The Greatness of Grace
Bishop Ron Lewis
Focus: God’s grace in Jesus Christ finds you, saves you, keeps you, and empowers you for his glory.
Points:
I shouldn’t be here…except for the grace of God.
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. 15 (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 For 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 1:14-17
Jesus is full of grace.
It doesn’t matter how bad or good we’ve been.
Grace is mentioned 4 times in these 4 verses.
Jesus came to the lowest place in the world: Israel (geography), manger (like an animal), cross (like a criminal).
All we can do, is RECEIVE the grace of God.
39 of the 40 miracles in Acts were outside the church.
Where we are, God is there.
What is grace?
God’s→Riches→At→Christ’s→Expense
Jesus did it all and we can only receive.
The blood of Jesus Christ for our sins is God’s grace toward us.
If we reject God’s grace we must rely on our obedience to the Old Testament standard of righteousness based on perfect obedience to 600+ laws.
Grace guarantees that we have been acknowledged, accepted, redeemed, chosen, loved, ransomned, adopted and adored by the living God through Jesus Christ.
We Become New
10 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 Corinthians 15:10
Grace makes us brand new.
Grace restores us to God and others
6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”- Malachi 4:6
We Are Kept
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, - Titus 2:11-12
The grace of God brings salvation.
The grace of God trains us to live godly lives here and now.
Before grace sin was normal.
‘Hesed’ is God’s covenant kindness to love us, never leave us, or forsake us.
This Hesed empowers us to do God’s work.
We are now living in grace and we can expect good things to happen.
Grace is the gift of God that help you be who you’re meant to be.Questions:
Are you too proud to receive God’s grace in Jesus Christ?
Does your success keep you from God’s grace?
Are your failures keeping you from God’s grace?
No matter what you’re going through God is with you, never leaving you, and is giving you his grace.
All we can do is say thank you.
Pray
Thank you God for your grace that finds me, saves me, makes me new, and empowers me to be who you’ve called me to be in Jesus Christ. Fill me again now. Amen.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. - John 3:16-17
Second City Church - Bishop Ron Lewis