The Rest of the Story- THE PLAN FROM GOD TO MAN

What is the Gospel to you?  Notice that I didn't ask you what is the Gospel, but rather what it is to you.  I ask this question for I want you to have a beginning point in your understanding and go from there with this devotional series.  So, let's start with what you understand.  I want to introduce some theology and practical application to check you out and maybe expand your understanding.  I do this for I think many of you have a limited view of the Gospel, and if this is true you need to realize how much more there is to it.  It has greater implications than many of you might realize.  It is far more beautiful, and yet far more practical with its impact on our life and not just for our eternal life.  So let's start with a general question I hear about what part grace and faith have with our salvation.

When my Journey Group asked the question about how "grace and faith"work together for our salvation, I quickly sketched the illustration above on our whiteboard to answer their question.  Some views think it is an either/or choice to follow.  Some think that these are separate roads to salvation, which I will tell you up front that they are not.  But some people are confused about it.  When I did the sketch, it was kind of a "God Thing" that happened.  After drawing it out, I realized that clarity on the question had been given to help me understand it better myself as I helped the men understand the correlation.  Often times it happens that way, as the Holy Spirit makes me a student as well as a teacher in a moment's time.

In the scripture above, we are given a clear understanding that it is by the grace of God that we are all saved.  Would anyone challenge this gift by God to a people who could not make it to heaven by our own good works?  Any of you men think that you are perfect enough for heaven based on your own good works?  In my illustration, I represented this by showing that God's grace to mankind is given through His Son and what He did at the cross.  This means that God initiated a rescue plan for mankind.  It was birthed in God's mind, and Jesus executed the plan on His behalf to us.  God's grace started it all.  This is where grace comes in.  It is a gift that is not earned, not deserved and required Jesus' sacrifice. This gift came from Heaven to mankind through Jesus to offer us a solution for redemption.  But where does faith come in, for it is mentioned in the same passage?  There's another passage that points out the importance of faith.  In fact, these are the words of Jesus:

Therefore, even though grace is a free gift, we see that we have a responsibility to receive this grace that has been extended to us through our faith which I also illustrate above.  Grace is expressed through the cross of Christ and salvation is given to those who believe in the work of the cross and all that it means.  Let me say it another way:

There is not an either/or situation with faith and grace.  It is both.  They are both critical for our salvation.  But salvation is only the beginning, for this is also the time when all limitations are taken off.  Before our redemption, we were wandering refugees with no spiritual home and no hope.  Now we have a new deal.  For those of us who have received this salvation, we were also given God's plan for becoming that which He had in mind.  He predestined this position for us from the beginning of His plan to redeem us.  It was packaged within His grace to us.  He included it in our adoption.  We are embraced into His heart as His sons.  Read it for yourself:

This week I want to really get into what it means to live as "sons of God."  Just like the correlating dynamic of grace and faith, is the correlating dynamic ofsalvation and identity.  Are you identified with Christ to the point that there is no doubt by all who know you that you are His man?  If this is not true of you, then let's see if we can move the needle in your life to be more identified with Him, for that is what a son does.  He wants to look and act like his dad, if his dad is a man he wants to emulate.  When we grow in this identity, we will also grow in our significant purpose as God's men.  This is when our life in Him begins to really take off.  Lets start that discussion tomorrow.  There's more to the story after our salvation and that is where we are headed.