The All-Sufficiency of Grace

2Corinthians 12:9 a “And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."

Is the Grace of God sufficient for you? Are you content with the provision that God extends to you in your life? Do you trust God and His innerrant Word? Do you try to fill your life with the things that your eyes desire? Why is it that we look for contentment and provision from the things of this world when God’s marvelous Grace is sufficient? One of the “schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11) is to deceive man into believing that God’s grace is not sufficient. Therefore, man abandons the perfect grace provision of God in order to seek contentment for his desires from an imperfect world. This is not a new concept. In fact, we can trace it all the way back to the Garden of Eden with the first man and woman that God created, Adam and Eve. Just like the cliché, “History repeats itself”, we have repeatedly abandoned the Grace provision of God in the same way as Adam and Eve. We need to learn from history and not repeat it.

Dr. W.H. Griffith makes this statement regarding Genesis Chapter 3: “It is hardly too much to say that this chapter is the pivot of the Bible, for if we take it away, the rest of Scripture becomes meaningless. With the exception of the fact of Creation, we have the record of the most important and far-reaching event in the world’s history – the entrance of sin.”

In Genesis Chapter 3, man sins against God and falls from the Age of Innocence. God had placed man in the garden and gave him the freedom to eat from any tree, except one. God’s Grace Provision for man in the garden was sufficient. There was not one need for man that God did not provide in the Garden. Everywhere that Adam and Eve looked, they saw the perfect, sufficient Grace of God. Yet their eyes were drawn to the only thing that God had said they didn’t need. Why? (Learning Point: You may be completely dependent on the Grace provision of God, but never underestimate the “schemes of the devil”. He is diligently working to draw your focus away from God to the desire of things in life that you don’t need.) What we have to do is learn from history and not repeat it. Satan will tempt us into questioning God in the exact same manner that he deceived Eve into questioning God. We must learn from Eve’s mistakes or we too will be deceived by the “schemes of the devil.”

Satan deceived Eve by getting her to question God in three distinct areas: (1) Is God’s Grace sufficient? (2) Is God’s word true? (3)Is God the sovereign ruler of my life, or am I?

(1) Is God’s Grace sufficient?
In Genesis 3:1-3, Satan cast doubt on the sufficiency of the Grace of God by asking “Did God really say…?” By placing Eve’s focus on the prohibition, Satan was able to make the her forget about all the blessings, privilege, and provision that she enjoyed in the Garden. What distractions in your life are causing you to forget all of the blessing, privilege, and provision that God has for you? Don’t focus on what you don’t have, focus on what God has and will always provide for you by his all-sufficient Grace.

(2) Is God’s word true?
In Genesis 3:4, Satan called God a liar by saying “You surely will not die!" Being completely opposed to God, Satan is determined to keep man from obeying God's word. He does this by casting doubt on TRUTH. Satan has always and will always call God a liar, believing that he is right and God is wrong. Do you completely trust the Word of God as inerrant, infallible truth? Don’t let the world’s standards and norms allow you to question the reliability and absolute truth of God’s Word. In order to defend the Truth, you must know the Truth. Knowing God’s Word will allow you to expose the lies and “schemes of the devil”.

(3)Is God the sovereign ruler of my life, or am I?
In Genesis 3:5, Satan now calls into question the absolute controlling sovereignty of Almighty God. He tries to convince Eve that the reason God forbids her to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is that “you shall be like God”. The ruse is that Eve will have just as much control of her life as God does. Who is in control of your life? Do you live in complete submission to the sovereignty of God, or do you think that you are the ruler of your life? God is the sovereign ruler of the universe, and you are man. Don’t deceive yourself into thinking that this life is all about you. This life has always been and always will be about Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the One who controls history, not Eve, and definitely not you.

These “schemes” have been perpetuated throughout history. Today, Satan is no different in his methods and motives than he was in the Garden. He tries to take our focus of the Grace of God and place our focus on the “wants” of man. Study the Word, become wise to his schemes, and learn from the mistakes of our forefathers (and mothers) in history; Don’t repeat them!