Do we know what we have? Are we experiencing the abundant blessing of our justification through our peace with God and his unreserved, undeserved grace?
“Since we have been justified …” or “Having been justified …”
WE HAVE PEACE WITH GOD!
We cannot imagine it, but if we could imagine standing before God in all his fury and wrath … If we could picture ourselves about to be incinerated by “the consuming fire” …
Then picture the opposite, and that is where we are in this week’s study.
Peace WITH God!
Because we are justified through Jesus Christ, we have …
Peace with God – Our legal position before a holy God based on our justification through Jesus Christ. Total, complete acceptance and approval based on the work Jesus Christ did when he visited the planet 2,000 years ago.
Standing in grace – And now we are standing in grace. The abundant, unreserved, undeserved, “unearnable” generosity of God to his redeemed.
Picture the guys in the Ocean Spray commercial standing waist-deep in cranberries. Rich, luxurious. That is our picture of standing in grace. Abundant grace is there for the believing.
This week marks the two-year anniversary of the imprisonment of Pastor Saeed Abedini, the American citizen jailed in Iran for his Christian faith. Now he faces a new danger as ISIS militants imprisoned in the same jail are threatening his life.
Along with Saeed’s wife, Naghmeh, I will be hosting a prayer vigil in Washington, D.C., this Thursday at 6 p.m. outside the White House. Naghmeh also has mobilized prayer vigils in cities across the world to pray for her husband and the persecuted church. I’m encouraging everyone to find a vigil in your area, or register to host one yourself.
“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16, NKJV).
Please join with other believers as we call on the Name of the Lord.
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So let me ask … Have you ever posted a “NO TRESPASSING” sign on your property? And after you posted your sign, did anyone ever trespass?
We humans. If there is a rule, we will break it.
“Go ahead, God, put up a sign, give us ten commandments. We will violate your holy word in ways even you might not have thought possible.”
So now let me ask this. If God were to come up with an agreement with us, a deal so to speak, for the salvation of his human creation, could there be any rules for us to obey to hold up our end of the arrangement?
We are almost through September, beautiful fall weather … but we know what comes next! Enjoy while we can, right?
How could God come up with an agreement, a deal, with us for salvation in which he could guarantee the result? It would have to be based on faith and rest on grace. There could be no rules to keep, no laws to regulate, because we would break them and nullify faith and void the promise.
THIS PLAN OF GOD’S? HE DOES EVERYTHING!
OUR PART? BELIEVE GOD!
Message Title: That the Promise May Rest on Grace!
Oops! I thought the recorder was malfunctioning, but it was instead operator error. I couldn’t get the recorder to work Sunday morning because the “Hold” button was on and I could get nothing to work. Discovered this Sunday afternoon. Which was good. This was a much better scenario than having to repair or replace a $200 recorder.
Abraham believed God and God put it to his account for righteousness. That is how God can forgive us. Someone had to pay for our sin. Someone had to give us righteousness that would hold up before a holy God. This is our Jesus. Forgiveness comes because a great payment was made. The Apostle Paul here makes this point by tying the discussion of Abraham’s righteousness before God to the blessing of the forgiveness of our sins as he quotes David in Psalm 32:1-2.
(Psalm 32:1–2 ESV) Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
So one of the questions that I will ask this Sunday is this: “Are we there yet?” Do we understand that if we do not “get” forgiveness, then we do not “get” our salvation.
When we believe God for salvation, as Abraham did, we also have righteousness put to our account, as Abraham did.
By the way, we had righteousness – NOT self-righteousness – put to our account.