Abounding Grace

Pastor Ed Taylor: So your friend or a family member is caught up in sin. What, if anything, can you do to help? Find out next on Abounding Grace. This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love, that you would take my place, that you would bear my cross. You laid down your life, that I would be set free. Oh, Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me.

When a loved one is clearly living a sinful lifestyle, are you quick to say, "That's none of my business, so I should stay out of it"? Or do you right away give them the truth, but in a harsh way? Today on Abounding Grace, we learn that there is a time and a place for confrontation and seeking to restore someone. But there is a right way and a wrong way of doing this. So we need to get God's perspective and help. Here's Pastor Ed Taylor in Galatians chapter six with how to restore our brothers and sisters when they're caught up in sin.

Open your Bibles to Galatians chapter six. Galatians chapter six. We're going to look at one verse today, and I've entitled our Bible study, "Helping Restore the Fallen Ones." That is the topic, helping to restore the fallen ones, having a heart to restore and reconcile the fallen ones, having a heart to see people built up in faith, having a heart to walk in the grace of God. That has been the theme of our Bible study in Galatians.

That was the issue in the churches throughout the Galatia region. They had left grace and had been ripped off by false teachers and began to relate to God not by what he has done, but what they have done. They began to work in all this effort and energy in some way trying to earn favor with God when all the while what saved them was the blood of Jesus Christ. What delivered them from their sinful ways was the blood of Jesus Christ. What made them whole, what made them strong, what started generational change, what delivered them from addiction, what delivered them from all sorts of restrictive behaviors was the grace of God.

Guys came in and lied to them, and they believed the lie. Isn't that always the case? When you believe a lie, then you behave based on that belief. Paul takes his quill in hand, and he writes them a letter. He says, "Guys, gals, you can't live that way. Come back to the grace of God, standing in grace, living in grace, walking in grace." That is our relationship with Jesus, and that has been the theme. It's the word of God to us today in the 21st century, but it's also God's word to the ancient churches in the first century. It's the grace of God. It's all the grace of God.

Which leads us to the question: what is the grace of God? If you're just dropping into this Bible study, maybe you're new to the church. You've missed 20 other Bible studies. We've talked about and learned what different definitions of the grace of God throughout our Bible studies, but I want to remind you of a few of them. It'd be really good for you to jot down some notes and maybe a couple of phrases stick in your mind.

Let me give you a few definitions of what we mean when we say the grace of God. Here's the first one: the edifying, transforming, life-giving, life-shaping, maturing, fruit-bearing favor of God. That's a long one. Let me repeat it for you a little bit slower. The edifying, meaning to be built up; the transforming, meaning to be changed; the life-giving, that's the life of Christ, a full life; the life-shaping, where your life is changed by the favor of God; the maturing, growing up; the fruit-bearing, as we learned of the fruit of the spirit last time; favor of God.

Let me give you another one, a little bit simpler. This is a good one. I want you to deposit this one. The grace of God can be defined as simply as this: the life of Christ in you. Jesus indwelling you by the Holy Spirit, and he lives in you and lives through you. Let me give you another one. We learned this one. It's easy to remember. We actually used the word grace and used the letters to remember a definition of the grace of God. Remember, it's God's riches at Christ's expense. God's riches, all salvation, all that we talk about, it's all that God has given us, but we didn't earn it. God gave it to us because of the sacrifice of Jesus.

Here's another one: God's unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor and kindness and gentleness toward us. Here's another: God showering his love and blessing on you continually, never leaving you, never forsaking you, his ever-presence in your life, not because you earned it, but because God loves you. Even though we're not perfect. Can I get an amen on that? You can just say for yourself, even though we don't have all things together, even though we don't hit the mark every day, God loves us still supremely.

The love of God is so powerful for us, such a great motivator. It moves us, ministers to us, comforts us. I think about the love of God, and God, he doesn't love you any less, and he couldn't love you any more. You have it all, the whole package for the born-again believer. I think about the gracious love of God to those of you that may not have a relationship with God today. He loves you.

The Bible says that God loved you so much that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. The love of God is a powerful, powerful gift to enjoy. This is Paul's burden for the believers in Galatia. This is his burden. Guys, you've left grace. You've walked away. What has happened has been the theme over and over. You've walked away from grace. Like John wrote in John 1:16, he says, "Of his fullness, Jesus, of his fullness, we have all received grace for grace."

Today, I have the privilege of reminding you: do not leave the grace of God and move into an area of a works-based... you use the word relationship, and relationship is beautiful. I think of just that one aspect of the relationship we as born-again believers have with our Father. He has adopted us. What in the world do you have to do to be a part of the family? Nothing. You just are. When you are adopted, you're in. That's it. There's nothing else. Just be. Just be the son. Just be the daughter. You don't have to earn your adoptive parents. They are your parents. You don't have to earn their favor. You don't have to earn their credibility. You don't have to fight. You are adopted.

How much more now is an adopted son or daughter of the King? What do I have to do now? Just be. That's it. Just enjoy the Father. Why? Because the Holy Spirit lives in you and will lead you and guide you and enable you. Isn't that what the Bible says in Philippians? That it is God that works in us, both to will and to do. He does. He motivates us and gives us the strength to follow him in obedience. If we love Jesus, we're going to obey him. How do we obey him? By the work of the Spirit in us. It's beautiful.

Don't be... for the Galatians, what were they ripped off of? Imagine the message. Imagine what the Galatians heard in the 21st century. These guys come to town, and they say, "Okay, do you have a relationship?" "Yes, we love God. We love Paul. Paul said this. He said the grace of God. He said the sufficiency of Christ." They say, "Okay, that's all good, but you're not really saved until..." And here was their message: "You're not really saved until you're circumcised." Oh, okay, all right. And really what they meant by that was that you needed to keep the whole law in order to be saved.

But circumcision for the men, you got to be circumcised. Do you think that would be an effective evangelism strategy today? Hey, welcome to Calvary. We're glad you're here. Everyone now that responds to the gospel right around the prayer room... you can't go to the prayer room first, but next to it, we have the circumcision room. We've got plenty of certified doctors back there and PAs and nurses. As soon as you go through the circumcision process, then you can go to the prayer room. Can you imagine that? You come to service and at the beginning of service, we're all gathering, the music's playing, you hear, "Ah!" And you're like, "That was kind of weird." Five minutes later, "Oh!" And you finally ask somebody, "What's that?" "Oh, that's just circumcision. You'll learn soon enough." What? No, you wouldn't do that.

But there are other things legalistically you have to do this in order to be saved. You have to do that. It's become so commonplace that the books of the Bible that speak directly to grace, like Galatians and Hebrews, are so important that you don't move off into a place of good works and your own human efforts. Walk in the Spirit. Romans chapter 13, verse 14: "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh." Stay away from the flesh. Don't feed the flesh. Don't live in the flesh. The works of the flesh are evident, but rather walk in the Spirit and you won't fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Memorize those attributes: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. These just flow in your life. There's no restriction on the kindness that God wants in you, no restriction on the love or the joy or the gentleness.

I want to pause here before we get into the meat of our time together and then have communion. Just as a brother, I'm your brother in the Lord. I'm also as a pastor, I want to share with you. Considering the world in which we live right now, our world, this generation we're living in, the tensions, the difficulties, the hype, the horrific events, the division, what's happened in the church lately is the church has become very angry and very upset and voicing a voice in culture that's super angry.

Certainly, there's a space for righteous anger, and we just don't accept evil and wickedness in the world for sure. But that it has carried over into this super angry, almost a participation. The church, and we're talking about the church here, the church participating in the fight. I'm asking you today to listen to this study with attentive ears. Now, I know we typically listen and we take notes. I understand, but we also get into these rhythms in life where we're just, another Bible study, another Bible study, another Bible study. Especially in a church like ours, because that's what we do. That's all we have for you is the word of God, and we're going to teach it verse by verse.

If you're new to this church, we start in verse one of a book and we work our way through, and hopefully, before the Lord comes back, we'll finish the whole Bible. There's only a few more books that I have left to teach that we would have finished teaching the whole Bible. So you go Bible study after Bible study, but I'm asking you right now, please listen. Just like Jesus said in the book of Revelation, seven times he says this: "He who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the church." Because this heart of reconciliation and this heart of restoration is a very powerful tool of God in a very dark world. And it starts in the church. It actually starts in the church. We get it right among us, and then we become more effective in the reconciling work of God in the world.

God is a God of restoration. In the Psalms, they're already crying out, "Restore us, God. We have sinned. Restore us. We need you. What's going on in our lives? We're suffering the consequences of our sin. Restore us." The Bible tells us that we've been given in the new covenant a ministry of reconciliation. And yet, there are times where it's not practiced, where it's not lived out. So please have ears. Just listen. Let the Holy Spirit draw out of the few principles that we're going to look at today.

Galatians chapter six, verse one: "Brethren, (or for some of you, sistren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted." Hey church, walk in the Spirit, and as you're walking in the Spirit, be sure to be a tool of God, be a tool to restore people that have fallen. Restore them.

We'll get into the details of that in a little bit, but I do want to share another scripture with you. Would you turn to Proverbs chapter 24? We often refer to this, but I want you to see it in your own Bible or on your phone or your tablet. I want you to see this verse. I want you to mark it because it's so powerful. It's so wonderful, and we use it a lot, but it is a principle throughout the scriptures. Proverbs chapter 24, verse 16. The Bible declares, "For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity." Very simply gives us insight that righteous men and women fall. The Old Testament would be those following the old covenant God-followers. For us, as born-again believers, we all stumble and fall. Some harder than others, but understand, a righteous man falls.

I don't know that we necessarily have any need to be convinced of that. However, you may need to be convinced that even though you have fallen, you can rise again. You don't need to stay down. Seven times. That's a lot. Can you imagine in your lifetime seven significant falls, seven heavy times where you got knocked down and beat and you got back up? That's what the Bible says. Though a man fall seven times, he rises again. It's those of calamity, those apart from God, that have a hard time getting up. A righteous man falls. We love this truth. I love it. I love to see God pick people up and they get back right. I love to see prodigals come home. I love it. It's the work of God.

But there will be, and I know there are those among us right now in the room here, watching online, listening live on the radio, wherever you might be, that you are this verse. You are the righteous woman, the righteous man. That doesn't mean you're perfect. You're just a Christian that has fallen, and you don't believe you're going to get up. Or you might even think, "I've already used that chance, Pastor. I've already used that chance. So if he gets up, I've already used the seven."

But I taught a Bible study and I shared it periodically, but I did a specific study on this. I love the title of that study. I titled it "The God of the Second Chance." God gives second chances. "Well, you know, Pastor, I've already used the second chance." Okay, he's the God of the third chance and the fifth chance and the seventh chance. There is an anticipation of God even that he is the God of the 490th chance. Where do you get that from, Ed? Well, you remember Jesus teaching about forgiveness, and what did he say? He said to forgive 70 times seven. And that is not only God's relationship with us, but now even with each other. He's not giving a math lesson there, is he? He's telling us as believers that there's going to be a lot of hurt and pain that you experience that's going to require a restorative heart and a heart to reconcile, that you and I, we're going to need to learn to forgive and to forgive. Why? Because of what God has forgiven us.

So when we come to Galatians and we learn, "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass," this happens a lot. This happens a lot. Brethren, anyone among you that's overtaken by any trespass. Let's dive into that for a moment. Circle the word overtake. It's a very special word, overtake. It has the idea of being surprised. It has the idea of being shocked or caught. You can even think of you're going along and you're tripped up. But that overtaken has also the idea that now you're stuck. You got caught in the trap, and you're in the trap of a trespass, of a sin. He says, "Hey, if anyone's overtaken." And this happens in the body of Christ, you're overtaken.

Nobody really wants to be caught by sin. I haven't met anybody that has woken up in the morning and they're worshiping the Lord, their hands are in the air, they got their Cheerios, they're heading out to work and you're in your car, you're letting it warm up and you're like, "Okay, I just can't wait for the first person to cut me off today because I've practiced my finger, I know the words I'm going to use, I even made a sign for them, I am ready." Nobody does that.

But there you are. You know how I know? I'm following you. And you're just driving to work, loving the Lord, enjoying what God has done in your life. And what happens? You do get cut off and there's the finger and there's the word. Nobody, nobody plans that. But are you overtaken sometimes? Of course. Of course we are. He says, "Hey church, people get overtaken by sin. People get overtaken by sin, and it's disastrous." This overtaken speaks of something that's not planned, not premeditated, because there's those types of sins, too. But this is like the general thing that we all fall into, we all have these issues in our lives, big and small.

And some of you here today have been overtaken with a sin. Nobody knows but you. You didn't want it, you didn't invite it, but there you are. And God calls you to repentance. Why? Because he knows you. He cares for you. He cares for your family. He doesn't want you to destroy yourself. He wants to help you. You're not in a hopeless situation. You can come to the cross. You can come back to the Lord. The Bible tells us in John 6 that anyone that comes to Christ, anyone the Father given me, I will never reject them, Jesus said. Anyone the Father's given me. Just come to him. Return.

He says, "Brethren, if anyone's overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual..." You who are spiritual. This is a direct reference in context to walking in the Spirit. Paul is not creating a first-class, second-class, third-class Christians here. That's not what he's doing. "Some of you are spiritual, some of you are super spiritual, some of you are not." That's not what he's doing. He's taking us back to walking in the Spirit. Those of you that have chosen to die to the flesh, those of you that are dealing with stuff, those of you that are walking in the Spirit, you who are spiritual. You don't want to get caught up in works. You don't want to get caught up in all this judgmental pointing fingers: "You don't do enough," "You're not good enough," "You're a horrible Christian." No, he says stop it. Back in grace, you walk in the Spirit. And when you walk in the Spirit, you see people that are hurting. That's what he's saying.

You who are spiritual. You that are in the Spirit, you that are walking. Remember what happened, what legalism did to the church in Galatia? It made them... they were said, "Stop biting and devouring one another in a church." Stop being conceited and provoking one another, because that's what happens with legalism. You got your own little gig going, and you're earning your favor with God, and then when somebody doesn't measure up, you start judging them, point your finger: "Who are you? What are you doing?" You're trying to share your heart: "Would you pray for me? I had a really bad thing on I-25, I didn't want it, a finger came, I didn't even know I had that finger anymore, I haven't seen it in forever, and it came up and I was stuff in my mind," whatever. And you're just wanting prayer, but you pray with a legalist and they get all over your case. "What kind of Christian are you? How could you do that? Christians don't do that." It's like, "Bro, trust me, I don't want to do it. Trust me, that's why I'm come to you to pray for me. I didn't come for you to beat me up." And that happens in churches. Instead of pointing him to the Lord, you point him to yourself and that God's not going to bless that. That's why there's a lot of wounded people in the church or not in the church. They don't come back because they met a person that wasn't walking in the Spirit in a church building. And it does happen. We just have to keep our eyes on the Lord.

We're learning how to help restore the fallen ones today on Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed Taylor. Would you like to hear this again? If so, just visit us online at aboundinggraceradio.com or oneplace.com. You can also download the Calvary Church app as well. Today, we'd like to tell you about the Jesus Person Promise Book, authored by David Wilkerson. With well over a million copies in print, this book is a wonderful tool for everyday use. It brings the truth of God's word into virtually every spiritual and personal problem encountered today. You'll read over 800 promises from the Bible arranged topically, making it easy to use when you're in need of encouragement. And we'll gladly send you a copy for a gift of $25 or more to Abounding Grace.

Call toll-free at 877-30-GRACE. That's 877-30-GRACE or order it online at calvaryco.store. Please remember this ministry is made possible through the support of our listeners, and we're grateful for whatever the Lord leads you to do. It would be great to hear from you during these summer months. Call toll-free 877-30-GRACE. Donations can also be made online at aboundinggraceradio.com. Glad you've taken time out for our study in Galatians. This has been Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed. And we'll look for you tomorrow as we open the word together in search of God's abounding grace. This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love, that you would take my place, that you would bear my cross. You laid down your life, that I would be set free. Oh, Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me. Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church Colorado here in Aurora.