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This morning we continue our series, “Grace that is Simply Amazing” by continuing with our new mini-series entitled, “Growing in Grace.” A couple of weeks ago we started walking our way through 5-9 of Peter’s second letter. The Apostle Peter wrote, “So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books” (2 Peter 1:5-9 MSG). Today we will focus on the following statement, “Without these qualities… oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.”
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. The more you grow in grace the more cognizant you are of what God provided you through Christ Jesus. The Apostle Peter wanted you to know that “your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.” Once you are a Born-Again believer, and you have been saved by God’s unearned grace, you have been forgiven of sin, period. Your old sinful life is no longer the issue. Your focus should no longer be on sin, but rather on fulfilling your life’s purpose.
2. Grace shifts your focus away from the Law and works. Paul said, “We have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law”(Gal 2:16). The Bible is clear that we are made righteous by our faith and God’s grace; not by works. We cannot earn righteousness. God makes us righteous when we accept His Son Jesus as Lord. Paul also said, “No one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.” (Gal 2:16). That is about as clear as you can make it. You cannot be made right with God by dutifully obeying rules. You can only be made right with God when you accept the fact that you are a rule-breaker in need of a Savior.
3. God does not even remember your sin. The writer of Hebrews said, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Heb 8:12 KJV).
— God has promised to be merciful to your unrighteousness.
— He is not holding what you did against you.
— What you did is not who you are.
— When God looks at you, He does not see what you did, He sees His purpose! And He sees His Son!
— So don’t judge your future by your past. Judge your future by your purpose! God wants you use you by GRACE! God wants to bless you – NOT BECAUSE YOU ARE SO GOOD – but because HE IS SO GOOD!
4. God is committed to you and to the purpose He put in you before the world began. Paul said, “If we are faithless [do not believe and are untrue to Him], He remains true (faithful to His Word and His righteous character), for He cannot deny Himself” (2 Tim 2:13 AMP).
— God will not turn His back on you.
— God is committed to what He started in you before the world began (2 Tim 1:9, Phil 1:6).
— When God looks at you, He cannot deny Himself; meaning that He cannot deny what He purposed you to do before the world began. God is so committed to you and to His purpose, that He will remain faithful to you, even when you are faithless to Him. That’s grace! Not just any grace, but the grace of God, and yes, it is amazing!
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for teaching me more and more about Your amazing, unearned and immeasurable GRACE! My old sinful life has been wiped off the books! You are not holding my past against me. You are not out to get me. You are not focused on everything I have done wrong. Once I accepted Your Son Jesus as my Lord, You saved me by Your unearned Grace and You now seek to use me by Grace to accomplish Your Kingdom plans and purposes for me. The Law of Moses served it’s purpose in my life. The Law exposed to me the fact that I was wrong and that I needed a Savior. Without the Law I would have never called out to Jesus as Lord. But now that I am Born-Again, I don’t focus on the Law of Moses. You have written Your Law on my heart, by Your Holy Spirit, and I now seek to be led of Your Spirit every day. The Law was external, the Holy Spirit is internal. I have been made righteous by faith in Christ Jesus. I have right standing with You and I did not earn it. I was declared right with You and I do not deserve it. Righteousness was given to me as a gift. I receive it, I embrace it, I accept it, and I live my life as the righteousness of God in Christ. My focus is no longer my sin. My singular focus in life is to FIND, FOLLOW and FINISH what You purposed me to do before the world began. And I find comfort in knowing that You will never give up on me. You remain faithful to me, even during times when my faith is weak, because You cannot deny Yourself. You are committed to helping me finish what You started in my life and Your unyielding commitment toward me helps me enter each day with fearless confidence and unshakable peace. I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
