Jesus Christ is my God!
Issued 28.02.1999
Godīs grace
The grace of God is different from a mercy of man. Goodness, charity and mercy are often bidden together. They all mean to many people the same, something soft and beautiful. So they don't notice the real meaning of mercy. Much is included in the grace of God, but there is only one gate into sharing His grace.
Grace must always be asked for
Have you ever asked for grace? A man in panic kneels down to a judge and prays: "Give me mercy! I am a guilty and I earn my punishment, but don't execute me but be gracious to me and give me a right to live!"
Only a sentenced understands to ask for a mercy. An accused either denies one's guilty or confesses it. He who accepts his guilty either denies earning his punishment or agrees with it. If a sentenced doesn't accept his punishment but yet asks for mercy, he has not repented in his heart. His pride makes him incapable of receiving any mercy.
Have you ever asked for grace? A man in panic kneels down to a judge and prays: "Give me mercy! I am a guilty and I earn my punishment, but don't execute me but be gracious to me and give me a right to live!"
Only a sentenced understands to ask for a mercy. An accused either denies one's guilty or confesses it. He who accepts his guilty either denies earning his punishment or agrees with it. If a sentenced doesn't accept his punishment but yet asks for mercy, he has not repented in his heart. His pride makes him incapable of receiving any mercy.
Grace is given to the humble
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." James 4:6 To confess one's sin is only a half of humbleness. To accept the shame of the punishment is the more difficult part. The other criminal said on the cross: "We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve..." This confession of the humble heart got the gracious answer from God and opened to him the gate of the Paradise.
God is a fair and impartial judge. "All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath." Eph.2:3
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." James 4:6 To confess one's sin is only a half of humbleness. To accept the shame of the punishment is the more difficult part. The other criminal said on the cross: "We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve..." This confession of the humble heart got the gracious answer from God and opened to him the gate of the Paradise.
God is a fair and impartial judge. "All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath." Eph.2:3
From under wrath to under grace
God hates all sinners and therefore all people are "objects of wrath". However He is so wonderful that He loves His enemies! He has proved His love for us in the deed, when He sent Jesus to suffer our punishment. Most people don't appreciate this great deed of love, because they don't understand that they are in danger to fall down into Hell at any moment. If they would comprehend that they are judged by God, they would ask for mercy from Him. Then God would show His grace to them in Jesus and they would experience the love of God.
When God has justified a sinner, this is not anymore a sinner but a just. God loves righteousness and hates sin and therefore He also loves just ones and hates sinners. It would be misleading to say that God loves sinners, because it is only partly true. God's love for sinners is only in the deed, when Jesus died on the cross for sinners. If you have not received God's grace in Jesus Christ, the wrath of God is upon you. Any babbles of love or liturgy of priests cannot change it.
God hates all sinners and therefore all people are "objects of wrath". However He is so wonderful that He loves His enemies! He has proved His love for us in the deed, when He sent Jesus to suffer our punishment. Most people don't appreciate this great deed of love, because they don't understand that they are in danger to fall down into Hell at any moment. If they would comprehend that they are judged by God, they would ask for mercy from Him. Then God would show His grace to them in Jesus and they would experience the love of God.
When God has justified a sinner, this is not anymore a sinner but a just. God loves righteousness and hates sin and therefore He also loves just ones and hates sinners. It would be misleading to say that God loves sinners, because it is only partly true. God's love for sinners is only in the deed, when Jesus died on the cross for sinners. If you have not received God's grace in Jesus Christ, the wrath of God is upon you. Any babbles of love or liturgy of priests cannot change it.
Grace comes through faith
The abandoned Christianity has pretended to people that God loves them though they live without Jesus. In this way it is prevented to experience the real mercy. God's grace gives you as a gift, what you don't earn. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no-one can boast." Eph.2:8-9
I have not any own earning that can save me. If I would try to pay my bad deeds by doing good deeds, I would compete with the atonement work of Jesus and so trying to get the salvation from myself. If I would try to get the salvation by punishing myself for my bad deeds, I would prove my disbelief against the power of Jesus' sacrifice. If I would try to enter into the grace of God by taking a baptism or partaking of the Communion, I would try to get the salvation through works and not through faith.
The abandoned Christianity has pretended to people that God loves them though they live without Jesus. In this way it is prevented to experience the real mercy. God's grace gives you as a gift, what you don't earn. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no-one can boast." Eph.2:8-9
I have not any own earning that can save me. If I would try to pay my bad deeds by doing good deeds, I would compete with the atonement work of Jesus and so trying to get the salvation from myself. If I would try to get the salvation by punishing myself for my bad deeds, I would prove my disbelief against the power of Jesus' sacrifice. If I would try to enter into the grace of God by taking a baptism or partaking of the Communion, I would try to get the salvation through works and not through faith.
Good self-esteem by the grace of God
Remaining in the grace of God means remaining as the unearned and only turning to the power of the atonement work of Jesus. However the grace of God doesn't leave us without works. "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effects. No, I worked harder than all of them - yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me." 1Cor.15:10 Remaining in the grace of God opens my life to the effects of God's Spirit. I can experience that "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." Gal.2:20
I cannot do any works for my salvation, but after the moment, when I got it through the faith of Jesus, all what I will do, I do with Him. "As God's fellow-workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain." 2Cor.6:1
Remaining in the grace of God means remaining as the unearned and only turning to the power of the atonement work of Jesus. However the grace of God doesn't leave us without works. "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effects. No, I worked harder than all of them - yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me." 1Cor.15:10 Remaining in the grace of God opens my life to the effects of God's Spirit. I can experience that "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." Gal.2:20
I cannot do any works for my salvation, but after the moment, when I got it through the faith of Jesus, all what I will do, I do with Him. "As God's fellow-workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain." 2Cor.6:1
The Bible version used in references is NIV