Yet unworthy, God shows us unmerited favour and grace.
In fact, He rejoices to bestow His grace upon all who hunger for it, not because we are worthy, but because we are utterly unworthy. Our need is the qualification that gives us the assurance that we shall receive this gift.
This message of hope and consolation was the scriptural food for the Sabbath-Day divine service at Cane Vale Seventh Day Adventist Church in Christ Church.
It was part of the message entitled Accepted In The Beloved, preached by Elder Charles Legall.
Ephesians Chapter 1, Verses 1 and 2 were the first of many Bible texts shared by Legall.
He noted: “We owe everything to God’s free grace. Grace in the covenant ordained our adoption. Grace in the Saviour effected our redemption, our regeneration and our exaltation to heirship with Christ.
“Not because we first loved Him, did God love us, but while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, making full and abundant provision for our redemption.
“Although by our disobedience, we have merited God’s displeasure and condemnation, yet He has not forsaken us, leaving us to grapple with the power of the enemy.”
Legall added: “We should never have learned the meaning of this word grace, had we not fallen.”
The church elder preached that grace brings deliverance and peace to troubled minds and souls.
“Jesus’ grace, which reconciles the soul to God, quiets the strife of human passion, and in His love, the heart is at rest.
“The grace of Christ, received into the heart, subdues enmity, allays strife, and fills the soul with love,” Legall said.
He also noted: “There is grace for holiness,” as stated in Ephesians 1 Chapter 4: “According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”
“The condition on which we receive an increase of grace is that we improve upon the light we already have. If we would find, we must go on continually seeking; if we would receive, we must ask; if we would have the door opened, we must knock,” he stressed.
Legall also emphasised that God leads us to holiness, whereby we are accepted in Christ, become like Him and later, to reign with Him.
“God leads His people step by step. The Christian life is a battle. In this warfare there is no release; the effort must be continuous and persevering.
“It is by unceasing endeavour that we maintain the victory over the temptations of Satan. Christian integrity must be sought with resistless energy and maintained with a resolute fixedness of purpose,” he added.
While Legall preached in the upper sanctuary, Brother Donn Knight also shared a message of God’s undeserving favour to mankind with an eager, attentive group of children from the Junior Church.
Both services were complete with special musical selections by young people, including the dynamic Revelation Four singers.
From the worship to the message, there was every reason to rejoice in the Lord, and receive from Him, the grace which He freely imparts to all.
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