Speaking God's Grace

Excerpts from “Christians Speak of God’s Grace, Not of Their Works” by Daniel E. Parks, October 30, 2016

Paul the apostle exhorts Christians “Let your speech always be with grace …” (Colossians  4:6)...some professing Christians speak otherwise, as though saying “My speech will be of my works.” 

• Some say “I found the Lord.”  Others say “I was lost, but the Lord found me” (Luke 15:3-6; Luke 19:10).
• Some say “I accepted Christ.”  Others say “Christ accepted me, and then drew me to Himself” (Ephesians 1:6; Jeremiah 31:3).
• Some say “I let Jesus come into my heart.”  Others say “God removed my old stony heart, and replaced it with a new and living heart, and then occupied it as its ruler” (Ezekiel 36:26ff).
• Some say “I was saved because I chose the Lord.”  Others say “I was saved because the Lord chose me” (2 Thessalonians 2:13f).
• Some say “I made Jesus my personal Savior.”  Others say “God made Jesus to be the Savior of His people, and Jesus gave to them repentance and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31).
• Some say “Let me tell you what I have done for God.”  Others say “Behold what Jesus has done for me!” (Luke 8:39; Mark 5:19ff).
• Many at the Final Judgment will say “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” – but Jesus will reply “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'” (Matthew 7:22f).  Others say “I hope to hear Jesus say to me at that day, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world’” (Matthew 25:34).