Vol. 16.8.20
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Definition: Grace simply is the undeserving favor of God to
mankind. The New Testament described it with the word Charis, which expresses
favor, goodwill and loving kindness granted by a superior to another. GRACE IS
NOT EARNED, not a reward for work done. The first man the bible recorded to obtain
favor was Noah... But Noah found grace (favor)
in the sight of the Lord (Genesis 6:8 AMP); then Moses. In these two
accounts, grace qualified them to do certain functions they naturally would not
be able to. Moses was slow in speech, which automatically was not good for him
to stand before Pharaoh, he also was a murderer, yet He was God's choice.
TYPES OF GRACE
There are two dimensions of grace I have discovered so far:
1. Saving Grace: This dimension of grace helps the unbeliever to
come to Christ and become saved from hell and born into the kingdom of God. We
must know there are some who wish they were saved, but still have not found the
grace. Ephesians
2:8-9 NIV says, “For it is by grace
you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the
gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” Our coming to Christ
was by God, not because you were born into a Christian family.
2. Enabling Grace: This grace supplies the ability to live Christ
honoring life. Living above sin is enabled by this grace. ‘But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is
made perfect in weaknesses’ (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV). It empowers us to follow the leading
of the Holy Spirit and act according to His will and also helps us to fulfill
our various callings and purpose. It sustains us and equips us to walk in a
manner that pleases God and develop into the image of Christ.
Without
grace, no one can be saved, without grace, no one can stay saved and without grace,
no one can grow as a Christian. Grace is the oxygen that the Christian needs to
breathe.
Halleluiah
THE LAW AND GRACE, RELATIONSHIP AND DIFFERENCES
It is important we know that there are seven dispensations of the Bible
also called Bible ages, characterized by changes in God's methods, relationship
and dealings with mankind in relation to sin and man's responsibilities
These include:
- Dispensation of innocence: from the creation of Adam (Genesis 2:7) to expulsion from Eden (Genesis 3:26)
- Conscience: The eyes of man had been opened to the
knowledge of good and bad, so conscience was the basis for judging man's
behavior. This dispensation existed till the great flood (Genesis
7:11-23)
- Man in authority: Began with the eight that survived the
flood and elapsed till the confusion of languages (Genesis
11:1-9)
- Dispensation of promise: from the call of Abram (Genesis
12:1-3) to the slavery of
Israel in Egypt (Exodus
1:13-14).
- Dispensation of Law: From wilderness experience (Exodus
24) to the death of Christ (Matthew
28:50-51)
- Age of Grace: from Jesus' death to His return to take
the Saints (1
Thessalonians 4:16)
- Millennium dispensation: between the reign of Christ
over restored church for a thousand year and Satan wages against the Lord,
this ends the seven ages (Isaiah
2:1-4, Isaiah 11, Revelation 20:1-4) and this leads to the great judgement, the great white
throne.
The last three are of significance to this study...
Law-Grace-Millennium...
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LAW AND GRACE.
Law was given through Moses, but Grace through Jesus Christ, we
have to know that Mosaic LAW WAS GOOD... Romans 7:12. The law is holy, and so is the commandment
holy, righteous and true, the Bible never showed the superiority of grace by
negating the law. NO, they both are good enough to make the complete bible as
both the old promises and new promises are relevant and applicable to our life
today. Jesus speaking said, I never came to abolish the law, as many do today, BUT
TO FULFIL IT. (Matthew
5:17). Jesus never elevated grace stepping on the law.
Scriptures states emphatically, THE LAW Is GOOD. (Romans 7:7)
The law tells us what to do, how to do it, the consequence for
refusal, what God required of them, but was weak in that it does not empower
man to achieve all these (Robert R. Kreger), it was also weak because
it does not give much room for repentance and quick to pronounce judgement, so
that called for a more superior one, Grace, which comes with the enabling power
to fulfilling the law.
PURPOSE.
GOD'S GRACE IS INTENDED TO HELP US OUT OF SIN
With this in mind, God's grace is sufficient for us, everything
necessary for us to live a pleasing and acceptable life to God is
grace-packaged. God's grace is the means by which God reaches His loving hands
to humanity to save them out of their sins and help them walk with Him only if
they are willing to reach out their hands back to Him through faith in the Lord
Jesus.
Peter three times denied Jesus, this looks worse compared to
Judas' betrayal which was only once. But Peter found grace, while Judas was not
accommodated to repent. Peter's repentance was so genuine that it was expressed
with a cry. Peter repented and felt sorry, you see that grace does not glory in
sin, rather, it helps us and accommodates us to repent.
Paul speaking in vs 9 of 2 Corinthians 12 NIV, saying, ‘But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my
power is made perfect in weaknesses’ He had prayed to God between vs
4-8 that God would deliver him from the consuming messenger of Satan (Pride), ‘To keep me from becoming conceited because
if these surpassingly great revelations’ (2 Corinthians 12:7), he prayed
for help, so God's grace was said to be available to help him,
By this we know that grace is God's provision to reconcile man to
Himself. Sin does not dis-communicate one from the family of God immediately,
but we lose our relationship with God, His Communion is deterred and a point comes
when we lose our salvation completely. Yes it is possible. Demas was a beloved
in Colossians
4:14, but in 2 Timothy 4:10, he had returned back to the
world for the love of the world. Judas was one of the twelve but the love of
money made him lose out. God instituted grace to help us from sin, it is therefore an abuse of grace to believe
‘once saved, is forever saved’; we have seen bible examples of how people
through grace, help of Holy Spirit and conscious effort were able to work out
their walk with God.
So we are asked to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
(Philippians
2:12), it is conscious exercise with the provision of grace and the Spirit
of God.
GRACE IS FREE BUT COST MUCH AND Hence, NOT CHEAP
That you were given a wristwatch free as a gift, does not imply
that it was cheap, the giver might have purchased it with his hard earned
money. Grace came to us free, but someone paid for it with his blood-his life (Leviticus
17:14). God went extremely, sending his beloved son to die a
miserable death to take the penalties law could have condemned us to, Christ
death shows how severe our penalties could have been. Grace was purchased for us
free, we therefore should live a life that will demonstrate our gratitude to
God and Jesus Christ not taking grace as a license to careless living. Whoever misuses
grace will soon get to know it cost much after the expiration of grace
dispensation by rapture or death and men pay for their life severely with their
own blood. Many would wish they lived in the age of the law, where sin was
addressed sin.
CONCLUSION.
Imagine then, the deep sorrow on the heart of God who lavishly
poured His love out on us, only to have His people turn it to the very opposite
of its intended purpose, rather than being a liberty and escape from sin, it became
instead, a license to sin. The grace of God is so precious, therefore should
not be abused, with the sense of falsely believing God is loose on his verdict
concerning how we live our life regardless of our bold unwillingness to repent.
Remember He is still the same yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8).
The loving father and the consuming fire.
Except otherwise stated, all scriptures quoted from the King James
Version of the Bible.
GOD BLESS YOU
Author
Nejo Harrison
harrisonnejo@gmail.com
If you are inspired by the Holy Spirit to reach out and affect many souls through writing, send your articles to thequiver4changeoftaste@gmail.com and we will help you spread it across the world audience. God bless you as you choose to impact lives.
The Quiver is the Official Bulletin of The Change of Taste Group (a non-denominational mission intercessory and support group) ©2016
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