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Recently Wayne preached a 6 week series on the grace of God. Based on the book of Galatians, these messages affirmed our belief in the saving power of Jesus and furthered our understanding on how amazing grace really is. The following is a synopsis of those lessons. While I have done my best to cover the entire  series, it is difficult to condense the wealth of knowledge Wayne shared with us down to a few paragraphs. I encourage you to read the entire book of Galatians to gain more insight into this subject. And for a firsthand experience of the grace of God, come and be a part of Apostolic Ministries, where the grace of God is still amazing.

                                                                                              Stacy Hammonds

The Grace of God

Galations 2:21 states, “ I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” This verse is the foundation for explaining and understanding the grace of God. Here, frustrate is defined as to negate, to invalidate or to discount, and grace is defined as the unmerited favor of God. The fact is without the favor of God there is no chance for us to be accepted by God or to even approach Him. The law mentioned is the law of God which states what is acceptable to Him and carries with it the punishment of death for all those who violate God’s law, or all who sin. Romans 3:23 states, “ For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” And Galations 3:10 says, “Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” By this we see that every person is under the curse of death brought on by sinning against the law of God. It is humanly impossible to escape this death sentence.

But the great love that God has for mankind compelled Him to make a way of escape for us, enabling each person to find freedom from the curse of the law. When Jesus Christ suffered and died on the cross, our debt under the law was paid. Galations 3:13 states, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” He literally became sin for us, willingly suffering the consequences of violating the law. He accepted our fate and fulfilled the requirement of death for trespassing against the law of God. When we understand and believe that Jesus took our punishment for us, God counts our belief unto us for righteousness. He sees us as having been crucified with Christ, our debt completely paid. Galations 3:22 says, “But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.” Our faith in the power of Jesus’ blood given for us is what sets us free, what causes God to see us as justified.

Now, just as Christ has been raised from the dead to everlasting life, we too, have been set free to walk in newness of life. Galations 2:20 states, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” The old sinful nature is dead and the nature of Christ now dwells in us. Our thoughts, desires and actions change. We desire to please God because now we are governed by Love; love for God and love of God for others. The law of God now becomes a tool of instruction for us, guiding us, helping us understand and grow in the changes we are experiencing. God’s love fulfills the law, meeting it’s requirements. Galations 5:13-14 tells us, “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” As we live and grow in this love, we serve one another with kindness, restraining from things that would bring hurt or pain to one another or to God.

We must then, continue to remain true to our faith in the grace of God. That grace is what frees us from the curse of death, makes us righteous in the sight of God, justifying us before him by changing our very nature. We cannot allow ourselves to develop a dependency on our actions to justify us before God. If at any point we feel that we have become good enough to please God, righteous enough to be acceptable in his sight or holy enough to have paid our debt we are rejecting the grace that is our salvation. In Galations 5:4 we read, “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace.” Any good accomplished in our life, any worthiness in us, any respectable change made in our life is a result of the grace that God has extended. No matter who we have become or what we have accomplished, without the grace of God at work in our life we are simply unjustified sinners, worthy of death. His grace makes the difference. It will literally change your life. His grace is sufficient for us.