Jesus died for all his own, and
Jesus died for me. Oh, let thy grace inspire my
soul with strength divine. May all my power to Thee aspire,
and all my days be nigh. Saved by grace alone, this is
all my plea. Jesus died for all his own, and
Jesus died for me. Good hymns, aren't they? Alright,
go back to 2 Corinthians 12 with me now, and read verse 9 again. Paul, speaking of a thorn in
the flesh, he asked the Lord to remove. And the Lord said
unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made
perfect in weakness. So Paul says most gladly, therefore,
will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. My grace is sufficient for thee,
our Lord said. Now, that's the verse that spoke
to me in reading this chapter quite some time ago and has been
with me ever since. I wanted to deal with it again. And then I started looking at
it, and it was so glorious that I thought, I can't do this. But
then that verse spoke to me again, saying, My grace is sufficient. Who is sufficient for these things,
Paul said, to declare God's grace? But we'll do what we can by His
grace. The first verses leading up to
this are important. They're vital. Now more than
ever. I want us to look at these verses leading up to this. Paul's
apostleship, his authority was being questioned, even denied
by some false brethren. Throughout this letter, he defends
himself. He's defending his apostleship. I was going to have you read
some, but not for the sake of time. He said, you suffer fools
gladly, many glory after the flesh. He said, I will glory
also. You've compelled me to do it."
Talking about these people that called his apostleship into question. And he defends himself. Now, he's a true man of God. Paul is a true man of God. Sent
by God. Chosen by God. Sent by God. And
one way you know that is he's meek. He's a meek man. He said things like this, I'm
less than the least of all the same. I'm not sufficient to be
an apostle. But God raised him up, didn't
He? He's like Moses. The Lord said
Moses was the meekest man on earth. So the Lord used Moses
greatly in the Old Testament and Paul to write the largest
part of the New Testament, the epistles. And other men like
John the Baptist were very meek men. John the Baptist, when they
came to ask him who he was, He wouldn't tell them, would he?
John the Apostle never would even use his own name. Paul,
he doesn't call himself Reverend Paul or Dr. Paul, just Paul. And that's proof. That's proof
that God called them. And also proof is that they were
in it for God's glory. I'm defending Paul here. God
does. God defended John the Baptist,
didn't He, against... He commended John the Baptist
to all the people, didn't He, remember? He said, who did you
go out to see, a prophet? I'll tell you more than a prophet.
And the Apostle Paul, the Lord had Paul right these things. Verse 1 says, It is not expedient
for me doubtless to glory him, but I'm going to tell you about
some visions and revelations of the Lord. God had Paul write this for us
to confirm that this was His man and this is His Word through
that man. And I say this is necessary now
more than ever because this whole book is called into question,
especially the writing of the Apostle Paul, mostly by women,
as you can imagine. But now more than ever, you and
I, They had confirmed that the words of Paul are not the words
of a man at all, but the words of God. Infallible, inspired,
inerrant. The Word of God. What Paul wrote
is the Word of God. And God had him write this. And you know the acid test of
a true minister? And people, who gets the glory? Who's getting all the glory?
Who's getting all the glory? Paul said in verse 5, I will
not glory. Of such a one I will not glory. I will not glory. God's people
are not going to glory in anything or anyone but Him. And it's all
to the praise of the glory of His grace. Because what do we
have that we have not received by His grace? Paul said that,
didn't he? By the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace
was sufficient in me. And he told this story of a man. He tells it in the second person,
doesn't he? He doesn't even say it's himself,
does he? But it is. We know it is. This
was when he was stoned for preaching. And they drug his body out. Dead. And that's what he's talking
about. He said, this man himself was carried up into the third
heaven and heard things. Heard things. That's what amazed
him more than anything, is what he heard. Things unlawful, unable,
impossible to relate. The ear can't receive it. But he said in verse 7, verse
6, he said, I'm telling you the
truth, but I'm going to leave off telling that, lest any man
should think of me above that which he seeth me to be. What's
that? Every man at his best state is
still what? Just a man. A man at his best
state is still a man at best. And he says that you might not
think of me above that which you see me to be, a flesh and
blood sinner just like you, or he that heareth me, unless I
should be exalted above measure. And the Lord did. exalt Peter,
James, John, these men. There are things I don't understand
about the apostles where He said, you'll sit with Me on twelve
tribes, judge them, twelve thrones. Remember when He said that? I
don't understand that. I don't understand it. But the
Lord gave these men. Special place, didn't it? He
really did. Special powers that had no longer
existed in any man. And so they were exalted, but
he said, lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance
of the revelations that was given to me of thorn in the flesh,
a messenger of Satan to Buffett. lest I should be exalted above
measure." What was this thorn in the flesh that Paul had? Turn with me to Romans 7. Nobody knows. The Lord wasn't
pleased to tell us what Paul's thorn in the flesh was. And many
speculate, but we don't know, so there's no point in trying.
We do know that he had some kind of affliction of his eyes, his
eyesight. Men had to write his letters
for them. One epistle he did write with
his own hand. He said, you see how large an
epistle I wrote with my own hand. But anyway, that was an affliction. Corinthians said he's weak in
his flesh. They despised him because he
says his letters are weighty, but his bodily presence is weak
and contemptible. But we don't know. I do know
this though. I do know this. Paul was a flesh
and blood sinner. like you and me, like all of
us who struggled with the flesh and everything to do with the
flesh. And that is Satan's tool, isn't
it? Everything to do with the flesh. This is how Satan deals
with flesh and blood. He uses the flesh. The things
of the flesh. Lust of the flesh. Lust of the
eye. Pride. That's Paul talking about. Lest I should be exalted. Romans
7. You and I love this. Believers
love this, don't we? He said in verse 15, that which
I do, I allow not. What I would, that do I not. What I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent under the law. I agree with the law that it's
good. Now, then it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. I know, he said, that in me,
that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Paul struggled with the flesh
just like us. Sure he did. He's flesh. For
to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is
good I find not." I can't do it, no matter how hard I try,
that's what he's saying. I cannot do it. No man can. Our Lord said, without me, it
doesn't matter who it is, apostle. He first said that to the apostle,
didn't He? Without me, you can't do nothing. He showed that to Simon Peter,
didn't He? Simon Peter said, I won't do it. Don't ever say that. Say, by
the grace of God, I won't. Always say that. Paul said, verse
19, the good I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not,
that I do. Men say that Paul wrote this
when he was unsaved. That's men that don't know the
grace of God. They don't know the grace of God, do they? We
know. All of God's people have this
same struggle. Every one of them. Now, he said,
I find the law in me, verse 21, when I would do good, evil is
present with me. I delight in the law of God after
the inward man, the new man. But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my memory. Oh, wretched man that
I am! Who shall deliver me? Boy, if
that isn't a thorn, if that isn't something that won't go away,
something painful, isn't it? This indwelling sin, this old
man. So I do know that much, that
Paul struggled with sin and his flesh just like we do. A messenger
of Satan. I know that. What he was speaking
of in his Bible, I don't know. But he said, boy, I love the
rest of these verses, don't you? Oh, I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. To mine I serve the law of God,
but with the flesh, oh my, my flesh, my old man can't do anything
but sin. But now there is no condemnation
to them in Christ. This body of death. How blessed
is the man or the woman who has this struggle, who knows something
about this struggle with sin. Do you remember a couple of weeks
ago I tried to quote that hymn That a sinner is a sacred thing?
The Holy Spirit has made him so? Remember that game? There
was a man visiting here and he looked at me like, what are you
talking about? Well, here's what I'm talking
about. Joseph Hart. wrote that. He's one of the greatest
hymn writers ever in it. He said, talking about Adam's
sin and Christ's second Adam came to crush his head, he said,
To understand the truth aright, this grand distinction should
be known, though all are sinners in God's sight, there are but
few so in their own. To such as these our Lord was
sent, to only sinners who repent, What comfort can a Savior bring
to those who never felt their woe? A sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made Himself. New life from Christ we must
receive before, for sin we will rightly grieve. And this is a
faithful saying, let us own well worthy it is to be believed that
Christ into the world came down that sinners might by him be
saved. Sinners are high in his esteem
and sinners highly value him. Sinner is a sacred thing. You
understand what he is saying, don't you? That God, the Holy
Spirit, when He comes, Christ said, I'll send the Comforter
in John 16. He said, He will, first thing
He'll do is convince you of sin. Sin, righteousness, etc. So you
understand that, don't you? How blessed you are. And it's
a humbling thing, isn't it? But humbling is good. Listen
to this. The Lord said, Though the Lord
be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly. But the proud,
he knoweth afar off, keeps them at arm's length. But to this
man will I look, he said in Isaiah 66, he that is poor, and of contrite
heart, and trembleth at my word. Our Lord said, he that exalteth
himself shall be abased, but he that abaseth himself, He shall
be exalted. It's a good thing to be amazed.
It's a good thing for the Lord to break us, to kill our self-love
and kill self-righteousness. That's what He does for all of
His people. So, you know, the Lord has blessed us if we
feel this thorn called to flesh, a messenger of Satan. And like
Paul, we think, Lord, please, please, let him leave me. Please, let this leave me. You know that we have been exalted?
We've been exalted. We've had visions. Haven't we
seen His glory? Not with these eyes, but with
the eye of faith, haven't we? Haven't we been given an abundance
of revelations? Haven't we? Yes, we have. Unless
we be exalted above our fellows, He's going to keep us low. I
tell you, knowledge puffeth up, doesn't it? Grace edified. Knowledge puffeth up. What you
know, and it's particularly true of young believers. I don't know
why, but it is. We get self-righteous because
of what all we've learned. We look down on Arminians. What's wrong with these people?
What's wrong with them? They're just blind. The Lord
hadn't given them eyes like He did you. There's nothing to boast
of. Nothing to brag about. And the
Lord will bring us down again, won't He? Lest we get self-righteous. Satan is allowed to buffet us.
Satan is allowed to buffet us, seeking whom he may devour. Remember
when Simon Peter... The Lord said, who can look at
me and say that I am? And Simon Peter spoke out, and
how art thou Christ? The Son of God, the living God.
And Christ said, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood is not revealed
that to thee, but My Father which is in heaven. A special revelation
from God to this man. And He said, Upon this rock thou
art Peter. And upon this rock shall I build
My church. What do you reckon Peter was
doing? They all did it, didn't they?
James and John. Their mother got in on it. Who's going to
be the greatest? None of you. Don't do that. Don't get puffed up. It's all
about grace. It wasn't a few hours later until
Peter, the Lord said, I'm going to the Calvary's tree. And Peter
said, oh no, Lord, you can't do that. I won't let you do that. And the Lord turned and said,
Get behind me, Satan. I know. You know, don't you?
You know something about that? The highs and the lows of a believer. The old and the new man. Some
argue about that. The reason they argue is because
I guess they haven't been born again. All God's people feel
that. Old man, they struggle with it.
So, here's what our Lord said to Paul. Here is what our Lord
said to Paul who asked him three times to deliver him from this
thorn in the flesh. The Lord said to Paul, He said
unto me, verse 9, My grace is sufficient for thee. For my strength
is made perfect in weakness. My grace. You know, I've got
a big, thick book. It's called the Interlinear Bible. It's the Hebrew and Greek, actual
Hebrew and Greek Bible. Okay? And then right beside the
Hebrew is the literal translation into English. Word for word.
Word for word. Sometimes it helps me when I'm
studying. The actual word for word literal translation. And
then the Greek. The word for word into English.
You know how this literally reads? Listen to this. This is wonderful.
This is how it reads. Enough for you is the grace of
me. The translators, you know, what
they wrote, my grace is sufficient for thee, is right. It's good. It's readable in English,
okay? But it literally translates,
enough for you. is the grace of me. I like that. Don't you? He is
the grace of God. And He's enough. It's enough.
Everything about Him is enough. And this is what I want to look
at. How His grace is sufficient. It's enough. All we need. All
we need. That's what He's saying. My grace
is all you need. I am all you need. Christ is
all. That's what you read, Brother
Patrick, in Colossians 3.11. He's all and in all. My grace is sufficient for thee. You know our favorite chapter,
one of them, Ephesians 1, how it goes on to talk about grace
beyond you. It talks about electing grace.
How God chose us. Predestinating grace. Accepting
grace. Accepted in the Beloved. Redeeming
grace. Forgiving grace. The forgiveness
of sins. Revealing grace. How the Lord
has revealed, made known, the mystery of His will. Gathering
grace. How He is going to gather it
together in one. All things in Christ. Inheriting grace. Inheritance. We've obtained an
inheritance according to his predestination. Believing grace. You who trusted when you heard
the Word of the Gospel. Sealing grace. Sealed with the
Holy Spirit promise quickening grace, and you had to quicken
who were dead and trespassed in sin, and by grace you're saved. And then he goes on to talk about
resurrecting grace as he's raised us up together, made us set to
get seeding grace. Everybody is going to have a
good seat in glory. Seating grace? For by grace that
in the ages to come, he says, he might show the exceeding riches
of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
For by grace. are you saved. All of that and
so much more. By grace are you saved. Through
faith. Even that's not of yourself.
That's by grace. Saving grace. His saving grace
is sufficient. It's enough to save us. By grace
are you saved. And it's enough. Christ is sufficient
to meet the law's demand. God is satisfied. God satisfied. Like Esau, when Esau was pursuing
Jacob, remember? And Jacob kept sending out things
to him to appease him. Kept sending out things to him.
And finally Esau said, it's enough. That's enough. I'm appeased. And when Christ came and did
what he did for his people, God is satisfied. Satisfied with
the law's demand. What Christ did is sufficient
to quiet the conscience. If you look to Him, if you're
not finding peace of conscience, guilty though you be, if you're
not finding peace, you're looking in the wrong place. Christ said,
look, come unto Me. He said, look unto Me, I'll give
you rest. I'll give you a read. Peace of
conscience. Is sufficient to quiet the guiltiest
conscience? To allay all our fears? If you're
full of fears, you're looking at the wrong place. You're listening
to the wrong voices. Christ, His grace is sufficient
to allay all our fear. We're talking about His grace.
We're talking about hearing it. This faith comes by hearing. We need to hear it. This is where
we gather strength. Right here. Hearing about His
sufficient grace. Okay? And His grace is sufficient
to restore our souls, to bring back the prodigal, to raise the
fallen, to cure the faint. Give us joy and rejoicing, for
by grace are you saved. Nothing else is sufficient. God
is called the God of all grace. The God of all grace. When he
told Moses, I'm going to make my goodness pass before you.
He said, I'm going to proclaim the name of the Lord. What did
he proclaim? The Lord. The Lord God. Gracious. Merciful and gracious. That's His name. He's gracious. That's His name. He delights
to be gracious. And He giveth more grace. And He giveth, and He giveth,
and He giveth. Liberty. And His grace is sufficient. Christ is enough. And Paul said there in that verse,
well, the Lord said in verse 20, My strength is made perfect
in weakness. Christ is the power of God, the
strength of God. And in our weakness, Christ is
just what we need. And in our inability, Christ
is able. And in our need, Christ is enough. Now, he'll meet his sinner. All
they need to hear is Christ. So his saving grace is sufficient. His keeping grace. His keeping
grace. Jude wrote, "...now unto him
that is able to keep you from falling." Like I said, we sang that song
because that one verse, surely His grace will keep us from falling. Yes, it will. It's enough. It's
sufficient to keep us from falling. All of God's people are kept
by the power of God. What's that? Who's that? Christ
is the power of God. And as I said, to hear the gospel. It's the power which speaks of
Christ, the power of God. And all of God's people were
given to the Lord Jesus Christ to keep God's people. And He
said in that prayer to the Father, He said, All that thou hast given
Me, I have lost nothing. And in the end, we're going to
sing to the praise of the glory of His great Because he's going to say, Behold
I and the children which thou hast given me. They're all here. All present and accounted for.
Why? Because he's able. He's able. Able to keep us. And they shall
be kept. Even the most sinful goes on
to say he's able to keep you from falling and to present you
thoughtless. And the greatest trophy of His
grace, proof of that, was that thief on the cross. The worst
man on earth was the first one in heaven with the Lord. See? He's able to present a thief
and a murderer false. Oh my. I'm the bride of Christ, so that
makes me a kept woman. That's the final event. His saving
grace is sufficient. His keeping grace is sufficient.
His providential grace. Stay with me. His providential
grace is enough. He said, My grace is sufficient. Sufficient to meet the need.
We're promised daily bread and we're promised daily grace to
meet our need. Just what we need. Just what
we need. Like manna, you can't gather
it over and live on that. No, no. You've got to daily ask
for that grace, whatever it may be. Daily grace. You remember
the story of Elijah and the widow? That barrel of meal and the cruise
of oil? Was it filled to the top? No.
No, it wasn't. Every day she had to go back
to the barrel. Remember that? Every day she needed a sufficiency. She needed just enough for that
day. So she would reach down in that barrel. I hope it is
there. He promised it would be. She would reach down, reach down. and pull up a handful of that
precious meal and go make some bread and they'd eat. Then she'd
go back to that crucible of oil that she had to fry the bread
in or whatever. Oh, I hope there's some there.
Just enough. Just enough. That's what he means. His grace is enough. Enough. Sufficient for the day. His providential
grace. Most of God's people live check
to check. I do. I do. Some of you are up in years now. John is sitting there nodding
his head. He's retired. Yeah, right. He's still working,
isn't he? We still have needs. Most of
God's people live from check to check, and that's fine. Keeps
us dependent, doesn't it? Keeps us looking to the Lord
to provide our needs, doesn't it? He's the one that gave us
everything. He's promised to keep. He said, God's seed will
never beg bread. Never. They'll never be without.
He said, if He feeds the little sparrow, are you not worth much more than
many sparrows? They don't sow, they don't reap,
but your Heavenly Father feeds them. How much more, He said.
But it's a daily thing, isn't it? And every one of us think,
is it going to be there? Don't we? Every one of us. Maybe
some of you are older and have a little pen set aside, but still,
we certainly need His grace daily, day by day. And He's promised
it to be sufficient. Never runs out. Inexhaustible
supply of grace. So don't worry about it. Go to
work and don't worry about it. Whatever your hand finds to do,
do it with all your might. Earn that money. The Lord gave
it to you. Remember that. Where it came
from. And remember, you ain't going to go hungry.
No sir. So his providential grace is
enough. And every form of grace that
we need is sufficient. Teaching grace. We're little
children. We need to be taught, don't we?
We need to be taught. I mean, we need to be taught.
We never reach a point where we don't need to be taught, do
we? In fact, we sometimes reach the point where we think, haven't
I learned anything yet? Like faith, don't we? Don't we,
Nancy? We think after all these years,
surely I'll trust Him and never doubt Him. Surely. Yeah, right. What's it going to take? He's
going to keep teaching us. He's going to keep showing us.
Teaching grace. But He doesn't teach us too much
because we get puffed up. Knowledge puffeth up. Maturing
grace. Growth in grace. Peter said,
grow in grace. Growing grace. Desire the sincere
milk of the words you make. Grow thereby. Growing in grace. Well, this growth is not too
fast. It's not fast enough to suit me. But it's just enough. The Lord gives growth and grace
as He sees fit. Like the grace of love and mercy
and kindness and generosity and faith and so forth. And we feel
like we don't have any of that, but He gives us just enough to
keep from despairing. Huh? You do love the brethren,
don't you? Sure you do. Sure you do. I love what John Newton wrote.
He said, I'm not what I want to be. He said, I'm not what
I'm going to be. I'm not what I ought to be. But
thank God, I'm not what I used to be. I didn't used to give
God a thought. I did it. I loved myself supremely. Didn't love anybody else but
me. Right? That's grace. That's maturing grace. Waiting
grace. Patience. Oh boy, I need it bad. I need it now. That's the hardest
thing of all to come by. How often does the Lord say wait?
Wait on the Lord. Wait. What does wait mean? It
means wait. Instead of running ahead and
doing this, that and the other, stop. Their strength, Isaiah
30 said, is to sit still and wait. Just wait. Wait. You'll see. David said,
I would have fainted had I not believe to see the goodness of
the Lord in the land of the living. So he says, wait, I say, wait
on the Lord. He'll exalt you. You'll see in
due time. Psalm 73, we love that, don't
we? Oh my, I was envious of the foolish. Wait, hold on, you're
going to see them. They're spreading their wings
like a green bug. Wait, they'll come to nothing. Psalm 37, don't
fret. Wait. Waiting grace. He has to teach
us that, doesn't he? He has to teach us to wait. That's
a lifelong thing. Enduring grace. Grace to endure
whatever. Paul, in this very epistle, back
in chapter 11, talked about how he was in labors often, stripes
above measure, beaten, prison, facing death often, beaten with
rods, stone, shipwrecked, journeyings often, perils of water, perils
of robbers, my own country, perils of the heathen, perils of the
sea, perils in the wilderness, in the sea, among false brethren,
weary, painful, in watchings, hunger, thirst, fasted, cold,
naked." God's grace was sufficient. It was sufficient in all those
times. In every trial, I was talking to an older believer
years ago who was going through a terrible trial with his son. Just an inexpressible grief,
such as some of you have gone through. And he said, made this
statement, I don't think I can take any more. Well, I'm here
to tell you. And he lived to tell that he
did. Why? Because Christ said, my
grace is sufficient to endure whatever. The Lord used Job,
didn't he? To show us that a man can endure. There's nothing more that a person,
a human being could endure than what Job endured. Nothing more. He had nothing more to lose.
Everything was gone. Everyone was gone but his Lord. And Job still said, though He
slay me, I'll trust Him. I know my Redeemer liveth. And
the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name
of the Lord. What is that? That's grace. That's
grace. His grace is sufficient. He could. And the Lord blessed him greatly
in the end. Constraining grace. His constraining grace is sufficient.
Every time I start to stand up here, I think, I can't do this.
I can't do this. Sunday, last Sunday, and it's
just all the time, but sometimes more than others, don't we think? I literally feel like I'm going
to faint. I think I can't do this. Not
nerves, not per se, but I just think I can't do this anymore. I don't want to do this anymore.
But His grace is sufficient. It's sufficient. Constrain Him.
I can't do this. All of you. Some of you have
to go to work and you have physical afflictions. No kidding. Two ladies sitting right over
here. And throughout this, you say,
I can't do this anymore. His grace is sufficient and just
enough. Daily, isn't it? Day by day. Day by day. His grace. Day by
day. Constraining grace. Grace to
constrain you to come. To come. How many times have
you said, I'm not going to worship tonight. I just can't. I'm just
too tired. How many times? Huh? But you
did anyway, Amy. Look how far she has to drive.
Do you know how few people would do that? His grace is sufficient
to constrain you. How many times, Amy, have you
been glad that you did? Constrain you. Constrain the
love of Christ. Constrain. This is one of my
favorites. Restraining grace. His restraining grace is sufficient. I love this. This is my favorite
verse in all the Bible right now. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. You're not under the law. You're
under grace. You could say you're under Christ.
Sin shall not have dominion over you. Paul wrote that in Romans
6. Right before he wrote Romans 7. To prepare us. You feel like
it does, but it shall not. Christ is able to do all things. No, don't say that. Sin shall
not have dominion over us. We're not under the law. Satan uses the law, doesn't he?
Satan buffets us with the law, doesn't he? You're guilty. I
know it. But Christ says, no, you're not. Christ is kept guiltless,
blameless, holy. Look to Christ. He says, kept. Kept. Grace. Where sin abounds,
grace much more abounds. Because greater is He that is
in you, Christ in you, than he that is in the world, that old
man. Yep, the elder, the old man, shall serve the younger.
Yes, sir, His grace is sufficient. And time is not sufficient. I've
got to quit to tell the half of it. But I know His grace is
sufficient. Verse 10, He said this, I'll
take pleasure. It's like glory in my infirmities. Infirmities means felt weaknesses. Paul said, I know I'm weak. But
he said, that's fine. He said, in the power of Christ
rest upon me. This Gospel is for weak people. Not for the strong. Not for the
mighty. Not for the noble. For the nothings, the nobodies,
the base, the weak. This is for the weak. Poor. Infinite riches are for the poor.
Full free pardon for the guilty. Mercy is for the guilty. Grace
is for the needy. It's free. Free grace. Free grace. Free grace. His grace is sufficient. And Paul said, I take pleasure
in my infirmity. And I don't know too much about
this. I want to learn. He said, in
reproaches and necessities and persecution, distresses, for
Christ's sake. Because when I'm weak, He shows
Himself strong. I'm strong in Him. When I'm weak,
You know, our Zerubbabel, our Zerubbabel, whose author and
finisher, like Zerubbabel, rebuilt the temple. He's a typocrat.
And our Zerubbabel is going to, the prophet says, going to lay
the topstone in the end with shoutings. You know what it said? Grace. Grace unto it. When the temple is finally built
and the topstone is laid on it, the topstone is laid in the foundation
of grace, and the capstone, to cap it all off, said everybody
is going to shout, Grace! Grace! It's all of grace. Saved by grace. He sang that
song. Saved by grace alone. This is
all my play. Christ said, My grace is sufficient. Saving grace, keeping grace,
provisional grace, enduring grace, teaching grace, keeping grace,
restraining grace, constraining grace. Name something. It's all
of grace. By the grace of God, we are what
we are. And His grace will keep you, will save you. Okay, stand
with me. Our Lord, thank You for Your
marvelous, infinite, matchless grace. Thank You for salvation
by grace, not of works, but by grace. And the promise is sure
to all the elect. By grace through faith that the
promise might be sure. How do we thank you? It's all
by grace. Christ is the grace, the unspeakable
gift of God. Christ is our gracious Master
who came to save us and did just that and keeps us. Sent the Holy
Spirit, the Spirit of Christ to keep His people, to teach,
lead, guide, direct. How do we thank you? for this
great gift of salvation by grace. Lord, bring this passage to our
minds as we need it. That we might go to the throne
of grace to find help in time of need. And that's daily. Because
each person in here, each morning, calls upon You for that daily
supply of grace. Call upon You that we might grow
in grace and the knowledge of our Lord. To look to Him. This
is our prayer. We thank You for Your Word which
gives us such peace and comfort. Go with Your people. Watch over
them throughout the rest of this week. Bring us back this Lord's
Day to hear of this same marvelous grace. It's in His name we pray
and let's get it. Amen. Prabhup�da.