God's Grace is NOT what many think it is. Torben Søndergaard and Jón Bjarnastein

Welcome to this video where Jon and me,
we want to talk about the grace of God.

We want to talk about what grace is,
we want to talk about what is not

and we want to talk about what grace does.

The sad thing is that we have seen a wrong
understanding about grace that does

that people, when we talk about the importance
of faith in Christ and obedience or baptism,

or receiving the Holy Spirit, where people
say: "No, no, no, we are saved by grace.

No, no, it's grace that saves us."
And every time they quote Ephesians 2:8-9.

And therefore we want to do this video
to really talk about what grace is,

because it's powerful. Jesus have called us
to be free, to save us from our sins

and to live a new life. So, I hope you are
ready and I think this video

will help many of you out there.

If you take Ephesians 2:8-9, or we can
take 10:

"For by grace you have been saved, through
faith - and this is not your own doing,

this is the gift of God - not a result of works,
so no man may boast.

For we are his workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus for good works, which God

prepared beforehand, that we should
walk in them."

So, we read here: "For by grace you
have been saved, through faith".

We start with the word "grace".
The right definition of grace is that is

a gift that have been given to us freely.

It's not something you have been working for
to receive and it's not something

you need to work for afterwards.
It's a free gift.

It's a free gift given to all mankind.
So, a good example of that is...

Try to imagine that you are out walking
one day and there was a man who sees you

and he just feels love to you. And he runs
to you and say: "Hey, I want to give you my car.

Here, this is my car."
And he gives you the keys.

You have not worked for that man to
deserve it and he doesn't ask you to do

anything afterwards, extra. It's just a gift
given to you freely. That is what grace is.

Try to imagine another example where you are
then working for a man in the garden.

And you are working, working, working,
fixing his garden.

After a few weeks working for that man
he calls you in and he said:

"Yeah, you should have 5000 $ for the work
you have been doing, but I see

you have been really, really doing
an amazing work. I want to bless you,

beside those 5000 $ - I give you a gift."
That is not what grace is.

Because then you have done something
to deserve it. Yes, he added more in,

but grace - that is a free gift, given by God
to us, not because we were so special,

not because we deserve it.
It's God and God alone.

That is the right definition of what grace is.

There where people really misunderstand it
is thinking that grace is what is saving.

But it's not. And this is not what we read
here. What we read here:

"For by grace you have been saved through
faith." It's not written: By grace all mankind

is saved, without faith. If you take all verses
in the whole Bible and see

what you need to do to get saved,
it's very clear - it's through Jesus Christ

and faith in Him. Not faith just in something,
but faith in Christ.

It's Christ who saves and Him alone.
And it's God's grace, free gift to all mankind

that we today can get saved through Christ,
through faith in Him, through believing Him.

If grace, without faith, was what was saving
then everyone will be saved already.

Then the whole world would be saved.
But we know that people need to do something.

They need to believe in Christ or they
need to believe Christ.

And believe what He is saying. So we believe
that grace is God's free gift.

We did not deserve it. And it's God's grace
that you and me today can get saved

through faith, through believe in Christ.
And what did Jesus said:

Repent and be born again out of water
and Spirit.

When we, therefore, believe Christ,
have faith and repent and be born again

through water and Spirit, as Jesus is
saying, we will not boast,

because we know that it's God's grace
that we today can get saved that way

and not because of works. Jon,
you want to come with an example of that.

Yeah. So, before that, I also want to say,
we have talked in other videos,

when we talk about faith,
we talk about obedience, because

true Biblical faith always produces
obedience, action.

So, when we talk about obedience
and grace, you have to understand,

obedience does not contradict grace.
It really does not contradict.

Obedience and grace, if we look at
the full picture, if we look at the context,

like Torben say: context, context, context,
that we can really see

that obedience and grace really
go hand in hand, and not contradict.

So now, the question is:
How does it look like?

Try to imagine now that me and Torben,
we are going on a big, huge cruise ship.

And as we are going on this cruise ship,
I am walking on the ship that at one point

I start slipping off, I am falling off this
cruise ship down to the see.

And now I am at the sea and I am in danger,
so I started to shout: Help, help!

So now Torben hears my voice and
he is running. Now he looks at me

and I am in danger now. So, what does
he do? Of course he would not stand there

just crossing his arms and says: Now
I will look how it will goes with him. No.

He would go straight to find a life-saver
and throw that life-saver down to me

and then he would say: Jon, grab hold
on the life-saver so I can pull you back

to the ship. So now, try to imagine,
if I would say this in respond to him:

No, no, no, Torben. I will not be saved
by works. I will be saved by grace alone

and not by works.
- Yeah, you would die.

I would die. That's silly. That's stupid.
Of course, like out of his own words,

what he is saying, I will act in that
obedience by trusting in him.

So as I grab and hold on to this life-saver,
he will pull me back to the ship.

And as I'm coming back to the ship,
and try to imagine: people standing

around us, and I stand up and
shout out to the people:

"Hey everybody!" And I start boasting:
"Look, I am saved, I am saved by my work.

Look at my muscles, how I hold on
to the life-saver." Of course not.

Like to recognize, I was not saved
by my own works.

I was saved by his merciful grace that
he was willing to throw the life-saver to me

and by that I trusted in his word,
in that obedience I hold on to the life-saver

and he pulled me back. I would grab hold on
to Torben, give him a hug and say:

Thank you, thank you, thank you!
So, this is what is all about.

So, we were all drowning in the water of sins.
We were drowning in our sins.

Jesus then threw out the life-saver.
That is the new birth, that is repentance

and we need to repent and be born again
out of water and Spirit, what He was teaching.

If He throws out the life-saver to us and
says: "Repent!" "No, no, no, no, no, Jesus,

no, no, no, it's grace that saves us."
We would die. We would drown in our sins.

Or, Jesus in another place says that one
who believes and is baptized shall be saved.

"No, no, no, no, Jesus, no, no, no.
It's grace who saves us."

Then we would drown in our sins.
Or like Peter stood up on Pentecost,

when they asked: "What shall we do?"
And Peter said: "Repent!" Like Jesus.

"Turn away from your sins and be baptized
everyone of you to Jesus

for the forgiveness of your sins and you
shall receive the Holy Spirit."

"No, no, no, Peter, no, no, Peter.
That's good, but we are saved by grace."

If we say we are saved by grace like that,
we would die in our sins.

We have to understand that...
What is salvation also?

Jesus did not come to save us in our sins.
He came to save us from our sins.

He came to create a new man.
He died for us. We did not deserve it.

It was His grace, God's grace to us
that we today can get saved through faith

in Jesus Christ. And us who have experienced
the new birth through repentance, baptism

and the Holy Spirit, we are never going
around and like: "Hey, hey..." Like...

Of course we knew we need to repent
and cling on that life-saver.

Of course we need to obey and be baptized
and cling on to the life-saver.

Of course we need to walk by the Holy Spirit
and cling on to that life-saver,

but we would not go around boasting
because we know it's not by ourselves,

it's by the grace of God that we can get
saved through faith.

What do you have to understand here,
when Paul says here: it's not by works,

he did not talk about obedience that comes
by faith, he did not talk about baptism.

Baptism is never works. You have to
understand that.

Also when in Galatians, when Paul is
talking about: "Who has bewitched you?"

And warn against works, he warned
against the works by the Law.

He is talking about the circumcision
in these chapters.

He is not talking about obedience.
He is not talking about repentance.

He is not talking about baptism.
He talks about circumcision.

He is talking about going under the Law
of Moses, in the Old Covenant

and not obeying Jesus in the New.
And you have to understand that.

Because those letters are written
to already born again believers

who have repented, got baptized
and received the Holy Spirit

and those people he is warning against
works, circumcision,

works keeping the Law and not works -
obedience. And in the next verse he said:

"For we are his workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus for good works."

Here is talking about the different kind
of works.

And this is where people misunderstand it.
He is talking about obedience.

So, we are not saved by works by the law.
We are saved by God's grace through faith,

believe in Jesus and repentance,
baptism in water and the Holy Spirit,

as He said, and we are created
to good works.

By it's not good works by the circumcision.
He is talking about good works

that has been produced in us, where we now
walk by the Spirit.

It's not like: Argh... I have to produce
good works. No. It's a result of the new birth.

Jesus have transformed our life.
He have changed our heart.

And the fruit and the result of that
are good works.

But we got saved not because of those good
works. We got saved because of His grace.

Good works are the result of that salvation.
And that is what grace is.

Grace is a free gift given to all mankind,
so we, through God's free gift, mercy,

can get saved through faith in Jesus Christ.
But grace doesn't leave us

when we've got saved through Jesus Christ.
Grace is a big part of our lives

and grace is the part of the transformation
that is happening in our life.

Can you say a little about that?

So, let's try to imagine, like we all, not
only you who are listening, but we all say:

We are under grace. That we who all
say that we are under grace.

What is the fruit in your life
and in our life?

Because it always produces fruit.
And I want to start to read the Scripture.

You can find that in Titus, 2:11-14.
And there he says this.

"For the grace of God has appeared that
offers salvation to all people."

And then he continues: "It teaches us",
in another words: It trains us.

"To say “No”, to deny every ungodliness and
worldly passions, and to live self-controlled,

upright, and godly lives in this present age."
This is God's grace.

So, the grace of God appears to all mankind.
That is what we read in Ephesians.

And it - the grace of God is, at the same
time, teaching us...

- Teaches us. It trains us.
- To say "No" to ungodliness and worldly

passions. So, those who have the grace of
God, they have the power, the help

to transformation and everything they
need in this life for godliness, for holiness.

And this is what it is, because when I
understood the real grace of God in my life,

it was when I one day...
And you can continue with this.

When I was studying Romans.
And Romans is saying here, Romans 6:14.

"For sin will have no dominion over you,
since you are not under law but under grace."

I have been trying to live under the law
and keeping the law, trying to live like...

But when I really understood the grace
of God: Huuh... I was free.

Sin broke in my life and now I was free
to live a new life - a holy life.

So, I would say like that: Those who
really understand the grace of God

are those who do not live in sin,
live in the power of sin.

Those who have experiences the grace of God
are those who have experienced the freedom

of God, as we read here. "For sin will have
no dominion over you, since you are not

under law but under grace." Because grace
transforms our lives.

And grace do what you were saying there.

Yes. I like what Torben is saying, so again,
let's make it again.

Grace is not that we have received freedom
to continue living in sin.

Grace is that we are free from sin.
So, we need to understand that.

That is the whole message of the gospel.
Jesus got the name Jesus

because He came to save us, His people,
away from their sins.

But this is, somehow, the opposite of
what many people in the churches

are interpreting as grace. They interpret
grace like it has been turned into

a licence to sin because, yes, we are
under the grace and that means:

no matter what we have done in the past,
present or in the future -

we are saved by grace.
And let me tell you...

- That is so unbiblical.
- That is so unbiblical. I just want to say:

If that is you who are saying that,
if this is your lifestyle,

sorry I have to say this -
you are not under the grace of God.

You are under the law of sin.
Because what we read in Titus 2:11-14,

true Biblical grace always draw us to
freedom from sin into a holiness

and to live, what he says: "self-controlled,
upright and godly lives in this present age."

So, when we talk about, again, holiness,
when we talk about the self-control,

we, again, do not talk about works.
We, again, talk about obedience

and it is by grace of God that now we can
be holy, we can walk in purity.

This is by grace of God.
This is not our own works.

And I would say like that.
We will end up here also.

We are called to freedom.
Jesus came to set us free.

There is no condemnation for those
who are walking by the Spirit.

Many people react very harshly
against... When we talk about repentance,

talk about the baptism, talk about
the Holy Spirit and say:

"Oh, it's works, works, works, works,
works."

Why do they talk like that?
Because they feel condemned all the time.

They always feel condemned. The solution
in not saying: All of that is works.

Because is not works. But to a person who is
under the law - everything will be work,

no matter what they do and they will feel
condemned, no matter what they do.

But a person who is truly, truly born again,
truly repented, and baptized,

received the Holy Spirit, they will
experience the grace of God in their life

so they are not under sin and they can walk
in holiness and they can walk in new life.

If we then do something wrong and fall,
we confess our sin and He is righteous

to forgive us and so on.
And it's really a life in freedom.

Freedom from sin, freedom from condemnation,
freedom to walk in the new life in Christ Jesus.

And that is what grace is.
Grace - A - it's a free gift. Correct.

Grace is not a licence to sin. No, grace
is a gree gift that through the new birth

the grace of God, the Spirit of grace
teaching us, helping us

to live the new life Jesus
have commanded us to do.

So, I hope this video gives some answers.
I know it can be a little complicated

for people who haven't heard those
words before: grace, licence, freedom

and all of that, but... Next video we will
do, we will talk about the freedom from sin,

we will talk about how we are not under
the Law of Moses, but that means

we are not lawless, because we are
under the law of Christ.

And that is the law of freedom, of liberty
where we can walk in the new life.

I will, like Paul often, read in letters:
May the grace of God be with you

and may you grow in grace in your
life. The more we can grow

in God's grace, the more the grace of
God is with us, the more free

we will experience, not by licence -
freedom to sin, but free from sin

to walk by the Holy Spirit.

God bless you!
Bye-bye!

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