Grace Without Measure
I live in the land of the great Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. When the falls is at its peak, the amount of water pouring down its cliff face is unimaginable. The spray rising from it can be seen miles away. It is quite a sight.
David Livingstone, the nineteenth-century missionary explorer, wrote upon seeing this spectacle, “Gazed upon by angels in their flight.” He even named it after his queen. No wonder the local people call it the Mosi-O-Tunya, which means, “The smoke that thunders.”
When I stand in awe in front of the Victoria Falls and soak in its grandeur, I think of the greatness of God. Yet, even more specifically, I think of the overwhelming and inexhaustible grace of God.
The Bible says, “Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom. 5:20). God gave us consciences to convict us when we sin against Him. Then what was the need of the law?
God gave us the law in order for us to be even more convicted when we sin because now we sin against the light. The law increases the trespass because in the light of “You shall not . . . ,” we say, “Who is the Lord that I should obey him?”
This ought to seal our doom because God is full of justice. However, where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. In other words, God’s grace is so inexhaustible that however great our sin might be, He is able to pardon it completely in Christ Jesus.
God has such a super-abounding store of grace that when all the ransomed sinners through history have taken enough from it, there will be no noticeable change in His store. His giving will have only begun.
A thirsty man would sooner worry that others, having gotten to Victoria Falls before him and drunk their fill, may have exhausted its waters, than a sinner worry that God may run out of grace to meet his need because others got there before him or because he himself has too many sins.
No, God’s grace towards His elect is as infinite as His own person. God’s own Son has paid an infinite price for our sins. Therefore, Fanny J. Crosby was right when she wrote, “The vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.”
Have you been a vile offender and broken God’s law times without number? O, then, come to the Lord Jesus Christ just as you are and plunge yourself under this rich fountain of God’s overwhelming and inexhaustible grace.
_“[God’s] love has no limits, His grace has no measure,
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_His power no boundary known unto men;
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_For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
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He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again” (Annie J. Flint).
