To: Hebraic-Foundations@yahoogroups.com
From: "Pastor Buddy Martin" <Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org>
Subject: HF035 - The Mystery and Power of Grace
Date sent: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 10:40:47 -0500
Hebraics,
This is Bible Study HF035 - The Mystery and Power of Grace.
One of the most difficult issues to apprehend with regard to how
salvation works, is the issue of grace itself. Most often we think of
grace as 'unmerited favor.' Of course this is true enough. But this basic
definition of grace doesn't really tell us how grace works in the lives of
God's people.
Grace is not simply divine favor. It is God's strengthening power at work
in our lives. The prophet said, "He gives strength to the weary, and to
him who lacks might He increases power." (Isaiah 40:29) Paul heard this
truth, when the Lord said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for
[My] power is perfected in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9) One translation
has, "My power works best in your weakness." (NLT)
An Old Testament prophecy gives an idea of how God's redemptive
grace works. The Lord says, "I will pour out on the house of David
and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of
supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced;
and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and
they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a
firstborn." (Zechariah 12:10)
This Scripture is awesome in its projections. It points both to the
day of Pentecost, and also to the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Note carefully that this opening of the eyes is a work of the Spirit of
grace. And that the working of grace wraps itself around the Crucified
One. It can be said that God opened our blinded eyes to behold the Christ
of redemption. It is this opening of the eyes that gives us faith to
believe.
Did this not happen at Pentecost? We hear this in response to the
preaching of Peter. It says, "They were pierced to the heart, and
said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brethren, what shall we do?'"
(Acts 2:37)
Peter speaks to the people of the glorification of Jesus Christ, and God's
promise of the Spirit. He says, "For the promise is for you and your
children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will
call to Himself." (Verse 39) The promise had to do with the Spirit of
grace.
But this gracious working of the Spirit is not simply for the purpose of
bringing us to the Crucified One. The Spirit is forever ministering the
grace of the Crucified One into our lives. To follow this through, Jesus
said that the Holy Spirit would take the things that belong to Him, and
bring them to us. This is why John says, "For of His fullness we have all
received, and grace upon grace." (John 1:16) Believers are benefactors of
the full work of the cross.
So, a primary role of the Holy Spirit is to minister grace to those
who have been to the cross. But I am afraid our English language
does not catch the full impact of this statement made in John 1:16.
What the original Greek is expressing is one grace overtaking
another grace. The picture is grace taking the place of grace, even
before the prior grace is exhausted. But this work is always from
the cross. The cross is both our dying place, and our living place.
But we have an idea of this with the Old Testament sacrifices. The
Mosaic teaching was that whatever touches the altar of sacrifice, is made
holy. This teaching is fulfilled in the cross. The cross is not something
we merely come to for forgiveness of sins. We actually pass through the
cross. We pass out of death into life. We have been made holy in the
sacrifice of Christ. The cross now becomes our altar of grace.
But we seen this further in the Law of Moses. There was a
perpetual sacrifice to be made every morning and every evening of
two lambs. These lambs represent God's gracious love to His
people. These sacrifices were known as the 'morning and evening
sacrifice.' They were never to stop. What are they a picture of?
They are a picture of God's unending love and of the fullness of His
grace.
This is what Jeremiah had in mind, when he said, "The Lord's
lovingkindness indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning, Great is Your faithfulness."
(Lamentations 3:22,23)
In John 1:16, the emphasis is on two words. The emphatics are,
'His', and, 'fullness,' What the writer is saying is that we must
make sure that we understand the force of this truth. And the truth
of the statement is that all that Jesus has become in his
glorification, has been placed on the account of every true believer. And
it is this fullness of Christ that we draw from continually.
It is this fullness of Christ that is our guarantee of our future
placement in heaven. This is why John could later write, "As He is,
so also are we in this world." (1 John 4:17) This is also why the
apostle Paul said, "[He] raised us up with Him, and seated us with
Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:6) So
the Holy Spirit is always ministering the glorified Christ into our
hearts.
Paul said, "For by grace you have been saved (note the past tense)
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a
result of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:8,9) The short
side of this is, 'His grace saved me. "His grace is saving me. 'His grace
will save me.'
Again we can draw from the Old Testament prophet for a picture of
the emotions of God towards His people. God says, "What are
you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain;
and He will bring forth the top stone with shouts of 'Grace, grace to
it!'" (Zechariah 4:7)
While this prophecy pertains to the rebuilding of the temple, there
is a deeper truth. The prophet Zechariah is filled with inferences to
Messiah. There is no question that the "top stone" is figurative of
Messiah. The Hebrew word for 'top' is only used one time. It speaks of the
'Head.' Paul later wrote, "He is also head of the body, the church; and He
is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will
come to have first place in everything." (Colossians 1:18)
And so we have the strength and power of grace directed into our
lives from the finished work of the cross. You might refer to this as
'throne grace.' The writer said, "Therefore let us draw near with
confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find
grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16)
Actually grace is what gives beauty to our walk with the Lord. It is the
beauty of the Lord that is being ministered to our hearts. It is the
fountain of grace that we drink from. It is grace that gives us songs to
sing when we are beyond singing. And grace is the upward impulse of our
hearts that causes us to long for righteousness.
But as I said earlier, what gives grace its power is that we are living in
the outflow of the finished work of the cross. This is where we need to
understand the real distinction between how the Holy Spirit worked before
the cross, and how the Holy Spirit now works as a result of the cross.
The one Scripture that sets this forth is John 7:37-39. Jesus said,
"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who
believes in Me, as the Scriptures said, 'From his innermost being
will flow rivers of living water.' But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom
those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet
given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."
What happened after the cross, is that the Holy Spirit now comes
into the heart of a believer, as the Spirit of the glorified Jesus
Christ. No person on this planet, of any age, has ever had the Holy
Spirit in residence as the Spirit of the glorified Jesus Christ. This is
essentially what the "Abba! Father!" experience is referring to.
The apostle says, "For you have not received a spirit of slavery
leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons
by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!.'" (Romans 8:15) This is a cry of
sonship. It is the cry of consciousness. The Spirit has testified to our
spirit that we are of God's very children.
The covenant of Christ is about God's family. It has to do with
sonship. The grace we draw from is sonship grace. The grace we
draw from is unlimited. This is why we sing, 'Amazing Grace, how
sweet the sound.'
The study is open for discussion.
Shalom in Christ,
Buddy
Lawrence E. (Buddy) Martin, HF Host
email: Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org
Web: http://www.ChristianChallenge.org
"See to it that no one comes short of the grace
of God; that no root of bitterness springing up
causes trouble, and by it many be defiled." (Heb12:15)