[0:00] Well, greetings to everyone this morning in the name of Jesus. It's been good to be here so far. I'm blessed to be here this morning and encouraged and inspired already.
[0:14] And I had to think of, you know, if I had anything to share during the worship service, it would have probably been something about the need for courage.
[0:31] And that's what Daniel had. He had courage. And in this year, this new year, maybe that's something to inspire our hearts by, is to have courage and to press into those mountains and maybe go deeper with God and what God has for us.
[0:54] This year than what we've ever had before. A deeper walk with God, a deeper relationship with Him. And that takes courage. It takes trust.
[1:05] It takes a surrender. But I want to encourage us with that thought. So today I'd like to share a message on a subject that I've been thinking about for a while.
[1:20] And many years ago I heard a message on this subject. And I had determined in my heart to live it and to, you know, to really put it to practice.
[1:32] And as I look at this, I realize the many failures, the many times that I didn't walk this way.
[1:44] And the subject is the spirit of law or the spirit of grace. There's a big difference in those two.
[1:57] And I'd like to look at what the law is, what the law was for, God's law to the Israelites, and the purpose of the law. But, you know, there are those who live by the principle of law, and there are those who live by the principle of grace.
[2:15] The one is ministry of condemnation. The other is ministry of reconciliation. There are effects in the principles of law, and there are effects in the principles of grace.
[2:34] You know, it will affect how we think about ourselves. It'll affect how we think about others. It'll affect how we live in our society and the world around us.
[2:50] It'll affect how we live with our family, our brothers and sisters, our husbands, wives. And if you live under the principle of law, you will need to perform, which will make you a failure.
[3:07] And, you know, when we feel like a failure, we act like a failure, right? When we feel like we're failure anyway, we live like we're a failure.
[3:22] It's, I remember the illustration one time of a man that is a mechanic, and he comes into his shop with his dirty bib overalls, and he's ready to get to work, and he doesn't even think about the grease.
[3:40] But if he stopped in on a Sunday morning, and he's all dressed up in nice, clean clothes, he doesn't want to get dirty, does he? Why? Because he's clean. He's clean.
[3:51] He doesn't feel like a mechanic that day. And so, sometimes we live by how we feel. Anyway, that's a side note. But on the one, if you live by the spirit of the law, if that is carried all the way to its end, you will become a Pharisee.
[4:14] The other one, and by the way, the Pharisees, what were they? They were afraid of God. They tried to please God outwardly. But inside, they were filthy.
[4:28] And there was nothing clean about them. The other, if you live in the spirit of grace, and if that is how we operate, that's how we think, that's how we live, if you take that all the way to the end, what do you become like?
[4:48] You become like Jesus. You will paint. It will produce a beautiful picture, an image. The Bible calls it in the image of Christ.
[5:02] Because grace came by Jesus. Grace and truth came by Jesus. We want to look at that verse here soon. So where did the law come from?
[5:15] And what was the purpose of the law? We know, according to Scripture, that the law came by Moses. And I'm going to just turn, if you want to turn your Bibles to Exodus chapter 20, we're not going to spend a lot of time.
[5:29] If I would read the whole law, I'd have to read about 613 laws, and by that time, it'll be time to close the message. But that's what I found was, I mean, I didn't count the laws, but that's what I found, is that there's about 613 laws that were given.
[5:50] First it was the Ten Commandments, and then it was the rest of the law. But in Exodus chapter 20, starting in verse 18.
[6:08] And I just want to read a few verses here to show how this was. In Exodus 20, verse 18, And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking.
[6:25] And when the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou to us, and we will hear.
[6:36] But let not God speak with us, lest we die. There was great fear when the law came. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not, for God has come to prove you, or test you, and that his fear may be before your faces that you sin not.
[6:58] This is why the law was given. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.
[7:16] And you know, I'm going to stop there, but in the next several chapters is all the law that was given. You should read it. It's very interesting, some of those things.
[7:28] I've not done that much, but I have read it, and some of the things that stand out is amazing. There are many laws, and the law was harsh.
[7:40] The law today, to us, would seem very unjust. We would, we would too tremble and fear. In fact, I had to think of this.
[7:50] Some of the things I read, I would probably not be alive today if the law was fulfilled in my life, if the old Mosaic law. And some of us might have been stoned.
[8:04] Because of our sin, right? And, just for an example, just for example, in Exodus 21, verse 28, it says, this is just one of those things.
[8:21] An ox, if an ox gore a man, if you owned an ox, and that ox hurt somebody, or killed somebody, rather, then, then, you had to kill that ox.
[8:37] But if, but if, earlier on, that same ox, was, was, was, gorged somebody, or, or just hurt somebody, and you were informed of it, it says, it was testified to you, you were informed, as the owner, and you didn't pen him up, and he went out and killed somebody, that same ox, again, would have to be killed, but so would you, as the owner.
[9:10] Now, can you imagine with me, how that must have been like, in real life, to them, to the Israelites, to God's people? Can you imagine, if the ox got out one day, mama, or the children, would have said, hey daddy, the ox is out.
[9:29] And he might have been, a little mean. But see, they were under that law, and it was real to them, and it was, it was not about the ox, anymore. It was about, we could lose our dad.
[9:42] If that thing hurt somebody, if it hurt a neighbor's child, or a neighbor, or somebody. But that was the law. And that law, was given for a purpose. It was also to keep people in line.
[9:53] It was to, to, to have justice, and so on. But it was harsh. There was no grace in that law. It was, that is how it was.
[10:04] You were going to be stoned. And that's just one example, out of many, many examples, or many, many laws. So where does grace come in?
[10:15] And what is the purpose of grace? Let's turn to John, chapter 1. John chapter 1.
[10:27] We're just going to read, starting in verse 1. It says, In the beginning, was the Word. Very familiar scriptures. In the beginning, was the Word.
[10:39] And the Word, capital W, was with God, and the Word, was God. The same was in the beginning. All things were made by Him.
[10:50] And without Him, was not anything made, that was made. We know that this is talking about Christ. In Him, was life. And the life, was the light of men.
[11:04] Verse 5. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of that light, of the light, that all men through Him might believe.
[11:23] He was not that light, but He was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. And He that, and He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.
[11:38] He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
[12:01] And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
[12:13] John bare witness of Him, and cried, saying, This was He of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.
[12:24] In verse 16, And of His fullness have all we received, and grace to grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
[12:41] We'll stop reading there. Yes, grace and truth came by Jesus. And truth and grace are a package deal.
[12:56] You can't separate the two. I believe that Christ was so full of grace. He is the very essence of grace. And yet, He never veered away from truth.
[13:11] And the same way, Christ is so full of truth. In fact, Christ is truth, He said Himself. But He was never without grace. Are you thankful that we live in the day of grace?
[13:26] We're in a day of grace. And Jesus brought it to us. God Himself brought it down to us. Jesus never backed away from truth.
[13:42] And yet, He was full of grace. I love that thought. Can we be the same? Where we have, we are full of the grace of God in our life.
[13:53] We look at each other through grace. and yet, walk in truth. Now let's turn to 2 Corinthians for a few more verses there.
[14:10] 2 Corinthians chapter 3. And see what Paul says here.
[14:22] Also about grace. And such trust have we through Christ to Godward. Not that we were sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.
[14:36] who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.
[14:51] But if the ministration of death, written and engraved in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away.
[15:11] How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? Here, Paul is referring back to Moses and the law, just what we had read.
[15:21] And he's saying that that was a glorious thing. When God gave that law, it was a glorious thing. It made people tremble. They backed away from the mountain.
[15:33] They were scared. They were afraid of that glory. But Paul is saying if that was glorious, how much more is this Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of grace, how much more glorious is this?
[15:48] Verse 9, For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, talking of the law, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
[16:00] For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that exceleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, again the law, much more that it remaineth, that which remaineth is glorious.
[16:19] Speaking of grace. Verse 12, Seeing that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech, and not as Moses, which put a veil over his face that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which was abolished, but their minds were blinded.
[16:40] For until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ? But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon the heart.
[16:57] Did you get that? The veil is upon the heart in the law. Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
[17:09] Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. There is freedom. But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
[17:34] There is that word, the image, changed into His image by the Spirit of the Lord. So we see that grace and truth came by Jesus.
[17:46] The law came by Moses. Now we have established that. Now I want to talk to us. We know, we don't have a lot of problem with saying that, yeah, that was the law, and yeah, we don't care so much when the ox gets out, and we are not in that day.
[18:02] We are in a day of grace. Thankfully. But I believe that we as Christians can and tend to, at times, to fall back and operate out of the spirit of law rather than the spirit of grace.
[18:24] And we look at things through the eyes of law rather than the eyes of grace. grace. And then we also need to talk about what is grace.
[18:36] Some would believe that grace is just looking the other way. Grace just means that don't worry about anything. It's all going to be good in the end because God is grace.
[18:48] That's a false view of grace. That's not what we're talking about this morning. And you know, this living under the law and living under grace or the spirit operating in the spirit of law and the spirit of grace, I want to say one other thing just to clarify.
[19:11] You might be thinking that, oh, he's talking about somebody that's really conservative and somebody that's more liberal. And I'm not talking about that either because I believe that the most liberal person can be living and operating under the spirit of the law.
[19:30] Okay? We'll just leave it at that. But I have seen that. just because you don't have a bunch of rules in your life or maybe not, maybe that's the wrong expression of rules, but maybe your life is more chaotic or more just fly by the seat of your pants, you know, it's just whatever comes, comes, and you just don't really have any worries.
[19:55] That doesn't mean that you're free in grace. In fact, it could mean the opposite. You might be living under the spirit of the law. So it has nothing to do with what I had just said.
[20:09] I'm going to look at some practical differences between operating under the principles of law versus the principles of grace.
[20:20] These are principles. And to operate under the law, we read, brings death.
[20:30] The letter of the law killeth. Remember that verse? But the spirit gives life. So we're going to look at some things. I have ten points here that I would like to look at today and I'm sure there's more and there's, yeah.
[20:48] But we're just going to look at some of them. So, number one, the law, the principle of the law demands. Demands. That word is demands.
[20:59] Demands. There is no option. This is how it's going to be. It's my way or the highway, so to speak.
[21:12] The principle of the law, the spirit of the law is it demands. Grace, on the other hand, encourages. Grace comes alongside and it says you can do this.
[21:28] In fact, God will help you. I will walk with you. I'll be your brother. There's an answer to the problem you're facing.
[21:38] but the spirit of the law just demands. It doesn't have any answer to your problem.
[21:50] I mean, it might, but it's a demanding answer if you know what I'm saying. There's a big difference in the two. They both may want to accomplish the same end result, but the one brings death, the other one brings life into the situation.
[22:08] Number two, the law condemns and it brings bondage.
[22:20] It brings a heaviness, a heavy judgment when there's something wrong. It says you are a failure and you are worthless.
[22:33] And again, no answer to the problem. But grace brings conviction to the same issue, the same sin.
[22:43] Grace brings conviction through the Holy Spirit. That still, small voice that speaks to our heart. A gentle drawing of a loving Savior.
[22:57] Grace brings victory and wants to bring you liberty. glory. The power to do God's will, which brings glorious freedom.
[23:10] The power to do God's will. Isn't that what it's all about? It's about God in the first place. And so, it's not the power to do what I want.
[23:21] That's not grace. That's just more bondage. But if I can do what God wants me to do and He gives me that grace, hallelujah. Number three, the law says nothing is ever good enough.
[23:39] It always falls short. Even if something is better than before, it's still not good enough. There's always something wrong.
[23:50] we're talking about the principles of the spirit of law versus the principle of the spirit of grace.
[24:03] Nothing's ever good enough. But grace, on the other hand, accepts. It accepts people where they are and it gives them the strength to change.
[24:17] Grace will praise wherever it finds opportunity. Someone said that a child, our children, should have nine good healthy doses of praise to one dose of criticism or one dose of correction.
[24:37] My children are saying, what? I didn't know that. But yes, do we bless?
[24:48] do we encourage? Do we walk in grace? Praise goes a long way. It brings courage, actually. You can do this.
[24:59] You did a good job. Thank you for that. Just practical ways. And it will change your child's view of God. Because they see us, especially us as fathers, as parents.
[25:18] They see God through the eyes of a parent many times. Number four, the law, the spirit of the law curses.
[25:34] It is always critical and brings judgment. You know, that critical spirit, we call it. You're just always critical. You just criticize.
[25:44] It's never good enough. But grace blesses. Grace shows the way to victory, even during failure. Grace points to victory.
[25:56] There's a way out of this. Grace gives the benefit of a doubt.
[26:07] grace. And that's a big one. Don't we all, from time to time, just need the benefit of a doubt? Why are you judging me so quickly?
[26:20] You know, you don't really know my motives yet. And we just need a benefit of a doubt. That's what grace will do. In Corinthians 13, it says, speaking of love, it says, love thinketh no evil.
[26:39] It refuses to think evil. You know, when something happens, our brother or sister does something that you don't like. Maybe we need to think through the principle of grace.
[26:52] We would say, well, I'm sure they had a reason for that. You know, let's try that first before we just bring quick judgment and condemnation. Maybe there was a reason.
[27:04] Maybe there's a reason they were so late. You know, maybe the car didn't run, Joe. You weren't even late, really. But you know what? That's just an example. Number five.
[27:19] Oh, and the last line I had for number four was for grace. the benefit of a doubt. Isn't that what we all want? And shouldn't we treat others how we would want to be treated?
[27:32] That principle. That's grace. Number five. The law remembers. It exposes sin, then leaves you hanging there with no hope.
[27:46] Just remembers how bad you are. That's the spirit of the law. What does grace do? It comes alongside again and it encourages you to repent, to find Jesus, to find a better way.
[28:02] Trust him. Trust God. And it forgets the sins of others and it forgives. That's grace. You're starting to see the picture of who Christ is.
[28:16] These are all things Christ is to us. And this is how we should live if we're going to follow Christ. Christ. Number six. The law rejects.
[28:30] People feel rejection around the spirit of law and they want to run from it. They want to leave. They don't want to hang around that because they feel rejected and unloved.
[28:43] There's no compassion there. But grace has acceptance. It says, come and be forgiven. Come and be free. Our heavenly father can't wait to forgive.
[28:54] He can't wait to accept you and I. We have many of us, most of us, have experienced that. Where our heavenly father has accepted us.
[29:06] And remember how we felt the moment that happened. That we were accepted by our heavenly father. father. And he calls us his sons and daughters.
[29:20] Then who are we? Are we better than God? The moment that our hearts turn toward God, he accepted that.
[29:32] The moment we had just a little bit of faith, he was right there to accept that. And he cleans us up and he makes him holy like himself.
[29:45] He wants us to be holy. He wants us to be perfect like him. Number seven, the law excludes. It develops sex of people or cliques.
[29:59] And sometimes it separates people into being all alone. That's the spirit of law. It has to be my way. I had a man tell me recently here in town that there's no church in this place in this whole valley that's right.
[30:17] There's no church that's right. And he's a preacher. I said, well, who do you preach to? Just everybody on the street. He has no church, no place of worship.
[30:31] He just, but he's all alone. Nobody listens to me. Well, maybe you're the only one that's right. But the law, the spirit of the law will exclude other people.
[30:44] It has to be my way. No mercy, no grace for any other thought. Anybody else. Just exclusion. But grace is the opposite.
[30:56] It says free to all that will. Jesus said, whosoever will may come and drink freely. Every race, every background, we are all accepted in the beloved.
[31:17] Whosoever will may come and drink freely. Those are Jesus' words. Now, I know some of you are probably thinking, well, what about sin and what about disobedience to the word?
[31:36] And what about? But the grace I'm talking about takes care of that. That grace is the grace that will change us.
[31:48] It will bring us to a complete and full surrender to Christ where we will say, yes, Lord, to your will. And that grace will give us the power to live it.
[32:00] Amen. the spirit of grace versus the spirit of law.
[32:13] Now, here's another one, number eight. Law's highest goal, the spirit of the law, its highest goal is performance.
[32:26] You must measure up to my level of performance, my expectation. I said, this is how we're going to do things and you better obey.
[32:39] That's the spirit of law. If you don't obey this law, you are bad. This is what I expect from you, now do it or else.
[32:52] That's the spirit of law. But its highest goal is to see performance, to see you and I performing under it. Does that make sense?
[33:04] What does grace's highest goal look like? Grace, I believe its highest goal is a relationship. This too is Jesus.
[33:19] His top priority with us is a relationship, to have a sweet relationship that's pure and free, friends that can't be separated.
[33:31] grace cares about the heart and it brings hope to those that have no hope. What is our highest goal?
[33:52] love? Is it to have a good relationship?
[34:08] Is it to restore relationships that are broken? Or is it just performance? Those are questions we need to ask ourselves.
[34:20] number nine. The law, the spirit of law tends to the details. It sees every little thing. Some groups and individuals have so much law that they will tell you that your shoes need to be black.
[34:40] Sorry, mine are black. but it tells you even what kind of fabric it should be made of. It just goes on and on. Things that aren't even anywhere in the Bible and have no principle or value.
[34:55] But the spirit of law will always look at the details and see if the performance is right. And the spirit of the law will bring rebellion according to Romans 7.
[35:09] the spirit of the law in the end will produce a hard hearted Pharisee that is always negative and critical.
[35:21] I got ahead of myself a little bit. I jumped to the wrong one there. But it becomes so focused on the details that it can't focus on the principle.
[35:35] It forgets all about the principle. You can take the thing of modesty for example and get so focused on the details of it, of what must be right and how to perform in that, that we forget what it's really about.
[35:55] The subject which is modesty itself. And there's no openness for any discussion, never flexible, of what could be modest.
[36:07] It's just on the details. That's the spirit of law. But grace has flexibility. It will focus on the principle or the heart of the matter versus all the small details.
[36:21] And that does open the door for some flexibility and openness. Grace always seeks to communicate honestly and openly. and it brings unity.
[36:37] But the spirit of the law separates and excludes where it shouldn't. Number 10.
[36:48] I believe this is the last one I have. Law is always negative and it drains spiritual life.
[36:58] it stirs up the flesh and it creates rebellion. This is where I was earlier. It creates a rebellion many times.
[37:11] Romans 7 talks about that. The spirit of law will in the end produce that hardened hard-hearted Pharisee that is always negative and critical. but again oh the grace.
[37:26] The grace or the spirit of grace. It is positive. It is full of faith. This spirit trusts in the God of heaven for answers.
[37:40] It is the source of power. Power to overcome sin. Power to forgive. It reaches out to those that are lost and hurting.
[37:53] And it treasures godly relationships. That's grace. The spirit of grace. Many years ago a former pastor of ours I heard him say.
[38:10] I wasn't there but I heard it in a recording. He just made the statement that he wants to walk in grace because that's where power is.
[38:20] I find that to be true. That's when we are blessed. When we are walking in grace isn't that when the blessing of God is on our life?
[38:31] But when I become all law minded again where's God in that? I think we all know what we're talking about. the source of power.
[38:51] And you know there's a temptation for us even as a church to when we see the great lawlessness around us. We see the you know even the so-called churches how they reject truth and they throw this out and they throw that out and they don't seem to care.
[39:13] And we're trying to focus on no what does the Bible teach? What does God want? We tend to become legalistic naturally. We tend to revert back to a spirit of law and maybe some fear of losing what we have.
[39:31] But let's remember that we are ministering. ministry is what flows out of us out of our lives. And we are either ministering through the spirit of law or through the spirit of grace.
[39:50] And the effects are very different. Ministering is simply giving someone else what's inside of us. So we're ministering.
[40:01] The question is what are we ministering? what is within us? And under what spirit are we operating? Law or grace?
[40:14] Are your children filled with hope and the assurance that grace abounds in their parents? Or are they under the law? Young people, how do you view yourselves?
[40:28] How do you view yourself and others around you? are you under the demands of the law?
[40:40] Or are you under grace? And the spirit of God, the spirit of liberty and freedom, freedom to live for him. And is what you do based on a have-to attitude?
[41:03] I gotta do this because God will be mad at me if I don't. People won't like me, so I gotta do it.
[41:17] Is that your attitude? Or is it based on I get to because I love Jesus and I won't do anything to hinder that relationship that I have with Jesus?
[41:31] You see the difference? Once you have to do it, the other one, I get to do it. It's pleasing to God and I love to do it. I don't want to jeopardize my relationship with him.
[41:45] I will obey him no matter what the cost because I have experienced his grace in my life. The one way is law and brings you death.
[41:56] The other way is grace and brings you life. You know, grace, and I already said this in a sense, but grace is not a license to sin.
[42:13] It's not that kind of freedom. Paul makes that very clear in Romans. But grace brings a freedom from sin. It brings a deliverance from sin.
[42:25] You know, the sin is bondage. Anything that is displeasing to God is bondage in our life. But grace helps us overcome that. By grace are you saved.
[42:42] Remember that verse. And remember, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Let's accept grace and truth and let us live by the spirit of Jesus Christ.
[42:58] What a marvelous grace. You know, as I was studying this and thinking over it and all that, I wept a lot over my own life.
[43:11] And I know that I failed in this. I know there were times that I've lived in grace and in total freedom. but I also know times I reverted back to law, the spirit of law.
[43:25] And I just want to confess that. And I resolve to live by the principles of grace and to be free from the spirit of the principles of the spirit of law.
[43:42] law. Why? Why is this important? It's because we are under grace. The Bible tells us that.
[43:53] We are in a time of grace. We are not under the law. And I'm talking to save people. You know, if you haven't been blood bought and washed and cleansed and haven't been born again, then yes, you are still under the law.
[44:10] And you need grace in your life. God's plan and his purpose for his church is to live under grace.
[44:25] That was the whole plan of Jesus coming in the first place. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. That puts a whole new light or picture in my mind of seeing Jesus walking up to the river to be baptized by John.
[44:42] There comes grace and truth walking. He brought it to us. Why do we reject it? In Hebrews 13, I want to read a verse.
[44:57] You may turn there. There's two verses I want to read, but you don't need to. Hebrews 13, verse 8, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever.
[45:08] Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace, not with meats which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
[45:25] The verse I wanted, or the portion is in verse 9, for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace. Has our heart been established?
[45:37] Is it settled in grace? will you with me resolve to live under grace this year?
[45:52] You know, I'm not sure, but I would venture to say that most of us have probably in one way or another treated others under the spirit of the law.
[46:15] I know I have and not had the spirit of grace where there's all those things I mentioned. Hope. You have hope.
[46:26] You have answers. You have God as the answers. You have the word of God to look to. You have forgiveness. You have acceptance. You have all these things. The list goes on and on.
[46:38] And the opposite of what we looked at is so often what comes out of our nature, out of our old self. I think it's also in Hebrews where it talks about he giveth more grace.
[46:55] As we need more, he gives more. And he keeps giving and he just keeps giving. We need to just have that faith and that trust in him. I want to extend grace to my brothers and sisters.
[47:10] We need to pray and commit ourselves to God who is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than we can even think or ask.
[47:23] God will give us all that we need plus some. What are we going to do with the extra? There's a lot of people need grace. The Bible also says that he gives grace to the humble.
[47:40] He resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble. And then the devil will flee from us if we resist the devil.
[47:53] But that's the, you know, the thing I was thinking about too is this thought of aligning ourselves with God or with the will of God. So many times we know that God has all the grace in heaven.
[48:08] All the grace plus that we ever need to make it and to live a victorious life. The question is am I aligning myself with him?
[48:20] Am I bowing to him? Am I surrendered to him? So that that grace can flow. Through me. Or am I out of alignment? When things are out of alignment they don't work right.
[48:34] They don't wear right. They rub the wrong way on tires. They don't last very long. But when everything's in alignment and in tune with God, so maybe we just need to align ourselves a little bit this morning.
[48:54] Say God, I've not been walking in your grace. And that takes some humbling. But then he can bless us.
[49:06] He can pour out his grace into our lives. Are we in need of some repentance? No, God does love us. I'm going to look at that song again that Dan had let out in grace.
[49:21] marvelous grace. There was a verse in there that all I could think of this morning was the title, but there was something in there that I thought I would look at here at the end of the message.
[49:37] Grace, grace. Dark is the stain that we cannot hide. What can avail to wash it away? Look, there is flowing a crimson tide, whiter than snow you may be today.
[49:55] God's grace, that marvelous grace. The last verse is marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, freely bestowed on all who believe. You that are longing to see his face, will you not this moment his grace receive?
[50:14] It leaves a question mark. Won't we receive that grace? grace? You know, I'm just going to do something a little different, and I don't know how to close really, but God does, and I'm just wondering if us fathers shouldn't just acknowledge our need of having more grace.
[50:42] parents, do you need more grace? If you do, would you come up here and just stand here, and we'll pray together and give it to God.
[50:58] Maybe you don't need it, maybe your life is so full and overflowing, and you don't even feel the need, and that's okay, but if you feel or sense that, let's just stand together and around and ask God to give us more grace, and maybe there's something you need to say to your family.
[51:28] Let's just pray, and then we'll go from there. Father, we just come to you, and Lord, we just thank you so much from the bottom of our heart for coming and bringing that grace and truth.
[51:40] Lord, that you brought grace to this earth, and you want your people to walk in grace, and not be condemning, but to be loving, and to be proactive, and to be out there and ministering life to people around us, especially to our families, oh God, that we would minister life to our children, and to stop being condemning, and picking on everything.
[52:10] Lord, we just need you, Lord. We need that grace, Lord, to not be so focused on performance, but rather on relationships, good and meaningful relationships that matter, that will carry us through.
[52:31] Lord, I just pray for victory in these areas. I pray for me and for all my brothers here, Lord, that we just pray together that God would give us victory and bring us deliverance in this, Lord, and set us free.
[52:45] Lord, that we could have freedom, and that we could be an expression of Jesus to those that we are ministering to. Lord, that the people around us can see that Jesus lives in us, and we have grace one to another.
[53:02] Lord Jesus, we need you, we thank you, we bless you. Oh, God, we just give this service to you, and your spirit would lead us in Jesus' name.
[53:18] Amen. Well, you may go back to your families, and maybe we just need a few minutes to talk to our wives and wives to your husbands and children, those of you that have children with you, and I just encourage us to make those things right.
[53:48] If God put a finger on something today that maybe even you young people, maybe you haven't been very graceful with your parents, maybe you've been putting them under the law, it's very easy to do that, to see their imperfections and how imperfect we are, and then you start demanding things of them.
[54:12] So I just want to encourage us as families to talk, you know, sit down and talk together, and I've been trying to do some of that lately and not always succeed in it like I want to, but to be able to talk and to build relationships rather than just throwing the law around.
[54:39] Amen. Amen. May God be glorified and may He bring us the victory that we are looking for and may this be a year that we endeavor to walk in grace.
[54:51] God bless you.