Day 8/20 – The Uniqueness of Grace

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

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God — not because of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

All understand that in inter-personal relationships, reciprocity is essential. For example, if in my relationship with my wife I am consistently abusive, committing adultery, beating her, etc., no one would expect her to continue living with me. Even the Bible allows for separation under such circumstances.306

Grace is a concept foreign to the unregenerate mind. Nothing in all of human experience can cause a person to understand grace. The Judea-Christian religion is the only religion in the world that is the product of revelation, and therefore teaches grace. You will not find grace present in any other religion in the world.

Before you came to Christ, you knew something of love; in all probability there were people in your life that loved you. So also you knew something of faith, for all must commit before knowing. You may have even experienced mercy. But grace is different. Only in Jesus Christ do you discover grace, for His death made it possible for Him to be both gracious and just. You are the recipient of God’s grace because He charged Jesus with your sin while imputing Jesus’ righteousness to you.

306 cf. Matthew 19:9

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Psalm 105-106 1 Corinthians 3 (New King James Version)

Psalm 105-106
The Eternal Faithfulness of the Lord
105
Oh, give thanks to the Lord!
Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples!
2
Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
Talk of all His wondrous works!
3
Glory in His holy name;
Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!
4
Seek the Lord and His strength;
Seek His face evermore!
5
Remember His marvelous works which He has done,
His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,
6
O seed of Abraham His servant,
You children of Jacob, His chosen ones!
7
He is the Lord our God;
His judgments are in all the earth.
8
He remembers His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,
9
The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His oath to Isaac,
10
And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,
To Israel as an everlasting covenant,
11
Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
As the allotment of your inheritance,”
12
When they were few in number,
Indeed very few, and strangers in it.
13
When they went from one nation to another,
From one kingdom to another people,
14
He permitted no one to do them wrong;
Yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes,
15
Saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones,
And do My prophets no harm.”
16
Moreover He called for a famine in the land;
He destroyed all the provision of bread.
17
He sent a man before them—
Joseph—who was sold as a slave.
18
They hurt his feet with fetters,
[a]He was laid in irons.
19
Until the time that his word came to pass,
The word of the Lord tested him.
20
The king sent and released him,
The ruler of the people let him go free.
21
He made him lord of his house,
And ruler of all his possessions,
22
To [b]bind his princes at his pleasure,
And teach his elders wisdom.
23
Israel also came into Egypt,
And Jacob dwelt in the land of Ham.
24
He increased His people greatly,
And made them stronger than their enemies.
25
He turned their heart to hate His people,
To deal craftily with His servants.
26
He sent Moses His servant,
And Aaron whom He had chosen.
27
They performed His signs among them,
And wonders in the land of Ham.
28
He sent darkness, and made it dark;
And they did not rebel against His word.
29
He turned their waters into blood,
And killed their fish.
30
Their land abounded with frogs,
Even in the chambers of their kings.
31
He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
And lice in all their territory.
32
He gave them hail for rain,
And flaming fire in their land.
33
He struck their vines also, and their fig trees,
And splintered the trees of their territory.
34
He spoke, and locusts came,
Young locusts without number,
35
And ate up all the vegetation in their land,
And devoured the fruit of their ground.
36
He also [c]destroyed all the firstborn in their land,
The first of all their strength.
37
He also brought them out with silver and gold,
And there was none feeble among His tribes.
38
Egypt was glad when they departed,
For the fear of them had fallen upon them.
39
He spread a cloud for a covering,
And fire to give light in the night.
40
The people asked, and He brought quail,
And satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
41
He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
It ran in the dry places like a river.
42
For He remembered His holy promise,
And Abraham His servant.
43
He brought out His people with joy,
His chosen ones with [d]gladness.
44
He gave them the lands of the [e]Gentiles,
And they inherited the labor of the nations,
45
That they might observe His statutes
And keep His laws.
[f]Praise the Lord!
Joy in Forgiveness of Israel’s Sins
106
Praise[g] the Lord!
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
2
Who can [h]utter the mighty acts of the Lord?
Who can declare all His praise?
3
Blessed are those who keep justice,
And [i]he who does righteousness at all times!
4
Remember me, O Lord, with the favor You have toward Your people.
Oh, visit me with Your salvation,
5
That I may see the benefit of Your chosen ones,
That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,
That I may glory with [j]Your inheritance.
6
We have sinned with our fathers,
We have committed iniquity,
We have done wickedly.
7
Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders;
They did not remember the multitude of Your mercies,
But rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea.
8
Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake,
That He might make His mighty power known.
9
He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up;
So He led them through the depths,
As through the wilderness.
10
He saved them from the hand of him who hated them,
And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
11
The waters covered their enemies;
There was not one of them left.
12
Then they believed His words;
They sang His praise.
13
They soon forgot His works;
They did not wait for His counsel,
14
But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness,
And tested God in the desert.
15
And He gave them their request,
But sent leanness into their soul.
16
When they envied Moses in the camp,
And Aaron the saint of the Lord,
17
The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan,
And covered the faction of Abiram.
18
A fire was kindled in their company;
The flame burned up the wicked.
19
They made a calf in Horeb,
And worshiped the molded image.
20
Thus they changed their glory
Into the image of an ox that eats grass.
21
They forgot God their Savior,
Who had done great things in Egypt,
22
Wondrous works in the land of Ham,
Awesome things by the Red Sea.
23
Therefore He said that He would destroy them,
Had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach,
To turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them.
24
Then they despised the pleasant land;
They did not believe His word,
25
But complained in their tents,
And did not heed the voice of the Lord.
26
Therefore He raised His hand in an oath against them,
To [k]overthrow them in the wilderness,
27
To [l]overthrow their descendants among the [m]nations,
And to scatter them in the lands.
28
They joined themselves also to Baal of Peor,
And ate sacrifices [n]made to the dead.
29
Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds,
And the plague broke out among them.
30
Then Phinehas stood up and intervened,
And the plague was stopped.
31
And that was accounted to him for righteousness
To all generations forevermore.
32
They angered Him also at the waters of [o]strife,
So that it went ill with Moses on account of them;
33
Because they rebelled against His Spirit,
So that he spoke rashly with his lips.
34
They did not destroy the peoples,
Concerning whom the Lord had commanded them,
35
But they mingled with the Gentiles
And learned their works;
36
They served their idols,
Which became a snare to them.
37
They even sacrificed their sons
And their daughters to demons,
38
And shed innocent blood,
The blood of their sons and daughters,
Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
And the land was polluted with blood.
39
Thus they [p]were defiled by their own works,
And played[q] the harlot by their own deeds.
40
Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against His people,
So that He abhorred His own inheritance.
41
And He gave them into the hand of the Gentiles,
And those who hated them ruled over them.
42
Their enemies also oppressed them,
And they were brought into subjection under their hand.
43
Many times He delivered them;
But they rebelled in their counsel,
And were brought low for their iniquity.
44
Nevertheless He regarded their affliction,
When He heard their cry;
45
And for their sake He remembered His covenant,
And relented according to the multitude of His mercies.
46
He also made them to be pitied
By all those who carried them away captive.
47
Save us, O Lord our God,
And gather us from among the Gentiles,
To give thanks to Your holy name,
To triumph in Your praise.
48
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
From everlasting to everlasting!
And let all the people say, “Amen!”
[r]Praise the Lord!
Footnotes:
• Psalm 105:18 His soul came into iron
• Psalm 105:22 Bind as prisoners
• Psalm 105:36 Lit. struck down
• Psalm 105:43 a joyful shout
• Psalm 105:44 nations
• Psalm 105:45 Heb. Hallelujah
• Psalm 106:1 Heb. Hallelujah
• Psalm 106:2 express
• Psalm 106:3 LXX, Syr., Tg., Vg. those who do
• Psalm 106:5 The people of Your inheritance
• Psalm 106:26 make them fall
• Psalm 106:27 make their descendants fall also
• Psalm 106:27 Gentiles
• Psalm 106:28 offered
• Psalm 106:32 Or Meribah
• Psalm 106:39 became unclean
• Psalm 106:39 Were unfaithful
• Psalm 106:48 Heb. Hallelujah

1 Corinthians 3
Sectarianism Is Carnal
3 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and [a]behaving like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?
Watering, Working, Warning
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone [b]defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
Avoid Worldly Wisdom
18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” 21 Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours. 23 And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
Footnotes:
• 1 Corinthians 3:3 Lit. walking according to man
• 1 Corinthians 3:17 destroys