The Gospel (Part 4 of 5)

GOD

MAN

JESUS

GRACE

GOD chose to rescue MAN out of our sinful rebellion though the work of JESUS, and offers us the
GRACE of forgiveness and new life.

In the 3 previous blog entries I have shared in greater detail about GOD, MAN, and JESUS and the relationships between them and how they fit together in an understanding of the Gospel. You can read them here, here and here.

In this entry I want to look at GRACE.  Grace is unmerited favor, or and undeserved act of kindness. Let's focus on the first bit, unmerited or undeserved.  When we looked at MAN we saw that we had rebelled against God--we were guilty.  With the noose around our neck, there was not a thing that we could do, we had nothing to barter with, nothing but our guilt.   We are undeserving of His grace. Not only are we undeserving, we are ill-deserving. The only thing we deserve is God's judgement against sin and rebellion.

Yet in His grace (undeserved kindness toward us) He chose to rescue us through the sacrifice of Jesus and give us forgiveness and new life. 

The Freedom of Forgiveness
Forgiveness means to no longer hold a person morally responsible. It is releasing a person from moral guilt.  In His grace, God declares us "not guilty".  What this means is all of the running, rebellion, sin and selfishness has been erased.  Through Jesus, God gives us a clear past. Furthermore, the sacrifice of Jesus also atones (covers) present and future sins. Once the Grace of God through Jesus has been applied to your "account" there is not a thing you can do to disqualify yourself from being always forgiven. John 8:36 "So if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed." 

Some may think that you can use up the forgiving power of Jesus.  That somehow if you do too much sin, or too "big" of a sin you will be disqualified, or rejected.  This is not so.  For those in Christ, wherever there is sin, there is more and more grace to forgive.  Nothing can disqualify you.  Ephesians tells us that we are sealed (marked with a mark of ownership) and that seal is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance (1:13-14).  Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38-39).

You might be thinking, "Well if I'm forgiven and nothing can change that, why should I strive to avoid sinning and obey God?"  This is a perfectly good question, in fact, it is one that Paul asked himself.  In Romans 6:1 he asked, "Should we go on sinning so grace may increase?"

   it's not who we are anymore.   

The Motivation of New Life
"No way!" Paul answers his own question. His reasons follow in the next verses.  Simply put, it's not who we are anymore.  This grace is not just forgiveness, but new life.  Our old life of sin and rebellion died with Jesus. In the same way that Jesus resurrected, so did we, but to a new life in Him. Jesus has taken our sin and forgiven it AND he has imputed (given or assigned) to us His righteousness.  Our identity is no longer rotten sinner, but Righteous Son. 

Over and over in the opening chapters of Ephesians Paul uses the phrase "in Christ" or "in Him" to describe our new condition.  This is our new identity.  The old self has been done away with and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Now, there will be times that we still slip back into behaviors of our old self, not unlike a recently married woman signs her maiden name instead of her new married name. And when we do, there is grace to forgive.   That's why it has been called Amazing Grace.

#5 coming soon!

The Gospel (Part 3 of 5)

GOD chose to rescue

MAN out of his sinful rebellion through...

JESUS...

Part 3 in this series focuses on Jesus as the means of our rescue or salvation.  So much could be said about the work of Jesus on our behalf. As I sit here at my keyboard I have a sense of woeful inadequacy to even attempt to capture the scope and wonder of the sacrifice of Jesus toward us.  Yet it is with that acknowledgment I will attempt to provide a sliver of the glory of Jesus Christ.

But first let's review:

GOD is creator. He is our creator. We answer to Him. We are accountable to Him.  

MAN has sinned.  We have gone our own way, turning our back on God. We reject the accountability. We are indebted to, enemies with, and separated from GOD our creator. "But God..."   GOD rescued.

This is how God rescued us...

God entered into our humanity (the same way you and I entered humanity).  He was born. We celebrate this at Christmas.  God entered the world though the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  Jesus was fully God and equally fully human.  Jesus lived our life--yet he lived it the way that we were intended to live it--without sin. Then he died our death.  Jesus died on a Roman cross.  But why did Jesus have to die?  How was that the plan?

To answer this question we need to look at the character of God.  God is a God of love, mercy and kindness.  We all know this. But God is also a God of justice, righteousness, and holiness.  God cannot violate one aspect of His character in favor of another.   So, as God saw man suffering and dead in their sins, in love and mercy God may have wanted to just excuse our sin, overlook it, ignore it.  But as a God of justice, righteousness, and holiness He could not.  In the same way a Court Judge can not let the guilty just go free--fines will be paid, sentences will be served. Enter JESUS. Jesus became the solution to that problem.  The Bible explains this in Romans 3, God presented Christ [JESUS] as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness [character] at the present time, so as to be just [a God of justice] and the one who justifies [a God of love and mercy] those who have faith in Jesus (to justify means to forgive and be made righteous).

You see, in JESUS, God Himself entered into our world and lived a human life.  In his humanity, Jesus could be our substitute--taking our place, serving our sentence.  Yet in his divinity, he was able to pay the penalty for all.  Jesus, being God, has an equally eternal depth of holiness.  When he died he paid the penalty for the sins of all who would believe.

As sinners we have committed treason against God--against our King. In doing so we have received the sentence of death.  So here we stand on the hangman's gallows with the rope tight around our neck.  The executioner steps up to the platform, places his hand on the lever and asks for any last words.  Just then you hear a voice, but it's not coming from the onlooking crowd. It's coming from the balcony. It's the King.  

"Executioner, stay your hand!"

Then he comes down from his throne, walks up the steps to the platform and stands right in front of you.  Then he takes the rope off of your neck and puts it on his own. And says

"You are free."

As you begin to walk away, he hands you the keys to the castle.

GOD rescued MAN through JESUS.