That Is The Grace – Matt Chandler

God's grace is lavished upon us. It's extravagent, plentiful, over the top and out of control! If you're a struggling believer, you'll be thankful you watched this short video from Matt Chandler.

Our default position as strugglers is to believe that God is disappointed and frustrated, that he simply is tolerating us. The apostle Paul in Ephesians 1 says, no… before the foundation of the Earth was laid, he was going to adopt you, make you holy and blameless in his sight.

So, whether difficult days or good days, God’s at work.

God has not abandoned you in this difficult season.

How amazing does that make our God, that in our hypocrisy he is longsuffering with us? In our inability to live out all that he would call us to, he continues to lavish upon us his grace?

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight…”

– Ephesians 1:7-8

I love this word lavish… extravagant, plentiful, over the top. And so now, when the Bible is talking about forgiveness, it’s saying that his grace in forgiveness is lavished, like it’s too much, like it’s ridiculous. It’s a ridiculous amount. It’s over the top. It’s out of control!

Man or woman of God, in Christ but struggling, God does not regret saving you. He doesn’t regret it. You haven’t surprised him. You cannot surprise him. God is not watching where you are now, watching how you’ve struggled this week, watching how you stumble and fall, and regretting the decision to pay the price for you in full.

You have no sin, past, present and future, that has more power than the cross of Jesus Christ. None. This means that your salvation wasn’t just a past event alone, but that Christ even now is continuing to save you. He didn’t forgive your past sins, now leaving it up to you to conquer present and future sins.

Which means it doesn’t matter how you came in here. It means God can rescue. It means God can save. And it means, for those of us who are in Christ, you do not disgust him.

You do not disgust him. 

“Well you don’t know what I struggle with and how deplorable it is.”

I know that Jesus would say that he paid the bill in full and so what you’re saying is nonsense. 

That is the grace with which he lavished on us in his forgiveness.