Favored by Grace

“Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” [1]

The key to Noah’s survival in the day of judgment was God’s grace. God’s grace is the key to everyone’s survival. None of us are perfect. We all fail God, ourselves, and others in one way or another. We need God’s grace.

After a group of Gentiles believed in Christ, the Messianic Jewish leaders summoned a council in Jerusalem. They wanted to set a policy as to what should be required of Gentiles to be fully accepted members of the Messianic faith. During that council, the Apostle Peter declared to his Jewish brothers...

“God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them (the Gentile believers in Christ) by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and [God] made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear [namely circumcision]? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.” [2]

God gave Cornelius and his cohorts, a group of Italians, the Holy Spirit when they believed in Jesus. They received the Spirit of the Lord as a gift from God when they believed in Jesus. Peter baptized them on that very day (See Acts 10:34-48).

The conclusion of the Jerusalem Council was that the Gentiles’ faith in Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives was proof enough that God had accepted them into the Messianic [Christian] faith. They too, found favor in the eyes of the Lord... favored by grace.

The implication here is that if anyone genuinely believes in Christ for the forgiveness of his or her sins and for the salvation of his or her soul, he or she too can be given the Holy Spirit of God and be saved. What a marvelous gift! A salvation fully paid for with the shed blood of Christ on the cross and guaranteed by His resurrection.

[1] Genesis 6:8
[2] Acts 15:8-11