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THE POWER OF GRACE
#3 in Series entitled “Grace Works!”
by Pastor Richard Tow
April 24, 2016
Text: Philippians 2:13
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Description: This message teaches the transforming influence of grace a believer’s daily life and ministry. Grace is an active power in a person’s life. Rather than being an excuse for sin, it is empowerment to overcome sin. It’s not just an abstract edict in the sky; it is the Holy Spirit working in you both to will and do God’s good pleasure. The message also explains how grace works in the rewards at the Judgement Seat of Christ.
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OUTLINE
Intro
> Last Message: Grace is unmerited favor (Eph. 2:8).
> Strong’s Definition of Charis says that it is “especially the divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in
the life.”
I. Grace further defined as the influence of the Holy Spirit in and through a person’s life.
1) Phil. 2:13 “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” That is grace!
2) Eph. 2:8 “by grace…through faith….”
Faith is Action Word: Heb. 11 heroes of faith
3) Popular message on grace often incomplete
(Includes last message (unmerited favor); but not this one (active influence of Holy Spirit)
II. Three things Grace Produces in a life.
1) Grace Produces Righteousness
1 John 3:7 “Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is
righteous, just as He is righteous.”
Jude 4 “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for
this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness
and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” (antinomianism).
Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12
teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly,
righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and
glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave
Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for
Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”
Luke 19:8 illustrated in Zacchaeus’ life
2) Grace Produces Ministry
Eph 3:7 “…I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me
by the effective working of His power.”
Rom 12:6 “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us,
let us use them.”
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.”
1 Cor 15:10 “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was
not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the
grace of God which was with me.”
3) Grace Produces Rewards
Matt. 19:27 “See,” Peter said to Jesus, “ we have left all and followed You. Therefore,
what shall we have?” Answered and see Matt. 20 Parable of Workers
Luke 17:10 “So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are
commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was
our duty to do.'”
Rom. 4:4 “Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.”
2 Cor 5:9-10 “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well
pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to
what he has done, whether good or bad.”
Conclusion
QUESTIONS
1. How would you define grace? Is there divine activity in your answer?
2. How does Phil. 2:13 help us understand grace as a divine influence on the heart?
3. Why does the popular understanding of grace as God’s tolerance for our sin lead to spiritual apathy?
4. What three things did the message say grace produces?
5. Explain Titus 2:11-14 in your own words.
