Grace, Faith, And Works

Grace, Faith, And Works

By Mark Mosher

God created the world in six days; on the seventh day, He rested from His work (Genesis 2:2). When God creates, it is perfect. Therefore, there is no more work to do. Yet, when man sinned, there was imperfection. Therefore, God went to work to bring man back to a state of perfection (II Timothy 3:16-17; II Corinthians 5:21). He did this by supplying us with grace (John 1:1-5, 14, 16-17). If one is to have true satisfaction in Christ, he must understand grace. If one thinks he must live a perfect life, he will never have any sense of assurance or hope because there are too many weaknesses and shortcomings. So, if there is something in the back of one's mind that says, "I can't make it," he does not understand grace. On the other hand, if one thinks that grace ignores sin (Romans 6:1), he is also mistaken about grace, for grace does not encourage sin. Therefore, to grasp the concept of grace, I must understand how grace handles my imperfections and at the same time, not encourage me to sin.

To understand this, I must realize that grace did not come in full until Christ came (John 1:16-17). Under the Old Testament system, grace was limited. One could not receive full pardon through the offering of animals (Hebrews10:4). However, God showed them how grace operated. God gave them the principle of how grace works through priesthood, sacrifice, and holy living. Grace would operate from year to year, yet on the day of atonement, there was sacrifice made for everyone, showing the insufficiency of the sacrifices for that year. Therefore, the blood of bulls and goats did not pay off the principal of sin, only the interest. Suppose I were to borrow $5,000 for twelve months. At the end of twelve months, I can't pay the principal, so I say I would like to pay the interest, renew the rate, and therefore enable me to go another year. This did those under the law of Moses year after year, waiting for Christ to liquidate the debt of sin.

Today, however we have access to the fullness of God's grace; therefore, we must understand how to appropriate that grace. God gave us the means by which we receive grace. Obtaining the grace of God is always a matter of reception and never of merit. And, obedience in no way takes away from the fullness that is in Christ. The faith that will save us is a faith that is not passive, but active. Faith then will express itself in repentance, confession, and baptism and in doing so receive, NOT EARN, what grace has provided.

Yet, in order for grace to be received, two elements are necessary: 1. There must be humility. "God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble" (I Peter 5:5); 2. There must be trust (Psalm 34:8; 35:5, etc.). For those who believe they were saved before they were baptized, how could they have put their trust in God (while obeying His command to be baptized) that God was forgiving them? It is not a matter of just being immersed but rather immersed for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38) and putting trust in God that God will forgive. How many countless souls are there who have been baptized but did not put their trust in God to forgive them? To do so would be pure legalism. God, however, requires that I humbly obey Him by doing what He said to do, in the way He said to do it, putting my trust in Him that He will forgive.