Grace Defined - Part Two

Note: This is the 3rd post in a series on Grace that should be read in the following order:

1 Purpose of this Blog
2 Grace Defined - Part One
3 Grace Defined - Part Two
4 Grace operates through Faith - Faith Defined
5 Faith comes by hearing
6 Faith comes by hearing - Time alone with God
7 ...and hearing by the Word of God - Part One
8 ...and hearing by the Word of God - Part Two

"For by grace are ye saved...unto good works,
which God hath before prepared that we should walk in them.
(Ephesians 2:8,10 partial/margin)

God has prepared a work for you and He is preparing you for that work.

After we are saved Grace works in us to prepare us for that work. This is Sactification in the simplest sense of the word. Being set apart for His purpose.

Also after being saved, Grace works through us, causing us to walk in that work. This is Ministry in the simplest sense of that word. Doing His purpose.

By God's grace, we will explore both of these facets in the very practical sense considering such things as victory over sin, holiness, being led by the Spirit, walking in the Spirit and the like.

A word of caution:
It may appear from time to time as we look at the practical aspects of Grace that it is all about us. That is, He saved us, is preparing us and intends to send us out to do the work He has prepared for us to do.

This is true, but please, never, ever forget that above all, we have been saved to have fellowship with Him and to glorify Him (He must increase, but we must decrease). "...for without me ye can do nothing. " Jesus said. (Jn 15:5b)

Which brings us back to where we left off in part one:

"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: "
Colossians 2:6 Emphisis mine

So, what does it mean to "walk in Grace"?

Earlier (part 1) we saw that the Holy Spirit was refered to as "the Spirit of Grace" in both Zechariah 12:10 and Hebrews 10:29 and that when we are saved by the "washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost", or the Spirit of Grace.

Now, as children of God we are admonished to "be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might."(Eph. 6:10) and not our own. To Timothy Paul wrote, "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." (2 Tim 2:1) Earlier, in Zachariah 4:6 the Lord tells the prophet, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit." And to Ezekiel he said, "And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. " (Ez 36:27)

And to Jermiah He said,

"Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD. "
(Jeremiah 9:23-24)

So then, our walk and work as a Christian is not by our wisdom, but by His Grace. It is not by our might, but by His Grace. It is not by our riches, but by His Grace. As the apostle Paul explained to the Corinthians:

"But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. "
(1 Corinthians 15:10)

and

"...but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness. But to them, the called-out ones, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolish thing of God is wiser than men, and the weak thing of God is stronger than men.

For you see your calling, brothers, that not many wise men according to the flesh are called, not many mighty, not many noble. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and God has chosen the base things of the world, and things which are despised, and things which are not, in order to bring to nothing things that are; so that no flesh should glory in His presence.

But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who of God is made to us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption; so that, according as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord."
(1 Corinthians 1:23-31 MKJV)

So it was not Paul who labored, but the Spirit of Grace in him, and it is not our power or wisdom when we serve God accpetably, but Christ's power and wisdom working through us by that same Spirit of Grace. So that to Jesus goes all the glory and praise, for apart from Him, we can do nothing.

"And we have such trust through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God; "
(2 Corinthians 3:4-5 MKJV)

Paul, having an abundance of revelations, ran the risk of becoming proud. So God allowed Satan to give him a "thorn in the flesh" to keep him humble. On three different occasions Paul prayed that it might be taken from him. Finally the Lord answered:

"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. "
(2 Corinthians 12:9)

Please note the progression:

My Grace = my strength = the power of Christ.

Thus, as regards our walk as believers of Jesus Christ and our war with the world, the flesh and the devil:

Grace is the Power of God, given to us by the Spirit of God to do the Will of God.

In our next installment, Grace works through Faith.

I leave you with Paul's prayer for the church at Ephesus:

"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. "
(Ephesians 3:14-21)

Grace Defined - Part One

Note: This is the 2nd post in a series on Grace that should be read in the following order:

1 Purpose of this Blog
2 Grace Defined - Part One
3 Grace Defined - Part Two
4 Grace operates through Faith - Faith Defined
5 Faith comes by hearing
6 Faith comes by hearing - Time alone with God
7 ...and hearing by the Word of God - Part One
8 ...and hearing by the Word of God - Part Two

"For by grace are ye saved..."
Eph 2:8a

Throughout the scriptures we are told that we are saved by Grace, we are to grow in Grace, to serve God acceptably by Grace, to stand by Grace, to have our hearts established in Grace, and much more. As we start this journey to understand the work of Grace in our lives as Christians, perhaps it would be best to start at the "new" beginning. That is, when we were saved by grace.

This may be one of the most common phrases of encouragement or excuse, to say that we are saved by grace. In a later post we will explore what grace is not and discuss this very thing. But for now, we will concentrate on what grace is and what exactly happened when we were saved by "it".

We understand from the Word of God that Adam gave dominion of the earth over to Satan and that because of his willful sin we all are born with a sin nature. The Bible goes on to tell us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and that none are righteous, no not one. That all we like sheep have gone astray. God became flesh and walked this earth as the man Jesus Christ. He lived a sinless life, preached repentance from sin and faith towards God and gave his life on the Cross to pay for our sins. After being dead three days, he rose from the dead and now sits at the right hand of the Father. This is the Gospel in a nutshell.

We are told that we are dead in our sins and trespasses and we must be born again from above. That we are to repent from dead works unto a living faith in God. That we are to believe the Gospel, recieve salvation and confess Jesus as both Lord and Saviour of our life. But what happens then, right at that moment when I understand and accept my sinful state and recognize what Jesus has done for me and then choose to yield to His Spirit and surrender my will to His. What exactly happens at the point of salvation? Please consider the follow scriptures:

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:"
Jn 1:12 Emphisis mine

"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again [margin - from above], he cannot see the kingdom of God.

"...Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
Jn 3:3, 5 partial / Emphisis mine

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth..."
Rom 1:16 Emphisis mine

"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God."
1 Cor. 1:18 Emphisis mine

"... that ye may know ... what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead ... God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by (grace ye are saved;)
Ephesians 1:18-2:5 Partial ~ Emphisis mine

"But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 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; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."
Tit 3:4-7 ~ Emphisis mine

"...the spirit of grace..."
Zechariah 12:10 partial

"...the Spirit of grace..."
Hebrews 10:29 partial

So we see that at, after hearing and believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we surrender to God and receive the gift of God which is "eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom 6:23), at that moment the Spirit of Grace comes upon us with Power with the "washing of regeneration , and renewing of the Holy Ghost." We are literally born from above and born of the Spirit with the same mighty power that rose Christ from the dead.

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. "
(2 Corinthians 5:17)

After a number of years of being prepared through dreams, conversations and (unknown to me at the time) the effectual fervent prayers of my grandmother for me, I found myself in a small First Full Gospel Church of Christ in Garden Grove, California. The pastor preached the straight Gospel of Christ crucified and raised again and it was the first time in my life that I had heard the whole Gospel laid out so clearly and it made sense. The Spirit was working and Faith was born in my heart and I believed what I heard.

At the end of the service I found myself (by myself) at the front of this small congregation with the pastor who, going through each and every point of the gospel, asked me if I believed each one. I did and I said so. "Do you believe Jesus Christ was God come in the flesh?" "Yes." and so on until everything was covered.

He then asked me if I wanted to meet Jesus (which I was now anxious to do) and led me in a prayer of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God.

At that point, right then, the most wonderful feeling of joy and peace and power started to flow into me from the top of my head and down into my body and my legs. The Spirit of God was flowing into me in waves, cleansing me from all unrighteousness and sin and making me a new creature in Chirst Jesus.

When I left that church that morning, I was so amazed, overwhelmed and in awe of what had just happened. I was not sure exactly what had just happened, but I knew my life would never be the same again.

So then, regarding being saved by Grace:

Grace is the Power of God, worked in us by the Spirit of God, unto Salvation, a New Birth and a New Creature.

"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: "
Colossians 2:6 Emphisis mine

To be continued....

Purpose of this Blog - Read First

Note: This is the 1st post in a series on Grace that should be read in the following order:

1 Purpose of this Blog
2 Grace Defined - Part One
3 Grace Defined - Part Two
4 Grace operates through Faith - Faith Defined
5 Faith comes by hearing
6 Faith comes by hearing - Time alone with God
7 ...and hearing by the Word of God - Part One
8 ...and hearing by the Word of God - Part Two


Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Over the years it has become apparent to me through the study of the Word, the operation of God's Grace in my life and observing those called Christians in numerous congregations in a number of different countries, that many seekers of God and those in the Body of Christ do not have a clear understanding of the practical workings of God's Grace.

Often I will hear Grace defined as "God's riches at Christ's expense" or "unmerited favor". But what do these mean in a practical sense? What is the purpose of God's Grace in my life as a believer in Jesus Christ? How does it operate? Does God's Word instruct me on how I might grow in Grace?

Yes, the Bible most certainly does give us instruction in this most important principle. Yet many do not grasp or even have a clue what it really means to them to walk in Grace day by day.

This is evidenced in the extreme by many Christians and "so-called" Christians that proclaim, "It's ok if I sin, I am saved by Grace!" While the second half of their statement is true, the first half is in fact the exact opposite and antithesis of what God's Word tells us about the subject. In fact, as we shall see in the weeks and months to come, Grace condemns sin in the life of the believer and removes any and all excuses for it.

It is my fervent prayer that, by His Will, this blog will encourage and exhort those who call upon the name of Jesus to a stonger, deeper, more effectual faith with the Creator of heaven and earth, equipping you for the service that He is calling you to.

At the top of this blog you will see Ephesians Chapter 2, versus 8-10 quoted. Please take a moment to read them.

I believe these verses cover the life of the believer from beginning until the Lord takes us home.

We are indeed saved by Grace. We will explore what Grace is and how we have/can be saved by it.

Grace does operate through Faith. We will spend much time on what Faith is, how we can have more of it and how our Faith allows the Grace of God to operate in our lives, moment by moment.

God is preparing you for a work and He has prepared a work for you. But the only way you can walk in that work, is to walk by Grace. This is where the rubber meets the road. The call of God upon your life. Will you answer that call? How can you know what that work is? How can you possibly hope to accomplish what God is calling you to do?

Hebrews 12:28 says:

"Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:" (KJV ~ emphasis mine)

Please visit often. There is much more to come.

By His Grace,

Marc

Note: All scripture quotes in this blog will be from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. All emphisis (bold & italics) are mine.