Great Bible Doctrines
Lesson No. 6: God’s Grace and the Atonement
Date: June 12, 2002, Wednesday Evening Adult Bible Class
Speaker: John Phillis
Tonight we want to look at what the Bible has to say in the way
of teaching and the instruction concerning God’s Grace and
Atonement.
The Bible teaches that God planned from the beginning to save
mankind from their lost and sinful condition through His Son, Jesus
Christ. The very first shadowy indication of God’s desire and
plan to do this is seen in Genesis, Chapter 3, verses 14 and
15. Just after the fall of man, after the first sin had
been committed, and God approached the man and the woman, He
pronounced judgment upon the serpent: Genesis, chapter 3,
beginning with verse 14, “So the LORD God said to the
serpent: ‘Because you have done this, You are cursed more
than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your
belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your
life. And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And
between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you
shall bruise His heel.’”
If you are reading from another translation, some versions do
not capitalize the pronouns. The New King James Version is
one that does. You’ll notice there in verse 15, it
speaks about “between your seed and her Seed,” and that
second “Seed” is capitalized. That is because it’s
referring to Jesus Christ. Then in the last part, “He
(capitalized) shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise
His (capitalized) heel.” Once again, this is a
reference to God’s plan of salvation. This pronouncement is a
little bit shadowy and there is not much detail, but here is the
first indication that we have that God already had a plan.
The shadows are removed entirely in the New Testament.
Specifically, we could look at Ephesians, chapter 3, beginning
with verse 8. Paul writes and says, “To me, who am
less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I
should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which
from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God Who created
all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the
manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the
principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the
eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our
Lord, in Whom we have boldness and access with confidence through
faith in Him.”
Here Paul speaks about that “eternal purpose.” What
was that eternal purpose? Well, it was God’s plan of
redemption—God’s plan of reconciliation. This
plan was according to God’s Own purpose, His Own
design, and by His grace. 2 Timothy, chapter 1,
beginning with verse 8 says, “Therefore do not be ashamed of
the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with
me in the sufferings for the Gospel according to the power of God,
Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to His Own purpose and grace
which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,”
(there’s a reference to that “eternal plan” again) “but has now
been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, Who has
abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through
the Gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a
teacher of the Gentiles.”
So we see God’s purpose and His grace.
Now we want to mention something about
atonement. That is what this lesson has to do
with: God’s grace and the
atonement. The atonement is the means
that God uses to bring about salvation. So we have God’s
grace, according to His divine plan and according to His
purpose, and then we have the atonement, by which He brought
this about.
Let’s first look at THE GRACE OF GOD.
God saves us todayby His grace through
faithful obedience in Jesus Christ.
Ephesians, chapter 2, beginning with verse 4, is a familiar
text for us: “But God, Who is rich in mercy, because of
His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you
have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit
together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages
to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in
His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For bygrace
you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it
is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
In the English New Testament, the word “grace” is
translated from the Greek word “charis.” This word
occurs 170 times in the New Testament. According to Nelson’s
Bible Dictionary, it means, “Favor or kindness shown without regard
to the worth or merit of the one who received it, in spite of what
that person deserves.” That’s a pretty good definition of
grace, isn’t it? This is the kind of grace that we are
talking about here. We sometimes frequently hear this
definition: “God’s unmerited favor.” Well,
that’s a good definition, too.
Thus, if we look at this definition and understand what grace
is, we see that God’s grace is totally from within
Himself, and His grace is not dependent upon what man does or
how man responds to that grace. Let me make sure that you
don’t misunderstand here. There is a response that is
required, and we’ll talk about that a little bit later, but as we
think about God’s grace as a whole, it is there regardless of what
my response is. Now if I am to avail myself of God’s
grace, then I need to be obedient. But God’s grace, as an
entity—as a whole—is there regardless of whether I accept it or
respond to it. Salvation is available to all. And the
fact that He has made this grace available—that He extends this
grace to mankind—shows His deep concern for a
relationship with Him, a relationship that we can have to
Him, and that He can have to us.
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