October 15, 2000 - LESSON: Hebrews 4.12-16, NRSV

SERMON TITLE: Grace to Help in Time of Need

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INTRODUCTION:

  1. Amazing Grace, Lyric Author: John Newton; Composer: Early American Melody

1.

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound!
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now I'm found;
Was blind, but now I see.

2.

Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!

3.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come.
Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

4.

The Lord has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

5.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I will possess, within the vail,
A life of joy and peace.

6.

When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we first begun

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MAIN BODY:

  1. Amazing Grace
    1. We need to know what it is.
      1. Can it be defined?
      2. Can it be understood?
    2. We need know what it does.
      1. The changes in attitude that may or ought to occur.
      2. The changes in life-style that may or ought to occur.
    3. We need application so that these changes can take place.
  2. We can only find our answers in Jesus Christ.
    1. John 1:1-4, 9-18, NRSV
      1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] He was in the beginning with God. [3] All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being [4] in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.
      2. [9] The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. [10] He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. [11] He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. [12] But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, [13] who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
      3. [14] And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth...[16] From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
      4. [17] The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
      5. [18] No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.

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    1. Hebrews 4:12-16 NRSV
      1. Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
      2. [13] And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.
      3. [14] Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. [15] For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.
      4. [16] Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
    2. Grace is demonstrated in the life of Jesus Christ and can be understood as the character of God which is being acquired through the Word and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
    3. Grace is life-changing.
    4. Grace is power to transform
      1. We are becoming new a creation
      2. We are learning to love.
      3. We are learning to love kindness and to do justice.
        1. He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8 NRSV).

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      1. We are learning to good to others and not harm.
    1. God offers grace to help in time of need.
    2. It is important for us to extinguish the nature and vitality of Grace.
  1. It was Dietrich Bonhoeffer who in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, in the chapter on Costly Grace, compares grace in terms of cheap or costly.
    1. GRACE AND DISCIPLESHIP 47-48
      1. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
      2. Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.
      3. Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.
      4. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is Costly because it cost God the life of his Son: 'ye were bought at a price," and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon -his Son too dear a price to pay for our fife, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.

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    1. This is illustrated by St Vincent DePaul
      1. St. Vincent de Paul ran an orphanage in Paris during the first half of the seventeenth century. One winter day he opened the front gate to find an abandoned infant lying in the snow. He brought the bundled baby back into the warmth of the room where he was meeting with a number of wealthy women who helped support the orphanage. Naturally, St. Vincent asked them what he should do with the tiny, frail creature. One of the women suggested that perhaps God intended for the baby to die, as a punishment for the sins of the mother. Appalled at this attitude, St. Vincent angrily retorted, "When God wants dying done for sin, he sends his own Son to do it!" (1)
  1. We may have some ideas about Grace, but now we need some practical application to help us understand how it works in our personal lives.
    1. Pastor and Rodrick
    2. TP Trees, Jean

CONCLUSION:

  1. Have you ever heard of Roy Riggles?
    1. On New Year's Day, 1929, Georgia Tech played UCLA in the Rose Bowl. In that game, a man named Roy Riggles recovered a fumble for California. Somehow, Riggles became confused and ran 65 yards in the wrong direction. One of his teammates, Benny Lom, outdistanced him and tackled him just before he scored for the opposing team. When California attempted to punt, Tech blocked the kick and scored a safety, which was the ultimate margin of victory.

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    1. That strange play came in the first half, and everyone watching the game was asking the same question: "What will Coach Nibbs Price do with Roy Riggles in the second half?" The players went into the dressing room. Riggles put his blanket around his shoulders, sat down in a corner, put his face in his hands and cried like a baby.
    2. A coach usually has a great deal to say to his team during halftime, but that day, Coach Price was quiet. Then the timekeeper came in and announced that there were only three minutes till play time. Price said simply, "Men, the same team that played the first half, will start the second."
    3. The players got up and started out - all but Riggles. He didn't budge. The coach called to him again; still he didn't move. The coach said, "Roy, didn't you hear me? The same team that played the first half, will start the second." Then Riggles looked up, and Price saw that his cheeks were wet with a strong man's tears.
    4. "Coach," Riggles said, "I can't do it to save my life. I've ruined you. I've ruined the University of California. I've ruined myself. I couldn't face that crowd in the stadium to save my life."
    5. Then Price said, "Roy, get up and go on back. The game is only half over." Riggles went back, and those Georgia Tech players will tell you they have never seen a man play football as Roy Riggles played in that second half.
  1. Haddon ends with this note: "Scottish preacher Alexander Whyte once described the perseverance of the saints as falling down and getting up, falling down and getting up, falling down and getting up, all the way to heaven.
  2. No matter how badly we fumble, how hard we fall, how long we falter, how horrible our failure, God comes to us and says to us, "Get up. Go on back. The game is not over." (2)

1. Taken from Richard P. C. Hanson, The Attractiveness of God: Essays in Christian Doctrine (Richmond, Virginia: John Knox Press, 1973), 146. (From a sermon in Homiletics Magazine, April 7, 1991, Acts 4:32-35, MegaGrace)

2. Robinson, "A Little Phrase for Losers," Christianity Today, 26 October 1992, 11. (From a sermon in Homiletics Magazine, April 4, 1993, Matthew 26:14-27:66, The Unforgiven)

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