THE
GOODNESS OF GRACE
BREAD
18 “Why
do you call me good?” Jesus
answered. “No one is
good--except God alone.” Mark 10:18 (NIV)
22 This
righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
There is no difference, 23 for
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely
by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans
3:22-24 (NIV)
20 When you were
slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from
the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from
sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and
the result is eternal life. 23 For
the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Romans 6:20-23 (NIV)
8 For it is by
grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is
the gift of God-- 9 not by
works, so that no one can boast. 10 For
we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God
prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV)
11 Jesus
continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one
said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his
property between them. 13 Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had,
set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent
everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be
in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that
country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill
his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him
anything. 17 When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father's
hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and
go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and
against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one
of your hired men.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a
long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran
to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 The son said
to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer
worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best
robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened
calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of
mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to
celebrate.” Luke 15:11-24 (NIV)
14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be
holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15
See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter
root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Hebrews 12:14-15
(NIV)
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace
to me was not without effect. 1
Corinthians 15:10 (NIV)
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and
peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of
the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 (NIV)
BUTTER
“Measure
your growth in grace by your sensitiveness to sin.” Oswald
Chambers
“Something happens
when we come to God for His grace and mercy--something that is so radical and
so amazing that it can only be described as death to our old selves. It is the
overwhelming desire to please the One who has loved us with such amazing and
unconditional love...I may not get better overnight; I may not be the fine,
upstanding, and wonderful Christian I thought I was, but I now have a desire to
please the One who loved me (and gave Himself for me). That desire is the soil
in which goodness grows--not perfectly, by any means, but it does grow.” Steve
Brown
“A perfect man would never act from sense of duty…Duty is only a substitute for love.” C.S. Lewis
“The
church has spent so much time inculcating in us the fear of making mistakes
that she has made us like ill-taught piano students; we play our songs but we
never really hear them because our main concern is not to make music, but to
avoid some flub that will get us in dutch...I have now heard the strains of
grace, and I grieve for my friends who have not.” Philip Yancey
“When a believer
has fallen into a low, sad state of feeling, he often tries to lift himself out
of it by chastening himself with dark and doleful fears. Such is not the way to
rise from the dust, but to continue in it. It is not the law, but the gospel
which saves the seeking soul at first; and it is not a legal bondage, but
gospel liberty which can restore the fainting believer afterwards. Slavish fear
brings not back the backslider to God, but the sweet wooings of love allure him
to Jesus' bosom…Whatever good quality there is in divine grace, you shall enjoy
it to the full. All the riches of divine grace you shall receive in plenty; you
shall be as it were drenched with it: and as sometimes the meadows become
flooded by the bursting rivers, and the fields are turned into pools, so shall
you be--the thirsty land shall be springs of water.” Charles
Spurgeon
“A man who truly
realizes what it means to be a Christian, who realizes all that the grace of
God has meant to him and done for him, and understands that, ultimately, God
has done this in order that he may influence others, is a man who cannot
conceal it. Not only that; he does not
desire to conceal it, because he argues thus, ‘Ultimately the object and
purpose of it all is that I might be functioning in this way’.” Martin
Lloyd-Jones
“Religion is, ‘I
obey, therefore I’m accepted’. The Gospel is, ‘I’m accepted through what Jesus
Christ has done for me, therefore I obey’.
Religion gives you control, that’s why it’s so popular…If I am saved by
what I can do, then there’s a limit to what God can ask of me. I still have
some control. But if I am saved by sheer
grace, then there’s nothing He cannot ask of me”. Tim
Keller
“Here is the
divine antidote against the pride and restless ambition of the men of this
world. Nothing is more sad than to
witness a pushing, bustling, forward, self-confident spirit and style in those
who profess to be followers of Him who was meek and lowly in heart. It is such a flagrant contradiction of the
spirit and precepts of Christianity, and is a sure accompaniment of an unbroken
condition of the soul. It is utterly
impossible for any one to indulge in a boastful, pretentious, self-confident
spirit, if ever he has really measured himself in the presence of God. To be much alone with God is the sovereign
remedy for pride and self-complacency.
May we know the reality of this in the secret of our own souls. May the good Lord keep us truly humble, in
all our ways, simply leaning on Himself and his grace…” C H
Macintosh
“God’s greatest glory is His grace.” Donald
Grey Barnhouse
“Only two things have ever changed the human soul: the
fall and grace, the power of Satan and the power of God. And God is infinitely more powerful. Nothing is stronger than grace. Satan doesn’t
have any. God is defined by it.” Larry
Crabb
HEART SAVOR
·
God’s grace is sufficient
to meet my every need.
·
Why should I ever wallow in the mire when God’s
grace sets my feet upon the Rock and gives me a firm place to stand? I am a child of the King.
·
The goodness of
God allows me to be good through His abundant grace. He clothes me with the garment of salvation
and arrays me in a robe of righteousness through faith in Christ Jesus. Nothing in my hands I bring, only to the cross
I cling.
