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Re: Bulletin Board [message #11141 is a reply to message #11006]

Fri, 02 May 2014 19:39

james
Messages: 2137
Registered: April 2008
Location: Birmingham, AL

Senior Member

What God's Grace teaches us...

"For the Grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Who gave himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Titus 2:11-14

The good news of Grace (The Gospel)teaches us that God loves us and sent His Son Jesus to pay the penalty for OUR sins, that penalty (punishment) required the shedding of blood, yet the sacrificial offering had to be spotless and without blemish (sinless...which totally disqualified you and me). So in His great love He offered up of Himself, suffering and dying on The Cross to redeem/reconcile us unto God. Not only did He purchase our pardon, setting us free from the penalty of sin, but He was resurrected from the dead and has given life eternal to all those will will receive/believe this wonderful news.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

It's sad when we get it wrong, works never saved anyone...Grace alone saves; a true revelation of Jesus' work at Calvary and God's love in offering salvation to man who is so undeserving of it, can not but result in a humility and thankfulness that will then start producing fruit/works. Getting it backward results in false religious pride...getting it right produces Christlike disciples who serve out of gratitude, understanding it's all by Grace...favor that is completely unmerited by us.

"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." Ephesians 2:8-9

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of The Holy Ghost." Titus 3:5

I wonder how it ever was that the very thing (The Gospel) that should have brought profound humility in many of us, resulted in religious pride in some of us. In hindsight it's clear to me that some never truly understood the revelation of God's Grace in their hearts, only intellectually. That's how legalism was able to get such a foothold among people who wanted to follow The Lord zealously, Grace wasn't fully understood and therefore it was never enough just to "TRUST" in Jesus, we had to have lists of do's and don'ts, thinking (probably subconciously) we could 'earn' His love by self sacrifice, rather than simply believing what He told us in His Word.

That He (God/Jesus/Holy Spirit) would lovingly correct this wrong theology/mindset at all shows the extent of that great Grace.

Thank You, Father; thank You Jesus; thank You Holy Spirit; may Your Grace continue to open our hearts and spiritual eyes to truly see the wonders of Your Love to us.

btw: Just for complete honesty, this message was for me and if anyone else needs to hear it then that's why I posted it. I'm reading a book (surprise! surprise!) by a young man named J.D. Greear, titled: Gospel:Recovering The Power that made Christianity Revolutionary. I'm only 87 pages into it but already it's revealing truths I needed to hear. Funny, only a few short years ago I made the statement on here how I basicly only read HEF books...since then The Lord has used a few authors from 'mainstream christianity' to help open my eyes to see God's Grace in a whole new light. Philip Yancey's book, "What's So Amazing About Grace" that I read a couple years ago was helpful as well.

[Updated on: Sat, 03 May 2014 01:30]

“But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,”

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