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saying when he penned the words of the song , “ Amazing Grace ”, because that indeed is what grace is .
Prayer Thought : Won ’ t you take a few moments at the outset of this series to ask God to reveal to you afresh the wonder of His grace and the power of its application in every area of your life . Take a few moments to thank Him for His grace and commit yourself to coming with an open mind and heart as we embark upon this journey together .
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Ephesians 2 v 1 – 10
You will notice today that the Bible reading above is the same one we used yesterday ( I ’ m sure we will be making a few more references to this passage ). I would like to pick up from this passage today God ’ s Design of Grace .
Theologians all agree that God has two types of attributes : on the one hand He has absolute attributes – these are the attributes that make up the essence of who He is ; they speak to us of His character and personality . When , however , man came into the world , God ’ s absolute attributes took on a relative form . Let me give you three absolute attributes of God and show you their relative forms :
Absolute attribute One : GOD is HOLY . That means He is set apart ; there is no one like Him and He is above all things .
Absolute attribute Two : GOD is TRUTH . The Scriptures teach that because God is who He is , He determines the nature of absolute truth .
Absolute attribute three : GOD is LOVE . This from a human point of view has to be the most beautiful attribute of who God is and is found in the fact that even though man , in his carnal state , is so far from God , God still has an undying love for His creation and has an overwhelming desire to restore this broken creation to Himself .
God ’ s absolute attributes are such that it can be said that if nobody was ever born and this world had never been created , God would still be HOLY , TRUTH and LOVE .
BUT , when you and I came into the world , these attributes took on a relative form , i . e . 1 . God ’ s holiness took on the relative form of God ’ s Justice . 2 . God ’ s truth became His Faithfulness . 3 . God ’ s love became Grace , Mercy and Forgiveness .
It is this last attribute that we will be focusing on most of all . 1 John 4 v 8 tells us categorically that God IS love . That means that in all of His dealings with mankind He does it out of the depth of a love that is way beyond human comprehension and a love that knows no bounds . As humans , we find it difficult to love , but God is not like us , He finds it incredibly easy to love and give forgiveness and pour out mercy because that is