Common Grace and Special Grace

Sermon at Chew Magna Baptist Church, 6 July 2008


Our text today is from the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew’s gospel; Jesus says

He (the father) makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. [Mt 5:44-45, NKJV]

God, the Father, makes the sun to rise on the good and the bad, He sends rain on the just and the unjust. So, it is clear from scripture that there is a general blessing bestowed on all mankind. Calvin called it a common grace. This common grace is an unmerited and undeserved blessing that flows from God to everyone regardless of whether they believe or not. And Jesus tells us that this common grace flows from the very nature of our perfect God because of His great love.

In the first chapter of Romans the apostle Paul says

“what may be known about God is plain… for since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen and understood by what has been made”. [Rom 1:19-20, NIV]

God revels himself to all, by the very fabric of creation. Creation sings out that there is a God and that he is a God of love. Now you may say to me that's all well and good, but how does creation actual do this? You may even say to me “I don’t believe in God, so how can this possibly be true?”

Well let me ask you this question, where did everything that we see around us in creation come from? Where did the trees, the rivers, the mountains and the valleys, the abundant life of this planet come from? Not only this but where did the sun and the moon and the vast expanses of space filled with a multitude of stars and galaxies come from? And why is the universe governed by laws, laws of gravity and thermodynamics. Why is there such order in the natural world? Where did all the order, complexity and beauty come from? Why is it here?

Now you may say to me “I don’t care where the universe came from, I’m just happy that its here. I can live my life without ever knowing”. But are you not just a little bit curious?

I remember having this discussion with a university student, many years ago. When I put this argument to him he said, quick as a flash,

“the big bang, the universe started at the big bang, everything can be traced back to that point. From the remnants of this explosion the universe grew and organised itself into what we see now”

So, mischievously I asked him,

“so who lit the fuse for this big bang then?” Explosions are generally set off by someone. And I then asked him,

“how did an explosion result in this world with all its beauty and life?

You see most explosions that I am familiar with leave carnage and destruction in their wake?”

Suddenly he realised that for the universe to spring out of nothing, by itself, took some believing. In fact, the big bang theory wasn’t any real explanation. For the real questions “where did the universe come from, why is it here?” are still unanswered by science. Also he realised that it took quite a leap of faith to believe that this explosion resulted in life and all the beauty of this world.

Imagine this situation, you are routing around a cellar in your house, and after moving an old chest of draws you discover a dusty old frame with a picture in it. So you take it out into the light and you carefully dust it down. You discover that it’s rather fine; in fact it’s a little gem, a beautifully crafted work of art. So what do you conclude? It was just created out of nothing by a freak set of random events over billons of years that culminated in this painting being in your cellar? Or do you conclude that someone must have painted it? The painting had to have a creator. Now the world in which we live is far more beautiful, it is special work of art. And there is an artist, a creator, God, the author of this universe, eternal and ever present, wise beyond understanding, infinite in all his ways, perfect in all he does and is, all powerful and good.

This was clear to the apostle Paul, “His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen and understood by what has been made” This is known as the general revelation of God to the world. It is clear that there must be a God by what we see around us. This general revelation is a blessing from God.

Is it any surprise that throughout human history, in every culture, in every place, in every time, there has always been a need to have gods or a God. Humans naturally need a God. Why is this? Christians believe that we have been made in God image so innately, naturally, there is part in us the needs to know God. I believe this is true. But even without using this argument, it is clear from history that people need God, why? Because it is clear from the world, from what we see, that there must be a creator God.

So, where do our lives come from? - they come from God. He gives us life, He gives us the air we breathe, “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust”, He sustains not only our lives but the entire universe, and this is God’s common grace given to all believers and non-believers, saved and lost.

But, as believers, we know much more of the revelation and grace of God that those who have not accepted Christ Jesus as Lord and Saviour; for there is also a special revelation of God given in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And there is a saving and special grace that is given to all who have trusted Jesus Christ of which the world knows nothing.

The special revelation of God, this message from God, says something like this,

‘I have blessed you with this common grace; that should have taught you what I’m like; from this you should have seen that I am a loving God. You should have also realised that the best way to live is to be kind and loving to one another, so imitating me. But you have fallen short of the beauty of my plan for your lives; each and every one of you has fallen short. You’ve hurt and harmed one another; you’ve often been selfish, unkind and put yourself first. Every action has consequences, the spiritual law of action and reaction is this, the wrongs you have done lead to death, your spiritual death. You’ve given up the opportunity to know me. But this is my judgement: I have sent my Son Jesus to die in your place, as a substitute - His death for your death. The eternal God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit say We have forgiven you, wiped your slate clean. You are not worthy to be called my sons and daughters but if you accept what Jesus has done for you, honestly believe in your heart and say with your lips “Jesus is the Lord of my life” you will be my sons and my daughters and I will be your loving Father God and you can only do this by my Holy Spirit living in you.’

This wonderful, wonderful good news,

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.
[1 John 3:7-10, The Message]

This is our precious, precious Gospel, this wonderful revelation, that God is for us, that God longs for all to come into a living relationship with Him; this divine special and saving grace, unmerited and undeserved blessing that flows from God.

For it is the God  who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,  that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. [2 Co 4:6-7, NKJV]

Yes on the outside we who believe are the same as everyone else; we are like simple clay pots, not special, not particularly beautiful. But inside, in our inner being, our spirits have been made alive to the knowledge of the glory of God. Have we not received something that is more precious and of greater value than silver or gold?

So then, let us live a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called. Live life, then, with a due sense of responsibility, not as people who do not know the meaning and purpose of life but as those who do.

God is real, His blessings are real. God blesses in some measure the good and the bad, the believers and those who do not believe. But the blessing and grace reserved for those who believe in him out weigh this common grace.

For God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ, we have been enlightened, and we have tasted of the heavenly gift (that is Jesus our Lord), and we have the Holy Spirit living in us, And we have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come. We have stepped from death into life. Let me tell you a secret mystery, we shall not all die, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. We shall see God face to face, we shall know God fully even as we are fully known; and we shall know such joy.

Amen