<\/p>\n
Grace is a meaningful concept that is particularly meaningful to those who follow Christ. Because of Grace, our fallen nature and sinful behavior no longer form a barrier between us and God. He bestows His grace upon us without merit – meaning we don\u2019t deserve it and can\u2019t do anything to attain it.<\/p>\n
We have received the favor of this apostleship that is\u00a0grace\u00a0<\/em>and a fitness for it that is\u00a0truth.<\/em>\u00a0We have received\u00a0grace for grace.<\/em>\u00a0All that we receive in Christ is summed up in this one word,\u00a0grace\u00a0<\/em>we have received\u00a0even grace,<\/em>\u00a0so great a gift, so rich, so invaluable we have received\u00a0no less\u00a0than grace this is a gift to be spoken of with an emphasis. It is repeated,\u00a0grace for grace\u00a0<\/em>for to every stone in this building, as well as\u00a0to\u00a0<\/em>the top-stone.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is\u00a0grace\u00a0<\/em>the good will of God towards us, and the good work of God in us. God’s good will works the good work, and then the good work qualifies us for further tokens of his good will. As the cistern receives water from the fulness of the fountain, the branches sap from the fulness of the root, and the air light from the fulness of the sun, so we receive grace from the fulness of Christ.\u00a0It is grace\u00a0to\u00a0<\/em>us\u00a0for the sake of grace to Jesus Christ. God was well pleased in him, and he\u2019s therefore well pleased with us in him,\u00a0It is a blessing poured out, that there shall not be room to receive it.\u00a0We are not straitened in the grace of Christ, if we be not straitened in our own bosoms.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Grace for grace<\/em>\u00a0is grace for the promoting and advancing of grace. Grace to be\u00a0\u00a0exercised\u00a0by ourselves gracious habits for gracious acts. Grace to be\u00a0ministered\u00a0to others, gracious vouch statements for gracious performances: grace is a talent to be traded with. The apostles received grace\u00a0(Romans 1:5;\u00a0Ephesians 3:8), that they might communicate it,\u00a01 Peter 4:10. The\u00a0grace we receive from Christ\u00a0changes\u00a0<\/em>us into the same image\u00a0(2 Corinthians 3:18), the\u00a0image of the Son\u00a0(Romans 8:29), the\u00a0image of the heavenly\u00a0 (1 Corinthians 15:49).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yet God\u2019s Grace is offered to us free of charge. All we have to do is ask for it. His grace is available to us when we are not yet believers in Christ but ask earnestly for Him to enter our hearts, and it\u2019s available to us each time we fail but honestly seek His forgiveness. And God\u2019s Grace never runs out. We can never approach God for grace and hear Him answer, \u201cSorry, but you have used up your allotment of grace.\u201d He continually offers us His abundant, overflowing, undeserved, amazing grace.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Bible assures us that we have been saved by grace; it is not our actions or our circumstances that brings us salvation. But a personal encounter with the Crucified does. Let\u2019s live in light of the freeing power of God\u2019s unmerited grace in our lives.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" John 1:15-17 Grace is a meaningful concept that is particularly meaningful to those who follow Christ. Because of Grace, our fallen nature and sinful behavior no longer form a barrier between us and God. He bestows His grace upon us without merit – meaning we don\u2019t deserve it and can\u2019t do anything to attain it. We have received the … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,30,34,33,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-study","category-celestial-church-of-christ","category-devotional","category-exhortation","category-teaching"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n