God's Gift of Grace : THREE YEAR PODCAST ANNIVERSARY

Do you ever feel like the Bible or your pastor is speaking in terms you don't understand? Today, we will grow in the knowledge of God's grace, mercy, covenant, sanctification, justification, salvation, repentance, and righteousness.

GRACE: Grace is an extension of God's mercy. It is the free, unmerited favor of God
MERCY: While it is in God's power to condemn us, He doesn't. Instead, He forgives us.

I hope you see grace in a new way today, and can say Lord, "I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is written on my heart." Psalm 40:7-8, NASB

"Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied." Matthew 5:6

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Transcript

Matthew 5:6 says, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."

Hi, it's Katie with Bountiful Living, and I cannot believe it, but today, we are celebrating three years of the Bountiful Living podcast. Thanks so much for joining today. I know there's a couple of different people out there that may be listening today, some of you who have been believers your entire life, you're maybe very familiar with the word and hearing things like grace and mercy and justification and salvation, and others of you who feel like we might be talking in some other language that is totally new. So wherever you might be on that spectrum, I just want to go into some of that today to help us understand the cross and what Christ did for us and what it means to be a follower of Christ. 

I have been studying the book of Romans, as I've mentioned on here, for about a year. There's so much to it, and I have learned so much. And I have to say, I don't 100% feel qualified to teach many of the topics in it, but grace has been standing out to me. 

Grace isn't something I've perfectly extended, let's be honest. It's not even something I perfectly understand, but it is something God perfectly extends, and something He perfectly understands, and something that he gives to his children. So today, as believers, I'm hoping that we can come to a deeper knowledge and deeper understanding of grasping this beautiful gift of grace. So today, I humbly share with what I have learned from the Word, and like you, I will also receive this free gift from God. 

So, first of all, what is grace? I always have to, like, sit down and think about it, because there's two particular terms that really get confused: grace and mercy, and they are very, very similar. I'm using the Lexham Bible Dictionary. Grace is an extension of God's mercy. It's used to describe God or Christ in their merciful behavior towards humanity. Spiritual gifts in Romans 12 are also described as grace from God. 

Mercy, on the other hand, is God's withholding of punishment or judgment that we rightfully deserve for our sins and all the ways that we have fallen short of His glory. They are both a precious, precious gift. Paul, in Romans 6, is trying to get the believers there in Rome to understand, as it says in verse 14, "Sin shall no longer be a master over you, but you are not under the law but under grace. What then shall we sin? Because we're not under law but under grace. No, may it never be." 

Let's break down some of the things in this verse. For those of you unsure of what the law is. The law is sometimes called the "Law of Moses". Most people, even non-believers, have heard of the 10 Commandments, thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not covet, all that kind of stuff. But a lot of people don't know that there's actually 613 other laws in the Old Testament, in the Torah, and it was a lot to keep up with. People would memorize it so that they would not break God's law and disobey, and be in sin. As new believers in the New Testament, when they were understanding what Christ's death did, that sin died with Him, and we are raised to walk with Him in newness of life. So what actually happens to us is our old life is put to death, and we now, as followers of Christ, have His law written on our hearts. 

Jesus in Matthew 22:36-40. When he was speaking to a crowd, a lawyer asked him a question, saying, "'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?' And Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And on these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.'"

So, some more terms for you guys to learn is there's an old covenant and a new covenant. And there's so many covenants that's a whole topic and of itself. But just to make it simplified, the old covenant was everything that happened prior to Christ's death, burial and resurrection. And the new covenant is that God's law is no longer something that is a far off, but it is written and is bound on our hearts. That's actually a promise from the Old Testament, that God would write it on our hearts. 

When I started this podcast, I wanted to speed things up quite a bit and truly understand salvation, because I didn't feel like I could talk to you from a place of authority without knowing and understanding what salvation truly means. And so I begged God, I asked Him to just direct me to some things, because when you're studying God's Word, it takes time. And as I said, I've I have already been studying Romans for a year. So, if I would have waited till I finished studying Romans to truly understand salvation, I would have never gone anywhere with this podcast. I would have never moved forward, and I would be stuck. 

So kind of a couple of things that I want to walk through with you is a word from Jesus that says, Repent and believe. We often times quote many of the scriptures in Romans. You may have heard the Romans road before, and it outlines different scriptures guiding and leading people to salvation. I wanted to know, like, what did Jesus say about it? So His words, and I believe it's in Mark, Mark, let's see if we can get there. Okay, it's in Mark, 1:15, I was correct. It is in Mark. Jesus says, "The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel." You may have heard the ABCs of salvation. So the first one is A Admit, Admit you're a sinner. So the first step in all of this, and even from Jesus's own words, is repentance, is to acknowledge and admit that you're a sinner and you need God, and you want to turn from that old way, that old self that we were talking about just a moment ago, and have a new life in Him, and not go back to those old ways. 

So that second part is, Believe in the gospel. Believe in what? and What is the gospel? Romans tells us very clearly. And you guys have probably heard this Romans 10. Well, let's start in verse eight. "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith." So faith, faith we talked about in the last podcast, faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. So let's go back to our verse here, "and understanding that the word is near you and in your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord. Believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. You will be saved." So guys, that is the kind of component, the ABCs, the A, Admit that you're a sinner. B, Believe, and this is what we're believing, because this was a miracle that God did raising His Son up from the dead. That is a component of our faith! And then it says in verse 10, it kind of goes deeper and helps us understand it, "For with the heart, a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth, he confesses, resulting in salvation." And then it says in verse 11, "for the Scripture says, 'whoever believes in Him, [meaning Christ] will not be disappointed. And there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him, and whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved." So guys, that's another important component of our faith. 

And another component is that is for all. We sometimes hear that it's for some, we've talked about on the podcast, about how God grafted people into the family of God, even in the Old Testament, it wasn't just for people of Jewish heritage. This is for everyone. There is not a person that God wants to miss. God desires all of the world to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slow about His promise as some count slowness, but patient towards you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance." So if there is someone in your life that you have been praying for to receive Christ, I want you to be encouraged that God is at work in your life and in their life. And I want to encourage you to have hope. 1 Peter 1:3 It says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who, according to His great mercy," there's that word mercy again. And do you guys remember what it means that God is that we deserve death, we deserve judgment and punishment for our sins. But I thank God in His mercy had Jesus stand in our place. So, justification is that word. So when Jesus came and stood there for us, almost like if you were in a courtroom and you had a lawyer that was advocating for you, saying you're innocent, that is what justification is. The blood of Jesus stands in the place of that sin, and because of Christ, we are made right with God. I'm going to back up because those were just my comments, and I want you to understand the Scripture in the whole context.

1 Peter 1:3-8, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who, according to His great mercy, caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled and cannot fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are protected By the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed the last time in this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of Your faith more precious than gold, which is perishable, even through tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

So the ABCs, again, are A Admitting that you're a sinner and that you're in need of a Savior, that you are in need of Jesus to justify you, to make you righteous by His precious blood that washes us white as snow. B Believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He also raised from the dead. And the last part is Confess. We have to actually do this with our mouth. We have to speak it out loud and say it like we mean it. And it's an important part of this process. And we go, of course, as Christ has given all believers the Great Commission, go into all the world in Matthew 28:18- 20, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all of His commands."

I know I just shared a ton with you, and kind of the main thing that I have been learning and talking about is grace. So I want to expand on that a little bit and go deeper on that specific topic. I started kind of exploring this deeper when my Bible study asked me this question, What is the believer's penalty for sin? And I'm not sure if the question was just worded strange or not. Thankfully, there's a little commentary in the back, in case you have totally missed the boat. And as I said, I'm learning this too, and I think we will never completely, fully understand all of the mysteries of God and His Word. But what Paul is trying to say, we are now as believers under grace. That does not mean we are free to sin and that there are no restraints on how a believer should act. Many of us hear that we are free from sin and free in Christ, but that is not freedom to do whatever we want to do and go after our own ways and our own desires. We set aside that old self and submit our lives fully to Him. 

Grace actually obligates us to obedience. We started the podcast today with a scripture from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:6,"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." 

Jesus made it easy. Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. 

It can be easy to fixate on sin and all the do's and the don'ts because I have done that. I have so done that a huge portion of my life, I lived in a very legalistic manner, even following all the rules on the outside when my heart was bitter, and prideful, and self righteous. And so even though my behavior may have been"good", that if you were to look at my heart, my motives were all in the wrong place. Thankfully, God has delivered me from that, although I have to be honest, I can slip into it from time to time, and that's where God's grace meets us, because we are actually as believers in the process of sanctification, and what that means, throwing all these big words at you all at once today, there's going to be a quiz at the end. I'm just kidding. 

Sanctification is where we are becoming like Christ, and it's a process Psalms 1 says, "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and In his law. He meditates day and night." This is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. And if you're wondering how to be righteous, like, what does that look like? What does it mean? This is a beautiful chapter to look at, and this will be your homework assignment for the day, Psalm 1, breaking this down, this chapter, and we haven't read all of it yet, but here's some things since, since you're not looking at it and reading it right now, that I want to kind of highlight as we go through this, that the psalmist is highlighting two types of people in the world, the wicked and the righteous. And the difference is where they're planted. In order us, for us to be righteous, we need to be planted in Christ. We need to abide in Him. Our life needs to be set and situated in Him, not that old way we were living, but in Christ. That is what it means. If you've ever heard the term, pick up your cross and follow after Him, this is how we bear our cross. Is to no longer go after our own way, our own want and our own wishes that we have a new master who went before us. 

Psalms 1, "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight [instead]." So, I added the instead, "His delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night, he will be like a tree, firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither it in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so. They are like a chaff which the wind drives away, Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." 

And there's that promise when we look at Romans 3:23, "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord." We want to walk in righteousness, and this scripture is cautioning us to not eve counsel with the wicked, walk with the sinners, or even sit in the seat of those who scoff. Our lives and the people that we surround ourselves with, when we become a believer, will be different. And it says we delight in God's word, and we read it day and night, and it will make us like a tree, firmly planted by streams of water, which will yield fruit. So as believers, we should be bearing fruit. Its leaf does not wither, talking about the tree analogy. And in whatever he does, he prospers. 

I want to tell you today, believer, God loves you so much. He has every number of hair on your head, and I have been shedding lately. I'm like, it must be the end of winter. Someone told me your hair is on an eight-week cycle. Who knew? He knows how many I had this morning and how many I have tonight, and his thoughts of us are numerous. We often can get caught up when we're talking about sin, stuck in this shame loop. And while sin is shameful, this is that grace thing again, where we may have a punishment and a consequence for our sin, of course, ultimately, it's death if we don't choose Christ and if there are many consequences for sin. But God meets us where we are. God's word says there's no condemnation for those in Christ, Jesus, He doesn't condemn us, He meets us with grace and He forgives us. 

I want to share a scripture that has encouraged me in some of the darkest seasons of my life. It's from Psalm 40, and when I read it, it reminds me how much my Heavenly Father loves me. It says, "I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay. He set my feet upon a rock, making my footsteps firm, He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord. How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust and has not turn to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood. Many, Oh Lord my God, are the wonders which you have done in your thoughts towards us. There is none to compare with you. If I would declare and speak of them, they would be too numerous to count. Sacrifice and meal offering you've not desired. My ears, you have opened burnt offering and sin offering You've not required. Then I said, Behold, I come in the scroll of the book, it is written of Me. 'I delight to do your will, oh God, in your law is within my heart.'"

I know I have covered so much today, but my prayer is that you will see grace, God's grace for you in a new way, and that your prayer will be that it is written of your life, written of your days. God, I delight to do your will and your laws written on my heart. God, we thank you that you do not withhold compassion from us. Your loving kindness and your truth preserves us when our sin is great, grace and mercy meet us God, we repent of the many ways that we have fallen short of your glory, Lord, we just ask for you to sanctify us, as we abide in you, as we meditate on your your word And we spend time with you, God, make us more like you. Make us holy and righteous as you are holy and righteous. God, you are our deliverer. You are help, your hope. We thank you for the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ, who stood in our place, making us right with you. In Jesus, name Amen. 

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