The Grace On Which We Stand
In our journey through this short life, we encounter many choices and decisions that will then set the direction for the next season of our lives. Through this journey and the many experiences that we encounter along the way, whether positive or negative, we become who we now are.
One thing I have discovered to be absolute in this ever-evolving life is the reality of truth found in the Holy Bible. I have also discovered that although the Bible seems to contradict itself many times, yet when a person knows how to read the scriptures, it becomes very clear.
The immense challenge that faces each of us in uncovering the secrets held in this book is in understanding “how” to rightly divide the book. In our culture we are taught to begin at the left of a book and start reading through from beginning to end. This brings great confusion to the one reading when we are talking about the Bible.
So let’s begin with this reality found in 1 Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 3:10-11 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each of us take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ
When we begin to read the Bible from left to right, in a very short time we get a picture of a God who causes us to be fearful. He floods the earth killing all but 8 people; later He burns up two cities with fire and brimstone and turns a woman into a pillar of salt! How can this be understood when later in the New Covenant it is revealed to us that God is love? What kind of love is this?
This is why it is so important to take the time to learn “how to rightly divide the scriptures.” This is one of our primary goals in our monthly Grace Studies because we live after the cross. We live after all the powers of darkness have been defeated. We now stand in the victory Jesus has provided for us. Does this mean we have no battles to fight? No, we fight the fight of faith against those contrary voices that try to deceive us into believing our victory is still in the future.
There is the Old Covenant, The Gospels, and the New Covenant. We build our lives off the foundation which is Jesus Christ, but we do not build that foundation on the Old Covenant where everything is based on our performance and on our self-righteousness. We build on the New Covenant where everything is based on the performance of Jesus and His righteousness freely given to us as a gift.
Romans 4:24 For us to whom it (righteousness) shall be imputed IF we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead 25 who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. Romans 5:1 therefore being justified by faith (not works or performance) we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ 2 By whom we also have access into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God
Our foundation is Jesus Christ and through His sacrifice for us we stand on grace
