True Grace
Part 1
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. (John 1:17)
Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: (Ephesians 1:9)
That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10)
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:8)
Man has acquired sin from Adam. It is impossible for the traditions of men, or for the wisdom of men to find a solution for his sin. It is not up to man to bring about his own salvation. Salvation must come from without man, and from His Creator, God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Only in the mystery of God does the omnipotent God work through the darkness and degradation of man’s evil heart. It is the Holy Spirit of God sent to reveal Christ in the heart of man, and He, the Holy Spirit, opens the heart of man. The Holy Spirit must work according to God’s divine plan; being God Himself, He has all the attributes of both the Father and the Son. In our present time period it is the Spirit of God who calls through God’s grace, and this call can only come from God Himself. Man can preach the glorious gospel and the mysteries of Christ, but unless the Spirit makes His call man is void of all spiritual understanding. In substitution for grace man reveals past traditions of men. He develops a system of superstition under the doctrines of the Nicolaitans or clergy; these doctrines are void of the Spirit of God and any spiritual understanding. This has brought about a day of spiritual ruin in the professing church of this world. The further the clergy runs from the Bible the further they take the throngs away from God. It is only the Bible that has the truth. And that truth from the Bible must be revealed by Jesus Christ through the Spirit of God. For truth and grace came by Jesus Christ. If you have convictions to find this truth then you must cast off all others, and seek the truth of Christ. There are many voices in the world, even the Apostle told this in his day. One must sort through the voices with something that is pure and undefiled. Yes, that is the Bible. God has kept His word in purity so that you may find salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. Once you are a child of God you have a new spiritual being quickened by the Spirit of God, and you are spiritually dependent on the Spirit of God and the Holy Book that God has given to us, so that grace may abound and grow in your life to glorify the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
True Grace
Let’s now begin our subject of true grace. True grace must come by faith. For without faith it is impossible to please God, for one who comes to Him must first believe that He is, and that the divine God is a rewarder of them who diligently seek Him. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6) Then where do I find this faith? Is it contained in the religion of man? No. Is it contained in all these buildings with steeples and signs that tell us to come worship with them? No, it is not to be found, but to be given of God. It comes from above, for it is divine faith. This faith is in or of Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, the faith, and the grace, and the life. No man comes to God, the Father, except through His Son, Jesus Christ, and without faith given of Christ man is without hope in this world. Faith is His personal possession, it belongs to the Son of God, and it is up to Him to give and to preserve it in those who are called by His name. The Spirit of God acts on the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ to bring each precious soul to Christ. In Galatians 2:20 Paul, through the Spirit of God, wrote that ‘I live by the faith of the Son of God.’ This opens a wonderful door to God’s grace, and without the faith of the Son of God man cannot begin his journey of redemption. Without divine faith man gropes in the darkness not being able to find the door of salvation which is the faith of Jesus Christ.
Blindness – a man – a nation
In the Gospel of John we are introduced by the Spirit of God to a man who was born blind. According to the Lord this man who was born blind was born blind according to the purpose of God, Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. (John 9:3) Notice that in this verse that this blind man was for the manifestation of the glory of the Son of God. He was born blind that the works of God in Jesus Christ might be made manifest in him. How many just see the miracle of sight and not the root of spiritual life given to this man. He was born blind to manifest the works of God. Notice, the word ‘works’ in verse 3. The word is plural, not just physical sight, but an open heart by God’s grace. The Son of God did more than one work to this blind man who was born blind. The first work was the divine plan of the Son of God coming or passing by this man. And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. (John 9:1)
The words ‘passed by’ is only for the world. For every day we pass by blind souls, born blind to the light of God. And sadly many of us pass by without paying them any mind. Many times when we stop to speak and tell them of sight in Christ, and of His marvelous grace we get a ghostly stare of unbelief and blindness, for they are in the depths of sin. This was an appointed place that the Lord had come to, as He passed by He stopped. The disciples asked him, Who did sin, this man or his parents? They were looking for an answer from the Lord Jesus, but they did not expect the one that they received. The Lord informed them that before this man was born God closed his eyes to light. This man was to be used as an example that men live in darkness and not in the true light of Jesus Christ. For the light shineth in the darkness, and man in his darkness comprehends it not. (John 1:5) While the Lord Jesus was in the world He was the light of the world. He was sent by God the Father to bring righteousness and God’s holiness in His grace to this dark world. One note of importance, in Chapter 8 the chapter ends with the words, ‘and so passed by.’ The ministry inside the temple had come to an end. The complete revelation of God had been given in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The result was that the Jews took up stones to stone Him, without a trial under their law, it was the enmity of their evil heart that they could not contain. They were groping at the doors of darkness, and so he passed by. The works of God would go outside the temple, the law would be left behind in the evil hands of the elite class of religious Jews, and grace in Jesus Christ would continue to walk amongst the people to reveal Himself to man. In Chapter 9 of the Gospel of John He is passing by and sees a blind man. It is no mistake that this man is being detained by his blindness at this particular spot. If God knew his blindness before birth, He knew exactly when and where He would meet this man. He was about to reveal grace in a new way. It was not to the nation as a whole under Judaism, but to this individual man who was born blind. This man was to become a symbol of the whole nation of Israel. The blindness that went all the way back to the exodus in the days of Moses. If He could not work His works of grace in the temple, He would leave them — the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, and the rulers of the Jews under the law of Moses. He now would work outside the religious realm of man. This would be a divine work of grace to this man who was born blind to show forth the works of God. In John’s Gospel of Chapter 9 the man did not cry out or stand up and wave his hands, nor did he run to the Master and kiss His feet. He simply sat there, and sovereign grace found him right where he was. It was the appointed time and place. The One who was sent of the Father in sovereign love, the One who was the Son of His love came to the blind man who was the symbol of not only the blindness of the nation of Israel, but of all men born of Adam
The Seed of Faith
The first work of faith is within the man. The Lord Jesus said that the works of God should be made manifest in the blind man. The work within is the seed of faith given by the Lord Jesus. It is the work of God that faith and grace come to any man. The indwelling of the Spirit of God is just as much a gift as He brings faith and grace in Jesus Christ. Christ on the cross of Calvary, and in His sufferings has taken Adam out of the way, and made peace with God in making of twain one new man. He is God’s man, and He is surrounded with complete and all righteousness. When the Spirit brings faith to the heart of man the first introduction is to the Person of Jesus Christ and His work on Calvary. One must be free from sin and guilt before one can be risen with Christ. Death must come — and Adam must go — for the new man (Christ) to have the preeminence in one’s life. As we see the blind man, the Lord Jesus first touches his heart, He must wake the soul and begin the work of God within before the outside results take place. He is grace and truth, and He now begins the work inside the blind man. This sequence of events from Chapter 8 through Chapter 9 is a new position or a new work of the Lord Jesus. He had come to the temple as the Sovereign of the people of Israel. He came to teach them the truth of God. Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because [there is] no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. (Hosea 4:1) Christ came into their midst, and like Solomon, He made judgments and condemned that which was of sin in them. He was there to reveal the Father and Himself as the great I AM. He pointed out the hard hearts of the Pharisees and Sadducees. He took them back to the law of Moses and the burning bush where Moses met a Holy God. Moses had removed his shoes for he was on holy ground, but the descendants of Israel from the days of Moses to the day of Christ had a long history of unbelief and rebellion against God; therefore, when they heard the Lord proclaim that He was in fact the great I AM, they did not bow in His presence and pay Him homage or take their shoes off; the Jewish leaders, however, picked up stones to stone Him. He had come to His own and they received Him not. He had come out from God the Father to deliver them from their enemy, yet they would not receive Him. When He left the temple in Chapter 8, the next Chapter 9 opens with complete blindness. Even though it is a figure of a man born blind, it was the conclusion of the blindness and deadness of Israel as a whole, and he was blind from his birth. In the miracle of grace the blind man could do nothing. It is the Lord who enacts the sequence of events. So to, with the blindness of Israel, when He comes in His second advent, He will come to a blind nation waiting in blindness and He will come to open their eyes and their hearts. He will give them a new heart, and they will receive Christ as their Lord and their God. He will open their eyes to the wonder of His glory. This man of blindness was being prodded by God inwardly. The outward result began within to bring forth the wonder and glory of Christ. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.(John 11:4) In the application to the death of Lazarus that the Son of God should be glorified, so the same application applies to the blind man as well. For the one who was born blind sat in the darkness of death. So Christ must not only give him sight, but life as well.
Blind to Love and Truth
We, as the children of Adam, come into this world blind to the love of God. We sit in our blindness till the Son of God passes by. The Spirit of God begins His work in our hearts and souls to give us light and life, and to remove our blindness with the true gift of God, Jesus Christ. I once sat in that darkness, but Jesus Christ passed by and saved me from the wrath to come. He took me into His presence to dwell with Him and to know Him, not only on earth below, but in heaven also. When one dies in Christ he is raised in the miracle of Christ’s resurrection. A new creature with not only life, but that life is given and upheld by Christ Himself.
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1)
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. (Colossians 3:2)
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)
We only see grace here for all that is given to us in Christ is pure grace. We deserve nothing, and in ourselves can acquire nothing. It must be given of God in pure grace. Old things are passed away in Adam, for Adam is dead, and I am a new man in the risen Christ. My eyes have been given light, and they are wide open and my heart and soul is free in Him and His grace. When God the Father sees me in Christ there is no Adam, for Adam is gone. It is Christ in me, and the hope of glory. There is nothing left of my degraded past or sin. Only a future of true grace in His presence; truly, this is the gift of God. Grace does not stand alone, it must be acquired by faith for grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. (John 1:17) (Ephesians 2:8)
It is the finished work of Christ that gives the authority to the grace of God. You acquire grace through Christ’s death and sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. His grace does not belong to you, it is given to you. His atonement, His suffering, His hours of darkness, and the travail of His soul acquired grace for you. And it is His gift through faith, and you can do nothing of yourself, and once more, for grace belongs to Him and it is the free gift of God. Amen
We are not done with the wonderful gift of grace, this has been part 1. Part 2 to follow in the near future (God willing).
© Copyright 2016, Michael Haigh
Article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.
All Scripture references are from the Authorized King James Bible. (KJV)