All of Grace
“For
by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it
is the gift of God: not
of works, lest any man should boast.” -EPHESIANS
2:8-9 [KJV]
The
more we are able to look away from our works, the law, and religious
duties, the stronger will be our faith. Every person is married to
the law as a covenant; and, while there is any fleshly nature left in
us, we will find a strong motion in our hearts which tries to turn us
back to the works of the law as a ground of acceptance before God!
Oh, how easily and foolishly we fall into the error of the Galatians,
imagining that we are more secure or more spiritual because of our
good deeds or because of our dedication to religious duties
[GALATIANS
3:1-3; 5:1-4].
Now,
I say that the more we are able to suppress this direction of
thought, the stronger will be our faith and the greater will be our
assurance of a saving interest in Christ. A strong believer will cast
out the bond-woman and her son, owning himself only a son of free
grace, an heir of God through the Lord Jesus and His perfect,
righteousness imputed [ROMANS
4:6-8].
The
strong believer overlooks all duties, works, experiences, and even
graces as a ground of acceptance with God and finds his confidence
ONLY IN CHRIST! Like Paul, he counts all as loss and rubbish that he
may win Christ and be found in Him [PHILIPPIANS
3:7-9]. He will
not allow so much as one thread of personal righteousness in his
covering. It shall be all of grace from top to bottom! He knows that
grace reigns through righteousness imputed alone [ROMANS
5:21].
-Gospel
report by preacher Henry Mahan, 1984 A.D.
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