Grace that Saves and Sustains :: Pastor Conner Mason

Grace appears in Titus as the gift of God that brings salvation, but Titus does not leave grace at the starting line. Grace also trains, teaches, guides, and sustains the life that Christ has redeemed. The grace of God does not just pull a person out of the muck and mire and then back away. Grace stays with the child of God because the Father does not do abandonment.

The picture of a dad teaching a child to ride a bike gives the right frame for the Christian life. The cross is not a little push starter where God lets go and leaves the believer to ride alone. The Father’s hand never leaves. His presence lifts the righteous person who falls, fills the believer who is weak, and keeps saying, “This is the way, walk in it.”

Philippians 1:6 gives the heart of this confidence. God began the good work, and God will bring it to completion. The believer’s part is not performance on a treadmill, trying to have a perfect week and hiding after a bad one. The believer’s part is daily surrender, “not my will but your will be done,” trusting the faithful One more than familiar old patterns.

Romans 5 then shows what grace has done through justification by faith. Peace with God takes care of the past because Christ has removed the hostility and made it “just as if I never sinned.” Access to God takes care of the present because Jesus has opened the King’s room by the favor of another. The believer stands in grace, not in personal achievement, and can come boldly because Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

Romans 5 also refuses to make grace an escape from trouble. Suffering, tribulation, endurance, character, and hope all belong to the life God is shaping. The tribulum image shows that trials can separate wheat from chaff when grace is depended on instead of self. Trouble does not have to be wasted when God is using it to produce something eternal.

Christ died at the right time, while sinners were still weak and unable to fix themselves. The second Adam has triumphed over what the first Adam brought in, and grace now reigns through Jesus Christ. God’s grace is sufficient in weakness, in grief, in parenting, in fatherhood, and in every season where the heart needs to lean into the perfect Father.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Grace saves and stays near [42:19] Grace is not God’s quick rescue followed by distance. Grace is the Father’s hand remaining on the child while the ride is still wobbly and uncertain. The life of faith rests in the faithful One who keeps lifting, guiding, and sustaining. [42:19]
• 2. Grace trains truth from lies [49:03] Titus says grace teaches the believer to renounce ungodliness, which means grace does more than forgive what is false. Grace trains spiritual perception so the Word becomes more real than the noise of the world. The Spirit guides the heart toward love, joy, holiness, and self-control in the present age. [49:03]
• 3. Access rests on Jesus alone [01:01:00] Romans 5 gives the believer entrance into grace, but that access is not earned by a clean week or lost by a hard one. Jesus has opened the King’s room by His own righteousness. The treadmill of performance breaks when surrender replaces self-measuring. [61:00]
• 4. Trials can thresh the heart [01:07:56] Tribulation works like a tribulum, separating wheat from chaff in the life of the believer. Suffering is not good in itself, but grace can make it fruitful when dependence turns toward God. Endurance, character, and hope often appear on the other side of the trial, after God’s faithfulness has been seen. [67:56]
• 5. The Father transforms what transferred [01:17:13] Fatherhood does not have to repeat every wound, pattern, or absence that came before. God can transform what was transferred and make something new in a family line. The perfect Father gives fresh hope where earthly examples were broken, missing, or incomplete.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [36:56] - Father’s Day and Romans
• [38:04] - Grace That Saves and Sustains
• [40:05] - The Faithful Father’s Grace
• [41:39] - The Bike Picture of Grace
• [44:22] - Face to Face for Grace
• [46:08] - Grace Trains and Guides
• [51:04] - Salvation, Sustaining, and Hope
• [56:22] - Peace With God
• [60:20] - Access to God Today
• [66:37] - Suffering Produces Hope
• [70:28] - Christ Died While Sinners
• [72:10] - Grace Sufficient in Weakness
• [76:19] - Prayer for Fathers

Bible Reading
Titus 2:11-14 (ESV)
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Romans 5:1-5 (ESV)
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Philippians 1:6 (ESV)
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

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Observation Questions

1. According to Titus 2:11-14, what two primary actions does God’s grace accomplish in believers’ lives?
2. In Romans 5:3-5, what progression does Paul describe as a result of suffering?
3. The sermon compared God’s sustaining grace to a father teaching a child to ride a bike. What specific detail in this analogy emphasizes God’s faithfulness? [42:19]
4. How does Philippians 1:6 clarify the roles of God and the believer in spiritual growth?

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Interpretation Questions

1. Why does Paul connect rejoicing in suffering with the ultimate outcome of hope in Romans 5:3-5? How might this challenge common views of hardship?
2. Titus 2:12 says grace “trains us to renounce ungodliness.” What does this imply about the relationship between grace and daily choices?
3. The sermon states, “Trials can thresh the heart” like a tribulum separating wheat from chaff. How does this imagery redefine the purpose of difficult seasons? [01:07:56]
4. How does the idea of “standing in grace” (Romans 5:2) contrast with a mindset of earning God’s approval through personal effort?

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Application Questions

1. Where in your life do you feel “wobbly” or uncertain, and how can the truth that God’s hand “never leaves” change your perspective this week? [42:19]
2. Reflect on a recent trial. How might God be using it to produce endurance, character, or hope in you (Romans 5:3-5)? What step could you take to lean into His grace instead of self-reliance?
3. The sermon mentions breaking generational patterns through God’s transforming grace. Is there a habit, fear, or relational dynamic in your life that needs this kind of intervention? What would surrendering it look like practically? [01:17:13]
4. How does the truth that your access to God rests on Jesus’ righteousness (not your performance) free you to approach Him boldly in prayer today? [01:01:00]
5. Identify one area where you’ve been striving to “pedal on your own” instead of surrendering daily. What would it look like to invite God’s sustaining grace into that area this week?