Marked by God’s grace

is an incredible heading for today’s sermon.

We the redeemed have this privilege from the Lord to experience all of His goodness in His redemptive mercy called grace, but very few of us fully understand its true essence.

Marked by God’s grace is the complete picture of God’s unfathomable mercy on behalf of His pre acknowledged vessels of eternal glory.

In Genesis the 6^th chapter we read the story of the first judgment of God after the Fall upon this earth and its inhabitants and that how God’s unfathomable mercy had one man marked for grace. This man escaped the corruption of that world by election of grace and His obedient response to this invitation made Him recipient of God’s faithfulness.

The Bible tells us the rebellion of the sons of men brought this judgment upon the world.

These could have been the sons of Seth or

the angels who did rebel against God in intermarrying with daughters of men. In both cases we see that God’s strict orders were not kept by those who had this privileged position to be called His sons. This caused the Lord’s anger to be aroused and destroy that generation. However one man was marked by God’s grace and that was Noah. Noah received the divine warning and was found faithful in being the recipient of God’s redemptive plan. The Lord could confined in him. This is the greatest hope of us all who like Noah are marked by His grace to escape the coming judgment of this generation.

God in His everlasting love and care chose this vessel of His honor to reveal His plans and purposes in Him. By the way I trust this inclination of my own heart that the rebellious ones were the sons of Seth rather than the fallen angels. Why? Because the Lord was grieved in making man and wanted to destroy the earth because of man.

Again in all of this one man was marked by God for grace and to him the Lord spoke about building an ark of salvation in which the redemptive plan of God was going to be glorified.  God said to Noah the end of all flesh has come and you are to build yourself an ark and immediately the Lord began to give Noah the dimensions and substance of that ark.

The Lord in Genesis 6:15 says “this is how you should make this ark”  Here is the glorious act of God’s mercy on behalf of those who have been marked by His grace. He not only has predestined them to escape the coming judgment, but gives them the exact order by which they would build an ark of sustenance.  Since the Lord Himself only knew the measure of the coming judgment He was the only one Who could prescribe the exact dimensions and the substance of the ark of their salvation. Nothing more and nothing less could preserve life . Noah’s own method or best human idea’s could not save him and his family from the judgment in form of the coming flood.

Since the generation to be destroyed had rejected God’s righteousness, the due punishment of their open rebellion had brought this disaster upon themselves, however the measure of Noah’s complete obedience saved him and his household from the wrath to come.Noah’s ark’s measurements could not have been his own estimation of the coming flood, but it needed to be exactly the measurement of God’s redemptive plan. The same is today. We know by divine warning that an end is soon to be expected upon this dispensation and that a new age of righteousness is soon to come. Once again the rebellion of mankind has excelled their obedience, and the Spirit of the Living God speaks to us of an end time worldwide judgment.  We are the New Covenant people His treasured possession on whom the end of the ages has come, yet we too will not escape this coming wrath if we do not live according to the measure of His righteousness. The ark of salvation we are to build ourselves  is not measured by our own estimation of Him and His word, but needs to be driven from Him and His righteousness.

Truly we are marked by His grace, but in this we could not live or build on our own estimation of the coming things. Here again we need to hear Him in obeying His written and revealed word. I can not live contrary to His will and expect to be saved from the wrath to come. Although this time the ark is not a physical boat, but it is a spiritual abode where you and I need to be found in. In the book of 1^st Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 9 Apostle Paul after 8 verses of admonishment  says the following “ For God did not appoint us  to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ”.

These scriptures are left to us as admonishment and also warning for the coming rebellion that is very soon to take place. We are all called for this marking by His grace, but we can not climb on our own heights thinking we have received. The coming age is marked by righteousness and there will be ruling and reigning of righteousness there.

The first worlds were destroyed by God for the violation of His own righteousness among which was the rejection of His Holy command of abstaining from unlawful intermarriage. But let us look at the violation of this commandment and many others like it in our lives today. Men want to build an ark of their own choosing today, which will not holdfast in the coming judgment. It is very scary how the history repeats itself before our own eyes.

The world around us is quickly abandoning God’s righteous decrees by slumbering in the rebellion of a humanistic and lawless society around the whole world.

In our own country the laws of the land are progressing in rejecting God’s commandments, yet we expect to see God bless this country in such direct rebellion to His heavenly order.

Living in such dangerous times reminds us of the times of Noah where violence of all kinds marked the age. While the Adamic race is averting to its full capacity for evil the world

Is inviting the person of the antichrist to come on the seen. Unfortunately The Church is slowly given itself to the appetites of her flesh. The word of God or the heavenly prospective is loosing its place rapidly. Many in the Church of Jesus Christ have turned to the methods of the flesh and are building their own unsafe arks of future failures. By marrying with the unbelievers and compromising the righteousness of God’s standard of His written word we openly declare a war against our own source of mercy. By regarding worthless idols we forsake our own mercy in being marked by His grace to escape the coming judgment. Like Matthew’s 20^th chapter the 20^th verse we are in the Kingdom with earthly and selfish or carnal perspectives. God’s perspectives are ignored so rapidly. In these final days when men are called to bring the final punishment on this world we can not remain safe if we live with carnal and un enlightened mindsets.

This is why we need to run to scriptures like Romans 12:1 & 2 or Ephesians 1:1-18 especially the 18^th verse and make it are aim to pray according to these scriptures that His calling  and election will be fully revealed and remain fruit bearing in our lives. I do not want to be a man marked by His grace and then find myself right in the middle of the predicaments of this fallen generation.  I want to be found by Him completely yielded to His Spirit’s enlightenment to receive the right prospective on the life in Him. We nee to have  the eyes of  our understanding  enlightened that we may receive the abundance of grace to build according to His plan and purpose  in Him.

May His plan of redemption be accomplished in us all in these final hours. May the Lord Bless us all and make us fruitful in His garden of life planted in Christ our Lord.