The Grace of God Experienced

Q: What does the Bible say about the grace of God?

The Bible reveals that the grace of God is experienced through faith in Christ, demonstrating God's choosing and saving work in individuals. In Acts 22, Paul recounts his dramatic conversion experience, emphasizing that God's grace is not only an abstract concept but a profound personal reality. Paul highlights that he was once a zealous persecutor of Christians but was shown mercy, illustrating that the grace of God transforms lives by bringing sinners to the knowledge of Christ. This grace is foundational, as exemplified in scriptures like 2 Corinthians 4:6, where it is through God's light that we gain understanding and experience salvation.

Q: How do we know that God's grace is real?

God's grace is evident in transformed lives and the personal testimony of believers who experience His saving power. The reality of God's grace is illustrated through personal transformation, as seen in Paul's life. He transitioned from a fervent opponent of the gospel to one of its most passionate advocates. When Paul states in 1 Timothy 1:15 that Christ came to save sinners, he identifies himself as the foremost, reflecting both humility and assurance in God's grace. This grace is further corroborated by life changes in believers, as they move from spiritual blindness to light, akin to Paul's experience on the road to Damascus (Acts 22:6-11). Witnessing or experiencing such transformations provides tangible evidence of grace at work.

Q: Why is experiencing God's grace important for Christians?

Experiencing God's grace is crucial for Christians as it leads to genuine faith, personal relationship with Christ, and the empowerment to live a Christ-centered life. Experiencing God's grace goes beyond intellectual assent; it is about a heartfelt relationship with Christ. As Paul testifies in Galatians 2:20, he is crucified with Christ, and it is no longer he who lives, but Christ who lives in him. This indicates that true faith manifests in a life changed by grace. Furthermore, when Christians experience God's grace, they understand their identity in Christ, which empowers them to endure challenges and complexities in life without losing faith. Thus, grace is not just a doctrine to acknowledge but a transformative reality that shapes one's entire existence.

Acts chapter 22. Now, while you're
finding this morning's scripture, I'll be speaking tonight from
Hebrews 2, Hebrews chapter 2. I'd like you to hear that message
tonight, 7 o'clock. We'll meet together. The title
of the sermon this morning is, The Grace of God Experience. the grace of God experienced. Now, let me give you a little
background here. Acts 22. Paul came to Jerusalem. He had
some of his believing friends with him, and he went to the
synagogue, into the temple. And when these Jewish leaders
saw Paul, the apostle of Christ, in the synagogue, in the at Jerusalem. They were so angry. And they
stirred up the people against him. And a mob came into the
temple and took hold on Paul and dragged him out into the
streets. And they began to beat him. And they would have killed But
the chief captain and soldiers rescued him. And here you find
that beginning in verse 33 of chapter 21. Go back just a little
bit, chapter 21, verse 33. Then this chief captain came
near and took him out of their hands and commanded him to be
bound with two chains and demanded who he was. What have you done?
What have you done? Who are you? What have you done?
Why are these people so angry with you?" And some cried one
thing and some another. They didn't give Paul an opportunity
to answer. They began to accuse him of different
things. Some cried one thing, some another
among the multitude. And when the chief captain could
not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded Paul to
be carried into the castle. And when Paul came upon the stairs,
so it was that he was born of the soldiers, literally carried,
I suppose, because of the violence of the people. But the multitude
of the people followed after, crying, Away with him! Away with
him! And as Paul was to be led into
the castle, he said to the chief captain, May I speak to thee? Who said, Canst thou speak Greek? Art not thou that Egyptian, which
before these days made us an uproar, and led us out into the
wilderness four thousand men that were murdered, murderers? Paul said, but Paul said, I am
a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen
of no mean city, and I beseech thee, suffer me to speak to the
people. Let me speak to the people. And
when he had given him license, Paul stood on the stairs and
beckoned with a hand unto the people. And when there was made
a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying,"
Now watch this. Now he turns to the people, and
he begins to speak in the Hebrew tongue. When they heard that
he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept them more
silent. And he said, now what follows
is Paul's personal testimony of his conversion to Christ.
His personal testimony. He was a very religious man,
but without a knowledge of God. or salvation. And what follows
is his personal testimony. I call it the grace of God experienced. Now, what we're going to read
here, let me say this to you. What we're about to read, this
testimony of the Apostle Paul, perhaps the greatest preacher
who ever lived, perhaps one of the greatest men who ever lived.
But when we're reading his testimony, and how he came to know God,
it's of no value to us and no profit to you or to me unless
we're able to apply it to ourselves. This is one of the things that
we preachers need to consider when we're preaching, is make
what we're preaching relative. We have the tendency to refer
back to what Moses did, what Moses said, what Abraham did,
what Abraham said, what Abraham believed, what David wrote, what
Paul experienced, and all this. Unless it's applicable, it's
just like reading a history book. We're not just reading... If
we're not going to profit personally, experimentally, by what we read,
then it's of no value. no value at all, unless we examine
our own relationship to Christ in the light of what this man
says. This man is riding on the inspiration. Holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Spirit, and he's riding on the inspiration. And so we've got to apply it
to our own experience, to our own relationship with Christ.
Let me show you something here. One other thing, just listen
to this, don't turn to it, just listen to it. He wrote this to
Timothy. He said, this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I'm chief. This is what Paul
says. He came to save sinners of whom I'm the chief. How be
it, for this cause, for this cause, I obtained mercy of the
Lord, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all patience
and longsuffering." Paul was over forty years of age when
he came to know God. And he said, the Lord showed
longsuffering to me and patience with me. And he said, he showed
this longsuffering for a pattern. You know what a pattern is? For
a pattern or type to them which should hereafter believe on him
to everlasting life. In other words, he's saying,
what I'm about to tell you here, this testimony, this experience,
is not just to convey some experience or to draw to myself some recognition,
or people say, oh, isn't that wonderful. But this is a pattern. This is the Lord showed patience
and longsuffering to this man who was chosen of God from all
eternity, but who was left on his own and to himself and to
follow his own way until God brought him to the knowledge
of Christ. And he said, I'm a pattern. And
so as I read this testimony and as I preach it to you, I want
to apply it to my own experience, to my own heart. Like John Newton
said, Lord, if I haven't loved you before, let me begin today.
And I think about that hymn that we used to sing years ago. Am
I a soldier of the cross? Am I a follower of the Lamb? Shall I blush to own his cause,
or fear to speak his name? Must I be carried to the skies
on flowery beds of ease, while others fought to win the prize,
and sailed through bloody seas? Are there no foes for me to face?
Must I not stem the flood? Is this barbed wire to me a friend
of grace to help me on to God?" I want to apply this, and I want
you to apply it. I want us to listen to Paul as
he speaks to these people. Here is a two-month, a lynch
mob, and he gets them quiet. He speaks to them in Hebrew.
He speaks their language. I hope I'm speaking your language.
If I'm not, I'm not communicating. He's speaking their language,
and they listen to him. And what he had to say, I want to apply
it here, and I want you to apply it there. You know, I may have
much knowledge of Bible history, and I do have some knowledge
of Bible history, and many of you do, and I may be acquainted
with the lives and experiences of Abraham and Moses and David
and Isaiah and the Apostles, and I may have much knowledge
of Bible doctrine. I've read the old catechisms
and the old Puritans and the writers, and I can quote some
scriptures. Many of you can, and I can speak
pretty fluently on some of the truths of theology and some of
the things that took place in the past. I may even profess
to be numbered with those who believe. And I may do commendable works
and deeds, even in the name of God, as many did in Matthew 7,
but there's a time, listen to me, there's a time, like in Paul's
life, when knowledge becomes experience. Now that's the key,
there's a time. By God's grace, by the work of
his Spirit, by light and knowledge and understanding, that knowledge
becomes experience. Like I say, I may know some Bible
history, I may be able to talk about Bible characters, and I
may know some theology and Bible doctrines and do some religious
works, but there's a time when knowledge becomes experience. There's a time when one stops
talking so much about God and starts listening to God. You
all know what I'm saying? That's what happened to this
man. He talked about his background and he said, but God was pleased
to reveal his Son in me. And he stopped talking so much
and started listening to God. There's a time when the Lord
Jesus becomes my way of life, not just the way to heaven, but
the way of life. He said, I'm the way, I'm the
truth, I'm the life. Christ is our life. There's a
time when he becomes not just a way to heaven, but he becomes
my life. There's a time when, like Simon
Peter, I'm converted. That's what I learn. Don't be disturbed with the way
God has chosen for you. It's the way that he chose for
you, and it's the best way. But Simon Peter, the Lord turned
to him when he was had some things to say that were in total disagreement
with the will of God. And he said, Now, Simon, when
you're converted, strengthen your brethren. You know what
he said? When you're converted. There's
a time when, like Simon Peter, I'm converted, converted to Christ,
conquered by Christ, and openly confess Christ. There's a time
when in attitude And it really doesn't matter to me when God
is pleased to work that experience, that experience of grace. It
really doesn't matter, just so he does it. Just so he does it. There's a time when in attitude
and spirit and lifestyle, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which
I now live with the Son of God, I now live in the flesh, I live
with the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me."
This morning I went into Doris's Sunday school classroom before
I went to my own class. And she had a song written up
on the blackboard. brought back some unusual memories
to me. I'm talking about 30 years ago,
25, 30 years ago. She had a song written up there,
I see God in everything. He's my prophet, my priest, my
king. And all the universe is under
his control. God is sovereign over all, winter,
summer, spring, or fall. I see God in everything my eyes
behold. You ought to hear somebody sing
that you can sing. That's a great song. You know
who wrote that? Back in the early 60s, I got
a call from a young preacher down in southern Georgia. Asked me to come down and preach
for him. He's pastor of an Eden Baptist Church in Monticello,
Georgia. Used to be a guitarist and a
country music singer, recording artist and so forth. Said God
had saved him, revealed the gospel to him. He heard I preach the
gospel of sovereign grace, wanted me to come preach for him. So
I went down, got acquainted, had a lovely wife named Joy. beautiful daughter and a beautiful
son. Just a beautiful family. Relatives all around that area,
born and raised in Monticello, Georgia in the deep plantation
south. Seemed to love the gospel. He
sang and he wrote things like this, I see God in everything.
He's my prophet, my priest, my king, all the universe is under
his control. God is sovereign over all, winner
summer, spring, or fall, I see God in everything my eyes behold. He'd been up here before. I went
down there several times to preach the faith, several times. Some
of the men here in the church went with me down there. Met him and knew him. Well, in
the latter 60s, the late 60s, a tragedy, to him it was a tragedy,
I think he made a greater tragedy out of it than it really was.
But something happened in his home, in his family, and he couldn't
handle it. He found out he believed God
was sovereign over all, winter, summer, spring or fall, all the
universe is under his control. He found out that he had that
up here, but he didn't have it down here. He didn't really believe
it. He never had believed. And he
went into his room and shut the door and stayed there two years.
I mean two years. He wouldn't see anybody, talk
to anybody, communicate with anybody. Just devastated, just
totally devastated. Well, he and his wife divorced,
lost his family, don't know where he headed, I heard from him not
too long ago, and he's gone back into religion. But this time
he's got a different type of religion. It's a religion of
universalism. It's a religion of no law, no judgment, no Christ,
no gospel. Yes, universalism. He welcomes all types of spiritualists
and just whatever out yonder in the DM. But you say, Brother,
what happens? You could probably give us several
illustrations like that. I could give you the illustrations
the rest of the day like that. And this is what I'm talking
about. I'm talking about when we, and evidently this man, he
studied the Bible, went to Bible school, pastored a church, wrote
great songs like that, performed, sang, started a school to train
preachers. But God sent a trial, and he
wasn't able to handle it. God sent a trial, and he found
out that God wasn't what he thought he was, and he quit. I've seen it happen so many times. And this is what I don't want
to happen to me or to you. I want us to experience the grace
of God, not just know facts and history and scripture and doctrine
and all these things. I want us to come to know Him.
Let me show you a scripture. Turn to Luke chapter 9. Let me
show you something. Here's what it's all about right
here. Luke chapter 9. Turn over there a minute. Luke 9 verse 57. I want you to
listen to this. I want you to listen to this.
These people had good intentions, but they had trouble with one
word. One word. In Luke chapter 9, verse 57. Luke 9, 57. And it came to pass
that as they went in the way, a certain man said to him, Lord,
I'll follow you, whithersoever thou goest. That's a big boasting. Wherever you go, I'll go. I'll
follow you. Well, this is what this boy thought
he believed. But he went through some territory
he didn't expect. He went down a road he didn't
intend to go down. He met some foes he never counted
on meeting. It cost something he didn't figure
he'd ever have to pay. And this is what the Lord warned
this man about. He said now, verse 58, Jesus
said to him, foxes have holes. And birds of the air have nests,
the son of man hath not where to lay his head." And he said
unto him, you just follow me. But he said, Lord, wait a minute,
let me first. There's the words he got trouble
with. Let me first, supple me first to go and bury my father.
And his father wasn't dead. His father was an old man who
lived there with him. And he said, now I'll follow
you, whether so ever you go. But now you let me first take
care of some responsibilities and obligations that I got to
take care of. See, my dad's an old man, and
he lives with us, and we take care of him, and I've got to
go first and see that his life is well arranged and taken care
of, and then I'll come follow you." And our Lord said to him,
let the dead bury their dead. You go preach the gospel. Preach
the kingdom of God. And another said to him, Lord,
I'll follow you, but let me first," and there he is again, let me first go bid them farewell,
which at home in my house. And Jesus said, no man having
put his hand to the plow, and looks back as fit for the kingdom
of God. You see, there comes a time when
this, by experience, this first is settled. That's it, first. And this is
what Paul is saying right here now, and let's get right into
this and let you look at it with me, chapter 22. This is what
he says to those people. I'm talking about the grace of
God experienced, Christ experienced. Verse 3, chapter 22, book of
Acts. I am barely a man which am a
Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia. yet brought up in this
city at the feet of Gamaliel. Who was Gamaliel? There were
two great teachers in that day, Gamaliel and another fellow,
his name starts with an S, it slips my mind. But Paul was a
man brought up in the best school of his day, educated by the best
scholar, Gamaliel, sat at his feet. And he was taught according
to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and I was
zealous toward God as you all are this day." These people were
defending their temple against this intruder, Paul, with his
message of grace in the gospel. And they were zealous. Our Lord
said, the day will come when men will kill you thinking they
do God a favor. They hate salvation by grace
so much that They'll kill the messenger of grace and think
they're helping God out. And he said, just like you folks
are, I'm zealous toward God. And verse 4, and I persecuted
this way unto the death. What's he saying, this way? You
who are familiar with the word know that the way of the cross,
the way of substitution, the way of Christ's righteousness
in blood, The way of grace alone, not of works, was referred to
as the way. The way. Several times, all the
way through the book of Acts especially, it talks about that
way. That way. Now, the way to God,
as far as the Jew was concerned, was the way of ceremony. The
way of works. The way of duties and deeds.
The way of law. That was the way of the Jew. Christ came and said, I'm the
way. I'm the way to God. Christ is the fulfillment of
all the sacrifices. Christ is the priest himself.
Christ is the altar. Christ is the mercy seat. Christ
is the temple, the tabernacle. He tabernacle among us. Christ
is our righteousness. Christ is our sin offering. Christ
is our high priest. Christ is our atonement. Christ
is our life and resurrection. Christ is all. That's the way to God. I am the
way. And these Jews called the way
of Christ that way. That way. Not our way, but that
way. And Paul said in verse 4, I persecuted
that way. This way, unto the death, binding
and delivering into prison both men and women. I despised salvation
by grace through the cross, through the crucified Redeemer, through
substitution. I despised it. Salvation, justification
by faith. as also the high priests, verse
5, doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders,
from whom also I received letters to the brethren. And I went to
Damascus to bring them, which were there bound unto Jerusalem,
to be punished, the people of that way." The people that believe
like you believe today is the people he wanted to destroy.
And verse 6 says, And it came to
pass, that as I made my journey, and was coming down to Damascus
about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round
about me, evidently like brighter than the sun, because it was
noon. And I fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying unto
me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered, Who
are you, Lord? And he said to me, I'm Jesus
of Nazareth. Now why didn't our Lord, our
Lord here has died on the cross and is buried and rose again
and ascended back to heaven. And he is the Lord of glory.
He's a sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God of
glory. Why, when Paul said, who are
you Lord, didn't he say, I'm the Lord God? Which he is. Why didn't he say, I'm the Lord
of God, of Father, of Moses, and Abraham, and David? Why didn't
he say, I'm the Lord that sitteth on the throne and reigns, rather
than saying, I'm Jesus of Nazareth, who died on the cross? Because
Paul believed in a Lord God of heaven and earth. Paul believed
in a God who created all things. Paul believed in the God who
was Father and Lord of Moses and Abraham and David and Isaiah
and Jacob. He did not believe Jesus Christ
was the Lord. See what I'm saying, Charlie?
And our Lord Jesus Christ, that same Jesus, see this is what
Peter kept saying at Pentecost, that same Jesus. Whom you crucified
is Lord and Christ. That same Jesus shall so come
in like manner as you've seen him go. That same Jesus hath
God exalted and given a name above every name. That Jesus
of Nazareth whom Paul hated. He said, that's who I am. And
listen to this. And he said, and they that were
with me saw indeed the light. They were afraid, but they didn't
hear the voice of him that spake to me. They didn't hear it. And I said, well, what shall
I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Arise and go into Damascus,
and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed
for thee to do. And when I could not see, for
the glory of that light. I couldn't see for the glory
of that light. Being led by the hand of them
that were with me, I came to Damascus." Now the Lord, what
happened here is the Lord crossed his path. And this is what happens
when a man experiences what he claims to know, when knowledge
becomes experience, when knowledge becomes life. When head knowledge
becomes heart experience is when God's in it. When there's light
and the voice of God. You say, do we see a light? Do
we hear a voice? Well, yes. Yes. Turn to 2 Corinthians a moment.
2 Corinthians chapter 4. There is a light. And I'll tell
you what it is. It's to come to It's to come
to see. What is light for? To see. If
you're working in a dark place and your son's helping, you turn
to him and say, son, get a flashlight and give me some light so I can
see. That's what light does. It fixes you so you can see.
Everything's like it is. Turn off all these lights in
here and we couldn't read. We wouldn't know what this is
saying. The light is to read, Bob. The light helps us to come
to understanding. The light, see, is to see. And
that's what Paul talked about. He had a light, and we do too.
Listen to 2 Corinthians 4, verse 3. If our gospel be hid, it's
hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath
blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of
the glorious gospel of Christ whose the image of God should
shine unto them. This is what God did. He shone
a light. He gave Paul some understanding.
And that's where we have some light. Verse 5. For we preach
not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your
servants for Jesus' sake. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts. to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ Jesus. My friend that I was talking
to you about who wrote this psalm, old like I was back years ago
when I started in religion, I had knowledge. I thought I believed
some things, but didn't have any light, I didn't have any
understanding. And this is what happened. Paul
said, God shined the light, gave me some light. The light of his
presence, the light of his glory, the light of his son, the light
of his attributes. I got some light. And these things
began to fall in together and began to make sense and began
to understand. And then there was a voice. You
said, do we hear a voice? Turn to John 5. John chapter 5, verse 24. Listen to this, John 5, 24. Listen to this chapter, John
5, 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my
word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life.
and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto
life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and
now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God,
and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in
himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself."
Paul on the road to Damascus, in religion. A lot of knowledge
up in his head about religion. blindness to the glory of God,
to the person of Christ, blindness to the way of life. And God shined
a light, and God spoke to him. And the same thing is true of
all who experience his grace. God shines a light, and that
light is the glory of God in the face of Christ, and that
voice is his word. He speaks through his word. Now, let's read on. And verse
11 says, And when I could not see for the glory of that light,
being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came to
Damascus, and one Ananias, a devout man, according to the law, having
a good report of all the Jews that dwelt there, came to me.
Now, did you notice this? God didn't send an angel to Paul to preach the gospel to him.
God didn't send even an apostle. You know, this man Paul is important. He's going to be an apostle to
the Gentile. He's going to write 13 of the
27 New Testament books, 14 maybe. He's going to establish churches.
He's going to witness to kings. Looks like the Lord had dispatched
Peter down there, or James, or John, somebody of great importance. Let me tell you something, in
this matter of the gospel, coming to knowledge of Christ, you avoid visions and dreams
and so-called great men and so-called great experiences. When God is
pleased to reveal the gospel and the truth to the heart of
one of your dear children, it's going to be in such an unassuming
way that that child sees nothing but Christ that he's not going to glory,
and the preacher's not going to glory, and the congregation's
not going to glory, it's going to be God dealing with that person
in a very unassuming and humble fashion. That's the reason Paul
said, I thank God I didn't baptize any of you. You say, well, what
did Paul have against baptism? Not a thing. But he didn't want
anybody running up and down the country saying, I baptized by
Paul. That makes me special. I was baptized by Paul. I heard the gospel from Spurgeon. What's that got to do with it? See, not a thing. Not a thing. This is one of my friends, John
Thornberry, was preaching down in Florida way back in the fifties.
He ran into a lady in her late eighties who was baptized by
Spurgeon. She was a member of the church
over at Metropolitan Tabernacle, and Spurgeon with his own hands
baptized her. And you know, here she is almost 90 years old, and
she's still telling it. It happened back in 1889, and
she was still saying, Spurgeon baptized me. You know that that
is a disadvantage? Now, you know what I'm talking
about. So when God, oh, here's this, here's this Mr. Somebody. Saul of Tarsus, a citizen of
no mean city, he said. Somebody. But when God wanted
that Mr. Somebody to come to know Mr. Everybody, Christ, He sent him
a nobody. That's right. A humble man called
Ananias. A devout man, but an unknown
man. He did. He did. The salvation is not in you or
me, it's in Christ. And our eyes, honestly, if I
could just get this across, and this may have happened to my
friend, I don't know who he read, he may have been a student of
the Puritans, but we're not students of the Puritans, we learn of
Christ. He had great talent, I don't
know, I don't know where the hang-up was, but I just know
that God Almighty exposed it in his own time, that it wasn't
Christ. And this man said to him, I want
you to watch this message carefully and I'll close. He came to me,
verse 13, and he stood and said to me, Brother Saul, receive
your sight. And the same eye looked on him
and he said, the God of our fathers hath chosen thee. You didn't
choose God, he chose you. Brethren, that's a blessed, beloved
doctrine. God chose me. I thank God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation. Lord, don't pass me by. Choose
me. He's chosen thee. And the next
line, he said that you should know his will, his redemptive
will, that Paul talked about in Hebrews 10, by the which will
we are sanctified. Christ Jesus said, Lo, I come
to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second, by the which will we're sanctified."
It's God's will by which we're saved, not by my will or your
will, but his will. And that's the redemptive will
of God, that you may know his will. Listen to me. Poor old
Ananias, a common, ordinary elder in the church, is talking here
to a man who was a Pharisee. This man, Saul of Tarsus, was
a member of the highest Jewish cohort, the Sanhedrin. That's
like our supreme cohort. Did you know that? And he's telling me something
he doesn't know. This guy is telling Saul there's something
you don't know, that God's going to teach you, that you should
know His will. Saul thought he knew God's will. He thought God's will was to
kill all those Christians. He thought God's will was to
raise up the throne of David. He thought God's will was to
have a messianic kingdom on this earth. He thought he knew God's
will. And most preachers think they
do. But he's talking here about the
will of redemption. The will of God in Christ. That's
what he's talking about. Oh my. Listen to the next line. And that you should see the just
one. Capital J, capital O. Who's that talking about? That's
talking about Christ, the just one. I'm a just God and a Savior.
Christ died that God may be just and justified. Christ, Jesus,
over there in 1 Peter 3 says that He died the just for the
unjust that He may bring us to God. I want, God's will is that
you, he chose you that you should know his will and see the just
one by the light of the Spirit. And listen, and hear the voice
of his mouth. That's what I said. God chose
you to know his will, to see by the light of his Spirit and
by his word, the word of his mouth, Christ Jesus. By verse 15, you're going to
be his witness of what you've seen and heard. I tell you, that's
two big words. A man can't tell what he hadn't
seen and hadn't heard. A witness. What is a witness?
Are you a witness to this accident? Yeah. Why are you a witness? I saw it. Are you a witness to this murder
or something? Yeah. How come you're a witness?
I saw it. I heard the threat. That makes
me a witness. If I didn't see it, I didn't
hear it, I'm not a witness. I wish everybody was out of the
pulpit who is not a witness. A witness is one who's seen and
heard. Isn't that right? John said in
1 John 1, that which we've seen and heard declare we unto you. When they told Peter and the
apostles to quit preaching in that name, he said we can't help
but preach what we've seen and heard. And this is what he told
Paul. He said you're going to be a
witness of what you've seen and heard. So, close with this, why
tarry'st thou? Why do you tarry? If God be God,
follow him. Why halt you between two opinions?
Why tarry'st thou? Arise! Arise, my soul, arise! Shake off thy guilty fears, the
bleeding sacrifice in thy behalf appears. Arise and be baptized!
Wash away thy sins. call on the name of the Lord.
Oh, may God make what I know my experience. May he make what
I know what he reveals in the light. And let me tell you something. I told you that Paul saw a light. It must have been brighter than
the sun. must have been. And that's what
we, this thing of coming to know Christ, to know God, it makes
everything else kind of fade away of lesser importance. The things are still there. Like
down in Mexico, that's the most beautiful sky in the world at
night. The most beautiful sky in the
world. No smog, no haze, no pollution. You stand out there in Pueblo
and look up and you can see billions and billions and billions of
stars and a bright moon. And next morning, the sun comes
out. And boy, that sun down there is bright. I mean, it's bright.
It's brilliant. You have to wear sunglasses or
go blind almost. It's just bright. You know something? Those stars are all wrapped exactly
where they were the night before. But you don't see them. You don't
see them. Why don't you see them? That
light of the sun is so bright that while the others are there,
they're not even visible. And this is what when God shines
in our hearts and gives us the light of the knowledge of his
glory in Christ, he becomes first. It's not first let me do this
and first let me do that. He's first. And doesn't mean
a man's going to neglect his father, but his father's not
first. Doesn't mean a man's going to
neglect his family, but they're not first. That's what I'm talking
about. Christ is first. And everything
else is still there. My responsibilities are there.
But oh, he just overshadows it. And I want that to be an experience. And we'll preach here, and I'm
not going to stand here and say, everybody believes that, come
forward. No, everybody believes that, look up. Look up. We don't need any more
Franklins. Don't need any more. It can't
handle a little controversy, a little problem. I want us to
be so established and firmly grounded in Him we can handle
whatever He's pleased to send our way, you know. Because it's
for my good, whatever it may be.

The Grace of God Experienced

What does the Bible say about the grace of God?

How do we know that God's grace is real?

Why is experiencing God's grace important for Christians?

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The Grace of God Experienced

What does the Bible say about the grace of God?

How do we know that God's grace is real?

Why is experiencing God's grace important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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