Grace
I am convinced the most important message we can ever
proclaim is the free grace of God that forgives us of all our sins and gives us
a perfect relationship with God. We are justified by the grace of God through
faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:21-28; 4:5).
Let’s examine a simple acrostic of the word G-R-A-C-E.
GOD in holy love
RECONCILES ruined and rebellious sinners by His
ABUNDANT grace and
CHANGES ruined men from the inside out and gives
ETERNAL LIFE to all who believe on Jesus Christ.
GOD—is the Creator of the universe. His
personal name is Jehovah or Yahweh. Most modern English translations use the
name LORD, written with four small capital letters to translate the Hebrew word
JHVH.
The Bible tells us He is the creator and sustainer of the
universe (Gen. 1:1, 27; Psalm 14:1). He did not wind up the universe like a
clock and then walk away. He is personally involved in His creation (Ps. 139).
He is holy and righteous (Isaiah 6:1; Rev. 4:8; 1 Timothy
6:15-18). The Hebrew prophet Isaiah saw Him in a vision, sitting on His throne,
lofty and exalted. He heard the Seraphim chanting, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD
of hosts, the whole world is full of His glory” (Isa. 6:3).
The LORD God loves His creation and is patient with
mankind. He first loved us and expects us to love Him with all our heart (1 John
4:10, 19). “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt. 27:37; Deut. 6:5). Jesus said, “Seek
first His [God’s] kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be
added to you” (Matt. 6:33).
The LORD God is good to us all the time, and He alone is
worthy of our praise (Rev. 4:11).
Isaiah experienced the thrice holiness of God and fell to
his knees and cried out, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of
unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen
the King, the LORD of hosts” (Isa 6:5).
GOD RECONCILES and rescues rebellious ruined
mankind (Isa. 1:18). We have a ruined relationship with God (Eph. 2:1). By
nature, we are all rebels at heart and like sheep that have gone astray (Isaiah
53:6).
The LORD is holy and He expects us to be holy (Lev. 19:2),
but our sinfulness separates us from God. The prophet wrote, “Your iniquities
have made a separation between you and God, and your sins have hid His face from
you, so that He does not hear” (Isa. 59:2). Sin destroys our relationship with a
holy God, and as a result there is a barrier between God and us. We need to be
reconciled to God. “For while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through
the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by
His life” (Rom. 5:10).
We have all sinned and fall short of God’s expectations of
us (Rom. 3:23), and the consequence of our sins is death. “The wages of sin is
death” (Rom. 6:23). If we say we are not sinners, we only deceive ourselves and
prove ourselves to be liars (1 John 1:8; Rom. 5:12).
There is a judgment day coming when we shall each stand
before God and give an account of what we have chosen to do with Jesus Christ
(Heb. 9:22; Matt. 25:31-36; 2 Thess. 1:7-9; Acts 17:31).
GOD’S ABUNDANT GRACE accomplishes everything
the sinner needs to receive a right standing before God. Jesus went to the cross
and paid in full our debt to sin. The Bible says, “For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). That is how much a holy God loves
you! “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world; but that
the world should be saved through Him” (v. 17).
How can a guilty sinner have a right relationship with God?
There is only one way. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life;
no one comes to the Father, but through Me” John 14:6). “God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). God reconciles the sinner to
Himself through Christ (v. 18).
Jesus is the sinless Lamb of God who died for us as our
substitute on the cross (John 1:29; Rom. 5:8; 1 Peter 3:18; 2:24; 2 Cor. 5:21).
“For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the
ungodly. . . God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:6, 8).
God has restored man’s relationship to Himself by the
atoning death of His Son, Jesus Christ. We can now have peace with God because
Jesus Christ died on our behalf. The wages of sin is death, and Jesus died in
our place. All of our sins were credited to Jesus when He died on the cross, and
all His perfect righteousness was credited to us when we repented and believed
on Him as our savior.
God says, “Sinner, I can make you righteous through Jesus
Christ. It is righteousness by imputation. I will credit His righteousness to
you” (2 Cor. 5:21).
GOD CHANGES ruined persons from the inside
out. He demands that sinful man have a new heart (2 Cor. 5:17). Jesus said,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
The Bible tells us to repent and believe on Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, “I tell you . . . unless you repent, you shall likewise perish”
(Luke 13:3). We need a radical change in our lives. That is what repentance is.
It is to be walking in sin and unbelief and to have a 180-degree change in our
thinking about God and Jesus Christ. That change in our thinking will change the
way we live.
Acts 4:12 tells us there is only one person who can save
us. He is the same one who died for our sins on the cross. “There is salvation
in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given
among men, by which we must be saved.”
The important question becomes, what will you do with Jesus
Christ? “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your
household” (Acts 16:31). Why your household? Because when God saves you, you
will want them to believe on Christ, too.
Salvation is by the abundant, free grace of God through
faith in Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:8-9). The moment you believe on Christ you
receive reconciliation and peace with God (Rom. 5:1).
GOD GIVES ETERNAL LIFE to everyone who will
receive His salvation as a gift. Eternal life is yours right now if you will
believe on Christ. “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does
not obey (believe) the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on
him” (John 3:36).
You can enjoy the abundant life in Christ now and
eternal life in heaven with God by believing on Jesus Christ as your savior
(John 1:12; Rom. 10:9-10). Moreover, you can have assurance of eternal life
today (John 5:24; 1 John 5:12-13; Phil. 1:6; Rom. 8:31-39; John 10:27-30).
God promises eternal life to everyone who will repent of
his or her sins and place their faith in Jesus Christ alone as their savior.
Salvation is all God’s work from beginning to end that it
may be by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. Believe on
Jesus Christ who died for you and be saved today.
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
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