The Grace Of God
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam
In the Bible, the grace of God is His loving favor toward fallen man. St. Paul has more to say about grace than any other Bible writer, opening every one of his epistles with the declaration: “Grace be unto you and peace.”
Little wonder, for he himself was God’s greatest demonstration of salvation by grace. In I Tim. 1:13,14, he says:
“[I] was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious; but I obtained mercy… and THE GRACE OF OUR LORD WAS EXCEEDING ABUNDANT….”
After years of service and suffering for Christ, he declared:
“But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify THE GOSPEL [GOOD NEWS] OF THE GRACE OF GOD”(Acts 20:24).
Salvation is wholly by God’s grace, not partly by man’s works, for in Rom. 11:6 we read: “…if [it be] by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.”
And in Rom. 4:4,5: “…to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Thus salvation is “not of works” but “unto good works” (Eph. 2:8-10). Good works is the fruit, not the root.
“All have sinned,” says Rom. 3:23 but, thank God, all may be “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).
Thus it is God’s purpose “that in the ages to come He might show THE EXCEEDING RICHES OF HIS GRACE in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7).
Transformed By
Grace -
Kevin Sadler
Transformed By Grace
#1 - Unity in Christ
Transformed By Grace #2 - One Body in
Christ
Transformed By Grace #3 - The Apostle of
Grace
Transformed By Grace #4 - The Gifts of
Christ
Posted By Cecil and
Connie Spivey
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