Sermon Tone Analysis

*Grace Series #3*

*Abusing Grace*

*By Bill Denton*

 

 

*Introduction*

A.  We've been talking about grace, and grace is amazing

1.

It is the undeserved, unmerited favor of God

 

2.

It is something freely given to us by God, something motivated by God's love for

     us and his deep desire to redeem us from sin's condemning grip

 

3.

It is specifically centered in Jesus Christ, his sacrifice on the cross, his willing death,

     the blood he shed -- all done by the perfect lamb of God that our sins might be

     forgiven

 

4.

Grace is not something we accomplish, it is not a product of our performance level,

     but instead reveals the extent of our failings and inability to remove our sin problem

 

5.

As the song tells us, grace is amazing -- it's sweet sound declares that sin-stained

     wretches can find salvation

 

B.

Because we're saved by God's grace, and not by our own devices, then salvation is a sure

      thing, secured by the perfect blood of Jesus

1.  Romans 8:31-39 (Listen to this passage declaring the sureness of salvation in Christ)

 31What then shall we say to these things?

If God /is /for us, who /is /against us? 32He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

33Who will bring a charge against God’s elect?

God is the one who justifies; 34who is the one who condemns?

Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

35Who will separate us from the love of Christ?

Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

NASB95

 

2.

Grace does not leave a person twisting in the wind, dangling at the end of a rope, or

     in any way wondering whether or not they have been saved from their sins

1.

But it does so by asking us to turn away from ourselves, away from any

     shoddy righteousness of our own, and to turn to the full, pure, total

     righteousness of Jesus

 

2.

Only in Jesus can salvation be sure -- it can never be sure if we try to justify

     ourselves by our own actions

 

C.

But here is a surprising thing about grace - it can be abused

1.

It is shocking to think that anyone who receives something so altogether wonderful

     as grace would or could abuse it, but one thing is clear from the biblical record --

     Christians do abuse grace

 

2.

Today I want us to think together about this problem and together commit that we

     will not abuse grace, but learn instead to live our calling in Jesus Christ

 

*I.

We Can Abuse Grace Despite Good Intentions*

A.  One of those good intentions is similar to that of Pharisees -- want to do God's will

1.

Matthew 16:6-12

 6And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

7They began to discuss /this /among themselves, saying, “/He said that /because we did not bring /any /bread.”

8But Jesus, aware of this, said, “You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread?

9“Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets /full /you picked up? 10“Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets /full /you picked up? 11“How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?

But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

12Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

NASB95

 

2.

Matthew 23:1-5

 1Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, 2saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say /things /and do not do /them./

4“They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with /so much as /a finger.

5“But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels /of their garments./

NASB95

 

3.

What had happened to the Pharisees?

1.  Their teaching lost focus

a.  they had developed a system that "built fences" around the Law

 

b.  the fences were designed to keep people closer to the Law, in effect,

     to create boundaries beyond which it was spiritually dangerous to go

 

c.

frankly, all that makes pretty good sense - the problem is that when

     taken to extremes, it violates the effort itself

 

d.  the fence itself can become the focus instead of the command of God

1)  Mark 7:5-8

 5The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?” 6And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. 7‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ 8“Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”

NASB95

 

2)  to the Pharisees, their traditions became more important than

     God's word and God's will

 

B.

What happens is that for all practical purposes, we lost sight of God's actual will for us, and

     we end up with nothing more than another list of human-designed rules and regulations by

     which we try to please God -- a system that is doomed to failure, being more difficult than

     anyone can achieve

 

*II.

We Can Abuse Grace With A Warped Attitude Toward Sin*

A.  This was one of the problems plaguing the church at Rome

1.  Romans 6:1-6

 1What shall we say then?

Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?

2May it never be!

How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

3Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

4Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

5For if we have become united with /Him/ in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be /in the likeness /of His resurrection, 6knowing this, that our old self was crucified with /Him, /in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; NASB95

 

2.

Some evidently thought that grace made it unnecessary to be concerned about how

     to live one's life, and that sin actually magnified grace by calling for more and more

     of it to be applied to one's life

a.

Paul effectively said, "That doesn't make any sense at all!"

 

b.  in fact, if we were to read chapters 6 - 8 of Romans, we would discover that

     Paul believed the proper response to God's grace is an ever increasing

     life of sanctification - a holy lifestyle, ever growing away from sin and closer

     to God

 

3.

Consider the following: