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Welcome back to Anam Cara.
One of my favorite subjects in all of the bible is grace.
In fact, ever since I discovered the power of God's grace in my own life
I can not seem to get enough of studying about, reading about it,
and of course experiencing it.
We have all heard the hymn by John Newton, "Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound"
and knowing how amazing God's grace is can really transform our lives.
The apostle Paul was very big on the grace of God. In fact, when he wrote his first letter
to the church in Ephesus, and to a number of the other churches there in Asia Minor,
he had talked about God's work of transforming us and making us His children.
And he says that as a result of God doing that in us, we would be
to the praise of the glory of His grace.
When you think about grace, grace really is amazing as Newton wrote.
Grace is amazing because it really is better than we can imagine.
When you think about what the apostle Paul talked about in the book of Romans,
when he started in chapter 1 and went through the first three chapters and labeled everybody
under the category of sin and how we are all in a position that we can not do anything to save ourselves,
we can not do anything to earn anything from God.
And then began to talk about God's work through Christ
and how He has redeemed us and justified us and forgiven us.
All through a simple act of childlike faith we enter into the experience of that reality of what Jesus did for us on the cross.
You can imagine by the time he got to chapter six, people were asking the question
'Wow, if it is really that good, heck, we can just go out and live any old way we want to.'.
And of course Paul said 'no, no, no, no. Let's put the brakes on that is not so'.
But here is the thing, when you really preach grace and you really understand grace and you talk about it in a biblical sense
you will be accused of saying that people can live any way they want because you realize
there is nothing you can do to earn it there is nothing you can do to keep it.
Everything that has needed to be done for us was done for us by Christ and Christ alone.
And truly salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone.
Agustine once said 'Love God and do as you please'
In fact, I do not believe you are probably as a pastor or a teacher or a person who is sharing grace,
you are sharing it in a biblical sense unless you accused of teaching heresey.
There is a big theological term for that, antinomianism, which means against law.
That you are saying people can just go out and live as they please.
Well, Agustine was right...love God and live as you please.
One of my favorite authors concerning grace is Robert Farrar Capon.
And in his book "Between Noon and Three", he talks about grace and he says
"Grace is wildly irreligious stuff. It is more than enough to get God kicked out of of the God union
that the theologians have found to keep Him on His divine toes so He won't let the riff raff off scot free.
Sensible people of course, should need only about thrity seconds of careful thought to
realize that getting off scot free is the only way any of us are going to get off at all." Scot free.
And the reason is the grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
People, when we understand grace and we hear about it we think 'Is is really that good?'
Well the bible says what we have is really good news.
And it is. Great news. Good news. And it is better than we can imagine.
It is hard to think that there is nothing I can do to make God love me any more,
and nothing I can do to ever make Him love me any less.
Grace is amazing. Not only because it is better than we can imagine but because it is absolutely free.
In his book "Wishful Thinking", Frederick Buechner says this.
'Grace is something you can never, never get, but only be given.
There is no way to earn it or deserve it or bring it about any more than you can deserve
the taste of raspberries and cream or earn good looks or bring about your own birth.
A crucial eccentricity of the Christian faith is the assertion that people are saved by grace.
There is nothing YOU have to do. There is nothing you HAVE to do. There is nothing you have to DO.
And that is the truth.
In the scripture, many people were given grace without even asking for it.
Paul the apostle struck down on the road to Damascus, the wild demoniac at Gadera was given grace.
He did not ask for it.
When you think about the woman that was caught in adultery right there in the middle of all of those people she never asked for grace,
but she received grace. Free from the Lord Jesus Christ.
God's grace is big enough to cover all of humanity.
Again Robert Capon says this. 'Grace is forever sovereign.
Even in Jesus' parables of judgement, no one is ever kicked out at the end of those parables
who was not included at the very beginning.'
You and I do not get grace through prayer.
We do not get grace through joining churches.
We do not get grace through baptism or being good or praying or reading our bibles or
witnessing or trying to change our lives and make ourselves better.
We receive grace by the spirit of God working in us and giving it to us absolutely free.
Not because of anything we have done, but because of everything that Christ has done for us.
And all the bible asks us to do is to believe that good news.
You think about that and remember,
take some time today to behold him who is beholding you and smiling. God bless you.