Great Grace!

Acts 4:33, 34
What a description is used by the Holy Spirit to describe the grace of God upon the early church, “great grace was upon them all” (Acts 4:33). The Greek word for “great” is ‘megas’, from which we derive the English word “mega”. It denotes a largeness of volume and size. It is first used in the New Testament in Matthew 2:10 to describe how the Magi felt when they saw the shining star leading them to the home of the young child Jesus, “they rejoiced with exceeding great joy”.

Think of the excitement that must have been in the heart of the wise men as they found the young Jesus and the “great joy” that they must have known. Now, take that same excitement and “greatness” and apply it to the grace of God that is found on the church. In that perspective we can catch a glimpse of how wonderful the church viewed God’s grace in relation to the religious experiences that they had been raised to seek after.

This great grace follows a description of the power that was found in the church as well. We know that great and mighty miracles followed the disciples and the apostles of the early church, with many people being healed and even raised from the dead. What was the purpose of this great power that they had? The text tells us that the great power “gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus” (verse 33). Every miracle that was performed was further proof that Jesus was alive! His resurrection was the single most disputed thing about Christianity, for the Pharisees had fought from the very beginning to convince the populace that Jesus’ body was merely stolen, not that He had miraculously risen from the dead. When God used His church to perform mighty miracles, credence was being placed upon the fact that Jesus was alive and not dead. If Christ were dead then His church would be dead also, but if He is alive, then His power would still be felt.

This power is still available for the church today, and it is evident at different places around the world and at different times. I am not insinuating that someone will have such healing power that they will walk down the street and people will be healed just by being in their shadow, as was the case with the Apostle Peter (Acts 5:15), but I do believe that the presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ will bring “signs and wonders”. When the apostles preached the “word of his grace”, He “granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands” (Acts 14:3).

Great grace will bring another great bi-product: “Neither was there any among them that lacked” (Acts 4:34). God’s abundant grace provides for all of the needs of His children. Because the Lord is our Shepherd, we shall not want (Psalms 23:1). Resting in His finished work and partaking in His abundant grace brings a fullness of all that we need in Christ, and in Him, we never lack.

Don’t be ashamed to call the grace of God, “great”! His grace is greater even than many of us have been led to believe. Accept it as a free gift and then watch how wonderful His grace is as it works in every area of your life.

Save the Best for Last

John 2:1-10

It has baffled many Bible scholars for years, why Jesus would perform as His first miracle, the changing of water into wine. It brought no healing to a broken body and no salvation to a lost soul. In fact, it didn’t even bring glory to Jesus at the time, as everyone at the marriage supper gave credit to the host for bringing the best wine out at the end, while not even acknowledging Jesus’ miracle (verse 10).

God first dealt with man with grace, demanding nothing of Abraham but faith, and that was counted to him for righteousness (Romans 4:3). Even when Abraham sinned in bringing Lot with him, or going in to Hagar to bear a child, or lied to Pharaoh about his wife, there is no evidence that God reprimanded or punished him. Grace and mercy was God’s original default position.

When Israel arrived in the wilderness between the Red Sea and the Promised Land, they informed God that they were well capable of doing whatever God demanded of them (Exodus 19:8), and in their self-righteousness God gave them the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Law. Of course no man can keep the Law, so humanity plunged into the wrath and judgment of God.

Then came Jesus, who lived perfection in every way, fulfilling all of the demands of the Law and who laid down His life as a sacrifice for the entire world. He took the full brunt of God’s wrath against sin and became sin for us so that we could become the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

When Jesus turned the water to wine as His first miracle He was doing it as a metaphor for the message that He was to proclaim. As the giver of the law, Moses becomes synonymous with that Law (John 1:17), while Jesus is the bringer of grace. Moses touched the water in Egypt and it turned to blood (Exodus 7:20) which produced death. Jesus touched the water in Cana and it turned to wine which produced joy and merriment. Jesus is showing us that the introduction of the Law brought death and condemnation, while the introduction of God’s amazing grace brings life and peace.

God truly saved His best way for last. Grace is God’s final method of dealing with mankind. When you accept Christ by faith you return to the original promise that God made to Abraham which was not dependent upon His obedience but only y upon his faith (Galatians 3:29). This is not an admonition to be disobedient, for God’s grace truly teaches us how to live and when we accept His grace we will see His righteousness come out of us (Titus 2:11, 12).

Christ has filled you with His goodness, just like the water pots in the story were filled with water. Jesus has transformed who you used to be so that you can bring Him glory now through who you are in Christ. Let Him touch your soul today and bring greatness out in the mighty name of Jesus.

The Goodness of God

Luke 5:4-11

Children often pray, “God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food, Amen”. I love that prayer! It is so simple and elementary, and most adults abandon it in favor of longer, more detailed prayers, but in the simplicity of that children’s prayer is found such a wonderful truth about our God.

Somewhere along the way, as we grow older and mature, we cease to view God as “great” and “good”. We know that He is great, but life has thrown us enough curves that we begin to doubt whether or not He is always “greater” than our circumstances. We do not doubt that He is good but we have had enough bad things happen to us that it is hard to see that He is always “good” to us.

I believe that it is a trick of Satan to cause us to view God as less than good and great. While believing that God is a good God, we have a hard time seeing Him as doing well for us all of the time. Most of us limit God’s goodness to when we act good. If we do good things, then we believe that God will do good things for us in return. This concept of God’s goodness has God rewarding us for good behavior and punishing us for the bad. Paul said, “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” (Romans 4:8). If this promise only applies if we are obedient, then what is the point? Of course He won’t impute sin if we don’t commit it. What kind of promise is that? It is only “blessed” when we realize that God’s goodness is independent of our ability to earn it!

Paul said, “The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” (Romans 2:4). When God shows us blessings and goodness, we change our mind about who He is. Watch how the Lord deals with Peter in Luke 5, bringing Simon to his knees in repentance.

Despite Peter’s arguing that they had fished all night and caught nothing, he launches into the deep at the bequest of the Master. When he does this, he encloses a great multitude of fishes and the nets begin to break. This net-breaking blessing brings Peter to repentance, “When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:8) It was not necessary to tell Peter what a sinner that he was or to quote from the Ten Commandments, in order to produce repentance from Peter, but rather Jesus gave him an undeserved blessing.

The goodness of God does not come upon us by obedience. If we received only upon obedience, we would not be receiving of God’s grace, but rather we would be receiving of God’s debt. He would owe us goodness as payment for our living correctly. Paul said, “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt” (Romans 4:4).

Finally, God is great because He is first good! When He shows forth His goodness to us, we change our minds about who He is and what He is. When we accept the goodness of God we cannot help but call Him great. Our children know Him as great because they first accept Him as good. See your Father as good to you and you will know your Father is great.

It is the Sinner Who Repents

Mark 2:17

Jesus came to call sinners to repentance (Mark 2:17). The Greek word for “repent” means “a change of mind” and that definition is universal throughout the New Testament. When the Word speaks of repentance it is talking about man changing the way he thinks or the way that he views a situation.

We often interpret “repentance” as an emotional experience. We think that someone has truly repented if they cry or feel bad, and we often accept their repentance if we see those emotional outbursts; and we reject it if they don’t “show repentance”.

As we have seen, the New Testament version of repentance is to change how you think. If you are a sinner then you are being called to accept Jesus Christ as your savior. You need to change your mind, which thinks that you are able to save yourself. Your mind is convinced that you are fine and that you do not need a Savior. If you are a sinner, your thinking about eternity and salvation is all wrong and you need to change your mind. In other words, you need to repent.

Saints should often repent as well, but not in the manner in which it is often preached and taught. Christians have no need of an emotional breakdown when they fail, characterized by lamenting and fasting, begging God for forgiveness. We are the righteousness of God in Christ, and when we fail, we do not cease to be the righteousness of God. However, many of us feel that we are failures and that we owe God something. Repent of this! Change your mind and realize that you are just as saved after you fail as you were before it. Change your mind about the fact that you are a son and not a slave and when your mind lines up with whom you are in Christ; your lifestyle is soon to follow.

Jesus stated that He came, “not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17). If Jesus specifically mentions that He is not calling the righteous to repent, why are we always calling on the righteous to repent? His call was to sinners, and He said it because the religious world was frustrated with His constant fellowshipping with the lost. Jesus did not become like the sinner in order to win the sinner, but He did present a different view of God to the sinner so that they would change their mind about who God was and how He thought of them.

Many sinners think that God is angry with them and that He is about to send them to hell at any moment. By conversing with and eating with sinners, Jesus was changing the perception that the sinner had of who God was. Jesus made God personable and loving, and sinners felt themselves opening up to the Son of God. The call of repentance came next, with sinners responding in droves because Jesus had convinced them that they were wrong about how the Father felt about them.

Consequently, this verse also shows us that Jesus is not against people going to the doctor if they are sick. Some say that visiting a physician is a lack of faith. If that were the case then Jesus would not have said that those who need a physician are the sick. While He is not advocating sickness or disease, He is using it as an example as to who needs His salvation power.

Jesus Fulfilled the Law

Matthew 5:17

Early in His famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus proclaims His purpose in coming to earth, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). Christ makes it clear that He did not come to rip the Old Testament up; neither the writings of Moses nor any other prophet. Rather, Jesus came to fulfill that which the Law and the Prophets had left undone.

Paul asked if our faith has replaced the Law, and then concludes, “God forbid: yea, we establish the law” (Romans 3:31), showing us that our faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work brings the Law to completion in our lives. Since Jesus lived all of the demands of the Law and then died as a spotless sacrifice, you and I fulfill every demand of the Law, not by right-living, but by faith in the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ.

Paul said it like this, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight” (Romans 3:20). This means that by works, no one can be declared clean in the eyes of God. He went on to say, “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference” (Romans 3:21, 22). Now we have “righteousness without the law”, meaning that we are declared righteous without keeping the law. The only reason that this is possible is because Jesus completely fulfilled the demands of the Law on our behalf!

Notice that verse 21 states, “being witnessed by the law and the prophets”. The law and the prophets witnessed true righteousness in the flesh when Moses and Elijah showed up at the Mount Transfiguration. Moses is a type of the Law, while Elijah is representative of the Prophets. Both of these witnessed the Righteousness of God in the form of Jesus and both of these will minister the message of grace during the tribulation period (Revelation 11:4).

There was nothing wrong with the original Law of God. Paul stated, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12). The problem with the Law was that it demanded perfection but then provided no help in producing perfection. In fact, God did not give the Law to show man how to live, contrary to what is often preached. Paul said that “the law entered, that the offence might abound” (Romans 5:20). Law was given to show man his imperfection in light of God’s perfect standard. This was to stop the mouth and declare the whole world “guilty before God” (Romans 3:19).

By never breaking the Law, Jesus was a sinless man. He fulfilled every demand of the Law to perfection and then took all of our law-breaking into His own body. He died as the punishment for all of our sins, thus giving us His perfect life. The Great Exchange of Calvary was that He became our sin so that we might become the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). He has fulfilled it, thus, so have you!

He is Knocking

Revelation 3:20

Following the messages to the seven churches of Asia, which are types of the seven church ages since Pentecost, Christ changes from addressing the churches directly to “any man” in verse 20. Until this point He has ministered directly to the church but now shows us that the last great push before the rapture of the church will be answered by individuals, if not the entire church.

For what cause is Christ standing outside of the heart’s door in this verse? What has caused the church to push the Master to the front porch of our lives instead of allowing Him to dwell freely in the living space of our heart? This final invitation is directed to the individuals within the church at Laodicea, and I believe that we are seeing this fulfillment even now.

In this final hour there is a mixture of covenants in the modern pulpit. The cold tablets of the Law are being preached with force in most sermons, teaching people to work for their righteousness and sanctification. If that was the only message being preached then that would serve to work as a schoolmaster which would lead people to frustration, turning them to the hope afforded them by Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:24). Unfortunately, there is just as much preaching on the grace of God along with the ministry of the Law. I say that it is unfortunate because this mixture says that all are saved by grace but then maintain their salvation by individual works of righteousness. This is often referred to as “balance” in many churches, but Christ calls it “mixture”.

He tells Laodicea that because they are “neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:16). Faced with a message of the heat of God’s grace and the coldness of God’s law, the end result will be a lukewarm Christian message. It will be attractive to the sinner because of the grace of God offered freely, but it will quickly become a bondage to the one who is born again.

This combination forces the beautiful presence of Jesus to the front porch of the church, where He then knocks on the door of the church, seeking permission to come back inside. His invitation is extended to “any man”, denoting that in these last days there will be individuals within the modern church system of Laodicea who will answer the call of Jesus Christ and will open up to His wonderful New Covenant.

I see people opening up to the message of pure grace every single day. Individuals who have grown weary beneath the message of works and progressive sanctification are finding rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ. They are opening up to the simplicity of Jesus Christ and Him crucified and they are experiencing the wonder of supping with Him and He with them. This mutual relationship, in which they speak freely to Jesus and He ministers freely to them, has rejuvenated their Christian walk, and there are more and more rising up every day who say as Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ!” (Romans 1:16).

If you have mixed grace with law and are floundering beneath a sea of dead works, listen carefully for the knock of Jesus. He awaits perfect fellowship with you once again. Won’t you open the door today?

What If the Christian Fails to Confess?

1 John 1:9

This verse marks the only time in the New Testament that we are told to confess our sins in order to receive forgiveness. Paul wrote 14 books of the New Testament, and was given the Covenant of God’s grace in face-to-face meetings with the Lord Jesus, and he never once mentions confession by the saint. Paul’s lone usage of “confess” as it regards salvation is found in Romans 10:9, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved”. This confession is obviously for salvation and not the repeated confessing of sins that we commit.

John’s usage is not as a foundational principle for how believers deal with sin. If it were, then we would be judged responsible for all of our sins, every moment of every day. This would take the judgment for sins off of Jesus, and place it onto the believer. The load of this is more than any of us can bear.

Do you suppose that you can remember all of your faults? If you can, then you must literally remember ALL of them. Not one can be left out. Not only would you have to confess the sins that you committed, you would also have to seek forgiveness for the ones that you committed but do not know about. You would also be responsible for the sins of omission; the things you should have done but did not do. This is overwhelming!

John furthers his case in chapter two, by telling the believer, “My little children, these things write I unto to you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1, 2). Here, John does not mention confessing the sins; only remember than Jesus is your attorney in the high court of heaven. He is the “propitiation” or “satisfaction” for all of our sins. God cannot be angry with sin, for He has been satisfied by the sin offering.

By informing us that all of our sins are forgiven, John is equipping us to “sin not”. Only he who knows that he is forgiven can have the peace and joy to live free from this world of sin. Sin comes natural to us, because we did it our whole lives. Even though we are free from the old nature that we had, we still know how to sin by habit, like tying our shoes without thinking about it. The knowledge that we are completely washed and forgiven is the very thing that Satan wishes to deny us. Grasp hold of that knowledge and watch sin vanish from your life.

If Paul intended for the believer to confess their sins in order to have them forgiven, wouldn’t it have been a good idea to remind us of this at least once in 14 books? He deals with Christians getting drunk on communion wine, committing incest, suing one another and sleeping with harlots (all in 1 Corinthians alone!) and yet he tells none of these to “confess your sins”. He simply reminds them of who they are in Christ and tells them to wake up to this fact.

John is telling us of a passionate relationship that ensues when we confess our failures to Jesus. I forgive my son for whatever wrong that he might commit, even if he never asks me to. I do this because he is mine, and I love him unconditionally. However, I love for him to say I am sorry because it gives me an opportunity to shower him with love. My forgiveness is not dependent on his confession, but the hug that comes to him is so much sweeter because of it.

When you fail and you know it, confess it to the Father. Don’t do it because you think He will send you to hell without it, but rather because you know that on the other side of that confession He sheds His love on you, and that is a wonderful feeling.