Preventive Grace

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy your consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Introduction: Dakota and the tree.

My name is Rob Nichols and the title of this talk is PREVENIENT GRACE.

1. Definition of prevenient grace

a. The Root meaning of the word grace (from the Greek Charis) is “gift.” God, in Christ, offers us the gift of relationship that includes salvation, reconciliation, and eternal life. (NKJV) 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. (NKJV) 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

b. God’s Grace is one with many facets.

i. We describe grace with many words- prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying- that relate to various stages in our spiritual journey.

ii. The nature of grace (one grace experienced in many ways) resembles the ministry of the trinity (one God in three Persons). Within God’s grace there is both unity and diversity.

c. Prevenient grace means God is present with us throughout or lives. This grace is most clearly at work from our conception to conversion-from the moment we begin to be until the time we accept for ourselves the relationship God offers in Christ.

1. The term prevenient comes from the Latin praevenire- “to come before.” In Christian theology it means Grace that comes before any human decision or endeavor. Prevenient grace is at work we our awareness of it.

2. It is the will of God wooing us-like the bridegroom courting his bride. (NKJV) 17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

3. It is the will of God drawing us. (NKJV) 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.

4. Prevenient grace is the desire of God pursuing us throughout our lives to bring us into friendship with God- a love that will never let us go. (NKJV) 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. “The Hound of Heaven” by Francis Thompson powerfully conveys God’s pursuit of us.

5. It is the gift of God freeing us so that we may respond to God’s offer of a relationship and place our trust in Jesus Christ. (NKJV) 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NKJV) 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (NKJV) 19 We love Him because He first loved us.

6. It is the activity of God empowering us, giving us spiritual strength (NKJV) 6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

2. The Bible is clear: Human beings are created in God’s likeness for relationship with the divine.

a. In the beginning God created the cosmos and all things in it-and God saw it was good ().

b. God created humankind, male and female in His own image and likeness-and declared they were good (see ; ).

1. Like Adam and Eve, each of us is a unique and beloved child of God.

2. Because God is love ( (NKJV)16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.), Each of us has the capacity to love and be loved.

3. Because God is Spirit (NKJV) (24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”) And God created us in God’s image and likeness each of us is a spiritual being- “wired” for God from the very beginning.

4. Because we are created in God’s image and likeness, the deepest part of us longs relationship with God. As Augustine said in his Confessions, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you [God].”

c. The good news of our origin in God precedes the bad news of human sin.

1. Adam and Eve made wrong choices that resulted in their expulsion from the garden and bring disorder to all creation. (See ; ). Yet God providing for them.

2. Each of us has made wrong choices that separate us from God and diminish our spiritual lives, yet God provides for us.

3. God’s love and grace are greater than all our wrong choices.

3. God continues to offer relationship.

a. God desires a relationship with us even more than we want a relationship of God. (NKJV) 3 The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

b. The nature of this relationship is that of covenant love.

1. A covenant is the strongest form of relationship identified in the Bible. (See the covenant with Noah ), Abraham (), Moses and the Israelites (), and David ().

2. The prophets repeatedly called the Israelites back to general relationship of love and obedience to God. (See ; .) They proclaimed God’s promise to make a new covenant with the people. (See .)

3. Jesus offers us a new covenant in a new relationship with God. (See ; .) This relationship is one of love and grace. (See ; .)

a. Divine love. (See ; .)

b. Seeking love. (See ; .)

c. Everlasting love. (See ; .)

d. A gift of love. (See .)

c. God takes the initiative to seek us; it’s not up to us to seek God. (See .)

1. We experience this thing divine initiative as grace.

2. Convenient grace helps us to overcome our brokenness and alienation. (See Romans 5:65 then 11; .)

4. How do we experience God’s preventing grace? (The conclusion of Dakotas story goes here.)

a. Through events both positive and negative. The Holy Spirit can speak to our minds and hearts through struggles, frustrations, difficulties, and pain of unemployment, divorce, or the loss of a loved one. The spirit can also speak to us through music, art, and beauty. (See .)

b. Through the care and sacrifice of others who embody God’s love towards us; for example, parents, relatives, and friends. (See .)

c. Through the body of believers, the church. The church helps us to experience God’s grace and presence through corporate worship, prayer, sacraments, and small groups. (See .)

d. Through the Holy Spirit awakening our conscience and convincing us that we can never form ourselves or earn a place in God’s family. (See .)

e. Through us to others. God can work through our words, attitudes, and actions to help others open their hearts and lives to God’s preventing grace.

5. Conclusion.

The critical question for each of us this weekend is this: when we open our hearts to God and accept the relationship that God offers us in Jesus Christ? De Colores