December 28

And now I commit you to God and to the word of His grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified. — Acts 20:32 BSB

Paul not only “commended” the church at Ephesus “to God,” but also specifically “to the word of His grace.” There is an important distinction between “grace” and “the word of His grace.” Only grace can save the soul; only super-abundant grace can blot out and hide from the sight of divine justice our deep sins. But “the word of His grace” is the word that brings this grace into the heart. It is the word that communicates life and power to the soul, which the Spirit, through His inward teaching and testimony, seals on the conscience. By this word, He reveals and spreads abroad that favor of which He testifies. This is what the Lord’s people truly need—it is “the word of grace” that reaches their hearts. It’s not simply reading about grace in the Bible that brings peace, but when “the word of His grace” is spoken with divine power to their souls, it brings salvation with it.

The Lord’s people constantly find themselves in states and circumstances where only “the word of God’s grace” can deliver them. When the soul is passing through severe trials, just hearing about grace will not bring deliverance. If it is beset with powerful temptations, simply reading about grace will not break those temptations apart. But “the word of His grace,” when the Lord Himself speaks it with His blessed lips and applies a promise with divine power, can uphold the soul under trial, deliver it from temptation, shatter snares, make crooked things straight and rough places smooth, release prisoners from their chains, and remove the yoke because of the anointing.