WHAT is the GRACE of GOD?
J.I. Packer in "Knowing GOD" wrote that "GRACE means GOD's LOVE IN ACTION toward 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 The CROSS to descend into Hell so that we GUILTY ones might be RECONCILED to GOD and RECEIVED into Heaven. 'GOD made CHRIST Who had NO Sin to BE Sin for us, so that IN CHRIST we might become the Righteousness of GOD' (2 Corinthians 5:21).
"The New Testament knows both a Will of GRACE and a Work of GRACE. The former is GOD's ETERNAL Plan to save; the latter is GOD's 'good work IN you' (Philippians 1:6), whereby He CALLs you into a Living Fellowship with CHRIST (1 Corinthians 1:9), RAISES you from Death to Life (Ephesians 2:1-6), SEALS you as His own by the GIFT of His SPIRIT (Ephesians 1:13-14), TRANSFORMS you into CHRIST's image (2 Corinthians 3:18), and will finally RAISE your body in Glory (Romans 8:30, 1 Cor 15:47-54).
"WHAT is the PURPOSE of GRACE? Primarily to RESTORE our Relationship with GOD. When GOD lays the Foundation of this restored Relationship, by FORGIVING our sins AS we TRUST His SON, He does so in order that henceforth we and He may LIVE in Fellowship. And what He does in RENEWING our nature is intended to make us CAPABLE of, and ACTUALLY to lead us into the exercise of Love, Trust, Delight, Hope and Obedience GODward -- those acts which, from our side, make up the REALITY of Fellowship with GOD, Who is constantly making Himself known to us. This is what all the Work of GRACE aims at -- an EVER deeper Knowledge of GOD, and an EVER closer Fellowship with Him. GRACE is GOD drawing us sinners closer and CLOSER to Himself.
"HOW does GOD in GRACE prosecute this purpose? NOT by shielding us from assault by the World, the Flesh and the Devil, nor by protecting us from burdensome and frustrating circumstances, nor yet by shielding us from troubles created by our own temperament and psychology -- BUT rather by EXPOSING us to ALL these things, SO as to OVERwhelm us with a sense of our own INadeqacy, and to drive us to CLING to Him more closely.
"This is the ULTIMATE reason, from our standpoint, WHY GOD fills our lives with troubles and perplexities of one sort or another -- it is to ENSURE that we shall LEARN to HOLD Him fast. The reason the Bible spends so much of its time reiterating that GOD IS a STRONG Rock, a FIRM Defense, and a SURE Refuge and Help for the weak -- is that GOD spends so much of His time bringing home to us that we ARE weak, both mentally and morally, and dare NOT trust ourselves to find, or to follow, the RIGHT road.
"GOD wants us to feel that our way through Life is rough and perplexing, so that we may LEARN thankfully to LEAN ON Him. Therefore He takes steps to drive us out of SELF-confidence to TRUST IN Himself -- in the classical Scriptural phrase for the SECRET of the godly Life, to 'WAIT ON The LORD.'" (J.I. Packer, "Knowing GOD" -- pp.249, 250)
Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones in his sermon "The Fruit of The SPIRIT" -- expounds that Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-control are GRACES of GOD. With the apostle Paul, authentic CHRISTians can JOYfully and gratefully say, 'By the GRACE of GOD, I am WHAT I am' (1 Corinthians 15:10), for by The Holy SPIRIT dwelling withIN the Born-Again Child of GOD, the Fruit of The SPIRIT -- these GRACES of GOD -- are being cultivated and grown by GOD Himself so that CHRIST-likeness may be manifested more and more in GOD's children.
LONGSUFFERING is a GRACE of GOD that is certainly much needed in TOday's troubled world. The COVID pandemic, economic woes, political havoc, social unrest, family and relationship problems -- the REALITIES of Life seem overwhelming. What happens to LOVE, JOY, PEACE when these stress-FULL pressures come like a flood?
Dr Lloyd-Jones "challenges the listener to examine the REAL fruit exposed when a person is under pressure. A TRUE CHRISTian will demonstrate the Fruit of The SPIRIT. As a CHRISTian faces SUFFERING, TRIAL, DISCIPLINE, and PERSECUTION, it will reveal the nature that is being built withIN. Do trials and sufferings produce PERSEVERANCE, LONGSUFFERING, and HOPE? When one is cut, do they bleed the Fruit of The SPIRIT? When they are reviled, do they revile in return? Does the CHRISTian entrust themselves to GOD who judges justly? Do the pressures of Life reveal a GROWING Patience, Kindness, and Meekness that is GROWing in the Soul?" (from "
The Fruit of The SPIRIT" by Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones --
https://www.mljtrust.org/sermons-online/john-1-12-13/the-fruit-of-the-spirit/)
LET us carefully and prayerfully EXAMINE our own life to see whether the pressures of Life REVEAL a NEW creation IN the Soul -- OR a Soul IN NEED of NEW Life. \o/
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