Amazing Grace

How often we here these words spoken, we sing the hymn in church and many of us catch ourselves humming it to ourselves unconsciously while we go about our daily business. There are too many versions to even think about naming them. It is sung from old fashioned music to the new contemporary music. It has been a song that has touched countless hearts and brought tears to many an eye. I can remember singing it in church when I was just a young lad and it has stuck in my head even through my rebellious years but I have in the last few years come to understand just how amazing is God's grace.

I really believe it started way back over 6,000 years ago when Lucifer rebelled and wanted to place his throne above the throne of God, in fact wanted to BE GOD.

Isaiah 14:12-15 KJV How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.


I remember reading from a book, I think written by Hal Lindsey (The older I get the less I remember), where Lucifer, after rebelling and having his authority over the angels and the throne of God taken away, says to God: "You don't love me and are not a JUST God." God being all-knowing was not caught by surprise by Lucifer's words and had already made a plan for Lucifer's future and man's future in which He could show He is a God of justice and love.

Psalms 89:14 KJV Justice and judgment [are] the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.

John 3:16 KJV For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

If we were to look up grace in Webster's encyclopedic dictionary of the English language we would find the following definition under theology: The freely given, unmerited favor and love of God. The influence or Spirit of God operating in man to regenerate or strengthen him. A virtue or excellence of divine origin, the condition of being in God's favor.

Romans 5:12 KJV Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.

Romans 3:23 KJV For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;



Isaiah 64:6 KJV But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

So how do we who have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God receive this freely given and unmerited favor and love of God?

John 14:6 KJV Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Romans 10:9 KJV That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Acts 16:31 KJV And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.



Yes God made the sacrifice for us; He knew there was nothing we could do on our own to earn His favor. We were born into sin and without His grace we would die in our sin and could never live in heaven with a perfect God who cannot abide sin. Without His amazing grace we were destined to live in eternity without Him in our sin. He gave His very essence; the one who was a part of Him from eternity past to be the perfect sacrifice, for by one sin entered into the world and by one sin was overcome. Only Jesus could pay our penalty and open the doors of heaven for all who had fallen short of the glory of God. But His grace didn't stop with just paying for our sins. He gave us His Holy Spirit to dwell within us to mold and shape our hearts into His likeness, to teach us His ways and predestine our lives so that we could bring glory to Him. He has prepared us a home in heaven the likes of which we cannot even imagine and secured our future so that not one of His could ever be lost.

Romans 8:38-39 KJV For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

How amazing is it that God could love His creation to such a magnitude that He made the perfect world for us, then when we disobeyed Him and sinned He sacrificed His very essence to pay for our sin, gave us His Spirit to help us succeed in life and is building us a home more wonderful than we could ever imagine so we can live eternally with Him. Through His amazing grace He will see to it that we can never be lost again. And what does this all cost us?

Romans 10:9 KJV That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.



With God's word becoming so corrupted and those who pick and choose what they want to believe today I thought it very important to emphasize how simple the salvation message is. It seems like there is an endless debate over eternal security, whether or not we can lose our salvation. Works theology is running rampant deceiving many into believing they can earn their way into heaven. The Bible was written for God's children to understand and is as practical and worthwhile for instruction today as the time it was written. It is man, who in his arrogance and rebellion, wants to cloud everything God has said so as to deceive those who are searching for their creator. Evil will always seek to deceive and destroy! Trust in the only one with the power to save you from an eternity without your creator and rejoice in the amazing grace of God who gives freely to all who will seek Him. Keep your eyes on the sky for we know our redeemer is coming. We have been told we have not been appointed to the wrath of God.

Maranatha
(Come quickly Lord Jesus)



Bob Goulding © 2007

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