I became a servant of this gospel according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the exercise of his power (Eph. 3:7). But again we must ask these questions: Isn’t this risky? Won’t this lead to the abuse of grace in license? Yes, it is risky and some do abuse grace. If that were not true and a clear possibility, Paul would not have said what he did in Romans 6:1f and in Galatians 5:13, nor would Peter in 1 Peter. 2:16. Many, of course, make the claim that a salvation based solely on the free gift of God breeds license and, thereby, cannot be from God. But this kind of response not only fails to stand in awe at what God has done, but fails to properly understand the true nature of fallen man and the nature and purpose of this grace. Grace is God’s provision to liberate us from both the penalty and the power of sin. Here is something you can count on: The better you believe yourself to be, the less grace you think you need. The more self-confident you are, the more convinced you’ll be that you could get by even if God were stingy with grace. Sure, you struggle with sin, but that’s just a part of the human predicament. All you need is some help from God and a bit of personal determination. You can make yourself good enough for God to accept you. You just need to get desperate enough to clean up your act. If grace can help you—fine. 5

Grace: Why It’s So Amazing and Awesome | Bible.org Grace: Why It’s So Amazing and Awesome | Bible.org

Philip Yancey: Jesus dealt with this issue in the Sermon on the Mount. It doesn’t take much grace to love your family or your neighbors, he implied (well, depends on the family and the neighbors!), but we’re called to love the unlovely, even to love our enemies. When the disciples recoiled at such a notion, Jesus gave the reason: God causes the rain to fall and the sun to shine on the righteous and the unrighteous alike. That’s who God is. And the only way the world will believe in that God is if we demonstrate the same pattern of persistent, overpowering love. I realized that as a journalist, I have to be respectful and cordial, even when I’m interviewing someone with whom I profoundly disagree. I approach them not as someone to convert to my way of thinking—that’s not going to happen. Rather, my goal is to get them to explain their point of view in a way that my readers can comprehend and judge for themselves. I’ve been trying to put that into practice even with friends and neighbors. My goal is not to win them over, or defeat their arguments, but rather to listen carefully so that I can articulate their position fairly.The awesome nature of grace in also seen in the statement, “Now the law came in so that the transgression may increase; but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more…so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:20-21). While this passage was discussed previously, it deserves discussion again in view of the awesomeness of God's grace. It should be noted that verse 10 concludes the section begun in 2:1-3 which began with an emphasis on our spiritually dead condition and life under the domination of Satan’s world system. This pre-salvation life is a life lived out in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind (vs. 3). But now, by God’s grace, we are not only redeemed from spiritual death and the penalty of sin, but unto a new life of good works by God’s enablement (see also Eph. 4:17-31). This truth 20 is not only stressed in Romans 6:1f in answer to the question, “Shall we sin that grace may abound?” but we find it in the book of Titus where there is a strong emphasis on good works. Note the following:

What’s So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey (Review What’s So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey (Review

To clear the field for His own activity, God eliminated every work of man—past, present, and future. His action had to be pure, uncontaminated by our own best efforts. He had to act alone. Our self-effort was put on a shelf labeled “Unsuitable for Use.” 19 Grace Is Absolutely Free For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people. 2:12 It trains us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 2:13 as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 2:14 He gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, who are eager to do good. 2:15 So communicate these things with the sort of exhortation or rebuke that carries full authority.I am grateful to the one who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he considered me faithful in putting me into ministry, 1:13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor, and an arrogant man. But I was treated with mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief, 1:14 and our Lord’s grace was abundant, bringing faith and love in Christ Jesus. 1:15 This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” and I am the worst of them. 1:16 But here is why I was treated with mercy: so that in me as the worst, Christ Jesus could demonstrate his utmost patience, as an example for those who are going to believe in him for eternal life. 1:17 Now to the eternal king, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen (1 Tim. 1:12-17). Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. By what principle? Of works? No, but by the principle of faith. But “when the kindness of God our Savior appeared and his love for mankind, 3:5 He saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, 3:6 whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior. 3:7 And so, since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life.” (Tit. 3:4-7). Grace Can Be Received There is no division of doctrine that is not related in some way or another—often vitally—to the concept of grace. Inspiration, sin, salvation, Christian living, even future things are but a few examples of related doctrines. In the introduction to What’s So Amazing About Grace? you close by saying “I would far rather convey grace than explain it.” What do you mean by that?

Grace: An Interview with The Shock and Scandal of God’s Grace: An Interview with

For this reason it is by faith that it may be by grace, with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants—not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (Rom. 4:16). (emphasis mine) Philip Yancey: First, they’re engaging. I do a lot of public speaking, and when I begin a story, people quiet down, stop moving around, and pay attention. We’re beings of time, and when action starts we want to know what happens next. I’ve listened to hundreds of sermons with three-point outlines, and I can’t remember any of them. I do, however, remember stories told during those sermons.No truth or teaching in the New Testament is more central than the fact that grace—the free gift of salvation through faith alone in Christ alone—is the means of salvation. Paul wrote, “I do not set aside (nullify) God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through the law (i.e., by human or religious works), then Christ died for nothing!” (Gal. 2:21). Thus, the thrust of the New Testament is a salvation accomplished solely by the grace of God as the following will illustrate. Second, let’s again look at Paul’s argument in Romans 5:12-21. Here Paul contrasts the universality of sin and the reign of death in the human race with the gift of righteousness through the one act of Christ, i.e., His death on the cross (5:12-17). God’s righteousness or salvation is based on the record of one, the Lord Jesus Christ and not our record. But the point that needs to be made here is on the great problem all people face regardless of the depth of their personal sin, namely, the reign of death in all of mankind. “So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned” (5:12); “For if, by the transgression of the one man, death reigned through the one…” (5:17).

Review: What’s So Amazing About Grace?, by - 9Marks Book Review: What’s So Amazing About Grace?, by - 9Marks

Outside the doctrines related to the Person and work of Christ, there is no truth more far-reaching in its implications and no fact more to be defended than that salvation in all its limitless magnitude is secured, so far as human responsibility is concerned, by believing on Christ as Savior. To this one requirement no other obligation may be added without violence to the Scriptures and total disruption of the essential doctrine of salvation by grace alone. Only ignorance or reprehensible inattention to the structure of a right Soteriology will attempt to intrude some form of human works with its supposed merit into that which, if done at all, must, by the very nature of the case, be wrought by God alone and on the principle of sovereign grace. 32 (Emphasis mine.) The True Liberty of Grace I almost stopped reading What’s So Amazing About Grace? shortly after I started. I was initially hoping for a book that was more of a theological primer on grace. Yet right in the introduction, Philip Yancey explained that his book is most certainly not a theological primer. Despite the split in expectations, Yancey’s book was excellent. There are many anecdotes from his life and a number of varied stories all connecting to grace. The result was not only an enjoyable read but also an insightful one.

There is no doubt that many who profess faith in Christ have never truly and personally trusted in Christ as their Savior. But we must understand that the gospel message is offered unconditionally (i.e. freely) to those who will believe or trust in the person and work of Christ and no amount of failure can remove them from the Father's hand (John 10:29). Legalism is an attitude, a mentality based on pride. It is an obsessive conformity to an artificial standard for the purpose of exalting oneself. A legalist assumes the place of authority and pushes it to unwarranted extremes. As Daniel Taylor states so well, it results in illegitimate control, requiring unanimity, not unity. 36 A beautiful illustration of the amazing aspect of God’s grace is seen in the experience of Isaiah the prophet. As a religious Jew, Isaiah would undoubtedly have been considered a moral and good man. But in Isaiah 6, the prophet recorded a vision he was given in which he saw the Lord high and exalted. The immediate result of this holy scene was the impact on Isaiah’s view of himself and of his nation. He wrote, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” (Isa. 6:5, NASB) Having seen God’s awesome holiness, he could see nothing but his own sinfulness and impossible state—at least from the standpoint of his own worthiness to have fellowship with God.