Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 1:2
Grace As Justification
To understand what grace is, imagine the Father saying this to you:
“All your sins from your past, present, and future are forgiven. No longer must you live like there is anything hindering my relationship with you. And even though you have done nothing to earn it, you are clothed in the matchless righteousness of my Son. You did not present to me any good works nor did I work in you anything good before giving you this righteousness—rather, even while you were still a sinner I gave you this righteousness. And now I see you as infinitely beautiful and pleasing to my eyes. There is no longer any enmity or ill will between us but we have become the closest of friends. You did nothing to deserve this and that means you can do nothing to lose this. I will always treat you this way! I have determined not to pour wrath upon you for your sins because it has been poured out on my Son. And believe me, He is totally sufficient to cover a multitude of even sinful lifetimes for you to be saved by grace alone. I don’t need ANYTHING from you but your sin. From now on, I will always look at you and treat you as if you did everything my Son did. I will delight in you, rejoice over you, and pour out blessings upon you. I will be your God, and you will be my people.”
Grace As Sanctification
The gospel is not only pardon but it is also power.
Romans 1:16 says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation…”
Do you want to see children converted, the poor served, missionaries sent out, unity amidst diversity, biblical worldview embraced, holiness in living, godly friendships, hearts richly restored, healing biblical counseling, youth discipled, college students equipped for life, finances increase, officers trained, leaders developed, biblical ethics promoted, marriages strengthened, repentance promoted, vulnerability shared?
You’ll get that when the gospel of grace is faithfully proclaimed. Why is that? Because when the gospel is proclaimed it causes us to see Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 2:1-5). The effect of this is that when we see Christ by faith then we will be “transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor. 3:18).
Why would we not want this grace? Why would we settle for proclaiming anything less?