace upon grace or waymouth and young's literal translations say grace over against grace so there's this idea here with with Christ coming as you imagine that we've got the manifold grace of God we know what that is and let's just imagine it's a box here in my hand and I place this box down right down here and place that box down and then it says and grace was added to grace over against grace and so it's like grabbing another box of grace and putting it now down beside this one and further grace has now been given grace was added to grace Vincent Word stated I'm not sure if you are familiar with him but he says that new grace was imparted now as the measure of grace has been received and improved there's this additional grace you might start to call manifold grace ordinary grace and now this is abundant grace and this is grace that's going

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    to belong to someone it's going to be a particular grace this is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ it's his grace it belongs to him let's just look at a few of these passages 1st Peter chapter 1 1st Peter 1 verse 9 you see the context is important the context is about salvation for your souls verse 9 the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls so we're talking about salvation verse 10 of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you well hang surely God's been gracious since the beginning of time what is this grace now that's coming unto them well it explains it in verse 11 it says searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ was in them when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow so here they searched what was this grace that was coming what did they find well it was the sufferings of Jesus Christ Christ crucified and resurrected this was salvation that would appear to them so it's a particular grace the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ which has been added to manifold grace come across to Titus in chapter two just a very simple little verse here but look at the ownership of this grace to Christ which is what's important Titus two and verse eleven for the grace of God not just the many and varied grace for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men who's it talking about who's it talking about in this verse who's the

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    grace of God that appeared to all men Christ yeah it's talking about a person so this grace belongs to Christ the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and so that's why this phrase the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ occurs numerous times in the New Testament to identify which grace it's talking about salvation in Christ Jesus and finally just one more in Galatians chapter one Galatians 1 and verse 6 I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel the grace of Christ not just the many and varied graces but the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ so this particular grace the grace that appeared to men was the grace that was added to grace we won't go through these but just on the screen you'll see the New Testament has this idea of now abounding grace and actually super abounding grace which we'll see as well but it is cementing this idea that now grace has now increased with the salvation that we have in Christ Jesus and of course for those who are baptized this is the grace that we have received this with further grace has been added as we now have salvation in Jesus Christ so let's then just come back to to our chart and I'll just pick your brains again if you wouldn't mind so what are some of the things which are available if you like or consist of the grace that we have in our Lord Jesus Christ fellowship excellent sorry friendship so it's a

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    relationship isn't it yeah so anyway we'll talk about afterwards any others excellent yeah as available through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ you think oh okay that part of what he did yep I mean that's interesting because that's what Christ did when he came but I think I would probably put healing in manifold grace of God as in sometimes he invoked some sort of response but it was more to get people to respond to his love sorry not everyone who he healed had faith that he could do it either just occasionally he wants to get the attention of the crowd so he goes and he as we're going to see this is sort of like trying to gain a response and so that might have been done for a particular reason to get someone to respond to his love and grace yes sorry freedom freedom yep can you elaborate on that yep yep so we can say his victory would you call it that yeah we've got hope in the first one is there hope in the second we sort of talked about it but what is it yeah of what yeah you get access to his promises the satisfaction that he understands our nature and yeah excellent okay that's good um quite a lot more than what i expected from the english actually okay on to our third and final stage of grace the exceeding riches of his grace um and we might just go through them here so just come back we were already in first peter just come back there to first peter chapter one because it distinguishes these two graces

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    really simply so we've already seen uh the grace of our lord jesus christ which appeared as being salvation and we saw that in verse remember we read verse 10 and 11 if you come over to verse 13 so first peter one now in verse 13 it says wherefore gird up your loins of your mind and be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of jesus christ when how clear is that here's a grace that's only going to be brought when christ returns that's the grace that's given at the revelation of jesus christ as opposed to the salvation that we'd already received in verse 10 and 11 which was the sufferings of christ and the glory that should that would follow but he is bringing further grace so you can see i've got two boxes of grace here and a further box of grace placed there for those who have responded at when he returns there's a beautiful picture isn't it that it shows just how willing and how God wants to be kind he's looking to show grace to those who appreciate what has been done and come to oh i missed out a couple of things in the previous one never mind come to ephesians chapter 1 we'll just pick up on that now so just for context of the grace of our lord jesus christ grace stage two i was meant to show you ephesians chapter 1 and verse let's read from verse 6 so ephesians 1 and verse 6 to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath

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    made us accepted in the beloved in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to it says the riches of his grace so it's another little phrase there and we've already listed some of those things out in our chart but the riches of his grace this isn't just grace now the grace of our lord jesus christ it's the riches of his grace that was grace stage two now if you turn over to ephesians chapter 2 look at what he calls this grace stage three so that was the riches of his grace now ephesians 2 and verse 5 even when we were dead in sins hath made us alive together with christ actually if you've got an av margin it says by whose grace you've been saved so the grace of our lord jesus christ right the grace that belongs to christ and verse six and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in christ jesus that in the ages to come when's this happening well it's in the kingdom in the ages to come at christ's return he might show the exceeding riches of his grace this is not just grace not just riches of his grace this is exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through christ jesus isn't that amazing so we've got these three clear ideas three stages of grace the manifold grace of god the many and varied grace which go out to all the world and really there seems to be no condition on that then we've got the grace that is in jesus christ and the

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    exceeding riches of his grace so let's just very quickly because we are running out of time actually before we do that yes we've got a super abounding grace now so the idea of abounding grace and our super abounding grace there is one other thing which doesn't fit in on the surface to the three stages of grace and that is the holy spirit gifts and the apostolic ministry were called grace as well but i believe they are they fit here into stage three as being a taste of the heavenly gift so what people received as part of that ministry as part of that holy spirit spirit was like a little taste of the kingdom and you can talk to me about that afterwards if you like but there's all the verses in for those where it's called grace in those particular cases now if we just quickly whiz back to this and just this is going to be quick and basic but what are some of the things now which are in the exceeding riches of his grace immortality sorry you say free from sin thanks everlasting god manifestation excellent the attitudes sorry the attitudes oh the attitudes yeah yeah yeah so like a complete character i'll put that down as god manifestation sorry what was that one yep so all in all okay very good is everyone pretty clear with that it's a pretty basic so obviously god um he first provides this grace and what is he actually looking for when he gives say the manifold grace when his grace is going out into the world what's what's it doing what's he looking for

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    he's looking for a response exactly he's looking for a response a faithful response and what does he do when he receives a response he gives more grace and what does he do when he receives more faithful response to that grace gives even more grace how amazing is our god how amazing is that he is he is so kind that he is he is prepared to give all that grace to all the world to anyone who's ever lived seeking that response desperately hoping to lead people to repentance how incredible is that so so just a little chart so here's our grace stage one which we have seen grace stage two we have grace super abundant grace or grace you might call it the riches of his grace in stage two and then the exceeding riches of his grace or the many and varied grace the grace of our lord jesus christ and grace brought to you at the revelation of jesus christ okay so you can you can really do that any any number of different ways we can call them stages we can put them into charts we can do whatever we want um don't you don't have to turn there but in first peter chapter five um i'll just read it for you if you like it says that that actually this is the true grace wherein we stand so the description of grace in that in that verse there is that you're standing in a place you're standing in a place and again in uh i picked this up again in romans chapter five um um and verse two it says by whom

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    also we have we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of god and it says that the lord jesus christ is like the access it's it's like the door so it's it's just describing a room right we're standing in a room if you're if you're baptized you're standing in well what room would it be it would be well it's the second room it's the grace of our lord jesus christ room and so if i was to to to draw these rooms is that working i might draw them like this i could draw three rooms does anyone see what that is because in the first room in the outer court you have the sacrifice of christ the altar and the laver access to the word you could stand through the doors and see the sacrifice on the brazen altar but if you wanted fellowship if you wanted fellowship with bread and with daily ministration with prayer where would you go into which room you'd go into the holy place and you'd have fellowship the grace of our lord jesus christ and what room is a symbol of immortality of the grace that is to come the most holy and so here we have the three stages of grace shown in the tabernacle just beautifully because it's showing a process i mean the study of grace is not outside the salvation that we already know in christ and this is the thing sometimes we think that we're coming to this topic and well i don't know if you should mention the word grace too much it's going down

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    that line it's not like that at all it's exactly as we understand it god is taking us through this process this this three stage process if you like from repentance through to making us perfect and that's his goal he wants us in the kingdom and so he's taking us through these three stages of grace so here's our here's our tabernacle now the manifold grace of god the grace of our lord jesus christ and exceeding riches of his grace and at each stage he seeks a faithful response his grace has gone out to you and to me so that we would see it and respond to it and at each stage yes he's seeking a response but he's also seeking something to change within us as part of this process he's changing us from what we are now like the earth was without form and void and turned into something spectacular and beautiful as he takes us through this same process so what's changing i mean what changes in third stage of grace what's the change that's made in the end when christ returns what change is made to us nature yeah it's a it's well here's it sorry here's so here's god's plan with us and the change it's a physical challenge isn't it as he he changes our mind and our nature and our bodies into incorruptible bodies and what response and what change is he looking from the manifold grace of god then at the very first what change is he looking for well i would say it's a mental change he's calling men all everywhere to repent and repentance is just going from

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    saying i think what i'm doing is right to saying well i think what i was doing is wrong and i want to follow god's ways god's way is right and me just left my own devices is actually wrong so he's asking people to repent and for those in christ what change is he eliciting from us with his love it's a moral change now as he asks us to to do away from all that to be free from sin you're no longer servants of sin you're servants of righteousness now we're called to live a life in christ to display those characteristics and so this three-stage process that he is taking us through a mental moral and physical change to present us perfect what an amazing god we have and so just a couple of things how are we going for time you don't know okay so so would like five minutes be okay excellent okay because i think it's really helpful if we just see this now in in real life so to speak let's just come back to genesis chapter two and genesis chapter three and see see god work out this this process from the very beginning and i think having seen this now having seen these three stages of grace you can see it everywhere and i i'm constantly finding this in in different ways all the time but i mean when if it was true we'd see it right here at the beginning and it is true so genesis chapter two we've got here we've got adam and eve made in the garden god gives them a law of course we know they

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    they disobey the law they take of the fruit of the tree that they weren't allowed to eat and now there's a problem isn't there because now there's they're hiding they're shameful of what they've done so how is god going to respond now we know what god's purpose is with all people that he might lead them to repentance and take them into changed people and present them perfect so how is he going to do that to adam and eve we've come to chapter three what's the situation that we find adam in well verse nine says that the lord god called unto adam and said unto him where art thou and he said i heard thy voice in the garden and i was afraid because i was naked and i hid myself and he said who told thee that thou was naked hast thou eaten of the tree whereof i commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat and the man said the woman whom thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the tree and i did eat so here's the situation here's here's adam and what doesn't adam say what are the words that god is wanting adam to say at this point it's already too late you can't go back on what's been done but what does he want adam to say any parents in the room sorry to apologize that's it i'm sorry that's that's a state of repentance isn't it so you can make that whatever you know there's i could make a lot out of the fact that he's also in denial and he's blaming others you know he's blaming his

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    wife well you you gave it to me god and i i just you know um but whatever it is he's not in a state of repentance is he far from it just blame and denial so he goes through what does he then do what does god do well he gives the curse doesn't he in the curse but we know very well that contained within it genesis 3 15 what is contained within this what is contained within this curse yeah sorry yeah the son yeah it's a promise it's hope isn't it it's an offer of hope and what is he asking what is he seeking from adam giving him an offer of hope he's seeking that change this mental change from denial to repentance well let's just see if we can see that it might be a little bit subtle but let's just look here here we have the offer of hope it's the sacrifice of christ it's been been offered to adam and eve here and immediately well let's just finish off the curse verse verse 18 thorns also and and thistles shall it bring forth to thee thou shalt eat the herb of the field in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till they return unto the ground for out of it was thou taken for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return so the curse is finished verse 20 and adam called his wife's name eve because she was the mother of all living there's his change in mental attitude right there he's gone from no the woman gave it to me and i did eat no change in

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    attitude whatsoever what is it why is that little verse put there because adam recognized that this offer of salvation would come through his wife so he called her the mother of all living this would be the means by which they had hope so he responds he responds to the grace that god had shown them how does god then respond to adam's response what do you think he does provides a covering exactly see that unto adam also unto his wife to go and god make coats of skin and clothes them god couldn't have done that with adam in the state of mind that he was in he wasn't repentant he wasn't grasping hold of salvation but now he was now with his changed mindset he was and then god could heap further grace upon them and now they're back in fellowship with god he's he's created coats of skin and clothes them so here we see this these stages of grace worked out in people's lives and you'll see them all through scripture as you'll see them in your own life as well so a couple of things to conclude we ask the question is god's love unconditional now i want to be first of all say that this phrase doesn't occur in scripture so it might be a silly thing to be discussing but i think it helps just clarify our mind to to grace in this particular time so what are your thoughts it's it's conditional all of it some of it's conditional but he did he sends grace to everyone but they now give more grace to you if you respond to it

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    very good could everybody hear that roughly so is there a sense so where would where would we say that there is an element of unconditional love in grace stage one does everyone think that that's right so there is an element of conditional unconditional love in grace stage one what about grace stage two and three i mean there is a there's more conditions but there is conditions isn't there i mean that's clear so in terms of say something like philip yancey's book the problem with philip yancey's book is he doesn't distinguish between receiving rain and food or immortality and eternal life in the kingdom or redemption in jesus christ or forgiveness there is no distinction whatsoever and do you see how important that is do you see how by just just using the word grace and just applying this multitude of things to it is so dangerous because in some sense some of what philip yancey says is absolutely true if you clarify exactly what he means but in another sense he's just so far from the truth and we need to be clear on that so there's just one thing you are right there is an element of unconditional love in grace stage one i just want to add just this one thing which comes back to our first study what is the purpose of grace sorry that we need it yes but it's more than that what is like what is god's purpose with grace yeah his glory that's right it's for his purpose is it for his own purpose to achieve something to to to cause people from repentance and to take them through to be

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    or perfect manifestations of himself so will that go on forever or will it one day be fulfilled because there's this and it's actually happened before where god doesn't send the rain he doesn't he doesn't give his if you like his kindness to those who don't deserve it this is in the time of the kingdom it shall be that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto jerusalem to worship the king the lord of hosts even upon them shall be no rain and if the family of egypt go not up and come not that have no rain there shall be the plague where with yahweh will smite the heathen but come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles because at the end of the day god has a purpose to be fulfilled and when every last person has repentance has been caused and has been perfected he will no longer show this kindness to the undeserved so i say his grace is conditional it's conditional on his purpose and when that purpose is fulfilled he will not go on for eternity showing this kindness to those who hate him and despise him so just to conclude god is gracious to all we've established that but salvation is not universal it is given to those who faithfully respond to him to his grace and salvation in christ is conditional on our faithful response as is our acceptance into the kingdom to receive the exceeding riches of his grace okay i think that's all for now thanks very much and we'll carry on tomorrow thank you