Puzzle Pieces - Rom 6:14-15
February 12, 2023
don’t mean to brag… but this puzzle says 3-5 years… only took me three days… when I started… all pieces were there… couldn’t see final image… took time…
Psa 119… “give me understanding according to Your word (v73, 125; 169)…”
John 16:13… “the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth…”
Luke 24:45… “then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures…”
grace can be like a puzzle… think we know what it is… then God reveals another piece to give us an even better understanding of it…
1Cor 8:2… “if anyone thinks he knows… doesn’t yet know as he ought to…”
Phil 3:12-18… “if you think differently… God will reveal this also to you…”
Col 1:5-6… “day you heard gospel… came to truly appreciate God’s grace…”
thought I understood grace… then truth came along to change my life… pray…
Rom 6:14-15… “sin will not rule over you… because you are not under the law, but under grace… should we sin because we are under grace… absolutely not…”
How well did you understand grace before you understood grace? For as long as I can remember I thought I understood grace perfectly well. But when Grace came into focus, I was floored. I realized that I had barely understood grace at all. —Dr. Paul Ellis
acknowledge one of my mentors… Dr Paul Ellis (E2R/TGC)… his insight helps me grow daily… his writings give us a few extra puzzle pieces to understand grace…
Gal 2:21… “do not treat the grace of God as meaningless…”
2Tim 2:1… “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus…”
Live by grace, not just Saved by grace
grace is not one-time event… it’s never ending… not just saved by it… God wants us to live by it… do good works, but by grace… give, serve, pray, worship, preach, encourage, love all by grace… changes our heart, not just our actions (want to)…
2Cor 6:2… “don’t receive grace in vain… now is the acceptable time… today…”
2Cor 12:9-10… “grace is sufficient… boast in weakness… Christ’s power in me…”
Eph 2:8-10… “created to do good works… not of ourselves… but by grace…”
Col 2:6… “just as you received Christ… continue to walk in Him (by grace)…”
If’s and Buts
another sign we may not understand grace involves if’s and buts…
You will be forgiven… IF you confess your sins. You will be accepted… IF you do right.
You will be holy… IF you continue to act holy. God gives grace… BUT you must obey.
You’re saved by grace… BUT you must live right to maintain that salvation.
The Ephesians had left their first love. They had too much going on. They were burning the candle at both ends and burning themselves out. How do we wander from the love of God? By working ourselves to distraction and trying to earn what He freely provides. —Dr. Paul Ellis
that type of preaching leads to fear… fear of failure… fear you aren’t forgiven… fear you’ll be out of fellowship… or worse, fear you’ll lose your salvation… none of those things sound like good news… so they can’t be the gospel of grace…
John 1:16… “out of His fullness… received grace in place of grace already given…”
Rom 11:6… “if by grace, it can’t be works… otherwise grace is no longer grace…”
2Tim 1:9… “He has saved us and called us to a holy life… not because of anything we have done… but because of His own grace… given to us in Christ Jesus…”
Sons, not Servants
grace has made us sons, not servants… hard work doesn’t please God, faith does… fully pleasing to Him because of Jesus… doesn’t give you grace so you can work for Him… gives grace simply because He loves you… wants you to believe…
John 6:28-29… “this is the only work God wants… believe in the One He sent…”
Rom 8:15-17… “not received spirit to make fearful slaves… adopted as His kids…”
1Cor 15:10… “I worked harder than any… yet not I, but grace that was with me…”
Heb 4:1-7… “no longer a slave, but a son… and if a son, then you are an heir…”
Heb 11:6… “without faith it is impossible to please God… rewards those who seek Him…”
Receive or Ask
God has already given us everything we need… often spend more time asking to forgive, heal, provide, deliver, rescue than being thankful and receiving it…
Matt 10:8… “heal sick, raise dead, cast out demons… freely receive, freely give…”
Rom 8:17-32… “co-heirs… freely given all things…”
1Cor 2:10-16… “HS helps us understand what has been freely given to us…”
2Pet 1:1-3… “everything required for life… found in knowledge of Him…”
Cross Conscious or Sin Conscious
person who understands grace is more conscious of the cross than sin…
Num 21:6-9… “bronze snake on a pole… looked at snake… he recovered…”
1Cor 2:2… “determined to know nothing among you except Jesus crucified…”
Phil 3:8-11… “everything worthless compared to knowing Him… goal is to know Him…”
Heb 8:12… “I will forgive their wrongdoing… never again remember their sins…”
Living or Written Word
more we understand grace… more we fall in love with living word, not just the written word… desire is for healer, not healing… provider, not provision…
Col 1:25… “I have become a servant… to make the word of God fully known…”
Luke 1:37… “no word from God will ever fail (nothing impossible)…”
logos… total written message of God to man… / rhema… actual spoken words of God…
Righteousness
new creation in Christ, not improved creation… more you understand grace… more you understand you are perfect and holy… even if you don’t feel like it…
John 14:20… “I am in the Father… you are in Me… and I am in you…”
John 16:8-11… “HS convicts world about sin… believer about righteousness…”
2Cor 5:17-21… “anyone in Christ… is a new creation… old gone, new come…”
Heb 10:10-17… “He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified…”
1John 4:17… “as He is… so are we in this world…”
grace is supernatural… only comes by revelation of HS (not me)… if you don’t yet see it… be patient, keep looking… continue to grow in grace… pray…
Acts 13:43… “Paul urged them to continue in the grace of God…”
Gal 1:12… “did not receive from man… nor taught… came by revelation of Jesus…”
2Pet 3:18… “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ…”