I loved the way John Piper put this in a recent sermon, “The Meaning of Grace: But God . . .”

Speaking on Titus 3:1-8, Piper explains grace as “but God…”. What he is saying is that after reading through Titus 3:3, “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.” we get to this wonderful statement in verse 4, “but God…”. So we see how utterly depraved we are without God, we see how enslaved we are to our sins, how foolish we are that we can’t help but cry out for grace because we need it so desperately. If God were to count our iniquities, who could stand? (Psalm 130:3) But when the kindness of God appeared, he saved us.

Grace is the “but God…” when we realize just how sinful we truly are and how much God has forgiven us. John Newton said he “remembered two things, that he is a great sinner and that Christ is a great savior.” Grace shines through the gospel of Jesus Christ so that when we look upon our sins and see His mercy we finally see just how forgiven we need to be and will be if we believe.

“And there they continued to preach the gospel” - Acts 14:7

Each Tuesday a different reflection on the gospel and its continual effect on our lives