November 19, 2008

Not by Flesh but by Grace

“What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has [something] to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: "Blessed [are those] whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; Blessed [is the] man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin."” (Romans 4:1-8 NKJV)

The question is was Abraham justified by the carnal pursuits of the flesh. If he was then he had something over every other man. This was a silly notion so Paul points that his position would give him bragging rights, which is completely contrary to the whole concept of grace. Therefore, he makes sport of this, but points out the insanity of the thought by including the phrase, “but not before God.” It is foolishness to think one can appease God with the works of sinful flesh.

To strengthen his argument, Paul shows the difference between grace and works. The person who works earns a wage that he deserves. It is a debt owed him. The person who believes on the work of Christ his faith is accounted as righteousness. It is grace bestowed upon him.

The person to whom grace has been given has his lawless deeds forgiven, and is blessed of God. A blessing it is indeed! What does this grace mean to you?

Some day the silver cord will break,
And I no more as now shall sing;
But oh, the joy when I shall wake
Within the palace of the King!

Some day my earthly house will fall.
I cannot tell how soon ’twill be;
But this I know—my All in All
Has now a place in Heav’n for me.

Some day, when fades the golden sun
Beneath the rosy tinted west,
My blessèd Lord will say, “Well done!”
And I shall enter into rest.

Some day: till then I’ll watch and wait,
My lamp all trimmed and burning bright,
That when my Savior opens the gate,
My soul to Him may take its flight.
Refrain
And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story—Saved by grace;
And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story—Saved by grace.

 

The hymn…was called into being through…a ser­mon preached by Dr. How­ard Cros­by who was a dis­tant rel­a­tive and dear friend of mine. He said that no Christ­ian should fear death, for if each of us was faith­ful to the grace giv­en us by Christ, the same grace that teach­es us how to live would al­so teach us how to die. His re­marks were af­ter­ward pub­lished in a news­pa­per, and they were read to me by Mr. Big­low. Not ma­ny hours af­ter I heard them I be­gan to write the hymn—Fanny Crosby sited by The Cyber Hymnal.