Day 8/18 – The Foundation of Grace

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
The Foundation of Grace
Day Two Hundred Thirty

“Thou art worthy, 0 Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Revelation 4:11

We will define grace as the favor of God bestowed upon the undeserving without reference to reciprocity. Nothing in the object of God’s grace warrants His favor. Those who are the recipients of grace are chosen wholly from within the counsel of His own will. People have a natural antipathy toward grace, for it violates their sense of fairness. We tend to be less concerned when we are the object of God’s grace, but what about all of those people that are not?

Election and grace are the head and tail of the same coin; you cannot have grace without election. Thus Paul says, “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.”304 If you believe that you obtain heaven by what you do that others are unwilling to do, you rob grace of its essence. If you believe that you are saved by grace, then you have to conclude that God gave you what He has not given others.

If your relationship with God is based on what you did, but others are unwilling to do, then your salvation is in perpetual jeopardy; you cannot have assurance of salvation. For what you did to establish this relationship with God you can undo. Your security is then based on your performance, not God’s. If you conclude that people are responsible for their alienation from God, you are correct. But never allow this fact to dull your appreciation of His grace.

304 Romans 11:5-6

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Psalm 100-102 1 Corinthians 1 (New King James Version)

Psalm 100-102
A Song of Praise for the Lord’s Faithfulness to His People
A Psalm of Thanksgiving.
100
Make a joyful shout to the Lord, [a]all you lands!
2
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
3
Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and [b]not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5
For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.
Promised Faithfulness to the Lord
A Psalm of David.
101
I will sing of mercy and justice;
To You, O Lord, I will sing praises.
2
I will behave wisely in a [c]perfect way.
Oh, when will You come to me?
I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
3
I will set nothing [d]wicked before my eyes;
I hate the work of those who fall away;
It shall not cling to me.
4
A perverse heart shall depart from me;
I will not know wickedness.
5
Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor,
Him I will destroy;
The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart,
Him I will not endure.
6
My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land,
That they may dwell with me;
He who walks in a [e]perfect way,
He shall serve me.
7
He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house;
He who tells lies shall not [f]continue in my presence.
8
Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land,
That I may cut off all the evildoers from the city of the Lord.
The Lord’s Eternal Love
A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before the Lord.
102
Hear my prayer, O Lord,
And let my cry come to You.
2
Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble;
Incline Your ear to me;
In the day that I call, answer me speedily.
3
For my days [g]are consumed like smoke,
And my bones are burned like a hearth.
4
My heart is stricken and withered like grass,
So that I forget to eat my bread.
5
Because of the sound of my groaning
My bones cling to my [h]skin.
6
I am like a pelican of the wilderness;
I am like an owl of the desert.
7
I lie awake,
And am like a sparrow alone on the housetop.
8
My enemies reproach me all day long;
Those who deride me swear an oath against me.
9
For I have eaten ashes like bread,
And mingled my drink with weeping,
10
Because of Your indignation and Your wrath;
For You have lifted me up and cast me away.
11
My days are like a shadow that lengthens,
And I wither away like grass.
12
But You, O Lord, shall endure forever,
And the remembrance of Your name to all generations.
13
You will arise and have mercy on Zion;
For the time to favor her,
Yes, the set time, has come.
14
For Your servants take pleasure in her stones,
And show favor to her dust.
15
So the [i]nations shall fear the name of the Lord,
And all the kings of the earth Your glory.
16
For the Lord shall build up Zion;
He shall appear in His glory.
17
He shall regard the prayer of the destitute,
And shall not despise their prayer.
18
This will be written for the generation to come,
That a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.
19
For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary;
From heaven the Lord viewed the earth,
20
To hear the groaning of the prisoner,
To release those appointed to death,
21
To declare the name of the Lord in Zion,
And His praise in Jerusalem,
22
When the peoples are gathered together,
And the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.
23
He weakened my strength in the way;
He shortened my days.
24
I said, “O my God,
Do not take me away in the midst of my days;
Your years are throughout all generations.
25
Of old You laid the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
26
They will perish, but You will [j]endure;
Yes, they will all grow old like a garment;
Like a cloak You will change them,
And they will be changed.
27
But You are the same,
And Your years will have no end.
28
The children of Your servants will continue,
And their descendants will be established before You.”
Footnotes:
• Psalm 100:1 Lit. all the earth
• Psalm 100:3 So with Kt., LXX, Vg.; Qr., many Heb. mss., Tg. we are His
• Psalm 101:2 blameless
• Psalm 101:3 worthless
• Psalm 101:6 blameless
• Psalm 101:7 Lit. be established
• Psalm 102:3 Lit. end in
• Psalm 102:5 flesh
• Psalm 102:15 Gentiles
• Psalm 102:26 continue

1 Corinthians 1
Greeting
1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are [a]sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Spiritual Gifts at Corinth
4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, 5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all [b]utterance and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed [c]in you, 7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Sectarianism Is Sin
10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all [d]speak the same thing, and that there be no [e]divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are [f]contentions among you. 12 Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. 16 Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
Christ the Power and Wisdom of God
18 For the [g]message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the [h]disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a [i]stumbling block and to the [j]Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Glory Only in the Lord
26 For [k]you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many [l]noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the [m]base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”
Footnotes:
• 1 Corinthians 1:2 set apart
• 1 Corinthians 1:5 speech
• 1 Corinthians 1:6 Or among
• 1 Corinthians 1:10 Have a uniform testimony
• 1 Corinthians 1:10 schisms or dissensions
• 1 Corinthians 1:11 quarrels
• 1 Corinthians 1:18 Lit. word
• 1 Corinthians 1:20 debater
• 1 Corinthians 1:23 Gr. skandalon, offense
• 1 Corinthians 1:23 NU Gentiles
• 1 Corinthians 1:26 consider
• 1 Corinthians 1:26 well-born
• 1 Corinthians 1:28 insignificant or lowly