Grace (Part 2)

Grace (Part 2)

It’s possible that sometime in your life things will totally fall apart and you will feel that you have nothing left. Let me tell you, there are two things that God will never take away. 

(1) God will never take away the gospel. 

In the most difficult days of your life you still stand before God clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Your sins are forgiven. Even your doubts are forgiven because Christ fully trusted the Father on your behalf. His grace will meet every need.

(2) God will never take away His promises. 

Grace will remain even if everything else is stripped away. You stand before God clothed in the righteousness of Christ. You may fail Him from time to time, but His grace will never fail you. He will never, never take the gospel away from you. And you will always have his promise, “never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Grace totally embraces two thoughts from the Scriptures: Perseverance and Endurance.

The word "perseverance" is very similar in meaning to the word "endurance", and we often equate the two. Yet there can be a subtle difference. The word "endure" means to stand firm, and that is the theme of grace. We are to stand firm because grace is a solid foundation we can build on. 

-We’re not to be carried about with every whim of doctrine. 

-We’re not to go off to this and that and the other. 

-We’re to stand firm on the solid rock grace given to us from God through Jesus Christ our Lord..

We need to do more than stand. We need to move forward. When Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have finished the race”, he was obviously he talking about completing his mission. It was his perseverance that gave him the means to keep going in spite of obstacles. So when Paul says, “I have finished the race,” basically he was saying, “I have persevered.” 

We do need to stand firm on the Rock Jesus and Scripture over and over again exhorts us to stand firm. But remember, that’s more than just standing still. If we get that idea alone, we’ve missed the point. 

-Grace commands us to move forward. 

-Grace demands our perseverance. We must be like Paul and say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 

-Grace always is enough to see us through the good and the ugly times of life.

"Where sin did abound, GRACE did much more abound."