Let's turn in our Bibles, brethren,
to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. Read here in verse 7. But unto
every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the
gift of Christ. Now, the Holy Spirit is teaching
believers how to walk. He said back up in verse 1, I,
therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk
worthy of the vocation, of the calling wherewith you're called,
with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing
one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace. And then the Holy Spirit teaches
believers to do so because we're one. It says, verse 4, there's
one body and one spirit, even as you're called in one hope
of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and
Father of all, who's above all and through all and in you all.
And yet the Holy Spirit teaches us here in this verse that though
we're all one, We don't all have the same gifts. And he says,
verse 7, But unto every one of us is given grace according to
the measure of the gift of Christ. If believers would truly endeavor
to keep the unity that we have together, it's going to help
us to remember that though we are one in the body of Christ,
we still are different in that we have different measures of
grace and gifts given to us according to the measure of the gift of
Christ. I've titled this Given Grace. The first thing that will
help each believer, help us to remain lowly and meek, is to
remember that everything we have is given. It's given. He says
in verse 7, unto every one of us is given. Now this word given
means it came as a gift. from a source outside of us.
It came from outside of us as a gift. It's given. What's given
to a believer? Well, our calling is a gift. That's a gift. When he says,
what worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, that's a gift.
Our calling is a gift. And then our new spirit is a
gift. All those things he mentioned
up there, lowliness and meekness, that's a gift. long-suffering,
forbearance, love of Christ and of one another, that's a gift.
Our endeavoring is a gift. You can't endeavor to do one
thing unless God gives it to you. That's a gift. Our unity
is a gift. The bond of peace is a gift. To be of one body and of one
hope and of one faith and of one baptism, that's a gift. To
be of one God, one Spirit, chosen of one God and Father, to have
our Father be sovereign over all, rule in all, through all,
in you all. That's a gift. And the greatest
gift of all of these is the Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks be unto
God for His unspeakable gift. So our text is speaking here
of gifts of the new heart and the new spirit. It's speaking
of offices and operations and administrations. It's speaking
of talents, various gifts that believers are given. They're
given all in different measure. They're given to every one of
us, but they're given in different measures. So we don't have anything
to be haughty about, anything to be arrogant about or anything
to boast about because Everything believers have is a gift of God.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4 and chapter 7, I won't have you look
all of these up, but if you want to write them down and look them
up on your own. He said in 1 Corinthians 4, 7,
Who maketh you to differ from another? It wasn't our will. It wasn't our choice. It wasn't
our doing. What did he say? What hast thou
that thou didst not receive? What did you have that you didn't
receive? What do you have that wasn't given to you? Now, if
you received it, why do you glory? Why do you go around boasting
about your will? Why do you go around boasting about your works?
Why do you go around boasting about what you've done? We got
nothing to boast about. Nothing. As if you have not received
it of God. Why does a man boast as if he
didn't receive it? So brethren, I give you something
here. Don't ever seek the highest place.
If you seek the highest place, you will have a lot of competition.
But if you seek the lowest place, you won't have near as much competition.
There are not many people seeking the lowest place. That's why
the lowest place is peaceful, because there are not many folks
seeking that place. It's peaceful. But Christ said this, to be greatest
in the kingdom of God is to be the lowest, is to be the least,
and to serve all. The way up with God is down.
The way up with God is down. All right, here's the second
thing. It'll help us to be meek and lowly. It'll help us to be
long-suffering, to forbear one another in love, to remember
everything is given by grace. Everything's given by grace.
He says, verse 7, unto every one of us is given grace. Now,
I'll remind you again, he's speaking here particularly of gifts of
grace. That's what he's talking about
in this verse, gifts of grace. But let me just ask you this,
what is grace? What is grace? The reason he
calls these gifts gifts of grace is because they're given by grace.
What is grace? Grace is God's free favor. It's
God's free favor. It's not based on any worthiness
in our persons. It's not based on any works that
we've done. Grace is the unmerited favor
of God freely given to sinners. Now, number one, grace can't
be based on any good in us. It can't be based on any worthiness
in us because God, our Savior, in the flesh, Christ Jesus said,
there is none good but one, and that's God. There's none good. There is none good. Look at Psalm
14 verse 2. Men like to speak about God looking
down over time and seeing some good in us. Here's what God saw
when He looked down. Psalm 14 verse 2. And this applies not just in
one generation, this applies to all generations. God's all-knowing. He knows the end from the beginning.
This is what God sees when He looks upon fallen man. Verse
2. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand
and seek God. They're all gone aside, they're
all together become filthy, there's none that doeth good, no not
one. So it can't be based on any good
in us. And then secondly, if you look
at Ephesians 2, men like to say, well God foresaw who would believe.
Well, it can't be based on that. Grace can't be based on that
because faith is a gift of God. Look here at Ephesians 2.8. By
grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. So it can't be based on faith.
You wouldn't look at somebody that you're going to give the
gift of faith to and say, I believe I'll choose them because they're
going to believe. That's just backwards. He gives it. And then
grace can't be earned by our works because in that very next
verse, in verse 9, he says, not of works, lest any man should
boast. And God won't allow us to boast.
God won't share His glory with any, so it couldn't be based
on our works. You know, see, here's the fact of the matter.
We're all sinners. We're all sinners. Everybody
that God saves, and I'm talking about the us here, we're sinners.
We're just dead, ruined sinners. And what we deserve is justice.
What we deserve is hell's damnation. That's what we deserve. Listen
to this, we broke God's law in the garden, and we break God's
law He gave at Mount Sinai constantly all the time. And this is what
God says about that. All that do such things and all
that do unrighteously are an abomination unto the Lord God. He didn't say their sin is. He said they are. They are. The sinner is. Oh, God hates
the sin, but He loves the sinner. No, He hates the sinner too.
He hates the sinner too. Read your Bible. Read your Bible. He that turneth away his ear
from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination,
God said. That's right. The vain gods of
man's imagination. That God who just loves everybody
with his sentimental little love, but his hands are tied and he
can't help anybody. God said, that God's an abomination
to me. All the nations around Israel
had these gods. He said the gods of the Ammonites,
that's the abomination of the Ammonites. He said the gods of
the Moabites, that's the abomination of the Moabites. The gods of
the Sidonians, that's the gods of, that's the abomination of
the Sidonians. And it can be said, it can be
said of all the gods men have in America, that's the abomination
of the Americans. And bring it down closer to home,
to New Jersey. All the vain gods in man's imagination
in New Jersey, that's the abomination of the New Jerseyans. And the
abomination of the Rocky Hillians. and of the Spotswoodians and
of the Penningtonians and Princetonians and everything. Abomination. All of it is. Our problem is
a heart problem too. It goes deeper than what we do.
It's a heart problem. He said everyone that is proud
in his heart. Why won't a man bow to God? Why
won't a man renounce his will and his works and everything
he's done? Why won't he renounce his due
to religion? Because he's proud. That's why.
And God said, everyone that is proud in his heart is an abomination
to the Lord. And though hand join in hand,
though the multitude join together and say, look at our numbers,
God said, he shall not be unpunished. And this goes two ways. It goes
two ways. Not only are we an abomination
to God, the natural man to the natural man, God is an abomination
to him. Listen to this. Proverbs 29,
27 says, an unjust man is an abomination to the just. Who
is the just? There's just one, God. An unjust man's abomination to
the just, and then here's the other equation, part of that
equation. And he that's upright in the
way is an abomination to the wicked. Who's the wicked? That's us. God's an abomination
to us by nature, and we're an abomination to God by nature.
So don't despise grace. Don't despise grace. You see,
if it wasn't for God freely choosing some to save, none of us would
be saved. None of us would be saved. But
now, it goes beyond that. Listen to me. Whether we are
sinners or not, whether you're talking about a sinner or one
that's never sinned, it doesn't matter. It's still God's prerogative
to be gracious to whom He will. Whether we sinned or we didn't,
it's God's prerogative to do what He will with His own. Turn to Jeremiah 18. Jeremiah
chapter 18. The Lord called Jeremiah and
told him to go down to the potter's house. Verse 1, The word which came
to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, Arise! Go down to the potter's
house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Now these
are God's words. He says, Then I went down to
the potter's house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of
the potter. So he made it again another vessel,
as seemed good to the potter to make it. What are you and
I made out of? We're made out of the dirt. We're
made out of the dust. Just like this potter was working
with clay. You and I are made out of red
dirt. That's what Adam means. We're
made out of dirt. And he says here, verse 5, Then
the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel,
can I not do with you as this potter? When that vessel was
marred in his hands, he made another vessel. We were marred
in Adam in the fall. But he made another vessel, and
thus saith the Lord, Can I not do with you as this potter? Behold,
as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand,
O house of Israel." He can do with us what He wants to do with
us. Look at Romans 9. You see, it goes beyond our sin.
It goes, it's before we ever even sinned, God had a right
to do with us what He wanted to do with us. Look at Romans
9, verse 10. Look at the middle part of verse
10 there. When Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our
father Isaac, for the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil." They haven't done anything good or
evil. That the purpose of God, the purpose of God according
to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth. That's the purpose of election.
Why does God choose some and pass by others? So salvation
would be of Him that calleth and not of our works. You see,
men understand election. You understand election. We have
an election for our President of the United States. We know
what election is. You choose one, you pass by another one.
Men don't have a problem understanding what election is. Men don't like
election. And if you don't like anything
God says, the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we're children
of God. But if you got something in your
spirit that's saying, I don't like that, you got a problem
with God, brother. I'm telling you. You got a problem
with God. And don't let your conscience
be your God because it's defiled. When God speaks and He bears
witness with the Spirit that He's given, He makes us in agreement
with God. We stop being rebellious little
stubborn little orphan little bastard children and we bow to
God. Now listen to this. He says in
there, verse 12, It was said unto her, The elders shall serve
the younger. As it's written, Jacob have I
loved, but he so have I hated. I told the young people Friday
night, if God ever saves you by grace, you're going to love
that. Because that's true of the individual believer too.
That's so. The old man is the elder and
the new man is the younger. And when God takes over, the
elder serves the younger. That's right. Just like He did
with Jacob and Esau. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Is it unrighteous? Is it unfair
for God to choose one and pass by another? God forbid. Because
he said to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and
I'll have compassion on whom I'll have compassion. So then
it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that shows mercy. Well, what's the necessity of
preaching this message? Men are going to hell by their
own will. That's why. You're saved by God's
sovereign will, not by your will. And men are going to hell because
preachers who would rather stroke their pockets with people's money
and stroke people's egos and their pride are holding their
hand and coddling them all the way to hell instead of telling
them the truth. Because they hate them. They hate one another.
That preacher hates the people he's preaching to and the people
hate the man that's preaching to them. They just put up with
one another so they can soothe their conscience on their road
to hell. That's right. God's going to have to come in
and take over in a man's heart before he'll bow to God. Now
look, I'm showing you here it's God's prerogative. Now drop down
to verse 19. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why
does he yet find fault? Well, we could answer that this
way. Because we all fell in the garden. We all fell in the garden. Or you'll say this, who's resisted
His will? Well, we can answer this, all
of us have. But here's the right answer right
here. Nay, but, this is the right answer. Old man, who are you
to even reply against God? Who are you to even reply against
God? Go back beyond your will, go back beyond your fault. Who
are you to even ask God anything? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Has not the
potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel
under honor and another under dishonor? So don't get angry
that God gives grace to some and not others. Nobody deserves
anything but hell. And beyond that, it's God's prerogative
to do with his own what he will. And everything God does, members
of Christ's body were chosen freely by grace. They were adopted
by grace, they were sanctified by grace, were preserved by grace,
were resurrected by grace, and were glorified by grace. We're
saved by grace, brethren. That's what grace means. That's
what it means when it says, by grace are you saved. All right
now. Why do we need to hear this? If we're going to keep unity
in us. Because this grace makes us lowly and meek. I'll have anything I wasn't given,
and I don't have anything I wasn't given freely unmerited. So this
makes us low and meek, brethren. This message does. That message
that tells you, you've done it all by your will, Eric. Boy,
that swells you up with pride. That message that says, did you
see his parking spot out there in the parking lot with his name
on it? Because he did so many good works and passed out so
many tracks. Man, that swells that man up
with pride and it makes that professing believer sitting next
to him go, I can't stand him. I wish I had that glory. But
this message of grace, we're all just a bunch of worms. And
worms, they can't get too upset with one another. They're just
worms. You ever looked at worms? They all look alike. And they
all reside in the same dung. And there's nothing about them,
from head to toe, that makes them appealing. That's us. Alright,
here's the third thing. It's going to help us remember
if we remember from whom grace and from whom the gifts of grace
are given. Look at verse 7. Every one of us is given grace
according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Everything I
just mentioned to you is the gift of Christ. Everything came
through Christ and by Christ. Look at Romans 5 and verse 6. Here you go, Romans 5 and verse
6. You see this big This great divide was between us and God.
We're abomination, God's holy and righteous. And He's not going
to sweep our sin under the rug. Our sin's got to be dealt with.
And everybody that sins has got to die. So how are you going
to die? How are you going to pay justice
and God be holy? Somebody else who is holy, who
is God, has to come and become a man, one with us, and has to
take our sin. And they have to die unto the
justice of God for us particularly. For me particularly, for you
particularly, for each one that's going to be saved that's going
to be justified. Their sin has to be put on Christ and Christ
has to bear the justice of that sin and He has to justify that
person by His blood. And they have to be reconciled
to God by the death of His body. At the time He shed it, at the
time He died. You think He did it? Just look.
Verse 6. when we were yet without strength.
Couldn't do a thing. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. For sinners who are an abomination
to God. Ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare die. If you were righteous, people would die for you, but
if you're just good, somebody would die for you. Look at this.
God commendeth His love toward us. In that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. We were sinners. We don't even
know what that means. We don't even know how horrid
that is to God and to Christ. And yet He died for us. You can
try to pick out your worst enemy. Your very worst enemy. Beating
you, slamming you down, spitting in your face, peeing on you,
defecating on you. I'm talking about that one. That's who we were toward God.
And He came and Christ died. Much more than, now look what
He accomplished by His death. Much more than being now justified
by His blood. By His blood. We shall be saved
from wrath through Him. Through Him. For if when we were
enemies, You see, we were enemies. If when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son. The only way you
can be reconciled to God is if you're justified. If your sin
is dealt with, if it's put away, if it's purged, and God says,
I'm at peace with them, you can be reconciled to God then. And
He did that by His death. What were we at that time? Hating
God and hating one another. And yet He reconciled us to God
by His death. by His Son, much more than being
reconciled. Now that we're friends, we're
going to be saved by His life, brethren. He's risen and we're
going to be saved by Him. Prove it. Our resurrected Christ
brought the Gospel to us. Our resurrected Christ sent the
Spirit to us. Our resurrected Christ gave us life and faith
and all things that pertain to godliness. He did that. So, to
prevent us being haughty and proud and having this high and
mighty fleshly attitude, He says, but unto every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Christ
is the one giving this grace out. You see, He bought the right
to do it. He bought the gifts, He secured
the grace for us, and He has the right to dispense it to us.
God gave Him all the glory when He raised Him from the dead.
Now, a cook measures. A cook takes their measuring
cup, they measure. I want you to understand what
a measure is. They measure and they put it in a pot. We're an
earthen clay pot. A worthless, powerless, earthen,
fleshly vessel. Christ comes and creates somebody
new in us. And He pours in the spirit. He
makes us a new creature, giving us a new spirit. And He pours
in whatever measure of grace, whatever measure of gifts that
He will. Christ does that. And so in Christ's
body, we're all one. We're all one. One body. Just
like your body is one body. You know, I've been working out
at the gym. And I figured out certain members
of my body are stronger than other members of my body. But
they're all members of my body. All one members of my body. Well,
there are certain members of Christ's body that are stronger.
Some are weaker. There's babies in Christ in this
body. There's adolescents in this body,
in grace. There's teenagers in grace in
this body. There's young men and women in
this body. There's elders in this body.
I'm talking about not age. I'm talking about in grace. I'm
talking about in grace, in gifts of grace. I'm not talking about
in time. I'm talking about in gifts of
grace. gifts of grace. Some are weak, some are strong,
some are at all points in between. And we have an unction from the
Holy One and we know all things. Every one of us know the Gospel.
We're not talking about here about men who still try to come
to God by their will and their works and worshiping a stone. We're talking about folks who've
been called by God and taught and are made of one Spirit, one
Father, one Christ, one faith, one baptism, one hope. We got
one hope. I don't have a hope in my work.
You have a hope in your work. You have a hope in your work.
Then we have a bunch of different hopes. We got one hope. The one
Lord Jesus Christ justified us and the one Lord Jesus Christ
rose and He's there with us and we're there in Him. And the one
Lord Jesus Christ is calling us and saving us, He's measuring
grace to us. And the one Lord Jesus Christ
is going to keep us and the one Lord Jesus Christ is going to
bring us to the Father and present us to that one Father, faultless
and without blame. And every one of us is going
to inherit one inheritance. Life with Him forevermore. That's
our one hope. That's our one hope. So we all
have an unction. We know this, but now, some can't
speak it as well as others, because He hasn't given them a measure
of grace to speak it as well as others. Some, we fall into
faults, and we're overtaken in a fault at different times. We
don't have the measure of grace to put it into practice. Some
can walk. Some have to be held hold on
to something to walk. Some just cruising furniture.
Some can take off on their own and walk. Some can run according
to the measure of the grace He's given. But here's why He's telling
us this, brethren. Look at Galatians 5. Galatians
5. Here's why He's telling us this. Remembering that we differ in
these graces. And that they're coming from
Christ, brethren. And they're given. They're graced.
They're given and they're coming from Christ. So we're long-suffering
to one another. When one falls, we forbear with
him. And look at this, Galatians 5,
I'm sorry, at the end, verse 26. Let us not be desirous of
vain glory. Of vain glory? I don't want you
glorifying me. Do you want me glorifying you?
I'm not a believer. He says, don't provoke one another. How do you provoke one another?
You know, if you were a real Christian, you wouldn't be doing
that. You know what that makes you want to do? It makes you
want to wear it back, punch them right square in the nose, don't it?
That's provoking somebody, isn't it? He said, don't provoke one
another. He says, don't envy one another. Where did their gifts come from?
Same place yours did. If we envy them, you know who
we got a problem with? The one who gave it. Don't envy
them. But look at this. Brethren, if
a man be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual, You
which are at that time been given a measure of grace so that you're
walking in the Spirit, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness.
Meekness. Considering yourself, have you
ever fallen? What's going to keep you from
falling today? What's going to keep you from falling tomorrow?
The grace of God. So consider yourself. Consider
yourself. There's nothing that any of your
brethren have done that you won't do. Consider yourself, lest thou
also be tempted. Tempted by the devil. Tempted
to pride. Tempted to arrogance. Tempted
to be haughty and lifted up. When you've done that, you've
fallen into a greater fault than they're in. Now listen, he says, bear ye one another's burdens.
That's what he's telling us in our text. Bear one another's
burdens. How do you bear a burden? You
pick it up. You carry it. You bear it. Put it on your shoulder and carry
it. Bear one another's burdens. That means you've got to bear
one another. To bear their burden, you've got to bear them. Bear
them. And so fulfill the law of Christ. You see, Galatians, Judaizers
want to bring in all these laws. They want to bring in all these
laws. They want to bring the whole Old Covenant law back in. And
Paul said, the believers are under one law. We're just under
one. It's the law of Christ. It's
faith that works by love. And he said, if you bear one
another's burdens instead of bringing each other back under
the yoke of the law and beating and biting one another in your
haughty, ignorant arrogance, then you'll fulfill this law
of Christ. If you do bear one another's burdens. He said, but
if you bite and devour one another, you'll destroy one another. Now
look at this. For if a man thinks himself to
be something when he's nothing, he deceiveth himself. I tell
you what you do, next time you see a brother or sister who's
fallen and one of us feels like that we're going to be getting
haughty and feel like that we're feeling like we're a little better
than them or we want to go and be harsh with them, I tell you
what you do, I tell you what you do. You find some blemish
on your body, on your physical body, your finger, your hand
or your arm or something like that and you just start biting
on it and just chew the thing off. You say, I wouldn't do that
to my own body. Don't do it to your brother and
your sister. Don't do it to your brother and your sister. They're
our body. They're Christ's body. Paul said,
I say through the grace given to me. He said this lowly and
meekly. I say through the grace given
to me, to say to every man that is among you, not to think of
himself more highly than he ought, but to think soberly. according
as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. Alright,
turn to Hebrews 4. I've got a few more things to
show you and I'll be done. Hebrews 4. Hebrews chapter 4. Now if you or your brother, you
are your brother, if you need grace, if you see yourself taking
on a fault, See your brother taken in the falter. You just
see yourself weak in some way. You need more grace. Maybe you
need the grace of lowliness and meekness. Maybe you need the
grace of longsuffering. Maybe you need grace of forbearance.
Maybe you need grace of temperance. Maybe you need grace of faith.
Whatever grace is needed, knowing that it's Christ who's measured
these gifts of grace to us. What do we do? Hebrews 4.16. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace. Isn't that a wonderful saying?
It's not a throne. It's not a frightening throne.
I'd be afraid to go to a king's throne in there. It would frighten
me. I'd be intimidated by it. This is a throne of grace. A
throne of grace. A throne to dispense unmerited
favor. Come to this throne of grace
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of
need. What if he's not able to give
this? Listen, it's a throne of grace. That means there's a sovereign
king dispensing this grace. That means nobody can stop him
from measuring out this grace. He delights in mercy and he welcomes
every child to come to him and the door of his storehouse is
always open. And he entreats every one of
us, avail yourself of my fullness and of the variety of grace and
the measures of grace that I bestow. And the only qualification is
a contrite, empty heart and an open mouth. That's it. That's
it. He said, open your mouth. I'm
going to fill it. Open your mouth wide and cry out to him. He'll
fill it. He'll fill it. So remember, brethren, we're
one. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the
measure of the gift of Christ. So with ourselves and with our
brethren, trace every blessing, every good word, every good work,
whether it's in you or your brethren. Every blessing, every good word,
every good work, trace it all back to Christ. Because every
good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down
from the Father of lights with whom is no variables, neither
shadow of turning. Doesn't that just simplify things?
That just simplifies things. This concentrates all our devotion,
all our praise, all our glory in one, in Christ, in Christ. And I can assure you this, Christ's
willingness to give us grace exceeds our conception as much
as His blood exceeds all our guilt. All our doubting will be removed
if we can remember His grace is as free as it is boundless.
It's as free as it is boundless. And remember this, Christ is
able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. Now, turn to 1 Peter 4. 1 Peter 4. Now let me ask myself
and let you ask yourself, what is my worship? What's my worship
being? Who have I been praising? Who
have I been glorying in? Who have I been looking to? What's
my service been? Am I serving Him? And if I'm
serving Him, am I patting myself on the back? Am I wanting others
to see me or am I wanting them to see Christ? Am I wanting them
to look up to Him, not to me at all? What's my service? And
what's my consecration been to Him? Have I really been consecrated
to Him? Now, this is so important, brethren. Because He gives these gifts,
and because He gives these gifts by grace, and because it's Christ
who laid down His life for us that's giving us these gifts,
let us take these gifts and this grace that He gives us and serve
Him with everything you've got, with everything He's given, with
every ounce of strength He's given to you. Look at this. Do
it for His glory and the good of our brethren. Look here, 1
Peter 4 verse 10. He says, As every man hath received
the gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards. That's what a good steward does.
He receives the gift from Christ and he just runs straight to
his brethren and ministers to his brethren with it. That's
what he does. A pastor is a steward. a pastor's steward. He has a
dispensation given him, a stewardship given to him. When I study during
the week and I receive from God, I don't do like a lot of the
slumbering dogs that lay down and won't bark. I don't come
here and hold back from you. I come here and minister everything
He's given to me to you in full abundance as best He'll give
me the ability to do. And that's what He says to each
of us. Take everything He's given you and you minister to your
brethren with it and do it to the best of the ability He's
given. Look at the next word. He says, As good stewards of
the manifold grace of God. Here's what He means. If any
man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. Speak this word
just like you're speaking for God. He says, If any man minister,
you're serving one another, let him do it as of the ability which
God given. that God in all things may be
glorified through Jesus Christ to whom be praise and dominion
forever and ever. Amen. That's who we're serving
right now. That's why he tells us this.
Amen. Let's stand together. Our God and our Father, what
great abundant grace you've given so freely to us to make us to
even have a heart to bow and an understanding heart and a
believing heart. Lord, there's poor sinners sitting
here now that can't even make themselves believe that you even
exist. That's how feeble and foolish
their wisdom is and how worthless their will is. They can't even
make themselves believe you exist. Lord, there are sinners here
that think they saved themselves. There are sinners here that think
they saved themselves by their works. And they can't even make
themselves willing to renounce themselves, much less believe
you. And yet, Father, you pour out
grace to sinners that are worse and ten times worse. You poured
out grace on us and made us believe you and made us see you've done
all the work of reconciling us to yourself and you've brought
us together in one body and you've given us hearts to love one another
and grace to minister to one another. Everything we have is
of you. Father, keep us from being haughty,
keep us from for being arrogant towards our
believing brethren that you've saved and redeemed and gifted
by your grace. Make us servants one of another.
Make us helpers one of another. Make us to minister to one another.
Make us just empty pipes that just your grace runs right through
us, right to our brethren. And Lord, forgive us our sin.
Forgive us our pride and our arrogance and our flesh. We pray,
Lord, that you would use the words here today and call out
another one of your lost sheep. Call them out, show them this
great peace you give. Call them out, show them, Lord,
the glory of your great name and all the person and work that
you are. Show them what you've done. Show
them who you are. And Lord, keep us. We pray, keep
us. We pray that you'll keep us here
till the day you bring us to glory. We ask it in Christ's
name, for His glory and honor, for your glory and honor, Father.
Amen.