Lavished Grace

Last week I spoke in error at one point in my message to you… As I shared with you that our BELIEFS CREATE BEHAVIOR I pointed to the scriptures and said, “at least they should.” The truth is that OUR BEHAVIOR will reveal and reflect what we truly believe… not what we merely give lip service to. Last week we looked at some deep theological truths that declared for us:

The Blessings given to us by God that we posses in Christ...

All or Every spiritual Blessing

God loved us and chose us

God has adopted us into His family

Lavished His grace on us

Purchased our freedom

Forgave us

Gives us wisdom and knowledge

Revealed His will to us

United us in Christ

Has given us an inheritance

Call us His own

Given His Holy Sprit as assurance

This list is how He blesses us NOT how we bless Him…

Now Reflect on This Last Week…

How did you act or respond in various situations

What was your heart’s focus or motives

Were there sins you struggled with,… or did with no struggle at all

What were your thoughts like or on

What time was invested or engaged with Christ

Now… with that reflection, imagine this as you sit there.

Jesus walks into this room, right up here on stage and He is looking at you

As your eyes meet, and you see Him and He sees you...

WHAT IS HIS EXPRESSION???

Ponder that for a while while we consider our passage and concept today of LAVISHED GRACE… Ephesians 1:6-9 NLT

Ephesians 1:6–9 NLT

So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan.

I want to read this passage also in the NASB…

Ephesians 1:6–9 NASB95

to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him

What Is So Amazing About Grace?

We accept grace to receive salvation in our lives yet the way you and I live often demonstrates that we fail to grasp the full depth of Grace for our lives.

In preparation for my sermon this week I took time to re-read the book “The Grace Awakening” by Dr. Charles Swindoll.

I appreciate how as a Pastor, Author, and brother in Christ he has expressed this topic of GRACE so beautifully and passionately!!! Let me share just a few things from this reading…

The Grace Awakening: Believing in Grace Is One Thing. Living it Is Another. (Publisher’s Preface) Chuck warned that legalism in the church—hiding behind the mask of orthodoxy or piety—was stealing the happiness of believers and holding faith hostage. ... Most are quick to adopt a grace-based salvation, but how often, the author asks, have we fallen into the trap of a works-related Christian life? ... Grace received but unexpressed is dead grace. To spend one’s time debating how grace is received or how much commitment is necessary for salvation, without getting into what it means to live by grace and enjoy the magnificent freedom it provides, quickly leads to a counterproductive argument. It becomes little more than another tedious trivial pursuit where the majority of God’s people spend days looking back and asking, “How did we receive it?” instead of looking ahead and announcing, “Grace is ours . . . Let’s live it!” Deny it or debate it, and we kill it.

The GRACE that God is bestowing on us or blessing us with, causes Paul to proclaim and declare… “PRAISE to God for His Grace!”

As Paul writes about this grace he declares that God is RICH in grace

Paul emphasizes that God has LAVISDHED grace upon us

It is grace that spurred God to REDEEM mankind

The emphasis of GRACE in this passage and this letter to the Ephesians is that “God did not choose us in and of ourselves, He chose us in Christ… BY GRACE!”

As I shared last Sunday about sharing about GRACE this Sunday many had thoughts and excitements about it, as they should.

Laurie was one of them and she shared some sign language with me…

G over the heart is GUILT… G over the heart upside down is GRACE

It is a beautiful picture of how God takes our guilt and sin through Grace…

God has LAVISHED His GRACE upon mankind by REDEEMING them through His Son Jesus Christ, JUSTIFYING them so they can live a SANCTIFIED life empowered by GRACE!

Let me help define some of these theological terms so we can live out this life in a practical way to the fullest… “FIRST CONSIDER GRACE”

Grace

To Stoop: condescending favor (Royalty with commoners)

Fully underserved, unmerited favor

Never earned, cannot be earned

Grace focuses on the One giving or extending Grace

What is beautiful is that it is NOT based on us but rather Him!

No work, no earning, and it is offered to all… freely!

To think an all powerful, perfect, holy God would extend GRACE… what love!

Donald Barnhouse stated it so beautifully… “Love that goes upward is worship, love that goes outward is affection, love that stoops… is GRACE!”

God gives this grace in such a way that scripture uses the word “Lavish”

Lavished

Generous or extravagant: to exceed number or measurement…

Pouring forth or a showering… like a deluge

To abound in excess

What a great way for scripture to describe how God gives this GRACE… the next word “REDEMPTION tells us why” He Lavishes His Grace…

Redemption

TO REDEEM: To be set free from the control of something or someone… this freedom comes at a cost.

FROM: Death, Sin, Captivity

TO: Life, Righteousness, Freedom

Because of Christ redemptive work we can “Turn to Him, away from sin and idols” (Thessalonians)

Ephesians 1:6-8 states this redemption bore the cost of the very blood of the Son of God, Jesus Christ

Consider also what Paul writes to the church in Rome on this very subject...

Romans 5:1-2; 8-10; 18-21

Romans 5:1–2 NLT

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

Romans 5:8–10 NLT

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.

Romans 5:18–21 NLT

Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous. God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let me define and explain two more words for you… Justification and Sanctification…

Justification vs Sanctification

Both sanctification and justification occur and belong to the child of God at the point of salvation...

Yet impact the believer differently.

Justification is making us right with God (the act of God the Father)… we are declared RIGHTEOUSE… this is our standing

We are declared Righteous, because we bear the righteousness of Jesus Christ, God’s Son!

Our standing is “In Christ”

We put on His righteousness and He takes our sin

Grace does not ERASE our sin… Grace takes our sin and places our sin on Christ

He bears our sin, He pays the cost

We receive His righteousness

Sanctification is ours at salvation, but it is the precious gift of the Holy Spirit to infuse grace and exercise grace in the believer's life. Grace working in our lives!

Sanctification gives power over sin through Grace

Sanctification, unlike our standing of being justified, is a process in the believers life lived out through grace

We are saved by GRACE… how does GRACE impact how we live…

What About Grace Living?!

Does grace so rich, so free, so amazing allow you and I to live anyway we want?

If salvation is the work of God in Christ Jesus… where you and I have no way to earn it, (GRACE) do we keep it by living by a set of rules, list and laws?

Galatians 3:2-3 answers this for us as Paul writes to the Galatian church… (Saved by grace to live in grace!)

Galatians 3:2–3 NLT

Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?

On the other hand, do we receive salvation and just live as we please because where sin abounds there is more grace?… after all we all are going to mess up anyways right?!

We live life with 1 John 1:9 at the ready”

“But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

That is like saying to your child as they get the keys to drive now, here are the keys and here is the agents phone number as you crash today

Crashing should not be the norm, sin in the believer’s life should not be the norm!

Paul finishes his thought concerning grace and sin… Romans 6:1-6

Romans 6:1–6 NLT

Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.

We have been redeemed… set free!!!

Abraham Lincoln would deliver a powerful address in 1863 labeled the Emancipation Proclamation… it would not be until 1865 after Lincoln’s death that the Thirteenth Amendment would make those convictions law. The slaves were legally set free:

Ironically many slaves stayed under slavery under thier harsh masters unaware of thier emancipation, thier freedom

That is exactly how the plantation owners wanted it… “keep them ignorant and keep them in the field”

Sadly this is no different for believers today…

They have been redeemed, set free from the power, control, and grip of sin, PAID IN FULL BY JESUS CHRIST

But they ACT, they LIVE, they and almost prefer the comfort or security of slavery over thier freedom in Christ Jesus

Satan, our adversary knows we are free, but does everything to keep us pinned down in shame, guilt, and intimidation.

CHURCH WE ARE FREE!!!

Stop saying things like:

“I’m really not worth much” or “I’m only human and just can’t help myself” or “Nobody is perfect”

Stop quoting the verse “God helps those who help themselves” like it exist in the Bible… it is a lie straight from HELL!

No He helps helpless sinners in need of Him who could not help themselves and HE FREED THEM FROM SIN!!!

Stop identifying as: “I’m just a sinner saved by grace” NOOOOO you are a child of God by the amazing grace He lavishes on you

So we read a passage of scripture like Ephesians 1:6–9 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan.

and we praise Him because:

He lavished His grace on us… redeeming us, forgiving us, and freeing us

NOW… we can live in grace according to the PLAN He has for us!!!