{"id":5637,"date":"2020-03-08T08:10:07","date_gmt":"2020-03-08T08:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=5637"},"modified":"2020-03-08T08:10:07","modified_gmt":"2020-03-08T08:10:07","slug":"the-gospel-of-gods-grace%ef%bb%bf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=5637","title":{"rendered":"THE GOSPEL OF GOD\u2019S GRACE\ufeff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

THE GOSPEL OF GOD\u2019S GRACE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

by Don Fortner\u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHowever, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I<\/p>\n\n\n\n

may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has<\/p>\n\n\n\n

given me\u2013 the task of testifying to THE GOSPEL OF GOD\u2019S<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GRACE.\u201d Acts 20:24<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace is the solitary source from which the goodwill,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

love, and salvation of God flow to his chosen people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace is completely unmerited and unsought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is altogether unattracted by us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace cannot be bought, earned, or won by anything in us or done by us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it could, it would cease to be grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace is bestowed upon sinners without attraction,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

without condition, without qualification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When God\u2019s saving grace comes to a sinner, it comes as a<\/p>\n\n\n\n

matter of pure charity, unsought, unasked, and undesired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you search the Scriptures, you will find that there are five things<\/p>\n\n\n\n

which always characterize the grace of God. Whenever men speak contrary<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to these five things they deny the grace of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The grace of God is eternal (Rom. 8:28-30; 2 Tim. 1:9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. The grace of God is free (Rom. 3:24).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. The grace of God is sovereign (Rom. 9:16).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. The grace of God is distinguishing (1 Cor. 4:7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. The grace of God is in Christ, only in Christ (Eph. 1:3-14).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace is not something God offers to sinners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace is the operation of God in sinners, by which he<\/p>\n\n\n\n

effectually saves the objects of his everlasting love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gospel of God is the message of grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the self-righteous religionist, it is a stumbling block.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the learned, philosophical worldling, it is foolishness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because there is nothing in the gospel to gratify the pride of man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gospel of God declares that man can never be saved,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

but by the grace of God. It declares that apart from Christ,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the unspeakable gift of God\u2019s grace, there is no salvation,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and that the state of every human being is desperate, hopeless,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and irretrievable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gospel addresses men and women as depraved,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

guilty, condemned, perishing sinners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It puts us all upon one level-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gospel declares that the purest moralist is in the same<\/p>\n\n\n\n

condition as the vilest profligate, that the zealous religionist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

is no better than the most profane infidel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without Christ, without grace, all are lost!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gospel addresses every descendant of Adam as a fallen,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

polluted, hell-bent, hell-deserving sinner, utterly incapable<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of changing his ruined condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The grace of God in Christ is our only hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All men, by nature, stand before God\u2019s holy law as justly condemned<\/p>\n\n\n\n

felons, awaiting the execution of his wrath upon us (John 3:18,36;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rom.3:19).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our only hope is grace!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGrace is a provision for men who are\u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

so FALLEN that they cannot lift the ax of justice,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

so CORRUPT that they cannot change their own nature,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

so AVERSE TO GOD that they cannot turn to him,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

so BLIND that they cannot see him,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

so DEAF that they cannot hear him,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and so DEAD that God must himself open their graves<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and lift them into resurrection\u201d (George S. Bishop).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only hope any sinner has of salvation and eternal<\/p>\n\n\n\n

life is the grace of God freely bestowed upon sinners<\/p>\n\n\n\n

through Jesus Christ,the sinner\u2019s Substitute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only bestower of grace is God the Holy Spirit,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

who is called \u201cthe Spirit of grace\u201d (Zech. 12:10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is the One who applies the gospel to the hearts<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of chosen, redeemed sinners by his effectual, saving power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He QUICKENS God\u2019s elect while they are yet spiritually dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He CONQUERS the rebel\u2019s will, MELTS the hard heart,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OPENS the blind eye, and CLEANSES the soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He gives ears to hear, eyes to see, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a heart to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE GOSPEL OF GOD\u2019S GRACE by Don Fortner\u2013 \u201cHowever, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me\u2013 the task of testifying to THE GOSPEL OF GOD\u2019S GRACE.\u201d Acts 20:24 Grace is the solitary source from which the goodwill, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-don-fortner","category-grace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5637"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5638,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5637\/revisions\/5638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}