Tag: Grace

The Least I Can Do

October 19th, 2021
Let’s be honest we sometimes are thinking, “what’s the least I can do to be acceptable here”? Or we will say, ”well, that’s the least I can do.”

So, here’s a study I will teach tomorrow, it’ll be up on YouTube, but I’ll give you the basics for those that prefer to read versus watch.

In Romans 11:33-36 Paul talks about the depths of the riches of the wisdom of God and that from him and through him and to him are all things

and then he says therefore… in view of God’s Mercy… present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you will discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1-2)

Because of God’s Mercy, Greatness, Wonder, Riches; because everything is from him, through him, and to him…
1. Present Yourself
Paul says this is URGENT, when we view it according to the mercy that’s poured out on us.

And we present ourselves as LIVING SACRIFICES. Tie this into God’s mercy and we recognize there are Two Types of Sacrifices, 1) sacrifice of atonement 2) sacrifice of acknowledgement. God’s Mercy and Grace are revealed in that Christ offered the Sacrifice FOR Sin and so we Offer a Sacrifice of Praise. The Death Sacrifice is DONE, once and for all offered in Christ. What is holy and pleasing to God is when we offer our lives to him daily and moment by moment acknowledging and praise him for what he has done for us. That is TRUE WORSHIP

That is the LEAST I can Do

So, How do we do that? 2 Things
- 2. Do Not Be Conformed
Gene Peterson renders it don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit in without even thinking

we do that by NOT being Conformed. When you break down that original word it means to assume the outward expression that does not come from within. Assuming the pattern of a thing. It’s talking about putting on the special dress or costume of an occasion or office. So Paul is saying stop putting on a worldly costume, because that’s not who you are on the inside.

Then he says
- 3. Be Transformed
Yes, Supernaturally when we receive Christ we are a New Creation 2 Corinthians 5:17 – but that’s talking Justification, the inside. But here we are talking about Sanctification, letting our Outside start to look like our Inside.

The word is where we get the word metamorphosis. The same word is used in 2 Corinthians 3:18 when is says we are being transformed Day by Day with ever increasing likeness.

We do that then by Renewing Your Mind. We allow God to renew our thinking, our desires, and that affects our actions.

How?
- God’s Spirit – lives in us, reminds us of what God has said, intercedes for us, encourages us, and empowers us
- God’s Word – 1 Peter 1:23 has birthed something new in us and 2 Peter 1:3-4 has given us everything we need for life and godliness so that we can be participants in the divine nature of God and escape this corruption
- Man’s Surrender – As we humble ourselves, admit our need and inability, we drop the costume of the world at the door to our prayer closet. From that same prayer closet we put on the armor of God, living according to his holiness, we operate in the fruit of the spirit, by the gifts of the spirit in us, and find that we are being transformed. Oh that’s beautiful
- Then You will KNOW God’s will
This closes the “circle” – can you see the cycle? God’s mercy is displayed to us, we offer ourselves to Him, that pleases God, in worship we take off the costume of the world, we are transformed toward his likeness, we understand his will, and that is even more pleasing, and we understand his mercy more, and we offer more of ourselves, and he is further pleased, and the circle continues.

That’s the Least We Can Do

he was offered a PERFECT Sacrifice For Our Sin, Once and For All, Died, Rose, Ascended to the Father, there he intercedes for us. And SO, I want to present myself as a living sacrifice to him, holy, pleasing, not conformed to the world but transformed by renewed thinking, an act of true worship to the object of our affection

That, Fellow Travelers, is The LEAST We Can Do
Grace and The Righteousness of God

January 11th, 2017

Romans 3:22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe

v9 says all of us are under sin. It means we have an obligation to, we answer to the authority of, sin.

v10 quotes from Psalm 14, no one righteous …

v11 – no one understands

v12 – all have turned away

v20 – says that the law cannot make us righteous, but on the contrary, reveals ours sin.

v21 – But now … praise the Lord for the but now … in scripture. now a righteousness from God has been revealed, made known.

So, how can we get in on this? I don’t just want to be a better man, I want God and I want to LIVE. So, a revolutionary idea, a righteousness was made known apart from the law, but prophesied to by the law and the prophets.

How do I get in on it?

v22 – the righteousness FROM God, comes THROUGH FAITH, TO all who BELIEVE. Salvation from sin, the imparting of His righteousness is completely an act of grace BY God, THROUGH the power of the Holy Spirit, IN the sacrificial work of Christ. It is ALL provided by our triune gracious God, but it still has to be received, appropriated, by me. But how? It is through faith to all who believe. Both words there are from the same root. One is a noun, the other a verb. The righteousness of God comes by God’s gift. But God’s gift only comes by pistis (faith) and that is convinced determination, that I have a deficit, a debt, a sentence, and that the provision of the cross can wipe out my debt. Then I must have willingness to make it my own by pisteuo, the verb action of believing, placing my faith in someone or something.

v22 – to all … there is no difference . I am not better or worse as a sinner. Nor better or worse at the decision of faith. We are all sinners, that is we are those who miss the mark of his glory v 23, but when I exercise faith through the action of believing, then i am freely justified v24 BY GRACE.

v25 – Because God presented him (Jesus) as a sacrifice of atonement … to demonstrates his justice. It is like Abraham who offered Isaac, on the same mountain by the way, where David bought the threshing floor and also offered a sacrifice. On that same hill then, God offered HIS son. Remember David said, there, “I will not offer anything that costs me nothing“. So God, so Christ also would not offer anything that cost them nothing. Like a priest offering a sacrifice, God offered Christ. All of those sacrifices before, in the law, were NOT salvation by works though. They were still Grace too because God accepted them, v25, according to his forbearance. The word is anoche – patience … he left those previous sins unpunished. The law didn’t pay the penalty, it only delayed the penalty. But God is JUST, as much as he is LOVE. So, justice must be satisfied. So, if we receive it, then God applies it to, v26, those who have faith in Jesus.

v27 – and that excludes boasting in MY actions, but ONLY in my faith. because

v30 it is GOD who justifies us all BY FAITH.

Yes Grace

Yes Faith

so we respond … “hooray, I don’t have to live a life of obedience to nor accountability to that Old Law. I don’t have to live obedience in action, forget the Old Testament Instructions and law, they are outdated and not necessary.”

WAIT!!

v31 – do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? “nullify” – katargeo – abolish; set aside, wipe out. Is that what Grace does? … Not at ALL! Rather, we uphold the law. – “uphold” is the word histemi – maintain, accept the validity of …

We do not ignore or abolish it, we are still people of faithfulness to the commands and expectations of God, not FOR our salvation, but BECAUSE of our Salvation.

And that is the word about Grace and the Righteousness of God. Don’t believe the messenger who says that Grace mean’s freedom to do whatever you want. It is not what Paul teaches in Romans.

What a wonder his grace, a wonder that he would love us, a wonder that he would receive us, a wonder that faith, enables us to enter into the wonder of Grace.
Since We Have Confidence

June 30th, 2015

The law wasn’t done away with but fulfilled through the gracious working of Jesus Christ.
There is no longer sacrifices because of the last sacrifice in Christ and so Hebrews 4:16 NIV84 says Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” and Hebrews 10:19-22 NIV84 says “Therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith …
Since we have CONFIDENCE to ENTER …
There is discussion that seems to be ever running around the church about The Law in the daily practice of Christians who are in the state or age of grace. There is really, in my opinion, a lack of understanding of what The Law is and what Grace is. Living in communion with God has always been an act of God’s grace. From the moment sin entered the world, it is only God’s mercy and grace that allows us to have a relationships with Him. The wages of sin has always been death. But God, in his grace made provision for us to remain in relationship with him. This initial provision was through the death of a substitute sacrifice in the blood of oxen and lambs, it was always a sacrifice. Those sacrifices also pointed toward the coming of one sacrifice that would end the need for sacrifices.
The “anti-law” folks today miss this fact that grace has always existed. The law didn’t make men perfect, it was a standard of living that we were called to even though we would fail, yet the sacrifice atoned for our failure. But a promised one was coming.
Jeremiah 31:31 the time is coming when i will make a new covenant
v32 it will not be like the covenant made with their fathers
v33 this is the covenant I will make … after that time … I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people
v34 … for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sin no more

When we want to understand the inspired word of God, the best teacher is The Holy Spirit. So the same Spirit inspired one verse speaks of it in another verse, that is the easiest way to understand. It is the best commentary. So in Hebrews 10:16-17 the writer, inspired by the Holy Spirit who inspired Jeremiah, quotes Jeremiah 31 and then explains it. In verse 18 he says “where these have been forgiven (sin and lawlessness) there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.”

You see, the law has not been eliminated as a standard for living except where God specifies like with Peter being told he could change the eating requirements in Acts 10. But Jesus himself enlarged the expectations in the sermon on the mount.

When they approached God under the law, they had to be certain they had followed the regulations for fear of being struck down dead.
But we have confidence (parresia) = courage, boldness, candor, plainly
Since we have confidence – What takes away the fear of approaching God? What removes the need for sacrifice? It is the certainty of the Grace of God in Christ.
WE individually can enter the Most Holy Place by the Blood of Jesus. Only One, the High Priest, could enter the Most Holy Place. Only One Time, on the Day of Atonement, could he enter. Only One way, could he enter, with a perfect sacrifice.
But WE have, CONFIDENCE, courage, boldness, candor, to speak freely, openly plainly, to come, EVERY DAY directly to God … Because of the Sacrifice of Christ which settled the issue.
So
v22 Let us draw near … with full assurance
v23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope
v24 Let us encourage each other
Since we have CONFIDENCE
The Confidence doesn’t mean there isn’t an expectation for what RIGHT Living is. It means that I don’t need any other sacrifices to cover my sin and lawless acts
It means that the Right Living and the Desire has been placed in my heart in the person of The Spirit. The Holy Spirit, living in me doesn’t free me from living a holy life, but places in me the desires as well as the ability to say “yes” and then removes the need and fear of a sacrifice
Since we have Confidence
Stand Firm
Since we have Confidence
I … the pot … can approach the potter with confidence and say “Dear Potter, my pot has some things that don’t fit your vision. Will you place your hands on me and continue to form me?”
Since we have Confidence
We know He will shape us and not shatter us. He will receive us and not reject us.
Since we have Confidence
Be Encouraged and Encourage Others

Tag: Grace

The Least I Can Do

Grace and The Righteousness of God

Since We Have Confidence