God’s amazing grace is absolutely complete and irrevocable. No matter how many times you’ve committed the same sin or how bad you’ve been, God forgives you generously because of Christ’s sacrifice. God has completely dealt with your sins in Christ and you do not have to punish yourself or accomplish some probationary term before God can bless you or use you again. In his book Transforming Grace, Bridges tries to illustrate how inexhaustible and generous God’s grace really is. It is a gift which you’ll never be able to ask for too much, need too much, hope for too much, or even sin too much. God’s grace exceedingly and abundantly abounds towards you endlessly.
One universal truth that supports this is that nothing but the blood of Jesus can ever wash our sins away. This washing was already done by a holy man two thousand years ago on Calvary’s cross. God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness IF WE CONFESS OUR SINS.
The word “confess” from its Greek word ̔μολογέω (homologeō) means to assent, to concede, to profess, to praise. It is to say the same thing about sin as God does, to agree with him; to acknowledge God’s perspective towards sin. To confess is to declare one’s self guilty of sin, and this act of confession gives praise and glory to God. When we confess, we step into the fullness of freedom, and we are celebrated in God’s grace.
It is a beautiful process to take heed of God’s call; we confess, we give thanks as God forgives and cleanses us, and we make a covenant to not sin again. God continually cleanses those who are confessing, and confession of sin characterizes genuine Christians. Spiritual maturity is indicated when one recognizes and acknowledges that one is a sinner and in need of God’s cleansing and forgiveness. The law made us more aware of our sinfulness and helplessness to preserve God’s perfect standards and it served as a guide to bring us closer to Christ.
The Law reveals an awareness of our trespasses by defining and unmasking sin. But then where sin increased, God’s amazing, gracious gift of grace has surpassed it and increased all the more.
Romans 5:20
Imagine a teenager crashing the vintage car of his father because he still drove it when he’s been warned not to. He admits his fault, promises to make it up to his daddy, and offers to pay him in installments. His father was upset not because of the damage on his vintage car, but because of the disobedience of his son which could have cost him his own life, yet he paid for the whole car damage, forgives his son, and be so ever grateful that he’s still alive. And by the time the teenager learned to drive in obedience, his father gave him a key to his new car. The teenager was in awe, trying to refuse because of the shame of the past and his unpaid debts, yet the father told him whether he uses it or not it is still his since it is his gift.
When it is a gift, then it is free.
Perhaps, this story is an inadequate illustration of God‘s grace, because the grace of God is more than what our earthly fathers can provide. The grace of our God produces righteousness, forgiveness, justification, adoption, conversion, and one day, glorification. God’s grace in Christ met death and conquered it. God’s grace in Christ meets sin and defeats it. We have received God’s unmerited favor which we don’t deserve because we are all filthy and wretched, doomed to eternal condemnation, but then again, we received God’s unmerited favor. We can’t do anything to earn it, and we can’t do anything to reject it. It is his irresistible grace, it points to the truth that whatever God decrees to happen will surely come to pass, even in the salvation of individuals. As what the Lord has declared in the book of Isaiah:
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return to it without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55
Man, totally depraved and dead in his trespasses and sins, is incapable of saving himself from the claws of hell, so Christ did something matchless to snatch us out from the grave. Amazingly, God does something unimaginable in the hearts and lives of those who have faith in Him and are saved, and there is no ground for boasting. Salvation is truly a gift of grace.
As what the prophet Habakkuk says in book 2:
1 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. 2 And the LORD answered me, and said,
3 “Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. 3For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end, it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. 4 Behold, his soul which is lifted is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.”
Habakkuk 2:1-4
It is God’s desirable grace that man is regenerated and born again. It is still God’s desirable grace that he inclines a man’s heart to Himself, and this grace of God will compellingly draw him to place his faith in Christ and be saved. Thus, it is through his desirable grace which regeneration and faith are set inseparable. This truth, therefore, opens our eyes to God’s effectual calling of salvation through his efficacious grace which results in the efficacious call of the Spirit for us to be transformed by the Holy Spirit.