Nazarene 101 – Prevenient Grace March 26, 2017 Acts 10:1-8

This morning, we are looking at the seventh article - Prevenient Grace. Here is what it says: 7. We believe that the human race’s creation in Godlikeness included ability to choose between right and wrong, and that thus human beings were made morally responsible; that through the fall of they became depraved so that they cannot now turn and prepare themselves by their own natural strength and works to faith and calling upon God. But we also believe that the grace of God through Jesus Christ is freely bestowed upon all people, enabling all who will to turn from sin to righteousness, believe on Jesus Christ for pardon and cleansing from sin, and follow pleasing and acceptable in His sight. We believe that all persons, though in the possession of the experience of and entire , may fall from grace and apostatize and, unless they repent of their sins, be hopelessly and eternally lost.

(Godlikeness and moral responsibility: Genesis 1:26-27; 2:16-17; Deuteronomy 28:1-2; 30:19; Joshua 24:15; Psalm 8:3-5; Isaiah 1:8-10; Jeremiah 31:29-30; Ezekiel 18:1-4; Micah 6:8; Romans 1:19-20; 2:1-16; 14:7-12; Galatians 6:7-8 Natural inability: Job 14:4; 15:14; Psalms 14:1-4; 51:5; John 3:6a; Romans 3:10-12; 5:12-14, 20a; 7:14-25 Free grace and works of faith: Ezekiel 18:25-26; John 1:12-13; 3:6b; Acts 5:31; Romans 5:6-8, 18; 6:15-16, 23; 10:6-8; 11:22; 1 Corinthians 2:9-14; 10:1-12; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19; Galatians 5:6; Ephesians 2:8-10; Philippians 2:12-13; Colossians 1:21-23; 2 Timothy 4:10a; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 2:1-3; 3:12-15; 6:4-6; 10:26-31; James 2:18-22; 2 Peter 1:10-11; 2:20-22)

“Several years ago a widow shared some of the story of her life. When her husband was 39 he died in his sleep of a massive heart attack. That day had begun like any other day - he awoke at the same time - went to work - performed his duties - came home at the end of the day - played with his kids - ate supper - watched TV with his family - tucked his kids into bed - kissed his wife "goodnight" & went to sleep - never to awake. He died in his sleep. She was 37 when he died & left her with 3 children - a son, 15, a daughter 8, & another son, 6. She said, "I was not a Christian when he died, & at first the burden was so heavy." She said, "I thought that God & everyone else had forsaken me & that life was no longer worth living. But somehow, in the midst of my struggles," she said, "God found me & lifted me up. I’ll not tell you that we didn’t have troubles," she continued. "I had rebellious teenagers & trouble making ends meet. I had to work day & night to be both a mother & a father to them. "But now I look back on all that, & I can see 3 beautiful children, happily married, raising their children in the church. And I know that through it all - the tears, the trials & the tribulations - God never let me down!" (Taken from Sermoncentral.com)

We have a bit of a description in the article, but what exactly is prevenient grace? Prevenient grace means “the grace that goes before”. This theological term is not found in the Bible, but the concept is. We generally understand what grace is. We talked briefly about grace last week, simply meaning getting what we don’t deserve. Prevenient grace is the grace that goes before salvation. When we are talking about prevenient grace, we are speaking about the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts and minds of non-believers. This grace works on their hearts and minds so that they may come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. Without the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts and minds, no one can come to Salvation.

As I said before this is a theological term, but it finds its origins in scripture. Our passage this morning from Acts chapter 10 is just one example. Cornelius was a Roman Centurion living in Caesarea, a coastal city. Verse 2 tells us that he is a God-fearing gentile supporting the needy and praying to God. He does good works. He may even go to the synagogue, but he is not a proselyte. He has not been circumcised. He has not joined the Jewish faith. We see God’s grace at work here. We don’t know what led him spiritually to this point, but we do know he has an awareness of God.

Because of this awareness he has this incredible experience. God knows what he has been up to, he sees the work Cornelius has done. But God wants him to hear the Good News so he is told to find the Apostle Peter. This is so Peter can come and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If we were to read the rest of the chapter you would see what took place with Cornelius and his household. When Peter shared, they accepted Christ and were filled with the Holy Spirit and then baptized.

Clearly, there was unmerited favor here. Cornelius had done nothing to deserve this grace. He could not have merely “decided” to exercise “free will” to be devout. makes us incapable of that sort of choice outside the realm of God’s grace. And so, we see God’s Prevenient Grace working in Cornelius ’s life before he even realized he had a need for God’s grace.

With some understanding in mind, let’s walk through the article together. “We believe that the human race’s creation in Godlikeness included ability to choose between right and wrong, and that thus human beings were made morally responsible; that through the fall of Adam they became depraved so that they cannot now turn and prepare themselves by their own natural strength and works to faith and calling upon God.”

Genesis tells us we were made in the image of God. “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27) Adam and Eve were created to resemble God, containing in some measure the attributes of God. God being sovereign, gave his creations some measure of self-sovereignty, otherwise known as free will.

Some have looked at that and wondered how does man have free will and yet God can still be sovereign? If a man can choose not to follow the creator, then how can God still be sovereign? Good questions, and ones that have been asked for centuries. I’m not here to debate them specifically, but here are some thoughts.

God is all-powerful as well as sovereign, so in his power he can create a person with free will. God’s sovereignty is not restrained by free will. Our own freewill is sustained by God’s sovereignty—sustained by God’s grace. It may not be easy to comprehend, but it is a both-and. God is sovereign and we have free will.

God created us with the ability to choose. We can identify and choose between right and wrong. We are morally responsible for our own decisions. Before the fall, before the Image of God within mankind was tarnished, we were disposed to choosing correctly. We could choose rightly, using our self-sovereignty for good. But after the fall, the Image of God within us was tarnished, and we became depraved, so that we cannot will ourselves to make the right choice. We cannot, by our own human strength, utilize our freewill to make the right choice. We are inclined toward selfish choices, instead of choosing for the Other. We live in the condition of Original Sin, and there we are prone to use our self-sovereignty wrongly, over-and-against the desire of the Creator. God’s prevenient grace is also the reason we can make the right decisions, when it is at work in our lives even before we accept God’s gift of salvation through Christ. God is moving towards humanity before humanity makes a step in God’s direction.

The second part of the article says: “But we also believe that the grace of God through Jesus Christ is freely bestowed upon all people, enabling all who will to turn from sin to righteousness, believe on Jesus Christ for pardon and cleansing from sin, and follow good works pleasing and acceptable in His sight.”

Isn’t it good to know that no one is exempt from God’s grace? Everyone is touched by His grace. And that grace allows humanity to turn from their sin and accept Jesus. The very fact that we can acknowledge God’s work is a sign that God’s grace is calling us. God does this because He desires reconciliation with us.

When we look at the whole process of salvation, we can see that it is about us responding to God’s grace. When God’s grace goes first, all we are left with is to choose. Paul tells us that in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not by works so that no one can boast.” God’s grace is the activator. It is His grace that is facilitated through our faith. But even our faith is not from ourselves, it is the gift of God. In other words, even the faith that you possess is sustained by God’s Grace. God’s grace initiates, and God’s grace gives you the faith to respond. It truly is mostly about God’s grace, and only a little bit about our faith and our response.

But understand there must still be a response. Only when we respond to prevenient grace that we are able to cross the threshold of salvation. It is when we respond to His sanctifying grace that we grow in grace and become purified. It is when we respond to His sustaining grace that we carry out the mission of the Kingdom of God upon this world.

Let’s look at the last sentence. “We believe that all persons, though in the possession of the experience of regeneration and entire sanctification, may fall from grace and apostatize and, unless they repent of their sins, be hopelessly and eternally lost.” This sounds a bit harsh, doesn’t it? But losing your salvation is not like losing your wallet. It also doesn’t mean that God takes it away from us. One pastor said that it should be reworded from losing your salvation to walking away from your salvation. As I said earlier God sends his grace to call us to reconcile with us.

When we understand the entire salvation process as “responding to God’s grace,” we recognize that salvation is all about relationship. In our understanding, we see God as primarily a relational God—Holy existing in perfect relationship, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit before the beginning of time—then we are created to be in relationship with Him. Salvation—responding to God’s grace—is about being in relationship. We don’t merely misplace a relationship…instead we either walk away from it abruptly, or drift away through negligence.

“Charles Templeton was a long-time friend and associate of Billy Graham. He worked with Billy Graham in Youth for Christ in their early days of ministry. Chuck Templeton helped organize Youth for Christ in Canada. But over time Chuck Templeton became an Agnostic and renounced his faith in Christ. He left the ministry and managed two of Canada’s leading newspapers. Pastor and author Lee Strobel read one of Chuck Templeton’s books, "Farewell to God: My Reasons for Rejecting the Christian Faith." He decided to fly to Toronto to meet Chuck Templeton, who was 83 years old at the time, and interview him. In their interview Chuck Templeton vigorously defended his agnostic rejection of a God who claimed to love, yet allowed suffering across the world to go unchecked. Then toward the end of their time together, Strobel asked Templeton point-bland how he felt about Jesus. Instantly, Templeton softened. He said, “In my view He is the most important human being who has ever existed.” Then his voice began to crack, he haltingly said, “I…miss…Him!” Then Templeton’s eyes filled with tears and he wept with his shoulders shaking. Both he and Billy Graham had started together in ministry and then went their separate ways. Billy Graham has said that Jesus was his most prized possession, while Templeton weeps for having left him long ago.” (Found on Sermoncentral.com)

Losing our faith is not done accidentally. We don’t wake up one day and wonder where it’s gone. It is done by choice. Free will works both ways. If we are free to choose God, we are also free to walk away. We can reject God’s grace, even with what we know. And yet, at any time at all we can turn around and return to the God who loves us. He is a God of second, third, and fourth chances. If we continue to live in relationship with God, responding to His grace we have nothing to fear. Even when we sin, if we turn to God for His , He accepts us.

Volodymyr Masyuk also known as Vova grew up in Kiev, Ukraine. When Vova was 10, his father, a member of the Ukrainian Communist Party, gave him a copy of a book called A Book for a Young Atheist. Before he began elementary school, a friend of his told he had been baptized a Christian. Volodymyr said he had been deceived by myths. When he was 13, he and some friends had harassed an elderly Orthodox woman as she left church. She gave Vova some pause when she said, “God can rain rocks down on your head”. And he wondered, ‘Can God do that?’ A little older, he entered a rebellious phase, and began to listen to Western rock music. He heard Jesus Christ Superstar and wondered how Jesus could attract the attention of so many young Americans. Around that time, someone gave him a book about Jesus. He tried to discuss its “legends” with a friend, whose response scared him: “Vova, those stories are true.” More awakening followed. During Mikhail Gorbachev’s leadership as General Secretary of the Communist Party (1985-1991), a window for Christian evangelism opened up. Out of curiosity, Vova went to hear an Episcopalian evangelist. During the sermon, Vova heard the Holy Spirit’s voice calling him to repentance. Vova repented of his sin and confessed Jesus Christ as Lord. Vova pastored the First in Kiev.

When it comes down to it, it is all about God’s grace. It is God’s grace which created you and gave you life. It is God’s grace which allowed you to be morally responsible. It is God’s grace which made you aware of sin in your life, and that you were not in right relationship with God. It is God’s grace that allowed you to hear His voice calling you. God’s grace has called you. To those who respond to that prevenient grace, that grace saves you, sanctifies you, sustains you, and will eventually glorify you as the Image of God is restored within you. It also gives us hope that God’s grace is at work all around us, calling people to himself. That is Good News!