Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. Romans 5:1-2.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
I am the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the One who is, who was and who is to come. If you have turned your heart to Me, there is nothing that you need to fear. If you have turned against Me, you are under another jurisdiction, the realm of darkness, by choice and I cannot protect you. But I long to gather you into the safety of My everlasting arms just as a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But in Jesus, if you will come to Him, I have rescued you from the realm of darkness and translated you to the Kingdom of My Beloved Son, who is the Light of the world. And how did I do this? By grace. It is by grace you have been saved through faith.
Today we continue our series “It is time to enter God’s Rest,” with Life Lesson No. 6: “A Place of Grace.” The grace in which you now stand, “Jesus who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.” Romans 4:25 – Romans 5:1-2. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. John 1:17.
My Grace. What is it? It is what saves you, sustains you, gives you opportunity, gives you ability, puts you in a place of favor, and gives you rest. It is My divine life flowing towards and into you. The first time I use the word “grace,” which in Hebrew is the word “חֵן” transliterated as chen or hen, which you will also see translated as “favor,” is in Genesis, “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” Genesis 6:5-8. Yes, one person who found grace in My eyes saved the entire human race from being eradicated off the face of the earth. You are here because of grace. And then Jesus came full of grace and truth and saved you not only for this life but for eternal life. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.” Ephesians 1:7-8.
And why did Noah find grace in My eyes? “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generations (time); Noah walked with God.” Genesis 6:9. And I will tell you something about the Hebrew letters in the name of Noah, reading from right to left, which is the way the Hebrew language is read it is נֹֽחַ Noach or Noah, which means “rest,” but reading from left to right it is hen (chen), which means grace. My rest is a place of grace. I told Moses that many years later, Moses said to Me, “Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found grace in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find grace in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” And I replied to Him, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” Exodus 33:13-14. And Jeremiah heard the same, “Thus says the LORD, “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness— Israel, when it went to find its rest.” Jeremiah 31:2.
Mercy forgives. Grace reinstates and restores you. The prodigal son parable is a good example of mercy and grace working together in giving him favor. He was forgiven, reinstated and restored as the son of the father, not as a servant but as a son.
“I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” Isaiah 43:25. And that is grace. Grace makes it as if sin never happened. And that is the grace in which you now stand. And it is a rest, My rest. Grace has reinstated you to favor. Despite your sins, you are standing in a favored position, for “I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud and your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.” Isaiah 44:22.
What you could not do, I did for you in Jesus Christ, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God, He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:23-26. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is My gift to you; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9. The pressure is off you to perform, I have made you righteous by grace, but then by My grace you walk with Me righteously, like Noah. Sin no longer is master over you for you are under grace. And grace has to do with being led by the Spirit and not by your flesh.
Grace is a rest of favor and glory. In the grace in which you now stand, you stand before Me holy, blameless and beyond reproach no matter what you have done or did not do, this is My gift to all who put their faith and trust in Jesus, to those who confess Him as Lord and believe that I raised Him from the dead with all your sins paid for and gone. This is the good news that all of you need to hear so that you no longer retreat from Me in shame but come into the Light to be cleansed and made whole, justified, washed in the blood of Jesus. Jesus came to justify the ungodly. And you all qualified for that for you have all been born according to the flesh by Adam’s corruptible seed but now when you are born again according to the Spirit and by the incorruptible seed of My Word. Grace has saved you and grace will sustain you, “for if by the transgression of the one (Adam), death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:17.
And I instruct you by grace. I empower you by grace. I make you fruitful by grace, for it is My divine life in you. “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.” Titus 2:11-13. Zealous for good deeds. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Ephesians 2:4-9.
Grace has taken you from the ash heap (the burnt offering for sins turned your sacrificial offering to ash, which represented your sins being thrown out as a heap of ashes) to seat you with the Prince of Peace. Psalm 113:7-8. By grace I have raised you up and seated you in heavenly places with Christ. Ephesians 2:6. By grace, I give you a whole new identity and a whole new perspective. By grace, I have made you a new creation in Christ, old things have passed away and I have made all things new for you who believe in My Son. And how do I do it? By grace. Grace makes it and faith takes it. “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:3-7.
I tell you that Jesus as a young boy among you grew in wisdom and grace before Me and men. You can grow in grace until great grace is upon you all. In the first community of believers after the Holy Spirit had fully come, I tell that great grace was upon them ALL. So there is great grace and there is lesser amounts of that also. Since the beginning I have blessed you to grow and increase. And with enough grace, you can do anything. There is no limit. Grace on top of grace.
And how do you grow in grace? You have the answer from My apostle Peter, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.” 2 Peter 1:2-11. You grow in grace by growing in your knowledge of Jesus and growing to be like Him in virtue and love.
I love you. Cry out, “grace to it, grace to it!” And that will move the mountain. And it will be a resting place instead. “What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the chief cap stone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” Zechariah 4:7. “And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:4-5.