Why Grace Changes Everything, Part 5: Jesus, Our Hope
Pastor Chuck exhorts us that faith in Jesus Christ is our only hope—that our good deeds and efforts can never earn us forgiveness from God. In this installment of our series taken from Chuck’s book, Why Grace Changes Everything, he reminds us that we must choose to receive our right standing with God as a gift of His grace.
Jesus, Our Hope
When God laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all, Christ received the judgment due us for our sins. He received our deserved punishment, which the Bible declares is death (Romans 6:23). God has declared that if we will believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will be forgiven of every wrong thing we have ever done. First John 1:7 says, The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. This cleansing is something the law could never do; it is a provision of grace.
The fact is, faith is our only hope. Our good deeds, efforts, or works can never earn us forgiveness from God. Paul declared in strong words, But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness (Romans 4:5, KJV).
To him who is not working, but simply believing, God imputes righteousness. God gives us this forgiveness because of our faith in the finished work that Jesus Christ has done for us.
The Choice is Yours
You have a choice. You can strive to make it to heaven by your own efforts and try to be as good as Christ, or you can place your faith in Jesus and receive your right standing with God as a gift of His grace.
For me, this is no choice at all. I know there is no way that I, in my good works, would ever make it to heaven. I stand hopelessly condemned on the basis of my past sin. I have no chance of being received by God apart from His mercy.
The good news is, God has provided a way of acceptance before Him. God, who is absolutely holy and pure and so righteous that no sin can dwell in His presence, has made a way for people like us to have fellowship with Him. When we believe in this sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us—even though we didn’t deserve it—the Father grants us perfect forgiveness.
That’s the gospel of grace. Each one of us can relate to God, even though we are far from perfect. We can still have a beautiful relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ.
When we relate to the Father by faith through His Son, we have a solid relationship. We are now sons of God. Because He is our Father, we don’t have to wonder if we are worthy to come to Him. We do not come on the basis of our worthiness, but on the basis of our relationship with Him.
That is what the gospel of grace is all about. God looks at us as though we never committed a single trespass against Him. Now, I have trouble looking at myself like that. I look at myself in the mirror and say, “Chuck, you are a sinner. You can’t control your appetite; you have so many flaws.” And yet God looks at me and says, “Forgiven.” He loves me and accepts me as I am because I am in Jesus Christ. Even as He accepted His own Son, so now He accepts me. Paul tells us that we have been accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6). The Beloved One is Christ; and you, being in Christ, are accepted by God just as Christ is accepted.
That is why the gospel of grace is the best news I have ever heard. God forgives us because we believe in His Son, whom He sent to die for our sins. All our sins have been blotted out. There is no accounting of guilt. As Paul tells us, “Oh, how happy are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Oh, how happy is the man to whom the Lord does not impute sin” (see Romans 4:7, 8).
As sons of God, we have every right to come to our Father to ask Him for anything that we might need. We have every right to trust the wisdom of our Father to either grant or deny the request, according to His knowledge of what is best for us. We can commit ourselves to our heavenly Father, who loves us so very much. He will give us only what is best.
What a joy it is to know that God desires to bestow upon us the richness and the fullness of His love—not because we deserve it, but because He loves us. This is the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ!
In our next installment, Chuck continues discussing “the glorious gospel”, the good news that God imputes righteousness to our accounts because we believe in Jesus Christ.
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