Grace

Please read Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Praise the Lord God for His grace, it is only through His grace that we can be justified, without it we would have always been God’s enemies!!  What do you think that God’s grace means and how do we receive God’s grace?  First, think of this, when we receive the grace of God we receive something that we could never achieve or obtain on our own, no matter how hard we tried or how much money we have or how good of a person we think we might be.  Grace is God’s unmerited favor towards us.  In other words, it would be impossible for us to undo what has been done because we were born with a sin nature and we cannot change that fact.  We may not accept that fact and we can try to reason it away or just deny the truth, but that won’t change your situation or the truth.

In King David’s repentant prayer, he made this very clear when he said this in Psalms 51:1-6, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight— that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.”

David said he was born in sin, now read what it says in Romans 3:23, “..for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..”

I think the fact has been established that we are all sinners and were separated from God from birth.  You may not understand this but Adam and Eve were the first two people to inhabit the earth.  They were created perfect, without a sin nature, but they choose to rebel and disobey God which resulted in sin.  You can read about this in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, in the beginning chapters.  Because they sinned and we are all related to them, when we are born, we are born in sin with a sin nature; we didn’t ask for it, but we need to face the fact that we are what we are, sinners from birth.  Because of this, we are separated from God because God is so holy He cannot even look at sin, and God is angry with sin every day because He knows how it destroys people’s lives.

Now let’s get to the grace that God was willing to provide for us because He loved His creation and wasn’t willing that any of us would be lost or separated from Him, but that we would repent of our sins and turn from our wicked ways and turn to Him for forgiveness and cleansing!!  Now let’s dive into this subject so we can fully understand that our acceptance by God is through His grace, by trusting in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son.  Jesus was willing to be obedient to God the Father, laying His life down to be crucified, which He did and was buried and, like Jesus said He would, He rose from the grave on the third day.  The grave had no victory and could not hold Him and death had no sting and now Jesus has become the Savior of the world!!

This may be of help to you, read Romans 3:21-31, “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.”

So what we could never do, God provided for us through His precious Son, Jesus.  This is what you may call God’s precious grace, His unmerited favor.  Praise be to God and to Jesus Christ, His Son, who because He was willing to suffer became our Savior and Lord, if we put our trust in Him through faith and repent of our sins and ask Him to forgive us and to be the Lord of our lives.  

Then I would like you to read John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

God’s grace is something we can never achieve by our righteousness because we have no righteousness apart from God, so all our works are futile when it comes to the grace of God.  God’s Word says that our righteousness is as filthy rags, it is only by faith in what God can do in our lives through His beloved Son, Jesus the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.  If you read this and you miss out on God’s grace, it will be nobody’s fault but your own.

I have given you something to think about and I pray that it has been an encouragement and a blessing to you!!  May you have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours with His perfect peace, love, joy, health and happiness!!  If this has been a blessing and help to you, don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord for He is worthy!!