What makes Grace, Grace? - Acts 20:24
February 19, 2023
don’t mean to brag… but can I tell you about bowling this week…
Prov 27:2… “let another praise you… not your own mouth and lips…”
sports very important to me… dad was good athlete… Iowa bowling Hall of Fame… many 700 series… great golfer… numerous holes-in-one… shot 67 at 62… played league softball in his 60’s… pitched no-hitter in slo-pitch… Paul loved sports too…
1Cor 9:24-27… “in a race everyone runs, but only one gets prize, run to win… all athletes are disciplined in training… I run with purpose in every step… I’m not just shadow-boxing…”
1Tim 4:8… “physical training is good… spiritual training is much better…”
2Tim 4:7… “I have fought the good fight… I have finished the race…”
Heb 12:1… “let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…”
society obsessed with sports and athletes… Paul was obsessed with gospel… pray…
Acts 20:24… “none of these things move me… nor do I count my life of any value… so I may finish my race with joy… to testify to the gospel of grace…”
I want to do right. I want to do His will. I want to love the unlovely. I don’t want to get away with anything. I trust my heart. I picture a life beyond what the old me could ever imagine. —John Lynch
Paul said anyone preaching a different gospel should be cursed… and castrated (no fruit)… so what is this gospel that caused him to speak so strongly…
Gal 1:6-10… “amazed you are turning to a different gospel… not that there is another… if anyone does, curse be on him… again, if anyone preaches different gospel, curse on him…”
Gal 5:11-12… “if I were no longer preaching the cross of Christ… no one would be offended… I wish that those who trouble you would castrate themselves…”
grace is inexhaustible… grace makes good news good news… grace strengthens us till Jesus comes back… grace adds power to our weakness… graces saves us… grace allows us to bear good fruit… grace makes us holy… grace helps us… grace is greater than all… grace isn’t a sermon, theology, concept… it’s person of Jesus…
John 1:16… “we have all received grace after grace from His fullness…”
Acts 20:24… “testifying to the good news of God’s grace…”
1Cor 1:4-9… “thank God because of grace… He will strengthen you to the end…”
2Cor 12:9-10… “My grace is sufficient… My power is perfected in weakness…”
Eph 2:8-10… “we are saved by grace thru faith… it is God’s gift…”
Col 1:6… “gospel is bearing fruit and growing… as you understood God’s grace…”
2Tim 1:9… “God saved us… called us to a holy life… according to His grace…”
Heb 4:16… “approach the throne of grace… receive mercy and grace to help…”
James 4:6… “but He gives greater grace… gives grace to the humble…”
Everything in life is grace from the very beginning to the very end. Were it not for grace there would be no such thing as a Christian. The ultimate test of our spirituality is the measure of our amazement at the grace of God. There is no reason for grace but grace. —D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
people have been asking what the gospel is for 2000 years… it’s very simple…
1Cor 15:1-11… “I want to make it clear… the gospel I preached… which you received… on which you have taken your stand… I passed on what was most important… Christ died for our sins… was buried… raised on the third day…”
2Cor 11:3… “I fear… you may be led astray from simplicity that is in Christ…”
because of the gospel… the benefits of grace are clear… God says…
I love you unconditionally. Rom 5:8… “God proves His love… Christ died for us…”
I accept you just as you are. 2Cor 6:18… “I will be a Father to you… will be My children…”
I have forgiven all your sins. Eph 1:7… “forgiveness of our sins… according to grace…”
I hold nothing against you. 1Cor 13:5… “love holds no record of wrongs…”
I made you acceptable. Rom 3:21-26… “justified freely by His grace thru Jesus…”
I made you brand new. Rom 5:17-21… “you are a new creation, old gone, new come…”
I adopted you. Gal 4:1-7… “redeem… adopt as sons… cry Daddy… made you heir…”
once He met Jesus… Paul spent rest of his life exploring blessings of grace… living a life of grace is radical… opposite of everything in this world…
1Cor 2:2… “determined to know nothing among you except Jesus crucified…”
Eph 1… “He has blessed us with every blessing in Christ…”
Phil 3:8-11… “everything worthless compared to knowing Him… goal is to know Him…”
God’s grace is hyper… excessive, unusual, abnormal… greatly exceeds norms…
Rom 5:17… “those who receive the abundance of grace…”
2Cor 9:8… “God is able to make all grace abound to you…”
perisseia… more than is necessary; much more than all; exceed fixed number of measure…
Rom 5:20… “where sin increased… grace abounded all the more…”
hyperperisseuo… abound beyond all measure; overflow; superabundantly…
Eph 2:6-7… “show exceeding, surpassing, incomparable riches of His grace…”
1Tim 1:14… “the grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly…”
hyperpleonazo… exceedingly abundant; overflow; possess in excess; superabound…
God’s grace is greater than anything we can understand…
Rom 8… “there is no condemnation in Christ… set free from the law of sin and death… brings life to our mortal bodies… all things work together for good… if God is for us, who can be against us… how will He not freely give us all things… who can accuse God’s elect… who will condemn us, no one… can anything separate us from God’s love… despite all things, overwhelming victory is ours thru Christ… nothing can separate us from God’s love… neither death nor life… angels nor demons… fear or worry… not even the powers of hell… nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ…”
God’s grace comes by faith alone… preachers can mess that up by focusing on sin… partial forgiveness… law-keeping… prophecies, conspiracies, myths…
1Tim 1:3-11… “don’t waste time in discussions about myths… doesn’t help faith…”
1Tim 4:7… “have nothing to do with silly myths… train in godliness…”
2Tim 4:1-8… “time will come… turn away from hearing truth… turn to myths…”
Heb 4:2… “grace was of no value to them… because it was not mixed with faith…”
grace-less preaching points you to yourself… your abilities, failures, promises… leads to gsc… because you will always fall short of God’s glory…
Rom 3:23… “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God…”
grace-based preaching always points you to Jesus and causes you to thank God for His goodness… biggest mistake we can make is to think grace is for other people… we all need the grace of God every single day… all of us… pray…
2Cor 6:2… “don’t receive grace in vain… now is the acceptable time… today…”
Gal 2:21… “do not treat the grace of God as meaningless…”