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Resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 (3) - The Grace of God · Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons

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  Can I ask you now please to turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, just continuing
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  through from where we finished last time.
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  1 Corinthians chapter 15, and we're looking at verses 9 to 11, but we can read from verse
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  3.
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  For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for
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  our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on
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  the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the
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  twelve.
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  Then He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still
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  alive, though some have fallen asleep.
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  Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
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  Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared also to me.
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  For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted
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  the church of God.
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  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace towards me was not in vain.
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  On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I but the grace of
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  God that is with me.
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  Whether then it was I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.
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  Now, the early part of the chapter, you may recall that we looked at verses one and two,
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  which we entitled to the gospel.
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  That's really what he's dealing with there.
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  And then verses three to eight, the core of the gospel, where we find these four points
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  that we mentioned last time and took us our headings from verse three to eight, that this
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  gospel, the core of it being, as mentioned there, Christ dying for our sins.
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  Then he was buried.
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  Thirdly, he was raised on the third day, and then he appeared after his resurrection to
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  those folks that are mentioned there.
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  And tonight we're looking at essentially what he says in verse 10, the grace of God.
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  The grace of God is the main theme of what we're going to look at from these verses.
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  And God's grace, as you know, is so frequently mentioned by the Apostle Paul in his letters.
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  In fact, if you look through his letters, you'll find the word grace appearing over 80 times
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  in the letters of Paul.
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  Grace of God to him was central not only to his own experience, because this really is
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  his own experience that he's dealing with here.
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  It's his personal testimony.
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  He's talking here in personal terms and setting out the grace of God from his own experience.
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  But that grace of God, by which he came to be an apostle, by which he came to be a Christian,
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  first of all, is that which now is fundamental to the message of the gospel that he preaches.
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  God took him from being a persecutor, an opponent of the gospel, as he mentions here, to being
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  turned right around to be a proclaimer of the gospel and an apostle of Jesus Christ.
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  Now, we can say that grace essentially means, if we want to really define it in just a few
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  words, which is difficult, but grace, the grace that Paul speaks of, the grace the Bible teaches
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  is the grace of God, we could say is God's undeserved favor to us.
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  God's undeserved favor, his goodwill, his favor, undeserved on our part, and nevertheless bestowed
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  by him to the extent that his people especially come to be saved by the grace of God.
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  That really, the question then arises, well, what is meant by the grace of God?
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  How can you see the grace of God at work?
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  Where can you detect the grace of God or see the meaning of grace in the lives of his people,
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  other than just what you read about on the pages of Scripture, which, of course, is our
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  starting point, as it always must be?
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  There's God's undeserved favor.
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  Well, you can see it in two things especially that I'm going to mention tonight.
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  First of all, it's grace to the unworthy.
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  It's grace to the unworthy.
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  It's God's undeserved favor to unworthy sinners.
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  And Paul mentions himself here as unworthy of the grace of God because he especially mentions
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  that he was, in fact, not just an opponent, but a persecutor of the church of God.
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  Not worthy to be called an apostle.
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  Not worthy of the grace of God that made me an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.
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  And that, in principle, applies to everyone who comes to know the grace of God savingly.
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  We come in response to that, in the knowledge that God gives us from that, to say, as Paul did here,
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  I was utterly unworthy of this grace that I received.
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  And as you look at it as grace to the unworthy, you begin then to see something of the nature
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  and the wonder and the luster of that grace.
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  And then you can follow that through in so many of the passages of Paul's writings especially.
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  We're going to mention a couple of them later in Ephesians, especially Ephesians 1, Ephesians 2.
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  But it's grace to the unworthy.
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  And secondly, the second main point we're going to raise and try and open up is that grace is…
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  The grace that brings salvation or has brought salvation.
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  And I'm using that as a definition from 1 Timothy…
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  From Titus, rather, chapter 2 and verse 11, which is how Paul describes this grace of God there.
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  The grace that brings salvation.
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  Chapter 2, verse 11 of Titus.
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  Where you find him saying there…
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  Sorry, chapter 2, verses 8 to 9.
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  Where you find the very same thing spoken of here as the grace that brings salvation.
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  Chapter 11…
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  Sorry, Titus chapter 1, verse 11.
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  The grace that brings salvation has appeared to all people.
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  And then he goes on to speak about that grace.
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  It's training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and so on.
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  But it's the grace that has appeared bringing salvation.
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  It's a grace that has carried salvation with its working, if you like, so that it comes to actually
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  result in the conversion and salvation of those whom God has taken into the benefits of His grace.
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  Oh, it's grace to the unworthy.
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  Now, you notice how Paul here speaks of himself.
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  He's mentioned the apostles there.
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  And then he speaks of himself as an apostle born in one untimely born.
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  Jesus also appeared to me.
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  Apostles, of course, were originally the twelve apostles.
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  And to be an apostle, one of the requirements of an apostle was that he was appointed.
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  They were appointed by Jesus.
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  But they were also eyewitnesses of the risen Jesus.
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  They needed to be eyewitnesses of Christ risen from the dead.
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  And that's why he mentions, one of the reasons he mentions in these verses,
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  that these people actually came to meet with Jesus or he met with them.
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  He mentions there Cephas, five hundred all at once, James, and then he mentions himself.
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  So, the requirement was you needed to see or be witness to the risen Christ and have met the risen Christ or seen him for yourself.
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  And Paul is saying, I was actually after the rest.
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  I didn't belong to that initial wave of apostles or disciples.
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  I came later.
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  I was, as he puts it here, as one who was untimely born.
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  It really means one who came into apostleships well after the rest.
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  They had already become apostles.
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  They had gone out with the gospel.
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  And he's saying, I was opposed to that gospel.
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  I was a persecutor of the church in which they were apostles by Christ's appointment.
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  Apostles by being witnesses of Christ's resurrection.
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  He had met with them, as it says there.
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  But I did too.
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  And he wants to demonstrate that strongly in his letter to the Corinthians and indeed somewhere in other parts of his letters as well.
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  Because for one thing, in Corinth, his credentials as an apostle were challenged.
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  There was a group of people in Corinth or surrounding areas there that did not accept his apostleship.
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  Did not accept his apostolic authority.
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  Questioned his apostleship.
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  And therefore questioned his right to teach as the other apostles taught.
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  And that's why in 2 Corinthians chapters 10 and 11 are pretty much taken up with Paul's defense of his apostleship.
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  And in chapter 9 of 1 Corinthians, you'll find him doing similarly as well.
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  So he needed to defend his apostleship, defend the fact that he had indeed come to be appointed an apostle by Christ, by meeting with the living Christ.
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  And of course, you know that he met with the living Christ on the way to Damascus.
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  On the way to, as he had it in mind, create further havoc in the church.
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  But then Jesus met him.
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  Jesus took hold of his life.
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  Jesus took him, as he says in Philippians, into his custody.
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  And having taken hold of him, having apprehended him, having taken him into his custody, having arrested him, if you like, to use the same terminology,
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  then Paul's life took an entirely different and new direction.
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  He became an apostle, a witness, a preacher of the gospel that he once despised.
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  And so that's what he's now setting out as the background to his apostleship as he comes to speak of it to the Corinthians.
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  But then he says,
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  I was unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.
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  And although this is specific to him as an apostle,
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  there is nobody in here tonight who has come to know the Lord
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  that will actually quibble with this in principle that you are unworthy of it.
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  If you've come to know yourself as a lost sinner,
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  and you've come to know the Lord as your Savior,
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  the one thing you will be persuaded of is that you are entirely unworthy of the grace that he showed to you.
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  Entirely unworthy of his salvation, of his taking hold of your life, of changing you,
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  however you want to look at it, this is what it amounts to.
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  I am unworthy to be called a Christian,
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  unworthy to be taken into salvation by this Jesus.
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  Because I too despised him.
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  I rejected his teaching.
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  I didn't want to actually have him reign over my life.
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  I didn't want to yield my life, my heart to him.
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  And not only must we confess that we are undeserving of his grace,
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  you have to go further than that.
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  Because the Bible takes us further than that.
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  Not just to say,
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  I'm unworthy of the least of your mercies, Lord.
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  You have to go and say,
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  I am actually worthy of being cast away from you forever.
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  If you've come to know yourself as a sinner,
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  and know something of the nature of sin,
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  the nature of your heart,
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  what is actually in your heart,
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  what is true of you as a sinner,
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  even if it's just to a little extent,
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  you can see in that the evil of sin,
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  the horrible thing that sin is,
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  the antagonism that there is in sin to God.
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  And therefore,
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  how worthy it would be of him to condemn you and I forever.
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  But that's not what happened.
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  I'm not worthy to be called an apostle.
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  I'm not worthy of salvation.
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  I'm not worthy to be taken into discipleship of Christ,
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  to be a follower of Christ.
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  In fact, I'm not just undeserving,
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  but I'm ill-deserving.
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  Deserving of the opposite
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  of what grace has brought into my life.
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  You see, if we think for a moment
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  that there's something in our lives
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  that has earned the grace of God,
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  that has deserved the grace of God,
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  then we've really redefined grace.
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  Because grace is only grace
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  because it's grace to the unworthy.
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  It's grace to those who are unworthy
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  of the least of it
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  and worthy of all its opposite
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  in God's condemnation.
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  And that's why Paul so frequently in his teaching
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  emphasizes for these Christians,
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  these churches that he went to teach,
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  that he went from place to place
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  to actually bring the gospel to them
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  and then teach them in the gospel
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  like the Corinthians.
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  That's why you so often find him
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  putting together side by side,
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  as contrast,
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  grace and works.
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  The grace of God,
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  the free grace of God,
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  and the works that we ourselves can do,
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  the works of the law,
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  the works of the flesh,
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  whatever way you tend to call it,
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  it's our own work,
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  it's our own DIY form of salvation.
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  Paul is saying,
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  that's impossible.
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  That's what attracts God's condemnation
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  because we are not able
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  to match or to meet
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  the demands or the standard of God.
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  It's all of grace.
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  And the one thing that's sure
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  about grace,
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  the grace which saves,
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  the grace which comes from God
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  to the unworthy,
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  is that it makes you humble.
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  If we know that people,
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  as we pray and hope,
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  are saved through our preaching,
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  if we know that God's people
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  are to some extent at least
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  built up in their faith,
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  in their following of Christ,
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  through our preaching of the gospel,
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  does that make us proud?
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  Does that make us feel proud?
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  Does that make us want to boast?
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  Well, it might within ourselves,
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  but that's not how it should be,
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  of course.
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  That doesn't make us feel proud.
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  If I've got any sense of grace at all,
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  and I see that that's what God uses me for,
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  there is nothing more humbling
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  than knowing that God uses such a person
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  as an unworthy sinner
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  to bring benefit to other people.
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  Grace humbles.
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  Grace humbles you in the presence of God
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  because through grace you come to realize
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  you're not worthy of the grace you receive,
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  that you're unworthy of anything
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  that grace carries into your experience.
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  So grace is grace to the unworthy.
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  But secondly, it's grace bringing salvation,
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  as we quoted from Titus 2, verse 11.
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  And there are three things in terms of grace
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  bringing salvation.
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  Just use that as our summary point, if you like,
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  but follow through in what Paul is saying here
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  about himself.
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  By the grace of God, I am what I am.
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  By the grace of God, I am what I am.
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  I'm no longer what I was as a persecutor,
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  as an unworthy sinner before God.
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  I received grace.
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  And what I am now, I have been made so.
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  I am so by His grace, by what His grace has wrought.
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  So what's the nature of this grace?
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  If it's grace to the unworthy,
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  if it's grace bringing salvation,
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  what does this grace actually look like?
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  What does it contain?
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  What is it about?
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  Let's see three things about it.
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  It's first of all, God's love in Christ.
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  This undeserved favor of God
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  is God's love in Christ for His people,
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  toward His people.
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  That's fundamental to the meaning of God's grace,
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  that it is God's love in action,
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  that it is God's love in Christ.
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  It's foundational to our redemption.
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  It's God's love to the unlovely,
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  to the undeserving,
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  and the unlovely as well.
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  Now let me just point you to Ephesians for a moment.
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  If you turn with me,
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  we're going to look at a couple of passages here
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  for our next few minutes.
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  Ephesians chapter 2 and verses 4 to 8.
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  We'll come back to the early part of chapter 2 in a minute.
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  But in verses 4 to 8 of Ephesians 2,
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  look at what he's saying here.
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  But God being rich in mercy,
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  because of the great love with which He loved us,
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  even when we were dead in our trespasses,
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  He made us alive, or He quickened us.
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  He brought us to life together in union with Christ.
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  By grace you have been saved.
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  You see what that is saying?
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  The grace that you see,
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  the grace that has saved the apostle and saves God's people,
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  the grace by which we have been quickened and saved,
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  is a grace that's emanated from the love of God.
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  It's God's love in Christ to His people.
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  And then Ephesians chapter 1,
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  look at verses 3 to 6.
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  That great statement,
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  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
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  who has blessed us in Christ,
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  you see, in Christ,
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  with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
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  even as He chose us in Him
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  before the foundation of the world,
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  that we should be holy and blameless before Him.
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  In love He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ,
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  according to the purpose of His will,
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  to the praise of His glorious grace,
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  with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.
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  What a combination of terms.
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  He's saying it's the love of God
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  that has come to provide salvation for us.
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  It's the love of God,
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  the grace of God,
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  that has come to embrace us,
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  and indeed not only embrace us,
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  but in Christ has loved us from all eternity,
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  he's saying about God's people.
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  And it's not only in Christ,
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  but He calls Him in the Beloved.
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  You know, as a Christian tonight,
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  if you're a Christian,
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  if you're in Christ,
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  if you know the Lord,
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  if He's your Savior,
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  here's a most wonderful and beautiful emphasis.
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  He has loved you in the Beloved.
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  He has loved you in the Son of His love.
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  He has loved you not for what you were,
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  not for what He saw you,
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  not for what He saw you would come to be,
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  but for His sake.
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  He has loved you by His grace,
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  in His grace.
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  He has loved you freely.
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  He has loved you as one who is undeserving of it.
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  He has loved you in the Beloved.
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  And because He is the Beloved,
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  it has pleased God the Father
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  to love His people in Him,
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  to elect them in Him,
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  to choose them in Him,
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  to place them in Him,
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  and from all eternity
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  to make them candidates of redemption
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  in His own love,
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  by His grace.
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  And you see,
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  that's why we can say that God's…
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  Somebody actually once asked,
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  I think it was J.G. Voss,
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  one of the American theologians,
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  can you assure me
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  that God's love for His people
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  will never end?
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  And the response of the theologian was,
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  yes, I can.
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  I can assure you that God's love will never end
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  because it never began.
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  God's people were loved from all eternity
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  in the Beloved.
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  And because they were placed in the Beloved
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  from all eternity,
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  as the Beloved came into the world
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  and took their nature
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  and died for them
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  and rose again from the dead,
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  so they continue in the Beloved
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  to be regarded by God as His people,
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  not without them having come by faith
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  to trust in Him,
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  but this goes to the root of the matter.
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  He has blessed us in the Beloved.
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  It's God's love in Christ.
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  That's the grace of God,
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  the undeserved favor of God,
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  the love of God for His people.
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  Secondly,
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  the grace that brings salvation
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  is God's power in action.
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  God's love in Christ,
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  God's power in action.
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  Now, of course,
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  you have to join all of these together
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  because they're inseparably connected.
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  I'm just looking at them
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  in terms of distinct points,
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  but they really belong
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  to the same outworking of God's love.
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  The grace of God is God's power in action.
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  Back again to Ephesians chapter 2.
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  Look at what he says in verse 1.
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  You were dead in the trespasses and sins
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  in which you once walked.
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  You were dead,
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  spiritually dead,
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  in the trespasses and sins
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  in which you once walked.
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  And then skip ahead to chapter 2, verse 5.
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  Even when we were dead in our trespasses,
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  God made us alive
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  together with Christ.
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  Christ.
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  You see, it's God's power in action.
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  It's God's power coming to the dead.
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  It's God's coming to those dead
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  in trespasses and sins.
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  We stand so often, sadly,
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  at a graveside
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  or even to see a coffin
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  as we've been all too familiar with,
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  particularly in the last
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  two to three weeks here.
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  And as you see that coffin,
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  as you look into the grave
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  and the coffin is lowered into the grave,
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  one thought that should
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  absolutely be certain
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  in our minds is this.
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  That body of itself
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  can never live again.
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  The dead
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  cannot
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  themselves
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  come to life.
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  That body will live again
• 23:21
  by the power of Christ
• 23:22
  in His resurrection,
• 23:24
  in the resurrection
• 23:25
  from the grave
• 23:26
  when it comes.
• 23:27
  But in itself,
• 23:28
  as you look at
• 23:29
  what is dead,
• 23:30
  it cannot come to life.
• 23:32
  And that's the wonder
• 23:33
  of God's grace.
• 23:34
  It is the power of God
• 23:36
  coming to that which is dead
• 23:38
  and actually saying,
• 23:41
  live.
• 23:43
  And that which is dead
• 23:44
  comes to life.
• 23:45
  Even when we were dead
• 23:47
  in trespasses,
• 23:49
  He quickened us.
• 23:51
  He brought us to life
• 23:52
  in union with Christ.
• 23:56
  The grace of God
• 23:57
  is God's power.
• 24:00
  And in that same chapter
• 24:01
  in Ephesians,
• 24:02
  it's the power that
• 24:04
  from the love of God
• 24:05
  works through
• 24:06
  in the power of His grace.
• 24:09
  The power of the Holy Spirit
• 24:10
  to bring
• 24:11
  His people to life.
• 24:13
  And of course,
• 24:13
  that's such an important
• 24:14
  emphasis
• 24:15
  and link with the main theme
• 24:17
  of 1 Corinthians 15
• 24:18
  because
• 24:19
  it's a chapter
• 24:21
  dealing with
• 24:21
  the resurrection.
• 24:22
  The resurrection of Jesus,
• 24:24
  the resurrection of His people
• 24:26
  in union with Him
• 24:26
  to counteract
• 24:28
  those who are saying
• 24:29
  in Corinth
• 24:30
  and trying to
• 24:30
  lead people astray
• 24:32
  to say there is no such thing
• 24:33
  as resurrection.
• 24:36
  And Paul is saying
• 24:37
  as he leads towards that,
• 24:39
  he's saying,
• 24:40
  well,
• 24:40
  this is true of my own life.
• 24:42
  I know there's a resurrection
• 24:43
  because I was brought
• 24:44
  to life spiritually.
• 24:48
  And to the Ephesians,
• 24:49
  you were dead
• 24:50
  in trespasses and sins,
• 24:51
  but God brought you
• 24:52
  to life spiritually
• 24:53
  through the power
• 24:55
  of His grace.
• 24:56
  By grace,
• 24:57
  you are saved.
• 24:58
  that not of yourselves
• 25:00
  as the gift of God.
• 25:05
  You know,
• 25:05
  we can yearn
• 25:07
  for certain things
• 25:08
  to happen.
• 25:10
  We can
• 25:11
  deeply desire
• 25:13
  certain things
• 25:13
  for certain people.
• 25:16
  And as you see,
• 25:17
  people
• 25:17
  sometimes in desperate need,
• 25:19
  your heart goes out
• 25:20
  to them.
• 25:22
  You wish you had
• 25:23
  the resources
• 25:23
  to help them.
• 25:25
  And if you had
• 25:26
  the resources
• 25:26
  to help them,
• 25:27
  you would certainly
• 25:28
  do that,
• 25:29
  whether it would be
• 25:29
  financial or practical
• 25:31
  or whatever.
• 25:32
  You can see them
• 25:33
  suffering in different
• 25:34
  parts of the world
• 25:35
  or even in their own
• 25:36
  nation in difficult times.
• 25:38
  You'd really want
• 25:39
  to have the means
• 25:40
  and the resources
• 25:41
  and the wherewithal
• 25:41
  to help them,
• 25:42
  and you don't have them.
• 25:44
  And it hurts you
• 25:45
  that you can't
• 25:45
  and you wish you had.
• 25:49
  But that's the great thing
• 25:50
  about God's grace.
• 25:51
  It isn't just
• 25:54
  that God,
• 25:55
  as it were,
• 25:56
  yearns towards
• 25:56
  the salvation
• 25:57
  of His people.
• 25:59
  He has the resources.
• 26:01
  Grace has the power.
• 26:04
  Grace has the enabling
• 26:05
  by which He brings us
• 26:07
  spiritually to life.
• 26:10
  Anything that God
• 26:12
  intends by His grace,
• 26:15
  His grace will
• 26:15
  certainly accomplish.
• 26:18
  And that's a wonderfully
• 26:19
  comforting thing
• 26:20
  for you tonight.
• 26:22
  That as a Christian,
• 26:23
  as somebody
• 26:24
  who has begun
• 26:25
  to follow Christ
• 26:26
  or maybe been following
• 26:27
  for many years,
• 26:28
  and let's face it,
• 26:29
  it's not just those
• 26:30
  who are younger in the faith
• 26:31
  that have doubts at times
• 26:33
  or questions at times.
• 26:34
  It comes to us all,
• 26:35
  whatever stage we're at.
• 26:37
  And maybe sometimes
• 26:38
  in the later stages
• 26:40
  of our Christian experience
• 26:41
  and walk,
• 26:42
  maybe it's then
• 26:43
  more doubts come in
• 26:44
  and more feelings
• 26:46
  of weakness,
• 26:47
  if you like,
• 26:47
  come in
• 26:48
  and more fears
• 26:50
  than we had earlier on
• 26:52
  in our Christian experience.
• 26:54
  Well, God is saying,
• 26:55
  if I've got you
• 26:56
  in the custody of my grace,
• 26:58
  if I've got you
• 26:59
  in the safety
• 26:59
  of my grace in Christ,
• 27:01
  if you are indeed,
• 27:03
  as you're saying,
• 27:04
  under the power
• 27:06
  of my grace,
• 27:08
  what's going to stop that?
• 27:10
  What's going to cause
• 27:11
  the further advance
• 27:14
  of your Christian walk
• 27:16
  and experience
• 27:17
  when the grace of God,
• 27:19
  as Paul is saying,
• 27:21
  by the grace of God,
• 27:22
  I am what I am?
• 27:25
  You can really say
• 27:26
  that included in that,
• 27:28
  you might say,
• 27:28
  is Paul's conviction
• 27:30
  by the grace of God,
• 27:31
  I will be what I will be.
• 27:34
  I will be what God
• 27:35
  intends me to be.
• 27:37
  I will be everything
• 27:38
  He has promised me to be.
• 27:41
  By the grace of God,
• 27:42
  by the grace that is His love
• 27:44
  in Christ,
• 27:46
  that is His power
• 27:48
  in action.
• 27:50
  And that's why he goes on there
• 27:51
  to say in verse 10
• 27:52
  that the grace of God,
• 27:55
  which was not in vain
• 27:57
  towards me,
• 28:00
  because he says,
• 28:01
  on the contrary,
• 28:02
  I worked harder
• 28:03
  than any of them,
• 28:05
  though it was not I,
• 28:06
  but the grace of God
• 28:07
  that is with me.
• 28:09
  And commentators really
• 28:12
  generally take it
• 28:13
  that he means
• 28:14
  all the other apostles
• 28:15
  put together,
• 28:17
  I worked harder
• 28:19
  than them all
• 28:20
  put together.
• 28:23
  Now, is Paul boasting there?
• 28:26
  Is he saying,
• 28:27
  look at me,
• 28:28
  I worked harder
• 28:29
  than all of them
• 28:30
  put together?
• 28:32
  Of course,
• 28:32
  he's not saying that.
• 28:33
  What he's doing is saying,
• 28:35
  it is not I,
• 28:36
  but the grace of God
• 28:38
  that is with me.
• 28:39
  In other words,
• 28:40
  the more he sees
• 28:41
  of what God
• 28:42
  has enabled him to do,
• 28:44
  and even if he is
• 28:45
  convinced that he has
• 28:46
  worked harder
• 28:47
  than all of them
• 28:48
  put together,
• 28:49
  he's not saying,
• 28:50
  praise to me.
• 28:53
  He's saying,
• 28:54
  praise to grace.
• 28:56
  Praise to the God
• 28:57
  of grace.
• 29:00
  Because Paul,
• 29:01
  as a humble Christian,
• 29:04
  is always concerned
• 29:05
  to bring the glory
• 29:07
  and the praise
• 29:07
  to God.
• 29:10
  He's not exalting himself,
• 29:12
  he's exalting
• 29:13
  his grace.
• 29:16
  And you know,
• 29:17
  the way
• 29:17
  we often use
• 29:20
  this kind of illustration,
• 29:22
  if you have
• 29:23
  a diamond ring,
• 29:25
  and that diamond ring,
• 29:26
  you want to see it
• 29:27
  in all its brilliance,
• 29:29
  what sort of background
• 29:30
  do you put it against?
• 29:31
  Not a background,
• 29:33
  not a background
• 29:34
  that's very sparkly
• 29:35
  and shiny,
• 29:37
  but a black background,
• 29:40
  a black velvet cloth
• 29:42
  on which you place,
• 29:44
  or a box with
• 29:45
  a black velvet lining
• 29:47
  in which you place
• 29:48
  this wonderful
• 29:49
  diamond ring.
• 29:51
  And it's the blackness,
• 29:53
  the darkness
• 29:53
  of the background
• 29:54
  that makes
• 29:56
  the luster
• 29:57
  of the diamond
• 29:57
  shine all the more brightly.
• 29:59
  Well, that's what
• 29:59
  Paul is doing.
• 30:00
  I am undeserving
• 30:02
  and worthy
• 30:03
  to be called an apostle
• 30:04
  because I persecuted
• 30:06
  the church of God.
• 30:07
  There's the dark background,
• 30:09
  there's the black velvet
• 30:10
  background of his life,
• 30:11
  but by the grace of God
• 30:13
  I am what I am.
• 30:15
  The grace of God
• 30:16
  shines in my life,
• 30:18
  not because of me,
• 30:19
  not because of my achievements,
• 30:21
  not because of
• 30:22
  what I now am,
• 30:24
  but because of
• 30:25
  who God is,
• 30:26
  and because
• 30:27
  what His grace is like,
• 30:28
  and what His grace
• 30:30
  has achieved.
• 30:32
  It's grace
• 30:33
  bringing salvation,
• 30:36
  grace to the unworthy.
• 30:38
  It's God's love in Christ.
• 30:41
  It's God's power in action.
• 30:42
  And thirdly,
• 30:43
  finally,
• 30:44
  it is God's kindness
• 30:45
  in gifting,
• 30:48
  gifting salvation to us.
• 30:50
  Again,
• 30:51
  you find that emphasized
• 30:52
  the passages
• 30:52
  we read from
• 30:54
  in Ephesians,
• 30:56
  in Ephesians 2,
• 30:57
  verse 8 especially.
• 30:59
  This is what He says,
• 31:00
  He has raised us up with Him
• 31:02
  when we were dead
• 31:03
  in trespasses and sins.
• 31:05
  And then He goes on to say,
• 31:06
  For by grace
• 31:07
  you have been saved
• 31:08
  through faith,
• 31:10
  and this is not
• 31:11
  your own doing,
• 31:13
  it is the gift
• 31:14
  of God.
• 31:17
  Grace
• 31:17
  is always gifting.
• 31:19
  The gift of God
• 31:22
  is the gift of grace.
• 31:24
  The grace of God
• 31:24
  is the gifting grace.
• 31:27
  The salvation
• 31:27
  that we have
• 31:28
  in Christ
• 31:29
  is a gift of God.
• 31:31
  We haven't earned it.
• 31:32
  We haven't deserved it.
• 31:34
  We haven't worked for it.
• 31:36
  We can say
• 31:37
  we didn't want it
• 31:38
  until God showed us
• 31:39
  our need of it.
• 31:41
  It is His
• 31:42
  gift to us,
• 31:43
  a gift
• 31:43
  to the unworthy.
• 31:45
  I happened to give
• 31:49
  my wife a present
• 31:50
  at Christmas.
• 31:51
  Not going to tell you
• 31:52
  what it was,
• 31:53
  but hope she liked it.
• 31:55
  But I gave her
• 31:56
  that gift
• 31:57
  because in my estimation
• 31:59
  she was worthy of it.
• 32:01
  After all,
• 32:02
  she has to look after me
• 32:04
  day after day.
• 32:06
  She was worthy of it.
• 32:08
  I thought,
• 32:09
  well,
• 32:09
  she deserves this,
• 32:10
  so this is my gift
• 32:11
  to her.
• 32:13
  But it's the very opposite
• 32:14
  with God.
• 32:16
  I can never come
• 32:17
  before God and say,
• 32:19
  just like the apostles
• 32:19
  is emphasizing for us,
• 32:21
  we can't come before God
• 32:23
  and say,
• 32:24
  your gift to me
• 32:24
  is immeasurable,
• 32:25
  but I deserved
• 32:26
  some of it.
• 32:27
  I deserved in a measure
• 32:29
  something or what I have
• 32:30
  of your salvation.
• 32:31
  No, we come to God
• 32:31
  and say,
• 32:32
  I am unworthy of it.
• 32:33
  I am not in the least
• 32:35
  but deserving of it.
• 32:36
  It is entirely
• 32:37
  your gift to me.
• 32:39
  Your free gift.
• 32:40
  Your undeserved gift.
• 32:42
  But Lord,
• 32:44
  I am glad to receive it
• 32:45
  and make it my own.
• 32:49
  The fact that it is free
• 32:50
  only makes it
• 32:51
  all the more wonderful.
• 32:54
  If we had anything
• 32:55
  to do with it,
• 32:55
  it would just spoil it.
• 32:58
  If we in any way
• 32:58
  measured at all
• 32:59
  deserved it,
• 33:01
  it just would not
• 33:02
  be the same thing,
• 33:02
  would it?
• 33:03
  It wouldn't be a gift
• 33:03
  really then at all.
• 33:05
  It would be something
• 33:06
  that we merited,
• 33:06
  something God owed to us.
• 33:10
  That's not how grace is.
• 33:12
  And what a gift
• 33:15
  He's given us.
• 33:17
  A free gift.
• 33:18
  Salvation in Christ.
• 33:21
  What a gift.
• 33:24
  He gave us His Son.
• 33:27
  He gave us His Son
• 33:29
  as a Savior.
• 33:31
  He gave us exactly
• 33:33
  what we required,
• 33:35
  even if for most of our life
• 33:37
  it wasn't what we thought
• 33:38
  we needed.
• 33:39
  Though it is what we need.
• 33:40
  And what we need
• 33:42
  is a Savior
• 33:43
  that exactly
• 33:44
  matches our condition
• 33:46
  as sinners.
• 33:48
  That exactly matches
• 33:50
  what we are
• 33:52
  under God's condemnation.
• 33:54
  Someone who will rescue us.
• 33:57
  Someone who will place us
• 33:58
  in a favored relationship
• 34:00
  with God.
• 34:03
  He gave us Jesus.
• 34:05
  He gave us a Savior.
• 34:06
  He gave us this free gift.
• 34:10
  What a gift.
• 34:13
  What kindness.
• 34:15
  What love.
• 34:18
  What amazing grace.
• 34:21
  How sweet
• 34:22
  it's sound.
• 34:25
  And that John Newton
• 34:26
  who wrote that
• 34:26
  hymn, Amazing Grace,
• 34:28
  near the end of his life,
• 34:30
  well, he took these words
• 34:31
  of Paul from our text
• 34:32
  tonight in 1 Corinthians 15.
• 34:35
  And this is what he
• 34:36
  said in his confession.
• 34:39
  I am not what I ought to be.
• 34:43
  That's what you're saying
• 34:44
  tonight, I hope.
• 34:46
  And I hope I'm saying it
• 34:47
  as well.
• 34:49
  I am not what I ought to be.
• 34:51
  I should be better
• 34:52
  than I am.
• 34:54
  I should be a better
• 34:55
  Christian than I am.
• 34:57
  I should be more faithful
• 34:58
  to God than I am.
• 35:00
  I should be more
• 35:01
  zealous to God.
• 35:03
  I should be more
• 35:03
  holy than I am.
• 35:05
  That was his testimony.
• 35:06
  I am not
• 35:07
  what I ought to be.
• 35:10
  I am not
• 35:11
  what I want to be.
• 35:13
  He wanted to be better
• 35:14
  than he saw himself
• 35:16
  at the time.
• 35:16
  And that's how you are
• 35:17
  surely too.
• 35:18
  Because however good
• 35:20
  you are tonight,
• 35:21
  however far advanced
• 35:22
  you are on the Christian way,
• 35:24
  however much you've
• 35:25
  learned of Christ,
• 35:27
  however much you value
• 35:28
  him, however much you
• 35:30
  love him and worship him,
• 35:32
  you still hope to be
• 35:34
  more than you are tonight.
• 35:36
  You're not what you
• 35:37
  want to be,
• 35:39
  or what you hope to be,
• 35:40
  yet when it comes
• 35:42
  to your ultimate salvation.
• 35:46
  But, he said,
• 35:47
  I'm not what I ought to be.
• 35:49
  I'm not what I want to be.
• 35:51
  I'm not what I hope to be.
• 35:53
  But still,
• 35:54
  I am not what I used to be.
• 35:57
  See, there is grace,
• 35:59
  amazing grace.
• 36:01
  I'm not what I used to be,
• 36:03
  he said.
• 36:06
  And by the grace of God,
• 36:08
  I am what I am.
• 36:11
  And that's the same
• 36:13
  John Newton,
• 36:14
  who in that amazing hymn,
• 36:16
  in that hymn,
• 36:17
  Amazing Grace,
• 36:18
  wrote these words
• 36:20
  as one of the verses.
• 36:20
  Through many dangers,
• 36:23
  toils,
• 36:24
  and snares,
• 36:25
  I have already come.
• 36:29
  Tis grace has brought me safe
• 36:31
  thus far,
• 36:33
  and grace
• 36:34
  will bring me home,
• 36:37
  will lead me home.
• 36:39
  The grace of God,
• 36:42
  the love of God in Christ,
• 36:43
  God's power in action,
• 36:47
  God's kindness
• 36:48
  in gifting us
• 36:49
  salvation in Christ.
• 36:53
  Grace
• 36:53
  to the unworthy.
• 36:56
  Let's pray.
• 36:59
  Lord, our God,
• 37:01
  we thank you
• 37:01
  for the grace
• 37:03
  that enables us
• 37:04
  to confess our unworthiness,
• 37:06
  the grace that has brought us
• 37:08
  to see ourselves
• 37:09
  as we truly are.
• 37:10
  O Lord, our God,
• 37:12
  we pray that
• 37:13
  by your grace
• 37:14
  we may continue
• 37:16
  to grow
• 37:16
  in the grace
• 37:17
  and in the knowledge
• 37:18
  of our Lord and Savior,
• 37:20
  Jesus Christ.
• 37:22
  And we pray tonight,
• 37:23
  O Lord,
• 37:24
  that our desire
• 37:25
  may be intensified
• 37:26
  to be more like himself.
• 37:29
  And we pray
• 37:30
  that as we pray
• 37:31
  these things,
• 37:32
  we may be conscious too
• 37:33
  of how to be like him
• 37:35
  means that we
• 37:36
  will take to ourselves
• 37:37
  whenever your will decides
• 37:39
  that we will need
• 37:41
  to face challenges,
• 37:44
  suffering,
• 37:45
  loss, deprivation,
• 37:46
  pain,
• 37:47
  perhaps even persecution.
• 37:49
  But Lord,
• 37:50
  we give thanks
• 37:50
  that your whole package
• 37:52
  of experience
• 37:53
  for your people
• 37:54
  is but the outworking
• 37:56
  of your grace for them.
• 37:58
  And within your own
• 37:59
  great program
• 37:59
  of salvation
• 38:01
  and sanctification,
• 38:03
  O grant us grace,
• 38:04
  we pray,
• 38:06
  to be willing
• 38:06
  to leave our life
• 38:08
  in your hands
• 38:09
  and to be willing
• 38:10
  to accept you
• 38:11
  as our Lord and Savior
• 38:12
  each and every day.
• 38:15
  Receive our thanks
• 38:16
  for your grace,
• 38:17
  for Jesus' sake.
• 38:19
  Amen.
• 38:21
  Let's conclude
• 38:22
  our worship tonight,
• 38:23
  singing Psalm 63.
• 38:26
  Psalm number 63,
• 38:27
  that's on page 295.
• 38:30
  verses 1 to 5,
• 38:37
  Psalm 63.
• 38:38
  Lord thee,
• 38:39
  my God,
• 38:40
  I'll early seek,
• 38:41
  my soul doth thirst
• 38:42
  for thee,
• 38:43
  my flesh longs
• 38:44
  in a dry,
• 38:45
  parched land
• 38:46
  wherein no waters be,
• 38:49
  that I thy power
• 38:50
  may behold
• 38:50
  and brightness
• 38:51
  of thy face,
• 38:53
  as I have seen thee
• 38:54
  heretofore
• 38:55
  within thy holy place.
• 38:57
  Since better is thy love
• 38:59
  than life,
• 39:00
  my lips thee praise
• 39:01
  shall give.
• 39:02
  I in thy name
• 39:03
  will lift my hands
• 39:04
  and bless thee
• 39:05
  while I live.
• 39:06
  Even as with marrow
• 39:07
  and with fat
• 39:07
  my soul shall filled be,
• 39:10
  then shall my mouth
• 39:11
  with joyful lips
• 39:12
  sing praises unto thee.
• 39:15
  These verses in conclusion.
• 39:16
  Amen.
• 39:21
  For thee,
• 39:23
  my God,
• 39:25
  I will be to see,
• 39:28
  my soul doth thirst
• 39:32
  for thee,
• 39:35
  my flesh longs
• 39:38
  in a dry,
• 39:41
  parched land
• 39:43
  wherein no waters be,
• 39:49
  that I thy power
• 39:54
  may behold
• 39:58
  and brightness
• 40:01
  of thy face,
• 40:06
  as I have seen thee
• 40:11
  here to fall
• 40:14
  within thy holy place.
• 40:21
  hallsequently While thou play
• 40:23
  hah żeby
• 40:26
  committing물
• 40:28
  onto thy glory
• 40:30
  open
• 40:39
  andمكن
• 40:51
  In a swift marrow and with heart, my soul shall thrill it be.
• 41:08
  Then shall my mouth with joyfulness sing praises unto thee.
• 41:24
  I'll go to the main door now after the benediction.
• 41:28
  Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you now and always. Amen.
• 41:38
  Amen.