Grace Pipeline, The

The Indescribable Gift

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host)

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Series Code: GPL

Program Code: GPL000003


00:01 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn.
00:03 How are we born again as children of God?
00:06 What was the cost of grace?
00:09 Please join us today as we see what the Bible
00:13 has to say in answer to these questions.
00:36 Hello. Welcome to "The Grace pipeline."
00:39 This is a series that follows a Bible study
00:42 that I was privileged to share
00:44 by writing a book also titled "The Grace pipeline."
00:47 Today we will look at what the Bible says
00:50 is the process of being born again as a child of God
00:55 and we'll also consider the extreme cost of grace.
00:59 If you were following in the series companion book
01:02 we are beginning on page 26 of chapter 2.
01:06 Now during our last program
01:08 we defined grace as the unearned,
01:12 undeserved gifts bestowed by a God of infinite love
01:16 which provide his divine assistance
01:19 and supernatural power unto salvation.
01:22 And do you remember
01:24 what we identified or who we identified
01:26 as the three most important gifts?
01:28 Jesus Christ is God's greatest gift of grace
01:32 and we considered also the Bible
01:35 and the Holy Spirit as gifts of grace.
01:38 We also talked about Paul and Silas as they ministered
01:40 to the Philippine jailers household,
01:43 and Peter to the household of Cornelius telling them
01:46 to believe in Christ and they would be saved.
01:50 How does believing bring salvation?
01:54 Christ said he came to earth to seek and to save the lost.
01:59 And according to 1 John 3:8,
02:01 His mission was to destroy the works of the Devil
02:05 by redeeming mankind and giving us
02:08 victory over Satan's influence.
02:11 He accomplishes this through His grace
02:14 which He tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:9,
02:17 He says, "My grace is sufficient for you,"
02:21 sufficient for the task of transforming the human heart.
02:24 And in fact, Christ promises
02:27 to perfect His power in our weakness.
02:30 When Paul and Silas and Peter ministered
02:35 the message to believe they were essentially saying,
02:38 "Have faith and place your confidence
02:40 in Christ and His ability.
02:43 Commit your life to Him, trusting Him and relying on Him
02:47 for salvation and deliverance from sin."
02:51 Here is what Jesus said in John 5:24.
02:55 "Most assuredly, I say to you,
02:58 he who hears My word and believes in Him
03:02 who has sent Me has everlasting life,
03:05 and shall not come into judgment,
03:08 but has passed from death into life."
03:14 There you have it, on the authority
03:16 of the word of Christ Himself.
03:18 Believing brings salvation.
03:21 But believing in Jesus as Savior is to be living in Jesus
03:28 and the power of His grace.
03:30 The heavenly promise is that His presence in your life
03:35 will mold your character into conformity of His likeness.
03:40 But it takes faith and confidence
03:43 that God is willing and able to perform this work in you.
03:47 Jesus asks a question
03:49 and made an incredible response in Mathew 9:28 and 29.
03:55 He said, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?
03:59 According to your faith let it be to you."
04:05 This was in response to the cries
04:07 of two believing blind men.
04:10 And these words spoken by Jesus restored their sight
04:13 by grace through the power of faith.
04:16 The Bible accounts that we previously reviewed
04:19 of the woman at the well and her fellow citizens,
04:22 the jailor and his family, and Cornelius household
04:26 proved the same faith principle applies to Spiritual blindness.
04:32 So how did all of those people
04:35 obtain faith to overcome Spiritual blindness?
04:38 Paul tells us in Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing
04:43 and hearing by the word of God.
04:46 As the gift of his word was implanted in their hearts
04:51 it brought faith and power
04:53 which was able to save their souls.
04:55 The moment their conversion came
04:57 when they believed in and received Jesus as savior.
05:02 Through faith their hearts were changed and converted,
05:07 turned away from the power of sin to the power of God.
05:11 Listen to Christ's commission to Paul,
05:14 his messenger of grace, whom he sent out to lost
05:17 and suffering souls so that they might be converted.
05:21 This is one of my favorite scriptures
05:23 found in Acts 26:17 and 18.
05:26 And he says to Paul, "I now send you to open their eyes,
05:31 in order to turn them from darkness to light,
05:34 and from the power of Satan to God,
05:37 that they may receive forgiveness of sins
05:40 and an inheritance among those
05:43 who are sanctified by faith in Me."
05:50 The word "converted" triggers memories of the two weeks
05:54 my precious mother spent in the intensive care unit.
05:57 It was as the result of a complete cardiac
06:00 and respiratory arrest from which she was revived.
06:03 And the hospital staff allowed me to stay with her
06:06 around the clock except for the occasions
06:09 that her heart went dangerously out of rhythm.
06:12 And the code blue team would send me scurrying from her room.
06:17 After applying the cardiac paddles
06:19 in to deliver an electric shock to her heart,
06:22 the doctor would come to the waiting area and tell me,
06:25 "Well, we've successfully converted her."
06:28 In other words, they had restored
06:30 a normal heart rhythm and she should live.
06:34 With the entrance of sin in the Garden of Eden,
06:38 the heart of humanity got out of rhythm.
06:41 We were out of rhythm with heaven
06:43 and sin severed mans spiritual life from God
06:47 resulting in spiritual death.
06:50 The great physician of love
06:52 reaches down from heaven to restore life to us.
06:56 He places His loving hands, like spiritual cardiac paddles,
07:01 on our heart and delivers the power stream
07:04 that causes it to beat
07:06 in a recreated rhythm as one with His.
07:10 of the Old Testament,
07:15 pictures this more like a heart transplant.
07:19 God promise us to put a new heart
07:21 and a new spirit within His people
07:23 and 'cause His people to be what he calls them to be.
07:28 Now in the New Testament in Hebrews 8:8-13.
07:32 He proclaims the new covenant,
07:35 heart conversion process, happens as a result of Him
07:39 putting His laws in our minds and writing them on our hearts.
07:44 We must be regenerated, reborn spiritually
07:48 to restore our relationship with God as our father.
07:52 And the good news is this happens
07:55 as a function of His grace.
07:58 Now in the natural realm, let me ask,
08:01 what role does any child perform in his conception? None.
08:06 The donor, seed or sperm brings life
08:09 and the child is conceived receiving the gift of life.
08:13 The same principle applies in the spiritual realm.
08:16 Luke 8:11, portrays the written word
08:21 as the seed of God with a small lowercase 's'.
08:26 And in Galatians 3:16, Paul identifies Christ
08:30 as the living word of God, as the covenant seed of Abraham
08:34 and he uses an uppercase 'S' for seed.
08:38 You see, we are born again spiritually
08:41 as we receive the seed of His written word.
08:45 And Jesus, the covenant seed,
08:47 enters our hearts through faith
08:49 to infuse us with new spiritual DNA.
08:54 Now I use that as an acronym for Divine Nature Acquired.
08:59 And what happens is working in concert
09:03 the Holy Spirit indwells us
09:05 and we are born of the spirit and of God.
09:09 Like a child of natural birth our only part
09:13 in the spiritual birth is to receive the gift of life.
09:17 God communicates new life to us
09:20 through the agencies of His grace through His son,
09:24 the Holy Spirit, and the word
09:26 and we are born from above and given a new beginning.
09:30 You know, God believes and gives all who believe in Christ
09:34 and receive Him as Savior the right to become His children
09:39 and share communion with Him.
09:43 This rebirth or regeneration
09:45 causes us to have a family resemblance
09:48 to the father of our spirits, our father of grace.
09:52 Let's review the scriptural evidence
09:55 of our new birth process.
09:57 And we are going to began with James 1:18.
10:03 Let me find that right here.
10:05 And in James 1:18, the Bible says
10:07 we were born again by God's will and His word.
10:09 Listen, "And it was of His own free will
10:13 that He gave us birth as sons by His word of Truth."
10:18 And 1 Peter 1:23 says we were born at the word.
10:22 "Having been born again, not of corruptible seed
10:26 but incorruptible, through the word of God."
10:29 Ephesians 2:4-5 says, "God, who is rich in mercy,
10:35 because of His great love with which He loved us,
10:38 even when we were dead in trespasses,
10:40 made us alive together with Christ
10:43 by grace you have been saved.
10:46 Ephesians 2:10 says, we are recreated in Christ.
10:50 I am reading this from the amplified and it says,
10:53 "For we are God's (own) handiwork (His workmanship),
10:57 recreated in Christ Jesus, (born anew)
11:01 that we may do those good works
11:03 which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us."
11:08 And then we must consider John 3:6,
11:11 where Jesus says we were born of the Spirit.
11:13 He says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh,
11:17 and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
11:20 And finally Titus 3:4-6 says we were regenerated
11:25 and renewed by the Holy Spirit.
11:27 And he writes, "When the kindness
11:30 and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
11:33 not by works of righteousness which we have done,
11:37 but according to His mercy He saved us,
11:40 through the washing of regeneration
11:43 and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
11:46 whom He poured out on us abundantly
11:49 through Jesus Christ our Savior."
11:52 What great promises.
11:54 That's why Paul could say in 2 Corinthians 5:17,
11:57 "Therefore if any one is in Christ,
12:00 he is a new creation.
12:02 Old things have passed away
12:04 and behold all things have become new."
12:07 Through the gift of Christ's overflowing life
12:11 and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit and the word,
12:15 God recreates us in His image.
12:19 And now we have the hope
12:21 of attaining the character of Christ
12:24 as we grow in grace and mature in our Christian experience.
12:29 Paul pointed out in Colossians 1:27,
12:33 he said that it is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
12:38 Our personal experience of allowing Christ to dwell
12:42 within our hearts by faith is our only hope of salvation.
12:45 And as born again children of God,
12:48 we have a vital spiritual connection with our Lord.
12:51 Through faith we abide in Him
12:54 and He abides or continually dwells in us.
12:58 The promise to all who will believe in Him
13:01 is that the power of His Holy Spirit
13:03 will be poured out from on high.
13:06 And our frail human understanding
13:08 will be strengthened to know the love of God
13:12 that we may be filled with all of His fullness.
13:16 Let me read to you from Ephesians 3:14-19.
13:21 Paul writes to the Ephesians and he says,
13:24 "For this reason I bow my knees
13:27 to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
13:30 Why? "That He would grant you,
13:32 according to the riches of His glory,
13:34 to be strengthened with might
13:37 through His Spirit in the inner man,
13:40 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith"
13:44 So we see there,
13:45 it's through the Holy Spirit living in us
13:47 that Christ dwells in us by faith.
13:50 "That you, being rooted and grounded in love,
13:52 may be able to comprehend with all the saints
13:56 what is the width and length and depth and height,
13:59 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge,
14:02 that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
14:07 You know, Paul exclaimed, it's the grace of God
14:12 that brings salvation has appeared to all men
14:16 when Jesus came.
14:17 Hallelujah.
14:18 God's grace pipeline is provided for every man,
14:22 woman, and child on earth.
14:23 It encompasses the world in an embraces of his love.
14:28 tells us that God desires
14:32 that all would repent and none would perish.
14:35 His grace is for all.
14:37 Scripture is clear and confronting,
14:39 salvation belongs to God.
14:42 Both the Old and New Testaments
14:44 actually use that exact wording.
14:47 Don't believe for one minute that you are too bad
14:49 to qualify for God's saving grace,
14:52 denying His ability to save and exalting your opinion
14:56 above His recorded truth.
14:58 In a supreme display of His love
15:00 God sent His Son to die
15:03 for ungodly sinners like you and like me.
15:06 And don't suffer the prideful notion
15:08 that you can do anything to save yourselves
15:11 because then you would unwittingly
15:12 be setting yourself up as your own deity
15:15 and thereby practicing a form of idolatry.
15:18 Don't reject the idea either of your great need
15:23 for the Savior by considering yourself as inherently good.
15:27 For the Bible says that all have sinned
15:29 and fallen short of the glory of God.
15:31 We are all candidates for God's grace.
15:35 James tells us in 4:6 that God resists the proud,
15:41 but he gives grace to the humble.
15:44 To receive grace requires an act of humility
15:48 which explains the human tendency
15:51 of our hearts to reject it.
15:53 We must humbly accept but for the grace of God
15:57 we would be doomed to destruction.
16:00 Further we must believe that He loves the undeserving
16:05 and He is able to save us.
16:08 Romans 6:23 speaks to God's grace saying,
16:12 "For the wages of sin is death,
16:15 but the gift of God is eternal life
16:21 in Christ Jesus our Lord."
16:23 The Bible paints a portrait of an all loving,
16:27 all powerful, all Holy God.
16:30 And the perfect moral purity of God separates Him
16:35 from any possibility of wrong doing or injustice.
16:39 Now in striking contrast the Scripture portraits
16:43 the picture of fallen humanity as selfish, weak,
16:47 morally corrupt and hopelessly lost
16:50 unless we repent of our rebellion against God.
16:54 Man was created to be the image bearer of a Holy God.
16:58 And our creator set forth His righteous criteria,
17:02 His laws of love by which He would govern the world
17:06 to provide a protective barrier against sin.
17:10 But through an act of rebellion and opposition to God's plan,
17:13 Adam and Eve introduced
17:15 the consequences of sin into this world.
17:18 Sin ravaged the perfection of God's creation
17:21 and infected the entire human race
17:24 with through an inherited nature
17:26 that is inclined to surrender to sin's sway
17:31 rather than to the power of God.
17:33 Yeah, we are born with freewill,
17:35 the personal choice between right and wrong.
17:37 And scripture makes it very clear in Ezekiel 18:20.
17:44 It says we are individually responsible for own sins.
17:49 The sin experience of mankind is the disgrace of humanity.
17:54 That's what caused our decline
17:56 into a state of moral degradation
17:58 and separated us from our Holy God.
18:01 Suffering, torment, death
18:04 and these types of things are the toxic waste of sin.
18:08 As the consequence of His holiness
18:11 evil is an abomination to the Lord.
18:14 And His judgment is that those who practice sin deserve death.
18:19 The Bible describes- describes God's holy reaction
18:23 against the squalor of sin as His wrath.
18:27 Our God of love proclaims himself
18:30 to be merciful, gracious, slow to anger,
18:33 and abundant in loving kindness and truth.
18:36 Still we must understand that His love towards us
18:40 is not just a shower of sentimental feelings.
18:43 His love provides grace that is the offsetting power
18:47 to subdue the influence of the devil
18:50 and change our sin-sick state of mind.
18:55 Thank God for the assurance of Romans 5:20 which says,
19:01 "Where sin abounded grace abounded much more."
19:05 As we tap into God's grace pipeline by faith,
19:09 He will flood us with His grace
19:11 and wash away the Spiritual drought
19:14 that's caused by our sins.
19:16 His benevolent gifts are free to us,
19:19 but we must be careful not to propose
19:22 an idea of cheap grace
19:24 for the cost to God was incalculable.
19:28 If anyone appreciated the benefits of grace
19:30 it was the Apostle Paul, a Pharisee of Pharisees,
19:34 who at one time thought his pedigree
19:38 and his zealous religious practices
19:40 earned him favor with God.
19:42 But lacking the life and love of God within,
19:45 he failed to recognize that he was spiritually destitute
19:49 until the moment of his dramatic Damascus road conversion
19:54 when he encountered the master of grace.
19:58 Grace awakened in Paul,
20:00 an emotion that could not be expressed.
20:03 Nor could his gratitude for grace be suppressed.
20:07 He was writing a letter to the church at Corinth
20:10 offering instructions on sacrificial giving.
20:13 When suddenly in the midst
20:15 to providing the reasons for sacrificial giving
20:18 and the motives Paul's heart surged
20:21 with gratitude for God's grace.
20:23 And he penned the strong language
20:26 in Acts excuse me 2 Corinthians 9:15.
20:29 He said, "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift."
20:35 Paul knew the supreme demonstration
20:37 of God's saving love was the glorious gift
20:41 of His only begotten Son.
20:43 He could find no other words adequate to define such charity.
20:49 The 85 Psalm says that "Mercy and Truth have met together,
20:54 righteousness and peace have kissed."
20:57 When is this talking about?
20:59 The gateway to salvation is the crucifixion of Christ.
21:03 Sinful men deserve destruction.
21:05 But in spite of our hostility and rebellion
21:08 God paid the unspeakable price to redeem us.
21:12 His holiness demanded justice but His love demanded grace.
21:18 Justice and Grace collided at Calvary's cross
21:23 evidencing both the holiness and the love of God.
21:27 The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
21:29 and being Himself God possessed the very nature of the Father.
21:34 He was worshiped and adored by heavenly beings
21:38 but yet He choose to humble Himself
21:40 and leave that glory and majesty in heaven
21:43 to come to earth and rescue His created beings.
21:47 He condescended to acquire the nature of man
21:51 through His incardination.
21:52 God's beloved became humanity's rejected.
21:56 The perfect sinless one became the willing sacrifice for sin
22:02 bearing the penalty of our sins.
22:04 Heaven's innocent became the condemned
22:08 and the author of life served as our substitute for death.
22:13 It is written in 1 Peter 1:18-19.
22:17 "You were not redeemed with corruptible things,
22:20 like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct
22:24 received by tradition from your fathers,
22:26 but with the precious blood of Jesus,
22:30 as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."
22:35 Stand at the foot of Calvary's cruel cross
22:38 and you will begin to comprehend the cost of God's grace.
22:42 See His Son hanging naked, lacerated by the whip,
22:46 pierced by the rough iron nails through his hands and feet,
22:50 and bruised by the fist of his tormentors
22:53 with men's spittle dried to his wounded and blooded head
22:57 that was topped then with a crown of thrones.
23:00 If we see the suffocating savior gasping for air
23:05 and grimacing in pain and witness the inward grief
23:09 that engulfed Him as God made Him
23:11 who knew no sin to be sin for us,
23:15 that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
23:18 Now in contrast to the mocking crowd,
23:22 hear the heart of mercy of Jesus crying out,
23:26 "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."
23:30 To contemplate the scene of our Savior's death is to understand
23:35 why Paul did not propagate a cheap grace.
23:38 He describes it in Galatians 5:11
23:42 as the offence of the cross Jesus gave Himself willingly.
23:47 In Hebrews 12:2 says,
23:49 "For the joy that was set before Him,
23:52 He endured the cross despising the shame."
23:55 Let me ask, what was his joy?
23:58 He knew that through His death
24:00 God was reconciling the world to Himself
24:04 and not counting our sins against us.
24:07 Through Christ's sacrifice He would destroy
24:10 the power of the Devil and deliver us
24:13 from this present evil age according to God's perfect will.
24:20 Titus 2:14 tells us that it was God's joy to redeem us
24:27 from every lawless deed and purify for Himself
24:31 His own spiritual people,
24:33 people that were zealous for good works
24:37 because of the effects of grace
24:40 and because of this His glorious grace will strengthen us
24:44 with the power to conduct ourselves
24:47 in a manner worthy of the Lord's great hearted gift of love.
24:52 God's indescribable gift Jesus Christ,
24:56 was a demonstration of His perfect love towards sinners,
25:00 a love that would drive the fear of His wrath from our hearts.
25:05 A true understanding of God's grace conquers our fears
25:09 and it stirs a longing within us to walk in His path
25:15 and holds our hope for our future.
25:19 Only by grace can our fallen human nature be subdued
25:25 and the unholy heart of humanity be restored
25:28 to the image of our creator.
25:30 The fullness of grace stored in our Lord Jesus
25:35 streams down from Him into us providing the divine assistance
25:40 and the supernatural salvation
25:43 as we walk in daily fellowship with Him.
25:47 It is written in 1 John 5:11-13,
25:53 "This is the testimony.
25:56 God given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
26:01 He who has the Son has life,
26:05 he who does not have the Son of God
26:10 does not have life.
26:12 These things I have written to you
26:13 who believe in the name of the Son of God,
26:16 that you may know that you have eternal life,
26:21 and that you may continue to believe
26:24 in the name of the Son of God."
26:27 Give thanks to God for His indescribable gift Jesus Christ,
26:32 the revelation of His great love for you.
26:35 Rejoice, you were worth nothing less than the price
26:39 He paid to redeem you with His own precious blood.
26:44 Christ paid ransom for your release from sins bondage
26:49 to set you free from its horrors.
26:52 My advice is- for you, for me
26:55 that we need to rivet our eyes on our redeemer
27:00 and if we are in Christ we can rest
27:03 in the assurance of salvation by grace.
27:06 That's what we just read in 1 John 5:11-13.
27:10 And I just want to read it one more time.
27:12 "This is the testimony.
27:14 That God given us eternal life and the life is in His Son.
27:19 He who has the Son-" Do you have the Son of God?
27:24 If you've accepted Christ as your Savior
27:27 and you are living in Him then it says,
27:31 that He has written these things
27:34 that you may know that you have eternal life.
27:39 I don't know what your circumstances are?
27:42 But there is someone in heaven who does.
27:44 And I know He loves you.
27:46 And if you will cry out to him He is eager
27:49 and ready to come to your rescue.
27:54 God loves you and He wants you
27:57 to be born again and saved by grace.


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Revised 2014-12-17