Justifying Grace

Please turn to page 48 in your Worship Booklet, and join me in the prayer to the Holy Spirit.

Introduction:

Believe it or not every single on of us here today at one time knew of Jesus but really didn’t know Him, including myself. I remember back when I was twelve years old, I went forward to accept the gift of God, however, years later I had a time made a profession of faith thinking that I was a Christian, we certainly can make decisions like this for the wrong reasons, I actually realized a few years later that I had only know of Jesus I really had not experienced Him, I began to wonder astray, I noticed I was not praying before bed or even before meals. Then I noticed my vocabulary had grown to the point that no one could see Jesus through me. But I am here before you today a changed creature, a new man in Christ! My old self died on the cross through Jesus, and a new man was born again. You see it wasn’t until after my mother passed away that I truly came to the true knowledge of Christ. You see I was half way around the world from home, I was deployed to Operation Desert Storm, it was a dark time in my life. I was all alone so to speak, I didn’t have anyone I really knew around me that I could honestly trust to talk to. Not only to mention that I was right in the midst of a Muslim country where it was illegal to posses a Bible. The oppression was sorely great, to this day I cannot stand to hear the chant that would happen over the loud speakers 3 times a day, the Saudis would roll up the town at these times, not to mention there was a war going on, SCUD missiles flying everywhere, the constant threat of chemical warfare. Once my first tour was completed, notice I said first I went back not long after for peace keeping missions, but, I finally got to come back to the states, only to learn that my Mother had passed away. Even though I thought I was a rough and tough Military man, I was definitely broken, this news shook me to my core. Looking back knowing of the saying that you truly can’t feel God until you are completely broken, I can attest that it is a very true statement. I had reached that completely broken point in my life, once I was was told of the information from my Commander and First Sargent. I did not want to believe the news at all. But you see it was not until then that God had began truly calling me to Him, and I finally accepted God’s justifying grace at this time of heartbreak, and complete brokenness. During this time I could clearly hear God saying, “David! come unto Me you are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest my child.”

Hello my name is Dave Miller, and the title of my talk is Justifying Grace.

We have seen and know all of God’s creations of the earth, plants, animals, creeping things, and humans with God seeing that these things were good, explained within Genesis 1-2.

The personal choices that we make can definitely separate us from God and stifle our spiritual lives, just as we can see in the story of the prodigal son with his separation from his loving father as we see in Luke 15:11-17. We each receive gifts of love and grace from God our Father in Heaven, these gifts are far greater than any wrong choices that we could ever make in our lives. We can clearly see the wrong choices the prodigal son made for himself in Luke 15:20-24. What exactly did the father do once he saw his son far away walking toward home, the father went quickly to his son and greeted him with compassion, the son was hesitant and said, “father! I am not worthy I have sinned against heaven and you, I am not worthy to be called your son any longer.” But out of love and compassion the father forgave his son and sent the servants for the best robe, sandals and a ring, he called for the fatty calf to be killed and prepared for a feast in celebration. For my son was dead but is now alive, he was lost but now he is found and rejoiced. When we accept the gift of God all of heaven rejoices, far more that what the father of the prodigal son did. Can you imagine such rejoicing?

Jesus calls us to accept the relationship God offers every one of us.

Matthew 11:28

“28 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

You see God created us in His own image and designed us for a personal relationship and self-giving love, we can clearly see this described in 1 John 4:1-12.

Our acceptance of the relationship

Justifying grace begins transforming us the very moment we say yes to the relationship that God is offering us through Jesus Christ. Just by accepting this changes our lives.

Luke 15:20–24

“20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.

22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:

24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.”

Just like in the story of the prodigal son, we can clearly observe justifying grace at work, changing the sons misery into joy while returning home. Our return home, coming home to Christ restores our eternal relationship with Christ who loves us the most, and He knows us better than we know ourselves. Have you ever had someone tell you about quirky little things that you do and you don't even realize that you do them? I will tell you that Jesus will show you so many things in your Christian walk that needs to be addressed or changed in our lives.

With using the example of courting/dating someone, once we accept the gift Jesus gave us through His death and resurrection, we accept God’s grace, we accept the one who has been wooing and pursuing us. Note that once we say yes to Him, that yes changes our relationship completely. We can clearly say God’s love wins! Yes, is the beginning of our lifelong commitment to marriage and a shared life with Christ. Our human relationships begin to change in the respect that those relationships mirror our relationship with Christ and Church.

As we take a look at Romans 3:21-28 as we respond to God’s grace it truly is an act of faith on our part. There is nothing we can do to earn a personal relationship with God.

As we look at Ephesians 2:8-9 the scripture tells us ever so clearly that grace saves us through our faith, and this is truly a gift from God himself. Isn’t our God so gracious to us, we don’t deserve anything that He gives us, I know I fail Him daily but, He loves us so much that He comes to us offering His love, mercy and grace. Once you have experienced all these things God gives us you just can’t help but to want more and more of Him, we develop that close and personal relationship with Him.

Ephesians 2:8–9

“8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Salvation happens as soon as we say yes to the beckoning or conviction we feel in the center of our being. We can accurately say that, I was saved by grace, I am saved by grace, and i will be saved by grace. The spirit of justifying grace is known as salvation, healing, conversion, and having our sins completely forgiven, and being born again.