Such Grace!
Dearly beloved of God, after God has shown us such grace in Christ, how does He ask us to live?
We are not to be conformed to the progressively evil ideas of our times, by the world’s constantly changing fashions, and the insane standards of this age.
Instead, we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we can prove the good pleasure of the Father’s will in our lives. His Will is good, well pleasing, and perfect.
We are to think and believe according to His Will. He determined the standard that we are to believe.
He reveals what Christ did for us and who we are in him, and then He implores us by His mercies to present ourselves as living sacrifices, as those burning with life, as those who live to do His Will.
Under the Old Covenant the people presented dead sacrifices. By one offering Jesus Christ perfected forever them that are sanctified. There is no more offering for sin. Such grace!
Now we are to present ourselves as living sacrifices, which are holy, acceptable unto God.
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Beloved, all people sinned and came short of the glory of God, so He sent His Son to suffer and die in their place, and then by His great grace and mercy He accounts all that Jesus Christ accomplished to all who confess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead. Such grace!
In Christ we have redemption, through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace, which He abounded toward us. Such grace!
God determined by His justness, that we are saved by the believing of Jesus Christ; he was the author and finisher of the right way of believing. He accomplished what we could not. Such grace!
All we do is believe that Jesus accomplished what God asked of him. By the grace of God we are saved by Jesus Christ’s works, not ours. Such grace!
Now we stand before God justified by Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for us. Such grace!
In Christ and by his accomplishments, we are now the righteousness of God in him. Now in Christ, we stand before God without any sense of sin, guilt, or condemnation. Such grace!
Jesus Christ sanctified us by giving us the gift of holy spirit. He presented us as holy and without blame before the Father. Such grace!
He sealed us by His spirit for a share in the inheritance, and He determined beforehand that we will be glorified with Christ when the Father sends him to gather us up to him in the air. Such grace!
God determined that we are complete in Christ. He blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm. Such grace!
Dearly beloved of God, what do we have that we did not receive by the grace of God and by the grace of His wonderful Son?
The Father freely gives us all things with His Son. Such grace!
Dearly beloved, after all He did for us in Christ, how does He ask us to respond?
He implores us by His loving kindness to live as those who live to do His will. He asks us to think soberly and believe who we are in Christ. He asks us to walk in His love toward one another.
After He has shown us such great grace in Christ, it is only reasonable, isn’t it?