Text: John 1:1-14
Theme: Jesus is grace
GREETINGS
Illustration: A Christian Horse Rider given the commandments. If he says: Praise the Lord – Horse should go. Then when he says: Amen – it should Stop. Riding on the hilltop, he reached the peak, and next was the deep valley, and he forgot the stop word. Suddenly he remembered and said Amen. He said: By God’s grace, and I am escaped. So, praise the Lord.
Introduction:
Today, I would like to share with you about grace, and always being available to all of us for our salvation experience. We often refer and remember in our day to day experiences. Apostle Peter in his epistle says that (1 Peter 5:10 ) God is the God of all grace. God relates to us through grace applying different modes according to apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 9:8).
Grace is defined as the unmerited gift from God based on His unconditional love. Grace is God’s gift to us that is continually transforming us into the fullness of His image(Hebrews 4:16). The word grace is found 124 times in the bible. 10 in Old Testament, and 114 in New Testament. Paul uses for Eighty times in his letters.
I would like to leave with you three types of grace:
Dwelling Grâce,
Developing grace
Departing grace
1. DWELLING GRACE
The Prevenient grace or dwelling grace. God works in and around our lives before we even have awareness of Him moving on our behalf. The term prevenient comes from a Latin word that meant ”to come before, to anticipate.” There is the necessity of God’s grace before a sinner’s conversion is prevented grace. Prevenient grace is the grace of God given to individuals that releases them from their bondage to sin and enables them to come to Christ in faith but does not guarantee that the sinner will do so. Thus, the efficacy of the enabling grace of God is determined not by God but by man.
Wesleyans believe that through the advent and atoning work of Christ, God has dispensed a universal prevenient grace that fully negates the depravity of man. Thus, man is now in a neutral state. Christ promises that “all men” are being drawn to him through the cross - John 12:32, and the “world” being convicted John 16:8 through His sacrifice. So, the prevenient grace we experience today was purchased by Christ on the cross. Wesley believed in unlimited atonement because Christ died for “all things” Romans 8:32.
Through Christ we have grace. The word became flesh is John’s most startling statement so far. It would have amazed both thinkers in both the Jewish and the Greek world to hear that the Word became flesh. And tabernacled among us: “the human nature which he took of the virgin, being as the shrine, house, or temple, in which his immaculate Deity condescended to dwell. The word is probably an allusion to the Divine Shechinah in the Jewish temple” (Clarke).
“Notice here that both these qualities in our Lord are at the full. He is ‘full of grace.’ Who could be more so? In the person of Jesus Christ the immeasurable grace of God is treasured up.” (Spurgeon). “These two ideas should hold our minds and direct our lives. God is grace and truth. Not one without the other. Not the other apart from the one. In His government, there can be no lowering of the simple and severe standard of Truth, and there is no departure from the purpose and passion of Grace.” (Morgan).
John wants to affirm that Jesus was truly fully physically human. John introduced Jesus to counter all fall spiritual beliefs and that idea that Jesus was an only mirage or an allusion. Jesus is True Christ, and he was a 100 per cent authentic human being this word explicitly used the word became flesh living among human beings is to mean Jesus was not a hologram or ghost disguised as a person.
He was a real living breathing person according to Hebrews 4:15 the Greek word used here is Skenoo, which suggest the tabernacle of the Old Testament the tabernacle was a temporary structure symbolic of gods dwelling with his people while at the same time a little physical place or space. But, today Jesus is among us in human form much as God was among his people in the tabernacle that for John 3:16, Hebrew 4:15, and John 1:18.
The apostle John described the stepping out, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14 NIV). This verse is the climax of John's prologue as John completes his introduction of Jesus by proclaiming his humanity amid his divinity. This verse contains the truth behind the story of the angels and shepherds and the Wise Men and the journey to Bethlehem that first Christmas morning. Without this verse, the rest of the story has no meaning.
John 1:14 tells us what happened 2000 years ago and what it means to us today. The keywords are grace and truth. The tabernacle was sometimes called the Tent of Meeting because it was the divinely-appointed meeting place between God and man. In the same way but a much deeper sense-Jesus is the place where we meet God today. Eugene Petersen in The Message paraphrases this verse, "The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood" (John 1:14 MSG).
2. DEVELOPING GRACE
Regarding the doctrine of prevenient grace in classical Arminianism is that until the Gospel, the instrument by which God draws sinners to Himself, is presented to a sinner, the sinner is in complete bondage to sin. Grace is a spontaneous gift from God to humans. It is a generous, gift to the unexpected and undeserving human. It is the divine favour with unlimited love, clemency, leads to sharing in the divine life of God. It is manifested through Christ.
Christian orthodoxy holds that the initiative in the relationship of grace between God and an individual is always on the side of God. The question of the means of grace has been called "the watershed that divides catholic, Protestant, Calvinistic, Arminian, liberal and conservative denominations of the Christian church.
Catholic tradition refers to two types of grace: Actual and Sanctifying. John Wesley speaks of four types of grace: prevenient(preventive), justifying, sanctifying, and glorifying. Charismatic traditions add Miraculous Grace or Charismatic Grace.
The Holy Spirit works with the presentation of the Gospel through teaching( John 6:45), and convicting (John 16:8), the sinner, enabling the sinner to respond in the exercising of saving faith in Christ. The Holy Spirit opens the heart (Acts 16:14), and the mind(Luke 24:45) of the sinner, thus drawing the sinner to Christ (John 6:44, 12:32), and the sinner is then enabled to exercise his newly freed will in placing his faith in Christ for salvation.
The early church (Acts 4:33 ) had the fullness of grace by four-fold ministries. Believed communion of life, Living together means worshipping together in the temple, breaking bread at homes, and praising God, evangelising through living (Acts 2:44-47). The word abounds the grace where it’s needed (Romans 5:20). Jesus spoke (Luke 4:22) his gracious words to the people who came to him. We grow in grace as we come closer to him. The knowledge of Christ increases our grace (2 Peter 1:2).
Reading the scriptures help us to speak (Colossians 4:6) words full of grace. Even the sufferings, sicknesses and ailments we live happily because he has said: “My grace is sufficient for thee” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Illustrations:
Christ visited a sick person while all the relatives stood outside. Jesus spoke to her and left the room. She was still lying on the bed. But she was praising and glorifying God. Jesus quoted this verse and said I am with you. “There is strength within sorrows.” It is the perfecting grace. The Lord perfects all of us through his methods and systems. He allows us to go through sufferings, and through that, we enjoy the perfecting power of God.
3. DEPARTING GRACE
There are so many occasions in the Bible where many have lost the presence of God and lost the grace of God. Esau cried loudly (Hebrews 12:16). Saul cried begging ( 1 Samuel 16:14, 18:12). Samson cried hopelessly (Judges 16:20, 28). Naomi cried, David cried to come back to me, and Peter cried bitterly. Don’t play with God and his grace. Don’t harden your hearts. (Psalm 2:8).
1 Chronicle 17:13, Psalm 89:33 I will not remove my grace. Psalm 23:6 grace shall follow me. Isaiah 54:8 I will not move my grace from you. Lamentations 3:22 we are not destroyed because of his love and grace. Jude 4 our corrupt mind can corrupt the grace. Hebrews 12:15 be watchful not to lose your grace.
Conclusion:
The following Bible verses talk about the residence of grace -Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5. He gives grace to the humble.
The Hymn “Amazing Grace” by John Newton (1725-1807), based on 1 Chronicle 17:16-17 teaches that Grace saved me and leads me through and will lead me to home.
