Published on
March 31, 1998 in
2 Peter.
Read Introduction to 2 Peter
“As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.”
by glory
“Glory” in this context means heaven. Christians are headed for glory. He called us “to glory” (literally). God will glorify us in eternity because we believed in Christ in our lifetime.
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).
“Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2:10).
“But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 5:10-11).
The Lord Jesus calls us by means of His unique glory and virtue. The word “own” does not occur in this translation but we find it in the Greek text. The word “own” carries the idea of private, unique or peculiar possession. God called us to His “own unique glory.”
Glory refers to the ultimate triumph of the plan of God. You may be a loser but you will ultimately triumph in the plan of God. Some are losers because they accept defeat. The loser gives up. Losers usually are ignorant of God’s provisions.
Glory is a term of dignity and refers to God’s essence but here it means more. Glory is the fact that God designed a perfect plan for us. God designed a plan where He and we cannot lose.
and virtue
“Virtue” occurs five times in the New Testament. God calls us to virtue. “Virtue” is excellence, praises (1 Peter 2:9). This word has lost some of its meaning to us today. “Virtue” means excellence in workmanship. The work of Christ is a work of excellence. God calls us by His own merit and workmanship. Virtue is a quality of excellence that belongs to God.
Principle:
We will ultimately triumph in God’s plan for us.
Application:
Glory is the fact that God designed a perfect plan for us. God designed a plan where He cannot lose. You say, “He included me in His plan, doesn’t that make Him a loser?” No, God cannot lose because He made provision for any contingency we might face. Stand by for a shock–God’s plan is greater than you are! Even at your best, you are at your worst in God’s eyes. God is greater than your sin.
God’s glory is His perfect character plus the plan that comes from it. It is impossible for a perfect God to come up with an imperfect plan. The plan would indeed be imperfect if it depended on man and what man does. There is no place in God’s plan for the energy of the flesh.
Grace depends on who God is and what God has done, never on who we are and what we do. That is why we must function under God’s power and God’s provision. God’s glory takes His perfect plan and relates it to us. God will reveal ultimate glory in eternity. That is where He makes the plan experientially perfect in us. He made it judicially perfect when He sacrificed Christ on the cross.
God calls us to His Excellency. He is building excellent character in us. He called us with a definite purpose in mind. God is in the business of reproducing His Son in me (2 Timothy 1:9). I do not think any of us have been mistaken for the Lord Jesus lately. One of these days we will be like Him. In the meantime, we are supposed to become more and more like Him.
Published on
March 30, 1998 in
2 Peter.
Read Introduction to 2 Peter
“As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.”
who called us
The word “called” indicates our election. Our election is God’s plan in eternity past that sets aside everything we need to live before Him.
God’s plan took place before He created man. This is the meaning of predestination. Predestination is pre-design. Logically, God’s plan of salvation came before God’s creation of man. God’s plan for man came from eternity past. A perfect plan came from a perfect God. In this plan, there is no place for man to take the credit. All of it rests upon God because this plan took place in eternity.
God’s plan comes from God’s decrees. His decrees come from eternity past. In eternity past, God took cognizance of everyone who would ever live. God provided for our salvation in Christ before He decided to create.
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Romans 8:28-30).
“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9).
“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7).
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Ephesians 1:3-5).
Principle:
God anticipates every contingency we may face.
Application:
Regardless of their shortcomings, all believers have been called by God. We share the election of Christ. There never will be a time when we do not share this election with Christ. God must be perfectly consistent with His plan because He is immutable. He cannot change His election. God cannot change for that would mean He is not absolute.
Billions of years before creation God decided to elect Christ to resolve His own perfect righteousness. The death of Christ satisfied the demands of God’s absolute being, His perfect righteousness. Jesus propitiated the Father’s righteousness by His death on the cross. This is how God can love us in spite of our sin. God is free to love us because Jesus met the demands of His absolute being. God cannot by pass His absolute righteousness.
No matter how we may fail God, He cannot fail us. He must remain true to what Jesus did on the cross. No matter what we do, God must keep on loving us. Why? Because election describes who and what God is. We change every hour on the hour. God has never changed and will be consistent forever in His character.
We cannot change God’s plan. Once in that plan, even God cannot change this plan because He must be true to Himself. There is no sin too great for God to handle. There will never be a problem, catastrophe or disaster too great for the plan of God. God’s plan provides for any contingency. No one can commit a sin too great for this plan.
It is the epitome of human pride to believe there is some sin God did not anticipate from eternity past. Do you really think He did not examine every possible contingency for man? This assaults the essence of God and implies He is not perfect in everything He does. God overlooks nothing.
Immutability stabilizes everything. God is not about to change anytime, anywhere under any circumstance. That is hard for many people to swallow especially if we think we have something to offer Him. If we depend on who and what we are to gain God’s acceptance, we can never measure up to an absolute being. If we assume we are special because of our righteousness and God is under obligation to love us because we measure up, then we miss the principle. The principle is that we cannot change the love of God by what we do. God’s love for us comes from Christ and what He did on the cross.
Published on
March 29, 1998 in
2 Peter.
Read Introduction to 2 Peter
“As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.”
through the knowledge of Him
Christ is the source of knowledge mentioned in verse two. God the Father is the source of life and godliness in verse three. To know Christ is to know God; to know God is to know Christ. We can use God’s power for life and godliness when we know His power.
The emphasis is on “source.” By knowing God, we understand all things that pertain to life and godliness. This makes our knowledge firm and solid. We find out what God has provided for us as we read and study our Bible. The better we know our Bible, the better we know God.
This word for “knowledge” is different from the normal word for knowledge. There is a prefix in front of this word making it an intense term–”full-knowledge.” This is more than ordinary knowledge. It is a full-orbed knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10).
Principle:
The better we know God’s Word the better able we are to apply God’s principles for us.
Application:
The better we know God, the better able we are to appropriate all operating assets God has put at our disposal. What good is an asset if we do not use it? What good is my computer if I do not use it? What good are the provisions of God if we do not use them?
God catalogues all our assets in the Word of God. The child of God is supposed to read and study the Word so that he may be able to use his assets efficiently. The better we know the manual the better we can use the equipment. Where do you start? Too bad babies do not come with a manual!
We should know God better this year than we did last year. Our spiritual development should be further along than it was last year. Are you going forward or falling behind in your Christian walk? Are your spiritual wheels spinning without any progress?
Go forward, get ahead in your Christian walk. Just because you fall down, do not let that stop you. Don’t stay there. Get up. Don’t let time go by without confessing your sin. Deal with it immediately and move on.
If we do not confess sin immediately, we may develop attitude sins such as resentment and bitterness. If we do, we may fill our minds with self-pity. Then we will blame others. We will not be honest with ourselves. We will operate with a “hurt-orientation,” where everyone and everything hurts us. God may put us on the shelf with this. When we stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ there will be no doubt that the problem lies with us.
Have you lost your spiritual resiliency? Are your spiritual reflexes as quick as they should be? We need to deal with sin quickly and keep short accounts with God.
Is this stocktaking time for you? What is your spiritual inventory? Do you ever say, “Lord, I have been bitter toward….? I have been mean toward…. What is the matter with me? Why am I so ornery? Why am I wretched? God, I’m ready to blame everyone and anyone. I feel like biting their heads off. What is bothering me, Lord?”
Published on
March 28, 1998 in
2 Peter.
Read Introduction to 2 Peter
“As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.”
that pertain to life
“Life” includes not only eternal life but life as we now live it. God provides for our life now. This is divine life, not life that consists of issues, like food, clothing, and shelter. This is the vitality and animation of life with God.
The New Testament uses “life” to refer to the life of God. He has absolute fullness of life, both the essence of life and the ethics that flow from that life. His is the noble life, the highest and best life. Whatever truly lives does so because sin has not found its place in it. This is life in the absolute sense. It is more than nobility and power. It is life as God has it; it is life in the fullest sense.
God’s life is an abiding antithesis to death, a positive, free-from-death living. In other words, this is a life of glory, full of vitality. We can be fulfilled beings with abundant lives. God’s life is the furthest thing from mere existence. The vitality of God rules our entire life.
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
There is a corollary between life and holiness. We must have breath before behavior. We cannot live the Christian life without first having spiritual life to live it. We do not get life by goodness. Goodness comes from the life of God.
and godliness
“Godliness” is piety. It comes from two words: well and to worship. Godly people worship well. They direct their worship rightly. They pay their worth to God. We owe this response to God.Ancient Greeks used this word for the function of polytheism (Greek and Roman religions teaching there are many gods). “Godliness” carries a technical meaning in the New Testament; it has the idea of functioning in God’s plan. It is our devotion to God based on His provision for us.
“Godliness” is the opposite of religion. Godliness is having a true spiritual relationship God. Religion relates more to outward acts of religious observance or ceremony. Godliness, on the other hand, cherishes the will of God.
When we put “godliness” with the preposition “that,” we get the idea of living the whole Christian life before God. This includes both the Spirit-filled life and growth in the principles and application of the Christian life. In other words, this involves everything God expects of us in the Christian life. This is the entire structure of Christian living. God provided everything that pertains to living on earth.
Principle:
“Life” and “godliness” come from a real relationship with God.
Application:
When people come to Christ, they receive the highest life possible, eternal life. Eternal life gives us the capacity to live before God. Eternal life is the highest state a creature can have. Eternal life begins at the moment of salvation, not death (John 5:24). Eternal death comes through the sin of Adam and we inherit that death. Eternal life comes through Christ and we inherit His life when we believe in His death as the means of our salvation (Romans 5:12).
The power of God gives us new life (Colossians 2:12-13; Titus 3:4-5) and the ability to live godly lives (Philippians 2:12-13; 4:13).
Do you have a vital spiritual life? Is God real to you? There is no excuse for not living vitally before God because we have His power for “all things.”
Published on
March 27, 1998 in
2 Peter.
Read Introduction to 2 Peter
“As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.”
has given to us all things
The words “has given” mean to bestow, to grant (1John 3:1; 2 Corinthians 8:1). The idea is that of something freely given. This word “given” is a rare term for giving and is much stronger than the normal word for giving. The idea is to grant or bestow freely without strings attached. Great generosity is the idea. God grants Christians gifts for living. This term always implies the grace of God. God freely gives to us.
Often “given” carries the idea of a promissory note. God wrote a promise to pay on demand what we need to live the Christian life. This is pure grace maintained at the Father’s expense.
“Given” means to give with no strings attached. God does not say, “If you do this or that, I will give this or that. If you give a tithe to me, I will bless you. If you witness for me, I will bless you.” No, God gives freely, without strings. He does this out of His own perfect character. In other words, He does not benefit personally from what you do. He does not benefit from what He gives us. He gives simply out of His perfectly generous character. He does it no other way.
The words “have given” are in the perfect tense in the Greek. At a point in the past (eternity past) God set up a trust fund with our name on it because He knew we would accept Jesus Christ as our Savior in this century. No lapse of time diminishes, destroys, removes or negates this trust fund because it rests on the character of God, especially God’s power. God gives to us based on what He is and does. God does this Himself (middle voice in the Greek). The middle voice can be translated “He Himself has given without strings.” This puts emphasis on the Giver.
What does God give us? “All things.” The name of our trust fund is “all things.” This trust fund contains a portfolio of thousands of things God planned for you. God does this for each Christian with no exceptions and no limits to His grace for us.
On page 3264 of this trust fund, there is a day where God designed 35 blessings for you but you are out of fellowship. You cannot claim those blessing because you are out of tune with God and His provisions for you. You are operating in self-pity and cannot see what God is doing with your life.
Principle:
God gives us a promissory note to live the Christian life freely, out of His grace.
Application:
Suppose I say to you, “I’ll give you $200 for installing a hard drive in my computer next Tuesday.” You say, “OK, I’ll do that.” In this case, there is a string. For some reason you did not come Tuesday. You may give a number of excuses for not coming. Whatever the excuse, it makes no difference, you do not get your $200. There is a string attached to my offer of giving you $200. God, however, does not have any strings attached to His giving. This is grace.
If we feel sorry for sin in order to seek forgiveness from God, this is not grace. The string in this case is feeling sorry. Feeling sorry is a work on our part to placate God. This insults God for God has already been placated by the death of Christ. We do not beg God to forgive us because we stand forgiven by His cross. We simply accept by faith His promise that He forgave us by Christ’s blood (1 John 1:9).
We must come under conviction about the sin we committed and confess it. We cannot do anything to change God’s mind about it. Jesus’ death on the cross changed His mind already and permanently at that. He already holds an attitude of forgiveness about our sin. That attitude is forgiveness based on Christ’s cross (1 John 2:1-2). That is why we simply place our trust in Christ’s death to forgive us for salvation. That is why we also simply place our trust in Christ’s death for the individual sins we commit as Christians.
There are no strings attached to our forgiveness as Christians. God has already been placated by the cross. He forgave us when we came to faith in Christ. Our acceptance before God does not rest on who and what we are but on what Jesus did for us on the cross.
Published on
March 26, 1998 in
2 Peter.
Read Introduction to 2 Peter
“As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.”
as His divine power
“As” is a marker of a reason–on the grounds that, because. Because God’s power has given us everything we need, we possess well-founded assurance to live the Christian life.
“Divine” means pertaining to God. Peter talks about the power pertaining to God. “Divine” speaks of the attributes of God. This is God seen from the standpoint of His attributes. “Divine” then is all that bears the stamp of God. It is what God is and especially what proceeds from Him. Here Peter sees God especially from the attribute of power. Divine, then, means the manifested presence of God. It is the bloom of His character, His glory (John 1:14, 18).
In the previous verse, Peter summons Christians to gain a “full-knowledge” of God. In this verse, we now come to understand what he means. God is a God of power. That power is available to us. We have the possibility to address our problems beyond operation bootstraps.
The word for “power” here is inherent power and refers to God’s potency. We enjoy built-in power to live the Christian life. God guarantees us power to live in God’s strength. God makes it possible for us to win. God cannot be defeated.
Principle:
There is a relationship between the power of God and the benefits of the Christian life.
Application:
The relationship between the believer and God is direct when it comes to living the Christian life. God’s power, His omnipotent power, is available to us for whatever we face in life.
From eternity, God thought about us in terms of His limitless power. He knew billions of years ago that you would accept Christ as your Savior. Knowing this, He set up a trust fund for you. This trust fund contains many spiritual assets to operate in life. God provided in eternity past every blessing we require for living the Christian life. God does not wait until you are in a jam and then try to figure out what to do for you.
There is nothing unstable about God. God established this trust fund in eternity past (Ephesians 1:4-5). God provided in such a way as to leave nothing out. He furnished everything we need for time and eternity. He did this in His power. He has the ability to deliver it to us anytime we need it.
Published on
March 25, 1998 in
2 Peter.
Read Introduction to 2 Peter
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”
in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord
Blessings at the beginning of epistles are not mere formalities. We discover blessings in personal knowledge of God.
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3).
The word for “knowledge” implies an active relationship with God. We do not know God from hearsay. We know Him personally for ourselves. Knowing Him personally, influences the direction of our lives.
This knowledge edifies us as we participate in it (Romans 15:14; 1 Corinthians 14:6). Knowledge of this sort transcends the theoretical and goes hand in hand with relationship (Philippians 3:10). When we come to grips with the person of Christ we renounce confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:4), confess Christ as Lord (Philippians 3:8) and constantly renew our relationship with him (Philippians 3:12). We experience the power of His resurrection (Philippians 3:10).
“That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light” (Colossians 1:10-12).
The Colossians passage implies more than knowledge about God. The idea is to experience knowledge of God. That is, we should increase in the experience of knowing God.
The word “knowledge” in this verse is an intense word. It means to know thoroughly. We must know God with discernment and full knowledge.
Knowledge of God is not obscure. We cannot grow in knowledge of God (2 Peter 3:18) with a closed Bible. Rather we increase in the knowledge of God as we increase in the knowledge of God’s Word. The more we know the Bible, the more we know God. We cannot know how to live the Christian life without the Bible.
Principle:
Extensive, personal knowledge of God is the highest ideal of the Christian life.
Application:
Do you know God as a person or is He just a lot of information?
Knowledge of God is the greatest virtue of Christianity. No experience, even a spiritual experience, will validate our relationship with God. Truth validates experience, not the other way around. Thus only the Bible can validate experience. We are incapable of loving Christ without some knowledge of Christ. We cannot love Christ without truth. Experience can only confirm truth; it does not make truth.
Some people have wide emotional swings. They can go to a movie and cry the moment the good guy gets the girl at the end. This is an ecstatic experience for them. Some people can get an ecstatic experience from a bottle. There are many ways to produce an ecstatic experience if you are easily triggered by emotion. Often, these people are far from true Christian living because they lack the self discipline to get into the Word. They operate on wide emotional swings. They think that they can agonize in the closet and be spiritual. Many people operate by strictly psychologically induced experience. But emotional variations have little to do with true Christian living.
“For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Timothy 1:12).
Published on
March 24, 1998 in
2 Peter.
Read Introduction to 2 Peter
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”
be multiplied to you
The word “multiplied” comes from the word to fill. God wants grace and peace to fill our lives. It is one thing to have a measure of grace and peace and it is quite another to have an abundance of grace and peace in our lives.
Is grace and peace increasing in ever-greater measure in your life? May God’s grace increase in extent and measure in your experience.Grace and peace can sanctify us.
Principle:
The multiplication of grace and peace can revolutionize our lives.
Application:
Addition is one thing and multiplication another. We get there faster with multiplication than with addition.
When we multiply grace and peace, we ignite spiritual fuel for our Christian journey. We can no more live the Christian life without spiritual fuel than we can operate our car without gas and oil. If we are not going anywhere for the Lord, we will not need much spiritual fuel. However, if we expend a great amount of spiritual energy, we need to increase the volume of our spiritual fuel. The spiritual fuel here is grace and peace. We consume vast amounts of grace in serving the Lord (2 Corinthians 12:9; Hebrews 4:16; James 4:6). We need great peace and settlement of soul while serving Him. The battle will wear us down without replenishment from the Lord.
One of the great benefits to some stock is that it compounds its interest. This is one of the reasons that the rich get richer. Microsoft keeps getting bigger and bigger because its assets keep multiplying. Bill Gates’, the founder of Microsoft, is worth $40.530400 billion as I write. If I had as much money as Gates, I might be inclined to occasionally withdraw some of it to use right now. Some people let their wealth accumulate. God wants us to multiply grace and peace in our lives so that we will use those blessings in time. Do you draw on your spiritual assets from time to time?
Spiritually, we are all billionaires. We can live on the interest of our capital in Christ. If you had Bill Gates’ money, you might withdraw enough to buy an ice cream cone occasionally! You may want to withdraw a few thousand to go on an extensive trip somewhere. No Christian should wait till he or she gets to heaven before withdrawing their spiritual capital. Since your spiritual interest constantly accumulates (multiplies), why not treat yourself to something? We can think in terms of letting our spiritual capital sit or we can think in terms of using it. Draw on your spiritual resources now! You will never run out of spiritual resources. They constantly accumulate.
We often hear stories of people who beg for money yet they are enormously wealthy. As strange that this may seem, this is exactly the problem with many Christians today. The prodigal son ate the slop of pigs while his wealthy father waited for him at home. Why should we live like paupers? Clip your spiritual dividends. Draw on God’s unlimited resources. Every time we draw upon the knowledge of God, that opens the bank account of God’s grace. There is no way for grace to grow in our lives without knowledge of God. There is no substitute for knowing God’s Word.
Published on
March 23, 1998 in
2 Peter.
Read Introduction to 2 Peter
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”
and peace
There are two kinds of peace–a peace with God and a peace of God. First, peace with God is the peace that Jesus won for us. He reconciled us from living as enemies with God to people who are at peace with Him (Romans 5:10).
Secondly, there is the peace of God. It is the peace that He possesses and which is available to us as Christians. If the Christian does not accept grace, then he will not know peace. Grace always precedes peace. This is the peace of our verse.
“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3).
We will know “perfect peace” if we keep our minds on God’s provision.
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Peace comes through, the person of Christ.
“For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17).
A characteristic of the kingdom of God is peace.
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).
Peace comes through believing.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness” (Galatians 5:22).
A result of the filling of the Spirit is peace.
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phillippians 4:6-7).
The peace that God possesses transcends our capacity to understand and guards our hearts.
Principle:
Peace is God’s peace that comes to us because of grace.
Application:
Peace always follows grace. We cannot understand and apprehend God’s peace without first understanding and appropriating God’s grace. Grace eliminates the wear and tear on our soul.
Published on
March 22, 1998 in
2 Peter.
Read Introduction to 2 Peter
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”
Most epistles begin with a blessing (Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 1:2; 1 Peter 1:2). The Greek indicates Peter’s wish for these Asia Minor Christians.
Grace
Peter wants us to bless believers but that blessing comes in an exclusive form–in the “full-knowledge” of God. God blesses us when we come into intimate, personal relationship with God. This is the means of grace.
Grace is God’s favor and provision for us. Peter wants God’s favor multiplied in our lives. We do this through knowledge of God (John 17:3). The more knowledge we have of God the more He increases grace in our lives. Jesus is the means of that grace,
“And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:16-17).
Just when we feel that we cannot go on, the Lord provides His grace.
“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
God gives grace to help us just in the nick of time. His timing is perfect. We do not earn or deserve grace. We come to the throne of grace and we receive what we need. The reason we receive grace so readily is that God is the “God of all grace” (1 Peter 5:10). God has cornered the market on grace.
God’s grace is available to us (Romans 12:3; 2 Corinthians 9:8; Ephesians 3:8). Whatever situation we may face or whatever our predicament, God gives us what we need. His grace will sustain us.
Principle:
God commits Himself to provide for us and to sustain us.
Application:
Grace emphasizes the character and action of God on our behalf. God’s plan for us includes His participation in our lives. He willingly pours out unmerited favor upon His own people. God has a perfect plan whereby imperfect creatures can function. That plan is His grace to us.
When we accept Christ, we join God’s team. God has a game plan for his team that cannot fail since execution of the plan rests upon the Coach. The second we commit sin, God’s plan of grace goes into action. Jesus lives to intercede for us (Hebrews 7:25).
If a player in the NFL does something that is contrary to the coach’s game plan, the coach may bench him. When a Christian steps out of God’s game plan, God Himself does something to make sure play continues. Jesus’ blood keeps on cleansing us from all sin (1 John 1:7). No one can ruin His plan. No matter what we do, we cannot exceed God’s grace for us. This is grace.
