Grace - is there a limit to it?

Our church has recently started going through the book of Ephesians in our Sunday morning messages, so I have decided to study it in my own personal devotions alongside this.

I was looking at verses 7 & 8 of Chapter 1, which say "In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, (8) which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight."

The two words that stood out to me are 'riches' and 'lavished'. Both words express not a limit but an abundance! One of the dictionary definitions of 'riches' is 'abundant' or 'plentiful', the dictionary definition of 'lavished' is 'to expend or give in great amounts and without limit'.

Both of these words in context refer to God's grace (grace being the freely given, unmerited favour of God towards undeserving sinners). I have lost count of the times when I approach God, in awareness of a particular sin or sins that I have committed, reminded of my need for grace, and hoping in some part that God will give me a small amount of grace, unworthy as I am. This is wrong and sinful thinking. The words riches and lavished as used here do not express that God is going to limit the amount of grace that he gives us, but that he gives grace to us in abundance!

Psalm 84:11 says "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favour and honour. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly." He withholds no good thing! How incredible is that!

Also, Ephesians 1:3 says "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places..." Note he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.

Praise God that he is a God who gives us abundant blessing, he doesn't withhold blessing from us, he delights to give it to us! And what greater blessing than the gift of His Son, Jesus, to give us the wonderful gift of salvation - dying in our place, for our sins, to take the punishment that we daily deserve to pay. What greater reason could there be to approach God with confidence than through Jesus' sacrifice? What a wonderful God we have, and what a wonderful God we serve!

Serving Christ joyfully

"Impatient spirits may fret and fume because they are not called to the highest places in ministry; but, reader, learn to rejoice that Jesus calls those He desires. If He leaves me as a doorkeeper in His house, I will cheerfully bless Him for His grace in allowing me to do anything in His service. The call of Christ's servants comes from above."

(From Alistair Begg's "Truth for Life" Daily Devotional for Thurs 10/9/09- adapted from C.H Spurgeon http://www.truthforlife.org/site/PageServer?pagename=tls_overview)

Really challenging quote for me. We are not just called to be content or put up with what Jesus calls us to do but to rejoice that he would even call any of us! Psalm 84:10 "10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness." Rather than complain about what we have not been called to do, we should return to God with gratefulness for his grace in allowing us to serve him at all!

God's grace and mercy - R.C.Sproul quote

"We soon forget that with our first sin we have forfeited all rights to the gift of life. That I am drawing breath this morning is an act of divine mercy. God owes me nothing. I owe Him everything. If He allows a tower to fall on my head this afternoon, I cannot claim injustice"

(R.C.Sproul - The Holiness of God, Chapter 6 - Holy Justice p126)

God's Justice - 2

Continuing with some quotes from 'The Holiness of God' by R.C Sproul.

Sometimes, in fact often, we forget the seriousness of our sin in the face of a righteous, upright, Holy God. We forget the message it portrays to others but most importantly the true act of defiance every one of our sins are against God. As I wrote and quoted in the previous post
http://outstandingchristianquotes.blogspot.com/2009/05/gods-justice-1.html every time we sin, we deserve to die.

Sproul writes "Sin is cosmic treason. Sin is treason against a perfectly pure Sovereign. It is an act of supreme ingratitude toward the One who has given us life itself. Have you ever considered the deeper implications of the slightest sin, of the most minute peccadillo (small sin)? What are we saying to our Creator when we disobey Him at the slightest point? We are saying no to the righteousness of God. We are saying, "God, Your law is not good. My judgement is better than Yours. Your authority does not apply to me. I am above and beyond Your jurisdiction. I have the right to do what I want to do, not what You command me to do."

He continues "The slightest sin is an act of defiance against cosmic authority. It is a revolutionary act, a rebellious act in which we are setting ourselves in opposition to the One to whom we owe everything. It is an insult to His holiness..." (p116 Ch 6 Holy Justice)

As it says in Romans 5:10 - 18:

"...as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. 13 Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. 14 Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have not known. 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

What hope do we have? Romans 5:6-11:

"6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."

Here lies the amazing dilemma of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ! We as sinners commit cosmic treason against a perfectly pure Sovereign God. We daily commit acts of defiance and ingratitude towards the One who gave us life itself! As the Rom 5:10-18 passage tells us "NONE is righteous, no NOT ONE"

But Romans 5:6 "...at the right time, Christ died for the UNGODLY..." and verse 8 "...but God shows his love for us in that WHILE WERE STILL SINNERS, Christ died for us"!! & verse 9 "Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more SHALL WE BE SAVED BY HIM FROM THE WRATH OF GOD" (my emphasis added)

As Christians, we are saved from our unrighteousness, our ungodliness, while we were still sinners, from the wrath of God!!! Amazing Grace! What a glorious Saviour we have in Jesus! We have and can do NOTHING to add to our salvation. We did nothing to deserve our salvation. Every time we sin we deserve God's wrath to be poured out in its entirety on us. We deserve to spend eternity in hell. I can't even begin to imagine the seriousness and terror of God's wrath. As a mere creation of God, a human being, I can't relate to what it meant to Jesus to bear God's wrath upon himself. But the response has to be of gratitude and worship! What else could we do?

Sproul talks about the Cross as follows:

"The most violent expression of God's wrath and justice is seen in the Cross. If ever a person had room to complain of injustice, it was Jesus. He was the only innocent man ever to be punished by God. If we stagger at the wrath of God, let us stagger at the Cross. Here is where our astonishment should be focused. If we have cause for moral outrage, let it be directed at Golgotha.

The Cross was at once the most horrible and the most beautiful example of God's wrath. It was the most just and most gracious act in history. God would have been more than unjust, He would have been diabolical to punish Jesus if Jesus had not first willingly taken upon Himself the sins of the world. Once Christ had done that, once He volunteered to be the Lamb of God, laden with our sin, then He became the most grotesque and vile thing on this planet. With the concentrated load of sin He carried, He became utterly repugnant to the Father. God poured out His wrath on this obscene thing. God made Christ accursed for the sin He bore. Herein was God's holy justice perfectly manifest. Yet it was done for us. He took what justice demanded from us. This "for us" aspect of the Cross is what displays the majesty of its grace. At the same time justice and grace, wrath and mercy. It is too astonishing to fathom." (p121-122 Ch 6 Holy Justice)

What a wonderful, fresh reminder of grace, of God's free, unmerited favour, that he shows to us daily, indeed that he sustains and transforms us with! As Christians we should be the most grateful people on the planet. Let us never lose sight of the wonder of the Cross and what it accomplished.

He see the depths of our hearts...

Ok, so not so much of a quote, but at church this morning we were singing the song 'Indescribable' and one of the lines of the song blew me away in a way that it hasn't done before. The refrain at the end goes 'Incomparable, Unchangeable, You see the depths of my heart and you love me the same...'

What really stood out to me was that God knows us inside out, he knows our sinful nature and our sinful motivations for doing things that seem good to other people. He knows our deepest thoughts that no-one else every finds out and we would be utterly ashamed if anyone else ever found out. These sins are abhorrent to God, he cannot abide sin in any way shape or form. He is Holy and every time we even think like this we instantly deserve death, because we have disobeyed God. The Bible teaches that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) but then the verse follows on to say that the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

How can a God that knows us so completely, better than we know ourselves and so completely Holy love us at all? Romans 5 speaks of this in verse 6 onwards:

"6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."

And also in Ephesians 2:

"1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 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— 3 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. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

What a glorious gospel! What an amazing mystery! What scandalous grace! God doesn't only love us even though he knows us inside out, he has made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with him in the heavenly places. He has provided Christ as our mediator to stand between us and the Father, to pay the penalty for our sins that we could not have paid, he lived the perfect life for us and died the perfect death for us.

Psalm 139 perfectly illustrates the extent to which God knows us. He knew us before we were even formed in the womb. I found verse 4 a particularly challenging verse "Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether." Whether that word is glorifying to God or not, he knows it. He can use it to work out his purposes in our lives. He can use it to carry out his sanctifying work in order to help form us and shape us to be more like Him. He can use it as an opportunity to reveal areas of our heart that need to change, in order to help us become more like Him. Here is the Psalm in its entirety:

"1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.

13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain!
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting! "

I trust that this truth will spur us on to a greater trust and a deeper faith in our glorious God. He knows us inside out yet he has shown us the ultimate example of love in fulfilling our greatest need, which is our need for a Saviour, a rescue from the punishment that we so richly deserve. Praise Him!