1 - Introduction - Living like a real Christian The Colours of Grace - Week 1 | Page 7

up empty handed. Jesus, seeing His dilemma points Him in the right direction by telling
him to sell all he has and come follow Him. Jesus’ point here is that He [Jesus] the
perfect picture of grace, is the One whom the man was really desiring to find, and yet
even though Jesus was standing right in front of him, he cannot acknowledge and
respond to the truth of what Jesus has told him. There is something within man that
desires to go it alone. There is something within man that says, upon hearing the
gospel of grace, that “it can’t be that easy”. There is something within man that says, “I
have to do it myself”. But the truth of the matter, as simple as it may seem, is that you
cannot follow Jesus without first receiving His gift of grace.
I once had a person ask me to try and prove that grace exists and is as big a deal as I
am telling you; my reply to this person was simply this: I know grace exists not
because I’ve studied it, but because I’ve seen its result!
Sitting in our church today are many “trophies of grace” whose lives have been
changed as a result of it. Sitting amongst us are marriages and families that have been
restored by grace, many broken lives, for whatever reason, that have been restored by
grace. Let me say again: I know it exists because I’ve seen the result.
John Newton is his great song “Amazing Grace” spoke of grace as a “sweet sound”.
That amidst all the toils and noisy challenges of life, he heard the sweet sound of
grace.
Maybe today, as you are confronted again with the “truth of grace”, you realise that you
have never really received of it. Even though you might be going on what you think is a
spiritual experience, this experience that you have had has not included your receiving
of the gift of grace. This can be likened to a false start in an athletic meet, where you
are half way down the track and you realise that what you are running is deemed
illegitimate. If that is the case, I encourage you to stop, return to the start, pray and
receive the gift of God’s grace, and then set off anew. This will bring to you a fresh
spring in your step and a wonderful sense of the presence of God running this race
with you.
Prayer Thought: Won’t you turn the last two paragraphs above into a personal prayer
as you reflect upon your own relationship with God, ensuring today that your start in
this race was legitimate and real and based upon the gift of grace.

FRIDAY
Luke 15 v 1 – 7
Over the next two days I would like for us to focus on the Dilemma of grace.
In a world where we are taught from young that God helps those who help themselves,
and that everything worth having is worked for, we are confronted with the apparent
freedom-ness of grace, in that grace is pictured as being a gift just waiting to be
received. This for many people creates two dilemmas of thinking. It would appear by
worldly thinking that grace would be both a) unrealistic and b) undeserving.