THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST - THE GOSPEL OF GRACE

 THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST - THE GOSPEL OF GRACE

"But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (for by GRACE you are saved); and has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the GIFT OF GOD." Ephesians 2:4-8

GRACE IS - AND UNEARNABLE BENEFIT, PROVISION, HELP.

 Grace is an unearned favor that we obtain from God for all the things that we cannot do for ourselves. Frankly, even the things that we can do for ourselves, like gathering our own food, actually depend on His Mercy and Grace ("That you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just an on the unjust." Matthew 5:45). All the sources and resources are fully under His power and control. That is why Jesus told us to ask, and showed us to give thanks for our daily bread. 

Let us look a little further into the Grace of God:

  The grace of God in Christ Jesus is the framework of the Gospel wherein we stand by faith. Even though it is such a treasure, we somehow seem to easily fall into the presumptuous pit of works and self-righteousness. Oh, how we must keep our eyes on Jesus and put all our faith and hope only in Him!

 GRACE IS RECOGNIZED BY FAITH

 The grace of God is not always recognized or even appreciated, but He lavishes it on us, and often unexpectedly. Through it all, it is always a demonstration of not only His mercy but His unfailing love. The greatest and most important demonstration of His grace and love is what He provided for all the world through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. How we receive this grace, as with most everything, is according to our faith. Ten lepers came to Jesus for healing, "And when He saw them, He said unto them, 'Go show yourselves unto the priests.' And it came to pass that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus, answering, said, 'Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger? And He said unto him, 'Arise, go your way, your faith has made you whole.'" Luke 17:12-19 

 Not everyone who receives the blessings of grace acknowledges the Source, though they still enjoy the benefits. But God blesses anyway.

GRACE DESPITE GUILT - "MERCY REJOICES AGAINST JUDGMENT." James 2:13

"For there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified; therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the passovers for every one that was not clean, to sanctify them unto the Lord. For a multitude of the people, even many from Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, 'The Good Lord pardon every one that prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of His fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.' And the Lord hearkened ot Hezekiah, and healed the people." 2 Chronicles 30:17-20 The Lord answered according to the intentions of the heart, even if His ordinances were not followed. That is grace. 

GRACE THOUGH UNWORTHY (AREN'T WE ALL?)

   While playing a foosball game with a young inmate, he asked me and said,   "I am going to see my parole officer on Tuesday to see if I can get an early release on Thursday. Why don't you pray for me so I can get out early? And if you do, and I get out early, I will believe in God." So I said, "Ok, but do you deserve to be in here?" He said, "Yes." Then I asked, "Do you deserve to be released early?" He said, "No." "Will you believe in God if He gets you out on Thursday?"  "Yes." So I prayed for him right there (audibly). That Thursday, while at work at the store, I saw him pass by, and I called to him, "Hey ... do you remember what you said?" "No. What?" "You said that if God got you out on Thursday, that you would believe in Him." He said nothing and hurried away. It is amazing how God sometimes graciously answers our requests even if our hearts are not fully sincere. The Lord is pitching for us, even if our hearts are really in the game, so to speak. But life is not a game, and the Lord does not want us to lose. He knows what we need even when we don't.

GRACE AT HIS EXPENSE

"But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man." Hebrews 2:9

 We, being cut off from God, are in great need and completely helpless and unable to change our situation, so God took up the tab Himself.  Imagine this. It was by the grace of God and His unfailing love that He sent His Son, who took on human form, lived and suffered among us, laid down His life for us, that we might be with Him forever! He fully embraced our limitations, weaknesses, hardships, sufferings, and temptations. But we must realize, He did not need to go through all this to know what we have to go through. He is God. He was and is always fully aware and has a full understanding of our hardships and sufferings, far more than any loving father could while watching his child struggle through hardship or suffering. Nevertheless, to atone for the sins of mankind, He wonderfully stepped up to the plate to supply the grace! "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Romans 5:12, "But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by ONE MAN, Jesus Christ, has abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift. For the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." Romans 5:15-17, 

  The Lord Jesus Christ had an unimaginably huge task to accomplish. Because it is man that sinned, only by a man could just payment be made. No other blood sacrifice is sufficient. "It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." Hebrews 10:4; Only a sinless man could stand in the gap. But we have another problem, "as it is written, there is none righteous, no not one...for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:10,23; furthermore, one sinless man (if it were even possible for such a man to exist outside of Christ) could never pay for the sins of the entire world; only God could do that. The reality of the human plight was far more hopeless than we realized as far as redemption and salvation are concerned. We never realized how hopeless and lost we were outside of Christ our Savior. "None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him (for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceases forever), that he should still live forever, and not see corruption/decay." Psalm 49: 7-9. So our Saviour had to be not only a sinless man, but infinitely more..."...there is no God else beside Me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside Me. Look unto Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I AM God, and there is none else." Isaiah 45: 21-22. So, what does that reveal about the mystery of Jesus Christ and who He is ("Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of world." John 1:29)? He was fully man that flawlessly prevailed over all the temptations of this world and was thus sinless, and is also fully God Who alone could pay for the souls of ALL mankind. PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME!!! None of us could earn this nor accomplish this even for ourselves, let alone for anyone else. As the song goes, "He paid a debt a debt He did not owe, we owed a debt we could not pay, I needed someone to wash my sins away..."

HIS GRACE FOR OUR SALVATION - The most critical revelation of the Grace of God is our salvation. It begins with the forgiveness of sins - We cannot remove the guilt and defilement of one of the tiniest of sins before an Almighty and HOLY God ("...God is Light, and in Him is NO DARKNESS AT ALL." 1 John 1:5), let alone cleanse ourselves from a lifetime of sin. Nor can we change or escape our fallen nature, which is prone to evil. Furthermore, we ourselves cannot bridge the gap between our Creator and us. The Good News, the Gospel, is that what we could not do, Jesus Christ, God's only Begotten Son did for us by laying down His life, shedding His blood, and thereby washing us of our sins and thus breaking the power of sin and death  ("for the wages of sin is death." Romans 6:23) over our lives ("O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?...For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." Romans 7:24, 8:2). But it doesn't stop there. As we surrender to Him in faith, He rebirths us in our spirit by imparting His Holy Spirit in our hearts/spirit ("That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." John 3:5-6, "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father!'" Galatians 4:6). In Christ Jesus, we now have His very self living inside us. How wonderful is that! We could do none of this ourselves, but He, out of His love and compassion, graciously took charge and did it for us! All we have to do is believe Him and repent (turn to Him). Through the cross, which annuls all our efforts, He not only paved the way, but in fact, He is the Way, simply because "He knows our frame: He remembers that we are dust." Psalm 103:14, "...truly, every man at his best state is altogether vanity." Psalm 39:5

  But some may say, "Are not all people created in God's image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27)? Yes, but that does not mean that we are connected to God. Before we come to Jesus, although we are blueprinted to be like God, yet because mankind fell into disobedience and sin, our nature has been defiled, corrupted, and we were thus cut off from His Presence; therefore, outside of Christ, we do not have His Holy Spirit in us, which is why the Scripture says, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins," Ephesians 2:1 . So yes, we need to be born again (John 3:7), and He thereby imparts His Spirit in us once we are purge from our sins by His blood. We absolutely needed to be cleansed from our sin for Christ to come and dwell in our hearts, "For You are not a God that has pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with You.'' Psalm 5:4. What, us evil!? Jesus even called those following Him evil, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" Matthew 7:11. Truly, by faith in Christ we enter into the Kingdom of God as His very own children into a life by His grace that will never end. Dear friends, this is glorious! Can you imagine, in Christ Jesus, the Creator of the universe lives in us! How else can we have Eternal Life and the hope of the resurrection? How gracious is that!

OUR UNENDING NEED FOR HIS HELP 

 As we look at life in reality, every benefit and ability we have is completely dependent on the will, mercy, and grace, but that is exciting! The fact is that as we face the untold difficulties and even dangers of life, in Christ we always have HOPE, even if some of the problems are our fault! "But there is forgiveness with Youl, that You may be feared." Psalm 130:4

HOW BIG IS HIS GRACE AND MERCY?

 "For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the Living God, Who is the SAVIOUR of all  men, especially of those that believe." 1 Timothy 4:10

HIS GRACE FOR OUR MOST BASIC NEEDS

  Our very place in the universe, which is otherwise subject to the forces of the cosmos, the relentless power of nature, and the turbulence of the earth beneath our feet, even with all our wisdom and technology, we are all fully dependent on the mercy and grace of God Almighty, let alone facing all the issues of everyday life. "And which of you, with taking thought, can add to his stature (life's span) one cubit? If  you then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take thought for the rest?" Luke 12:25-26. Looking at the entire content of Jesus' teaching here, He points out that our Heavenly Father takes care of all life in the world around us, and states that we of ourselves are basically unable to do that which is least. That gives us the scope of the reality of how dependent we ALL are on His grace and mercy. His mercy spares us, and His grace enables us. 

  We must understand that it is not a game with God. He is in the process of bringing Creation back in line with His original design. He gave man dominion over this world and the care of it to subdue it (Genesis 1:26-28); however, because we failed through sin and disobedience, we not only opened the gate for corruption to thrive, but also opened wide the door for Satan, by obeying him, to gain influence. In response, God subjected Creation to a curse of deterioration until all the forces of evil are put under Jesus' feet, Genesis 3:17-19. ("for we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now"..."Then comes the end, when He shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father, when He shall have put down all rule and all authority, and power. For He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death"..."Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.") Romans 8:22, 1 Corinthians 15:24-26, 2 Peter 3:13. Since the fall of the human race, to the cross of Christ, and now until His return, there is so much yet for us to endure. Seeing how dependent we are on Him for everything, we are in constant need of His grace to stand and prevail until then. 

HIS GRACE FOR LIFE'S CHALLENGES

 "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:16

  Initially, our salvation begins with fleeing into the arms of Jesus, but in reality, we should find ourselves regularly running to Him for help, guidance, and His saving grace. Abraham Lincoln said, "I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day." 

  He did not just save us and then abandon us for the rest of our lives to sort things out on our own. We not only begin our walk in Christ by grace, but we embark on a life bathed in the grace of God. That being said, we do have a responsibility to abide in it and take advantage of it (Hebrews 4:16). He leaves decisions and choices up to us, but has given us everything we need to succeed in His eyes. "According as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue..." 2 Peter 1:3. Grace does not equal easy; it means ENABLES. We can also see here that we have a responsibility to apply ourselves to obtain what we need. He provides not only the tools we need, but He also has enabled us to use and develop them. It is a needful exercise to obtain knowledge. Peter further admonishes us to diligently add to our faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love, to keep our faith from stagnating (2 Peter 1:5-8). So we do have a responsibility to fortify ourselves in our salvation through the grace He richly supplies, "...be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." 2 Timothy 2:1  So in the end of all our diligence and efforts, it is His grace that brings us through every struggle, conflict, and success since all the "tools" we need to suceed are already divinely provided. "...And what to you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you have not received it?"  1 Corinthians 4:7 Grace supplies, faith applies. So let's be diligent.

  HIS GRACE TO BALE US OUT 

"God is our Refuge and Strength, a very present HELP in trouble." Psalm 46:1

  The entire Psalm 107 addresses various situations, some through our own doing, where the Lord steps in and rescues us. Can you imagine what kind of shape we would be in if He were not gracious and did not bail us out of some of the messes we can get ourselves into? But notice from these verses and throughout the Scriptures that He typically does not step in until we humble ourselves and ask, or perhaps someone else intercedes for us. Often, it is our pride, rebellion, or presumption that gets us in trouble, and that must be addressed. "But He gives more grace. Therefore, He says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." James 4:6 How much do we need to endure before we humble ourselves before our Almighty God? Oh, and we need to know that our Loving Heavenly Father does not rub it in our faces when we mess up. He just wants us to repent and get back on track for our own good. He loves us so much!

THERE IS ONLY ONE SUPER HERO

"I am the Vine, and you are the branches. He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing." John 15:5

 Apparently, the catch expression in the West is to become a SUPER HERO. But in reality, there is only One - Jesus. Outside of Christ and the wonderful grace of God, we are useless. That is a hard pill for us proudful humans to swallow, but that is the fact. Without Jesus, who is the ultimate Super Hero, we can do nothing. One way God amazes us is that He loves to take the most unlikely persons and does wonders through them. If you are chosen, you can be one of them. All we can do is step out in faith and obedience and give our best, and He does the rest. "For you see your calling, brothers, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised, has God chosen, yes, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are, that no flesh should glory (boast) in His presence."                   1 Corinthians 1:26-29. There are those who are equipped and trained to do rescue work, but that is still the giftings, calling, and grace of GOD that He provides as a help for us in the world we all live in. "Every good gift and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1:17

GRACE FOR THAT ENDLESS BATTLE AGAINST SIN

  "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace." Romans 6:14

  Sin is mankind's relentless, destructive adversary. The problem is that it arises from within us through unbelief, pride, and lust. Again, our loving Heavenly Father has provided the ultimate remedy, His Son, Jesus Christ, and in Him all the GRACE we need!  Now, not only is all our righteousness in Christ alone, but so is the grace to overcome in our battle against sin. This is exciting, because it is so not of ourselves to conquer it, let alone be cleansed of it; however, Christ, we have the victory and all that we need to make our stand, even in the face of it. 

  First, we have the cleansing Blood of Christ, which not only atones (makes payment) for our sins, but also washes us from them! "In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches of His grace." Ephesians 1:7, "...and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:7

 Next, in Jesus, since we are no longer under the Law but under grace, we are not subject to the unmanageable influence of sin, which by the law is amplified. Service to the law not only intensifies our awareness of sin but subjects us to the futile battle against it. "...No, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust except the law had said, 'You shall not covet.' But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, worked in me all manner of concupiscence (coveting). For without the law sin was dead." Romans 7:7-8. Therefore, in Christ, the focus of our struggles is no longer about resisting sin (even though that will always be something that we should be keenly aware of), but pursuing the all-consuming need for faith and love that is in Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 1:14).

 Furthermore, it gets even better. Jesus Christ Himself now lives in us by His Holy Spirit, and through Him, by His Holy Spirit, we can overcome the deeds of the flesh. How awesome is THAT!!! "For if you live after the flesh, you shall die; but if you through the Spirit do mortify (put to death) the deeds of the body, you shall live." Romans 8:13 Again, this is not of ourselves; it is completely the Grace of God in Christ Jesus, but we get to enjoy all the benefits and the glorious liberty He brings!

  Next, we have His Word, the Bible, the faithful Witness, which guides and directs us into the will of the Father and to all the tools we need to fight in the battle against our sin. "How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Thy Word...Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee." Psalm 119:9, 11

HIS STRENGTH FOR OUR WEAKNESS IS IN HIS GRACE

 "...My grace is sufficient for you: for My strength is made perfect in weakness..." 2 Corinthians 12:9

 Something that we need to grasp while facing all our issues, problems, weaknesses, and temptations is that they have already been defeated and mastered by Jesus. Obviously, the victories are not found in ourselves; they are established through Him and therefore found IN HIM. "For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Colossians 3:3 "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20 Lord, help us get this. It is not about us, and our world does not revolve around us. It is about You, and our world revolves around You.

  I will finish with this story. I was a new Christian and a young man working at a grill restaurant. I eventually worked up to an unofficial assistant manager position. Unofficial means that I had more responsibility but no raise; however, I could eat some of the food for free. For a single male away from home, that was equivalent to a raise and ample incentive to tackle the extra responsibility. Things were going fine until I developed an overattachment to butter pecan pie. Soon, I realized that I was addicted to them. At first, it began with an occasional pie, then a pie on every shift. It was not long before I would consume an entire pie per shift. I began to panic. I tried to stop, but it got worse. I tried to set up personal boundaries, but I ignored them in the moment of temptation. I prayed and asked the Lord for help, but nothing changed. I prayed harder, but to no avail. Then I decided to fast. I was sure that if I fasted, God would take me more seriously and rescue me from myself, but wouldn't you know it, I broke my fast by eating butter pecan pies. I did that more than once. I became disgusted with myself, angry, ashamed, and fearful of the possible consequences. I even got mad at the Lord for not answering my prayers. Finally, the Christmas season arrived, and I got busy doing other things. When I went back to my regular shifts, and without realizing it, I never touched another pie. In fact, it was years later before I realized that I had never eaten a piece of Butter Pecan Pie since that day, nor was I even interested. Jesus did hear my prayers and deliver me from it at the time, but I also realize that in Christ Jesus, it does not have a hold on me unless I give it one (because it doesn't have a hold on Him). The more that I applied the law "Thou (I) Shall NOT," the bigger and more unmanageable it became. In Christ, all our sins, fears, and struggles have been nailed to the cross and are under the Blood. The grace for deliverance has been provided, and the debt has been paid for in full. That does not mean that there won't be struggles, even hard struggles, but His grace is sufficient for every situation, and how it plays out will be according to His wisdom and glory, and for our joy. We must be patient and persistent in faith as we learn to abide in Him. He is faithful and true!

Oh, the grace of God wherein we stand and prevail. May we never allow our confidence or shift away from it at any level. He loves us so much!!!