Jesus Part Three

Grace & Mercy

By Pastor Greg Ball, January 29, 2023

Jesus-Part Three Grace And Mercy

There is so much revelation in the Word of God, as to who Jesus is.

We are all on a journey to discover who Jesus is.

We all have a before Christ idea or a picture of who Jesus is, but when we come to faith in Jesus everything changes.

Ephesians 3:17-19 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Our revelation of Jesus changes and continues to change as we come to the foot of the cross.

Jesus is the most debated yet magnetic person to ever walk the earth.

Jesus is GRACE and MERCY.

We are taught from our childhood to get a good education, to work hard, persevere and never give up.

The motivation of why we work and serve and give is huge.

1 Corinthians 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.

Our motivation for serving, giving, going on mission trips and being apart of a small group is grace not obligation.

Grace not rules!

If I’m striving and straining to keep the rules in order to please Go- That’s called dead religion. Religion always has a list of rules.

Galatians 3:1-3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? 2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit,are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

Stand fast therefore in the grace.

You were saved by grace.

Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

If we’re not careful, the motivation of our heart will become rules and not the grace.

Our attempt to be right by keeping the rules becomes legalism.

Rules are great but our motivation is to be Grace not rules.

The more we grow in the Lord, the more dependent, we are upon him.

John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.

1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

The apostle Paul was saying, I am dependent upon Grace not rules.

Grace is God's unmerited, undeserved favor.

“Jack Hayford” He said Grace is God's meeting us at our point of need in the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the source of grace, the embodiment of grace; Jesus is grace, and grace is Jesus.

The Greek word for GRACE is Charis, it means divine influence upon the heart and His reflection in our lives.

Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. Sharing in All Things 32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. 33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.

Great Grace was upon them all!

It wasn’t a list of rules.

When your motivation is Grace, the reflection of Jesus is on your life.

Grace is active and it produces results.

Grace is what I need in my life but don’t deserve.

Grace is God giving me what I don’t deserve.

Mercy is not getting what I deserve.

John 7:1-6, NLT After this, Jesus traveled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death. But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters, and Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!” For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.Jesus replied, “Now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime. On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds,“Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him.

Jesus stood up and shouted Grace!

Jesus was saying you don’t have to buy it, you don’t have to earn it, it’s just Grace come and get it.

The messages of grace can be summed up with one word come.

Grace is not making excuses.

Grace is this every time you sin you can turn to the Father and say I come to you.