Being appointed by God is within the policy of grace, part 2; John 15:16.

Title: Being appointed by God is within the policy of grace, part 2; John 15:16.

 

How does God protect the perfect integrity of His plan from the imperfections of His creatures? Grace!

 

1. Grace is the policy of the Church-age. It is all that God is free to do based on the work of Christ on the cross, ROM 8:32.

 

2. Grace is not a license to sin. It is God’s policy that enables an imperfect creature to execute a perfect plan, ROM 6:1-2, 12; Jude 4.

 

3. Grace is not policy to encourage laziness. It is God’s power of BD and the FHS enabling to serve, 1Cor 15:4.

 

4. Grace is not free pass from the destructiveness of the cosmic system. It is the freedom to walk by means of the Spirit, EPH 3:8 cf. 4:1; GAL 5:4 cf. GAL 5:16.

 

5. Grace is not against the Law, but the result of the fulfillment of the Law, enabling the believer to deal with his sin and recover from failure without guilt or condemnation.

 

6. Grace is not let go and let God [i.e. do nothing]. It excludes human power and enables the believer to make good decisions under divine power, 1Pet 4:10.

 

7. Grace is not only for you and not for others. In other words, grace excludes all judgment and sins of the tongue aimed at others, ROM 14:4.

 

ROM 14:1 Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.

 

ROM 14:2 One man has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.

 

ROM 14:3 Let not him who eats regard with contempt him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him.

 

ROM 14:4 Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

 

8. Grace is realized through the person of Christ, John 1:17.

 

John 1:16 For of His fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace.

 

John 1:17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.

 

9. Grace is not God overlooking sin. It is the direct and inescapable conclusion to the cross; the substitutionary spiritual death of TLJC, 2Cor 12:9.

 

2 Cor 12:9 And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected [completed or matured] in weakness."

 

Christ became weak on the cross so that we could become strong. Yet the strength of the believer is not caused by a remodeling of his already weak beyond repair human nature.

 

God satisfied His own justice through the work of Christ so that He could provide the believer with a new nature in grace. This nature combined with BD and FHS is the cause of divine strength.

 

The work to satisfy the justice of the Father for the free expression of this procedure of regeneration was completed or perfected by Christ’s substitutionary spiritual death, therefore; “power is completed in weakness.”

 

10. Grace therefore becomes the combination of Christ’s weakness on the cross and our weakness in our flesh. His work frees the Trinity to open a corridor of power to our weakness.

 

Grace therefore becomes an open door or open corridor to serve God by executing His plan. This is what the believer has been appointed to. It excludes all human merit and ability, both of which were completely rejected at the cross.

 

Human viewpoint, human good, and human power were all rejected as a source of power at the cross, showing them to be weak and incompetent.

 

God could do nothing for us if it were not for the cross. But now that the cross has satisfied the justice of God, God is free to do a great many things. Grace applied is the believer taking advantage of those free gifts.

 

Grace applied is the believer taking advantage of the free gifts of God that result from the cross. Grace is not a policy to encourage sin, laziness, apathy, judging, human good, or cosmic living.

 

Grace is a policy that allows the believer to assimilate BD through the FHS and apply that doctrine to execute the plan of God for his life.

 

At salvation the believer has been appointed to this as God introduces him to the start of his fantastic journey in the plan of God.

 

The counter-attack to grace by the enemies of God is to:

1)distort grace into lasciviousness

2)deny grace as impossible

3)confuse grace with works

4)confuse morality with the CWL

5)distort the word “grace” into a false meaning

6)distort the character of God

 

To many people the word grace only means saying something before a meal. It has become just a toast. The cosmic system has been very successful in destroying the meaning of words. Love, charity [a word for love a few centuries ago], joy, peace, hope, faith, etc. have all been distorted from their true origins and meanings.

 

This is why a PT must explore the etymology of every significant word that the scripture uses, hence the importance of the original languages.

 

It would behoove us to look at the etymology of this tremendous word in the original language, used 155 times in the NT.

 

 “grace” - ca,rij[charis] = Ancient Greece - the favor of the gods. Plato - favor, pleasure, good will, thanks.