Grounded in Grace Reason why this series is being preached
There has been more response from this series than any other I have ever done in over 20 years of preaching. People are hungry to hear about the true grace of God.
So far we have shared: 1. UNDERSTANDIING THE GRACE OF GOD. Its dynamics; we learned a lot about the dynamics of grace, but the Bottom line is its definition: It is when our Sovereign God stoops and bends to us, out of his own love for us. We did not, nor could we ever do anything to get God to grace us. Grace cannot be achieved only received. And as the scripture says those who RECEIVE the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness SHALL REIGN IN LIFE. Grace does not stop when we get saved, but we as believers always will be standing in grace. IT IS THE MOST PHENOMINAL THING IN THE UNIVERSE. It is the most phenomenal thing that the human being will ever discover and be a recipient of. The world cannot duplicate it; in fact it is the last best word for us. I want to share THREE TRUTHS ABOU GRACE THIS MORNING, AND EXCUSE ME IF IT SOUNDS AS THOUGH I AM REPEATING SOME THINGS ABOUT IT BUT I DON’T THINK I COULD EVER EXAUST THE TURTHS ABOUT THE GRACE OF GOD;
1. It is EXACTLY WHAT MAN NEEDS; Ps. 103:1-5; 8-14; we are feeble, and frail and prone to falling, and we don’t need a rule or a law to strengthen us or to keep us from falling and failing again, what we need and God provided us is His grace. His stooping and bending and bending to us in our terrible helpless condition to put our feet on solid ground, to give us value and worth and acceptance and love, and competence to go on. And when we stumble and fall even after having been graced 100 times He graced us again. A scripture example is in Acts 7:60-8:3; 9:1-2; WHAT DOES THIS MAN NEED? DOES HE NEED A ROPE OR A LAW TO STRAIGHTEN HIM OUT? DOES HE NEED SOME KIND OF PUNNISHMENT FOR THE EVIL HE HAS DONE? LOOK AT HIS HEART. AND NOTE WHAT GOD DOES, HE GRACES HIM; AND THIS GRACE THIS STOOPING AND BENDING TO HIM IN HIS TERRIBLE CONDITION TRANSFORMED HIS LIFE. IT WAS THE GRACE OF GOD THAT TAUGHT HIM TO DENY UNGODLINESS, TITUS 2:11; It is EXACTLY what everyone of us needs not only one time in our lives when we are saved but over and over every single day. It is what the addict needs, it is what the prostitute needs it is what the children need it is what the mom’s and dad’s need. WHERE SIN ABOUNDS GRACE MUCH MORE ABOUNDS. Paul starts almost his entire letter with the statement “grace to you”. Have you ever wondered why? It is what those people needed.
2. THE MAJORITY OF BELIVERS DO NOT EXPERIENCE GRACE ON A DAILY BASIS BUT LIVE IN A Performance Based Acceptance MODE THERE FORE THEY ARE LIVING UNDER THE OLD COVENANT; Gal 1:6-17; what do I mean by this. There are basically two ways believers operate in their everyday life. There is the system of Law that many people operate from; Deut. 28:1; 15; It is a system of blessing and cursing; It had to be done perfectly in order to be blessed; under the law you don’t just do good you had to be perfect; The end result of breaking the law was guilt and shame; It is a system of thinking and behaving which blesses those who fulfill ALL of its requirements and curses those who don’t. It has no loopholes in it what so ever. It was known as the OLD COVENANT. This is the essence of the covenant; God says if you do your part I will do my part. A huge difference between it and the new covenant. Jer. 31; God does it all. Under the New Covenant how many of our sins have been forgiven? All!!! Now the big question is how many people are still trying to get somewhere where they already are? Forgiven, a child of God! There is no more PBA. The other way believers operate is under grace.
3. GRACE IS NOT ONLY TO BE EXPERIENCED BUT EXPRESSED; GAL.5: 25-6-10
a. The LIFE of grace; 5:25-26; IT IS NOT JUST AN IDEA IN OUR HEADS BUT IS SOMETHING WE CAN IMPLMENT EVERYDAY; Galatians 5:26
That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. I DON’T HAVE THE BONDAGE YOU DO ETC., CHALLENGING ONE ANOTHER; “WHY DON’T YOU CLEAN UP YOUR ACT ETC.”
b. The length of grace; How far does grace go as we express it? Gal.6: 1 even; in ANY trespass. YOU SEE IT IS JUST NOT AN IDEA IN OUR HEADS IT CAN ACTUALLY BE EXPRESSED. THINK ABOUT RESTORING SOMETHING, WHY WE RESTORE IT AND HOW WE RESTORE IT, AND HOW PROUD WE ARE OF IT WHEN IT IS RESTORED. AND THE VALUE OF A RESTORED PIECE, HOW MUCH MORE VALUABLE IS A RESTORED PERSON?
c. THE LAW OF GRACE: it is the law of sowing and reaping; If we sow grace we will reap grace, if we sow ungrace we will reap un grace.
Conclusion: three truths about grace; it is what every person needs to change; do you need changing? Grace is what you need and it is available to you 24/ 7:
It is rare to see Christians living under grace and not law and you are the only one that can change this in you; why don’t you start today living in the New Covenant?
Grace is not only to be experienced but also expressed; there is no time to start like the present. Is there someone you need to grace?
