Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a
result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Romans 3:24 says, “Being justified as a gift by His grace
through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 3:27-28 says, “Where then is boasting? It is
excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we
maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”
I’m writing this having had a conversation with a man at
Panera. I went there to study and not really to get into any sort of
conversation. I was sitting at one of the couches by the fire reading in Acts 10,
when a man, looking as homeless as could be, came up to talk to me in passing.
I have seen this type of person so many times. Usually, they are assured that
they are filled with the Holy Spirit and although they have no occupation, they
believe it’s their job to do the Lord’s work.
I said to myself, “Lord, please don’t let me talk to this
man, for he is a lost… “and that’s as far as I got. I started to look again at
the passage that I was reading and saw how Peter was corrected for trying to
judge who was and who wasn’t worthy of the grace given by Christ. God tells us very plainly not to call unclean
what He has called clean. Who am I to say that one is worthy of the Gospel
while another one isn’t. So there I sat; convicted.
I began to probe questions towards him as he sat in the
chair close by. He was very hesitant to answer any sort of question, maybe with
the fear of being too well known. I asked him if he went to church anywhere,
which is usually my opening question to talking about Christ, and he said no
and that he was just passing through. He made a comment after answering that
said something like, “I know you’re trying to tell me about Christ, but believe
me, I could tell you more than you can tell me. I don’t have a job that allows
me to live well, but I do the Lord’s work.”
Instantly, I tried to understand in the most loving way
possible, although every ounce of pride in my system wanted to say, “OH
YEAH?!?!?!” I restrained myself.
I didn’t find this out until I left him, but he wanted me to
call him Brother, again, another way not really to not give me any information about
himself, but in this story and in our prayers, this will be his name.
An hour had gone past and I began to tell my brother, who
was at first meeting with one of his friends, about a verse that I thought was
really telling of the work of God through personal suffering (which may be
blogged about in later time). Brother (again, not my brother. This is why names
are important) heard me talk about this verse and began to talk to the two of
us about his beliefs. He was just as I had thought.
He began to tell us that the key of life was to be filled
with the Holy Spirit that is talked about in John 14:26 and in John 15:26.
However, the more he talked, the more evident it became that he believed that
salvation came not by faith but by the works that we did out of loving God,
taking verses from 2nd Corinthians 12 and James 2. My brother and I began
trying to tell him that this was complete heresy, but he said otherwise. We
left the conversation in disagreement with the beauty of the Gospel that it is
by grace and not of works. So we continue to pray for Brother that God may
reveal this truth to him.
It pains me to see people whose eyes are closed. This isn’t
to boast in my open eyes because with what power could I ever open my own eyes
when I was an enemy of Christ? It is truly by the grace and mercy of Christ
that I am able to pick up the Bible and believe in its truth. However, 2nd
Corinthians 4:4 says, “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the
minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of
the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
These people who do not accept the grace of God literally have
no choice to do so because they are blind. This is beauty of the work of Christ
in our hearts is that He literally opens our eyes. In the same way that God heals
the blind in the Gospels, He heals those who believe, not on their own merit
but because of His grace that extends to those whom He chose to let see.
So my heart burns for those who are still blind, and all
that can be done is prayer and obedience to God for their sake.
But let me not let you leave this page without the knowledge
that there is nothing you can do to earn the grace of God. Grace is unmerited
favor, which means that there is no good work you can do for it to be given to
you. To obtain a relationship with God, all you must do is trust in Christ
being sufficient for your salvation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you
will be saved. If you trust in your own works, you too will find yourself never
being good enough to reach a Holy and perfect God. The only way to have this
security is to have it in someone else; namely, Jesus Christ.
He is the perfect sacrifice. He is the sufficient sacrifice.
– Forsake All
