Christian Message Boards: DESERTS vs GRACE

This is topic DESERTS vs GRACE in forum Bible Topics & Study at Christian Message Boards.

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Posted by WildB (Member # 2917) on :

by Cornelius R. Stam

It is an interesting fact that in this day of godlessness and lawlessness so much is being said about what we all deserve! Ads in the newspapers and commercials on radio and TV ask:

"Don't you deserve the very finest automobile?"

"Don't your children deserve the best?"

"Doesn't your baby deserve Pampers?"

And even, "Doesn't your dog deserve Alpo?"

Well, do you really deserve the finest car? Please don't answer that! Do your children deserve the best -- always? If so you surely have model children -- not at all like their parents! And does your baby deserve Pampers? That's funny! And does your dog deserve Alpo? That's ridiculous! Dogs do not "love" or obey you from any moral consideration, nor, for that matter, does your baby, lovable as the darling is. And as to you and your children -- including the baby, the Bible has something to say on this subject.

The Bible says that "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men for that ALL have sinned [i.e., in Adam]" (Rom. 5:12). You and I were "in Adam" when he sinned. When he sinned, we sinned. Deny this and you might as well agree with the murderer who argued: "My feet and legs didn't do it; my ears and nose didn't do it; only my one hand and one or two other parts of my body did it, so the rest should go free."

We believers in Christ should thank God that our blessed Lord took upon Him our just deserts when He died for our sins at Calvary. This is why God's Word says:

"We declare, I say, at this time, His righteousness for the remission of sins... that [God] might be just, and the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.

"Where is boasting then? It is excluded" (Rom. 3:25-27).

Posted by Carol Swenson (Member # 6929) on :

Grace That Is Greater than Sin

We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:14-16

Payson, when dying, expressed himself with great earnestness respecting the grace of God as exercised in saving the lost and seemed particularly affected that it should be bestowed on one so ill-deserving as himself. “Oh, how sovereign! Oh, how sovereign! Grace is the only thing that can make us like God. I might be dragged through heaven, earth, and hell, and I should still be the same sinful, polluted wretch, unless God himself renews and cleanses me.”

(The Quotable Spurgeon)

Posted by Michael Harrison (Member # 6801) on :

quote:
I might be dragged through heaven, earth, and hell, and I should still be the same sinful, polluted wretch, unless God himself renews and cleanses me.”

Delightful! Therefore we cannot be 'separate' from Him, which would mean to be separate from His grace. And to be separate from His grace is to be polluted, and wretched, which some seem to think His graces sees as Ok (which is contrary to what grace accomplishes)!

Posted by Michael Harrison (Member # 6801) on :

Rom 3:27 "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. "

It is about righteousness, which is abiding in, and keeping the law, which one would boast of if he could only do it! And boasting is excluded not because you can't do it, but because He can and is doing it, and by faith, you can have what is done.

Rom 3:31 "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish [keep] the law!"