Introduction

• We categorize people on how close or far they are from God.
  • By whose standards? Usually our own because we make ourselves the measuring stick of God’s goodness. This mindset is rooted in the insecure thought at the back of our minds, which says, “I’m better than you.”
  • Some people believe that what we do makes who we are, and Pastor Todd wants to teach us that no matter who we are, we are still in need of the same grace that is provided only through Jesus Christ.

Grace Is …

Grace is Amazing

• The word “amazing” is talking about things that are unusual, doesn’t make sense, abstract, and over the top. Amazing is something the average person can’t or wouldn’t do but God does.
  • Christians can’t comprehend God’s amazing grace because we believe that our works will make us accepted by God, that after you received God’s grace, you have to work to keep it. We work out of fear, not love.
    • The fear in our hearts is what is leading us to not understand His grace and leading others away from the Church.
  • Grace: The unmerited, undeserved, unearned kindness and favor of God.
    • Nothing you did, or do, allows God to put His grace on display for you.

Grace is Unmerited

• Ephesians 2:7-10 (NKJV): that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
  • When you put your faith in Jesus Christ, you have now been extended grace only through your ability to receive it through faith. It’s not your works that allows you to experience the grace of God, it is a gift of God
  • Ephesians 2:8-9 (AMP): For it is by grace [God’s remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God; not as a result of [your] works [nor your attempts to keep the Law], so that no one will [be able to] boast or take credit in any way [for his salvation].
    • God is actually pursuing you by His Holy Spirit to Jesus Christ and His salvation. Life’s circumstances and its issues are the dams and boulders that try to block you from Him. God wants a relationship with you no matter how many times you messed up or how long since you haven’t messed up.
  • Ephesians 2:7-10 (MSG): Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
    • Saving is all God’s idea and all His work, we just have to trust Him enough to do it
  • We are unable to even fulfill the law we set for ourselves, so why do we believe our works can fulfill God’s law and get angry that others “worse” than us get rewarded with God’s love. We’re acting like the prodigal’s brother.
  • Our Heavenly Father already took into consideration all our stupid mistakes and sent Jesus Christ as payment for all of it. This is grace like a flood.
  • Many of us don’t want grace like a flood to be poured out to other people because we have not truly accepted it for ourselves. God is not holding yourself hostage because of what you did in your past, you are holding yourself hostage. God is simply saying, “Can we move past this? I already paid for it.”

Grace is Undeserved

• No matter who you are or what you have done, you don’t deserve the grace of God
  • Romans 3:24 (NKJV): being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
    • Grace, in the Greek, is “Horace.” Grace used to be a Greek word before it became a spiritual word, and God used this word to show us what grace is in life. Grace, in Greek, always referred to a superior person giving a benevolent gift to an inferior person in this way: the superior person (patron) makes his gift with the intention to give it to the inferior person (client), and the middleman (broker) pays for the gift and gives it to the client free of charge because the patron and the broker saw how much the client needs it.
      • Jesus Christ was that broker who saw the Father’s love for us, how much we needed the Father, and gave His life as payment in full to reunite us to the Father. God did not put salvation on layaway.

Grace is Unearned

• Romans 11:6 (NKJV): And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
  • Grace is either one of two things: it’s free or it’s earned. Many of us don’t want to accept that the grace of God is a free gift, but it is.
  • Grace is the dimension of divine activity that enables God to confront human indifference and rebellion with an inexhaustible capacity to forgive and to bless
    • Grace is not free and certainly not a gift if you have to pay for it. Grace is a free gift, the only thing we have to do is accept it

Bonus Point – Grace is Jesus Christ

• Revelation 3:20 (NKJV): Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
  • Jesus knocks on your doors everyday to share Himself, the embodiment of God’s grace and love, to you.
  • Rules and rituals won’t save you; once you meet your Heavenly Father, you’ll want to do things differently and with grace.

Tinsai Worke

Hi! My name is Tinsai Worke, but you can just call me Tina. I am a young, devoted Christian and a part-time note-taker for different online sermons.

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