“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
The Greek word for grace is ‘charis’ which means kindness. It means receiving what we did not work for, not just getting what we did not deserve. Grace is the showing of kindness to someone with the implication of graciousness on the part of the one showing such kindness. Grace goes beyond mercy by giving us more than we deserve. Grace is what God does for us as a result of what Jesus has done for us. Jesus satisfied all of God’s requirements and all of us who are in Him are recipients of His goodness. Everything that we receive from God comes as a result of His kindness. The work Christ did on the Cross for us was a great work to bring us into fellowship with God.
Grace is what God does for us as a result of what Jesus did for us. Man was struggling to fulfill all of God’s requirements and this did not work, so God sent Jesus who had to be born under the law because there was no one who was satisfying God in keeping the law. Jesus had to satisfy God so that there was a man who could keep the law before grace came. God loved us so much that He gave us Jesus who took our place. God is saying that if Jesus could live under the law and satisfy Him, we no longer have to do this, but through grace, if we receive Christ, we have full access to God’s promises. Grace is important for keeping us.
We were sinning willfully and God is the one who found us and came looking for us. He did this in order to position us so that we could come to know Christ. Once we said “yes” to Christ, God forgave us of every offence, for God chose us before the creation of the world.
God is duty bound to take care of us, to provide on our behalf. In Christ we are forgiven of all sins. There is nothing that you need in Christ that God has not already provided for, but do not come to Him with greed, come with need (Ephesians 1:3). He loved us so much that He sent His Son to die for us (1 John 4:10).
God loved us so much that even though Adam sinned, He sent Christ to redeem us. However, He cast Satan out of heaven when he rebelled. God also made provision for us in that while we were yet sinners, He sent Christ to die for us (Romans 5:8). He also multiplied man’s ability to reproduce, so that death couldn’t overtake him and Jesus could die for him and redeem him. He also preserved Man by moving him out of Eden where he would have lived for ever in a fallen state. He moved man out of Eden so that Man would not become like Lucifer
Jesus went through all the pain, shame and agony for me and He deserves all my praise. So even if He did not come through for us, we should praise Him anyway. We praise God not to get something, but in spite of everything. Saving me was in fact the greatest thing that He could have done for me.
If you are born again, you are righteous in God (Romans 5:21). For any man who is in Christ, is a new creature. Once you have sinned, do not sin again (1 John 2:1). Shut all doors to sin. You do not fall from grace when you sin, but you fall from grace when you choose to go back into habitual sin or revert to the law where you try to do good in order to please God and see His favour. Then you are trusting in your good works and good deeds. As long as you are saved, you have God’s favour for a lifetime. Even if you are going wrong, the Holy Spirit is going to bring you back on track.
Grace teaches you how to live a godly life. If you are saved and still living like you did in the past, then you are not saved and need to repent and go to God again. Say each morning that you wake up that you are the righteousness of God in Christ. Declare that the grace of God abounds in you and that the grace of God is abundant in you. That way you dispel all the demons the enemy had assigned to you for that day.
When you believe right, you will live right. This is maintained by Christ alone, as our best efforts cannot keep us. I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and Judah, says God, so do not let any one remind you of your past sins (Hebrews 8:8-12).
Paul says that the ministry of death was written on stones, meaning the commandments (2 Corinthians 3:7-9). The law says “thou shalt not . . . but grace is life and through it God says “I will”. “I will write my law on their hearts.” There is no “Thou shalt not any more. If you live by the law then you are not saved (Romans 3).
