The Spirit of Grace

Mr. Crane focused on, why are you here? I'm going to focus to some degree on why you're here, but more on how are you here. How are you sitting here today? And by your presence you're saying that you have been called into God's marvelous light. By your presence you're saying that the veil has been lifted and that you have entered into a covenant with God Christ and each member of the body of Christ. By your presence you're saying that you're willing to wash the feet of one another and to lay down your life for one another. So how were you called? There are several aspects to our calling. The calling is first and foremost of God.

Here we introduce the title of the sermon, the Spirit of Grace. And grace, the great word charis, C-H-A-R-I-S, means divine favor. So we could say the Spirit of Grace, we could say the Spirit of divine favor. What does the Spirit of grace or the Spirit of divine favor have to do with your calling? Jesus proclaims in John 644, the scripture that many could quote, Jesus proclaims, No man can come to me except the Father draw him, and I will raise him up the last day.

No man can come to me unless the Father draw him. So the calling is initiated by God. The calling is initiated by God. Now you may have, and I'll talk about this, a mindset from the time that you were a child, that you wanted to know more about God, and that you developed a relationship with God as a child, you began to pray as a child, and you were interested in, quote, spiritual things at a very early age. But some way, no matter how you were called into God's marvelous light, you must hear the gospel preached in whatever way it comes to you.

Let's look at Romans chapter 10. In Romans chapter 10 and verse 14, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not heard? How do you call on God when you never heard of God? Are the Tibetans who are hurting the yaks? I saw a bit of an interesting documentary about the Tibetans hurting the yaks, and how their almost total life is dependent upon the yaks, a woolly looking animal.

They get milk and meat and clothing and just about everything from the yak. How are they going to call upon God unless they've heard about God? Of course, they are generally steeped in some kind of paganism. How shall they call on him on whom they have not heard or believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

And how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written? And God raised up the church through Jesus Christ. One of the principal reasons was to bring every nation, tribe, kindred, tongue on the face of the earth into relationship with God, into the Israel of God. The promises of Abraham are realized. It says in Galatians 3, the last two or three verses, if you be in Christ, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. It seems no matter how many times you read it, say it, some just don't seem to grasp what that says. How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things.

But they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah said, Lord who has believed our report, so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. There are two absolutely essential elements to your calling, and we could include a third one.

Of course, God has to initiate it. And then in John 16, 7, and 8, Jesus says, I will send you the Comforter, which is a Holy Spirit. I will send you the Holy Spirit, and it shall convict you of sin, righteousness, and judgment. So the Word of God, the Spirit of God, must work in concert for you to be called. As a young child, I read the Bible, began memorizing Scripture when I was very young. We had a memory verse every Sunday in church that you were supposed to memorize.

I remember standing up when I was about six years old before the church and quoting a verse. I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. I guess in some ways you could say this made me more likely to be called. But, and there's a big butt there. There are people who are called who did not grow up reading the Bible, and apparently they've been called.

On the other hand, there are people who did grow up reading the Bible, and they haven't been called. Now is it God's fault, or is it their fault? We'll explore some of that. But regardless of one's background, they had to hear the glorious truth of the gospel preached.

The initial contact may have come through reading the Bible. You just come to read certain things in a Bible and through the Spirit of God and the Word of God, you're convicted that that's true. But that's not what they're teaching. And I remember going to the Baptist ministry, a minister way back, and saying Paul was writing, saying, I count myself not to have apprehended. Yet one of the bedrock doctrines of most of Protestantism is once saved, always saved.

So people can be, of course, reading the Bible and doing a lot of things, and yet not be called. As for me, it came through an inquiring mind and listening to the radio. For some, it came through a family member, it came through a neighbor, or in my case, electronic media or other ways. And there just seems to be something about some people that they have what... what do you call it? An inquiring mind. They want to know, but regardless of the medium, one must be exposed to the truth, as we've read from Romans 10 14.

How can they preach, except they be sent? How can they hear unless someone preaches? Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. Tomorrow morning, there will be billions, even though church attendance is declining, and it's practically dropped to zero in Europe, and it's dropped considerably here in the whole mainline denominations.

Some of the mega churches are doing well, the Joel Osteen types, John Hagee, and a few others, and some of the Pentecostals. But there'll be millions who will attend church, and here a few verses of Bible read. They'll hear a homily, or a sermon of some sort, and in some cases, the message will be quite true.

But at the core, it is void of understanding. When it really comes to understanding God, who is God, what is God, what is His purpose, who is man, what is man, what is His purpose, because the assumption has been made that God is a Trinity. That's Orthodoxy. The literal meaning of Orthodoxy is of the same opinion. You have to be of the same opinion as those who proclaim Orthodoxy, or else then you are viewed as a cult.

So, the assumption is made God is a Trinity, that man has an immortal soul, and the solution is to only believe in Jesus, and God's righteousness will be imputed to you. He's done it all, and all you have to do is to confess Him and go walk the aisle and give your heart to the Lord. Now, can some temporal, that is short-term good, come from this?

Well, of course some good can come from it. If you're looking at it strictly from a temporary temporal point of view, you would rather have people trying to do the right thing according to how they understand Bible principles than doing things that destroy them and those around them. I mean, the increased insanity of our population, let alone ISIS and everything else, and one of the things that, sensible things, that we said in the recent presidential debate was Ben Carson said, if we're destroyed, we'll be destroyed from within.

I mean, you wouldn't have to fire a bullet. He didn't say this, but I'm saying it. You wouldn't have to fire a bullet or anything like that. We're destroying ourselves. Yesterday, this man in Seattle area, he caused a policeman. He had already had some kind of encounter, which they didn't yet know with a policeman. So he caused the police and says, I've killed four family members, so the police go and surround the place.

He comes out eventually after a three-hour standoff and then kills himself, and so often happens. So five people did, needlessly. Or the person who engaged in the mass shooting at the workplace. I mean, it just insanity goes on and on. So you would rather have people at least try to do the right thing according to how they might understand the principles of the Bible, other than out doing all kind of sinful things.

Now, on the other hand, church-going people, as we might say, can be deceived into thinking that all is well since they have basically done what the preacher said. Well, I believe in Jesus. I believe I'm going to try to do the right thing. I'm surrendering my life, and now many are locked into a false sense of security.

They don't really know who God is. They don't really understand who man is, and one of the tenets of virtually all Christian denominations is what they call eternal security of the believer. If one does fall away, which a large percentage do, they will merely say, well, he was never converted in the first place. The Apostle Paul read and studied the Bible, was taught by the most renowned Bible teacher of the day. Let's go to Acts 22 here in Acts 20 or 21 or so begins this ups and downs of Paul as he is accused of sedition and teaching contrary to the law of Moses, finally winding up at Rome in Caesar's household.

He appeared before several magistrates before eventually reaching Rome where he was imprisoned and eventually martyred. In one of those occasions we find him offering a defense in Acts 22, Acts 22.1, My brethren and fathers, hear you, my defense, which I make now unto you. And when they heard that this he spoke in Hebrew, and the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence, and he said, I'm verily a man which am a Jew born in Tarsus, the city of Cilicia, a Provence and Asia Minor, three major learning centers, Tarsus, Alexandria, and Jerusalem.

Paul was sent as a child at some age to Jerusalem where yet brought up in the city at the feet of Gamaliel and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers and was zealous toward God as you are all this day. So Paul was taught by the most renowned teacher of the day, Gamaliel. He knew the Scriptures, the Old Testament, apparently, as we say, inside and out. Now you look at Romans chapter 10 in conjunction with this. So obviously, if you're convicted by the Spirit of God and the Word of God, then you need to read the Bible, but reading the Bible in and of itself and being taught by a renowned scholar or renowned scholars is not sufficient in and of itself.

Having zeal is not sufficient in and of itself, though you'd rather a person be zealous and on fire than to be lukewarm depending on what the zeal is. Paul had a zeal. He was so zealous that he was out arresting and watching Christians being killed, as in the case of Stephen, where they laid down the clothes at the feet of Stephen after he was stoned.

And on the road to Damascus, to persecute Christians there when he was struck down by God, and he was called a calling that very few have ever been witnessed or been partied to. In Romans 10, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer for God, for Israel, is that they might be saved. Paul had a burning, burning desire that Israel be saved, though he was sent to the uncircumcision, to the Gentiles, I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness.

See, they thought righteousness was of the law. Does that mean that you don't do works of righteousness? Well, no. But if you think that in and of itself will do it, that is save you, you're mistaken, because it won't. Because there is a spiritual and a faith dimension, and Paul like no other explained that spiritual and faith dimension, and going about to establish their own righteousness. And I recently gave a sermon with regard to Phariseeism, how they tried to establish their own righteousness, declaring that even their house was a temple, and they went through all the washings and oblations, and accused Christ and the disciples of not washing before they ate.

And Christ then told them how they were rotten from the inside out, making the outside look good, but inside full of dead men's bones, and so on. They have not submitted themselves under the righteousness of God. For Christ is the, and some people, some people who are not educated, some people who say they are called to preach. So I grew up in a very religious community, and a lot of the relatives were deacons.

I had an uncle who was a Baptist preacher. I remember when he, quote, got the call to be a preacher, and all of the things. And then there was a big to do when he was ordained. There was a big to do when people were ordained deacons in the church that I attended, the Baptist Church. This word here, Christ is the end of the law. Oh, Christ in the way of the law. Now that word in the Greek is telos, or telios, and it means the result or outcome. Christ is the result or the outcome for righteousness to everyone that believes. In another place, just to show the point, I see this is, I think it's 2 Corinthians 7 verses 9, 10, or 11, somewhere along in there, maybe 13, where Paul writes, circumcision is nothing, neither is uncircumcision, nor is circumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.

Another place he writes, in the end of the last verse of Romans 3, shall we then make void the law through faith? No, God forbid, rather we establish the law. If the law were not in effect, it would be farcical for Jesus Christ to be sent to the earth to die for the sins of the world if there was no law, because if there's no law, there's no sin.

So Christ is the result or outcome of the law by righteousness to everyone that believes. For Moses describes the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which does these things shall live by them, but the righteousness which is of faith speaks on this wise, say not to your heart who shall ascend into heaven, that is, bring Christ down from above, or who shall descend into the deep, that is, bring up Christ again from the dead.

But what says that the word is nigh you, even in your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith which we preach. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. One can be filled with zealousness, zeal to the point they're ready to and willing to kill and yet be dead wrong. Paul was a case in point. On the road to Damascus to prosecute, possibly, surely to arrest and possibly killed, Christians. And he probably would have remained dead spiritually unless he had been struck down by the Spirit of grace.

Define favor. The church I went to didn't understand much about the great purpose and plan of God. In one sense, they did preach repentance and accepting Jesus as your personal Savior. The emphasis was on the only belief in Jesus. That's not to say that there were not a lot of wonderful teachings about how a person should live their life. And we began to be pressured when we were 10, 11, 12 years old to join the church because relatives would say, well, son, I'm really concerned about your eternal soul.

We would really like to see your soul saved. And I put it off until I was 15, and even then, when I walked the aisle, I didn't. So, like, I would see people break down and cry and weep, and I just didn't get the feeling, I guess you would say. But I believed with all my being that God existed. I believed that God answered prayer, and I could go on with what I believed. They placed a great emphasis on prayer, reading and studying the Bible.

However, they didn't understand the nature of God in Christ. They did not understand the nature of man. As I've already noted, they thought God was a trinity. They thought man had an immortal soul. It either go to heaven or hell upon death, and he would live forever in one of those two states. They talked a great deal about grace, but they didn't really understand it. And I wonder how much we have to learn about the grace of God, and more importantly, how precious is it to each one of us.

The exact phrase, the spirit of grace, let's turn again to Hebrews 10. We read it in the announcements, and we want to read verse 29, where there are two places in the Bible where this exact phrase, spirit of grace, appears. One is Zechariah 12.10, and the other is this one here in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 29, of how much sore of punishment suppose you shall be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, which hath done despite unto the spirit of grace.

See, the assembling of yourselves together here today, and the opportunity to assemble yourselves together, is a holy thing. It's a sacred thing. It is of God. It is, as we shall see, by God's invitation. And to count that as an unholy thing, to count the very lifeblood of Jesus Christ who died on the stake so that sins could be remitted, and to not understand the significance of that, because it is for your life.

And of course, there's some great impediments in today's world about that, which we shall note a bit later. Let's read this verse also, this verse that has this phrase, Spirit of Grace. Go to Zechariah 12, verse 10. Zechariah 12, Jerusalem is surrounded by armies, hostile armies. It looks like they're going to be done in, and more and more we see the world turning against Israel as a nation. Of course, there is modern Israel as such a mixed bag. It would take a long time just to even begin to sort it all out.

Of course, that spot on the face of the earth is very important to God. It's said to be the center of the world, that is Jerusalem. If you were to have an exact geographical center of the world, Jerusalem is called the Middle East. It's somewhat the midpoint of the world, surrounded by enemies, and it looks like they're going to be done in, as in Zechariah 12. But then God intervenes. Now, during this intervention and time leading up to it, of course, you can read in Revelation 7, where in this vision John is asked, well, the question is asked, well, Lord, who are all of these this great multitude?

And the answer is, they have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, and they have come out of great tribulation. We'll read here in verse 10, in the midst of this saving of Jerusalem and defending, you look at verse 8, "...in that day shall the Eternal defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, God Himself. And he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David, and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.

And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem." This is God speaking. This is not any politician, this is not any so-called geopolitical expert. This is the Word of God. "...and I will pour upon the house of David, upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of Grace, divine favor, the Spirit of grace, and of supplications. And they shall look upon me, whom they have pierced." So we know who the spokesperson is right here, Jesus Christ.

"...and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only Son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great morning in Jerusalem, in the morning of Hadarim on, in the valley of Magiddin." So, of course, that's another sermon in a sense, the promises made to Abraham and what is so important about those promises.

So, the Apostle Paul uses the example of Jacob and Esau to explain a great deal about the Spirit of grace. So we'll go now to Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. Did anything that we did, per se, cause us to be called for the veil to be lifted, for our minds to come to understand the truth? Was it because I read the Bible as a child?

Was it because I went to Sunday school? Well, I doubt it. Was it because Paul was taught at the feet of Gomeliah? And then you got the others, some, they were not religious at all. In some ways, somehow, they were called into God's marvelous light. In Romans 9, we'll pick it up in verse 6. Not as though the Word of God had taken non-effect. First, the verse is similar to Romans 10, where Paul bemoans the fact that hardly anybody in Israel had really accepted the truth. Not as though the Word of God had taken non-effect, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel.

So there is the Israel of God. That is the goal in the overall sense. Get it, don't forget it. Get it, and don't forget it. God wants to bring every person on the face of the earth who has lived, living now, or ever has lived, into relationship with Him and become a part of the Israel of God. And it only comes through repentance and faith in sacrifice of Christ, then baptism laying on of hands, and the Father begetting you with His Spirit.

We are reconciled to God by the death of His Son. We shall be saved by His life with the Spirit of God dwelling in us. Not as though the Word of God had taken non-effect, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel, neither because they are the seed of Abraham, just because you are a descendant of one of the twelve tribes or any other descendant.

Of course, Abraham had children. Even Ishmael was fathered by Abraham, and so was Esau. In the sense, he was their descendant. For they are all children, I'm sorry, let me read it again, neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall your seed be called. It's not because of physical descent. Why would it say because Isaac was born of faith?

It was not possible physically for Abraham and Sarah to conceive and bear a child at their age, but in faith they acted and they did conceive and Isaac was born. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God.

We'll mention a little more about that. But the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise at this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, for the children being not yet born, either having done good or evil.

When you look at it from one point of view, Esau was Isaac's favorite. He was a hunter, he was an outdoorsman, he was a man's man kind of thing. Isaac apparently was far more given to things that you wouldn't necessarily well. He's a real masculine he-man kind of person. And apparently he was Rebecca's favorite. And so you couldn't say based on what they had done per se as children. As we're going to see, even while they were in the womb, the decision was made. For the children being not yet born, either having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to the election, might stand.

The election. How are you here? You have been elected. You have been invited. It is a sacred thing. It's not like an invitation you get in the mail to attend a certain wedding ceremony of friends, you know, or the celebration of 50th wedding anniversary. This is a sacred thing, a holy thing, from God. And so that election might stand not of works, but of him that calls.

It was said unto her, The older shall serve the younger. As it was written, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I loved less. So while they were yet in the womb, and even the name Jacob means supplanter. And you remember in Genesis, after Jacob wrestled with God over the course of a night, his name was changed to Israel, a purveyor with God, or ruling with God. So here we see that it is of election, it is of grace, that Jacob was chosen, and not Esau.

To understand grace and prophecy, to understand grace and prophecy, one must understand the basis of the Battle of the Ages.

The Battle of the Ages began, obviously, ages ago. From the rebellion of Satan and the demons to the present day, a great spiritual battle has been waged, and continues to be waged. Satan and the devil, Satan and the devils, the demons, are on an insatiable quest. They can't be satisfied, and they won't be stopped until Satan is put in the bottomless pit, but on a great quest to break prophecy and become the object of worship. The promises of God are covenantal for the most part, but not every promise is covenantal. The Messianic prophecies are not covenantal. That is, like Genesis 3.15, I will send you a seed that it shall bruise Satan's head and put him away. The Messianic prophecies are unconditional. God is going to... He prophesied that He was going to send a Messiah. Now, many of the other prophecies, if you obey Me and keep My word, I will bless you.

Covenantal promises.

The greatest covenant is a covenant God makes with a repentance center.

That upon repentance, faith in the sacrifice of Christ, baptism, the laying on of hands, a person can bridge the gulf between mortality and immortality. God can create spirit beings, and He did create spirit beings. As created beings, they are not begotten sons and daughters of God. Look at Hebrews 1. Hebrews 1. In Hebrews 1, verse 4, Speaking of Jesus being made so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they, for under which of the angels said He at any time, You are My Son? He never did.

He called them sons in a place, but they are sons by creation.

And you are My Son? This day have I begotten you?

Protitikos brought you to birth. The angels are not born spirit beings.

They are created spirit beings. Hold your place here and look at Job 38.

In Job 38, the angels are called sons of God.

Job 38, I think it's about verse 4.

Job 38, verse 6 and 7. Whereupon are the foundations of the earth, this ore about their spinning in space, spinning and revolving?

Or who had laid the cornerstone thereof, when the morning stars, saying together, and all the sons of God, shouted for joy?

Sons of God, in that case, are the angels. They can be called sons of God by creation.

But under which of the angels said he at any time you are My Son, this day have I, Protitikos, and Protitikos means first born. And again I will be to him a father, and he shall be to Me a son. And again, when he brings the first born or begotten into the world, he said, And let the angels of God worship him. And of the angels, he said, who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire.

Now you look at verse 13.

He repeats this, But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. When? Never. Never.

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation?

All humans are children of God by creation, but they are not begotten sons of God with the potential of being born in the family of God, just by the act of creation. They have to be begotten of God's Spirit. Now you look at Acts 17, where Paul encounters the great philosophers, the so-called great philosophers, great minds, educators of the day, Athens, known as the cradle of Western education, the cradle of Western democracy, the Greek system spread into Germany, into Europe, and eventually to the U.S. Basically it was the German model.

Back in the 70s, the president of Tokyo University came to the campus here, Big Sandy, and I was pastoring Big Sandy at that time. Of course, I had been the college had been closed, I had been the academic dean, and they had the campus up for sale.

Here's the president of Tokyo University. I spent the day with him.

I'd show him all around the campus in the Lake Loma and the airstrip and the buildings and all of that. Of course, at that time, 10 of the buildings didn't even exist. They were built in 1989-1990. I said, well, what about the Japanese? How have they been so able to enter into Western society and be so successful in business and education and all of that? He said, our schools are patterned after the German model. It's the same pattern that is used in the U.S.

Of course, all of this has been tinkered with so many different ways and different models through the course of time, but somewhat the structure of the same nation. That they should seek the Lord if happily they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.

For in him we live and move and have our being as certain also of your poets have said, for we are also his offspring. Adam and Eve were created from the dust of the ground.

They were created beings. One of the arguments that was made back in when the heat of the battle was going on with regard to the nature of God in the early 90s was that they said, oh, humans are created beings. They could never be on the God plane.

Yeah, but see, Jesus coming to the earth and partaking of flesh showed that spirit and flesh can coexist and then upon death and resurrection is a spirit being on the God plane.

And so we shall be in resurrection of the eternal spirit, the essence, the Holy Spirit that is in us has always existed. If God has always existed and if the Holy Spirit is his essence, and if we have been begotten by his essence, then we have been begotten. It's called eternal spirit in Hebrews of that eternal spirit always existing. Verse 29, for as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like under gold or silver or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commands all men everywhere to repent. Yeah, you've been made of one blood and you are the offspring of God, but if you do not repent, then you're going to die. By contrast, become a spirit begotten and born child of God. One must say as it says in Revelation 17-14, they have to be called, chosen, and faithful.

Now you look at John 1.12. Here's a short summary of, a very short summary of what it takes to be a child of God in the spiritual sense. See, in John 1.12, but as many as received him, see in verse 11 it says, he came to his own, his own received him not, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. Now this is spiritual sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Born there is canal, first of all you're begotten, and then born. The fact that you exist, that there is a plan of salvation, is an act of love and grace. Lucifer, Satan, was perfect when he was created. Look at Ezekiel 28.

Ezekiel 28 verse 15. Ezekiel 28 verse 15. We'll see here that this, when the angels were created, they were perfect with regard to having not sin, having not done right or wrong, given great Lucifer, and especially the archangels, were given great beauty and intelligence and wisdom, and great power. But that wasn't enough. Ezekiel 28.15. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created till lawlessness and iniquity was found in you. By the multitude of your merchandise, the type of the king of Tyre, a type, they have filled the midst of you with violence and you have sinned. Therefore I will cast you out as profane out of the mountain of God. I will destroy you, O covering carob, from the midst of the stones of fire. At the mercy seat that they built, the tabernacle in the wilderness, and the ark of the covenant was placed on top of the ark of the covenant. It was the mercy seat. On the ark of the covenant, two carob beams pointing in, and then above the mercy seat, God placed His presence as Shekinah glory.

Verse 17. Your heart was filled up because of your beauty. You have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness. So beautiful, so powerful, so everything, so I must be, I have to be, number one. I cannot take a back seat to anybody. I'm the greatest.

You have defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your traffic. Therefore I will bring forth a fire from the midst of you. I shall devour you, and I will bring you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold you. Word of God, not anybody's speculation. See, Satan was given the freedom to choose. Satan was an obsessive narcissist. A narcissist is one who is obsessed with love of self, who, like the fairy godmother of Snow White, could not accept the idea that anyone was more beautiful, wise, intelligent, than she, mirror mirror on the wall. Who is the fairest of them all? asked the wicked queen in Snow White.

She isn't asking because she is curious, but rather because her identity is wrapped up in her unchallenged beauty and superiority in her own mind. And so the same gripped Satan. Rather than just accept she's a typical woman subject to fleeting beauty, meaning gray hair, wrinkles, and all that goes with it, she thinks that she must compete fairly and squarely with her competitors in the arena of life. She insists on being the greatest.

The thought of being displaced is too disturbing to accept. So it's just a mirror image of Satan.

Many of the people who spend their time in the twigs are trying to come up with some new thing and have this mentality. That is, in some way they must have something in their mental database that tells them they are number one. You know, I know something you don't know. I'm above it all. You don't have to listen to that being who claims to be God. That's what Satan told Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. So they pray on those who are most vulnerable and employ the same tactics that Satan used in the Garden of Eden, where he's, in essence, said, if you just knew what I know, you would be superior to be in a position like me.

Oh, God says you should surely die. You shall not surely die, but you shall be as God's and your eyes shall be open to know good and evil. You can choose for yourself. And humans have been falling for that same old line from the Garden of Eden to the present day. Look at 2 Peter 2, verse 17.

2 Peter 2, verse 17. 2 Peter 2, verse 17.

These are wells, clouds that are carried with a tempest, to whom the midst of darkness is reserved forever. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lust of the flesh, through much wantedness, those that have clean escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption, of whom a man is overcome, of the same as he brought in bondage.

For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in their end and overcome, the latter end is worse than the beginning. For it has been better that they have never known the way of righteousness than after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it has happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog has returned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to the wallowing in the mire. Similar to what I spoke on in the regional weekend, that is internalizing the truth.

If it's not in your very innermost being, in your heart and mind, and you come to the point that that's the way you are. See, God doesn't have to decide whether he's going to do X, Y, or Z when it comes to good and evil. He is what he is. He is righteous. He is love.

He is long suffering. He is merciful. He is filled with grace. You could just keep on going with the qualities and characteristics of God.

Satan is committed to destroying anything that gets in his way and to hold back the truth in unrighteousness. Look at Romans 1.15. In Romans 1.15, So as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are in Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. The righteousness of God, the justification of God, is that he has faithfully kept his word. He has faithfully kept his promise that he would sin and Messiah, that he would deliver Israel, and that he would deliver all humanity from their sins through this suffering Messiah. Yeah, Zechariah 12.10 was in the Bible a long time ago, and the Jews knew that it was there. And that's one of the verses that troubled them in today's world. They shall look on him whom they pierced. Of course, they're not even with their looking for Messiah, not looking for one who will come and deliver them from sin. They're looking for a great geopolitical leader that will make them the number one physical nation on the face of the earth. Zionism and dominionism is closely tied together.

I've read an article recently that Cruz is a dominionist. There is a branch of theology called dominionism in which the dominionists teach that the earth has to be subdued and brought under the government of God before Christ can return. And one of the big vehicles for doing that is the strict enforcement of the Constitution.

The Mormons view the Constitution as sacred, that it's divinely inspired. A few days ago, Glenn Beck, who is a Mormon, says a lot of insightful things. If I speak negatively about Glenn Beck in one sense, it's not to say that a lot of what he says is true, and he has the guts to say it. But recently, in the past few days, I say four or five, he has called for Christians around the world to fast for Ted Cruz. Because one of his big things is the Constitution.

That's not to say that he's a bad guy or anything like that. I'm just saying that's where he is coming from and the belief that, and I don't know if he's a strict dominionist or not, I know he's a strict constitutionalist, as they say. But righteousness is not going to be attained to in this world. The Bible does not say anything remotely like that, that the world be subdued. Of course, the take-off on that is from Genesis chapter 1, where it says that God created all these things and let man have dominion over them. So the righteousness of God is revealed from faith. He is faithful and to faith, that is, he has called us to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness, and of men who hold, and really, this mistranslation here in the King James, it should be, who hold back the truth in unrighteousness. How much truth has been held back by Satan and his co-arts through the ages? How much deception have they wrought upon the face of the earth? Humankind is where it is because they have done despite to the Spirit of grace. You see, as it says here, verse 19, because that which may be known of God has manifested them, for God has showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things which are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful. So, brethren, it is like it says in Hebrews, it is a fearful thing to fall in the hands of the living God. See, there are parallels here between this and where we are.

Don't we understand what is at stake in all of this?

So, after Satan tried to take over God's throne, his strategy has been one of subtlety and deceit, at times transforming himself into an angel of light, and he does this subtly, subtly, and he does it through human beings. You look at 2 Corinthians chapter 10.

The last four or five chapters here in 2 Corinthians, Paul really takes the Corinthians to task for the way many of the things they had said about him and many of the things they had taught.

2 Corinthians 10.13, But we will not boast of the things without measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God has distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you. Where we stretch not ourselves beyond our measures, though we reach not unto you. For we are come as far to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ.

And then Paul talks about how they were stretched beyond measure and doing what they were doing. Now we go to chapter 13.

In chapter 13, he says in verse 14, Verse 5, Examine yourselves. Whether you be in the faith, prove your own selves.

Know you not yourselves, how that Christ is in you, except you be reprobates.

Paul also talks about in 2 Corinthians how that some transformed themselves into angels of light.

It seems that one of the greatest sins of the day is taking what you and I have, what have we been given for granted. We had a sermon last week on gratitude.

You know, if you look at expressions of gratitude in the history of humankind, you find very few. Ten lepers were healed, one turned back to thank Christ for the healing.

And there's so many examples of that.

Taking things for granted. The church is the pillar and ground of the truth, according to 1 Timothy 3.15. And God has set teachers in the church. So be careful before you appoint yourself as a teacher. James says in James chapter 3 that you shall receive the greater judgment.

None of us are here because of any quality or characteristic that we possess.

We have been extended a divine invitation to partake of the marriage supper of the Lamb.

The question is, do you, do I have on the wedding garment? We're here because of the spirit of grace.

Do we take the spirit of grace for granted?

So we have read Hebrews 10 and verse 29.

Let's go back there and rehearse that context once again.

In Hebrews chapter 10, before Paul makes this statement about not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together in Hebrews chapter 10, he talks about how we are now able to live in the Holy of Holies.

In Hebrews chapter 10 and beginning in verse 15, Where the Holy Spirit also is witness to us, for after that He said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

Now where remission of sin is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, so in view of that, we have boldest to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. High priests could go into the Holy of Holies only on the day of Atonement. Here, through Jesus Christ's blood, we can live in the Holy of Holies by a new and living way which He had consecrated for us through the veil that is to say His flesh. So He gave His body, He gave His blood. The middle wall of partition was torn asunder. The veil was ripped. The veil was lifted. You can live in the Holy of Holies. And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart. And full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkle from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water, and that is the Word of God, Christ will present the church to Himself, not having a spot or wrinkle, having been washed in the water of the Word. It's Ephesians 5. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful that promise, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, forsaking not the assembling of ourselves together as a matter of some, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching.

The main point is the verse 29 that I want to try to impress about the Spirit of grace. Why are we here? We're here because of the blood of the covenant, because of the invitation. Jesus Christ, God the Father, have invited us to the marriage supper of the Lamb. We are here because of the Spirit of grace, divine favor, that He has invited you, He's invited me, to the wedding supper of the Lamb.

Now look at Hebrews 6. You see, when you tread underfoot, that which is sacred, that which is holy, then what else is left? There's nothing left. Where are you going to turn to? What are you going to do? And this is what Paul addresses here in verse 4, Hebrews 6.4.

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come.

All they've heard about the millennium, they've heard about the Second Coming of Christ, they've attended services for years, and so on and on it goes.

If they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame.

And so, Paul writes, and we'll go back to Hebrews chapter 10, it is done founding to understand how people who have sat in church services for years have tasted the good gift or so willing to cast it aside.

To forsake the assembling of themselves together, to forsake the assembling of yourselves together, you have to make a willful decision, I'm not going or I'm dropping out. And as you heard in the sermonette for various excuses, it is equally done founding how some are still sitting in church services and are taking what they are being given for granted.

It is holy, it is sacred, it is of the Spirit of grace.

One of the greatest allies that Satan has at the present time is that of, I don't care, I don't care. And as evidenced by so many of the acts that people are performing, they don't care. This takes on many forms. One is assuming they already know it all, when in fact they're at best Laodiceans look warm.

And in fact, their attitude describes a Laodicean, rich and increased with goods. They think spiritually, but really they are naked, blind.

Another form is, what's the use of keeping on? I'm tired of it all.

I'll just sit back and see what happens.

So Paul addresses this very attitude as he concludes Hebrews 10.

So let's pick it up in verse 30. We left off in 29.

Hebrews 10, 30.

For we know him that has said, vengeance belongs unto me, I will recompense, says the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge his people.

It is a fearful thing to fall in the hands of the living God, but called to remembrance the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you were enlightened, you were called, you had what we call the first flush, the first love.

You endured a great fight of afflictions, partly while you were made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly while you became companions of them that were so used. For you had compassion on me and my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.

Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which has great recompense of reward.

For you have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God you might receive the promise.

For yet a little while, in he that shall come will come and will not wait.

Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my souls shall have no pleasure in him. But you are not of them that draw back, under perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the life essence. But if you come to the point that you don't care, see, there's really no hope. Now look, finally, one more verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

In verse 1, More were brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you received, and wherewith you stand, by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory, that what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain.

And Paul comes down to verse 9. For I am the least of the apostles. I am not fitting to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am.

In His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which is with me.

Brother, I hope we can come to understand that what we have here, what we've been invited to, the marriage supper of the Lamb is of grace, and it is a sacred thing, it is a holy thing, that God has called us to, and that we never take it for granted.