Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Grace provides a full supply! (2 of 2)





From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ.  John 1:16-17 NLT


We are in a two part series on the supply of God's grace. We saw in the last post that God has made for us a new and living way to enter in. We saw that we don't come to the Father to receive based on Old Covenant methods. Meaning, we don't come before our Father attempting to receive from Him based upon our merits, or our performance. 

We saw that by Christ once for all time sacrifice we can now come to God freely. We also saw that we can never by our actions place God in a place of obligation to "do" for us. His finished work provided for all we will ever need. So we rest in this finished work. Because of this finished work we also are free from the demands of the law.

One great truth in grace is this simple phrase. Law demands but grace supplies. You see the Law just gave commands but supplied no ability to fulfill them. For instance, the Law demands that we not commit infidelity. That is the standard, this is a perfect standard, meaning don't even look upon another as God counts this as adultery. As perfect a standard as this is notice it is missing one element. It never stated thou shalt love thy husband/wife. The Law can't supply that love. Only grace can.






Grace supplies us. Let's look at some examples of supply and demand.

                      Forgive or you won't be forgiven?                                   

But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”Mark 11:26
These are the words of Jesus. Is this true for us today? If we don't forgive we aren't forgiven? Let's look at some New Covenant Scripture to gain more understanding.

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses Colossians 2:13  
I thought if we didn't forgive others our trespasses wouldn't be forgiven? It states here clearly that all our trespasses are already forgiven because of the finished work. Is this a contradiction? Yes, it is! The Old Covenant demands and New Covenant supply do contradict each other to some degree because it's a completely different system. So does this mean we no longer need to forgive others? What else does this New Covenant say about this?

Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32
See how grace supplies versus the demands of the Law? It is because we have been forgiven, we can now forgive others.

Love the Lord and your neighbor

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:37-39

We must love the Lord and love our neighbor. You see the demand? Yet where is the supply? The Law puts the burden of the supply on our human strength and effort. Let's see the supply of this demand in the New Covenant.

This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 
1 John 4:10-11 
See the supply of grace? It's no longer love God and others. Under grace God first loved us, pouring this love on us and in us and because of this supply we now can love others. 

Without holiness?

For I, the Lord, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy. Leviticus 11:45

This is the demand. Be holy. It is again placing the demand upon our actions. Where is the supply for this? Again, it is found in grace.

He then says, See, I have come to do Your will. He takes away the first to establish the second. By this will of God, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins.  But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. He is now waiting until His enemies are made His footstool.  For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified. Hebrews 10:9-14                                                                                This is the supply of grace. He has made us holy by the finished work. Because we are already made holy we now walk in holiness. See how beautiful this grace is? It fully supplies all the demands of the Law.

I pray this word encouraged your walk with the Lord. Rest in His finished work. He has completed the work. All actions on our part on now rooted in His gracious supply. As always thanks for taking the time to read. Pray blessings on you. Consider sharing with others if this has blessed you. 







image courtesy of arztsamui/courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
image couresy of Salvatore Vuono'/ courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So amazing. Thank you so much for your ministy of writing, John. You write in a way that is easy to follow and is Pure Truth!

Crystal