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Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – The Grace of God │ Msg 4... · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: In your worship holder. Today you will find an outline
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Speaker 1: of the message on the grace of God. And as
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Speaker 1: you do, will you place it please at Romans chapter five. Then,
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Speaker 1: having done that, turn back in the Old Testament to
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Speaker 1: Second Samuel chapter nine, outline at Romans chapter five, where
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Speaker 1: we will begin in a moment, and then turn, if
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Speaker 1: you will, back to Second Samuel chapter nine. We love
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Speaker 1: to honor our God by standing as his word is read,
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Speaker 1: So if you will, please, may we stand for the
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Speaker 1: reading of God's truth as it is recorded in Second
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Speaker 1: Samuel nine. Then David said, is there yet anyone left
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Speaker 1: of the house of Saul that I may show him
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Speaker 1: kindness for Jonathan's sake. Now there was a servant of
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Speaker 1: the House of Saul whose name was Zeba. And they
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Speaker 1: called him to David, and the king said to him,
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Speaker 1: are you Zeba? And he said, I am your servant.
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Speaker 1: The king said, is there not yet any one of
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Speaker 1: a house of Saul to whom I may show the
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Speaker 1: kindness of God? And Zeba said to the King, there
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Speaker 1: is still a son of Jonathan who is crippled in
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Speaker 1: both feet. So the king said where is he? And
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Speaker 1: Zeba said to the king, behold he is in the
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Speaker 1: house of Mahir, the son of Amiel, and Lo Dubar.
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Speaker 1: Then King David sent and brought him from the house
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Speaker 1: of Makir, the son of Amiel, from Low Debar. Mephiboschef,
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Speaker 1: the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to
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Speaker 1: David and fell on his face and prostrated himself. And
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Speaker 1: David said, Mamphibischef, and he said, here is your servant.
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Speaker 1: David said to him, do not fear, for I will
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Speaker 1: surely show kindness to you for the sake of your
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Speaker 1: father Jonathan, and will restore to you all the land
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Speaker 1: of your grandfather Saul. And you shall eat at my
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Speaker 1: table regularly. Verse eleven. Then Zeba said to the King,
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Speaker 1: according to all that my lord, the king commands his servant,
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Speaker 1: So your servant will do so. Maphibischef ate at David's
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Speaker 1: table as one of the king's sons. Rose thirteen. So
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Speaker 1: mamphibishev lived in Jerusalem, and he ate at the King's
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Speaker 1: table regularly. Now he was lame in both feet. May
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Speaker 1: God honor his word today as we seek truth to
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Speaker 1: live by. Please be seated, our father. We thank you
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Speaker 1: for your grace which is abundant, undeserved, and always providing
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Speaker 1: for those of us who could never earn it and
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Speaker 1: will never be able to pay it back. Thank you
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Speaker 1: for your undeserved favor to sinners like us. The week
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Speaker 1: has been filled with a contrary asked of activities, and
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Speaker 1: we acknowledge your hand in it all. Not once were
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Speaker 1: you absent, Not once were you uncaring. Not once did
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Speaker 1: you not love us. And in the midst of all
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Speaker 1: of the things, all the contingencies that this week brought,
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Speaker 1: we look back and realize, how great is our God,
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Speaker 1: How good to us? Some find themselves broken today and
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Speaker 1: grieving and struggling to recover from a loss of something
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Speaker 1: or someone, perhaps a job that's been lost, a loved
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Speaker 1: one that's gone, a broken romance, a failed marriage. You
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Speaker 1: are good to us in the midst of our needs
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Speaker 1: and pain. Thank you. There are those endangerous and dark
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Speaker 1: places today, in towns we couldn't even pronounce, in a
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Speaker 1: country we will never be in, and they are fighting
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Speaker 1: wearing our uniform. Watch over them, Lord, take care of them.
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Speaker 1: Guide us as a nation in these tumultus confusing times,
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Speaker 1: when multiple voices offer multiple messages, most of which cannot
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Speaker 1: be trusted, give us discernment to know which one is
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Speaker 1: telling the truth, and reveal to us when neither is
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Speaker 1: doing so. May we be good citizens in a land
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Speaker 1: that's lost its way. Use your truth today in a
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Speaker 1: special way to encourage those who are rearing those who
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Speaker 1: were disabled. Help all of us to understand your grace better.
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Speaker 1: Because of the favor a king showed to a nobody
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Speaker 1: living in a no place, peace of land, and out
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Speaker 1: of love for another, he showed himself strong to one
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Speaker 1: whom he adopted. Remind us of the grace and all
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Speaker 1: of that, and stir us as a result to be generous, giving, caring,
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Speaker 1: gracious people. Now, Lord, these gifts are yours, and we
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Speaker 1: place ourselves first before you, and then our gifts. In
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Speaker 1: the magnificent name of our great God, we pray. Everyone
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Speaker 1: said grace means different things to different people, especially when
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Speaker 1: we think of horizontal grace. This is epitomized rather cleverly
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Speaker 1: in a book title that came out a number of
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Speaker 1: years ago, written by Lufton Hudson. He titled his book
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Speaker 1: Grace is not a blue eyed blonde. Grace as we
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Speaker 1: refer to it today, is not a prayer we offer
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Speaker 1: it a meal. Grace is not what the attorney pleads
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Speaker 1: for as he brings his client before the bench. Grace
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Speaker 1: is not what the what the Queen of England brings
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Speaker 1: in oliver elegance to the event that she attends. That's
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Speaker 1: not the grace we have in mind, referring to that
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Speaker 1: which is undeserved, given to one who could never be
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Speaker 1: able to pay it back or earn it. For that matter, it,
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Speaker 1: of course, is the whole concept of complete and thorough forgiveness.
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Speaker 1: Perhaps the story from everyday life would help. And as
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Speaker 1: I give you this story, which is a true one,
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Speaker 1: we go back to the days just following World War II,
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Speaker 1: where all of us living at the time were shocked
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Speaker 1: to hear of the dreadful Nazi concentration camps where so
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Speaker 1: many had been exterminated. Corey Tinboom lived through the horror
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Speaker 1: of such and she wrote that account in her book
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Speaker 1: The Hiding Place. And from the emotion of all of that,
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Speaker 1: in the backwash that followed, she remembered an event that
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Speaker 1: happened in her life shortly after the Holocaust, and in
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Speaker 1: the passing of several years, Corey was asked to take
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Speaker 1: her message on the road. If you will. She spoke
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Speaker 1: not only around the country, but around the world. She
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Speaker 1: told of the loss of her parents and the dreadful
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Speaker 1: experience of starvation as she watched her own beloved Betsy
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Speaker 1: die slowly and painfully. But all of that was past, however,
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Speaker 1: the memory still lingered. While she was speaking in a
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Speaker 1: particular church, something occurred that she felt ought to be remembered,
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Speaker 1: and so she put it in her book. Following her message,
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Speaker 1: she was greeted by a man she recognized as the
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Speaker 1: SS guard at the shower room from her concentration camp.
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Speaker 1: Suddenly it all came back over her, the room full
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Speaker 1: of mocking men looking in on the women, the heaps
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Speaker 1: of clothing piled randomly to the side, and her sister
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Speaker 1: Betsy's pain blanched face, and she writes, he came up
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Speaker 1: to me, as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing.
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Speaker 1: How grateful I am for your message. Farline, he said,
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Speaker 1: to think that as you say, he has washed my
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Speaker 1: sins away. His hand was thrust out to shake mine,
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Speaker 1: and I, who had preached so often to the people
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Speaker 1: the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side,
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Speaker 1: even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me. I
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Speaker 1: saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for
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Speaker 1: this man. Was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus,
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Speaker 1: I prayed forgive me and helped me to forgive him.
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Speaker 1: She praised this in her mind. Facing the camp guard,
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Speaker 1: I tried to smile, she adds, I struggled to raise
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Speaker 1: my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the
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Speaker 1: slightest spark of warmth, or charity or greece. And so
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Speaker 1: again I breathed the silent prayer, Jesus, Oh, Jesus, I
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Speaker 1: cannot forgive him, Give me your free giveness. As I
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Speaker 1: finally took his hand, a most incredible thing happened to me.
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Speaker 1: From my shoulder, along my arm, and through my hand,
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Speaker 1: a current seemed to pass from me to him, while
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Speaker 1: into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that
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Speaker 1: almost overwhelmed. And so I discovered that it is not
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Speaker 1: on our forgiveness anymore than on our goodness that the
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Speaker 1: world's healing hinges. She saw herself at that moment an
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Speaker 1: instrument of grace. Did we all sit hearing that story,
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Speaker 1: hopefully putting ourselves in her place and asking, would I
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Speaker 1: have reached out my hand? But the remarkable thing about
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Speaker 1: God's grace is that it is not grace extended to
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Speaker 1: one who is not deserving, but to all of us,
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Speaker 1: all of us who continue to operate our lives so
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Speaker 1: often against His will. Think of it. That kind of
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Speaker 1: grace is a whole different genre from human grace, though
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Speaker 1: we need human grace to illustrate what God has done
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Speaker 1: for us. We learned our last time together that God
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Speaker 1: loves us. Remember we even stood to our feet and
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Speaker 1: we said it, God loves me. And we turned to another,
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Speaker 1: God loves you, and we said in unison, God loves us.
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Speaker 1: Still true. It's been going on all week, all our lives.
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Speaker 1: It never ceases and never diminishes. When that love is activated,
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Speaker 1: grace kicks in. It's the beauty of God's grace. When
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Speaker 1: love is activated, grace kicks in. Now we need a definition.
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Speaker 1: We need one better than that, and I'm indebted to
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Speaker 1: BB Warfield, a great theologian of yesteryear, for this simple
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Speaker 1: brief definition. Write it down, will you, It'll help you.
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Speaker 1: Grace is free sovereign favor to the ill deserving. Grace
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Speaker 1: is free sovereign favor to the ill deserving s O.
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Speaker 2: V e. R.
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Speaker 1: It's hard to smell it, isn't it soverigin sovereign and
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Speaker 1: God sovridly apart from anything from us, any goodness in
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Speaker 1: the effort, any attempt to win his favor or friendship. God,
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Speaker 1: in his grace reaches down to lift us up, even
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Speaker 1: while we fight him in the process. Amazing, amazing to
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Speaker 1: illustrate that. Look at Romans, chapter five. It's amazing how
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Speaker 1: we keep coming back to Romans. Some of you said,
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Speaker 1: I thought we were here a decade, but it was
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Speaker 1: only a few months. Well, okay, over a year and
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Speaker 1: we're back and we'll keep coming back. It is the
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Speaker 1: Christians constitution, It is doctrine at work in our everyday lives.
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Speaker 1: And you come back to it because no other letters said,
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Speaker 1: is it better? Look at chapter five, verse eight, just
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Speaker 1: the one verse for a moment. But God demonstrates his
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Speaker 1: own love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners,
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Speaker 1: Christ died for us. To whom does he demonstrate that
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Speaker 1: love to us? And who were we? I was reading
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Speaker 1: this over this past week and came across three lines
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Speaker 1: that I've underscored in my Bible. You may want to
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Speaker 1: do the same. It answers the question who we are
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Speaker 1: the ones that God loved and extended his mercy. Look
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Speaker 1: at verse six, while we were still helpless, I've underscored
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Speaker 1: the word helpless at the right time. Christ died for
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Speaker 1: the ungodly helpless verse eight. While we were yet sinners,
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Speaker 1: underscore sinners. Christ died for us helpless sinful verse ten.
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Speaker 1: For while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God
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Speaker 1: through the death of his son. Underscore that word helpless, sinners, enemies.
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Speaker 1: So it stands to reason Grace is not talking about
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Speaker 1: God helping those who help themselves. Will you please take
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Speaker 1: that line out of your life. You will hear it
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Speaker 1: all the time from our humanistic world. God helps those
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Speaker 1: who help themselves, like the Bible says. You can go
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Speaker 1: from page to page, all the way through the Bible
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Speaker 1: and you will never find that phrase. Why Because he
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Speaker 1: helps the helpless. Grace is God extending his favor to
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Speaker 1: those who can't help themselves. When you lose a loved
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Speaker 1: one and you can't make it through, his grace gets
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Speaker 1: you through it. Because you're helpless, when you cannot make
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Speaker 1: yourself well and you're suffering and suffering over a long
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Speaker 1: period of painful time in your life, you're helpless to
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Speaker 1: make yourself well. God comes to your rescue, and his
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Speaker 1: grace gets you through, it gets you beyond it. He helps
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Speaker 1: the helpless. Grace does not mean that God is rewarding
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Speaker 1: us for what we've earned. You see, we saw it
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Speaker 1: in verse eight. We're sinful. Sinners don't earn God's favor.
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Speaker 1: He can have nothing to do with sin. Because of
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Speaker 1: his son's death on the cross. God now has been satisfied,
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Speaker 1: and through his son he can forgive and he can
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Speaker 1: extend his grace to us. But we haven't earned it.
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Speaker 1: It's what Christ did on our behalf at the cross.
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Speaker 1: And by the way, grace does not mean that God's
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Speaker 1: being kind to his friends. We're enemies. Look at verse
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Speaker 1: ten again. While we were enemies, we're rebels. We're rebels
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Speaker 1: at heart. We're not kind. I mean, look at the
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Speaker 1: way you drive, Look at the way you handle yourself
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Speaker 1: in the church parking lot. While we're at it, look
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Speaker 1: at your reaction to that guy at work that's not
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Speaker 1: easy to love. Look at your response. And I could
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Speaker 1: name whatever situation. Normally it isn't positive, It isn't good.
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Speaker 1: Why because you're an enemy to good and you're helpless
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Speaker 1: to change yourself. Why, because you are sinful all the
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Speaker 1: way to the core. Not very pleasant, but it's real.
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Speaker 1: As I've said so many times, if depravity were blue,
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Speaker 1: would be blue all over. Cut someone anywhere, and they
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Speaker 1: ooze blue all over. It's true of the tiny little
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Speaker 1: one as he's growing up. You never have to teach
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Speaker 1: a child to do wrong. Have you noticed now, honey,
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Speaker 1: If you really want to disobey, here's how you go
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Speaker 1: about it. You never have to do that. Why because
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Speaker 1: built into them are the weeds of depravity. By the way,
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Speaker 1: they got it from you, and you got it from
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Speaker 1: your pokes, and your folks got it from theirs. In fact,
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Speaker 1: verse twelve, through one man, that's Adam at the Garden
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Speaker 1: of Eden. Through one man's sin entered into the world,
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Speaker 1: and death through sin, and so death spread to all men,
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Speaker 1: all women, all human of the death spread to all
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Speaker 1: Why because all sinned. Well, what we need then is
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Speaker 1: the law. We need commandments. We need to be told
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Speaker 1: what's right and what's wrong. That'll help us. No one
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Speaker 1: was ever helped by having the Ten Commandments in front
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Speaker 1: of him. It just reminds you of the things you're
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Speaker 1: doing that are wrong. As soon as you see do
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Speaker 1: not do this, you're encouraged to think about doing it.
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Speaker 1: Sounds kind of exciting. Do not touch wet paint. Tell
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Speaker 1: me you have touched, never touched wet paint. There's a
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Speaker 1: sign in San Francisco and San Francisco at one of
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Speaker 1: the parks that says, try not to walk on the grass.
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Speaker 1: Don't you love that? Try not to walk on the grass.
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Speaker 1: I mean, you just have to put at least one
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Speaker 1: foot on the grass. Why because the law says don't
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Speaker 1: do it? The law doesn't help us. The law only
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Speaker 1: creates more law breakers. It prompts us to sin. Verse
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Speaker 1: nineteen in the same chapter of Roman, as through one
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Speaker 1: man's disobedience, the many were made sinners. Don't go any further.
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Speaker 1: There's Adam, there's your grandparents, there's your great grandparents. There's
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Speaker 1: your progeny, there's your heritage, there's your progeny. The whole
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Speaker 1: family of us sinful, every one of us. Because one
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Speaker 1: man sinned, acting as our federal head. When he sinned,
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Speaker 1: we sin The many were made sinners. Even so, through
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Speaker 1: the obedience of one I can't speak for your Bible,
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Speaker 1: but in mind the O is capitalized it's referring to Christ.
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Speaker 1: Through the obedience of one Christ, Jesus our Lord, many
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Speaker 1: we read many will be made righteous. You can't do
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Speaker 1: it on your own. It must come through Christ. Look
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Speaker 1: at the next verse. The law came in, Why so
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Speaker 1: that the transgrestion would increase? Amazing, even among Christians, transgressions increase. G. K.
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Speaker 1: Chesterton said it well when he spoke of original sin
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Speaker 1: as the one Christian truth that can be verified by
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Speaker 1: observation anywhere in the world, any day of the week.
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Speaker 1: Just look around. The harshest, ugliest, worst letters I have
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Speaker 1: ever been sent have been sent by Christians. The most difficult,
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Speaker 1: angry treatment has come to me from Christians. The most
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Speaker 1: painful scars on my life were put there by Christians,
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Speaker 1: carnal Christians, sinful Christians. And don't tell me their motive
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Speaker 1: was right. Their motive was wrong, and often my response
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Speaker 1: was not right. Why because I'm sinful to the core?
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Speaker 1: I'm blue also, And isn't it amazing? In our society
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Speaker 1: people deny that. You know, there are audiences where if
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Speaker 1: I preach like this, they'd be pouring out the aisles.
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Speaker 1: I mean, the walk it out. And I'm not gonna
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Speaker 1: listen to this. You know what I did last week?
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Speaker 1: You know the money I've given her that charity. Do
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Speaker 1: you realize how good I am compared to my neighbor?
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Speaker 1: On and on they go. It's just denial. J. I.
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Speaker 1: Packard told a wonderful story of how denial can blind
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Speaker 1: us to the truth. He loved to talk about the
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Speaker 1: psychiatrist who brought a man into his office who was
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Speaker 1: convinced he was dead. The psychiatrist's job was to convince
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Speaker 1: him that he's living. He couldn't convince him. Finally, he
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Speaker 1: settled on a fool proof plan. He took a couple
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Speaker 1: of medical books from his shelf and he gave them
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Speaker 1: to the man and he said, look, read these chapters
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Speaker 1: and you will see that dead men do not bleed.
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Speaker 1: You'll read it for yourself. I said, okay. Came back
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Speaker 1: in a week and the doc said, well, what do
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Speaker 1: you think. What did you learn? He said, I'm now convinced,
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Speaker 1: said the patient. It's perfectly clear that based on this
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Speaker 1: evidence in this medical journal and this medical book that
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Speaker 1: dead men do not bleed, I'm convinced. Without saying a word,
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Speaker 1: the psychiatrist pulled out a drawer, got a needle took
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Speaker 1: the man's finger and pricked his finger. Out came blood.
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Speaker 1: The man said, Great Scott, dead men, do bleed, please please.
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Speaker 1: The evidence is everywhere. Our denial is in reverse. It's
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Speaker 1: in reverse. We're in this fixed state where we believe
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Speaker 1: we're alive spiritually. In fact we are dead spiritually. No
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Speaker 1: hope to get to Heaven on our own without coming
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Speaker 1: through the cross. We'll hear about Christ on the Cross
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Speaker 1: and the messages yet ahead, But for now, let's settle
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Speaker 1: on this. The law tells us what to do. It
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Speaker 1: just doesn't enable us. As the poet wrote, do this
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Speaker 1: and live. The law demands, but gives me neither feet
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Speaker 1: nor hands. No better word. God's grace does bring. It
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Speaker 1: bids me fly and gives me wings. It gives me wings.
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Speaker 1: How does that possible? How did grace take the place
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Speaker 1: of all of this blue and dark depravity? Go back
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Speaker 1: to John chapter one, The Gospel of John. Chapter one.
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Speaker 1: John opens his account of Jesus Christ, and it doesn't
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Speaker 1: beat around the bush. Look closely in the beginning was
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Speaker 1: the word. This is John's word for Jesus himself. Word
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Speaker 1: in the beginning was the word. The word was with God.
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Speaker 1: The word was God, so immediately states that Jesus is deity.
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Speaker 1: In fact, verse three, all things came into being through him.
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Speaker 1: Jesus is the creator, He's deity, He's the creator. Verse four.
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Speaker 1: In him was life, and the life was the light
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Speaker 1: of men. And the light shines in the darkness. And
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Speaker 1: the darkness did not comprehend, it did not extinguish, it
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Speaker 1: could not put it out. The light shone. The original
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Speaker 1: light is not in ourselves, it is in Christ and
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Speaker 1: Christ alone. If there is light to take away darkness,
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Speaker 1: it will be in Christ and Christ alone. If there
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Speaker 1: was any light in us, it's reflected light, reflected light.
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Speaker 1: In that sense, Jesus is like the sun. We are
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Speaker 1: like the moon. Jesus the original star of David, if
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Speaker 1: you will, the son of God, came, created, brought life,
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Speaker 1: brought light. Look closely now verse fourteen, the word became
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Speaker 1: flesh and dwelt among us. One of the paraphrases says,
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Speaker 1: he moved into the neighborhood. I've always liked that Jesus
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Speaker 1: came and he moved into the neighborhood. He didn't remain
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Speaker 1: aloof he didn't live in a castle. He didn't say
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Speaker 1: to people stay away, I'm holy. He became one of us.
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Speaker 1: He spent time with sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, people who gossipped,
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Speaker 1: who were ugly to other people, folks who didn't forgive,
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Speaker 1: people who weren't kind, who were sent people like us.
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Speaker 1: He came to ys Uh, to this world, and he
29:12
Speaker 1: dwelt among us, and we read and we saw his glory.
29:15
Speaker 1: We learned that about our God that the very first
29:18
Speaker 1: time on this Godhead message or series of messages. His glory,
29:23
Speaker 1: his glory. We saw glory in him. There was the
29:25
Speaker 1: effulgence of God in his presence. It must have been
29:29
Speaker 1: magnificent to be around the Savior. He didn't glow, didn't
29:33
Speaker 1: have a halo, didn't walk around the white road going
29:36
Speaker 1: oh no, that's a phony idea of him. He was
29:44
Speaker 1: just like any other Jewish man, however he happened to
29:47
Speaker 1: have been God. He looked like all the rest of us.
29:52
Speaker 1: But this verse says, we saw his glory. John was there.
29:56
Speaker 1: John was there. He saw it. It's like nothing else
30:01
Speaker 1: he's ever seen. It was glory as of the only
30:04
Speaker 1: begotten of the Father, full of what look grace, Truth,
30:11
Speaker 1: Grace doesn't deny truth. Grace underscores truth. You're sinful, you
30:17
Speaker 1: don't deserve what I'm going to do. But the truth is,
30:20
Speaker 1: my love is activated, and I'm going to extend my
30:25
Speaker 1: favor in your direction. And as a result, you're going
30:28
Speaker 1: to be the recipient of grace, even though you do
30:32
Speaker 1: not deserve it. He was full of grace and truth
30:37
Speaker 1: Verse sixteen. I love it. Look closely, for of his fullness.
30:43
Speaker 1: We have all received grace upon grace. Eugene Peterson in
30:50
Speaker 1: the message renders that we all live off his generous bounty.
30:53
Speaker 1: Gift after gift after gift after gift. It's grace. It's grace.
31:04
Speaker 1: From John one. Look at Ephesians two. Quickly, now time
31:08
Speaker 1: is moving Ephesians Chapter two, Verse eight, verse nine. Paul
31:18
Speaker 1: is in the subject of salvation. He starts, where I
31:22
Speaker 1: have been verse one. Ephesians two. You were dead in
31:26
Speaker 1: your trespasses and sins. You were dead, and you formerly
31:32
Speaker 1: walked in this way. Therefore verse eight, not surprisingly, it
31:37
Speaker 1: is by grace. You have been saved through faith. Grace
31:42
Speaker 1: trumped law. Grace overshadowed our sin. You have been saved
31:51
Speaker 1: through by grace through faith. And it wasn't from yourself.
31:58
Speaker 1: It was the gift of God, not as a result
32:00
Speaker 1: of work, so that no one may boast the summary
32:03
Speaker 1: of salvation by grace through faith, not works. By grace
32:10
Speaker 1: through faith not works. Say that by grace through faith
32:16
Speaker 1: not works. Again, by grace through faith, not works. You
32:22
Speaker 1: have just stated a truth not known but the vast
32:25
Speaker 1: majority of the world, even a world that's heard of Jesus,
32:29
Speaker 1: though most in this world have not. Those who have
32:33
Speaker 1: think that there's something in them that will somehow gain
32:37
Speaker 1: the favor of someone that good, when in fact, the
32:40
Speaker 1: purpose of his death is because we couldn't get good,
32:44
Speaker 1: we can never be good. Therefore he will declare us
32:48
Speaker 1: righteous because of his death. I take it by faith.
32:52
Speaker 1: It is because of God's grace. It is never because
32:56
Speaker 1: of my works. The fact is, spiritually speaking, may I
33:01
Speaker 1: use a term that is a little bit sensitive, I'm disabled.
33:10
Speaker 1: I'm disabled, which makes the story of Mamphibischev all the
33:16
Speaker 1: more wonderful. Back to Second Samuel, chapter nine, Get your
33:22
Speaker 1: pen handy. I rarely tell you that, but today I'm
33:25
Speaker 1: going to urge you to write down the six analogies
33:28
Speaker 1: that tie in with our salvation coming from the life
33:31
Speaker 1: of Maphibischev. Second Samuel chapter nine. I want you to
33:37
Speaker 1: put on your thinking caps. I want you to travel
33:39
Speaker 1: with me back over twenty five hundred years, and we
33:45
Speaker 1: are in the palace of the king. His name is David.
33:50
Speaker 1: His predecessor, King Saul, has died. David has come to
33:56
Speaker 1: the throne. His dynasty is now running its horse. Listen carefully.
34:02
Speaker 1: In the Eastern dynasties, when a new king came on
34:05
Speaker 1: the scene, all of the family of the old king,
34:09
Speaker 1: the former king is exterminated, or if not exterminated, they
34:13
Speaker 1: run like rats on a sinking ship, because what the
34:17
Speaker 1: new king will kill them. Their presence, since they have
34:21
Speaker 1: the royal blood in them, would be a threat to
34:24
Speaker 1: the new king's throne. The family of Saul have fled away,
34:30
Speaker 1: though David exterminated none of them, but they, out of habit,
34:36
Speaker 1: had run and hid themselves. And David is now in
34:40
Speaker 1: his palace. Can you see the carvings of around him,
34:45
Speaker 1: the gold appointments. I mean it is luxurious. Finally peaces
34:54
Speaker 1: come to Israel prosperity. As one wag put it, there
34:58
Speaker 1: was not only a chicken in every pot, there was
35:00
Speaker 1: a grape on every vine. David was a prosperous king.
35:03
Speaker 1: And he took care of his people. He did not
35:05
Speaker 1: overtax them. He was a shepherd by God's grace that
35:10
Speaker 1: had been brought to the place of the kingship. So
35:16
Speaker 1: he's musing on his throne as some of you have
35:20
Speaker 1: done when you got promoted to that place. You now
35:24
Speaker 1: hold CEO president, you're the owner whatever. And you sit
35:33
Speaker 1: back and you think, man, how blessed him? I And David,
35:45
Speaker 1: as he's sitting and musing, remembers a promise before his
35:50
Speaker 1: dear friend Jonathan died in the same battle as Saul,
35:54
Speaker 1: his father had died in. David promised Jonathan he would
35:57
Speaker 1: take care of his family. Jonathan said, make that covenant
36:01
Speaker 1: with me, and David said, I promise. Suddenly the promise
36:04
Speaker 1: comes back to his mind and he thinks, this is
36:07
Speaker 1: I've got to make that promise good. Because of his
36:11
Speaker 1: relationship with his friend Jonathan and Jonathan's father, Saul King,
36:17
Speaker 1: David initiates an act of grace. Look at it, so,
36:23
Speaker 1: David said, is there yet anyone left of the house
36:25
Speaker 1: of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake.
36:30
Speaker 1: You'll read the word kindness several times through this passage.
36:34
Speaker 1: It's a Hebrew word translated kindness, cassid. If you say
36:38
Speaker 1: it right, something lands on the back of the neck
36:40
Speaker 1: of the person in front of you, So be careful
36:43
Speaker 1: of trying about repeating it. Cassid is. Though it's a
36:46
Speaker 1: guttural term, it means loving, kindness, sometimes translated mercy, occasionally
36:51
Speaker 1: just love. Here through this passage, it's kindness. Think of grace, grace, grace,
36:58
Speaker 1: God's treatment, sovereign, free sovereign favor to the ill deserved.
37:05
Speaker 1: Is there anyone to whom I might show free sovereign favor?
37:12
Speaker 1: So he meets a man named Zeba who is from
37:15
Speaker 1: the house of Saul, and Zeba said, I know where
37:19
Speaker 1: there is one, and I'm just a servant. But verse
37:23
Speaker 1: three concludes, there's still a son of Jonathan David. He's
37:32
Speaker 1: a cripple, he's disabled. It's a sensitive point, but we
37:40
Speaker 1: need to stay here at the text long enough for
37:42
Speaker 1: you to feel it. What's Zeba thinking, David? Look around?
37:51
Speaker 1: This is a place for the wow, the brightest, and
37:56
Speaker 1: the best. You need those with high SAT scores. You
38:01
Speaker 1: need those with IQ's that are almost off the chart.
38:06
Speaker 1: You need them all and handsome and Bron's from the sun.
38:10
Speaker 1: You need warriors. This fellow I have in mind is
38:20
Speaker 1: he's crippled by the way Zebra overlooked. One word that
38:27
Speaker 1: David used, is there anyone? Is that good? Or what?
38:32
Speaker 1: Sometime I'm in my study and I'll go out, that's
38:35
Speaker 1: good or what? I just kind of nobody's around? So
38:37
Speaker 1: I said, yeah, that's good. Yeah, this is one of
38:40
Speaker 1: those moments. This is a this is is there anyone?
38:45
Speaker 1: Put your name there? I put mine? There? Is there
38:50
Speaker 1: anybody Zebra that I can show grace to? I'm doing
38:59
Speaker 1: it for Jonathan. I'm not handing out a life Achievement award.
39:04
Speaker 1: This is about grace. Zebra didn't get it. Well, there's
39:09
Speaker 1: a fellows crippled on both his feet. Don't you love
39:12
Speaker 1: David's response? Where is he? He doesn't say, now you
39:16
Speaker 1: think he'll ever get better? Or does he like walk
39:23
Speaker 1: with crutches? Or can you get around without somebody being
39:27
Speaker 1: there to help him? You and I do that because
39:33
Speaker 1: we're sinful and proud and we're not disabled. We think
39:43
Speaker 1: we're all disabled. That's where I'm going. I just can't
39:46
Speaker 1: wait to get there, So i'mone take you the end
39:48
Speaker 1: of it before I get there. We're all disabled. I mean,
39:55
Speaker 1: the king says, where is he? Well, he's living in
40:03
Speaker 1: a low to bar. It's a little ambiguous by the way,
40:08
Speaker 1: and the Hebrew, it's hard to trace what that word means.
40:10
Speaker 1: Geographical locations often had etymologies that were interesting and symbolic.
40:16
Speaker 1: The word low in Hebrew always means no or not,
40:20
Speaker 1: but the bar debatable. Some suggest it means pasture, as
40:24
Speaker 1: in no pasture land, a barren place. He's living in
40:28
Speaker 1: the wilderness. I like the one that seems a little
40:33
Speaker 1: more reliable. He's living in a no place. We would
40:39
Speaker 1: say the ghetto, the dump. You can't use it nowadays.
40:46
Speaker 1: There's a place named the dump here where you buy things.
40:49
Speaker 1: But forget that. That fouled up my illustration. All of
40:53
Speaker 1: a sudden, I realize it. But the kind of dump
40:56
Speaker 1: you thought of when you were kids. Okay, he's he
41:00
Speaker 1: lives in the ghetto. He's nothing, living in a no place.
41:06
Speaker 1: A friend of mine said, I was so far out
41:08
Speaker 1: in the country we had to go toward town to hunt.
41:10
Speaker 1: That's where That's where my Febashev was living. David, the
41:18
Speaker 1: gods of nobody living nowhere, Davis is go get him.
41:26
Speaker 1: You know why, because it's grace. That's why he didn't
41:31
Speaker 1: miss you or me. You're getting it, aren't you. There
41:41
Speaker 1: are times that overwhelms me. It literally overwhelms me that
41:47
Speaker 1: he would choose me. I'm so in this story I
41:53
Speaker 1: can hardly believe it. Analogy number one. Write it down. David,
42:00
Speaker 1: out of sheer Grace extended his love to a nobody,
42:13
Speaker 1: just as God in sheer grace extended it to you
42:19
Speaker 1: and me. Where is he? Go get him? Okay, now
42:29
Speaker 1: the story gets really good. Okay, says Zeba, we'll go
42:34
Speaker 1: get him. Verse five. The king sent and brought him
42:40
Speaker 1: from the house of Maker, the son of Amiel, from
42:42
Speaker 1: no place you imagine, Mamphibi chef, Memphibi chef. We know
42:49
Speaker 1: you're in there, the Phibi chef. He sees the horses outside,
42:59
Speaker 1: he sees the chair that's come from the king's palace.
43:05
Speaker 1: What are they gonna do? What would you think they're
43:08
Speaker 1: gonna kill me? The nurse who had carried him and
43:12
Speaker 1: dropped him when she was running from the new king,
43:15
Speaker 1: and he became lame on both his feet. She's now nervous,
43:20
Speaker 1: But you can't hold back the king's guard. The door
43:23
Speaker 1: bolts open. The King wants to see you, Fibshet, and
43:30
Speaker 1: he pulls his crutches under his arms and plump, scrape, scrape.
43:39
Speaker 1: They help him into the chariot. Second analogy. Write it down,
43:50
Speaker 1: as David sought for and found this man. So God
43:58
Speaker 1: has done for us, as he sought far and found him.
44:07
Speaker 1: So God has done for us. Isn't it great? No
44:10
Speaker 1: one said Maphibi, chef, clean yourself up, take a shower.
44:17
Speaker 1: You're getting ready to go before the king. Come now,
44:23
Speaker 1: just as you are, come on the fibishev. So with
44:29
Speaker 1: gentleness they take him to the chariot. He's never in
44:32
Speaker 1: his life been in the chariot. There's a wonderful story
44:37
Speaker 1: of how they rescued the Jews over in Israel. The
44:40
Speaker 1: Jews had come from Africa, and they had never seen
44:43
Speaker 1: any place but where they were living, and to reserve
44:46
Speaker 1: and to preserve their lives, Israel flew planes in and
44:51
Speaker 1: picked up these dear people, these Africans, and they put
44:55
Speaker 1: them on the plane for the first time in their life.
45:00
Speaker 1: They're sitting on the plane, we take off. Can you
45:04
Speaker 1: imagine whoa Then they land him in Israel, free, free,
45:14
Speaker 1: How gracious of that? Country. How gracious of David, How
45:19
Speaker 1: gracious of our God to take us from the ghetto
45:22
Speaker 1: of our existence and put us on our put us
45:26
Speaker 1: on his chariot. Now he stands before the king. Can
45:33
Speaker 1: you imagine how scared he must have been? Verse six. Mamphibischef,
45:37
Speaker 1: the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David
45:40
Speaker 1: and fell on his face and prostrated himself. That means
45:44
Speaker 1: he fell on his face, face down, belly touching the floor,
45:52
Speaker 1: absolutely flat, prostrated before the king. David said, Mamphibi, chef.
46:00
Speaker 1: He said, here's your servant. He's probably thinking it's curtains.
46:06
Speaker 1: David said to him, don't fear. How good did that
46:09
Speaker 1: sound about like when you heard it? Don't fear. I
46:17
Speaker 1: didn't die to ruin your life. I died to rescue you.
46:26
Speaker 1: Third analogy, as David restored the man to a place
46:33
Speaker 1: of honor, so God has done for us. David said,
46:38
Speaker 1: do not fear. I will surely show Cassid to you
46:41
Speaker 1: for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will
46:44
Speaker 1: restore to you all the land of your grandfather's soul,
46:48
Speaker 1: and you shall eat at my table regularly. I gouldn
46:54
Speaker 1: that no more hot dogs, no more junk food. Fourth analogy,
47:08
Speaker 1: as David adopted in Maphibisheth just put m As David
47:12
Speaker 1: adopted Mephibis Chef into his royal family. So God has
47:18
Speaker 1: adopted us. This is so good. You shall eat at
47:25
Speaker 1: my table regularly. You're not going to drop in for
47:29
Speaker 1: a snack once a month. You're one of my own.
47:32
Speaker 1: There's a chair for you, there's a place for you.
47:39
Speaker 1: He tells Zeba all about it, says, We're going to
47:41
Speaker 1: set this up so that his land will be his
47:43
Speaker 1: Saul's land will be brought to his grandson. It's all
47:46
Speaker 1: going to work out great. Zeba says, yes, sir, we'll
47:48
Speaker 1: do it that way. Verse eleven. So Mamphibis chef eight
47:51
Speaker 1: at the king at the day, at David's table, as
47:54
Speaker 1: one of the King's sons. Pause and think, Pause and think.
48:03
Speaker 1: One of the king's.
48:04
Speaker 2: Sons, set alongside Solomon, set alongside Absolom, who by the way,
48:13
Speaker 2: was handsome from the crown.
48:14
Speaker 1: Of his head to the sole of his feet. Set
48:17
Speaker 1: alongside Tamar, Absolom's blood sister Killead probably Joe ab came
48:23
Speaker 1: in for a meal rather often the chair's empty. They
48:29
Speaker 1: wait for him to come. The dinner bell rings, everybody's
48:32
Speaker 1: at the table. Chump scrape, chump, scrape, chump, scrape, And
48:45
Speaker 1: the tablecloth covered his feet. That's also a great thought.
48:52
Speaker 1: And I said in my study that's good, And there
48:54
Speaker 1: was nobody around to say that is good. The tablecloth
48:59
Speaker 1: God at his feet? How good is that? Surrounded by
49:05
Speaker 1: the royalty and this nobody from nowhere is sitting at
49:10
Speaker 1: the king's table. Faith anology, Maphibashef's disability was a constant
49:19
Speaker 1: reminder of the king's grace. Oh man, was it ever?
49:27
Speaker 1: He must have gone to bed every night thinking I
49:29
Speaker 1: just can't believe it. I can't believe it. Good night, King,
49:33
Speaker 1: size bed. Great. God beats afar out of a cod
49:38
Speaker 1: with no matters. Fabulous And look at that meal. How great.
49:45
Speaker 1: By the way, he wasn't instantly healed. He was never healed.
49:52
Speaker 1: Take note of that. People have the idea that they'll
49:55
Speaker 1: bargain with God, they'll come to God if he'll heal him.
49:58
Speaker 1: You're never going to be healed sin. We're forgiven of sin,
50:03
Speaker 1: but we're never told we're healed of sin. Oh that
50:05
Speaker 1: comes when we move into eternity, when we die the
50:09
Speaker 1: sin thing is over. Until then we've got the disability
50:16
Speaker 1: number six. When he sat at the king's table, there
50:21
Speaker 1: was no status or rank in the family. They were
50:27
Speaker 1: all the king's sons and daughters. You want a great thought.
50:36
Speaker 1: They're sitting at the supper table, and David says to
50:39
Speaker 1: memphibisheth you ask the blessing? Probably would be nothing but weeping.
50:55
Speaker 1: Oh God, how gracious you are to find me when
51:01
Speaker 1: I wasn't even looking, and to give me a place
51:04
Speaker 1: at the table of the king. Another great thought, someday
51:11
Speaker 1: we'll be at the table like that and nobody will say, Hey,
51:16
Speaker 1: that's possible. Paul's seat, don't sit there, fight with Peter's seat.
51:21
Speaker 1: You don't you know that the pecking order Paul Peter,
51:25
Speaker 1: that's James seat, that's Martin Luther's seat. You sit down
51:32
Speaker 1: at the table, sit on brother Martin. There's a stool
51:36
Speaker 1: over there, he'd sit right down. Or some great church
51:42
Speaker 1: father or some great author you've read, or some great
51:45
Speaker 1: singer of yesteryear, or your mom or daddy, somebody who
51:54
Speaker 1: meant the world to you. They're waiting for you at
51:57
Speaker 1: the table. Final thought. You know how we'll often say
52:09
Speaker 1: There's an old saying when you see someone that's in trouble,
52:12
Speaker 1: there but for the grace of God, go I. When
52:15
Speaker 1: I think of a phibish heath, I think there because
52:18
Speaker 1: of the grace of God, go iye, why, because we
52:22
Speaker 1: are all disabled. May God never let us forget my
52:26
Speaker 1: aphibish heath. And every time you are with someone disabled,
52:30
Speaker 1: think of a phibish heath. There will be no place
52:33
Speaker 1: for impatience, misunderstanding, expectations. They can't keep up. You wait
52:41
Speaker 1: for them, you encourage them, you love them, You show
52:46
Speaker 1: grace to them, just like Corey Tenboom when she shook
52:51
Speaker 1: his hand. Let's power hearts together. How great of the
53:05
Speaker 1: King to reach out to one who really was undeserving.
53:12
Speaker 1: How great of God to send his son for you
53:20
Speaker 1: and for all of us lame, awkward, backward, broken, inconsistent, unloving, unkind, impatient, profane, vile.
53:38
Speaker 1: But we have a place at the table. Your chair
53:42
Speaker 1: is empty. If you've never trusted Christ in today's the
53:45
Speaker 1: day to reserve your spot. I urge you to do that.
53:50
Speaker 1: There are prayer rooms at the exits. Please take time.
53:54
Speaker 1: Our sole care folks are there to help you find
53:59
Speaker 1: out how to get the table cloth to cover your feet.
54:04
Speaker 1: Thank your Father that in the shattered condition of both
54:07
Speaker 1: mind and body, this man was found, and his lameness
54:13
Speaker 1: and awkwardness never turned the king away. How great is
54:21
Speaker 1: our God, how full of grace? Forgive us for even
54:27
Speaker 1: the moment of pride or arrogance or impatience. And remind us, Lord,
54:34
Speaker 1: in our load of our existence, that you have graciously
54:40
Speaker 1: chosen us to be yours in the name of the
54:49
Speaker 1: one who loved us and gave himself for us, Christ,
54:54
Speaker 1: who though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor,
54:59
Speaker 1: that we, through his poverty, might be rich. Even Jesus
55:03
Speaker 1: we pray everyone said Amen. The preceding message, The Grace
55:12
Speaker 1: of God, was copyrighted in two thousand and eight, and
55:15
Speaker 1: the sound recording was copyrighted in two thousand and nine
55:18
Speaker 1: by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.