Ephesians 2:8-10, John 3:16, John 10:28-30, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Revelation 22:17, Matthew 11:28-30, Ezekiel 18:23

Summary: Our series on Bible doctrines continues with a look at the definition and characteristics of the grace of God.

Grace is defined as the love and mercy of God in action. He showed His mercy and love for us, unworthy and undeserving as we are (Romans 3:10-18, 23, 6:23), when He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to willingly bear upon Himself our sins and transgressions, which was the punishment we should have had to bear.

He did not have to undergo the trials and agony of the cross. He did not have to bear our unpayable sin debt, yet He did. Even though our sins and rebellion had made us His enemies (Romans 5:6-11), His grace and mercy are such that He chose out of His love for us to endure a literal hell on earth. He did this, physically and spiritually, so that we did not have to endure the eternal hell which is reserved for the devil, his angels, and all who reject this gracious offer of Divine love (Matthew 25:41; Mark 9:43-38; Luke 16:19-31; Revelation 20:11-15). Jesus’ death on the cross for our sakes was the truth and fulfillment of what He taught (John 3:16).

God’s grace endures forever upon the ones who have trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation (John 10:28-30, 19:30; Romans 8:37-39). I have absolutely NO idea where the idea of “losing one’s salvation” originated, but it isn’t in the Bible.

If we are genuine and sincere in confessing our sins and repent before the LORD, trusting in Christ’s finished work on the cross for our redemption, He then takes control of our lives from that moment on (Luke 14:25-33). When we DO sin, the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is there to convict us of our wrongdoing (John 16:7-15). He directs us back to the cross where we confess before the LORD what we have done or said, seek His forgiveness, and then carry on with the tasks He has given us to do (Psalm 103:6-14; Philippians 3:13-14; 1 John 1:9).

Our security in Christ is not some kind of “license to sin,” as some brethren tend to believe. However, if someone continues to live in sin and still confesses that he or she is a follower of Christ, yet shows no signs of remorse or sorrow over sins, the issue is not that they have somehow “lost” their salvation, but the truth is that they were never truly saved in the first place (Matthew 7:21-23; Mark 7:6; Luke 6:46; Titus 1:16; Hebrews 6:4-6; James 3:14; 1 John 2:9, 3:18).

The Scriptures instruct us to examine ourselves as to whether the faith we profess is real or fraudulent and to come before the LORD in humbleness and surrender to His mercy and saving grace (Matthew 7:5; 2 Corinthians 13:5; Galatians 6:4).

God’s grace carries no conditions on our part. In other words, we do not bring anything before Him in some kind of “deal” or “partnership” where we try to do our best and He puts in the rest of the work on our behalf. He makes it clear in His Word that we are totally unable to make ourselves righteous or acceptable in His sight while we are in our depraved, sinful, and rebellious condition. Our righteousness is as a filthy leper’s rag or menstrual pad in His sight (Isaiah 64:6; Romans 1:18-32). Apart from His intervention, none of us can even be redeemed and freed from our sins.

Ephesians 2:1-3 tells us that we are not just sick with sin but dead in sin. It is His Sovereign election, that is, His gracious and merciful choice to bring us back from the dead through the finished work of Christ on the cross that we are given eternal life (John 10:9; Acts 4:12, 15:11; Romans 5:9; 1 Thessalonians 1:9; Hebrews 5:9, 9:28; 1 John 5:11). We cannot add nor delete anything in our own power to improve or add to Christ’s work of salvation and redemption. The task is complete and finished, period. (2 Corinthians 12:9).

God’s grace makes no discrimination (Revelation 22:17). Even in the final book of Holy Scripture, the Lord Jesus calls upon all who have read and heard His Word to come to Him for salvation (Ezekiel 18:23; Matthew 11:28-30; 2 Peter 3:9). The ground at the foot of the cross is always level. His grace is the means by which we are justified (Romans 3:23-24). We are made righteous through Christ by faith in what He did for us at Calvary and by His resurrection from the dead as validation that His sacrificial mission was complete and never to be repeated again.

Justification is accounting us, the guilty in sin, as just before God, not by the Law (Romans 3:20, 28), nor by our self-righteousness (Romans 10:1-4), nor by our works (Romans 4:1-5), and not faith plus works (Galatians 2:16). The work that we do for the LORD is the product and fruit of our salvation, not a condition for salvation (James 2:14-16).

By His grace, we are made heirs of his love and eternal riches (Romans 8:17; Galatians 3:29; 4:7; Titus 3:7). Finally, the grace of God instructs us on how to live as His children (Titus 2:11-12; 2 Peter 1:3, 3:11).

The Scriptures and the privilege of approaching Him in prayer (Hebrews 4:14-16) are treasures that many of us take for granted. We need to see this as the gracious, merciful, and open invitation to have fellowship with Him and to have more of His will and nature in our lives than that of this futile, limited, and corrupt world (1 John 2:15-17).

The best way to end this sermon on the basics of God’s grace comes from the Apostle Paul, who received this undeserved grace on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:1-6). He writes the following words of praise for God’s saving grace:

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor? Or who has first given to Him, and it shall be repaid to Him? For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever, Amen” (Romans 11:33-36, NKJV).

You can’t top that.

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www.realitycityreverend.com

My YouTube broadcasts titled “The Reality City Review” will be posted on Facebook, GETTR, Parler, and on my website when completed. My main area of discussion will be on the basics of the Christian faith but will also deal with prophetic issues and other topics as the Lord impresses upon me to handle.

The DAY OF THE LORD is “The Day of Jehovah,” and its usage is always associated with something dire, with judgment, and with events outside the implementation of man. In other words, it is the intervention of God with the power of God in the affairs of this world. It has a primary application to Israel, but that is always extended often to a wider field, and that involves the world. Its main focus is in the Tribulation that is coming. We continue –

[5]. Isaiah 24: ¹⁷ “Terror and pit and snare confront you, O inhabitant of the earth. ¹⁸ Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare; for the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake. ¹⁹ The earth is broken asunder, the earth is split through, the earth is shaken violently. ²⁰ The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard and it totters like a shack, for its transgression is heavy upon it, and it will fall, never to rise again.

²¹ It will happen in that day, that the LORD will punish the host of heaven on high, and the kings of the earth on earth. ²² They will be gathered together like prisoners in the dungeon, and will be confined in prison; and after many days they will be punished. ²³ Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, for the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and His glory will be before His elders.”

((Verse 17 addresses the inhabitants of the earth, so this passage is universal. Universal judgment on the earth is the Tribulation when the wrath of God in The Day of the LORD is unleashed. Verses 17-20 are great, dramatic judgment descriptions and fit Revelation, and the earthquakes of Rev 6:12; 8:5; 11:13, 19; 16:18-19; Matthew 24:7. The severity of the wrath in the Tribulation is beyond our present thinking. But it will come, and it will be terrible, but not for Christians because God will remove us from that wrath before it starts. Verse 21 uses the key phrase, “in that day” which always places events at the time of the end.

Note carefully the ending of verse 20, “and it will fall, never to rise again.” Once the Lord deals with this world and brings all man’s rule to the end at the Second Coming, then the kingdoms of this world become the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour. Man’s rule will fall and will never rise again. We don’t want it to because man has mucked it all up from the beginning. Once the Lord takes control, everything will be perfect.

Verse 21 is a most interesting one. The Lord defeats the kings of the earth and their armies in Israel at His Second Coming, and Satan and demons who are the host of heaven will be rendered ineffective for 1,000 years. This is only my thinking on this, but I think the demons will be consigned to hell but Satan to the abyss for the 1,000 years until he is released. Verse 22 is indefinite as to the party/ies which is/are specifically concerned. It could be both men and the demonic host, or it may mean just Satan and his demons. In any case, punishment awaits all those who are evil – men and demons.

Verse 23 is a very full verse. It begins with the signs of the Second Coming when the Lord returns to the Mount of Olives, but first, He has to deal with the world’s armies that will be throttling Israel. Then the Lord establishes His Kingdom and will reign from Jerusalem. The leadership (elders) of Israel will see His glory, but we remember at His first coming that it was the rulers and elders who had the Lord crucified. What a change this will be! That passage in Isaiah is so comprehensive for The Day of the LORD that we must not overlook it.))

[6]. Isaiah 34: ¹ “Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples! Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it. ² For the LORD’s indignation is against all the nations, and His wrath against all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them. He has given them over to slaughter. ³ Their slain will be thrown out, and their corpses will give off their stench, and the mountains will be drenched with their blood. ⁴ All the host of heaven will wear away, and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll. All their hosts will also wither away as a leaf withers from the vine, or as one withers from the fig tree.

⁵ My sword is satiated in heaven. Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom and upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction. ⁶ The sword of the LORD is filled with blood. It is sated with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in the land of Edom…. ⁸ For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.”

((Again, this is such an amazing Isaiah passage. The whole world is asked to listen, and the wording has the sense of urgency. In a sense, that opening verse (verse 1) is the message for the world RIGHT NOW. We are in those times when the events are about to be played out. Verse 2 opens up what the whole world needs to listen to. It is a description of Armageddon, the great climax of the Day of the LORD at the Second Coming when the wrath of the Lord is against all the world’s armies. They won’t escape because the words are “utterly destroyed them.”

It is interesting that this is written in the past tense even though it was 2,000 years in the future from the time of writing. That is because its fulfillment is absolutely so certain that it is considered as having happened. That technique was used a few times in the Bible. One such example is in Revelation. Revelation 11:15 “The seventh angel sounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.'” (There was still more time before the Second Coming.)

I have mentioned many times that by the time of Armageddon, the population of the world will be small, as will be their armies. They are currently armed to the teeth, but I feel in a way I can’t explain that God will render useless all the technical weapons of today. However it plays out, they will enter Israel for destruction upon themselves.

Verse 3 describes the great loss of life, so great that the prophet used the expression “the mountains will be drenched with their blood,” and in verse 6, it parallels with “The sword of the LORD is filled with blood.” Verse 3 fits in very nicely with the account of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38 and 39, so much so that I have always considered that war as one of the three battles, all part of Armageddon (Gog, kings of the east, and the armies of the Antichrist). Revelation 19 is also applicable, which is the LORD in battle against the world’s armies.

We must say something about verse 4 – “All the host of heaven will wear away, and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll. All their hosts will also wither away as a leaf withers from the vine, or as one withers from the fig tree.” The parallels with Revelation 6 v 13-14 are obvious – Revelation 6:13 “and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place” (or “all the mountains and islands were moved out of their places”).

Isaiah has an Armageddon setting, but Revelation 6 contains the same language in the 6th seal judgment. There is no discrepancy here. Isaiah is looking dimly through the ages to a time 2,700 years in the future, whereas the Spirit of God outlined to John on Patmos the specifics of the coming event.

Verses 5 and 6 are very revealing. It begins with “My sword is satiated in heaven,” indicating all decisions are made at God’s presence from heaven and seen as accomplished. The word “satiated” means satisfied, quenched, so the wrath of God is quenched before it happens. It won’t stop it happening; it just flows from the throne in a foregone conclusion.

Edom is mentioned, and in the Old Testament, Edom is mentioned, sometimes with regard to destruction; but it usually progresses past Edom, and here it does that. Edom represents the enemy, and the enemies of God are “edoms,” and the progression is to “and upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction.“ And in the context of this passage, “the peoples devoted to destruction” – they are the whole earth whose armies are at Har Meddigo. This is fully in the wrath of The Day of the LORD.

The final verse is very important also – Isaiah 34:8 “For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.” Two things are mentioned, the first being a day of vengeance. This vengeance is the Tribulation, and God will pour out wrath on the world for the awful atrocities since the time of Adam. Yes, Christ bore our sins, but a rejection of that pardon means the sin of the individual falls on his/her own head. Of course, in a strict sense, the peak of the day of vengeance is Armageddon.

The second expression, “a year of recompense for the cause of Zion,” is more specific. The Lord has noted every atrocity done to His chosen people, the house of Jacob, even though some of those came on them because of their own willfulness and departure from the Lord. We thank a merciful God that we, the believers, will be removed before that vengeance and recompense falls. The vengeance of the Lord is what the Day of the LORD is about, and He will recompense the nations according to what they have done to Israel.))

End of PART 8. Part 9 is to follow.

ronaldf@aapt.net.au