Christmas Grace
Notes
Transcript
Reading:
John 1:9-14 “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Text:
Titus 2:11-15 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”
AZ
Introduction:
The Messiah was no longer a person of anticipation. He was announced through the angels. He was presented to the world through the Star appearing, the shepherds coming, and the gifts given by the Magi. He was real and would do and be what God said.
A baby is being born that isn’t coming into this world like any other child.
He is being born from a Virgin,
His nature isn’t of mankind,
He is Deity!
God with us, among us.
He comes with purpose and is thee gift to mankind!
His life is to bring salvation to all who believe.
Christ coming to the world is a revelation to the world that:
Grace has Appeared!
Grace has Appeared!
Titus 2:11 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,”
How can we explain Grace?
The common thought is that we are being given something that we don’t deserve.
Which is correct, and valid.
The idea of Grace is this:
There is someone who has authority over another.
One who can say what will and what won’t happen to a person.
Grace was Born!
Grace was Born!
Definition:
Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grace)
One of the distinctive features of the religion of the Bible. No other system of religious thought, past or present, contains an emphasis on divine grace comparable to that of the Bible.
As a general definition, the doctrine of grace pertains to God’s activity rather than to His nature.
Although God is gracious, this trait of his nature is revealed only in relation to his created works and to his redemptive enterprise. In other words, grace is to be understood in terms of a dynamic expression of the divine personality rather than as a static attribute of God’s nature.
Grace is the dimension of divine activity that enables God to confront human indifference and rebellion with an inexhaustible capacity to forgive and to bless. God is gracious in action.
Illustration:
You are approaching an intersection and the light is yellow. What do you do?
Hit the brake?
Hit the gas?
Hit the gas since your close and it just turned yellow, you can make it.
You didn’t see the police officer in the right turn lane behind the semi-truck.
You get pulled over.
The police officer is now the one who has authority over you!
What are you hoping for?
Grace!
Point:
Every person understands the actions of Grace towards others, whether they are the recipient or the one giving grace.
When we recognize our sinfulness the only one who fully understands it and the only one who has authority over it is God.
That is exactly why Jesus was so necessary.
Temporary grace was merited through the sacrifice of lambs and bulls.
Through Christ we were given: forever grace.
The only one who has authority over our eternity came to give grace. His actions towards us!
It was for All!
It was for All!
Isaiah 53:10 “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.”
Matthew 20:28 “even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.””
Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.””
Every person who has ever lived and who will come after us are born with a nature that falls short of God’s perfection.
It is the reason why we do “bad” things.
Well how is this something that we have instead of something that we just do?
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—”
Adam was given the single command with understanding of the consequence for failure.
- Death! (Both Spiritual and Physical)
The Romans passage is letting us know how each every soul is condemned.
- We are condemned since we are of the seed of Adam.
Exodus 34:6-7 “The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.””
We are all generations of Adam, through the heritage of Adam we are born with a condemned position before the Lord.
Not able to clean ourselves up enough or do enough good for balancing the proverbial scales of good and bad.
Jesus was not born of man, He was born of God = He was God.
He cam to so that we could have a way for grace to extend to us.
Jesus is the only one who could fulfill this duty!
Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.””
Point:
God’s activity in Jesus was for the purpose of forgiving our debt before the judge of sin and death.
The one who’s authority over this judgment is final and perfect.
How can one experience and receive the gift of grace?
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
John 1:12-13 “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Believe that Jesus is God and that His sacrifice was worthy to suffice the payment for your sins.
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Praise Him for what He did for you!
Transition:
Then the rest of your life continue trusting that His sacrifice was sufficient and express your honor to Him for what He did for you!
That is a process not an immediate change!
Salvation places us on the roster and He begins:
Training Us!
Training Us!
Titus 2:12 “training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,”
What are we supposed to learn?
We are given the basics:
To recognize the things that aren’t of God.
What Titus here calls out as “ungodliness”
What is ungodliness?
Definition:
The state of believing in God, while adopting a lifestyle which seems to deny this. Believers are warned to guard against ungodliness.
What are things that could be considered ungodly?
Anything that would fall into the category of: Opposite of God.
Or that God wouldn’t do!
Whatever falls short of perfect.
What are worldly passions?
1 John 2:16 “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.”
Desires of the Flesh.
These would be things of pleasure.
Desire of the Eyes.
The wanting of things we see.
Pride of life.
When you think higher of yourself than of God.
Both ungodliness and worldly passions aren’t things we naturally avoid; quite the opposite. They are what comes naturally.
Thus comes the statement: Training.
Point:
Training ourselves requires:
We know what to look for - Identification of what falls under those titles.
It requires we are strong enough to avoid doing them.
The duties we have is that we control the only thing that we can:
Ourselves!
It requires that we represent our Lord in mind and choices.
It’s going to get more difficult with every generation:
The world is going to wax worse and worse; yet we still have to live in the world but don’t have to take part in the ungodly things.
Transition:
It’s not easy!
I hate it, because it’s like being in a war every single day as long as you live and always on the look out for living your life in honor to the Lord.
Don’t worry, there is relief coming:
The light at the end of the tunnel is exactly what we are anticipating; we are given:
The Blessed Hope!
The Blessed Hope!
Titus 2:13-14 “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
Have you ever heard someone say: “I can’t wait to get to heaven”?
From the world’s standpoint that would be a very confusing statement to make.
The only way to get there would mean: Dying.
It translates to them: “I can’t wait to die”.
What makes our point of view as a believer different than theirs?
We trust and believe that a rapture of the church is coming.
We trust and believe that if we do die before the rapture takes place we will be present in heaven with Jesus.
Why is that comforting enough to provide hope?
There are a lot of reasons.
One being that our struggle here on earth won’t exist.
Imagine living where sin doesn’t exist.
The effects of sin aren’t present.
That means the curses from the Lord are no longer.
Everything that He cursed is now free to be as He created.
No death
Self Control won’t be an issue, It will be 1st nature to do what is right and we will do it.
Transition:
When did this hope come into the world?
Just as the passage in Titus says:
Titus 2:13-14 “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
His appearing is the announcement to the world that the promised savior has come, and His name is Jesus Christ.
Christ’ job will be to:
Give himself as a sacrifice.
God will make a payment into an account.
It is the account that is evidence against us before the Judge.
Jesus’ blood can cleanse the account.
Point:
The birth of Christ is the blessed hope God provided to clear our debt.
Through it He made a way for us to be free from sin.
Providing a what we need to fight against our sin nature, until we are raptured or pass into eternity.
Where the Lord waits to greet us.
The world will see the power of Jesus through us and talk of:
Our Testimony!
Our Testimony!
Titus 2:15 “Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”
The most powerful tool we have to reach the world with this gift is our testimony.
There are different kinds of testimonies.
Salvation Testimony:
The account of when you understood your sin before a perfect and holy God, then submitted your will to His; accepting the extended gift of grace.
Personal Testimonies:
The telling of what God is doing in you and through you.
The public hears what we say God is doing in our lives.
Our day in and day out lives will uphold what we say or discredit it.
The passage here is giving us a command.
Declare the blessed glory of God
Rebuke one another through authority of God
Let no one disregard you.
Point:
These commands aren’t possible outside of salvation.
We aren’t to rebuke people through speech as much as by how our lives testify of what we truly believe and say we believe.
If our lives don’t line up with how a representative of Christ is to conduct themselves.
Our message is discredited, not authoritative.
No one will listen or believe what we say.
Conclusion:
Today is Christmas.
The day we celebrate the messiah’s birth into this world.
This is a day that we celebrate that Grace appeared to our sin ridden world, and it had extended to all.
When He saves us from our sin, the cleansing process begins in a form of re training our minds to live as a representative of Christ.
Always re-centering ourselves back to the blessed hope:
Freedom from sin and it’s effects.
Also looking forward to Heaven and being with our Lord.
The day in the year when we remember that our lives and the legacies we leave behind should reflect how powerful and loving God is.
Is this what Christmas means to us?
Do we celebrate the day when Grace was born to our world?
The day when the permanent cleansing of our sin was made possible?
Proclaim these things, let your lives line up with the transformation of grace.
Christmas is the great celebration of grace that came to you!
Pray!