Grace Thoughts

Guest (Male): Hello friends. Welcome to Grace Thoughts, the radio ministry of Grace Connection Church with Pastor Tim Kelley. Grace Thoughts has been dedicated to preaching a clear gospel of grace for over 20 years. Here is Pastor Kelley.

Tim Kelley: Last week, we started in Grace 2 201 talk about internalizing the grace of God. It and we used the picture, I used the illustration in the first service of those who grew up when I grew up in the in the in the 50s while actually post close to the 60s is when I my first memories. Um my my my mom and my grand mom, they had that plastic fruit. Remember that plastic fruit? You know, bananas and oranges and and stuff and they put it on the table because in the winter time in New England during those years, there was no fruit back then.

There was nothing nothing that was alive. Everything was frozen and canned, squishy carrots and whatever you ate. Anyway, it was um so you had the plastic fruit and um and you know, it wasn't very appealing and it certainly wasn't very realistic. Um but it gave you an image of something, at least 3D image of something that you might see in the summer when everything thawed out. Sometimes we use our theology that way and we use as we've been talking about the grace of God that way. It's like a piece of that plastic fruit. You know, I know what that is.

That's a orange. Now, that's a banana and that's an apple and that's a peach. But if you would try to taste it, you'd realize it's really not. It's just an image of something. It's an understanding. You know what it is, but you can't really experience it, that incredible taste of a peach. God's favorite fruit is not in that plastic piece. You had to taste it. You had to find the real thing. So sometimes we can preach and understand a great theology. We can teach you about our standing in Christ and we do repetitively over and over year after year.

But unless I internalize it, unless I learn to taste it myself, to take the information, to take what the word of God teaches me about Christ, what teaches me about his cross, what teaches me about me and what he wants to do through me, then all I really have is that bowl of pressed of plastic fruit. I can look at the grace and say that's grace. But what has it done for you experientially? I know what it's done for you positionally, but what has it done for you experientially? Then we saw last week how the angels we become a university for the angels.

Really you um cool portion of scripture, 1 Peter 1 12, the angels look into the church. God's called out people as as a university of seeing redemption and the cross active in people's lives. 1 Peter 1 12, Ephesians 3 10 to 11, um Ephesians 2 7, some of the verses that show that the angels are very aware of the work of the cross on planet Earth at this current moment. And then we saw the last thing last week is three things religion couldn't do. And you can get all these on YouTube, Grace Connection TV. That's our YouTube channel.

You subscribe to it. All the videos are there. Facebook, church Facebook, all the videos are there. Website, all the videos are there they're there. So you can you want to find re hear it, you can re hear um anything that we've done. Now, in Titus chapter 2, let's pick up in Grace 301 here. For the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all people. Now, I'm going to stop there for a moment. The grace of God has appeared. We've used this verse recently. In fact, I think it was around Christmas time we used this verse because this is a Christmas verse.

The grace of God has appeared. That's talking about Christmas morning. That's the appearing of Jesus on the Earth. That's the Christ child. The grace of God was unveiled. That's what the word appeared means. Unveiled to the world. So if you were to ask God define for me your grace, if you could have this moment of conversation with him, he would say I don't have to define grace. I sent grace to the Earth in the person of my son Jesus Christ. If you want to see my grace, look at Jesus Christ. Look how he lived. Look at his values.

Look at his priorities. And more than anything else, look at what he did on the cross for humanity. The grace of God has appeared to all men through Jesus Christ. He's is who grace is of what grace is all about. So we start there. Then it says this there, the grace of God has appeared to all men bringing salvation for all people. So we never have to really worry how we live after that. No, it doesn't say that. Even though that might be how we take it, the grace of God has appeared to all men.

So I don't have to do anything. Woohoo. I'm free. That doesn't say that either, huh? Wow. Okay. The grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all people, training us. Wow. There's a reason for it. Training us to renounce this word training is a good word teaching. Um to renounce ungodliness, worldly passions. I won't define all these words, but you get the gist. And to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. So the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation for to me, but to do something to teach me to renounce ungodliness, not to live ungodly lives because I'm on the grace, not to live in with worldly passions because I'm on the grace, not to live a con a life that's not has a has no self-control because I'm on the grace.

Um no, it says this training we do live a life that is pleasing to God. The grace of God Jesus Christ takes on the responsibility of conforming me and transforming me and to live a life that's pleasing to God, not pleasing to myself, not pleasing to what I want to get out of life. He says I want to I want my grace to teach you what's pleasing to me. I want to make your life like me, a Christ likeness. That's my ultimate purpose of my grace, at least the overriding purpose of my grace. You see, grace is not just a static quality, something that we stand in.

Yes, it is static. We stand in it. Romans 5 2. Unnegotiable, unchangeable, positional truth. We stand in grace. It's a moment we're born again, the moment the Holy Spirit takes up residence with us, we're giving a standing in grace. But it's also active. That's just the beginning in God's eyes. Now I want to take this work that started in you by placing you in grace, by giving you my righteousness, by making you as holy as I am, by imputing my life into your life, into your life, by sealing you with my Holy Spirit. I want to take this ministry that I started in you, this life that I put into you.

And I want it to start working its way out of you. I want to start having a transformational work waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. And so much to say there. And I'll be getting the verse 14 in a little in a little bit. It's will actually reappear a little later in the message. So let me just start with this. Grace never is, never will be and never was a license to sin. Grace never is, never will be and never was a license to complacency and apathy.

Fill in the blank. It was never the intention of God's grace. When I sin, and we do, I have a place to run. I know I know where I get cleansed. I know I'm under grace and my God's relationship with me is not changed by my actions for him, my performance for him. I don't impress God or depress him. He just wants to be transformed. He wants to be formed in us and transform us from the inside out. See, the legalist is silenced by the freeness of salvation which grace brings. I don't have to say this just they just got mad.

The anti noman, the ones who believe there's no law are silenced by the purity that grace brings. Let me read you this great quote by Macintosh, old old author from a century and a half ago I think it is if I get it right. Grace seeks me and finds me in my lost estate. It saves me with an everlasting salvation and introduces me as a saved person to the sphere in which its hallowed instructions are imparted. Grace does not teach those who are dead. It gives them life. It is the grace of God that alone can save me.

And is that same grace which alone can teach me. Hence, if I see a person who professes to be saved giving way to bad temper, indulging in passion or enslaved by a habit, I infer that this person has not learned practically the first great lesson of his divine teacher. Grace is not a license to sin, my friends. It's our provision from God not to sin. Now let me say this. Let me just step back and and um take any um ongoing Pharisees and and um fix you right now. Um we'll know them by their fruits.

I don't see any fruit in that person's life. How can they be saved and live this way? How can they be saved and live that way? How can they be saved and have the same problems year in and year out and never seem to get any better? A Pharisee's life is somebody who took the outer man and made it look like something was happening in the inner man. But it was a charade. There was nothing happening. And once the Pharisee get the outer man in order, he could wag his fingers and point point down at somebody who didn't have their outer life as good shape as that.

See, just we know them by their fruits. Fruits are very um tricky thing because a lot of fruit you don't see it. It's the person who falls and gets up and is tortured by the fall and they crawl into the grace of God begging for mercy through the work of the spirit. That's fruit. Is somebody being challenged to do better and to live better than they're living right now? That's fruit. You may never see it. In fact, most fruit I believe is you can't it can't be seen. Do people take the grace of God and use it as a as a way to live any way they want?

Yeah. They do. Is that my battle? No. My battle is give it, to teach it, believe it and let God fix them. Cuz he has a way of getting people's attention. I don't know if you knew that. He has a way of knocking on people's door. You want to make this real? Let's make it real. And he has a way of doing that. So with that said, I don't want to start thinking just because okay, pastor you're saying I I I I have this problem, I have that problem, I have that problem and I'm just I can't I'm not this message.

I mean I I the grace of God I I haven't learned practically the first lesson of my divine teacher. I thought I did. Don't you dare leave here guilty or condemned. If you do, you're in deep trouble. That should make you laugh or wake you up, one of the two. You know what I'm saying? This is supposed to set you free, my friends, not not put you in bondage. Let's read this quote these verses, Romans 6 1 through 2. What shall I say then? Are we continue are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

By no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it? You want to read the whole chapter Romans 6 if you want the whole thought here. But it's I thought this was again a parallel to what Paul is saying to Titus. Um what shall we say? Are we continued in sin that grace may abound? Now first thing we want to see is the word sin here. The word sin is singular. It's not plural. It's not talking necessarily about acts of sin. It's talking about a prevailing nature of sin. And often times in Romans that's exactly what it's talking about.

If you see it plural, then it's usually talking about individual acts. But when you see it singular, especially in Romans, you'll find that it's talking about the the prevailing nature of sin. So Paul's saying in essence, now that you're saved, you do not have to come under the governorship of the old nature as there has been a usurping of its authority by the new nature of the Holy Spirit which was implanted in every believer. Read Romans 1 I'm sorry, Romans 8 1 and 2 teaches the same thing. So when I became born again and the new nature was put inside of me and I have this old nature inside of me, the new nature usurps authority over the old nature.

It's not the old nature usurping authority over the new nature. It's the other way around. What used to drive me before I met Christ no longer has the driving authority in my life. The spirit of God does. And this is how I overcome sin in my life. This this fallen nature. Let me give you another quote by Kenneth Wiese here. The key word in Romans 6 is machinery. Here we have the mechanics of the spirit-filled life. We see the inner workings of the machinery set up, the inner working of the machinery set up. God brings into being when he saves a sinner.

The power indwelling sin is broken and the divine nature is planted.