Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love

Lord, I am willing To receive what You give. To lack what You withhold. To relinquish what You take, To suffer what You inflict, To be what you require.

Jesus did not die just to save us from the penalty of sin, nor even just to make us holy in our standing before God. He died to purify for Himself a people eager to obey Him, a people eager to be transformed into His likeness.

Jesus paid it all. I mean all. He not only purchased your forgiveness of sins and your ticket to heaven, He purchased every blessing and every answer to prayer you will ever receive.

The realization that my daily relationship with God is based on the infinite merit of Christ instead of on my own performance is a very freeing and joyous experience. But it is not meant to be a one-time experience; the truth needs to be reaffirmed daily.

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater; He sendeth more grace when the labours increase; To added afflictions he addeth his mercy, To multiplied trials his multiplied peace. When we have exhausted our store of endurance, When our strength has failed ere the day is half done; When we reach the end of our hoarded resources, Our Father’s full giving is only begun. His love has no limits, his grace has no measure, His power has no boundary known unto men; For out of his infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again. Annie Johnson Flint

Even as Christians our best efforts are still marred with imperfect performance and impure motives. But God no longer “sees” either our deliberate disobedience or our marred performances. Instead He “sees” the righteousness of Christ, which He has already imputed to us.

Christ’s death was the result of God’s grace; grace is not the result of Christ’s death.

C. Samuel Storms has so aptly written, Grace ceases to be grace if God is compelled to bestow it in the presence of human merit. . . . Grace ceases to be grace if God is compelled to withdraw it in the presence of human demerit. . . . [Grace] is treating a person without the slightest reference to desert whatsoever, but solely according to the infinite goodness and sovereign purpose of God.

Sin, in the final analysis, is rebellion against the sovereign Creator, Ruler, and Judge of the universe. It resists the rightful prerogative of a sovereign Ruler to command obedience from His subjects. It says to an absolutely holy and righteous God that His moral laws, which are a reflection of His own nature, are not worthy of our wholehearted obedience.

The Bible never speaks of God's grace as simply making up our deficiencies--as if salvation consists in so much good works (even a variable amount) plus so much of God's grace. Rather the Bible speaks of "a God who justifies the wicked" (Romans 4:5) who is found by those who do not seek Him, who reveals Himself to those who do not ask for Him (see Romans 10:20).

We are brought into God’s kingdom by grace; we are sanctified by grace; we receive both temporal and spiritual blessings by grace; we are motivated to obedience by grace; we are called to serve and enabled to serve by grace; we receive strength to endure trials by grace; and finally, we are glorified by grace. The entire Christian life is lived under the reign of God’s grace.

If you are going to experience the joy of your freedom in Christ, you have to decide whether you will please God or people.

Grace is not a matter of God's making up the difference, but of God's providing all the "cost" of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Contentment with what we have — whether it is possessions, or station in life, or mental or physical abilities — is worth far, far more than all the things we don’t have.

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

God never wastes pain. He always causes it to work together for our ultimate good

Initial sanctification is entirely the work of God the Holy Spirit

So holiness or sanctification is more than just our standing before God in Christ. It is an actual conformity within us to the likeness of Christ begun at the time of our salvation and completed when we are made perfect in His presence.

All Christians recognize that we are justified—that is

HEBREWS 10:9-10 “The great mistake made by most of the Lord’s people is in hoping to discover in themselves that which is to be found in Christ alone.”[36] These words of Arthur W. Pink

To live by grace means we understand that God’s blessing on our lives is not conditioned by our obedience or disobedience but by the perfect obedience of Christ.

You are loved and accepted by God through the merit of Jesus

I have had to learn to be content with what God has given me. I have learned this by focusing on two facts: He doesn’t owe me anything

Thus, our good works are not truly good unless they are motivated by a love for God and a desire to glorify Him. But we cannot have such a God-ward motivation if we think we must earn God’s favor by our obedience, or if we fear we may forfeit God’s favor by our disobedience. Such a works-oriented motivation is essentially self-serving; it is prompted more by what we think we can gain or lose from God than by a grateful response to the grace He has already given us through Jesus Christ. Living under the grace of God instead of under a sense of duty frees us from such a self-serving motivation. It frees us to obey God and serve Him as a loving and thankful response to Him for our salvation and for blessings already guaranteed to us by His grace. Consequently, a heartfelt grasp of God’s grace—far from creating an indifferent or careless attitude in us—will actually provide us the only motivation that is pleasing to Him. Only when we are thoroughly convinced that the Christian life is entirely of grace are we able to serve Him out of a grateful and loving heart.

A lawdriver insists with threats and penalties; a preacher of grace lures and incites with divine goodness and compassion shown to us; for he wants no unwilling works and reluctant services, he wants joyful and delightful services of God.”[28]

Think just now of what you feel your greatest needs are, both spiritually and temporally. As you bring those needs to God in prayer, which would you rather present to Him as a consideration for meeting those needs: your spiritual disciplines, your obedience, and your sacrifice, imperfect as they are; or the infinite and perfect merit of Jesus? To ask the question is to answer it, is it not?