Today I would like to share the grace of God under the title, “The Life That Receives and Preserves Salvation, and Grows.” We live a life that receives and maintains salvation through God’s grace, love, and faith, and that grows. Why do we boast the superiority of Christianity among many other religions of the world? When professors at Oxford University discussed the reason, C.S. Lewis, Christian writer, said without any hesitation, “It is because of grace.” Ephesians 2:8 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--” The core of Christianity lies in the salvation only by God’s grace, not by human effort or credit. We are saved by God’s grace. Then what is grace? It means that we receive help without charge. God never asks any price for salvation, but freely gives it to us who are empty-handed. Furthermore, if we can’t live on without that grace, that grace is enormously precious. We usually express our salvation by believing in Jesus as grace, but the enormity can hardly be expressed in any human words. The wages of sin is death. We are already sentenced to death by our sins. Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned--” Romans 3:10-12 says, “As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” There is no one righteous, not even one; all have sinned. St. Augustine said, “All are sinners before God; there are only two kinds of sinners; one group know that they are sinners while the other group don’t know their sinful identity. 1 John 8-10 says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. We make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” Jesus was born sinless so He has nothing to do with death. The wages of sin is death, but Jesus was the only Person who was born sinless. Therefore, Jesus could not die at all. When sinless Jesus died on our behalf, human death was settled forever. We all are indebted to sin, but Jesus held our debts of sins in His bosom and settled them all, as His, so He died in our place. The wages of sin is death, but it was not for His sin but for our sin that He died in our place as a sinner. Jesus has been the only immortal Person on earth. However, He carried all our sins and granted the redeeming grace through His suffering of death on the cross. The Lord always said that He redeemed our sins. Romans 3:23-24 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Redemption means that one settles another’s debt to free him from it. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, our whole life will be redeemed in Jesus. All our past sins, present sins and future sins are settled in Him. That is grace! Romans 5:18 says, “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.” Jesus gives us salvation through love. We don’t completely understand the word “love”. The definition in the Bible uses two kinds of Greek words for love; one is ‘phileo,’ and the other is ‘agape’. ‘Phileo’ refers to love between friends while ‘agape’ means sacrificial love. Peter acquired both phileo love and agape love. After he disowned Jesus, the Lord died on the cross and the other disciples all scattered. Peter boldly said to Jesus that he would follow him to the end, but he denied Him three times and now also denied God’s plan for his life and went back to fishing in Galilee. They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, someone called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?" "No," they answered. He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard this, he jumped into the water and swam to the seashore. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." When they had finished eating, Jesus asked a painful question to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" It meant, “Do you truly love(agape) me more than these? Do you love me sacrificially?” "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Peter meant that he loved(phileo) the Lord when He asked him, “Do you love me sacrificially?” He couldn’t be sure of his love because he once denied the Lord even after he vowed to love Him sacrificially. Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love(agape) me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love(phileo) you." He meant that he loved the Lord with friendly love. Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love(phileo) me?" Then Peter was hurt and shattered completely. He once vowed that he would love the Lord sacrificially, but betrayed Him soon; now he said that he loved the Lord with friendly love, but who would know? He felt that the Lord said these things three times with some intent so he said to Him, “Lord, don’t You know whether I love you or not? Are You testing my love?” “Okay, then feed my sheep.” The Lord came to Peter who had disowned Him to forgive his sins and to confirm him his discipleship again. After the Lord acknowledged him, he was encouraged and strengthened again so he could be Jesus’ disciple to the end. John 3:16-17 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” We easily judged our neighbors; even a slight offense can be judged immediately. However, Jesus came to the earth not to judge but to save. The Lord wants to save us no matter who you are. God loves us unilaterally. He does not love us because we deserve it, but He loves us unconditionally from the first to the last. We don’t have any value to be loved, but God willingly takes the whole responsibility and loves us from the past to the present and the future. Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Our relationship with God can’t be severed. It is because our God has love that He cannot give up. When Jesus was arrested, Peter disowned Him three times. As he committed this huge crime, he thought that he would be not be Jesus’ disciple anymore. When he returned to his old job fishing and caught fish, the resurrected Jesus came to find him. And He also gave Peter the calling to feed His sheep. Jesus restored Peter’s discipleship. When our faith backslides greatly, the Lord won’t give up on us. He loves us to the end and reaches out His hand to us. We should taste God’s love. The proof of tasty food is in the eating. Even a fine view must be seen to know its beauty. Likewise, nobody knows God’s love until he experiences it personally. Tolstoy one of the well-known Russian novelists, was raised in a Christian home and heard about God every day, but had not experienced any of his faith. Then in his old years, he experienced God and became a real Christian. Theologist Augustine was also raised up by a faithful mother, but he didn’t experience God at all. However, after he finally experienced God’s love, he severed himself from the evil things and devoted himself to God throughout the remaining days of his life. Therefore, it is very important to experience God’s love and grace. When we personally experience God’s love and grace, our faith will be much improved and grow. Our Full Gospel Church’s congregation loves God most especially because they have already experienced the Holy Spirit. When we receive the Holy Spirit and experience the grace that we are in God and He is in us, our faith in Him will be truthful and more faithful. We must have a living faith in God through true experience of His love and grace. God will hold us to the end with His grace and love, which should be experienced with faith. The spiritual world can be connected to us only with faith. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--” God has already given us power and function to believe. Now it depends on us whether we choose God’s will with faith or not; we now have all the responsibility! Romans 3:22 says, “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference.” Saul turned into Paul because he was greatly changed after meeting resurrected Jesus on the way to Damascus. When God allows us to have various experiences to believe, it depends on our decision of faith whether we choose it or not. Faith is just like a hand that receives a gift. If salvation is a gift given to us by God’s grace and love, faith is like our hands to receive it. When someone gives us a gift, we should reach out our hands to receive it. Likewise, when God gives us all the gift of salvation, we must reach out our hands of faith to enjoy the grace of salvation. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God wants to give all of us the gift of salvation. Whether people take it or not depends on their choice. And we must take good care to prevent the backsliding of our faith. We rely on God’s unchanging grace and salvation and love. God’s grace won’t change. His love to grant salvation will never change. However, even if our faith backslides, God’s eternal grace still stands, it won’t disappear. Even if our faith backslides, God’s grace will not change. His love also does not change. Therefore, when we accept this grace and love with faith, we won’t be abandoned. Hebrews 10:38 says, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him." God has given all of us the power to believe. Whether we use it to believe or not depends entirely on us. Paracletos is our Advocate who helps us sinners to be filled by God’s grace and love. By His great power, the Holy Spirit helps and strengthens us believers with grace and love and brings change and growth to us. We receive grace and love while the Holy Spirit enters into us to help our faith grow. Romans 8:26 says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” There is a condemnation feeling Satan brings to us. When Satan shakes us with condemnation, we must remember that Jesus is with us. 1 John 2:1 says, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” The Counselor, “Paracletos” in Greek, means lawyer. When we repent, Jesus defends us before God. Hebrews 7:25 says about Jesus who is a High Priest as follows, “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” Therefore, I bless you in the name of Jesus our Lord that you need not to be oppressed by wrong guilt, but repent of your sins relying on the blood of Jesus and come boldly before God. Our life is limited, but Jesus is eternal. Eternal Jesus paid for all of our sins, we who are limited beings. The power of His eternal life is not comparable to any enormous infinity. Our sins have gone forever within God’s endless grace and love. How great a sinner are you? God’s grace is an eternal grace so it can settle any sins. God’s love is also eternal so He never leaves us, forever. As God’s grace and love hold us, we must believe this to the end. We are only required to believe. When we choose faith and hold it tightly, even if we happen to commit murder, God will never abandon us at our death bed. God’s grace takes full responsibility of the sin of murder, for instance. God’s love takes the sin of murder on behalf of us. We can accept the eternal proclamation of Jesus on the cross, “It is finished.” and He takes full responsibility for us. Therefore, salvation is accomplished without any condition. In Christianity, as long as we do not leave our faith, God’s grace and love will be eternal and as long as our temporary sins and faults are held by eternal grace and the love of God, when we believe, we are saved!