THE AMAZING POWER OF GRACE

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel:

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor his anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Psalm 103:6-12

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I recently was ministering to someone who was coming to their faith in Jesus Christ and terrified of facing the Lord based on the way they had lived their life. They felt that the Lord might decide to annihilate them and wipe them off the face of the earth because of their sins, removing them from this world and their family.

I believe this person isn’t alone. And while the Bible does paint a harrowing picture for those who choose to live in sin and away from Christ but it also paints an equally encouraging picture for those who choose to turn from the world and toward salvation in Jesus and, in doing so, the way to God the Father (John 14:6).

For although God is a God of ultimate judgment, it isn’t what defines Him. Consider this from the scriptures:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.

This is how we know that we live in him and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us

1 John 4:7-19

God’s word is truth and God is love. He fully expressed not only His love but the amazing power of His grace when He sent Jesus, His only Son, to be the Savior of the world, an atoning sacrifice for our sins. And when we accept Jesus as Savior, the love of Christ – which mimics perfectly the love of God the Father – comes to dwell within us., leading us toward loving others with the same sense of mercy and forgiveness granted to us. This love, unlike any other love for it is of the Lord, serves to drive out fear and leaves us confident when the day of judgment arrives for there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

These words from 1st John were written well after the words of David in the 103rd Psalm as he said the following about the love, compassion, and amazing grace of God the Father:

The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel:

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor his anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Here, before Jesus would be sent to save us, we discover important truths about God and the love He had for His creation:

We learn that the Lord is compassionate and gracious. He cares for us deeply and provides every good and perfect thing unto us according with His perfect will for our lives.

We learn that He is slow to anger and when He is angered, it isn’t harbored. No one could withstand the wrath of God if it sustained. He applies His discipline to us in a way to correct our wrongs and then it’s time to move on. Truly, we need to see His compassions and mercies as new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23) for great is His faithfulness to His children that He loves so dearly.

We learn that He is abounding in love, a love that knows no boundaries, north or south, east or west. We have no other love like this in our life experience. No one you will ever know will love you like God does. It is truly an unconditional love that loves even when we haven’t earned it. It is a love that forgives and forgets when we repent of our sins. And it is a love that showed God was willing to sacrifice His Son and that Jesus was willing to die for sinners like you and me.

Finally, we learn that He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. Rather than wipe sinners off the face of creation, through His deep mercy and forgiveness and amazing grace, He removed our transgressions from us and He has done so through the atoning, sacrificial shed blood of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross.

Friends, I pray you fully know the amazing power of God’s grace as it applies to your life. For the scriptures are full of blessed reminders of it, reminders that should ever buoy us up with hope and peace and rejoicing – and of course love.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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