SALVATION BY GRACE

Ephesians 2:8-9. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Grace is the goodness or kindness of God towards us. Grace is Gods free and undeserved gift to mankind and all he expects from us is to recieve it with gratitude. Salvation by grace thus is Gods free gift of sanctification and justification for us. He sacrificed his son JESUS on the cross so that we may be saved from our sins and have eternal life. Salvation is purely by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. We do nothing to earn it, and nothing to keep it.

We are all concieved in sin which we inherited from our forefathers ADAM and EVE. Until Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross, sin ruled mankind. In the old testament, God gave the law so that sinners may become aware of their sins and change. Back then the worshippers of God sacrificed bulls, goats and other animals, to make atonement for their sins,but they were still not made pure and were contineously bound by sin. The law brought conciousness of sin but grace brings conciousness of righteousness. Grace is taking off the burden of self and accepting the free gift of the father with gratitude.

Christ death on the cross is God’s saving grace, Grace is the reward that we dont deserve. Grace is the cross and until you rest in the finality of the cross, you will never experience the reality of the cross. Jesus laid down his life for me, so he could give his life to me, so he could live his life through me. John 5:24

We grow in grace by knowing the lord Jesus better. 2Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen. Grace displays the love of God for us and the more we learn about His abundant grace , we don’t wanna sin and grief the Holy Spirit. SOME people confuse grace with mercy. Mercy is not giving me the punishment I deserve.

Lamentations 3:22-23 —

22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

GRACE on the otherhand is giving me the reward which I do not deserve. Romans 5:.20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, . THUS in conclusion, Grace is the cross and we cannot know the truth or WORD before grace. We know grace first, then the truth about JESUS.

John 1:14–The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

LAW & GRACE

God is often rightly portrayed in the old Testament as King of the Jews and all men. Over the years he has ruled his people in two principal ways, by the Law and by Grace. GOD gave the law to Moses on mount Sinai to govern his people while grace came through His son Jesus Christ’s obedience and sacrifice on the cross.

When God ruled by the law, his children did not know him personally and intimately because of their sins and disobedience. So God spoke through prophets and used his priests as mediators between him and the people. God used judges and kings to govern the people and they were all under the law. Anyone who loved God and wanted to please him back then had to keep all the laws and regular sin offerings were offered by priests when people disobeyed God and broke the law.

God’s rule by law ended with the birth of his son Jesus Christ who brought the ‘Kingdom of God’. Christ is the word of God that became flesh and he is our great high priest who rules with Grace and Mercy over all who believe and submit to his authority.

There is a huge difference between God’s rule through the law and by grace. The law was a sort of mirror that man could use to see the condition of his relationship with God. To be accepted by God , we have to be holy , perfect and righteous. The law clearly exposes how far we are from being Holy perfect and righteous. But while the law exposed our sins and drew us away from God, grace on the other hand brings us closer to God. We are humbled when we know that we are righteous and perfect and holy before God not because of our works or good deeds, but by Christ’s perfect obedience and sacrificial death on the cross. We can now have a perfect and intimate relationship with God the Father and come boldly before Him anytime we want.

In conclusion; God’s rule by grace is all about love and mercy while the law was about judgement. The law was out to expose man’s selfishness , imperfect and sinful nature while Grace exposes Gods loving, kind and perfect nature. Under the law man tried to do it all by himself, but under grace, man surrenders to God which is the natural order of things.