The Amazing Grace

One day a man was driving his new pickup truck on a dusty Australian desert highway when he spotted a hitchhiker standing on the side of the road. The hitchhiker was carrying a large heavy bay over his shoulder and looked exhausted in the heat of the day.

The driver stopped and asked, "Where are you heading?" "Alice spring." "Hop in the back, and I'll take you there." he said.

A few miles down the road the driver glanced in the rear-view mirrow and was surprised to see the man sitting in the bed of the truck with his bag over the shoulder. Why doesn't he just put it down? He wondered.

Finally, he stopped his little pickup, walked back to the man and inquired, "Why don't you rest and put that bag down?"

"Oh," said the hitchhiker, "I don't want to hurt your new truck."

I have met many Christians who are a carbon copy of that man. They have the wheels of salvation beneath them, but they are still carrying their own heavy load.

Again and again Jesus says, "Put it down. I'll carry it for you."

Instead they are proud of their self-effort and say, "No, Lord. I'd rather do it my own way."

How can they believe that they have been redeemed by the blood if they are trying to win heaven in their deeds?

Rules and Regulations

For some reason, people are drawn to works. I don't understand why, but it is true.

Some false religions call for a ritual of praying five times a day. Others tell followers to purify themselves in the water of sacred rivers or present gifts to gold-encrusted shrines. The world says, "Work! Work! Work!"

Some Christian denominations began with an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the love of God. Before long however, the elders and pastors added works. Legalism replaced the presence of the Holy Spirit.

The people in these Churches were told, "Here is what it takes to get to heaven. If you follow these rules, you will keep your salvation, but if not, you will suffer the consequences." And they were given a one-two-three list of outward acts to perform. They followed the rules and regulations they were given because, by our very nature, human being love works. We mistakenly believe that it is by actions that God is pleased.

When I became a Christian I was surprised to find how many in the Church wer bound to rituals and spiritual protocol. A young man with a slightly long hair was sitting next to a little elderly lady. She told the young man saying, "Young man, do you know it's a sin to have long hair?"

Many people equate holiness with a pious outward appearance, but it is primarily a work of the heart. When we have been transformed from within, then we can demonstrate a consistently changed and transformed life.

It takes some people a lifetime to realize that holiness is not produced by legalism. Legalism is of the flesh, and God has no desire for it. Instead, "right living" is the result of our response to the grace of the almight God.

It is by Grace alone

One day after my daily afternoon prayer, I read a book (from the Internet) about Martin Luther and how the Lord used him to bring the message of justification by faith to the Church of his day. One portion of the book focused on Galations, where Paul talks about how to be free from the curse of the law.

After reading that portion, I heard the Lord's voice said in my spirit, "Did you save yourself? or was it My blood that saved you?" "You saved me." I answered. "Did you choose Me?" He asked. "No, Lord, You chose me." "Did you convict yourself of sin?" "No, You convicted me of sin." "Did you draw yourself to the cross?" "No, Lord, You drew me ot the cross."

Then the Lord said, "Because you had nothing to do with your salvation, you also have nothing to do with keeping yourself saved."

At that moment I realized there is nothing I can do to merit God's favor. It is not by the flesh, but by Christ's blood and grace that the work is accomplished.

Paul said, "... being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus ..." (Romans 3:24, NKJV).

It seems we all have something in us that says, "I've got to do it myself." Perhaps it is to prove something. But again and again we realize that in our own stregth we are miserable failures. It is when we finally surrender and say, "I can't do it!" that we have taken the first step to real Christian living.

You may be struggling and agonizing over living the Christian life and trying to please God. You may feel as if you are getting nowhere. I believe you should quit trying and surrender - that's all God asks you to do.

In his letter to the Church at Ephesus, Paul explains how we receive the amazing grace of God. He starts by describing where we were before we came under grace and still followed the ways of the world. We "were dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:1) and gratified the cravings of our sinful nature, "fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature chrildren of wrath" (Eph. 2:3).

Because of God's great mercy and love for us, "even when we were dead in trespasses, (He) made us alive together with Christ .... And raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:5, 6).

Heaven will be ours, not because of what we have done, but because of "the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:7). "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of youselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone whould boast" (Eph. 2:8, 9).

The blood of Christ covers our sin, and we receive forgiveness through faith because of the grace of God. It is a message that every believer needs to understand. We had nothing to do with earning our salvation. We have nothing to do with keeping it. Every time we say, "There is something I must do," God says, "I've done it. All you need to do is accept it."

Religion says, "Do." Jesus syas, "Done,"

When Jesus shed His blood on the cross, you are no longer under the law but under grace (Romans 6:14). Your past was erased. You are free from guilt and have victory over Satan.

The Lord has provided you with "a better covenant, which was established on better promises" (Heb. 12:2).

Because of the blood of the cross, you are no longer under the law but under grace (Romans 6:14). Your past was erased. You are free from guilt and have victory over Satan.

The Lord has provided you with "a better covenant, which was established on better promises" (Heb. 8:6). You are delivered from guilt and condemnation because the blood of Jesus Christ has been shed for your freedom and liberty (Romans 6:18; Gal, 5:1). It is yours through God's grace. When this truth gets into your soul, you'll never ask again, "Have my sins really been blotted out?"

Fear and Faith

Many Christians today have the wrong picture of God.

From their childhood they have built an image of an almighty God who is harsh and austere - with glaring eyes of steel. They see Him with a whip in His hand, ready to beat them evey time they make the slightest mistake.

But God is nothing like that. Though He occasionally chastises us for our good, he is always gentle, kind and loving to His children.

David, the psalmist said, "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy" (Ps.103:8). Those who continually approach the Lord and say, "I'm a failure," do not know what the grace of God is all about. when you are bound by the law, the entire focus of your life is sin. Yes, we need to confess our sins to Christ and ask for forgiveness, but there is a great difference between coming before Him with fear and entering His presence with confidence.

What Christ did at Calvary was not for our judgment, but for our freedom because He loves us. Stop looking at your failures and see God's mercy.

For more that twelve hundred years the children of Israel followed rituals and sacrifices to atone for their sin. But their focus turned from the Law-Giver to the law, and they fell into bondage. God repeatedly tried to call them back because He wanted their hearts and not their works. He wanted them to love Him.

Mosses told the Israelites: "Therefore you shall love the Lord your God, and keep His charge. His statutes, His judgements, and His commandments always" (Deut. 11:1).

God gave Israel a condition to His promise that land would be fruitful for them. This condition was based on love - not works.

"And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all you heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. And I will sendgrass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled" (Deut. 11:13 - 15, emphasis added).

God focused on love, not law, because it wasn't just difficult for the children of Israel to obey the law; it was impossible.

Paul said, "... a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, ... for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified" (Gal 2:16).

Someone said, "Living the Christian life isn't difficult; it's impossible." But God sent the Holy Spirit to live in our hearts and enble us to obey His commands. God told His people through Ezekiel, "I will put My Spirit with you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them" (Ezek. 36:27).

Law and works

Law and works have alway been the opposite of grace and mercy:

1. The law says, "Follow the rules.' Grace says, "It is a free gift."

2. The law says, "See your sin and shame." Grace says, "God accepts you as you are."

3. The law brings the consciousness of sin. grace brings the awareness of righteousness.

4. The law says, "Do or die." Grace says, "Accept Jesus as Savior and live."

The Vine and the Branches

Just before the crucifixion, Jesus had a meal with His disciples and He gave them one of the greatest lessons found in the Gospel. He told them that they wer not the vine, and they were not the fruit - they were the branches - (read John 15:1 - 5).

God's purpose as the "vinedresser" is to keep the vine clean. The pruning of sin is not the result of our effort, but of His. All we are required to do is surrender.

Some Christians are struggling to bear fruit, but no branch has the power to make it happen. Jesus was saying, "You don't bear the fruit. I do. But I give you the privilege of holding it. The fruit is Mine. The vine is Mine. The branch is simply hooked onto Me. That's all." What's our job then? Our job is to hold the fruit - to become a "fruit hanger."

Take a close look at what is attached to the branch. It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit - not of the flesh. We become the channel through which love, joy, peace and other spiritual fruit are given to the world (Gal. 5:22, 23).

When we understand the branch-vine relationship and make the Lord the sourch of our lives, He answers our prayers.

Jesus said: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you" (John 15:7).

Being set free

Without God's grace it would be impossible for us to have victory over sin. Do you know that there is nothing we can give to the Lord except our sins? He wants us to surrender our sins to Him! Yet I heard someone said, "I give money to mission and time for God." My answer is that, "If God does not give you money and time, by grace, you can give nothing!" Every thing starts with God.

Paul said: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could no do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (Rom. 8:2 - 4).

Jesus said: "Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:34 - 36).

This I believe is the Amazing Grance!