4-Grace, pt 2-Saving Grace

Old Thomas Watson said, "God rides forth conquering in the chariot of His Gospel; He conquers the pride of the heart, and makes the will, which stood out as a fort-royal, to yield and stoop to His grace." What Watson was driving at is the gracious, yet sovereign summons of God that calls sinners to repent and believe in Christ. As G. S. Bishop put it, "Grace is a provision for men who are so fallen that they cannot lift the axe of justice, so corrupt that they cannot change their own natures, so averse to God that they can't turn to Him, so blind that they cannot see Him, so deaf that they cannot hear Him, and so dead that He Himself must open their graves and lift them into resurrection." Having already begun looking at God's common grace poured out on all mankind, this week's midweek Bible study will continue to look at the unmerited favor of God, but in particular "Saving Grace, or the Effectual Call of God." If we truly understood our desperate condition in our total inability to merit God's favor, we'd realize 'Heaven Goes by favor, If it went by merit, you would stay out, and your dog would go in.' (Mark Twain)...