God Sent His Son >> We Need To Trust Him
The Good News is that God makes us, who are undeserving sinners,
to be ready for His heaven. He makes us right in His sight when we
put our trust in Christ. This is accomplished by grace through faith
in Christ (Ephesians 2:8). We who seek life will find it through
trusting God.
God has been waiting all this while without punishing us, to give
us time to turn from our sins. His kindness is meant to lead us to
repentance. Nobody can ever be made right in God's sight by doing
good deeds to atone for their own sins. For the more we know about
God's standard of holiness, the clearer it becomes that we are not
able to attain it. His mark for righteousness serves only to remind
us that we are sinners. And that’s good! That’s where and when we
realize that we need God. Without Him, we are nothing, have nothing
and can do nothing!
God has shown us His way to heaven - a way made long
ago back in Genesis. Abraham was the founder and the father of many
nations (Genesis 17:4). He was a righteous man before God. The
question is: "Was it because of his good deeds that God accepted
him?" If so, then he would have something to boast about. But from
God's point of view, Abraham believed God and that’s good enough.
God cancelled his sins and declared him not guilty. Abraham earned
his right to heaven by believing in God.
Now this wonderful truth that Abraham was accepted and approved
through his faith was not only for him, but also for us. We are
equally assured that God will accept us in the same way that He had
accepted Abraham by putting our faith in God. When we believe that
Jesus died for our sins and rose again to make us right with God,
God will accept and acquit us, declaring us not guilty. We are then
filled with the goodness of God. Salvation, though expensive, is a
free gift of God. As it is free, nobody can work for it. For God
declares sinners to be right in His sight if they have put their
faith in Christ.
King David spoke of this blessedness of an undeserving sinner who
is declared not guilty by God. "Blessed and to be envied," he said,
"are those whose sins are forgiven and put out of sight. Yes, what
joy there is for anyone whose sins are no longer counted against him
by the Lord." (Psalm 32:1-2, Romans 4:6-8)
In Matthew 18:23-35, Jesus told a parable about a man, Mr. A, who
owe a king $10 million. As he could not pay the amount, the king was
merciful and forgave him. The king wrote off and cancelled every
cent Mr. A, his debtor, owe. Mr. A did nothing to deserve this
goodness but he received the gift based on the grace of the king.
Similarly, we owe God a debt that we cannot pay. But Jesus came
and paid on our behalf every debt we owe. All our sins are cleared
and cancelled. By believing in what Christ has done on the Cross, we
are truly saved by grace through faith.
Grace Two: Strengthening & Sanctifying Grace
God Sent
His Spirit >> We Need To Obey Him
Well then, if we are saved by grace through faith, does this mean
that we now have a license to sin and are set free to commit more
sins? Just the opposite! In fact, the only way to prove that we
truly trust God is when we truly obey Him. That's why God gives us
His Holy Spirit of grace (Hebrews 10:29) Who is
more than sufficient in strengthening us to live the abundant life through
obeying Him.
When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. Adam caused
all of us to be sinners because he disobeyed God, but Christ caused
us to be made saints acceptable to God because He obeyed.
Now we can rejoice in this wonderful new relationship with God -
all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done in dying for our
sins and making us friends of God.
Going back to the same parable in Matthew 18, when Mr. A was
acquitted of his debt, he would not dare to be indebted to the king
again. It would be presumptuous of him to take the grace of the king for
granted. When we are clean of our sins, we do not desire to be
stained again. The grace of God is not our right but His right to
exercise. The gift of God, through free, is not cheap. Jesus made
the full payment for our sins with His blood and His life!
And the parable did not end there with Mr. A stood forgiven and
debt-free. When Mr. A was released, he went to another man, Mr. B
who owed him just $2,000. Mr. A grabbed Mr. B by the throat and
demanded instant payment. Mr. B fell down before Mr. A and begged
him to give him a little time to pay the debt. But his creditor, Mr.
A, would not wait. He had Mr. B arrested and jailed until the full
$2,000 debt was paid. When the king came to know about this, he was
angry with Mr. A and sent him to the torture chamber until he had
paid every cent of the $10 million debt.
When we have received the grace of God, we need to minister His
grace to others. As God is gracious to us by forgiving all of our
sins, we need to be gracious in forgiving all the sins of others
against us. That's
what grace is for.
Since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we can
have peace with Him because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done
for us. We know how dearly God loves us. We can feel His warm love
spreading everywhere inside of us. This warmth is the evidence that
God has given us the Holy Spirit - filling our hearts with His love.
In order to overcome the law of sin and death, we need the Holy
Spirit so that the law of the Spirit of life will
activate
in our lives. The law of the Spirit of life and the law of sin and
death are actually two faces of the same Law of God. Obedience leads
to blessings (life), and disobedience leads to
curses (death). We
can now obey the Law of God if we follow after the Holy Spirit and
no longer obey our old evil and lower natures.
Those who let themselves to be controlled by their lower natures
live only to please themselves, but those who follow after the Holy
Spirit find themselves doing those things that please God. Following
after the Holy Spirit leads to life and peace, but following after
the old nature leads to death because the old sinful nature within
us is against God. It never did obey God's laws and it never will.
That's why those who are still under the control of their old sinful
natures, bent on following their old evil desires, can never please
God.
But we are not to be like that. We are controlled by our new
nature if we have the Spirit of God living in us. If anyone does not
have the Spirit of Christ living in him, he is not a Christian at
all.
In fact, the law of the Spirit of life is higher than the law of
sin and death. Instead of just hating sin and stop sinning, the law
of the Spirit of life requires us to love the sinners. Loving our
neighbours includes both saints and sinners. That’s the fulfillment
of the Law. It is both being debt-free (not sinning) and being
gracious to write off the debts that others owed us (forgiving the
sins of others). Forgiving others as God has forgiven us. That's what the grace of the Spirit can do in our
lives.
As the Spirit of God is able to raise up Jesus from the dead, He
is able to help us live the life that will please God. We have no
obligations to our old sinful nature to do whatever it urges us to
do. For if we keep on following it, we will be lost and perish. But
if through the power of the Holy Spirit, we overcome it and crush
its evil deeds, we shall live.
For all who are led by the Spirit of
God are the sons of God. For the Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in
our hearts and tells us that we really are God's children. As His
children, we will abide in Him as He abides in us. When we do so,
His commandments become no longer burdensome but delightful to
follow. When we are no longer lawless but law-abiding in Christ, we can
proclaim with the psalmist:
The
law of the LORD is perfect,
converting the soul;
The testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple;
The statutes of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring forever;
The judgments of the LORD
are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Psalm 19:7-10
Our Father sent us His Holy Spirit to empower us to live in grace
and harmony with His own will. And we know that all that happens to
us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into His
plans. For from the very beginning God decided that those who came
to Him should become like His Son, so that His Son would be the
First, with many brothers. And having chosen us, He called us to
come to Himself; and when we came, He declared us not guilty, filled
us with Christ's goodness, gave us right standing with Himself, and
promised us His glory. As Christians, we have the Holy Spirit within
us as a foretaste of this glory.
To be truly happy in Jesus,
there is no other way but to trust and obey.
If interested, please view this song:
Grace Greater Than Our Sin