The Ladder of Grace

Introduction:

Keeping the Law - Moral/Natural, Mosaic/Legal, or Mega/Love, is an impossible. Trying to do so is trying to dig yourself out of a hole you’ve dug yourself into.

You need a ladder to get out.

Grace is the ladder. Grace is the ladder that lifts us out of our sin and up into good works. “We...are created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10).

“Wrong Impressions”

What do you think of when hearing the word “grace?”

Fred Astaire

A helping hand

A shoulder to cry on

A forgiving spirit

A feminine quality

In the Bible, grace is an important concept. And it’s important we get it right.

“Unmerited Favor”

You’ve probably heard that “grace is God’s unmerited favor toward man.” That’s certainly true.

Is God’s grace the same for the saved person and for the unsaved person?

That’s what I want to preach about today. Several different aspects of God’s grace

“Common vs Special Grace”

Common grace is unmerited goodness that everyone receives from God’s good hand.

“For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).

If God removed His common grace, you would stop breathing right now.

Special grace is unmerited goodness that God’s children receive from His good hand.

Justification (“getting saved”), sanctification (“growing in Christ”), the indwelling of the Holy Spirit

It is this kind of grace that will be our focus today.

In Justification, grace is unmerited forgiveness of sins.

You need grace to be saved. In Christ, you receive grace to believe and are forgiven of your sins.

Described in Acts

“But we [Peter + apostles] believe that we [Jews] will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they [Gentiles] will” (Acts 15:11).

“And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed,” (Acts 18:27).

Explained in the Epistles

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24).

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph 1:7).

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8-9). 

Illustration: Dog Dung

Imagine I am driving drunk and run over your loved one.

I ask you for forgiveness and offer to you my trash that’s been decomposing for several weeks.

You would be offended. You would not accept my offering. You would not forgive me.

Application: Grace for forgiveness

When you, I, or anyone else approaches the Thrice Holy God and offer our good works, He is rightly offended.

In order to be forgiven, you must receive from God forgiveness that cannot earn.

Jesus, God in the flesh, died so that God might extend to you forgiveness that you cannot earn.

That forgiveness is called “GRACE.” By grace you have been saved...justified by his grace as a gift.

In Sanctification, grace is unmerited power to obey the law/will of God.

You need grace to obey. In Christ, you receive grace and the power to obey and please Him.

Described in Acts

“And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all” (Acts 4:32).

“And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people” (Acts 6:8).

Explained in the Epistles

“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith...” (Romans 12:6). “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (Eph 4:7).

“We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part” (2 Cor 8:1-2).

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

“To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph 3:8).

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to the hearer” (Eph 4:29).

“You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 2:1)

Illustration: Hanggliding

The hangglider needs the frame and material in order to stay in the air.

If the glider forgot that he needed the instrument and tried to fly by himself, he would quickly learn that was nothing in the air without it.

Illustration: Jataka, The Flying Turtle

There were once two geese and a turtle who lived together in a pond. One day, the geese invited the turtle to go on a journey. "Dear turtle," they said, "please come with us to a great lake away in the north. It is a beautiful place, and we are sure you will like it." "Alas," replied the turtle, "I am not able to fly and I walk so very slowly. The journey would be too hard for me."

"Don't worry," the geese assured him. "We have a plan! We will hold this stick in our beaks and you will grasp it in your jaws. So long as you do not open your mouth, you will be able to fly." The turtle was very excited and did as the geese ordered, grasping the stick firmly in his jaws. The geese then took hold of the stick with their beaks and lifted the turtle up into the air.

The turtle was delighted to be flying and was also very careful to keep his mouth tightly shut. As they passed over a village, however, the people of the village saw the strange sight in the sky. "Look at that!" they shouted. "It's a turtle who thinks he's a bird!" They guffawed loudly, laughing at the hilarious spectacle. The turtle was furious. "I do not think I am a bird!" he began to reply, but as soon as he opened his mouth to speak, he fell to the ground and was killed.

The geese were sad for their friend, but they kept on flying. The villagers, meanwhile, understood what had happened and said, "The poor turtle! He really would have been able to fly, if only he had kept his mouth shut."

Application: You need God’s unmerited power in order to obey.

Don’t get cocky in your walk with Christ.

You are clothed in His righteousness and power.

In Christ, grace is the unmerited revelation of God to man.

We do not deserve for God to reveal Himself to us. But He loves us, so He does it.

Scriptures

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9).

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Cor 15:10).

Humility is the KEY: “But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

You need grace to know God. In Christ, you receive grace to know God.

In Christ we receive unmerited favor.

Through Christ we receive power to obey.

Invitation

Believe in Christ for Initial Justification.

Through sin, you’ve dug yourself into a deep hole.

And you can’t dig yourself out.

Grace is God’s ladder extended for you, unmerited and unearned.

Faith is climbing the ladder.

Believe in Christ.

Believe in Christ for Daily Sanctification.

Like the hangglider or poor Jataka the Flying Turtle, we must never forget that without Christ we’re still nothing.

Believe today that Jesus is your strength to obey and please God.