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There are many things we long for about heaven, such as being with Jesus, reuniting with loved ones, eliminating sorrow and experiencing fullness of joy. One big thing that we should daily and decidedly look forward to is the complete defeat of all sin. What a day it will be when we sin no more! No more unkindness, hardheartedness, covetousness and selfishness. No more idolatry, bigotry, adultery and mockery. No more rebellion, manipulation, inaction or division. Every sin completely gone forever because our Savior has secured the victory! Take heart, friends. Jesus is coming, and so is the end of sin.

If you put all of my weaknesses on one side of the scale and all of my strengths on the other side of the scale, it’s not even close in comparison. Strength wins easily. See if you agree with me on this. My weaknesses: I don’t have all the right answers. I don’t say all the right words. I don’t make all the right moves. Day after day, there are countless ways in which I am wrong, not right. My strengths: Jesus. The scale always tips to the side of grace! Day after day, He gives me the right stuff I need and forgives me for the wrong stuff I do. Let us rejoice in this good news today: His strength will overcome our weakness.

The gospel transforms us from who we used to be into who we are now in Christ. We were dead and now have been made alive. And the gospel continues to change us from looking a little like Jesus to thinking, speaking and acting more like Him. We were babies and now are growing into adulthood. As people who are set apart for God, we set out to live in ways that reflect we belong to Him. This will inevitably create conflict as we live for the kingdom of God while also living in this anti-God world. But the same grace that brought us out of the darkness into His light will help us shine His light back into the darkness.

Has God started a good work in you? How can you and I know that we have received God’s grace? There are two really good indicators that your faith in Him is genuine: you have a growing hatred for sin and a growing love for Jesus. You don’t just want to be free from the consequences of sin, but sin itself. You don’t just want to have the blessings of God, but God Himself. There is a desire that begins growing inside of you to experience all that God has for you, in this world and the one to come. You believe in Jesus for the first time, and then you believe in Him more fully over time. We grow. That’s how we know.

We’re given… New identities. New desires. New lives. New futures. Christians have a faith in Jesus that is demonstrated by loving obedience, though imperfectly executed. That means there is grace to help us get this right, and there is grace to help us when we get this wrong. Our entire spiritual journey is one in which we rely on grace to take steps of faith in living as God intends for us, and in which we rest in that same grace when we take mis-steps knowing that God won’t give up on us. Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith, and we can be sure of this: God will finish what He starts in us.

Faith is saying “yes” to God’s grace by agreeing with Him that you’re a sinner who cannot do anything to make yourself good enough to be accepted by Him, and then by asking Him to begin a good work in you to increasingly change you into a radically new person that is acceptable to Him. Faith is also saying “no” to our old lives of indifference and rebellion to God by turning away from them to Him. We mean it when we say of our sin: “I did it. I regret doing it. Help me not to do it again. Lead me to something better in you.” When that happens… God doesn’t just give us different lives; He makes us into different people.

Grace is God’s answer to the question of how sinners like you and me could ever be welcomed into His presence, His family and His blessing. Then, grace poses a question for us to answer: will you receive it? The gospel of grace is only good news if it is true, if you are included in it, and if you believe it. It is true. You can be included. Do you believe? You can have it all if you believe Jesus is Who the Bible says He is, Jesus did what the Bible says He did, and Jesus will deliver all the Bible says He will. Grace leads us to Jesus. Faith leads us to follow Jesus in loving obedience. Nearness leads us to enjoy real life with Jesus.

You can’t afford it; but it’s already paid for. You can’t earn it; but it’s freely given. You can’t secure it; but it’s always available to you. God’s grace has countless implications and applications for everyday life and eternal life, ranging from getting good things to getting through bad things to getting to the best things. There is grace for you to have the life of real contentedness that you’ve always wanted. And that’s just the beginning, for it will expand and extend throughout eternity. All you have to do is … Want it. Ask for it. Receive it. Enjoy it. Grace isn’t about your doing or your deserving; it’s about God giving us His gifts.

There is a lot we learn to love about Who Jesus is, which we learn about from what Jesus does. We love that He is gracious, kind, powerful, wise and compassionate … and we see He is all of those things in the way He relates to us. He forgives us, so we know He is gracious. He blesses us, so we know He is kind. He helps us, so we know He is powerful. He guides us, so we know He is wise. He cares for us, so we know He is compassionate. But it is His character, nature and personality that draw us and delight us. We don’t love Jesus because we see His wonderful acts; we love Jesus because we see His wonderful heart.

As Christians, we are in an ongoing war against our sin, and there are daily occasions in which we lose the battle. This spiritual journey we are on is one in which we have not yet been fully delivered from the presence of sin, so we must fight against it and confess our failings when we lose a skirmish. Ours is a humble and simple cry out for grace: “I did it. I regret doing it. Help me not do it again. Lead me to something better in you.” Because Jesus has already secured the final victory over our sin, there is grace for us. Grace that gives us pardon when we lose the fight, and grace that gives us power to fight on.