Wednesday, August 1, 2012
You are Saved by Grace Alone!
When you make some grand plan, you need to consider what it will take to carry out your plan. Are you willing to pay the price and follow through on the plan? What does it take to make sinful, rebellious people, who are as far separated from the holy God as opposite ends of the universe, into children of God?
Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace ...
GOD'S GRACE IS "IN CHRIST JESUS"
Ten times in nine verses God has emphasized that His plan and fulfillment have all been "in Christ Jesus." "He chose us in Him ... He predestined us ... by Jesus Christ ... He made us accepted in the Beloved" (Christ). Now He says, "In Him we have redemption ..."
Redemption speaks about payment, the cost of buying something back. What is the price to buy you back for God? "We have redemption through His blood." The wages or payment of sin is death. What would it take to make that payment for all the people of the world? Nothing less than the life of the Holy Son of God Himself.
God was willing to make that payment for you -- He DID make that payment for you. Why? Because you were worth the cost? Hardly! It was "according to the riches of His grace."
How exciting it is to learn that God wants you. He determined to make you to be like His own Son. Not because He saw some potential in you, but because He wanted to show His love and grace in you. The fact that God has chosen us gives us tremendous value and worth. The world talks a lot about self-worth, but our worth doesn't come from ourselves, it is from God who chose us and made us like Christ. Our worth comes from the high price that God was willing to pay to make us His own, the life of His own Son to take away our sin and make it possible for us to be like Him. That is amazing Grace! That is reason to rejoice and praise God.
Grace first contrived the way
To save rebellious man,
And all the steps that grace display
Which drew the wondrous plan.
Grace first inscribed my name
In God's eternal book;
'Twas grace that gave me to the
Lamb, Who all my sorrows took.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 374:2-3)
