Christian Virtues 7
Notes
Transcript
Grace
Grace
Psalms 86:6-7 (NKJV)
6 Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer;
And attend to the voice of my supplications.
7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon You,
For You will answer me.
Supplication: supplication for favour, ie Grace
Psalms 86:6 (ESV)
6 Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer;
listen to my plea for grace.
As Peter closes his writings in his 2 letter he implores us to do a few things.
2 Peter 3:14-18 (ESV)
Final Words
14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Grow in Grace: (Olive Tree Enhanced Strong's Dictionary) the spiritual condition of one governed by the power of divine grace. The divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life.
So we should be growing in the spirit to where we own a condition (a character of ones soul) that is controlled and ruled by the Power of Grace.
Grace here means: (Olive Tree Enhanced Strong's Dictionary) a favour with which one receives without any merit of his own.
Ephesians 4:15-16 (ESV)
15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Grow: to increase, become greater
So are we increasing and become greater in our growth in Christ? In Grace??
As you experience people do you find you have less toleration for them??
Most of us would have to admit; YES.
The problem is we are allowing people to cause us to decrease in grace.
As we encounter God through the Holy Spirit this encounter promotes growth.
In order to increase we must allow our encounter with God to override our encounters with humanity.
This is what most of us skim past when we read the opening statements in the Apostles letters.
2 Peter 1:2 (ESV)
2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Jude 1:2 (ESV)
2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
1 Peter 1:13-16 (ESV)
Called to Be Holy
13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
James 4:1-6 (ESV)
Warning Against Worldliness
1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Did you see that? Being Humble opens you to receive an outpouring of Grace from God himself!
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
11 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
Are we drawing nearing to God?
Are we growing in Humbleness?
Are we growing in Grace?