I Am Right With God // Grace Like A Flood (Part 2) – Pastor Michael Todd – Transformation Church

Introduction/Recap

• IMPORTANT to Remember: Grace is the unmerited, undeserved, unearned kindness and favor 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’s salvation is not a result of our own works but because of His love, and for us putting our faith in Him.
• God’s grace is abundant and sufficient. He knew that we could never uphold His Law, so He grace us the free gift of His grace so we may no longer be a slave to the Law but instead a slave to His love. God wants us to serve Him out of love not fear.
• We don’t save ourselves; our salvation is God’s alone, we just get to participate in it.
• 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.
  • Perception is your ultimate reality even it’s not the ultimate truth. Your reality dictates your actions, so if you don’t see God as a good Father, we don’t love or respond to Him in the same way. If you see God as a good Father, you don’t love or respond to Him in the same way. If you see God right, then you’ll respond to Him right.
• God cannot love you more than He loves you right now. When you’re trying to vie for position based on what you do, it’s almost insulting because it’s all supposed to be about what He did, not you.

Sustaining Grace

• As amazing as Amazing Grace is, Sustaining Grace is that amazing too.
  • The grace that got you out of your situation and for God to save you is the same grace it takes for Him to sustain you every day.
  • Some of us were amazed at the beginning of our relationship, but for some reason now, feel like we are all alone. God’s grace is not just for the beginning, it’s sufficient throughout your entire life.

Grace and Works

• Romans 4:1-4 (AMP): What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather [a]humanly speaking, has found? [Has he obtained a favored standing?] For if Abraham was justified [that is, acquitted from the guilt of his sins] by works [those things he did that were good], he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed in (trusted, relied on) God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness (right living, right standing with God).” Now to a laborer, his wages are not credited as a favor or a gift, but as an obligation [something owed to him].
  • Grace and works, in the sight of God, are shown through these verses.
    • The world believes you can just be a good person to get to Heaven. The problem is that God’s standards are not “good,” they’re perfect (James 2:10 AMP). There are no levels to sin, all people are the same and we all need the grace of God.
      • James 2:10 (AMP): For whoever keeps the whole Law but stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of [breaking] all of it.
    • How can we get to Heaven? It can’t be by work or only committing “lesser sins,” we have to believe in the Perfect One. God created His salvation plan so we can believe in Jesus and get the free gift of God, grace.
    • Nobody deserves His grace but everybody needs it. When we receive God’s grace, we’re able to find what God intended for not just Christians but the entire world

What God Intended: Righteousness

• What is Righteousness?
  • Romans 4:3 (NIV): What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
    • Is a man righteous because he does righteous things or does he do righteous things because he is righteous? It can only be through grace that a man is righteous, right before God.
      • This is the difference between grace and work. You can never be righteous based on what you do, you can only be made righteous and then do the right things. Works alone can never be enough, you need grace.
  • When you believe that you’re right with God, by His grace, it changes your actions.
    • EX.) When you don’t feel right with God, you don’t want to talk to Him about certain things. Those feelings shouldn’t matter because God factored in your mess-ups and He says that you’re still in right standing with Him. His covenant still stands through it all and He is still the answer.
  • God’s standard of worth is not based on what you could do, it’s based on what He did. Therefore, God can look at you and say that you’re good, no matter where you are
  • Summary: What is Righteousness? It’s right standing with God. You are right with God and He calls you righteous because of your belief in Him. The amount of righteous or unrighteous you think you are won’t change God’s view of you
  • IMPORTANT NOTES:
    • You’re made Righteous by your Position, not by your Performance
    • You may suffer consequences for things you do wrong here on Earth, but God still sees you as His child. Look to how the Father views His Prodigal Son
    • We got to take our perspective out of this low-level, comparison-driven mentality of Christianity and into the freely-given, love-filled salvation and grace perspective so we can share this new perspective to the world
• Did Abraham Earn It?
  • Romans 4:2-4 (NIV): If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation.
    • Abraham’s act of salvation was that he believed, not by doing all types of changes and actions. Abraham believed and he was accounted
  • God did away with accounting according to our works by giving out His grace. God paid it all, all we have to do is believe that He did it. We don’t owe God anything.
  • Isaiah 64:6 (NIV): All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
    • We are all like unclean rags compared to God. No one could “earn” righteousness by works because God could only see sin in us – no one can be righteous to His standards except Jesus
  • 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV): For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
    • God took righteousness from Jesus’s account, erased Jesus’s righteousness when He died on the Cross, and put sin in Jesus’s account so we humans may become righteous by believing in God
  • 2 Corinthians 5:19 (NKJV): that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
    • God reconciled to save the whole world but not all will be saved. People don’t go to hell for sin, Jesus already paid for that. People will go to hell for their unbelief.
  • Summary: Did Abraham Earn It? Abraham could never earn his righteousness, none of us can. Righteousness was bought with the price, Jesus’s life on the Cross so we may be redeemed, reconciled, and made righteous by God our Father
• What Did Abraham Have to Do?
  • Answer: Abraham had to believe. You have to believe that no matter what comes, who leaves, what situation arises, you are right with God. When you receive the grace of God, you get the ability to be in right standing with Him
  • Your actions or works won’t make you right with God, your belief does. Then, when you’re right with God, it changes your actions. Your faith affects your work and then your work strengthens your faith. This new relationship between God’s grace and your works goes in a positive loop.
    • James 2:26 (NIV): As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
  • NEVER FORGET: If you believe in God and the finished work Jesus has done for you, God still has an inexhaustible ability to forgive you and bless you.