Transformed By Grace

This lesson details the story of Dorcas (Tabitha), a beloved disciple in the seaport of Joppa, who was known for her selfless good works. When Dorcas falls sick and dies, the believers, hoping for a miracle, summon the Apostle Peter from a nearby town. After Peter arrives and kneels in prayer, he simply commands “Tabitha, arise,” instantly raising her to full life as she opens her eyes and sits up. Beyond the miracle itself, the account illustrates that Israel’s kingdom program will one day be raised from the dead and be a great blessing to the world.

In this episode, we learn of a young man who paid the ultimate price for “falling asleep in church.” In Acts 20:7-12, during the Apostle Paul’s long midnight preaching in a warm, stuffy third-story chamber, Eutychus dozes off in a windowsill, sinks into a deep sleep, and falls to his death. Paul immediately goes down, embraces the lifeless body, and raises Eutychus back to full life through God’s power. Like it was God who gave life to Eutychus through Paul, it is Christ Who gives life to the Church in this age of grace through the preaching and truth found in Paul’s epistles.

Something went wrong in Israel when Christ came and ministered in her midst for 3½ years—the nation as a whole rejected her Messiah. In this episode, we learn from a parable the Lord gave in Luke 13 that the unspiritual nation was granted “one more year” to allow for a final national opportunity to repent and believe. With another refusal of the Holy Spirit’s witness at the stoning of Stephen, Israel was temporarily cast aside and the prophesied Tribulation judgment postponed. God then ushered in the current dispensation of grace and the “mystery” revealed to the Apostle Paul, and formed the Church, the Body of Christ. The Tribulation will still take place one day, after the Rapture, so all are urged today to trust in Christ’s death and resurrection for salvation to escape the coming wrath.

Simply out of gratitude, we can never forget Christ’s great sacrifice on the Cross in saving us from our sins, so that we might live eternally. In the Old Testament, there are many different prophecies and types of the Cross, like the account in Exodus 15 presented in this episode. After Israel’s miraculous deliverance through the Red Sea, they enter a barren wilderness, endure three days without water, and then discover the bitter, undrinkable waters of Marah, causing the people to murmur in unbelief. God instructs Moses to cast a tree into the waters, which instantly transforms them from bitter and poisonous to sweet and life-giving, picturing how Christ’s crucifixion on a tree (the Cross) fully paid the penalty of sin and death, and turned doom into eternal life and blessing.

In this episode, we discuss the Apostle Paul’s three vocational metaphors in 2 Timothy 2:3-13 for faithful Christian service and ministry: endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, strive lawfully as an athlete in competition, and labor diligently as a husbandman/farmer. Paul applies these to the Judgment Seat of Christ, where suffering for “my gospel” (Christ’s death and resurrection according to the revelation of the mystery) yields eternal glory and reigning with Him, while unfaithfulness brings loss of reward. Every believer in Christ will live with Him in heaven, but it’s up to each individual believer in their stand for Christ whether they will live with Him in a higher reigning position.

This episode covers Colossians 3:22-25 (and 4:1), instructing employees (“servants”) to obey bosses (“masters”) in everything—not with eyeservice as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart fearing God—knowing they will receive the “reward of the inheritance” at the Judgment Seat of Christ for such labor, while those who do wrong will suffer loss. And bosses must treat their workers justly and equitably, knowing they, too, will answer to their heavenly Master. The teaching emphasizes that work is God’s pre-fall idea, manifests godliness, and carries eternal significance when done heartily for Christ’s glory, regardless of the profession, turning ordinary labor into worship and ministry that will yield eternal reward.

Here, the Apostle Paul, drawing from the familiar Isthmian Games near Corinth, challenges believers in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 to run the Christian race with the same intense determination, self-discipline, and purpose as the athletes: “So run, that ye may obtain,” being temperate in all things and keeping the body under subjection so that, after preaching the gospel to others, one is not disqualified from reward. The race is not about losing one’s salvation (which is secure by grace through faith) but about winning an incorruptible crown and eternal rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ—thus believers must run with patience, laying aside every weight and sin while looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

This episode highlights 1 Corinthians 3:8-15 to show believers as co-laborers with God in His Church—both as His “husbandry” (field planted and watered by Paul and Apollos) and His “building” (with Paul as the wise master builder who laid the sole foundation of Jesus Christ). Believers must take heed how they build on that foundation, using rewardable materials of gold, silver, and precious stones (faithful, grace-based service that abides the testing fire) rather than wood, hay, and stubble (carnal or mixed works that burn), so that at the Judgment Seat every man’s labor will be revealed, rewarded if it endures, or cause loss if it does not—yet the believer himself will still be saved “yet so as by fire.”

The seventh and final saying from the Cross—“Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit” (Luke 23:46)—was Jesus’ calm, confident last utterance after “It is finished,” as He bowed His head and voluntarily dismissed His spirit, dying willingly and in full control after paying sin’s penalty in His humanity, while also exercising His divine authority. The lesson explains that Christ’s voluntary death enables our spiritual victory and freedom—He laid down His life so we who have faith in Him might live eternally. This final statement of perfect trust shows that, unlike every other death, Jesus’ was unique: He died not for His own sins but for ours, and believers can die with the same peace, knowing the Father receives us into His safe and loving hands forever.

“It is finished” (John 19:30)—the sixth saying from the Cross—was Jesus’ triumphant shout, declaring that the work of redemption was fully completed: sin’s penalty paid in full, prophecies fulfilled, the Father’s justice satisfied, and the perfect sacrifice offered once for all. In this episode, we are reminded that Christ’s cry announced that nothing more was needed—He had finished His labor of love, borne the world’s sins, and provided eternal acceptance and freedom for all who have faith and trust in Him as their personal Savior. Thus, salvation requires no works or additions from us, only simple faith in what Christ has already done on our behalf.