“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 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” Ephesians 2:4-9 NIV
“For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Gal. 5:5-6 NIV
God works in us through this important chain: Grace through faith and faith expressing itself through love, love always hopes, and love fulfills the entire commandments. Love is the law of Christ. So God’s grace empowers us so that when we live by grace, we have the ability to fulfill God’s law.
Grace is the engine and faith is the currency of the kingdom of God. In God’s kingdom, you buy and sell everything by faith. A rich person in the kingdom of God is the person of great faith and the person with much possession. And without grace, you cannot have faith.
GRACE LITERALLY DOES EVERYTHING IN THE LIFE OF THE BELIEVER. It is unmerited favor for blessing, it empowers for ministry, it empowers for overcoming sin, and it does absolutely everything for the believer. All the believer needs to do is TRUST GOD and walk by faith not by sight.
Self effort is replaced with grace. Willpower is replaced with Holy Spirit power.
Those who have received grace cannot continue to live in sin. IMPOSSIBLE! They can sin but CANNOT CONTINUE TO LIVE IN SIN. (Romans 6:14)
In the new covenant God takes the responsibility to keep both his part and our part of the covenant. We cannot keep our part, that’s what the law showed us. Because we couldn’t, God
1) Paid for all our past, present, and future sins on the cross.
2) Gave us the righteousness of his son so that he only sees us through the glasses of Jesus’ righteousness.
3) God himself comes via his spirit and lives in us to keep our own part of the covenant by writing his laws on our hearts, circumcising our hearts and making us obey him. The Holy Spirit in us continually prays to God on our behalf when we don’t even know it. Jesus is continually praying for us. God the father wants us to succeed at all cost. We have a huge crowd of witnesses (Hebrews 11). God has made failure impossible for us by putting all kinds of protections. He not only overcame sin so that sin can no longer have mastery over us, but he himself still lives in us and gives us grace, so that it is no longer us but the grace of God who works through us… God really takes responsibility to make those who trust Jesus to succeed.
He knows that we still live in a sinful world, we still have Satan, and we still have the flesh three enemies. But God is living right in the house of our bodies. He is inside. Enemies are outside for sure, and so God moved in with us! That is encouraging!
