Great Grace!

Wednesday, March 16, 2016 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments

John 1:17, For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ is the foundation to understanding your purpose in life and God’s provision.

Grace is more than undeserved favor. Grace is everything God has that He makes available to us through Jesus Christ. Grace is God’s operational power. The grace of God cannot be separated from Jesus because His personal love and sacrifice for us removed the failure of the “Law” and gave us the riches of grace.

Galatians 2:21, I do not set aside [frustrate] the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

In Acts Chapter Four, we see powerlessness of the Law of Moses and the power of the Grace of God in healing the lame man laid by the gate of the temple. Acts 4:33, And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.

Keep in mind that the Law was not bad. It served the good purpose of showing people God’s will (such as “You shall love the Lord your God”). However, it also showed the inability of people to perform God’s will in their own strength. Keeping the law proved to be impossible because of the sinful nature of mankind. Only Jesus could keep the law and become a Savior for us all.

Great Grace began with redemption through Jesus and separation from self righteousness. “For by grace you have been saved through faith” Eph 2:8-10

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were confounded, confused, and out of touch with the grace of God. 

The Old Covenant was based on the strength man. The New Covenant is based on the strength of God. 

OLD order: Righteous lifestyle could not produce righteousness. 
NEW order: The gift of righteousness produces a righteous lifestyle 

Under the grace everything we need is created and imparted to us through Christ. 

1 Cor 1:30, But of him you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

The Hebrews writing clearly describes the difference between old and new covenants:

Heb. 8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

G.R.A.C.E.

Give: Give what God has given you to give. What I have a give to you. 

Reach: Go for more than business as usual. Move outside of yourself and into a life of challenge and adventure

Accept: Accept the new things God was doing in your life. They reported to the church all that God had one. Accept the difference that grace brings to you life. Live the lifestyle of people called by God to change their world. Matthew 28:18, “Go into all the world and make disciples.”

Clear: Clear the old behaviors to make room for God’s best ways. In order to learn and build something new, you have to clear out the old. We use to record and sell cassette and VHS tapes. When compact disc technology came along, we transitioned from tapes to CD’s. We to clear out the tape duplicators and the little ploy boxes. The early church disciples cleared away the old powerless religious bonds. The religious leaders had gone so far away from God that they could not even rejoice in the miracle of the man being healed. Their only thought was: “How can we shut in down because this takes the focus off of us?

Elevate: Giving, Reaching, Accepting and Clearing lead to an Elevation or “Great Grace!”