Overabundant Grace

Introduction

I’ve had it on my heart and mind for the past couple of weeks to share on the topic of Overabundant Grace, and how that has worked in my life and in my families life.

I want to start by sharing my testimony of salvation.

Personal Testimony

My testimony is very much about the keeping power of God

And as I’ve been reflecting on my testimony and grace:

But the power of my testimony started long before I was born.

In order to understand fully what God has done in my life, it can’t just be viewed from an individual standpoint, it has to be viewed from a generational standpoint.

I’m going to share about the generational standpoint of Grace in my family, but before I can do that in a way that we can fully understand and appreciate, I have to talk about sin.

In order to fully appreciate and see the beauty of what God’s grace means for us and what it did for us, we have to understand what that grace saved us from.

We have to understand, how bad sin is.

So let me briefly say something about sin, so we can come into the beauty of Grace.

Depravity of Sin

For years I had this over-simplistic view of sin…we tend to relegate sin to individual acts that we commit. We are either currently sinning or not sinning. But sin is bigger and more powerful than that.

Mark McMinn, a clinical psychologist and professor at Wheaton College said this about sin:

Sin engulfs us in three dimensions: sinfulness, sins and the consequences of sin.

First Dimension - Sinfulness

This speaks to our inherent sinfulness, or in theology we call it “Original Sin”

This dimension of sin is not just the acts we commit, but the very state in which we live.

If the devil died today, you’d still sin tomorrow. John Mark Komer

I’m not a sinner because i sin, I sin because I’m a sinner.

McMinn likened Sin to white noise (white noise is the static sound you’ll hear on the radio when no station is coming through)

Inherent sinfulness is the white noise that is always on.

It is an inner force and controlling power that stems from a fallen inherent condition.

Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—”

Second Dimension - Sinful acts

These are the individual sinful choices that we make.

When, in my anger, I hurt someone else with my words

When I give in to the temptation to look at that image on the internet that degrades and objectifys another human being.

When I tell a lie

When I cheat to get ahead

When I put others down to build myself up.

Our sinful choices take that white noise that is always on, and cranks up the volume.

C. S. Lewis points out in Mere Christianity, the more you feed an appetite, the more it escalates in intensity: “Appetites grow through indulgence—not neglect. Gluttons think just as much about food as starving people.”

When I feed my inherent sinfulness through my sinful acts, my appetite and desire for sin grows.

Lust that is fed becomes a rabbit hole that goes deeper and farther than intended

Bitterness and unforgiveness left un-dealt with becomes a stronghold that is unbreakable.

Anger and hate grow to kill any joy we could hope to find.

And that white noise gets louder and louder

Third Dimension - Consequences of Sin

We are constantly surrounded by the consequences of sin.

If I sin towards my spouse, she will experience some degree of loss and suffering as the result of my sin.

Not only do we bear the weight and consequence of our own sins, we have to live with the consequences of the sins of others

Those actions done against you that violated you and deformed your identity

Those words that were spoken over you that cause you to live in the lie of that label.

Those sinful family traits that get passed down from generation to generation.

These consequences of sin add to the pain, loss, dysfunction, and depravity of an already deafeningly noisy world.

And so you see that sin is not just an individual act....it is a vast network, this poisoned seed that is connected from person to person, family to family, from generation to generation.

And it leads us further down and further away from God.

This increasingly louder white noise that drives us to insanity.

And the worst of it all, is it ultimately leads to spiritual death, an eternity apart from God.

Romans 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death

Grace - And this is all of our story, if not for Grace.

First Move - Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

God’s Gift - Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”

Overabundant Grace

As powerful as sin is, the grace of God touches every aspect of sin.

Romans 5:20 “Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more

Meaning, the law (the commandments) exposed my utter need for God.

It couldn’t help me....It just showed me I was completely powerless over sin.

But where the law exposed my powerlessness over sin, the grace of God abounded toward me for righteousness, and led me from the penalty of sin and death to eternal life in Jesus.

Romans 6:14 “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

So when it comes to my personal testimony, sin didn’t start and end with me....but neither did grace!

And that’s where looking at my testimony from a generational standpoint is so powerful, when you understand the poisoned seed of sin that seeks to destroy all of us and our families.

So in order to really share my testimony, I have to go backwards.

Now I could share from both my mom and my dads side, because both are powerful and have helped shape me into who I am today, but I’m just going to share from my father’s side this morning.

Generational Testimony

Grandfather’s Testimony (It started with my Grandfather)

Alcoholic

Got delivered from alcohol

Him and my grandma got saved 3-4 years later.

Let me just say, you never know how far your ministry to one person will extend.

Something started that day that broke the chain and momentum that sin had carried up to that point.

Dad’s Testimony

My Testimony

It’s not just about the keeping power of God in my life.

I’m the third generation of a broken chain of sin, and the overabundant grace.

Nephew and Nieces Testimony

God’s Grace has worked down through the generations, but that’s not even all.... not only did God’s grace work down the generations, it worked up as well....to my great grandmother.

Great Grandmothers Testimony

Family Story

This is a recent picture of my family on my dad’s side.....grandma, uncles, aunts, cousins, grandchildren, great grandchildren.

This isn’t a picture of perfection.

We have our issues, we have our struggles, we have failed, we’ve fallen short, we have our hurts and pains.

We are not where we should be yet, but God only knows where we would have been, had not His saving Grace become our story.

Invite worship team up.

Application

But His grace has not just become our story. It’s been the story of multitudes of people for thousands of years.

If you are in this room today or watching online, and you’ve placed your faith in Jesus, His Grace has become your story. If you haven’t yet, His Grace can become your story today.

Maybe that Grace hasn’t run 5 generations deep into your family....yet.

Maybe your the first or second and your heart cries out for your family, whether its parents, siblings, children, or other.

Maybe your heart cries out for more healing in your own life.

Let me tell you…the grace of God runs deeper than you think.

If the devil has tried to discourage you with the reality of the depth and depravity of sin in your personal life, and in your family’s life, remind yourself, that the deeper the sin, the greater the grace!

“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”

Sins goal isn’t to destroy you in a day, but to destroy you over a lifetime.

To destroy families over generations

But if the grace of God abounds all the more.....then that means

“Grace will take you farther than you thought you could go, Grace will keep you longer than you thought you could stay, and Grace was bought for you so you don’t have to pay.”

Grace of God doesn’t make you perfect in a day (changes your identity and destiny in a moment).....it changes life here and now over a lifetime. And it can heal and restore families over generations.

I want to close with a time of prayer at the altar. There are specific things I have on my heart, and if you fall into one of these categories, and you want to respond, please come to the altar.

Let your grace have your way in my life.

If you have felt discouraged by what sin has done in your life, and you need to come and praise God that His grace is working in your life.

It may not be happening at the pace you want, but it is happening.

Let your grace have your way in my family.

Some of you may be one of the first ones’ in your family to get saved. If you have felt discouraged by what sin has done in your family, and your heart cries out for the grace of God to move in your family.

Come forward and let us lift up our prayers in faith together.

You’ve never placed your faith in Christ, and you want today to be your day of salvation....the day Saving Grace becomes a part of your story.

The Bible says you need to be born again

Admit

Believe

Confess

Ending

We are going into song

Ask Pastor Nik to prayer for individuals who have been feeling discouraged and need to be reminded about God’s incredible grace in their life.

Ask Nathan or Ross to prayer for those who came to the altar for their families, and believe in faith that this incorruptible seed of grace start to work miracles in families.

And then I’ll come up and close.

Resources

Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 530.

Craig S. Keener, Romans, New Covenant Commentary Series (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2009), 77–78.

William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, vol. 12–13, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 184.

Sin and Grace by Mark McMinn