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“But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.” Romans 4:5 (NLT)
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8 (ESV)
WHEN WE DIE, WE WILL MEET JESUS.
The Bible is clear that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is the Lord (Phil. 2:10-11; Romans 4:11, etc.).
For unbelievers, that moment will be a terrifying one, in the words of Pastor Francis Chan, but for believers, it will be a moment of exquisite pleasure, when the Creator of life welcomes us into His Kingdom.
He will apportion heavenly rewards based on our merit, and Jesus was clear that every stray word we utter will be judged, that He sees into our hearts and knows our motives.
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BY THAT ACCOUNTING, I surely will be found wanting. In even the best of moments, I have botched my end of it by uttering an inappropriate comment or feeling an ungracious thought.
Those around me sometimes notice, often don’t, but He takes note and will remember.
It pains me to think of Jesus smiling to see me, reaching His hand out to embrace me, and then whispering into my ear, “I love you, but too often you let me down. You came up short. I couldn’t count on you to finish the job. Nevertheless, enter my rest.”
One anonymous Christian writer, expressing dismay with his own sordid condition, praised God this way:
“Yes, I’m a Christian. Yes, I can be the biggest hypocrite ever. I backslide. I stumble. I fall. I stray onto the wrong path. But God is working in me. I may be a mess, but I’m His mess.” —Anon
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SOMETIMES IN MY WALK with Christ, I need to feel the pain of my sin, for it’s only by feeling the weight of my transgressions that I can gain even the glimmer of what 
salvation means or the sacrifice our God made when at the right time “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 NIV).
The Bible says, “For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9 (NET)
It is so true that we humans do not merit salvation based on our good works — not our actions, not our thoughts, not our words, not even the unspoken feelings in our hearts — none of which could pass a merit test, even with a healthy dose of leniency thrown in.
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HOW GRACIOUS AND LOVING our God is to see all of that mess, all of that sin, all of that wickedness and still love us so much that He would allow His Son to be sacrificed for our redemption.
He did not do this just for our sakes, as an act of divine magnanimity. He did it for His glory, to demonstrate that He alone is God and there is no other. That act of self-glorification, which in humans is hubris beyond the pale, in the realm of the Almighty is our certain seal of redemption — that trait is what guarantees our future in Paradise.
He alone is God, and there is no other.
PRAYER
LORD, you are great and powerful. You have glory, victory, and honor. “Everything in heaven and on earth belongs to you. The kingdom belongs to you, LORD; you are the ruler over everything.”1 You told us since the dawn of human history, “I, and I alone, am God.”2 For LORD, it is Your Holy Spirit that seals our hearts and souls “for the day of redemption.”3 Thank You, LORD Jesus. Amen
1. 1 Chronicles 29:11 (NCV) / 2. Deuteronomy 32:39a (GNT) / 3. Ephesians 4:30b (NIV)
QUESTIONS
1. How would you describe God’s gift of grace in your life? Have you claimed that gift for yourself or is this not something that interests you?
2. Can you see how salvation is an unmerited gift from God, that you cannot earn God’s favor because of your sin nature, or do you think that, based on the people around you, you’re basically a good person and God certainly knows it?
3. Does *salvation by grace* sound like a secure thing, or is it too tenuous for you? Can you lay claim to God’s guarantee that salvation comes from your repentance and acceptance of His saving grace?
Would you like us at LoveAndGrace to pray for you? Just send a prayer request via the COMMENTS section.
LoveAndGrace 
Amen! Thank God He will wipe every tear from our eyes and accept us with His great love and forgiveness! P.S. I nominated you for the Sunshine Blogger Award today! You have been a great encouragement to me in my walk with Christ sir! God bless you!
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Ryan — Thank you for your support. I’ve sent you a personal reply already, so this is the public acknowledgement. I am using your list of nominations to check out other worthy sites. You exhibit amazing energy and insight. I have gained in my walk and have shared your work with other men who can use the encouragement. God bless. WP
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Amen! God is incredibly good! Thank you for your post. And congratulations on your nomination!
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Thank you, Dee, both for the encouragement and the kudos. I’m supposed to nominate someone now, so let me nominate you. (You might have been nominated already, but that’s okay. I really like your work.)
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Thank you Ward! Ryan also nominated me. So you could nominate me again if you like! Or you could just follow my blog and that would also make me very happy. Thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement to me!!
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Okay, duplications are good! I believe I am following you already, but I’ll check on that. Blessings, Ward
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Oh, my apologies (and thanks) if you are following. I also really like your work and enjoy getting your posts! Thank you so much for thinking of me in your nomination!!
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I’m multitasking now, so it’s taking a bit to sort through everything. I’ll try to correct the spelling, but I’ve suffered much worse! One task is to enter my nominations and complete the questionnaire. A mixed blessing.
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I am in total agreement with Ryan’s nomination of your blog!! Congratulations.
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Okay, I edited your earlier typo. I didn’t know I could do that, so I learned something. I “unapproved” the comment explaining the typo, so it shouldn’t show. So, Dee@SSM is not the blog name but the email. It’s sixthsealministries (SSM). Got it.
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Thank you!
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Thank you, brother! Great word of encouragement.
#1. I would describe God’s gift of grace in my life as my counselor, “bringing salvation, and instructing me to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, while I wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
#2. Salvation is an unmerited gift from God that necessitates our walking in repentance through faith and our entering through the Gate – which is Jesus Christ. In my understanding, the “unmerited gift of God” is not at odds with “Christian faithfulness” and “the judgment of God that begins with his own house”. The people around me are irrelevant to how I will be judged by God because I’ll be judged in light of his righteousness, which is why Christ is the only way to God. I need him.
#3. Salvation by grace is secure in Christ, but Christians must finish the race with perseverance in repentance and sanctification by the Holy Spirit. Our sins and lawless deeds are no longer remembered because of God’s faithful promise, but we must remain in Christ’s way by faith; departing from Christ’s way to live a lifestyle of rebellion is to live outside the grace of God and whoever builds their house on the sand of rebellions will be destroyed with the winds and the waves come.
I also want to thank you for subscribing to my Bible Exposition Blog. I look forward to seeing you around.
God bless, brother!
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David — Thank you for comments. I would like to give your comments greater play in my blog than will take place in the comments section. Also, I’m glad you wrote in. I saw your website through another blogger — ChristDisciple — but I did not know more than that. Your website — bibleexposition.blog — is very well done. I’m recommending it to my readers. Is your preferred web link “bibleexpostion” or “dedicatedfaith”? Maybe you have more than one site? Blessings to you! Ward
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Thank you, brother Ward! I am very honored that you would recommend my blog.
My preferred web link is Bibleexposition.blog. I built this web page on top of Dedicatedfaith, which I ran from before and just didn’t want to start completely over. 😀
Again, thank you, brother.
In his grace and peace,
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