AMAZING GRACE

      "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me," I Cor 15:10.

      Paul was evidently the greatest of the apostles. He made more missionary trips, witnessed more people saved, more churches established, more men ordained to preach under his ministry, wrote more inspired letters, labored more, suffered more. Yet he said, "By the GRACE of God I am what I am."
      Observe that he said, "I labored". Again, observe that he said, "I LABORED." He LABORED more abundantly than all the apostles, yet he said, "yet not I. but it was the GRACE of God that was with me." The word "labor" (kopiao) means "to feel fatigue," "to work hard."
      Now just what kind of "works" were these "labors?" If they were the works of man (our works, works of the Law, works of the flesh), then they could NOT be by grace and God would NOT accept them. But since they were the works of grace, and were therefore the works of God through the Holy Spirit as the Spirit administers the New Covenant in and through us, then God will accept them. The works of God through the Holy Spirit are grace works. These works do indeed go together with grace.
      It makes a difference what kind of works our works are. We must understand there are two opposite kinds of works. We can easily brand someone as being "cultic" and of the "Galatian heresy" if we do not understand that man's works and God's works are two different kinds of works, that God's works are "grace works, and that God's works and grace works do go together because they are one and the same.

      "According to the GRACE of God which was GIVEN to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it," I Cor 3:10.

      "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His GRACE toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me," I Cor 15:10.

      "But He GIVES more GRACE. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, but GIVES grace to the humble," James 4:6.

      "We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you NOT to receive the GRACE of God in vain," II Cor 6:1.

      "Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, GRACE abounded much more," Rom 5:20.

      "And He said to me, 'My GRACE is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong," II Cor 12:9-10.

      "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of GRACE, that we may obtain mercy and find GRACE to help in time of need," Heb 4:16.

      "And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great GRACE was UPON them all," Acts 4:33.

      "GRACE TO YOU and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always concerning you for the GRACE of God which was GIVEN to you by Christ Jesus," I Cor 1:3-4. See again: Rom 1:5; 5:15; 12:3,6; I Cor 1:4; II Cor 9:8; Gal 2:9; Eph 3:2,7,8; 4:7-8 (I Cor 1:4-7); Heb 12:28; I Pet 4:10; 5:5.

      "GRACE be to you and peace...." This invocation of GRACE and very similar expressions are used over thirty additional times from Rom 1 to Rev 22. The grace and peace invocation is very appropriate because the New Covenant is a covenant of grace and a covenant of peace with no condemnation and no charging of sin against the covenant people as under the Law Covenant.
      We stand in GRACE in the New Covenant (New GRACE Covenant) so we have grace all the time, and there are many, many times when we need more grace (more help).
      We have grace all the time if we are truly serving God, but there are times we have greater needs and therefore need more grace. During those times of greater need we humble ourselves all the more and keep on going to the throne of grace by fasting and prayer to obtain mercy and find more grace to help.

      "What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?" James 2:14.

      "Thus also FAITH by itself, if it does not have WORKS, is dead," James 2:17.

      "But do you want to know, O foolish man, that FAITH without WORKS is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by WORKS when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that FAITH was WORKING together with his works, and by WORKS FAITH was made perfect?" James 2:20-22.

      "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but FAITH WORKING through love," Gal 5:6.

      "Remembering without ceasing your WORK of FAITH, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father," I Thess 1:3.

      "Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the WORK of FAITH with power," II Thess 1:11.

      Faith without works will accomplish nothing as far as the christian "life" is concerned. It must have works, and faith that pleases God always has works. But what kind of works are they? Of course, they are NOT human works. They are faith works, grace works, God's works, the works of the Holy Spirit.
      Initial faith in God that brings salvation from hell has no HUMAN works, but it has the works of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit before and after: instruction, conviction, faith in facts, contrition with godly sorrow, repentance with trusting faith, and then salvation as the result, all by the working of the Holy Spirit.
      Now from this point on is where so many people become confused and brand God's works as human works. We must learn to see and make the proper distinction between God's works and human works.
      Do not get "human works" mixed up with "God's works:" human works are works of the human mind and body apart from faith, trusting in self-works rather than trusting in God as we see in Rom 10:1-3; while God's works are the works of the Holy Spirit as the Holy Spirit uses and works through the human mind and body.
      Faith must work, but its the working of the Holy Spirit using our minds and bodies both "to will and to do" the will and pleasure of God in and through us. The decisions that we make with our minds by faith and the performance of those decisions, including the modifying of those decisions as we perform them by faith, is the working of God in and through us by the Holy Spirit.
      From our vantage point of observation, these are our works; however, if they are according to the Word of God and by true Bible faith, they are not our works but God's works in and through us by the Holy Spirit. They are therefore by grace through faith.

      "Then they said to Him, 'What shall we do, that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, 'This is the WORK of God, that you BELIEVE in Him whom He sent," John 6:28-29.

      True Bible faith is not a human work, but a work of God. This is impossible for the human mind to understand, but since spiritual things are spiritually taught (II Cor 2:10-16) and therefore a work of God, we can understand it.
      We can see how Jesus, Paul, and James are all agreed that faith works, and that faith and God's works go together and are both God's grace.

      "If indeed you have heard of the dispensation (stewardship) of the grace of God which was given to me for you," Eph 3:2.

      "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me," I Cor 15:10.

      "As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God," I Pet 4:10.

      "But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: 'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble," James 4:6.

      "And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all," Acts 4:33.

      Paul and Peter testify that we have grace as a stewardship, and Paul states explicitly that all his hard labors were by grace and were always sufficient for him. James wrote that God gives "more grace," evidently to those who are more humble and more faithful, as Luke states that Steven and Barnabas were "full of faith" (Acts 6:5,8; 11:24), and Paul said grace is given to us according to the measure of faith given to each of us, Rom 12:3,6.