Welcome to Hank’s Place
Here at Hank’s Place we emphasize God’s wonderful grace: His unmerited favor and lovingkindness directed toward us – for no other reason than that’s Who He is.
Jesus never defined grace. He IS Grace: loving us unconditionally, and forgiving indiscriminately. If you are in a works oriented church or listening to mixed-covenant messages, you made find these words – scandalous – SURELY God has requirements for us to meet – before He will bless us.
Nope! All the blessings of God are found in Jesus Christ. Eph 1:3. Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners. Doesn’t that tell you something?
Some say God never promised to meet our wants but only our needs. They get this from Philippeans 4:19 where Paul thanks them and says, “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.” That’s fine, but i wouldn’t make a general axiom out of it! God has adopted us as sons, forgiven us out of the wealth of His grace, and gives us lavishly out of His riches, not in accordance to our needs, like some stingy accountant. Read Ephesians 1 the first few verses.
Suppose you are thirsty and ask the Lord for a drink — and He gives you Niagara Falls. Get the picture? And don’t forget Matt 7:11 where Jesus says, “if you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give to those who ask Him.”
Instead of battling jealousy and envy when you see someone being blessed, why not thank God for His goodness and ask for some of the same for yourself?
Now there are 3 general views of salvation:
First – the works Gospel – you labor to earn your salvation and then you get sanctified, made more holy, by further works.
Second – is the Mixed Grace Gospel. It’s the most popular. We are saved by His grace, but then we work at holiness – progressive sanctification it’s called. Slowly become more like Jesus. If we work at it. And sometimes God puts us in the corner until we learn our lessons. It’s the anxiety gospel in my opinion!
Third – is what some call the Hyper Grace Gospel. We are saved by Grace, and HAVE BEEN sanctified — by grace.
Notable people like Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon and others agree it is the grace of God, not us, that truly matters. “Not what we have been, not what we have done, but the grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.” That’s D. Martin Lloyd-Jones.
Believe it my friend, and COME ALIVE!
NEW BLOG NOTIFICATION
Be notified when a new blog posts