The grace of God is an immeasurable, indescribable gift given to undeserving men. Indeed that is the definition of grace – unmerited favor. Several of the members from Eastern Shore traveled to Foley, Alabama for their gospel meeting with Frank Chesser. Frank is a friend of Eastern Shore and as been with us here before. Frank spoke on one aspect of grace last night taking his text from Titus 2:11-12:
“For the grace of God has appeared bring salvation to all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:11-13 – ESV)
We all know that grace does or accomplishes many things. Grace, working through faith, saves (Ephesians 2:8) and thus brings man into the accepted presence of a holy God. It is grace through which God sees in me the righteousness of Jesus and not the horror of my sins. But on this occasion Frank made several key points about grace.
Among his points he noted that the grace of God teaches. Far from being a passive allowance for sin, grace is active and is seen through the teaching delivered in Scripture. When we read and study God’s word, we are receiving the benefits of his grace. And when we reject those teachings we are rejecting his grace.
Hebrews 10:26-29 is instructive on this point too.
“For ?if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:26-29)
The important question is whether one has “outraged the Spirit of grace” by rejecting his teachings. If the Spirit teaches, and he does (2 Peter 1:21) and if that teaching is a form of God’s grace, and it is (Titus 2:12), then it stands to reason that we ought to pay careful attention to what we have heard (Hebrews 2:1-4). To ignore the teaching of grace brings condemnation and certain death.
