SAVING GRACE -Walk By The Spirit
What is faith unto salvation?
Check this out:
Philippians 1:6 (we followers of Christ) being confident of this (work of the Holy Spirit), (confident) that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Emphasis mine)
1 Peter 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Friends,
It's a powerful supernatural thing, this thing called "saving grace". Grace produces better believers. It works out the kinks in those Christians who are tuned in and obedient to The Holy Spirit. If you have the Holy Spirit in your life, you cannot say to God, "I can't". And conversely you can do nothing without him. None of us can. No one is "good enough".
In and of itself, the words of God on the pages of the book has no power. Without the work of the Holy Spirit welcomed and obeyed by the listeners the words will have no effect.
Example:
Jesus tries to explain to the chief priests and the crowds that they will not hear his word even if he were to speak it.
Luke 22:67-70 and the chief priests said, “Tell us, are you the Messiah?”
But Jesus replied, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me. And if I ask you a question, you won’t answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated in the place of power at God’s right hand.”
They all shouted, “So, are you claiming to be the Son of God?”
And Jesus replied, “You say that I am.”
This eyewitness record comes to us by the power and will of God. This unvarnished witness has traveled throughout millennia. And along with it the Holy Spirit preserved its gospel message.
Jesus said to his high priest accusers, "If I tell you, you won’t believe me".
One more time, think about what Jesus said. "If I tell you, you won’t believe me"
The words in and of themselves WILL NOT produce grace and bring about belief. They cannot because the hearts giving life to the ears and the brain of the hearers is hardened against the words. The hearing is BLOCKED by any number of human conditions.
Jesus ignores their accusations and instead lays it on the line for these unbelievers:
Luke 22:69 But from now on the Son of Man will be seated in the place of power at God’s right hand.
Jesus brushed off the nonsense propaganda, the false witnesses, and the loaded questions. He goes straight to the meat of the matter. He tells them that they will very soon see THE POWER behind his words. And he did this because the power is the thing. Not the words. Not the order. Not the pages of any book. The power is in the Spirit of Truth that empowers those words.
When Jesus commanded the demonic spirits to come out and leave the people they've possessed, it wasn't the words he used, it was from the person of Jesus Christ that these demonic beings fled.
Mark 5
When he (the demon possessed man) saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”
Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.
These demons KNEW the man Jesus as the "Son of the Most High God".
They weren't concerned about words spoken against them, they were concerned about the power that Jesus had to command them and banish them to their destruction.
And Jesus, "gave them permission" to go into the pigs. Because HE had that power. He didn't have magic words that controlled demonic spirits, his words had HIS authority backing them up. The Holy Spirit, that hovered over the waters of the earth and created everything in it, backed up Jesus' words. No created thing can withstand that power.
Conclusion:
So what does this mean in regards to saving grace?
It means no living person can withstand the saving grace work of the Holy Spirit that has already begun in that person. The Holy Spirit will never abandon that person to the works of the demons. At EVERY step along the narrow way, the Holy Spirit will be with that person. And at every fall from grace The Holy Spirit will be there to guide and bring them out.
No matter where you have been and what you've done, the Spirit will always lift you out.
Watch this:
He won't prevent you from falling...
Jesus is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. (Jude 1:24)
...he will keep you from falling away.
Oh...you will fall, probably often, but he will not allow you to be lost in it forever. Ultimately he will bring you up and out from it, into his kingdom, cloaked in his righteous glory.
Friends,
Please let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Walk by the Spirit. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. He'll keep you busy in his work. Too busy to fall.
God Bless You