Word Sketches

Of God’s Beautiful Grace

Kiane Hill
Aug 28, 2017 · 6 min read

[Part 2 in the Series]

Foundations of Grace:

Simply, very simply, grace through faith means a few of the following truths:

For someone to receive grace through faith, they need to actually agree that they need grace — go figure.

We need to agree with God (confess) by faith in Him according to His Word, that sin is actually as He says it is.

There needs to be the heart-level confession that we are guilty of sin, and that it is therefore something from which we need salvation; judicially — as in terms of punishment for it; and experientially — as in terms of its power in our lives. (Rom 6:23, 7:7–25, 1John 1:8–10

We need to be saved and transformed — cleansed of guilt and of evil nature.

We need to be Sanctified (set apart) from the punishment and the power of sin; and eventually from it’s presence).

And we need to confess that there is no way we can be free from the penalty and power of sin by ourselves…

All the law does in this regard is to show us that we are indeed guilty of sin, deserve to be punished, cannot atone for our sins by our own merit, and cannot make ourselves righteous by our own efforts.

In short; we fall short — way short! So, clearly we cannot remedy our guilt and/or our sinful condition of heart by ourselves. (Rom 3: 20–26).

What’s more, the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament law are but a symbol, and a gruesome one at that. Something innocent needs to take our place in receiving what we demanded for ourselves by rebelling against Truth, Love, and Life: Something or someone needs to experience the death that our separation from God has earned us.

We share in Adam’s sin, which we have all affirmed, proving we would have done the exact same thing, each time we choose to sin amid any given day.

In that sin, we caved to the lie that we could be as God, and wow, was that ever a lie! Reality is the that a fallen state of existence resulted after we left Eden… And the grand object lesson of this present life, proves with painful detail that we’re not gods… (Gen chap 3, Heb 9:7,12–14, 22, Rom 5:12–21).

Now, no mere animal can justly pay for the sins of a human in the ultimate sense of the word. And no mere human, born of Adam’s sinful nature (as are we all) could pay for anyone’s sins but their own. (Heb 9:7, 12).

And if we or God were to have then looked to the angels, not only might they have cringed at the thought of taking what these poor little humans have heaped upon themselves by way of punishment; but simply, they are angels and not humans. So they can’t justly pay for a human’s sins.

Hmmm… and apparent dilemma…

But God…Being rich in Mercy and Wisdom and Power all His own… And to grant not only Mercy, but even Grace!!!… (Eph 2:4).

God the Father gave us Jesus, who is God the Son — the Cornerstone of the Father’s perfect plan, preordained before the foundation of the world… (1 Peter 2:6, Acts 4:27–28, 1Cor 2:7).

And Jesus, being fully God, is absolutely perfect in holiness and in all the requirements of the Law, which amount to perfect Love!

Plus, only Jesus is able as God, a non-created Being, to actually truly become Human too, so as to simultaneously be fully God and fully Human. He and He alone is the Perfect Sacrifice!!! (Heb 7:27, 9:14).

Let all the angels say, “Worthy is the Lamb!”. Let all the redeemed say “ Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain for our sins!! Let all creation say, “Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain, Who rose again, and Who reigns at the right hand of the Father!!!”

So Jesus, God the Son, came to the earth, and took upon himself a human body by being born miraculously through a woman, yet without any sinful seed. (John 1:1–5, 9–14, Heb 4:15)

Then He lived a perfect human life as fully God and fully Man… and at the right time revealed Himself for who He is. (Gal 4:4, Rom 5:6).

Then He, after submitting to the rite of baptism to fulfill all righteousness, and choosing His 12 apostles…commenced preaching and proving the truth through perfect obedience to the Father, verbatim in word and precisely miraculous in deed… (John 5:19, 14:10).

Finally, in perfect accordance with the meaning of the Passover, He provided Himself as the True Passover Lamb. (1 Cor 5:7).

He allowed Himself to be betrayed by one of His own.(John 13:21–27). And all the while, even amid the rebellion of Judas, the Pharisees, the majority of the people, and even the devil himself, the perfect will of God was sovereignly orchestrated, the sinful motives of fallen creatures notwithstanding… (Acts 4:27–28).

So Jesus offered Himself to God, to be slain by the unrighteous for the unrighteous.(Rom 5:6, Acts 2:23).

He was brutally beaten, and shredded with a whip, nearly to death; condemned to death by the people, and then laboriously marched to the place of execution on a hill outside the Holy City.

There He was torturously crucified naked between two thieves, amid the mockery of His own creations. (Matt 27:24–44, John 19:17–30).

There He cried out, “ Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Lk 23:34).

There He cried out, “My God! My God! why have you forsaken Me?” (Matt 27:46).

And there He triumphantly pronounced, “It is finished!!!” (John 19:30).

Then, there He died.

He was buried. (1Cor 15:3–8).

Three days later, He rose from the dead, and after being witnessed as resurrected by His apostles, He ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God His Father, Who is now our Father as well!!! (Acts 1:1–11,10:40–41, Mark 16:19, John 20:17).

And here’s where the grace upon mercy part gets all the more clear:

Jesus is the Ultimate Gift! (John 4:10 and many other verses). By genuine faith in Him we are not only forgiven but adopted as sons (Eph 1:1–14), co-heirs with Him of eternal life in the presence of the Father (Rom 8:14–17).

In addition to being adopted we are actually born-again, partakers of the Divine nature (2 Pet1:3–4). We are new creations forever (2Cor 5:17), who are being grown and developed into unique expressions of the image of Jesus Christ (2 Cor 3:18, Eph 2:10).

We are united in one huge fellow-believer family (1Cor 12:13), and by our unity with Jesus and with each other, we are co-children of the Father.

We are the unified Bride of Christ (Eph 5:29–32); blessed with all the blessings in the heavenly places forever (Eph 1:3).

We are everlasting in-alterable partakers of God’s unconditional love and acceptance (Rom 8:28–39).

We are sealed with the personally indwelling Holy Spirit of Guaranteeing Promise (through whom we receive One-on-one discipleship with Jesus). Through the Spirit, God is at work within us both to will and to do according to His good pleasure.

We are blessed by God with glorious gifts, and groomed for opportune expressions of loving service which the Father has prepared before-hand that we should walk in them (Eph 1:13, John 16:13–15, Phil 2:13, Eph 2:10).

We are eventual recipients of brand-new, glorified bodies (in accordance with the nature of Jesus’ resurrected Body) and such bodies are ours either through resurrected or raptured transformation…(1 Cor 15:42–58) etc…etc…

Hallelujah, All Glory to God!!!

[The next installment of this series should be posted on Wednesday — Lord willing ]

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