In the small village where he lived, Wilfred was known by both children and adults as the cursing, swearing, fighting man, and nobody dared cross him. A day never went by without his cursing or swearing at someone. His hot temper caused him to slap his children if they misbehaved and to fight with strangers in the beer-drinking hall if they said or did something he did not like. One day there was a church meeting in the village, and Wilfred, though drunk, attended the meeting. He was swearing even at the meeting place. At the end of the message the pastor talked to him, and he followed up with a visit at Wilfred’s house the next day. In the days that followed, Wilfred attended church services and became a believer. People could not believe the change that took place in him. He stopped cursing and swearing. One day his own wife said to him, “If there is anything this church has done to you, it has taken away your swearing and cursing.” To which Wilfred responded: “My dear, it is not the church; it is the transforming grace of God that has changed my life. Jesus has taken away my old self and given me a new self.”

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:11–14

SALVATION AND SANCTIFICATION GO TOGETHER

The work of grace is not just being forgiven for our sins, but also includes sanctification, the power to overcome. To sanctify is to make holy, to purify, to consecrate. Sanctification is the work of God purifying a believer into a clean and holy life. The same grace that brings salvation sanctifies our nature, creating out of us a peculiar people (or, in other words, different), eager to do the will of God as we wait for the appearance of our Lord Christ Jesus. This is what Paul is saying in Titus 2:11–14.When a sinner responds to the love of Jesus and accepts Him as a personal Saviour, Jesus accepts such a sinner just the way they are—filthy (Romans 5:8). He forgives them, clothes them in His righteousness, and presents them in the presence of God as God’s child (Ephesians 1:7). We stand in the presence of God, and He accepts us through the blood and righteousness of Jesus and offers us eternal life (John 3:16). We receive the Holy Spirit as a constant presence to help us live as children of light, fitting us for heaven and eternity (Galatians 4:6).

GRACE AND THE NEW BIRTH

Scripture pictures the life of a believer as a new birth. This is the truth that Jesus told Nicodemus when he said: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3. Birth of anything implies a new beginning. The Greek words translated “born again” in this passage mean to be born from above, bring forth from above, to be conceived from above. This implies that the Christian birth is a new beginning. It therefore does not build on the old self. Ellen White says: “The Christian’s life is not a modification or improvement of the old, but a transformation of nature. There is a death to self and sin, and a new life altogether.” The Desire of Ages, p. 172.This new birth comes from God. No other means can give birth to heavenly things. “This change can be brought only by the effectual working of the Holy Spirit.” We must not think to patch up the old building, but begin from the foundation. This calls for a new nature altogether, a nature that comes with divine principles and affections. The new birth spoken of in this passage is a real experience. A new birth in the Spirit is real. The Bible says this in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” The new birth is a miracle and cannot always be explained. Jesus told Nicodemus that one cannot explain how the wind blows, but one can see the effects. So it is with this new birth. We cannot fully explain how it happens, but one can see its results.

SANCTIFICATION—GROWING IN GRACE

When should I expect to stop sinning? How can I obey God all the time? How can I grow into a relationship with God in which I obey Him fully? The words of the apostle Paul would help us to find answers to these questions. Paul wrote: “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12–14. Certain points are clear in this passage: Christ Jesus is our hope in dealing with our sinful nature. He will give us the victory. This was Paul’s conclusion (see Romans 7:14–23). The presence of Jesus, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, is our only hope of victory over sin.

GRACE AND VICTORY OVER SIN

The question most needing attention is this: “How do I grow into a relationship with God in which I live a life of loyalty to His will?” Jesus provided the answer to this question. “Abide in Me,” He said, “and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.” John 15:4–5. The relationship that exists between a vine and a branch is key to the bearing of fruit. And the fruit referred to here is the character of loyalty to God, a character with divine similitude. This is the fruit of the Spirit. Paul identified the fruit of the Spirit as love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22–23). The Bible teaches that grace comes from God, full and free. In this salvation experience God gives us the Holy Spirit, who, working in us, purifies us and enables us to bear fruit. The work of this transforming grace continues in us as long as we live. We continue through grace to become more and more like Jesus. The great saints whose lives are recorded in Scripture never claimed that they had become sinless. But they claimed and preached that there is victory over sin in Christ. Paul says, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12. We can be victorious over sin, but this can be done only in Christ Jesus our Lord. And because of this, the daily prayer of every child of God will be: “Lord, supply me today with grace, grace needed for me to live a victorious life and to keep a steadfast walk with You.”

THE LIMITS OF GRACE

When we speak of divine grace, we are not talking of human goodness or humanistic noble-mindedness. We are referring to God’s basis of redemption from sin. As sinners we deserve death; God offers life. We are separated; He offers reconciliation. We are under judgment; He provides freedom. We are prodigals in a swine’s land; He brings us home. All for free.

Human works, however good and noble, have nothing to do with divine forgiveness. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8–9. However, as far as salvation is concerned, it is written that we must “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Philippians 2:12. Jesus said, pluck your eye out, or cut your hand off in order to overcome sin. (Mark 9:43, 47). Also, “sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” John 5:14. The Apostle Paul also wrote, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14. “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” Hebrews 12:4 The Bible’s teaching is plain, clear, and simple. No sin is too great to be forgiven; no person has gone too far to be brought home by God’s grace when that person approaches God in absolute surrender and faith. “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:37, NIV) is the divine promise and provision. God’s grace is amazing, limitless, abounding, and ever-assuring. “The work of gaining salvation is one of copartnership, a joint operation. There is to be co-operation between God and the repentant sinner. This is necessary for the formation of right principles in the character. Man is to make earnest efforts to overcome that which hinders him from attaining to perfection. But he is wholly dependent upon God for success. Human effort of itself is not sufficient. Without the aid of divine power it avails nothing. God works and man works. Resistance of temptation must come from man, who must draw his power from God. On the one side there is infinite wisdom, compassion, and power; on the other, weakness, sinfulness, absolute helplessness.” –The Acts of the Apostles, p. 482

GOD’S LOVE AND HUMAN FREEDOM

Redemption has its source, its means, its completion, in God’s love as manifested in Jesus Christ. That’s the foundation upon which the entire gospel is built and proclaimed. Those who believe in Jesus are saved, and those who do not believe are condemned. “The gospel . . . is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. . . . For therein is the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:16–17. But the very fact that salvation is intertwined in God’s love shows that the first limitation of God’s grace is our human response to that grace. “God is love” (1 John 4:8), and love cannot force allegiance. All that God does—His plan of creation, providence, redemption, relationship, restoration, and judgment—proceeds from love. While He does not “drive away” any sinner who may come to Him (John 6:37, NIV), He cannot force anyone to come to Him against that person’s will. Freedom of choice plays an essential role in salvation. If salvation comes by a forced allegiance to God, it would not be an act of a loving God, but the desperate measure of a super tyrant—something totally different from the very character of God. Hence God’s abundant, free, and all-powerful grace cannot save a sinner unwilling to come to Him and accept through faith the redemption that God has provided in Jesus. Our freedom of choice can effectively limit the working of grace.

RIGHTEOUSNESS BY WORKS

Another limitation to God’s grace comes from human pride that assumes one can save oneself by one’s own works alone. The doctrine of righteousness by works is as old as sin itself. “The principle that man can save himself by his own works lay at the foundation of every heathen religion,” wrote Ellen White. The Desire of Ages, p.35.  The history of finding salvation through one’s own works repeats itself even today. It has taken many shapes and forms: philanthropy, ethics and lifestyle, humanism and moral uprightness, social justice and social gospel, universal meditation, and even obedience to the Ten Commandments. Another word for such pretension is legalism. “A legal religion can never lead souls to Christ; for it is a loveless, Christless religion. . . . Our own works can never purchase salvation.” –The Desire of Ages, p. 280. The apostle Paul indicted the Galatians for quickly deserting “the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another gospel” (Galatians 1:6, NRSV). The Galatians, who accepted Christ and entered into a salvation experience through faith in Him (Galatians 3:1–2), were now in serious peril of losing that experience because they were attributing their salvation to their works. The apostle asked, “Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?” (verse 2, NRSV). Paul was quite firm: “We have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law (Galatians 2:16, NRSV). Wrote Ellen White: The robe of Christ’s righteousness, “woven in the loom of heaven, has in it not one thread of human devising.” –Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 311

FRUITLESS LIFE

A third limitation to grace is the claim that God’s grace makes us free from the demands of obedience. Grace frees us from sin, but it does not remove from us the obligation to obey the law. Paul asked: “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? . . . Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:1–4. We are saved by grace through faith, and the resulting freedom is not meant to live as one pleases, but to live in accordance with God’s will, as revealed in His law. Salvation comes by faith, but must lead to obedience, the natural sequence to God’s gracious liberation from sin. Consider Jesus’ assertion and hope in John 14 and 15. Just as the relationship of Jesus with the Father preceded His obedience to the Father, so should the disciples’ relationship with Jesus precede their obedience to Him. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15. Observe the hope Jesus has for His disciples. “Abide in Me,” He said, “as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4, NRSV). Christian discipleship is not the achievement of a moral status, but the reception of Christ’s calling; it is not only moral perfection, but a constant abiding in Him. Once that abiding is established through faith in God’s grace, fruit follows as a natural course. The principle is simple: first love, then fruit; first grace, then obedience. The grace of God has not come to redeem us from one kind of emptiness to place us in another kind of emptiness. Having come into God’s family, we bear fruit of God’s love through the power of His grace.

FALLING FROM GRACE

The final limitation on God’s grace can be summarized in the false belief “once saved, always saved.” Nowhere does the Bible teach such a false assumption. Indeed, it is Satan’s cunning ploy to lead Christians to take their salvation experience for granted and lead lives of lethargy and indifference. While the power of God’s love and grace is great and abundant, it does not guarantee that once a person accepts that love and grace he or she will not fail. Otherwise, why would the Scriptures warn us to be watchful? Consider the following admonitions: “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” 1 Corinthians 16:13. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:1. “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Ephesians 6:11. “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” 1 Corinthians 10:12. “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.” 2 Peter 1:10

STAND FIRM

Our call and election into God’s family are made possible through the free grace of Christ when we accept them in faith. Having come into the family, we bear fruit of God’s love through the power of His grace. As long as we abide in that grace, bearing fruit, living a love relationship with Christ, we need not fear any limitation on the workings of God’s grace. He is able to save us to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25). May our Father in heaven grant us power from on high to live the life He wants us to live is my wish and prayer for all of us. Amen. (To be continued)

In Christ

Nicholas Anca