The Many Graces of God
By
Bishop Melvin Maughmer, Jr.
OPENING: - One of the most important doctrines of the Bible is the doctrine of the grace of God. Grace is clearly expressed in the promises of God revealed in the Bible and is fully embodied in Jesus Christ. Grace is the love of God shown to the unlovely, the peace of God given to the restless, the unmerited favor of God.
If you grew up going to church like me or have been around the church for many years, Grace is one of those words that you heard almost every Sunday. Although people hear about it all the time, many miss how God’s grace applies to their life.
So often we use the word grace just like the word blessed and have forgotten what grace truly means and just how beautiful and life changing Grace truly is. We often will get stuck on grace just being what we say before we eat or limit it to the definition of the unmerited favor of God.
My desire is to bring to some people’s remembrance the beauty of Grace, to enlighten others of the wonderful life grace supplies, and briefly scratch the surface of an infinite subject and that is the many Graces of God.
PRAYER: -
SCRIPTURE: - There are 127 verses in the Bible about Grace, to narrow it down to just one for this message is extremely hard. However, Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God”.
Now I stated there are 127 verses about Grace. 1+2+7=10. 10 is the number of Divine Order and Testimony. In Genesis 1, the phrase “God said” is mentioned 10 times, which is a testimony of His creative power. God gave the Ten Commandments to man. 10 therefore represents man's responsibility to keep the commandments. A tithe is a 10th of our earnings and is a testimony of our faith in the Lord. 1+2+7=10 therefore Grace is the Devine Order of God and the Testimony of God toward His people of how much He cares.
Biblical Definition of Grace.
The Greek word Charis (?????) is what is often translated as grace in the New Testament. This word brings a picture of kindness, showing favor, often with a focus on a benefit being given.
Grace is what God does because He’s gracious not because of any goodness on our behalf. Grace is a gift of God. Not because we deserve it or did enough good works, but instead because God is good. Grace is a result of the love of God. It’s the unmerited favor of God.
I like how Max Lucado said it. “Grace is God's best idea. His decision to ravage a people by love, to rescue passionately, and to restore justly - what rivals it? Of all his wondrous works, grace, in my estimation, is the magnum opus.” Regarded as the most important work.
The Many Graces of God.
The number 5 symbolizes God's grace, goodness and favor toward humans. The word “five” is recorded 345 times in Scripture. Since five represents grace, when it’s multiplied by itself, it produces 25 which is 'grace upon grace' John 1:16. The Ten Commandments contains two sets of 5 commandments. The first five commandments are related to our treatment and relationship with God with the remaining one concerned with our relationship with others.
There are 5 primary types of offerings God commanded Israel to bring to him. They are the Burnt Offering, Sin Offering, Trespass Offering, Grain Offering, and Peace Offering. John wrote 5 books centered on the grace of God and eternal life the gospel of John, 1John, 2John, 3John and Revelation.
I want to talk about 5 of the many Graces of God.
Loving Grace. This is Unmerited Favor, nothing on our part but all because God is Love. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life”.
Romans 5:8 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. Commendeth means to reward, to commit, or to entrust. God shows His Loving Grace commits His Grace and entrust us with His Grace while we were yet sinners, alienated from Him. This was not done because of anything we had done but because God is Love.
Ephesians 2:4-5 says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved”.
God’ Loving Grace regardless of our sins, our weaknesses, our insecurities, our past, our current, or our future mistakes, His Loving Grace has us covered and when we give all this stuff over to Him, He comes and delivers us, forgives us, and saves us. That is not based on any merit of us but solely upon His unmerited favor. That’s the Loving Grace of God.
