HIS GRACE
LIBERTY AND LOVE #107
“So Paul and Barnabas spent much time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders” (Acts 14:3). The good news of Jesus is a wonderful message. Hope for mankind is contained in this story of God’s love expressed to us through our Lord Jesus Christ. Because we are sinners, Jesus came and took upon himself our sins and our punishment that we might know the love of God and be the recipients of eternal life (Rom. 5:8-9). No wonder it is called good news.
The message of the cross is “the message of his grace.” Without the grace of God, we would be lost and there would be nothing that we could do about it. Think of that! Without God’s grace, we would have nowhere to turn. We would be without help and without hope. Hopeless and pitiful we would be if there were no divine grace. But we do not have to live this way, because God is a God of grace. “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:23-24). Because we have all sinned, we should be unceasingly thankful for the grace of Jesus.
Grace has been defined as “undeserved favor.” Such is an accurate description. Grace is something that we do not deserve and that we cannot earn. Do we save ourselves by our own good deeds? “No! It is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved” (Acts 15:11). God is our Savior (Titus 2:4). He saved us because he loves us. He saved us because Jesus died for us. The only reason for salvation is Jesus.
If, when we contemplate our salvation, we do not foremost and primarily think of the work of Christ, then we don’t have “faith” as the Bible would define it, for faith thinks about its object. Faith looks to, thinks about, and dwells upon Christ Jesus. God says that he sent his son into the world to accomplish salvation for us, and his Son did just that in his perfect life, sacrificial death, and triumphant resurrection from the dead. If we think about what God has done, and entrust ourselves to it, then we have faith, for this is what faith does.
This is fabulous news: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:1-2). When we realize how great his grace is, we will have the desire to stay faithful to our Lord. Those who serve God best are those who appreciate his grace the most. Hear the words of Paul: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, but his grace toward me was not in vain; I labored more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1 Cor. 15:10).
His grace causes people to go to work. His grace produces faithful Christians. Accept his grace. Rejoice in his love and in the fact that God has made you a new creature because of Jesus. Let go of guilt and fear and praise him for what he has done for you in saving your soul. If you are a true lover of Jesus, you are saved and secure. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all” (2 Thes. 3:18).
Dewayne Dunaway
