Grace In The Garden - Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ.

Fortunately, God has always prevailed. And whenever grace is front and center of the church, the church is vital, because that's the way God would have wanted it to be. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt.

Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. Charles Stanley, the legendary pastor of First Baptist Church, Atlanta, writes this about his seminary training and a particular class that he took.

He writes, One of my more memorable seminary professors had a practical way of illustrating to his students the concept of grace. At the end of his evangelism course, he would distribute the exam with caution, and he would tell us to read it all the way through from the beginning before we answer anything. The caution was written on the exam as well. And as we read the test, it became unquestionably clear to each of us that we had not studied nearly enough. The further we read, the worse it became.

About halfway through, audible groans could be heard throughout the lecture hall. On the last page, however, was a note that read, You have a choice. You can either complete the exam as given or sign your name at the bottom of this page and in doing so, receive an A for your test. Wow. We said stunned.

Was he serious? Just sign it and get an A. Slowly, the point dawned on us. And one by one, we turned in our test silently as we filed out of the room. When I talked with a professor about it afterward, he shared some of the reactions he had received through the years. Some students began to take the exam without reading it all the way through, and they would sweat it out for the entire two hours of class before reaching the last page. Others would read the first two pages, become angry, turn the test in blank and storm out of the room without signing it. They never realized what was available, and as a result, they lost that totally. One fellow, however, read the entire test, including the note at the end, but decided he wanted to take the exam anyway.

He did not want any gifts. He wanted to earn his grade, and he did. He got a C-plus, and the rest of us got an A. Stanley then writes, the story illustrates many people's reaction to God's solution to sin, grace. Some people look at God's standard moral and ethical perfection, and they throw their hands up and surrender. Why even try, they tell themselves.

I could never live up to all that stuff. And others are like the student who read the test through and was aware of the professor's offer, but he wanted to take the test anyway. Unwilling to simply receive God's gift of forgiveness, they set about to rack up enough points with God to earn it. But God's grace truly is like the professor's offer. It may seem unbelievable, but if we accept it then, like the stunned students who accept the professor's offer, we too will discover that yes, God's grace is truly free.

All we have to do is accept it. A couple of years ago at Oxford University, there was a group of students who were taking comparative religion, and they were debating about the uniqueness of each religion. And at one moment, they were debating about the uniqueness of Christianity, and it just happened at that time that C.S. Lewis had walked in to their discussion. And he said, what's all this discussion about? And they said, Dr. Lewis, I want to ask you, let us ask you the question. And the question was, what is the most unique thing about Christianity?

And Lewis simply said, that's easy. Grace. Grace. The Greek word is charis. It means the gift. Just simply means gift.

B.B. Warfield said, it is the free sovereign favor of God to the ill-deserving. Donald Gray Barnhouse maybe pictured it the best. He said, love that goes upward is worship, and love that goes outward is affection. But love that stoops is grace.

We use the word in so many ways, don't we? We say grace. Are you going to say grace today? We say grace. We are grateful when someone gives us an act of kindness. We are congratulated. That's grace, by the way, for success. Same word.

We leave gratuity at a restaurant. It's grace. Even in music, there are grace notes that are added to the musical score to make it so much richer. In Britain, the royalty is addressed as your grace.

How misguided. And then we use it in a negative way. You can fall from grace. Or we talk about people being a disgrace.

Or an ingrate. That's how we use the word. Philip Yancey, in his book What's So Amazing About Grace, says that grace is our last best word. I love that. Our last best word.

But I'm not so sure we get it. You see, the word charis, which is grace, is related to other words in Greek. You would translate those in verbs like to rejoice. To be glad.

It's all related. Whenever you think of the church, that's what we should think of. We are the recipients of grace. And that should make us the most joyful, glad group of people. But I think if you went out to the streets of America and asked the average person, what do you think of the church? When you think of the church and you think of the people, what do you think of? I don't think they'll say, oh, it's their joy.

It's just so how happy and glad they are all the time. But the word of God's going to say more in the weeks to come. It's not just that we are the recipients of grace. But we are supposed to be the dispensers of grace.

Listen to me. We are to dispense grace to others. You know, the world can feed the hungry.

The world can heal the sick. But the world cannot dispense grace. We are those who are supposed to be the ones who dispense grace.

And that's kind of the problem, isn't it? When my guilt is exposed, I love being a recipient of the grace of God. But whenever I am violated by someone else, I find it very difficult to give the same kind of grace to another person that I so much want for myself. To say that someone deserves grace is a contradiction in terms. You can ask for it. You can beg for it.

You can plead for it. But the minute that you think you deserve grace, it's no longer grace. Grace can't be earned. It is unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor of God. The church over its 2,000-year history has always had a very uneasy relationship with grace.

It did in the first century, and it does in the 21st century. There are what Chuck Swindoll calls grace killers everywhere in the church. The idea is that grace is foreign to us. The whole idea, just like the student, of making it on our own, earning it, is all part of our humanity.

That's the way the real world works, doesn't it? But that's not grace. There has been a consistent effort for 2,000 years for a graceless church.

Fortunately, God has always prevailed. And whenever grace is front and center of the church, the church is vital, because that's the way God would have wanted it to be. We often think of grace in the person of Jesus Christ. Even John wrote in John chapter 1, he said that when Jesus Christ came, he was full of grace and truth. And that's true. And grace is the unfolding story of the life of Christ.

But it's so much more than that. You will find grace from Genesis 1 to Revelation 21. You find the grace of God everywhere. And it touches everybody, even in the Old Testament. Grace that touches the rich and the poor and grace that touches kings and peasants, the young and the old and the powerful and the powerless, grace touching virtually anyone. It's my prayer that in the weeks ahead, you will come to a much clearer understanding of what grace means, and you will be able to appreciate it and dispense it in your own life. We're going to begin in the Old Testament.

And I think that that often is what? The Old Testament is not about grace. The Old Testament is about law. In fact, I don't even know if you could really see much grace in the Old Testament.

Oh, there's a lot of grace. You see, we often think of the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament as two separate gods. Richard Dawkins, in his book The God Delusion, writes this about the God of the Old Testament. He says that the God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction, jealous and proud of it, a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak, a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser. He is homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal pest. Wow.

He's not the first. Marcion, in the second century, said that the God of the Old Testament is a cruel and jealous lawgiver, where the God in the New Testament is compassionate and a loving father, full of grace. I disagree with them vehemently. So we're going to begin our study of grace in the beginning. Open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 1.

This shouldn't take long. These are the kind of words that are so familiar to us, we miss things in it, because we just sort of, we know it by heart. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and God was moving over the surface of the waters. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and we just start out that way. And we see the creation in a certain light. Wow, God is demonstrating His power, He's demonstrating His majesty.

That's true. Psalm 19 says the heavens are telling of the glory of God, and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. But have you ever asked yourself about this verse, the great question? There is a great, deep question here. Why? Why?

Have you asked yourself that? Why? Why is there a creation?

Why? A lot of people have thought about it for a long time. I mean, apparently, there was a time when there was nothing, and then there was a time when there was something. We call that creation. Why does anything exist at all? I mean, we can't even imagine nothing, can we? Try that. Imagine nothing.

We can't. Why did God create? It's interesting when you read. Some have put forth this idea. He created because He was lonely.

He was not. Okay, just think about that from a logical point of view. First of all, there's a triune God. He has community and oneness. There's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He is complete, and He's perfect.

He isn't going to be lonely. In fact, if you think about it from that point of view, creation is something that happens at a point in time. God's eternal. So how long did God exist before creation? See, how long? Now, obviously, because He's eternal, there's not really a length, but let's use it from our point of view.

We would say it this way as the unscientific. I think a really long time. I mean, right?

Like a really long time. Well, if He was lonely, then He would have had creation a long time ago, but He wasn't lonely. He wasn't like, oh, I'm really getting lonely here. You see, there's something else going on here. I think I know why God created. Grace. Creation is the grace of God. Undeserved, unmerited, the gift of God.

And here's what's so interesting about it. Verse three. Then God said, let there be light. And there was light. Let there be light.

I don't know about you. Do you like light? I like light. Do you like light? Just imagine a creation without light.

You see, just imagine that. Light is such a neat thing. I mean, light is so wonderful that God says, I'll use the word light to describe me. I am light. God is light. You see, that's how wonderful it is. It illuminates. It's a wonderful thing.

But there's something else going on here. Look at verse 10 right at the end of the verse. And God saw that it was good. Verse 12.

The end of the verse. And God saw that it was good. Verse 18. And God saw that it was good. Verse 21. And God saw that it was good. Verse 25. And God saw that it was good.

Verse 31. And God saw all that he had made and behold it was very good. It was good.

It was good. Question. For who? Who is it good for? You see, who is it good for? Answer. Us. You and me.

Humans. It is good. The creation is good.

And it is good for us. You see, God is spirit. A physical creation is not that enhancing to God. It is not, oh, now I finally have something that's physical. He's a spirit being.

But boy, it's good for us. And think of how good it is. The endless variety of creation. The boundless in scope idea of creation.

How marvelous it is in its complexity. Endless variety. You ever wondered about the variety of creation? I don't know, if I were God, I wouldn't have made 300 species of beetles.

I just don't see any reason for it. Couple of beetles, that's it. Why do we need 300 species of beetles? But God says, I want that kind of variety in creation. Boundless in scope. If you read ancient scientists, they started speculating.

Thinkers. Oh, there were thousands of stars. And they thought they really had it. Then as they continued to progress, they said, no, no, there are millions of stars. And then as we got better and better instruments, they said, no, there's probably billions of stars. Well, then we found out that there were billions of stars in our galaxy. And get this, there are billions of galaxies. Some are now speculating there may be billions of billions of galaxies. Now why? Why not 12 galaxies?

I mean, how many more do we need? I mean, we have a billion stars in this one. You see how broad and vast it is. And then you think of the idea of how marvelous it is in its complexity. When man discovered the atom, he started to see the way physical creation is put together.

He was in awe. And even then, for a long, long period of time, they said, we know now that they're there. But we don't know why they stay there.

And that became a real problem. Now in the last 20, 25 years, scientists are saying we know that there's something there called black matter. And we know that it holds everything together. We can't measure it yet, but we know it's there. Wow. Endless variety, boundless in scope, marvelous in complexity. And here's the point.

None of it was necessary. It's grace. It's the grace of God. You see, He did it for us.

Well, how do you know that? Well, look at verse 26. After God saw that it was good, then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. After He creates it all, He said, now let's make man.

And He said, well, yeah, but watch. Moses writes, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God created man in His own image. In His image, God created a male and female. He created them, and God blessed them. And He said, you be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

You subdue it. You rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every other living thing that moves on the earth. And then God said, behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth and every tree that has fruit yielding seed. It shall be food for you. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food. And so it was. What did God say? He did it for you. That's all for you.

I did this for you. If you think about it, God created the world, and then He gave it to us. That's grace.

Perfect environment. And notice what He tells them. I love the words that He gives them.

He gives them words like be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, rule. Enjoy yourselves. Because all this is for you.

That's the grace of God. We didn't earn it. We didn't deserve it.

We did absolutely nothing. I mean, think of that on a personal level. Beautiful sunsets are for you. Color for you. I mean, it didn't have to have color. It could have all been gray.

I like gray. But my. Star-filled nights for you. Planting, harvesting, variety of vegetables and fruit.

What? For you. Salmon, speckled trout or redfish for you. The beach for you. The mountains for you. The lakes for you. The rainforest for you.

Why? The grace of God. The grace of God. Here's a very important principle.

The first principle in this study. Grace is never just enough. Grace is always far more than enough. Grace is never just enough.

Grace is always far more than enough. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called OnePlace.com.

That's OnePlace.com. And you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website you will find not only today's broadcast but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org.

That's fbcnola.org. At our website you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word. ... ... ...