Grow in Grace

Avoid doing anything that somebody else might even perceive as sin. I also remember reacting to that explanation and thinking, Wait a minute! But not sinning is just not sinning, right? And what about that person who's perceiving me? What about them, huh? Isn't there a verse that says you shouldn't judge one another? In a Compass Check article, Hannah Reizdorf shared similar thoughts on this subject, saying, I felt that it put too much weight on what other people would think of me. Was I really responsible for how I looked to others even if I were doing the right things? How can I know how other people might perceive my actions? Well, let's talk about that. Today, I'd like to discuss what Paul meant by avoiding the appearance of evil, why he said it to the Thessalonians, and what it means for us today. Let's turn to 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 22. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 22. As you're turning there, I'll read that verse in the KJV. Abstain from all appearance of evil. But as many of you may know, or as you're reading right now, most translations don't say it like that. The NKJV says, abstain from every form of evil. And this isn't a mistake or a contradiction or anything. This is a linguistic clarification based on the true meaning of the Greek. The Greek word for appearance is ηδος, meaning form, kind, type, or that which is seen. Not public perception, suspicion, or optics. So Paul isn't saying avoid what looks bad. He's saying avoid evil no matter how it shows up. While most translations get this meaning correct, I still remember being told that one interpretation of appearance as a warning.

And that warning itself wasn't completely wrong, and the person had good intentions. But we shouldn't read a 21st century meaning of appearance into a 1st century text. So to fully understand why Paul is saying to avoid all forms of evil, we have to see who he's writing to and what they were dealing with. Let's look at who the Thessalonians were. They were relatively new believers, mostly Roman or Macedonian Gentiles, who abandoned idolatry to follow Christ. In Thessalonica, they were surrounded by pagan worship, spiritual confusion, and to make matters worse, Paul and his companions were forced to leave Thessalonica after a short time, just a few months.

So the Thessalonians were eager, but inexperienced, and they needed guidance. Now let's look at what was happening spiritually for them. God's truth was being taught, but there was also counterfeit spiritual activity, especially around prophecy and teaching. At the time, there were many traveling false prophets, orators, and teachers who only sought money and fame. Earlier in this letter, Paul defends his motives and ministry. He didn't come looking for fame and fortune. He genuinely cared for the Thessalonians, and he did everything he possibly could to encourage their faith, even from afar.

So let's go back and look at the context around verse 22, starting in verse 19. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 19. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things. Hold fast what is good. Obtain from every form of evil. Verse 19 says, Do not quench the Spirit. I love that fire imagery. They're not to put it out. Paul is encouraging the Thessalonians to keep that fire going. But how? Don't be passive. Don't be afraid. Be discerning. See, Paul's concern isn't too much spiritual activity.

It's too little discernment. See that in verse 20. Do not despise prophecies. Prophecy in this situation can be defined as inspired teaching, exhortation, or instruction. But as we talked about, some of this prophesying was true, and some was false. Paul's encouraging them not to reject all of it. He's telling the Thessalonians, don't just cover your ears and go, la la la la la, to every future teaching after you hear one false prophet. Here's what he tells them to do.

Verse 21 says, Test all things. Hold fast to what is good. Test all things. Discernment is the command. You don't have to turn there, but 1 Corinthians 12, 10, discusses God's spiritual gifts, with some people being given the gift of prophecy. The Thessalonians were to test everything they hear and discern its origin, checking its agreement with the teachings of the apostles. And Paul's telling them, don't be gullible, but don't be cynical either. Be discerning. And when you hear the good stuff, God's truth, hold on tight. Don't forget it. Live it. Make it part of you. Then we get to verse 22.

Abstain from every form of evil. This isn't a separate point or a separate thought, not to be taken out of context. This is Paul's conclusion to this section. He's saying to stay away from every kind of evil, especially what he was just talking about and what the Thessalonians are surrounded by at this time. False teaching, distorted prophecy, anything claiming to be spiritual, but actually leading away from the truth.

Paul's not teaching optics. He's not warning them to worry about what others perceive them to be doing. Paul is teaching discernment and encouraging them to stay strong in God's Spirit. So, if that's what Paul was teaching the Thessalonians, what does this mean for us today? Well, I've got three quick points for you. Point number one, keep that fire going. Keep that fire going. Just imagine you're getting a campfire going.

As you know, it needs a lot of help at the start. Kind of like Thessalonians, new believers ready to grow but needing a lot of help. You've got your foundational logs of truth, maybe in a TP format or a log cabin, whatever your preference is. These are, in my mind, the things that you know to your core to be true, what you base your faith and what you base your entire life on. And you've got your kindling. And I think that's the stuff that gets you excited about God's way of life.

It kind of lit that fire within you. But now, you have to keep that fire going. So you blow on the coals to spark new life, strengthen that flame. And in my mind, that can be seen as learning new things about the truth through Bible study and meditation, seeking out good spiritual discussions with your family and friends, with people around you, listening to messages, and truly listening and getting that aha moment, or having that, I've never thought of it that way kind of moment.

But nobody's going to do that for us. We have to take action to keep our fires going and keep them alive through God's help and guidance.

Point number two. Disern the good and hold on tight. Disern the good and hold on tight. As we keep that fire going, staying open to learning, we must be careful. Not every message or nugget of wisdom or teaching is from God, no matter how smart it might sound. Spiritual discernment is required. And the Bible is our measuring stick.

We kind of got it good. We have more than the Thessalonians did. We've got two whole testaments of inspired examples and teaching to measure by. When we discern what we have heard to be true, we have to hold on to it. Never let it go. Write it down, circle it, highlight it, put some stars by it. And if it's something that causes us a need for change, we just can't think twice. We have to make the change and never go back. We must immediately make the truth that we learn part of our lives and then share it with others. Point number three, avoid all kinds of evil. Avoid all kinds of evil. This is not appearances, as in constantly putting our worries about what others may think over God's judgment. It's rejecting all forms of evil. It's rejecting lies when they sound spiritual or wise. If we're not constantly being discerning, surrounding ourselves with God's way, false teachings can begin entering our mind, slithering in and affecting our actions as well if we're not careful.

We also have to reject the temptation to revert back to past bad habits. Many of those Thessalonians believers were worshipping idols just a few months before this letter was written. We have sins that we've also put behind us, but like the Thessalonians, we're also constantly surrounded by sinful influences today, everywhere we go.

It can be easy to slip up, convince ourselves that we're not really sinning, just dipping our toe in the water as half sin and just kind of compromise it a little bit. But Paul doesn't mince words here. He says, stay away from all forms of evil.

So in conclusion, avoid the appearance of evil sounds pretty wise, but it's better translated in this situation to avoid all forms of evil.

And Paul's intentions with this were to encourage and guide the Thessalonians in their fight against the false prophets and pagan influences surrounding them. Paul gave them clear teaching that applies to our own lives today. We are to keep our fires going and stay far away from sin by testing things carefully, holding on to what is good, and rejecting what's evil. Happy Sabbath!

Thank you for that, Mr. Grinnell. If you'd all rise and join me in our next hymn for this afternoon, we'll be moving to page number 72.

Page number 72. O how, love I thy law.

It's going to be a cappella today. It's going to be okay.

It's going to be okay.

I am more understanding than the agents of old.

But I know it's ever going to be. Like a man's baby, wiser than my unfriendly foes. No much speak of thy words, what a haly its treat. The much less eternal that we never depart.

Be seated. We do have a couple of announcements to go through real quick. One from Tim Duncan. His mother, Sandra Duncan, is taking visitors at the Summit, I guess, Regional Hospital? Or Summit? She'll be in room number 405 and is taking visitors from 10 to 7 p.m. every day. Hopefully there won't be too many at one time. Another note is a thank you card from Ms. Laura Scott. She wrote to the congregation, And God's love for me, along with your own. Your words have strengthened me and stayed me in difficult hours, and my husband and I are grateful beyond words. I pray for God's blessing upon each of you and thank you with love, Laura and Craig Scott, from Cary, North Carolina. And then we do have one more announcement besides what's in your bulletin. This is in regards to the Women's Enrichment Weekend, I do believe.

National Women's Enrichment Weekend deadline is approaching. The Regional Women's Enrichment Weekend is for ladies of all ages who are looking for fellowship and fun. More than 70 ladies from as far away as Texas and Saska, I cannot pronounce, have registered and you don't want to miss out. We plan interactive sessions and roundtable discussions, a session with local singer-songwriter, and Saturday evening auction and activities with a national flair. Join us and share in supporting one another in our church, practically and spiritually, locally and intentionally, or internationally. Our group rate with the hotel ends on February the 9th, coming up. So if you are planning on attending, please register by then. Registration information is available online. You can also visit women.ucg.org for more details and instructions on how to register before the deadline, February the 9th. If you have any other questions, please reach out to David or Kayla Raines. Now, without further ado, we will be getting the sermon this afternoon from our pastor, Mr. Gary Petty.

Happy Sabbath! Few are a little bit smaller than normal crowd, but glad to see so many of you came out in the cold. There are still some people without power. A lot of people with downed trees. We have a few limbs in our backyard, but nothing serious. But it has been a serious ice storm. I know John Paul Jones, he and Pat were without power for days. One time we were texting back and forth, how are you doing? It was 46 degrees at one point in his house, and it was dropping fast. The neighbor came over and said, hey, we've got a generator. We want to spend some time with us. They went over there, and I think they spent the night and got warm. But he came back, the power came on and went off again. He had to spend some time in a motel room. Earl, I think, was in a motel. I don't know how many people... How many of you lost power? Quite a few. I just want to let you know. Sometimes there's nothing you can do in an ice storm. We could even get out. It was the opposite in Murfreesboro than here. We got the ice first, then the snow. I think you got the snow first, and then the ice. I don't know which is worse. Sooner or later it all becomes ice. But in these kinds of situations, if you're out of electricity, and you can get to a hotel, but you don't have the money to do so, let me know. We don't want you to be at home. There were at least 100 or more deaths attributed to this storm across the United States that it hit. Maybe it's people that get stuck, and there's no electricity. Sometimes we can't get to you, but you can get someone to help you, even if it's the local police or somebody, to get to someplace where you're warm. So you're in those kinds of situations. Please call me and we'll try to find some way. Get somebody with a four-wheel drive? Well, even in snow, four-wheel drive sometimes is no good. I mean, in ice. Snow is one thing. Ice is a whole other story. Growing up in Pennsylvania, I remember when Kim and I first got married, we moved to Pennsylvania. She'd never been there. And of course, it's all hills and mountains. And it was a snowstorm. And we were driving a road, and there was a big line of cars before this hill. And it was just snowing. And she said, why are we sitting here? And I said, you'll see. And we got to our turn. And you could see cars that never made it up the hill all over the place. It's our turn to go up the hill now. Fortunately, we made it to the top and went over, you know. But you just took turns going up the hill, and some made it, and some didn't. But, you know, it's when you're not used to those kind of things. Even now, I wouldn't want to drive in snow and ice like we used to. I just don't have the reflexes I used to. But I just wanted to let you know, don't hesitate to call. Because we have resources. We'll call other people and say, what can we do? How can we help? We'll make sure there's not somebody sitting out there, you know. And it's 35 degrees in your house. That's not good. So, please don't hesitate to do that.

There is a scripture that we hear read all the time, and it's a common scripture. It's in 2 Peter, where Peter says to grow in grace and knowledge. Now, we know what it's like to grow in knowledge. I asked you, how do you grow in knowledge? You could talk about, well, I study the Bible, I read sermons, or listen to sermons, I read booklets, I do this, I do that, I talk with other people.

I'm growing in knowledge all the time. How do you grow in grace? You ever thought about that? I mean, is there like five steps to growing in grace? What does that even mean? Grace of itself is a misunderstood concept in the Bible. I—not in the Bible, but the way people interpret it—I want to talk about grace today. How do we grow in grace? So, it's more like a Bible study today. We're going to be going through quite a few scriptures to get an overview of how you and I can grow in grace. So, we're going to look at a definition of grace in the scripture. We're going to look at how God's grace impacts your life after we have a definition for it.

And then we're going to talk about how you can actually grow in grace, how we can actually do that, how that is not just a nice turn of a phrase. It actually means something. When you look up the word grace in Hebrew and Greek, it has a lot of different applications and different subtlety to meaning. We do that in English. You don't hear it so much anymore, but it used to be when you'd see someone that was...

My wife used to watch the skating, the Olympic skating. She loved watching that. And there'd be a woman that would be skating, and the announcer would say, She's so graceful. She has grace. And grace could mean a lot of different things, even in English. But when we look at it in the Bible, when it's used in relationship to God, it has one core meaning to it in both Hebrew and Greek.

And that is, grace is an attribute of God's nature. We tend to look at grace as just something that's done, but we have to expand this out. It's an attribute of God's nature, where He, through compassion, through mercy, He gives favor to someone. And He gives this grace, this favor, because it's something He decides to do. It is a pardon that comes from His love, His mercy. It is not something we invoke.

It's not something we initiate. It's something He initiates. He initiates this grace to us. And in doing so, He opens up the ability for us to have a relationship with Him. So God says, I'm going to open myself up. I'm going to give you my grace. So we're going to look at grace in a much more deeper way, because grace from God is a personal thing. We can make grace because we look at, well, one definition of grace is unmerited pardon. In other words, I don't bring any merit to this. God doesn't say, oh, you're such a good person.

I'm going to give you grace. That's not how it happens. He chooses for His own reasons to show grace to different people at different times and in different ways. God shows grace to people all the time, even if He's not calling them to salvation at that time. He can give people favor. He can show them goodness that comes from Him anytime and any place He wants to. It's a very personal thing with God. Now, when we look at the Scripture, we will find grace given to people, groups of people, different nations, and it's all because of something He's doing.

So when we look at this meaning of grace, that it is something that comes from God that is a favor, it is a mercy, it is a compassion, what we will find throughout the Scripture, it has to do with the plan of salvation. It's what God does throughout time and in the human realm to bring about His plan of salvation. And you will find He gives grace to people sometimes that never even turn to Him, but by helping them and being with them, they carry out certain things.

I think of Cyrus, King Cyrus of Persia. God gave him a grace. God gave him a favor. God revealed Himself to him enough that He said, send my people home, and He did. God showed grace to Nebuchadnezzar. Of course, after he was insane for seven years and he brought his mind back through God's grace, God's favor, God's interaction, He said, wow, He is God. He never turned to God. He was never converted. But we're going to talk about grace in the concept of salvation.

That God enters into a person's life. He gives them something that we don't deserve, something that we can't make happen, something that where He comes into our lives in order to accomplish what He wants to accomplish. And that's grace, because it's not because He chooses any of us, because He says, wow, out of everybody on earth, that is a really cool person.

Or that's a really good person. That's not how this happens. It's something that happens in the genius of God. Beyond our comprehension, in the genius of God, He chooses when and how to give grace. So, first of all, grace is then based on our unworthiness. Understand it. We have no worthiness for grace. He chose ancient Israel to do some things for Him. Let's go to Deuteronomy and see how He tells them about what He's done with them. Deuteronomy 9. Deuteronomy 9, verse 3.

God says to the ancient Israelites, therefore understand today that the Lord your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He's talking about how there was a group of people that were going to confront them in war. And He said, understand, I'm going to save you. I'm going to do something for you that you can't do yourselves because I have chosen you for part of my plan of salvation.

He will destroy them and bring them down before you, so you shall dry them out and destroy them quickly as the Lord has said to you. I'm going to destroy that. I'm going to go through and make it now possible for you to take the land that I have promised to Abraham in his seed. Do not think in your heart after the Lord your God is cast them out before you, saying, because of my righteousness, the Lord has brought me in to possess this land. But it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out from before you.

He says, no, I'm moving them out because you can't dwell with these people because they're wicked and they will actually corrupt you. And I'm not going to have you corrupted. You're supposed to follow me. It is not because of your righteousness, verse 5, or the uprightness of your heart that you go into possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you, that he may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Therefore, understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, because you're a stiff-necked, you're a stubborn people. So he says, understand, I'm going to do all these things. I made promises to Abraham and they're going to happen. But don't think it's because you're so special. You're the most stubborn people. That's what he tells them.

You're just stubborn. So this is the Old Testament concept of grace. Grace, there is a Hebrew word for grace, but it's the Old Testament concept of grace. You're not worthy of what I'm doing, but I'm doing it because it's what I do. God says, it's because it's who I am. You know, Romans 9, Paul explains the exact same thing. Now, as I go through this, there is a real misunderstanding of grace that we'll talk about in a minute in certain Protestant groups.

Majority of Protestants don't believe this, but there is a group that does. Their teachings are based on the writings of John Calvin. But Romans 9, verse 14 says, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not. The context in which he says that is that verse 13, he's talking about Jacob and Esau. He says, as it is written, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.

And the context is that he's just saying, I picked Jacob to be the one who would carry out the lineage from Abraham. I didn't pick Esau. They're brothers, but I chose one over the other. Does this make me unrighteous and mean and terrible? For he says to Moses, verse 15, I will have mercy on whoever I am will have mercy. I will have compassion on whoever I will have compassion.

So then it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. We have a part to play. Our first understanding of grace from God is it is His doing. It comes from Him in order to achieve what He wants to achieve. What we do know, and we're doing this as a Bible study, so I'm just taking it step by step through it. What we do know is in Matthew 13, that helps us understand then how Jesus talks about this. Matthew 13, verse 10. The disciples wondered why Jesus taught so much in parables. You know, there's times they went to Him and said, what in the world are you teaching?

We don't understand what this parable means. So they come to Him and said to Him, why do you speak to them? Why do you speak to the people in parables? Many times they go away confused. And He answered and said to them, because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

He says, I have given you an understanding in these parables that the average Jew was not understanding, and this is on purpose. Wow. That's a little scary thing. I mean, what do you mean? It's clear to us, why is it clear to them? Because God has given you something He hasn't given to them. For whoever has to him more will be given, for he will have abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. In other words, when God works with you, you will grow.

If God doesn't work with you, you will lose whatever knowledge you have, whatever understanding you have. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in which the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, hearing you will hear and shall not understand, seeing you will see and not perceive. For the hearts of this people have grown dull, their ears have heard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed.

They should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts, and turn so that I should heal them. In other words, he says there is something in them that is resisting, so I am not opening their eyes. They are resisting, and I am not opening their eyes. That seems, in our society, that seems offensive. God doesn't open someone's eyes because they are resisting. Verse 16, but blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they shall hear.

In fact, he tells them in verse 17, for surely I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it. To hear what you hear, did not hear it. He says there's lots of people throughout history. He could go back to Noah, and Abraham, and Sarah, all the prophets of the Old Testament, and he said they wanted to hear what you hear.

They wanted to hear the Messiah teach them. So you don't understand. You've been given a grace they had not received. Now that doesn't mean there was all great men and women of God in the Old Testament that received salvation, will be in the first resurrection, but they had not received the grace that he's saying you have received. You received something that from God they did not, because I'm here now, Jesus says, and you're in interaction with me. We wait for the great grace of God that showed it is second coming. We anticipate that.

And there will be those who are alive when that happens, and there are those who will be made alive when that happens. So we see that God talks about here and shows that He deals with people in different ways in order to bring them into salvation. And we have to talk about salvation a little bit, too, because there's grace that's misunderstood in terms of salvation by many people, that if God gives you grace, you don't have to do anything else. In fact, if you try to obey things like Sabbath or tithing, that means you're a legalist and you're trying to earn salvation.

And that's not what grace is about at all. We'll read it. It's in the Scripture. We'll read it here as time goes on. God desires all people to be saved. He says that. I desire all people to be saved. God doesn't desire that people should end up in the lake of fire, but we do know people would be put in the lake of fire. So how does God's grace deal with that? And this comes down to something that we know that's beyond this sermon that's so important. We actually understand that there are different days of salvation and that we keep that eighth day, that last grade day.

We do that every year. We look forward to the time of the second resurrection when all those who never knew God, who never—it wasn't their day. He did not give them grace. All the people that never had that given to them will be resurrected and receive the opportunity of salvation. That is a remarkable understanding. In the Calvinist viewpoint, I've seen Calvinist ministers literally say, somewhere between 95 to 98 percent of all people that have ever lived will be burning, screaming, and tortured in hell forever.

Because God did not give them grace. It's not because they had a chance to choose. It's because God did not give them grace. We see where God doesn't always give everybody grace. We understand grace is given at different times.

Everybody will receive the grace that says, I will reveal myself to you if you want me to. If you will open your heart and mind, and you will repent, and you have faith, and I will give that grace to you. But you know, God's saying, if you open your heart and mind, I will give my grace to you, is an act of grace.

Everything He does, we have to stop thinking of grace as just some doctrine.

Grace is an aspect of God's character that flows from Him and brings us to Him.

It's powerful when God says, I'm giving you grace.

It's mercy. It's compassion. It's all these different attributes of God's nature that come out in these actions of grace.

So it is unmerited, pardon. Well, let's go to Romans 3.

Once again, we're going to be looking into a passage here where Paul explains some specific words, some specific aspects of doctrine that tie into grace. That becomes misunderstood. A lot of times you just have to read the whole passage.

Verse 20 says, therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Oh, see? To be justified, you just do away with law. That's not what it says.

Its justification is the right to have a relationship with God. You hear me talk about that all the time. It is the right to have a relationship with God. You and I can't create that right.

God, I'm here. He decided, let's go have coffee. It doesn't work that way.

It works because God, through His grace, says, I'm calling you now for my purpose. You know what's interesting in ancient Israel? It was His grace that brought them out of Egypt, destroyed the entire Egyptian empire for a while.

It was His grace that brought them there. It was His grace that helped them to do the Canaanites.

And He never gave them, except for a handful, the grace of salvation because the Holy Spirit was not given to them.

He never gave that to them. And yet we see His grace, His interaction with them all along, as He carries out the plan of salvation.

So Paul writes that. No, the law tells us what is... Let's put it this way.

Because the word sin has become so convoluted or watered down and different definitions give it to it. Let's just put it this way.

Therefore, by the deeds of the law, though, flesh will be justified, given a right to have a relationship with God in His sight.

But by the law is the knowledge of crimes. Now we got it.

We know what criminals do. Of course, the problem is when we understand the law of God, we all realize we're criminals.

That's what we are. We've all broken the law of God. We've committed crimes against God.

So I think crimes there is a better... That's not a literal translation. It's the Gary Petty translation.

But it means something.

By the law explains what a crime is.

Makes sin a little bit more powerful, too.

But now the righteousness of God, verse 21, apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

Righteousness means that the person... that you're right.

You are right. You're never... Here, God's ever wrong.

So the fact that God is good and right is witnessed in what?

The law and the prophets. The law here, meaning the first five books of the Old Testament.

Understand the giving of the Ten Commandments. Wasn't Moses writing them down? Wasn't Moses coming up with the Ten?

It wasn't because Israel was such a wonderful people and because the Israelites were so obedient.

I mean, while Moses is up there, they're what? Having an orgy with pagan idols, right?

Now why? It was because of the grace of God. God gave His favor to them and said, here is the basis of moral law, right here.

So the law can't save us, but even the law itself is an act of grace. It's a favor. It's a gift from God.

No human being came up with the Ten Commandments. God did.

For all have sinned, verse 23, well, verse 22, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe, for there's no difference. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All have committed crimes. The problem here, we're all criminals.

That's what we have to understand. We're all criminals going before an absolutely righteous, perfect, good creator. That's what we are. Well, I'm not a criminal like this person.

We're also corrupted. We're all criminals. It's that simple. We have to accept our criminality.

Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. He doesn't say here, being justified freely, all you have to do is say, Eh, God, I'm sorry. Let's just call this even, right? Let's just know through Christ Jesus. When we get back a little bit here, we're going to go back to Peter a little bit and talk about what growing a grace and knowledge means in the way he uses that, because that phrase is taken out of a whole sentence.

He says, we have to understand the penalty for our criminality is death. God requires it because of His goodness, and you're justified because Christ dies for you.

That's all part of this concept of grace.

Unmerited pardon, not because God says, eh, I don't care what criminals do. You can do whatever you want. I forgive you. No, it's your crimes must be paid for. My crimes must be paid for, your crimes must be paid for, and Christ took the penalty, because that's the way God the Father and Jesus Christ think. So that's not fair. No, no, no. It's sure not fair. If God was looking for fairness, we'd all die.

God's not looking for fairness. What God is saying is, this is who I am.

My mercy, my love comes out in this grace, and in this grace, I will take your penalty for you. That's what Jesus says, I take your penalty for you.

And that's grace. That's an aspect of the nature of the Father and the Son.

He says, verse 25, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance, God has passed over the sins that were previously committed.

To demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of one who has faith in Jesus.

So it comes down to, understand the only way this happens is because of His righteousness.

This is who He is. This is how God thinks. That's why I get appalled at so much of woke Christianity that claims that Jesus didn't die for your sins, because that would mean God is a terrible, well, child abuser of His own son. That's what some say. Because it takes away who He really is. This is how God thinks. I can't bear with sin, but my grace is such that it carries out actions. And that action is, I will save you from your sins.

And I'll show you how much I hate criminality.

Jesus became like a criminal for us. Think about it. Roman execution, the way He was beaten and killed, was what they did to either criminals or traitors against the state. He became a criminal in treatment for you and me. This is all wrapped up in the concept of grace and what that means. So, let's summarize a little bit here. Every person who has lived on earth except Jesus is a criminal and needs the grace of God for eternal life. They need favor from God. Two, the actions of God's grace in sacrificing and resurrecting Jesus Christ is the only way for salvation.

Three, He calls various people during this time, and the reason why He does this is because Satan is the God of this world. He allowed Satan to interact with humanity, and he is the God of this world for only a period of time. At the end of that time, through God's grace, Satan is removed and human beings will have the chance to know their Creator.

He will let them know who He is and who Christ is. So, for the time being, he's not calling everybody now. The disciples didn't understand it. They wrestled with that. They struggled with it. We struggle with that. Sometimes every time we see a really nice, good person, we say, well, God has to be working with them. For one thing, God may be giving people—God's giving grace all the time to people. When we're talking about salvation, the salvation grace, the grace of salvation becomes very specific. And we have to understand that. Not that we can determine everything that God's doing.

I've mentioned this before. I've seen miracles, and a couple of the miracles that I've seen through anointing. One was with somebody who had a very—they weren't part of our church—and had a very weak understanding of God. They just understood God existed. They understood who Jesus Christ was. And they needed help. And God healed them. That's just an act of grace. We even want to confine God. We want to confine Him. We can't do that. But we have to know who we are. Our biggest problem is we have to understand what grace—the level of grace—that has been given to us.

That's what we have to understand. And just like the disciples, well, why is it given to everybody? Because it's not their time yet. It's not their time yet. Those of us, number four, who are called now, we repent, we're called, we repent, and we are chosen.

We have to respond to the calling. God's grace is not—the Calvinists believe you can't resist God's grace. And here's why. Before God created humanity—Adam and Eve, anybody—he knew in his mind how many people would be born, when they would be born, and who they would be. And God looked out over the massive humanity before they were ever born and said, I'm going to pick this person and this person and this person, and I'm going to save them.

This person is a good person. This person is a murderer. I'm going to save them. But everybody else is just going to go to hell. And the only reason I'm doing this is to show my grace. I save whom I will, and I torture forever whom I will. And so in real sense, there's no free will. All they come up and he's convoluted. Oh yes, we have free will. But no, you were chosen to go to hell before you were even born.

How could you have free will? Well, because God knew what I would choose. So there, you know, God knew it. When we look at what God's doing, and we understand that we received this pardon, not because we were special, that's true, but because God called us.

That's what it says in 1 Corinthians 1. We read that all the time, verses 26 through 30. We were called to show how great God is. They take that to mean, Oh, if you were chosen for eternity with God, that just shows how great God is. If you were chosen to go to hell forever, that just shows how great God is. That's not how God thinks, though. It's a misrepresentation of God.

God says, I wish to show myself to everyone in their time. Now we get to choose, but He wants to show Himself to everybody in their time, and His time, not their time. He chooses when He will show Himself to them. But there is, we can resist God's grace. It is possible for a human being to say, no. You say, well, that limits God, no. God, if He wanted to, could literally take control of your mind, He could take control of our minds and make us do what He wants, as if we're just a pet to be trained.

He could do that. He has the power to do that. He could take our free will away. He gave it to us. He could do whatever He wants. But when God gives free will, He wants a conscious child, not a pet. So He won't force us to have salvation. That means we can resist grace.

Hebrews 10.

It's interesting. Ancient Israel resisted God's grace many times. And yet, we see in Ezekiel where they are all going to be resurrected and given an opportunity to receive God's Spirit and actually become His eternal children. Well, they resisted His grace then, yes. But remember, God gives grace in different ways to people. To receive God's Spirit, the grace of conversion, the grace that happens through baptism, when we receive God's Spirit, total forgiveness, to be His child. To resist at that point and go completely just give it up. Now, I don't know which point somebody's given it up. I mean, all of us drift away from God from time to time. And I've seen people drift away from God for 30 years and come back. Use it with a messed up life and say, I get it.

Hebrews 10.26.

For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there is no longer a sacrifice for sins. See, this isn't just having head knowledge. This is when you actually have received the ultimate, well, not the ultimate, the next step in grace. Grace is receiving something from God, not because you're worthy, but because He's doing what He does. But once we receive His Spirit and we have the truth in us, we have accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

There no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversary's, the lake of fire. Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. But how much worse punishment do you suppose will be thought worthy on who has trampled the Son of God under foot, counted the blood of the covenant by which He was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? Well, that's sort of hard, isn't it? That's sort of harsh from God. This is quite offensive.

There are entire explanations to try to do away with this. It's interesting that this is what this really means, but it is what it means. Now, you haven't done that. I'm afraid I will. We're going to see in a minute.

You have to make that decision to do that because we're forgetting something. The grace of God comes from God. As long as we understand that, and as long as we interact with that, we will not fail. That's a promise we get from Him. As long as we interact, as long as we don't give up.

Or we can drift, we can go off and sin, we can do stupid things. But as long as we keep responding, He'll keep bringing us back. And when He does, that grace, there's not like God says, I only have so much grace.

Sorry, and the grace meter, you know, you've reached zero, you don't get any more. No, it's His nature to be that way, which we need to be real thankful for. It is His nature to be that way. It is also His nature to say, you become evil and incapable of repentance, and I will not live with you forever. That's His right to do that as Creator. And I will not torture you forever either. See, His nature is so that He would not do that. We have to understand more deeply, I think, who God really is in the little ways that we do.

We, our understanding of God is tiny. But understanding this aspect of His grace... So now let's go to this grow in grace and knowledge, okay? Let's go to 2 Peter 3 and read it. 2 Peter 3, 17.

You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness and be led away with error of the wicked. So what He's telling people here... And Peter's...we're going through this letter in the series of Bible studies. What He's saying to all the churches, you know, don't leave what God's given to you. Hold on! God's going to do this. But grow in the grace and knowledge... Oh, grow in grace and knowledge. But we don't often recite the rest of the sentence. Of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to Him be the glory both now and forever.

Amen. In other words, we understand the grace of God through Christ, what He did for us and what He's doing for us now. He says you keep growing in that grace. You keep growing in your understanding of Jesus Christ. You keep understanding that God didn't do this frivolously. Oh, yeah, He died for you, but I don't like you today, so I'm throwing you away. That's not how this works. It is the nature of God, and it is the nature of Christ, to say, look what we want to give to you.

Or if I'm just a little better... No, we have to make you better. Well, if I could just get where I have no sin, then I'm worthy of baptism. Then nobody's worthy of baptism. Nobody. And guess what? After you're baptized, if it's based on sinlessness, you're not worthy of living. It all comes down to, no, understand what it takes for you to get from being who you are now to who you should be as my child.

And I say, God says, I'm driven to do this. This is how He thinks. This is how He acts. This is what motivates Him. We are His motivation. He wants us, and this is what He does. And this is His grace. That's why He says, if you turn against that and give up my spirit, I can't do anything for you. You've decided, and I won't take away your free will. But as long as you haven't done that, watch what I can do. We forget what He does.

Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 1. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 1. This is just a doctrine. We use the word all the time. We talk about salvation. We talk about sacrifice of Jesus. But we've got to see how this all fits into that grace isn't just what we think it is. You know what we think it is a lot? Here's what we think of grace. You're standing before God, and God is the judge. And God says, you know what? You're a criminal. You deserve death. But because I'm feeling generous today, I'll just hit the gavel and say, you're pardoned. Go forth and don't break the law anymore. God's grace is a whole lot more than that. Now it is where you appear before Him, and He hits the gavel and says, you're forgiven. You're pardoned through the blood of Jesus Christ. But it's more than that. Why does He do that? Why does He say that to you? What is God's purpose in that? It's interesting here in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 4. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God, which was given to you by Christ Jesus. He says to the church of Corinth, Paul writes to them, that he thanks God because he looks at that church in Corinth. I look at the church of Corinth and I see a bunch of people I wouldn't even want to meet. The most dysfunctional place, church I've ever heard of. And Paul says, I thank God that He's given you grace because, well, if He hadn't, He'd just throw you away the way you act.

That you were enriched in everything by Him, in all utterance, in all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you. So Christ is confirmed in them. We're going back to growing grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. He's going to live in us through the Spirit of God.

So that you come short in no gift.

A gift?

No, Paul talks a lot about gifts.

Paul says receiving the Holy Spirit is a gift. He talks about how every member of the church has a gift. Where does that gift come from? From the Spirit of God. Where does the Spirit of God come from? From the grace of God.

Think about that. It's the grace, it's that part of who He is that gives out His Spirit into human beings. You're flawed. Very flawed. He says, no, I'll put my Spirit in you, and now you can become something else.

This is all in the context of Him talking about God's grace. This is all one big sentence in Greek. So that you may come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. He says, because of this grace, now there's other places, he says, hang on. You don't want to lose it. But because of this grace, Jesus Christ will do it. He doesn't one day look at somebody and say, you know what, I'm sorry I died for that person. Just throw them away. That doesn't happen. You're confirmed.

Once again, I'm not trying to say, once saved, always saved. That's not grace either. I want you to see how God looked at things and what He wants, and if it doesn't happen, it's only because we reject it.

This is what He wants. This is who He is. Verse 9. God is faithful. God can't save me. How weak is your God? You're more powerful than God?

God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

You know, this right here, verses 4 through 9, just take what Peter says, growing into knowledge. We grow grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and fit for verse 9 in here. You could put that right into what Peter was saying. It's a little different writing style. Paul writes different than Peter, but it's the thought that fleshes out here. This is the God we worship. This is the God who has called us. He hasn't called everybody now. I don't know who all He's calling. I stopped a long time ago trying to figure out what God is doing and where He's doing things. I just know, hopefully, a little bit who I am and what has been given to us. I can tell you something. Until much is given, much is required. I do believe this, folks. It's my church family. A lot has been given to us. A lot is required of us. You and I have been given a lot of grace. In the knowledge we have, the power that's been given to us.

And He looks at us and says, let's do it. Come on! A lot has been given to us. It is so much more than, you're pardoned. Next person in the docket, let me see what you're doing. Pardon, it's just part of grace. So how do you grow in grace? I'm going to go just a few minutes over, but... Oh, if you want to leave, you can. Few things we can do to grow in grace. Something Moses did. Let's go to Exodus 33. Verse 12. Moses has the opportunity to come face to face with the one we know, Jesus Christ, who interacted with Him for the Father, for God.

He says, okay, I'm supposed to take possibly a couple million people. I'm supposed to take a couple million slaves that, I mean, do you realize, you know, I mean, they're my people. I love them, but most of them are uneducated. They've been slaves. They don't know how to live life. They sure don't know how to go to a new place. And you said you're going to send me some help because you say that you've given me grace. You've given me something that I didn't deserve. Well, I didn't deserve this. I'm not saying He's saying that, but He's struggling here. He's struggling this. Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in your sight, show me now your way, that I may know you, that I may find grace in your sight. And consider that this nation is your people. He said, my presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. God says, no, my presence. And that word is tied in many times with the concept of the Holy Spirit. My Spirit will be with you. I'm going to be with you. Yes, I'm going to be guiding you. I'm going to be interacting with you.

But it's interesting that He says to God, show me your way, that I may know you, and that I may find grace in your sight. We need to ask God to show us His way and show us His grace. It wasn't just something that happened when you were baptized. It was happening long before you were baptized. How in the world did you get there? You didn't make it up. None of us came to the knowledge of, oh, wow, I should be baptized.

God led you all along to where you were. You just kept responding. There's lots of people God calls for baptism, and they just won't respond. Over the years, I've had numerous people call me and want to be counseled for baptism. I do a couple counseling with them, and then they disappear. I'll call them and say, hey, you haven't seen you at church? Oh, yeah, I'll be back, and they never come back.

I've seen them sometimes a long time later. Hey, where have you been? I know, I just spent the year off. They don't follow through, and yet God is showing them something. God's giving them grace. We need to ask for it, because we're not self-sufficient. We're not worthy of it. It is just in His nature to give it, because He wants us. He wants you. God wants us. I mean, when you get down to it, everybody take a breath.

That's the grace of God right there. You just experienced the grace of God, because you're alive. Hebrews 4. Hebrews 4.14. We can't take this lightly. We get so caught up in so many different things. I mean, we all do it. I do it. That we forget. That's why every once in a while, just take a breath.

That's what I do. Oh, there's the grace of God. My heart's still beating. There's the grace of God. And when you get to be my age, wow! That's a lot of grace. Mr. Keller's here. He's older than me. You've received a lot of grace, Fred. Yes. You don't know it until you get to a certain age, right? Hebrews 4.14. Seeing that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was at all points tempted as we are yet without sin. Let us—okay, we grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, because that always focuses us back to what the Lord—what our God is doing, right? So always remember, He is there because it's His nature to do so. Just like it was His nature to sacrifice Himself, it is nature to always be before God the Father saying, accept this child.

We want this child. Take this child. And because of that, verse 16, let us come boldly to the throne of grace. Boy, has grace been watered down in the Protestant world. Oh, just believe, receive the grace of God, and you're okay. I'm okay, you're okay. No, no, no. This is God we're talking about. It's who He is. It is a motivation. It's a thought process. And He gives it to us. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy to find grace to help in the time of need.

That's a fascinating way to describe grace. The throne of grace, we keep coming before that throne. You can't stop asking. We have to go ask for it. We have to go desire it. We have to go need it. I need your help. I need your grace. I need your love. I need your guidance. I need your forgiveness. I need it. And we go, and we can receive grace to have help in the time of need.

So, first thing, ask God to give you more of His favor. Ask Him to complete the work He started in you. Go ask for it. For more favor. For more guidance. For more help. For more strength. To resist crimes. To ask Him to actually motivate you through His Spirit. Paul says it in an interesting way in 2nd Timothy 1, writing to this young minister.

Verse 7.

And this is another one of those couple verses that are quoted quite often. Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you through the laying out of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. You have to go ask for that. Remember, he said the God we worship is faithful. Well, good, He's faithful to give me... I'm going to go buy a lottery ticket. He promises to bless me, and I'm going to get a million dollars tonight. No. That's not His faithfulness. His faithfulness is to come into your life with power and love and a sound mind. And all of us, every person in this room, needs more of that.

I need it, you need it. We all need more of that. We have to go ask for it. Give me what I cannot do. Give me what I do not have. We do that. We begin to really understand grace. Now we have to respond. See, I'm not trying to say God possesses you. I'm not going down that route. What I'm saying is, without it... I hate to use a bad analogy, but... It's like trying to plug a light in... or trying to turn on a light with no electricity because you won't plug it into the socket.

Well, what's the problem with the light? Well, there has to be something that comes into that light that's not in the light. The light won't come on. You have a lamp, but you have no light. God has to come into us to do this, and then the light comes on. So we have to understand. We have to ask for it. We have to see, do I have power and love in a sound mind? And unless you're... maybe they're just me and the people I counsel with... I would believe it's most of us, are struggling at times with the power of God and really having love and having a sound mind.

Right? I know you don't want me to take you there, but let's face it. We're all there. That's because it's God that gets us through this. The knowledge... we have to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our third point is that we need to pray that God gives us more grace for the betterment of the family that we're part of, the church family that we're part of. Being part of a church is a privilege.

It's the grace of God. We have people that believe what we believe and only get to the church where they actually get with others and worship together on the Feast of Tabernacles, and that's it. And yet they stay loyal to God. They respond to the grace of God. Sometimes we have so much, it's actually harder for us. They want God so much, they stay loyal. We have so many distractions. Sometimes it's hard for us to stay loyal. And then the final point is to ask God to give you the grace, the power, so that you can obey Him.

See, grace doesn't erase obedience. Grace is what we receive to give us the power to be obedient. It's not a license to sin, as some people... Well, you receive grace, you can do whatever you want. And it's okay with God. I mean, He might be upset with you, but He'll never take His grace away. No! There's a perfect passage that describes this, that's in Titus 2, or last scripture, Titus 2. Where Paul writes to another young minister, he wrote to Timothy, he writes to Titus.

And in verse 11 he says... And once again, in Greek, this is all one sentence. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. The grace of God has appeared to all men, that only makes sense if you tie it back into Jesus Christ. We grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh, we know what God is doing. We can now look all through history. God's interaction with Abraham makes perfect sense when you get to the New Testament.

At the time, asking you to sacrifice your son, but it makes perfect sense when you get into the New Testament. You see where God's grace is all through here, and it comes when the Messiah comes. You and I live. There's two great lights in the darkness of humanity. The first coming of Jesus Christ and the second coming of Jesus Christ. We live between those two great lights. We can look back and see the one light. We can look forward and see the other light.

What a privilege. What a...the grace of God that you and I can do that. Abraham could not. Moses could not. They could see there's lights coming. We live between those two great lights. It shines in our darkness. So he says, For the grace of God that brings salvation appeared to all men. Teaching us...the grace of God teaches us something. Yes, because we understand it through the knowledge. Growing grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. Wow! Obedience! Yes, grace leads us to obedience. When we truly understand the grace of God and we're interacting with the grace of God, we learn obedience to God. Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. He says we look forward to that because we have been given this favor from God.

And we look around...you know, you just...you look at India and China. You look at...well, even in the United States, how many people believe in any form of Christianity as shrinking and shrinking and shrinking? We live in a world of disbelief, and you and I have had the lights turned on in the darkness. Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us that He may redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. Wow! You couldn't read that and come to the conclusion that grace means you don't have to do anything.

It says the exact opposite. Grace leads us to this. It leads us to this. God showed you grace. Who knows? Sometimes...maybe before you were even born. He's worked with you. He's worked with you through all your problems and your sins and your issues and ups and downs of life. Because He's bringing you to the point where He wants you to be.

But understand how grace it creates. The grace of God isn't just, oh, I forgive you, the grace of God comes into the power of His being and it creates. It is through His favor that His power heals our damaged human nature, right? By the grace of God you receive forgiveness. By the grace of God you received the Holy Spirit. It is through His favor that the Holy Spirit opens your minds and teaches us. He teaches us. Our understanding comes from the grace of God.

It's not because we were smart enough to figure it out. And we still don't know all of it. We know that, right? We still don't know all of it. It is through His favor that His law was given and it is through His favor that we learn how to obey that law. It's through Him. It is through His favor that we will be resurrected from the dead. That means we should be approaching God all the time and say, Please give me more grace, more mercy, more understanding, more fruits of the Spirit, more development of the gifts of the Spirit, and more power to obey.

And daily asking, please help me to grow in grace and knowledge.