Sermons to Me: GRACE

Saturday, January 16, 2016

GRACE

I am grieved, I mourn, I lament, I am distressed, I am pained by sorrow to hear/see/believe there are people who do not understand the gospel message…
G R A C E !!! How then can anyone be saved?

One cannot have salvation if one does not understand Grace. That is to say; there is nothing of "works" in it. One cannot understand Grace if one does not understand sin; it is undeserved and unearned. One cannot understand sin if one does not understand what happened in the "garden"; man became totally separated from even coming to God without first repenting.

But let's assume we understand up to and including "sin." Do we understand and accept that we have NO power at all to save ourselves? Absolutely no power, no strategy, no program, no road-map (in and of ourselves) in any way, shape or concept. There is nothing we can do of ourselves which will accomplish our salvation… not even close. Close doesn't count anyway. Who does not agree with this? Those in the "works" camp?

Well… there are those in the "works" camp who don't even know they are in the "works" camp. They would say, " We don't save ourselves… we just try to obey God's laws so He can save us. We try to live like Christ so that we might be acceptable to God. Our 'works' are works of faith". Well… I would be fearful of hell my whole life if I lived like that. The success of deception is that you do not know you are being deceived.

We are not saved by works of faith. We are saved by G R A C E…
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Eph. 2:8-9.

AMAZING GRACE

While good works are indeed a manifestation of saving faith, it is not the works which save… but the saving faith (salvation) which produces (causes, yields, brings forth, results in) good works. Even James, in his second chapter, speaks of faith in God's Grace as the saving power which will produce the evidentiary work… or if it does not, (as James says) then one's faith is dead, James 2:14-26.

What is Grace
The "Grace" of God is His loving work of redemption for His creation which is in Christ… brought into the world, revealed, demonstrated and accomplished in Jesus. There is a whole lot more to this relationship of God, Christ and Jesus (and man) which is our wonderful life-study in itself, referred to as the "mystery of the ages" Col. 1:26-27; 1 Tim. 3:16. Grace is God's (unmerited) work toward us. Faith is our reciprocity. This union… this fellowship in Christ is what saves.

What is Salvation
The overriding motivation in this is God's Righteous Love which allows Him, also, to righteously hate. God loves His creation. God loves Jesus and what He accomplished, which was God's purpose… His Righteous work in Christ, His plan of redemption. God hates evil. He hates sin. And there is plenty of evidence and testimony in the Bible that God hates persons… if one wants to open the eyes.

"Hate the sin, but love the sinner". Where is that written? There is no sin without the sinner and there is no sinner without the "sinning". You cannot separate the two… except by salvation. The love of God for the sinner is AT THE CROSS! Salvation separates (frees) us from the dominion (power, reign, rule, control) of sin. I do not advocate hate with malice, which too often, is all we are capable of. I do, though, defend the word "hate" in the Bible. If we were to be totally honest… we have just as much trouble with "love". But I digress.

So what is salvation… what are we saved from? We are saved from hell, certainly. Is that it? NO! Yet, that is what the majority believes. The intent of God… His Purpose… is not just to save us from hell, or death (the body AND soul). God's bigger purpose is to bring us back to Himself… to redeem that which was lost to Him through our sin. We are not only called to escape judgment. We are called to be made righteous.

Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
2 Tim. 1:9

This is a transformation that comes only from God (Grace), and is accomplished only in Christ (Faith). The realization (success, perfecting) of God's work in us is in our sacrifice of self. But we do not sacrifice in order to be saved. We are saved so that we CAN sacrifice. If one is truly saved, one does not fear death, or hell, or satan, or even the (recurring?) sin in one's life. I can honestly tell myself that I do not fear those things. Those things have been taken care of, once and for always. It is peace.
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Tim. 1:7.

If there is any fear at all, it is that I should disappoint God… fail Him in my obedience, for which I can have immediate and total forgiveness.

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The GOSPEL

"...that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures..." 1 COR. 15:3-4.

As defined by Paul, THE Gospel declares the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ according to the Scriptures. But surely that declaration doesn't explain the full Gospel message of the entire Word of God, which reveals Who the biblical God is (the Father), Who the biblical Christ is (God the Son), what the biblical problem between God and man is (sin), the biblical and only means of man's forgiveness by God (the cross and repentance), and the eternal consequences for those who reject the biblical Gospel (eternal separation from God, i.e., Lake of Fire). None of these is a peripheral point of doctrine (to the Gospel) to be ignored or compromised. To do so would be a departure from the faith into apostasy to proclaim a false gospel.

As AWESOME as that is, even more awesome (to me) is that Jesus Christ should do that for me!

QUOTES

"If the Christian will not elevate his living to the heavenlies by walking in the Spirit, then he lives in an earthly, carnal religion." ~fb

"Can flesh and blood be pre-existent?" ~fb

"Time is short. Eternity is long. It is only reasonable that this short life should be lived in the light of eternity!" ~C.H. Spurgeon

"Ears listen but it's the heart that hears. Eyes look but it's the soul that sees." ~fb

"There are none more asleep than those who are woke." ~fb

"I am not concerned with preparing for death and judgement; I am concerned with living for Christ." ~fb

"Isms... the bane of reason and truth."~fb

"He who does not recognize that he stumbles will never walk uprightly."~fb

"There can hardly be goodness in a man if he be not angry at sin; he who loves truth must hate every false way."~C.H. Spurgeon

"I ask not the favor given to Paul; I seek not the grace bestowed upon Peter, but I beg the mercy granted to the thief on the cross!"~Copernicus

"Love is the highest pinnacle of spiritual maturity."~fb

"Truth suffers in the hands of pride." ~fb

"When the truth is attacked, it is but the defense of a lie." ~fb

"It is incredibly foolish to consider that life would spring spontaneously from non-life, by chance." ~fb

"For some people, the difference between light and darkness is the flip of a wall switch." ~fb

"It is not our doctrines the world laughs at; it is not our faith the world mocks; it is not our religion the world despises; it is our hypocrisy that provokes their scorn." ~fb

"We must always have in our minds a reverence of God's majesty, a dread of his displeasure, and an obedient regard to his sovereign authority over us: this fear will quicken us to our duty and make us circumspect in our walking. Thus stand in awe, and sin not, Ps. 4:4" ~Matthew Henry

"There must come with decision for truth a corresponding protest against error." ~C.H. Spurgeon

"There is an inherent idolatry in celebrating, or worshiping a 'baby' Jesus." ~fb

"Gospel integrity is the best security against wickedness." ~fb

"You either understand God’s Word as you read it, or you study God’s Word to understand it." ~fb

“It is better to be divided by truth than united with error." ~Adrian Rogers

"The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it." ~George Orwell

"With a sincere commitment to the faith, there comes a sudden spiritual awakening that immediately validates itself." ~fb

“Truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just need to figure out who is worth the pain.” ~Adrian Rogers

“There can be no civility when confronting lies.” ~fb

"The greatest, and perhaps ultimately the only expression in Creation, is to love." ~fb

"It isn’t that LIBERALS are IGNORANT, it’s just that they know so much that ISN’T SO!" ~Ronald Reagan

"Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him." ~Prov. 26:4

"Work as if you were to live 100 Years; Pray as if you were to die tomorrow." ~Benjamin Franklin

"How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?... Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin... Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." ~Rom. 6:2 and 6 and 12

"Archaic = a term which the 'contemporary' man (from whatever era) introduces in order to do away with that which he will not or can not deal with." ~fb

"Without saving faith, all moral virtues are but splendid sins!" ~Charles Spurgeon

“The reading of good sermons is the most underrated kind of Christian literature on the market today.” ~Joel Beeke

"We look upon the enemy of our souls as a conquered foe, so he is, but only to God, not to us." ~Oswald Chambers

"There is an arrogance within Christianity that would walk away from the faith and presume to call it 'another' denomination." ~fb

"A false doctrine is in conflict with the whole Word of God, while the Truth is in harmony with every part of it." ~W.J. McClure

“What is morally wrong can never be politically right.” ~Lord Shaftesbury

"Error is always in excess." ~fb

"Shall I use the fire God gave me to burn incense all day long? No thank you!" ~Jose Ferrer as Cyrano de Bergerac

“A sacred regard to the authority of God ought to lead us to reject an error, however old, sanctioned by whatever authority, or however generally practiced.” ~Charles H. Spurgeon

"There is more Bible-buying and Bible-selling, more Bible-printing and Bible-distributing, than there ever was! But all this time, I fear we are in danger of forgetting that to have the Bible is one thing; and to read it privately ourselves (with appetite and pleasure) is quite another!" ~J.C. Ryle, 1895

"Naiveté is not a characteristic of Christ-likeness." ~fb

"The kingdom of heaven was never intended to indulge the ease of triflers." ~Matthew Henry

"True repentance is not that which humbles us on any given Sunday, but for the rest of our life." ~fb

"Impress the young convert from the very beginning with the conviction that God has called him into His kingdom to struggle with the corruptions of his heart." ~William B. Sprague

"The will, engaged in evil, feeds on sinful desires, and wastes itself without fruit." ~J.N. Darby

"Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." ~Psalm 90:12

"I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child where the scriptures do not reign paramount." ~Martin Luther

"The fool will not listen... The wise already know." ~fb

"It is impossible to maintain civilization with 12-year-olds having babies, with 15-year-olds killing each other, with 17-year-olds dying of AIDS and with 18-year-olds getting diplomas they can't read." ~Newt Gingrich

"God does not expect us to do our best, He expects us to manifest His best." ~fb

"Sin is a plague, yes, the greatest and most infectious plague in the world; and yet, how few are there that tremble at it, that keep at a distance from it!" ~Remedies Against Satan's Devices

"I declare I know of no state of soul more dangerous than to imagine we are born again and sanctified by the Holy Ghost, because we have picked up a few religious feelings." ~J.C. Ryle

"So remember, you who profess to be followers of the Lord Jesus, that to you indifference is impossible! You must bless the church and the world by your holiness, or you will curse them both by your hypocrisy and inconsistency. In the visible church it is most true that (no man liveth unto himself, and no man dieth unto himself)." ~Charles Spurgeon

"The conflict is with a heart that loves the thing against which we strive; we do not separate ourselves from it in thought." ~J.N. Darby

"Any one who can think of their god as an 'exalted man' has nothing better than himself as a savior." ~fb

"Knowing that blank page will always remain empty, I do lament what might have been written upon it" ~LSM

“You should always make sure to go to your friends' funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours.” ~Yogi Berra

"I have noticed that the people who are late are often so much jollier than the people who have to wait for them." ~E.V. Lucas

“I am in the prime of senility.” ~Benjamin Franklin

“You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six.” ~Yogi Berra

"It's difficult to make predictions, especially about the future." ~Yogi Berra

“It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.” ~Winston Churchill

“I hate quotation. Tell me what you know.” ~Emerson

“Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.” ~R.L. Stevenson

“Now the average citizen can't relate to a billion or a trillion. A million dollars in thousand-dollar bills is a stack of bills, four inches high. A billion dollars in thousand-dollar bills is 300 feet high. A trillion dollars in thousand-dollar bills extends from the top of this [table] to 63 miles out in space.” ~Ross Perot

“I am a verb.” ~Ulysses S. Grant

“My anger protected me only for a short time; anger wearies itself out and truth comes in.” ~C.S. Lewis

Saturday, January 16, 2016

GRACE

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