This Dispensation of Grace

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    TOPIC: THIS DISPENSATION OF GRACE

    WHAT IS GRACE?

    Grace simply is unmerited favour. The dispensation of grace started with

    Jesus Christ John 1:7WHY THE DISPENSATION OF GRACE.

    Let us trace it to time immemorial. Before the time of Moses, we had the

    dispensation of conscience; every man does what he wants to do. It is

    only your conscience that judges you. Remember the time of Adam and

    Eve, what made to go and hide himself, it was his conscience. His

    conscience pricked him and he had no choice than to run away from God.

    Why did Cain challenge God, Am I my brothers keeper? He knew he had

    done something wrong, because at that time, there was no law that says

    thou shall not kill. But he knew that he had done something wrong. And

    when God asked his brother, the worst thing he did was to challenge God.

    That time passed, we had Abraham, Isaac Jacob, the Israelites, their

    going into captivity, then God sent them a deliverer, Moses, God saw the

    kind of people the Israelites were, He gave them laws, rules and

    regulations to guide their conduct and worship of Jehovah God. There are

    Ten Commandments and there several laws.

    The good thing is that if most of us live in that dispensation, we would

    have escaped any punishment. Why? This is because the law judged your

    action. It is what you do physically that the law judges. Thou shall not kill.

    If you do not physically kill any body or nobody dies by your actions, you

    cannot be charged for murder. The agents for enforcing the laws are the

    human beings.

    According to the law, if you catch a man and definitely a woman, in

    adultery, you must have at least three independent witnesses. How do

    you get three independent witnesses? You wont call your friends, youwont call your neighbours, you will go a good distance, and call

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    somebody who does not know the people involved. And you can prove

    that these two are not married and are committing adultery, they will be

    stoned to death. That is the dispensation of law. Let us take an instance

    where they did it sharp, sharp and they left. The law will not punishsomeone you did not accost at the scene of the crime, except you have

    witnesses. The law judges your actions.

    God now realise that the spirit man must be purged and that was why He

    sent Jesus Christ full of grace and truth. And brethren, the time of grace

    in the most dangerous dispensation. Let me tell you why. Jesus, when he

    was referring to the time of Moses (that law is what the Muslim are still

    practising) it is as eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If you break my

    right eye and you are found guilty, your own right eye will be broken. If

    you steal, the hand you used in stealing will be cut off. That is the

    dispensation of law.

    Like I mentioned in the beginning, the dispensation of grace started with

    Jesus Christ. In the dispensation of grace, it is your motive that is first

    judged, before even your action. Jesus Christ said if you look lustfully at

    a woman who is not your wife you already committed adultery with her.

    The agent in operation in this dispensation is no longer man, but the

    Spirit of God. If you bring your offering grudgingly, it is no longer

    acceptable before God. Every body saw you bring the money, made your

    contribution but with grudges, it is not acceptable.

    The dispensation of grace is a dispensation we have to be careful. Do we

    continue in sin for grace to abound? God forbid. The reason why God went

    beyond the action, to know or access the motive, remember the

    Pharisees, when he stood, he said I give my offerings I pay my tithe,

    this motive was pride, self- righteousness, that was why he said, I am

    not like this publican. It is glaring that he had a wrong motive. Jesus

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    Christ said something about the Pharisees they make laws they

    themselves cannot keep in order to lord it over those that fall the law.

    In this dispensation of grace can anyone now raise up his hands and say Ihave not sinned. Most of the times when we confess our sins, we sins

    according to law. We confess adultery, stealing etc. What of the sins we

    commit with our thoughts. These ones are the ones that are taking us to

    hell. Why do I say this? The apostle of love John, is one of his epistles

    said, if you hate your brother, you have already killed him. Can anyone

    here say I have not hated anybody? Can anybody say I have not wished

    this person dead, or wish him to have accident?

    The reason why God is particular about our thought life is that when you

    think, you are operation on a spiritual level, and eventually, it will

    manifest in the physical; except another spiritual law cancels it.

    Remember the Medes and Persians any law the king have sealed must be

    carried out. When the king passed the law that the Israelites be killed, he

    did not issue any contrary law to save the Israelites but he made another

    law that the Israelites can defend themselves. So if you create something

    in the spiritual, it stands. The only thing you can do is to create another

    thing that will counteract it. That is why our thoughts, our motives must

    be right. God judges all our motives, irrespective of who you are, what

    you that required you to do it. Even if you are doing it for the love of God

    the motive for doing it must be right.

    The interesting thing is that none of us can escape in this dispensation. In

    the dispensation of law, it is very easy to escape as long as you are not

    caught with any physical sin, you dont build an idol, you dont steal, you

    dont covet your neighbours property etc. under the dispensation of grace

    nobody here can tell me that for 24hours you can control your thoughts.

    And what are the things that are responsible for our thoughts. What we

    see, what we touch, what we hear, what we feel. If you want to tell me

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    you are a superman go and watch adult films or any corrupt film or listen

    to a corrupt music and tell me year thoughts will not be corrupted. It is

    not possible. That is why we have the Holy Spirit.

    That is where we are really going to. God wants us to depend on Him, and

    not on our ability in this dispensation. The righteousness of the holiest

    person is like a filthy rag. It was said of a great man of God in this our

    present generation, he was in a meeting and Lord showed him his state,

    the picture of his life in a vision, he saw that he was covered with faeces.

    In Zechariah, the high priest Joshua was resisted by the devil because he

    had a filthy garment on. Someone we consider holy is in this state, how

    much more you and I.

    We are to subject our thoughts to Christ. Thoughts are things. Ps 925

    I believe that before God begin creation He must have thought of it. At

    least the order in creation shows this. Your thought is where your motive

    and action starts. The only way we can escape is to subject our thoughts

    to Christ. I Cor 7:1:2. How much are we depending on God. What work

    are you doing?

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