Sin Necessitates Grace

Grace is the fountain from which flows all that the sinner needs for his salvation. Stop it up and there is absolutely no hope at all for them. In fact, grace has to do with sin. Apart from the grace of God, the sinner has no place where to go to obtain the forgiveness of sin and the salvation of his soul. Why? Because we are specifically told by the Word of God that "by grace are (we) saved through faith; and that not of (ourselves): it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8); for it is "the grace of God that bringeth salvation" (Titus 2:11).

Now, what is grace; and of course, we mean, the grace of God? I would believe that generally all professing Christians would agree that grace means the "unmerited favor" of God; and I also would think that they would agree this means that God does us the "favor" of saving us from our sins even though we do not "merit" it. But we will see that as we continue studying this subject, that even though it is a simple truth of "the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24), yet it is a much more profound truth because it has to do with the eternal "God of all grace" (1 Peter 5:10), who would even consider to save the chiefest of sinners!

As I said, grace has to do with sin; and this is brought out very clearly in the doctrines of the Total Depravity and the Total Inability of Man. It is not that man is just simply a "sinner" that needs a little "push" from God to get started to move towards God for help; on the contrary, due to the spiritual deadness that he is in because of his "trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1), not only is he "totally unable" to do anything of his own, but is willing to die in his corruption; and what is worse, he loves it! That is what sin has done to ALL OF US, including you and I! There is no exception.

Therefore, that being our case because of sin, we can see why it necessitates the grace of God if we are to be saved, as Arthur Pink puts it, from the love of sin, from the penalty of sin, from the power of sin, and from the presence of sin (Fourfold Salvation), which is God's "so great salvation" (Hebrews 2:3).

Now, as God looks from heaven upon mankind, what does He see? Does He see persons that are holy and righteous that love Him so much that they seek Him with so such a fervent desire to be with Him? Or, does He see them actively involve in doing good to one another in order to bring Him glory in all that they do? What does the Word of God say? I tell you what: It's not a very pretty picture that we see of us! "The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Psalm 14:2,3). Compare this with Romans 3:10ff.

Besides that, we are so wicked that we want nothing to do with our Creator to the point we dare to tell Him so: (Job 21:14,15). "Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?" Yes, in our sinful nature that we are born with we can be classified as "haters of God" (Romans 1:30). Do we dare to think, then, that we are so lovable and attractive to God that He has no other choice but to love us and to save us because we deserve it? I definitely think not! We are so "totally depraved", my dear readers, that not only God cannot find anything in us to obligate Him to us, but He would even be just to cast each and every one of us into hell! But for the riches of His grace!!!

Furthermore, in our Total Depravity not only do we "add sin to sin" (Isaiah 30:1) because "the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment" (1:5,6), but also there is absolutely nothing that we can do about it!The following questions are true of the sinner: Can the dead give themselves life? Can the Ethiopian or leopard change the color of their skin? Can one give themselves a heart operation? Can a dead and lost sinner, who is slave of sin, Satan and of the world, deliver themselves from their power? The answer is a resounding NO!

Therefore, due to his Total Inability, which is a result of his Total Depravity, man finds himself in a very desperate and hopeless state if salvation in any way depended on him to do something about it. The Lord Jesus Himself makes it very clear: "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him"; and "no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father" (John 6:44,65). In other words, absolutely not one person has the power within themselves to even desire, much less to make a move towards the Lord Jesus to be saved by Him! Remember, man is spiritually "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1), that unless God of His grace gives him life and calls him out of his grave, he cannot pass "from death unto life" (John 5:24,25). Remember Lazarus - John 11:43,44.

We conclude, then, that Sin Necessitates Grace; in other words, our only hope for salvation rests in the Free and Sovereign Grace of God from the beginning to the end; from the first to the last; and that even the grace given to us has to be given to us "by Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:4); for it is "of his fulness" that we receive "grace for (upon) grace" (John 1:16), so that in God saving us, it is "according to the riches of his grace" (Ephesians 1:7). Hallelujah!!!

So, in closing let us warn ourselves about two things: Do not think that in any way we can add anything to the grace of God, no matter how minuscule it might be: Our salvation is ALL OF GRACE! PERIOD! Then, let us not think that God will save us simply because He is "the God of all grace" (1 Peter 5:10), which He is; but because He has "made us accepted (i.e. He has graced us) in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins..." (Ephesians 1:6,7). To put it this way: It is through , and by, and at Calvary that grace comes to us; and the proof that it saves with an everlasting salvation is that our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is ALIVE! Amen