What is grace? Most Christians think that grace is merely something given by God. If I give you a Bible as a present, that is grace. Although this understanding is correct, in the Bible grace means much more than that. Grace is not only something given by God, but it is God Himself doing things for us. Grace is not merely something objective that is given to us by God. Grace is God Himself coming to us and doing things for us. Are you weak? God will come to be your strength, and that coming of God is grace. Are you unable to face your situation? That need not be a problem, because God will come to stand with you and face that situation for and in you. This is grace. If you read Genesis 6 carefully, you will see that grace here does not mean that God gave Noah many things. It means that God came to Noah and was with Noah. God's presence was Noah's strength and power. Noah not only enjoyed something given to him by God objectively, but he enjoyed God Himself. In the midst of a crooked, perverse, and adulterous generation, a generation whose temptations no one could withstand, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God came to strengthen Noah that He might stand with him and uphold him. That was the grace that Noah found, and that is the grace that we need today.
Consider the situation in modern society. I do not even dare to look at a newspaper. It contains too many temptations. While I am walking along the street, I do not dare to look into the show windows. This is the reason that I do not like to go into the department store. Department stores are more than devilish, and all the exhibitions and displays in them come from hell. The talk you hear on the radio, at work, and at school is evil, corrupt, and devilish. It is hard for anyone as a fallen person to stand in such a situation. This age is truly crooked, perverse, and adulterous; it is full of fornication and immorality. People talk about immorality without one bit of shame. Who can stand in such a generation? Not one of us is able to stand. We all have a fallen nature within us, the same evil nature that all men have. We need grace. We must come to the throne of grace boldly and say, "Lord, I am here. I need Your grace. I am not coming to ask You to give me good things. I am coming to find grace to meet my need. Lord, I cannot go to work or to school without Your presence. Lord, I cannot go to a department store without Your presence. Lord, I need You to stand with me. Come to be my strength. Lord, uphold me and sustain me."
The matter of divorce is a great temptation to the young people today. The temptations are without and the lusts are within. Who can stand in such an age? There is such great temptation! Because none of us is able to stand, we need the grace to be today's Noah. Only grace can enable you to be one with your wife or husband. Only grace can help us to love our husbands or wives without change. None of us can do it without grace, for there is too much temptation. The tide, current, and trend of the age are too strong. People seem to think that if you are not divorced, you are not modern. They say that in order to be up-to-date you must be divorced. How we need grace! We need God to come to us to be our strength and everything we need. This is grace. This is what Noah needed and what we also need today. Noah found it, and we also must find it. Because Noah found grace, it was easy for him to walk with God.
Parents are concerned about their children in school. The biggest temptation that the children face in the schools today is the matter of drugs. Even in the elementary schools there are heroin addicts. This is pitiful! The young children cannot stand against this kind of temptation. They need grace. There is no addiction that you can overcome by yourself. You need to come to the throne of grace and find grace. Noah found grace and he walked with God. Grace helped him to walk with God.
Noah walked with God by faith (Heb. 11:7). As we pointed out in the Life-Study messages on Romans, faith is not something produced out from ourselves. Faith is something of God that is transfused into our being. The more we touch the throne of God and the more we look to the Lord, the more we are transfused and infused with all that He is. When He is transfused and infused into our being, His very divine element infused within us becomes our faith. When you touch the throne of grace and are transfused with God, you will believe in God spontaneously. There is no need for you to strive to believe in Him. Once God's element has been infused into you, something within you springs up to believe in Him. That is God Himself who has been transfused into you believing for you. We do not know how to believe and we cannot believe. However, if you simply come to the throne of grace, looking unto Him, touching Him, and finding grace, you will be infused with the believing God. He will believe in and for you. He will be your faith. Faith comes from this source.