God's Grace......

Because of how many comments were made on my last post, I have made this next one more like an outline. A starting point for a little discussion I suppose you could say. And I do hope that some discussion with begin. If you see any flaws in what I have said, or, if you want to add anything, please, go ahead and do so!

What is grace?

According to the Twentieth Century Dictionary, “Grace is the free unmerited love and favor of God.” and “a dispensation, privilege, or pardon granted not in right but by favor.”
Our salvation from sin and our hope of eternal life is due, and only due, to the wonderful saving grace of God.

Dr. Jerry Bridges in his book, “The Discipline of Grace”, says that: “Grace is God’s unmerited favor to those who deserve only His wrath.”
From this we see that grace is a gift—an extraordinarily special gift that comes in the form of a pardon, privilege, or dispensation—a gift given to an offending and guilty party. But what does it have to do with you and me?

Why do we need God’s grace? There are three reasons why. And they all have to do with “sin”.

The universality of sin-
Psalm 14:3 “They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.”
Ecclesiastes 7:20 “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.”
See? It clearly states that sin is universal. There is no one that does good! For me that’s a really scary thought. I know, that I could never do good, if it weren’t for God, and His saving grace.

Seriousness of sin-
Hebrews 10:27 “But a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.”

Habakkuk 1:13 “Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor.”
Obviously sin is not something to be trifled with. It is serious. For, with sin we can die and live in eternal fire.
Man’s inability to deal with sin.

Proverbs 20:9 “Who can say, ‘I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin’?”
Here, once again, it is clearly stated in a question. Who can say these things? The answer, of course, is insinuated, the answer is, “No one.”

We are all in desperate need of God’s forgiveness and grace. But what can we do? The answer is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has already purchased the forgiveness of our sins. In an action of “unmerited favor towards those who deserve God’s wrath” (which is the definition of grace) Christ laid down His life for us: As Romans 6:23 tells us: “The wages of sin is death.”
And so, as Isaiah 53:5 states so beautifully and powerfully, “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” And all we must do is to accept the sacrifice Jesus made for us—and we will be saved.
Ephesians 2:8 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

God’s grace is the only reason I can be writing this right now, to you, as a brother in Christ. In fact our every thought, our every word, and our every breath, can be attributed to nothing else but the unmerited love and favor of an all-powerful God.
We deserved God’s wrath because of our sins. Yet, in His mercy, He sent His Son to die for us. God extended His unmerited favor to you. God extended His unmerited favor to me. We have only to reach out and take it. By God’s grace I have done so. And—as one who has experienced the real freedom and joy that comes with excepting God’s gift of grace my encouragement to you is: “don’t wait.”