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October 31

made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! — Eph 2:5 BSB

Oh, the volumes of blessed truth contained in these few words, expressed as if the Apostle couldn’t help but give a quick outburst from his heart, overflowing with his love for salvation by grace! Mercy, love, and grace are all found in the heart of God toward His people, yet they each have a different focus. How so? Mercy is directed at the guilty; love is focused on the beloved; and grace seems to combine the two—mercy and love working together. God loves the holy angels who never fell, so there is no mercy involved there, for they have never sinned. On the other hand, God showed no mercy to the fallen angels, where only justice and wrath are found. But for God’s chosen people, the saints, we see not only mercy and love but both combined in one flowing stream, pouring out to the Church like a river of life—the pure, crystal-clear river of grace.

Grace, as you know, is the unearned favor of God, and as such, it is sovereign, distinct, free, and abundant beyond measure. Every one of God’s attributes is unique, yet they all work together, shining as one in glorious unity. Like the rays of the sun form a single body of light, which can be broken down into different colors by a prism or rainbow, God’s attributes are perfectly blended but never confused. Grace is unique in that any hint of worthiness in its recipient would destroy it. If the gospel required merit, we would be condemned by it just as surely as by the law. Luther realized this when he struggled with the words, “the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed,” crying out in the depths of his soul, “What! Am I damned not only by the law, but by the gospel as well?”

This pure, untainted grace is the joy of every soul that can grasp it, for it becomes a blessed remedy when we’re weighed down by the awareness of God’s wrath. When the gospel of grace comes as a gift from the Most High, it lifts up our weary heads, revives our fainting souls, and soothes our wounded hearts. By this grace, we are justified, forgiven, accepted, sanctified, and saved with an everlasting salvation. Oh, what good news for perishing sinners! What blessed news for those overwhelmed by guilt and misery, feeling the heavy weight of God’s law and its curse!

When we catch a glimpse of God’s grace by faith and experience its sweetness, what a balm, what a comforting drink it becomes. This is why we cherish and celebrate the free grace of God so deeply—because it is pure, free, and far greater than the depths of our sin, guilt, and folly. It cannot be emphasized enough, and it cannot be preached too clearly: “By grace, and grace alone, you are saved.” If free grace has touched your soul, it has saved your soul; if it has entered your heart, it has blessed you with everlasting salvation, and you will live to see this truth fulfilled when your soul joins the assembly of the blessed.

If anything can lift up a weary sinner, restore a backslider, soften a hard heart, and bring forth songs of praise and tears of repentance, it is the sweet experience of God’s overflowing grace. Can we exalt it too much? Can we treasure it too highly? Can we cling to it too closely? No. As we come to understand our own ruin and misery, we will hold on to grace with everything we have, for it is our complete salvation, and the deepest desire of our hearts.


Daily Blessings - October 31

Public domain content taken from Devotional Writings by J.C. Philpot.


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