Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Ephesians chapter 2, and reading
from our text, verse 8. Verse 8. For by grace are ye
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God. Ephesians 2 and verse 8 and what
specifically is upon my spirit this evening is the means of
grace. Our God is a gracious God and
all that we receive from Him is free unmerited favour. We do not deserve anything at
His hand at all. Each service, when we close,
we close with the benediction. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God the Father, the communion of the Holy Spirit
be with you. I wonder how many times we think
of what is actually being asked. The free unmerited favour of
God be with you. To help you, to strengthen you,
to keep you. We are utterly dependent upon
the grace of God and this portion that is here, points, salvation,
to be solely to be of grace, not of works. Now we know that
our God has manifested His grace really in two main ways. One is a common grace, of which
there are many, many that never acknowledge what God is giving
them at all. In that, the Lord is good to
all, his tender mercies are over all his works, he opens his hand,
he satisfies the desire of every living thing, he makes his reign
to come on the just and unjust, him that serveth God and him
that serveth him not. Our Lord is the Saviour of all
men, especially of them that believe. We need to be very clear
on that common grace, especially when we have situations where
we might be in a hospital ward and we've got six people there,
one of those is one of our loved ones, and The others, they do
not believe, they do not acknowledge God, and it may be that we go
in and have a reading and prayer with them, and someone says to
us, well, what are you asking for? We're asking for healing
and asking for the Lord's blessing. And when you go out, give thanks
for it, and they say, well, we don't believe. We've been healed
and we've got through our operation. What good has your God done you
more than us? We don't acknowledge Him at all. But the way to answer on the
Last Judgment Day, the Lord will say to all them, My child that
was in your midst asked for help and I gave it. And when I gave
it, they gave thanks. But you did not ask for it, and
I gave it. And when I gave it, you didn't
acknowledge it as my gracious giving. You took it as a right
that you should have it, and it just happened, and you never
gave thanks to me. It's important for us to realize
there's not two forces in the world. One is chance, one is
skill of doctors, and the other is answers to prayer and the
Lord's work. No. The Lord is good to all of
His creatures, but most, they have no idea. They don't ask
Him, they don't look for Him, they don't acknowledge Him, they
don't praise Him. When the Lord begins the work
of grace, then it is when a man begins to look to his neighbour. He begins to realise, as the
Apostle said before those at Athens, when they were worshipping
the unknown God with the altar that they made to Him, he says,
the God that we worship is He that made the heavens and the
earth. In Him we live and move and have
our being. He doesn't say, well, believers,
in Him we live and move our being, but unbelievers, they've got
some kind of life separate. No, the Lord gives life, the
Lord takes it away, and in that way, all partake of His bounty. But very, very few acknowledge
it. Bless the Lord, if He has opened
your eyes, if it has brought you to believe so that you ask
and that you notice and that you realize that those blessings
and helps that you have out of a deserved hell are graciously
given. You don't deserve them and yet
they are freely given, kindly given. We read that we are to
grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. Now some might think, well that
is to get better and better Christians, more and more feelingly godly. But you know if we grow in grace,
we're going to more and more feel, if ever my poor soul be
saved. it is Christ must be the way,
more and more be able to see the sin mixed with all that we
say and all that we do, and more and more realize that it is only
by grace, not only that we'll begin in the way, but that we'll
continue and endure unto the end. And so the free are merited. favour of God. How? How does
it come? How is it used? Our text really
sets this forth. I want to look firstly at how
God saves and keeps, which our text very clearly states that
it is by grace. And then, in the second place,
it's through what channel? And we're told the channel here
is through faith, for by grace are ye saved through faith. And then lastly I want to look
at the means of grace, how God conveys that grace to His people. But firstly the way that God
saves and keeps His people for by grace I say this is not the
first time it is mentioned in this chapter in verse 5 we have even when we
were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ by grace
ye are saved then we have in verse 7 that in the ages to come
He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. And in each of these times, the
grace is joined to the Lord. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, though He was yet rich, yet for your sakes became
poor, that ye through His poverty might be made rich. In other
words, that ye through His death and suffering through His poverty
might be given grace and given help. The source of that grace
is the Lord Jesus Christ. When He began His ministry, even
His enemies, they could not deny the gracious words that proceeded
out of His lips. And when we think of the Church
of God today and under the preaching of the Word, it is in that way
that we will know and receive much of the grace of God through
the gracious words that proceeded from His lips and proceed through
the Word of God. We cannot separate the grace
of God from our Lord Jesus Christ, from His sufferings, from His
death, what He has gone through. When we think of the transaction
at Calvary, the debt the people of God owed, the satisfaction
made, without the shedding of blood there is no remission.
But with that debt that is paid, that is grace that has been given
to every one of the people of God even before they are born
into this world. He is one of the Heimreiter said
He gave us grace in Christ before He spread the starry skies, chosen
in Christ from the foundation of the world, free unmerited
favour in putting our names in the Lamb's Book of Life, in setting
His love upon us, in doing what He did at Calvary, The grace
of God toward a sinner doesn't begin when he is called by grace. The grace goes back further and
will go forward further. You think of Romans 8 where we
have a beautiful chain. In the middle of that chain is
calling. Now the chain begins with foreknowledge. whom he did foreknow, but them
he also did predestinate. Those he predestinated, them
he called. But then it doesn't stop there,
but those that he called, them he justified. And those he justified,
them he also glorified. And our election is known by
calling, and our hope for heaven is known by calling. If we have
that one central blessed link where we partake of the grace
of God, we can look back and we can look forward. The things
of God are not in any way shallow or just identified to one spot
of time. They are eternal blessings. I
give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of mine hand. The Lord says, I pass by thee
when thou wast in thy blood, and when thou wast in thy blood,
I bid thee live. You know there's many today that
really despise the, and hate or treat as a terrible error,
the Calvinistic doctrines that we prize and love. They believe
that Christ died for the whole world, and that it's up to us
to exercise faith just to accept that. But whenever I hear those
speak in that way, We'll have to ask them, who is it that instigates? Who is it that starts salvation? And when we go to the full, when
we go to the sentence that God exacted upon man, he said, in
the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And when our first parents disobeyed,
rebelled against God, And God exacted that sentence. It's like
in the laws of our land, if someone's caught stealing, they don't automatically
just go straight to jail, they go to judgment, and it's the
judge that sends them to jail. And so our death, God has commanded
that death, that is our sentence, we in Adam, are already under
a broken law, were already under sentence of death. And that death
had three parts to it. The first part was instantly
to die spiritually. That fellowship, communion, union
with God was stopped. Man is dead in trespasses and
sins, the natural man, knowing not the things of God. He cannot
know them. He cannot discern them or understand
them. He is dead. And then there is
physical death, which each one of us, unless the Lord comes
again, we must partake of that. And then after death, the judgment
and eternal death. But the first way that the Lord
overcomes and delivers His people from death is delivering them
from spiritual death. and the dead don't raise themselves. It is the Lord that raises them,
the Lord that gives them life, that gives them the spirit, gives
them a hearing ear, gives them seeing eyes, gives them a feeling
heart, gives them an aching void the world cannot fill. It is
that gives them life, and that life is graciously given. Why
me? Why was I made to hear thy voice,
to enter while this room, while millions make a wretched choice,
rather starve than come? The grace of our Lord, it follows
right through from eternity to eternity, and our text clearly
states here that it is by grace you are saved. You're saved,
saved in the first place from spiritual death. The first thing
a soul knows is not, oh, I'm saved from hell, or I'm saved
from my sins even, but saved from being dead. It's a better
thing to be alive, to be feeling, The Bible becomes a different
book. The Hymn book becomes a different
book. All things are passed away. All
things have become new. Maybe help to trace grace in
the smallest things, or the beginnings of it, and be clear as to how
that grace actually is manifested, how it actually is seen. He mentioned about common grace,
the Lord good to all openings and feeding everyone. You think
about that in saving grace. A people that know that they
don't live by bread only but by every word of the Lord. That hunger and thirst after
righteousness that have a desire for the things of God, and the
Lord has put that there, and then he satisfies those desires. You see how the grace of God
then is given in the aspect of salvation, and then in every
part of that person's life, it's not just in spiritual things. when afflictions come, grace
to help in time of need, when there's temptations, when there
is trials, that same grace that saves, that same unmerited favour
is still with the Lord. We read in Hebrews that our Lord's
life and death, His sufferings even on earth, endurance of contradiction
of sinness against himself, he can be that sympathising high
priest over the house of God. May we really view in the Lord
Jesus Christ that which Paul says to the Colossians, in him
all fullness dwells, all fullness of grace, all provision, help
laid upon one that is mighty. strengthened by might in the
Lord, strengthened in the inner man, the aspects, the ways of
grace that have been purchased by our Lord, and He is free to
give them, and no one can say, how can you give to that person
who is a sinner, that person who does not deserve it, How
can you be kind to them? How can you answer their prayers?
How can you impart these things to them? And you say, because of what
I've done. I've redeemed them, I've purchased
them. Paul says, you are not your own, you are bought with
a price. And then he says, regarding grace, what I am, I am by the
grace of God. He traces the change that was
wrought in him, and there are some of us here, we go back to
where the Lord began with us, and we say, if the Lord had not
begun at that time and in that way, I would not be here. My life would be a complete different
picture than it is now. The Lord changed that. The Apostle
Paul could say that, and could see it very clearly. as a lesser
thing if we can trace such a change to grace. And then when we have
fresh need of it, when the adversary comes in like a flood, when we
feel our life so low, when we feel so many temptations, when
we feel tossed to and fro, when we're cast down, then to realize
those scriptures, He giveth more grace. and then he gives grace
for grace. I often think about the blessing,
if he gives the grace of prayer and supplication, and then when
that prayer is made, he gives the grace in answering those
prayers. And all is of grace. Right through
the scriptures, grace is emphasized. And may it be a real encouragement
to those of you here tonight, feel so unworthy, so full of
sin, so you're not what you would be, may be encouraged in this,
that every blessing the Church of God has, they haven't earned
it, it's not their works, it's all by grace, all by their gracious
God, and He delights to give that grace, to show that grace,
and that's why it's right through, the word of God and that's why
the whole life of a child of God begins by grace, by grace
he is saying that that then is to be from that time onwards
that is going to be the help of a child of God looking unto
Jesus the author and finisher of our faith so I want to look
then at our second point which is through what channel that
grace comes. Our text says, For by grace are
ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. The faith
is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. It is the faith of Jesus Christ
not faith in Jesus Christ. There is a subtle difference.
We do have faith in Jesus Christ, but those that believe in duty
faith, they will say we are exercising our own faith in Jesus Christ. And you see the ESV in those
texts that speak of that in Romans, they change that verse. But the
thing is that faith is of Jesus Christ. It comes from Him. He is the author and finisher
of our faith. He gives faith. At the instant
that a soul is born again, when they are given a new birth, they
are given faith. They are given eyes to see what
they could not see before, and they are given a hearing ear
to what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Remember the parables
of our Lord, every time He finished there, He that hath an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit, well, let him hear, our Lord stopped
it there, but in the Revelation at the end of the letters, He
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches. And why is that so important?
The Lord says, My sheep, they hear My voice, they follow Me.
And Paul, he says, that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. Another place we read that the
Word did not profit them, being not mixed with faith in them
that heard it. If the Word is to profit us,
then we will be given faith first. The Ethiopian eunuch As he was
reading the Scriptures, he couldn't understand, he couldn't see Christ
there. How can I except some man guide
me? But by the time Philip had finished
preaching, he had seen Christ, he had believed on Christ, he
knew what he ought to do, and he walked in the Lord's ways. Faith came by hearing. Was he not saved by grace? What
grace of the Lord to send Philip to meet that chariot, to bless
him, to open his eyes, to work in him that blessing that the
Church of God reads again and again right down to the end of
time, a great beacon of the grace of God and the channel of faith. Seeing in the Word of God what
we cannot see with our natural eyes. Trusting in that which
the natural man would never trust in because he cannot see it. You know Peter, when Peter was
so full of pride though all men forsake thee yet will not I,
The Lord said to him that this night, before the cock crow,
thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter says, no, no, no, I
won't. The Lord said, I prayed for thee,
that thy faith fail not. Satan hath desired to have you,
to sift you as wheat. And it was the faith that our
Lord had prayed would not fail. That which the Lord gives, He
maintains." Dear friends, do remember this. You might like
Peter to be left to fall, left to deny the Lord, left to sin,
fall into sin, get very, very low. But you know Peter, he came
out of that trial The Lord didn't pray that Peter
would be kept from falling, kept from sin, kept from shame. Peter had to walk a path and
I believe it characterized the rest of his ministry. As much
as Paul was humbled to always remember that he persecuted the
people of God, so Peter would have always remembered how he
had fallen, how he denied the Lord. You know, when he speaks
in his epistles about being eyewitnesses of his majesty, eyewitnesses
of his death, it must have always brought back remembrance. Yes,
Peter, but what did you do when he was before the judgment hall?
How did you act? Hard to think what Peter went
through through those times, I've no doubt he remembered this
word. I have prayed for thee. And then there was a command,
wasn't there? When thou art converted, or when thou art restored, the
Lord will say, you will be restored. You will be brought out. And
when you are, strengthen the brethren. Be the means of imparting
grace and strength to thy brethren. In his epistles we see that.
But his emphasis on faith, the trial of your faith, being much
more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried
with fire, shall be found unto praise and honour and glory at
the last day. We see how faith then is
joined here to grace and it's vital to be that through which
the channel, the grace comes through faith. When God will
strengthen His people in a gracious way, He will strengthen their
faith. And the grace and help that He
gives graciously will be through that trust in Him, the faith
that He gives. Now the text is very clear that
this is not of ourselves. It is the gift of God, or really
the faith itself is the gracious gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, when he dealt in Romans
chapter 5 with the grace of God, then when he comes to Romans
6, he warns them about abusing that grace. That chapter wouldn't be there
for nothing. Shall we sin that grace might
abound? God forbid. We need to be wary
of that, of our own wicked deceitful heart and of Satan abusing the
grace of God. But there's a great difference
between a poor sinner being overtaken
by sin, grieved by sin, feeling at times to be the easiest fool
that Satan ever had, and one that is blatant defiant and says,
well, it doesn't matter how I live and what I do and what I say
because I'll be saved and the Lord will give more grace, and
there are those with a profession of religion that walk in that
way, that where sin is mourned of, where it is confessed, where
it is grieved over, then we have to remember that there is more
grace and that the Lord uses the means of grace. Now I want to come to this because
This is what is upon my spirit. Often Satan will discourage the
people of God from using the means of grace because of how
low that they are. Now we all know what it is to
use means. All of us have come here this
evening probably with a car. We've used that as the means
to get from our home to hear. We're used to the idea of means. If we think of, if there is news
somewhere, the other side of the world or whatever, in the
old days it used to be the means was a letter, now it might be
an email or a phone call. And through that means is conveyed
to us news, might be good news. it might be something that picks
it up that reassures us, that strengthens us now we don't say
that well because this came from a letter or phone call I'm not
going to receive this comfort I'm not going to receive this
help because it came through that way you wouldn't, you'd
look over the means and you'd look to the message and the help
that it was to you And so it is with receiving grace. We're
not to think all the time, well the Lord is going to instantly
just infuse and impart this help, this life, this strength to me,
but He's not going to use any means at all. We're going to
get from this chapel to our home after this service, but we're
not going to use a car, we're just going to get there. You
say how foolish that is. We're going to use the means. But we're going to be looking
to the Lord for the provision of that means and for care and
keeping on the roads. You're going to be looking to
the Lord for providing that means. We don't despise it. We use it
all the time. When we're ill, we go to the
doctor. When we're ill, we take tablets, we have treatment. All the time we are used to using
means in a natural way. And that is so in a spiritual
way as well. We should know what those means
are and use them diligently with the assurance to know that God
uses those means in the way that he sees fit, in a sovereign way. It's not like going to a machine
or something, you press the right buttons and out comes the money
or something like that. Our use of means, God is sovereign. Remember what we, our whole subject
here is grace. which is the free and merited
favour of God. And so with the gifts and the
blessings of God, we have no demand upon it whatsoever. Some
almost speak as if, well, because we don't get answers to prayer,
we're not going to pray. Are you really praying or are
you standing demanding before God? You're dictating to Him. And when He doesn't do what you
want then you find fault with it. Now if we're looking for
grace, we know we feel we do not deserve it. The companion
with grace is mercy. God be merciful to me a sinner. And so I want to then look at
the means of those grace. What does God actually use? I want to perhaps start with
something you wouldn't think of, and that is creation. And
it's one of those means that the world tries so hard to take
away from our young, take away from people today. Day unto day
utter a speech, no place where thy voice is not heard. In Romans,
those that have never read the Word, never had the Gospel, they
shall be without excuse, because they're own bodies. reflect the
Creator. We are made in His image and
the whole creation cries out that there is a God and He made
us. I haven't specifically been blessed
or lifted out of a low place through that way. A dear sister
in faith in Australia once the Lord broke that real deep snare
with her through Opening eyes just to see creation afresh again. But I can tell you many, many
times as I've driven along, as I've seen the things of creation,
my heart is warmed. It's lifted. I've been really
encouraged and strengthened in the Lord my God. Don't overlook. That means that He's all the
way around us and we see it all the time. We see it in the changing
seasons, where the Lord changes from the
cold winters, then closed all of the whole countryside at once
with no noise, with no sound, no great commotion, but everything
comes green and life again. and you see the work of God.
What our Lord says about the Spirit, like the wind, thou hearest
the sound, thou canst not tell from whence it cometh or whither
it goes. So is everyone who is born of
the Spirit, graciously born of the Spirit, and the Lord is taking
an illustration from creation, from the world. He said, Consider
the lilies, how they grow, they toil not, they spin not, yet
Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.
If so, God, so clothe the grass of the field, shall he not clothe
you, O ye of little faith? Consider the sparrows, they have
neither storehouse nor barn, yet your heavenly Father feedeth
them. And all the time the Lord is
using creation It's the means of grace, the means of teaching
and strengthening. There's one time I had this years
ago, it was one of my visits before we married, I think. I
was staying at Church Farm and I was walking over the churchyard
there and I was feeling very, very low, as if I felt the Lord
was so far away, not near me at all. Walking with my head
down, I came across a dead sparrow. I stopped and I looked at that
dead sparrow, and I thought, that couldn't fall without the
Lord. The Lord must be here. And it
picked me up, really encouraged me, just to see that what the
Lord has said in His Word, there it was right in front of me.
And the Lord can use creation to bring through our remembrance
His Word. And that which is a common grace,
those blessings that the world just looks over, can be the means
of such a blessing. And so we'd use providence as
well. You think of the end of Psalm
107. Who so is wise and will observe these things, even they
shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. Whoever will watch
providence will never lack a providence. to watch. If you expect the Lord
will use the things that happen in your life as a means of grace,
as a means of showing His kindness and His goodness, you will notice
those things. Even in adversity, I remember
one chasing hand of the Lord over in Australia. I knew why
the Lord had brought One day going to work, the road I hadn't
one familiar with, over the brow, and the cars all stopped in front,
and I put the brakes on, and I knew full well I wasn't going
to stop. I just slid straight into the
back of this van. Well, he was a very strong van. And you know, I counted the blessings. None of us were injured. His
car wasn't damaged. My car crumpled but not enough
to the radiator so it was still drivable and the bumpers in those
days when it was, it was made up of about four or five bits
of metal and things and I was able to panel bead it out and
fix it myself and fix the bonnet without going to a panel beader. The only thing that was gone
was the thing that I was so proud of. It was a Sigma, this beautiful
like a Rolls Royce on the front bonnet. That was gone. Well,
I left that off. I thought, you can nail that
bit of pride to the road and leave it there. But, you know,
even with the trial, I could count those mercies and those
blessings, and it softened my heart. The Lord didn't have to
do that. He could have written my car
off. He could have ended up with me in hospital. He could have
had that man so angry with me. And I could have had to spend
thousands at the pallbeaters. None of that. It's a blessed
thing to count our blessings, even in adversity. When we're
expecting the Lord to give us that, and He gives us that, then
we'll be complaining and we won't see His grace. When we expect
the Lord will give us this, and He gives us that, then we're
humbled and then we're thankful. Watch Providence. Watch what
the Lord does for us. And watch our poor prayers, those
things that we feel are so poor prayers. And yet the Lord answers
them. Those things we pray for, really
watch to see how the Lord answers them. Because every answer to
prayer that strengthens, grace comes through that, of course
then that is another means of grace. We read in Hebrews, let
us come, not just in prayer, but unto the throne of grace,
that we might find grace to help, obtain mercy and find grace to
help in time of need. If ever there is a means of grace,
that the Word of God says this is a means, it is prayer. Restraining prayer, says the
hymn writer, we cease to find. Ask how needful that is. I always remember a time I had
three services ahead of me, it was a Saturday, and I'd been
trying and trying to find texts, and I hadn't got any texts, and
I was so angry with the Lord. And I got to prayer, and I said,
Lord, you put me in the ministry, you give me three services, but
you haven't given me any texts, and I was really angry with the
Lord. And he just gently, just like
a voice speaking in, you have not asked. And it's true. I've just gone straight to the
Bible and straight looking for a text without even praying for
it. You think, how can a minister do that? Well, I did. I've never
forgotten it though. The Lord so melted me and softened
me. How many times I've had that
where I've been angry with the Lord and the Lord's just Stop
that anger with a gentle reproof. But have you got things in your
life you're wanting help with, you're struggling with emotionally,
with mental strength, or where you need help in providence and
the Lord to appear for you? Are you praying? Are you asking for the Lord?
Or do you just think, I need grace but You have the Lord saying,
you have not asked me. You will not come unto me that
you might have life. Ask and it shall be given you.
Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. Those means of grace, the means
of the free unmerited favour of God being given to us, we
are not actually using What about the Word of God? Where faith comes by hearing,
hearing by the Word of God. Thy words were found, Jeremiah
said, and I did eat them. They were to the joy and rejoicing
of my soul. How many times we've known what
to do, where to go, all being picked up and strengthened through
one Word. One Word. Maybe it was like with those
two on the way to Emmaus. And again you extend the word
to the preaching, the means of grace through the preaching.
They were low, they were sad, they were discouraged, we trusted
it should have been He that should have redeemed Israel. You might
come in, the Lord's house, discouraged, disappointed, sad, we trusted
this would have happened or that happened, but it hasn't happened.
And then the Lord has come. And the one that has come and
brought the word, well, they didn't know who that was. But
our Lord began. Moses, all the prophets, all
the scriptures, the things concerning Himself, gentle reproof to them. But you know their heart burned
within them. They were different at the end of the journey. And
then He revealed Himself to them. What a difference! Was not that
grace? Gentle reproofs, that wasn't
that graciously given, lovingly given, and all through the ministry,
all through the Word. May we expect it, and look, when
we feel so low, disheartened, look to the Word. And what about
to the house of God? You think of Asaph in Psalm 73. He says that his steps were well
nigh gone, slipped when he beheld the prosperity of the wicked. There wasn't even any bands in
their death. Their strength was firm. They were full of fatness. They
had everything the world could do. Meanwhile the people of God
were in trouble and trial and despondency. And when they died
there were bands in their death as well. Until I went into the
sanctuary of God. Then understood I there their
end. Thou hast set them in slippery
places. They shall, as it were, as they
pass through death, with no bands and full at ease, they shall
be consumed with terrors instantly. The other side of the grave.
How did he receive that grace, coming into the house of God?
In the world they only consult to cast him down from his excellency. In his temple everyone does speak
of his glory, as iron sharpeneth iron, so the countenance of a
man his friend. To communicate, to do good and
communicate, forgive not, that is not just speaking one to another,
that is vital, how wonderful it is sometimes with a phone
call. I remember a dear friend up at Waddesham, I was in my
study one morning and I realised it was the fourth anniversary
of his wife's death. I thought I must ring him, I've
got a scripture on my mind to read, picked up the phone, phoned
him. He answered the phone instantly. He said, you know Roland, he
said, that timing was perfect. He said, I've just had my devotions,
I've just got off my knees. He said, a few seconds later
I'd been out the door and gone to work. He said, your phone
call got, not in my prayer, not when I'd gone out the door, exact
timing. And to give him that text. The Lord orders those things
like that. The timing of it. And when we're
thinking of the grace of God and the help of God and the means
of grace, what if there is a poor soul and they are looking for
help, maybe someone to help them practically do something, or
financially do something, or some advice or something, maybe
he'd use you, or use me, to supply that grace. to be the means of
the answer to their prayers. Remember the means of grace,
we ourselves are people of God. The Apostle Paul speaks about
when they are gathering in Macedonia and in Corinth to send money
to the poor Christians at Jerusalem, and he speaks about it. the free favour of God through
His people. And those that receive it, yes
they may thank the means, but they're looking to the giver
who has given it. And this is what is on my spirit,
is the using of the means of grace. You think of the ordinances
of the house of God, Maybe there are those here you
should be baptised and you're not. What is said of baptism
and those who are baptised is that they may have the answer
of a good conscience. If you're going like the Apostle
Paul and it was said of him, it's hard for thee to kick against
the prex. You think, I need grace and help
to go on. Well it may be the very grace
that you need is through obedience and through that ordinance to
give you that answer of a good conscience. And that then will
unlock further means of grace which is around the Lord's table.
The communion of His people. It is given as a means of grace
to strengthen the church, to strengthen the people of God
as they gather round that table And they're all the same. They
were redeemed at the same place, the same time, by the same dear
men, through the same precious blood, the same broken body.
And that unites the people of God. As often as ye do this, ye do
show forth the Lord's death till he come, this doing remembrance
of me. don't neglect the means of grace
that God has given. And may we, when we use them,
may we gather in the house of God, may our mind be this truth,
this means the Lord gives grace to unworthy me, with all my sin,
with all my shame, give me the strength, the blessing,
the hope, the assurance that I so need. Well may the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you and bless the world this
evening.