GRACE - IN ITS TEACHING
[p. 128] GRACE — IN ITS TEACHING
My subject on this occasion is the teaching of grace. The expression is peculiar to the epistle to Titus “the grace of God ... teaching us”. The idea is that there is a teaching which is proper to and inherent in the grace of God, and that is what I hope to bring before you. Last time I dwelt upon the setting forth of grace, and the vessel of it; I drew attention to certain passages in the Gospel of Luke which exemplified it. I think all will allow, that if we want to be helped to set forth grace we almost invariably turn to the Gospel of Luke; we have an instinctive sense that the Gospel of Luke is the peculiar setting forth of the grace of God to man. I believe this sense to be just; and the more I become acquainted with the gospels the more I feel with regard to Luke that the Lord is presented to us in it as the vessel of grace; it is the setting forth in a remarkable way of the grace of God to man in the One who, in becoming man, became the vessel of that grace.
There are two things I may speak of in connection with grace; there may be, and doubtless is, a great deal more in it with which I am not acquainted, but I can only bring before you what I know. I think there are two aspects of grace, one in the way of relief, and the other in that of display. The latter may be spoken of as the glory of God’s grace; what God will display forms the glorious witness of His grace. As we read in Ephesians 2, “That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus”. The other aspect of grace, namely, relief,
[p. 129] is that on which I dwelt last time; grace relieves. I contrasted grace with law. Law recognised certain obligations which existed before the law was given, and exacted the fulfilment of those obligations. But the first principle of grace is that it relieves man of the consequences of failure in his obligations; the mission on which Christ came to this world was to relieve man of the pressure which man’s failure had brought upon him. There was no doubt about the failure, or the sin that had brought the ruin; but in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ grace came in to relieve man so as to recover him for God.
So far as I understand the passage we have now before us, I do not think that grace is presented to us in it further than in the sense of relief; it is the grace of God which brings salvation, it has that character. The display in which grace culminates is scarcely touched here. The passage does not go beyond what Christians are to be in their responsibility down here; there is no statement of what I should call proper Christian privilege in the passage. My impression is that when Christian privilege is referred to, it is spoken of not so much in connection with grace as with love; the place of privilege which Christians have in the knowledge of the Father is the gift of God’s love. One passage will substantiate this “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should he called the children of God”. The idea connected with grace is rather, what God will display in us; but our place is the fruit of God’s love; the love of God will have us in God’s own habitation, in heavenly places. And when we are in heavenly places as the fruit of God’s love, then it is that He will display in us the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. If you bear in mind this simple distinction between grace coming to us in the way of relief, and grace as the display [p. 130] of God in the church, I think it will help you to understand the subject.
But I now come to the teaching of grace, that is, to the moral effect which grace properly produces in the souls of those who know it. Evidently it is a very important point, and this passage in Titus is a remarkable one in that sense. “The grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and piously in this present world [or age]; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ”. That is one part of the passage; then there is another: “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works”. Evidently there are two thoughts, the first is the teaching of grace, while the second presents the peculiar claim that our Saviour Jesus Christ has upon His people; and those are the two points that will come before us at this time.
Now the grace of God is referred to here, as I said, on the relief side; the relief which God would be pleased to accord to all men. All men may not get the benefit of it, for all men do not believe, and if they do not believe they evidently cannot get the benefit; it can only be had by faith. If a man does not believe the truth of God he cannot get any benefit from God, for there is no other way in which a link can now be formed between the heart of man and God; there is no other way possible in the present time by which man can be brought back to God. God makes Himself known to man in saving grace, but man can only get the benefit of it by believing God; if he does not, in the very nature of things he stands outside, and is unconscious of grace; therefore it must be by faith. But still that [p. 131] does not affect the great truth that the grace of God that brings salvation to all men hath appeared; and by salvation, as I understand, is meant the effectual relief which God would accord to man from the pressure under which man is as the fruit of sin.
But before I refer to the salvation, I want to touch on this point, that, if the grace of God reaches me, the purpose of it is that it may make God known to me in grace. It is a very important truth connected with the gospel, that its purpose is to make God known in the heart of man; and if I am affected and touched by the grace of God, it is that I may know the God of grace: there is nothing that can so affect a man down here as the knowledge of God. It comes out in the way in which a believer orders his conduct in the world, “Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts”, he has to “live soberly, righteously, and piously”. Why? Because he has the knowledge of the God of grace in his heart, that is the secret of the change. It is not simply that he knows the grace of God, but he knows the God of grace; the consequence of the grace of God having been brought home to him must be that he is made acquainted with the God of grace.
Now with reference to the salvation; I think there are two things in it — a man is relieved by grace in regard of his responsibility to God, and also in regard of the power of the enemy; that is, on the one hand he has forgiveness of sins, and on the other hand he finds an outlet from the fear of death, from what I may call the pressure of death. It is a wonderful thing that a man should be able to say in this world, I have forgiveness of sins; I shall never come into judgment, for the question of my responsibility to God has been met, and I am relieved of the pressure of death that lay upon me, so that I no longer fear to look it in the face. The [p. 132] position of a believer is illustrated by the children of Israel when they had passed through the Red Sea; they had been sheltered by the blood from the judgment which had fallen upon the Egyptians, and they were clear of the power of the enemy by the Red Sea: they stood clear in the presence of God. That is what I understand by the grace of God that brings salvation. I do not go further than that, though I might add that it is made effectual by the Holy Ghost that is given to the believer. How do you get it? Well, the one simple way is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, “who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification”; I am free of offences because He was delivered for them, and of death because He has been raised again. And what takes the place of my former experience? I have peace with God, and enter by faith into this grace in which we stand. All is cleared; I stand now in the grace of God. When the Lord came into the midst of His disciples after He was risen again from the dead His words to them were, “Peace be unto you”. It is all peace; and we stand, as believers, in the grace of God. Another very important consequence flows out of it, although I do not dwell on that now, and that is, deliverance; I can take the place of death to everything down here, which is marked by distance from God; I can accept death now, which I never could before, and death becomes to me the way of deliverance. I do not want any longer to live in that which is marked by distance from God, in sin and the world; in the light of the cross I accept the judgment of death which lay upon me, and it becomes my deliverance.
Another point I want to dwell upon is the intimate connection between grace and glory; if you turn to Romans 5: 2, you will see it there: “By whom also” — that is, by the Lord Jesus Christ — “we [p. 133] have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God”. In the passage I read tonight it says, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and piously in this present age; looking for that blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ”. The teaching of grace leads us to look for the appearing of the glory. The connection is this, that grace fits you for glory; you are thus fitted for glory at the very outset, but the more you become acquainted with the grace of God, the more perfectly you are at home, as it were, in the thought of the glory of God. I could not understand what it is to have part in the glory of God if I did not see that I stand in grace, and apprehend the connection of grace with the glory of God. The glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ is, as I understand it, the full display in their result of the purposes of God’s grace; God’s purposes of grace are His glory. The glory of a man is that which he cherishes in his inmost heart; and the glory of God is that in which the heart of God delights and will display itself — in the purposes of His grace; and everything looks forward to the full display of this. These purposes dawned very early in Scripture; the first real expression of the purposes of God’s grace was in the promises that He made to Abraham: He engaged Himself in blessing to Abraham, and said, “In thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed”; it was the beginning of the revelation of God’s purposes of grace. No doubt you get a hint of grace in the judgment on the serpent, that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent. The seed of the woman was the Son of God, and the Son of God was the vessel of grace,
[p. 134] and was to bruise the head of the serpent; but the first distinct intimation of God’s purposes of grace came out, as I said, in the promise to Abraham. Now, when all is displayed in its full result, when all these purposes are accomplished in Christ (for all are centred and will be accomplished in Him), the great display of them will be the glory of God, and that is what I understand we rejoice in hope of, and so we can look for it. And the more I come under the influence of divine grace, the more ready I am for the display of the glory: I look for the glory, for after all the glory is akin to the grace that I know. It is of immense importance to connect together grace and glory. Do you remember an expression in the Psalms, “to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary”? If we know God in the sanctuary, that is, in the blessed secret of His grace, nothing will content us except the hope of God’s glory. The thought is a positive delight to me that the more I am acquainted with the grace of God, the closer I am really brought to the glory. The same holds good, too, in regard of Christ, that the more I become acquainted with grace the more I am in the light of the glory of the Lord. That is the connection in which the two things stand here, that where the heart is established in grace, the natural outlook is, “Looking for that blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ”. When all comes to light, when the blessed display of grace comes to pass, then will be the glory of God’s grace, and we shall find ourselves perfectly at home in it; the glory comes in to the delight of the soul, because, as I said before, God’s glory is the accomplishment and display of all the purposes of His grace, and so of Himself. In the beginning of Stephen’s address before the council in Acts 7 he says, “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham”. The God of glory refers to His appearing to him in the way of promise (”He gave him none inheritance”); that is, He gave him a blessed revelation of His own purpose, which the promise was. It was the God of glory; and then at the close of the address Stephen looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; everything was accomplished and pledged in the One who was in the glory of God. He apprehended the greatness of divine grace, he was deeply conscious of standing in the grace of God, that there was nothing between him and God, that he was free of every bit of pressure in the presence of God, and he “looked up steadfastly into heaven”.
The impression which I would like to leave is of the intimate connection between grace and glory, and that the better your acquaintance with grace the more you are prepared for the display of glory.
Now I want to say a word about what comes in between. I remark that the apostle does not in the passage take us out of our responsible position down here, he does not carry us in thought and spirit into the purpose of God about us in its full extent: the passage is not an unfolding of what I should call Christian privilege. I quite admit that salvation is Christian privilege, but not Christian privilege in the full height of it; the passage looks upon Christians in their position here upon earth as those who are responsible to adorn in all things the doctrine of their Saviour God. The proof of what I have said is that the apostle takes the saints up in classes; he had brought before Titus what Titus was to press upon various classes: in regard to slaves, they are exhorted to adorn in all things the doctrine of God their Saviour. He looks upon the saints in their life here in flesh, as the apostle Paul says of himself in Galatians 2,
“In that I live in flesh” — that was in his responsible position as here upon earth — “I live by the faith of the Son of God”. To fail to apprehend our responsible position as Christians here on earth is a great defect. Do not misunderstand me; I do not mean that you are responsible to keep the law, or that you are going to get to heaven by your responsibility, but I say that responsibility belongs to you so long as you are actually here on earth, and God gives you grace to carry out your responsibility. You are not left to yourself and to your own resources like a man under law; but power has come in to enable you to carry out your responsibility here upon earth, and to do so is the proper effect of grace upon the heart of man, and will have its answer in the kingdom.
I have spoken about the connection of grace and glory, and now dwell for a moment on the natural outcome of grace known in power. The first thing is “Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts”. If my heart is affected by grace, what comes to me is this, I cannot go on in ungodliness and worldly lusts. Time was when I lived in them; I suppose the time has been when most of us lived in them; but I see that will not do now. Why? Because I know the God of grace. The knowledge of God produces the greatest moral effect upon a person; I do not think that anything can be compared with it; and from the time that I have got the knowledge of God in grace, I cannot continue in ungodliness and worldly lusts, in what is totally contrary and opposed to God.
But we get on the more positive side, that we should live soberly, righteously, and piously in this present age. The first thing is to live “soberly”. A drunken man has for the moment utterly inflated ideas, for he is outside of his sober senses, by the effect of intoxication. It is a great thing to be [p. 137] sober, and that is the first thought expressed here. I come down from all high and exaggerated thoughts of myself, and learn to estimate myself at my true measure in the sight of God. And my true measure in regard to my life down here is my faith; a man is to think soberly of himself as God has given to every man the measure of faith. My measure is not my cleverness, nor my ability, nor my cultivation, nor my acquirements, but my faith. And I will tell you why; because my true measure is the light I have got from God — that is what faith means, and in that sense there may be degrees of faith, one man may have more light from God than another — but what light he has from God is the true measure of the man. Some people seem to imagine that they are going to bring into Christianity what distinguished them as natural men, that because they have been shrewd and clever as men, they are to be the same in Christianity. I do not think so: in Christianity a man has to begin as a babe; and then his measure is not his cleverness, nor his acquired knowledge in this world, but the light which he has got from God: “As God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith”. Thus I come down from high and inflated thoughts, to have a sober estimate of myself as in the presence of God. My faith is my true measure; I know it, and I think many others do too. I do not care to be accounted of in any other measure. The apostle was a man of great natural parts and much acquired knowledge; but he cared not for any one to think of him except according to the measure of his faith, that is, the light he had from God. It is a great thing to come down from high thoughts, for they often hang about us. The apostle says, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing [p. 138] that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God” — everything that stands in the way of the knowledge of God — “and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”. If I say faith is your measure, you may reply that you have in the Scriptures all that faith can apprehend; but how much of the scriptures is really light in your soul? Faith is light; but if the effect of the word of God upon me has not been to reveal God in me, so that God is the light of my heart, the Scriptures have not done their work. I assure you that I study Scripture to gain the knowledge of God; I am interested in prophecy, but I would not give attention to it except by it to get the knowledge of God. Scripture instructs in order that “the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every good work”; it instructs us in the ways of God. I want to know God, and it is God and the grace of God which is now the light of my heart, and this is my true measure; I am “sober” — that is the first thing.
Now we come to “righteously”. Righteously is that I give to all their rights. It is not that I am to insist on my rights, but that God should have His rights, and my neighbour is to have his rights. Under law a man might insist on his own rights; when grace comes in and teaches, I am careful to give everybody else his rights — “Honour to whom honour is due”, and so on. Whatever rights there may be in this world in the providence of God, I render to all their due, because I recognize the rights of God, and of all others to whom God has given them. It is a great thing to give up your own rights; “Let your yieldingness be known unto all men”. I walk righteously; that is the second point.
Then comes “piously”; which I understand to mean the spirit of reverence and confidence in my [p. 139] recognition of God. I do not resort to human means and expedients as to my life here; but I have learnt to trust in God; as the apostle says, “Therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in a living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe”. I think that in the sermon on the mount you get, in a certain sense, these three great principles; in Matthew 5 righteousness, in chapter 6 piety, and in chapter 7 sobriety. For instance, one way in which piety comes out is that you do not want to have a religious character among men, you do not carry out your devotions in public, or so as to attract the notice of men. That is not piety; piety is this, that you go into your closet, and shut your door, and pray to your Father which is in secret. So also if it is a question of almsgiving, you do not let your left hand know what your right hand doeth. So, too, in regard to fasting, you do not want to get a reputation for being ascetic or self-denying; you anoint your head and wash your face, because it is all done to God; it is done piously, not for display. That which I am religiously has reference to our Father which is in secret, it is reverence which recognizes Him, and does not care to obtain religious character among men. Sanctimonious people, or people who wear a religious garb, must have in view to obtain a character among men. The great principle of piety is that it has reference to our Father which is in heaven, and our Father which seeth in secret will reward us openly. The three things are linked together; first, sobriety in regard to myself, then righteousness in regard to others, both God and man, and then piety which has reference properly to our Father which seeth in secret. That is what marks the one who is acquainted with the God of grace. The grace of God has been made known that you may be acquainted with the God of [p. 140] grace; and acquaintance with the God of grace is bound to work out in that way down here, that having done with ungodliness and worldly lusts, you live soberly, righteously, and piously in this present age.
Then we come to the point on which I have already touched; “Looking for that blessed hope and appearing of the glory” — which is the great climax of grace — “of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ”. And that brings me to the other part of the passage; “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works”. Now, this verse does not lead us on to the ground of the assembly. On the contrary, it is perhaps almost the only passage in the writings of Paul which speaks about Christians as being “a people”. Peter speaks of them as a people; they were not a people, but they are a people now. Here the expression “a peculiar people” is connected with the great fact of our Saviour Jesus Christ having given Himself for us. The same thought is brought out in two other passages. One is a verse to which I have already referred, “In that I live in flesh”, that is, in his responsible life here on earth, I live by faith, “the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me”. Another verse is in 2 Corinthians 5, in which the apostle says, “We thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him that died for them, and rose again”. I recognize in all these passages the claim which our Saviour Jesus Christ has on those for whom He gave Himself. The grace of God has its bearing on us, but its aspect is towards all; but as to our Saviour Jesus Christ, He gave Himself for us. I could not say in the same sense that He gave Himself for all:
[p. 141] He died for all; but when it speaks about His giving Himself, the thought seems more limited in its application; and He gave Himself for us that He might establish upon us an incontestable claim, the claim of love, to which we are bound to respond. There is no Christian that has the shadow of a title to be in this world to please himself, or to live to himself; Christ died “that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him that died for them, and rose again”. I pity the person who does not recognize the claim which the Lord Jesus Christ has upon him; though I am conscious how poorly I have myself responded to it. If you think you are entitled to pursue your own ends and to go your own way in this world, you make a fatal mistake. And you do yourself a grievous wrong if you fail to respond to the claim which the Lord Jesus Christ has upon you in having given Himself for you. Who has such a claim as that upon you? Who in this world, the nearest and dearest, ever gave himself for you? And that is what our Saviour Jesus Christ did, that He might have the supreme claim upon your affections. But the first point is, “that he might redeem us from all lawlessness”. What marks the world is lawlessness, and He gave Himself to free us from all lawlessness. And not only that, but “to purify to himself a peculiar people”; not a people taking up the position of a nation upon earth, as Israel could, but a people for Himself. Christians should recognize that they are not a people who have any position upon earth, but a people engaged in affection to the One who is not here, our Saviour Jesus Christ. A people peculiar to the One who has been rejected from the earth, and who has died to all that is here. Christians, properly speaking, are a people not only affected by the grace of God, and living, in the light of that grace, soberly,
[p. 142] righteously, and piously, but a people devoted in heart to the One who gave Himself for them. There are two great truths I see in Scripture as to Christians, the one is that they are in the light of God, and the other is that they are in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ; He is to them as the sun in the heaven. The light of the sun is everything to us in natural things; we walk in the light of the sun. I pity a blind man that has never seen the sun nor known what it is to live in its light. As a Christian I walk in the light of my sun, and my sun is the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven; He is my light, He “loved me, and gave himself for me”, and I get my path from Him; I have no light except as He guides and directs me, but I am light in the Lord. He is my light in heaven, and it is a great thing to have a light in heaven; I could not explain to you exactly how it is we get direction from Him, yet we do get it, and He guides and directs us in the path of God’s will down here.
There is another point in connection with this peculiar people, “they are zealous of good works”. I have seen many a man in the world who was zealous of bad works; but Christians are zealous of good works. It does not simply say that they carry out good works, but they are zealous of good works. I cannot tell you what the good works may be; but whether it be to be obedient to magistrates, or to obey principalities, or whatever it may be, their works have that character, good works. I wish I could impress you with a due sense of the grace of God, so that your hearts might be fully in the light of that grace; and the God of grace being thus known in your hearts, that you might look up to heaven with the greatest possible delight and joy, knowing that you have a sun in heaven. The Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings, He will shine out publicly as the sun; but [p. 143] He is the sun to us, we walk in His light, and get His direction; it is His pleasure to direct His people into the blessed will of God.
May God give us to understand something of the greatness of grace, and that the climax of grace is glory. It is what I might call the natural fruition of grace; because, as I have already said, the glory of God is His satisfaction in the accomplishment and display of the purposes of His grace. If we stand now in the grace of God, we can look forward with the greatest joy and delight to the thought of His glory; the glory will be familiar to us in a way when it comes, because it will only bring us more distinctly into the full light of the grace of God, and we shall have our place then in the great display of grace, we shall be to the praise of the glory of His grace.