Again, we come to worship the Lord. Let's sing this song, O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. ♪ O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness ♪ ♪ In the beauty of holiness ♪ ♪ In the beauty of holiness ♪ Glory to the Father, abounding in mercy, be joyful. Thank you for that. I trust that we are here with hearts full, full of love, of mercy, of truth, and grace. As we come to you this evening, we recognize again that the grace of God has been extended to us another day. And as we sang these songs, you know, we are reminded of the common salvation to mankind. And it is just one of those things that we can just reach our hand into the hand of God and give ourselves wholly to Him to guide us in paths everlasting for His name's sake. And people that do this are the happiest people. You know, I mentioned something last night about the happiest people. The people that reach out to the hand of God are the happiest people. Maybe I'll just give you the title of the message this evening. For this evening is the richness of His grace. And now let's turn our Bibles to the book of Ephesians. It's a very well known scripture in the book of Ephesians. The Ephesians chapter two. We're going to read the first 13 verses. On the richness of his grace. Let's begin reading. And you hath he quickened. who were dead in trespasses and sins, where in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in time past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. They were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." And I believe that's something that we can all attest to. is that we were born and we lived as sinners. And we still deal with hearts that are prone to sin. But it is, let's read on here. But God, who is rich in what? Mercy, God who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He has loved us. Okay, it says, even when we were dead. It says, He, even when we were dead in sins, has done what? Quickened. What does the word quickened mean? Quickened means made alive. Now, were we alive beforehand? Physically, yes, but spiritually, no. And you know, that is where God is coming from when He talks to us about a quickening spirit. He is talking about the inner man. He is not talking about our flesh, if you please, but He's talking about, you know, last night I said something about Our emotions and our... I forget now what are the words that I used to explain our emotions and our inner man. It wasn't that heart that's pumping blood, but it was the seed of our intentions, our emotions. Okay. But God, who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He has loved us, even when we were dead in sins, I'm reading again, hath quickened us together with Christ. By what are you saved? Grace. Grace. Now, let's go ahead and read the rest of these verses. And has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is what? the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Wherefore, remember ye, being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision in the flesh made by hands. that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope without God in the world. But now, but now, in Christ Jesus, who ye were sometimes far off, are made nigh by what? the blood of Jesus, the blood of Christ. Yes, thank you. The blood of Christ draws us and it is that blood that cleanses us from the corruption of this inner man. And the grace of God, the love of God doesn't only change us, it changes us yet, but it also continues to bless us day by day. And when I think about grace, when I think of grace, what is the definition of grace? It says, for by grace, in verse 8, are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. What is the definition of grace? Well, do we know what grace is? is unmerited favor. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 4 verse 7. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of God. Have you ever thought about that? That unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of God. Do you think that God looks down on us and said, look, you are a person that can live by a small measure of grace. Others, it takes more grace. Is that what he means? Not really. Grace means unmerited favor. Grace is a favor of God that we do not deserve. Grace is not only, how should I say? Grace is not only God's disposition to do good to us when we do not deserve it. But it is more than that. Grace is more than that. It is not only God's disposition to do good to us, but it is also, grace is also power. Grace is also power. Have you ever thought of it in that way? Grace is power. Grace moves me. Grace enables me to fulfill resolves that I have. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 9, it says here, Paul is writing here, and he says like this. Chapter 15, verse 9 and 10. For I am the lease of the apostles, I am not made to be called. an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God was with me." See, I believe Paul was saying here that I resolved, and I turned the grace of God into works. And it became alive in me. It became my life. And I believe that that is what he is talking about when I said, grace is also power. Grace moves in to enable us. Grace moves in to help us to fulfill our resolve. But Paul says, I labored more abundantly than they all. And he said, it wasn't me, but it was the grace of God within me. So the grace, it was grace that empowered Paul to do these things, to be the kind of man that he is, to live the kind of life that he did for God, and to challenge even those that were living in the wrong. Paul was a man, it didn't seem like he was very afraid of those people that were living in the wrong. He challenged them. Do you think that maybe God should give us maybe a little greater portion of grace sometimes to challenge those that are in the wrong? Seems to me like maybe we should pray to that end. Paul turned his resolves into deeds. He says, I worked. But it was not me, but the grace of God, which was with me. Life is a dependence on the power of grace, of the grace of God to be what we ought to be and to do what we ought to do. And when we think about grace, you know, there is a right response. You know, there's a past grace. There's a future grace. There is a present grace. And I may come to that just a little bit later, but the right response to past grace is thankfulness. And the right response to future grace is faith. And so we as a Christian people, we are constantly living in grace. It is the grace of God that sustains us. And so we think about grace and it comes, as grace comes, what should we do with it? We should trust God. We should trust Him. See, for us to live in grace means that we are trusting God. In 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verses 8 and 9, it says like this. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. And Paul writes and he says, most gladly therefore will I, rather glory in mine infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. See Paul, Paul experienced some infirmity, and I'm not sure what that infirmity was. You know, some people speculate, some think it was his eyes. I don't know, was it or not? You know, I don't know, did they have glasses back then or not? But anyways, he has some thorn in the flesh. as it says. And he said, I besought the Lord three times and God said, my grace is sufficient for thee. And you know, sometimes we face things in life and they are maybe a thorn in the flesh to us. But it is the grace of God that sees us through, and God tells us in these same words, my grace is sufficient for you, my child. Continue to bear up, for my blessings will go with you as you continue to be sustained by my grace. And that is where we are as a Christian people. We continue to be sustained by the grace of God. The Christian life is a dependence on the power of grace or the grace of God to be what we ought to be and to do what we ought to do. We're going back to the book of Ephesians in chapter two, verse nine. He says here, What does this verse say? Not of works, lest any man should boast. Why do you think this verse is inserted in here? Is it because God's seen within man the ability to boast in what he has done? to lift himself up in pride in the things he has done, if he doesn't necessarily wholly depend on God, but his own abilities and his own strength. But the grace of God is with us, and it's not of works, it's nothing that we can necessarily do, not of works, unless we should boast. It is not up, it is not for us to boast. Because grace, when we think about grace, we are undeserving of this grace. Because Jesus came to keep us from going to hell. Otherwise we would, that's where we would end up. And we, if you think about it, we are living in the time of grace right now. right now. This is grace. God is giving us a time of grace. And you know, when the service started, that's grace past. That is grace past. And we look forward to the end of the service, and that's future grace. You know, and it's by faith that we look forward, and And also there's another thought that I would like to give. There is a grace past and there's a grace future. In other words, and I will give you an example of grace past. Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins? Yes, that's grace past, but there's grace future as well. We look into the future and I like the way this one man explained it. He said, He said it this way. He said, we're living in a time when the grace of God is, when there is rivers of grace flowing from the throne of God. And we are, and the rivers of grace are flowing over the dam of the present, over the waterfalls of the present and flowing into the reservoir of the past. And you think about it, the past gives us greater, the more time goes on, our past reservoir gets bigger. And we have more to thank God for than we did before. But let's not forget the river of grace that comes from the throne of God to us. It is an ever abundant flowing grace from the throne of God to us. But we are living in the present. We can't live in the past. We cannot live in the future. But we can sure have a faith in the future. And we can look at the past grace and be thankful that God has seen us through. So we can understand future grace, we can understand past grace. Let's turn our Bibles to St. John, not St. John, the book of Romans, thinking of grace. We are thinking of present grace now. And it seems like the Israelites had a problem understanding what grace really is. In Romans chapter 5 and 6. Here he is talking about, and let's begin reading. In verse 18, I realize we're kind of breaking in here. Anyways, let's just begin reading in verse 18. I notice he's talking about the reign of sin and death. In verse 12, wherefore, there is but one man sinner unto the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Then we go into verse 18, and it talks about the offense and all this. And it says, therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all, all men to condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men to justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. And I think we explained that the other night where Adam and Eve sinned and everybody is a sinner from there on. And then it says here, so by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered, that offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That is, sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Going to the next chapter, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? So we have grace. Does grace overlook sin? No, grace does not overlook sin. And we cannot sin because grace abounds. Grace abounds when we are cleansed, when we are made holy. It says, God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? See, that is where we as a Christian people need to be separate from the world in our focus upon life itself. Our focus is totally different. Know ye not that so many of us were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should also walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we should also be in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Are you dead? Are you dead? I'm looking at people very much alive. Some of you are smiling. I see expressions. It is not talking about what we see on the outside, but he is talking about what is on the inside. It is why, as I mentioned the other night, why Paul said, I die daily. so that the grace of God may abound in me." Grace, unmerited favor. I don't merit God's grace, God's favor. Jesus secured for me that river of grace that I was talking about. And we are disposed or endeavor, we dispose or endeavor to do the will of God and His power continues to sustain us. But brothers and sisters, I'm telling you, this is not a once saved, always saved gospel. There are people that will tell you that once you're saved, you're always saved. That is false doctrine. Let's read Galatians chapter five. To verify that, Galatians 5, verse 4, Christ says, become of none effect unto you, whosoever you are who are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. See, that's future grace. We wait by faith. And then in Galatians chapter one, again, verse six, Paul is writing here to the Galatians and he says like this, I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that has called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. Paul and his missionary journeys, he went about, he established churches. And he expounded the grace of God to these people. And I guess to me, when I think about Paul and his missionary journeys, I have to think of our own experiences. As we lived in another country, as most of you probably know, we lived in Costa Rica. And for a few years, We lived up in the mountains. The church in Arenal, have any of you ever been to Arenal? How many, anybody? We had lots of visitors and I didn't know if anybody would have been down there or not. But the church in Arenal was sending out people, like brethren would go out two by two. And they came to this area, I think it was Dad in Sanford actually, came to this area and people were so open to the gospel. And they stayed at one of their homes one night and they testified to these people, they witnessed to them. And that night they gave them a cot, they laid in the kitchen floor, or the living room floor, I believe it was. And then these people were peeking through the curtains to see if these people's witness was really, if they were really who they claimed to be. These people came out We actually moved up into the mountains. It was way up in the mountains. We talked about this last night at the supper table. It was quite a challenge. It took God's grace for me to go up there. An 18-year-old boy going way back up in the mountains, leaving a church where we had youth group, I enjoyed the fellowship of the youth, leaving them, going up into the mountains, and I'm like, Lord, why? But you know what? When we started witnessing, we went up into the mountains and the people would come out from the woodworks. And there were people that were so interested in the gospel of Jesus Christ. As I was telling Brother Phil last night, the one man sat on the front edge of the bench. You know, you look pretty comfortable tonight. You're using the whole bench. You're looking, your back is against the back. This man sat on the front edge of the bench. He had his Bible and he sat down and his eyes were on the preacher. And it seemed like that's how he stayed the whole while of the service. These people were open to the words of truth. And these people come out from the mountains, from the hills. Some of them were down below our house. Some of them came from way back in above our house. And we had a wonderful time, a wonderful time of church services. And witnessing these people, a lot of them became Christians. And today, the people from that church are scattered out. I don't know where all they are. Some of them did not make it. The grace of God did not, they didn't hold true. But God worked in these people's lives. The one man became deacon of the church. He passed away as deacon of the church. That man that was at the edge of the bench, he became a minister of the church. I'll tell you brother, I still look back at that time as one of the highlights of my Christian experience. And it was because the grace of God was extending out unto these people. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Wherefore we pray in verse 11, wherefore we pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified and that ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. According to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what really is the grace of God? I would like to look at some examples of what the grace of God really can do. You know, we grew up in Christian homes, didn't we? Most of us probably did. So, You know, we were just kind of, we were taught, we accepted Christ as our Savior, but there are people that knew nothing of the grace of God. And somehow God extended to them His grace to love them. And I'll give you just a couple examples. I didn't realize time was going on so fast. The thief on the cross was one. Can you imagine a thief on the cross? What did the thief on the cross say? Lord, remember me when thou comest into paradise. And somehow Jesus seen in his heart something. I don't know what he saw, but Jesus said, this day shalt thou be with me in paradise. That is God's grace. Did this man deserve grace? No, he did not deserve grace. But you know what? Neither do you and I. We don't deserve it. There's another example I would like to give. The adulterous woman. Here were her accusers. She stood before Jesus. And they said, hey, our law says kill her. Stone her. And Jesus, what did He do? Wrote down on the sand. Looked up. Oh no, He said, those of you that is, he that is without sin, cast the first stone. Stooped down and wrote on the sand. I don't know what He was writing. Maybe He was writing their sins. I don't know. But anyways, they went out, let's say from the oldest to the youngest. And Jesus said, woman, where are your accusers? Who has accused you? No man, Lord, they're not here, they've gone. And what were Jesus' words of grace? Neither do I condemn thee, go thou and sin no more. Now, I would like to give us another example, and we will have to go to 2 Kings for this example. In 2 Kings chapter 2, chapter 21, here we have Manasseh. Manasseh was born after Hezekiah begged God for another 15 years. No, he didn't beg God. Did he beg God for another 15 years? He begged God for life. God added another 15 years. Manasseh was born during that time. Manasseh actually became king after Hezekiah, and he I think was 12 years old. I would like to read here some of the doings of Manasseh. And he did that, and Manasseh was 12, yes, this right here, when he began to reign, and reigned 50 and five years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Hephzibah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord after the abominations of the heathens whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he reared up altars for Baal and made a grove and did as did Ahab king of Israel and worshiped all the hosts of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, which the Lord said in Jerusalem, I will put my name. And he built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he made his sons pass through the fire and observe times and use enchantments and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards. He wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. And he said, And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house of the Lord, which the Lord said unto David and to Solomon, his son in this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel will I put my name forever. Neither will I make the feet of Israel move anymore out of the land, which I gave their fathers only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded him and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them. But they hearkened not, and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil, as did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel." Now, it sounds pretty bad, doesn't it? These are the people of God. This is so-called Church of God. And they were doing all these wicked things. Manasseh was the instigator of all this. He was king at this time. He allowed all this to happen. What gross sins? The church of God was defiled. The temple was defiled. And then we go on, and this is not all that Manasseh done. This is just the beginning of what Manasseh done. Because Manasseh, king of Judah, has done these abominations and says, is the Lord speaking by the prophet, because he has done these abominations that hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle, and I will stretch over Jerusalem, the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house. And I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, turning it upside down." And I would like, there's another, there's another, Yes, let's go ahead and read. I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, because they have done that which is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even until this day. Moreover, Manasseh shed innocent blood very much till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other. Beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord." See, it wasn't just the gods that he worshipped, but he killed a lot of people. And then it says Jerusalem was filled with the blood of these people that Manasseh had killed. Manasseh was a very, very wicked king, but God sent, was it Babylon? They went into, I think it was Babylon, maybe it was Syria, but anyways, they went into bondage. Yes, it was Babylon in 2 Chronicles 33. They went into Babylon, and I'm not gonna take time to turn to that, but in Babylon, Manasseh, when he was put in the dungeon, he started calling upon God. Something new for Manasseh. Why was he calling upon God? Now, Manasseh had killed a lot of people. So he was responsible for the death of all these people. And you know, as I read a lot of history books, you read of some of the main events in history, but it does not give you a lot of detail about the human suffering that people suffered during all these wars and all these disputes and everything they had in history. But Manasseh called upon God. Now, what What would be the carnal thing to do? Manasseh, you have turned away from God. You have done all these evil and wicked deeds. You deserve to die. That's our flesh, isn't it? But you know what? God extended his grace to Manasseh and reestablished him on the throne of Israel. And Manasseh worshiped God. That's grace. Now let me bring this personally down to us. How many times do people do something and it just makes our blood boil? Or you know, we, and we just, you know what I'm saying? You know, we try to not get angry, but sometimes we get frustrated. We call those, we kind of tend to, you know, minimize the meaning of these words. Let's just say we get angry and we try to pass judgment on people. The grace of God, we should be practicing the grace of God in our lives so that when people do things against us, that we don't hold a grudge against them. But that God's grace helps us through these times because it is God's grace that sustains us and we are not above and beyond God bringing his judgment upon us, but God extended his grace. You know, we want to pass judgment. Philippians chapter 4 verse 11, it says, I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. That was Paul. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. The secret of contentment and satisfaction is trusting the promise of God to strengthen us to victory in Christ. We need to believe that moment by moment as we walk through life that God is able and will empower us with grace to do and to follow him. wherever He leads us, and also however He deals with us. You know, Paul said, we read that in Corinthians, Paul wrote, he said, I asked the Lord thrice, but the Lord did not take away that thorn in the flesh. But he said, my grace is sufficient for you, And I would like to speak to us here this evening. I don't know, do you have some pain in your heart? I don't know where you're at with God, but do you have something in your heart and life that is hard for you to commit to God? There are people, I'm thinking of a man now, he's younger than I am, who lost his wife. and basically blames God still. And his wife probably passed away 10 years ago. I'm not sure how long ago it was exactly. But today yet he blames God for taking his wife. Brothers and sisters, it is the grace of God that helps us to understand that this is the will of God. Because our lives are in the hand of God. And God does what He does with us as He will. We have widows in our congregation. We have widowers as well. And God blessed them. But we need to accept, learn to accept the will of God and to live by His grace. Now let's, in closing, let's turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter four. Let's begin reading in verse 12. For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even through the dividing sunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then that we have a high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, and let us hold fast our profession, for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all, excuse me, for we have not in high priests which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come bold into the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace in time grace to help in time of need. And this is my closing statement for this message here this evening. Let us therefore come before the throne of grace boldly, boldly, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Let's bow our heads to pray. Our heavenly Father, As we come before your presence, we are mindful, Lord, of your love, your mercies, and your blessings. We thank you, Lord, that you are holy, you are just, you are on the throne. You know all things. Lord, you help us to continue to live our lives for you. Help us to be a witness and a light. Help us not to be ashamed of the gospel, much rather that we might live it, and that your grace might continue to sustain us in whatever you have brought in our lives. Heavenly Father, we know that sometimes we have to simply just commit in a full surrender, Lord, knowing that you know what is best. So we pray, Lord, you might just bless each one here this evening and help us to continue to follow you wherever you lead us. Help us to be open to the leading of your Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen.