Amazing Grace

 

This final week of 2020, Michael writes: According to Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.” This is amazing grace! Grace is unmerited divine favor given by the one who didn’t need to give it to the one who didn’t deserve to receive it. The very next verse is an exhortation for a man and woman of God to live their life so that their pastor won’t need to lie at their funeral. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, (His masterpiece, His great work) created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” We who have been saved by grace have been called to the great co-mission: to spread the gospel of the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ

 

For a non-Christian, the most important question is: “if you died today, where would you spend eternity?” The bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It is appointed for all men and women once to die, and then comes the judgement. How did we get to the point that we needed to be saved? God created man and woman with His spirit within them: In the image of God created He them God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to bless them. He gave them only one commandment: “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For on the day that you eat thereof thou shalt surely die.” 

 

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s only commandment, they committed the original sin by doubting God. The bible says, “He who knows to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” Sin breaks fellowship with God. When they doubted God and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they died spiritually that day. All men and women inherited the sin nature from Adam. Adam passed to all humankind his nature of body and soul. Soul is biological life for mind, will and emotion. However, as a consequence of Adam’s sin, we are all born without God’s spirit. After Adam and Eve sinned, they hid from. God. The first consequence of sin is shame and guilt. Sin separates men and women from God. Their eyes had been opened to evil and they were afraid of God’s righteous judgement for their sin. 

 

If a criminal is caught on camera committing a capital offense, there is no defense for the evidence of the camera’s eye-witness that convicts him. According to the Word, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Though we were born guilty of sin deserving death and our sins have convicted us, the good news is that “though your sins be as scarlet, you shall be as white as snow.”

 

The requirement for salvation starts with repentance. Repentance means to change your mind. It means to change direction from serving myself to serving the Lord. Repentance is to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. When we understand that “in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, a broken and a contrite heart God will not forsake.” God who is rich in mercy by his great love wherewith he loved us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.

 

When someone hears the gospel of salvation, there are four responses. The first is outright rejection. The second response is attempting to live according to the Law of God. These are the people who go to church and walk the aisle at the altar call. However, they never really accept Jesus as Lord of their lives. The third response is those who Jesus addressed when he said, “They call me Lord, Lord. But I shall say unto them, “I never knew thee.” These are those who think that they will enter heaven because of their good works, but won’t. The fourth category are those who “know whom they have believed and are persuaded that He is able to keep that (Holy Spirit) which He has committed unto them against that day of (righteous) judgement.” They are assured of their conviction that Jesus is Lord. These are those who are “born again” of the spirit, not of corruptible seed (inherited from Adam) but of incorruptible seed (of the Holy Spirit of Christ in you the hope of glory) by the word of God which lives and abides forever.

 

Jesus said, “come to me all ye who are weak and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” According to John 10:10, Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life (of the Holy Spirit) and that they might have it more abundantly.” For He who was without sin became the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him. Adam and Eve sinned and they died spiritually the day that they disobeyed the Word of God. However, the good news is that we who have confessed that Jesus is Lord and have believed that God has raised Him from the dead have been saved. Salvation is to be made whole. We were made whole… born again of the spirit of life in Christ when we confessed Jesus is Lord. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. This is the gospel message. This is the good news of salvation. This is amazing Grace!

 

May we ever live to the praise of the glory of HIs grace!
Your brother in Christ, Michael