Category: The Gospel of the Grace of God / Paul’s Gospel

Liberated to Serve

Friday, July 4, 2014

“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13 KJV).

Today, as we in the United States celebrate the 238th anniversary of our nation’s independence, we invite our Christian brethren worldwide to rejoice with us concerning our freedom in Jesus Christ.

When we proclaim Romans 6:14—“Ye are not under the law, but under grace”—people tend to assume “loose living.” Does “grace living” really mean we can now live any way we want? Lest anyone be misled in that regard, God the Holy Spirit moved the Apostle Paul to write in the next verse, “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid [May God never let that happen!]” (Romans 6:15). Grace living is not Law-keeping, but it certainly is not Law-breaking either.

God still cares how we live, albeit He is not operating the “weak and beggarly” system of “bondage” (Law) that He once did with Israel (Galatians 4:9). God proved to the entire world that since Israel could not keep His commandments perfectly, no other sons of Adam (the Gentiles) could either: “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them [Israel] who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world [Gentiles] may become guilty before God” (Romans 3:19).

We sinners cannot keep the Law. However, God in His grace provided us a way to escape that condemnation by sending Jesus Christ to offer Himself on Calvary’s cruel cross to pay for our sins. By simple faith in Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as the fully-satisfying payment for our sins, we can now be “made the righteousness of God in [Christ]” (2 Corinthians 5:21). We can be delivered from the penalty of sin (hell and the lake of fire) and the power of sin (flesh-walking).

Why are we Christians free? To selfishly live any way we want? NO! Today’s Scripture says we are liberated to now serve others, especially our Christian brethren, just as Jesus Christ selflessly served His Father and selflessly died on our behalf. That is grace living!!!!

Please see our 2011 Fourth of July Bible study “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land,” which can be watched here or read here.

At Calvary #5

Saturday, June 21, 2014

“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24 KJV).

The chorus of William R. Newell’s classic 1895 hymn “At Calvary” highlights today’s Scripture.

“Mercy there was great, and grace was free,
Pardon there was multiplied to me,
There my burdened soul found liberty
At Calvary.”

“Mercy” means “pity, compassion,” God holding back what we deserve (His wrath). “Grace” is God’s unmerited favor—it is free to us (apart from our works) because Jesus Christ paid for it with His life (it is not “cheap grace!”). In Christ, we are liberated from sin’s dominion and works-religion bondage (Galatians 5:1)—the “redemption,” the purchasing of our freedom, through Jesus Christ’s shed blood. We received “redemption through [Christ’s] blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of [God’s] grace” (Ephesians 1:7; cf. Colossians 1:14). The riches of God’s grace—where our sin abounds, God’s grace abounds far, far, far, far more (Romans 5:20). God’s forgiveness, His abundant pardon, is offered to us at Calvary’s cross.

For our dear readers who are lost, who have never come to a point in their lives where they relied exclusively on Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as sufficient payment for their sins, we urge them to do so today before it is eternally too late. No matter what you have done in your life, there is no sin so vile that Jesus Christ’s blood cannot cover it. At Calvary, the God of the Bible offers all the mercy, grace, love, and forgiveness you will ever need, but none of it can be applied to you until you trust Jesus Christ alone as your personal Saviour.

After soul salvation unto eternal life, we join our Apostle Paul in reflecting upon our former lives, and we conclude with him, “but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 1:13,14). Indeed, the mercy, grace, faith, and love of Jesus Christ are more than enough.

Saints, being mindful that our (self-) life ended at Calvary, and our (eternal) life began at Calvary, let us sing “At Calvary” with grateful hearts! 🙂

At Calvary #3

Thursday, June 19, 2014

“And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them” (Acts 16:25 KJV).

The third verse of William R. Newell’s classic 1895 hymn “At Calvary” highlights today’s Scripture.

“Now I’ve giv’n to Jesus everything,
Now I gladly own Him as my King,
Now my raptured soul can only sing
Of Calvary.”

In 2 Timothy 1:11,12, the Apostle Paul wrote, “Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” Some 35 years earlier, Paul had entrusted his very soul to Jesus Christ. The Apostle, in prison awaiting execution, knew that, no matter what happened to his physical body, his soul was secure in Christ. Never would his Saviour disappoint him.

Once, when we were “children of pride,” Satan was our king (Job 41:34). Now, we recognize Jesus Christ as King in our lives. Paul’s doxology, 1 Timothy 1:17, reminds us: “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Verse 16 says we praise Jesus Christ because of His “mercy and longsuffering” that caused Him to save us).

In Acts chapter 16, Paul and Silas, having just been beaten and whipped for preaching the Gospel of Grace, sat in a Philippian jail with their feet chained. Despite all their troubles, they sang praises to the Lord Jesus Christ—and the prisoners heard them (today’s Scripture)! Evidently, now, they were singing about the Gospel of Grace, for the Philippian jailor later asked them, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). Their timeless reply was, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (verse 31).

We have relied on Jesus Christ for our soul salvation. Hence, our delighted souls cannot help but remember that our eternal life began at Calvary’s cruel cross where the Son of God died. What a song we can sing, even in the midst of heartache! 🙂

The Greatest War Hero

Monday, May 26, 2014

“For God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 KJV).

In the United States, today is Memorial Day, when we remember those who sacrificed their time and lives to provide our physical freedom. Likewise, as Christians, we have spiritual freedom, which was more costly. Someone had to die to give us the eternal life we now enjoy….

Scripture describes a spiritual warfare between good and evil, God’s truth program versus Satan’s lie program: “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles [schemes] of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:11,12; see also verses 13-20).

Satan distracts mankind from God’s pure Word, the Bible, keeping unbelievers lost (dead in their sins), and preventing unbelievers and Christians from knowing God’s will. The devil draws them away (seduces them) from God’s Word by using religious tradition and human “wisdom” (1 Timothy 4:1-3; cf. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Galatians 3:1-3).

God loves us, so at Calvary’s cross, Christ fought for us sinners, died in battle (today’s Scripture), shed His divine sinless blood, and eternally rescued us from Satan and sin: “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:14,15).

Hebrews 9:12 says Jesus Christ has “obtained eternal redemption for us.”

If we have trusted Jesus Christ alone as our personal Saviour, God “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:13). Now, God can use us for His glory for all eternity.

Beloved, let us rejoice in our victory over sin, death, and hell that Jesus Christ secured for us by going to Calvary’s rugged cross! Jesus Christ is now alive forevermore—He is our Hero, the Greatest Hero!

*Adapted from a larger Bible study “The Greatest Hero,” which can be read here or watched here.

Iniquity Not Yet Full #11

Thursday, May 22, 2014

“But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Genesis 15:16 KJV).

Today’s Scripture expressly declares why the God of the Bible “takes His time” when dealing with sinful mankind.

Beloved, this Dispensation of God’s Grace is the greatest time in all of God’s dealings with mankind. JEHOVAH God has never been more generous. His love for lost and dying man—demonstrated at Calvary (Romans 5:6-8)—has never been more evident (Titus 3:4,5). His grace for lost and dying man—demonstrated at Calvary (2 Corinthians 8:9)—has never been more obvious (Titus 2:11). For 20 centuries, God has offered the riches of His grace, love, mercy, and peace to unloving, prideful, helpless, idolatrous, ungrateful humanity.

Many have willfully ignored the Gospel of His Grace, preferring their sins of the spirit (religious works) and their sins of the flesh. As Israel’s program fell away (albeit, temporarily) when no one else wanted to trust Jesus Christ, so our program will eventually conclude. Our dispensation will end when we, the Church the Body of Christ, are raptured into heaven, when this agency is complete (Romans 11:25). Israel’s program will resume where it paused (God’s wrath!).

Romans 2:3-6,8,9 warns: “And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: … them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil….”

Paul, writing about the seven-year Tribulation period, says those who “received not the love of the truth” in our dispensation, “God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie” (2 Thessalonians 2:10,11). They will follow the antichrist in his rebellion against God, thereby receiving God’s wrath for participating in Satan’s “mystery of iniquity….”

Iniquity Not Yet Full #10

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

“But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Genesis 15:16 KJV).

Today’s Scripture expressly declares why the God of the Bible “takes His time” when dealing with sinful mankind.

While the God of the Bible is unfathomably gracious (giving us what we do not deserve), incomprehensibly merciful (holding back what we do deserve), and unconditionally loving (what we do not deserve), He is also a God of justice (what we do deserve) and a God of wrath (what we do deserve). For the last 2,000 years, sinful mankind has grown comfortable with the God of grace, mercy, and love—too comfortable, actually. They have forgotten that He is also a just and holy God, and He will not let their sin go unpunished forever.

Indeed, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing [reckoning, applying, incurring] their trespasses unto them: and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19). The God of the Bible is not pouring out His wrath today; rather, He is offering every person in the world a chance to be made right with Him. Jesus Christ wants all people to be saved (2 Peter 3:9), so He died for the sins of all people (1 Timothy 2:3-7; Hebrews 2:9). By God’s grace through faith alone in Christ Jesus (His death, burial, and resurrection as sufficient payment for our sins), every single person has been granted an opportunity to have his or her sin debt paid, to receive salvation from the penalty of his or her sins (eternal hellfire)!

Alas, that Gospel of Grace has been largely ignored these past 20 centuries. The Gentiles in the Dispensation of Grace have largely done what Israel did in her program before God set her and it aside—discarded God’s Word to them, and preferred works-religion. Jesus Christ’s perfect sacrifice at Calvary literally means nothing to works-religionists: they offer the “good” works of their sinful bodies hoping to please Almighty God like Jesus Christ did! Accordingly, the lost Gentiles of our world today, with Israel, will also experience God’s wrath. Once our dispensation concludes, their iniquity will be full….

Iniquity Not Yet Full #8

Monday, May 19, 2014

“But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Genesis 15:16 KJV).

Today’s Scripture expressly declares why the God of the Bible “takes His time” when dealing with sinful mankind.

It was truly God’s wisdom and grace to take the Devil’s primary human vessel, Saul of Tarsus, and transform him into the Lord Jesus Christ’s chief human instrument. Never in human history had the Creator God of heaven and earth done something so unexpected, drastic, and amazing. He had paused Israel’s program (and delayed His wrath) indefinitely, when nothing but wrath should have instantly fallen on Christ-rejecting mankind! Rather than coming back in wrath, the Lord Jesus Christ returned in Acts chapter 9—in grace, mercy, and peace, to Saul. Rather than whisking off Saul into everlasting hellfire, the Lord Jesus Christ began and revealed a new program, the Dispensation of Grace, and saved him! The man who had imprisoned and killed more Messianic Jews than anyone else at the time, became God’s apostle of the Gentiles (Acts 9:15,16; Romans 11:11).

Saul, now the Apostle Paul, began preaching Jesus Christ as fervently as when he hated and blasphemed Him. The ascended Lord Jesus Christ personally commissioned Paul to preach to all people, every lost Jew and Gentile, “the Gospel of the Grace of God” (Acts 20:24), the very grace of God that saved his wretched soul when he was an undeserving sinner (1 Timothy 1:13-16)! Paul’s Gospel, the good news Jesus Christ revealed exclusively to him on the road to Damascus (Romans 3:9–5:20; Romans 11:11,12; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Galatians 1:11-20; Ephesians 3:1-11; et al.), communicated that God’s grace was being offered to the entire world apart from Israel and her program. Everything that God could do for every lost and dying sinner—forgiveness of sins, justification, new life, deliverance from Satan, a home in heaven, et cetera—was all being offered to the world through Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection (2 Corinthians 5:18-21; 1 Timothy 2:3-7; Titus 1:1-3; et al.).

For 2,000 years, God has offered to all people His grace through Calvary’s finished crosswork. While often scorned and rejected, His continued longsuffering keeps His wrath in abeyance….

Iniquity Not Yet Full #7

Sunday, May 18, 2014

“But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Genesis 15:16 KJV).

Today’s Scripture expressly declares why the God of the Bible “takes His time” when dealing with sinful mankind.

Israel’s religious leaders abuse God’s prophet Stephen, biting him and throwing him out of Jerusalem. Finally, the mob throws stones at him until he dies. With God’s wrath on mankind literally moments away, the greatest dispensational change to ever “grace” God’s dealings with man, occurs.

Saul of Tarsus—leader of Israel’s opposition to Christ and His little flock, holder of the clothes of Stephen’s murderers in Acts chapter 7—personally met the Lord Jesus Christ in Acts chapter 9. As Saul was traveling to Damascus to persecute more Messianic Jews, the risen, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Saul from heaven. There, Saul experienced God’s love, mercy, and grace; he trusted Jesus Christ alone as his personal Saviour, and became the first member of the Church the Body of Christ. Jesus Christ commissioned him as the Apostle Paul; thereafter, Paul had another extreme ministry—Jesus Christ crucified for our sins, buried, and resurrected (Acts 20:24; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

Years later, Paul wrote of himself: “Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief [first]. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting” (1 Timothy 1:13-16).

In order to have mercy on Israel, God had to suspend her prophetic program. To save Saul of Tarsus, God had to begin a new dispensation, a new set of instructions to mankind, a new program, one He had in mind from before creation but had kept secret—the mystery program, or “the Dispensation of the Grace of God” (Ephesians 3:1-11). God delayed His wrath again….

Heart Service #15

Saturday, May 10, 2014

“But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you” (Romans 6:17 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is the key to being delivered from and guarded against today’s apostate Christendom.

Christendom’s various false –isms—asceticism, ritualism, denominationalism, legalism, formalism, et cetera—are religion’s methods of reforming outward behavior (ceremonies, rites, and rituals are sin-maintenance activities). Yet, there is no change in nature, in the heart (cf. Matthew 23:25-28).

We trusted the Gospel of Grace, “we obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered [us].” Thankfully, in God’s mind, today’s Scripture says we “were the servants of sin”—past tense. God gave us a new nature: He took us out of Adam and He placed us into Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13; 2 Corinthians 5:17). Thus, He does not see us in Christ as sinners; God sees us in Christ as saints, set apart unto His purpose and will (Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1; et al.). Father God does not consider us servants of sin, so does it make sense for us Christians to now serve sin? The answer is unequivocally, “NO!” (The renewed mind of Romans 12:1,2. It is not “reasonable” [logical] to serve sin; it is only “reasonable” to let our identity in Jesus Christ impact our daily living, for He alone deserves praise!)

Literally everything Father God could ever give us—including a new identity/nature—He already gave it all to us, in Jesus Christ! “Ye are complete in him” (Colossians 2:10; cf. Romans 8:32; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 1:3). Dear saint, may you never, ever, EVER let the various –isms in religion deceive you and rob you of your spiritual wealth in Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:4,8,18).

Paul prayed for the Ephesians, “That Christ may dwell in [their] hearts by faith” (Ephesians 3:17). May we read, study, and believe Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, to the end the indwelling Holy Spirit works mightily in the hearts of us who believe those Scriptures, that the very life of Jesus Christ becomes more evident in ours!

So, dear saint, will you “obey from the heart [this] form of doctrine which was delivered you?”

FINIS! 🙂

Heart Service #13

Thursday, May 8, 2014

“But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you” (Romans 6:17 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is the key to being delivered from and guarded against today’s apostate Christendom.

The immediate context of today’s Scripture (verses 1-23) defines our position in the Lord Jesus Christ (the identity we received once we trusted the Gospel of the Grace of God delineated in chapters 1-5). You are greatly encouraged to read all of Romans chapter 6 in your own personal study, but here, suffice it to say that that chapter can be summarized as “we are dead unto sin with our Lord Jesus Christ, and we are alive unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

When considered in its broader context, today’s Scripture highlights the first chapter of the three-chapter section of Romans that deals with our daily sanctification (Christian living). Romans chapter 7 (which you should also read in your own time) explains that we have not been placed into Jesus Christ and accepted in Him to then return to the miserable bondage of works-religion to make ourselves accepted of God (rules, regulations, ordinances, rituals, rites, ceremonies). The Christian life never began because of our performance (Romans chapters 1-5), so it only follows that the Christian life will never function based on our performance either (Romans chapters 6-8). In fact, our performance will only frustrate/hinder Jesus Christ—the only Person who can live the Christian life!—from living in and through us (Galatians 2:20,21).

The out-working of the Christian life goes back to the perfect, sinless work Jesus Christ accomplished at Calvary, the Gospel that we believed, not in rituals or ceremonies we perform. It goes back to the Gospel of the Grace of God and the grace doctrines Jesus Christ delivered us through the Apostle Paul (today’s Scripture). Romans chapter 8, another passage you should read on your own, explains that the Holy Spirit will work in us to produce “the fruit of the Spirit” of Galatians 5:22-26.

The indwelling Holy Spirit Himself works in us to accomplish the righteous deeds the Law demands we produce in our own strength (which the Law proves we cannot do)….