Pastor Richard Waialeale
April 27, 2014 - W1417

I want to ask you a question. Is it once saved, always saved, or can you lose your salvation?  The Bible says that we're kept saved by grace.  Indeed, grace is God’s unmerited favor; His unconditional love. Thus, you cannot lose your salvation because it's a gift; a free gift to you that was paid in full when Jesus died on the cross.

Consequently, if I had to work for my salvation, the moment I stopped working, I would lose it.  Why? Salvation is not based on our performance or our frailty; it’s based on His performance and His victory.

Max Lucado wrote, “The meaning of life!  The poor choices of life. God answers the mess of life with one word:  grace! 

Grace and truth come through the Lord. You don’t get grace through religion, rituals, rules, or regulations but through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 8:9 says, “You are familiar with the generosity of Jesus Christ.  Rich as He was, He gave it all away for us in one stroke. He became poor that we might become rich.”

So in light of what Jesus has done for us, what should be our response?  2 Corinthians says, “So we beg you not to let the grace you receive from God be for nothing.”  What do I owe Jesus, then?  Well, I can at least be thankful and grateful.

Today I want to give you three ways that you can express your gratitude for God's grace.  Moreover, everyone can experience the amazing grace of God by following these principles of gratitude that I'm going to share with you.  Why is that important?  Because when someone saves your life, wouldn't you want to say thank you?

Everyone can experience God’s amazing grace by following these three principles:

I CAN SHOW GRATITUDE FOR GOD’S GRACE:

1. By making my life count.

1 Corinthians 6:20 says,“Don't you see that you can't keep on living however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for?...So let people see God in and through your body.” 

You can't understand the grace of God and just keep on living the way you're living.

I know that when you lifted your hands to say yes to Jesus the first thing on your mind was, now what?  What's my next step?  Well in 1981, 69 days after President Ronald Reagan took office, there was a failed assassination attempt on his life. And when he finally got out of the hospital, the first thing he said to reporters was, “I have a new sense of living that I was spared for a purpose, and that for the rest of my life all of my time belongs to God.”

Jesus didn't die on the cross for you so that you can just go on living any way you want to.  He made you, He redeemed you for a purpose, and He wants you to fulfill that purpose.  So what do we do?

In 1 Peter 4:10 it says this:

“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.”

Grace is when God gives you what you need instead of what you think you deserve, right? The abilities, your talents, God?given opportunities, and relationships are all things that you've been blessed with and they are not to be squandered.

The abilities, the talents and opportunities, relationships - all the things that you have been blessed with were not given so that you can squander it. You have to be alert to opportunities to use what you have for God. God will put people and opportunities right in front of you.  

There was a seminary professor who had an interesting way of giving tests or illustrating the concept of grace. He gave an exam with extremely difficult questions but told them to read the exam all the way through to the end before answering any questions. The surprise at the end was that the students had a choice of taking the extremely difficult exam or simply signing their name to get an “A”.

The professor would later share some of the reactions that he received throughout the years.  He said some students began to take the exam without first reading to the end, and then they sweat it out for 2 1/2 hours.  They didn't follow instructions.  And then there are those that read the first two pages, they got angry, slammed the paper down, walked out never realizing what was available to them, and as a result they totally lost out. And there was this one guy who read through the entire test and decided he didn't want a free gift.  He wanted to earn it.  He got a C plus when he could have gotten an A.

Now, the story illustrates real?life examples of people's reaction to God's solution to sin, but God's grace is truly like the professor's offer.  It may seem unbelievable, and if we accept it, then we'll discover that it is.  God's grace is truly free.  All we have to do is humbly accept it.  Don't waste your life.  You've got the A, and Jesus Christ died for it.  Make your life count.  That's number one.

2. I’M A GOOD INVESTMENT.

   In Ephesians 1:7-8 it says,

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.”

God in effect says to every one of us that you're a good investment from His perspective.  He thinks you're worth it.  He’s not lavishing His grace on you because you know how bad you are.  He’s lavishing His grace on you because He knows how good He is and because He knows how great you can be. He’s doing it with all His wisdom.

God doesn't waste anything.  There isn't one drop of blood that He's forgiven or one sin that He wishes He could take back even if it applies to you.  There will never be a moment where God has second thoughts, even if it applies to you.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture report it says that it would cost you $256,710 to raise a child for the next 18 years. It comes out to $1.63/hour.  That's a pretty good investment.  But then some people argue that if I had $256,710 right here in my hands, the choice of raising a child verses trying to put it in a financial investment, I think the rate of return in my investment will be greater than the child.

On the other hand, let me tell you what you will receive for that $1.63/hour:  Baby's first steps, baby's first words ?? mama, dada, a lifetime supply of beautiful kisses, an opportunity to always believe in Santa Clause, bedtime prayers to peek inside their hearts, more “I love you”s than you can ever count, celebrating each victory and wiping the tears of each defeat,.  That's only the beginning.  Raising your kids to 18 years old, $256,710, all the love and laughter you can get during those 18 years---priceless.  I would say that's a good investment.

3. BY SHARING THE GOOD NEWS OF GRACE.

Acts 20:24 says,

“The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me, to tell people the good news about God's grace.”

Tell people the good news about God's grace to fulfill your mission.  It doesn't say to get married, buy a home, pay off the home, make lots of money, or step on everybody.  It says the most important thing in life is to fulfill your mission.

Now, part of that mission and just a small part, is to tell others about the good news of grace.  See, God put you and me on this earth for a reason and for a purpose.  You know Christ because someone told you about it, and the cycle just continues. And He wants you to tell one more person, somebody that He'll put in front of you.

Everybody needs Christ.  Because God cares, we have to care.  People are dying without the grace of God.  I pray that you would open up your heart and see the faces of people around you who are desperate for the good news.

There is this God?gaping hole in every person's heart, and it's filled with God's grace.  We have the greatest news in the world.  The way we show our gratitude for God's amazing grace is by making our lives count, by showing who we are with God because I am a good investment, you are a good investment and by telling as many people about the good news.

God did not spare the apostle Paul and Silas from the suffering and the imprisonment, but He came down into the prison with them.  God did not keep the three Hebrew slaves, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, out of the fiery furnace, but He went in there with them.  God will not always deliver us from trouble and heartache, but He has promised grace for every situation in life.  Everyone can experience the amazing grace of God by following these three principles.  You do this, I guarantee you, I promise you, that you will see God open doors in your life.  You will see Him put people in front of you with whom you can share the good news of God's grace.  Amen?  Amen.

Questions:

1. Can I get salvation by doing good works? Why?
2. What should be our response in what Jesus has done for us?
3. What are the three ways that you can express your gratitude for God’s grace?
4. What is the most important thing in life as a believer in Christ?
5. Why does God let us go through the trials and tribulations of life?