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THEME: GRACE

                                                     INTRODUCTORY

                                                     I-DEFINITION

                                                     II-DEVELOPMENT

                                                     1-why grace?

                                                     2-The manifestation of grace

                                                     3-The work of grace

                                                     CONCLUSION

 

                                                     INTRODUCTION

                                 Men in one way or another benefit from the grace of their fellow men or of God. If we deserve something, we will not speak of grace but of right, of due or of merit. There is grace when we receive what we do not deserve. Moses having understood this asked God; Exodus 33:11 The Lord spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend (what grace!). Then Moses returned to the camp; but his young servant, Joshua son of Nun, did not come out of the tent. 12 Moses said to the LORD, Behold, you say to me: Bring up this people! And you do not let me know who you will send with me. However, you said: I know you by name, and you have found favor in my eyes. 13 Now if I have found grace in your sight, show me your ways; then I will know you, and I will still find favor in your eyes. Consider this nation to be your people. 14 The LORD said, I will walk with you and give you rest. 15 Moses said to him, If you do not yourself go with us, do not send us away from here. 16 How then can it be certain that I and your people have found favor in your sight? Will it not be when you walk with us, and when we are distinguished, I and your people, from all the peoples that are on the face of the earth? 17 The LORD said to Moses, I will do as you ask me, for you have found favor in my eyes, and I know you by your name. 18 Moses said, Show me your glory! 19 The LORD said, I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will declare the name of the LORD before you; I have mercy on whom I have mercy, and mercy on whom I have mercy.

 

                                                                      I-DEFINITION

                                  Grace is the unmerited manifestation of God’s love toward sinful men. In other words, grace is the undeserved favor of God granted to men. Indeed, after the sin of Adam and Eve, their descendants are also stained; Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (the white garments of those that fade away will be stained). 24 and they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Grace seems to detract from justice because it comes before law. Haven’t we heard of presidential pardons? Those justly condemned are pardoned, yes in the name of grace. This is not a coincidence. God himself does this.

 

                                                  II-DEVELOPMENT

                                                  1 – Why grace?

                                  Sin being incorporated into the life of man, God had to find a solution to this problem; Genesis 3: 21 The LORD God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins, and he clothed them with them. Sin has become innate; when a child is born, without being taught to do evil, we will notice that he will begin to insult, steal, jealous, lie... These are sinful works; galat 5: 19 Now, the works of the flesh are manifests, these are fornication, impurity, dissoluteness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, animosities, strife, divisions, sects, 21 envy, drunkenness , overeating, and similar things. I tell you beforehand, as I have said before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Romans 3:9 What then! are we more excellent? Not at all. For we have already proved that both Jews and Greeks are under sin, 10 as it is written, There is none righteous, not even one; 11 No one understands, no one seeks God; All are astray, all are perverted; 12 There is none who does good, not even one. But God in his love will redeem us; John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent (symbol of the cross before the pharmacies) in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. There are indeed reasons for which the grace of God was manifested: the revelation of the nature of God which is love and communion with God. Love is detailed in Galatian 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, (its acolytes) joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, temperence.

 

                                              2– The manifestation of grace

                                   God has manifested his grace by coming to men to save them; Luke 1: 28 And the angel entered into her, and said, Hail, to whom grace has been given; the Lord is with you. 29 Troubled by this word, Mary wondered what such a greeting could mean. 30 The angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found grace before God (it was she who conceived and gave birth to the savior, the messiah). God's grace is universal. We distinguish between general grace and special grace. Speaking of the general, we have rain, sun, life... which God gives to all; Matthew 5:45b for He (God) makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Special grace is salvation; John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes (non-negotiable) in him should not perish but have eternal life. When we go to a place and everyone is treated the same, it's general. But when we are seated at the head table, it is special; Mark 16:16 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Despite special grace, one can disqualify oneself by refusing salvation; Matthew 22:2 The kingdom of heaven is like a king who made a wedding feast for his son. 3 He sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; but they did not want to come. 4 He sent other servants also, saying, Say to those who are invited, Behold, I have prepared my feast; my oxen and my fattened animals are killed, everything is ready, come to the wedding. 5 But, without heeding the invitation, they went away, this one to his field, that one to his trade; 6 and the others seized the servants, insulted them, and killed them. 7 The king was angry; he sent his troops, killed these murderers, and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, The wedding is ready; but the guests were not worthy. 9 Go therefore into the crossroads, and call everyone you find to the wedding. 10 These servants went out into the highways and gathered together all they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was full of guests. 11 The king went in to see those who were at table, and he saw a man there who had not put on a wedding garment. 12 He said to him, My friend, how did you come in here without having a wedding garment? This man's mouth closed. 13 Then the king said to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Why was he thrown out? Because there were wedding clothes already designed for the guests. So this man entered without taking any clothes. This is why the master of the house reproached him and ordered him to be thrown out. Don't they say that no one is supposed to ignore the law? If the condition for participating in a free concert is to simply have the ticket, if we refuse to take one and are rejected at the gate, it is not the fault of the organizer but ours. If we refuse the Jesus ticket, it is not God’s fault.

 

                                              3 – The work of grace

                                At the crucifixion of the Lord, darkness covered the earth in broad daylight. Which shows that sin has invaded humanity; Luke 23:44 It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. 45 The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in the middle (the torn veil is man's free access to God). For grace to bring us salvation and enrich us, the Lord had to taste death; Hebrews 2:5 For God has not subjected the world to come of which we are speaking under angels. 6 Now someone somewhere has borne this testimony: What is man, that you remember him, Or the son of man, that you care for him? 7 You have made him lower than the angels for a little while, You have crowned him with glory and honor, 8 You have put all things under his feet. Indeed, by submitting all things to Him, God left nothing that was not subject to Him. However, we do not yet see that all things are subject to him. 9 But we see him who was made lower than the angels for a little while, Jesus, we see crowned with glory and honor because of the death he suffered, so that by the grace of God he suffered death for all. He followed the difficult and lonely path leading to Golgotha. There, at the cross, the grace of God was manifested in a perfect way towards us. One of the two bandits who suffered his just condemnation received the grace of being justified; Luke 23:42 And he said to Jesus, Remember me, when you come in your kingdom. 43 Jesus answered him, Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.

 

                                                 CONCLUSION

                                   God's grace has been manifested since original sin and continues to be manifested. All benefit from the general grace that is God's responsibility to give rain, life and sunshine. However, special grace is the responsibility of the man who must accept it. Can we accept it? After death, Luke 23:43 Jesus answered him, Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.