AMAZING GRACE
Grace is a profound concept and reality that is fundamental to understanding and knowing God. Its consideration is important in coming to know the many gifts provided by belief in Jesus Christ and understanding His love for the believer as manifested in His Grace.
Romans 5:5 “…the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through His Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
It is a wonderful hymn. The song and lyrics express the sentiments and beliefs of millions of Christians. The message bears the truth of many who say, “I Thank God, I Thank God for His choosing me!!” There can be no more fitting introduction on the subject of Grace that the contemplation of these verses.
AMAZING GRACE
“Amazing Grace! how sweet the sound - That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now am found, Was blind but now I see.
‘Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear, And Grace my fears relieved; How precious did that Grace appear The hour I first believed.
The Lord has promised good to me, His Word my hope secures; He will my shield and portion be As long as life endures.
Thru many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; ‘Tis Grace hath brought me safe thus far, And Grace will lead me home.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years, Bright shining like the sun, We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise Than we’d first begun.”
“One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”
John 9:25
The importance of the word, Grace, goes beyond a simple definition since it embraces a concept that is powerful and far reaching. That concept goes directly to who God is, as He is revealed to us in the Bible.
The word and concept of Grace evolved from the Greek “charis” meaning a gracious favor or benefit bestowed. Webster states it is “unmerited divine assistance given mankind for his regeneration and sanctification.”
The definition “unearned gift” is commonly used. All these descriptions fall short, in this writer’s humble judgment. Like an innocent sin, they miss the mark. The major passage that substantiates the Christian doctrine of grace recognizes the realization of one of God’s greatest attributes; that this attribute is to be universally displayed by the means of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 4:4-7 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up in Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Jesus Christ, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Jesus Christ.
For by grace you have been saved though faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.”
The doctrine of God’s grace is proclaimed to bring the gift of salvation to all and a specific instruction to those who by Belief are saved:
Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
Chafer advises us that even though God’s grace is proclaimed to all, the instructions of grace are never intended to be imposed on those who do not believe except by the example of those who do believe and in the event when His Holy Spirit preveniently leads the lost nonbeliever to Belief. God’s grace is, truly, His overwhelming expressions of love for those who believe.
"The concept that Grace employs provides a startling contrast to the normal relationship a nonbeliever typically visualizes with God, a “wrath breathing” strong and difficult subservience laced with a burdensome obedience with curses being the reward for failure. The contrast is held in the divine realization that human beings are helpless in this world. They are locked in sin and their only end is death.
Grace declares God is merciful and loving. That he is waiting to embrace the nonbeliever and to assist the believer in answering every need. Grace promises that the seeking nonbeliever will be saved and that he/she will have eternal life. The message of the Gospel - the good news - is that God came to the world, to mankind, to demonstrate His great love through Grace, by acting in Jesus Christ to provide forgiveness and a new life through His teachings and atoning sacrifice on the cross. The good news is that this is reality for those who choose to believe.
Grace not only provides a perfect salvation and eternal keeping for one who believes in Christ, it also provides the instruction for the daily life of the one who is saved."
LAW OR GRACE ?
A doctrinal dispute occurred between the Apostles during the early, formative period of Christianity. This dispute was concerned with the question of whether the traditional Law or Grace furnishes the governing principle of religious practice and individual Christian conduct.
If any distinction is to be understood with respect to the difference between Israel’s privileges under the Mosaic system of the Law and the present privileges of the Church under Grace, distinction must be made between the Law as a rule of life, which none were able to keep perfectly, and the Law as a system which not only set forth high and holy demands upon personal conduct but also provided complete divine forgiveness through the sacrifices.
The final standing of any Jew before God was not based only on the observance of the Law; it also contemplated the sacrifices as a part of gaining forgiveness. In either distinction, forgiveness was based on human effort (works) that resulted in an overall primary focus on the means of worshiping God instead of understanding His Grace, the overwhelming expression of God’s love for those who have Belief.
THE PROVISIONS OF GOD’S GRACE
Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is rightfully accredited by theologians for the development of Grace as a theological term. Jesus’ teachings, that follow, demonstrate the basis supporting the doctrinal theme of God’s Grace.
God’s Grace provides a loving and comforting invitation to the nonbeliever. For Jesus lovingly and tenderly encourages us:
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My load is light.”
God’s Grace provides for compassionate consideration and ignores improper religiosity:
Matthew 12: 1-8 “At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath through the grainfields, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, ‘Behold, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.’
But He said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did, when he became hungry, he and companions; now he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? Or have you not read the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent?
But I say to you, that something greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, I DESIRE COMPASSION, NOT A SACRIFICE you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.’”
God’s Grace provides mercy at all times:
Matthew 12:9-13 “And departing from there, He went into the synagogue. And behold there was a man with a withered hand. And they questioned Him, saying, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?’ - in order that they might accuse Him. And he said to them, ‘What man shall be there among you, who shall have one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out?
Of how much more value then is man than a sheep!’ So then it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Then He said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand’. And he stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other.”
God’s Grace provides forgiveness:
Matthew 18:21,22 “Then Peter came and said to Him. ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.’”
God’s Grace has and gives no priority of the believer over one seeking the Lord:
Matthew 20:1-16 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.
And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; and those he said, ‘You go too into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did the same thing.
And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing; and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing idle so long?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into the vineyard.’
And when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to the foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. And when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more; and they also received each one a denarius.
And when they received it they grumbled at the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way, but I wish to give to this last man the same as you.
Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’ ‘Thus the last shall be first, and the first last.’”
God’s Grace is extended to the sinner who believe in Him:
Luke 7:36-50 “Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him. And He entered the Pharisee’s house, and reclined at the table. And behold, there was a women in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet, and anointing them with perfume.
Now when the pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this women is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.’
And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ And he replied, ‘Say it teacher.’ ‘A certain moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denari, and the other fifty. When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. Which of them will love him more?’ Simon answered and said, ‘I suppose the one whom he forgave more.’ And He said to him, ‘You have judged correctly.’
And turning toward the women, He said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed my feet with perfume. For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.’
And He said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ And those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, ‘Who is this man who even forgives sins?’ And He said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’”
THE BIBLICAL AGES
Looked at another way, in a historical context, Chafer teaches that there are three Biblical ages: that of Law, that of Grace, and that of the Kingdom.
Each age defines a requirement of human conduct defining the relationship of man/woman to God. The conduct-regulating requirements of each are also differentiated by the role of the Holy Spirit.
The Mosaic system of Law is void of the enablement, for the unsaved and those who have attained Belief, administered by the Holy Spirit in the Age of Grace.
The Age of Grace presents superhuman ideals supported by the indwelling and filling of the believer by the Holy Spirit.
The implementation of the superhuman ideals are directions and “divine beseechings”. They are not commands, but the polite, considerate expression of persuasion extended to those for which it is rightfully expected since they are sponsored by the believer’s Belief on the sanctifying walk with the Holy Spirit.
Romans 12:1 “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
Ephesians 4:1,2 “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love.”
There is a fundamental difference between these directions, “beseechings” and the teachings of the Mosaic Law which imposed a curse on those who failed.
Deuteronomy 28:15 “But it shall come about, if you will not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I charge you today, that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.”
(The curses are specified in verses 16 through 68)
God’s Grace, for those with Belief in Jesus Christ, provides an incredibly different life under grace compared to life under the Law:
Romans 8:1,2 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ. For the Law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ has set you free from the Law of sin and death.”
God’s grace provides that there can be no separation of the believer from the love of God.
Romans 8: 38,39 “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, not things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
THE MEANING OF GRACE
The concept that Grace employs provides a startling contrast to the normal relationship a nonbeliever typically visualizes with God, a “wrath breathing” strong and difficult subservience laced with a burdensome obedience with curses being the reward for failure.
The contrast is held in the divine realization that human beings are helpless in this world. They are locked in sin and their only end is death. Grace declares God is merciful and loving. That he is waiting to embrace the nonbeliever and to assist the believer in answering every need.
Grace promises that the seeking nonbeliever will be saved and that he/she will have eternal life. The message of the Gospel - the good news - is that God came to the world, to mankind, to demonstrate His great love through Grace, by acting in Jesus Christ to provide forgiveness and a new life through His teachings and atoning sacrifice on the cross.
The good news is that this is reality for those who choose to believe.
Grace not only provides a perfect salvation and eternal keeping for one who believes in Christ, it also provides the instruction for the daily life of the one who is saved.
THE OFFER OF SALVATION
All God does is offer His hand to save you, to help you. Like an old fisherman leaning from his dory, extending his hand to a drowning slave to sin wallowing in the sea of disbelief.
God proceeds like a loving parent coming to offer wondrous gifts, gifts such as Salvation, Righteousness, Faith, Love, Eternal Life, and the further gift of understanding this benevolence by the revelation of His Word.
And He shows you the Way by the “good news” provided by someone we can identify with, His Son, Jesus Christ. And He gives us His Holy Spirit so that we may be comforted in the conviction of our sins and the sanctifying walk through life.
To be saved means to grasp the fisherman’s hand; to have the offered gifts means they should be humbly received with some measure of gratefulness. But that hand must be grasped, the gifts knowingly received.
And it is all absolutely a free gift by His grace! As one humble believer said, "The only thing free in this life is Jesus Christ!
Are these analogies meaningful? Does any of this mean anything to you the reader? That meaning is the hope of this message!
Romans 5:5 “…the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through His Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
It is a wonderful hymn. The song and lyrics express the sentiments and beliefs of millions of Christians. The message bears the truth of many who say, “I Thank God, I Thank God for His choosing me!!” There can be no more fitting introduction on the subject of Grace that the contemplation of these verses.
AMAZING GRACE
“Amazing Grace! how sweet the sound - That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now am found, Was blind but now I see.
‘Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear, And Grace my fears relieved; How precious did that Grace appear The hour I first believed.
The Lord has promised good to me, His Word my hope secures; He will my shield and portion be As long as life endures.
Thru many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; ‘Tis Grace hath brought me safe thus far, And Grace will lead me home.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years, Bright shining like the sun, We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise Than we’d first begun.”
“One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”
John 9:25
The importance of the word, Grace, goes beyond a simple definition since it embraces a concept that is powerful and far reaching. That concept goes directly to who God is, as He is revealed to us in the Bible.
The word and concept of Grace evolved from the Greek “charis” meaning a gracious favor or benefit bestowed. Webster states it is “unmerited divine assistance given mankind for his regeneration and sanctification.”
The definition “unearned gift” is commonly used. All these descriptions fall short, in this writer’s humble judgment. Like an innocent sin, they miss the mark. The major passage that substantiates the Christian doctrine of grace recognizes the realization of one of God’s greatest attributes; that this attribute is to be universally displayed by the means of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 4:4-7 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up in Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Jesus Christ, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Jesus Christ.
For by grace you have been saved though faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.”
The doctrine of God’s grace is proclaimed to bring the gift of salvation to all and a specific instruction to those who by Belief are saved:
Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
Chafer advises us that even though God’s grace is proclaimed to all, the instructions of grace are never intended to be imposed on those who do not believe except by the example of those who do believe and in the event when His Holy Spirit preveniently leads the lost nonbeliever to Belief. God’s grace is, truly, His overwhelming expressions of love for those who believe.
"The concept that Grace employs provides a startling contrast to the normal relationship a nonbeliever typically visualizes with God, a “wrath breathing” strong and difficult subservience laced with a burdensome obedience with curses being the reward for failure. The contrast is held in the divine realization that human beings are helpless in this world. They are locked in sin and their only end is death.
Grace declares God is merciful and loving. That he is waiting to embrace the nonbeliever and to assist the believer in answering every need. Grace promises that the seeking nonbeliever will be saved and that he/she will have eternal life. The message of the Gospel - the good news - is that God came to the world, to mankind, to demonstrate His great love through Grace, by acting in Jesus Christ to provide forgiveness and a new life through His teachings and atoning sacrifice on the cross. The good news is that this is reality for those who choose to believe.
Grace not only provides a perfect salvation and eternal keeping for one who believes in Christ, it also provides the instruction for the daily life of the one who is saved."
LAW OR GRACE ?
A doctrinal dispute occurred between the Apostles during the early, formative period of Christianity. This dispute was concerned with the question of whether the traditional Law or Grace furnishes the governing principle of religious practice and individual Christian conduct.
If any distinction is to be understood with respect to the difference between Israel’s privileges under the Mosaic system of the Law and the present privileges of the Church under Grace, distinction must be made between the Law as a rule of life, which none were able to keep perfectly, and the Law as a system which not only set forth high and holy demands upon personal conduct but also provided complete divine forgiveness through the sacrifices.
The final standing of any Jew before God was not based only on the observance of the Law; it also contemplated the sacrifices as a part of gaining forgiveness. In either distinction, forgiveness was based on human effort (works) that resulted in an overall primary focus on the means of worshiping God instead of understanding His Grace, the overwhelming expression of God’s love for those who have Belief.
THE PROVISIONS OF GOD’S GRACE
Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is rightfully accredited by theologians for the development of Grace as a theological term. Jesus’ teachings, that follow, demonstrate the basis supporting the doctrinal theme of God’s Grace.
God’s Grace provides a loving and comforting invitation to the nonbeliever. For Jesus lovingly and tenderly encourages us:
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My load is light.”
God’s Grace provides for compassionate consideration and ignores improper religiosity:
Matthew 12: 1-8 “At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath through the grainfields, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, ‘Behold, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.’
But He said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did, when he became hungry, he and companions; now he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? Or have you not read the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent?
But I say to you, that something greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, I DESIRE COMPASSION, NOT A SACRIFICE you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.’”
God’s Grace provides mercy at all times:
Matthew 12:9-13 “And departing from there, He went into the synagogue. And behold there was a man with a withered hand. And they questioned Him, saying, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?’ - in order that they might accuse Him. And he said to them, ‘What man shall be there among you, who shall have one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out?
Of how much more value then is man than a sheep!’ So then it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Then He said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand’. And he stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other.”
God’s Grace provides forgiveness:
Matthew 18:21,22 “Then Peter came and said to Him. ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.’”
God’s Grace has and gives no priority of the believer over one seeking the Lord:
Matthew 20:1-16 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.
And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; and those he said, ‘You go too into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did the same thing.
And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing; and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing idle so long?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into the vineyard.’
And when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to the foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. And when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more; and they also received each one a denarius.
And when they received it they grumbled at the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way, but I wish to give to this last man the same as you.
Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’ ‘Thus the last shall be first, and the first last.’”
God’s Grace is extended to the sinner who believe in Him:
Luke 7:36-50 “Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him. And He entered the Pharisee’s house, and reclined at the table. And behold, there was a women in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet, and anointing them with perfume.
Now when the pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this women is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.’
And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ And he replied, ‘Say it teacher.’ ‘A certain moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denari, and the other fifty. When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. Which of them will love him more?’ Simon answered and said, ‘I suppose the one whom he forgave more.’ And He said to him, ‘You have judged correctly.’
And turning toward the women, He said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed my feet with perfume. For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.’
And He said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ And those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, ‘Who is this man who even forgives sins?’ And He said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’”
THE BIBLICAL AGES
Looked at another way, in a historical context, Chafer teaches that there are three Biblical ages: that of Law, that of Grace, and that of the Kingdom.
Each age defines a requirement of human conduct defining the relationship of man/woman to God. The conduct-regulating requirements of each are also differentiated by the role of the Holy Spirit.
The Mosaic system of Law is void of the enablement, for the unsaved and those who have attained Belief, administered by the Holy Spirit in the Age of Grace.
The Age of Grace presents superhuman ideals supported by the indwelling and filling of the believer by the Holy Spirit.
The implementation of the superhuman ideals are directions and “divine beseechings”. They are not commands, but the polite, considerate expression of persuasion extended to those for which it is rightfully expected since they are sponsored by the believer’s Belief on the sanctifying walk with the Holy Spirit.
Romans 12:1 “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
Ephesians 4:1,2 “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love.”
There is a fundamental difference between these directions, “beseechings” and the teachings of the Mosaic Law which imposed a curse on those who failed.
Deuteronomy 28:15 “But it shall come about, if you will not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I charge you today, that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.”
(The curses are specified in verses 16 through 68)
God’s Grace, for those with Belief in Jesus Christ, provides an incredibly different life under grace compared to life under the Law:
Romans 8:1,2 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ. For the Law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ has set you free from the Law of sin and death.”
God’s grace provides that there can be no separation of the believer from the love of God.
Romans 8: 38,39 “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, not things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
THE MEANING OF GRACE
The concept that Grace employs provides a startling contrast to the normal relationship a nonbeliever typically visualizes with God, a “wrath breathing” strong and difficult subservience laced with a burdensome obedience with curses being the reward for failure.
The contrast is held in the divine realization that human beings are helpless in this world. They are locked in sin and their only end is death. Grace declares God is merciful and loving. That he is waiting to embrace the nonbeliever and to assist the believer in answering every need.
Grace promises that the seeking nonbeliever will be saved and that he/she will have eternal life. The message of the Gospel - the good news - is that God came to the world, to mankind, to demonstrate His great love through Grace, by acting in Jesus Christ to provide forgiveness and a new life through His teachings and atoning sacrifice on the cross.
The good news is that this is reality for those who choose to believe.
Grace not only provides a perfect salvation and eternal keeping for one who believes in Christ, it also provides the instruction for the daily life of the one who is saved.
THE OFFER OF SALVATION
All God does is offer His hand to save you, to help you. Like an old fisherman leaning from his dory, extending his hand to a drowning slave to sin wallowing in the sea of disbelief.
God proceeds like a loving parent coming to offer wondrous gifts, gifts such as Salvation, Righteousness, Faith, Love, Eternal Life, and the further gift of understanding this benevolence by the revelation of His Word.
And He shows you the Way by the “good news” provided by someone we can identify with, His Son, Jesus Christ. And He gives us His Holy Spirit so that we may be comforted in the conviction of our sins and the sanctifying walk through life.
To be saved means to grasp the fisherman’s hand; to have the offered gifts means they should be humbly received with some measure of gratefulness. But that hand must be grasped, the gifts knowingly received.
And it is all absolutely a free gift by His grace! As one humble believer said, "The only thing free in this life is Jesus Christ!
Are these analogies meaningful? Does any of this mean anything to you the reader? That meaning is the hope of this message!
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