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We live in a sin-filled world, where depravity has established its dominion in the heart of every single man. When sin entered the world through Adam, the entire human race became morally corrupt. As a result of the original sin, all human beings are inherently evil and hostile toward God. Men in their natural state seek not after God, yet think that God is under obligation to bless them. They think they have the right to exist, to be healthy, happy and prosperous. Their hearts long for the blessings and benefits that God alone can grant, rather than for God Himself. Nevertheless, they do not thank the Lord, nor do they honour Him. But instead, they take everything He provides for granted and grumble when suffering and trials hit home.
All these characteristics, which reveal the fallen nature of man, are embittered by man’s high estimate of self and by his tendency to belittle the majesty of the Lord God, because he knows not the Lord. Many people do not have a proper view of God; they do not know who God is. Moreover, they underestimate the sinfulness of sin and have a poor understanding of human depravity. Consequently, they assume that God is obligated to fulfill the desires of their hearts. They think that God exists to keep them happy. Although they despise his laws and commands and are hostile toward Him, they expect the Lord to bless them. They view Him as someone who is just like them or somehow a bit superior to them. In Is. 55 the Lord affirms his uniqueness in kind, his separateness and differentness, the greatness of his ways and his unsearchable wisdom. Thus declares the Lord Almighty in v. 8-9, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
But many people believe that God’s love precludes Him from exercising his justice and pouring out his wrath against those who dishonour Him. They cling to the biblical declaration that 'God is love', and thus disregard his holiness and portray God as someone who overlooks the deeds of man, even when they violate his sovereign will. And so we hear people say things like, ‘God loves you unconditionally; it does not matter what you do, He still loves you.’ This statement does not describe the Holy God, the Great I Am of Scripture, the God who hates sin and sinners, and who rightfully thirsts for justice, for all have sinned against Him. On the other hand, it does not expose the moral corruption of man, nor does it urge him to abandon his evil ways. It must be noted, however, that sin separates man from God his Creator, for God is holy and righteous. This is what declares the psalmist, in praise of the Lord, upholding God’s true nature: “You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity” (Ps. 5:4-5).
God is not indifferent to the wickedness of man; He pronounces doom on anyone who rejects Him and disobeys his commands. Those who refuse to turn away from their sins are alienated from God’s glorious presence. For instance, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in Ch. 59:2-3, Isaiah brings to the attention of his people the cause of their alienation from the Lord their God. He writes, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity.” This reality and truth applies to any human being on the face of the earth who practices lawlessness, i.e. God turns his face against all those who refuse to abandon their evil ways, and to put their trust in his Son, the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is the only righteous, the means by which sins are forgiven.
What all must know, then, is that God is not a man and He is perfectly holy and righteous. He created us for his own glory and has given us laws and commands by which we are to live and to which we are to submit. A violation of any law or command of the Lord is a sin against Him, and each sin is punishable by death. The reality is that there is no one under the sun who has not sinned against the Lord. This means that what we all deserve is death. In other words, we deserve nothing good from the Lord, “for (we) all have sinned and fall short of his glory” (Rom. 3:23). The Lord is under obligation to none of us; He is not bound to meet our needs, and even less to satisfy our appetency. What we all deserve, as a result of our sinfulness and hostility toward the Lord our God, is death, eternity in hell. Yet He has not banished us, but rather He continuously sustains us in spite of our sinfulness and hostility toward Him.
However, it must be noted that although the Lord always sustains his creation, all that He does is neither a requirement He has to fulfill, nor a reward for our merits or good works. How, then, are we to understand God’s continuous provision and care for us, sinful and rebellious as we may be? It must be understood that all that God does is a manifestation of his intrinsic character. I.e. the only explanation for God’s ongoing care and preservation of men is found in God’s character. God sustains us not because we deserve to be cared for, but instead all that the Lord does is a revelation of who He is, a manifestation of his attributes – He is the LORD, and thus He does what is inherent in his nature. God’s supreme greatness and uniqueness contrast with human depravity.
However, it is critical for us to acknowledge our depravity and to have a proper knowledge of God in order to understand and appreciate what the Lord does for us. Only a proper view of self and a proper knowledge of God can draw man to worship God and to be grateful toward Him. The Lord is a holy and righteous God. He created us for his glory; but we all have sinned against Him. “As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.’ ‘Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit’; ‘the poison of asps is under their lips’; ‘whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.’ ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known.’ ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes’” (Rom. 3:10-18). So are we by nature – people who have no fear of the Lord.
Ever since the fall, man has been at enmity with God, because our deeds and thoughts are evil. We are all born in sin and in sin we live. Hence we all deserve the same fate – death – which is the reward for sin. Nevertheless, the Lord continues to sustain and bless us. This means that our deeds must not be seen as what give us access to God’s tender care, for none of us is right with God as to deserve a privilege of some sort. We must instead refer to God’s intrinsic character to understand his act of preservation of creation. God is not like us; He is YAHWEH. All He does is inherent in his nature, and his nature is not a mystery to us. In other words, God’s nature is not hidden from us – the works of his hands, i.e. Creation, gives us a general revelation of God, and the Lord personally reveals Himself to us in a special way through the Holy Scripture. For instance, when Moses went up to Mount Sinai with the second set of stone tablets to meet the Lord, the Lord descended in the cloud and proclaimed his holy name. In one declaration, He has revealed to us his nature. Thus declares the Lord in Exo. 34:6-7, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
These two verses sum up the attributes of God while demonstrating his greatness in his dealings with man. The Lord is the Almighty, the Holy One, the Judge, the God of compassion, goodness and tender mercies, the loving and gracious God. The Lord is the righteous One; He is not like us. Although God is love, He does not fail to punish those who commit iniquities. God’s nature sets Him apart from all other beings; it reveals to us who the Lord is and what He does. The Lord is the Supreme Being, the Revealer of all truth, the Source of all life, the Provider, the Sustainer, the Redeemer and the Judge of all.
After the fall, the human race would have normally ceased to exist, were it not for the grace of God. The entire human race was condemned to destruction, because of the disobedience of our first parents. Yet God did not destroy us. Rather, He continues to preserve us graciously, although we all deserve to be damned. By nature we are enemies of God; but day after day He lavishes grace upon us to preserve us. God’s grace toward us knows no end. As the psalmist writes, “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love” (Ps. 103:8). For instance, for many centuries Israel rebelled against the Lord and He sent prophets to warn them. But they did not abandon their evil ways. The Lord then delivered his people into the hand of their enemies. However, He did not utterly destroy them, “But in your great mercy (reads Neh. 9:31) You did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.”
The story of Israel is my story, it is your story too, for we do not spend a day without sinning against God. Yet He continues to sustain us. Alongside of our depravity there is a perpetual feebleness and frailty that defines who we are. We are unable to sustain ourselves; we can do nothing without the Lord God our Creator. But the problem is that instead of expressing their gratitude to the Lord for all his provision for them, many people often think that the Lord is obligated to be there for us. The truth is we deserve nothing good from our God, for we all have broken his commands. If we continue to exist today, it is only by the grace and mercy of our God. However, for us to properly value the abounding grace of God in our lives, we must first grasp the biblical meaning of the word grace.
Grace is an unmerited and unearned favor bestowed freely by God on undeserving sinners. In other words, grace is God’s undeserved gift to us, sinners; it cannot be earned; it is not something that is merited nor are we worthy to receive it. Rather, it is a favor, a free gift from God, not something that is required of Him; for God does not owe us anything. Rather, we owe Him everything “since He gives to all life, breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25), and we can do nothing without Him. God’s abundant grace in our lives reveals who He is and is perceived in what He does to preserve, sustain and to redeem his creation (cf. Rom. 5:15). However, for our finite mind to grasp the concept of God’s grace, a distinction must be made between what is called common grace and what is called special grace or saving grace.
Common Grace
Common grace relates to God’s beneficence and benevolence toward men whether they are believers or unbelievers. A general revelation of God’s common grace is found in the blessings the Lord bestows upon all men and in all that He does to sustain them, fallen as they may be. Already, when the Lord completed the creation, He blessed men so that they could reproduce and fill the earth, and He also gave them dominion over other living creatures that populate the earth, the sea and the air. Thus declares the Lord in Gen. 1:28, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” V. 29-30, the Lord said to men, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so.”
In the past, the Lord destroyed the inhabitants of the earth because of their wickedness, sparing the life of only eight people. However, it must be noted that it has never been the will of God to utterly destroy the human race and that if the Lord sent the flood in antiquity it was also not for the purpose of ending human depravity, for we have all inherited sin from our first parent Adam, which means that Noah and the seven members of his family, whose lives God had spared were also sinners. God sent the flood to destroy those who had refused to give up their evil ways to follow Him, those who had rejected his grace. As sinners, Noah and his family also deserved death. “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (Gen. 6:8), because he walked with God. And as a result of his grace, when the Lord decreed the end of all flesh, He protected Noah and his household from the deluge by sheltering them in an ark. It is written: “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” (Heb. 11:7).
By the grace of God, Noah and his family were saved. We must thus see here the will of the Lord to preserve his creation. Although we are all sinners, God grants us his grace. It is therefore important to note that the only explanation for the ongoing existence of man is the grace of God. Wickedness dominates the heart of man, but the grace of God abounds. Were it not for the grace of God, no life would have been spared because God is holy and righteous; his eyes are too pure to look at evil. If He were to judge every one of us and execute judgment on us right away, no one would be alive today. But the Lord graciously continues to preserve his creation, He continues to preserve the life of men regardless of their deeds. However, it must be noted that the grace of God does not negate his wrath against the sons of disobedience, the grace of God does preclude his justice “because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). So the day is coming when the Lord will judge those who refuse to worship Him, those who refuse to repent of their sins and believe in Christ the Saviour. On that day, anyone who rejects the grace of God will be destroyed just like those in the day of Noah.
God is the giver and sustainer of all life. He provides for all living creatures, i.e. the entire creation depends on Him alone to continue to exist. When the Lord destroyed the ancient world because of human depravity, after the flood He promised to preserve his creation. The Lord thus declares in Gen. 8:21-22, “Never again will I put the earth under a curse because of what people do; I know that from the time they are young their thoughts are evil. Never again will I destroy all living beings, as I have done this time. As long as the world exists, there will be a time for planting and a time for harvest. There will always be cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.”
From our youth our thoughts are evil. If the Lord were to pronounce and execute judgement on us now, none of us would be spared; we would be cut off from all the privileges the Lord bestows upon us. But as the Lord has promised, we are continuously sustained by his gracious provision. Although the Lord is under no obligation to provide for our needs or to keep us alive, He makes his sun to shine on all mankind, regardless of their ways. Whether they conform to his will or not, God allows all people to continue to live by giving them good weather, by providing for their needs, by healing them when they are sick, not because they deserve to be healed or fed or cared for, but because God is gracious.
However, it must be noted that this form of grace does not bring salvation. Its purpose is to preserve and sustain God’s creation. This means that those who do not turn away from their sins and seek forgiveness in Christ will be condemned. Anyone who continues to live in disobedience and refuses to worship the Lord will succumb to his wrath on the Day of Judgment. “The Lord will come with fire and with his chariots, like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword the Lord will judge all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many” (Is. 66:15-16). Thus declares the Lord in Jn. 12:48, “He who rejects Me, and does not receive my words, has that which judges him – the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.”
What characterises God’s common grace is that it does not discriminate whether we are children of God or not. It is universal, i.e. it is granted to all people regardless of their sinfulness. Good and evil people alike are recipients of God’s common grace. God in his providence cares for the just and the unjust. He blesses both the wicked and the righteous. Matt. 5:45 reads, “[…] He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” If the Lord were to treat us according to our wrongdoings, no one would survive; all of us would be destroyed. But the Lord’s grace is abundant and infinite. As the psalmist says, “The Lord upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing” (Ps. 145:14-16).
God does not slumber or sleep. Day and night He protects, provides and cares for all people, good and wicked alike, regardless of what each one has done. The Lord is the Helper, the Protector, the Sustainer and the Preserver of all that He made. Unlike the gods of this world who are lifeless and of no help at all to those who worship them, the Lord is the Living God, the One True God. He is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, and He alone sustains the entire creation. The Lord provides to each member of his creation all they need to remain alive, He mercifully and graciously meets all our needs. Also, our prosperity depends wholly on Him; we cannot earn a living on our own. It is the Lord who gives us the strength and the seeds to sow, and He sends rain to water the soil so that the seeds can grow and bear fruit. Our labour would be a vain pursuit without the grace of God. The psalmist hits the nail right on the head when he writes: “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain” (Ps. 127:1). Man’s endeavour to sustain himself is inadequate and inefficient without God’s intervention. Without God’s sovereign grace, his sustenance, care, protection and provision, our efforts would be worthless.
Through signs and wonders God reveals his grace to the sons of men. He sustains us daily, blesses us with wisdom and understanding and gives us the strength and the skills we need to carry out our daily activities. When we fall sick, the Lord heals us. He alone defends the oppressed and comforts those who mourn. With the strength we receive from God, we plant seeds, but He waters them and makes them grow. We can do nothing without the Lord our God. Ps. 147:8 reads, “He covers the heavens with clouds; He prepares rain for the earth; He makes grass grow on the hills.” The Lord graciously sustains every living creature; He gives food to all the living creatures that populate the earth, the seas and the sky. God is inherently gracious and his grace is manifest in all He does. However, the greatest revelation of God’s grace occurred at the cross for redemptive purposes.
Redemptive Grace
Christ is the most precious gift, the greatest revelation of God’s grace to us, sinners; for the Father offered Him as a propitiation for our sins, not as a result of what we ourselves have done, but according to his own mercy, grace and love. We were dead in our transgressions. Without hope, we lived in fear of eternal damnation because of our culpability. We were not able to make peace with the Holy and Righteous One, i.e. to atone for our iniquities, to appease God’s wrath and to be right with Him. But “God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16). God gave his Son as the ransom for sin, to reconcile to Him those who believe in his Son. Christ willingly died as our substitute on Calvary, so that anyone who believes in Him may be freely justified before God and graciously granted eternal life. Salvation is God’s gift to us, sinners, and a manifestation of his grace. We cannot earn it, we do not deserve to be saved, nor is the Lord God under any obligation to save us. Our fate as sinners is eternal damnation. But God offers salvation to anyone who puts his faith in Christ. For “in Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace”
Although we all ought to be damned because of our wickedness, God offered his Son as the ransom for many. By the precious blood of Christ we are freely justified. Anyone who repents of his sins and believes in Christ is no longer condemned; for Christ has appeased the wrath of God on behalf of all those who have faith in Him, thus giving them access to grace and making them partakers of his divine nature. And as it is written, those “who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:17).
Christ’s sacrificial death satisfied the righteous demand of the Law; it resulted in our justification. In his substitutionary death on the cross, Christ took upon Himself the curses for the sins of all those who put their trust in Him and imputed to them his own righteousness. In this manner the redemptive grace of God has been revealed to us, and the result of this grace is salvation in Christ the Lord and Saviour. In Christ we are graciously regenerated, sanctified and will be glorified by the Spirit of Grace, not because of our works or merits, but as a result of God’s grace through our faith in Christ the Saviour. In this regard Paul reminds the Christians of Ephesus, “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”
Christ is the fountain of God’s grace. He was sent into the world to give water to the parched land, to revive the dead soil, and to restore to life the prisoners of death. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Salvation is found in Christ alone. Christ is the revelation of God’s grace. As Paul writes in Rom. 3:24-25, we “are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance He had passed over former sins.”
Through the substitutionary death of his Son on the cross, God justifies us, the ungodly; He sets us free from our captivity to sin and death. Although He knew no sin, Christ died as our substitute on Calvary, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed” (Is. 53:5). God made peace with man through the shed blood of his own Son, and thus has bestowed grace upon us. The Lord has equipped us, those whom He has called according to his grace, with godly gifts and spiritual resources so that we can live the life He has prepared for us, the life in union with Him. In other words, He preserves us and enables us to live to the standard of godliness He has set for us. As 2 Pet. 1:3-4 reads, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” In our former lives we were slaves to sin, seeking after the desires of the flesh. But the Lord bought us with his precious blood and has prepared for us a life of righteousness “so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:21).
Just like common grace, redemptive grace also called salvific grace, saving grace or redeeming grace, is not the result of one’s works or merits and no one deserves it. But unlike common grace which is universal, salvific grace is limited, i.e. it is granted by God only to those He chose in eternity past to redeem, as an inheritance for his Son. And obviously God’s redeeming grace is foundational to our salvation. To fully grasp this, we must first understand the human condition – no one in their natural state seeks after God. In our natural state, that is, when we are not regenerate, we are at enmity with God, inherently evil, puffed up with pride and inclined to oppose the will of God and to seek after the desires of the flesh; we are unable to please God. Paul affirms this truth in Rom. 8:7-8 when he says, “The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Before our regeneration, we are so blind and dead in our transgressions that we reject the only Light for our souls, i.e. the Word of God, and we can do nothing to remedy our spiritual bankruptcy. But God the Redeemer in his grace breathes a new life into our hearts; the Spirit of grace regenerates us and puts an end to our hostility against God. Through our new birth, we are cleansed of all our filths and gifted with a new heart and a new mind. This new birth that we have in Christ is the fulfilment of God’s promise to set us free from the bondage of sin. For the Lord declares in Ezek. 36:25-27, “I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean from all your idols and everything else that defiled you. I will give you a new heart and a new mind. I will take away your stubborn heart of stone and give you an obedient heart. I will put my Spirit in you and I will see to it that you follow my laws and keep all the commands I have given you.”
No man can be reconciled to the Lord unless the Spirit of Grace gives them a new birth. Were it not for the saving grace of God, no one would have ever come to Christ. The Lord God is the gracious Seeker and Saviour of lost souls. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way;” but the Lord in his grace sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world as its Saviour, and He “has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (cf. Is. 53:6). It is the Lord who seeks and saves us, sinners. As natural men, we have no desire to turn to God. All we do, in our longing to serve the flesh and to gratify our pride, is to make the chasm that separates us from our Creator as deep and vast as possible. But in his grace our great God and Saviour draws us to Himself, so that we do not perish in our vain pursuit. So, no natural man seeks after God. Rather, God is the Seeker. The Lord affirms this reality in Jn. 6:44 when He declares, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Not only is it the Lord who draws us to Himself, but it is also He who enables us to understand the things of the Spirit, for “the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14). What a gracious God we have! He seeks and saves the very people who by nature hate Him, and makes them partakers of divine nature. He graciously justifies us, the wicked. The Lord in his mercy and grace has provided the atonement for our sins, graciously giving us victory over sin and death, through the substitutionary death of his own Son Jesus Christ on the cross. It is thus through Christ, the Word, that grace is given to us. As it is written, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about Him, and cried out, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because He was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (Jn. 1:14-17).
Christ did not have to die for us; He has no obligation toward men. Yet He willingly laid down his life to redeem us. Christ came and lived the perfect life we can never live. Through the work of regeneration accomplished by his Spirit, God gives faith to those whom He has chosen as an inheritance for his Son. That is to say, it is the Lord who gives us that which is fundamental to our salvation, i.e. faith. For “no one can please God without faith, for whoever comes to God must have faith that God exists and rewards those who seek him” (Heb. 11:6). We are saved by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
It must be noted, however, that faith in Christ is not a fruit of the human nature, but rather a fruit of the Holy Spirit. For us to believe in Christ, the Spirit of grace must first regenerate our sinful and rebellious hearts. Our regeneration precedes our faith in Christ. The Spirit of God removes our heart of stone and gives us a new heart and a new mind; He gives us a new nature which is inclined toward the will of God rather than the desires of the flesh. So God initiates our call, gives us the gift of faith, justifies, sanctifies and glorifies us graciously. The whole process of our redemption is God’s doing, regardless of our deeds, merits and works. In other words, God does not grant us his grace on the basis of what we ourselves have done, but rather what He does is inherent in his nature. Thus declares the Lord in Ex. 33:19, “…I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” The special grace that God bestows on us gives us access to every spiritual blessings in the heavenly world.
The Benefits of God’s Salvific Grace
We live in a sin-cursed world that is condemned to destruction because of the corruption of man. Creation itself groans under the bondage of human corruption. But the day is coming when the whole world will pass away. 2 Pet. 3:10 reads, “The Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” All those who do not honour the Lord will be destroyed. But those who throw themselves on the mercies of Christ will be saved by grace. Salvific grace is a favor bestowed by the Lord on undeserving sinners for the remission of their sins. According to his grace, God has provided a way that He can forgive our sins and grant us righteousness so that we can escape destruction and become heirs of his Kingdom. God has saved us, as Paul writes in Tit. 3:5-7, “…through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Saving grace is fundamental to our reconciliation with God. Without the grace given to us in our Saviour Jesus Christ, we would forever remain separated from God. God grants us his grace to set us free from the dreadful effects of the curse brought about by the fall of man – we are all born in sin, and in sin we live, separated from our God by sin and prisoners of death. But although the Lord has no obligation to us, from Him we receive grace and forgiveness, from Him we receive the gift of faith. And by that faith we now have life, a life that we live in union with our God. For in his grace, the Lord has sent his Son Jesus to live the perfect life that we can never live and to take upon Himself all our sins. Christ died as our substitute and credited to us his own righteousness. As a result of Christ’s redemptive work, we are freely justified before God. As Paul writes in Rom. 8:33, “[…] It is God who justifies.” It is by his grace that we are justified and reconciled with Him. He graciously justifies us, wicked as we may be. Our justification secures us in our Heavenly Father’s everlasting love. Redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, our Saviour and Lord, we inherit a new nature and a new identity. We are born of the Spirit, with a new heart and a new mind, our enmity with God ends, we are reconciled and adopted into the family of Christ and thus become children of God. Moreover, we are given victory over death, sin and Satan.
Thus, not only are we saved by grace from destruction – because there is no more condemnation for those who are justified by faith in Christ, but also having been baptized into the family of Christ by the Spirit of grace, we have become heirs to the Kingdom of God. Hence we live in fellowship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, and we are no longer in bondage to fear. Rather, we have the confidence to come into the glorious presence of God our Father, i.e. we can therefore approach the Throne of grace with confidence thanks to the righteousness of Christ the Redeemer. “For (as Paul writes in Rom. 8:14-17) all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by Whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.”
Sin came into the world because of Satan, the liar, the deceiver and destroyer. But in the fullness of his grace, God sent his Son to give us life, although what we deserve is death. “God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16). Unlike the destroyer who came to separate man from his Creator, to incite enmity between man and his Maker and to strip man from the gift of life, Christ came to give life to repentant sinners; He came to put an end to our enmity with God, to save us from spiritual death and to restore us to life. Thus declares the Lord in Jn. 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Life is found exclusively in God’s Word, the Word of his grace. Humanity has no light apart from Him. As Jn. 1:3-5 says, “All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” It is exclusively the same Word who gave us physical life that gives us life in the Spirit. Only the Word of God redeems us and gives us an inheritance in the Kingdom of God. And God did not withhold Him from us – God offered Him as a propitiation for sin, “so that whoever believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life” (cf. Jn. 3:16). The Word of God is the greatest gift of God, the greatest revelation of his grace to men, the Light that dispels the darkness in which they live, the Life-giving Water that revives the souls of men and takes them into the glorious presence of God. It is Christ the Lord who gives us the right to become children of the Most High; it is through Christ alone that we have life in the Spirit.
God’s salvific grace, which is revealed in Christ, is the only escape from the righteous wrath of God. Unredeemed sinners remain under God’s judgement. But the saving grace of God cancels all charges against the redeemed; it cancels our guilt and we stand blameless before the Holy One, because we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, our Lord and Saviour, in Whom we have placed our faith. Anyone who is in Christ is purified by his precious blood and freely justified before God. Therefore, as Paul writes in Rom. 8:1, “There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus.” Rather, as the result of God’s saving grace, we are crowned with glory, we have inherited eternal life, which is God’s gift to his children. We are sealed by the blood of Christ in God’s covenant love.
As recipients of God’s salvific grace we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly world. The new identity we have received in Christ gives us the right to share in his everlasting glory, to receive glory and honour from the Father. Salvific grace puts an end to our enmity with God, to our captivity to sin and death, and breaks our ties to the world. We are no longer children of the world, sons of the Devil. Instead through our birth in the Spirit, we are given a new identity, a new citizenship, a new family, a new nature, and we bear a new kind of fruit – the fruit of the Spirit, which consists of “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness” (Gal. 5:22).
God’s salvific grace gives us life in the Spirit. Paul affirms this truth in Eph. 2:1-7 when he writes, “You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Redemptive grace is a victory over ungodliness. In our natural state, the only restrain we have against sin is our conscience. But in Christ, who is the greatest revelation of God’s grace, we have more than our conscience to restrain us from pursing evil; for we are baptized with the Holy Spirit, who works in us as a Restraining Power against the desires of the flesh, by convicting us of our sins, by filling our hearts with contrition and by leading us to repentance. The Spirit of Grace enables us to pursue the things of the Spirit, to pursue the truth, to pursue holiness. He sanctifies and equips us for all good works. And so Paul writes in Tit. 2:11-14, “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
The natural man does not pursue godliness. God baptises us with the Holy Spirit, and from the moment we are converted, it is the Spirit who controls us; it is no longer the flesh. The Spirit of Grace incites us and empowers us to renounce to carnality. Through God’s saving grace we are freed from the bondage of sin and death; the Spirit of God leads us on the ‘Highway of Holiness’ and thus testifies to our new identity and new nature. That is to say, through the Spirit of Grace we have victory over the flesh. Without God, we can do nothing good. Left alone we would die in our sins, because there is nothing good in our flesh but sin and evil. But through Christ we become partakers of the nature of God and we have victory over sin and death; we receive remission of our sins and eternal life. Though we fall from time to time, the Lord always upholds us with his hand. In our weaknesses the Lord is our strength. Not even the troubles and trials of this life can separate us from the love of Christ. As Paul writes in Rom. 8:32-35, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” In other words, the grace of God secures us in his love and sustains us in the midst of all kinds of hardship. Nothing else but the grace of our God gives us all victories.
The sufficiency of God’s grace
Only the grace of God disentangles the cords of pride that holds the heart of the natural man captive, profanes it, and prevents it from seeking after God. Grace pulls us out of the dark and filthy pit that imprisons our souls, and gives us a new heart and a new mind that accept and understand the things of the Spirit. In other words, it is by God’s grace alone that we are emptied of our moral corruption, freed from the bondage of sin and the sting of death, and fuelled with love for Christ. God’s grace is foundational to our spiritual birth and life; it is the foundation of our ability to love God and to love one another. It is by grace alone that we are delivered from the yoke of corruption and adopted into the family of Christ. It is by God’s grace alone that we can live a fulfilled life. Grace is sufficient for our reconciliation with our Heavenly Father and for the fulfilment of the life He has prepared for us in Christ Jesus.
The works of man cannot cover him. It does not matter how hard he labours, he remains naked before the Holy God, alienated from his glory. Only Christ the Lord and Saviour, in Whom grace is found, can cover the nakedness of those who humble themselves, count their works as refuse, cast themselves on the tender mercies and seek the righteousness of the perfect Lamb of God. It is Christ who takes away the sins of every repentant sinner who trusts in Him and confesses Him as Lord and Saviour. The prideful and self-righteous, those who store up for themselves earthly treasures, anyone who seeks the glory of men or that in which the Lord does not delight, cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, for thus says the Lord in Is. 66:2, “on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.” Jn. 14:23, declares the Lord, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him.” The Spirit of the Lord seeks residence in any broken and repentant sinner who recognizes his need of Christ and the sufficiency of Christ’s work on behalf of sinners.
It is by no means necessary for man to add works to God’s grace in order to make the redemptive work of Christ effective. In vain is salvation hoped for from works. Nothing we do on our own can result in our justification and reconciliation with the Triune God, for in the Lord our God alone is the salvation of sinners. God’s grace is sufficient to establish fellowship with Him, the redemptive work of Christ is complete. Neither our works nor our merits are necessary for our justification before God. “He has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time” (2 Tim. 1:9). So everything that pertains to our life in union with God is absolutely outside the realm of human power, will and authority; it is exclusively the result of God’s grace, mercy and love. We contribute nothing to our redemption; we simply benefit from the work of Christ.
Furthermore, we are all sustained daily exclusively by God’s grace. It empowers us in the midst of hardship, suffering, persecution, illness, failures and distress; we are undergirded by the grace of our Lord. In other words no one else but God sustains us in every circumstance. We need not and cannot add anything to change our condition. In our weaknesses the Lord strengthens us; his power is made perfect whenever we are weak. He also prepares us for all good works by giving us varied gifts. Our good works are the result of God’s grace, because the Spirit of grace who dwells in us, believers, controls and restrains us, so that we do not seek after the desires of the flesh, but rather seek to conform to the will of our God. Therefore, when we boast, we boast in the Lord, for it is He who works in us; it is the Spirit of grace who equips us for all good works. And so Paul gives glory to God for God’s work in his life when he writes in 1 Cor. 15:10, “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”
The sufficiency of God’s grace is a guarantee of his uninterrupted care and preservation of his creation. In other words, God’s provision for us does not depend on what we do. If the Lord were to consider our deeds in this matter, no one would receive a thing from Him, because we all fall short of his glory. We would all be consumed by his righteous wrath because of our depravity. Our works do not and cannot guarantee the blessings we receive from the Lord our God, for all our works are filthy rags in his sight. But He always provides for us because He is inherently gracious. Hence, his provision for fallen creatures like us is simply the manifestation of his divine character.
The Lord gives us so graciously that He enables us to seek Him through prayer. And so the Apostle John writes in 1 Jn. 5:14-15, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him”, for the Lord never fails to answer the prayers of his children. As Ps. 34:10 says, “The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.” To affirm God’s unfailing and sufficient grace, the Lord Jesus declares in Matt. 7:11, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!”
The sufficiency as well as the indispensability of God’s grace is an undeniable truth. For nothing can replace or complete the grace of God for us, and no one can possibly live without the grace of our God. Whether we honour the Lord our God or not, we all need and thus receive grace from Him; we are all sustained by the grace of our Lord. And our attitude toward this precious gift can either bring us closer to God or further our enmity with Him. Therefore, we should ask ourselves this question: How are we to respond to God’s grace?
Appropriate Human Response to God’s Infinite Grace
Were it not for the grace of our God, no human being would be alive today, for we are all sinners. Despite our depravity, the Lord “gives to all life, breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25). These, as we have already mentioned, are not a payback for what we first gave Him. For if He were to reward us for what we have done, our payback would be justice. And God’s justice demands that every sinner be condemned to eternal disgrace, eternity in hell. But in order to demonstrate his righteousness, the Lord vindicated us, by offering his only begotten Son as an atonement for our sins, and to us He has given grace. No one under the sun can deny that God is gracious to them, nor can one claim that the breath of life and everything they possess are a recompense for what they have done or given to the Lord. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17). The Apostle Paul draws our attention to the fact that it is God who gives, by asking us this question in Rom. 11:35, “Who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him?” Obviously, the answer is no one, “for of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36)!
Therefore, we are to respond to God’s grace with gratitude, thanksgiving, praise, reverence, honour, humility, obedience, faithfulness, worship and service unto the Lord. In other words, we must offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God. The Apostle Paul draws our attention on the necessity to present our “bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is [our] spiritual worship” (cf. Rom. 12:1). As people with a sinful nature, we are inclined to live to satisfy the desires of the flesh, to seek worldliness. But the grace of God has been given to us to set us free from this bondage and to equip us for a life of righteousness, a life that brings glory to the Lord, a life of gratitude for all that the Lord has done for us. We have been called to live a humble life, to renounce to worldliness and carnality, and embrace a life of faith in obedience to God’s will. And so in v. 2-3 Paul urges us, by saying, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”
For all things we must give glory to the Lord who has equipped us for all kinds of good works, by bestowing on us grace, love, righteousness and the gift of faith. Our hands must work righteousness to testify of the riches of the spiritual blessings the Lord has poured out on us. Our hearts must extol his holy name and sing with joy to the praise of his unrivaled goodness. We have been saved through Christ so that in Him we can live to the glory of our God. Therefore, being bought by the precious blood of Christ, we must no longer conform ourselves to the standards of this world, for we have become Christ’s slaves. We are no longer slaves to sin, we are no longer children of this world, but God’s children. And as children of the Living God we must now live for his glory; we must walk according to his will, not according to the flesh. All our actions and thoughts must be Christ-centered. We must seek to please and honour Him in everything we do and say, and our thoughts must be saturated with the Word of God. Christ is our standard – we must then imitate Him in his walk.
We have been bought by the precious blood of Christ the Saviour. He did not die so that we continue to serve sin. But you and I must be dead to sin, because we are now Christ’s slaves. He bought us at the cost of his own life, not because we deserved it or because of any good deeds of ours, but as the result of his grace, love and mercy. We must then mortify sin in our lives and live to the glory of Christ our Lord. As Paul writes in Rom. 6:10-14, “For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”
Humility and contentment must also characterize our new life under grace. We must not be puffed up with pride, but in all things we must give glory to God and humble ourselves to serve Him and serve others. We must be content in all circumstances, always giving thanks to the Lord for all He does for us. We must be grateful to the Lord because, were it not for his grace, we would be without hope, for our works are nothing but futility apart from the Lord. We must learn to praise God for his grace, in every situation we face in life, be it in blessing or in suffering. Our gratitude toward the Lord should never be hampered by suffering or trials. In suffering and in blessing our response to the Lord must be gratitude, for “we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). And we must never forget that the Lord is not bound to answer our needs, but take everything He does as a gift, for the appreciation of the true value of God’s grace, the undeserved gifts He gives us, is foundational to the reverence and worship due Him.
In every circumstance, a child of God must lift up his voice in gratitude to the Lord, the source of our strength, the Keeper of our souls. The Apostle Paul stands as an example for us, because his faith in the Lord never failed. Even when he was face to face with death, he was grateful to the Lord; he was content with every situation he faced. And so Paul writes in Phil. 4:12-13, “I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Paul learned to be content with whatever came his way and thus trusted himself to the Lord. Instead of complaining when faced with suffering and threats to his life, Paul lifted up his voice in praise of God’s unfailing grace and supreme greatness. Paul understood the grace of God, he understood the purposes of God in the trials he faced and remained steadfast in the face of any unpleasant circumstance. He was content in both suffering and blessing and lived triumphantly, empowered by the Spirit of grace, to the glory of God.
Contentment is critical to growth in godliness. To understand the importance of this virtue, we must examine the horrendous effects discontent can have on one’s spiritual life. Discontentment is a sin that births other sins, such as: lust, covetousness, ingratitude, bitterness and anger toward God; it nourishes the heart of man with disobedience and pride, and impedes his growth in faith; it strips him of his joy and fills his heart with worry; it hampers his spiritual growth altogether, by causing him to stand, knowingly or ignorantly, against the will of God. To grow in godliness we must learn to be content with whatever God blesses us, and when troubles hit home as well. As Paul writes in 1 Tim. 6:6-8, “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.”
The Lord has blessed us with varied gifts. Not only are we to be content with what we have, but we are also to use our gifts to serve one another, so as to bring glory to our God. That is to say, as recipients of God’s grace, we are to be good stewards of the varied gifts we have received. We must use our gifts in a way that glorifies the Lord. For this reason, Peter writes in 1 Pet. 4:10-11, “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
For the glory of our Lord, we are to imitate Him in everything we do. In the same way He is gracious to us, we have been called to be gracious to others, even to those who do not like us. The Lord has shown us how we are to live in this hostile world – “When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly” (1 Pet. 2:23). Instead of taking revenge on those who persecuted Him, our Lord prayed for them. As followers of Christ, called to imitate our Lord and Saviour in his walk, no hatred, revenge, bitterness or unrighteous anger should rule our relationship with unbelievers. Although we must never tolerate the deeds of the world or seek to conform to its standards, we must have compassion towards those who are lost. Though they are hostile towards Christ our Lord, we must pray for their salvation, show them kindness and help them in times of need. For thus declares the Lord in Matt. 5:43-45, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
Our duty as recipients of God’s grace is to show others the path of peace, by sharing the good news of grace with them. We must tell the children of the world that they are sinners, we must expose to them the danger of sin and bring to their attention their need of Christ the Saviour. We are to bring to the Light what is hidden in the darkness and call people to repentance and faith in Christ. With confidence and boldness, we must preach Christ to the world, we must hold firm to the gospel, without being ashamed or afraid, without seeking to accommodate the world or to preserve ourselves – “for (as Paul writes in 2 Tim. 1:7-10), God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the Gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.” That is to say, we must all be willing to suffer for the sake of the Gospel, the Gospel of our salvation. It is our duty to share, protect, defend and preserve the Gospel. “For it has been granted to [us] on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him” (cf. Phil. 1:29).
We have been called to take to the world the Gospel of grace, the Good News of peace, the message of Christ, the Saviour of the world. In Him we have been given grace, for He died as the propitiation for our sins, so that everyone who believe in Him may not perish but have eternal life. Christ is the greatest of God’s gifts, the greatest manifestation of his grace to man. There is no other gift as great as Christ to us, sinners. He came into the world and lived the perfect life we can never live. He then laid down his life for the forgiveness of our sins and our reconciliation with God our Creator. He is the Lord and Saviour. “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Christ is the means by which sins are forgiven – the sins of those who turn to Him in repentance and faith. Such are reconciled to God and thus escape judgement.
But anyone who refuses to repent of their sins and believe on Christ Jesus will face the righteous and holy wrath of God. The self-righteous of this world, all those who rely on man-made religions, will face eternal destruction. For thus declares the Lord in Is. 50:11, “Look, all you who kindle a fire, who encircle yourselves with sparks: walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled – this you shall have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment.” There is no future, nor hope for those whose god is their natural desires. Those who continue to live in the flesh, to walk in the darkness and refuse to appreciate God’s grace, to give to the Lord the honour that belongs to Him, such store up for themselves wrath for the Day of Judgement. For it is written in Is. 5:11-12, “Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may follow intoxicating drink; who continue until night, till wine inflames them! The harp and the strings, the tambourine and flute, and wine are in their feasts; but they do not regard the work of the Lord, nor consider the operation of his hands.” All those who do not abandon their evil ways will be punished. Thus declares the Lord in Is. 13:11-12, “I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold, a man more than the golden wedge of Ophir.”
If you haven’t repented of your sins yet, I urge you today to lay down your pride and turn to Christ in repentance and faith; seek his tender mercies. Believe on the Lord Jesus, recognize your sins and your inability to appease God’s righteous and holy wrath. Seek God’s forgiveness and deliverance from sin, by casting yourself on the mercies of Christ, and grace will be given to you in abundance. Christ alone can help you settle the account of your sins and find peace with God. He is the Prince of Peace, He alone relieves the guilty conscience. The voice of the Lord is calling out to anyone who is burdened by their sins, “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance” (Is. 55:1-2). So humble yourself and recognize that you are a sinner and that you can’t save yourself. Cry out to Christ the Saviour. Do not let pride keep you forever at enmity with God. I urge you to repent of your sins and believe the Good News of grace.
Those who are ruled by pride cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; they will die in their sins and upon them the holy and righteous God will unleash his righteous wrath. Do not turn your back on the grace of God, do not let pride consume you. For it is written, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Pet. 5:5). He graciously justifies every repentant sinner who believes in his Son Jesus Christ; He crowns with everlasting life those who humble themselves and seek forgiveness in Christ the Saviour. So repent of your sins today and put your trust in Christ, and all your sins – past, present, future, will be forgiven; you will be washed from your wickedness by the precious blood of Christ and numbered among God’s children, and from his hand you will receive your share of inheritance when the Lord returns in the glory of his Father with his angels to judge the world. As Is.55:6 states it, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near”, for the day is coming when all those who dishonour the Lord will seek his face and shall find Him no more.
The Scripture gives us a foretaste of God’s abandonment of those who reject Him and persist in their evil ways. There are many instances in the Old Testament, where Israel’s rebellion against God is brought to our attention, to warn us of the danger of any hardening of heart against God. And we are also reminded that, “The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you” (cf. 2 Chr. 15:2). Among these instances, one that really captures my mind is when the people of Judah, for many generations, turned their backs on the Lord their God and devoted themselves to the worship of all kinds of false gods. The Lord sent his prophets to appeal them to abandon their evil ways. He stretched out his hands all day long to this rebellious people, who walked in a way that was not good, according to their own thoughts; a people who provoked Him to anger continually to his face; who sacrificed in gardens, and burned incense on altars of brick; who ate swine’s flesh, whose vessels contained the broth of abominable things; and who said, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am holier than you’ (cf. Is. 65:2-5). But instead of obeying the voice of the Lord, instead of seeking shelter under his wings, the people deliberately resisted God’s call to repentance, and persisted in their idolatry. Hence, the Lord was angry and forbade Jeremiah to even pray for them. Thus declares the Lord in Jer. 11:14, “do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble.”
Just like Judah’s rebellion against God, their iniquities, separated them from God and cast them out of his love, in the same way, those who refuse today to abandon their evil ways, anyone who refuses to appreciate the grace of God, revealed to us in the person of his Son Jesus Christ, will be utterly cast out; the Lord will hide his face from them and will not answer them when they call upon Him in the day of trouble, when the fire of judgement will rain down on earth and burn the sons of disobedience. But mercy and salvation is available now to everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, anyone who turns to Him in repentance and faith. Flee to Christ and you will be saved.