“abundant grace was upon them all” Acts 4:33 God’s Abundant Grace “abundant grace was upon them all” Acts 4:33

God’s Abundant Grace What God Wants From Us Acts 4:33 What God Wants From Us (And What He Was Willing To Do To Get it!) Please open your New Testament & follow along in Acts 17:24-27

God’s Abundant Grace God wants a relationship with you (Acts 17:27) “seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul” (Deut. 4:29) “He is a rewarder of those who seek Him (Heb. 11:6) God wants to be a Father to you (2 Cor. 6:16-18) “I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me” God wants a covenant with you (Heb. 8:8-12) I will effect a new covenant I will be their God, And they shall be My people. all will know Me I will remember their sins no more

God’s Abundant Grace What kind of relationship? Acts 4:33 What kind of relationship? Not just “acquaintances” Not just intellectual knowledge about Him God wants a relationship characterized by genuine, personal, heart-felt love and understanding. Consider: which was the greatest commandment of the Law of Moses? (Mark 12:28-30) “If anyone loves God, he is known by God” (1 Cor. 8:3) God wants you to love Him, to trust His love for you, and to obey Him.

God’s Abundant Grace Acts 4:33 God wants you to know Him, and God wants you to love Him. There is one more thing God wants from you… God wants you to be like Him! God is holy and wants us to be holy (pure). Israel was commanded to be holy (Lev. 11:44-45) 1 Peter 1:15-16 “but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

God’s Abundant Grace This sums up what God wants from us and for us: Acts 4:33 This sums up what God wants from us and for us: To know Him. If we truly know Him, we will believe and trust Him. To love Him. If we love Him, we will obey Him. To be like Him. To be like God, we must be holy. But we have three problems, corresponding to these three things, that hinder us…

God’s Abundant Grace Problem #1 God wants us to know Him Acts 4:33 Problem #1 God wants us to know Him But God is a Spirit (John 4:24), invisible (1 Tim. 1:17), and in heaven, while we are in the flesh here on earth. By our own power or doing, we have no way to know about Him, to see Him, to reach Him, or to know Him! How can we know someone whom we cannot see or communicate with?

God’s Abundant Grace Problem #2 God wants us to love Him Acts 4:33 Problem #2 God wants us to love Him But we do not know how to love Him! Should we bake Him a cake? Build Him a monument? Even our sincerest expressions of love, when contrived by our own standards, are inadequate…vain worship. How can we love God if we don’t know how He wants to be loved?

God’s Abundant Grace Problem #3 Acts 4:33 Problem #3 God wants us to be holy like Him But we all sin and fall short of His holiness! We are incapable, on our own, of achieving holiness How can a sinner become sinless? How can the unholy become holy? How can we ever hope to give God what He wants when we have these obstacles?

God’s Abundant Grace God is aware of our predicament. Acts 4:33 God is aware of our predicament. Before God created the world, He foresaw and planned accordingly.… God has done for man those things that man is incapable of doing for himself. God didn’t have to do those things, but because He loves us, He chose to do them. This is the very essence of grace! God has offered us abundant grace as a solution to make it possible for man to know Him, love Him, and be holy like Him. Let’s see how…

God’s Abundant Grace Problem #1: that we cannot know the invisible God Acts 4:33 Problem #1: that we cannot know the invisible God Grace’s solution: God has revealed Himself! Adam & Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, prophets God spoke to all of them! God reveals Himself in nature (Rom. 1:19-21) God revealed Himself through His Son Hebrews 1:1-3 Col. 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God” God preserved knowledge in Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16) Abundant grace: God makes Himself known & knowable

God’s Abundant Grace Problem #2: we know not how to love God Acts 4:33 Problem #2: we know not how to love God Grace’s solution: God taught us how to love God demonstrated His love as an example Rom. 5:8 “ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” 1 John 4:9-12 God directed us to express our love in two ways: By obeying His commandments (John 14:15,21) By loving other people (John 15:12; 1 John 4:20-21) Abundant grace: God taught us how to love

God’s Abundant Grace Problem #3: we are unholy sinners Acts 4:33 Problem #3: we are unholy sinners Grace’s solution: a Savior (Titus 3:3-7) Christ died to make His bride “holy and blameless” (Eph. 5:25-26) 2 Peter 1:3 “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness” God makes holiness possible! Abundant grace: God sacrificed His own Son to take away our sins and make us holy

God’s Abundant Grace Summary Acts 4:33 Summary He wants a relationship with us, so He revealed Himself to the world. He wants us to love and obey Him, so He taught us how to love and sent His Son to demonstrate it. He wants us to be holy, so He sacrificed His Son to take away our sins. All of these are acts of grace, done to draw you to God.

God’s Abundant Grace Acts 4:33 There must be something really special about you for God to have gone through so much effort to draw you to Himself! You were created in His image. He made you, He put the spiritual you into a fleshly body, and He wants you back! God wants you so much, He has done for you everything that you can’t do for yourself. (Not what you won’t do, but what you can’t do.) Choose for yourself whether or not to answer His call, for the grace of God is available to you today…

God’s Abundant Grace Would you like to receive God’s grace today? Acts 4:33 Would you like to receive God’s grace today? To know Him, hear and believe His Word. To love Him, obey His commandments, including the command to be baptized (Acts 2:38; 22:16) To be like Him, walk in the light of His holiness. Continue in the blessed relationship of His favor by remaining faithful in holy conduct. The alternative: 2 Thess. 1:7-9 “Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction….”

“abundant grace was upon them all” Acts 4:33 God’s Abundant Grace “abundant grace was upon them all” Acts 4:33