“PERVERTED GRACE OR PERFECTING GRACE?”
BY:J.FARRELL FISHER, MAY 18-19,2019
IN JUDE 3-4 (BARCLAY’S TRANSLATION) WE READ: “FOR CERTAIN MEN HAVE WORMED THEIR WAY INTO THE CHURCH – LONG BEFORE THIS THEY WERE DESIGNATED FOR JUDGMENT – IMPIOUS CREATURES THEY ARE – WHO TWIST THE GRACE OF GOD INTO A JUSTIFICATION OF BLATANT IMMORALITY, & WHO DENY OUR ONLY MASTER & LORD, JESUS CHRIST.”
HUMANITY WORLDWIDE IS EITHER LIVING UNDER THE DARK CLOUD OF PERVERTED GRACE, OR LIVING IN THE “LIGHT” OF GOD’S PERFECTING GRACE! THEY HAVE RECEIVED EITHER A ‘TWISTED GRACE’ THAT LEADS TO HELL OR THE “TRUTHFUL GRACE” THAT LEADS TO HEAVENLY LIVING WHETHER ON EARTH OR IN ONE’S AFTER-LIFE “IN CHRIST”!
MUCH OF ‘FALLEN HUMANITY’ HAS BEEN DECEIVED BY ‘CHEAP GRACE’ OR ENLIGHTENED & EMPOWERED BY COSTLY GRACE! ONE EITHER WALKS IN DANGER TODAY WITH A TRIFLING GRACE OR HE/SHE WALKS IN CONFIDENCE & ASSURANCE WITH THE TREASURES OF SCRIPTURAL GRACE BECAUSE HE/SHE LEFT ALL TO FOLLOW JESUS!
PERVERTED GRACE ALLOWS COMPROMISE IN A ‘SO-CALLED CHRISTIAN’ (?) TO MAINTAIN HIS FLESHLY, SINFUL, LUSTFUL, ‘DO-YOUR-OWN-THING’ LIFESTYLE BECAUSE UNDER THE “GRACE”, THEIR ‘FLESHLY GREASE’,THAT THEY ‘LOVE’ (?), THEY WALK RELIGIOUSLY BLINDED TO GOD’S PERFECTING GRACE ! BE ASSURED! THERE ARE THOSE WHO “TURN THE GRACE OF GOD INTO THEIR FLESHLY LICIENTIOUSNESS!”
IN HEBREWS 12:14-17 WE FIND CONVICTING & ENLIGHTENING WORDS!! “FOLLOW PEACE WITH ALL MEN, & HOLINESS, WITHOUT WHICH NO MAN SHALL SEE THE LORD; LOOKING DILIGENTLY LEST ANY MAN FALL SHORT OF THE GRACE OF GOD; LEST ANY ROOT OF BITTERNESS SPRINGING UP TROUBLES YOU, & THEREBY MANY BE DEFILED;
LEST THERE BE ANY FORNICATOR, OR PROFANE PERSON, AS ESAU, WHO FOR ONE MORSEL OF MEAT SOLD HIS BIRTHRIGHT. FOR YOU KNOW HOW THAT AFTERWARD, WHEN HE WOULD HAVE INHERITED THE BLESSING, HE WAS REJECTED: FOR HE FOUND NO PLACE OF REPENTANCE, THOUGH HE SOUGHT IT CAREFULLY WITH TEARS.” HE CAME SHORT OF THE GRACE OF GOD? OH! AND THEN EXAMINE HEBREWS 10:29!! “OF HOW MUCH SORER PUNISHMENT, SUPPOSE YOU, SHALL HE BE THOUGHT WORTHY, WHO HAS TRODDEN UNDER FOOT THE SON OF GOD, & HAS COUNTED THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT, WHEREWITH HE WAS SANCTIFIED(OR ‘SET APART’), AN UNHOLY THING, & HAS DONE DESPITE TO THE SPIRIT OF GRACE?”
“PERVERTED GRACE OR PERFECTING GRACE”? IN ROMANS 6:12-18 WE HEAR GLORIOUS HALLELUJAH TRUTHS! PAUL WROTE: “LET NOT SIN THEREFORE REIGN IN YOUR MORTAL BODY THAT YOU SHOULD OBEY IT IN THE LUSTS THEREOF. NEITHER YIELD YOU YOUR MEMBERS AS INSTRUMENTS OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS UNTO SIN, BUT YIELD YOURSELVES UNTO GOD, AS THOSE THAT ARE ALIVE FROM THE DEAD, & YOUR MEMBERS AS INSTRUMENTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS UNTO GOD.
FOR SIN SHALL NOT HAVE DOMINION OVER YOU: FOR YOU ARE NOT UNDER THE LAW, BUT UNDER GRACE. WHAT THEN? SHALL WE SIN, BECAUSE WE ARE NOT UNDER THE LAW, BUT UNDER GRACE? GOD FORBID. KNOW YOU NOT THAT TO WHOM YOU YIELD YOURSELVES SERVANTS TO OBEY, HIS SERVANTS YOU ARE TO WHOM YOU OBEY; WHETHER OF SIN UNTO DEATH, OR OF “OBEDIENCE UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS”? BUT GOD BE THANKED, THAT YOU “WERE” SERVANTS OF SIN, BUT YOU HAVE OBEYED FROM THE HEART THAT FORM OF DOCTRINE WHICH WAS DELIVERED YOU. BEING THEN MADE FREE FROM SIN, YOU BECAME THE SERVANTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
“PERVERTED GRACE OR PERFECTING GRACE?”
FIRST:PERFECTING GRACE IS THE GRACE THAT UNVEILS THE CRUCIFIED CHRIST & BRINGS MOURNING! IN ZECHARIAH 12:10 WE READ: “AND I WILL POUR UPON THE HOUSE OF DAVID, & UPON THE INHABITANTS OF JERUSALEM, THE SPIRIT OF GRACE & OF SUPPLICATIONS; & THEY SHALL LOOK UPON ME WHOM THEY HAVE PIERCED, & THEY SHALL MOURN FOR HIM, AS ONE MOURNS FOR HIS ONLY SON, & SHALL BE IN BITTERNESS FOR HIM, AS ONE THAT IS IN BITTERNESS FOR HIS FIRSTBORN.” DID YOU SEE ‘THE SPIRIT OF BITTERNESS’ OVER THE CRUCIFIED ONE WHOM FALLEN MANKIND ALL CONSENTED TO?
IN EPHESIANS 2:4-8 PAUL WROTE: “BUT GOD, WHO IS RICH IN MERCY,FOR HIS GREAT LOVE WHEREWITH HE LOVED US, EVEN WHEN WE WERE DEAD IN SINS, HAS QUICKENED US TOGETHER WITH CHRIST, (BY GRACE YOU ARE SAVED;), AND HAS RAISED US UP TOGETHER, & MADE US SIT TOGETHER IN HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST: THAT IN THE AGES TO COME HE MIGHT SHOW THE “EXCEEDING RICHES OF HIS GRACE” IN HIS KINDNESS TOWARD US THROUGH CHRIST JESUS. FOR BY GRACE ARE YOU SAVED THROUGH FAITH; & THAT NOT OF YOURSELVES; IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD.” GLORY!
IF YOU DIDN’T QUITE FULLY UNDERSTAND THOSE SCRIPTURES, EXAMINE HEBREWS 2:9-11 PLUS VERSES 14-15!! HEBREWS 2:9-11, “BUT WE SEE JESUS, WHO WAS MADE A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS FOR THE SUFFERING OF DEATH, CROWNED WITH GLORY & HONOR, TO MAKE THE CAPTAIN OF THEIR SALVATION PERFECT THROUGH SUFFERINGS. FOR BOTH HE THAT SANCTIFIES AND THEY WHO ARE SANCTIFIED ARE ALL OF ONE: FOR WHICH CAUSE HE IS NOT ASHAMED TO CALL US BROTHERS.
NOW!! HEBREWS 2:14-15! “FORASMUCH THEN AS THE CHILDREN ARE PARTAKERS OF FLESH & BLOOD, HE ALSO HIMSELF LIKEWISE TOOK PART OF THE SAME; THAT THROUGH DEATH HE MIGHT DESTROY HIM THAT HAD THE POWER OF DEATH, THAT IS, THE DEVIL; AND DELIVER THEM WHO THROUGH FEAR OF DEATH WERE ALL THEIR LIFETIME SUBJECT TO BONDAGE.” PERFECTING GRACE? THE GRACE THAT FREES ONE FROM ITS SINFUL SELF? THE GRACE THAT BREAKS THE BONDS OF SATANIC BONDAGE? THE GRACE THAT DECLARES ONE COMPLETE IN CHRIST LACKING NOTHING? THE GRACE THAT RECONCILES US UNTO GOD?
SECOND, PERFECTING GRACE IS SAVING GRACE THAT BRINGS FORGIVENESS OF SINS & BONDAGE TO THE SIN-NATURE! EPHESIANS 1:7-8 “CLEARLY SAYS”: “IN WHOM WE HAVE REDEMPTION THROUGH “CHRIST’S BLOOD” THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE; WHEREIN HE HAS ABOUNDED TOWARD US IN ALL WISDOM & PRUDENCE.”
DARE “YOU” TO CONSIDER “THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE” THAT ABUNDANTLY FLOURISHES IN “THE FORGIVENESS OF YOUR SINS”? LUKE 1:77 DESCRIBES IT FROM GOD’S LOVING MIND, HEART, & SPIRIT AS FOLLOWS: “TO GIVE TO HIS PEOPLE THE KNOWLEDGE OF SALVATION “BY” THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS”! CHRIST JESUS, ON THE CROSS, BOTH FORGAVE OUR SINS & FREELY GAVE TO ALL FALLEN MANKIND “THE KNOWLEDGE OF SALVATION”!!
1 PETER 2:2 DECLARES, “AND CHRIST JESUS IS THE PROPITIATION FOR OUR SINS: &NOT FOR OUR’S ONLY, BUT ALSO FOR THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD”! YET, “FORGIVEN OF THEIR SINS” DOESN’T MEAN “RECONCILED “TO” GOD” WITHOUT TRUE REPENTANCE & EARNEST FAITH IN HIS “FINISHED WORK”! (DON’T YOU FIND IT HEART-BREAKING TO KNOW, THOUGH ‘FORGIVEN’, THERE ARE THOSE WHO MISS OUT ON THEIR ETERNAL HEAVENLY HOME TO ‘DOWN-GRADE’ TO HELL, TO SATAN, TO HIS DEMON FORCES, &, YES, EVEN ‘BELIEVERS’ WHO COULDN’T, WOULDN’T, DIDN’T REPENT & “REST” IN CHRIST’S SHED BLOOD & HIS RESURRECTION PRESENCE?!!?
IN 1 TIMOTHY 4:10 PAUL WROTE: “FOR THEREFORE WE BOTH LABOR & SUFFER REPROACH, BECAUSE WE TRUST IN THE LIVING GOD, WHO “IS” THE SAVIOR OF ALL MEN, SPECIALLY OF THOSE THAT BELIEVE (OR “TRUST”,OR “RELIES UPON”!!).
THIRD,PERFECTING GRACE IS INSTRUCTING GRACE THAT CALLS GOD’S TRUE SONS TO “HOLY LIVING”! IN TITUS 2:10B,-15, PAUL SAID, “…THAT THEY MAY ADORN THE DOCTRINE OF GOD OUR SAVIOR IN ALL THINGS. FOR THE GRACE OF GOD THAT BRINGS SALVATION HAS APPEARED TO ALL MEN, TEACHING US THAT, DENYING UNGODLINESS & WORLDLY LUSTS, WE SHOULD LIVE SOBERLY, RIGHTEOUSLY, & GODLY, IN THIS PRESENT WORLD,
VERSES 13-15 SAYING, LOOKING FOR THAT BLESSED HOPE,& THE GLORIOUS APPEARING OF THE GREAT GOD & OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST; WHO GAVE HIMSELF FOR US, THAT HE MIGHT REDEEM US FROM ALL INIQUITY, & PURIFY UNTO HIMSELF A PECULIAR PEOPLE,ZEALOUS OF GOOD WORKS. THESE THINGS SPEAK, & EXHORT, & REBUKE WITH ALL AUTHORITY. LET NO MAN DESPISE YOU.”
“HOLY LIVING”? HEBREWS 12:14 SAYS, “FOLLOW PEACE WITH ALL MEN, & HOLINESS, WITHOUT WHICH NO MAN SHALL SEE THE LORD.” IN 1 THESSALONIANS 4:7 PAUL EXPLAINED: “FOR GOD HAS NOT CALLED US UNTO UNCLEANNESS, BUT UNTO HOLINESS.” YET, HOW MANY HAVE YOU KNOWN IN “THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY” (?) WHO,YES, “PERVERT THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST”? (GALATIANS 1:6-7)!
FOURTH,PERFECTING GRACE IS REVEALED CLEARLY IN THE LABOR OF LOVE THAT CAUSES & CHALLENGES MEN TO LAY DOWN THEIR LIVES FOR OTHERS!! IN 1 CORINTHIANS 15:8-20 THE APOSTLE PAUL WROTE, INSPIRED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, “AND LAST OF ALL,HE WAS SEEN OF ME ALSO, AS OF ONE BORN OUT OF DUE TIME.
FOR I AM THE LEAST OF THE APOSTLES, THAT AM NOT MEET TO BE CALLED AN APOSTLE, BECAUSE I PERSECUTED THE CHURCH OF GOD.BUT BY THE GRACE OF GOD I AM WHAT I AM: & HIS GRACE WHICH WAS BESTOWED UPON ME WAS NOT IN VAIN; BUT I LABORED MORE ABUNDANTLY THAN THEY ALL: YET NOT I, BUT THE GRACE OF GOD WHICH WAS WITH ME.
THEREFORE WHETHER IT WERE I OR THEY, SO WE PREACH, & SO YOU BELIEVED.NOW IF CHRIST BE PREACHED THAT HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD, HOW SAY SOME AMONG YOU THAT THERE IS NO RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD? BUT IF THERE BE NO RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD, THEN IS CHRIST NOT RISEN; AND IF CHRIST BE NOT RISEN, THEN IS OUR PREACHING IN VAIN, & YOUR FAITH IS ALSO VAIN. YES, & WE ARE FOUND FALSE WITNESSES OF GOD; BECAUSE WE HAVE TESTIFIED OF GOD THAT HE RAISED UP CHRIST; WHOM HE RAISED NOT UP, IF SO BE THAT THE DEAD RISE NOT.
FOR IF THE DEAD RISE NOT, THEN IS NOT CHRIST RAISED: & IF CHRIST BE NOT RAISED, YOUR FAITH IS VAIN; & YOU ARE YET IN YOUR SINS.THEN THEY ALSO WHICH ARE FALLEN ASLEEP IN CHRIST ARE PERISHED. IF IN THIS LIFE ONLY WE HAVE HOPE IN CHRIST, WE ARE OF ALL MEN MOST MISERABLE. BUT “NOW” IS CHRIST RISEN FROM THE DEAD, & BECOME THE FIRSTFRUITS OF THEM THAT SLEPT.”
AND “RAISED FROM THE DEAD” SPIRITUALLY, TO “NEW LIFE IN CHRIST”,AS JESUS LAID DOWN HIS LIFE FOR US, DOES THAT MEAN, “THANK GOD I’M SAVED”, BUT YOU HAVE NO CONCERN FOR OTHERS WHO NEED TO KNOW, MUST KNOW, WILL KNOW, BECAUSE “YOU” ARE HIS PRESENT WITNESS OF AMAZING GRACE & MERCY & LOVE? IN EPHESIANS 2:8-10 PAUL ALSO WROTE, “FOR BY GRACE ARE YOU SAVED THROUGH FAITH; & THAT NOT OF YOURSELVES; IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD; NOT OF WORKS, LEST ANY MAN SHOULD BOAST. FOR WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP, CREATED IN CHRIST JESUS UNTO GOOD WORKS,WHICH GOD HAS BEFORE ORDAINED THAT WE SHOULD WALK IN THEM.”
HIS WORKMANSHIP? HIS NEW CREATIONS THAT ARE CREATED FOR & ORDAINED BY GOD TO BE HIS WITNESSES OF “REDEEMED IN & THROUGH & BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB OF GOD,” CHRIST JESUS, GOD’S WILLING SACRIFICE, TO RECONCILE US UNTO HIMSELF?
AND “REDEEMED”, WE’RE NOT CALLED TO LAY DOWN OUR LIVES IN REACHING OTHERS WITH THE “GOOD NEWS”? ACTS 4:33 SAYS, “AND WITH GREAT POWER GAVE THE APOSTLES WITNESS OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD JESUS; & GREAT GRACE WAS UPON THEM ALL.” (OH, HOW WE NEED TO SEE AGAIN THE CHURCH , THE DISCIPLES, BEARING WITNESS TO “SAVING GRACE”!
FIFTH, PERFECTING GRACE IS “COMMITMENT” TO UNLIMITED OPPORTUNITY OF GRACE FOR EVERYONE! ACTS 11:18-23 TELLS US, “WHEN THEY HEARD THESE THINGS, THEY HELD THEIR PEACE, & GLORIFIED GOD, SAYING, THEN HAS GOD ALSO TO THE GENTILES GRANTED REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE."NOW” THEY WHICH WERE SCATTERED ABROAD UPON THE PERSECUTION THAT AROSE ABOUT STEPHEN TRAVELLED AS FAR AS PNENICE & CYPRUS, & ANTIOCH, PREACHING THE WORD TO NONE BUT UNTO THE JEWS ONLY.
AND SOME OF THEM WERE MEN OFCYPRUS&CYRENE, WHICH, WHEN THEY WERE COME TO ANTIOCH, SPOKE UNTO THE GRECIANS, PREACHING THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. AND THE HAND OF THE LORD WAS WITH THEM; & A GREAT NUMBER BELIEVED, & TURNED TO THE LORD. THEN TIDINGS OF THESE THINGS CAME UNTO THE EARS OF THE CHURCH WHICH WAS IN JERUSALEM; & THEY SENT FORTH BARNABAS, THAT HE SHOULD GO AS FAR AS ANTIOCH. WHO, WHEN HE CAME, & HAD SEEN THE GRACE OF GOD, WAS GLAD, & EXHORTED THEM ALL, THAT WITH PURPOSE OF HEART THEY WOULD CLEAVE UNTO THE LORD.”
SIXTH, PERFECTING GRACE IS GRACE THAT GIVES WARNING & THE CALL TO JUDGMENT! ACTS 13:37-43 TELLS US, “BUT HE, WHOM GOD RAISED AGAIN, SAW NO CORRUPTION.BE IT KNOWN UNTO YOU THEREFORE, MEN & BRETHREN, THAT THROUGH THIS MAN IS PREACHED UNTO YOU THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS: & BY HIM ALL THAT BELIEVE (OR TRUSTS HIS WORD!)ARE JUSTIFIED FROM ALL THINGS, FROM WHICH YOU COULD NOT BE JUSTIFIED BY THE LAW OF MOSES. BEWARE THEREFORE, LEST THAT COME UPON YOU, WHICH IS SPOKEN OF IN THE PROPHETS; BEHOLD, YOU DESPISERS (OR SCOFFERS!), AND WONDER, & PERISH:FOR I WORK A WORK IN YOUR DAYS, A WORK WHICH YOU SHALL IN NO WISE BELIEVE, THOUGH A MAN DECLARE IT TO YOU.
AND WHEN THE JEWS WERE GONE OUT OF THE SYNAGOGUE, THE GENTILES BESOUGHT THAT THESE WORDS MIGHT BE PREACHED TO THEM THE NEXT SABBATH.NOW WHEN THE CONGREGATION WAS BROKEN UP, MANY OF THE JEWS & RELIGIOUS PROSELYTES FOLLOWED PAUL & BARNABAS: WHO, SPEAKING TO THEM, PERSUADED THEM TO CONTINUE IN THE GRACE OF GOD.” “WARNING &A CALL TO JUDGMENT? ARE “YOU” READY FOR YOUR CALL?
SEVENTH,PERFECTING GRACE IS GRACE THAT LEAVES US THE REMNANT OF ENCOURAGEMENT! IN EZRA 9:8 WE READ, “AND NOW FOR A LITTLE SPACE GRACE HAS BEEN SHOWN FROM THE LORD OUR GOD, TO LEAVE US A REMNANT TO ESCAPE, & TO GIVE US A NAIL IN HIS HOLY PLACE, THAT OUR GOD MAY LIGHTEN OUR EYES, & GIVE US A LITTLE REVIVING IN OUR BONDAGE.”
DO “YOU” KNOW ABOUT WHAT “A LITTLE GRACE” MEANS FOR YOU IN YOUR TIME OF ‘TROUBLE’? TO SAY THAT BELIEVERS NEVER FACE TRIALS IS TO LIVE WITH A MIND BLINDED TO “LIFE’S REALITIES” OF A TRUE BELIEVER LIVING IN OPPOSITION TO THE WORLD, THE FLESH, OR TO SATAN & HIS DEMON-HOARDES, WHO ARE NOT PLEASED WITH “SOLD-OUT, UNAFRAID, SPIRITUALLY IGNITED SONS & DAUGHTERS OF GOD LIVING AS SERVANTS UNTO THEIR LORD & SAVIOR”!
EIGHTH, PERFECTING GRACE IS GRACE THAT SAYS WHAT CHRIST JESUS SAYS!! IN PSALM 45:2 PARAPHRASED SAYS: “YOU, LORD JESUS, ARE FAIRER THAN THE CHILDREN OF MEN: GRACE IS POURED INTO YOUR LIPS; THEREFORE GOD HAS BLESSED YOU FOREVER & EVER!” AND CHRIST JESUS POURS HIS GRACE ALL OVER EVERY TRUE BELIEVER TO GUARD US, GIRD US, GRIP US,GIVE US, & GLADLY GLORIFY US JUST AS HE IS!!
IN COLOSSIANS 4:6 WE READ, “LET YOUR SPEECH BE ALWAYS WITH GRACE, SEASONED WITH SALT, THAT YOU MAY KNOW HOW YOU OUGHT TO ANSWER EVERY MAN.”
NINTH, PERFECTING GRACE IS REIGNING GRACE! HOW “GIFTING” IS THE WORD OF GOD’S GRACE! IN ROMANS 5:15b-21 WE READ OF “GRACE”, NOT GREASE! “FOR IF THROUGH THE OFFENSE OF ONE MANY BE DEAD, MUCH MORE THE GRACE OF GOD,& THE GIFT BY GRACE, WHICH IS BY ONE MAN, JESUS CHRIST,HAS ABOUNDED UNTO MANY. AND NOT AS IT WAS BY ONE THAT SINNED,SO IS THE GIFT: FOR THE JUDGMENT WAS BY ONE TO CONDEMNATION, BUT THE FREE GIFT IS OF MANY OFFENCES UNTO JUSTIFICATION.(“JUST-AS-IF-I’D-NEVER SINNED!!”).
FOR IF BY ONE MAN’S OFFENCE DEATH REIGNED BY ONE; MUCH MORE THEY WHICH RECEIVE ABUNDANCE OF GRACE & OF THE GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL REIGN IN LIFE BY ONE, JESUS CHRIST. THEREFORE AS BY THE OFFENCE OF ONE JUDGMENT CAME UPON ALL MEN TO CONDEMNATION, EVEN SO BY THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF ONE THE FREE GIFT CAME UPON ALL MEN UNTO JUSTIFICATION OF LIFE.FOR AS BY ONE MAN’S DISOBEDIENCE (ADAM) MANY WERE MADE SINNERS, SO BY THE OBEDIENCE OF ONE SHALL MANY BE MADE RIGHTEOUS. MOREOVER THE LAW ENTERED, THAT THE OFFENCE MIGHT ABOUND. BUT WHERE SIN ABOUNDED, GRACE DID MUCH MORE ABOUND: THAT AS SIN HAS REIGNED UNTO DEATH, EVEN SO MIGHT GRACE REIGN THROUGH RIGHTEOUSNESS UNTO ETERNAL LIFE BY JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.”
ARE “YOU” ON “SHOUTING GROUNDS” YET TO HONOR KING JESUS WHO WILLINGLY TOOK OUR PLACE ON THE CROSS THAT WE MIGHT TRULY BE BLESSED, GIVING US THE FREE GIFT OF FAITH & TRUST IN HIS WORK AT CALVARY, BECAUSE WHEN HE DIED THERE, HE CARRIED YOUR SINFUL NATURE WITH HIM THAT YOU MIGHT WILLINGLY & LOVINGLY YIELD TO THE RESURRECTED CHRIST WHO IS THE KING OF GLORY, DESIROUS OF YOUR REDEEMED LIFE BY HIS BLOOD BECOMING HIS “EARTHLY RESIDENCE” WHERE HE CONTINUES TO BE HIMSELF THROUGH YOU TO YOUR NEEDY WORLD! JESUS WANTS TO “REIGN” IN YOU & THROUGH YOU!
TENTH, PERFECTING GRACE “IS” GIFTING GRACE!! EPHESIANS 4:7-8 TELLS US, “BUT UNTO EVERY ONE OF US (THOSE “IN CHRIST”!) IS GIVEN GRACE ACCORDING TO THE MEASURE OF THE GIFT OF CHRIST. WHEREFORE HE SAYS, WHEN HE ASCENDED UP ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVITY CAPTIVE, & GAVE GIFTS UNTO MEN.”
WHAT’S YOUR GIFT IF YOU TRULY ARE “IN CHRIST”? I SLOW DOWN WITH REVELATION 22:22! IT SAYS: (SPEAKING OF THE “NEW JERUSALEM”!), AND I SAW NO TEMPLE THEREIN; FOR THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY & THE LAMB ARE THE TEMPLE OF IT.” IN THE OLD “BROADMAN HYMNAL” FROM THE BROADMAN PRESS IN NASHVILLE, TENN., (COPYRIGHTED BY BROADMAN IN 1940,P.284), IS A HYMN THAT SAYS: “IT’S SO SWEET TO TRUST IN JESUS, JUST TO TAKE HIM AT HIS WORD; JUST TO REST UPON HIS PROMISE, JUST TO KNOW “THUS SAYS THE LORD.”
O HOW SWEET TO TRUST IN JESUS, JUST TO TRUST HIS CLEANSING BLOOD; JUST IN SIMPLE FAITH TO PLUNGE ME ‘NEATH THE HEALING, CLEANSING FLOOD!
YES, IT’S SWEET TO TRUST IN JESUS, JUST FROM SIN & SELF TO CEASE; JUST FROM JESUS SIMPLY TAKING LIFE & REST, AND JOY & PEACE.
I’M SO GLAD I LEARNED TO TRUST YOU, PRECIOUS JESUS, SAVIOR & FRIEND; AND I KNOW THAT YOU ARE WITH ME, & WILL BE WITH ME TO THE END.
JESUS, JESUS, HOW I TRUST HIM, HOW I’VE PROVED HIM O’ER & O’ER; JESUS, JESUS, PRECIOUS JESUS! O FOR GRACE TO TRUST YOU MORE!” AMEN?