“The Amazing, Saving, Sustaining Grace of God”
3/8/25
2 Cor. 12:7-10 “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Here we have an example of a man of great faith and with a very close relationship with the Lord praying desperately for deliverance from a “thorn in the flesh.”
We don’t know what the thorn was, but we know how it affected him.
He describes it as “buffeting” him.
Buffeted is from a strong Greek word meaning “to strike with the fist.”
The same word is used to describe Jesus who was “struck with fists” (Matt 26:67, Mark 14:65), and for Paul who was “brutally treated” (1 Cor 4:11).
One Bible version describes it as something that “hurt and bothered him.”
Another version reads, it “harassed him.”
Another says it “beat” him.
Yet one more version says it, “pounded away” at him.
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So whatever the thorn in the flesh was, it was no fun!
Paul says he “pleaded” with the Lord to remove it; literally he begged Him with all of his being.
And the Lord’s response was, “My grace is sufficient for you,”
“My grace, Paul, will suffice!”
Now, Grace has been defined as “unmerited favor,” or “the profound and unconditional love of God towards humanity.”
We didn’t earn it and we didn’t deserve it.
And God’s amazing GRACE comes in several manifestations.
First, God pours out what we call:
I. COMMON GRACE
God’s common grace is poured out on the entire world every day.
Jesus said, “He (God) makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”–Matt. 5:45
In Luke, Jesus said that God “is kind to the unthankful and evil” (Luke 6:35).
The psalmist wrote that, “The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made” (Psalm 145:9).
And again, “He opens his hand, and he satisfies the desire of every living thing” (Vs. 16).
Barnabas and Paul said the same thing to the people of Lystra:
“He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy” (Acts 14:17).
And God’s COMMON GRACE also restrains evil in the world–his grace holds back what man’s fallen heart and an angry devil WOULD do if not for God’s grace restraints!
2 Thes 2:7 “The secret power of evil is already working in the world now. But there is one who is restraining that secret power of evil.”
–And there is a PURPOSE for God’s common grace:
“Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to bring you to repentance?”–Romans 2:4
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So there is COMMON grace, and then there is:
II. SAVING grace
God’s saving grace was supremely revealed in Jesus’s death on the Cross.
Listen to the Apostle Paul’s words, “Very few people will die to save the life of someone else, even if it is for a good person. Someone might be willing to die for an especially good person. 8 But Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and by this God showed how much he loves us.”–Ro. 5:7-8
And verse 10, “…while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.”
–By His sacred, shed blood for the forgiveness of our sins, we are saved solely and only by God’s gracious grace!
Eph.2:4-8 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 5 even though we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you are saved!”
6 “and he raised us up together with him and seated us together with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast”
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Now, the grace of God is one of the hardest things for us to wrap our minds around.
Because in our world you DO something in order to RECEIVE something.
Everything is based on merit–if and how well you do something.
We live by the law of sowing and reaping, giving and getting, actions and consequences.
You do a good job you receive a paycheck.
You do a better job you receive a raise.
You treat people with kindness and most times you get treated with kindness back.
You do something right and you get rewarded.
You do something bad you reap consequences.
And then here comes God’s grace which is TOTALLY unearned, undeserved, and unmerited.
–Grace is ALL about God and NONE about you and me!
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Now, when the Lord said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you?” it revealed yet another manifestation of grace, and that is:
III. Sustaining Grace
The sustaining grace of God is daily poured out on those that know Jesus!
God provides us with the grace we need to face the trials and troubles of life.
Watch this: The working of His grace TRANSFORMS our troubles, pains, letdowns, setbacks, valleys, and fiery trials into a positive outcome!
Listen to what Paul told the Roman Christians: “…we also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Rom. 5:3-4).
The sustaining grace of God brings a positive out of a negative!
People that haven’t experienced God’s grace would say that suffering produces sorrow, depression, hopelessness, despair, and misery.
But the believer under God’s sustaining grace has a different take on suffering.
Because of God’s grace at work, troubles produce CHARACTER and HOPE for the future!
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We learn from Paul’s thorn experience that the grace of God does not always remove our trials.
But God’s amazing, sustaining grace upholds and strengthens us through the trial!
John Newton was so right in his description of grace:
First, it SAVED us: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me…”
Then on our Christian journey it SUSTAINS us: “Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come; t’was grace that brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home!”
Amazing, saving, sustaining grace is the gift that first SAVED me, and it’s God’s means of CARRYING me through everything the world and the devil throw at me!
Because of grace, the fight is already called! We win!
God’s amazing, sustaining grace foils and spoils all of Satan’s assignments against God’s children!
In closing, look carefully at what Jesus said to Paul, because it is the KEY to a successful Christian life:
“My grace is all you need. Only when you are weak can everything be done completely by my power” (ERV).
The Christian journey is the lifelong process of trading our weakness for His strength, our limitations for His power, and our flaws for His perfection.
LET’S PRAY