CE Week 5

CE Week 5 - Grace

Secular: Ever see those commercials on TV…

This is the greatest MOP… ever created… it gets in every nook and cranny…
No more bending
No more scrubbing…
Why with this state of the art ringer… your hands never have to touch dirty mop water again…
How much would you pay for this mop…
39…49… why some would pay over 50 for such a quality item
But today… if you call in right now… you can have this mop for only 19.99… but wait there’s more
Act now and you get this handy mini-mop… great for counters, bathroom fixtures… tiny little floors… absolutely free…
For credit card orders Call the number on your screen
To pay by cheque or money send 19.99 + $10 shipping and handling to Ultra-Mop…
And on it goes…
The second mini-mop… how free is it really…
It might be a deal…
But it ain’t free…
Reduced price cuz ya got a package deal…
Phone them and say I don’t really want the big one… just send me the free one…

NOT GOING TO HAPPEN…. Because it isn’t free… there are strings attached…

Biblical: Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

1) All have at one time been alienated from God.

- Got it together…

- Personal piety

- All were in opposition

- Some in blatant all out, in your face rebellion

- Luke 7…41 "Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he cancelled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?" Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt cancelled." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said.

2) It is through God's grace that it is possible for us to return to him.

- Again something incredible about the nature of God. Quite often missed by the world… that God is Holy and as Creator and Lord can demand that we be Holy to his standard (frightening… Oct 31). But instead by his grace gives humankind the opportunity to be in relationship with Him… by bearing our sin and by extending grace… It is through God's grace that it is possible for us to return to him.

Personal:

· We often like to make an exchange even if it is disproportionate

· Bucket of Chicken… for a day of lifting and moving

· Couple of Burgers for a fence…

· Lemonade for a day of grease under your car

· We want to make some trade…

· God’s Grace is free from all strings

Bridge: The Biblical picture of Grace shows us its 1) Definition, 2) Direction, 3) Duty, and 4) Determination. Objectives: Everyone should be able to explain the meaning of grace and how that implies that we do not earn our salvation.

Body:

I. The Definition of Grace--It is Unmerited Favour

1. Eph.2:1 Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Doesn’t sound like we were winning god over…. Lusts of the flesh… indulging desires… children of wrath
If we have to garner or earn God’s Grace… we may have a big problem here…
We are much more inclined to say… what goes around comes around…
We like our opportunities to deal with those who have insult us… disrespected us…

Continues…

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in 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;

Didn’t sound like we had much of a chance after that first part…
Proven incapable of reconciling with God… living holy lives…
I am extremely pleased to hear… that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus and that it isn’t on my merits… but truly is the unmerited favour of God!!

2. Rom.5:12 12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned-- 13 for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offence of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

Oh great… we have been handed a propensity to sin… the sinful human nature of Adam…
Just like that day when you realize Dad is bald… Dad’s dad is bald… Mom’s dad is bald… and oh horrors mom’s bald… that one day you get to inherit freedom from haircuts…
Study regarding… Jonathon Edwards and a petty criminal
So this is not good a legacy of this…
But wait… I am extremely pleased to recall… that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus and that it isn’t on my merits… but truly is the unmerited favour of God!!
Romans 5Continues

15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

Jesus gave us the free gift of breaking that cycle…
God’s gift of Grace… free gift

The Definition of Grace--It is Unmerited Favour

II. The Direction of Grace--It Comes From God through Jesus Christ

1. NAU John 1:17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.

The Grace of God is expressed through Jesus Christ… Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Jesus is the perfect revelation of God… his love… his character… his grace
Jesus is our reconciliation with God

2. NAU 1 Corinthians 1:4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus,

God’s grace is through Jesus…
Not works
Not mysticism
It is through Christ

3. NAU Ephesians 2:7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

The Direction of Grace--It Comes From God through Jesus Christ

III. The Duty of Grace--To Make Salvation Possible

1. NAU Acts 15:11 "But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are."

The Unmerited favour of God… through Jesus Christ… makes salvation possible…
Without God’s intervention… we would be left to the lusts of the flesh… without Jesus Christ we would be left to a penalty we could not bear…
It is the Grace of God…

No action
No thought
No scheme

It is the Grace of God that makes salvation possible…

2. NAU Romans 3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

We have been justified… made right before God by God’s gracious gift of Christ
We have been redeemed… bought and paid for by God through his gift of Christ on the cross
Without God’s grace… their would be no salvation

3. NAU Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,

It is the Grace of God that makes salvation possible…
It is the Grace of God that turns us from creatures of this world… to citizens of heaven

The Duty of Grace--To Make Salvation Possible

IV. The Determination of Grace--Our Salvation is Not Earned

1. NAU Romans 4:4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favour, but as what is due. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,

2. NAU Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

Salvation isn’t a ladder we climb… a set of steps we take… Salvation is not obtained by our works… bad or good.
Salvation is the Free Gift of God… extended to those who trust in Christ… who claim his righteousness… we can not add or take away from our salvation…
Unlike that fictitious chalkboard of many a famous argument.

3. NAU Titus 3:3 For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. 4 But when the kindness of God our Saviour and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy,

It is not because of what we have done…
It is because of what He has done…

Continued

5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

The Determination of Grace--Our Salvation is Not Earned

CONCLUSION:

1. Let us remember the . . .

1) Definition of Grace – God’s Unmerited Favour

2) Direction of Grace – It Comes Through Christ Jesus

3) Duty of Grace – To Make Salvation Possible

4) Determination of Grace – Our Salvation is not Earned

Salvation by Grace through Faith in Christ Jesus Alone…

Galatians 2:21 "I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law (my own doing), then Christ died needlessly."

Thank God for His Grace…