The Sufficiency’s of Grace
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
Introduction: It is appropriate this morning that since we are looking at the sufficiency of God’s grace that we consider grace on display in the life, ministry and death of the Apostle Paul. He is the Apostle of grace and uses this term more than all the NT writers combined. The traditional definition of grace is God’s unmerited favor but grace is much more than a definition in a text book. I want to look at three aspects of grace in the life of Paul that I hope will bless your life.
I. There is grace for our Guilt
a. The chiefest of sinners –
Ephesians 2:8-9 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
b. A persecutor – Acts 8:3 As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.
Acts 9:1-2 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
c. A murderer – Acts 22:3-4 “I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women,
Acts 26:9-11 “Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.
II. There is grace for the Grind
a. His example in ministry
2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11 For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
b. His experience in ministry
2 Corinthians 11:23-30 Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity.
III. There is grace for the Grave
a. His approaching death
Years ago the old timers used to talk about “a shallow place to cross,” when they spoke about their approaching death.
2 Timothy 4:1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
There is such a thing as dying grace and I have seen it with my own eyes and I am confident that when my time comes there will be “enough dying grace” for me, and you too if you know Jesus Christ as your own personal savior.
“I’m Just Looking for a Shallow Place to Cross
A tired old man with a Bible in his hand
Said, Lay me down upon the cool green moss
My eyes can see that river flowing through the Promised Land.
I’m just looking for a shallow place to cross
I’m just testing out the water; I’m just waiting for the tide
I can see my friends a waving to me from the other side
I can’t understand why you’re so sad; I just can’t see the loss
I’m walking up and down the banks of that Jordan River
Looking for a shallow place to cross!
“I Won’t Have to Cross Jordan Alone”
When I come to the river at the ending of day
When the last winds of sorrow have blown
There'll be somebody waiting to show me the way
I won't have to cross Jordan alone
I won't have to cross Jordan alone
Jesus died all my sins to atone
In the darkness I see
He'll be waiting for me
I won't have to cross Jordan alone
PRAISE AND GRATITUDE
After one of the terrible battles of the Civil War, a dying Confederate soldier asked to see the chaplain. When the chaplain arrived, he supposed the young man would wish him to ask God for his recovery; but it was very different. First the soldier asked him to cut off a lock of his hair for is mother, and then he asked him to kneel down and thank God. "What for?" asked the surprised chaplain. "For giving me such a mother. Thank God that I am a Christian. And thank God for giving me grace to die with. And thank God for the home He has promised me over there." And so the chaplain knelt down by the dying man, and in his prayer he had not a single petition to offer, but only praise and gratitude.
Source: Christian Herald
