Grace, It's Really Amazing - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. You see, the significance of that, when we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. You are forever people, forever. Not a long time, the absence of time, forever.

And you know why? Grace, just grace. You didn't earn it, you don't deserve it, but you get it. 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. The next verse, you know it, "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed." The provision of grace. Look what grace has provided. Taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved. What do you mean by that? I'll tell you what I know he meant. He learned to start fearing God and stop fearing all of the things we're afraid of.

Notice my fears relieved. He says, how precious did that grace appear in the hour I first believed? The provision of grace.

Have you ever thought about that? Turn with me to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. Watch what Apostle Paul writes. He covers virtually everything in Romans 5. He covers our past, he covers our present, and he covers the future. Paul writes, therefore, having been justified by faith. By the way, if you're a believer at all in Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross for you, you have been justified.

You're not waiting for it. It's past tense. But it's not just past tense, it's past perfect. And it means something that happens in the past, but the results of that happening go on forever. And the word justified simply means this, you have been declared righteous.

What a great thing. He's not saying you're pardoned. He's not saying you're not guilty. He's declaring you righteous. By grace. He says we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. In the present, we have peace with God. Through whom also he said we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand and we exalt or better word rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. We have a future. It's certain we result in the hope of the glory of God. My past forgiven. My present. I have peace and access to God, my future.

I have a certitude to be with him forever. What an overwhelming thought of the grace of God pulses and not only this, we also rejoice or exalt in our tribulation, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, perseverance, proven character and proven character, hope and hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. That's a part we don't like much, but it's a great insight by Paul.

Newton understood that. God's changing you. He's changing you. And by the way, notice how the change works.

It's kind of an interesting way to put it, not the way we would like it, I don't think. But he says it starts out with tribulation, trouble, trials. By the way, when I'm hurting, where do I go? I go to God. And so what do I do? I have not much I can do. I have to persevere. In other words, I have to wait on God. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength and mount up with wings like eagles, walk, not grow weary, run.

Then what happens? He said, whenever you persevere, you begin to change. Your character begins to change.

You have what he calls proven character. You become more like Jesus Christ. And he said, and that sets you up, he says, for the hope that does not disappoint. See, God saves us by grace, but he doesn't just leave us the way we were saved. He's changing us, every one of us, conforming us into his image. Paul then goes on and says, for while we were still helpless at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

That's how it has all happened. He says, for one would hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for a good man, someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrated his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

While I was a wretch, he died. I say this all the time, but I'm going to say it again. Nothing you will ever do will make God love you more. Nothing you ever do will make God love you less.

Do you get that? That's what the grace of God is. The great theologian, Karl Barth, at Harvard, coming from Europe over to lecture, and he's asked by one bright young student, what is the greatest theological truth he has ever learned?

Barth looked at the group and said, Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so. What is a bigger truth than that?

What is a greater reality than that? Jesus loves you. Look at the provision of grace. It's an amazing thing.

In fact, as he goes on, he says in verse 11, and not only this, but we also exalt or rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation. I am forever right with God. What a great standing.

Why? Grace. Well, that's amazing, isn't it?

That's amazing. That's why he called it that, amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

Well, when you think of Newton, and you think of how overwhelmed he was, it's the way we should all feel. The next verse is the promise of grace. Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. It was grace that brought me safe thus far.

Grace will lead me home. Notice those three things. What's a danger? Things that scare you. Things you're afraid of.

If you're afraid of something, you're in danger. Toils. Boy, how hard has it been to labor in a fallen world, just to eat God and cut out a living? Snares. What about those temptations? What about those?

What about those snares? What about the sin that so easily besets us, the writer of Hebrews says? What about those in our life? Do you realize that all the dangers and all the toils and all the snares in your life, here it is, you made it. You made it. Do you know why you made it? Grace. Grace. Boy, when I think of some of the stupid things that I've done, especially in a very special period of life called teenage years, where the kind of things you do could have cost your life in so many easy ways.

But here you are. Boy, Newton understood this like almost nobody understood this. For example, Newton was in a storm at sea. He was down below and the word on the ship was, it's sinking, we're all going down. He decided in his own mind's eye that he said, if I'm going to die, I want to die up on deck, breathing fresh air. So he goes up to the deck. When he's up on the deck, the captain spots him and tells him that he wants to do a particular duty right there on the deck. Newton obeys and starts the duty. The captain then says, I need my knife from my cabin. And so I want you to go down below and get it. So Newton said, I will.

Aye, aye, sir. And down he goes. On his way back up, he sees the man who replaced him at that station be swept overboard by a wave and die. Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. Newton talks about when he wasn't on the sea, he went on a hunting trip with a bunch of his friends and he was climbing up a bank with a shotgun, didn't apparently have a safety or they didn't have them then or whatever it was, pulled the trigger, got powder burns in the side of his face and blew his hat off.

That much. The grace of God. Newton was so drunk and bored one night on a ship that the wind blew his hat off and it went out into the ocean and he jumped overboard to go get it.

Now, you have to understand something. John Newton could not swim. Even sober, he could not swim. He was so fortunate that a man on the other side of the ship saw it, ran across, jumped over and saved him. He's been through an awful lot of stuff.

In fact, 1754, Newton was given a commission as a captain on a brand new ship called the B. And the day before Newton was to go onto the ship, the B, and be its captain, he went into seizures, which he had even from his childhood. But these were so bad that he couldn't, he couldn't rehabilitate himself. He couldn't come back from. And he had to resign. And so he never went to sea again. Oh, by the way, they had to appoint another captain then to the B. And when the B was at sea, there was, the slaves revolted on that ship, took over the ship and killed the captain. You think Newton has any idea through many dangerous toil and snares I have already come?

Twist grace that brought me safe thus far. Turn with me to second Corinthians chapter four. And this is what the apostle Paul says. Second Corinthians chapter four, just a few pages to your right. The apostle Paul says there in verse seven, we have this treasure in earthen vessels. In other words, I have the presence of God in my body. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. Literally earthen vessels means clay pots.

Howard Hendricks, who I just love, as you know, as a mentor, sort of brings this up to date for us. And when he says that, he says, we have the treasure of God in the peanut butter jars. And we're the peanut butter jars. You see, we have this treasure of God in a peanut butter jar. We have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power, he said, will be of God and not from ourselves.

Notice then what he says. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not despairing, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed. See, Paul's been through it. Verse 16. Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying at the inner man is being renewed day by day for momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. While we took, he says, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen, he says, they're eternal. He says, grace changed my perspective. See, grace changed his perspective. And by the way, Paul was stoned and left for dead, beaten with rods. I mean, almost shipwrecked, almost everything could go wrong.

His life was a lot like Newton's. Paul said I wasn't even perplexed about that at all. I don't feel beaten down at all. How does that apply to you and me? The way I view it and the way I apply it to myself is this. I know exactly how long I'm going to be here. Just as long as God wants me here. I know that I'm going to be here as long as God wants me here. And I don't believe I'm going to be here for five minutes more or five minutes less. And I don't know about you, but that's freeing to me. And by the way, that's not based on anything about me.

We think it is on a weekend. We can decide this. No, you can't.

You cannot. Better men than me. Gone to be with the Lord long before my age. I've said before, my best friend in seminary went in his early 40s. From my point of view, he had an awful lot going for him and a lot to contribute to God's kingdom, but God took him home.

And there are other men there I still respect, like Dr. Dwight Pentecost, who's roaring into his mid 90s. But you see, grace has brought me safe thus far. Grace will lead me home. That's peaceful. That's peaceful. We worry so much, it becomes one of the dangers of our life. We're so worried about it.

There's really nothing to worry about. The Scripture is clear on that. You see, it's relaxing. It's the grace of God. The power is all His.

That's what's so wonderful about it. Paul knew it, so did Newton. They both, by the way, loved, Paul loved it so much he wrote it, Newton so much that he wrote about it. Romans 8.28. If I said, well, what's Romans 8.28?

What would you say? I think I know it. All things, right? All things work together for the good, right? All things.

But it's hard for us to figure that out, by the way, because under all things are a lot of the things that happen that I don't quite understand. But I wonder if you think about the first three words very much. And we know.

Do you remember that? And we know. That's what Paul said, and we know. Newton said, yeah, that's right, Paul, we know. We know all things work together, and we know that.

Question, do you know that? You see, how do I know that? The amazing grace of God. You see, it's God's grace.

I know that. We know that all things work together. That is the promise of grace.

Doesn't matter if they're dangles, toils, and snares or not. Grace is going to lead you home. And then the final verse, the verse I alluded to a lot earlier, the verse that was added in 1909.

And Excel used this verse because when he was reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, he was so overwhelmed by it. When we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. What are we praising God for? His grace. His grace.

See, that's what we're praising him for. What do you see when you see this? I see a whole redeemed people filled overwhelmingly filled with one thing, and that is gratitude. Gratitude. That's what grace produces. Grace produces gratitude. And notice it.

He puts it in a picture here that's just overwhelming to me forever. When we've been there 10,000 years, you can't even imagine how long ago 10,000 years were. 8,000 BC.

Can't even imagine. 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun. We've no less days now to sing God's praise than when we first begun. It's a beautiful picture of what? Forever.

Forever. Do you get it? Do you get that? Velma told me a long time ago, and in fact just this week told me again, that when I was a student at Dallas Seminary, we lived in Plano, Texas. She was in the car. She came to a red light, and this was being played on Christian radio, Amazing Grace. And she said, when that verse was sung, right there at that red light in Plano, Texas, I got it. Got it.

You see the significance of that. When we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. You are forever people. Forever. Not a long time, the absence of time, forever.

And you know why? Grace. Just grace. You didn't earn it. You don't deserve it, but you get it. Someone has said, grace is like getting a 25 carat diamond delivered to your door that nobody ordered.

Somebody else paid for it. That's grace. And that's what he says. And we as a people, and that's what Newton understands, is be filled with gratitude.

Not just forever, by the way. We should be the most joyful, thankful people on the planet. Now, let me ask you, when you came in today, are you filled with gratitude? Just overflowing with gratitude. Are you thankful?

You ought to be. Almost all of you brought a Bible here. Do you realize the overwhelming majority of believers who have ever lived since Jesus Christ never had a Bible? Do you thank God for that? Do you ever think of thanking God for that?

There are believers even now over the world that would do anything to have five pages out of your Bible. And you carry it, carry it out, throw it in the backseat, throw it in the trunk. Next Sunday, open the trunk, get it, come back in.

You're here, and I'm going to assume you're a relative health. You do. You do realize that this week, one million people will die. This week. Do you know one million people died last week?

Here you are. You thankful? You ever think?

Why not you? You see, are you thankful for something like that? Five hundred million people in our world are starving. I don't think you are.

You might think you are this close to lunch. But do you thank God for that? See, are you grateful for that? All of us, and I mean all of us in this room, if you look at us historically of all the people who had ever lived, all of us from an economic point of view of financial worth are in the top 3% of all the people who ever lived. All of us.

Top 3%. 97% of all the people who ever lived are poorer than you are. You thankful for that? You thankful?

Wow. Or do you complain about money? You see, we have so much that we can be so grateful for and so thankful for. And maybe most importantly, you were completely free to come here today and worship. And if you didn't want to come, you don't have to. And if you want to go somewhere else, you could.

That's completely up to you. That's not the way it's been for believers. And there are many places in the world that's not the way it is today at all. They worship in secret. See, are you thankful? Notice the grace that God has bestowed on us should make us grateful people. It's a great hymn.

It's just a great hymn. When you think about it from that point of view, the plan of grace is to save you. The power of grace finds you and then changes you. The provision of grace touches us so that we have peace with God for our past. We have access to God in the present. And we have a certain hope from God for our future. The promise of grace is to keep us and give us an eternal perspective of life. And the praise of grace is the privilege of the saved to thank God now and forever.

John Newton was right. Amazing grace. How sweet the sound. It saved people just like you, me. Let's pray. Father, I must confess that like almost everything good in my life, I find myself taking grace for granted. I understand it theologically, but I don't ever seem to get my ownership of it emotionally, mentally, that it's mine. Father, I pray for all of us not to take grace for granted, to see it for what it is. It's amazing that you, an infinite holy God, would stoop so low as to touch people just like us who not only rebelled against you in a garden but have continued to rebel against you every day of our lives. Father, I'm overwhelmed by the grace of God. I thank you, Father, that that grace not only saves me, but that grace keeps me. And that future grace that you have promised me is mine. Father, I love you, but only because you first loved me. I love Jesus Christ, but only after he showed his love for me that he came to this earth and died in my place. Father, for us, grace is free. For him, it was experiencing your wrath on all sin for all time. Father, I am so thankful that he took my place. Thank you for your infinite, wonderful, amazing grace.

In Jesus' name, amen. 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.

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