What Is Grace?
Posted by | Posted in Chuck Smith | Posted on 08-08-2009
Weekends with Pastor Chuck
Each weekend the CCRussell blog brings you an excerpt from one of Pastor Chuck Smith’s many books. Pastor Chuck is the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. This weekend’s excerpt is from chapter one of Why Grace Changes Everything.
The root meaning of the word grace is “beauty.” In the New Testament, grace means “God’s unmerited favor.” Grace is God giving to me something that I cannot obtain on my own. Grace is being accepted by God even though I do not deserve it, even though I am not worthy of it.
The Bible teaches that I receive grace on the basis of my belief and trust in God. Hebrews 11:6 declares that without faith it is impossible to please God. We are forgiven by a holy God simply by believing in Jesus Christ and in His death on our behalf. When we place our trust in Him, our slate is wiped clean.
It is not possible for us to be forgiven by complying with any law or religious system. It was necessary that Christ go to the cross in order that He might establish the basis whereby I can approach God.
When Jesus was praying in the garden, He said, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). He was saying, “If it is possible that men can be saved by any other means than My death – if they can be saved by being religious, by somehow gaining their own righteousness – then I do not want to go to the cross. Please don’t put Me through this horrible ordeal.” But it was not possible, and so He went to the cross, died, was buried, and rose again. His death made it possible for God to extend His grace to you and me.
Perhaps an illustration will help to make this clear. Imagine that you were charged with a crime. You are accused of trespassing on a neighbor’s property. As any defense attorney knows, there are two possible ways for you to be cleared of the charge. You may seek to prove that you didn’t trespass on his property, or you may seek to prove that you had every right to be there.
Now apply this logic to our spiritual situation. God has charged us with being sinners – for rebelling against His law and His will. He has charged us with unrighteousness.
How can we be justified from those charges? We can’t say that we are innocent, for we are guilty. All of us have sinned. Nor can we say that we had a right to do what we did because we had no such right. Our actions were clearly wrong. How, then, can the law be of value to us in our desire to be forgiven? The answer is, it can’t. The case is open and shut. We didn’t have a right to do it, we did it anyway, and thus we stand guilty.
From “Why Grace Changes Everything” by Pastor Chuck Smith.