What Is Grace?
FOUNDATION STATEMENT: If we fail to
fully know what the grace of God is we will fail to experience its fullness in
our lives
I. Defining Grace? When you
fail to fully know what a thing is, you miss out on all it can do
A.
We haven’t fully know what the grace of God
is & missed out on all it can do
1. Galatians 2:21-Don’t frustrate the grace of God (Frustrate-Set aside, disregard, thwart the efficacy of anything,
nullify, make void, refuse, despise)
a.
You can choke God’s grace in our life and
stop it’s operation in your life
b.
I want to walk in the fullness of God’s grace
and miss out on nothing
2. EX: The minister that brought the hummer to a family in a third world
country; they had to walk five miles everyday to get water. He showed them the
hummer, showed them it had a DVD player, air conditioning, how you could lay
the seats back etc. He came back a
few months later and saw that family sitting in the hummer watching a DVD, with
the seats laid back, and the air conditioning on. It was time for them to get water and
then grabbed the buckets and started heading towards it on foot and he said
what are doing? The explained they were going to get water.
a.
They didn’t fully know what that hummer was
& missed out on all it could do
3. Most people’s definitions of grace are not incorrect they’re incomplete
a.
Grace is one of the biggest words in the NT
& cannot be defined by one phrase
B.
(1) Grace Is: Good will, loving-kindness,
favor; the friendly nature from which the kind act proceeds; there is stress on its freeness
1. Ephesians 2:8-Grace is a free gift that cannot be earned; you can’t earn
what’s free
2. James 1:17-Anything good in your life came from God & it was an act
of his grace
a.
The healing, the money, the victory, the
peace, etc was all his grace; it is God showing you goodwill, loving-kindness,
and favor that is free
C.
(2) Grace is: That which gives joy,
pleasure, delight, sweetness, loveliness
1. When something gives you joy, pleasure,
delight; when things are sweet and lovely that is the grace of God (2 Cor 9:6-15)
D.
(3) Grace
Is: The spiritual condition of one governed by the power of divine grace
1. God can minister grace to you (be gracious to
you) & His grace can be on you
a.
Grace
is a divine enablement that can be ON
a person
2. 1 Corinthians 15:10-He credits who he was to the grace of God that was
on him
E.
(4) Grace Is: The (benefit) advantage in
life
1. Benefit-Act of kindness where favor is given; to do
good, gain an advantage, advance in prosperity
2. Advantage-Any state or condition favorable to success
or prosperity – superiority
3. 2 Cor 2:11-Satan’s
looking 4 an advantage over u; grace gives u the advantage
a.
Romans
5:20-Satan has no answer for the grace of God working in your life
1) Sin (Satan’s work) was abounding, but it was
still no match for grace
a) On Satan’s best day He’s still no match for
the grace of God
2) Grace came right over the top of sin and
trumped it
II. People
have limited the grace of God to something that takes place at salvation and
they’ve failed to walk in “grace to live” or “everyday grace”
A.
Ephesians 2-Grace doesn’t stop at salvation,
Grace begins with salvation
1. 1-3-Everything you did God hated and despised
2. 4-God is rich in mercy (Good thing because we put it to the test)
a.
There is no shortage of mercy in God
b.
God showing mercy is an act of grace &
there’s no shortage of Grace in God
3. 5-God made us alive together with Christ this is when grace saved us
a.
Ephesians 1:7-We have forgiveness of sins
according to His grace; that’s one thing the riches of His grace did in our
lives; but that alone does not define it
b.
The grace of God is so much more than the
forgiveness of sin; it is the healing of your body, the renewing of your mind,
the strengthening of your spirit, the provision in your finances, the love in
your relationships, and the divine empowerment to accomplish any task whether
it be possible or impossible-You were forgiven by grace, but the Grace of God
is ready to do so much more in your life. Don't limit the grace of God.
4. 6-He raised us up together & made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus
a.
AMP-He gave us joint-seating; He made us a
joint-heir with Jesus (Rom 8:17)
b.
Hebrews 1:2-Jesus is the heir of all things
and I’m a joint-heir with him
c.
I’m seated with him far above all
principality, power, might, dominion (Eph 1:18)
5. 7-He saved us by grace and raised us up and made us sit together with
Jesus so that he could show us the exceeding riches of His grace (MORE GRACE)
a.
God is Grace, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit
of Grace and therefore His grace is unlimited so why limit it to one thing
b.
Salvation is not the end of God’s grace, it’s
only the beginning of it
c.
It was never God’s intention that grace would
stop at salvation; he wants to show you more grace; he wants to show you the
exceeding abundant wealth and riches and fullness of his grace
1) He wants to you to sit down next to him so he can show you the abundance
of His grace in your spirit, in your soul, in your body, in your relationships
and in your finances
6. 8-By grace are you saved
a.
All wholeness and deliverance for any
suffering person (in any area of life whether it be spiritual, physical,
financial, or social) is a result of working grace which only responds to
working faith
b.
It is always an act of God’s grace and it’s
always received by faith
7. 10-The good life is the one in which the exceeding riches of his grace
is manifesting
a.
The saved by grace life is the good life
B.
Hebrews 12:25-Grace can’t stop at or be defined by
salvation; U need grace 2 live everyday
1. The Kingdom of God is a new system, a new government, a new reality and
it rules over all (Psalm 103)]
a.
There’s a new way to live
2. There’s an acceptable way to talk, to act, to think, to live
a.
You can talk, act, think and live in a way
that pleases him or displeases Him
3. Grace is the only means by which we will live a life that is acceptable
to God
a.
I need grace to walk in love, to live by
faith, to win the battle in the mind, to be thankful, to walk in the spirit and
not yield to the flesh, to forgive, to not judge, to say the right things, to
act the right way, to obey God
4. You don’t wait until you feel graced to start acting; one of the main
ways you get into grace is you start doing-Acts 14:26
a.
Grace is for doing
1) Some people want grace, but don’t want to do anything until grace comes
2) Grace to help you to do that is not received by asking, it’s received by
faith and faith acts
b.
Grace is for doing and you won’t see the
grace to do something until you start doing it
1) It’s the step of faith in which you begin to do that will launch you
into the grace to do
2) The more steps of faith you take the greater grace you walk in
5. Everything that God has for you to do His Word, there’s grace available
to do
a.
If you’re struggling it’s because grace is
absent; Grace will remove the struggle
b.
Matthew 11:30-Jesus’ yoke is easy is burden
is light
C.
Grace doesn’t enable you to struggle through
life, it enables you to power through life no matter what the situation
1. Grace is a thriving force, not a surviving force-Romans 4:20
a.
Abraham didn’t struggle through this, he was
strong in faith
b.
He was graced to stand in faith
2. People who walking in grace aren’t struggling they’re pressing on-Lk 22:43
a.
42-When he took this step of faith he got
into grace and that grace enabled him to pressure his pressure and not give in
and quit when the temptation was so great to do so; you don’t wait for grace,
you take the step of faith
b.
It would be unacceptable to God for Jesus to
yield to this pressure; Grace enabled him to live acceptably
III. The
grace of God is the answer to ever question, the solution to every problem, the
provision to meet every need
A.
2 Cor 9:8-Grace will leave u always having more than enough
no matter the need
1. AMP-Whatever the need-Grace is transforming,
changing force; Grace as the ability to become whatever you need it to become;
it has the ability to transform into whatever you need it to be
B.
Hebrews
4:16-In anytime of need (no matter what he need is) you need grace to HELP
1. Grace will help
a.
To
aid; to assist
b.
To
lend strength or means towards effecting a purpose; (as, to help a man in his work; to help one to pay his debts; to help
the memory or the understanding.)
c.
To
lend means of deliverance; as, to help
one in difficulty or distress;
d.
To
relieve; to cure, or to diminish pain or disease.
e.
To
remedy; to change for the better.
f.
To
prevent; to hinder
g.
To
advance
h.
To
promote
i.
To
deliver from difficulty
j.
To
help over, to enable to overcome; as, to help one over a difficulty.
k.
To
help off, to remove by help;
l.
To
help to supply with; to furnish with.
m.
To
help out, to lend aid; to bring a supply.
n.
That
which gives assistance; that which contributes to advance a purpose
2. In the time of need you need grace to help
a.
In the
time of need you don’t need to go to any person, anything, to medicine, or to
the economy b/c you’re not going to find grace there
b.
In the
time of need you, you need to look to God b/c that’s where to find grace
1) In the time of need you need to go where
grace is
2) God is the source of grace and if you need
grace to help go to the source
c.
Make
His grace your aim in life because once grace helps you win