FRIDAY 20th
Ephesians 2:1-10
NIV (vv8-9) – ‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.’
ESV (vv8-9) – ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.’
Today our devotion is concerning the grace of God.
I wonder how many hymns, songs, or choruses we know concerning the grace of God? There are the old favourites, ‘Amazing grace, how sweet the sound’, ‘Grace tis a charming sound’, the newer ones such as ‘Only by grace can we enter’ or ‘Your grace is enough’. His grace is worth singing about, it is worth talking about, it is worth celebrating, for it is by his grace we have been brought out of darkness to light, it is by his grace we have been made spiritually alive and become a new creation, it is by his grace we are what we are. It is by his grace we are being kept and will finally enter his eternal presence.
What is grace? We may be familiar with the statements such as ‘great riches at Christ’s expense ‘ or ‘It is unmerited favour — the love of God going out toward the utterly undeserving.’
Grace is literally God giving to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, salvation, and forgiveness – everything we receive that we do not deserve because of God’s love displayed for us through his son at Calvary.
Back in John 1:17 we read ‘For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.’ Verse 14 says that Jesus was ‘full of grace’, and verse 16 ‘from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.’
These thoughts should grip us that God has given us grace, he continues to give us grace upon grace, remember the Old Testament Scripture, that reminds us ‘The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.’ (Lamentations 3:22–23)
That’s grace, receiving his steadfast love and mercy, whoever we are reading this today, whatever we were before we were saved, one things is sure we were all born in sin and shapen in iniquity and we were all deserving of hell and eternal punishment, but God by his grace stooped down to where we were and picked us up. ‘Thank you for the Cross Lord where you displayed to the world your love, your mercy and poured out your grace.’ Maybe you are reading this and you are not saved, then God’s grace is available for you today and you receive it by faith, by putting your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and in all that he has done for you at Calvary. If you want to know more email me at pastorepcgateshead@gmail.com