4SpiritualSecrets

Psalm 107

“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
And gathered out of the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south.”

This is a great hymn of redemption. Simply stated redemption means “to buy back and bring back that which was lost.” It’s like the word “rehabilitation” which in its Latin root means “to invest again with dignity.” The theme of this great psalm is that the great loving heart of God has a passionate desire to redeem and rehabilitate His people. They were once in His possession but He has temporarily lost them.

The people God is redeeming are a global people. They come from every point on the compass. The exhortation of this psalm, which is repeated many times, is that those who have been redeemed of the Lord should step up and say so. This initial exhortation is followed by five stanzas which describe different levels of redemption. After each level is eloquently and graphically described, the theme exhortation of the psalm is repeated like a refrain that the redeemed should thank the Lord for his goodness and His wonderful works in their lives.

As I begin the 80th year of my life I look back over my journey and see in the five stanzas of this hymn a summary of the way God has worked in my life. They fill me with grateful worship. I pray that as you become acquainted with these five graphic descriptions of redemption you will meet yourself in this psalm and then step up and say so.

“… for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age…” (Titus 2: 11, 12)

Supporting his thesis that we are saved by grace, Paul writes that when Jesus was born into this world the grace of God appeared bringing us salvation. He also writes that the grace that brought salvation was teaching us that we are to find the levels of grace that enables us to live godly lives.

Here again we find levels of grace being identified. A study of the letter of Paul to Titus reveals that the church Titus was planting on the island of Crete could have been called “The Church of the Three Appearings.”

The first appearing was when Christ brought salvation to this world. The second will be when Christ returns in his Second Coming. The third appearing is the way Christ shows Himself to the world right now through the godly men and women in His church who access keeping grace and living grace while they look for the return of their Savior.

“We’re writing a gospel a chapter each day by things that we do and things that we say. Men read what we write whether faithful or true. Say, what is the gospel according to you?”

Paul wrote in another place that we are living epistles known and read by all men. We are the only Bible many people will ever read. We must realize that we need to access these levels of grace to show Christ to the world and not merely for our own benefit.

How many levels of grace do you access as you live for Christ?

“… through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
(Romans 5:2)

In this verse the apostle identifies two more levels of grace. Having written that we are justified by faith, Paul declares that we also have access by faith into grace that makes it possible for us to stand in a hostile world and live a life that glorifies God. This access into grace makes it possible for us to enter into living grace and keeping grace.

There was a long and ancient poem that described a debate in heaven between two men who died in their nineties. They debated which of them was the greatest trophy of grace. One had lived a terribly sinful life. On his deathbed he had been led to salvation. He, therefore, considered himself a greater trophy of grace than the other man.

The second man had been the son of a pastor. He came to faith as a child and had never wavered in his faith. He himself had become a pastor and in that role he had led many to Christ and was a faithful shepherd for nearly 60 years.

The debate lasted for thousands of years but when the angels were asked to vote on the matter they decided that the pastor’s son was the greater trophy of grace. The first man had experienced saving grace but the second man had experienced keeping grace and living grace.

We sometimes give young people the impression that it is better to have lived a sinful life and then experience a dramatic conversion. However, there is nothing good about sin. We are a greater trophy of grace when we do not sin.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that (faith) is not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8,9)

Just as there are levels of fellowship there are levels of grace. The first level is saving grace. The verse above clearly states that we are saved by the grace of God and not by our works. Even the faith by which we believe that good news is the gift of God to us. Not one of us, therefore, can boast about our salvation as if we had something to do with it.

The apostle writes in the next verse that we are saved for good works. In his other writings he makes it clear that works validate our faith and so works are important. But if we hold up our works to God and ask Him to save us on the basis of those good works, the Prophet Isaiah tells us they would be as filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6.)

Millions of people believe they are saved by good works. If you ask people how they know that if they died today they would go to heaven, a large majority would say something like, “I hope so” or “I’m doing my best.” If they would think about it they should ask themselves how many good works are enough to save them. Those who believe they are saved by good works are almost never sure of their salvation.

The first level of grace assures us of our salvation because salvation by grace is not a matter of our good works. What matters is the good work of Jesus Christ when He died on the cross for us.

“… my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my needs.”
(Philippians 2:25)

The letter of Paul to the Philippians is a thank you note. The church Paul established in Philippi was his sending church. They supported him regularly as he points out in the rest of this chapter. He is especially thanking them for a gift that was delivered by an old man named Epaphroditis. In the way Paul describes his relationship to this dear old man we see distinct levels of fellowship.

Paul refers to him as his brother. That means that he was a believer. Then he calls him a fellow worker. Amos raised the question, “Can two walk together unless they are agreed? (Amos 3:3) Paul himself had to separate from a brother named Barnabas because they were not in agreement. Another level of fellowship is focused when Paul refers to this old man as a fellow soldier. By this Paul was describing the level of fellowship experienced by those who risked their lives together while serving Christ. Later in his reference to this faithful messenger Paul makes the observation that this man nearly died while completing his mission objective of delivering the offering of the Philippian Church to the aging Apostle Paul.

He calls him a messenger and the one who ministered to his needs. As believers we are all called to be messengers and ministers (2 Corinthians 5: 13-6:2). According to this Scripture every reconciled believer has committed to him or her, a message and a ministry of reconciliation.

According to Paul all five of these levels of fellowship were in place between himself and this dear old man. How many levels of fellowship are you experiencing in your relationships with other believers?

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed…His mercies never fail, They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3: 21-24)

I will make more observations about these quotes from the Lamentations of Jeremiah. In his despair and grief over what he had to see during the conquest of Jerusalem, Jeremiah called to mind that it is only because of the great love of the Lord that we are not consumed.

This raises the question: ‘What do we think we deserve and why?’ When the Rabbi wrote his book about bad things happening to good people he assumed a thesis. He assumed that the people were good and deserved good things. That does not agree with Scripture. According to Jeremiah, it is only because of the mercy of God that we do not get what we deserve.

The word “mercy” means unconditional love. God showed Jeremiah that His mercies are new every morning. His next words inspired a great hymn called, “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” God is faithful to us even when we are not faithful to Him. Every morning is a clean slate for us because His expressions of unconditional love are new every morning.

When we meditate on these thoughts, inspired by Jeremiah we should thank God every day for the mercy that withholds and the grace that bestows salvation on anyone who will believe that Good News. Jesus Christ died on that hill where Jeremiah wrote these words so that God could withhold what we deserve and bestow on us a salvation we do not deserve but receive by faith.

Today would you like to thank Him for His mercy and trust Him for salvation?

“Yet this I call to mind… Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed… His compassions never fail… They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3: 21-24)

After writing his prophecy which has moved many scholars to label him “The Weeping Prophet” Jeremiah adds a short postscript to his fifty-two chapters of weeping. That postscript is called “Lamentations” which means “Weepings.”

You simply have to know why Jeremiah is weeping to understand and appreciate his writings. He is weeping about the Babylonian massacre and captivity of God’s chosen people! For years he warned the people of God that unless they repented this awful tragedy would happen. As he writes his Lamentations he has been permitted to remain in the land of Judah. Sitting in his Grotto he laments all the tragic things that have now happened.

In the midst of his deepest expressions of sorrow and sadness he suddenly breaks forth with the verses quoted above. These verses have been translated and paraphrased to tell us more clearly that what God revealed to Jeremiah in his darkest hour was that He had never stopped loving His chosen people. In some ways, God had never loved them more then when He chastised them with that Babylonian conquest and captivity.

A providential wonder of prophecy is that Jeremiah’s Grotto where he was seated as he wrote these Lamentations was on the top of a hill that was called “Golgatha.” This means that God gave Jeremiah this wonderful prophecy that His unconditional love was being expressed for His chosen people throughout the tragedy Jeremiah was lamenting on the very spot where centuries later God would pour out His unconditional love for the whole world.

“…we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand..” (Romans 5:2)

Paul writes that God has given us access, by faith, to a quality of grace that makes it possible for us to stand for Christ in this world, and live lives that glorify God. Then he writes that we should rejoice in our suffering, because God sometimes uses our suffering to force us to access that grace.

How must our God feel when He sees us struggling in our own strength to live as we should, knowing He has provided us with a way to access all the grace we need? We are to rejoice when God uses suffering to make us an offer we cannot refuse that drives us into His grace.

There are levels or degrees of suffering we simply cannot endure without the grace of God. When our suffering drives us beyond the limits of any human resources we have within ourselves, these times of severe testing become God’s opportunity to provide and prove His grace to us. A devout hymn writer has expressed that truth this way:

“When we come to the end of our store of endurance.
When our strength has failed and the day is half done.
When we have exhausted our hoarded resources
Our Father’s full giving has only begun.

“His love has no limit. His grace has no measure.
His power has no boundary known unto men.
For out of His infinite wisdom and mercy
He gives and He gives and He gives yet again.”

According to Paul, it is the love of God that sometimes uses our suffering to force us to access the grace he prescribed in the second verse of Romans chapter 5 and in that great verse about grace he wrote in his second letter to the Corinthians.

Are you willing to let problems you cannot solve or suffering you cannot endure drive you to access the amazing grace of God today?

“God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, might abound unto every good work.” (IICorinthians 9:8)

This is the most emphatic verse in the Bible about the grace God has made available to His people. According to Paul, God is able to make all grace (not just a little bit of grace), abound (not just trickle), toward you (not just Billy Graham, the pastor, and the missionary, but toward you), that you (he repeats that for emphasis), always (not just sometimes), having all sufficiency (not just some sufficiency), in all things (not just some things), may abound (not just limp), unto every good work (not just some good works).

All grace, abounding, always, all of you, I mean all of you, all sufficiency, all things, always, abounding in all the good works God wants to do through you! The New Testament church turned the world right side up because they believed and experienced the truth Paul was proclaiming in this extraordinary verse about God’s amazing grace.

The challenge for you and me is to believe in, and access, the grace of which the apostle was writing in this magnificent verse. The grace of God is not only the undeserved favor of God we receive when our sins are forgiven. Grace is the power of God He wants to pour out on His people as they live for and serve Him. The word “charis” is the Greek word for grace. The word “charisma” or “charismata” is the Greek word that describes the grace of God being dispensed to His people. It is impossible to live the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ without the grace of God. In the pure sense of this word there is no other kind of Christian but a charismatic Christian.

This verse is the most exciting and challenging verse in the Bible regarding the availability and accessibility of the grace of God to you and me. The great challenge is to believe this grace is there for us to access on a daily basis. Do you believe God is able to make all grace abound toward you today?

Do you believe that you, always, having all sufficiency in all things can abound unto every good work God wants to do through you today?

“… Being confident of this very thing that He who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ…for it is God at work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure.” (Philippians 1:6; 2:13)

The Apostle Paul was in prison when he wrote these words to his favorite church. He was chained between two Roman soldiers without any privacy or time he could call his own. He was not able to shepherd and teach these believers he loved so very much. But is he stressed out because he fears that they will fall away from their faith? No, he has a beautiful confidence that they will continue in their faith until the day when Christ returns for His church!

The source of his confidence is found in two realities: he knows that the risen, living Christ has begun the miracle of regeneration in them and he is completely convinced that Christ will continue any miracle work of salvation He begins. His confidence is not in the fact that he has led these people to Christ. His confidence is in Christ! He expresses his faith in that miracle in the Philippians 1:6.

In Philippians 2:13 Paul continues the thought when he adds that his confidence is in God Who is at work in them giving them the will and the power to do according to that which pleases Him. Why is it that some people want to please God and others do not? Why is it that some people have the grace to do what pleases God while others do not? Paul answers those questions when he writes that it is God working in these believers giving them both the want to, and the power, to live in a way that pleases God.

Where is your confidence that you will continue in what Christ has begun in your life? What a miracle it is when we see evidence that God has begun the work of salvation in the life of one of our loved ones. I knew that work had begun when I heard one of our loved ones say, “I wonder where my want to went to!” Where is your confidence that those you love will continue in what Christ has begun in their lives? Is your hope in them? Is it in your ability to shepherd and mentor them?

Or is your hope in the Christ Who began that miracle and in the God Who can give them the will and the power to do what pleases Him?