GRACE

Grace. Now that’s a word that is highly used in the Christian realm. Many preachers have preached about it and it has been the theme of hundreds of songs. What does grace mean to you? I find that many people believe that grace means God is good and will simply overlook their sin. They are right that God is good, but for God to overlook sin is not a Biblical viewpoint. One of God’s greatest attributes is his holiness. He is the most holy, righteous judge of the universe. Psalms 7:11 says “God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.”
If an earthly judge said I am good, and therefore allowed criminals to go free, we would call him corrupt. I assure you that God is good and righteous and he will judge sin because He is holy and righteous. What is grace then? I like the old acronym: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. It simply means that God who is the holy and just judge of the universe can let us go free when we have broken His laws because Jesus has paid the penalty for our sin. To receive this grace, we must put our faith in Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”
Grace also means the Biblical time period in which we live. God never changes in His character, but down through the ages, God has changed the way He has dealt with man many times. These time periods are known to theologians as dispensations. We are now in the Dispensation of Grace. Prior to the death of Christ, it was known as the dispensation of the Law or the Ten Commandments. Paul said in Romans 6:14 “for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”
The Dispensation of Grace is perhaps the greatest time period to live in. We have much more in this time period than in any other. We have the sacrifice of our Savior, whose blood washes sins away. We have the Holy Spirit who comes into us and regenerates our heart giving us a new Godly nature. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. The Old Testament saints did not have that blessing. We also have the written word of God. Most homes in this country have a Bible somewhere.
Now here is a word for those who believe that grace gives them liberty to live loosely, and even in sin. Because we are not under the Old Testament Law does not mean that we are without law. We live under the New Testament Law which commands us to live a holy life. (1Peter 1:15) But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Also, since we have so much more under grace, remember this truth that Jesus taught in Luke 12:48- “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required:”

YOU CAN’T BE WORTHY, SO BE FAITHFUL

Most Christians struggle with feelings of unworthiness. Let’s face it-we all have a sinful past. For some it is worse than others. A while back, I was speaking with a man about God’s blessings and his reply was that he just didn’t think he deserved for God to bless him. I am glad that God doesn’t give us what we deserve, because the fact is none of us really measure up to God’s standards, and what we deserve is judgment.
Actually, there is nothing that we can do in ourselves to change this. We cannot go back and change our past, and undo what we have already done. But, oh thanks be unto God, He gives us grace through Jesus Christ. We deserve judgment but He gives us forgiveness when we turn to Christ.
The Apostle Paul understood he was not worthy in himself. He said “But by the grace of God I am what I am”. Some of the great men of God in the Bible made some serious mistakes, but God forgave them and gave them grace. Moses murdered a man. David committed adultery. Peter denied the Lord. Paul persecuted the church. The point is, each of these men found grace and forgiveness when they repented of their sins and turned to God.
God does not look at our worthiness - He looks at our faith. I don’t recall reading anywhere in the Gospels where Jesus asked if they deserved His healing, or blessing. The thing that really stands out to me is that He asked them, “Do you believe”.
Real faith will cause us to change. A person cannot really believe in the Christ and not be submissive to Him. Those that mentally acknowledge Christ, but never come to the place where they truly surrender their lives to Him are counted as unbelievers.
We can never be worthy in ourselves; God is the one that takes care of that by cleansing us from our sins. But we can be faithful! This is really what God is concerned about – our faithfulness. Jesus speaking to the church of Smyrna in Revelation said “be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” The Apostle Paul said in I Timothy that the Lord counted him faithful and put him in the ministry.
We should not be concerned about feelings of whether we deserve God’s blessings or not. God blesses us according to His goodness, not ours. We do need to concern ourselves about our faithfulness though. Romans 1:17 says “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”