But if it is by grace, it’s no longer on the basis of works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.
– Romans 11:6
There’s a lot we could unpack just walking through Romans 11. But this verse is such a powerful, poignant summary of the gospel. A truth that Paul has been writing and expounding on all throughout the book of Romans. We are all prone to forget, that the core of everything is in our relationship with God. Everything revolves around His grace.
Romans 11:6 Summarizes a Key Gospel Truth
Just think, where would you be right now were it not for the grace of God? I would be totally lost in my sin. I’d be totally immersed in whatever I think is right in my own eyes, to use language from Judges, if I was even here. The reality is I deserve to be in Hell right now. I’ve sinned against the infinitely holy God of the universe.
I deserve infinite judgment, condemnation, and holy justice forever, and yet God is gracious. What does that mean? He doesn’t give me what I deserve, God gives me what I don’t deserve. He pours out on you and me through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. All made possible by His blood just as we prayed through Romans 3. His perpetuation by faith in His blood, it turns aside the judgment we deserve. Jesus took that judgment for us upon Himself on the cross. We have been saved by God’s grace.
But not just we have been saved by God’s grace. We are also being saved by God’s grace, not in the sense of being justified. We have been justified by faith. We’ve already seen that in Romans 5:1. But we are being sanctified. We’re being conformed to more to the image of Jesus as followers of Jesus, and all of that is by grace.
Romans 11:6 Teaches Us We are Sanctified by Grace
It’s not like we were saved by grace and now we are sanctified by our works. No, we’re sanctified by his grace. Yes, that lays out in works in a life that looks totally different because we’re forgiven of our sin and filled with the Holy Spirit and in relationship with God through Jesus. Yes, our lives, our works look different, but what’s at the ground at the bottom of all of that? It’s the grace of God.
When you and I wake up every morning, we live by grace, we pray by grace, we study His word by grace, we share the gospel by grace. We obey by the power of His grace in us, His goodness in us. Remember, everything good in us ultimately comes from God, which means we need His grace all day long at every moment. The beautiful thing is God promises to provide sufficient grace for every moment.
We don’t have to worry that we won’t have enough grace for what today holds. When we face temptation, when we face trial, we can know that we have sufficient grace from God for everything today holds, everything tomorrow holds, and His grace will prove sufficient for all of eternity, for 10 trillion years and beyond. We pray, God, all glory be to your name for the grace you have poured out on us.
This Verse Reminds Us that Without Grace We Would Be Lost in Sin
We say together right now, we shudder to think of where we would be without your grace. Without your grace, we would not be saved, we would be lost in our sin. We would be condemned to eternal death. We would be separated from relationship with you. In other words, separated from life, love, joy, peace, hope, and all that is found in you, the fountain of everything that is good. God, we praise you for showing grace to us.
Jesus, we praise you for the cross, we praise you for taking the judgment we deserve upon yourself. We praise you for opening the floodgates of grace to flow toward us, not just in the past, not just in that moment, which we praise you for that moment when by your grace, you justified us through faith when you brought us to faith in Jesus.
This Verse Reminds Us God Will Always Provide the Grace We Need
But God, even more so today for your grace right now amidst whatever we’re walking through, we praise you that you have promised to give us today sufficient grace in our trials. Sufficient grace as we face temptation, sufficient grace for whatever today holds in our lives, our families, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, our schools, as your church, your promise to give us sufficient grace. All glory be to your name that we don’t have to worry if we have enough grace from you for what we will walk through today.
We pray that you’d help us to live constantly dependent upon your grace, constantly looking to you for your grace, praising you for your grace, thanking you for your grace, trusting in your grace today, trusting in sufficient grace for tomorrow. Help us not just to see ourselves as having been saved by grace, but God to see our lives today as being saved, as being sanctified, as being transformed and empowered by your grace today.
Prayer for the Omani Arab People
God, we pray for the spread of this grace to the ends of the earth. Lord, for 2.8 million Omani Arabs who are Muslim and do not have this concept of grace, it has transformed their hearts through Jesus, the son of God. God, we pray for 2.8 million Omani Arabs to be reached with the good news of your grace, and bless those who are working for that. We bless the small number of believers among Omani Arabs. God, we pray that all the nations of the world would experience your salvation by grace and that you would spend our lives toward that end today for the spread of your grace in the world. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
