Start with Amazing Grace Video.
PRAY
Lord God and Father,
open our eyes so we can see Your truth.
Open our ears so w can hear Your voice.
Open our mind so we can understand Your Word.
And open our heart so we may receive all that You want me to receive. AMEN
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the Gospel of Grace.
Grace is the Gospel.
Please don’t let anyone tell you any different.
There is an enemy of the Gospel of Grace. There is one who is cunning and determined to undermine our faith and undermine our relationship with God.
The enemy sends voices into this world to get our eyes off of the truth of the Gospel. The enemy comes to malign, to put down, the Gospel of Grace the Jesus gave His life for us to embrace.
This is a matter of blessings and curses.
This is a matter of life and death.
And yet there are so many voices out there that try to teach other Gospels. The Gospel of Joseph Smith, the Gospel of Buddha, the Gospel of the Koran, the Gospel of Hollywood, the Gospel of Washington DC, the Gospel of science, and so on.
The enemy of God has an entire arsenal of weapons that he uses against our faith to get our eyes off the one true Gospel which is the Gospel of God’s Grace.
The enemy is a liar! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the Gospel of Grace. Grace is the Gospel.
Today we are going to look at God’s Word and we are going to see that the Gospel of Grace is true Gospel and it is truly amazing.
Every church, every minister that preaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be blessed by God. He will resource them to do His work. He will provide for them to a place where everything is supplied for the sake of the Gospel.
Let’s look at what the Apostle Paul has to say about grace in Galatians 1:6-9.
This is one of the most intensely emotional defenses of the Gospel of Grace that you can find in the all of the New Testament.
Here is what is happening in the church in Galatia, they had left the Gospel of Grace. The truth of the Gospel of Grace was being distorted, made different but here is the thing; it was dangerously believable.
Sound familiar? People today are trying to redefine Grace.
The Bible defines grace for us.
We will get to Galatians in a moment.
Paul through the anointing of the Holy Spirit while in Ephesus, said, and I am reading this through the Amplified version, But none of these things move me; neither do I esteem my life dear to myself, if only I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have obtained from [which was entrusted to me by] the Lord Jesus, faithfully to attest to the good news (Gospel) of God’s grace (His unmerited favor, spiritual blessing, and mercy). Acts 20:24
The Gospel is the good news and the good news is God’s unmerited favor.
There are some who would say today that grace is not unmerited favor, but it is! The Bible defines it that way. Favor that is not deserved. There is nothing we could have done to receive this. We didn’t deserve it, but God gave it.
Don’t let anyone redefine grace for you. The Bible has already done it. Grace does not come by works, it comes freely from God who gave us Jesus Christ.
Titus 3:5 says, 5 He saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but because of His own pity and mercy, by [the] cleansing [bath] of the new birth (regeneration) and renewing of the Holy Spirit…
Grace will produce good works not dead works but the good works will not produce the grace. We are not saved by our good works. We are saved by the grace. We are saved by the Gospel of Grace. The Gospel of Grace is the Good News of Jesus Christ.
That is why Paul said, “8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV
There are a lot of people in this world today who think they are going to heaven because they have done good things or because they are good people but they have not accepted the Grace of God.
They are going to be surprised one day!
OK, so back to Galatians.
Paul is responding to their situation.
Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers and sisters with me,
To the churches in Galatia: 3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Galatians 1:1-5 NIV
Right here Paul puts down all the elements of the Gospel of Grace.
Jesus Christ, Raised from the dead by God, God’s grace and God’s peace, Jesus giving Himself for our sins, rescuing us from this age of evil, and all of this according to the will of God.
Paul was writing to a people were being turned away from the Gospel of Grace. They were claiming that the Jewish Law was binding upon Christians and that salvation must be attained by the works of the Law.
And as I said earlier, people today are still trying to redefine God’s grace, so Paul begins to set forth the Gospel of Grace as it is supposed to be. As Paul begins we see that he is shocked, he is stunned at what is happening.
Galatians 1:6-9
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all.
Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! Galatians 1:6-9 NIV
They were being removed from the Gospel that saved them.
In Corinthians Paul discusses church matters like divisions, lawsuits among believers, sexual immorality, marriage, food, worship, freedom, love, spiritual gifts, the resurrection and other matters.
But here in Galatians we see a different concern. It is an intense concern.
The good news, the Gospel of Grace is being challenged and changed and this is something that we cannot stand for.
Some things are going to change within the church and that is OK. It is inevitable.
We will see changes in the way we do things in our services because of our culture, styles, personalities and a host of other variables. But when it comes to changing the Gospel, that my friends is something that should never be tampered with.
The church can survive the shifts and changes that occur in the way we do things but listen closely:
Change the Gospel and the Church will die!
Change the Gospel and the Church will be cursed!
Change the Gospel and the Church becomes removed from God’s grace.
The Gospel is Grace and we cannot survive without it.
The Gospel, the good news, the Gospel of Grace belongs to God who freely gives it to us.
It is eternal.
It is powerful.
It is perfect.
It is the very thing that brings salvation to our lives.
Someone has come into the Galatian church and started telling people that the death of Jesus, and the burial of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus was not enough to save them.
They were teaching them that they needed to be circumcised and that they needed to obey the Law of Moses in order to be saved.
This was a different message then what they had heard from Paul.
Paul, who at one point in his life was a Pharisee, a man who knew the Law of Moses forward and backward. A man who at one point in his life was a terrorist. That’s right, Paul was a terrorist, what else do you call a person who persecutes and kills others because their religious beliefs are different?
Paul experienced God’s Gospel of Grace first hand so he was speaking as one who had authority. Paul’s changed life was proof of the Gospel of Grace.
Paul says to the church, “Look at me! You know what kind of man I was. I was a certified, legalistic Pharisee. I tried to kill the believers of Christ. And yet, I had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ and He called me to preach His Gospel of Grace to the world.”
This Gospel of Grace is amazing. It is life changing.
What does that mean for us?
1. The Gospel of Grace is something we need to hear, heed, and hold on to.
God has given us the greatest gift ever. The Gospel of Grace as it is, with no improvements made.
It is the Gospel of Grace that is the power of salvation for who? For everyone who believes.
We don’t add to it. We don’t spruce it up. We don’t candy coat it.
It is something that needs to be preached from our pulpits and received by the people in faith. We need to take our stand that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Him.
It is the Gospel of Grace that says God sent Jesus, Jesus died for our sins, Jesus was buried, Jesus rose again and Jesus is alive today. Why did He do those things? So all of us could be saved from sin.
The second thing that it means for us.
2. We don’t change the Gospel of Grace the Gospel of Grace changes us.
This Gospel of Grace has the power to save us and it has the power for us to change. The evidence of the power of the Gospel of Grace is evident in the life we live after we are saved.
I remember a story about a man, who was challenged to give his heart to God, but there was a problem, he was an alcoholic and drug user. He was afraid to give his heart to God. The man who was telling Him about Jesus told him that he did not have to give up those things to come to Christ. But if he did give his heart to Jesus to give it a 100% chance.
The man gave his heart to Jesus. He didn’t give up any of his vices, he just gave up his heart.
1 month later, this man was clean from drugs and alcohol. When asked how he did it he simply said, “After giving my heart to Jesus, I just didn’t want to do that other stuff.”
The Gospel of Grace changes us.
God calls us through His Son and as the Son is revealed in us and becomes a real part of our lives, Jesus begins to work changes in us through the working of the Holy Spirit.
That is what repentance is, a change of mind. You used to think one way and now because of Jesus you think another way and you walk away from the sin.
Jesus paid the debt of our sins so that we could change our minds, change the way we think, turn around and walk away from sin. The debt has been paid.
When Jesus comes into our lives we shouldn’t want to live in sin any longer.
This Gospel of Grace is amazing. It is life changing.
How many of you like to get gifts?
I have some money with me today that is just burning a hole in my pocket cause I want to gift it away.
I am going to give this money away with no strings attached.
Who doesn’t like free money? We all like free money!
What would you do with this gift if I gave it to you?
Would you keep it for yourself? Go out to eat for lunch? Gift it to someone else?
GIVE THE GIFT AWAY
I can’t give everyone here today a gift of cash, but I can tell you that each one of us here have been offered a greater gift than that money.
It is the gift of God’s grace. Earlier I read Ephesians 2:8-10.
“8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV
God’s Gospel of Grace is AMAZING!
G stands for Gift a gift that is free. A gift that God offers all. A gift that is live in Jesus because God loves us.
R stands for Receive. It was something that God wants everyone to receive. It also stands for Renew so that we can walk in the newness of life in Jesus. And for this we can truly Rejoice.
A stands for Accept. We all must at one point in our lives accept this free gift. We have to make a decision to ask God to forgive us and to ask Jesus into our heart.
C is for Cleanse and Creates. We Confess the gift of God, we Call out to Him, It is a gift that Cancels our Debt and Creates in us a new Creation. It is a gift that Cleanses us from our unrighteousness. It is a gift that gives us the power to Change our ways.
E is for Everyone, Erased, and Enriched. It is a gift for all that Erases our sin and Enriches our lives with a greater power to live for God. And when that happens we can then Enjoy His freedom and His forgiveness in our lives.
God’s amazing Gospel of Grace! What good is it if we don’t grab a hold of this?
It would be like that person I can the money to and they took that money home and put it on a shelf. It would do no good! It would pay any bills, buy any groceries, put any gas in the car, or help build a house in Tijuana.
I pray you that you are picking up what I am laying down today.
We are never going to be able to claim all the things that God has in store for us until we grasp this one simple truth, God’s Gospel of Grace is Amazing.
The point of this message today is simple. God’s grace is amazing. It is the starting line that leads us to some awesome benefits.
It starts with salvation and if we give our hearts to God through Christ and live our lives for Him then there is so much more that God promises He will do with us and through us.
It is like having your cake and eating it to!
What a difference we could make in this world if we all walked in God’s authority that comes with us accepting His Amazing Grace.
Have you accepted His grace?
Have you been walking in it?
Are you allowing Jesus into your life so that you can see those changes that we have been talking about?
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