What Grace Needs!

  
   The Bible says we are saved by grace.  Thank God for grace!  And, let me give you my favorite definition of grace.  "Grace is the willing involvement in the affairs of our life".   Another definition is "Grace it the divine influence on the affairs of man".  Still another, "grace is unmerited favor".  But, I'll tell you why grace doesn't seem to work on behalf of some folks.  You see grace needs something else with which to work. 

   The Bible says that "grace" reigns through "righteousness" (Ro. 5:21).  It is through abundant grace and the gift of righteousness, together, that we reign in life.  Without righteousness (the gift), grace has nothing to reign through.  It is a sad thing to report that for a very, very long time we have failed to preach the gospel of how to be saved by grace.  First of all we don't get people to believe in the resurrected Jesus as Lord.  We teach them to call Him almost anything but LORD!  Jesus can save you because He is LORD.  And then secondly, we don't tell them to believe "unto" righteousness.  A lot of church folks go through their whole life and never believe they are righteous.  In fact, they may spend their whole life trying to become righteous.  Result?  Frustrated grace.  Grace with nothing to reign through.  And, a life that overcomes nothing.

   Make your confession "HE IS LORD".  Not just Lord of your life - but THE LORD.  But don't stop there, confess this "I am righteous...it came as a gift".  If you don't believe for it and confess it, you don't have it.  If you don't have it, grace is stymied. Prayers fail, God activity comes to a grinding halt.  If you think you have to earn it, you don't have it.  It is a gift!!!!!!!  What part of "gift" do you not understand?  Take it by faith.  Jesus bought it and gave it to you.  

What is the glory?

    What is the glory of God?  I suppose that might be a question that draws a lot of different opinions.  An awful lot of people throw out those words, as if they know what they mean, but I am not so sure.   I know the word means an "outshining" of something, or the "best of something made visible, or shined outward".  I know we have all sinned and come short of the "glory" and in my Bible study I have come to know this refers to the original glory, such as might have been seen prior to the fall.  I know we are being led from "glory to glory", by the Spirit of God.  I know the Bible attributes the resurrection of Jesus to the "glory" and to the "Spirit", indicating they are one and the same.   I know that in His call for us to be "one" as He and the Father were, He said He would give us His "glory", that by the glory we might be made one. That too, refers to the Holy Ghost.   All that said, I don't know that I can understand or completely define the glory of God.

    Here is what I do know that thrills me.  Remember when Moses was interceding with God, first of all about not destroying the people and then about going on to the promised land? He accomplish the first, obtaining God's mercy by intercession. Then he negotiated with God, gaining permission to still go to the promised land, and then later, to go with angels accompanying. God gave in to all that, but refused to go with Moses.  Moses kept at it until God relented and promised His presence would go with Moses.  That was still not enough for this man of God.  He refused God's offer to go, even with the promise of God's presence.  He went one more step and asked God to "show me your glory".  God answered that request as well and He answered by setting Moses in a cleft of a rock, putting His hand over Him and then He passed His "goodness" before Moses, declaring, as He did, His name and His sovereignty.   The cry of my heart?  Show us you glory Lord!  Show us your Glory!  Pour out your goodness for all to see!  In these last days, I am not looking for the wrath of God...I am looking for the glory!

Did Jesus really die for your sins?

   

    Did Jesus die for your sins?  Perhaps not, at least not in the way you might think, if you have been fed a standard religion.   Actually, He died to satisfy the demand for justice that had existed in the heart of Almighty God since the fall of man in the garden, thousands of years gone by.  The sin of a perfect man demanded the blood of another perfect man and there was none.  And, then came Jesus!   When He said "it is finished" from the cross, this was what was in His mind.  The struggle of thousands of years was over.  The sacrifice of thousands of animals, the shedding of their blood as a temporary covering (atonement) for sin, was over.  The enmity between God and man was over.   The waiting for God once again to fellowship with His family was over.  The deadly sickness of sin was over.  The cure had come. The power of sin to separate man from God was over.  Man's terrible fall into humanism was over.   The unfilled desire within the heart of God for family and fellowship was over!  On that day, on that cross when those words echoed across the universe to the realms of God, all of heaven must have rejoiced.  It must have been party time in glory!  At last.....it was over!

     Now that those things were over, God, the Holy Ghost, could come to man - any man - any whosoever - heal him of his sin-wounds, create in him a new spirit perfect for indwelling.  Now, if that man sins, God is faithful, just and now able to forgive, any man, any sin.  Now, if that man would allow, God the Spirit, can dwell in him, saturate him and use him as a staging area from which rivers of living water can flow in and out.  Now, God the Spirit, can be worshiped in truth (reality) and in spirit (from the new spirit).  Now, that man can be baptized, completely enmeshed with, wrapped up with, endued with, overflowing with that God, the Spirit, who is now available to us because Jesus was able to endure the cross for the joy of all this that awaited Him.  

   Did He die for your sins?  No!  He died to make a way where there was no way.  He died to make a way for God to forgive you of your sins.  Had His blood not been without blemish, you would still be lost.  We would all be lost.  A just God would not have been able to forgive us, even though He would want to.  You see, it is not what the blood did for you that matters most - it is what it did for God.

Demonstrating His glory!

  

     The beginning of the Lord's miracle was to turn water to wine. He did it simply to manifest His glory, (John 1). He didn't do it because they were thirsty, needed more wine, to win the world, feed the hungry or clothe the naked.  He just did it to manifest, make visible, His glory.  You know, religious people hate this kind of story.  If they believe in miracles at all, they want all miracles to be about man and his welfare.  Every now and then, God upsets the apple cart and just does something to say "Hello....here I am....see my glory".    Oh, I love it when He shows us His glory by turning water to wine, and He still does it.   It doesn't have to be anything else for me.  There are a lot of things God does and will do and I am all for it all.  But, I love His glory, I treasure His glory.  Moses was like that.  He could have gone to the promised land without God, or with angels, or even with the presence of God but He would not go until God promised to show him His glory, which God did by putting Moses on a rock, covering him with His hand of love and parading  all His goodness before Moses for Moses to see.  My, oh my, what a moment!

    When Jesus turned the water to wine, He first had to call for old waterpots normally used to wash feet in.  Worthless vessels.  Vessels no one would ever choose to drink out of if there was any choice.  My friend, that is who we are.  Worthless vessels, Gentile dogs, undeserving of God's love or God's anything....but, He called us out, filled us with living water and then turns that water to living, new wine, manifesting His glory in earthen waterpots such as you and I.  Whew!   It is good!

      I receive His glory, just like the Bible says, "with exceeding great joy".  I pray for His water daily and hope for that water to be turned to wine, everyday.   That wine, back there at that wedding ceremony was served to important people.  They asked what kind of person would reserve the best wine for the last of the party.  The answer is there is only one....His name is Jesus!    The custom was to serve the best first, get people intoxicated and then served them cheaper wine, knowing by that time they wouldn't notice.  I believe we are facing last days and am happy to report Jesus has saved the best wine for the last.  And, if I am right, and if this is the last days, expect more wine.  Expect more manifestations of His glory.