THE BIBLE
Can we trust a book written 2000 years ago?

EYEWITNESS
Did the writers of the New Testament get their picture of Jesus right?

GOD - MAN
Is Jesus really God?

RESURRECTION
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

RELIGIONS
With so many religions, why Christianity?

SUFFERING
If there is a God, why is there so much suffering?

TRINITY
Understanding the Trinity.

SCIENCE
The complementary nature of Science & Christianity.

FORGIVENESS
What it is and why it matters?

GUIDANCE
How does God guide?

REPENTANCE
What it is and why you can't get to heaven without it.

BORN AGAIN
What does it mean to be converted and born again?

SAVING FAITH
The kind of faith that will get you to heaven

ASSURANCE
Can I know for sure that I am going to heaven?

TRUTH
What is truth and does it matter?

MORALITY
Does it matter how we live? A Christian view of morality.

THE CHURCH
God's vision for his family, the Church. A call to the churches of the new millennium.

PURPOSE
How can I find a great purpose for living?

IDENTITY
Who am I; Finding my true identity as a human being and as a child of God.

SELF-ESTEEM
How can I feel good about my self? The Christian basis for proper sel-esteem.

LIFE AFTER DEATHChristianity's Hope & Challenge.

THE CROSS
Why did Jesus Die? What the Bible says about the Cross.

Grace
The importance of grace in the New Testament.

Conclusion

After urging the Christians in Corinth “not to receive God’s grace in vain” (2 Corinthians 6:1), Paul goes on to say, “Now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation” (v. 2). We are living in the “age of grace” when this grace is available to all who will receive it. However, the idea that God can freely forgive the worst of sinners who genuinely turns to God in repentance and faith is a scandalous thought. While he was battling with cancer, James Van Tholen preached a moving sermon called Surprised by Death, which was reported in Christianity Today, in which he said:

How could I have believed in the God of grace and still have dreaded to meet him? Why did I stand in this pulpit and preach grace to you over and over, and then when I myself needed the grace so much, why did I discover fear where the grace should have been?

I think I know the answer now. As the wonderful preacher John Timmer has taught me over the years, the answer is that grace is a scandal. Grace is hard to believe. Grace goes against the grain. The gospel of grace says that there is nothing I can do to get right with God, but that God has made himself right with me through Jesus’ bloody death. And that is a scandalous thing to believe.

Scandalous, yes—but true, and underlined again and again in the New Testament.

However, it is sadly true that we can neglect to avail ourselves of it. The seriousness of resisting that grace and all that God longs to do in our lives is underlined by the writer of Hebrews. Having emphasised the consequences faced by those who rejected the law of Moses in Old Testament days, he goes on to underline the greater seriousness of rejecting the crucified Saviour and the pleadings of the “Spirit of grace” in this present age, when we know so much more about God’s love and grace. “If two or more witnesses accused someone of breaking the Law of Moses, that person could be put to death. But it is much worse to dishonour God’s Son and to disgrace the blood of the promise that made us holy. And it is just as bad to insult the Holy Spirit, who shows us mercy [literally: “the Spirit of grace”]. We know that God has said he will punish and take revenge. We also know that the Scripture says the Lord will judge his people. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God! (Hebrews 10:28-31).  This resisting of the Spirit of grace is, I believe, what Jesus was referring to when he spoke of the “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” which “will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matthew 12:31, 32). If I refuse to accept the one means that God has provided for my forgiveness, at infinite cost to himself, there is no other refuge.

If you are one who has not yet come to Jesus or experienced this grace, and yet desires to be fully reconciled to God, then you may like to begin the journey by praying a prayer something this:

God, I accept the fact that you created this universe because you are a creative and loving God and your great longing is to enjoy a relationship with us, your very special creation.

I am sorry that we have spoilt that relationship by our many acts of disobedience.

I accept that you sent Jesus to pay the price of that disobedience by his death on our behalf, and that through his death and resurrection we can be fully reconciled to the Father.

 Thank you, Jesus, for your great love.

I understand that I can do nothing to earn this salvation but it is by your grace alone.

Lord, I am coming home. I am sorry for my sins. I repent of them. I now accept your forgiveness and submit my life to Jesus as my Saviour and Lord.

Come into my life and begin the process of moulding me into all you planned that I should be and directing me in the path you have chosen for me.

Enable me to accept fully all that you have done for me and to be open to all that you want to do. Enable me to live daily in dependence on your grace. Give me the courage and strength to live worthily of your love and to follow wherever you lead, so that when I stand before you in person I may hear those words, “My Father has blessed you! Come and receive the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world was created” (Matthew 25:34).

                                                           Amen.

If you should make this kind of commitment, then dig into the New Testament, which tells us much about how we can enjoy this relationship with God and experience this grace on a daily basis. It also has much to say about the grace that will be given to us in the future when God decides to call us home. Look around for others from whom you can learn and with whom you can share the journey.

The preacher John Henry Jowett wrote in a letter on his fiftieth birthday:

I want the next 10 years to be full of ripened service. I long to be able to expound the Word with greater power, but oh! the thing is so big that I seem as one who lifts a pebble from the shore, or one heather bell from these wide-spreading moors. The Book becomes increasing wonderful to me. Every added experience in life gives me a new lens and deeper things are unveiled, but I suppose there is no bottom to the sea of grace and that is the reason why we shall never lose our surprise through all eternity.

There is a story in the Old Testament in 2 Samuel 9 that beautifully illustrates the grace of God and our dependence on it. David had been a bosom friend of Jonathan, son of King Saul. After Saul and his sons had been killed by the Philistines, and David had been accepted as king of all Israel, he desired to show kindness to anyone from Saul’s family who had survived, “for Jonathan’s sake”. He was informed that Jonathan had a son, Mephibosheth, who had been crippled in both feet at the age of five when fleeing from the Philistines. So Mephibosheth—crippled and destitute, unable to care for himself—was brought into David’s house and “ate at the king’s table”. In fact, the chapter declares four times that he ate at the king’s table, and in three of those instances it says he always ate at the king’s table. Not only this, but David restored to him all the land that had belonged to his grandfather Saul.

Why was Mephibosheth treated as one of David’s sons? It was because of his relationship to David’s friend, Jonathan. In a similar way, though morally crippled and with no claim whatsoever to God’s mercy, we are fully accepted by the Father and invited to share the banquet when we put our trust in Jesus. As Mephibosheth was not only accepted into the family, but also provided with all his daily requirements as well as other privileges, so salvation in Christ carries with it the assurance of provision for our daily needs in this life and for eternity in our Father’s forever family.

This passage in 2 Samuel 9 both begins and ends with the statement that Mephibosheth was crippled in both his feet. He never reached the stage where he could make it on his own. Neither do we.

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters: and you who have not money, come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.

                                                    Isaiah 55:1,2.

Books that I have found useful in exploring this topic.

What’s So Amazing About Grace? Philip Yancey. Zondervan Publishing House, 1997.

Transforming Grace: Living confidently in God’s unfailing love, Jerry Bridges. Navpress, 1991.

The Discipline of Grace: God’s role and our role in the pursuit of holiness, Jerry Bridges. Navpress, 1994.

Grace Choices: Walking in step with God’s grace, Jeff Lucas. Authentic, 2004.

God’s Lavish Grace, Terry Virgo. Monarch Books, 2004.

Free of Charge: Giving and forgiving in a culture stripped of grace, Miroslav Volf. Zondervan, 2005.

The Scandal of Grace, Selwyn Hughes. CWR, 2002.

Grace, Faith and Glory: Freedom in Christ, Dominic Smart. Authentic Lifestyle, 2003.

Amazing Grace: John Newton, slavery and the world’s most enduring song. Lion, 2002.

The Grace Awakening, Charles Swindoll. Word Publishing, 1990.

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