The Grace of God and the Merit of Christ

“Though the grace of God and the merit of Christ are not the same, they always go together in our relationship with God. We cannot experience one without the other. In terms of order, God’s grace comes first. It was because of His grace that God the Father sent His only Son to die in our place. To say it another way, Christ’s death was the result of God’s grace; grace is not the result of Christ’s death. But it is also true that our experience of God’s grace is made possible only by the death of Christ. God is gracious, but He is also just in an absolute sense; that is, His justice cannot overlook the least infraction of His holy law. Because Christ completely satisfied the justice of God, we can now experience the grace of God. Yeas ago I heard a simple acronym of grace expressing this relationship: Grace is God’s Riches at Christ’s expense.” -Jerry Bridges-

Ephesians 2:4-7-“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with his and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

"God’s grace shall never be wanting to those who sincerely desire to know and do their duty… The increase of gold lowers the value of it, but the increase of grace advances its price. The more men have of that, the more they value it." -Matthew Henry-

Heavenly Father, As another day has gone by I am once again astonished by your kindness and faithfulness to me. I pray that I would value Your great grace above ALL else. May I be someone that is satisfied and touched by Your grace ALL the days of my life.

-Candace-