Transcription
When that takes place, we're not going to have to exercise any faith to receive the cores of God because we're going to be transformed. And but during this dispensation of now, but not yet, it's up to us to receive the karice that's shining over all of us. And the way we receive it is by faith.
Well, good morning. Good to see everyone. Uh, let me just say this. The most effective way of getting people to come to church is through personal invitation. Nothing beats personal invitation. And when you study the ministry of Jesus Christ, Jesus did everything personally. So uh, next Sunday is Mother's Day and it's the perfect time to invite your children, your grandchildren, your neighbors, anyone that you can to come to church. Lisa will be teaching. So, it's going to be a great message. You don't have to worry about me offending anyone.
Anyways, I hope that you brought whatever you need to take notes because this series is something that every Christian should know about. In fact, they should really master this subject because this morning I'm going to be talking about the grace of God. And of course, to adequately cover the sermon material or the subject matter, it's going to require several sermons. So, we're talking about a series on the grace of God. However, as I said, Mother's Day is next Sunday. So, Lisa is going to be preaching and Memorial Day weekend is May 25th, so Josh will be teaching, which means this series will be kind of hit and miss. It's going to be spread out. Now, that doesn't bother me the least little bit, but I know it does bother some people. In fact, I get emails and I'll get texts from time to time, why are you doing that? But sometimes that's just the way it works out.
So having said that, let's talk about the grace of God. Whenever I hear the word grace, I always think of a certain story. This is a story that I've told several times throughout the years, but there's just not a better story when you're talking about grace. So if you don't mind, let me just repeat this story for probably the third or fourth time. It's about an incident that happened at a pretzel stand located in Manhattan in New York City. One day, a businessman came out of his office building. He threw $2 on the cart and off he went without taking a pretzel. That happened every day for three weeks. Finally, after throwing $2 on the cart and not taking a pretzel, the old lady who ran the business came running after the man and she spoke to him. "Sir," she said, "May I have a word with you?" Well, the man was in a hurry and he thought he knew what she was going to say, so he quickly replied, "I know what you're going to say. You're going to ask me why I give you $2 every day, but never take a pretzel." Well, the truth is, I don't like pretzels. The old lady looked at the man and said, "I don't take care whether you take a pretzel or not. I just wanted you to know that I've raised the price of pretzels to $3.50."
Now, is there a moral to the story? You betcha. And the moral is this. When grace is given on a consistent basis, it's human nature to take it for granted. We all do it. We take grace for granted when it's given on a consistent basis. In fact, let me say this in a different way to help you get what I'm saying. As a general rule, the people you help the most will appreciate it the least. I don't know why that is, but it's true. I've seen it in my own family growing up. The sibling that was helped the most appreciated it the least because he came to expect it. In fact, the more my dad got him out of trouble, the more trouble he got into. Because in his mind, that's what dad was supposed to do. His mindset was if he got into trouble, dad was supposed to bail him out, come to his rescue. Now, do you know what's interesting? When my dad died, my sibling quit getting into trouble because there was no one to bail him out. Interesting.
And I've seen it in the church. The people we help the most appreciate it the least because those people expect to be helped. And they're from their perspective, it's like, you're the church. You're supposed to do this. Yeah. That's why Paul wrote what he did. He said in the book of Galatians, he said that we're to bear one another's responsibilities. And then a little later on, he says, "Let each man bear his own responsibilities." And what he meant by that is God helps those who help themselves. So whenever you hear people say that's not in the Bible. Yes, it is. There are certain things that God makes us do. Just look at all the miracles that Jesus uh performed during his ministry. Many times he required the recipient to do something. "Pick up your your mat and walk." "Stretch forth your hand." "Open your eyes." Yes. There's something that man is required to do.
Anyways, so the moral of the pretzel story is this. When grace is given on a consistent basis, it's human nature to take it for granted. Yeah. The truth is most Christians take advantage of God's grace and don't really appreciate it. Turn to Romans chapter 6, verse number one and I'll prove it to you. Paul wouldn't have had to write this if most humans didn't take for granted God's grace. Notice what he says. "Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?" Now, you know what he says after that, right? Because this is actually a rhetorical question and he answers it. "God forbid." But people, this is a classic example of taking advantage of God's grace. You see, subconsciously, most of us think, "I can sin because God is a good God and he will forgive me." But I also believe that those of us who think that way do so because we really don't understand the grace of God. We don't understand what grace is, the purpose of grace, and how grace affects our life.
So I want to teach on grace for the next few weeks, maybe the next few months if you don't mind. And let me begin by defining grace. How do scholars define grace? Let's get a little more academic if you don't mind. If you went to a seminary class and it was a class on systematic theology and you were talking about the grace of God, they would probably begin by defining it and they would give you different scholars' definitions. So I'm going to do that this morning. Erickson, the author of the Concise Dictionary of Christian Theology, defines grace as "God's dealing with man in undeserved ways. An outflow of God's goodness and generosity." Terry Mai, author of the Compact Dictionary of Doctrinal Words, defines grace as "the gift of God, the unmerited favor of forgiveness or mercy given to sinners, an outpouring of God's love and mercy."
Now, most of us have heard grace defined as unmerited favor. And that's really a great definition, but I want to go a little bit deeper because most of us don't quite understand even when we hear definitions like those. So, let's go a little bit deeper. I think you really have to do a study on the etymology of the word grace if you really want to understand it. If you're not familiar with that word, etymology is the study of the origin and development of a word. It's the tracing of a word as far back as possible, seeing how its meaning developed or changed over time. So that's what we're going to do. Let's look at the etymology of the word grace.
In the New Testament, the Greek word for grace is translated from the Greek word, did I say that right? In the New Testament, the word grace is translated from the Greek word *charis*, which is derived from the root word *char*. Now, I will say this, when you hear most pastors uh pronounce these terms, they'll pronounce it as *charis* or *care*, but the correct pronunciation is *charis*. In *char*. I'm going to revert to the non-correct way if you don't mind. *Charis* and *care*. And you'll see why I'm doing that in just a minute. You'll see why most pastors do that. Now, the root word *char* or *care* refers to that which brings well-being to men or, in other words, it means to provide for another person's well-being. In fact, our English word "care" is traced back through the Old High German language directly to the Greek word *char* or *care*. And in certain nuances, we use it in the very same way the Greeks did. When I say, "I will take care of you," what I mean is I will look out for your well-being. I will take care of you. It's the very same as the Greek word. If I say, "He didn't take very good care of you," what I'm saying is he didn't look out for your well-being, in other words, he didn't make sure that you were doing okay because if he had checked on you and you weren't doing okay, he should have stepped in to do whatever was necessary to help you. But he didn't care. So, he didn't even check on you. Because if a person truly cares for someone, they will look out for their well-being. Does that make sense? So everyone understands what *charis* and *char* mean because our word "care" comes from that Greek word.
But let's go a little bit deeper. According to Colin Brown, another Greek scholar, any Greek word derived from the word *char* will indicate something that produces, promotes, or protects a person's well-being. Now, as I said, the Greek word for grace, which is *charis*, is derived from this root word. So, it tells me that grace has something to do with promoting or protecting a person's well-being. But there's more. In classical Greek, the word grace, which again is *charis*, was always seen as something unmerited, something which is absolutely free. In other words, you can't work for it. You can't earn it. You don't deserve it. It's just given to you because the person loves you.
Now, let me tie all this together by giving you an analogy that really illustrates what grace is all about. Everyone knows what an analogy is, right? An analogy is an explanation of something by comparing it point by point with something else. So I'm going to explain what grace is by comparing it to a parent-child relationship. Everyone with me? Yeah. You see, because parents care for their children, they look out for their well-being. So whenever we see a child that's been neglected, what do we say? We say that child's parents must not care for them, or they wouldn't have allowed that to happen. And then we usually add, "What is wrong with them?" Seriously, you know, you watch the news and you see a child that's been neglected and you think, "How could a parent do that?" Yeah.
Now, in a parent-child relationship, the child doesn't really do anything to deserve being cared for. Now, I know that shocks you, but it's true. Listen to me because this is true. In a parent-child relationship, the child doesn't really do anything to deserve being cared for. Think about it. Children don't work for TLC, tender loving care, or do anything to merit TLC. They receive it simply because their parents love them. In fact, whenever I see a couple who's about to have their first child, I usually try to encourage them and say, "Well, buckle up. You won't sleep for the first year. Half your money is going to go buying diapers." Oh yeah, you're going to have a lot of sleepless nights. You better get some earplugs 'cause they're going to work their lungs. That child really doesn't care about working or meriting TLC. But if you're a healthy parent, you're going to love that child and you're going to provide for them and you're going to take care of them. You see, children receive TLC simply because the parents love them. And that's a perfect illustration of what grace is. Whatever it takes to properly care for our kids, we'll do. Why? Because we love them. People, that's grace.
As I said, something is wrong with the parent who doesn't care for the welfare of their child. Why? Because we are made in the image of God. In fact, the home is a miniature model of the kingdom of God. And our roles as parents are patterned after God's role towards his children. Yeah. So we're made in his image and God cares for his children, *charis*. So he created us to have an innate love and bond with our children just like him. So of course, when we see a parent that doesn't take proper care of their children, we know that something is wrong with them. Does that make sense? So when you make that comment where you see a child's been neglected and you go, "What is wrong with them?" That's the appropriate thing to say because anyone made in the image of God is going to respond to their children the way God responds to his children.
Now, let me take it a step further. Would a truly caring parent, and I'm talking about one who cares for the well-being of his children, allow their children to do something that was harmful to them? No. A truly caring parent wants to protect the welfare of their children so they won't knowingly allow their children to do anything that would harm them. Now, what we've learned by doing an etymological study on the word grace is that it means to care for a person's well-being by providing for them and by protecting them. And it's not because they've earned it, they've worked for it, they deserve it. It's simply because we love them. That's what grace is.
So, if you came to me and you said, "Pastor Allan, what is grace?" Well, I could give you the acronym. It's God's Riches At Christ's Expense. But you really don't know what it is. If I break it down in layman's terms, I would tell you grace is to care for another person's well-being by providing for them and by protecting them. And it's not because they've earned it, worked for, or deserve it. It's simply because we love them. And a perfect example is a loving parent with their child. Yeah, that's what grace is.
So now that you know that we've laid the foundation, turn with me if you would to Titus chapter 2, verse number 11. Notice what it says. "For the grace, the *charis* of God was *caris*. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." Now I want you to underline the word salvation. That's a very important word. Salvation is translated from the Greek word *soteria*, which is derived from the root word *sozo*, which means much more than just salvation. *Sozo* means deliverance from anything harmful to your well-being. You know what's interesting is we use this word "saved" all the time because of Romans 10:9 and 10. And we want to know sometimes talking to non-Christians who don't know anything about the Bible, we'll say, "Are you saved?" And what will they say? "From what?" Well, if you grew up in church, you're using that term. You're saying, "Are you saved?" And you know, I would ask you the same thing. From what?
Now, for most of us, when we think of being saved, we think we're being saved from hell, right? From eternal damnation, from the consequences of our sin. But truthfully, *sozo* means so much more than that. *Sozo* means "I save." Of course, that's present active indicative first person singular. But anyways, *sozo* refers to anything that's essential to your well-being. So *sozo* covers deliverance from sickness, deliverance from fear, deliverance from sin, deliverance from poverty, deliverance from worry, everything, anything that's harmful to you in any little way. So *sozo* means deliverance from that.
Now, we live in a sinful world. So most of us don't understand something. So, I'm going to explain something to you. We are living in a dispensation known as "now, but not yet." In fact, this scripture won't come up on the screen. Just follow along as I read it. I decided I'm going to go off on a tangent. Do you guys mind if I go off on a tangent? Okay. Well, it doesn't really matter. I've got the microphone. So, turn with me if you would to Hebrews chapter 9. I'm going to read verse number 28. Notice what it says. This is the NLT because it's a really good translation from the original Greek. "So also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again." If you don't believe that Jesus is going to come again, then you're a heretic. The Bible makes it very clear. Jesus is coming again. The first time he came, he came as Messiah ben Yosef. In other words, he became as the Messiah, Son of Joseph. He's the suffering servant. The next time he comes, he's coming as Messiah ben David. He's coming as the Messiah, Son of David. He's coming as the conquering king. So notice it says, "Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people." He did that the first time he came. Then he tells us, "He will come again a second time not to deal with our sins." He already did that. He did that the first time he came. So he will come again not to deal with our sins but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.
Do you realize that you have not received your full salvation yet? That's why scholars say that we now live in a "now but not yet" dispensation. And what we mean by that is we are now living under the new covenant. Jesus Christ initiated it. But the new covenant is not consummated until Christ returns. When Christ returns for his bride, and I'm referring to the rapture, there's a coming again right after the rapture. There's going to be a seven-year period of tribulation, but we're going to be enjoying the wedding feast of the Lamb. And then we come back with Christ because we're his bride.
In fact, let me explain something to you. How many of you know what a *kiddushin* is? A *kiddushin* is a Jewish marriage contract and it outlines the rights and responsibilities of the groom in relationship to his wife. So these go all the way back to the second temple period before Jesus Christ when the second temple was built. The *kiddushin* goes all the way back to then. So when Joseph wanted to marry Mary, his father took Joseph. We don't see this in the Bible, but we know because of how it was arranged. They went to Mary's home to meet with Mary and her parents. And the father of Joseph sat down with the father of Mary and they discussed the *kiddushin*, the wedding price. What was he going to have to pay? And the more worthy the wife, the more you had to pay. Yeah. And then you worked out all of the responsibilities, the rights, all of that. And after that was done, the father of the bride-to-be stepped out in the hallway or left the room with the bride and said, "Do you want to marry this man? We've worked this out. Here are the things." And she would say, "Yes, I do." Or, "No, I don't." Uh, but if she said yes and they went back in there, then they would sign this legally. She was married. She was sanctified, set apart for the groom. Everyone looked at the bride as if she's married. She has all the responsibilities, but she doesn't have any of the rights, and neither does the groom. So after that, there's some drinking of wine and won't go through all of that. They get ready to leave. The groom looks at the bride. He says, "I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again. I will return." In other words, I'm coming for you, but I'm going to prepare a place for you. And he would leave with his father and he would begin working on their home. And it wasn't until the father said everything was ready. And then of course, usually he would come in the night because it was more romantic. And we see all these parables that are given. And she needed to be ready, always ready because she didn't know what day or what hour he would be coming. And he would come for his bride. And of course, he would carry away and there'd be a crowd of people that would go with them. And they would go to the wedding feast. And then at the wedding feast, underneath the wedding canopy, the *kiddushin* would be read again, giving all the rights and responsibilities of the groom to the bride, and then they would consummate it. There was a little tent there and everyone else would be celebrating. Women, that's kind of awkward, right? They would go into the tent and she'd bring out the tokens of her virginity. And of course, it would go on depending on how rich it was, sometimes as long as seven days. For God, it's going to be seven years.
But here's what's interesting about this. When Christ came, he paid the price for our sin and he gave us our contract, our *kiddushin*. This is our *kiddushin*. And one day he's coming back for his bride for those who are watching. And it says here in Titus or it says right here that he's bringing salvation. I'm sorry. Hebrews 9:28. He's bringing salvation with him. Well, I thought we were already saved. We're sanctified. But we don't have exactly what we're going to have when Christ comes for his bride. Because when he comes for his bride, those who have died and passed away, their bodies are going to come out of the grave and they're going to be reunited with their soul. And they're going to have an incorruptible, immortal, glorified body. And those of us who are alive on this earth when it takes place, we're going to be snatched up to meet the Lord in the air. And our bodies are going to be transformed into an incorruptible, immortal, glorified body. Incorruptible means that no, it's no longer subject to sickness or disease. Immortal means that we're no longer subject to death. What does glorified mean? Means we no longer have a sin nature. Wow. So what so salvation will entail is deliverance from sickness, deliverance from fear, deliverance from sin, deliverance from poverty, deliverance from worry because we're with the Messiah who's provided everything. And it's all in the *kiddushin*, what he's going to provide. Yeah.
Now, what does that have to do with grace? During this period, we're considered to be married to him. Doesn't mean that we have an immortal body or an incorruptible body. We're still subject to sickness. But you know what? God is Jehovah Rapha. So, we can pray for healing. We can pray from deliverance from fear. We can pray for God to deliver us from sin, to help us to overcome temptation, from poverty, for all of these things. And we get a taste of it, but we don't get the consummation or the fullness of it until Christ returns. Hebrews chapter 6 talks about us being enlightened and having a taste of the things to come, the world to come. Yeah, we get a taste of it now. That's why we pray in faith. But we don't get the fullness of it until Christ returns.
Now, think about this because I got off and went on a tangent. Now, let's talk about grace again. If grace means to care for our well-being, doesn't it make sense that it would bring deliverance from the things that would harm us? Of course, it makes sense. So, look back at Titus chapter 2, verse number 11. That's the verse we were looking at before I went off on a tangent. Says, "For the grace of God, the *charis* of God that brings salvation, *soteria*, hath appeared to all men." Notice that it says that God's grace has appeared to all men.
Now, let me explain what that means. That phrase "hath appeared" is translated from the Greek word *epiphaino*. And *epiphaino* is a compound word, which simply means it's made up of more than one word. In this case, it's made up of two words: the prefix *epi*, which means "over," and *phaino*, which means "to shine." Now, when you combine these two words, it literally means "to shine over." Think of you're in the dark and someone turns on a flashlight over and the light is shining over you. All right, that's what it means to shine over. So if you translated Titus chapter 2, verse number 11 literally, this is what it would say: "For the grace of God, the *charis*, that brings deliverance from anything that harms a person's well-being, is shining over all men." Wow. Do you realize that God's grace is shining over you right now? It's shining over all of us. And most of us don't even know it. That's what's sad. You don't even know what your rights or your responsibilities are according to the *kiddushin*.
But let me tell you, God's *charis* is shining over me. I can remember as a young preacher studying this out, finding out what it's all about, and realizing that my life can be totally different. I've said this before. It always kind of tickles me. There are people that don't like me simply because God has blessed me. I can't help it. God's *charis* is shining over me. And I recognize that and I receive it. And most people have no idea that right now God's grace is shining over you. It's shining over all men. But if that's true, why do we still have problems? Well, I'll tell you why. It's because God's grace only makes deliverance available. It's up to us to receive it during this "now but not yet" dispensation. There'll come a time when you won't even be paying attention. If you're a born-again believer, you're going to be walking down the street, or you might be sitting here in church, or you might be at home sleeping. And when Christ comes for his bride, immediately you're going to be snatched up in the air. You're going to go through because you're going to have an extradimensional body. You're going to go right through the ceiling. Or if you're in your car, you're going to go right through the car to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And your body is going to be transformed into an incorruptible, immortal, glorified body. The same type of body that Jesus had when he was resurrected. When he was able to appear in a room where the doors were locked and the windows were shut and then instantly disappear. How did he do that? He stepped from one dimension into another.
But what I want you to understand is when that takes place, we're not going to have to exercise any faith to receive the *charis* of God because we're going to be transformed. But during this dispensation of "now but not yet," it's up to us to receive the *charis* that's shining over all of us. And the way we receive it is by faith. You see, even though grace shines over you, it doesn't affect you until you personally receive it by faith.
Let me show you something interesting. Turn with me if you would to Hebrews chapter 4, verse 2. "For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them." Now we know where this is going. I believe Paul's the author of Hebrews. That's my personal opinion. And I believe what he's saying is, we know the gospel was preached. Why did some people receive it and others not? Well, that's what we're going to get to. So he says this, let me keep it in context. "For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them." Who's "them"? Those who didn't receive it. "But the word which they heard didn't profit them." Why? "Not being mixed with faith in those who heard it." Do you see that? The word of God has to be mixed with faith in order to work. In other words, without faith, the word of God doesn't work. So in a sense, faith acts like a catalyst for the word of God. Everyone knows what a catalyst is, right? A catalyst is an agent that stimulates or precipitates a reaction, development, or change. Chemists talk about catalysts all the time. "I'm going to pour this catalyst in and it's going to cause a reaction." That's what a catalyst is. It's something that causes a reaction. So what I'm saying is that faith causes the word of God to react. It causes the word to produce what it's supposed to. In other words, without faith, the word just sits there and does nothing. It is so powerful. It has the ability to transform us. It has the ability to work miracles and yet at the same time it does nothing until it's mixed with faith. I'm letting that sink in.
Now, here's what I want you to see. God has made his grace available to you, to everyone. In fact, according to Titus 2:1, it's shining over you right now. But it's up to you to receive it by faith. It's up to you to believe that God wants to care for you. That's what *charis* means. We spent all that time coming to the point to realize that what grace is is providing and protecting over someone's well-being, making sure that they're doing okay, that they're not being harmed in any way. And the only reason we do that is because we love them. And that's God with his children. He does this because he loves us. So, it's up to us though to believe that he wants to provide for our well-being and protect our well-being. It's up to us to believe that good things are going to start to happen to us.
You know, it's kind of amazing. I do funerals from time to time. Now, I no longer do funerals. I have people on staff that does that. I'll tell you why. The older I get, the harder it is to do a funeral because the majority of times it's for non-believers. And that hurts me tremendously. But when we do a funeral or I do a funeral, if it's a Christian, and even if it's not, I want to celebrate their life. So I go to the family and I'll ask for stories. And it's amazing to me how there's no stories. "Well, they were a good person. They were faithful to their wife. They made a good living." You know, all in all, they were a good person. Well, do you have a favorite memory? No, not really. What did you guys ever do? Anything that you remember that was special to you? No, not really. And so I'm trying to ask these questions and it's like, how I just don't have these stories about it. And I think, how sad. But it's kind of like a person's life that has no stories to tell how God has done great things for them. I can tell my children and my grandchildren the great things that God has done for me, miraculous things. My wife had a pituitary gland tumor. She had surgery and they were expected that, boy, she's going to have problems the rest of her life with hormones. And back then it was a little bit different than it is now. They actually went through the nose. And we hadn't been married what, two or three years? And all these doctors came in two or three days after the surgery and they all kept looking in at her. And she got a little worried. But the reason they did is because all our hormones were the way they ought to be. Things were working the way they were supposed to be. Even though they had gone up there, taken the tumor, messed with the pituitary gland. Didn't shock me. I can tell you story after story how God has provided financially for us, for the church, how God worked miracles for it. Story after story. And I'll tell you why. Because I recognized that God's *charis*, his grace is shining over me. And I grew up in a home where I knew my parents loved me. And according to the word of God, compared to God, my parents were evil. And it's only using that as a comparison. But my parents were great parents. And if in comparison to God we would see as evil, how much better is God and how much does he love me and his grace is over me? And it changed the way I see things, saw things, and it changed the way that I prayed. It changed my faith. It changed everything. And now I don't tell the stories because it sounds like I'm bragging. But every person should be sharing stories once they understand the *charis* of God. You read through the Bible and you see men of faith and you see what happened. You look at that Hall of Faith, chapter 11 in Hebrews, and then you go back and read the stories and you see God's grace over Abraham. You see God's grace over Jacob, Isaac. You see God's grace over David. You see God's grace over Samuel. And you start looking at these things and it's all people who recognized that God was good and that he cared for them and his grace was shining over them and they believed God. And that catalyst mixed with God's grace to bring forth good things. Yeah.
Now, I'm going to relate this to salvation. So, if you would look with me in Ephesians chapter 2, verse number 8, and I'll show you something interesting. I'm reading out of the NLT. It really brings it alive. "God saved you by his grace, his *charis*, when you believed." King James version: "For we're saved by grace through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." But anyways, "God saved you by his grace when you believed." The grace was always there for you to be saved. But you weren't saved till you believed. Scholars say that your salvation was potential, but it wasn't experiential until you believed. Does that make sense? If it doesn't, think about it. And you can't take credit for this. It's the gift from God. Now, is it talking about believing as a gift? Nope. Most people think that. Is it referring to his grace as a gift? No. It's referring to salvation. Salvation is a gift from God. There it is. God wants to save you. Yeah. He wanted to save you all along. In fact, his grace was there all the time. But you had to believe before it happened.
Now, listen to me because this is good. And I would write this down. Grace is God-giving. Faith is man receiving. So grace is God's part. Faith is man's part. Now let me give you an example to illustrate this. This is a poor example. And the reason it's a poor example is because I'm a cheapskate. This example would work really good if I had a $100 bill up here. But I don't have a $100 bill up here. All right. So I'm going to use a $1 bill because I'm a cheapskate. I'm giving this away. I normally would look for a child up here and say, "I'm going to give you this dollar." And I say, "It's yours." And then I would do this. And I can tell you what would happen if I had a child sitting up here on the front row. They'd go, "Yeah, it's yours. Yeah. Yeah. Here it is." And then they'd look at their parents. "Should I go get it?" "Yeah." And I'd finally be able to coach them to come get this $1. And if I was really a good pastor, I'd have a $100 bill. And then I could use you adults as an example. "Here's $100. It's yours. Just come get it." But I want you to understand this is the way it works. There's a principle here. And this is the principle. God has given it to us, but it's not ours until we believe it's ours and we receive it. Are you with me? Because if the child never comes up and gets it, it just lays right here and nothing ever happens.
Now listen to me. Faith does not cause grace to appear. The truth is grace is always available. Faith is simply receiving the grace that is already there. Now this is the tricky part. During this "now but not yet" dispensation, you have to learn to channel God's grace into your life through faith. It starts by believing that God wants good things for you. And as you're reading the word, you find out what those good things are. You begin to pray for those good things and you receive them by faith. And God starts bringing those good things to you. And sometimes we don't receive everything here on this earth, but we will when Christ returns and brings completed salvation or full salvation with him.
Now, you also have to realize too that you can't work for God's grace. You can't earn God's grace. You don't love or you don't uh work for it. So, oh, you don't deserve it. You don't deserve God's grace. No, God's grace is simply because he loves you. And let's refer this or let's come in and relate this to salvation. John 3:16 says, and we've all read it before, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Yeah, that's God's gift to us is salvation. We read that, we understand it, but it doesn't mean we're saved until we mix it with faith and we say, "Jesus died for me. Jesus paid the penalty for my sin. Jesus was resurrected when all my sin was paid for. And now I don't have to worry because of what Jesus did." The moment you realize that, the moment you believe that, the moment you receive that, you're saved. Now you just have to tell someone you're saved.
Let's stand. [Applause] It doesn't get any better than that. I've got a free gift for you and it's not a $1 bill. It's eternal life. It's not something I can provide. It's something that God has already provided and it's shining over you right now. It's showing you what Jesus has done for you. For you. But it's up to you to receive it. And I'm going to make it easy. If you believe that Jesus died for your sins, that God raised him from the dead, and if you're willing to confess him as your Lord, all you need to do is receive it. Now, I like to voice a prayer because people want to look back and go, "Well, this is what I did." So, I'm going to say a simple prayer. If you believe in Jesus, you want to receive Jesus, you want to be saved, repeat this prayer. Prayer is not magic. You're already saved if you believe and you confess he's your Lord. But we sometimes need to say it because what we say, what we confess, we're committed to. So, I'm going to say a simple prayer. If you want to receive Jesus, just repeat this prayer after me.
I want everyone to bow their heads, close their eyes. Here goes. "God, I know I'm a sinner and my sin has separated me from you. But God, I believe you love me and you wanted to take care of my well-being. You wanted to save me from all these things that can hurt me. So, you sent your son Jesus to die for my sin. And I believe when Jesus died, his soul went to hell to pay the penalty for my sin. But I also believe that when all my sin was paid for, God, you raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus, I believe that. And this morning, I receive that. I want you to be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for saving me."
Now, with every head bowed, every eye closed, if you said that prayer and meant it, you're saved. Now, what you need to do is confess that Jesus is your Lord. So, I'm going to make it real easy. If you said that prayer a minute, just raise your hand real high. You're confessing. I believe and I said that. Anyone at all? See the hand back there? Anyone else? See the hand over there? That's two. Anyone else? Best decision you'll ever make. See the third one? Anyone else? All right, let's give them a hand. Lisa. [Applause]