The Unforgettable Grace
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January 01, 2017 |
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 Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased" (Luke 2:14).
Christmas that celebrates the birth of Jesus is a day of glory. God gave this day of great grace and blessing that we should never ever forget as ones who were saved by faith in Jesus Christ and live for hope for Heaven. In addition to this great grace, He has given us many opportunities, great grace, and strength in order for us to achieve many works that men cannot ever do.
1. The unforgettable grace is, first of all, 'the birth of the Lord.'.
That night when our Jesus was born, the grace upon all human beings was so great that a multitude of heavenly host appeared with an angel and sang praise to God, as written in Luke 2:14, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."
Thanks to the birth of Jesus, the message of the cross to save all mankind from sin could be heard; since it could promise countless fruits, it would surely be glory to God. In addition, those who believed in the fact that Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior can have their walls of sin before God demolished and make peace with God.
Let's consider an illustration. Suppose a man committed an unforgivable sin and he was sentenced to life. He had to face death in a prison. One day, he was given a special pardon, and became a free man. But, that was not the end. His status was upgraded from the status of an ex-convict to a man of good family. His criminal record was completely erased, and nobody could harass him.
If he just makes up his mind, he can start a whole new life. His special pardon, however, was not a coincidence. Someone made a sacrifice for the pardon. An anonymous benefactor paid the price on behalf of the criminal. If the criminal figured out what actually happened, he would never forget the grace until death.
The grace that we received from Jesus was so huge and great that it cannot even be compared with the grace that the anonymous benefactor showed. To save us from our sin, Jesus gave up everything, even His own life. As a result, we gained eternal life. Moreover, before that we were sinners, but now we are the children of God.
On top of that, as we believe in God, whatever we do and sow is piled up in Heaven as our rewards. Even on this earth we can receive back 'pressed down, shaken together and running over' at 30, 60, and 100 times more than what was sown.
Jesus also made a promise and said in John 14:13, "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son." As you can see, God did not just send us Jesus as our Savior, but He also gives answers to whatever we ask in the name of Jesus Christ.
2. The second grace we should never forget is the 'forgiveness of sin.'
Although you accepted Jesus Christ, received the forgiveness of sin, and became God's children, if you commit the deeds of the flesh such as immorality, impurity, sensuality, and idolatry, you can't be saved (Galatians 5:19-21). If you thoroughly repent and turn back from sins, however, you may be able to reach salvation.
1 John 5:16 says, "If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this." It means that there are sins leading to death while some sins do not necessarily lead to death.
The sin leading to death is the sin that again crucifies the Lord and put Him to open shame, to willfully commit sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, and to blaspheme, speak against, and insult the Holy Spirit. Regarding those who commit such sins, Hebrews 6:5-6 says, "(those who)...have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance..."
And our Lord said in Matthew 12:32, "...it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come." Therefore, those who commit the sin leading to death can never be saved. Once they die, they will receive the 3rd or 4th level of punishment in the lower grave. After the Great White Throne Judgment, they will be thrown into the lake of brimstone which is 7 times hotter than the lake of fire.
Today sins and evil are so prevalent that people commit sin without knowing it is sin. Christians even commit sin though they say they believe God. So, I gave earnest prayers to God kneeling down before God on behalf of them. "If only I can save them by any means, I will surely do. Please Father, show me the way. Show me the way to save them. It is only You, Father, who can do this. I boldly dare to confess their sin and beg forgiveness for them. Father, save them."
I gave intercessory prayers to God, sacrificing myself and struggling to fulfill the justice. Consequently, the way of forgiveness was opened; the God of love gave us the grace of forgiveness of sin. He forgave sins that can never be forgiven and thereby gave you changes to start over.
3. The third grace we cannot forget is the grace of 'change.'
Since you received the great grace of forgiveness from God, you began to change a lot faster than before. Instead of saying "I've been a Christian for many long years. I am a Pastor (an elder, a senior deaconess, or a leader in this department)" you definitely realized the important thing is not how you look outwardly but how much your inner-man recovers the image of God. Then, the true change finally began. As the original light and sound were spread through the shepherd, you made up your mind more strongly to enter spirit and whole spirit. So, more of you could ride on the flow that comes into spirit quickly.
It is never an easy job to change personality or to break frameworks of righteousness and goodness. But more grace was upon on you so that you could change. Underlying foundation for such grace was my sacrifice of receiving the sword of punishment for you. Such love became the driving force to help you change by giving up your free-will.
As its result, the fruit was borne that God can be pleased with, that is, many people stood on the rock of faith and entered spirit and whole spirit. These fruits of glory will be united with the shepherd through true trust and play the main roles in doing the actual ministry of the third stage of this church.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, God created men and has been cultivating them. He wants us to have a sincere heart in full assurance. God is harvesting such fruits from this church in this end time. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will engrave the grace and come out as the perfect fruit of glory.
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