How Grace Is Received

Charles Spurgeon said, "All you can receive, and all you ever ought to hope for, must be through the covenant of free grace." To understand how God works in every believer's life, we must understand grace. God has sworn with an oath of promise to save us by grace in Christ (Hebrews 7:21-25). Grace is the gift of God. Grace is received by faith in Christ.

Grace is received through the everlasting covenant of Christ (Hebrews 13:20-21). The covenant is summarized in four promises to every believer (Hebrews 8:10-12). First, God will put his laws in your mind and heart. Second, each one will know God in a personal relationship. Third, God will be merciful unto you. Fourth, God will remember your sins no more.

Grace is received through Christ as our covenant surety (Hebrews 7:20-22). God always works through covenant. He tells you what he is doing and what he shall do. Covenant is an agreement or contract that includes God's everlasting promises to every believer, guaranteed through Christ Jesus our covenant surety.

Grace is received through the everlasting gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 14:6). That is God's covenant of grace in Christ. It is based on the merits and righteousness of Christ alone to every believer (2 Corinthians 5:21). It is received by grace through faith in Christ, because it is the gift of God and not of our works (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Born Again and Sure

Those who are born again can be sure. Jesus made it clear in his discussion with Nicodemus, found in the third chapter of John's Gospel. Believing on the Son of God was the real issue. Those who are born again believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (John 3:16, 36). Those who are born again can be sure, based upon the clear teaching of the Bible.

Our first birth is by the flesh. Our new birth is by the Spirit. We are born again by the work of the Holy Spirit, through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. Those who are born again can be sure, because they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (1 John 5:1).

Jesus said to Nicodemus, "If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (John 3:12). Nicodemus was a religious man who was not born again. His unbelief was the evidence. Only God knows how many religious people today have not been born again.

Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ means you are born again (Acts 16:31). All who are born again believe the gospel of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:16). We believe Christ died for our sins, according to the Scripture. We believe Christ is risen from the dead, according to the Scripture (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

Those Who Are Cursed

Those who are cursed are cut off from the blessings of God and marked for destruction. God's covenant of law promised blessings to those who obey and curses to those who disobey (Deuteronomy 28:15-24). The cursed are cut off from the blessings of God. We have all disobeyed God (Romans 3:23). Only Christ can set us free from the curse.

Martin Luther taught that Christ died for the curse of our sins. "He voluntarily fulfilled all righteousness, living under the law without spot or blemish, bore our sins, became a curse for us, and offered himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. This is the atoning, reconciling work of Christ."

Those who are cursed are controlled by a spirit of disobedience (Ephesians 2:1-3). They are under the dominion of sin and the curse of the law. The only hope of salvation is in the sacrifice of Christ alone.  As Luther said, Christ "became a curse for us, and offered himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world."

We are set free from the curse by faith in Christ as our sacrifice! Luther taught that Christ in the atonement "became a curse for us" at the cross (Gal. 3:13). He wrote, "This is the atoning, reconciling work of Christ." That means by grace through faith in the gospel of Christ, we are free from the curse! 

Filled with the Spirit

As believers in Christ, we are commanded to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). To be filled with the Spirit is to yield to the love and power of God (Ephesians 3:19; Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit fills us with the love of Christ to do the will of God. The Holy Spirit fills us with power to effectively witness for Christ (Acts 1:8).

On the Day of Pentecost the disciples were both baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5; 2:4). They were baptized with the Holy Spirit to become one body in Christ collectively (1 Corinthians 12:13). They were individually filled with the Holy Spirit. Nowhere in Scripture are we commanded to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. We are commanded to be filled, and to keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).

Believers are filled with the Spirit through prayer. And when they had prayed ... they were all filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:31). The apostle Paul wrote his prayer for all believers to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 3:14-21). Those who are filled with the Holy Spirit are filled with God's love.

Believers are filled with the Spirit yielding to Jesus Christ our Lord. To be filled with the Holy Spirit is the will of God for every believer. We are empowered to witness for Christ, live for for the Lord, and minister to others in Jesus name. What the Lord wants us to do, the Lord empowers us to do. 

The Holy Spirit's Ministy

Charles H. Spurgeon said, "In many places dedicated to the Lord, the name of Jesus is too often kept in the background. The Holy Spirit is almost entirely neglected, and very little is said concerning His sacred influence. ... May God send us a Christ exalting, Spirit loving ministry." 

The Holy Spirit's ministry is to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ is exalted, the Holy Spirit will work among us. The Holy Spirit always works to exalt Jesus Christ (John 16:7-11). When Christ is neglected in our ministry, we are ineffective in our service. When we honor the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit will work in us and our churches. 

On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit worked in the hearts of people. The promise of the Father was fulfilled just as Jesus had spoken (Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit came with great power to exalt Jesus as Lord. The Holy Spirit was sent to draw people to Jesus. Three thousand repented and received Jesus as Lord that very day. Believers were filled with the Holy Spirit to exalt Jesus Christ as Lord.

The Holy Spirit's ministry is to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. The focus must be upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The reason for that is simple. The Holy Spirit's ministry is effective through us, when the focus is on Jesus our Lord (1 Corinthians 12:3).

God Receives Sinners

John MacArthur wrote,"God receives sinners. The flip side of that truth is that He refuses the righteous. Not that there are any truly righteous people, of course (Romans 3:10). But those who think they are good enough, those who do not understand the seriousness of sin, cannot respond to the gospel. They cannot be saved, for the gospel is a call to sinners to repent and be forgiven."

Jesus said, "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32). His gospel is for sinners only, and that includes all of us (Romans 3:23). Those who are self-righteous see no need for a Savior from sin. They foolishly think that they are good enough without the gospel.

The apostle Paul wrote, "It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all" (1 Timothy 1:15, NASB). That's the gospel of Christ, that God receives sinners.

Before Paul was saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, he was a Pharisee. He thought that he could please God with his self-righteousness. Only when he saw himself as a sinner was he saved. MacArthur warned all who are self-righteous. "They cannot be saved, for the gospel is a call to sinners to repent and be forgiven." 

The Anointing in You

Martyn Lloyd-Jones taught, "We have been anointed and been set apart; we have received this unction, and it has given us this understanding of truth which enables us to say that 'we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16). That is your anointing of the Holy Spirit.

"But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you" (1 John 2:27). The anointing is the Holy Spirit abiding in you as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. The word Christ means "anointed one." Christ abides in every believer, through the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

The anointing is the Holy Spirit abiding with you to teach you (1 John 2:27). He teaches you according to Holy Scripture, inspired of the Holy Spirit. According to the New Testament, you are taught by God. Jesus said, "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me" (John 6:45). 

Certainly, God uses people to teach you, such as evangelists, pastors, and other teachers. However, we are all dependent upon the anointing of the Holy Spirit to teach us. Both teachers and those who are taught must depend upon the anointing of the Holy Spirit to understand the truth.