God hates sin, including our sin. God hates evil. There will be a judgment day, and there is a hell, as well as a heaven. That person is Jesus Christ. And when we place our trust in Christ for salvation, the guilt of our sin is transferred to Him, while the credit for His perfect obedience is transferred to us. His perfect life and His death are the grounds of our acceptance before God, and nothing we do can change that.
Romans , "Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him. It could hardly be clearer. Having a right standing before God does not depend on anything we do.
What, then, is grace? Which includes every person who ever lived, because as Romans tells us, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Let me give you an example of what I mean. Timothy McVeigh. Six years ago, on April 19, , at a. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. In doing so, he ended the lives of people, nineteen of them children, and became the worst mass murderer in American history.
The suffering caused by this horrible crime, this single act of rage, is incalculable; not only of those who died or were injured, but of the families destroyed, the mothers and fathers ripped from their children, the children torn from their parents.
And to his death, Timothy McVeigh never expressed any remorse, or sorrow, or pity, or even regret. If ever there was a case deserving of the death penalty, this is it. In fact, Timothy McVeigh was executed on May 16th And if, by some last minute act of grace and mercy, if he had repented God would have granted Timothy McVeigh repentance for his sins, and Timothy McVeigh would have found forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ, so that on May 16th, when the poison was injected into his veins, he would have walked into heaven and been welcomed by God as warmly and enthusiastically as any of us hope to be when we die.
God would not receive him grudgingly, or reluctantly. On the contrary, God would be overjoyed to receive him. Because the basis of our acceptance before God, and of our welcome into heaven, is the finished work of Christ on the cross. It has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with what we deserve. And anyone who comes to God on that basis, even a mass murderer like Timothy McVeigh, anyone who repents of their sin and seeks forgiveness in Jesus Christ, will be forgiven, and not only forgiven, but joyously welcomed, and enthusiastically embraced by God the Father.
Some of you recoil against that idea, that someone as thoroughly evil as this man could, in effect, get off. To think that God could treat him, someone guilty of such a heinous crime, in exactly the same way as he treats us, seems outrageous. In other words, grace is for every one of us. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Thanks designed for sharing such a nice thinking, article is nice, thats why i have read it entirely.
Thanks for writing, Clayton. Please, by all means pass it along. Every blessing. The article has really peaked my interest. I will book mark your website and keep checking for new information about once a week. I opted in for your RSS feed as well. Welcome, Tawnya, to the Christ Now family. Join us through social media, too. All to help you go deeper into more of Christ and all he is today. At the name of Jesus every knee bows because God gave Jesus the name above every name, every tongue confesses Jesus is Lord, every hand raised to the Most High, All eyes on Jesus… The Lord is our refuge and the Most High is our dwelling place.
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Toggle navigation. David Bryant June 1, June 9, But first, we should clarify three terms. Unfortunately, when quoting it most people stop with verse 9, so it sounds like this: For it is by GRACE you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast emphasis added. As Peter observed: Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the GRACE that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.
Amazing grace? Yes, it is! I did not expect this. This is a splendid story. I subscribed to your RSS feed as well. David Bryant 2 years ago. I blog often and I really appreciate your content. JC 5 days ago. David Bryant 4 days ago.
Leave a reply Click here to cancel the reply Your email address will not be published. On the day of Pentecost our victorious, anointed, and crowned Redeemer [ Return to main blog page Subscribe to our blog. Actually, It Really Does Matter. Note: Selections appear on ChristNow. The skinny on truth and grace. Grace: Even better than mercy Mercy is not cheap. Do you get the difference? What grace and mercy look like Here's a few examples of grace and mercy in action: The prodigal son received mercy when the father accepted him.
Grace when he threw him a party. The thief on the cross received mercy when he experienced forgiveness. Grace when Jesus promised Him paradise. We received mercy when God chose us and saved us from the punishment for our sins. Grace when He gave us eternal life 1 John ; made us sons and daughters John , and reserved an inheritance for us for eternity 1 Peter Mercy and Grace are amazing. The power to save a wretch like me Like to thank God for His mercy and grace? Praise God for His grace!
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