Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #14910 - Saved by God's Abounding Grace - Ephesians 2:8-9

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#14910 - Saved by God's Abounding Grace - Ephesians 2:8-9 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Amen.
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Open your Bibles. Ephesians chapter 2 is where we
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are picking up where we left off last time in verse 8.
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Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8. We're going to spend a couple
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weeks in verses 89 and 10. Today we're going to look at
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8:00 and 9:00 in depth and I've entitled our Bible study Saved
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by God's Abounding Grace. Saved by God's Abounding Grace.
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By now you know, and if you don't, you'll learn today, But
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by now you know that you're saved by the grace of God
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through faith, the forgiveness of sin, the changed life being
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made right with God. We are saved.
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We experience and receive salvation by the grace of God
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through faith and not anything you've ever done or anything you
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will ever do. As we see today, one of if not
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the most clearest scripture in all of the Bible that under
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minds and undercuts everyone that would want to add to the
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gospel right here we learn it is not by works.
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Notice with me in verse 8 in chapter 2.
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For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that the
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salvation, that not of yourselves.
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It is the gift of God, not of works.
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Lest anyone should boast. This is a verse every, all of us
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should memorize. I memorized it many years ago.
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Because there are always people that will come to you and say
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you're not enough and you don't do enough and you don't go to
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the right church and you don't do the right works.
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And everybody has an opinion and will want to add.
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Not everyone, but many will want to add to the gospel.
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And we learned if this is something you wrestle with and
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struggle with in your own life, we learned.
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We just finished studying Galatians verse by verse.
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And what do we learn in Galatians?
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One of the high level themes in Galatians was if anyone adds
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anything to the gospel, it's no longer the gospel.
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The gospel is a gospel of grace. We have nothing to offer God.
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We have nothing to earn this favored of God that we have
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nothing that to work for the gift.
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You and I are saved because of God's abounding grace.
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It is a wonderful work of God's grace that sinners can be
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cleansed and changed and redeemed by faith.
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You're not saved by keeping the 10 commandments.
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You're not saved by your because you read the Bible or because
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you're sitting in a church right now, or listening to Christian
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radio or found somebody on YouTube.
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You're not saved by keeping elaborate codes of conduct or
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doing what the church tells you to do, or because you were
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confirmed, or because you were baptized, or none of those
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things save you. You are saved by the finished
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work of Jesus Christ. You're saved by grace.
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The Greek word charis. CHARIS, The Greek word charis.
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It's a beautiful word. Many, many people name their
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children charis or grace. It's a beautiful word.
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It means joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, loveliness.
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Beautiful word. When it's used in the Bible, it
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refers to not only these things, but the beauty of God's
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unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor.
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It's a beautiful word we we learned when we were studying
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Galatians to use the word grace as a reminder of exactly what
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we're talking about. If you haven't written this down
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yet, you should because we can use the word grace, the letters
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grace, GRACE as a quick reminder, very simple reminder,
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but an important one of what the grace of God means.
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So you could use the word grace, God's riches at Christ's
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expense, God's riches. A person receives all the riches
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of God, all the goodness of God, brought into relationship with
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God, all of his riches because of what Christ has done.
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We are saved not by our good works, but by His finished work.
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We are not saved by good works, although we are saved for good
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works. They come second, not first.
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With that in mind, today I want to share with you 4 things that
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we learn in these two verses. This Bible will be This Bible
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study will be abundantly simple but important because this topic
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comes up over and over again, not only with people you know,
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but in your own life. Or you just feel like you need
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to do more. Or you live under shame and
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condemnation. Or you go through a season where
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there hasn't been a lot of spiritual activity in your life
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and then you beat yourself up or maybe you beat other people up.
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And we got to stop all of that and come back to the basics of
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how a person is safe. So there's four things, four
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different angles that we learn about salvation and then we'll
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pick up in another study and expand this next time we're
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together. So first of all, if you're
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taking notes, there are four things I want you to be ready
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for. Here's number one, salvation is
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a gift of grace not earned by your works.
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Salvation is a gift of grace. I want to emphasize the word
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gift because we can understand that.
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We can understand receiving gifts.
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What do you do or what should you do when you receive a gift?
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And it's very simple, Receive it, open it, enjoy it.
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That's what we do with gifts. When you receive a gift, we're
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to open it and enjoy it. There isn't anything that you
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can do that will now turn it around.
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So like somehow you earn the gift.
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When someone gives you a gift, the proper response is thank
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you, open it and enjoy it. However, inside of us there is
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especially those of you that have latched onto this
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principle. This is a great principle.
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Jesus taught us and many of you know this.
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This is, I love this. It's more blessed to give than
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it is to receive. So if you're a general giver and
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generous, receiving gifts can be hard for you.
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And the proper response is let someone else experience the gift
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of giving just like you experience the gift of giving
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and there is nothing you need to do.
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Like open it, enjoy it. Maybe you'll re gift it, but
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receive it. Just receive it, just enjoy it.
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You know, when you around for a birthday or Christmas or
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whatever, just somebody wants to do something for you, you
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receive it. You know, some of our kids,
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they'll open the gifts before they're even given to them.
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It's like that's the right mindset.
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Enjoy the gift. But there is something in us
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that just like, OK, even if you don't say it out loud, OK, you
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gave me a gift. So now you, I'm going to make
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sure to get you something. I'm going to think of you.
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And that's not necessarily bad, but it is what I'm speaking to
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because this gets carried over to God.
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God has been so good to us, so gracious to us.
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And then our response, well, what can I do for you?
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And the first thing you can do for God is to remember your
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salvation is a gift. Just receive it, enjoy it.
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The gospel message is the good news that your sins can be
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forgiven because of what Jesus has done for you.
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The gospel is contained in John 316.
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For God so loved the world that he gave.
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I mean, we overlooked that verse sometimes.
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He so loved you that he gave, He gave the gift like Paul says
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here in Ephesians, His only begotten Son, that whosoever
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would believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting
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life. Out of the 32,000 verses in the
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Bible, this is one of the most, if not the most beautiful verse
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because it has the gospel message and emphasizes the gift.
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Actually we don't have time to develop it here, but I do want
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to give it to you for something to consider.
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I did develop it when we were studying through John as a
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church many years ago. But there are 6 things about the
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Gospel, 6 things contained in John 316 that I just want to
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remind you of if you want to jot them down.
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Yesterday after service a brother came up and said I
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missed a couple of them because you speak so fast.
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And I was thinking, I didn't say this, but I was thinking, man,
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you have no idea how fast. I really want to speak to get
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more into a short amount of time, but I'll slow down for
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you. I'll give you the list, but if
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you miss it, you can always e-mail me.
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I can send it to you no problem. So in John 316 related to the
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Gospel, 6 things we learned. Number one, we learned of the
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source of salvation, the source of salvation.
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God initiated it #2 we learned the seriousness of salvation.
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God moved to save because He loves and wants you to
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experience eternal life, to live with Him.
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The opposite, of course, is eternal death or separation.
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It's very serious. Salvation is #3 we learn in John
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316 the object of salvation. God loves the world, the whole
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world, believer and unbeliever alike.
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Fourthly, we learned the demonstration of salvation.
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I I've shared with you many times before that God
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demonstrated his love, that He sent Jesus who hung on the
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cross. We learn not in Romans.
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What we also learn in John 316, the demonstration of God's love
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is that it moved him to send Jesus, to send the eternal Son.
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Not only that, number 5 is the offer of salvation and God love
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goes to all so that all can be saved.
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Unfortunately, salvation is available to all, but not all
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receive it. And so the word goes out and the
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offers to everyone and then the requirement, the requirement of
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salvation is salvation is given and available, but it must be
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received. It must be received.
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So source, seriousness, object, demonstration, offer and
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requirement. You see, God has given you a
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gift. And when you think of salvation,
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you need to think of it in terms of a gift.
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And it's important to realize with gifts you have, there's
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nothing you can do. There's nothing you can do.
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The person giving it to you is giving it to you out of love and
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care for you. And there's nothing you could
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do. They already gave it to you.
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It's already yours. So just receive it and enjoy it
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#2 We learn in Ephesians chapter 2 here he says that by grace
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you've been saved through faith, not of yourself.
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It's the gift of God. We also learned, secondly, that
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salvation is enjoyed by faith. Salvation is enjoyed by faith.
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We learn in Galatians chapter 3, verse 11 that no one is
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justified by the law in the sight of God, for the just shall
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live by faith. This is the verse that
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revolutionized the church at the time and started the Protestant
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Revolution. The Protestant Reformation began
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with this truth in the Bible. Martin Luther was reading the
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Bible and was struck by all of his works and all of his energy
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and all of his efforts and all of his condemnation.
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He would heap on himself because he'd never be enough and never
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do enough. And he came to this verse and
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it's like it's faith, it's believing.
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Well, Paul also says it in Ephesians 2.
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You're saved by grace through faith.
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There's no need to strive to please God or struggle to keep
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the law or work to gain the blessings and acceptance of God.
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There is no need to live in shame and condemnation because
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you don't measure up to some external code or because of the
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cycle of sin that many people get themselves in.
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They sin, then they feel bad, then they repent, and then they
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beat themselves up for a while, then they're weakened in that
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state. They get back to the same
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temptation, they sin again, and it's just a some people live
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their whole life like that. That's not God's will for your
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life. God's will for your life is to
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live by faith and to enjoy Him and to believe Him.
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It's not faith isn't just how you enter as a believer, how
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you're born again. It starts with faith.
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It continues with faith, and you're going to end in the
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presence of Jesus. How?
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By faith, believing God, simply believing God.
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It's very important that you believe God at His word.
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Someone once said that grace has a language and the very first
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sentence in that language is believe and then live, believe
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and then live. I like that.
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Just trust God. Same brother I'm talking to.
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He and I share a similar traits where we have a tendency to
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overthink things get in our heads.
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And we were talking a little bit about that.
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And it's very easy for some of you that live that way, you
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understand. For others, just have patience
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with us, OK? Because we have a tendency to
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overthink things. Instead of just reading the
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Bible and believing it, just believe it.
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Yeah. But you know, Pastor, it says
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over here and it says over here, and I experienced over here and
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I grew up. OK, OK, OK, OK.
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OK. Let's just set all that aside.
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I'm not saying it's not real relevant.
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I'm just saying, do you believe this?
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Do you believe this? One of the topics that came up
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was the, the, the emphasis of sovereignty of God in the free
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will of man. And I'm like, well, here's how I
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reconcile it in my own life. If the Bible emphasizes the
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sovereignty of God, that's what I'm going to emphasize right
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there. And if I'm reading on it, it
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looks like there's an emphasis upon man's free will.
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That's what I'm going to emphasize.
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And then of those of you that overthink, always go, but wait a
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minute, how do you reconcile them?
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Well, so far in all my reading in the Bible, in 30 something
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years, the Bible never tells me that I have to reconcile.
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So I don't need to worry about it.
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I just like to trust the sovereignty of God.
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And I also know I have a responsibility and I just let
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the Holy Spirit do what he wants to do in my life.
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And it's simple, like like children, it's almost like God's
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calling you back to a simple faith.
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Just believe the Bible, just believe what it says, believe
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the promises, hold on to them. Come back to know that your life
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in Christ has so much more joy if you just believe God and not
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try to explain it away, not try to be too smart for God.
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Just let Him lead you by faith, because what you believe will
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dictate your behaviors and your behaviors will always follow
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faith. You don't have anything to earn.
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Remember that. It's a gift of God.
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You've been saved by grace. God's unmerited favor.
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We didn't deserve it. And how do we enjoy it?
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By placing our faith in Christ, not just for the moment you're
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born again, but your whole life just trusting God.
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Don't know what's going on. I trust you, Lord.
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Don't understand what's happening.
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I trust you, Lord, all the why questions.
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I trust you, Lord, all the philosophical theories in the
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world today. I trust you God.
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And he'll lead you day by day and you'll see and grow.
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But you don't have faith. You'll begin to be lean on
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yourself. You'll begin to beat up
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yourself, have your eyes on yourself.
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And this is a true salvation will lead you to a life of
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faith. It's very, very good #3 #3 Not
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only is salvation a gift of grace, and not only is it to be
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enjoyed by faith, but thirdly, salvation gives you the hope of
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heaven. And I guess you could say it
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also gives you an eternal perspective in a temporary life.
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Salvation gives you an eternal perspective in a temporary life.
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You know by now that you are just a Pilgrim passing through.
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We have a very short life, and the life that we live is very
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short, especially when compared to eternity.
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Not even a drop in the bucket of what God has in store for us.
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Salvation places a great emphasis upon what God wants to
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do in eternity, and one of them is heaven.
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As a believer, salvation reminds us that we're headed to heaven,
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and that perspective helps. And in speaking about heaven
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today, let's just remind mind ourselves.
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No one in is going to go to heaven because they're good.
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No one is going to heaven because they're good.
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No one will be in heaven because of their good works.
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And you say, pastor, why? Because salvation is by grace
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through faith, not of yourselves.
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It is a gift of God, not of works.
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Heaven will be filled not with good people, but with bad
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people. Did you know that heaven is
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filled with bad people? What do you mean, Pastor?
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I thought hell was filled with bad people there too.
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The difference with heaven is, is that God has taken those bad
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people who recognize that they have sinned before a holy and a
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righteous God, and He has honored that faith that they
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have placed in Jesus Christ and his Our sins have been forgiven
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by the blood of Jesus Christ. So the only good in heaven will
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be those that were bad, that God changed to good by the
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righteousness of Jesus. That's heaven and we need to
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remember, you see, there's a lot of we live in a culture that
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really values morality and really values good deeds.
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And I think in a general sense, we all do.
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I love morality and I love good deeds and I think the world
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could use a lot more good and a lot more good deeds for sure.
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But when it comes to your spiritual life, the good that is
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required for heaven is perfection.
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And only Jesus fulfills perfection.
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None of us can be good enough. You, you there, there is, there
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is no way we can be perfect because although some of you are
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better than others in the sense that you have more good deeds or
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you've done less bad things, you know, compared to me, there's
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many people better than me. You've done far less bad things.
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I did, I sin so much, like so rebellious before I was 23.
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That covers a lot of people's lifetimes in my life, a lot of
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lifetime of sin, and God rescued me from it and changed the
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course and direction of my life. But see, it's not even the
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comparison we have to remember. We're not going to compare
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because it doesn't matter. One thing we all share, one
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thing we all share, no matter how good or how bad we were, one
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thing we all share, and it's this.
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We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
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If we went back to the Garden of Eden, we all rebelled and turned
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our backs on God. And you go wait a minute, Ed, I
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wasn't there. No, no, no.
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You were there through Adam and Eve.
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They are our great, great, great, great, great, great,
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great, great, great, great, great, great.
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You can fill it in and figure it out.
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Grandma and Grandpa in our lives and as they turn their back on
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God, they send against a holy and righteous God.
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I mean that everything you know, you beat yourself up because you
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follow the temptation. But imagine Adam and Eve, they
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had everything perfect, hanging out with God, enjoying
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everything without being in any way touched or tainted by sin.
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We don't even know what that's like.
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We have no idea what that's like.
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That's future for us. But they lived it and they
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turned their back on God and what happened?
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They ran away. They began to cover themselves.
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They have a knowledge of their sin and and turning your back on
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God. However, it is the story for
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you. It's like if, if we were to read
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and and be in the garden at that time where Adam and Eve are
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running away from God, what is God doing running after them?
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It's like we got it included the Garden of Eden for us.
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So we would know that God says to Adam, I still love you, I
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still want to restore you. I want a relationship with you.
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I want to forgive you and restore you.
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The very nature of God is gracious and forgiving.
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And so for us, we can change our minds and we can choose to
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return to the Lord, and we can choose to believe God and trust
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Him. We can choose to lean our entire
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lives and legacies upon the mighty strength of God because
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of what He has done for us. He's proven Himself faithful.
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There is nothing God needs to do to prove Himself to us.
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I mean, from the very beginning of the Bible, the very beginning
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of the Bible, we see the grace of God.
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The 1st 4 words of the Bible are some of the most gracious words
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that have ever been written, if not the most.
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And it's these, you know them. In the beginning, God, in the
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beginning, God, you go. Where do you see the grace in
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that pastor? You see, God did not have to
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reveal himself to us. He did not have to pursue us, He
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did not have to to reveal to us Himself, and His character and
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nature didn't need to show. As you see from those 4 words
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come the rest of the Bible where we learn about God and His
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dealings with man. You know by now too that the
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Bible isn't about you. Did you know that the Bible is
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not about you? Even though you're a major
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player in the Bible, It's not about you.
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The Bible is about God, and God reveals Himself on every page,
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His dealings with men. And we, we have a tendency to
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look at the failures of men and we look at all the I mean, look
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at this guy and look at this guy and look at this guy and look at
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this guy. Yeah, look at this guy and then
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see him in light of how God treated him and what God did for
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him. Isn't that your story?
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That's my story. And I don't want to be too
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caught up with me because the my story is intended to point
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people to Christ. It wasn't anything in you that
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God saw all of a sudden, like, oh, you're the one I need to
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save. You're the best 1, you know,
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easy to get into that place. You're the best one.
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No, no, no. We learn in First Corinthians
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chapter one that God chose the foolish things of the world.
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That's not for someone else. You better have your name
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written down there. I'm the foolish one.
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You're the foolish one. You're the one that God wants to
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show the world his grace and his mercy.
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You're the one that he wants to reveal himself so the people see
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your life ago, man, that's amazing.
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Why and what? And you begin to answer the
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questions with who God is. You see, when it comes to
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salvation, salvation gives you an eternal perspective, reminds
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you there's something more than this world, the hope of heaven.
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And I was listening to a Bible study not too long ago, and the
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brother had shared this, and it's so good.
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He talked about surveys that were given and he was sharing
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how in a recent survey, the the answers that came back, the
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question was this, you know, anytime there's an economic
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downturn, anytime there's wars and rumors of wars, there's
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always those that will step in and go, well, what do you really
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want from life? What do you really?
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And they're probably expecting, I want the economy to recover
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and I want politics in this. And I'm sure those are the
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answers. But the top 3 answers of this
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survey might shock you. They may not shock you.
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So they took a group of people and said, what do you really
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want in life? What do you really want?
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What's your desire #1 The answer was I want love, I want to love
23:21
others and I want to experience love.
23:24
Number 2 they said I want peace, I want Peace of Mind, I want
23:29
peace in my family, I want peace in the world, I want peace.
23:33
The third answer, I want to be happy, I want joy, I just want
23:38
to be happy. I want to laugh.
23:40
I don't want to worry. I want to live a simple life,
23:43
kind of like when I was a kid and it reminded me like, yeah,
23:46
like we just, like, for some of us, we just blew our time as a
23:49
kid because kids got it made. They just got it made.
23:53
Your kids haven't made you do everything for them.
23:55
They don't understand it yet, but one day they will.
23:58
And I just blew through my kids years, you know, kind of
24:01
rebellious and getting in trouble all the time.
24:03
But, you know, I, I'd like to be a kid again.
24:05
When I was a kid, I didn't worry about paying the rent, I didn't
24:08
worry about food on the table, I didn't worry about anything.
24:11
My parents worried about those things.
24:13
I play baseball and broke windows and whatever else.
24:16
I did all kinds of stuff, but I didn't worry.
24:18
And they said I just want joy. I just want to be like a kid
24:20
again. Interesting, isn't it?
24:23
Love, peace, joy. You know what they are?
24:26
Those are the first three Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians.
24:31
When you come to Jesus Christ and receive the gift of
24:34
salvation, everything your heart's ever desired is yours.
24:37
Already by faith, you begin to experience the love of God.
24:41
You begin to have a peace not only with God, but of God.
24:45
Not only is the war over with God, but now you can start.
24:48
The world can go upside down and sideways, but you trust the
24:52
Lord. You trust the Lord.
24:54
You know, the ending and joy and happiness.
24:57
Yeah. We get both of them.
24:59
Even though it's hard, even though it's challenging, it's
25:01
not like you're delivered from all this stuff in a tumultuous
25:04
world. I mean, look at what Jesus would
25:06
tell us, because we learned this about Jesus.
25:08
Jesus has always taught us to follow him, to keep things
25:12
simple and uncomplicated. He would walk you through.
25:15
And if you're all complicated and you're not trusting the Lord
25:17
and you're wearing it right now, if you were walking with Jesus,
25:20
he would stop you. He'd go.
25:21
You see that bird? I see that bird.
25:23
Well, I just pay attention to the birds because they don't
25:26
worry about anything. They have everything provided
25:29
for them. And then you're like, yeah,
25:30
yeah, yeah, I'm not a bird. And then what does Jesus do?
25:33
I'm, I don't know the timing of everything, but I bet you Jesus,
25:36
I'm sure he was a master at timing.
25:39
So he's leading you along, leading along.
25:41
You see the birds and then you're wrestling because you're
25:43
not a bird. And he says something like, hey,
25:46
aren't you greater than the birds?
25:48
Like, yeah, I am. I am greater than the birds.
25:51
Then what are you worried about? He's just man.
25:55
That's simplicity. Salvation gives you an eternal
25:59
perspective. It reminds you and you're just
26:02
following along. Jesus.
26:03
He doesn't promise an easy life. He says follow me.
26:06
It's going to be hard. John 1633.
26:08
It's going to be hard in this world.
26:10
You have tribulation. They're going to kill me for my
26:12
life of, of joy and happiness and and love and peace.
26:17
They're going to kill me. And if they hated me, they're
26:19
going to hate you. He doesn't whitewash it.
26:22
He doesn't sugarcoat it, but he says, but I'll be with you and
26:25
we'll get through this and your life will have meaning and it
26:28
will have purpose. It will have eternal benefits
26:31
for you and for others. Salvation's very important.
26:35
It is not of works. All that we enjoy come from Him.
26:41
Another verse to write next to if you have a pen out in your
26:44
Bible, you should write this down for anyone that ever comes
26:47
to you and lay some trip on you that you have you're not doing
26:50
enough and you're you know, you got to earn your salvation and
26:53
you know what have you done? You know, a big popular one in
26:56
the evangelical world is, is have you been baptized and how
26:59
have you been baptized? So somebody comes alongside of
27:02
it. Have you been baptized?
27:03
You know, I just received the Lord.
27:05
The church hasn't said anything about baptism yet.
27:07
Oh, you're not saved. What church do you go to?
27:09
Well, that one over there, you know, and we've I've had this, I
27:11
haven't heard it too often lately, but he's like, oh, you
27:13
go to Calvary. Oh, they're messed up there,
27:16
man. I mean, sometimes you'll drive
27:19
out of the service here. And then we got a buddy right
27:21
here that's on the corner that screams at you and yells at you.
27:24
He's got signs. You guys are horrible here, man.
27:27
Like don't even pay attention to him.
27:29
Don't even we've tried already. Donuts, water, soda, gift cards.
27:34
He doesn't care. He doesn't care.
27:37
He just wants to disrupt your life and disrupt your faith
27:40
moments after your worship. There's a lot of people like
27:43
that. They may not park at the corner
27:45
with a bullhorn, but there's a lot of people like that.
27:48
And when someone comes to you and you know how you feel,
27:51
sometimes I don't know the Bible.
27:53
I haven't read it. I don't know much about the
27:56
Bible. It comes with time.
27:57
So do read your Bible every day. Be faithful with it.
28:00
It'll come with time. But when somebody comes and
28:02
tries to lay a heavy trip on you about works, you go to Ephesians
28:06
chapter 2 verses 8 and 9:00 and 10:00.
28:09
And then you also go and you could just write it down.
28:12
Titus chapter 3 verses 4 through 7 Titus, there's many, many
28:17
verses, but these two settle it. There is no answer.
28:21
I I don't know anybody that could ever they try because they
28:25
they're arguers and God gives you permission, you know, to
28:28
walk away from arguers. Did you know that you don't have
28:31
to engage him? You don't have to feel all
28:34
pressured, You can just walk away and say I'm done.
28:37
The Bible says to avoid foolish and ignorant disputes that lead
28:40
to nothing. Bible says that you don't have
28:43
to argue about stuff. And this one, like Ephesians, is
28:46
crystal clear. Not of works, not by works.
28:50
But Titus is also clear where Paul's writing to the pastor and
28:54
he says in verse 4. But when the kindness and love
28:57
and God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of
29:01
righteousness, which we have done, but according to his
29:05
mercy, He saved us through the washing and regeneration and
29:09
renewing of the Holy Spirit. He poured out on us abundantly
29:13
through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by
29:18
His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of
29:21
eternal life. We enjoy salvation by faith, but
29:25
even faith is not a work because the Bible says, as we'll learn
29:29
next time, that all of us by God have been given a measure of
29:32
faith. So you can't even take credit
29:34
for the faith. You can't take credit for
29:36
anything. Which leads us to #4 as we wind
29:39
down now, a gift of grace, salvation enjoyed by faith,
29:44
salvation and eternal perspective, hope of heaven.
29:48
Salvation #4 salvation means a salvation by grace means there
29:54
is no boasting, no bragging. It says right here that we're
29:59
saved by grace at the end of verse 9, lest anyone should
30:03
boast. We have nothing of which to
30:06
boast in our salvation. It is all God again taking us
30:11
back to heaven. Do you know that in heaven there
30:13
will be no boasting and no bragging?
30:16
Nobody's going to be walking around.
30:18
Look what I did. Look what I did, look what I
30:20
did. Nobody's going to be doing that.
30:22
All that we'll have in heaven is enjoying the blessing.
30:25
What we'll we'll be able to enjoy it in its purest form.
30:29
This truth, James chapter one, verse 17.
30:32
Every good gift and perfect gift comes from above, from the
30:36
Father of lights. When we're in heaven, we're not
30:38
going to be walking around like, hey, do you know what I did last
30:41
week? I shared the gospel with
30:42
someone. Yeah, that's great.
30:44
That's wonderful. But nothing to brag about.
30:46
The Lord LED you to do that. He you love them because God
30:49
loved you. Or I think of what's happening
30:51
today. Nobody's going to be walking
30:52
around heaven boasting about how many followers they have on
30:55
TikTok, You know? You know, I got my million
30:58
followers, dude. Jesus has five billion billion
31:01
billion followers. What are you talking about?
31:03
Your 1,000,000 followers on TikTok or whatever, Nobody's
31:06
going to have a platform in heaven.
31:08
Nobody's going to be comparing themselves in heaven.
31:10
I mean, you can even think in a practical way like, you know,
31:13
Billy Graham. Billy Graham's not going to be
31:15
walking around like a big shot in heaven.
31:16
You know that even though probably used more than any of
31:19
us combined, doesn't matter in heaven because that was God's
31:22
will for him. He just needed to be faithful,
31:25
that's all. God's going to measure.
31:26
And well done, good and faithful servant.
31:29
You know, they interviewed Billy Graham toward the end of his
31:31
life and they asked him, you know, what do you, what are you
31:33
expecting in heaven? And he said something like, I
31:35
just hope to hear. He didn't say, I expect to hear.
31:38
He didn't say, I'm looking forward.
31:39
He says, I just hope to hear those words.
31:41
Well done, good and faithful servant to the very end.
31:44
Nobody's going to be bragging. Chuck Swindoll is not going to
31:46
be up there. You know how many radio stations
31:48
my program was on? He does.
31:49
He doesn't do that now. He's not going to do that in
31:51
heaven because it's not going to matter in heaven.
31:54
When you think of heaven, there's no boasting and
31:55
bragging. And if there's no boasting and
31:57
bragging in the future experience of the Kingdom of
32:00
God, then there isn't any boasting and bragging in this
32:03
experience of the Kingdom of God.
32:05
There's just no room for it. It's all God.
32:09
We're going to be in heaven because of what God has done,
32:12
not what we have done. I mean, there's going to be a
32:14
lot of surprises in heaven. You know, surprise number one is
32:16
you're there. Whoa, I made it.
32:20
I made it, yes. Everything was true.
32:23
I wasn't sure for a minute there, but I believed and I made
32:26
it. And then you're going to look
32:27
around and you're going to see other people.
32:29
You made it. You made it.
32:34
And then one of the other surprises I want to prepare you
32:36
for is you're not going to hear any boasting, any comparison
32:39
like we do now, which we should repent of now because nobody's
32:44
better than anyone else in the Kingdom of God.
32:47
Nobody having a good week, great.
32:49
Having a bad week, great. Having an in between week,
32:51
great. It's all the Lord.
32:53
It's all him. We take credit for nothing.
32:57
We take credit for nothing, which can help us with the
33:00
insecurities we might carry when we're comparing ourselves.
33:02
Well, he has that and he has that.
33:04
Like nobody's going to be in heaven and just bought, just
33:07
bought a new car. Like you don't need a car in
33:09
heaven, bro. We all got wings or whatever.
33:11
I don't know. It's going to be like, I'm not
33:13
saying I don't know how it's all going to go down, but nobody,
33:15
you know, you just take great joy in some of the things in
33:17
life which we certainly can appreciate and enjoy, according
33:20
to James. But to compare ourselves or to
33:23
put people down, you know, you drive a really fancy car and
33:27
that's great. And someone else drives a non
33:28
fancy car that's also great. It's OK.
33:32
Maybe you don't even drive a car.
33:34
You take the train or the bus, that's OK.
33:37
We don't need to compare and look up or look down on people
33:40
that salvation by grace evens the playing field for us.
33:44
I mean, imagine for a moment if there was bragging in heaven.
33:48
That would make heaven hell. I mean, that would be hellish to
33:54
still be walking away with all of these divisions, ethnic,
33:58
racial, financial, spiritual, denominational, all of the
34:03
things that make things so hard here will not be in heaven.
34:08
And God says like saying too, it shouldn't be so much here among
34:11
us. We've been redeemed and changed
34:13
by the blood of Christ. Why is that still among us?
34:17
Why are we not walking in love? Why are we not walking in joy?
34:20
And to me, this is one of those places where if this is you,
34:24
it's important that you just repent and come back to the Lord
34:29
as a child and trust him. It's not going to be the type of
34:34
thought like everything that we've done here.
34:36
It's just going to be so small. And even what rewards or
34:38
anything that we have, which is a whole other Bible study, the
34:41
crown, we're just going to be at the feet of Jesus casting our
34:44
crowns and appreciating Him probably more than we do here at
34:47
times, being caught up in things that really don't matter.
34:52
Do you know church, those of you guys listening online, listening
34:56
on the radio right now, God is looking for the smallest thing
35:01
to forgive you. He's looking for the smallest
35:04
turn to him to restore you. He's looking for it.
35:07
You don't have to reclean your whole life and try to figure out
35:10
every all very mistake you ever made.
35:12
God is looking for the slightest movement toward him.
35:16
Even with Adam and Eve, He's going to pursue you and keep
35:19
calling your name so that you'll respond.
35:21
The smallest response the smallest like a Bible study like
35:25
this or singing a song or or thinking about tuning in.
35:28
Maybe you didn't so beat up right now.
35:30
You don't want to come to church, but you tuned in and and
35:33
you're just God's looking for the slightest movement toward
35:36
him and he'll meet you there. He'll meet you there to bring
35:39
you to a place of understanding his grace.
35:43
The Lord will take your movement toward him.
35:45
He he will use it. Even the most little bit of
35:48
trust, the mustard seed of faith, he'll take if you just
35:50
give it to him, just the slightest belief that you could
35:53
have and you just respond, you know, God, I'm going to trust
35:56
you. I'm going to put my faith in you
35:58
on this situation. I'm I'm going to look to you
36:00
over here. I'm going to trust you.
36:02
I'm going to give this to you. I'm going to look to you.
36:04
And you know, every time you trust in the Lord, just like you
36:07
trust in him to forgive you. Every time you trust in the
36:09
Lord, he meets you there and you enjoy it.
36:13
You see, salvation by grace through faith just reminds us of
36:16
the importance of following God. It it, it is not what we have
36:21
done. It is not like like a sister
36:24
after service today talked about boasting and bragging and and
36:27
one of the points she made, which is really good is if
36:29
you're going to boast and brag, then boast and brag on God.
36:32
Make him the hero. You're not the hero of the
36:34
story. You're not the hero of the
36:35
Bible, Jesus, you know how you always meet people that are
36:39
talking, even pastors, I hear, I hear him teaching and stuff and
36:42
I'm like, Yep, here he is. He's the hero.
36:43
Again, He's not the hero. Jesus is the hero.
36:47
Like looking at like, and that's not a statement towards your
36:50
character or your value. You know, because we might use
36:52
because the world does that, you know, hero and 0.
36:54
You know, you're not a hero, you're a 0, but that's not your
36:57
value. That's just the reality of who
36:59
you are because of sin. Your value is far greater than 0
37:04
because of the blood of Jesus. That's how much you're loved
37:07
like you're valued and important.
37:09
Even though we have many failures in our lives.
37:12
That's why we come back to if God made salvation by works, we
37:16
none of us would make it. None of us would make it.
37:19
We, we, we aren't perfect. Can I get an Amen?
37:23
Anybody realize like you're looking at me going Yep, Ed,
37:26
I've seen it in you. You're not perfect.
37:27
You're like, no, I, I mean, if you would just live in that
37:32
simple, just to acknowledge your failures and your weakness and
37:36
bring them to the Lord really quickly, it'll keep you in a
37:38
place of humility. Because, you know, pride is
37:41
twofold. Pride is twofold.
37:43
It's very dangerous. Pride is often viewed as
37:46
thinking too highly of ourselves, and that's a very
37:49
common manifestation of pride. We just think too much of
37:52
ourselves, too important. We're too good comparing
37:54
ourselves. I could do a better I yes.
37:57
But you know, there's another manifestation of pride that is
37:59
equally dangerous, and that is thinking too lowly of ourselves.
38:04
Oh, woe is me. I'll never do it.
38:06
I'll never get better. I'll never.
38:09
And when you say that you are diminishing the grace of God in
38:13
your life, when you say you're too good, that's an obvious
38:16
diminishing of the grace of God. But when you say, oh, I'm no
38:19
good, I'll never be, you're also doing the same thing on the
38:22
other side of the scale. And God just says this, just
38:26
come to me, just come to me, believe me, live in my live in
38:32
that, that area of grace for your life.
38:35
And we'll look at a little bit more next time.
38:38
But when you get to heaven, all the bragging, all the boasting,
38:42
all the celebrations will surround Jesus.
38:45
The 1st celebration is I made it.
38:49
It's true, I was believing by faith, but now, finally, my
38:55
faith will be made sight new bodies, new eternity of eternity
39:02
to enjoy everything we're studying now and then the
39:05
rewards. And on top of all that, God will
39:07
reward us for something that he did through US.
39:10
And you know what we'll do with all those rewards?
39:12
We'll just cast them at the feet of Jesus.
39:15
Nobody's going to have like crowns stacked on their head
39:17
walking around. Look at me, I've got 10.
39:21
Stop it knocking them all down. None of that stuff.
39:26
If you can just use your holy imagination for just a moment,
39:29
none of that stuff that we experience now is going to be in
39:32
heaven. So if you can latch on to that,
39:35
then you can take the next step and go.
39:36
You know what? I don't need to wait for heaven
39:39
to dwell in the grace of God. I can be loving and caring.
39:43
I can serve others. I cannot worry about what people
39:46
think about me. I hate if you have a big
39:48
following on social media, whatever, great, use it for the
39:50
glory of God. Don't brag about it.
39:53
Don't make it a big deal. Like seriously, social media not
39:55
going to be anything. I was going to say not going to
39:57
be any big thing. It's not going to be anything in
40:00
heaven. Nothing.
40:01
You're not going to want to waste your time in heaven
40:04
because you're going to have the Lord.
40:06
You're going to live your life. You're going to enjoy whatever
40:08
it's like. You're going to enjoy all that
40:11
God has. Amen.
40:13
Lord, thank you for these reminders and simple, simple,
40:16
simple, but yet complicated at times because we we really don't
40:20
live it out. We do compare ourselves.
40:22
We do get caught up in pride. We do, Lord, think too lowly
40:26
sometimes or too highly of ourselves.
40:29
We think that we've done something or that we've earned
40:32
it. And so forgive us.
40:35
I'm sure there's some real movement of your spirit of
40:37
forgiveness right now and so and repentance.
40:41
So I just pray that over your church, over your precious
40:44
people whom you redeemed. It is truly a work of your Holy
40:50
Spirit among us. Truly you delivered us.
40:54
You were on our side. You were for us even when we
40:57
weren't for ourselves. And now there's a newness of
41:02
life working things out, comforting and healing and
41:05
changing. And so I just pray for those
41:08
that are listening right now, God, that have they just sense
41:11
they need to make their lives right with God, with you, Lord,
41:15
and they're just thinking, what do I do?
41:17
How do I do it? How do I receive that salvation?
41:22
How do I live with forgiveness? And if that's your question
41:27
today is the church is praying, I just want to invite you.
41:29
The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth the Lord
41:32
Jesus and you believe in your heart that God raised him from
41:35
the dead, you will be saved. So that confession is so
41:39
important that you tell God and ask God for your for his
41:43
forgiveness. So before we leave, I want to
41:46
give you a chance in this high and holy moment that if you're
41:49
here and you would like to receive the forgiveness of your
41:52
sins through the blood of Jesus Christ, would you just please
41:55
stand to your feet? And this is for those of you
41:57
that are I've never, never done this before.
42:01
It's not like a rededication, although you can do that.
42:03
You can rededicate in your heart, but those of you that
42:05
just need to make to, to get your life right with God and
42:10
experience salvation by grace through faith, God bless you
42:14
right here. Who else would say that's me,
42:17
that today is the day. God bless you over here, right
42:19
here up front. This is the movement.
42:21
The very next thing you're going to experience is somebody's
42:23
going to stand next to you because how we follow up, you're
42:27
not alone. You got a brother or sister
42:29
already with you. God bless you back here and I'm
42:33
sorry if I don't see you. God sees you, you guys online,
42:35
obviously I don't see you or on the radio.
42:37
I don't see you right here. The sister.
42:39
Yep. So it's great work of the Holy
42:43
Spirit. God wants to draw you to
42:45
himself. This is the moment, the
42:48
appointment, the time anyone else before we pray.
42:53
We're patient for you, waiting on you.
42:56
God bless you, man. Right up here.
42:59
Thank you brother. Today is the day, this is the
43:02
time. This is where God is revealing
43:05
to you how much he loves you. You don't have to clean your
43:08
life up. You just need to come.
43:11
You just need to surrender. That's the biggest word.
43:14
I, I think it's so important for you to realize, especially as
43:17
you get older, it's just surrender.
43:19
God bless you back here. Thank you Randy.
43:24
And so those of you that responded near and far, just
43:26
pray with me. Even downstairs you could say,
43:28
God, I ask you to forgive me of my sins.
43:33
I believe Jesus died for me on the cross, shed his blood for my
43:42
forgiveness, rose again from the dead to prove His love for me,
43:49
and I choose to follow Him from this day forward.
43:54
Help me to turn away from my sins and to follow you and to
43:59
trust you and to stay close to you.
44:04
And Father, I know anyone anywhere that would turn to you.
44:07
Your word says you won't cast them away.
44:09
And so I pray today this turning to you is real and genuine.
44:13
Not just emotional, but a true manifestation of your convicting
44:18
work of the Spirit, drawing people to yourself and then a
44:21
response, a response of faith in a millisecond of time.
44:26
Pour your Spirit on their families, on their singleness,
44:30
on the generations that their lives will affect until you
44:33
return. In Jesus name, Amen.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study,
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delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
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For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
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To listen to this message in its integrity or to join us for our
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live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
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or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.