9700	Forums / Theology Forum / The Bible Driven Church	on: January 25, 2006, 10:50:12 PM
Grace is a favor granted to the undeserved. First in order for us to understand grace we must understand the nature of the condition that we were brought out of. We were darkened in our minds and unable to apprehend any thing spiritually good. We were dead in sin and trespasses. We were without hope. We were given over to all kinds of lust to fulfill them. We had no control over our impulses so we were in bondage with all of our motives being selfish. The law was a school master to us. We heard the law and we felt condemned which made us afraid of God. We recoiled from any thing spiritual because it reminded us of that being under the weight of guilt, with such a burden that we would imagine evil in others who had no reason to attack us. We hated God with a violent hatred. We joined with others like ourselves to mock God so that we could relieve our consciences so that we could feel better about ourselves by bringing God down. The reason we hated His commands was that they seemed to condemn us and we did not understand why God would be so picky about every little thing. We ran from God until He out of sheer mercy regenerated us to see the truth. Until that time we lived in a dream world. When we first had the heinousness of our sins revealed to us we were struck with how little we understood about ourselves. We were exposed to the renewal of the Holy Spirit and we began to feel a peace for once. Like a big heavy burden had been taken from us. It was so real that we woke up the morning after to see if we had that same feeling of peace. It was so enlightening to our minds and hearts that we knew that we had received someone more valuable than any thing we had ever understood before. We experienced a simple trust in Christ when we understood grace. We were so transformed at the point of salvation by being so needy that Gods grace was pleasant to us. Even though we did not have a deep knowledge of grace and its importance we ,being exposed to ourselves made grace valuable. Then we began to struggle with some of the sins that we had turned from. We could not understand why our initial salvation experience wore off. We began to fear that we had only tasted of Gods grace. Yet not having a deep experiential knowledge of grace we seemed to be at a cross roads between what we perceived grace had saved us from and what grace could be to us as we began to deepen in our christian understanding. Real grace is poured out on us as the ocean waves beating against the shore so that we grow and overcome, grace doesnt die in us. Once we have saving grace we have it forever! Look there is no merit in grace or it wouldnt be grace! When we are saved we are thrown into this struggle between self righteousness and disobedience. We are in a sense little god makers. We perceive things that are not true of God and not true of ourselves. That is we make a god for ourselves. That is what self righteousness and disobedience does. Our relationship to the law is no longer a condemning relationship. We hear the law and we turn to Christ and receive grace freely! We can look into the perfect law and make an honest assessment of ourselves because we have someone who fulfilled the requirements of the law as our Savior. We love the law knowing that in Christ we are forgiven so that we live in grace. When we obey we receive more grace, but the obedience was Gods grace for us to obey. Our obedience is corrupted so we need the righteousness of Christ to be our acceptability before the Father. This is grace being worked out in us. When we sin we have an advocate Christ who finished the work of ending sins power over us so we can be forgiven. When we experience the Fathers forgiveness because He accepts His Sons sacrifice we experience the effects of grace in us. We begin to rejoice that such mercy and grace was extended to us and this experience begins to deepen in us as we grow in His word. We are cast upon Him through meditation of His word and His Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are His child, then we begin to cry Abba Father! We begin to more and more value His mercy and love and our Abba Fathers get repeated often in our walk throughout the day. If we understand that our inner life reflects to others what the truth is, they will want to know not just how good we are, but what kind of supernatural grace could this be in us. Live so near the Father that you will morn when others are sad and you will rejoice when others are happy. Remember that life in the Spirit is a struggle of your flesh in the inner man and the Spirit. He is jealous for control. Meditate on the word let the Spirit illuminate to you the value of Christ over any thing in this world. There is not a power on this earth that can stand up against His power! When you feel powerless tell yourself that the power is in Him and it resides in you by the Holy Spirit. Come to Him lay at His feet, see Him crucified, victorious, mediating on your behalf. Seek His face ,so that you can be filled with the knowledge of Himself, seeing it illuminated in His face. Grace is an illuminated reality in the face of Christ that gives us the confidence to approach the throne of God with boldness. Plead the promises! pour out your hearts before Him! He will take your burden and give you grace!