Amazed by The Stream of God’s Grace
We continue in our series on Supernatural Springs and this month our focus is The Stream of God’s Grace.
So, my question for you this morning is:
Are you Amazed by God’s Stream of Grace?
Amazement is defined in the dictionary as “a strong feeling of astonishment or wonder”.
But, What is grace?
To understand what Grace really is, I need to give you quick lesson in Hebrew and Greek to help you understand what the meaning of the word we translate as Grace is.
An Old Testament Hebrew word describing God’s grace is chesed. This word speaks of deliverance from enemies, affliction, or adversity. It also refers to enablement, daily guidance, forgiveness, and preservation.
The New Testament Greek word is Charis.
It focuses on the provision of salvation.
In the New Testament grace refers to God’s love in action towards people who deserve the opposite of His love.
Grace means God moving heaven and earth to save those who are unable to save themselves.
Grace is God sending His only perfect sinless Son to die on the cross so that we, the sinful ones, the imperfect ones, the guilty ones can be forgiven, reconciled, and restored to a relationship with Him.
Grace is our righteous and Holy God promising us a place in Heaven when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.
Grace is the unmerited favour of God.
G-R-A-C-E, God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.
All of us should be amazed by God’s Stream of Grace flowing into our lives every day.
The Grace of God brings, guidance, forgiveness, power, protection and love into our lives every day.
God in His grace, in His mercy, in His love brings change and transformation into our lives every day.
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I’m sure most of us know the song Amazing Grace. The song was written by John Newton who for much of his life wasn’t a very nice person.
Newton commanded a slave ship in the 1700’s and he transported thousands of slaves during his lifetime.
He had no compassion for his cargo and he chained the slaves below the decks to prevent suicide.
600 slaves were laid side‑by‑side to save space, row after row, one after another, and if a slave became ill during the voyage, he was thrown overboard to prevent any infection from spreading.
Everything changed one night when Newton’s ship almost sunk. He gave his life to Christ and spent the rest of his days amazed by the grace of God.
At the age of 82, it is recorded that he said, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things, that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great saviour.”
Well past his “retirement” age, Newton needed an assistant to help him stand in the pulpit on Sundays. He was nearly blind and spoke only in whispers, but nothing could keep him from preaching while he still had breath
One Sunday, while delivering his message he repeated the sentence: “Jesus Christ is precious.”
His helper whispered to him: “But you have already said that twice.” Newton turned to his helper and said loudly, “Yes, I’ve said it twice, and I’m going to say it again.”
The old preacher turned back to the congregation and said again: “Jesus Christ is precious!”
At one time we all were foolish but now we consider Jesus to be precious...our precious Lord and Saviour.
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The passage I want us to focus on this morning is found in Paul’s letter to Titus. Titus 3:3-7:
Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other.4 But—
When God our Saviour revealed His kindness and love, 5 He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. 6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Saviour. 7 Because of His grace He declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life. Titus 3:3-7
Wonderful words. Powerful words. True words.
These are words of Hope.
These are words of promise.
The truth of the Bible is meant to fill us with hope. Romans 15:4 reminds us “the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.”
The dictionary defines hope as “a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen.”
The dictionary defines a promise as “a declaration or assurance that one will do something or that a particular thing will happen.”
God wants us to live in hopeful expectation of the assurance of His Promises to us.
God wants us to trust Him every day
- in hope – in expectation - looking forward to the Stream of Grace in our daily lives.
If we are honest with ourselves, we don’t always live that way do we?
Our hope, humanly speaking is not always sure and certain. Instead of trusting in the Grace of God, we fill our thoughts with “What ifs, buts and maybe’s.”
We know that God says to us in Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope”
But we don’t always live like we believe what He has said.
Think about when you arrived at Church this morning. How did you feel?
Were you looking forward to what God had planned for you this morning? .
Right now are you excited about what God will speak into your life through His word?
Or are you just waiting for me to shut up so that you can go home?
Are you, tired, angry, sad, depressed?
Or Are you eager, hopeful, waiting and wanting The Holy Spirit to move in power?
Are you too wrapped up in the here and now, to focus on the future.
Friends, that is not what God wants for us - it’s not what God wants for you.
He wants you to live in the assurance of His Grace, His Mercy and His Love.
He wants you to be excited about His Word.
He wants you to be expectant of His Grace.
He wants you to be the person He has called you to be, the person He has saved you to be
He wants you to have a confident hope.
In the letter to Titus, Paul says we are heirs of HOPE. And that Hope isn’t something we may inherit at some unknown time in the future .
By the Grace of God we are heirs of Hope now, today and everyday.
To give us hope for the future, God’s Word often points us to the past.
Instead of pointing to what we could do or should do to help improve our future, Paul points us to what God has already done!
God asks and answers an important question in Jeremiah 23:23-24 Am I a God who is only close at hand?” says the Lord. “No, I am far away at the same time. Can anyone hide from me in a secret place? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?” says the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:23-24)
God is eternal, all-powerful, and He exists everywhere.
Paul reminded Titus what WE were and what we are.
He said, Once we were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. (Tit 3:3)
Our Hope is not in ourselves, our own strength.
Our hope is in the Grace of God,
our hope is in the one who is in charge of the FUTURE
When we look at what the world around us contains, we see crime, drug addicts, perverts, false prophets, sexual sin and immorality.
When we look at ourselves, we see weakness, anger, hatred, lust, and many other sins.
And we wonder: If God is really in control:
Why isn’t he making me feel better?
Why isn’t he taking care of my health problems?
Why isn’t he giving me what I want?
Why did he make me this way?”
We start to really wonder if God is as good as we’d like Him to be.
We might even think at times “God must hate me to allow this to happen to me.”
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Friends, The Apostle Paul has a word for you this morning.
He says to you, “stop looking at this world and yourself for God - and look at God Himself! God has given me - through inspiration of the Holy Spirit - a beautiful vision of God!”
There are four adjectives Paul uses to describe God. Paul says, “the God I see is a God of kindness.”
Paul says, “the God I see is a God of Love”
Paul says, “the God I see is a God of Mercy”,
He doesn’t want to punish people when they sin. He wants to save them, forgive them - He’s for them - not against them. He’s willing to stick with them and stay faithful to them, even when they aren’t always faithful to Him.
Paul says, “the God I see is a is a God of grace - a God who likes to give things to people who don’t deserve it and who can’t help themselves.”
This morning we need to look and see God the way Paul did.
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In Matthew 22 there is a parable Jesus used to illustrate the kind of a God we place our trust in.
A King held a banquet,
but everyone he invited refused to go.
So the king sent his servants into the streets to invite everyone to come. He invited the good and the bad. He told his servants to go and get who ever they could find! That’s the kind of God we have!
That’s how God wants us to look at Him.
So if your backpain is telling you, “God doesn’t care,” or your bank account is screaming, “where is God!”, you’ve got to go back to what God says about Himself.
He says - this is who I AM.
You need to believe that even when you’re going through terrible problems - God is who HE SAYS He is. God is still good. He is still the God of Grace.
God is still merciful. And God is still righteous.
Real faith, true faith, takes God at His Word - even when there is no proof.
1 Corinthians 2:9-10 “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.” But, it was to us that God revealed these things by His Spirit. For His Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.
That’s where true hope comes from. We can eagerly look forward to the future – believing God is who He claims to be.
We may not see it with our human eyes – we need to look through the eyes of Faith.
The problem is we are often so busy looking at sin of the world, the muck and the mire, the problems and the pain, to lift our eyes of faith to look at God.
Faith is a certain hope. Hebrews 11:1 says Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.
The Amazing Grace of God is revealed through the eyes of faith.
Paul says to us this morning, “if you want to see the mercy and grace of God in action remember what God has already done in your life.”
Without Jesus you were a lost and condemned sinner.
Then through faith in Jesus as Lord and Saviour everything changed.
Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross you are forgiven, he took the penalty for your sins on the cross and in exchange you are made righteousness.
You are born-again, a new creation in Christ.
You are no longer an unbeliever on the way to hell, you are saved and on your way to Heaven.
And the gift of the Holy Spirit has been poured into your life.
That’s the mercy of God, the love of God, the Grace of God in action.
Galatians 3:26-29 says “For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. 28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are His heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.”
Through faith, you are a Child of God.
Through faith, YOU are His child.
You are His and He is yours.
Think about that.
If you ever wonder if God loves you, instead of looking at your bank balance, or your health, or the world around you.
Remember what God has already done for you.
To prove He loves you He sent His son to die for you.
You are forgiven.
You are saved.
You have peace with God.
You have the promise of eternal life.
The Stream of Grace has flowed and is flowing in your life.
So, As I close, my last question is the question we started with: Are you Amazed by God’s Stream of Grace?
There are many things about the Stream of Grace that amaze me.
I’m Amazed By God’s Gracious Love
God knows our actions
God knows our thoughts
God knows what we have done
God knows what you are going to do
God knows everything about us and He still chooses to love us – That is Amazing Love.
Knowing all this, He loves you anyway! That my friend, is amazing grace.
I’m Amazed By God’s Gracious Salvation
We were lost - He found us and saved us
We were stained by Sin - He washed us”
We were dead now we are Born-Again – alive in Christ
We were empty - He filled us with His Spirit
I’m Amazed By God’s Gracious Mercy
In His mercy He saved us and we do not receive the punishment we deserve.
We deserve to spend eternity in hell,
but we ARE saved and we ARE delivered by His mercy
I’m Amazed By God’s Gracious Grace
Grace is receiving what we could never deserve.
Grace is the unmerited favour of God.
His grace is sufficient.
We are justified by His grace.
Grace brings us into a real relationship with the God who loves us.
I’m Amazed By God’s Gracious Son, Jesus.
Do you know who Jesus is?
Are you amazed by Him?
Do you understand that He came to make a way for you to experience God’s love, mercy, grace and salvation?
Have you put your faith, hope and trust in Jesus and what He has already done for you!
The name of Jesus is AMAZING - Acts 4:12 says “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
Jesus left the glory of Heaven, came to this earth, took on flesh and became the ultimate sacrifice for our sins!
Everything about Jesus Christ is AMAZING:
- He was born of a virgin
- He lived a sinless life
- He taught with authority
- He healed the sick
- He cleansed the lepers
- He made the blind see
- He caused the deaf to hear
- He caused the dumb to speak
- He made the lame walk
- He cast out demons
- He raised people from the dead
- He laid down His life
- He paid the ultimate sacrifice
- He rose from the grave
- He ascended to Heaven
- He sat down at the right hand of the Father
- He has provided atonement for our sins
- He is making intercession on our behalf
- He has forgiven our sins
- He has saved our souls from Hell
- He has defeated Sin
- He has defeated Satan
- He has defeated Death
- He has defeated Hell
- He has defeated The Grave
- He has changed our lives
- He has poured out the Holy Spirit on all who believe
- He has provided eternal life
- He has gone to prepare a place for us
- He promised to come again to receive us
That’s why I’m AMAZED BY GOD’S GRACIOUS SON!
I am Amazed by God’s Stream of Grace?
Are you?
Let’s pray.
