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Thoughts of...The Gospel of Grace
This past Sunday at Calvary Chapel Ahwatukee we started our study of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. The issue at hand is one of the utmost importance – God’s Grace. Since the Gospel of Grace is continually under attack by Satan and is resisted by our flesh, and because the stakes are so high, my thoughts have remained focused on it.
In spite of the bad news, the terrible truth detailed in the first three chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans, there is Good News! God Almighty Himself became flesh, lived a sinless life to fulfill the Law, and died to pay the penalty for our sins. It is by the finished work of Jesus Christ, and ONLY by His finished work, that we can live forever with a holy and just God. When we believe what God said and did, we receive the acceptability, the holiness, and the eternal life of Jesus Christ.
The keyword in that last sentence is “receive.” Not “earn” or “attain.” Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.”
That is incredibly Good News because Isaiah 64:6 says “But we (without God’s Grace) are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses (acceptable good works) are as filthy rags,” and Galatians 6:7-8 says, “Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption (death), but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”
Man’s salvation (eternal life at peace and in fellowship with God) is possible only by God’s Grace. The Good News of Grace is the beauty, the power, the glory, and the worthiness of God showered upon all who will put their faith in Jesus Christ. We are forgiven and cleansed by what God did, not by anything we could do. “Boy Scouts” with all their good deeds cannot enter into the kingdom of God; only broken and despairing sinners who cry out and reach out for Jesus can. Salvation is a function of God’s performance and faithfulness, not our own. All we need to “do” is believe (), and surrender ().
We should, therefore, expect God’s Grace to be resisted by both our prideful flesh and by Satan. Our flesh resists the truth that we are helpless and hopeless and doomed without the atoning work of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And Satan knows that the Gospel of Grace results in his defeat (1 Cor 15, Heb 2:9-18).
So our adversary has cunningly crafted alternative “gospels” that appeal to our flesh. These “gospels” promote eternal life by the work of Jesus Christ PLUS our goods works. These doctrines of demons say salvation is a function of Jesus’ performance AND our performance. These “gospels” are blasphemous because they proclaim that what Jesus did on the cross was insufficient. God does not need our help to secure our salvation from our sins. That is why the Spirit of Grace () through the Apostle Paul is so harsh in His condemnation in .
The Gospel of Grace is God’s way. It has always been God’s way (, , ). God’s way is exclusive and absolute, the only Good News and the only way into His presence (, ). His way cannot be added to or subtracted from (, , ).
Salvation by Works is man’s way. It is a wide and crowded road (). It is spiritually bankrupt, leading man to eternal death.
The Gospel, salvation by grace through faith, is as narrow as Jesus, and is as broad as Jesus. Nothing more, nothing less. With eternity at stake, we must be diligently on guard against the corrupting and poisonous doctrines of our enemy, which sound so pleasing to our flesh. We must stand firm on the Truth and never compromise on God’s Good News.
Pastor Doug
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