R894 Amazing Grace

My grandmother had this phrase, no wonder they call it amazing, talking about amazing grace.

That's today's topic with Dr. Don Wilton. This is The Encouraging Word featuring the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton. Today we'll head to Matthew chapter 4 with his topic on amazing grace.

And as we understand grace with a little bit more definition from God's Word, we understand how not only as we receive the amazing grace of God, we can be instruments of God's grace as well. As we study the Word, know that we're available for you. We'd love to pray with you. We're connecting on 866-899-WORD 24 hours a day. That's the number 866-899-9673 or online at TEWONLINE.ORG.

That's TEWONLINE.ORG. We would love to connect with you. And now today's teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. The Encouraging Word. I want you to open your Bibles today with me to the book of Matthew and chapter 4, the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Our subject is a remarkable subject.

Here it is. Amazing grace. Amazing grace. Now, before we read together, I want to make a statement to you. It has occurred to me that it is rather remarkable that here at the outset of the life and the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, out of all the many things that He was doing on our behalf, the places He was going, the lives that He was touching, that He would have stopped by at the shores of the Sea of Galilee and would have laid a table that is set before us in these verses. And I'm going to just tell you in very brief format that I believe that what happened on the shore of the Sea of Galilee had everything to do with God's amazing grace. And I truly believe in my heart that amongst many other things, that the Lord Jesus wanted us to understand something that was very deep and was more magnificent than any preacher could perhaps express. And that is that despite our sinfulness, despite the fact that we are the ones who have rejected God, despite the fact that a sinful man crucified our Savior, that God in His infinite wisdom has chosen to use sinful and foolish man to turn this world upside down for His sake.

Now, I want you to think about that. Here we are, we are the sinners. We are the ones who have messed up. We are the ones who have laid our God down. We are the ones who have disappointed our Savior.

And yet despite that, God chooses to use us. Now, folks, that is amazing grace. But I want you to know that I can bear witness to God's amazing grace. That's a very important part of my testimony.

Here I am. And I have the privilege of looking back over the years. When I look back over my years in this life, hindsight always gives you an interesting perspective. You see, years ago, I didn't necessarily understand what I'm about to tell you. In fact, I didn't only not necessarily understand it.

I didn't even really know about it, let alone would have recognized that it was in operation in my life. But I tell you, when I look back upon my own life, I see time without number, how that God has demonstrated and made available to me His amazing grace. Paul put it in perspective. He said, there but by the grace of God go I.

How about you? You see, friends, when I look back at my life, I can't even begin to imagine that I would be standing here today. That's a testimony to God's amazing grace. When I look at how many times I disappointed my parents and I let down my family, and above all that I sinned in the eyes of God, I can't even begin to imagine that I would have the audacity to even stand here and say anything, let alone think that I'm in the least bit a whole person.

I've got a long way to go. By the way, amazing grace is a progressive dispensation of God. It's not time ordered in and of itself. God's amazing grace is the outpouring of God's undeserved favour to us throughout the fabric of our lives. And it begins at the moment of salvation. That is the ultimate expression of God's amazing grace. That God would send Jesus Christ to die for somebody like me and like you lost dead in our trespasses and sins.

And that through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that I have complete 100% forgiveness of sin and that my name is written in God's book in heaven. And one day I'm going to go and spend all time in eternity with him. Folks, that is God's amazing grace. Because I was once blind, but now I see he saved a wretched sinner just like me. That's God's amazing grace. I look back over the events of my life.

I see a little boy running around in the mountains of Zululand. I see the tremendous ups and downs of my life, the things that I was involved in, the places that I've been, the numbers of disappointments that I have caused people, the many times that I've let people down, the scores and scores of times that I have sinned grievously in the eyes of God, and yet God's grace is sufficient. Therein lies the Gospel. Here's Jesus Christ walking on the shores of the Sea of Galilee about to lay down the table of his amazing grace and inviting ordinary people like you and me to sit down and have something to eat. Now what right do I have to sit down at the table of an amazing God such as this, but by his amazing grace? And when I look back upon my life, I see that flag being hoisted so many times. And it's an amazing thing to me.

It is just absolutely amazing. There but by the grace of God go I. Now, let's take a look at this in the light of God's Word. I'm going to read to you from Matthew's Gospel, chapter 4 and beginning at verse 18. As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake for they were fishermen. Come follow me, Jesus said, and I will make you fishers of men. At once they left their nets and they followed him. Going on from there he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them and immediately they left their boat and their father and they followed him. I'm going to share with you seven very critical principles about God's amazing grace.

These are operative principles. And I'm going to ask you a very important question today to ask of yourself in the light of God's Word. Who are you? Where are you? Why are you where you are? And how are you going to get to where you think you're going?

Got it? Who are you? Where are you? How did you get to where you are?

And how do you think you're going to get to where you think you're going? And I'm going to show you something, folks, about God's amazing grace. Now, there are several principles here today and I want to give these to you. First of all, amazing grace centres on the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, that's very clear in this passage.

It was Jesus who was walking beside the Sea of Galilee. Now you might say to me, well, pastor, you know, give us something new. Folks, that's the old, old story which is ever new. You know, I've had people say to me from time to time and I should imagine I've been guilty of saying the same thing. You ever said to someone, good luck? Best of luck to you, old chap. Folks, I'm going to tell you as a believer, I cannot believe in any semblance of luck. Now watch this.

I want you to stick with me. Luck is incompatible with the actions and the activities of God. Because God is involved in the affairs of man, every affair. God is engaged in everything that we do.

And He loves us to the point at which He gave to us the Lord Jesus Christ who came and died upon a cross in order that we might have life, that we might know Him, that we might live the abundant life, that we might be set free, that we might serve Him and that we might know that one day when we die or if Jesus were to come again, that we're going to heaven to be with Him forever and forever and forever. I've heard people say, well, He just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Folks, let me explain the right place at the right time is the grace of God. It's God's amazing grace. Now, I cannot explain those things to you, but I can tell you that Jesus Christ is at work even when we don't know He's at work.

Now watch this, amazing grace is engaged in the lives of man, even when that same man does not know that it's in operation. Because God knows who we are. He has a purpose for us.

He's calling us to Himself and He wants us to follow Him and to tap into the very best that He has for each one of us. My own life is a testimony to that. I tell you, as I look back over the events and happenings of my life and my meanderings and wonderings, my adventurous life in many different places, I cannot but stand amazed in the presence of God in a fresh understanding that God was in control, even when I was not acknowledging who God is in my own life. I had no idea one day that I would sit down and I would do a PhD.

Had no idea. But do you know that many years before I went through the PhD program, many, many years when I was still in an undergraduate, my first degree, I cannot explain to you why, I don't know why, I wasn't living for the Lord, folks. Don't let me kid you, don't let me pull the wool around your eyes. But I did the strangest thing. I took 18 hours of German studies at university. German?

I mean, what for? I had many options. I'd studied Japanese Sanskrit. I was an English literature major. I'd studied Latin and some of the African languages and various other things. Why German?

I don't know. I went down, took 18 formal hours of German studies way back then when I was too ashamed even to own this God who loved me so much. And years later, folks, I'm talking about nine years later, I went and made application to get a fully accredited PhD so I could go and teach at Harvard University. And they looked at me and they said to me, Don Wilton, if you're going to do this in the field of theology, you've got to have advanced Greek, you've got to have advanced Hebrew, you've got to have at least one of two other languages, French and guess what the other one was? You got it, German.

And so when I made application to do a PhD, they said, You got 18 hours of German. Why don't you just tick that one off? I said, Thank you very much. Had no idea. That's God's amazing grace. God works. God is at work. And it's all centered in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But I want to show you something else. Not only is God's amazing grace centered in Jesus Christ, He was the one walking on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Amazing grace applies to individual people. Now verse 18 is a very interesting verse here because we actually find certain of these people named. There was Simon Peter. There was Andrew. There was Nathaniel. There was James and John. There were Matthew, Mark and Luke.

There were individual people. Now folks, I'm going to tell you something. Jesus Christ died for the entire world. But I want you to know that the distinguishing feature is that Jesus Christ died for me. From time to time people have said to me, Don, what's the difference between your Christianity and my religion? I've said that's a no brainer. My Jesus died for me.

I have a personal one on one relationship. He is my Lord, my Saviour, Jesus Christ. And I want you to think about this folks. The dispensation of God's amazing grace is applicable to each and every single person. That's you and that's you and that's you and that's me. That's amazing grace. Forgive the interruption.

We'll be back in just a moment. Dr. Don wants me to remind you we're here for you connecting online right now at TEWOnline.org. If you haven't been to our website lately, you might have missed out on the Safeguards of Our Faith. It's a remarkable resource that will help us literally build some pieces into our life, structures that help safeguard our relationship with Jesus Christ, our time with Jesus Christ. You'll find more details online at TEWOnline.org.

That's TEWOnline.org. Now back to today's teaching with Dr. Don. Have you ever felt a little lost or at sea or swallowed up because you're mingling in the masses of society? Which leads me to a third principle. God's amazing grace disregards status.

It disregards status. Well, if we had time, I'd take you for a little journey through the life of some of these disciples. Oh, there was Andrew and there was Peter. Well, we could say a lot about Peter. I mean, folks, these were just ordinary fishermen. But if you were to line up right throughout Scriptures and see the kinds of people that God visited upon and that God, by His grace, blessed in remarkable ways, I can present to you a dreaded tax collector.

Boy, the people hated him. I can show you a little man who scurried up a tree and sat there for fear of his life, but Jesus passed by and said, Zechariah's come down. I can show you a great man like Luke who was a physician. I can show you a powerful and bombastic leader like Peter. I can show you a man like Paul who became the apostle who was a blasphemer and a man who persecuted the church.

But what I am going to tell you, my friends, is that God's amazing grace is the great leveler because amazing grace has a total disregard for status. Some weeks ago, I ran into someone who walked up to me and said he had been watching us on television and just a very kind gentleman. And we were talking there, just happened to answer. We walked by and he said to me, you know, I really absolutely, I'm telling you, I've got to get in my motor car and I got to come over there and I got to visit you in person because your church has been such a blessing through the encouraging word. And I said, well, come on. He said, no, he said, I don't think I could come. I said, why not? He said, well, I don't even, I don't have a coat and a tie.

I said, you're right, you're not welcome, don't come. I mean the audacity to think that anybody could come and step into the tabernacle of God if we don't have the right clothes on. Or perhaps if we grow up on the other side of the tracks.

Or perhaps if we don't have the right education. Or perhaps if we've never been invited to sit on the right seat. I looked at this dear brother as we began to fellowship and I said to him, my dear brother, I want you to know that those doors are so wide open. Come on and come just as you are because I'm going to tell you something about God's amazing grace. It has no regard for status. It doesn't matter whether you're male or female, whether you bond or free, whether you're rich or poor, whether you're short or tall, whether you're round or whether you're skinny.

It doesn't matter whether you have a suit or whether you come dressed in any other banner. It doesn't matter when it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ because of the amazing grace of God. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. And you can see too, my friend, because of the amazing grace of this Jesus of whom we speak. It's that important. Amazing grace centers on Jesus Christ.

It's all about Him. I wish I could point you in another direction. I wish I could tell you good luck. I wish I could invite you to just try and be in the right place at the right time. I wish I could invite you just to scratch the right ticket and hope that when the draw comes that you just happen to draw the right number. I tell you, friend, you might have one in a trillion chances of winning the jackpot, but I'm here to tell you that when you draw the number with the name Jesus Christ on, you win every time. And what you receive is worth far more than millions in gold. You receive forgiveness and eternal life and hope and a future and life. But amazing grace also recognizes potential in the fourth instance.

Now, folks, if you consider these fellows here, what a bunch of rowdy chaps. Can you just imagine the content of their conversation? Boy, does amazing grace recognize potential. It reminds me of me.

It really does. If you want to be around people who recognize potential, think of your mother. Think of your grandmother. The unbelievable ability to see their sons and daughters grow up, birthed into this world, and from the earliest age, I can't explain it. It's something that God puts into the heart of our beloved mothers, an ability to recognize potential even when no one else necessarily can see it, let alone the person themselves. Son, you can do it.

Daughter, you can do it. Folks, let me tell you something about amazing grace. Amazing grace recognizes potential. Here was bombastic Peter. Here was busy Luke.

Here was a despicable tax collector. Well, let's talk about Moses. I mean, the man was a murderer, you know. Or what about David? What about the apostle Paul? Amazing grace recognizes potential. Do you know that God looks so deeply into your hearts, folks? The Bible says even the very hairs upon our heads are numbered in His presence. I know for some of the men here this morning that's not very impressive, but I'm going to tell you, folks, God looks upon our hearts. He knows. Love that song. He knows my name.

He's so in tune because He created me and He knows the potential, folks, because God put the potential there to begin with. Number five, amazing grace has one requirement. Just one requirement, and there you can read about it in verse 19. Follow me.

Any questions today? Follow me. I can't explain it to you, folks, but God came upon my life, my brand new beautiful bride, and the Lord said, follow me. I've become more and more convinced today, folks, that there are so many believers today who just don't get it.

There are so many people who just don't seem to understand what the requirement is. You want God's amazing grace, follow Him. Now let me tell you what that means. It means that you show God, the Lord Jesus Christ, that you're willing to lay your net down.

Now some of you are going to say, you mean to go into full-time ministry? No, but He wants you to lay your net down. He says, lay your net down.

Whatever it is that net is, just lay it down. I tell you what I'm going to do for you. I'm not only going to give you what you need.

I'm not only going to tell you where to fish, but I'm going to fill your net back up, but you've got to lay it down. Follow me. Open your hands. Stop holding on.

Give it up. But folks, number six, amazing grace guarantees ultimate satisfaction. Love the second part of verse 19.

There's the requirement, follow me. And then he says, I will make you fishers of men. This is just extraordinary, folks, part of the character of God's amazing grace, the guarantee of ultimate satisfaction. Boy, one of my good friends by the name of Mick Jagger, I tell you, he's a dusty little fellow. Do you know, I remember folks, I mean, it seems like I've been watching and listening to him all my life. And all my life, Mick Jagger has been trying to tell me and the rest of the world something that we know the answer to. He has told millions of people that he can get no satisfaction. Hello, Mick. I found it.

I know where it is. Now you're going to say to me, what is ultimate satisfaction? Ultimate satisfaction is catching people, making a difference in people's lives. Would it not be too wonderful for words if all of us in our own funeral services that there was very little said about our status or our ability or our degrees or the positions we had or the seats that we occupied?

Wouldn't it be just wonderful if in all of our funeral services, all that happened was that one person after another came by and say, I thank God for this lady and I thank God for this man because they showed me the way. They became fishers of men and they pointed me to the only satisfaction that there is in this world and that satisfaction lies in the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ. Boy, when you show people ultimate satisfaction, you're giving them forgiveness and hope and love and a future and eternal life and meaning. These are the things that count and they light the heart of God's amazing grace. Stop searching.

You're looking in all the wrong places. We found the answer and Jesus said, lay down your net. But there's one more thing about this amazing grace that demands a verdict. Did you see what happened there in verse 20?

At once they left their nets and they followed Him. Literally dropping everything and following Jesus Christ. You may not be a fisherman that needs to abandon nets, but there may be something in each of our lives we need to turn our back on so that we can say yes to Jesus. Would you take a moment and hear these very special heartfelt thoughts from Dr. Don Wilton? Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart in Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If the Lord has moved in your life, let us talk to you. Let us pray with you. Let us put resources in your hands that will help you grow. You can call us at 866-899-WORD.

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