Introduction
I. Complete these common American phrases for me:
A. If it sounds too good to be true... it is.
B. We make money the old fashion way, we ... earn it.
C. There’s no such thing as a free ... lunch.
D. There is no gain without ... pain.
E. God helps those who ... help themselves.
II. Everything about the American way of life teaches us that
A. You get what you earn in life,
B. There’s no free lunch,
C. You make your bed and then you lay in it.
III. In America we are very aware of the values of competition and winning and we know what it means to work hard and use elbow grease. We value effort and sweat. We tell people, "You get what you deserve in life" and "If you want to make something of your life it’s up to you" and "If it is to be, it’s up to me".
IV. This is called the American work ethic.
A. When it come to understanding God, and most especially salvation there is only one problem,
B. That’s not the way God works.
V. Psalm 145:8 tells us that God, rather than being in a work ethic mode, is in a grace mode, "The Lord is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness." Circle "gracious".
VI. The Bible says God is a gracious God.
A. That means He loves to be gracious to you.
B. God loves to bless people who don’t deserve it.
VII. You can’t understand the Christian life at all unless you understand grace.
A. It is the heart of our faith. It is the heart of our relationship to God.
B. When you understand grace you’re going to feel closer to God.
C. The more you understand grace the more you’re going to be drawn to God, the more you’re going to love God, the more you’re going to be grateful to God.
D. It is by that system of grace that God brings us to Himself.
VIII. One definition of grace is
A. "God’s love in action."
B. Another definition: "God giving me what I need, not what I deserve."
IX. Grace is when God gives us what we don’t deserve - blessing.
X. For the next several weeks, we are going to be looking at various aspects of grace, and today we will specifically looking at God’s Saving Grace.
A. We will look at “God’s Saving Grace” through the acrostic, -- G.R.A.C.E.
B. So what does the G stand for, “God’s Gift to Me.”
G- God’s Gift to Me
I. All of us need to be made right with God but how?
A. Rom. 3:24 reads,"being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; (Rom. 3:24, NASB)
B. What that means is that God saves us through free gift.
II. Now, because of our American work ethic many people think that they’re saved by works,
A. By earning their way to heaven,
B. By being good enough that God says, "OK, come on in."
III. If you were to ask fifty to a hundred people along the sidewalk "How do you get to heaven?" you’d get a lot of different answers. But basically they would all be summarized in, "You’ve got to earn your way to heaven. You’d hear things like,
A. "The way you get to heaven is you try to be good and do your best"
B. "Work real hard at being good and just try to be a good, moral person"
C. "Do more good things in life than you do bad things in life and if your good pile is higher than you bad pile, God’s going to say, `You’re a good guy. Come on in.’" It’s all based on works, not grace.
IV. You need to understand that God says here that salvation is absolutely free.
A. Circle "gift". You don’t work for a gift. It’s a free gift.
B. God says salvation is absolutely free.
1. You can’t earn it,
2. You can’t buy it,
3. You can’t work for it.
V. This is the fundamental difference between Christianity and every other religion.
A. Every other faith, every other belief system, you can summarize in one word, “DO.”
1. You have to do something in order to gain God’s approval.
a. You have to follow the rules and regulations.
b. You have to sacrifice enough of your time, money sometimes even your life.
2. But how do you know if you have done enough.
B. Of all the other religions, Christianity is the only religion that’s built on grace.
1. That says God gives you salvation.
a. You don’t do anything to earn it.
b. You can’t possibly do enough to earn it.
VI. `You can actually summarize Christianity in only one word.
A. It’s the word "done".
B. It’s already been done for you.
C. It was done on the cross by Jesus Christ.
VII. Would you like to have some fun, next time someone asks you what they can do to be saved.
A. Tell them their too late.
1. They will probably be a little bit shocked by that answer, but it’s true.
2. They really are too late to DO anything in order to be saved; WHY
B. Because Christ has already done it.
C. There is nothing left for them to do, except accept it by faith.
R - Received by Faith
I. God’s gift is received by faith. Ephesians 2:8-9 says "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." (NASB)
II. Faith is the key that unlocks the door to heaven.
A. But you say, “Pastor, doesn’t this verse say I have to do something, like exercise faith, in order to be saved?”
B. The answer is “No”, “not really.”
C. Look closely at the construction of the verse,
1. Yes you are saved by faith, but the next words are, “and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God;”
2. That is so important to understand, even our faith is a gift of God,
3. All we do is exercise, or make use of the gift that God has given us.
III. The Bible is full of stories illustrating the principle of grace.
A. One of these stories is found in 2 Samuel 9
1. This is a story of a young disabled boy named Mephibosheth.
2. Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan, the grandson of King Saul in the Old Testament.
B. Remember the story of David and Saul.
1. David was going to be the king.
2. Saul was the current king and Saul was jealous of David, so most of David’s life, Saul was trying to kill him.
3. He chased him all over the countryside.
C. David spent most of his time hiding from Saul, avoiding being killed out of jealousy.
1. But David never retaliated.
a. In fact, he became best friends with King Saul’s son, named Jonathan. They made a secret covenant that if either of them ever died they would take care of each other’s family.
2. Later on both Saul and Jonathan were killed in battle, and David became the king.
3. All of Saul’s relatives immediately were in fear thinking,
a. "David, who King Saul has been trying to kill all of his life, is now in control and he’s going to kill all of us."
b. They all tried to escape and hide.
4. One of them was the son of Jonathan named Mephibosheth.
a. As the nurse was carrying the young boy out in the escape, she dropped him.
b. His legs were broken and he became a paraplegic.
c. So here was this young disabled boy living in fear, frightened for his life that the man who was now king would retaliate against him.
5. One day David says, "Is there anybody still alive in Saul’s household that I can show kindness to (grace)?"
a. They said, "Yes, there is. There’s one little kid.
b. He’s a disabled little boy named Mephibosheth. He cannot walk." David said,
c. "Bring him to me." You can imagine the fear in Mephibosheth’s heart.
d. But to his surprise when he arrived, David said,
(1) "I’m going to take you in, Mephibosheth, and make you a part of my family.
(2) I want you to live here in the palace for the rest of my life.
(3) I’m going to pay all your bills. I’m going to meet all your needs. You are to sit at my table each night and dine with me and I’m going to treat you just like you’re one of my own sons." That’s grace.
IV. The Bible says that God comes to us and we’re broken, we’re disabled in areas of our lives, crippled in some areas.
A. "I’m going to bring you into My family.
B. I want you to sit at My table.
C. I’m going to treat you like royalty, one of My own, simply out of My grace."
V. And the most important thing is, God’s grace is available to everyone that accepts it by faith..
A - Available to All
I. Romans 4:16 reads "Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all." (NIV)
II. Who are these people who live under the law of Moses? the Jews.
A. The Jewish people were given the law of Moses.
B. They were given the ways of God to do the right thing before the rest of us were given them.
III. Have you ever thought about why the Jews were called God’s chosen people?
A. Does God love them more than He loves the rest of us?
B. No. The Jewish people are called, “God’s chosen people” because they were chosen to tell everyone else about the one true God.
C. We could say that the Jew’s were supposed to be the missionaries of God to the rest of us, but they failed in the mission of recognizing Grace through Christ.
IV. Because of the failure of the Jew, God has now given this job to His church.
A. That is to bring the message of God’s GRACE to ALL.
B. Circle that word “All” or your bible may say, “Everyone”
V. All those that exercise the gift of faith are accepted, and what’s more only those that exercise God’s gift of faith are accepted.
VI. It is a sad fact that some religions, even some so called Christian faiths still attach some form of works basis to salvation.
VII. Yes, once we accept the gift of God’s grace, we are called to obedience to His word, but it is vitally important to remember that salvation is based solely on faith.
C - Grace Comes Through Christ
I. John 1:17 "For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”
II. "Why through Jesus Christ?
A. Why is Jesus Christ the only way to heaven?
1. Why not Buddha?
2. Why not somebody else?
3. Why Jesus Christ?
B. Because He paid the price of admission.
1. He’s already paid for your salvation.
2. Nobody else has done that one.
3. On the cross, He paid for your sins.
III. The Law tells us when we are wrong, but grace tells us “God has forgiven us, now here is how to get back on track.”
IV. In the Bible, the phrase, “in Christ” is used 90 times.
A. Paul in particular loved to use “in Christ” to refer to the person that has believed Jesus Christ is the savior.
1. In 2nd Cor. 5:17 he wrote - “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come”
2. In Galatians 3:14 he says, - “in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
3. In Romans 3:24 Paul states concerning our salvation that we are - “... justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;”
B. But Peter also writes - “the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you”
V. The writer of Acts says - “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
VI. When it comes to salvation, there is no other way than Jesus Christ.
VII. Think of it this way,
A. In your bulletin, there is a blank piece of paper.
1. Let’s say, that written on that piece of paper is your life story; with all it’s ugliness and those things that you regret.
2. This is the accusation sheet that says,
a. “You don’t qualify to enter into heaven.”
b. It is very visible and plain to you.
B. Now take that same piece of paper, and place it inside your bible.
1. You can’t see it anymore can you?
2. It is as if it doesn’t exist,
a. It doesn’t accuse you.
b. It doesn’t condemn you.
c. It is as if it never existed.
C. That in a sense is our life in Christ.
1. On the cross, Christ covered all our sin’s.
2. As if they didn’t exist.
3. We are made new, by Christ, and only by Christ.
VIII. Galatians 2:21 reads like this, - “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
A. Grace, God’s forgiveness comes only through faith in Christ.
B. And that grace is available to everyone that will believe.
E - It is Extended Througout Eternity
I. In the book of Revelation, Christ is revealing to the Apostle John, what the last days will look like, and also what heaven will look like.
A. In chapter 2, verse 17 John writes these words, - “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I (speaking of Christ) will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.”
B. When we get to heaven, we are evidently going to receive a new name; why.
II. Dale Carnegie gives several principles for influencing people in the well known book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People”
A. One of those principles is “Use a persons name often.”
B. He writes that the sweetest sound to anyone’s ear is their name.
1. Names are important to us.
2. I am kind of proud to be Ronald Murphy.
C. For the first century reader, their name often expressed the very facet of who they were.
III. Why in the world would Jesus say, “I am going to give the person that comes to heaven a new name?”
A. Because we will be entering a new life.
B. A life that has no end.
IV. At it’s core, the Bible tells us four essential truths about what heaven will be like.
A. Heaven will be place of reunion.
1. We will be united with God in a complete relationship.
2. We will be united with those loved ones that also accepted Christ as their Savior.
B. Heaven will be a place of reward,
1. Jesus says in Matthew that “the one who receives a prophet, shall receive a prophets reward.”
2. And the one who receives a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.
3. Several times scripture refers to various crowns that we will receive in heaven.
C. Heaven will be a place of unity and worship.
1. 24 elders worshiping at the feet of God.
2. Rev. 15:4 says that “All the nations will come and worship Christ.”
D. Heaven will be a place of newness,
1. Whole body that will know no pain, no suffering, no sadness and no sorrow, and most of all, no death.
V. Heaven will be a place of eternity, and it is all because of the grace of God.
VI. God’s grace truly is amazing, and it begins with the fact that God’s Grace is a Saving Grace.
VII. Have you received God Grace Gift of Salvation yet?
A. If not, why not?
B. If not, why not today?
