Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; In continuing the series on "God's Grace" I began a message out of Titus 2:11-15 last week titled the "Past, Present, and Promise of God's Grace." We dealt with the first two points Sunday morning and Lord willing I will preach the third and final point concerning the rapture of the Church. If you are looking for a place to attend Sunday morning I would like to invite you to Salem Baptist Church in Calhoun, GA. We are living in a day when many people are predicting and guessing about things to come in the future. God's Word tells us exactly what to expect in the future. The next event on God's prophetic calendar is the catching away, or rapture, of each believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (I Thess. 4:13-18; I Corinthians 15:51-55). The return of Christ in the clouds for His Church is imminent and we need not to be ignorant or confused on things to come!
Salem Baptist Church
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Romans 3:24 "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus;" For the past several weeks on Sunday morning I have been preaching a series on "God's Grace." It has been a blessing for me personally to go through the countless scriptures concerning the grace of God. A preacher could spend 10,000 lifetimes trying to expound on the grace of God and never scratch the surface. The first message in the series was from Romans 3:24; Romans 5:15-21, "God's Grace is Free." As I began to study these passages of scripture it became more clear to me how truly wonderful the grace of God is. Additionally, in Romans 5 Paul speaks of the "free gift" of salvation. In essence, the grace God provides is free, and the gift purchased by Jesus Christ is free. It has been said that grace is "God's Riches At Christ Expense."
I have found that many people who take a firm biblical stance on the grace of God are often accused of preaching and teaching so called "cheap grace." However, if something is cheap that means it still cost something. Therefore, the Bible does not teach the doctrine of cheap grace, it undoubtably teaches the doctrine of FREE grace! Grace is the unmerited and undeserved favor of God. If we lift one finger to the grace of God we have completely destroyed grace. This grace is free to all not because we deserve it but because God is gracious to give it. There are different forms of grace concerning the Christian life. The first grace we experience is the free grace in salvation. Below are just a few points from the text mentioned above concerning this grace in salvation. 1. God's Grace is Available: Romans 5:15 "But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many." -The offense in verse 15 speaks of Romans 5:12. Adam sinned and plunged all humanity and creation itself under the curse of sin. We were not there in the garden of Eden. We received this condemnation freely by what Adam did. As in Adam all die. This is why the Bible states "for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. (John 1:17)". The grace of God is available because of one man, Jesus Christ! He came into the world born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, went to the cross, paid the sin debt of all the world, and rose from the dead. 2. God's Grace is Abundant: Romans 5:17 "For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." -We receive grace and the gift of righteousness NOT by our works but by the work of Jesus Christ. This is why we are saved, sealed, sustained, and serve by grace. 3. God's Grace is Abounding: Romans 5:18-20 "18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:" -This grace has been and will always be greater than our sin. No one has ever been saved by keeping the law. The law slays, condemns, and all the world is guilty before the law. But although the offense abounds through the law, the grace of God much more abounds! Why? Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us! We had a great week during our VBS at Salem Baptist Church. Each night we averaged over 100 students with nearly 70 of those being young people. It was encouraging to see many parents and grandparents in the community bring their children to learn more about the God of the Bible! The theme of our curriculum this year was "Searching the visible, discovering the invisible."
There were 11 students that learned the theme verses this year, Colossians 1:15-16 15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: As a church the participation was outstanding! Those that prepared and served food, set up tables and chairs, registration, recreation, teachers, art and crafts, music/songs, and photography all were faithful to be there each night and I know received a blessing from being around the kids all week. We are looking forward to following up with the contacts that were made and praying for God to give the increase from the seeds sown throughout the week. |
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