7/14/2013
God's Grace Offered Forgiveness before we asked for it.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God ... Ephesians 2:8
God’s grace is amazing; He is known as the “God of all grace” [1 Peter 5:10] in the Holy Bible. When we think of God, do we think of how longsuffering and kind He is? We have disobeyed His holy laws (the very heart of God), we have thrown our fist up before Him, and we have tried to define our own righteousness rather than relying on His righteousness and His ways. Even as believers in Him, we often fail to be as gracious and kind as He is to us.
One day, a mother of two ran upstairs in her children’s room to find out why her older eight year old was screaming so loudly. She discovered the two year daughter was pulling on his hair; the mother assured the young man that his little sister didn’t mean to do that. “She doesn’t know pulling hair hurts so much” she informed him. Once she stopped her from pulling his hair, the mother believed she had resolved the situation. But only a few moments later, she returned when she heard a shriek from her daughter. She found her son had been pulling on her daughter’s hair; he said satisfied, “Well, now she knows what it feels like!”
The truth is, when we are hurt by someone else – we want that other person to know the pain we felt; this often causes us to retaliate in revenge, to speak badly about the other person, and to even reject the other person so that we would never talk to them. We wait for them to ask us forgiveness; but Jesus didn’t wait, He went straight to the cross to make salvation available for all of us.
So this week, remember that our sins hurt God. Instead of retaliating, instead of trying to harm us, the LORD Jesus died on the cross, paid the penalty for our sins, and offers forgiveness to us freely. If we don’t know Him as Savior, we must receive His forgiveness by repentance and faith. If we do know Christ as our Lord, we must forgive others just as He has forgiven us. That is … grace; God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.
Listen to the whole sermon below.
07.14.2013 - A Redeeming Grace - mp3link
Have you received the gift of eternal life? Click here.
The truth is, when we are hurt by someone else – we want that other person to know the pain we felt; this often causes us to retaliate in revenge, to speak badly about the other person, and to even reject the other person so that we would never talk to them. We wait for them to ask us forgiveness; but Jesus didn’t wait, He went straight to the cross to make salvation available for all of us.
So this week, remember that our sins hurt God. Instead of retaliating, instead of trying to harm us, the LORD Jesus died on the cross, paid the penalty for our sins, and offers forgiveness to us freely. If we don’t know Him as Savior, we must receive His forgiveness by repentance and faith. If we do know Christ as our Lord, we must forgive others just as He has forgiven us. That is … grace; God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.
Listen to the whole sermon below.
07.14.2013 - A Redeeming Grace - mp3link
Have you received the gift of eternal life? Click here.