2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
By now, you’ve noticed that I often sign these messages with “Grace Be With You Always.” There is a reason for that; it’s because I feel that God has never given us a more wonderful gift, and my wish for you is that you should always be aware of it. Grace is undeserved merit, a free gift. RO 5: 10, “We were God’s enemies, but He made us His friends through the death of His Son. Now that we are God’s friends, how much more we will be saved by Christ’s life!” The Scriptures are rich with citations that reveal the nature of this gift and its spiritual implications for us. In the next few days, I will be looking at the wonderful gift in different ways. Today, let’s look at the basics as God reveals them to us.
You know that I quote citations from the book of Romans often. The reason for that is that after spending two years studying this one book, God has led me to the conclusion that it is the key that unlocks the rest of both the OT and the NT. Just look at some of the revelations in it on the subject of grace to see what I mean. RO 3: 24, “But by the free gift of God’s grace all are put right with Him through Christ Jesus, Who sets them free.” RO 4: 4-5, “A person who works is paid wages, but they are not regarded as a gift; they are something that he has earned. But the person who depends on his faith, not on his deeds, and who believes in the God Who declares the guilty to be innocent, it is his faith that God takes into account in order to put him right with Himself.” RO 5: 2, “[God] brought us to faith, in to this experience of God’s grace, in which we now live. And, we boast of the hope we have in sharing God’s glory!” RO 5: 17, “It is true that through the sin of one man [Adam] death began to rule because of that one man. But how much greater is the result of what was done by one Man, Jesus Christ! All who receive God’s abundant grace and are freely put right with Him will rule in life through Christ.” RO 5: 21, “So then, just as sin ruled by means of death, so also God’s grace rules by means of righteousness, leading us to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” RO 6: 14, “Sin must not be your master; for you do not live under law but under God’s grace.” RO 12: 6, “We are to use our different gifts according to the grace God has given us. If our gift is to speak God’s message, we should do it according to the faith we have.”
Grace was mentioned in the OT too, so it’s no new idea. When David expressed his longing for God’s House, he acknowledged God was the Source of it. PS 84: 11, “The Lord is our Protector and glorious King, blessing us with kindness and honor. He does not refuse any good thing to those who do what is right.” However, if we were to leave it at that, there might be some confusion about whether the grace came from what men did or as a free gift from God. This matter is clarified in the following citations. 2 TIM 1: 9, “He Saved us and called us to be His won people, not because of what we have done, but because of His own purpose and grace. He gave us this grace by means of Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.” James quotes PR 3: 34 in JAS 4: 6, “But the grace that God gives is even stronger as the Scripture says, ‘ God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ “
We learn about what grace does for us from the book of John and again in Acts. JN 1: 14, 16-17, “the Word became a human being and full of grace and truth; He lived among us.” “Out of the fullness of His grace He has blessed us all, giving us one blessing after another. God gave the us the law through Moses, but grace and truth through Jesus Christ.” In Acts 20, Paul is giving his farewell speech to the elders at Ephesus. AC 20: 32, “An now I commend you to the care of God and to the message of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you the blessing God has for all of His people.”
Another basic understanding about grace comes from 2 COR 4: 16-17, “For this reason [God’s grace and the hope of the resurrection], we never become discouraged, even through our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day. And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble. Wow! If that doesn’t help us to reach God’s perspective on our troubles, what does?! Sometimes it’s really hard to see God’s view of things when the troubles of your lives seem to beat you down so badly. That is why truth faith can be save us from feeling defeated by them. When you are drowning in an ocean of sorrow and/or self-pity, knowledge that you have been saved by Christ’s blood shed for you on the cross and that you have been given the free gift of God’s grace through that is the life saver thrown to you by a loving Abba who wants nothing more than what is best for you!
Let me give you a great example of the love God has for His chosen people, the Jews, which is a demonstration of His most excellent grace. From your study of history, you know that God, through Abraham, established the Jewish nation to be a “light to the nations,” “a nation of priests,” and to carry His teachings to the rest of the world. Our loving Abba wanted as many people, Jew and Gentile alike, to be saved. A long spell of Jewish disobedience led to two dyasporas (scattering of them with a loss of political nationhood) and finally with their part in the rejection of His Son, making the Gospel available to the Gentiles. With all of this, God has not given up loving the Jewish people. RO 11: 5-6, “God has not rejected His people whom He chose from the beginning. It is the same way now; there is a small number of those whom God has chosen because of His grace. His choice is based on His grace, not on what they have done. For if God’s choice was based on what people do, then His grace would not be real grace. RO 11: 25, “There is a secret truth, my brothers, which I want you to know, for it will keep you from thinking how wise you are. It is that the stubbornness of the people of Israel is not permanent, but will last only until the complete number of Gentiles comes to God.”
PRAYER: O Lord, we come to You in humble adoration to offer thanksgiving for the grace that You have given us. We are sinners who were Your enemies when You chose to call us to faith for Your always righteous purpose. Thank You for the many revelations on grace in the Scriptures, so that we can understand this magnificent gift You freely shower upon us every day of our lives. Help us to be disciplined in prayer and study, so that we can reach toward Your perspective and use it to deal with the problems of our lives. In Christ’s name, amen.
Never feel that you are alone, Dear Friends. The Lord Who loves you has commissioned His Son to enter the heavenly Holy of Holies to carry your prayers to Him. Christ is your Advocate to defend you and your Intercessor to pray for you every day of your lives. His love goes hand in hand with the love Peter and I send you today.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn