The Gift of Grace

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

It's the Christmas season, which means we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. But why?

Jesus came into the world to save sinners by revealing God's grace to us. In the spirit of the Christmas season, let's look at God's gift of grace in Christ Jesus.

What is grace?

J.I. Packer - Knowing God:

[Grace is...] God’s love in action towards [people] who merited the opposite of love. Grace means God moving heaven and earth to save sinners who could not lift a finger to save themselves. Grace means God sending His only Son to descend into hell on the cross so that we guilty ones might be reconciled to God and received into heaven. (p. 226, emphasis mine)

God's gift of grace is fully revealed in Christ Jesus. 

 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. (John 1:14–18 ESV)

God' gift of grace required the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. 


[9] In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. [10] In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:9–10 ESV)

Our sins require a blood sacrifice, and God paid it himself when Christ died on the cross. This is the sacrificial, gracious love of God our Father seeking to redeem sinners to himself.

God's gift of grace is Christ's righteousness.

 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (Romans 3:21–24 ESV)

We were legally guilty before God and deserved to pay the penalty of death for our sin. God sent Jesus who became the sacrifice, paying the penalty for our sin. That would only leave us morally neutral before God, which doesn't help us, because even as forgiven sinners we still sin.

But God's gift of grace imputes to us (gives us) Christ's righteousness. Jesus lived the perfectly holy life, he is undefeated, and we get his sterling record credited to our account. We are no longer debtors to God, but heirs! What generosity! Praise God's glorious grace.

God's gift of grace is a free gift, available to all people. 

Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:14–17 ESV)

God's gift of grace is available to you today!

God's gift of grace is to be received by faith. 

 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8–10 ESV)

 You cannot earn a gift, you simply have to receive it. 

In the same way, you cannot earn God's favor in Christ Jesus, you simply have to receive it. The way to receive God's grace is by professing and living in dependent faith upon Christ for two things:

1. The forgiveness of sins
2. The fulfillment of all his promises.

 You have to trust that God has forgiven you in Jesus. You have to depend on God to carry you to the end. 

God's Amazing Grace

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6 ESV)

God's amazing grace begins the good work in your life. We don't save ourselves, God saves us.

God's Sustaining Grace

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6 ESV)

God's sustaining grace brings to completion the good work in your life. God carries us along in Him as we live by faith in Jesus Christ because God's gift of grace includes receiving the Holy Spirit. 


[38] And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38 ESV)


[13] In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, (Ephesians 1:13 ESV)

God's gift of grace gives us the Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee that we will be saved. The Holy Spirit seals us, and does the work of God in our lives. The Holy Spirit dwells in us and works in us as we live in faith, sustaining us to the end. God will complete the work of making us like Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit whom we receive as a gift.

God's gift of grace in Christ Jesus has from eternity been His wise plan to display His glory. 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:3–10 ESV)

1. God chose a people to be saved in Christ Jesus before the world was created.
2. God chose that people to be adopted to Him as sons, heirs with Christ.
3. God did this according to His will, so that his glorious grace would be praised.
4. God blesses this chosen people with grace in Jesus. This grace is redemption through the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross.
5. This grace assures the forgiveness of all our trespasses. All of them.
6. This grace is a gift, lavished upon us.
7. This gift of grace has been God's plan all along. God set forth this plan to give this gift of grace in Jesus from all eternity.

God's gift of grace elicits a response. We walk in good works by faith. 

[10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10 ESV)

 God's gift of grace in Jesus leads us to praise and worship Him. 

 [1] Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
[2] Serve the LORD with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
[3] Know that the LORD, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
[4] Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
[5] For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations. (Psalm 100 ESV)

 In Jesus Christ, you can be made new by receiving God's gift of grace. You can be forgiven, justified, and glorified today. When you've received God's gift of grace, you'll spend the rest of eternity thanking and praising Him for what He has given you in Christ. 

Have you received God's gift of grace in Christ Jesus?

 To God all praise and glory!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Walking in Wisdom

Image
Augustine of Hippo is famously quoted as saying to God, "You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they can find rest in you." We have to consider this: If God really is our Creator, and the Bible really is His inspired word, God's words and instructions for us are life. He is our Maker and he knows how we are made. Therefore, when we are reading the Bible, we are looking into the truth about ourselves. We are grasping onto the truth of how we are wired to operate, which means we can be learning true wisdom. Let's think about wisdom in a few contexts from the Scriptures, and we can weigh for ourselves the authority we think they deserve. A Pure Heart: Wisdom in Conduct From the New Testament James 3:13–18 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is ...
Read more

32 For 32

Image
Each year around my birthday (for the past three years), I like to share my thoughts from the previous year. These are keen and not so keen observations, musings, and the like. Feel free to read and disagree, silently judge, or even criticize these -- I'll probably never know that you did that! Those little nose pimples that you get on the inside of your nostril from time to time are the worst.  Life is really, really hard. We aren't meant to go it alone. We need community. I've lived most of my life thinking the opposite, but I'm realizing I need people more and more as I get older.  Social media lives are not reality. Who are you trying to impress? Who am  I  trying to impress? Fear is perhaps our strongest motivator. Beware of any person who tries to influence you based on your fears. Has craft beer jumped the shark? I will neither confirm, nor deny. But you know what will never jump the shark. A nice cold domestic. Also, I recently learned that Bud Ligh...
Read more

Go On Up To The Mountain Every Day (Part 2)

Image
Always wear Packers gear when you know you'll be standing on top of a mountain.  In part 1 of this 2 part blogstravaganza we looked at the depth of our need for a Savior. We saw that because of our sin, we find ourselves separated from the holy God and we are helpless to save ourselves by works of the law. The greatness of the gospel of God's grace to sinners is that while we are sinners, He redeems us and reconciles us to Himself through the blood of Jesus.  This post will look at 2 more reasons why we should preach ourselves the gospel every day.  2) The gospel magnifies God's grace in provision by bringing us in awe to the foot of the cross. We have rebelled and ruined our relationship with God on account of our sin. We cannot obey the law or any other religious practices to purify ourselves in order that we may draw near to the holy God. It doesn't work! But that isn't the end of our story! God takes us from hopeless sinners to hopeful sons! Fo...
Read more

A Prayer For 2019

Image
2019 is here, people! Out of the abundant favor of God, we are here in Nebraska as I write this, staying at a lovely AirBnB as a family, celebrating the holiday and enjoying time together. Last night, we were studying Ephesians 3 as we prepared for the New Year, and it seemed like such a fitting and beautiful prayer to ring in 2019, that I wanted to pass it along. Here is the prayer that I am joining with the Apostle Paul almost 2000 years ago in praying for myself and others, and for you and for those you love. Prayer for Spiritual Strength 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and ...
Read more

The Boy Who Walked Away Alive

Image
Have you heard about the boy who died? There is a scene in Acts chapter 20 where Luke records something miraculous that occurs in the ministry of the Apostle Paul. Late one night in a well lit upper room, Paul is sharing the good news of the Kingdom of God with a group of disciples in Troas. As night wears on, a young listener named Eutychus is overwhelmed by sleepiness and tragically falls out of a window to his death. Paul descends the stairs of the building and hovers over the boy. In the same way that Jesus assured the ruler whose young daughter had died, so Paul issues forth comfort in his speech, saying, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him” (Acts 20:10 ESV). This calls to mind life-giving resurrections told of in the ministries of Elijah and Elisha as well. The miraculous happens again, and they took away the boy alive. How can this be? How can the dead be made alive? Who invests this resurrection power to defeat this solemn and universal enemy? Truly this is t...
Read more