AMAZING GRACE

by

Rocky Fleming

“Justification at the beginning, glorification at the end, and in the meantime sanctification. Don't be afraid of the word sanctification! It's a Bible word. There are all sorts of perverted and unscriptural teachings about it, but, thank GOD, grace sanctifies us. Grace is going to glorify us. And grace, if we let it, sanctifies us experimentally, moment by moment, unaided by any efforts of ours. For grace is the exclusive work of GOD.”  Charles G. Trumbull – Victory in Christ (1923)

In 1975, I read the book I have referenced above and it set me free from the legalistic bondage that had weighed me down, and it then put me on a path that has revealed the true living God who loves me beyond my wildest imagination.  It was one of those encouraging teachings by a gifted theologian that hit me at the right place and the right time.  It is an old book, and I had to work my way through the classic writing style of that period.  But the truths that were revealed to me lifted a man burdened with the guilt of the darkness years he had lived in before, and took away the bondage I was tied to that made me try to win God’s love and prove that I was not the same guy who had struggled with sin.  The truth is, I couldn’t prove it to even myself, for the struggle with the darkness and sin was still present.  The Accuser had a picnic with my thoughts and me, as he reminded me how unworthy I was of God’s love, and that I was a fraud for even trying to be a better man.  I tried to do all the right things with church attendance and such.  I tried to be a better husband and father.  But, I would eventually find myself back into the same thoughts and temptations, hearing the scoffing voice of the Accuser that would say, “See, you are a fraud.  Just give up even trying.”   I looked at my family and knew the stakes were high, for it was not only my life at stake but theirs as well.  I was lower than the belly of a snake, even though I kept it a secret.  The leaders of the church I attended didn’t spot my struggle, after all, I went to Sunday school and church afterwards, back on Sunday night for small group and church again after that.  On Wednesday nights, I had my family there for prayer meeting and back for the annual weekly revival.  I did all the activity stuff to try and prove my love for God and in my mind to try and win His love.  But, it wasn’t enough.  I was burning out and falling far short of the assurance I was longing for.  Then I read Charles Trumbull’s book and discovered what was missing.  It was to receive what had already been granted to me but I was denying for myself.  It was God’s sanctifying grace.   Up until that time, I would have agreed with any question about how I was justified and would one day be glorified.  I would have answered that it is by God’s unconditional love and grace that He has saved me and will one day allow me into His heaven.  It will not be by my works of righteousness.  It is His work of righteousness and my accepting this gift of His to me.  If anyone would read his Bible and look for a true explanation of the Gospel of Christ, he will always find these things to be the undeniable truth of salvation and glorification.  But, like so many other ignorant Christians who are put to work by well meaning churches or other ministries to do the work of a disciple rather than helping that person learn to be a disciple, I didn’t know that it is by God’s grace that He forms me into the man I longed to be.  Therefore, I lived as if I needed to win God’s love and keep on winning it, or I would lose His favor, or might not even prove myself to not  really be a true believer.  Because I had not learned to walk in God’s grace, I was in bondage to my own un-forgiveness, even though I had God’s forgiveness fully.  This made me vulnerable to the Accuser’s voice as his lies reinforced my own sense of unworthiness.  Bondage is a good word to describe how I was feeling, and I have a good idea that many readers of this devotional will agree with it and the struggle I was in for they are in it as well.  But, there is hope and it is found where it all begins, which is in the power of God’s grace.   Charles Trumbull, in his book, helped me understand that most believers struggle with their life after their salvation experience because they have a misguided philosophy in that they believe their life going forward is all up to them to make of themselves a man after God’s own heart.  Trumbull says thatGod’s grace sanctifies us experimentally, moment by moment unaided by our efforts.  In other words, it is God’s grace that reshapes us into a man after God’s own heart, if we will get out of the way with our own pitiful efforts.  It is when we abandon our self to Him, and rely on His unconditional love and acceptance of us to disciple us, that we can become a true disciple of Christ.  It is His agenda and work to do this, and yet we wrestle it away from Him by our legalistic efforts to do it for our self, rather than allow Him to do it.   Some people would argue that too much emphasis on grace makes a lazy, uninvolved Christian.  Believe it or not a few years ago my son had a man in the church he was speaking in, as a visiting pastor, ask him to deemphasize his emphasis on grace in his preaching.  My son asked the man’s reason for asking him to do this.  He said he felt too much grace being preached makes it harder to get people involved with the work of the church and its programs.   My son graciously declined the man’s suggestion when he told him that he was only warming up, for grace is not preached enough.  He was much nicer to the man than I would have been, for that attitude is something I hate in a church when I see it in action.  It is this attitude that creates believers who are in bondage to legalism and who never find the true joy and power in serving as a disciple of Christ, and oh how this ultimately hurts the spiritual health of a church.  It was this attitude that I escaped from and that was pulling me down.  Yes I followed the programs, but I did so without life and heart.  I was what Jesus described as a “whitewashed sepulcher”.   I looked the part on the outside, but inside I was lifeless.  I just went through the motions, as so many burned out people do.  But when I began to take Trumbull’s advice and learn how to walk in God’s grace, I saw my joy and enthusiasm come to me as never before.  I became the leader and disciple and disciple-er that would serve his church and even impact people for Christ outside it.  I became alive in serving my church and the Body of Christ.  No longer did I live with the shame of feeling defeated as a Christian, but instead learned how to live a victorious life in Christ, for that is what grace will do for a man.  It takes us to a place that we can never take our self, and it makes us into a man that we deep down long to be.   I suggest you read Trumbull’s book and read it carefully.  Allow the depth of what he teaches about sanctifying grace to challenge your perspective with living your life with and for Christ.  You might find an answer for your own struggles.  I will tell you this.  It got me on the right path, and I have been on this path for over 37 years now.  I have learned much since that time.  But, it was the foundation of understanding that it is God’s grace that both accepts me where I am, and compels me to become the man He wants me to be that all the other things have been built on.  It is a foundational truth of the Gospel that we have somehow forgotten and needs to be embraced.  It is by grace that we are justified and it is by grace that we will one day be glorified.  Likewise, that time between those events called sanctification is also by God’s grace.  Grace takes us all the way home, from start to finish, and along the way we become the man God shapes us into.  Now get out of the way with your self-made efforts, and allow God’s sanctifying grace to do its work.  That is what you are deep down longing for.