Key Point: What is grace?

“God’s unmerited favor”

Key Point: Who are we without grace?

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.(Romans 5:12, NLT) 

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. (Psalm 51:5, NIV) 

 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way… (Isaiah 51:6, NIV)

1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.(Ephesians 2:1-3, NIV)

You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. (James 4:4, NLT)

Key Point: Who are we with grace?

4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:4-9, NIV)

Key Point: What do we do with grace?

5 Or do you think it’s without reason the Scripture says that the Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously? 6 But He gives greater grace. (James 4:5-6a, HCSB) 

a. Accept God’s grace.

He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time… (2 Timothy 1:9, NIV)

b. Anchor your life to God’s grace.

…be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 2:1, NIV) 

c. Use God’s grace.

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. (1 Peter 4:10, NIV) 

d. Share God’s grace.

…I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. (Acts 20:24, NIV)