Overall Questions: What is grace? What is unique about grace? How do we accept grace?

SDA Bible Dictionary, art. “Grace” - Generally the translation of the Heb. chen and the Gr. charis, meaning “favor,” or “kindness,” especially when unearned or undeserved…The principal exponent of the doctrine of salvation by grace is Paul. His thesis is that salvation is the result not of law or of books or of nationality but of divine favor freely bestowed, and human faith…God’s grace leads men to repent (2 Ti 2:25) and imparts faith (Rom 12:3; Heb 12:2). The grace of God was mediated to man through Jesus Christ (Rom 5:15) and imparts consolation and hope (2 Th 2:16). God’s throne is not only a symbol of judgment and power but of grace (Heb 4:16).

Memory Text: Romans 5:8 CEV “But God showed how much he loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful.”

Sunday – God Provides Salvation
Genesis 22:8 KJ21 “And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering." So they went both of them together.”
Genesis 22:8 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY Abraham’s reply constitutes a prophetic utterance from the heights of heroic faith to which his soul had risen. By inspiration it pointed both to the ram of v. 13 and to the Lamb of God, which at the moment were equally beyond his ken. Except for the conviction that he was doing the will of God and that his “only son” would be restored to him, Abraham’s agony at the thought of parting from Isaac would have been beyond endurance.
Genesis 3:15 KJ21 “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel."”
Exodus 25:8 KJ21 “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.”
Isaiah 53:1-7 NRSV “1 ¶ Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account. 4 ¶ Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”

Monday – Pictures of the Miracle of Grace
Isaiah 53:7 NIV “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”
John 1:29 NIV “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 1:29 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY John the Baptist introduced Jesus as “the Lamb of God” to John the evangelist, and for the disciple this title must have held deep significance. The figure, which stresses Jesus’ innocence and perfection of character, and thus the vicarious nature of His sacrifice, is reminiscent of the paschal lamb of Egypt, which typified deliverance from the bondage of sin.
Matthew 20:28 God’s Word to the Nations “It’s the same way with the Son of Man. He didn’t come so that others could serve him. He came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many people."”
Acts 20:28 God’s Word to the Nations “Pay attention to yourselves and to the entire flock in which the Holy Spirit has placed you as bishops to be shepherds for God’s church which he acquired with his own blood.” 1 Corinthians 6:20 God’s Word to the Nations “You were bought for a price. So bring glory to God in the way you use your body.”
1 Corinthians 6:20 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY God evaluates the human race highly, as shown by the fact that He paid an infinite price for man’s redemption. This fact reveals the importance of each individual human being. Jesus would have come to the earth and given His life for one sinner. Being thus purchased by God, the redeemed sinner is morally obligated to live for God only, to obey all His commands, and to “flee” from all forms of licentiousness.

Tuesday – What Happened at Calvary
Isaiah 53:4-5 Holman “4 ¶ Yet He Himself bore our sicknesses, and He carried our pains; but we in turn regarded Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds.”
Romans 5:18-19 NLT “18 Yes, Adam’s one sin brought condemnation upon everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness makes all people right in God’s sight and gives them life. 19 Because one person disobeyed God, many people became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many people will be made right in God’s sight.”
Romans 5:19 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY Paul’s primary emphasis seems to be that men are constituted righteous by the results of Christ’s redeeming act apart from their own personal efforts. Likewise, as a result of Adam’s disobedience they became sinners. However, this thought cannot be separated from the fact that just as Adam’s disobedience resulted in his descendants living lives of transgression (v. 16), so the obedience of Christ results in lives of obedience on the part of all those who live in union with Him by faith.

Wednesday – Change of Heart
2 Corinthians 3:16-18 God’s Word to the Nations “16 But whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 This Lord is the Spirit. Wherever the Lord’s Spirit is, there is freedom. 18 As all of us reflect the Lord’s glory with faces that are not covered with veils, we are being changed into his image with ever–increasing glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
Hebrews 12:2-3 20th Century NT “2 our eyes fixed upon Jesus, the Leader and perfect Example of our faith, who, for the joy that lay before him, endured the cross, heedless of its shame, and now ‘has taken his seat at the right hand’ of the throne of God. 3 Weigh well the example of him who had to endure such opposition from ‘men who were sinning against themselves,’ so that you should not grow weary or faint-hearted.”

Thursday – Christ Our Salvation
Ephesians 2:4-10 NLT “4 ¶ But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, 5 that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s special favor that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms—all because we are one with Christ Jesus. 7 And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus. 8 God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
Titus 2:11-14 CEV “11 ¶ God has shown us how kind he is by coming to save all people. 12 He taught us to give up our wicked ways and our worldly desires and to live decent and honest lives in this world. 13 We are filled with hope, as we wait for the glorious return of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. 14 He gave himself to rescue us from everything that is evil and to make our hearts pure. He wanted us to be his own people and to be eager to do right.”
Titus 2:14 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY Paul here describes the work of the Son of God as He fulfills the office of “Saviour” (v. 13). Christ’s role as Saviour and Mediator for lost man was not thrust upon Him by the arbitrary will of the Father; Christ “gave himself” as a voluntary sacrifice for His wayward creation. In the person of Jesus Christ, God revealed the love of the divine Father. Though His sons and daughters suffer the consequences of moral and physical transgression, God has manifested His love by sharing with man the pain caused by sin. Christ’s gift cancels all doubts regarding the supreme splendor of God’s love to those who have disobeyed Him. From the inception of sin God has experienced the pain of unrequited love. Christ’s life on earth is cause enough for the praise of the redeemed throughout eternity.Acts 17:28 Moffatt NT “for it is in him that we live and move and exist—as some of your own poets have said, ‘We too belong to His race.’”
Galatians 2:16-20 BBE “16 Being conscious that a man does not get righteousness by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, we had faith in Christ Jesus, so that we might get righteousness by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law: because by the works of the law will no flesh get righteousness. 17 But if, while we were desiring to get righteousness through Christ, we ourselves were seen to be sinners, is Christ a servant of sin? In no way! 18 For if I put up again those things which I gave to destruction, I am seen to be a wrongdoer. 19 For I, through the law, have become dead to the law, so that I might be living to God. 20 I have been put to death on the cross with Christ; still I am living; no longer I, but Christ is living in me; and that life which I now am living in the flesh I am living by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who in love for me, gave himself up for me.”

Friday – Further Study
Ellen White, The Sanctified Life, p. 55 – “There may be marked defects in the character of an individual, yet when he becomes a true disciple of Jesus, the power of divine grace makes him a new creature. Christ’s love transforms, sanctifies him. But when persons profess to be Christians, and their religion does not make them better men and better women in all the relations of life--living representatives of Christ in disposition and character--they are none of His.”
Ellen White, Faith and Works, p. 19 – “If man cannot, by any of his good works, merit salvation, then it must be wholly of grace, received by man as a sinner because he receives and believes in Jesus.”
Ellen White, Desire of Ages, p. 172 – “the work of the Spirit upon the soul will reveal itself in every act of him who has felt its saving power. When the Spirit of God takes possession of the heart, it transforms the life. Sinful thoughts are put away, evil deeds are renounced; love, humility, and peace take the place of anger, envy, and strife. Joy takes the place of sadness, and the countenance reflects the light of heaven. No one sees the hand that lifts the burden, or beholds the light descend from the courts above. The blessing comes when by faith the soul surrenders itself to God. Then that power which no human eye can see creates a new being in the image of God.”

HEY JAMES423

GRACE is hope that GOD is working in your life
the devil can give people false hope that
all seems to be alright when people are still
going down the wrong path....


dgrimm60