Delivering Grace

As we pray the Lord’s Prayer we come to that short line, “Deliver us from evil”.  Do we ponder its meaning?  Do we focus on its promise?  Do we let it slide by as we rush on to the end of the prayer and forget those four words?  O, what grace we find in them!  He has delivering grace for us.

This word is first used in the Old Testament in regard to God’s children in relation to their deliverance from the bondage of Pharaoh.  They were slaves with an evil task master who cared nothing for their welfare and even sought their death.  Truly Pharaoh was a picture of Satan.  The children of Israel cried out with groans that reached heaven and God delivered them from Pharaoh.  He delivered them from evil.  That was saving grace, but it wasn’t the end of delivering grace. 

In the wilderness there was no water.  God provided water from a rock, and the New Testament tells us that that Rock was Christ.  In the wilderness there was no food.  God provided them with manna from heaven.  In the New Testament we learn that Jesus is the Bread of Life.  In the wilderness there were no stores, but God provided for the people by causing what they had to not wear out.  Jesus clothes us with the eternal robe of His righteousness and covers our feet with the eternal Gospel of peace.  He delivers us from the evils of the wilderness by His watch care and love. 

Still Satan lurks everyday to harm us.  As Pharaoh chased the children of Israel even after they were set free, so Satan chases us.  The wilderness of the world still confronts us with its many dangers.  This world is no friend to the Gospel or to Christ.  We ask from God’s gracious hand a simple blessing, deliver us from evil.  In His grace God takes our hand in His and leads the way.

Martin Rinkart’s great hymn “Now Thank We All Our God” speaks of God’s wondrous deliverance in the second verse.  His children had again been assailed by Satan’ forces, but prevailed.

“O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us. With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us; and keep us in His grace and guide us when perplexed, and free us from all ills, in this world and the next.”  

The Friday Benediction

Until Monday, my friends, may the good God envelop you with His grace; may you prove the common confession of faith, “I believe in the holy Christian church and in the fellowship of the saints”, and may you be enriched with joy and hope as you exercise that confession this weekend.  Amen

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Calming Grace

Are you familiar with the old gospel song “Master, the Tempest Is Raging”?  From childhood it has been in the top 10 of my favorites list.  It rolls like the raging sea.  It has huge crescendos followed by double pianissimos.  It is a song that is truly alive.  One day when I was filling the pulpit in a different church I mentioned that song in my sermon.  I received a lot of blank stares, but the few who knew it brightened considerably.  After the sermon the organist went to her instrument and played it by heart. 

  At the end of the first crashing verse, which is a full page long, the song hits the brakes into a slower speed and reduces from a double loud to double soft sound.  But then it builds again throughout the full page chorus to a rousing pitch before colliding with a new slower tempo and finishing with a double soft voice.  Wow!!  The last two lines of the chorus read, “They all shall sweetly obey My will, peace be still, peace be still.  They all shall sweetly obey My will, peace, peace, be still.” 

Does that song sound like your life?  Does it sometimes crash and rush and build to a frenzied pitch?  Do the events of your life sometimes to seem to rage out of control until you feel you are perishing?  In the third line of the first verse of this song you can hear the disciples cry out, “Carest Thou not that we perish?”  Have you ever been there?  Then there is grace for you.

It is called calming grace.  Jesus rose up in that boat and said, “Peace, be still” and it was.  Jesus is ever present to calm the rage and offer peace in the midst of the storm.  He is there to calm the grief and offer hope of reunion.  He is there; He is there; He is there!  I am not into mantras, but if you would really like to have one here it is, “Jesus is here.”  What He is doing here is pouring out His grace into the needs of our lives.  He is here to comfort and to calm.  He is here to settle our fears into His certainty and to assure us that His power supersedes our needs.  “Jesus is here.  Peace, be still.”  Here is the first verse and chorus of Mary Baker’s great song.

Master, the tempest is raging!  The billows are tossing high!  The sky is o’ershadowed with blackness, no shelter or help is nigh.

“Carest Thou not that we perish?” How canst Thou lie asleep, when each moment so madly is threatening a grave in the angry deep?

The winds and the waves shall obey My will, Peace, be still!  Whether the wrath of the storm tossed sea, or demons or men or whatever it be, no water can swallow the ship where lies, the Master of ocean and earth and skies.  They all shall sweetly obey My will; Peace be still, peace, be still.  They all shall sweetly obey My will; Peace, peace, be still!

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Binding Grace

While abiding grace is the presence of Christ in us, binding grace is the blessing of our unity with Him and with His children.  Otis Skilling’s “We Are One in the Bond of Love” and Bob Gillman’s “Bind Us Together” are musical representations of this aspect of grace.  It is the wonderful grace of God that can take the rich the poor, the professional and the laborer, the black and the white and have them all join hands in harmony and sing these songs.  It is the moving of God’s grace that breaks down the barriers of culture, education, station or income and make everyone see their unity in Christ.

Sadly this is a manifestation of grace that is often lacking in churches.  People gather on Sunday morning and sing together and then depart and see each other no more until the next Sunday.  The desired oneness in Christ is left in the pew.  Those seeking true fellowship and joy in the family of God can begin to feel pretty lonely in such an environment.  God created us to be in union and communion with other believers.  He calls us to “familyhood” in Him.  He calls the Church collectively His bride and we are each part of being that bride but we are not the bride in and of ourselves.  The unity of Sunday morning is not to pass away on Monday morning.  We are still to see ourselves as one in Him and one with each other.

Peter comments at the end of his second letter that we are to grow in grace.  It means that all the graces that God has in store for us need to be nurtured just as our bodies need to be nurtured to grow physically.  Christ has implanted binding grace into the very nature of His Church body.  God has implanted a gene for hair on our head in the DNA of our body, but He expects us to maintain our hair.  He has implanted a gene for teeth in our mouth in the DNA of our body, but he expects us to maintain our teeth.  He has implanted a gene for true unity and fellowship in the DNA of our new birth, but He expects us to maintain it so that it grows properly for His glory. 

In John 17 Jesus gave His high priestly prayer for the Church. He prayed that we would be one as He and the Father are one.  He prayed that the world we see the oneness of God in the oneness of His Church.  That is binding grace and we need to grow in it for the joy of our Christian lives and the beauty of our testimony.  The best song ever written on this topic came from a pastor of a small church in rural England, “Blest Be the Tie that Binds”.

Blest be the tie that binds, our hearts in Christian love,

The fellowship of kindred minds, is like to that above.

We share our mutual woes, our mutual burdens bear

And often for each other flows the sympathizing tear.

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Abiding Grace

Are you uncomfortable going to funerals or visitations?  It is nearly a phobia for many people.  It is not the deceased they are uncomfortable with; it is the living.  The primary fear that exists is simply, “What do I say?”  The reality that nothing that is said will really matter too much.  It is the presence of a friend or loved one or a mere acquaintance that matters the most.  It is caring enough to abide with the grieving if even for only a few minutes.

Here is a grace of God that should bring each believer great comfort and consolation.  Jesus abides with us.  He gives us abiding grace.  When we believe the Gospel message then a simple and wonderful thing happens.  Jesus comes to abide in us.  The word picture can be seen as one who takes a tent stake and drives it deep into the earth so that the tent stays standing even in fierce storms.  Jesus drives the stake of His presence deeply into us.  He sets up shop, so to speak, in our lives.  The book of John puts it that we abide with Him and Him with us.  We dwell together in the tent of our new birth and life with Christ.

When the storms of life assail us, He is there.  When the joys of life uplift us, He is there.  When doubts and fears beset us, He is there. In the mundaneness of everyday living, He is there. When we are busy, He is there.  When we are lonely, He is there.  When we age and everyone else seems to pass us by, He is there.  When we are tempted, He is there.  When we yield to temptation, He is still there and He is ready to hear our confession and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  He abides with us. 

When Jesus ascended into heaven He spoke to His followers and said, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”  He wasn’t waxing poetic.  He was speaking words of dearest comfort.  He said, “I am with you.”  That is what we bring to the grieving at a visitation or a funeral.  It is a simple statement made without words.  I am here and I care.  Jesus is with us always and He always cares.

Henry Lyte, who knew his health was declining and his ministry ending, wrote this simple song that has brought comfort to so many millions of people.  “Abide with Me.”

Abide with me, fast falls the eventide, the darkness deepens, Lord with me abide

When other helpers fail and comforts flee, help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day.  Earth’s joys grow dim, it glories pass away,

Change and decay in all around I see, O Thou who changest not abide with me.  

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Grace from A – Z: Zealous Grace

In Annie Coghill’s revival hymn “Work, for the Night Is Coming” we are constantly reminded to work.  How are we to work?  We are to work zealously.  Paul told Titus to tell his congregation to be zealous for good works.  Why are we to be zealous for good works?  We are to do this in response to God’s grace to us.  We were saved by grace to be zealous for good works so that men might see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven.  We conclude our alphabet today with “Z” for zealous grace. 

In many of the ways that we have seen grace going through the grace alphabet, it has been the work of God’s grace toward us.  But grace toward us is also to be grace in us and grace through us.  We are now to manifest the greatness of God’s grace as we live in this world.  He did not extend His wonderful grace to us that we might just soak it up like a sponge.  A saturated sponge is a soggy thing.  We are to keep the sponge busy spreading around the grace of God and then get our sponges refilled to spread it around some more.  That spreading around of God’s grace is called good works and we are to be zealous to do them.

We see that Jesus was Himself zealous for the work of God.  John records in his gospel that when Jesus cleansed the temple it fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy that He would be zealous for His Father’s house.  Today we are His Father’s house.  We have become the temple of God.  We need to be zealous in doing good works for those in the church first.  But we are also servants in the Father’s field which is the world.  We need to be as zealous to reap in His field as we are to do good works for those who are His temple. 

Annie Coghill’s song reminds us that we only have so much time to work.  We should not put off getting it done until some more convenient time.  Satan will lure us with many things that will mean we will never find a convenient time.  Paul wrote, “Behold, now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.”  Not only do we have a limited time to do God’s work, others have a limited time to hear it.  Let us sing joyfully and zealously as we get about the work of God.  “Work, for the night is coming. Work through the morning hours.  Work when the dew is sparkling.  Work mid springing flowers . . . Work for the night is coming, when man works no more.”  Go forth with zeal and work with zealous grace.     

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Grace from A – Z: Yearned for Grace

In her sweet testimonial hymn “Satisfied!” Clara Williams clearly captures the condition of humanity.  Her opening stanza “All my life long I had panted for a drink from some clear spring that I thought would quench the burning of the thirst I felt within” paints an accurate picture of the desires of mankind.  While not seeking for God, which Romans 3 emphatically points out that we do not do, we search for the benefits of the grace of God.  We yearn for grace. Yearned will be our “Y” in alphabetizing grace. 

What do we yearn for that grace provides?  We yearn for forgiveness from all our sins against God and man.  People realize that simple self forgiveness is not enough.  In Christ we have complete forgiveness through the grace of God.  We yearn for hope.  The macro-world and the micro-world often set us into a state of despondency.  All is not right and the future is very uncertain.  Where is hope?  The Bible says hope comes from God and His abundant grace.  When both the macro-world and micro-world are spinning out of control both now and the future, God is the same and offers the constancy of hope.  We yearn for a certainty of a positive outcome after death.  The Bible tells us that that certainty is heaven and it is reached by grace through faith in the work of Christ on the cross.  We yearn for a constant friend. Worldly friends and family can often be fickle or unresponsive to us.  This is why Joseph Scriven’s hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” resonates so loudly.  The world wants a constant friend and by grace God has given His Son to be ours. 

Technically we do not yearn for God.  We do, however, yearn for the blessings of God.  We should take heart that the God of those blessings came to seek us out and give them to us.  One of the simplest and easiest to remember of all verses in the Bible is this verse of comfort, purpose and hope in Luke 19:10.  “For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”  Grace sought us that we might have the yearnings of our hearts fulfilled.  With Clara Williams sing her triumphant chorus, “Hallelujah! I have found Him Whom my soul so long has craved! Jesus satisfies my longings – through His blood I now am saved.”  O the great fulfillment of yearned for grace!  

The Friday Benediction

Until Monday, my friends, may the good God envelop you with His grace; may you prove the common confession of faith, “I believe in the holy Christian church and in the fellowship of the saints”, and may you be enriched with joy and hope as you exercise that confession this weekend.  Amen

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Grace from A – Z: Xaris Equals Grace

In any good treasure hunting movie we learn that “X” marks the spot.  Our “X” is for Xaris, the Greek word for Grace.  It is pronounced with a “CH” sound as in Christian.  Our English letter “x” comes from this letter, but it did not keep the sound.  What we do like the sound of, however, is the sound of grace as in John Newton’s hymn, “Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound”. 

Xaris is on the list of frequently used words in the New Testament.  It is used 153 times. It is the mother word for Xara which is used 59 times, Xairo which is used 74 times, Xarisma which is used 17 times, euXaristos which is used 55 times and Xaristao which is used only twice.  All forms of this word are used 300 times in the New Testament.  That means that it is a pretty “x”citing word to learn.  Grace is indeed “x”citing.  Just the thought of God’s amazing grace should get us up and singing a rousing chorus of praise.

Xaris is also an “x”ceedingly important word.  Without it there is no joy (Xara), no thanksgiving (euXaristos), no rejoicing (Xairo) not to mention none of God’s wonderful gifts (Xarisma).  What would the Christian do without these “x”ceedingly important parts of God’s wonderful grace?  These beautiful words are also translated as favor, gladness, accepted, thanks and variations of these words.  All that is part of God’s “x”ceedingly wonderful and “x”citing grace.  When we think of grace we need to grasp the whole of what it means.  It means everything that we find necessary for a positive outlook on life.  It means everything that makes us really pleasing to those around us.  It means everything required for personal peace.  All of this is wrapped up in one little word “grace”. 

It is no wonder that so many songs are written about grace.  Philip Doddridge wrote a hymn that is little used anymore.  It is titled “Grace! ‘Tis a Charming Sound”.  The first stanza reads, “Grace! ‘Tis a charming sound, harmonious to the ear; heaven with the echo shall resound, and all the earth shall hear.”  The fifth stanza concludes with a plea to make God’s “x”citing grace an integral part of our life.  “O let Thy grace inspire, my soul with strength divine; may all my powers to Thee aspire, and all my days be Thine.”  That is truly a proper attitude toward God’s “x”ceedingly wonderful grace.  

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Grace from A – Z: Wonderful Grace

Haldor Lillenas’s great hymn “Wonderful Grace of Jesus” is aimed at making one point very clear - the grace of God is wonderful.  Each stanza begins with “wonderful grace of Jesus” and each stanza ends with “wonderful grace of Jesus”.  We have reached “W” and that will be for the wonderful grace of Jesus.

What does wonderful really mean to us?  Its actual definition means to fill with wonder.  It could be used in a negative way.  At the end of a long day at work the boss brings in a stack of papers that need to be finished before you can go home.  “Wonderful,” you mutter under your breath.  Of course, it fills you with wonder at how the boss could be so inconsiderate to wait until 4:45 to dump three more hours of work on you.  That would be a negative wonderful. 

Then you see the sharpest, speediest and most efficient worker in the office go past your door.  She looks in and sees what has just happened.  She comes into your office and takes off her coat and says, “We can probably get this done in an hour if we work together.” 

Wow!  You say, “Wonderful!  Thank you so much!”  That is positive wonderful and it fills you with wonder at the kindness, the concern, the care, the camaraderie and the self sacrificing nature of your co-worker.  You are filled with wonder that anyone could do such an onerous task in your behalf.  It fills you with gratitude and joy and peace and thanksgiving.   That is the wonderful grace of Jesus. 

Jesus said, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”  He has taken the burden of our sin and nailed it to Calvary’s cross.  He has taken the burden of our condemnation and carried it to hell and rose again to life for our hope.  He has promised to never leave us or forsake us.  He has promised to be there as our burden bearer for all time and eternity.  Isn’t that wonderful?  He did all that for us when we were yet sinners and opposed to him in mind, heart and body.  He did it all by His wonderful grace. 

We need to sing of His grace. We need to proclaim such wonderful grace from the housetops. We need to respond in genuine gratitude demonstrated in our daily lives for such wonderful grace.  Indeed we can sing with Haldor Lillenas, “Wonderful grace of Jesus, greater than all my sin.  How shall my tongue describe it?  Where shall its praise begin?”  O the wonderful, wonderful exceedingly wonderful grace of God.  

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Grace from A – Z: Victorious Grace

Fanny Crosby’s rousing and triumphant anthem “Victory Through Grace” proclaims the mighty power of God’s grace for the soldiers of the cross.  The chorus makes it clear that God’s people will not conquer by strength or speed.  They will have their victory through the promised grace of God.  “Not to the strong is the battle, not to the swift is the race.  Yet to the true and the faithful victory is promised through grace.” 

In conflict after conflict the Bible promises this victory through grace.  In Ephesians 2 God promises victory over the conflict of death by His quickening grace.  In Romans 5 God promises victory over the conflict of condemnation by His justifying grace.  In Romans 4 and all of Galatians God promises victory over our conflict with the law by His saving grace.  In II Corinthians 12 God promises victory over the conflict of the weakness of our flesh by His sufficient grace.  In Hebrews 4 God promises victory over the conflict of the despairs of life at His throne of grace. 

As we face the conflicts of life we must always remember that the God of grace is still our God.  Trials, despairs, conflicts, sin, weakness and all other problems of living in this shell of flesh do not separate us from Him. He knows our needs and does not leave us alone to face them.  Jesus came and lived here and experienced sorrows, temptations, trials, hurts and rejection.  Our God of grace fully understands all that we face each day.  We are not alone.  We have One with us, our Ruler, our King, our Victorious Leader, our Risen Savior who is able to sustain us by His grace in everything we face both now and unto eternity. 

With Fanny Crosby we need to stand and sing.  We need to raise our voices loudly in the triumphant proclamation of victory through grace.

 “Conquering now and still to conquer rideth the King in His might! Leading the host of all the faithful into the midst of the fight; see them with courage advancing, clad in their brilliant array, shouting the name of their Leader, hear them exultingly say.  Not to the strong is the battle, not to the swift is the race.  Yet to the true and the faithful victory is promised through GRACE!”

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Grace from A – Z: Unmerited Grace

We return today to Daniel Whittle’s hymn “I Know Whom I Have Believed”.  The first stanza of this hymn contains the key idea for God’s unmerited Grace.  Whittle wrote, “I know not why God’s wondrous grace to me he hath made known, nor why, unworthy, Christ in love redeemed me for His own.”  Unworthy clearly states our condition.   Grace clearly states God’s response.

Why was God moved to save sinners such as us? Was it our good looks?  Was it our natural abilities?  Was it our keen intellects?  Was it our good conduct?  Was it our financial standing?  Was it our important standing in the community? Was it the good benefits that we could offer Him?  Obviously these were not the reasons. Paul told the Corinthians that God did not choose the wise, the mighty, or the noble.  Rather, God chose the weak, the foolish, the despised and those which are accounted as nothing. 

We bring nothing to God.  Our best efforts, Isaiah said, are just a pile of leprosy infected rags.  Peter said our money can’t buy God’s blessing of Jesus Christ.  Paul said that we can’t bring God our works or we would have something to boast about.  We come to God naked, poor, needy and sick.  We come to God as completely tainted failures.  We come, as Daniel Whittle said, unworthy.

That is what makes grace so wonderful.  We do not merit it. God gives it.  God pours out His matchless love, His matchless care, His matchless provision not in response to our value but in response solely to His grace.  Such a gift is too high for us to comprehend.  Such a sacrifice is too great for us to understand.  Our comprehension or understanding, however, is not necessary.  What God wants is for us to receive His grace.  He wants us to take the gift He offers.  He wants us to become His children.  He wants to display His grace to the world by displaying His grace in us, unworthy, unfit, unclean sinners who have been changed by the grace of God.  Let us respond to this great grace by having our lives conform to the familiar words of Elvina Hall’s great consecration hymn “Jesus Paid it All”.  The third verse and chorus read, “For nothing good have I, whereby Thy grace to claim. I’ll wash my garments white in the blood of Calvary’s Lamb. Jesus paid it all; all to Him I owe.  Sin had left a crimson stain; He washed it white as snow.”  Thanks be to God for His unmerited grace.   

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Grace from A – Z: Thankful Grace

My favorite holiday of the year is Thanksgiving.  It is a time for family and feasting and singing great songs of praise.  When we consider the origin of some of our favorite Thanksgiving hymns, it inspires us to give ever more heartfelt praise to God for His grace.  Martin Rinkart who wrote “Now Thank We All Our God” did so in the midst of the 30 Years War in Germany.  At the time he wrote this hymn he was serving as the only pastor left living in his city and there was a plague going on.  Think of that as the backdrop for your next Thanksgiving Day celebration.  Another great Thanksgiving hymn is “We Gather Together”.  It was written in the Netherlands during the brutal attacks by the Spanish king against the Dutch Protestants.  War ravaged their land for two generations.   It was called the 80 Years War.  

How could these people be so thankful in the midst of such overwhelming calamities in their lives?  They were thankful for the care they saw coming from God each day.  They were thankful for the certainty of His grace toward them.  They did not equate God’s grace and care with having everything they could imagine in a material way.  They understood that grace and care are ongoing in adversity.  They understood that grace and care were eternal and that what they were experiencing was not what they would always experience.  They were convinced that the words of Paul in Romans 8:36-39 were absolutely true.  They were thankful for a sovereign God who would undergird them in life and keep them in death. 

Thanksgiving is totally integrated into God’s grace.  The very word “thanksgiving” as found in our New Testament is a derivative of the word grace.  Without the word “grace” there is no word “thanksgiving”.  The New Testament word “eucharist” is translated thanksgiving.  It is the same word that we use “Eucharist” to describe the thanksgiving feast of the Lord’s Table.  Perhaps a very literal translation of the word could be “built upon grace”.  That is what thanksgiving is, an attitude of the believer founded on the sure grace of God. 

With Martin Rinkart we can joyously sing with hope and thanksgiving, “O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us.  With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us; and keep us in His GRACE, and guide us when perplexed, and free us from all ills in this world and the next.”  Let God’s rich grace produce genuine thanksgiving in His people. 

The Friday Benediction

Until Monday, my friends, may the good God envelop you with His grace; may you prove the common confession of faith, “I believe in the holy Christian church and in the fellowship of the saints”, and may you be enriched with joy and hope as you exercise that confession this weekend.  Amen

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Grace from A – Z: Safe Grace

If I could travel back in time I would like to meet two great women hymnists, Lena Sandell and Frances Havergal.  Their hymns of worship and consecration have greatly enriched the singing of Christ’s church.  Their heart of devotion and faith minister the hope, grace and peace of God to all who will meditate on their words.  One of my absolute favorite hymns is by Lena Sandell, “Children of the Heavenly Father”.  The first line reads, “Children of the Heavenly Father, safely in His bosom gather.  Nesting bird nor star in heaven such a refuge e’er was given.” 

God’s grace is the safest place to be.  Men seek refuge in all manner of things.  They seek safety in financial security.  They seek safety in military might.  They seek safety in medical technology. They seek safety in political power.  They seek safety in knowledge. They constantly seek safety in the things that they can make or hold.  Lena Sandell knew that safety comes from none of those.  Safety comes from the grace of God.  It is only as we throw ourselves on the mercy of His grace that we will ever learn or ever possess true safety.

Jesus tells us that the world of Noah’s day is no different than the world of today.  People were running around doing all the things that people do to have a happy and secure life.  One man, however, sought something different.  He sought God.  That man was Noah and Genesis six tells us that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  By grace he and his family were saved when all the rest of the world perished.  Grace was the safest place to be. 

Grace will comfort us with its safety in every storm of life.  Grace will assure us with its safety in every trial we face.  Grace will uphold us with its safety in every need that we confront. Grace will wrap us safely in the arms of Jesus where our hope and peace and joy is secured by His mighty power forever and forever.  America’s greatest female hymnist, Fanny Crosby, wrote these words that echo those of Lena Sandell.  “Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe on His gentle breast; there by His love o’er shaded, sweetly my soul shall rest.”  Rest in the safe arms of God’s grace today.  

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Grace from A – Z: Ready Grace

Whenever we have a hymn sing where people can choose the songs they want to sing, one of the first ones always chosen is Joseph Scriven’s “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”.  The message of this hymn resonates with everyone.  All of us have sins, griefs, trials, loneliness and cares.  All of us at some point need a friend to come alongside us and comfort us, lift us up, care for us and help us on our way.  Jesus is that someone and He has His grace ready to give us in every need.  His “ready” grace will be our “R” in alphabetizing grace.

The author of Hebrews says in 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”  The offer has been placed on the table by God.  If you need grace to help, ask and it shall be given.  If you need mercy, ask and it shall be given.  If you need to talk, talk and I will listen.  He is ready to hear and to meet our needs with His grace.  His grace is always ready to be poured out to His dear children. 

Jesus likens this need meeting grace to a father’s care for his children. If they need bread he will not give a stone.  If they need fish he will not give a scorpion.  So it is with God’s grace.  He isn’t waiting to disappoint us; He is waiting for us to ask that He might pour out the fullness of His grace to meet our needs.  Ask of Him and He will be ready for He loves His children so much that He gave His own Son to die for us.  What then can His gracious hand withhold? 

The readiness of Christ to bestow grace in the hour of our need reminds me of an old Gospel song written by Frederick Lehman that the Willow Wood Boys (a Gospel group I sang with) used to do. “The Royal Telephone” has this first verse and chorus: “Central’s never ‘busy,’ always on the line; you may hear from Heaven almost any time; ’Tis a royal service, free for one and all; when you get in trouble, give this royal line a call.  (Refrain) Telephone to glory, O what joy divine! I can feel the current moving on the line, built by God the Father for His loved and own; we may talk to Jesus thru this royal telephone.” Talk with Him today and find His grace “ready” in your time of need.

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Grace from A – Z: Quickening Grace

William Sleeper’s great evangelistic hymn “Ye Must Be Born Again” expresses a clear message of our spiritual state.  It can be summarized this way, “Once born, twice dead; twice born, never die”.  Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.”  Paul amplifies this explanation in Ephesians 2:4-5, “But God . . . even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved).” 

Quickened is an old fashioned word meaning to “make alive”.  We were dead in the spiritual realm and needed to be born again, quickened or made alive, in the spiritual realm.  Paul tells us that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.  Jesus says that that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.  God’s spirit enters a person and gives them rebirth.  This is done by the grace of God.  We are quickened by grace. 

This passage in Ephesians 2 is a young preacher’s delight.  It has the simplest 5 point outline of God’s grace. We are Dead in our trespasses and sin. (Vs 1)  We are Disobedient in our conduct before God and man. (Vs 2)  We are Doomed to the wrath of God. (Vs 3)  We are Delivered by the grace of God. (Vs 5)  We are Designed (by grace – vs. 8) for service to God. (Vs 10)  Anytime a simple devotion or Bible study is required on short notice, there is this great passage on grace in Ephesians 2. 

Having been quickened, born again, by God’s grace we can sing a new song of praise to our Redeemer.  John W. Peterson gave us a great new song for just this occasion.  The chorus resounds with the joy of being born again, “New life in Christ, abundant and free! What glories shine, what joys are mine, what wondrous blessings I see!  The past with its sin, the searching and strife, forever gone, there’s a bright new dawn!  For in Christ I have found NEW LIFE!” This is the blessing of quickening grace.  

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Grace from A – Z: Patient Grace

In Gary Paxton’s Gospel song “He Was There All the Time” he makes this simple statement about God’s grace, “He was there all the time, waiting patiently in line”.  In chapter after chapter and book after book in the Bible we see the unimaginable patience of God towards the subjects of His grace.  He calls; He woos; He pleads.  God’s loving grace is seen in the patience of His grace.  Our letter “P” will be patient grace.  

Imagine if God’s standard were “one and done”.  Humanity would have been wiped out in Eden.  When Moses asked Pharaoh to let His people go, Pharaoh made their labor harder.  The Israelites did not respond in faith toward God when that happened.  Israel would still be in bondage to Egypt.  David’s kingdom would have come to an end after the incident with Bathsheba.  Peter, the Christ denier, would be a footnote to the history of the church.  The apostle Paul would have been struck dead by lightening instead of being struck down by light. 

Imagine if God’s standard were “one and done” in our life.  How many received Christ as Savior on first hearing the Gospel?  How many have walked obediently with Christ every day since coming to Him for salvation?  How many trust Him fully in every situation of life?  We are no different than Adam and Eve, the Israelites, David, Peter or Paul.  We are human as they were.  We may think it remarkable that God could be so patient with them while we also need to be honest in how remarkable it is how patient God is with us. 

This patience of Grace, however, cannot lead us to two false conclusions.  The first is that God’s patience extends beyond our death if we have rejected His grace.  It is appointed on to man once to die and after that the judgment.  Judgment will be based on what we did with Christ.  The other error is to think that God is somehow so kindly viewing our constant rebellion that His grace will never allow Him to correct it.  Parental care requires the correction of rebellion in the home and God’s loving parental grace and care requires it in our lives as well.  Still, His Grace is seen in His great patience toward us as He woos the lost and shepherds His sheep.  Sing through Gary Paxton’s song today and praise God for His patient Grace.  

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Grace from A – Z: Grace of the Great O’s

In his stately hymn “Immortal, Invisible” Walter Smith lays out in beautiful pictures the grandness of God.  He uses phrasing like, “Most blessed, most glorious . . . almighty victorious” and “Unresting, unhasting nor wanting or wasting”.  We get a picture of a grand and glorious God who is unequaled.  We see the great God of the three O’s that we teach children are some of His key attributes: Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent. Since God is those things, so is grace.

When we think of the greatness of God’s forgiveness, we must realize that He knows all our sins.  He is omniscient.  There is nothing that we had ever done in open or in secret that He does not know.  We have never thought a thought that He did not hear.  All of the vileness of all of those sins was on our known record before God.  But in grace He sent His Son.  In grace He loved us.  In grace He forgave us.  That is the grace of omniscience.

How could He do something as unimaginable as that?  The most powerful court in the world could not erase and forget every thought, word and deed that offended God and man.  It would require someone who is all powerful, omnipotent, to accomplish that feat.  Our sins can be forgiven because He can.  He is powerful enough to accomplish all His will, and His will is to redeem sinful man from the curse of the fall and forgive all who will come to His Son in faith.  That is the grace of omnipotence.

How far does this grace extend?  We can hear it in His Word at church.  We can read about it in His Word at home.  What about at work where we are rightly concentrating on our jobs?  What about at play where we are concentrating on safety or a good time of camaraderie with our friends.  Yes, His grace is there as well.  His grace is there because He is there.  He who said, “I will never leave thee” meant it.  Where we go His grace goes with us.  It must because He is there with us as well.  That is omnipresent grace. 

Samuel Davies and John Newton combined in the great hymn “Great God of Wonders!” After extolling the very greatness of God they address the very heart of His glory as expressed in His grace. “But the fair glories of Thy grace, more Godlike and unrivaled shine.”  All the power and knowledge and presence of God shine forth in His grace.  Praise Him with the chorus of this Davies/Newton hymn, “Who is a pardoning God like thee? Or who has grace, so rich and free? Or who has grace so rich and free?”   

The Friday Benediction

Until Monday, my friends, may the good God envelop you with His grace; may you prove the common confession of faith, “I believe in the holy Christian church and in the fellowship of the saints”, and may you be enriched with joy and hope as you exercise that confession this weekend.  Amen

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Grace from A – Z: Necessary Grace

In Robert Lowry’s revival hymn “Nothing but the Blood”, the simple question is asked, “What can wash way my sin?” and answered, “Nothing but the blood of Jesus”.  Nothing could be more simple, straightforward or theologically correct.  We have a need.  We are doomed sinners.  In loving grace God sent His Son to die for our sins.  There was no other way, absolutely no other way, by which we could be saved from our sin and our doom.  What God did in grace was necessary for us and our eternal destiny.  Grace is necessary. 

It is not that man hasn’t tried to reach God without grace; it is just that man has and always will fail in the attempt to do so.  Adam and Eve bought into the satanic lie that we could be like God or equal to Him.  We have kept that same egoistic mentality for all the history of humanity.  Men have attempted to be gods by self declaration.  They have created gods more amenable to their own condition to feel more able to measure up to a godlike expectation.  Even when they consider the one true God they remain futile in their imaginations by assuming that they be worthy in themselves of His approval and acceptance.  All of this is a fantasy and leads to failure, death and doom. 

But, that is not the outcome desired by God.  We can never, we must never, forget the words of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son!”  Our church choir sang that yesterday as a beautiful reminder for us all.  Paul puts it this way in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrated His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  To restore men to fellowship with Him; to save them; to redeem them from the enemies possession; God had to do something.  It was necessary and He did it.  He gave His only Begotten Son.  It was the only way to buy back man from sin and its condemnation.  God’s grace excels all other graces in that He has done what is necessary even at the cost of the cross of His own dear Son Jesus Christ. 

It was and is necessary grace.  Nothing else can ever satisfy God’s demand for justice and righteousness. Ask it, “What can wash away my sin?” Answer it, “Nothing but the blood of Jesus!”  When nothing else can do, then that particular something is necessary.  Grace is God’s necessary response to our need.  Praise Him for it today.  Sing these lasting words of praise, “O Precious is the flow that made me white as snow; no other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.”   

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Grace from A – Z: Matchless Grace

Samuel Medley’s beautiful hymn of worship and praise, “His Matchless Worth”, concludes with this magnificent declaration, “Triumphant in His grace, Triumphant in His Grace.”  Haldor Lillenas in his epic hymn “Wonderful Grace of Jesus” begins his chorus, “Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus”.  What can compare to the grace of Jesus?  What can stand alongside it and say, “I am just as good as that.”  What else could gain eternity for sinful man and bless him on his way?  Nothing! Absolutely nothing!  The grace of Jesus Christ is matchless.

The author of Hebrews tells us in chapter 11 that there are passing pleasures of sin.  The King James Version calls them “the pleasures of sin for a season”.  They look all shiny and bright.  They beckon us from every TV ad, every billboard, every magazine or computer ad we see.  They shout out, “Come to me and be satisfied.  I will meet your need.  I will make you happy.  You deserve me.”  People pay thousands of dollars on seminars to learn how to be happy.  The things break.  The next seminar comes along with a new idea because the old one just didn’t work that well after all.  They all offered things to the flesh and the flesh perishes and all that feeds the flesh will also perish.  They look good.  They sound good.  But they don’t match up to their hype. 

Jesus isn’t like that at all.  His offer is matchless.  He surpasses all expectations.  He never fails.  He never breaks.  His truths don’t need an update.  Jesus does not perish and those who come to him will never perish either.  Every promise that He makes is a lasting promise.  They are heaven guaranteed promises.

The things of earth are bought with a price.  The more we value them the higher the price.  Jesus gave a matchless price for us.  Peter says that we have not been redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold (how odd that what we covet God calls corruptible) but with the precious blood of Christ.  Don Aldridge in his song “It Wouldn’t Be Enough” includes this line, “And I couldn't pay the price for one single drop of blood that was shed for my salvation.” Why wouldn’t it?  The triumphant and priceless grace of Jesus is truly matchless.  Not gold nor silver nor the passing pleasures of sin for a season are enough.  The wonderful grace of Jesus is matchless.  

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Grace from A – Z: Lifting Grace

Among the many of Charles Gabriel’s hymns and Gospel songs is the stirring “He Lifted Me”.  The chorus comes to a crescendo as it sings, “O praise His Name, He lifted (hold that note) me.”  The song begins, “In lovingkindness Jesus came (and we saw kindness yesterday), my soul in mercy to reclaim.  And from the depths of sin and shame, through GRACE He lifted me.”  Praise God for lifting grace, our “L” in alphabetizing grace.

In a long past and forgotten America I used to wend my way around the country using my thumb.  People would stop and crank (yes, crank) down their window and say, “Do you need a lift?”  I would hop in the car and away we would go somewhere toward my destination.  Without that “lift” I would make very slow progress.  I even “thumbed” it to candidate for my first pastoral position.  Believe me; I always appreciated the “lift”.

In life we are all on a road to eternity.  Everyone starts out on the wrong road, the broad way that leads to destruction.  That road, while seemingly filled with the glitter of promise, has very dark skies and many horrible terrors.  We find no real peace, joy or hope on that broad way.  We are all hitchhiking to hell.  We need someone to pick us up, give us a lift, and drive us to a different destination.  We all want hope, peace and joy.  We need a driver who can really take us there.  Jesus is the One who can do that.  He came to seek and to save that which was lost.  He has died that we might have the peace of forgiveness, rose that we might have the joy of justification and lives that we might have the hope of a real heavenly eternity.

 Jesus has commissioned us to ride along with Him picking up the lost.  He has commissioned us to go before Him and pass out notices to others on the broad way that He is coming along that road to give them a ride to somewhere where promises are real.  He died to give a true and eternal “lift” to a lost and truly hopeless humanity.  He did it all in grace. As Charles Gabriel put it so beautifully, “From sinking sand He lifted me.  With tender hand He lifted me.  From shades of night to plains of light, O Praise His Name, He lifted me.”  

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Grace from A – Z: Kind Grace

Keith and Kristyn Getty begin “Compassion Hymn” with these words, “There is an everlasting kindness You lavished on us.”  That is indeed what we find in the wonderful grace of God – kindness.  Kindness is such a simple idea but such a powerful and transforming act.  We have been transformed by God’s kindness to be kind.

Paul wrote the Ephesians, “But be ye kind, one to another, tenderhearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.” (4:32) As a pastor of nearly 40 years I can testify that one place that sees far too little of the kindness that Paul describes is the church.  Of all places where it should be easiest to manifest the kindness of God, it should be in the house of God.  It should be where we hear of His grace and are strengthened in the walk of grace.  We need to practice kindness in the church.

In Luke 6:35 Jesus uses this same word to describe how God is to those who are unthankful and evil.  Kindness is an integral part of the great grace of God.  It is a manifestation of His grace that we can participate in daily. Think of those to whom Jesus was kind.  There was the outcast leper who no one would help but Jesus.  There was the woman caught in adultery that the Pharisees wanted to unlawfully execute.  There was Syro-Phoneician woman who was a despised Gentile whose daughter Jesus healed.  There was Matthew the tax collector, Mary Magdalene the prostitute, the Mad Man of the Gadarenes and we cannot forget Peter after he denied Christ.  He was kind to them all.  Do we know many people who are “worse” than these?  We need to show the kindness of Christ to needy people in streets of our life each day.

Peter also uses this word “kindness”.  When we find it in I Peter 2:3, however, it is translated “gracious”.  The idea of the words is truly inseparable.  I would like to add another verse to Kate Wilkinson’s lovely devotional hymn “May the Mind of Christ, My Savior”.  Sing this with the same tune.  “May the grace of Christ my Savior flow from me for Him each day; that the world may see my Jesus, find in Him the way.”   

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Grace from A – Z: Joyous Grace

Whether it is the classic hymn by Henry Van Dyke “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee” based on Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony or J. Edward Ruark’s Gospel song “You May Have the Joy-Bells”, there are a lot of songs and hymns based on joy.  The simple Scripture chorus “Rejoice in the Lord Always” based on Philippians 4:4 gives a brief and easy way to remember to sing about the joy that God has given us.  Today we will use joy for our “J” in alphabetizing grace.

In the Greek New Testament, from which our English one is translated, the word “joy” is a derivative of the word “grace”.  If there were a family tree of vocabulary words then “Grace”, that beautiful woman we met at the start, is the mother of “Joy”.  Grace has other beautiful children we will meet along the way as well.  It is not just linguistically, however, that grace and joy are connected.  It is the very essence of the truth of grace that we should be filled with joy because of it.  John Newton wrote, “I once was lost but now I’m found.” What profound joy to be found after being lost!  What ecstasy in being safe!  Imagine being lost in the mountains, or on the vast ocean or in a dark forest for days.  Hope is all gone.  Then out of seemingly nowhere a rescuer finds you and returns you to hearth and home.  Joy!  We are lost in sin and our rescuer is Christ.  What absolute joy to be found! 

 Now, what would you do for that person who rescued you?  Would you walk away from them with indifference?  Would you send them a thank you by email?  Would you hug them and remember their name forever?  If they were ever to ask for your help with a real simple task, would you give it?  It would be your joy, your great joy, to put their picture on your mantle.  It would be your joy, your great joy, to go to the reception given in their honor.  It would by your joy, your great joy, to help them if you could.  Joy, like her mother Grace, becomes an action, not just a sentiment.  Oswald Smith expresses this joy in his wonderful hymn “There is Joy in Serving Jesus”.  He uses such rich phrases as “Joy that throbs within my heart”, “Joy that triumphs over pain”, “Joy that never will depart”.  This is the joy of grace.  This is joyous grace. 

The Friday Benediction

Until Monday, my friends, may the good God envelop you with His grace; may you prove the common confession of faith, “I believe in the holy Christian church and in the fellowship of the saints”, and may you be enriched with joy and hope as you exercise that confession this weekend.  Amen

You can contact me and find inspiring Christian books at my website: www.davidccraig.net

If you don’t already subscribe to this blog, you can do so and receive it each day M-F by choosing the Abundant Grace section on my website and signing up for free delivery every day.