Saved By Grace

Well, brethren, what one element is it going to take more than any other for you and me to be born into God's family? What's that one element? What one thing more than any other is it going to take to receive the gift of eternal life? Is it humility? It is going to take humility, isn't it? It surely is. Is it obedience? It's going to take obedience, too, isn't it? What about faith? Faith is super important. It's essential that we have faith. Without faith, we're not going to live forever.

Without obedience, we won't live forever. And without humility, we won't live forever. But I think there's one other element that we need to talk about today. Simply put, the most essential element of all is grace. We're saved by grace. Now, that's the most important element.

Certainly, it's important that we're humble people, that we learn humility, that we learn obedience, and that we learn faith. But we are saved by grace. It is God's graciousness, it's his character, his very being, that will ensure that we shall live forever in his kingdom if we just do our part. If we just strive to do our part and try to do our best. Really try! Now, God's the judge of that, isn't he? On whether or not we're really giving it our best effort, that we're really repentant. God's the one that grants repentance. God looks on our heart, and he's the one that determines. I can't determine. You can't determine. God is the one that determines whether or not you'll be given entrance into his kingdom.

Certainly, it does say that he who endures to the end shall be saved. So we do know it's important to keep fighting that good fight, isn't it? We can't give in, we can't give up. Why is there so much confusion regarding the biblical fact that we are indeed saved by grace? I'm going to talk about grace today. The title is Saved by Grace.

The true church of God has often been characterized by others as having the belief that we may earn our salvation, earn it by works of the law. We've been accused of being legalists, believing that we are saved by keeping God's law. The true church of God has never held this erroneous belief, no matter what anyone else tells you. The true church of God has never held that belief that we're going to be saved by our law-keeping. Some think we're here on the Sabbath today because we believe that's what's going to save us.

It's not our Sabbath-keeping that's going to save us. It is important, it is a sign that we are God's people. So it is a very important sign. This is fundamental, what we're talking about today. It should be clearly understood by all true Christians that we are indeed saved by grace. We are in the process of being saved by grace.

It's not once saved, always saved. We are in the process of being saved. Those of us who have been baptized, who have come under the blood of our Savior Jesus Christ, have repented of our sins, have accepted Christ as our Savior, then we are in the process of being saved. And others are being worked with. God had to work with all of us at one point. God works with us by the power of His Spirit.

People change when God's Spirit begins to work with them. And so that's always very edifying to see someone that is moving in the right direction, that is becoming more and more interested in God's ways and pleasing God and serving Him and doing those things that are right and good in God's sight.

So it is important that we understand grace. Today we're going to talk about four main elements in the sermon. First of all, we're going to talk about grace, what it is. We've already talked about that to some degree.

We'll talk about it more. It is certainly the gift of God. It is His graciousness and love toward His children who desire to love and serve Him. Not all children honor their parents, do they? Not all children keep that commandment, but that's one commandment we all need to keep when it comes to our Heavenly Father.

We need to honor our God, we honor our Father in Heaven, honor our Savior who sits at the right hand of God. So we'll talk about what grace is. We'll also talk about the fact that salvation comes only through grace.

The only way you'll be saved is by grace. Thirdly, salvation comes only through accepting Christ as your personal Savior and also true repentance of your sins. A true repentance. God looks on the heart. He knows whether a person is truly repentant. Unfortunately, many people have kept the Sabbath. Many people have feigned that they were on target, that they were converted, and yet they're not here today.

Many thousands of people. God looks on the heart. God knows their situation. God knows whether or not they actually ever received the Holy Spirit or not. Obviously, when we get baptized, we need to receive God's Holy Spirit. When the minister lays hands upon us, we need to know that we've received the Spirit of God, and then we need to stay faithful to the convictions that we're all supposed to hold. And, you know, that's why we counsel people for baptism. We don't just baptize them. You know, we don't just dunk them in the water, because then they may wonder their whole life, especially as they come into a greater understanding of God's truth, whether or not they actually receive God's Holy Spirit. So it is something that we take, obviously, very seriously. We don't want to string people on, though. That's not the point. But when people are ready, you know, when they're seeking to be baptized, I felt compelled to be baptized, frankly. When I came into God's Church, I mean, I was compelled. I talked to the minister. I wanted to be baptized. He told me, well, it looks like you're probably going to go to Ambassador College, so you probably should wait. So I had to wait, you know, a number of months, and they baptized me at Ambassador College. That's okay. I mean, whatever, you know, whatever, you know, you just need to go with the flow. But anyone who wants to be baptized should make it very apparent. You know, they should seek to be baptized. They should seek counseling. You know, they shouldn't just wait on the minister. The minister's waiting on them. So it is really important that we do the things that we should be doing and that we study God's Word, and we are convicted in the doctrines and in the truths of God. That's why we ask people to read booklets.

You know, we ask them to read this booklet, that booklet, the other booklet, because we want them to know what they're getting themselves into and what it means to be baptized. You know, it's important. You know, if later on they say, well, I didn't know you guys believed that. I don't believe that. Well, you know, that's not so hot. That's not so good. So anyway, that's a little bit on baptism. Also, we're going to talk about the knowledge and understanding of God's Holy Days and how they give us the context that we need to understand salvation by grace. A lot of people don't see the connection there, but there is a very evident connection between observing not just the Sabbath, but all of God's annual Holy Days. They help us understand what salvation by grace is about because the Holy Days picture God's plan. Each one of them, starting with Passover to the eighth day, the last great day, they all picture a part of God's Holy Day plan. So it's important. Salvation is by grace. It's part of God's plan. So grace is God's unmerited free and spontaneous love for sinful mankind. We're all sinners, right? Every one of us.

Now, we have something in common as human beings, and that is we are sinners and that we need forgiveness. Again, grace is God's basic nature. God is a gracious person, a being, not a person, not, you know, like you and me, but a gracious God. He's full of grace. We know the Scripture says, God is love, and grace is all about love. God is willing to forgive every sin, no matter how heinous and despicable it is, if there is true repentance. And obviously, that means not going back to the vomit. You know, there's a very vivid Scripture here about those who go back to the vomit that they came out of and eat the vomit. You know, how a dog will go back to it. It's disgusting. You've probably all seen it happen. It's disgusting, and that's how God looks at someone who is a soldier in God's army, a Christian soldier, and then he turns against it, turns away from it.

He goes AWOL.

So, God will forgive us, but there are requirements. A repentant heart is a requirement. God isn't going to grant repentance unless he sees a repentant heart. Then he will continue to work with us, and he can work with us a long time. He's been working with me for over 40 years, and I'm sorry to tell you, and I'm sure you probably find this difficult to believe, but I'm not yet perfect. I know you thought I would. No, I'm not yet perfect. I'm far from perfect.

Christ was perfect. Christ set the perfect example for all of us. Christ is the image of the Father. They are one, and we are to become like them, and frankly, we all have fallen short of that, and we continue to, and we will as long as we're in the flesh.

That's the problem. We're shackled by the flesh.

It's too easy to walk in the flesh instead of walking in the Spirit, but the Scripture says we have to learn to walk in the Spirit and no longer walk in the flesh. That's a lifelong battle. It's a lifelong struggle to learn to walk in the Spirit.

So, you know, a person isn't going to be repentant unless they're also willing to forgive others.

Scripture talks about that. You know, God forgives us in the same manner that we forgive others.

A person won't be humble if they're not learning the importance of obedience, either. You know, if a person doesn't understand why obedience is important, why we should obey God and keep His commandments, certainly we'll never learn humility. A person won't be obedient unless they have faith. You know, in order to be obedient, you have to believe that there's a God and that God cares about your conduct. You know, that God cares about your behavior and that you are accountable. Forgiveness and the ability to forgive others is a gift of God, just as humility is a gift as well. I mean, everything basically ends up being a gift from God. God living in us, God working in us. Obedience is a choice to yield to God's Spirit, which is directing or leading a person to do that which is right and pleasing to God and not go the other direction.

Not fulfill our own desires, our own lust, but do the will of the Father. That's what Christ said, not my will, but your will be done. And he was willing to do his Father's will.

Let's go to Ephesians chapter 2, a very fundamental scripture here in regard to grace. Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2, and we'll start reading in verse 1. I'm going to read several verses here, so you can read along with me, think about it, think about how it applies to your life.

Chapter 2 verse 1, and you he made alive. Now Paul's talking to the Ephesians, a Gentile church, primarily. There may have been some Jews as well, a part of this. We are all one in Christ.

He says, And you he made alive. So he's talking to them, but he's also talking to you today.

And you he made alive who were dead, and trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the prince of darkness. Satan the devil is talking about who the Bible reveals as the god of this world.

Bible says we're to come out of the world. We're not to follow Satan and his ways. We're to follow God's ways. The prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience. See, when you're disobedient, you are following Satan the devil. He is your father.

He does those types of works. God is perfect. God doesn't do those things.

So we need to be obedient and follow God's guide and his lead, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath.

Now that's interesting that we were by nature children of wrath. It's no wonder it's difficult to be good. That's what my son said. Something very profound. I probably shared that with you when he was about four or five years old. He told me, dad, it's hard to be good. It's hard to be good.

I think he'd gotten in trouble. I think he might have gotten paddled.

And then afterwards, he informed me that it was hard to be good. It is hard, but it's important that we learn to be good. God is good and we need to be like him.

Be you holy even as I am holy. That's our calling. You know, that's a high and a holy calling. So it goes on to say that we were children of wrath just as the others. Everyone, you know, we're all human family. We're all sinners. Verse four, but God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. By grace, you have been saved.

We are made alive in Christ and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace, you have been saved through faith.

Yes, you have to have faith. You have to really believe that God will give you his Spirit, that God has forgiven your sins, that Jesus Christ is who the Bible reveals him to be, that he is our sacrifice, our perfect sacrifice for our sins.

For by grace, you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

We should never boast about whatever goodness is present in us, because it's not because of you.

Yes, you do have to yield to God. You do have to allow him to work in you. But if you take the credit, then you just blew it, because you don't deserve the credit. God is the one that does the works. We just need to try to get out of the way and let God work in us, and not make it about us. It's not about us. It's about God and God living in us.

For we are his workmanship. We are created in Christ Jesus for good works. That's why we were created. So is it any wonder that church talks about doing good, keeping the commandments, doing good works? Is it any wonder that we that's part of our belief system? Yes, we were made to do good works. We were made to keep the commandments. We were made to have no other God before the true God. To worship Him. To worship Him only. The God family. To worship God. We were made never to bow down to images and other likenesses. We were made to never take God's name in vain. To never break his Sabbath, but to honor Him by observing the Sabbath the way He intended. To keep it in the way God intended. To honor our mother and our father. To be thankful for our parents. Certainly not to murder, but even don't harbor hatred or resentment toward others. Now that's the spirit of God's commandments. And every one of them has the spirit spiritual element to it. I mean there's a there's a letter, a letter of the law, but there's the spirit of the law, and we need to live by both.

So not murdering, not hating, not committing adultery, you know, being faithful to your mate, being a moral person. You know, the Bible says that our bodies are the temple of God's Spirit.

And when we we sin sexually, we sin against our own bodies. So pornography and all that stuff is wrong. It's bad. It's not something that we should minimize or think it doesn't matter that we can just continue on, and we don't have to fight hard to get victory over that. You know, that's an addiction. Now we cannot be addicted to anything except God in His ways. Now that's the addiction that we should all have. If anything else, if we're addicted to anything else, then we need to overcome that. That's a stronghold that Satan has set up in our lives, and we've allowed him to set up in our lives. And you know, we know that with God all things are possible. So the problem's with you. It's not with God. So you got to keep working on it and never give up. Keep working on these things. Sometimes it takes a lifetime to overcome some things. It's hard. It's hard to be good. But we are His workmanship. We are created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we should walk in them. I guess I shouldn't stop with the seventh commandment. We shouldn't steal, right? You know, we shouldn't want something that belongs to someone else that's coveting, as well as stealing from them. We shouldn't lie. You know, some people lie like it's second nature. You know, and you need to catch yourself when you lie.

You know, Andy Griffith was a pretty bad liar. You know, if you've never watched, especially the earlier shows, I think he lied quite a bit to Opie. You know, we're not supposed to lie about things. You know, we're supposed to be honest in how we live our lives. So, it is important.

These commandments are important because we were created for good works.

We should keep all the commandments. We should learn to live by every word of God. I mean, the Bible's an amazing book, isn't it? I mean, there's no other book like it. It's truly inspired by God. You know, it's one that we should spend reasonable time in each day, if at all possible. There might be an exception somewhere in there, but it should be a rare exception that we're not getting our nose in the Bible and studying the Bible and reading the Bible.

What's more important in this life, really, than taking some time to think about God and His Word and what He's telling us. You know, God speaks to us by His Word. If we're not reading it, how is He going to speak to us? You know, do you expect Him to just...

He doesn't speak to that many people in audible voices.

Most of it He does through His written Word. You know, He's inspired all this. He's written it down. We have access to it. We can pull it up on our little iPhones. You know, it's amazing the access that we have to God's Word to study His Word. You know, and it's important because, you know, there will be challenges in God's Church about doctrine. There's been challenges in the past.

There are challenges today when it comes to new ideas or maybe not so new, but oftentimes recirculated things come up. You know, they can catch people. So it is important to study God's Word and to stick with God's Word and make sure that we understand what God is telling us through His Word. This word, grace, in Ephesians, is the word charis. C-H-A-R-I-S. It's Strongs 54-85. It means graciousness, as I've already mentioned. The manner or act of being gracious, especially the divine influence upon the heart. And its reflection in the life, also including gratitude. You know, we should be grateful, thankful. I mean, that's huge.

We should be a thankful people for what God is doing in our lives. It is God's favor. You know, when God is giving us His grace, He's being favorable toward us. We are in His favor.

It is a wonderful gift. It's joy, liberality, pleasure, and something thank-worthy. This is all part of what this word means. It's from the Greek word karo. C-H-A-I-R-O. I guess it's cairo, is the way you're supposed to pronounce that. It's 54-63 cairo. It's the primary verb to be full of cheer. That is, calmly happy. You know, God's a happy God. You know, God's a very happy God. He loves us. He wants to give us His kingdom. He wants all good things for us.

This is what this word is about. Now, let's go to Acts 4, where it says that salvation comes only through Christ. Salvation comes only through Christ. You know, if anyone who's not reading and believing and studying the Bible, they're going to have to wait a while.

They're not going to be in the first resurrection. If they don't believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior, you know, they're going to have to wait a while. Acts 4, verse 10, "...let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified..." This is Peter and John after a man had been healed, a man who is crippled from his mother's womb, something that they had never seen before in Israel. This man is walking. He's leaping. He's completely whole. He's healed. And so, they actually arrest Peter and John for this. And he says, "...let it be known that it is the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. By him this man stands here before you whole." It's Jesus Christ that makes a person whole.

Jesus Christ shed his blood for us. Jesus Christ was God.

No other religion talks about this, do they? I mean, I don't know of any other religion that talks about God becoming flesh, dwelling among us, living perfectly. I mean, it makes the most sense of any other religion out there. It's through Jesus Christ that you'll be saved.

Now, the film Amazing Grace chronicles William Wilberforce. How many of you have seen the film called Amazing Grace? It's pretty interesting. I think you'd probably like it. I don't think there's much in it that would be objectionable. It's called Amazing Grace. And it chronicles William Wilberforce, who is played by the guy that plays the Fantastic Four, the stretchy guy Eon or Ion or however, Gruff-Gruffid is his name. Anyway, he endeavors to end the British transatlantic slave trade in the 19th century in the late 1800s or somewhere in the 1800s, mid to late. Wilberforce has made an earlier visit to his old pastor and friend John Newton.

Now, John Newton is the one who wrote Amazing Grace. The hymn that we sing. Newton himself was a former captain of a slave ship prior to his conversion to Christ. Now, again, it's debatable. I don't believe that he was probably truly converted. He wasn't keeping the Fourth Commandment, as far as I know. I don't know all about his life, but as far as I know, he was not a Sabbath king. He was a Sabbath keeper. So he understood some things. There are a lot of people on this earth. There's a billion people that believe in Christ, but they don't have the fullness of what that means.

They're deceived. Satan has his ministers. They're ministers of light. They make things seem right, but in reality, they're not right. They're a mixture of good and evil. A mixture. So you have to go with where the good is and where God is leading you and calling you in order to understand it. The Fourth Commandment is a huge test commandment.

And the Fourth Commandment isn't enough. I mean, if that's all people are doing, that's not enough.

We're known by our love toward each other. But the Fourth Commandment is an important commandment, and the annual Holy Days are important commandments. And so we need to observe all of these things if we're going to be pleasing to God. If God's truly calling us and we're responding to the call, the Bible says many are called, but few are chosen because most people don't respond to the call. You know, they'll go so far, but they won't go all the way.

It takes a complete surrender to go all the way, and it's something that we all have to learn over the course of many years. And I don't know that any of us are completely surrendered. If we were completely surrendered, I suppose we would be perfect. And I don't know any of us that are.

But it's a process. We're in the process of being saved.

So anyway, he goes to Newton, and he wants Newton to give an account of his slave ship days, what it was like. He wants to be able to use Newton's account to help others see the horrendous part of being a slave person, one who owned slaves and transported slaves and was in the slave business. He wanted him to give an account of his slave ship days. Newton, however, refused to do so because the experience and what he referred to as the 20,000 ghosts. I'm assuming about 20,000 people that were on all the ships that he... they were basically haunting him too greatly and to talk about it was too difficult.

Later on, now near success in ending the slave trade, Wilberforce visits Newton again and discovers that he has recorded his account. He's written it all down.

His eyesight is now gone, but Newton says to Wilberforce, you must use it. Names, records, ship records, ports, where they landed the ships, people, everything I remember is in here.

Although my memory is fading, I remember two things very clearly. I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior. I mean, what he understood of Christ saved his life.

I mean, it saved his life. Even though it may have just been that a temporary saving, he'll still have to come out of the grave and be taught the real truth, the rest of the story, so to speak. I mean, God's the judge of all that. I don't presume...

I don't presume to know everything. I just know what the Bible tells me and what seems to make sense to me personally, and that's what I go by.

So, in John 1.14, it says, And the word became flesh. Remember that? John chapter 1, a very important chapter in the Bible. If we didn't have John 1, man, we would really be lacking in a lot of understanding if we didn't have John chapter 1. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus Christ was full of grace and truth, just like his Father. No surprise there. In Ephesians chapter 1 verses 5 and 8, let's go back to Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 5. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 5. I hate to go into the middle of the thing. Let's go back to verse 3.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us and him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ, predestined us in terms of our calling. God is calling us now as our day of salvation.

We have been predestined at this time to be called of God. It's up to us to answer the call, to follow through, and to answer the call. Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. See, our sins have to be forgiven because the wages of sin is death.

And it's speaking not just of physical death but of eternal death. So we all deserve the grave for eternity. The wages of sin is death. It goes on to say here, which he made in him, verse 7 again, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace were saved by his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in earth in him. It says in him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him, who works all things according to the counsel of his will. It's talking about the Father, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. Okay, so this is saying that we all deserve death. The wages of sin is death. That's in Romans chapter 6. In fact, let's go ahead and go there. It's in Christ that we have redemption through his blood. He is our Redeemer. It's fine to say the Father is our Redeemer as well, because he is. You know, they work together in tandem. There's no competition between the Father and the Son.

They're both Redeeming us. They're both our Saviors. They're even called our Father, both of them.

No crisis called our Father in one place. Wonderful counselor, Father, you know, the Scripture, and Isaiah.

Let's go to Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6 verse 10.

For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all. It's talking about Christ.

Once was enough, but the life that he lives, he lives to God, to the Father. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Therefore, do not let sin reign. See, why do not the ministers of the day read this verse a lot?

Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body. They say sin's done away.

You know, Christ came to do away with the law. You know, you don't really need to worry about sin. That's what some of them say. Not all of them. You know, a lot of them are confused. You know, they go back and forth.

Satan is the author of confusion, not God. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. He's just saying, don't, you know, don't be unrighteous. Don't keep living that way of life. Don't keep making an excuse for why you do the things that you do. Come out of those things. That's what the Bible tells us. You know, the Days of Unleavened Bread picture putting Christ into our lives. We'll talk more about the Holy Days. You know, they all come in this so beautifully, but we're to put sin out of our lives. So don't present your members as instruments unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. You know what this means to me? It means two things, actually. Okay, sin will not have dominion over you because you've come under the blood of Christ.

And so that death penalty has been paid by Jesus Christ once for all. The death penalty has been saved, but it also means that sin will not have dominion over you because you're not going to allow it to rule over you. You know, remember, and I don't know if I gave this sermon here, but I don't think I did. I was talking about we are our brother's keeper, and I went to Genesis chapter 4, and Cain slew Abel. We all know that. You know, the one brother kills the other brother, murders him, and you know, God calls him on it, of course. And even before that, you know, the sacrifice was not up to par. You know, Cain's sacrifice was not up to par, so God called him on that. He said, if you do well, then won't you be accepted? If you do well, will you not be accepted? Abel's offering was accepted because he took of the first fruits. He took of the choice of the best, of the fattest. Cain didn't do that. So if you do well, will you not be accepted?

But if you don't do well, then sin lies at the door, and it will rule over you.

Sin will rule over you if you allow it to happen. You have to fight it, and you must continue to fight it until you die or Christ returns. And don't make excuses for it, because then you'll continue in your sins a whole lot more than you would otherwise.

So the wages of sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.

It's simple. It's not rocket science. It's for all of us to understand and believe. Of course, God has to open your mind, and a lot of rocket scientists just don't get it. They may get rocket science, but they don't get the most important thing. God has given you the most important thing.

In Romans chapter 3, it says, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Let's look at that. Verse 23. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, our Redeemer, whom God set forth as a propitiation, as a sacrifice. It's talking about the mercy seat here. It's a picture of Christ laying His life down for us. And of course, the Father giving His Son up for us by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness. You know, Christ lived a long time ago. You know, we're far removed from when Christ lived. It takes faith to believe in that. It takes faith to believe that all this is true. You know, that's not a small thing. You know, God has given you some faith, or you wouldn't be here today. You know, God is working with you. God is showing you the truth.

Many people are baffled. You know, they don't they think religion is just the worst, you know.

You know, it's a very deceived world in which we live. And the Bible tells us all about that. It makes it plain why that's true. Satan has deceived the whole world. It's no wonder.

It's no wonder. You know, there's not that many surprises if you know if you study the Bible and you know what the Bible says. It reveals everything we need to know to cope with this life.

Through faith to demonstrate His righteousness because in His forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. And again, Passover, you know, Passover is such a beautiful ceremony when we observe the Passover. And there's so much in the Bible that talks about the Passover throughout from Genesis to Revelation.

God 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 the one who has faith in Jesus.

Yes, we're not ashamed of saying Jesus. That's His name. We don't want to overdo it.

Some people overdo it. It's a matter of honor and respect. You know, that's all God is looking for in any of us. We've all sinned. We've all come short of God's glory. Psalm 84 shows that I'm just going to go to a couple scriptures in the Old Testament. Most of this is New Testament, but the Bible talks about grace in the Old Testament. It uses the word many, many times. It's mostly in the context of God having favor toward a person. You know, God, you know, I forget exactly the wording. Let's go to Psalm 84.11. Let's read that one. Psalm 84 verse 11. Psalm 84 verse 11. For the Lord God is a sun and shield. God is like the sun. He lights up everything.

And also like a shield. It protects us. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will be withheld from those who walk uprightly. So the Bible in the Old Testament also talked about the importance of walking uprightly and receiving God's grace as a result of it. There are many blessings. The Old Testament talks about blessings and cursings. Those who walk uprightly are naturally going to have some blessings. There are consequences for our decisions. Good consequences or bad ones oftentimes. And then God can also intervene and pour out other blessings as he sees fit. But there are some things that, you know, we bring about by our decisions. And again, God is in that too, isn't he? God gives us wisdom to make good decisions.

All right, so grace is given to those who walk uprightly. I don't think I'm going to go through the Old Testament words. You can look them up if you want. You know, they basically means what we've already talked about. It's kindness, it's favor. Oh, there is one important thing I did want to point out that one of the words that is translated grace says, to stoop in kindness to an inferior.

Is that not what God does?

He stoops in kindness to inferiors. You know, we are certainly inferior to God, but God is still gracious, isn't he? So the downtrodden, you know, we probably should stoop a little bit and help them.

That's what I get from that. You know, be a little more gracious. All right, James chapter 4. Let's go there for a moment. James chapter 4 verse 6.

James 4 and verse 6. Here it says, but he gives more grace.

Therefore, he says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. See, humility is important.

God gives grace to the humble. Therefore, submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. I mean, God doesn't want us to stay in our sins. He wants us to cleanse our hands and stop sinning. And purify your hearts. You double-minded people that are, you know, feigning goodness and yet running in a different direction. That's called hypocrisy, too. Let's not be double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up. God will be there for you. Humble yourself, and God will be there for you. You know, exalt yourself, and that's all you're going to get. Self-exaltation.

And that's not a good thing that leads to other consequences.

During a recent visit to the zoo with my daughter, this is from a guy named Van Morris from Mount Washington, Kentucky. He relates this, during a recent visit to the zoo with my daughter and grandchildren, we visited the orangutan exhibit. I'm sure a lot of you have seen orangutans in zoos. The only thing separating us from these awesome creatures that possess the strength of at least five men were panes of thick glass each 20 feet tall.

My two-year-old grandson, Trevor, was amused at first by the orangutan's antics.

No telling what you might see at an orangutan visit.

So he was amused of the hairy beasts, but then they suddenly began to beat on the glass.

So Trevor leapt into the arms of his mother, crying, I scared! I scared! I can see why he would be scared. Those things can be very scary.

His mother tenderly took him, placed his little hand on the glass, and showed him that the glass shielded him from the animal so that there was nothing to fear, that the glass was powerful enough, strong enough that he could not touch him, could not hurt him. Afterwards, anytime Trevor seemed uncertain, his mom would simply say, remember the glass. The glass is there to protect you. Now, the first century church faced persecution at the hands of a powerful government bent on snuffing out her message, her influence, the church's influence. The fact that some had been beaten, imprisoned, even killed for their faith, made them feel as though there was nothing at all that stood between them and the enemies of God's kingdom. God allowed that. God allowed them to be martyred. God allowed them to lay their lives down. Into these trying times, the apostle Peter wrote them with a reminder that though it might not seem to be true, at times they were ultimately shielded by the eternal power of God. Remember, God chastens everyone he loves in various ways, but he has promised that he will never leave us and forsake us. He didn't forsake Stephen, even though Stephen was killed.

That takes faith to believe that he never forsook Stephen.

He allowed him to be killed. He allowed him to be stoned.

But he did not forsake him, and he was right there. In fact, Stephen had a vision of God to encourage him and so forth. So anyway, Peter... And it's referring back to what I just read to you in 1 Peter chapter 5. I think we read that, didn't we? We didn't go there, did we?

Okay, well we probably need to go there then. Let's go to 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter chapter 5. See, this is similar to what we read in James. Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you, be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves unto the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, carrying all your care upon him, for he cares for you. Be sober. Be vigilant. Because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Kind of like those orangutans. Pretty scary. Resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever.

So this is what Van Morrison is referring back to what Peter says here, that we are all ultimately shielded by the eternal power of God. So when we're being tested and tried and things look bleak, remember the glass. The glass is there for you.

The glass will protect you. Maybe not physically, but spiritually, which is far more important.

Oftentimes, physically, you know, oftentimes God hears our prayers. God intervenes. God answers our prayers. We should have faith that he will answer our prayers. But if not, like the boys in Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, but if not, we will not bow down and worship the image. We will not. We may die here, but I can assure you one thing we won't do is bow down and worship your image.

See, that's faith. Willing to die. Willing to sacrifice yourself. Willing to give it all up. So we need to remember the glass and know that God is there to protect us, that God will never leave us, that God will never forsake us. Man, I'm really waxing eloquent today.

I'm only halfway through my notes. I got through all these notes. And we hardly talked about the Holy Days, so let me just wrap it up with a little bit of talk about the Holy Days.

The Holy Days are coming up. We're less than two months away.

Now, the spring Holy Days are not enough. They've gotten us here, the Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, God's Spirit was given, the Church was raised up, Christ laid His life down. We're to walk in newness of life. Christ is to live in us, Unleavened Bread. He's the Unleavened Bread that lives in us. Okay, the spring Holy Days are awesome, but the fall Holy Days also are awesome, and they also need to be observed, and they need to be kept, and we need to realize that it's a part of God's plan of salvation. The Feast of Trumpets pictures the return of Christ, the blowing of the trumpet, the last trumpet. Christ will return.

You know, God's government will be established upon the earth. We'll get to that one. Atonement is in there as well. You know, we keep trumpets, then we keep atonement, which pictures the binding of Satan the devil. It pictures a thousand years of peace and prosperity away from Satan the devil.

It pictures becoming at one with God. It does picture the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, looking back to the Passover, but something that we always have to keep in mind. The Day of Atonement.

Then the Feast of Tabernacles pictures that millennial reign of Christ upon the earth.

And then the eighth day, that last great day, or the eighth day, however you want to refer to it, that pictures everything that will happen after that. The Great White Throne Judgment Period. The New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. The kingdom being turned over to the Father.

And all of that, you know, it's all wrapped in there very beautifully. And it's a part of the plan of... it's all God's plan, so that he can give salvation to all people by his grace.

Not just you and me. Okay, we are the first fruits. But God has a whole 30 billion people, or whatever the number is, 60 billion, who knows. We don't really know how many people have lived and died, but a lot of them have. And they're all part of God's plan of salvation. God can resurrect every one of them. You know what? There is one other story that I probably should tell you. What is it? Oh, it's... Yeah, here it is. This is powerful, so I can't leave it out.

Okay, the film Amazing Grace chronicles the efforts of William Wilber for us. We talked about that already. Well, in one particular scene in the movie, Wilber for us attempts to awaken the consciousness of the public to the horrible practice of the slave trade by arranging for a ship carrying members of Parliament and their wives to stop along a slave ship. They didn't know this was going to happen. Okay, so they're uppity people, lots of money, you know, all that.

As Wilber for us appears, one man asks. Wilber for us was in the slave ship. He appears. They're coming out to him. Ladies and gentlemen, Wilber for us greets them. This is a slave ship, the Madagascar. It has just returned from the Indies, where it delivered 200 men, women, and children to Jamaica. When it left Africa, there were 600 on board. The rest died of disease and despair. So 400 bodies were thrown overboard. 400 bodies were eaten by sharks, scavenged by whatever else, whatever scavenges people in the ocean. 400 out of 600, two-thirds, human beings made in God's image. This is what mankind can do to one another.

This is what we have done in America. We've enslaved people. You know, it's amazing the progress that we made in this country, and I'm grateful for it. You know, to me, that's a testimony that God is not dead, that God's Spirit is not dead. Thankfully, God's still in charge, even though Satan's the god of this world, God's still overall in charge, and He only allows so much to happen.

But thankfully, we're not going... I mean, you know, it's going to get bad again, though. You know, it's bad right now. It's bad for so many people. That's why I long for a different kingdom. I long for God's kingdom because we have it made. You and I have it made.

No, let's face it. We're all nicely dressed. We have food to eat. We have nice homes to live in.

You know, we really have been blessed our whole lives.

You know, God has been very gracious to us. We've grown up in a country where we've had freedom.

You know, it's easy to think, well, you know, we don't need God's kingdom so badly.

Yeah, we need it. We need it for other people.

Now, we need it for the 400 people that were thrown overboard.

Let me continue with this. By now, some people are raising handkerchiefs to their noses to block this stench that's still coming from this slave ship. They've already offloaded the slaves, but it stinks.

Wilberforce continues, that smell is the smell of death.

Slow, painful death. A few people begin to cry. Wilberforce says, breathe it in.

Breathe it deeply. Take those handkerchiefs away from your noses. There now, remember that smell.

Remember the Madagascar. Remember that God made man equal. We are all one in Christ.

That's what God has in store for all of us. Salvation. But this is not God's kingdom yet.

And we should fervently pray for God's kingdom because we desperately need God's kingdom.

So these days, God tells us His grace will be universal in the sense that all people will have an opportunity to know the truth. Those who reject it will be cast into the lake of fire. Those who do, you know, God's the judge.

They will be cast into the lake of fire. But, you know, God's not willing that any should perish, but He's also given us free moral agency. So we get to make the choice.

It is only by understanding His marvelous plan of salvation that we understand what is happening because we observe the festivals. We really have a better understanding of God's plan of salvation than anyone else on earth that I know of. This group, the Church of God, has a better understanding of what's really happening and what the Bible teaches and what it's all about. And much of it we understand by observing the Holy Days. I had a guy call me the other day. He doesn't think it's important to keep the Holy Days. He's a Sabbath keeper.

He wants to start his own church with about four or five other families. He wants to come and learn whatever he can from us. I don't know exactly what all he's got in mind.

But I told him, I said, look, the annual Holy Days are important. You should really think about them. Read our booklet. Think about the importance of the Holy Days. So I've discussed what the Holy Days mean, what they picture. That's the truth that God has revealed to us. Not many people are going to be keeping the feasts these fall Holy Days.

Not many people are going to be keeping the feasts of tabernacles. Out of, what, six billion plus here on earth, very few are going to keep the feasts of tabernacles the last great day, the eighth day. They don't know what's coming. People are going to be blindsided when the day of the Lord begins, when God begins to pour out plague after plague after plague upon this earth.

You know, people are going to, they're going to be lost.

No, we're not going to be lost. We're going to know if we happen to be alive when it starts happening, really starts happening because a lot of people have thought it was happening in the past. It didn't. That doesn't negate the fact that it will. And we're that much closer to that happening. It will help us. It will give us some perspective on what's happening. So, brethren, does the Church of God do sincere Christians believe in salvation by grace?

That is what God's plan of salvation is all about. It's all about grace.

The fall festivals will be coming up soon, and we do need to reflect on God's plan of salvation as we observe them, as we keep them. The feasts are not just there for us to be happy. We should rejoice in keeping the Holy Days. They foretell when the entire world will be happy, when things are going to change. Amazing grace will be extended to all who desire it, billions and billions of people. I'm looking forward to that day. I'm looking forward to the time when all who want it will be saved by grace.