Eternal Glorious Fountain Ministry (EGFM)
Programme: Writing the Vision (June Edition)
Date: Saturday, 18th June 2022
Speaker 4: Pastor Emeka Egwuchukwu
The emphasis that has been coming to us of late is the subject of grace. It is good to say that we have come to a place of clarity of understanding. Previously, some people thought they understood grace; many did run ahead to teach “hyper grace”. But for us, the Lord has begun to make us understand grace as it pertains to the Person of our Lord Jesus. This is because it is of His fullness that we have received grace for grace (Jn. 1:16).
“And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32). That word that came from His grace is also grace, it is gracious. It is the word of His grace because He is God. Thus, grace is like an abode, sending forth a messenger – the word. This grace is the Person of Christ. This grace is for building. It is not an excuse for sin, nor is it for lasciviousness. Anyone who thinks grace is to excuse sin does not know the Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 15:34).
Grace builds by teaching. No one can be built except such a one has been taught. You need to have learnt Christ to be built up. Through teaching, grace unveils the Person of Jesus, and the things in Him are administered to us. Grace is not talent; grace is doctrine. You cannot have grace without the doctrine of Jesus Christ.
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.” (2 Cor. 13:14). The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is shared when doctrine is taught. If doctrine is not taught, you cannot receive grace. As Jesus is being taught, grace is being shared. Grace is brought all the time to us through teaching and preaching. So, anyone who does not pay attention during meetings is missing out on grace.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is the grace of the Son of God, the High Priest. Everything listed in 2 Corinthians 13:14 - grace, love and communion - are at the level of God. Grace is brought when there is a communication of God’s word. Grace comes by knowledge, and is multiplied by knowledge.
“And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.” (Jn. 1:16). There are dimensions of grace. Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead (Col. 2:9); in essence, the Godhead is grace (gracious). The entirety of grace can only be found in the Man Jesus. Without His appearance, you might find some other kind of grace, but not the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And if one does not find His grace, such will also not be able to find mercy unto Eternal Life (Jude 1:21).
There are various cadres of grace; the Scripture tells us that God is the God of all grace (1 Pet. 5:10). He can give grace for things, but there is a grace that is ‘of’ Him.
“And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.” (Ex. 34:6-7). The ‘LORD’ in this Scripture, is everlasting life; the ‘LORD God’ is Eternal Life. God always comes in these two forms; we see this scattered over Scriptures. He is the everlasting and Eternal God; and this was how He appeared to Moses. Moses demanded to see God’s face when this proclamation of God’s Person came about.
All the attributes listed: mercy, grace, longsuffering, abundance in goodness and truth, are steps God takes when He comes to us. Whereas in our going towards Him, the order is the reverse. First, we have to find truth (John 14:6); truth is life. After that, we come into the abundance of His goodness, which is the abundance of revelation. The true goodness of the Lord to us is the giving of light (revelation) to us.
If the Lord gives us revelation, and we do not get material things, He is still good (James 1:17). We should not rate the Lord’s goodness based on external things. When David said, “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.” (Ps. 34:8), he was not referring to money or material things. It takes Christ formation in the soul to discern what is truly good. Some people will not see the goodness of the Lord when it comes because their judgement of goodness is carnal (Jer. 17:6).
“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Philip. 2:13). Grace makes us do; although, some people do not like that aspect of doing (that is, obedience). All these attributes of God listed in Exodus 34:6 are things we must do; truth, abundance of goodness, long-suffering. The goodness of the Lord is expressed in the giving of His commandments to us because His commandments are life everlasting (Jn. 12:50). The abundance of God’s goodness is the abundance of revelation. Long-suffering brings us to grace.
So, we see that it is not actually difficult to break into these states of God, the greatest challenge oftentimes lies in our ability to obey Him (Heb. 5:9); and at, that obeying Him wholeheartedly. Sometimes, we may find it difficult to see how obeying certain instructions of the Lord would earn us everlasting life or Eternal Life; still, we must obey them. Abraham was another person God used to show us this same progression of our coming to Him.
“After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” (Gen. 15:1). Shield here goes beyond faith (as in, the shield of faith - Ephesian 6:16); but God’s everlastingness. This Scripture is like another which goes thus: “...behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.” (Isa. 62:11). What goes before Him is the shield, which is, His works of everlasting life. This was how God preached the everlasting gospel to Abraham.
In the previous chapter, Genesis 14, Abraham had just warred with some kings, yet he was able to discern Melchizedek. “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth.” (Gen. 14:18-19). Abraham’s encounter with Melchizedek was an administration of grace unto him. Melchizedek stood as the priest of the Most High God; this encounter ushered Abraham into the next encounter we see in chapter 15. Melchizedek imparted Abraham, and Abraham gave him tithes of all.
Abraham had walked with God up to that point where he fulfilled that specific obedience. The Lord often prepares us for a season when we can fulfill a particular obedience for a specific entrance in Him, but we are often undiscerning. The obedience that is required at such times can be regarded as breakthrough obedience that can open us up to the next level.
Conquering five kings and their armies, with only 318 men born in his own house, was a great feat Abraham had accomplished. He could have chosen to relish at that height and remain there. However, even after conquering the kings, the Lord required a particular obedience from him which was to discern Melchizedek. It was Abraham’s accurate discernment of Melchizedek that gave way for the utterances Melchizedek gave in blessing him. What we receive of God in utterances is largely dependent on the level of our discernment.
Melchizedek spoke to Abraham about the next level, which was for Him to come to the realm of the Most High, but before then he needed to be blessed. That blessing is grace. When Melchizedek said, “…Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth.” (Gen. 14:19); the phrase, ‘possessor of heaven and earth’ was referring to Abraham. It takes one who has come to the realm of Most High God to possess heaven and earth, which is to possess a gracious dominion.
After blessing Abraham, Melchizedek blessed the Most High God, “And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.” (Gen. 14:20). In that blessing, he was also showing Abraham the next level of grace Abraham was meant to come up to. Abraham gave him tithes of all; Melchizedek gave him bread and wine (Gen. 14:18). The bread and wine speak of a Person - the flesh and blood of Jesus. The giving of bread and wine to Abraham signified that the next allocation he was being brought into was an allocation of life; grace is life (Jn. 6:53).
Afterwards, in Genesis 15, the word of the Lord came unto Abraham saying, “fear not, I am your shield (everlasting life) and exceeding great reward (Eternal Life)” (Gen. 15:1). That is, amongst all the great rewards, this reward (God) exceeds others. But Abraham (just like any of us) was more bothered about his childlessness. “And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?” (Gen. 15:2).
The Lord is calling us to discern the next allocation of the word that will bring grace to us. This word ought to give us 'shield' and 'exceeding great reward'. Within ‘shield’ are lots of grace allocations – everlasting life; and within ‘reward’ are mercy allocations. God wants to give us grace and mercy. God has already shown us a lot of mercy. However, there remains a mercy of mercies.
“For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness. Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.” (Isa. 60:17-18). Gold and silver refer to substances of grace that will be brought to us. The reason why violence has been in our land is because we do not have enough grace.
There is a grace the hurch is about to come into that will quieten the turbulence in the nation. It is the grace the church in Nigeria has that is still holding the country together. Other nations cannot understand how Nigeria is still standing as one nation, despite the assault that has besieged it. Nigeria cannot afford to break up because of what God is doing in her. This is grace at work.
“The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.” (Isa. 60:19-21). These are the things that will begin to come to pass amongst us as a company, because the Lord is near. The Lord is near and the things He is saying are very near (Rom. 13:11).
The kingdom of God can be at hand and some people may not see it. You need discernment to press into the Kingdom. Abraham discerned the next allocation over him and entered into it. There is reward in pursuing everlasting life. Yet, there is an exceeding great reward awaiting us in Eternal Life. Hence, we should not be weary in well doing.
Blessings!
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