THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST III

“If you are renewed by grace, and were to meet your old self, I am sure you would be very anxious to get out of his company.” - Charles H. Spurgeon

Grace

Grace never comes to proliferate sin. If anything, it comes to tame it. For grace does not only create an escape route from the consequences of sin, but also creates an escape route from sin itself. In Michael Horton’s, The Agony of Deceit, he wrote that “Someone confronted Martin Luther upon his rediscovery of the biblical doctrine of justification, with the remark:

"If this is true, a person could simply live as he pleased!"

"Indeed!" answered Luther.

"Now, what pleases you?"

Augustine was the great preacher of grace during the fourth and fifth centuries. Although, his understanding of the doctrine of justification did not have the fine-tuned precision of Luther’s, Augustine's response on this point was similar to Luther's. He said that the
doctrine of justification led to the maxim, "Love God and do as you please." Because we have misunderstood one of the gospel's most basic themes, Augustine's statement comes off, to many, as a license to indulge in our sinful nature; but in reality it touches upon the motivation the Christian has, for his actions. The person who has been justified, by God's grace has a new, higher, and nobler motivation for holiness than the shallow, hypocritical, self-righteousness or fear - that seem to motivate many religious people today.

Suffice it to say that the work of Grace is not completed until sin is conquered. C. Joy Bell said; “It's not the law of religion, nor the principles of morality that define our highways and pathways to God; only by the Grace of God are we led and drawn, to God. It is His grace that conquers a multitude of flaws and in that grace, there is only favour. Favour is not achieved; favour is received.” Whatever the peculiarity of your situation, take advantage of the grace God already made available to you.