Undeserved Grace

Acts 15:¹¹ “We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”

I am trusting God that in your life, everywhere you look, when you turn to the left and to the right, when you look ahead and behind, there will be grace everywhere. Everywhere you turn, you will experience the grace of God. You are going to experience ease. You are going to experience effortlessness and your efforts will be multiplied. Your endeavours will be crowned with success in the Name of Jesus. Your life, from this month forward, will be described as grace everywhere. You are going to be clothed with grace. You are going to be clothed with favour. You are going to be clothed with mercy. There are a lot of stories in the Bible that when you look at them, you just see grace everywhere all around the story.

In fact, the entire Bible is a picture of grace everywhere. However, we are going to focus on one story in particular over the next few days. John 5:^1-8 “Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”

It is said of this place that people who were sick gathered there because an angel would show up and stir up the waters. And the first person to get in will be healed. But when you take a look at the description of the people that gathered at the pool of Bethesda, “…Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches…”. In other words, there were categories of sickness that would be chased away if they showed up at the pool. These were the company of people who were completely apparently hopeless. But God in His mercy and grace comes, and without asking questions about what they did wrong or right, what the cause of their illness was, or if it was from birth or not. Without asking about their age or whether they were Jew or Gentile, rich or poor.  The only requirement was the first person to get into the pool will get healed. Amazing grace that God shows.

Prayer (hymn): Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch; like me! I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see. Amen!