Grace has a tremendous effect upon Christian people. Grace is certain. No other way of salvation could give us certainty. If I were to believe in salvation by works, I would have to earn my place in heaven by ordering my life and doing away with my sins, conquering them, doing things that are pleasing to God. If I think like that there can be no certainty. My assurance of salvation would go up and down day by day, because every day I will sin, every day I will fall, small falls, medium size falls, big falls. But grace says my salvation does not depend upon my performance, upon my success, but on the wonderful kindness and free favour of the Lord God. So when Satan tempts me to despair, upward I look and see him there. Grace says my salvation is dependent upon Christ, not upon me.
Grace makes it easy to serve God. If I had to work for my salvation, if I feared that it depended upon me, I would be serving a hard task master, God, but it's different with grace. I am serving the God who has loved me from on high. He has come and suffered and died for me, he's suffered inexpressible agony for my benefit. He has given me everything freely, therefore I have got a great sense of debt, and belonging, and love to him. Grace stirs my heart and it makes me voluntarily want to please the one who has done so much for me.
Grace has other effects upon me too. It humbles me. I can't strut along thinking like a scribe or a Pharisee of old, as if I was a special person – ‘God will be pleased with me because I'm better than anybody else.’ No, grace reminds me moment by moment, that I was nothing at all. I absolutely depend for everything on the free unfathomable mercy and favour of God to me freely poured out.
Best of all, grace draws attention to God. It shows me the character of God. That God could do such a thing! That the mighty God could somehow focus his mighty love upon one poor needy sinner, and love me with the intensity of his divine being and know about me and overlook my sins and make me his own through all eternity! This tells me about God and how he went about securing this free salvation. It tells me of his great intelligence, of his wonderful mercy, of his infinite kindness, of his giving benevolent heart. Grace focuses attention not upon the Christian but upon the giver of the gift, the mighty God, and it draws attention to his attributes. God's favour cannot fade away or deteriorate. Once we have received the mighty favour of God it will be with us now and for all eternity.
What a sense of privilege this gives us. Grace is a uniquely direct act of God. Yes, God sustains the activity within every atom; his power is in a sense present everywhere. But from the human point of view God deals with us by and large indirectly. Your body is sustained and grows, as far as you can see, in a very indirect way. God sustains you physically by secondary causes. He causes the sun to shine, and causes the plants to grow, and you eat the plants, or you eat the cattle that eat the plants, and your body is fed and nourished. But when it comes to grace you have an outstanding special privilege. God doesn't use secondary causes. By the power of his spirit he directly comes down and touches your heart. He deals with you in a very immediate and special way. When you were saved, this free gift was handed to you by the hand of God himself. He touched and inclined your heart to himself. He brought you to understand, he gave you spiritual conception, spiritual life, he brought you to that position where you grasped your need, you felt conviction about your sin. You desired him and you saw Calvary and you went to the Lord and you cast yourself upon his mercy. Then he opened your eyes to wonderful things and transformed your heart, and the free grace of God will bring you all the way home to glory. ‘Grace be with thee.’