THE POWER OF GOD’S GRACE
Grace in mentioned 170 times in the Bible.
Grace is God's unmerited favor. It means to get
something that you do not deserve;
unmerited favor, it’s a gift. That
is, grace is God doing good for us that we do not deserve. In the Bible, grace and mercy are like two sides of the same coin. Mercy is God withholding
judgment or evil that I deserve; It means you do not get a punishment that you
deserve; compassion, forbearance. God is abundant in grace and mercy and we can
read about it in the Bible. Grace is God giving me blessing or good that I do
not deserve. Because of God's mercy, I do not receive the judgment of God
against my sins; and because of God's grace, I receive eternal life and a promise of heaven though I do not deserve them.
Law and grace
John
1:17:
For the Law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. The law basically refers to the
books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
John is recognizing the greatness of Moses in a past dispensation, and
recognizing the importance of Moses in that dispensation.
It is very important
to note that the Mosaic Law was good. Romans
7:12, "....the law is holy,
and the commandment is holy, righteous and good." When the writer
of the book of Hebrews was trying to show the superiority of Jesus Christ over
Moses, he says in Hebrews 3:5 that "Moses was a faithful servant," but "Jesus Christ was a faithful
son." When the Bible shows the superiority of grace over
law, it never does it by negating the law. Remember, the Bible says that "the
law is good." The Bible never says that the law was bad. The Bible
never elevates grace by stepping on the law, or by running down the law.
Furthermore the Bible says that "the law is good, the law is holy, the
law is just," the law was ordained by God. "The law was given
by Moses," and Moses was one of the greatest men of all time, and one
of the greatest in the Old Testament.
Rom
5:20 – Moreover the law entered, that the
offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
The law being the
measurement of our behavior makes us aware of how sinful we are. This Bible
verse does not say that where sin abounded, grace eliminated the law or our
need to obey the law. Neither did it say that grace put an end to sin. God’s
grace overcame the death penalty that we so richly deserved for our
transgressions. Grace doesn’t remove the penalty of future transgressions but
only pardons our past sins. If we continue sinning we defeat the purpose of God’s
pardon.
In
Rom. 6:1-2 Apostle
Paul talks of this, he says;
1. What shall we say then? Shall we
continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2. God
forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer
therein?
Because of God’s grace
we are supposed to be dead to sin.
That means to stop transgressing. Grace is not a pass to ignore Gods command; neither
are we supposed to take it for granted nor an excuse but in fact grace increases our obligation and our need
to obey God.
Righteousness and
grace are put side by side. In Rom 5:21
- That as sin hath reigned unto death,
even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus
Christ our Lord. Grace reigns through righteousness. Grace abounds for the purpose of obedience
to the law, but most of the people
do the opposite. Righteousness is simply meant by obeying the law.
Therefore,
the law was good, but it was weak through the sinful nature of mankind. The law
told man exactly what God required, but it didn't provide any power for him to
do it
How
can we experience/get grace?
John 1:15-17 John bore witness
about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me
ranks before me, because he was before me.'”) 16. And from his fullness we have
all received, grace upon grace. 17. For the law was given through Moses; grace
and truth came through Jesus Christ.
John 1:14 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.
We get/experience grace through Jesus Christ and
that Jesus is full of grace and truth.
Grace:
The power of salvation.
The greatest act of
grace is the gift of salvation that
is available for all people through faith
Eph
2:8-9. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9. Not of works, lest any man
should boast.
When the gift is
accepted, eternal life is promised to the recipient. This eternal
life is a promise of a home one day in heaven with God. The promise to the
believer is sealed with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that one day Jesus the
Christ will return to earth to claim His purchased possession (Eph 1:12-14; 4:30). Jesus purchased
every sinner with His own blood on the cross at Calvary.
Titus
2:11. For the grace of God that brings salvation
has appeared to all men.
Grace:
The teacher.
Today grace is our teacher. Tit 2:11-13, "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all
men. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live
self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, while we wait for
the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus
Christ."
I want you to notice that "grace"
teaches us. It teaches us
i.
Christian living denies - To say no to
ungodliness and worldly passions
ii.
The Christian life should be lived in "self-control,
uprightness, and godliness."
iii.
The Christian life should be lived in
the "great expectation of the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ."
Grace:
The Power of Gospel.
The Gospel is the most basic,
foundational message of the New Testament, yet it’s the most misunderstood. The book of Romans was written to explain the
Gospel so that anybody could understand it. Paul started off with this statement in Romans 1:16: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to
the Greek.
But Paul said he was not
ashamed of the Gospel. Why? It’s because the Gospel is the power of God, and that
is talking about grace.
The next verse in Romans 1:17 says, “For
therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is
written, the just shall live by faith.” The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith but we
receive the righteousness of God by grace through faith.
Eph.
2:8: For by grace are ye saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God 9. Not of works, lest
any man should boast.
In Acts 20:24 and Galatians 1:6 both use the terms “gospel” and “grace”
interchangeably.
Grace: God’s empowerment.
2 Corinthians 12:8-9 Three times I pleaded
with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9. But he said to me, “My
grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power
of Christ may rest upon me.
Here God
literary defines grace as his power. The bible says that we literarily apprehend the power of
grace through faith. When we believe what God has spoken then it becomes a part
of our lives. With many Christians we live in our natural ability when in
reality grace gives us the power to go beyond our natural ability.
2 Peter 1:2-3 Grace and peace be
multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3.
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto
life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory
and virtue:
Grace gives us the
power to save God acceptably. Hebrews
12:28 – 29, Wherefore we receiving a
kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God
acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29. For our God is a consuming fire.
………………........................................……………………………………………
2
Peter 3:18, "But GROW IN GRACE and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; to whom be glory both now and
forever.
…Amen…
May God bless you.
Prepared by;
Emmanuel J. Kileo.
BAEd 3. 2014.
0 comments:
Post a Comment