A Steve McVey Gift

If I offer a starving man food with the only condition being that he can do nothing to earn it, but must receive it purely as a gift, and he takes the food and eats it, has he worked for it? Did he do anything that could be considered work? Of course not. That's how it is with our salvation. Some say that faith itself is a work and that everybody goes to heaven the moment they die, whether they believe on Christ or not. Faith isn't a work. It's simply receiving the gift. If faith in Christ is a work, then the Bible is wrong when it says, "For by grace are you saved through faith, and THAT not of yourselves. IT is a gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast." What is "that" and "it?" Faith. It too is a gift and not a work on our part.

By Joel Brueseke

Do you keep the Ten Commandments? Are you willing to give away all you have and give to the poor? Do you think you are able to be righteous like God is? Do you love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength? Do you love your neighbor as yourself? If your answer to these questions is "No," you are closer to heaven than you think!

A "Nick Bass" Quote.

Only Christians know how to take a free gift and make it into something that has to be earned. Righteousness is a free gift. I don't go to church to be challenged to be better, but to be reminded of how amazing the 'Gift-giver is'

Remember our foundational truth?? Eph 1:4, In Him! Well to those who believe, Christ is in You. Jesus and all His perfection has been given to you as a gift.
The one single act of Christ dying on the cross made way for all of us to receive this gift of righteousness. It was Gods intention, It was Gods final plan.

No more do we have to perform these ceremonial religious rituals in order to gain righteousness.
Its done it's finished. So come on guys lets remind each other about this gift which has been freely given. Remind folk that it is not how much you pray or read the Word or even go to church. Remind folk that no act is going to get you righteousness and a ticket to heaven. It is the simple act of "believing"

So be "reminded" and remind others to believe and live free from trying to earn the gift that is freely given, Your Right Standing with God!

For all sin and fall short of the glory of God.
Pucks

THE PURPOSE OF THE NEW COVENANT

The main purpose of the New Covenant was not primarily for God to come and change our external behaviour; the primary purpose was that God changed the way He related to mankind, resulting in an spontaneous change in behaviour due to mankind receiving revelation about God’s vast and infinite love for them.

Under the Old Covenant God dealt with people on the basis of their external behaviour, namely their level of obedience to the law. Under this system God left people to their own devices and judged them according to their works. People were punished and cursed when they broke the law. But then came the New Covenant and God dealt with the internal problem, namely mankind’s fallen sinful nature. Those who put their faith in Christ were changed from the inside; God bestowing them with the very nature of his Son, Jesus Christ. He also credited the perfect obedience of Jesus to their account.

The believer’s old sinful nature has been crucified with Christ [Rom 6:6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin] and their spirit made 100% righteous: [2 Cor 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him].

This is the way He now sees believers: blameless and fully righteous in His sight: [Col 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight].

Before we were born again, we were enemies of God and we were alienated from Him in two ways:

1) We had a sinful nature inside us and we were slaves to this sinful nature, running after every evil thing that gratified its desires: [Eph 2:3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others]. We were alive to sin (because of our sinful nature) and dead towards God.

2) We were also under the law, which utterly condemned us and showed us how sinful we were: [Rom 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin].

But Romans 6:6-7 (above) says that we've now become dead to sin. We’ve become the friends of God and we were also united with Him in two ways:

1) Our sinful nature was crucified with Christ and our spirit made alive towards God; in other words: we were born again. The perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ was imputed to us and all the benefits and blessings of His obedience have been credited to us because of our faith in Him: [Rom 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life] (KJV).

2) The law has been nullified, nailed to the cross with Jesus [Col 2:14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross] and God now relates to believers on the basis of the obedience of Jesus Christ. God does not attribute their sins to them, but instead delights in them with the love and passion of a proud Father. Now God doesn’t just see us as if we’ve never sinned – He sees us as if we have perfectly obeyed all the laws our entire life!

But how can all of this be true when none of us could ever deserve to be given a gift like this? That’s exactly it: Nobody deserves grace. It is a free gift from God, given to those who believe in Him. If we were ever able to earn it, it wouldn’t be called a “gift” anymore, would it?

[Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God].

Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe


andre@newcovenantgrace.com

The Cross.

Well here goes, my very first blog post, where I hope to learn, share and understand this incredible inheritance we have in Christ. So why not start at the cross! To some the cross is a mere symbol but to those who believe it is salvation.

One of the most wonderful moments ever lived was the moment when Jesus on the cross said,"It is finished." It was not only the great moment for sinners and their needed salvation, but it was a long expected and needed moment for all who believe in the Scriptures. The most crucial moment in God's eternal plan had come to a finished conclusion.

What exactly was finaished? Certainly the ordeal of His death was finished. But that was not what so important. He was born to die. His earthly living and the persecution He had endured here was finished. But that was not what prompted the words "it is finished". What was behind the statement "it is finished" were two most important events; in fact, possibly the two most important events in the Father's eternal plan.

Both of these events were prophesied in a time before the world was created, before there were humans, before there was a devil working against God's plan and before there was sin.

The first of these events is stated by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians, chapter 1 verse 4: "According as He (the Father) has chosen us in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world." This event could not take place until Christ died and finished the work that would be necessary for the Father to place humans in Christ.

Finished were all the other methods God had used in the Old Testament to get people saved and holy before Him. Now, in one moment, Christ had made it possible for the Father to put Christ in humans and have the kind of family He had always wanted. All other means for humans to please God were finished.

The other event that was finished was what Christ accomplished by His death on the Cross. This event was the second thing that was prophesied before the world was created (Peter 1:19-20). No more sin offerings had to be made by humans; no more self -improvement would be acceptable to God. The sin of Adam was finished once and for all, never to be passed on from one human to another. The work of Satan in lying and deceiving humans that they had to pay for their own sins was finished, done away with, banished and nullified.

The final blood offering had been made and now there was eternal life for all who believed. The power of death, Hell and the grave were finished and the two major factors in God's final gospel were complete. The cry of Christ on the cross,"it is finished," is the ultimate victory for every human who believes. The simplicity of salvation for hell bound sinners is to simply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved (Acts 16:31).

Believe what happened at the cross! The cross is good news! We preach Christ crucified. (1Cor 1:23)