Latest / Your Daily Grace / Foundation Series – Episode 14 - What Grace is - Grace Is the Divine Source Behind Salvation
Transcript
- 0:00Hello, welcome to your daily Grace by Timothy Wilder Foundation Series Episode 14 what Grace Is Grace is the divine source behind salvation.
- 0:13Grace does not begin with us. It begins with God. Before any response, before any movement of faith, before anything we might point to. On our side of the equation, there is grace, and it stands at the very origin of our relationship with God, not as a reaction to human effort, but as the initiating cause.
- 0:34This is a crucial distinction because we often think of grace as something that comes after after repentance, after belief, after we get things right. But Scripture presents grace as the starting point, not the conclusion. Paul captures this beautifully when he writes, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us. Ephesians 2:4 Notice where the emphasis not on human action, but on God's character. Grace flows out of who he is, his mercy, his love, his goodness. Not out of anything we first do. It originates entirely on his side.
- 1:16This is why grace must be understood as the source, not the result.
- 1:20It is the cause from which everything else flows. Paul makes this explicit just a few verses for by grace you have been saved. Through faith the order matters. Grace is the foundation. Everything else rests upon it.
- 1:38Faith itself does not produce grace. It receives what grace has already provided. This keeps us from subtly reversing the relationship.
- 1:47It is easy to think that grace comes into play because we believe or because we turn toward God in some meaningful way. But that would place the origin back in us. Scripture consistently resists that idea. Instead, it points us back to grace as the initiating force, the divine starting point from which all else proceeds. Paul reinforces this again in his letter to he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.
- 2:19The emphasis is unmistakable. The reason is not found in us, neither in our effort nor in our righteousness, but entirely in Him.
- 2:29Grace is rooted in God's mercy, not in human merit. Understanding this protects the purity of grace.
- 2:36If grace is the source, then it cannot be dependent on the outcome.
- 2:41It cannot be something that flows from what happens in us or through us. Instead, everything that follows flows from grace itself. It is the wellspring, not the downstream effect.
- 2:53This is an important boundary to hold. Grace is the cause. Everything else is the result.
- 3:00When we keep that order intact, we preserve the truth that God is always the initiator. He is the one who moves first, who gives first, who acts first, and that changes how we see everything.
- 3:13We are not trying to reach up to access grace.
- 3:16We are responding to a grace that has already reached down, thanks for listening. If you are being fed and or uplifted by these messages, we encourage you to like, comment, share and subscribe. These things help us spread the message of grace.