An abundance of grace! – Thursday, 19 April
| “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)… …Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” Romans 5:17, 20 King James Version People often object to the message of grace (the gospel) because it sounds too extreme and it seems that you’re just giving people a license to sin. As one minister put it, grace isn’t a license to sin as much as electricity isn’t a license to electrocute yourself. The truth is that we cannot reign in life without an abundance of grace, not an abundance of law, or principles – we reign in life through an abundance of grace (being treated better than we deserve!). You could say that this means that we reign in life by focusing on Jesus and receiving what He did for us (grace), as opposed to focusing on the law and what we can do for ourselves. You need an abundance of grace, not just a little bit, to live in victory – thank God there is an abundant supply for all of us! You can never exhaust God’s grace (His unearned, undeserved favour). You are completely forgiven of your past sins, present sins and future sins. The payment far outweighs the debt – there is much more than enough grace for you! This is where some folks point fingers and say you’re hyper-grace! My response to that is, amen! In the Greek, Paul uses the word huperperisseuō (verse 17) which translated is super-hyperabundant. The point is that we all need much more grace than we realize and a super-hyperabundance of grace to live in victory. Where sin abounds there is a super-hyperabundance of grace to restore you, strengthen you and enable you to rise up. “11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.” Titus 2:11-12 King James Version Grace makes people free from sin, not free to sin. Grace teaches our hearts (Hebrews 10:16; 1 John 2:27) and changes us from the inside. Legalism is always trying to deal with the external actions of sin which are only a fruit of a bigger problem. As an unbeliever, the root problem is a sinful nature (and it’s solved by receiving salvation), but for the believer, the root problem is an unrenewed mind (Romans 12:2) – you don’t know who you are in Christ, or you’re not established in your new identity. Grace changes the heart – the motivator of all of life (Proverbs 4:23). Grace deals with the sinful nature that we inherited from Adam by killing it (Romans 6:2) – we are now dead to the sinful nature that propelled us to sin. Now, through faith in Jesus Christ, we have a new righteous nature (2 Corinthians 5:21) which propels us (motivates, trains or teaches us) to live godly. Living righteously doesn’t come from knowing the law and trying to follow it. Righteous living starts with being righteous (made righteous when you believe on Jesus) and then awakening to the realization of your new identity in Christ. |
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