There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
“For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain.” 1
Paul was someone that religionists could get behind, and they did. By his admission, Paul was “a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee…concerning the righteousness which is in the law—blameless” (Philippians 3:5-6). What would possibly make him relinquish his lofty spiritual resume to humbly confess, “by the grace of God I am what I am?” It all hinged on one crucial word: grace.
Paul encountered Jesus and realized that nothing in his background or works warranted God’s unmerited favor—grace does that. Anything is possible when the gospel of grace is at work in a life. A good case in point is Peter.
As a rough Galilean fisherman, no one would’ve paid much attention to Peter. The religious intelligentsia would have scorned him as an uneducated country bumpkin. Here again, grace is the key. On the day of Pentecost, Peter’s shortcomings were inconsequential to the Holy Spirit, and by the grace of God, he went from foot-in-the-mouth Peter to a man with a powerful message.
God’s call to be a light in this world is never a case of what you can or cannot accomplish. It is what His grace enables you to do. Grace revolutionized Peter and Paul, setting each in a new direction. Neither of these men considered themselves to be an isolated phenomenon. And if they were here today, they would ask, “What is your story? How has God’s grace taken hold of you?
Awaiting His Return,
– Pastor Jack
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If none of God’s saints were poor and tried, we should not know half so well the consolations of divine grace. When we find the wanderer who has not where to lay his head, who yet can say, “Still will I trust in the Lord;” when we see the pauper starving on bread and water, who still glories in Jesus; when we see the bereaved widow overwhelmed in affliction, and yet having faith in Christ, oh! what honour it reflects on the gospel. God’s grace is illustrated and magnified in the poverty and trials of believers. Saints bear up under every discouragement, believing that all things work together for their good, and that out of apparent evils a real blessing shall ultimately spring—that their God will either work a deliverance for them speedily, or most assuredly support them in the trouble, as long as he is pleased to keep them in it. This patience of the saints proves the power of divine grace. There is a lighthouse out at sea: it is a calm night—I cannot tell whether the edifice is firm; the tempest must rage about it, and then I shall know whether it will stand. So with the Spirit’s work: if it were not on many occasions surrounded with tempestuous waters, we should not know that it was true and strong; if the winds did not blow upon it, we should not know how firm and secure it was. The master-works of God are those men who stand in the midst of difficulties, stedfast, unmoveable,—
“Calm mid the bewildering cry,
Confident of victory.”
He who would glorify his God must set his account upon meeting with many trials. No man can be illustrious before the Lord unless his conflicts be many. If then, yours be a much-tried path, rejoice in it, because you will the better show forth the all-sufficient grace of God. As for his failing you, never dream of it—hate the thought. The God who has been sufficient until now, should be trusted to the end.
Spurgeon, C. H. (1896). Morning and evening: Daily readings. Passmore & Alabaster.
And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Life sometimes feels like an endless roller coaster, full of surprising twists and turns—some that excite us and others that severely disappoint us. And during the ride of life, our weaknesses are revealed. As believers, we need to know how to handle the ups and downs so that our relationship with Christ remains consistent in its nature and we can have a victorious walk. When our weaknesses are revealed, we discover our inability to accomplish something to its full potential. The world leads us to believe that weakness is a liability; however, in our relationship with Christ, it can oftentimes be our greatest asset. Paul realized his weaknesses. Agonizing over them and bemoaning his situation never accomplished what was necessary. Yet Paul’s accepting attitude of his weaknesses resulted in the avenue God needed to intervene. In his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul wrote, “I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). Paul discovered that strength was found in weaknesses. Instead of trying to lug his cross up a hill, Paul decided it was best turned over to the Lord. When Paul’s strength was insufficient, he turned to God. As a result, Paul humbly walked through life’s ups and downs with a perspective that kept his eyes forever focused on Jesus.
Lord, I realize that my weakness is an opportunity for Your strength to be revealed. Through You, I can have victory over the ups and downs of life.
Stanley, C. F. (2006). Pathways to his presence (p. 65). Thomas Nelson Publishers.
“Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”
ROMANS 5:20
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God will lavish grace upon sinners who are truly repentant.
Did you ever sin so terribly that you felt, I really blew it this time. There’s no way God would want to forgive me now? It’s easy sometimes to let our past sins be a constant burden to us, even after we’ve confessed and repented. Paul has comfort for those who feel this way, and that comfort is founded on the power and measure of God’s grace to us. Before his conversion, Paul (then known as Saul) persecuted the church mercilessly (see Acts 8:3 and 9:1–2). He was “a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor” (1 Tim. 1:13; see also Gal. 1:13). If anyone could be beyond grace, it was Paul. But God intervened and saved him (Acts 9:3–19). Why? “For this reason,” Paul says, “I found mercy, in order that in me as the foremost [sinner], Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience, as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life” (1 Tim. 1:16). If God would forgive Paul, He will forgive anyone who will confess their sins and repent. If He would show abundant grace to a violent unbeliever, He will also shower grace upon His penitent children. God is not stingy with grace. Paul celebrates God’s saving “grace, which He freely bestowed on us” (Eph 1:6), and “the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us” (vv. 7–8). Speaking of sustaining grace, Paul says, “God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed” (2 Cor. 9:8). Notice the words Paul uses: “all grace,” “abound,” “all sufficiency,” “everything,” “abundance,” “every good deed.” God’s grace is inexhaustible and is given so freely that words cannot express it fully. Great sins require great grace, but God will give super–abundant grace to those who seek forgiveness, for “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom. 5:20). Don’t let your past sins weigh you down; learn to rest upon God’s super–abundant grace.
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Suggestions for Prayer: Ask God to teach you to understand His grace more fully and help you forget “what lies behind” (Phil. 3:13).
For Further Study: Read Romans 6. What is Paul’s argument here? ✧ How are we to live now that we have received God’s grace?
MacArthur, J. (1997). Strength for today. Crossway Books.
“The Lord, the Lord God, [is] compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth.”
EXODUS 34:6
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God’s grace is His undeserved favor shown to sinners.
God’s grace has always been a focus of praise for believers. Today’s verse is quoted several times in the Psalms and elsewhere in Scripture (for example, Neh. 9:17, 31; Ps. 86:15; 103:8; 145:8). Paul is grateful for God’s abundant grace in 1 Timothy 1:14, and John writes, “For of His fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace” (John 1:16). Today some of our favorite hymns are “Amazing Grace,” “Marvelous Grace of Our Loving Lord,” and “Wonderful Grace of Jesus.” What exactly is grace? It is simply God’s free, undeserved, and unearned favor. It is a gift given by God not because we are worthy of it, but only because God, out of His great love, wants to give it. Grace is evident to Christians in two main ways. The first is electing, or saving, grace. God “has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity” (2 Tim. 1:9). “By grace [we] have been saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8). This is God’s grace to sinners, for “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom. 5:20). Another grace in our lives is enabling, or sustaining, grace. We didn’t just receive grace to be saved; we now live in grace. It is the grace of God that enables us to live the Christian life. When Paul asked that some debilitating “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7) be removed, the Lord told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (v. 9). Paul elsewhere says, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). Remember, we have earned neither saving nor sustaining grace. Nothing we can do can make us worthy of one more bit of grace. God says, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious” (Ex. 33:19). This truth should make us all more grateful because He saved us and sustains us despite our sin. It should also make us humble because we have no worthiness to boast about (Eph. 2:9).
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Suggestions for Prayer: Thank God for His grace in saving and sustaining you.
For Further Study: Read Genesis 9:8–19. How did God extend grace to Noah and his family? ✧ What was the visible sign or symbol?
MacArthur, J. (1997). Strength for today. Crossway Books.
23 Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint and dill and cumin, but you have neglected the more important things of the Law: justice and mercy and faith; but these things you should have done without neglecting the others. Matthew 23:23 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)
A simple definition of mercy is “the withholding of deserved punishment and relieving distress.” The Greek ἔλεος (eleos) speaks of “compassion, pity.” One Greek lexicon tells us, “Kindness or good will towards the miserable and afflicted joined with a desire to relieve them.” Even the pagans of Greece felt pity. Aristotle wrote that tragedy aroused pity and even fear that the same tragedy might befall them.
This word, ἔλεος (eleos), appears in the passage I placed at the top of this post, Matthew 23:23. In it our Lord calls the Pharisees hypocrites because while they fastidiously counted out a tenth of the seeds of herbs to give as tithes, they ignored the more important matters of mercy and faith. In a graphic example of mercy, after the Lord told the disciples the parable of how the Good Samaritan showed mercy (Luke 10:25-37), He told them to “Go and do likewise.”
Paul also used this word often in his letters as a simple reminder of God’s mercy, a reminder that none of us can hear too often (Romans 9:23; 11:21; Galatians 6:16). In one of the most pointed verses in Scripture about salvation not being by works, Paul wrote to Titus: “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit” (3:5) This word was imbedded in Paul’s thinking, in fact, that he even used it often in salutations (1 Timothy 1:2; 2 Timothy 1:2; Titus :4).
So mercy is obviously always to the helpless. Moreover, as Ephesians 2:1-3 show, we deserve whatever tragedy, affliction, misery, depression, heartache, and all other pain that befall us, but God relieves it by His underserved mercy. In short, we deserve God’s wrath, but He is merciful; He relieves us out of His incomprehensible compassion.
What is the difference between mercy and grace?
Mercy – the withholding of what is deserved (e.g., death and hell).
Grace – the bestowing of what is not deserved (e.g., life and heaven).
It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
In the award-winning movie Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell remarked that he felt God’s pleasure when he ran. Enjoying our relationship with Christ, or feeling His pleasure while we work and live, is not simple, but certainly possible. You can enjoy God as you watch Him work through your circumstances (Phil. 1:12; 2:13). Troubling situations can overwhelm us for short or extended seasons. Handling them with an optimistic perspective that God is somehow at work for good is the way to live above difficulties. Trust Him to use your situations for eventual good, as foreboding as they may appear. Enjoy God as you live under His grace, not law. You don’t have to perform to please God. You already are pleasing to Him. Living under grace severs the legalistic mesh of “I must do this” or “I should do that” to gain God’s acceptance. You are accepted by grace, and His favor is extended to you freely. God has forgiven you. Forgive yourself. Enjoy God by learning to live one day at a time. Worrying about the future is a great thief and one that Scripture urges you to avoid by trusting God for your daily needs. Don’t get ahead of Him. Accept His provision and daily challenges. Living under a load of anxiety rapidly depletes your joy and peace. Christ came to give not only eternal life but abundant life as well. That is life to the fullest, and you can experience it!
Father, help me learn to live one day at a time, enjoy You, and experience Your pleasure.
Stanley, C. F. (2000). Into His presence (p. 24). Thomas Nelson Publishers.
“The forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” Ephesians 1:7 SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 1 Corinthians 15:5–11
Paul proclaimed the grace of God—free, full, sovereign, eternal grace—beyond all the glorious company of the apostles. Sometimes he soared to such amazing heights, or dived into unsearchable depths, that even Peter could not follow him. He was ready to confess that “our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given unto him,” had written “some things hard to be understood.” Jude could write of the judgments of God, and reprove with terrible words, “ungodly men, who turned the grace of God into lasciviousness.” But he could not tell out the purpose of grace as it was planned in the eternal mind, or the experience of grace as it is felt and realized in the human heart, like Paul. There is James again: he, as a faithful minister, could deal very closely with the practical evidences of Christian character. And yet he seems to keep very much on the surface; he does not bore down deep into the substratum on which must rest the visible soil of all spiritual graces. Even John, most favoured of all those apostles who were companions of our Lord on earth—sweetly as the beloved disciple writes of fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ—even John does not speak of grace so richly as Paul, in whom God first showed forth “all long-suffering as a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.” Not, indeed, that we are at liberty to prefer one apostle above another. We may not divide the Church, saying, I am of Paul, I of Peter, I of Apollos; but we may acknowledge the instrument which God was pleased to use; we may admire the way in which the Holy Ghost fitted him for his work; we may, with the churches of Judea, glorify God in Paul.
FOR MEDITATION: Paul always looked back with amazement when he recalled God’s grace to him, the chief of sinners, who so persecuted the Church (1 Corinthians 15:9–10; Galatians 1:13, 15; Ephesians 3:7, 8; 1 Timothy 1:13–15). Our gratitude and love to God can sadly be limited by our failure to realise how sinful we really are and how much he has forgiven us (Luke 7:41–47).
SERMON NO. 295
Spurgeon, C. H., & Crosby, T. P. (1998). 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 1) (p. 29). Day One Publications.
From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. John 1:16–17, NRSV
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:1–9, ESV
Amazing grace! how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me; I once was lost, but now am found; Was blind, but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved; How precious did that grace appear, The hour I first believed! John Newton, 1725–1807
Manser, M., ed. (2015). Daily Guidance (p. 26). Martin Manser.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Exodus 20:4–6 SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Micah 7:14–20
God is characterized here as a husband who will tolerate no rival. He will assert his rights as a husband, since his rivalry is nothing more than retaining what is his own. He will exclude all rivals of his honor. Considering God’s sacred covenant with the Jews, Moses seems to be alluding here to the violation of this spiritual marriage. But though he begins with a threat, God, who far prefers mercy to severity, gently allures his own to himself rather than compels them to allegiance. He declares that he will be merciful to a thousand generations, as the original Hebrew says in verse 6, while he only denounces punishment on the third and fourth generations. To encourage worshipers to earnest piety, God declares that he will be kind not only to them but to their posterity, even for a thousand generations. This is proof of his inestimable kindness, even indulgence, for he deigns to bind himself to his servants, to whom he owes nothing, and to acknowledge his favor toward them and their seed. It is wrong to infer merit from the promised reward, however, because God does not say that he will be faithful or just toward the keepers of his law. Rather, he only promises to be merciful. Let the most perfect then come forward, for they can require nothing better of God than his favor to them on the grounds of his gratuitous liberality.
FOR MEDITATION: The implications and consequences of our present actions extend to the next generation and beyond. Seeing that our conduct has such consequences, should we not flee from sin and seek to be more like Christ? Are there specific ways to do this today?
Calvin, J., & Beeke, J. R. (2008). 365 Days with Calvin (p. 31). Day One Publications; Reformation Heritage Books.
For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace…grace be with you all. Amen.
Hebrews 13:9, 25
Christians all around us are trying every shortcut they can think of to get “something for nothing” in the kingdom of God. Talk to them and they will predictably flare up: “Isn’t grace something for nothing?”
That depends upon what kind of grace we are talking about.
Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer gave his life as a martyr in Hitler’s Germany, but he left a book now known around the world: The Cost of Discipleship. He pointed out a sharp distinction between “cheap grace” and “costly grace.” Although God’s grace has been given freely to humans who do not deserve it, Bonhoeffer believed it rightly could be called “costly grace” because it cost our Lord Jesus Christ even the suffering of death.
Some men and women have actually turned God’s grace into lasciviousness. They do not know what the word grace means—that God gives us out of His rich and full goodness although we are unworthy of it. When I preach about the grace of God and point out that Jesus commanded us to take up our cross and follow Him, those who do not know the meaning of grace respond: “Oh, Tozer is now preaching legalism.”
Father, as I go about the activities of my day today—and for each month of this year—I want to be mindful of Your “costly grace” and desire to grow more deeply in my understanding of it.
Tozer, A. W. (2015). Mornings with tozer: daily devotional readings. Moody Publishers.
“Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.” Ezekiel 36:32
suggested further reading: 1 Timothy 1:12–17
My God! I have rebelled against thee, and yet thou hast loved me, unworthy me! How can it be? I cannot lift myself up with pride, I must bow down before thee in speechless gratitude. Remember, my dear brethren, that not only is the mercy which you and I have received undeserved, but it was unasked. It is true you sought for mercy, but not till mercy first sought you. It is true you prayed, but not till free grace made you pray. You would have been still today hardened in heart, without God, and without Christ, had not free grace saved you. Can you be proud then?—proud of mercy which, if I may use the term, has been forced upon you?—proud of grace which has been given you against your will, until your will was changed by sovereign grace? And think again—all the mercy you have you once refused. Christ sups with you; be not proud of his company. Remember, there was a day when he knocked, and you refused—when he came to the door and said, “My head is wet with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night; open to me, my beloved;” and you barred it in his face, and would not let him enter. Be not proud, then of what you have, when you remember that you once rejected him. Does God embrace you in his arms of love? Remember, once you lifted up your hand of rebellion against him. Is your name written in his book? Ah! there was a time when, if it had been in your power, you would have erased the sacred lines that contained your own salvation. Can we, dare we, lift up our wicked heads with pride, when all these things should make us hang our heads down in the deepest humility?
for meditation: Whatever we have become or achieved in the Christian life must always be attributed to God’s grace and directed to his glory. The apostle Paul needed no reminder (1 Corinthians 15:10).
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Galatians 6:1
suggested further reading: Colossians 3:1–17
We must aim to bring back to the right path those who have turned away from it. If we have no kindness or humanity within us, we may plunge someone deep into despair the minute we see him committing a sin. This is why Paul says the children of God must show kindness and gentleness so those who have fallen through weakness can be helped up, knowing that we seek their salvation.
There are two extremes here. The first is that we often close our eyes if one of our friends offends God and creates a scandal; we let it slip by because we do not want to stir up ill will by reproaching them. This is how friendships work today; each person permits all kinds of evil.
No one wants to have their sore skin scratched; therefore, people will not listen to warning unless God first touches them and gives them an obedient spirit that makes them teachable. Such people would say with David that they would prefer to be scolded harshly, indeed, even with austerity, rather than to be surrounded by a crowd of flatterers who would lull them to sleep in their sins (Ps. 141:5).
However, generally speaking, people want to be spared this shame. They prefer that we not utter a word against them, let alone assail their ears with a list of their vices and transgressions. People are happy with this silence, yet in it God is forgotten. As the prophet Isaiah says, no man was found in any of the streets who upheld the truth (Isa. 59:14–16). There is confusion and worse injustice than ever before, yet we let it continue unchecked.
for meditation: Our best friends are those who tell us the most truth about ourselves in a loving and caring way. Are we serving our friends in this manner as well?
If we do not remember from where we have come and the grace God has shown to us, we will rebuke our brothers and sisters in a harsh and unloving manner. But if we remember God’s grace, we will restore those who have fallen in meekness, knowing that only God’s grace keeps us from the same fault.1
1 Calvin, J., & Beeke, J. R. (2008). 365 Days with Calvin (p. 379). Day One Publications; Reformation Heritage Books.
You shall call His name JESUS. For He will save His people from their sins.
Matthew 1:21
You may skip the genealogy when you read the Christmas story aloud. But don’t overlook its message of grace, which after all is the heart of the Christmas story: God in His mercy doing for sinners what they cannot do for themselves—mending broken lives and restoring shattered hopes. That’s why He came—to save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:21).
Here’s the best part: the same grace that was evident in the genealogy is active today, and the same Jesus is saving His people from their sins. No sin, no matter how heinous, puts sinners beyond His reach. “He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25, kjv).1
Salt was used in every offering made by fire unto the Lord, and from its preserving and purifying properties it was the grateful emblem of divine grace in the soul. It is worthy of our attentive regard that, when Artaxerxes gave salt to Ezra the priest, he set no limit to the quantity, and we may be quite certain that when the King of kings distributes grace among his royal priesthood, the supply is not cut short by him. Often are we straitened in ourselves, but never in the Lord. He who chooses to gather much manna will find that he may have as much as he desires. There is no such famine in Jerusalem that the citizens should eat their bread by weight and drink their water by measure. Some things in the economy of grace are measured; for instance our vinegar and gall are given us with such exactness that we never have a single drop too much, but of the salt of grace no stint is made, “Ask what thou wilt and it shall be given unto thee.” Parents need to lock up the fruit cupboard, and the sweet jars, but there is no need to keep the salt-box under lock and key, for few children will eat too greedily from that. A man may have too much money, or too much honour, but he cannot have too much grace. When Jeshurun waxed fat in the flesh, he kicked against God, but there is no fear of a man’s becoming too full of grace: a plethora of grace is impossible. More wealth brings more care, but more grace brings more joy. Increased wisdom is increased sorrow, but abundance of the Spirit is fulness of joy. Believer, go to the throne for a large supply of heavenly salt. It will season thine afflictions, which are unsavoury without salt; it will preserve thy heart which corrupts if salt be absent, and it will kill thy sins even as salt kills reptiles. Thou needest much; seek much, and have much.1
Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.
Books about dying and life after death regularly make the best-seller list. Major periodicals, even media specials, examine the possibility of an afterlife and how we should handle it. Such concern, however, is not unusual. From the earliest empires to today’s high-tech world, people have pondered questions about life after death.
Outside God’s analysis, everything else is only guesswork. While many devise theories concerning future events, there is only one source of truth—the Word of God—and we turn to its authority when it comes to eschatology.
In God’s Word we find that Jesus instructs us to watch, pray, and prepare for His return (Matt. 25:1–13). No one knows the hour or the day, but we do know that it will happen just as He has said.
Paul did not want these believers to feel uninformed or to “sorrow as others who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13–17). Rather, because of Christ’s death and resurrection, he wanted them to look forward to being with Jesus one day soon.
We have this same sure hope today. Those who know God’s Son as their Savior shall always be with the Lord. You rest in this fact: Jesus will return for you. The world cannot offer the peace that this one truth brings.
Lord, thank You for the hope of Your soon return. I look forward to the day that I will be with You forever.1
1 Stanley, C. F. (2000). Into His presence (p. 354). Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Training to become a sushi chef is notoriously rigorous. It takes about seven years, and it progresses extremely slowly. After years of training, an apprentice will be given his first important task: making the rice. Once he has mastered this, he can move on. In the 2011 documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, an apprentice is tasked with making the grilled egg course. It takes him more than two hundred attempts before he does it to the chef’s satisfaction.
The way someone learns to be a sushi chef is not very different from the ways that people learn to do anything. They can read about it, and there are books and diagrams that can teach you to do just about anything. They can hear about it, have someone tell them how to do it. But for a lot of things, it’s helpful to do it yourself, following a pattern. A teacher provides an example and the student watches how it’s done and then tries to do it himself. Over time, by continually going back to the teacher’s example, the student grows.
The Christian life is really no different. We read laws and principles for living from the Bible—the Ten Commandments, for instance. We hear teaching from pastors, elders, and teachers. And we also learn from examples. We see how characters in the Bible lived and try to pattern ourselves after them. We read about people in church history and pick up helpful lessons for our own Christian walk. Having examples and paradigms to look to is helpful for learning in all sorts of ways.
Our God knows this, and that’s why He provided us with so many examples. In fact, in 1 Timothy 1:12–17, the Apostle Paul gives us a paradigm for the Christian life, specifically, the start of the Christian life. Here’s what he writes:
I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Here, Paul uses himself as an example of what is involved in salvation, presenting himself as a pattern or paradigm for how God saves people. In so doing, he tells us about receiving undeserved mercy that results in a transformed life, through the work of Christ, for the glory of God. Briefly, we could say that in this passage Paul gives us the what, the how, and the why of salvation. In this series, we will walk through this passage to explore Paul’s paradigm of salvation. In this post, we will look at the what of salvation.
It’s helpful to know some of the circumstances of this letter. Paul wrote it to his protege, Timothy, who was ministering to the church at Ephesus. In this letter, Paul appears to be taking on some false teachers who were causing trouble in the church.
We don’t know the exact details of what was being taught, but we can get some hints of it in verses 3–11. It appeared to involve an alternate understanding of the law; possibly the false teachers were saying that the law did not apply to Christians. Therefore, they were encouraging immoral living.
The section on false teachers closes in verse 11 with Paul’s mention of “the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.” It is probably this mention that prompts Paul to write what he does in our passage, because he goes on to flesh out what that gospel is and how it was that he was entrusted with it.
Salvation, according to Paul’s pattern, is undeserved mercy.
He does so by briefly recounting his own experience of conversion in verses 12–14. He begins by thanking God for calling him into His service despite his past sins. He says in verse 12 that God “judged him faithful.” Since he’s talking here about his transition from unbeliever to believer, he can’t have in mind here any kind of ongoing faithfulness in his Christian life. Instead, he’s referring to the moment of his conversion.
At that moment, God “judged him faithful” in the sense of pronouncing judgment upon him. And that judgment was “faithful,” or “righteous.” Yet that judgment could not have been on the basis of his behavior at the time, for he says in verse 13 that he was “a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent.”
Some people have very dramatic conversion stories and others do not. Actually, however, the transition from unbeliever to believer is always dramatic, because it involves a complete remaking of the person and his direction in life. It is heart surgery—we are given a new heart, one that is soft and sensitive to the things of God, one that is able to respond to Him.
Paul exemplified this transition. His story is well known. Before his conversion, he was a fierce opponent of Christianity. He was there at the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7); he persecuted Christians; he sought them out and put them in prison. In fact, when he converted, he was on his way to Damascus to search for and imprison Christians (Acts 9).
Paul calls himself a blasphemer because he refused to recognize Christ as God. He was a persecutor because he opposed the church. And he was an “insolent opponent,” like a madman, someone wild and out of control.
But then something changed. In verse 13, Paul tells us: “But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief.” He highlights the mercy of God in saving him, but he does not excuse his sin. To do so would be to destroy his need for mercy. In saying he had acted ignorantly, Paul is applying a category from the Jewish law. He’s saying that he sinned without knowing it. The law made provisions for sins committed in ignorance. Nevertheless, some kind of sacrifice had to be made for such sins of ignorance, for they were still sins.
Before Paul was saved, he believed he was zealous for God. He opposed the church because he thought it was an abomination. He didn’t realize it, but he was opposing God. And he was trying to earn salvation through his good works, through his zeal in keeping the law and in opposing the church. Such an attitude attempts to force God to accept us, to bring something before Him that we can point to and say: “Here. Because of this, You must approve of me.”
There is no such thing that Paul could do to deserve the Lord’s acceptance of him. If Paul was to be saved, it would have to be a purely gracious act, an act of pure mercy. Sinners cannot earn their salvation through their works. Paul came to recognize this truth after his conversion, and he locates the transition from his former way of life here, in God’s receiving mercy.
At that point, Paul says in verse 14, “the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” The grace and love of Christ overflowed into Paul’s life and poured into his life in such a way that afterward, Paul’s life was characterized by faith and love. He had faith in Christ, and he loved God, and that affected how he lived his life. His life was marked by service to God, as he says in verse 12.
This is the other side of the transition. Because of this new state, it would have been inconceivable for him to continue in his previous way of life.
Some people today say that because we are saved by grace, what we do doesn’t matter. But Paul would have none of this. In pointing to his experience, he is saying that a fundamental change in how we live our lives is central to conversion. Having been saved by the mercy of God and given new hearts, we simply cannot continue to live as we once did.
Of course, on this side of glory, sin remains. Paul himself recognized this and grieved about it (see especially Rom. 7). But the mercy of God’s acting in conversion calls us to strive for holiness. One of the marks of believers is a struggle with sin, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Salvation, according to Paul’s pattern, is undeserved mercy. This undeserved mercy sparks a fundamental change in our lives. We receive, by God’s mercy, a new heart. We are pronounced righteous by virtue of our faith in Christ.
Afterward, by God’s grace, we strive, not always perfectly and not always consistently, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, to leave behind our former lives and to pursue holiness. This is part of what it means to be saved.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on January 1, 2020.
Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims.
—Ezekiel 10:18
The world is evil, the times are waxing late, and the glory of God has departed from the Church as the fiery cloud once lifted from the door of the Temple in the sight of Ezekiel the prophet.
The God of Abraham has withdrawn His conscious Presence from us, and another god whom our fathers knew not is making himself at home among us. This god we have made and because we have made him we can understand him; because we have created him he can never surprise us, never overwhelm us, nor astonish us, nor transcend us.
The God of glory sometimes revealed Himself like a sun to warm and bless, indeed, but often to astonish, overwhelm, and blind before He healed and bestowed permanent sight. This God of our fathers wills to be the God of their succeeding race. We have only to prepare Him a habitation in love and faith and humility. We have but to want Him badly enough, and He will come and manifest Himself to us. KOH067-068
Come once again in all Your glory, great God. We’ve lost so much in losing Your presence among us. Come once more and manifest Yourself clearly to us. Amen.1
“To keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.”
If you gather many talented musicians who are only interested in their individual parts, you won’t have an orchestra. What you will produce is merely discordant noise: an affront to the listening ear. However, when that giftedness is exercised in selflessness and humility, under the headship of a conductor and the rule of a score, you get beautiful, harmonious music.
Just as a musician’s desire for individual greatness is the death knell of orchestral usefulness, so it is with our Christian faith. A spiritual gift should never be the source of pride—because, after all, it’s a gift! Yet we are often tempted to take God-given gifts and attribute them to ourselves as if we developed or deserve them, or to use them for ourselves as if they were ours. This puts us in extreme danger of cherishing exaggerated ideas about our own importance—and those with the most significant gifts are typically in the greatest danger.
Paul himself had to face this temptation. He was particularly bright, had a strong education, was from the best kind of background, and was influential in many lives (see Philippians 3:4-6).
When taking on the false apostles of the day, who were making elaborate claims about their knowledge of God, Paul honestly described having seen extraordinary visions (2 Corinthians 12:2-4). He was a prime target for an inflated ego. What protected him from that? A thorn in his flesh. He does not specify precisely what it was, and so we would be wise not to speculate. What matters is not what it was so much as what it achieved; for Paul recognized that this thorn in the flesh was a humbling reminder from God of his inherent weakness, given so that he would not boast about his own importance and so that he would continue to rely on God.
Like the false teachers Paul addressed, we are often tempted to allow our influence and apparent success, whether great or small, to serve as the means by which we judge our worth. Eventually, however, such temporary matters will be exposed as temporary and will fade away.
In the providence and goodness of God, Paul’s “thorn” helps us to understand our own difficulties such as illness, financial lack, relational challenges, the effort of raising children, and even the ongoing struggle with sin. God knows what He’s doing when He allows these necessary, uncomfortable, unrelenting elements in our lives. Better to be a humble believer beset by thorns than a proud, self-reliant no-longer-believer unplagued by anything. We need to know our own weakness in order to continue to rely on God’s grace for our eternal salvation and God’s power for our daily lives. The question, then, is not whether the thorns will come to you but whether you will allow God to use your “thorns” to remind you that He alone is the source of your gifts and the one who makes you spiritually useful.
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Grace is such a pleasant word. After all, who doesn’t want grace? Who wants to be held accountable for every mistake made, every deed that should have been done but wasn’t? The truth is we all fall short of perfection, and we all know we’re in need of grace. If we were left to have to answer for all our faults, sins, and shortcomings, we know we couldn’t stay standing under such scrutiny.
Grace is unmerited favor. Grace is receiving good things we didn’t earn and not receiving punishment we did earn. Here are three kinds of grace we all need:
God’s Grace to Us
First and foremost, we are in desperate need of God’s grace. Because of the guilt we have all inherited from Adam in the Fall in the garden of Eden and the additional guilt we heap upon ourselves from our own sin, we are under God’s wrath outside of Christ.
To appreciate God’s grace, we need to recognize how holy God is and how sinful we are. Isaiah understood this when he saw a vision of the Lord in his glory (Isa. 6:1-7). He saw his own sinfulness and his need to be cleansed so he would not be destroyed by God’s utter goodness and purity. We find another such example in the Gospel of Luke when Peter witnessed the miracle of the great catch of fish and fell down before the Lord, being overwhelmed by his unworthiness to be in the presence of God (Luke 5:8).
And when we realize that there is nothing about us that is untouched by our depraved nature and how impossible it is for us to stand before God on our own merits—this is when we realize how much we need God’s grace. God must uphold his righteousness; he cannot allow sin to go unpunished. Yet, he loved the world so much that gave his only Son to die an unfathomably horrible death on a cross to be the propitiation for our sins (John 3:16; 1 John 2:2). Praise God that he is both “just and the justifier” of all who have faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:26).
Grace for Others
As God has forgiven us in Christ, he commands us to forgive others who have sinned against us:
“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt. 6:12).
It is part of our fallen nature to have an inward bent, to see ourselves as more righteous than we actually are and to hold others to a higher standard than we hold ourselves. As we grow in understanding of what God’s grace to us in Christ actually involves, our hearts become less hardened and more willing to give grace to others who have wronged us.
Jesus spoke of the importance of our relatively small acts of grace in his Parable of the Unforgiving Servant in Matthew 18:21-35. In this parable the servant is forgiven of paying back a vast sum of money he owes to his master only to have no mercy on a fellow servant who owes him a vastly smaller debt. The servant has no appreciation for the tremendous amount of grace shown to him by his master and selfishly holds his fellow servant fully accountable, giving him no grace whatsoever and putting him in a debtor’s prison until he can repay what is owed. The master finds out about the servant’s unforgiving heart and throws him into prison until his massive debt is fully paid. This parable teaches us that it is wrong not to show grace to others when God has forgiven us of all our guilt and trepasses in Christ.
While it can take time to process the wrongs done to us, as believers our hearts should be compelled to desire to forgive, and, as Jesus said, to forgive the person “seven times, but seventy-seven times” (Matt. 18:22). When we stubbornly refuse to forgive, when we choose to hold a grudge, we are failing to fully value how much God has forgiven us in Christ. Indeed, Jesus said the following regarding the importance of forgiving others:
“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matt. 6:14-15)
Even when we forgive others, showing them grace, past hurts can come back into our thoughts and necessitate forgiving the person again and again. This act of repeated forgiving also helps us remember God’s unmeasurable grace to us. And when we receive grace from others, the overwhelming feelings of relief, joy, and freedom from any guilt and shame we have been carrying is difficult to describe in words.
Showing grace to people, however, doesn’t mean that they deserve our immediate trust. When trust is breached in a relationship, it takes time and work to build it up again, and hopefully the trust will be even stronger. Sometimes, however, trust can never be rebuilt. Whether to continue a relationship requires discernment, prayer, and wisdom.
Grace for Ourselves
It is often the case that we have the hardest time showing grace for ourselves. We know all too well our own mistakes and shortcomings. And when it comes to finding someone to blame, the easiest person with whom to find fault is usually oneself. In such times we need to remind ourselves that God sent his Son to free us from condemnation. For us to condemn ourselves is to say that we are beyond God’s forgiveness, which is never the case for all who have new life in Christ! God’s forgiveness covers every one of a believer’s sins, and as the apostle John writes:
For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. (1 John 3:20-21)
Beloved child of God, have confidence in your good and loving God and all he has done for you in Christ. Know that your sins are forgiven by God’s grace through faith in Christ alone. Have abundant grace for others and seek to honor your heavenly Father in all things, resting in his perfect love for you until the day you are perfected in glory to be with your Savior forevermore.
This article is adapted from “3 Kinds of Grace” in Beautiful Christian Life’s April 2024 monthly newsletter.
23 Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint and dill and cumin, but you have neglected the more important things of the Law: justice and mercy and faith; but these things you should have done without neglecting the others. Matthew 23:23 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)
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