Introduction to Common Grace
Today we’ll be looking—we’re continuing our series on the doctrines of salvation—but we’re going to back up and take a bit of a bigger perspective on things. If you will take your Bibles and turn to Psalm 145. Psalm 145, our topic for this morning is common grace, common grace. The Bible speaks very clearly of the utter depravity of humanity. That’s a familiar theme in the scriptures. It’s familiar to you here at RBC as well. That we are fallen in Adam. We are deserving of judgment. Our hearts are twisted against God in sin until he renews them. And salvation then is necessarily, necessarily by grace. God’s undeserved, in fact ill-deserved, favor.
The definition of God’s grace I was taught when I was a boy in Sunday school was “God’s grace is undeserved favor.” That, of course, is exactly right, but we should go further, I think, and say that grace, the grace of God, is not just undeserved favor; it is ill-deserved favor. That what we deserve from God because of our sin is judgment and condemnation, but instead what we get is his favor. And this notion is huge in the scriptures: grace. This is what accounts for God’s election. This is what accounts for Christ being sent on the saving mission that we have looked at. This is what accounts for the cross. This is what accounts for his sending of the Holy Spirit. This is what accounts for his enlightening our minds and opening our hearts to receive Christ. This is what accounts for our gift of faith. This is what accounts for our justification. This is what accounts for our perseverance, our sanctification, our glorification. The grace of God, ill-deserved favor, lies behind it all.
And so songs like “Wonderful Grace of Jesus” or “Amazing Grace” have often been called the Christian’s national anthem. Grace is a huge theme in the scriptures and it’s huge in the whole doctrine of salvation. And next week we will look specifically at the subject of saving grace. But before we do that, I want to back up and explore—before we look at saving grace, I want to explore a bigger perspective on this matter of God’s grace and to see it in its largest perspective, a broader purview, and it’s what we’ll call common grace. It’s not original with me; that’s the common theological terminology. As I’ve mentioned before, theologians like to take these big concepts in the Bible and reduce them to a theological term that we can put a handle on, and I think that’s a good one: common grace.
A Leading Theme of Psalm 145
And this is a leading theme of Psalm 145. This is a Davidic psalm. It says that it’s a song of praise. Some of you may be familiar with the title of the Book of Psalms in the Jewish scriptures, in the Jewish community. They don’t call it the Book of Psalms; they call it Tehillim, praises. That word actually does not appear on the title of any of the psalms of the 150, except this one. This one is where it appears. It’s a song of praise, a Psalm of David, and it’s specifically a praise psalm. And here I want you, as we read through it, to notice David’s emphasis on grace and this praise for who God is, praise for what God has done, praise for God’s goodness, and what we’ll call his common grace.
Psalm 145, beginning with verse 1. Here we have a resolve to praise: “I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.” And verse 3, he tells us that God is deserving of praise: “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.” Verse four, he’s deserving of continued praise. And here David shifts from his own praise to that of the praise of the people at large for God: “One generation shall commend your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts.”
Verses five and six, now we have a focus on God’s greatness and his majesty: “On the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds and I will declare your greatness.” Verse seven now specifies God’s goodness: “They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.” Verse eight, again, is an emphasis on God’s favor and patience, overflowing with grace: “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love.”
In verses 9 and 10, the focus here is on the universal goodness of God. Universally, “The Lord is good to all. His mercy is over all that he has made. And your work shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you.” And then, verses 11 and following, again we have the greatness of God here in terms of his kingdom: “They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power to make known to the children of men your mighty deeds and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.”
Then verse 14, again, his pity and compassion: “The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.” Verses 15 and 16, again, it’s praising God’s universal goodness in terms of his universal provision: “The eyes of all look to you and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.” Verses seventeen and following now we have depicting God as ever ready and eager to help: “The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him. He also hears their cry and saves them. The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.” And then verse 21, he has a concluding praise: “My mouth will sing the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.”
Now without question in all of this, David is focusing on his own experience of God’s grace, and there we narrow the subject to saving grace, and we’ll see that next time. But in verses 9 and 10 in particular, David views this grace of God in its largest context. Again, verse 9: “The Lord is good to all and his mercy is over all that he has made. All your works give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you.” Also again in verses 15 and following: “The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.” This is familiar with what we saw last week in Sunday school, Psalm 104, that even the lions look to God for their food. Verse 16: “You open your hand and you satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him. He also hears their cry and saves them. The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.”
All through these kinds of verses here, David is highlighting the fact not only has he been the recipient of God’s grace, but God’s grace is something that marks everything that he does, and all over his creation there are the marks of God’s universal goodness, universal kindness, universal love, and universal goodness to mankind. Now when we see that in contrast to the fall and the consequent curse of God on mankind, this is all the more striking: that this God against whom humanity has rebelled, and who in fact is laboring under a curse and judgment from God, nonetheless regularly experiences God’s goodness and grace in every kind of way. We’ve had the disastrous ramifications of sin in the whole created order and in humanity, and yet God’s goodness is over all his works. His kindness is universal. There is a general, a broad, a common grace of God.
As I say, we call this then common grace, and it’s a marvelous aspect of God’s overarching providence over all of his works. It is marked, David says, by goodness. In fact, common grace is such that it provides well for all of our needs, and not only for mankind, but for all of the created order. And in fact—and we’ll see this as we go along—God in common grace even uses sinful men destined for condemnation, and yet God uses sinful men for the common good.
John Murray is a theologian who I suppose did as much work on this doctrine as anyone. He has a wonderful paragraph here. I’m going to take time to read it to you: “How is it that men who still lie under the wrath and curse of God and are heirs of hell enjoy so many good gifts at the hand of God? How is it that men who are not savingly renewed by the Spirit of God nevertheless exhibit so many qualities, gifts, and accomplishments that promote the preservation, the temporal happiness and cultural progress, social and economic improvement of themselves and others? How is it that races of peoples that have been apparently untouched by the redemptive and regenerative influences of the gospel contribute so much to what we call human civilization? To put the question most comprehensively, how is it that this sin-cursed world enjoys so much favor and kindness at the hand of its holy and ever-blessed creator?”
I think it says, well, exactly what this doctrine of common grace is. In fact, he says a little bit further, “Every favor of whatever kind or degree falling short of salvation, which the undeserving and sin-cursed world enjoys at the hand of God,” is what we’re talking about here in this matter of common grace. It’s not redemptive; it’s short of that, but it’s nonetheless a display of God’s goodness and kindness to undeserving sinners. And in his common grace, he promotes human flourishing and human happiness. He provides for the needs of mankind.
And we’ll see then that there are generally two aspects to God’s common grace. There’s a positive and a negative. On the positive side, common grace speaks of the general blessings that God bestows to all men indiscriminately where and in what measure he pleases, but he bestows blessing on all indiscriminately. He doesn’t look down and say who’s deserving of the rain or who’s deserving of the sunshine; he gives to all men indiscriminately. That’s the positive side of common grace.
There’s a negative side of common grace as well, and that is the general operations of the Holy Spirit in which he exerts this moral influence on society to restrain sin, to preserve moral order, to keep society from becoming worse than it otherwise would be; a restraining, a general operation of the Spirit of God by which he restrains sin and maintains the order of society and promotes human flourishing. So generally we’re speaking here of the doctrine of divine providence, and yet it’s more narrow than that because it’s looking specifically at providence with an eye to God’s favor on undeserving and ill-deserving mankind. We call this common grace because it is ill-deserved. It is favor that is not deserved, but yet we call it “common” grace because God gives it indiscriminately to all and spreads it around the world, providing for all of his creatures.
We have a statement of this in Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter five, verse 45: “He makes the sun to rise on the evil and the good. He sends rain on the just and the unjust.” Now that’s in the context of Jesus commanding his disciples to love their enemies. And to make his point, Jesus points to the general love of God to all of mankind that provides for them accordingly. He makes the rain to come on the just and the unjust. He makes the sun to shine on the good and the evil. He doesn’t say, “Well, these people are sinful, I won’t give rain to them,” but he gives it generally to all. So it’s what we call common grace: ill-deserved goodness of God given even to those who are unbelieving.
Now I want to back off then, and now look at some specifics in how common grace is seen in the world, and then we’ll draw some applications from it before we have our luncheon this morning.
Various Expressions Of Common Grace
First Expression Of God’s Common Grace Is His Restraint Of Judgment
Number one—I’ve mentioned this briefly, but I want to focus on it again. First expression of God’s common grace is his restraint of judgment, his restraint of judgment and wrath against human sin. What this world deserves, according to the scriptures, is wrath and divine judgment. And yet, God restrains and holds back that deserved judgment. It will come. On those who are not repentant, it will come. But God restrains and holds back evil.
Jesus has an interesting statement of this in Luke chapter 13. The question is put to him about those who were walking under a tower and the thing collapsed and several were killed. Why do bad things like that happen? You remember Jesus’ answer? Everybody deserves to have buildings fall on them. Why should that surprise you? What should surprise you is that it doesn’t happen more often. “And I tell you, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” But generally speaking, God restrains. He holds back judgment like that. It’s not that they deserved it more; it’s just that God at times can allow it to come. But when you see the broad principle of God’s restraint of judgment, he doesn’t let it fall immediately as is deserved.
I suspect—I don’t think I can finally prove this, but I think that this is involved in that one enigmatic saying of Jesus on the cross in Luke chapter 23: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” It’s been difficult to deal with. How do you handle a statement like that? Are these people actually forgiven for their sin of crucifying Christ? And if not, is Jesus’ prayer not answered? How do we handle this? I suspect that we have to understand that word forgiveness in its broadest aspect. Father, you can even translate it this way: “Father, let them go. Let them go. They don’t understand what they’re doing.” And all of this gospel age is an answer to that prayer. Let them go. Hold it back. Judgment is deserved, but it does not fall.
You have expressions of this in Acts chapter 14 and Acts chapter 17. God restrains his wrath toward the Gentiles in anticipation of the coming of Christ to establish the gospel message. There are many other passages of this. We find it in the Old Testament: God withholding judgment when it is deserved. It falls at times, but then there’s this general restraint and humanity is let go. This is one aspect of common grace: God’s restraint of judgment, holding back, giving opportunity for repentance. I think that’s the message, one of the messages of 2 Peter chapter 3. When the skeptics ask, “Where is the promise of his coming? Why isn’t he here? And look, nothing ever happened before like this,” Peter points back to the judgment of the flood and says it’s coming again. A disastrous judgment is still coming whether you deny it or not. But then he makes that statement that the purpose in God’s waiting is his patience to usward that he would bring us to repentance. Holding back judgment so he can carry out his purpose of salvation in which all of humanity now benefits. So God’s common grace is seen in his restraint of judgment.
Common Grace Is Also Seen In God’s Restraint Of Sin And Evil In Society
Common grace is also seen in God’s restraint of sin and evil in society. This, I think, is one of the most profound implications of that difficult passage in 2 Thessalonians 2, where Paul speaks of the restrainer. And the man of sin is going to be revealed in his time, but the restrainer is holding him back. And when that restraint is lifted, he’ll be revealed in his full evil. Whoever the restrainer is, however it works, the clear implication is that society would be more evil than it already is if it were not for God’s restraining hand. If God would just let the human heart show itself, it would be a rush of evil that we have not seen before. In the end that will come. I suspect we’re beginning to see it. I’m not going to go out on that limb, but boy, it makes me think it.
We have hints of this in Romans chapter 1 of God restraining evil and restraining sin in society through conscience—a gift of God to every man, created in his image, through conscience, restraining evil in society. Romans chapter 13: restraining sin in society through government. And so that the ministers of government, sinners though they are, unbelieving though they are, are ministers of God to society to restrain evil. And to the degree that they do that, they deserve our thanks. Sin has introduced a disintegration into the world at every level and God in common grace holds back that sin lest it would show itself in its full manifestations. God preserves the good and he preserves moral order and restrains sin.
A Third Aspect Of God’s Common Grace Is His Bestowal Of Good
A third aspect of God’s common grace is his—and this is the positive side of it—his bestowal of good, the positive bestowments of good on ill-deserving people. As I’ve already said, he maintains the created order and he sends the seasons and the rains and the sunshine, providing food for all in their season. David talks about it here in Psalm 145 verse 15, even in terms of the food chain: “The eyes of all look to you and you give them their food in due season.” So it has to do with God maintaining the created order rather than as the created order deserves because of human sin. He does not destroy it as he did in the flood. He promised he wouldn’t and he holds back his judgment and in fact bestows good.
We find it in these positive bestowments of good also, not just in maintaining the created order, but in maintaining human goodness. You may be surprised to hear me say that. Don’t we believe in total depravity here? Yes, we do. But we also see God’s common grace in maintaining human goodness. Jesus talks about that in the Sermon on the Mount: that even a pagan knows how to love his son and to provide for him. Paul speaks of it in Romans chapter 2 in terms of conscience, bearing witness so that even pagans know right from wrong, and often at least behave accordingly. There’s this maintaining of human goodness. Peter makes a reference to that in 2 Peter chapter 2. Through the influence of the preaching of the gospel, you have people who have responded in a non-saving way. And yet, they have escaped the pollutions of the world. Still heading for destruction, and yet there was a moral cleanup as a result of their acquaintance with the gospel. This is God working generally in the created order.
Another aspect of this bestowments of good is that he maintains general social order. Again, Romans chapter 1: giving us conscience, all of us—the lost, even the most remote of peoples who have never heard the gospel of Christ—still have what we call a conscience, knowing God, Paul says in Romans chapter 1; having this conscience, knowing good from evil, and behaving accordingly. It’s not saving goodness. It’s not pure goodness. It’s not goodness done to the glory of God, but it is a kind of goodness nonetheless that’s being preserved in humanity. In Genesis chapter 9, we have the establishing of human government after the flood. We have Paul echoing that in Romans chapter 13. And again, there’s that general restraint of sin through human government.
Well, there’s more of that elsewhere. I think you see the point that there’s these positive bestowals of good. Another is the enablements that he gives, promoting human flourishing in various ways. He promised that after the flood in Genesis chapter nine, that the seasons would continue and they would go on. Paul picks it up in Acts chapter 14, saying that the seasons and the rains that God gives to provide food—all of that, he tells us, is God leaving himself with a witness, all of it testifying to his goodness that all of mankind ought to see in the seasons and in the rains and the sunshine. They ought to see in it all God providing for his creatures.
We see it in terms of the creation mandate itself which continues after the flood and throughout sinful humanity; that God filled the world with amazing resources and he gives this command to humanity to develop those resources for their own good and for their own flourishing. And so we see it in the arts and we see it in the sciences and we see it in industry and business and technology and all of the advances that we see. We see God in his common goodness to mankind.
In other words, then, despite the fall, despite the curse that has come and judgment that has fallen upon humanity in measure, still God cares for his humanity. His loving kindness is over all of his works. The world has been subjected to futility, as Paul says in Romans chapter eight, but yet through all of the labor and toil that we have, we are able by God’s common grace to see advances in every area, and in it we ought to see God displaying his goodness to his creatures.
There’s more than that. There’s continued benefits specifically designed for human flourishing: the advance of human knowledge, the improvements of physical conditions, living conditions that we have. We see man with good affections, good sympathy. We see gifts, we see talents, we see the sciences, advancements in technology, all for the betterment of society. Advances that protect, advances that make life easier and better. Even in the political realm, once in a while they get it right. And even sinful men in all of these areas—technology, science, politics, society—in all of these areas, they often get it right. And God working through them, even unbelievers who rebel against God, and even through men who reject God, and yet God working through them to provide the betterment of society.
In all of these ways we see both the general operations of the Holy Spirit by which he exerts such an influence on society that he maintains moral order, he restrains sin, and he restrains judgment, and he actually promotes the well-being of humanity through the advancements that he gives them. And we see also then the positive blessings that he gives in the natural world, in the material world, in the intellectual realms, in the sciences, and in technology, God imparting to all men these things indiscriminately, with no respect at all to their deserving of it. Common grace given to all.
And the purpose of it all, he tells us, is just to display his goodness. That’s what David sees in it in Psalm 145. In all of these things that are for the betterment of society, in all these ways we should see God providing for his creatures. Rebellious though they are, there it is: providing for them, providing for them, providing for them again. He does this for his own glory. He does it for the advancement of his redemptive purpose, as we’ve seen and mentioned in 2 Peter chapter 3. And as I’ve also mentioned in Acts chapter 14, Paul says that God does this in order to leave himself a witness, that this goodness of God to his creatures ought to point all of us to him and to give him praise accordingly.
Practical Applications
Well, there just in broad aspect then is the doctrine of common grace. Now what I’d like to do is spend the rest of our time on: what difference does this make? How ought this to affect us? What are some uses or some practical applications?
Number one, as I’ve already mentioned, it ought to be in terms of worship. It’s interesting, I think, that liberal Christianity—liberal Christianity that has no doctrine of human depravity—neither does it have any doctrine of common grace. Where human goodness is assumed, well then there’s nothing remarkable about the goodness that you see. And there’s no praise for God for it. But we ought never to take any of God’s gifts for granted. And at every change of the seasons, at every rain that’s needed for the crops, in all of the created order that we see, maintained with its regularity in the seasons and the days, we ought to see God at work for the good of his creatures, and we ought to praise him for it.
Even Christians often are puzzled at times by the question of why do bad things happen? And why do bad things happen to good people? There are so many answers to that. The one answer—I think it was R.C. Sproul who gave it—it was so good. “Why do bad things happen to good people?” That only happened once, and he volunteered. But there’s more of an answer than that. Why do bad things happen? I think the first response ought to be: why do so many good things happen to bad people? How do we explain the fact that this world, living in its rebellion and sin, enjoys so much good, so much advancement in all of these areas that we’ve talked about? How do we explain goodness? How do we explain the advances in technology and science and in the medical world that have been for the betterment of society? How do we explain human flourishing in a world that is in rebellion against God?
This ought to be an occasion of praise. It is for David. Now, of course, we naturally focus our praise on God’s saving grace for us, and David does the same in this psalm. But we have not fully appreciated grace, and we’ve not praised God fully as we ought, until we see that saving grace in its broadest context of his grace to all men and his goodness that is shown to all. And we have to recognize that in all of this, we have a display of God’s goodness, and we haven’t praised him rightly until we recognize it. We ought to be able to sing with Isaac Watts, “I sing the goodness of the Lord that fills the earth with food.” I think he captures this doctrine very well. So first of all, this ought to be an occasion for worship. That’s what it is for David in Psalm 145. Observing the broad, general goodness of God to fallen mankind ought to be an occasion of praise. It is a marvelous thing that judgment has not already fallen. And yet there is his goodness.
Secondly, I think we should learn to apply this in terms of the Christian and society. I think God’s indiscriminate mercy to mankind gives us explicit warrant for our own involvement in social and cultural matters to help in the betterment of society. Mercy ministries, moral awareness, pardon the word, but genuine justice, involvement in ministries like crisis pregnancy centers, charity. Of course, our goal in all of those is always to see gospel advance, but God himself pursues the general good. And we have explicit warrant in that to be like him in doing the same ourselves. In that way, we’re imaging God in the world.
Same also with regard, I think, to political involvement. Individual Christians can look for ways to better society. When Jeremiah the prophet wrote to the Israelites in captivity and in exile in Babylon, you remember what he tells them? “Seek the good of the city.” And that’s, of course, what Daniel does, serving in the king’s court, his three friends doing the same. What he does not say to them is, “Those Babylonians are so pagan and sinful, just forget it, it’s over.” Seek the good of the city. That will involve mercy ministries. It will involve pursuing policies that are for human flourishing. Once in a while—once in a while—our political leaders get it right, and they ought to be commended when they do. And we ought to vote accordingly.
All of this, I think, ought to give us some pause before being overly critical of people in the world and their various endeavors. You can say, “Yes,” you can say, “Well, the good that they have done was for their own betterment and it was for their own selfish motives.” But it’s a kind of good that has happened nonetheless in the advancements of technology and science and the medical world and political spheres in some cases. When we see those, we ought to see God at work, and we could very well do to commend the people involved for doing it. This is not to say that we’ve become undiscerning. It’s to become more discerning and to see in all of these things God at work, even through unbelievers, for the benefit of the general good.
So our uses and applications for this: one, it ought to be an occasion for worship. Two, we ought to understand from this something to inform our involvement in society. And then third, and I want to press this, this says something to us in terms of our evangelism and apologetics, in terms of answering the critics. The problem of moral evil is often brought against Christians. It’s one of the most common arguments against Christianity from the new atheists today. There’s so much natural evil, there’s so much moral evil. “If God is a good God, why does he allow it?” And we’re put on the back foot; how do we answer?
And the first thing I always want to say when they want to push that is: where in the world do you get this category “good”? Explain that to me in naturalistic terms. Where does good come from in a Darwinian world with the survival of the fittest? Where does good come from? How do you explain it? And put them back and say, “How do you get this category of good?” Materialistic assumptions—where does it come from? And why is it good?
But beyond that, beyond the category and the more philosophical questions involved in all of that, I want to ask them: how do you explain the good that’s in the world? That’s beyond the category of good. Let’s just assume it’s there, and I have reason to say that it’s there. You don’t. But beyond that, how do you explain the good that happens in the world in terms of the survival of the fittest, in terms of naturalistic development? How do you explain all the good that happens if it’s the survival of the fittest? Then why isn’t that good? And how do you explain all of the good things that happen in this world?
We have an answer. We have an answer. Well, it’s the image of God shaping the soul of every man. It’s the Holy Spirit of God maintaining moral order and restraining sin. But why is it that there is this in the human heart, generally speaking: a desire and an affection for human flourishing and human good generally? Why do we see so much of it? How do you account for it? In an animal kingdom, you don’t see it. We have an answer for it.
And if they raise the question of natural evil, calamities that happen, tornadoes, hurricanes—I don’t know, maybe you don’t hear it in your world, but maybe it’s because I’m a preacher, people want to talk that way to me—but I’ve heard it many times over the years. When there’s a hurricane or tornado or some natural disaster, “Why would God allow that?” And there’s often a critical tone to it. It’s not unlike—it’s been 15, 16 years ago—a son of someone in the church where I was had an awful automobile accident. He didn’t come to the church. I’d met him, but he wasn’t really an attender. But he was in this awful automobile accident; hit the guardrail, tore it up. He escaped with his life, but he was banged up terribly and laid up in bed. So I went to visit him. I want to extend some sympathy. And don’t you know? I’m standing there, and he starts in on me. Oh, why God would do this to me. I’m thinking, “You know, I’m here to give sympathy.” But I’m a Christian. I’m a minister. I’m a representative of God. And you’re not going to trash talk God.
So, we’ll call him Scott. “Scott. Where were you last night? You came home at two in the morning. Where were you? You at a girl’s house? Honoring God there, were you? Were you drunk? How much time you spend in prayer this week? How much time you spend trying to honor God? You flout his laws and then somehow you think that he’s done you wrong and he owes you better.” I didn’t say it with that tone, but I was thinking it. But it’s the same when natural disasters come. It’s not unlike that at all.
I remember a neighbor coming to me one time after a tornado that had struck. “Why does God do that?” “Charlie, Charlie, how much time in prayer did you spend this week? Did you even go to church this month, this year? Do you seek to honor God with your life? Do you have any room in your life for God?” And you think somehow he’s wronged you in this? The thinking is crazy. It’s like the whole world revolves around you and not God. And they’ve got it all backwards in this whole question of natural evil and this problem of naturally, “Why do bad things happen like that?” They’ve got it all backwards. Why shouldn’t it happen? He’s told us up front it’s going to happen. We live under judgment and a curse, and it ought to lead us to repentance.
The fact of the matter is, God is better to you than you’ve ever deserved on your best day. But we deserve his judgment. And in all of this display of goodness, after goodness, after goodness, after goodness, we have the gall to ask God, “Why should he do that to me?” It’s all backwards. And we have to be tactful and we have to be careful how we say it. We’ve got to be ready with that answer. At some point, we have to be able to say it. God has been better to you than you have ever deserved. And you owe it to him to worship. And it ought to lead you to repentance.
Common grace. Common grace of God ought to be an occasion for praise for the people of God. For the unbeliever, this is just one more mark of ingratitude. It’s one more mark of suppressing the truth. But for the believer, this ought to be an occasion for praise and renewed trust. Jesus applies it that way in Matthew chapter six. This God who provides for the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, he’s our Father. Don’t you think he’ll care for us? This ought to be an occasion for praise. Next week then we’ll look more specifically then at saving grace and how he comes to us in ill-deserved favor to make us his own. Let’s bow for prayer.
Our Father,