This grace is the reality that seems irrational to human nature. We learn and come to know the riches of grace and the power of His resurrection. All that we do is due to His grace and His Finished Work. Ephesians 1:17-19; 2:8-10; 3:9-10

Speaker(s): Peter Westera, Roger Robbin IV
Sermon 12300
7:00 PM on 5/11/2022

P. Roger Robbins (Izmir) –

Hi. Greetings everyone from Izmir, Turkey. It’s good to be here you guys. It’s even more amazing to
know that the pastor of this church has been in India. Not a lot of people have pastors traveling
and just going and being an example for us. I think it’s so cool that I get to be here tonight while
he's out in another country. Let’s pray (Prayer).

In Job 5, and also my wife says “hi” to you all. Lizzie Lange Robbins. She loves you all. She’s
holding down the fort. P. Paul Andrulonis did my Bible school class today in Izmir on Zoom.
Survey of Doctrine 2, we have seven students that we’re really proud of. Each one of them is
like a burning star in the sky. I just love it. Greetings from all of them. I’m here working for two
weeks. I go back on Friday. We have one more month I’ll be there and we’ll have a conference
at the end of the year, the end of the year for me. It’s in Arvilla which is a place right next to
Ephesus. So, next year if you want to come end of May Izmir conference.

Job 5 it says some troubling stuff. I like troubling things in the Bible because there’s always
good answers. It says in chapter 5:6-7, man’s state is in a lot of trouble. Have you noticed? I
come back to America and I see a lot. I was in Turkey and I perceive and see what’s going on in
the world. We all do. We see what’s happening. And we also know what is taking place in our
heart. One of the most important things we realize is that we’re in trouble. And that’s like
actually a beautiful thing. That’s not a place for us to panic, to run, to push the button, go to
default. Not to turn backwards. Not to stick your head in the sand, in the hole in the sand. Not
to panic. But Job in this book his friend made it very clear that there was a problem and man
was born into it.

Paul says it differently in 1 Timothy 6:7. It says that man was born in this world, he came into this
world with nothing and he’s going to leave with nothing. So that’s like a framework for us to
discover God’s grace. It’s a really beautiful thing actually. Because like the man, like the son, the
prodigal son, we see his return. We see how beautiful it is. But then there is the other son and
all the things he did in his life. All of the good works and all of the things he made from start to
end that wasn’t received by God. It wasn’t respected by his father. He understood that it was all
for vain, but actually grace, grace is the beautiful mystery that we see. It actually says this is Job
5:8. I will seek God. My life I have come in without anything.

I’ll admit it. I’m born in the trouble. I’ll say it but that’s not the end. I’m going to seek God. And it says to God I will commit my cause. Jesus said in John. 1 that the grace of God comes from grace to grace. There’s only room
for grace in between these two points. And in Titus 2 it says that the grace of God has appeared
to all men. If we take these thoughts of grace and we put it between these days, we have
something extremely valuable. It goes on to say in vs. 9. When someone gets ahold of grace as
we have and as we do and as we will, we will see marvelous things. That’s the reality of what
we believe. We believe 100% grace. 100% him,

Jesus Christ and him alone. I love to say in Turkey to people because the concept of grace is so irrational, so erratic, so foolish and the convincing of it takes a lifetime. It takes a long time. That’s the whole point. God is looking for
us to experience this unsearchable richness. I wanted to just say that the expression of grace is
here tonight. You guys are so faithful. I was thinking about why we have been drawn to this.
Have we been controlled? Have we been manipulated? Have we been coerced? No. We have
seen that we need something that we don’t have and we cannot produce. And we go 100%
Jesus, 100% to him, 100% his blood, 100% his salvation. And when we surrender to this and live
in this we have an amazing treasure.

This whole chapter goes on to explain it. You can encourage yourself and read it, but I love that
this is the defining moments. I say yes. I came into this world with nothing. Amen to that. And I
will leave with nothing. But in this world, in this time, unless Jesus comes home of course, but I
will live in grace. I will use it to abound and to do greater things. We will use it to go places
where we wouldn’t go. And that is the message we see and experience here in this place. So,
God bless you. Let’s pray. (Prayer).

P. Pete Westera –

Well that was pretty good. I was a little surprised! I didn’t know. Coach, did
you know that about Manuel? I didn’t know that. Really good. Hopefully, we’ll get to hang out
with them this weekend. There’s a spring rally so pray for us. We’re going to have a great time.
God’s going to move. We’re praying that we just have a beautiful time and that lives will be
touched. That the kids will hear something and we’ll have a lot of fun. That’s part of the deal.
Okay. What a beautiful message about grace. I got to say I’m a huge fan of Roger Robbins.
Really. I am. And it’s not just because he’s a contractor like I am. Tonight is contractor night we
decided. No, from a distance watching his life and I’m amazed at what he is doing over there. I
got to get back over there. I think that’s what I’m trying to say. And the message of grace is
what I want to share with you. (Prayer)

Ephesians 1 and 2 maybe. This chapter I don’t know how many hundreds of times some of us have
read this chapter and every time we read it, something else pops up. Maybe for some of you,
you are not as familiar with it. Chapter 1 is really about all the things that God has done for us.
The word that pops out off the page is the word “has” or “have.” Starting with vs. 3-5, has
blessed us, has chosen us, has predestinated us. Vs. 6 has made us accepted. It goes on and on
and on. Vs. 9. It’s just telling us over and over again what God has accomplished. It’s just a
beautiful passage to read. Positional truth all over the place. Finishing in vs. 13, 14 with the fact
that the Holy Spirit has sealed us. So that’s chapter 1.

Chapter 2 we have the same thing. The same word in vs. 5, “has.” Even when we were dead in
trespasses and sins he has quickened us. Then in vs. 6, has raised us up. We can also say in vs.
8-10. We are his workmanship. So, we have chapter 1 establishing truth, truth in my life. Grace.
Grace that God accomplished despite me. This is the reality of my life. And then we have
chapter 2, the same thing. Grace. What’s in between? Well, more amazing verses but these verses I got to be honest with you, I’ve read them so many times and I never quite really know
what Paul is trying to say. He’s praying in vs. 16. He’s praying about something and then there’s
this word that pops up. It almost seems like it doesn’t belong in between these two passages of
positional truth. Vs. 17. “May.” Ouch! There’s all these definite things before and all these
definite things after and then Paul is praying. What’s he praying?

He’s praying that we may. The Father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of him. Vs. 18. You could say that the eyes of your understanding
may be enlightened. That you may know what is the hope of his calling and the riches of the
glory of his inheritance. Why the “may?” There is so much effort being made here on both sides
of these verses to establish a fact that grace is reigning in my life. But then Paul is praying. He’s
praying for something else, for something more. What could it be? What is it about – we go
back to vs. 17 – what is it that we have to know that he may give unto you the spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of him. What is it about him that I have to know? What is the
number one thing that I have to know about him? What’s at the top of the list?

If I were to describe Jesus, what’s my first word? Well, in the context of these two chapters we
know the word: grace. Paul is praying. He’s saying you have been given this. You have been
given grace. Now I am praying that you get it, you see what you’ve been given. You can read it
this way. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory may give unto you the spirit
and wisdom and revelation of the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. That the eyes of
your understanding may be enlightened to grace.

What else? What else would I need to be enlightened about? There’s a lot. I agree. But again, in
the context, Paul is saying you’ve been given grace but you have a problem. Your eyes do not
see it. You do not realize it. My prayer for you Ephesians is that your eyes are opened to what
God has already done, that your realize deeper, more grace. He prays that you may know what
is the hope of your calling. My number one calling is to grace. My first calling was to grace. I
hope and I pray that you understand your calling. What is the riches of the glory of the
inheritance. Well, it’s grace. Sandwiched in between these positional truth passages. Paul is
saying I know the reality. I know you are covered in grace but I am praying that you see it. I
really want you to see it. vs. 19, what power? The power of grace. Grace is powerful.
I was traveling a lot. I feel like I’ve been gone a lot.

Two business trips, in-law trip and then before that we were in Central Asia and where else were we? Poland. Yes, Poland. And we were flying and I remember just kind of reading my Bible and realizing that grace is powerful. Grace
has authority. Reigning authority in my life. Heb. 4 there is the throne of grace. Grace sitting on
the throne ruling. Ruling what? Ruling me. Ruling my life. Despite me, despite anything about
me, despite anything about my past or any detail. Grace is on the throne. Grace has the
authority. Grace is dictating to me. And he’s reigning.

I just love this. This battle that happened 2,000 years ago was about grace. Jesus Christ battled
for us a great battle. Grace versus sin. This was a fight to the death. There would be no
compromise, no negotiating some kind of peace. No redrawing the lines, letting go or let’s just
all get along. No, somebody was going to lose and it was sin. Sin lost. It lost big time. And when
Jesus said it is finished, the “it” in “it is finished” is sin. Sin is finished. And grace is in charge and
grace is ruling. It is always ruling. It’s ruling forever. Everlasting, ruling grace that has power.
Incredible power to move into my life and change my life and become the reality of my life.
Grace will not abdicate. It will not retreat. It will not redraw any lines or figure some other way.
Grace is a dictator over my life and it doesn’t care what is said. It doesn’t care what I do. He’s in
charge. And it’s beautiful. Satan will make his accusations.

He will. He will always make his accusations. He will talk. He will say your robe, your robe is filthy. Your life, what you do, your thoughts, everything, you’re filthy. But it doesn’t matter. His words are drowned out by grace.
Grace is louder. Grace is bigger. Grace has more authority.
Anything Satan says or does is illegitimate in my life. It doesn’t matter. My past does not
matter. It does not rule me. I love this little word. My devotional a couple mornings ago. Press
forward. Press forward. There’s nothing back. There’s only pressing forward. In the future,
there is grace. In the past, there is nothing. Grace is on the throne. Grace is reigning in my life
and my past cannot change it. In my past, I have shame. I have guilt. I have condemnation.
These words mean nothing to grace. They mean nothing to grace. It’s like God doesn’t care. My
opinions don’t matter. My stupid thoughts don’t matter.

My reasonings don’t matter. My works don’t matter. It’s grace. Jesus Christ died on the cross. He went to heaven and he sat down and nothing else has to be discussed. Nothing else has to be said. My future is
established. Despite myself, my future is established. I can sin. I can sin in my future. I will sin in
my future. I will have bad days in the future. But we can say it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.
At the end of the day, grace will reign in my future. Grace will have the last word. Not me. Not
my thoughts. Not somebody accusing me. Grace will have the last word. My flesh has no vote.
No voice. Grace has overriding power over my flesh. It is totally defeated. The devil is defeated.
My past is forgotten. My flesh doesn’t matter. My thoughts. My future sin. Grace is reigning.
You say, Pete, it sounds like you’re making an excuse for sinning tomorrow. Well, my flesh
doesn’t need any excuses. But it’s not true. It’s not true. It’s grace that will keep me. If anything
will, grace will keep me.

There’s this thing that we have now cancel culture I guess. I think this cancel culture philosophy
will make zero impact on the human race. It will not affect human depravity one bit. Ten years
from now, twenty years from now, thirty years from now, nothing will change. There will still be
men, evil. Men depraved like sparks flying up. It has no power. Cancel culture has no power
over me just like the law had no power over me. You can’t cancel this out. You won’t stop me.

Shame doesn’t stop us. Guilt doesn’t stop us. We do it anyways. You know what will stop me?
You know what has the best bet of stopping me? Grace. Grace will prevent me from doing
stupid things in the future. More than anything else, grace has a chance against me. Nothing
else will. When I realize grace, when I realize what God has done for me, it constrains me in a
way that nothing can constrain me. Nothing budges me. I don’t care until I found grace.
It’s not an excuse to sin at all. It’s the opposite. Paul knew that, Galatians 5. It’s not a license to sin.
No, grace is the opposite. Grace is the one thing that has a chance to stop me living in sin. The
one thing to stop my bad habits. The one thing that can control my flesh.

The one thing that will defeat me, will humble me. The one thing that will put me right. Nothing else can. God said
grace is sufficient. And primarily it is sufficient when we stand before God. But it is also
sufficient here today in my life. The reality of grace is sufficient right now. It’s my go to. It’s
where I go for tomorrow. If I want to change my life, if I want to have power in my life, it starts
with grace. Grace is where it becomes sufficient in a way that has a life-altering effect. That’s
what I need. Restraining power of grace. There’s really nothing else.

Remember the summer of 1940 England right after Dunkirk for those of you that know a little
bit about world war history. There was the battle of Britain and this had to do with the pilots,
the British pilots fighting the German pilots over the North Sea and to fight them off and the
odds were against those pilots. And the German army was stronger at that time and more
powerful. The British pilots won. They won the battle of Britain. It lasted maybe 3, 4 months
and by the fall, Hitler gave up trying to get through. And Winston Churchill said that famous line
I’m sure everyone has heard: “Never has so much be owed to so many to so few.” So, few pilots
and so many people affected by what they did.

And I love that sentence and I love what the British pilots did. Winston Churchill couldn’t have
been more wrong. Never has so much been done by Christ. One person did so much that
affected so many that even if I don’t know it – like Paul is worried about even if you don’t know.
Even if your eyes are blind and you don’t know about the hope of your calling and you don’t
know about the power, it doesn’t matter. Grace is reigning. It has authority. The only narrative
in my life is grace. I live by it. I go to it. When I fail, I go to it and when I’m not failing, I go for
more to prevent me from failing again and to help me. And I’ll fail again and I’ll go to grace
again and I’ll never stop going there. That is the only thing that matters.

My thoughts and my words. Please, just stop talking. It doesn’t matter. Read his words. In this area, your thoughts
mean nothing compared to God’s thoughts. I just want to know what God thinks about me.
I was reading Philippians last week and in chapter 3 we read in vs. 8. Many of you know this,
too. Paul is making it very clear that his resume means nothing and he gave it all up to win
Christ, to gain Christ. It might say gain Christ in your Bible. That just means salvation. Paul is
saying I gladly gave it up to win Christ. Yes. Yes. But then the next verse, vs. 9. Really if you read
the verse, you can say found to be righteous. The verse is about righteousness.

Not my own righteousness Paul is saying but righteousness that I found in Christ that became mine. I was
found to be righteous. It was always about righteousness.
In the Old Testament, it was about righteousness. All those stories, all those events. It was
about righteousness. When Jesus got baptized in the Jordan by John in Matthew 3 I think, John says,
no, no. I can’t baptize you. I should be baptized of you. Not me baptizing you. Jesus says, no.
Let’s do it for righteousness sake. It’s always been about righteousness. It’s always been about
his righteousness becoming my righteousness. All throughout every page all the way through,
I’m just trying to get you to understand that you are righteous, that you are found to be
righteous.

But who finds me righteous? Paul says found in him. Who? Who is looking? Who is looking for
me? Who is finding me in him. Yes, God. Before God, we are found righteous. But who else? I
looked up some commentaries because I was curious what people would say. One said before
men. And I think that’s true. I view you as righteous. You view me as righteous. So that’s true.
So, we have God. We have men. But there’s another person. It’s you. You need to find yourself
in him.

You are the primary concern for Paul that you will live your life having the finished work, having
grace, having righteousness floating over you but never realize it fully. And I have to find myself
to be righteous. I have to search the Bible. I have to perk up when this pulpit preaches grace. I
have to read the beautiful verses that describe me and say to me despite all odds, despite you.
You are found to be righteous.

I love the next verse. That I may know him. Yes, that’s the road. For I am saved. I win him. I am
saved. And I find righteousness. I find myself to be righteous, his righteousness in me. Then,
because I know that I am righteous and I realize he is gracious to me and I realize what he has
given me, then I know him. I know him. Okay. That’s who you are. You are the guy that made
me righteous. You are the person that made me righteous. You’re the one that gives me grace.
Now I can say I know him. You know what comes next when you know him? The power of his
resurrection. The power of his resurrection. It all begins with knowing grace. When I know
grace, I know him and when I know him I have power. And when I have power, God only knows
what we can do. We can have fellowship with his suffering. We can be conformed even unto his
death. All beginning with grace. Grace that has power in my life. Grace that is ruling in my life.
Grace that has an effect on my life in such a way that I am willing to lay down my life.

You ever ask a missionary; you ask P. Matti. Hey, P. Matti, how did you do it? You’re on your
tenth country. You’re amazing. You’re so great. And he always gets a little awkward, you know.
The Finnish comes out. He gets really awkward. You say P. Hadley, how did you do it. You were
in Ecuador. You’re so faithful to us. You’re such a blessing to us. We’ve seen your life. It’s a blessing to us. How did you do it? he just shakes his head. I don’t know. I don’t know. Don’t ask
too much. Don’t dig too deep. Don’t look to me. Don’t study me too much. Don’t evaluate my
decisions in my life too much. Don’t think that it was the course of my decision making and my
self-discipline and my strength and will power. No, this conversation is embarrassing. You don’t
even know the half of it.

I started with grace. And when I realize more grace, my life changed. And then when I failed, I
learned more grace. And I grew some more. Then one day I realized I had some power in my
life. It all started with grace. The next thing you know, I’m on a plane to Ecuador or whatever. I
think sometimes we think that discipline gets us ahead in God’s kingdom. I’m a fan of discipline
and on a different day we can talk about that. Really. No.

Do you know grace? Do you understand? Are your eyes enlightened by grace? Do you
understand the power that comes with grace? There’s nothing stronger. There is no force on
this planet stronger than grace. There’s nothing that can change a human being more than
grace. And I go to see the teenagers this weekend, P. Love and everybody else. Our primary
goal, our primary goal, it’s always been P. Love’s goal. He’s always speaking words of grace to
them.

Our teenagers are in trouble. Many guys are addicted to pornography and many girls are
anxious and in trouble. The message to them, the only hope for them, the only thing that can
change them, the only hope I have for them is that somehow this weekend P. Love or me or
somebody will preach a message and there will be a little light bulb that goes off, a little light
bulb of grace, a little platform to stand on. A little square footage of grace that I can just
balance myself on. That’s what I want for our kids this weekend.

So, pray with me this weekend. Pray with me. And if you are here today and you don’t know
what the heck I’m talking about. You have not won Christ. You have not gained Christ in your
life. You have not even started this journey of grace. I’ve got great news for you. You have so
much grace to learn. There is so much grace for you. Some of us have been reading this book
and sitting in this chapel for decades learning more and more about grace. You are starting out.
You can ask Jesus into your heart tonight. Pray with me if you are not saved. Pray with me this
prayer. (Prayer).

Please enjoy these sermon notes from the messages preached at Greater Grace Church in Baltimore. These notes are provided to aid in your study and understanding of the Word. Note that these notes do not represent complete, word-for-word transcriptions. Also, they may contain omissions as well as some errors in spelling and structure, etc., as we attempt to provide them as soon as possible. Our hope is that these notes serve as a way to help you search and connect with messages on related subjects and passages. Thank you for your interest in the ministry of Greater Grace.