Grace pt.1

Starting this week, I will be doing a three part series on grace.

This week will be about the need for grace.

I don't think it should come as a surprise to any of you that we are sinners. If it does surprise you, I'm sorry to tell you Isaiah 64:6 says "All of us have become like the one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away."

FILTHY RAGS, SHRIVELED UP LEAVES. Y'all. That hits different.

Our need for grace started at the beginning of man, as we all know. (Thank you Adam & Eve)

But let's fast forward for a sec......

Go with me to James 2:10 really quick. James tells us that whoever breaks just ONE of God's laws is just as GUILTY as someone who has broken ALL the laws.

Now, grace does not nullify the law, but it fulfills it.

Removal of guilt can't happen on your own.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life is in Christ Jesus our Lord." -Romans 6:23

Grace reigns through righteousness. ( Romans 5:21) God loves YOU so much that He is willing to extend grace to you even though you may have disobeyed Him. I'm not saying that we should just keep falling into the same sins all the time, then asking forgiveness; out of RESPECT for what He has already extended to us and has let go, we should STRIVE for perfection. Will I ever be perfect? No, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't strive to be every day. Jesus is perfect and we should be trying to live like him.

We have all "stumbled", "fallen short", "backslid", whatever phrase you might use. The bottom line is, we are all sinners. We don't deserve the grace He is offering, but He is offering it. Why would God offer something to us repeatedly if it wasn't something we needed? Your iniquities separate you from God (Isaiah 59:2), and that is not a place you want to be. So accept His grace.

" But even the sacrifice of my life I count as nothing, if only I may perfect my earthly course, and be faithful to the duty which the Lord Jesus has entrusted to me of proclaiming, as of supreme importance, the Good News of God's grace." - Acts 20:24

His grace is Good News & you need it.