GRACE - A Study

Acts 8:22-23
“Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity”
Deception and truth are opposites
• My heart is deceitful above all things Jer 17:9
• It follows that there is no truth in my heart
• It is truth that sets free Jn 8:32
• It follows that my heart is bound
The purpose for which I am freed is that I may free others—through preaching and practicing the gospel of God’s forgiveness in Christ

Gal 5:1 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” NIV
• But I am not free

• Therefore I am not able to set others free
It is iniquity that binds Acts 8:23

• Bitterness and iniquity go together Acts 8:23; ‘iniquity-bitterness-envy-confusion (lack of wisdom, deception)-every evil thing’ all go together Jas 3:14-16

• If I forgive others, I will be forgiven. If I do not forgive others I will not be forgiven Mt 6:14-15

• Because I have not forgiven others, there is ‘iniquity-bitterness-envy-confusion (lack of wisdom, deception)-every evil thing’ in my heart

• As long as I am self-seeking, as long as the thoughts of my heart are self-seeking, then thoughts of my heart have not been forgiven Acts 8:22 (To not forgive is to be self-seeking; to forgive is to be other-centered)

• Because I have not forgiven others I am bound
God’s forgiveness in Christ is complete

• Forgiveness is by GRACE

• To lift up Jesus Jn 12:32 is to lift up the forgiveness of God, to lift up the grace of God

• To live a crucified life is to live a forgiving life

• The degree to which I live a forgiving life, to that degree I experience the grace and forgiveness of God, to that degree I experience the gospel

• The degree to which I live a forgiving life, to that degree I live the gospel, to that degree I am equipped to preach the gospel

Why am I not able to forgive people?
• It is because deep in my heart I have not forgiven God: I have two complaints against Him
1. I hold God responsible for all my ills
2. Also, I cannot accept ‘forgiveness by grace’; it leaves no room for my ‘self’. I cannot forgive God for setting up a system which leaves no room for my ‘self’ (See Spurgeon’s Daily Devotional below)


SPURGEON July 14
"If thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it."
Exodus 20:25
God's altar was to be built of unhewn stones, that no trace of human skill or labour might be seen upon it…All alterations and amendments of the Lord's own Word are defilements and pollutions. The proud heart of man is very anxious to have a hand in the justification of the soul before God; preparations for Christ are dreamed of, humblings and repentings are trusted in, good works are cried up, natural ability is much vaunted, and by all means the attempt is made to lift up human tools upon the divine altar. It were well if sinners would remember that so far from perfecting the Saviour's work, their carnal confidences only pollute and dishonour it. The Lord alone must be exalted in the work of atonement, and not a single mark of man's chisel or hammer will be endured. There is an inherent blasphemy in seeking to add to what Christ Jesus in His dying moments declared to be finished, or to improve that in which the Lord Jehovah finds perfect satisfaction.