A Deeper Work of Grace
I Cor.3:9, 10 - For we are laborers together with God: you are God’s husbandry, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me…
When a lost sinner, still in the kingdom of darkness, believes on the Lord Jesus Christ alone for his salvation, he then is translated in the kingdom of God’s dear Son. That sinner was once blind but now he sees, he was lost and now is found. The depth of that conversion cannot be fully understood on this side of eternity, but our journey is to pursue Christ and in that pursuit we are given the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of Him. We grow in knowledge and obedience simultaneously because knowledge without obedience is information without revelation. It is useless in God’s sight.
But we must always keep one thing in our hearts and minds, the entirety of our journey, our growth, our maturity, our obedience, and our conformity to the Lord Christ is all by grace through faith. We can see the outward obedience of a believer as he seeks the Lord. Perhaps he begins to search God’s Word in a fresh way, perhaps he is praying more and more, perhaps he becomes concerned about the lost, and many other outward signs that he is seeking and obeying Christ in a deeper way. But these are all wonderful works of a believing laborer in Christ’s vineyard that we sometimes attribute to our own efforts when in fact they are all works of God’s grace. Our faith, which is also a gift of grace, is involved for sure but enveloped even in our faith is God’s grace.
I believe our will is also involved, however, our will is also a gift of grace from the Heavenly Father. Well, you ask, how does that work? That is a great mystery but it is all of God and all of grace to be sure. So the spiritual principle and truth is this, if you and I desire to be a more faithful disciple and a more surrendered follower of the Lord Jesus, we must seek a deeper work of grace. Think about the two words in that sentence that seem incongruous, work and grace. Do not be deceived, the work is God’s and the grace is His as well. If you seek your own work you miss the mark, we must seek His work and by faith surrender to His will and work and Word.
Nothing can be accomplished outside the grace of God, nothing. To suggest that man can accomplish God’s will outside His grace is humanism, idolatry, and in fact abject heresy, and can be traced all the way back to Cain. God’s grace is infinite, and within the body of Christ collectively and individually the grace of God is completely pervasive and operates without competition. Even when a believer labors in the flesh and some sinner is converted, it still is a shining and incontrovertible example of a work of grace. There is no spiritual battlefield outside the grace of God, it just does not exist.
So here we are, longing and desiring more of Christ and less of ourselves, and yet somehow we believe we can muster enough human willpower and effort to accomplish that in our lives. The works of the flesh are useless and even counterproductive in any spiritual progress, and without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith, God given faith, unlocks the endless door to God’s grace and allows the Spirit of God to do His unseen work in our hearts that will manifest itself in our lives. That is the work of grace that we must seek.
This is not just some “turn over a new leaf” mindset, and it isn’t a new set of legalistic rules that we set for ourselves hoping to impress God. This kind of work of grace comes only by faith and is a double edged sword that both slays the flesh and opens the heart. It comes by faith which comes by God’s Word and is planted by prayer and harvested through obedience which again comes by faith. How many of us have had seasons where our faith is low and we are spiritually anemic? And if left unattended our flesh grows accustomed to our plight and we become complacent and even satisfied with our condition. But oh what a glorious awakening awaits the believer who hears the Spirit’s call and diligently seeks the Lord again and by faith and through God’s grace is resurrected to a new beginning of life and hope in Christ that had become stagnant.
But God and His grace must do the work in our hearts, and although I realize that it sometimes seems like semantics it is not, it is vital to understand that our foundation is grace. Grace is active, grace is effectual, and God’s grace is powerful. Only by faith we, through God’s grace, can be changed from glory to glory by His strength and that not of works lest anyone should boast. Oh halleluiah, we have nothing to boast of except our Great God and His Great Christ! Grace frees us from legalism and empowers us to serve the Risen Christ in the power of the Spirit and not the fallen works of our own hands. Grace comes from God and it honors Him in all His glory.
Surrender to His grace and by faith admit you cannot do the works of God in your own strength and only His Spirit can change you into that which reflects His glory. We need faith, pure faith, the faith of God to enter into this glorious grace. Faith comes from God’s Word, so if we will not diligently seek the truth and treasures of the Word of God then we will never have the kind of faith that pleases the Father and rains His grace down upon our lives. Look around and see how many are captured by false doctrine, prayerlessness, liberalism, and a reconstructed Biblical viewpoint that is new but not true. And the barrage of back and forth vitriolic fodder accomplishes nothing, since only God’s Spirit can open hearts not man’s words. In the abundance of words there is sin. We should not waste our time attempting to convince the inconvincible, we should pray for them while speaking God’s truth by God’s grace.
A mother robin lands upon her nest with three worms in her beak. Upon feeling her presence two of the three baby chicks lift up their open beaks and each receives one worm. As the mother attempts to feed the third worm to the third chick its beak remains closed. After a while the mother divides the last worm between the two chicks who are still hungry and open. So should it be with us, let us feed those whose beaks are open and pray for those whose beaks remain closed. And most of all let us open wide our own beaks in humble dependence upon the feeding from the Spirit of God, all inside the grace of God. Remember, if we desire a deeper work of grace in our lives, God’s desires to do that work much more.
We must listen, we must diligently listen as we through the spirit Words of God can hear what the Spirit is saying to us. Is He speaking to our hearts about a deeper work of grace in our lives? Can you hear what the Spirit is saying to the church which means you if indeed you are part of the church? When a true believer hears the Holy Spirit speaking through the conduit of God’s Word he cannot rest without obedience. Your flesh will not desire any work or transformation, so you must crucify that rebellious carnality and hear the Spirit and experience an awakening. You must not rely on your own understanding and your own strength, you must confess your total reliance upon God’s power and direction. Surrender is victory, death is life, and crucifixion is resurrection. If you have tasted and found the Lord is good, how can you not desire a deeper work of grace in your life and a work that illuminates the eyes of your spirit and creates an insatiable thirst for God Himself and the things that pertain to His kingdom?
All by faith and all by grace and none of us except a willing spirit, that alone will glorify the Risen Christ. Humility draws God’s Spirit and pride repels His presence. I exhort us all, brothers and sisters, let us seek a deeper work of God’s grace in our lives that so changes our inward man that our earthly lives cannot but mirror what God has and is doing in our hearts. Revel in His grace, labor in His grace, pray in His grace, worship in His grace, study in His grace, and live the life of a modern day disciple that is so immersed in His grace that the fragrance of your life is even different within the church.
Lord, we can work on our lives and effect change, but only You can do a deeper work of grace. That is our desire, and we hear You calling us and we says, “Speak, Lord, your servant hears”.
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