Messes To Masterpieces

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:14

Okay, now that your attention is captured, and before you forever write this blogger off as a heretic, there is one caveat to the wording of this post. Let’s be real. The grace of God is powerful, wonderful, and one of the most profound gifts the Savior bestows upon His creation.

Yet, God’s grace ALONE cannot save us. You have never thought about it in this light? Good. Hopefully, after this is all done you will have a deeper revelation in your spirit about the powerful work of one of God’s most gracious gifts – God’s grace.

Grace, Grace, God’s Grace

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!

Grace Greater than Our Sin
By Julia Harriette Johnston (1849–1919) 

This hymn is one that hits home. One that goes right through the heart. There is nothing more powerful than the precious blood of Jesus and can be expressed no better than to say that the blood of Jesus is indeed greater than “all our sin”! Where would any of us be save for the grace of God?

But is that all there is to it? Is the gift of God’s grace just left standing out there all by itself? Just grace alone? We’ve all heard folks in various phraseologies say: “All you need is God’s grace”. “His grace is able”. “Grace will make a way”. “But for the grace of God!”.

Well, yes, God’s grace is wonderful. But if God’s word says that’s all to it, then that is all there is. However, during prayer time at 4 am this morning, this subject crossed my mind and the Lord opened up some things never before imagined about His grace.

God’s Grace & God’s Word Are Inseparable

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Ephesians 2:8

For it was only through this wonderful grace that we believed in him. Nothing we did could ever earn this salvation, for it was the gracious gift from God that brought us to Christ! Ephesians 2:8  TPT

The word “through” in the above verse is the Greek word διά (dia) which is defined as “the channel of an act” – Strongs. The verse states that God’s grace travels through the channel of one’s faith (your understanding of God’s word) to complete the work of salvation. Both God’s grace and His word work together for soul work, to save it. In short, grace’s ultimate mission is for the saving of the soul. Grace operates solely within God’s church. It is God’s mercy that operates in the world to bring people into the work of God’s grace.

The gift of grace is God’s supernatural umbrella over His church to empower it and enable it to execute the will of Heaven upon the earth. One writer made the following insightful statement: “Jesus indicates we are to pray Heaven’s reality into earthly existence, not vice versa”. Heaven is the “place” of God’s perfected Kingdom. Earth has the “potential” to be the inflection point for God’s perfected Kingdom (see Col 2:16-17; Heb 8:3-6, 10:1).

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9-10

God’s will is His word. And that word became flesh as the man Christ Jesus. Was Jesus more than just the living word of God? Yes, he was. The opening scripture tells us that Jesus was full of “grace” AND truth. You cannot separate grace and truth. To say all you need is grace is at best a misunderstanding and at worst heresy and false doctrine. Yet, so many will say all you need is God’s grace. Is that the full picture? According to God’s word, it is not. We need to allow both truth (the Word) and grace to be intimately intertwined to complete the plan of salvation God has for His creation (see also Rom 4:16 & 5:2).

Is There More To It Than Just Believing?

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. John 7:38

In the above verse, Jesus is speaking of what is perhaps one of the most important subjects regarding salvation. It is the subject of being born again as evidenced by a spiritual encounter with God – the infilling of the Spirit of God. Yet, some will say all you need to do is believe, just believe God, and your good to go. Really? Is this what the word tells us? Yet Jesus emphatically tells us to believe on him “as the scripture hath said”. That means for us to believe on him as his word instructs us. The whole word of God, not just a piece of it. This is grace and truth working together.

Okay, if you stuck it out this far, hat’s off to you. But I’m going to go one step further on this and relate a personal story that if you are thinking of bailing out now, at least hold on until you read this.

Years ago, a close family member was struck by a very serious, life-threatening medical condition. They were young, successful, educated, with a beautiful marriage and the prospect of many wonderful years of life lying before them. What was done? The spouse took it upon themselves to find the best medical professionals in the U.S. They literally scoured medical institutions throughout America to find the best medical doctor to intervene in the situation. And you know what? They found a medical professional located across the country at the top of this field of medicine, uprooted their lives and traveled to the hospital to undergo intense treatment.

The result? They are alive and prospering today many years after this episode (not forgetting the impact of many prayers made for them). The tenacity of this spouse to see her husband well and healthy (it was his wife who commandeered the situation) was honorable. To witness the intense focus and energy involved to see a loved one’s physical condition turnaround was impressionable.

What does this all mean? It means we will emphasize and focus much effort on the superficial things in life. And yet, when it comes to the most critical and essential things in life, we settle for so much less. Things like our salvation. What is more important than that? Eternity. Is that important? Oh, dear God, may we pray and hope that it is! Yet, we will sit in a pew and have the mindset that all we need to be “saved” is to simply believe in Jesus, and all is fine and dandy. And what God does, and not man, is what lasts forever.

So, what is Jesus saying in John 7:38? He tells us that we need to have “rivers of living water” infused into our being through the infilling of his Spirit to be truly saved (see also Acts 1:4-5, 8, 2:38; Rom 8:11; Eph 1:13, 5:18). These are the words of Jesus – grace and truth.

Grace Is Temporary, Mercy is Forever

In conclusion, we have barely scratched the surface of the topic of grace. The main takeaway is to know that grace alone falls short of God’s original design. Grace and truth cannot be separated in our walk with God because grace left alone without the guardrails of the Word of God will be abused and fail to bear fruit (Rom 6:1-2, 15-17; Gal 2:21). And that grace enables us to fulfill God’s will by provisioning us to obey the word of the Lord “as the scripture hath said”.

Did you ever think that grace will end one day? When the church is raptured, grace will no longer be needed. Grace will end in eternity. But God’s mercy never ends (I Chr 16:34, 16:41; II Chr 20:21; Psa 100:5, 103:17) and His salvation and love are everlasting (Isa 45:17; Jer 31:3; Psa 23:6, 49:8; I Cor 13:13; Rev 14:6). It is the grace of God that will get you to Heaven. And it will be the mercy of God that will keep you there.

Life is not God’s ultimate gift to humanity. The treasure of eternal life is God’s ultimate gift to humanity. Not everyone who crosses the finish line in life is a winner. But everyone who finishes the race of grace and truth are true winners in the eyes of God. Keep running. The finish line is just ahead.

Blessings, in Jesus’ Name. Amen