The Gift of God's Grace
The Pastoral Epistles • Sermon • Submitted
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I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service,
even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief;
and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.
It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.
Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Introduction:
Introduction:
There are many ways in which God has chosen to describe and reveal himself to man.
There are many attributes that make up who God is.
God is goodness, God is love, God is Holy, God is Righteous, God is Mercy and God is also Grace.
Though all the attributes of God are connected, Mercy and Grace are very closely connected.
Mercy can be described as God not giving deserving sinners what they justly deserve.
Grace can be described as God giving deserving sinners favor that they do not deserve.
One keeps back judgment and the other gives favor.
The Grace of God is the bold thread in the Bible that is a distinctive marker Christianity.
This is what sets is apart from other religions.
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Grace
J. Gresham Machen noted, “The very center and core of the whole Bible is the doctrine of the grace of God.”
Michael Horton said, grace itself is “not a third thing or substance” for “in grace, God gives nothing less than Himself”.
When God appeared to Moses he declared His name, Yahweh, the I AM, as the sum of His eternal being.
That nature includes His graciousness.
Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;
J.I. Packer suggests that grace is simply God’s love demonstrated towards those who deserve the opposite.
God’s grace is His gift-giving life, and the gift is Himself.
But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Grace
J. Gresham Machen noted, “The very center and core of the whole Bible is the doctrine of the grace of God.”
The Lord is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
The point that we need to keep in mind about Grace is that God always favors Himself before anything or anyone else.
Of all the Doctrine of the Grace of God, there are two areas where Grace stands out most beautifully.
The one is reconciliation.
Where God takes undeserving sinners, sinners that are rebellious against holiness and deserving of eternal, and brings bak unity to those who were once estranged.
Those people are brought back to unity and harmony through the blood of Jesus Christ alone.
The other is justification.
Our Sovereign Saviour Chapter 8: Justification: Standing by God’s Grace
‘Justification is that redemptive act of the triune God whereby, on the basis of the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ, the head and mediator of the new covenant, he declares the penitent and believing sinner to be free of all guilt and to be entitled to all the blessings secured by the perfect obedience of Christ.’
Within the Doctrine of Justification there are three major areas of life.
The first is the law court.
Justification is a forensic term.
It deals with the plight of someone who is exposed to the verdict of the tribunal.
Justification specifically indicates that at the bar of the law court, where condemnation may well have been expected, there is acquittal.
In the place of condemnation, there is a declaration that the prisoner has been found not guilty and has been cleared of all charges.
The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.
So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.
The second would be the forgiveness of a debt.
In , Jesus tells a parable about a servant who owed a debt to his master and, being unable to repay, was about to suffer for it.
Everything that he owned was going to be repossessed, and he and his family were going to be sold into slavery in order to contribute towards the payment of what he owed.
He went to his master and pleaded for mercy.
He simply asked for an extension of time.
But the master graciously cancelled his debt.
Let me stress, for a moment, exactly what was forgiven this man.
Jesus said that this man was forgiven Ten Thousand talents.
Now, Ten Thousand is a lot in any estimation but what does it exactly mean here.
A talent was a standard that was used to measure precious metal; particularly gold.
One talent is worth 1.2 million dollars in its weight in gold.
The weight in question was approximately 100 pounds.
So the debt of this man would be ten thousand times 100 pounds.
Nicole, R. (2002). Our Sovereign Saviour (p. 106). Fearn, Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus Publications.
That makes one million pounds, which would have been equivalent to 500 tons of gold.
Nicole, R. (2002). Our Sovereign Saviour (p. 106). Fearn, Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus Publications.
Let us use the average figure of $300 an ounce.
There are 16 ounces in a pound.
So a pound of gold is worth $5000.00
Nicole, R. (2002). Our Sovereign Saviour (p. 106). Fearn, Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus Publications.
One million pounds of gold are worth $5 billion.
Nicole, R. (2002). Our Sovereign Saviour (p. 106). Fearn, Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus Publications.
This man owed $5 billion.
How could this man ever have a hope of repaying.
We owe God a debt that is enormous.
Our Sovereign Saviour Forgive Us Our Debts
We owe God a debt that is enormous! To earn one talent of gold would require at least fifteen years of normal labour. Ten thousand talents would mean 150,000 years of labour! How could anybody hope to pay that? So when Scripture talks about debts, it does not suggest, ‘We’ll disregard this; it is a small matter.’ Scripture says, ‘You have a crushing burden. There is no way by which you can meet the righteous demands of God upon you. You are undone! You are lost! You have nothing with which to pay! (Luke 7:42). The debt is staggering!’ To appreciate the grace of God in justification we must be aware of the immensity of our debt. The term ‘justification’ embodies the truth that in Christ our debt has been paid; it is wiped out.
The third is that we are clothed in rich garment.
God forgave our debt and clothed us in the righteous garment of Jesus Christ.
He calls and sees us a righteous, because of Christ, even when we are not.
That is the wonder of the Grace of God and what causes Paul to break out in praise; especially when he recalls the enormous debt that he owed.
Nicole, R. (2002). Our Sovereign Saviour (p. 106). Fearn, Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus Publications.
Olivero, M. (2018). God’s Grace. In M. Ward, J. Parks, B. Ellis, & T. Hains (Eds.), Lexham Survey of Theology. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
Olivero, M. (2018). God’s Grace. In M. Ward, J. Parks, B. Ellis, & T. Hains (Eds.), Lexham Survey of Theology. Bellingham, WA: Le
I. Paul’s Praise (vs. 12)
I. Paul’s Praise (vs. 12)
And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;
The Apostle breaks out in a full expression of thankfulness in this verse.
It is the Greek word “χάρις” and it comes from the Greek root “χαιρω” which means “to rejoice or be glad”.
And so he just breaks out in a full on thankfulness to God for what he has been in given.
And little wonder why he breaks out in praise, because reminds Timothy, and himself, from where he came.
He says, “Timothy, I am just so thankful; I am just rejoicing in what the Lord has done for me”.
You know, the fact is that the person that realizes how much he has been forgiven is the person that is the most thankful.
I did not say that the person that has been forgiven the most is the most thankful, I said that the person who realizes how much he has been forgiven is the most thankful.
Allow me to illustrate what I mean by that statement.
In the Gospel of Luke chapter 17 beginning around verse, the Bible says that Jesus entered into a city and was meant by 10 leperous men and the Scriptures says that they raised their voices asking Jesus to be merciful to them.
Jesus tells them in verse 14.
When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed.
Jesus was testing their faith, because the last person that they wanted to show themselves to was the priest.
The idea would have been, “ok, Jesus, you cleanse us and then we will go and show ourselves to the priest”.
But Jesus was telling them to show themselves to the priest before they were cleansed.
And so, the Scripture says that as they were going, they were cleansed.
Sometimes, God will ask you to trust Him, before He decides to work on your behave.
But now, notice what happened:
Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice,
and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan.
Did you see that?
Ands then Jesus asks a very normal question.
Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they?
Jesus cleansed 10, but only 9 come back to say thank you, why?
Philip Ryken very masterfully says:
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 The Tenth Leper
Apparently, although these men were religious enough to know where to find a priest and perform the eight-day ritual of cleansing, their hearts were not melted by the grace that God had shown to them in Jesus Christ. They were happy enough to be clean, but they did not see themselves as the recipients of undeserved mercy, because if they had, they surely would have gone back to thank Jesus.
When we recognize the fact that we are recipients of undeserved mercy, as we will see Paul certainly did, even then smallest blessing from the Lord will cause us to break fourth in thankfulness.
Paul wanted Timothy to realize, as he started this difficult journey at Ephesus; not only that he was thankful, but that Timothy, like Paul needed to focus the thankfulness.
He does so by instructing Timothy on three different levels of his thankfulness.
A. The Person of the Praise (vs. 12a)
A. The Person of the Praise (vs. 12a)
We must always bear in mind that the source of our joy and provisions is Jesu Christ.
Every benefit that the believer enjoys is from the hand of a gracious Savior and the Father.
For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
We need to always remember that when it comes to serving the Lord, everything comes from Jesus Christ.
The effectiveness of a minstry or life does not depend on natural talent, a first-rate education or following the latest Christian fad, everything comes form Christ.
Because as we place the thankfulness in the proper place, then no matter what we do, we realize that it is never about us; therefore, we have the freedom to do whatever Christ wants because as we are thankful, we realize that it is Him and not us.
Paul’s point, says Calvin:
was, not only to boast courageously in the Lord, but to give up all the glory that was his own.
Paul’s praise was to the one who alone is worthy of our praise, Jesus Christ.
B. The Provision of the Praise (vs. 12b)
B. The Provision of the Praise (vs. 12b)
Paul’s thankfulness is in Christ Jesus Christ who alone is able to give us what we need to do what He wants.
Paul says that he thanks Jesus Christ, who enabled him....
“enable” is “ἐνδυναμόω” and literally speaks about getting strength or being enabled to do a task.
It derives from “δύναμαι” from where we get our English word Dynamite.
δύναμαι
The power or enabling ability is found in Christ.
The God who gave Paul strength was the same God who put him into service in the first place.
Listen, Paul understood as we must understand that God graciously gave him the strength to serve.
And strength, by the way, that he did not deserve.
No more than did Paul deserve saving grace, but he also did not deserve enabling grace.
And Paul understood that, and rejoiced in the fact that; although he was undeserving, God gave hm enabling Grace to serve.
Paul says, “I thank Jesus Christ that He enabled me....”
During Paul darkest hour, the Lord strengthened him.
When he was imprisoned and facing execution, he was deserted by all his companions.
At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them.
Yet he could still testify:
But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth.
As believers we do not merely receive grace at salvation, we live from that moment on in the sphere of grace.
Paul marveled at the enabling strength of the Lord that was being shown through his life.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,
Paul had an abundant, thankful heart to Christ for His enabling power.
We cannot live this Christian life on our own, so we need to stop trying to do it all by ourselves.
Paul was reminding Timothy that the strength for his life was from Christ and; therefore, the enabling strength for Timothy’s life was going to be Christ.
The enabling strength of our lives will be the enabling strength of Christ.
As Christians, we spend far too much time beating ourselves up over things that WE do not have the enabling power to do.
For example, do you have the enabling power to produce love? Joy? Peace? Patience?
No!
Then if not, why do spend so much time trying to do it and then beating ourselves up for not doing what we cannot do in the first place.
Let me remind of a key passage of Scripture on this.
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
“You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
Do you see in that passage where Jesus says that the branches that bear fruit, the Christians, He prunes?
That is the process where Christ cuts away the things in your life that do not need to be there.
Wether they be wrong appetites, morals, people, possessions, attitudes, etc.
He cuts those things away because they superfluous growth and they are hindering the bearing of the other fruit that He wants in your life.
Life is about becoming more like Christ and Him having His way in your life; so for that to happen, there must be a removal of hinderances from your life.
But remember all the while it is not so that you can produce the fruit in your life, it is to get you out of the way so that He can produce the fruit in your life.
Because He is the enabling power in your life, not you.
That is what Jesus said and that is what caused Paul to praise Him.
Paul says, I am thankful....
And my thankfulness causes me to Praise.
I praise the Person the Lord Jesus....He is the key, He is the one.
I praise the Provision, He has enabled me, He is the source, He is the power.
But not only does Paul Praise the Person and Praise the Provision, but he also see that there is....
C. The Power of the Praise (vs. 12c)
C. The Power of the Praise (vs. 12c)
Here is the power; He (Christ) judged me or counted me or considered me faithful, putting me in His service.
WOW!!!!!
“Counted” or “judged” is the Greek “ἡγέομαι” and the sense of the word is that He reckoned me faithful, He considered me faithful.
On this Greek word, Greek scholar Kenneth Wuest says:
Wuest’s Word Studies in the Greek New Testament Chapter One
It speaks of a belief or appraisal that does not rest upon one’s emotions, but upon the due consideration of external grounds, upon the weighing and comparing of facts. It refers to a deliberate and careful judgment.
The power of the praise of the Apostle was in the fact that God took everything into consideration and deemed that Paul was faithful and he put in him his ministry.
You say, well that excludes me, I am not in the ministry.
The word that is translated “ministry” is “διακονία” and means, “service”.
Listen, this is not just a promise to a man standing in the pulpit each Lord’s Day, this is a promise to every believer.
Sometimes we grow tired on His service.
We complain about having to serve the Lord rather than thanking Him for getting to do it.
On other occasions we are too proud to be grateful.
We are tempted to think that God should thank us for our spiritual service.
1 Timothy Happy to Serve
To help us avoid these temptations, Nancy DeMoss has drawn up a list of the difference between “Proud Spirits and Humble Hearts.” Proud, unbroken people have a “desire for self-advancement.” They are “driven to be recognized and appreciated.” They say, “The ministry is privileged to have me!” Broken people, on the other hand, have a “sense of unworthiness.” They are “thrilled to be used at all, eager for others to get the credit.” When they think of their involvement in the church, they say, “I don’t deserve to serve in this ministry!”
1 Timothy Happy to Serve
Paul had a humble heart. He was not bashful about his credentials as an apostle, and on many occasions he insisted on his apostolic right to speak the Word of God. But he never lost his sense of personal unworthiness for ministry, or his profound gratitude for the privilege of serving God. He thanked God for giving him the strength to serve.
God accounted for everything, He added up all your credits as a Christian and debits as a Christian and then made the conclusion that you are faithful and He put you in His service.
Not because of you, but because of Christ; and you are in Christ.
and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
It all goes back to Jesus Christ.
He is the Person, He is the Provision and He is the Power; therefore, we, along with Paul, praise.