Sunday, September 20, 2009

Grace Does Super-Abound

Romans 5:20

The purpose for the Law entering the world was to show man his inability to please God through works. Israel was functioning under the Abrahamic Covenant, where God did everything for them and they received great reward. At Mt. Sinai, they decided that they were able to do whatever God required of them and they said as much, “All that the LORD hath spoken we will do” (Exodus 19:8). In Hebrew, it is more telling as they said, “We are well capable of doing whatever God demands”. This took them out of a covenant of grace and into a covenant of law.

The arrival of law caused a sin explosion within the heart of man, which it will do even after a man is saved (Romans 7:9). This explosion needs something to counteract it, which is where grace comes in. The phrase, “grace did much more abound” is “super-abundant” in Greek, meaning that wherever there is a certain level of sin, grace superior in a super-abundant amount.

Remove the thought that for every sin there is an equal amount of grace, for this is conventional wisdom, but not spiritual revelation. For every sin there is a super-abundant amount of God’s grace. Who are we to think that our sin is greater than the sacrifice of Christ on the cross? His grace is so wondrous, so awesome, that no amount of sin can ever exhaust His ability to pay for it at Calvary.

Sin has reigned since Adam, but grace will reign in us through the righteousness that comes by Jesus Christ. His righteousness is at work in us, and it is His grace that kills sin’s ability to reign. No amount of works on our part could ever do as much to remove sins dominion as the wonderful grace of God. Look at Paul’s argument, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14). If sin is dominating you; it is evidence that you are under law in some way, for under grace that domination is stopped.

Sin’s domination stops when you are under grace because sin cannot reign at a higher level than grace. When grace is allowed to flow freely into every area of your life, sin is always washed out by the superior power of grace. Please note that this does not mean that true believers will just sin and think nothing of it; but actually it means the contrary. Under grace, believers may still sin, but they will never be dominated by it and the more that they receive and walk in God’s grace the less that those sins will resurface.

The next time that you hear of a terrible sin in someone’s life, or you see rampant sin in a nation or a culture, just remember that right in the midst of that failure is available grace which is greater than all of it. Only those who recognize the wonderful power of grace have a true heart of compassion for the falling and the failing. That believer knows that thought the person is tripping under the weight of their sin, God’s grace is surrounding them, just waiting for them to say “Yes!” to Jesus. Hallelujah!

Don’t elevate your works to the level of God’s grace today. Nothing stands higher or works with more power than His grace. Since grace is not a doctrine but a person (Jesus), then Jesus stands taller than all of your failure. Place it in His grace and let Him take over.

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