You In Christ and Christ In You

OK, we are in lesson 16. I'm going to try to get through it so that Courtney can get up and start working on 17. I figured not to give you questions for next week because if Courtney and I got through these two weeks, it would be a miracle anyway. So in lesson 16, we were talking about I gave you a bunch of verses to look up and.

We had gone through questions like, what is grace designed to accomplish? Do you think grace is a natural way for us to think? And so we had made it to question five, I think. Am I right about that? How is grace known and understood? How is it known and understood? Do we need to start over? How is it no one understood?

One verse that I gave you was, I hope I gave it to you, no I didn't, you had to do it on your own. John 1, 16 and 17, And of his fullness have we all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

In Romans 5.15 was really the key verse, which I gave you that verse. But not as the trespass, but also as the free gift. For if by the trespass of one the many died, we're talking about our pal Adam, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ has abounded unto many.

So what's the answer? How is grace known and understood? Boy, they're asleep today. It's known in Christ. He's the one that brought it. And so as you, through the study of the word of God, especially in, I would say, John's gospel and the epistles, the Lord Jesus Christ is known, and the grace that he brings is known and understood.

Okay? There's no other place to find grace than in the Word of God. It doesn't exist anywhere else. So should we be in anticipation of what God is going to do for us? There you go. That's right. Why would you be in anticipation of something He's already done? In other words, He isn't going to do anything. He's already done everything. What hasn't He done for you? Okay, you don't have your new glorified body. Okay. But it's done. It's an absolute certainty. So there isn't anything that God hasn't done. Not a thing you can think of. Does grace put the giver under any sort of obligation?

Tell me why. If you're being gracious to me, can I in any case and at any time come to you and say, Well, you know, you said you were going to give me this grace, so let's get going. You owe me. Can I say that? Okay, how many think, yeah, I can say that? How many think I can't say that? I can't say that. If I'm in a grace environment, there's no time in which the person dispensing the grace can ever be put under obligation to dispense it. Because if they were, it wouldn't be grace.

What's the definition of grace? What was Aristotle's definition of grace? He said it's the freely giving based solely on the purpose of the heart of the giver. There's never a time. If there's obligation involved, then it isn't grace. Now I know it's hard to understand because we sort of come at it from a cause and effect legal sort of viewpoint. But when you begin to live under a grace mentality, you begin to understand that if grace is unlimited and unmerited, then the problem is that if I think you owe me, then I don't understand the unlimitedness of grace. And I certainly don't understand the unmeritedness of the grace. There's never a time I can go to God and say, you owe me. Or, what are you waiting for? Or, gee, I thought you were... because the provision has already been made. And as we've talked about before, when you Go to God and talk to him about grace.

He says, OK, how much grace do you need? You say, I need four gallons. He says, OK, I'll give you four. Is that how grace works? I need 55 tons of grace. He says, OK, I got just that much. Is that how grace works? No. Whatever you need, what's the provision superabounds over what you need. Every time. It's never just enough. It's always way more. Where sin did abound, what did grace do? It superabounded. So whatever your need is, the provision for grace for you is way more than what your need is. So what prevents you from living in it? Receiving it? It can't be God's provision, so what prevents you? Lack of faith? I would say it's even more basic than that. Lack of knowledge? I think it's even more basic than that. You didn't take it. Just take it.

It's there. Take it. Because that's what it's there to do. You know, when you see grace laid out on the table, you don't have to go and say, well, that's four bucks and that's six bucks. That isn't the way it is. You just take it. Because that's what it's intended to do. So because it's unmerited favor, you can never put the giver of the favor under any obligation. You can't do it. Because it's unmerited. The giver just did it because he wanted to do it.

It was part of his character. So does grace have the power to control the behavior of men? Now if you say yes or no, I'm going to ask you to explain, so get ready. Does grace have the power to control the behavior of men? How many think yes it does? How many think well, maybe, maybe not? Chickens. It's the only honest man in the room right here. Turn in your Bibles to Titus chapter 2. Verse 11. Whoever gets there, go ahead and read it. Chapter 2, 11 and 12. 12.

Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we live soberly, lifelessly, ungodly in this present world. Oh wow, how cool is that? That the grace of God has appeared to do what? To teach us to do what? To live denying ungodliness, grace teaches us to do that. and worldly lust that teaches us to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world. Oh my goodness, how cool is that? Grace does in fact have the power to control the behavior of men. Remember our first question, what was grace designed to accomplish in a believer? What's it designed to do? It's designed to prevent sin from reigning and it's not a license to sin, but it's a system to prevent sin.

Okay? Now, I have to tell you, I agree with you. It's a very tough concept because we are always struggling with sin so hard based on some sort of legal moral concept that we have that we really don't trust that grace actually will and actually does have the power to keep us from sinning. Agree with that statement?

So, what it goes to, I think, is motivation. The motivation in the Christian's life to be living a life with a grateful heart and not rules. Every single person, whether believer or not, is right behind their left ear, if they're right-handed. there's a little black box that you can't see, and in that box is your own code of ethics, your little set of rules, you know, that you live by. And God came and replaced not only that little box, but the man that has the little box, and the man that he replaced him with is a grace man.

So now you have to live under grace, like it or not. You know, you have to live by faith. When grace is understood, it always brings forth what? If you're living under grace, What kind of a response do you have every time that you understand that the grace has been or is being dispensed to you? How do you respond to it? Yeah, by saying thank you. And you only say thank you when you realize that what has been given you is enough, or more than enough. You see that?

So it doesn't, at the first blush, it doesn't seem possible That God acting graciously towards us all the time would cause us to respond in kind. But that's exactly what grace is designed to do. And if it carries out its purpose, then there's no more need for law. None. Because you respond to God out of a thank you and a gracious heart, not because of an obligation. So when you read the commands in Paul's epistles, as Verne calls them, the logical imperatives, your response to them isn't, oh, I ought to. My response is, I'm so grateful, I can't help but respond. Does that make any sense?

So where does grace abound? If it's going to abound, it's got to have a location. Where does it abound? Only in third reform churches. Only in the Democratic Party. Only, I don't know, in the Marine Corps. It abounds only in Christ. It's the only place.

Logically, if grace abounds in Christ and the Word of God says, where does the Word of God tell you that you are? Okay, so you're in grace, right? So when the Word of God comes and says grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, it doesn't say grow into, it says grow because you're already in. You're in the grace and you're in Christ and you grow, that's the environment you're growing. You understand that? So it's important that you understand your position.

Romans 5.20 says, Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

So what is the way God operates now? He has an operating system and He switched it up. How did He deal with the Jewish nation? What operating system were they under? They were under a specific moral code that God gave them. Okay? How about them guys that weren't the Jews? Those Gentiles that live across the river? What kind of a system were they under? They were under their own law.

So it was only the people in Beijing, China that lived under grace, right? No, there was no grace on the planet any time until Christ shows up. No grace. Because of the sinfulness of man, God could not function in a grace environment, because his righteousness had not been satisfied.

So, if you look at Ephesians 2, 4-7, But God, being rich in mercy for his great love for which you loved us, even when we were dead, through our trespasses made us alive together with Christ, by grace you are saved. and raised us up with him and made us sit with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Here's the purpose, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God.

He now acts and operates only on the principle of grace, and it's based on the finished work of Christ. He does not operate on the legal system at all. So if you go to God with a legal premise, how responsive is He going to be to you? If you go to Him and say, Lord, I've got this figured out. If you tell me what to do and I do it, then you'll bless me. Okay? So just tell me what to do.

How responsive is he going to be to that? Do you think he will respond to that? He will. Do you know what the response will be? I can't hear you. What are you talking about? Do you see that? Because he doesn't work that way. He works solely on the basis of grace. I want you to know that, maybe you've discovered this, that there's lots of repetition in this discussion on grace and that's by design. because I think we're such neophytes to understanding grace that repetition is really necessary as we talk about it. Question 10.

Is it possible to grasp grace in salvation by Grace I'm Saved and not grasp grace in the Christian life? Who said yes first? You? Explain what you mean. of Christians, including myself, when you first saved. Yeah, it's a gift, it's grace, and you didn't have to do it, but now I've got to measure up.

Sure, or I've got to be thankful. Or I have to follow all the rules. Right. Or I have to, you know, I have to do something. Yeah. Anybody disagree with what Peggy's saying? It's possible to be saved by grace, and on a grace basis. and not grasp grace as the operating principle of the Christian life. That's possible.

I think that's a prevalent thought. One, because I think that we discussed the lack of knowledge of identification and all that. But I think it's also when you listen to that and think how illogical that really is. When you think about that God was able to save you. And everybody kind of sees that pre-gift of salvation. But then you put God in a box and say He's not able to do everything for me now. He was able to save me through this great transaction, but then He leaves me on my own. But that's the way we function. It doesn't make sense, but that's really what happened. It doesn't make sense. Sure. And also unlimited God. And then He's great in salvation. You're on your own after that. Yeah, you're like the wind-up toy. Yeah, but we do that routinely. Yeah, I think everybody, it's almost instinctive to do that, don't you think? The other part is that man wants something to do. He says, well now, oh boy, my chance to do something.

And you want to get to do something and prove that you are worthy of the grace that you got in salvation. Now I'm going to show you I was really worthy of that. All right, now you brought up a really interesting point. A couple of questions ago, we talked about responding.

Does grace have the power to keep me from sinning, to orchestrate my Christian life, right? And we said, yes, it absolutely does. And in trying to explain that, we said that, well, when the grace of God comes towards you and you recognize it's a grace, you respond to the grace. So Roger says, I responded to the grace of salvation and I felt like, boy, you know, the Lord was really gracious to me. I got to pay him back.

Is that the right motivation? No, it's not. So what is the right motivation? Here comes the grace, not only in salvation, but I begin to discover by the study of the Word of God and discussions, and wow, this grace thing is really cool. How am I supposed to respond to it without, well, yeah, I really appreciate what God did, but Don't I have to do something? No, that doesn't fit under grace. Or do I pay? I've got to pay him back. Look at the grace that he extended towards me. No, that's not right. What's the right thinking? Here's the grace coming at me. It's designed to control me, isn't it? To prevent me from sinning. What's my response? How should I respond? Out of gratitude? Yeah, gratitude's okay. What else? See, what I love about this question, and boy, it got quiet in the room, didn't it?

And it shows us, I think, that the one topic that we could never teach enough is the topic of grace. We cannot teach it enough. I guess it's important to remind us that the old nature and the new nature, I mean the old nature wants to respond also. I mean, it's a function of responding to grace can only be done out of a new man, right? I think so. In gratitude? I think so. But doesn't the old man, under the debt of obligation, try to respond initially? Yes, yes he does. Due to lack of knowledge or experience with the Lord? I mean, isn't there always that back and forth? Yes.

I would put into place right here that if we are not taught grace, we will not grasp how it works. When you come to salvation, there is no experience that you've ever had in your life experience from the time your feet hit the planet to the time that you were saved that you have any understanding of what grace is at all. There's no way that Adam understands grace. He can formulate the word, he can give a definition like Aristotle did, but he has no concept on how to live in it, receive it, function under it. None whatsoever.

So that means we've got to be taught. So we learn it in the Word of God. Now, look how much you have to learn. You learn by the graciousness of God that my salvation is free, and I receive it on the basis of faith and it's a whole gift program. Okay, we got that part in place. Now I have to live a life that's based on the same principle and according to the godly principles of which are spelled out in the word of God. Laura. How do you answer people who say that people just claim grace so they can live it up to the sin and all that? I tell them they're wrong. No, I'm kidding. How do you explain grace is not designed to give you license to do anything you want?

Now that I'm under grace, I can live as I please. I'm going to give you a short answer because that's the subject of almost half of one whole class. What are the principles under which I conduct my behavior based on the grace that's coming towards me?

The first principle is, does it control me? Whatever I'm doing, does it control me? Do you understand what I'm saying? Let's say I'm addicted to farming. Does that control me? If it does, then I'm not living under grace. It's got a hold on me and I'm doing it under obligation.

That's one principle. Two is, am I acting and functioning on the premise and basis of love? Agape. Or am I operating under a principle of, if I do this, I expect a reward? When we get to that, hopefully you'll get enough of a set of answers that you can deal with a question like that. I'll just read this.

In Galatians 5, Paul says, for freedom did Christ set me free. He set me free for liberty. He set me free so I can live freely. So he says, stand fast therefore, in the freedom that Christ has made me free, and don't be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, which was a legal practice, Christ will profit you nothing. What he's saying is that if you put yourself under any type of legal principle, Christ will profit you not a thing, because it's outside the realm of grace. And he goes on to explain. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law, you have fallen from grace.

When I first read that verse, I thought, well, there's got to be a misprint there because the only way I can fall from grace is by sinning. Can I fall from grace by sinning? Absolutely not. But I conditionally fall out of the operating principle and system of grace if I start to rely on any kind of a law system for a standing or righteousness or attaboy from God. I'm outside the realm of grace and I'm outside the realm in which God is functioning. You see that? Is that reasonably clear? Not clear? Actually this is Laura's question.

What about those verses that say, if you will obey me then I will bless you? How does that square with grace? What about those verses? And the way that I answered this was the grace circle. How many of you have seen the grace circle? This is the one time I need an overhead. I didn't give you a copy. Some of you have seen the gray circle, right? This is what it looks like, miniature. And it's based on this premise.

And as a matter of fact, I'm out walking this morning at 630 and I got these headphones that I listen to. And I'm trying to find something of substance. And I get this preacher who's going to talk to me about the reason why I should love God. And his reason is I should love God because the word tells me to. And I can demonstrate it and everybody will know that I'm a lover if I love the children.

What's wrong with that statement? Nothing. But does it motivate me to be a lover? So if I go to my church and if I'm not loving those kids, if I'm not, If I'm not hanging out in the nursery, well I must not be a lover. So I listened to this guy for 20 minutes and he never gave me the reason why I should love. Why should I love?

Go to the source. That's right. I love because he first loved me. You see that? So who's doing the action part and who's doing the responding part? God's doing the action part. What am I doing? I'm responding. So when I respond, at the top here, I know you guys in the back row can't see this.

God first loved me. So when I get down here, it says, my love for him. So I love him. I have an obligation to love him, do I not? Under grace? Why? Because he first loved me. Continuing on. If I obey him, why do I obey him? Am I supposed to obey him? Absolutely I am. Why? Because I love him. Why? Because he first loved me. And guess what? Because I obeyed him, he's going to reward me. How come? Because I obeyed him. How come? Because I love him. How come? Because he first loved me.

Chastening is a word for child training. When I chasten my son, I do it because I love him and I have an expected end for him. He's chastening me to teach me to live under grace. to receive the fullness that he has for me, and not to get off that track. Chastening is an incredible blessing from God. It even says in Hebrews, if you're not being chastened, you might want to check your ID and see if you're a believer. It's such... It's the Lord talking to me about grace. So chastening, we look at chastening as a punishment for something that we did wrong.

They do, because they don't understand the principle of grace. I just turned it off. I guess the Lord doesn't need it. With the principle of grace to be functional, we must have someone like the Spirit of God to grow us up and to monitor us and to keep us on track, all in grace. Not because we were bad, not because we need to be punished or just because he didn't have anything better to do. So if you look at the grace circle, the whole circle is in play all the time. Christianity likes to cut this pie out of it and make a whole religion out of that part.

The part where he rewards me. Or the part where I obey him. Or the part where he loves me and I can do whatever I want. You've got to get the whole thing in there. The whole spectrum has to be there. He loves me first, I respond to that love, I respond by obeying him and he's going to reward me because I obeyed him because he loved me.

Now that's a good deal if you can get it. Don't you think? That's a great deal. When God extends his grace towards us and all you have to do is respond. That's pretty cool. And oh by the way, he gave you the exact nature and life of the resurrected Christ who knows all about responding. That's pretty neat.

So I'm done. Any questions? All that great stuff is really clear, right? We're going to stay out of the race. Yeah, I've got a big one and I'll make a copy of it so everybody can have it back there. All right. Swap out here. Maybe I should start on a rabbit trail right off the bat.

Sitting here thinking about it and us teaching grace and having to be taught grace. Mike started off this, and we use it a lot. It's terminology that we use a lot. But when you really know, what does that terminology mean? Mike started off, and we use this all the time. And what Mike was saying right at the beginning, what do you do with grace? When it comes at you, what do you do? When it comes at you, what do you say right off the bat? Thank you. Thank you, but what do you do? Receive it. Receive it.

As I was sitting there thinking about this, what does that look like? What am I taking? Who can explain that? As teaching this class, I'm thinking, you know, we say this, oh, take it. Everybody goes, yeah, take it. What are you taking? Can anybody explain that? Sorry, a little rabbit trail off here. But I thought, as Mike was saying, we're all going, yeah, take it.

Thank you. What does it look like? Rest. Peace. Yeah. I mean, what am I taking? You're taking God at His word. I'm just trying to think. As Mike said that, I thought, we all go, yeah! But I'm sitting there, what am I taking? I'm taking grace in our definition of unmerited, unlimited blessings from God. I'm taking that. What does that look like? In shoe leather, Sam always put it in shoe leather. What does that mean? What does that look like when we say, just take it? What am I taking? Three o'clock this afternoon, what does that look like? The life of Christ. Life of Christ. It looks like Christ. I think that's a good answer. Let's see, our definition that we're working off of is unlimited and merited blessings. So we take the blessings. And what do those look like?

And I was thinking about that as you were asking the question. Last summer our whole family went on a cruise. And one person in our family paid for the whole thing for everybody. And you know what they wanted in return? They wanted us to hang out. They didn't want anything other than that.

Which is really cool. I think that's what the Lord's after. I think He wants us just to hang out with Him and be in a position where He can be giving all the time, and we can be receiving. Mike told me a long time ago, when you read the Bible, it's not to know knowledge and get all this stuff, it's a relationship.

I think that's it, the hangout, I think all that is. Ever since you said that, I've been thinking about, what does that mean? And I thought, well, it's under the chastening. Did you understand the chastening? Does God have a big stick out there waiting to whack me?

Sometimes I confess this. I keep thinking, and I think as he goes through this God circle. I'm going in the grace of knowledge. I have more peace and rest than I've ever had before. But there are days when I think, God is just waiting. And the reason is for that chastening. I just think that he's waiting there with a big stick, and he's loving me all the way, but boy, he's wanting to teach me. And he's got that big stick, and he's like, bam! And I think, here's the circle. God loves me.

He's not out there just waiting to crack me with a stick and tell me, but there are those days that I really feel that, that I'm a little tenuous about what I'm doing, because everything's going good. But he's going to chase me about something. I'm like, how stupid is this? How?

And I think, just receive grace. Just receive the blessings. No matter what happens in any trial or any chastening or anything, He still loves you. That's when I think about, how can He separate us from the love of God? And the whole list of everything. And that's why I was talking to people about this the other day. And it was kind of tough when you talk about, well, and this.

No, God is still in control. And whatever you're going through, God is in control. And if He is, that circle still applies. He loves you. And so that peace, that rest, no matter what happens in your life, you understand He still loves you and He's allowing that to happen in your life.

And as I try to understand grace more, it's just that receiving of who He is. I think it is. It's Christ's life. I just think about one thing Hal would say a lot. He says it relates to grace. There are no tragedies in the Christian's life. So whatever happens, that's not God punishing you.

I had that thought last night about 9.30 at the final of the nugget school. But I just think of what it means to take this. I'm challenged as we teach this. What it means to take grace. Take it. Just say thank you. Oh thank you Lord. What am I really getting a hold of? And it goes back to all these things that everybody's been saying. I think peace and rest. When you understand He's in control, it doesn't matter what happens in your life.

And I forget who I was talking to about that the other day. And they looked at me like, you're just falling off the moon. I thought, but you don't know what I'm going through. You don't know. And I said, yeah, I don't know. But I know that God let it happen. And I'm sorry, I'm a rabbit trail. It's a short time. I'm going to get taken off. But the other was, Oh, that's who it was. Never mind. Just came to me and I won't say.

But it was struggling about a decision. And if you go through this, and God's given us a brain to think and rational. It's like, I just don't go out in the middle of I-25 and play. He's given me a brain that says, you don't go out in the middle of I-25 and play. God will save me. I'll walk in the middle of I-25. That's throwing the fleece out and testing.

But it was this whole context of, I've got to think about whether I make the right decision or not. I used to go through this a lot, but guess what? Whatever decision you make, God knows about it, and God allows it. Even if it's the wrong way, so to speak, guess what? He allowed that. And so why do you beat yourself up so much about, make a decision, And that's okay. Whatever. And the person I was talking to was, you know, I just don't know about this big decision. I said, you know, whatever you decide, God already knows about it.

Rest in that. Peace. It doesn't matter. Whatever you do, God allowed it. If He wants to train you and teach you, He'll let you go and, you know, okay, I want this, I want this. Okay. Have it. And see what you get out of it. Or the right, you know, and He wants you to go to this path. So anyway, it was just, yeah. What were you going to say? I was going to say two things.

It presupposes an intimacy with Christ and a knowledge of Him that would influence your thought process. And I don't think the viewpoint is, well, I can sort of flip a coin and go whatever, it's not that. It's that you do go to the Lord of counsel with Him about any decision you have to make and as informed as you are of the principles of how He functions and operates, and his grace and your intimacy with him, you make a decision based on those principles and the word of God that you understand, not because you don't base it on feeling, you don't base it on what's the biggest financial gain for me, or however it perceives. But I think it goes back to that peace and rest. No matter what the decision is, rest in it. It's like I said, God gave you a brain, God gave you scripture, God gave you the ability to go before him in prayer, but rest in whatever happens. You know, don't beat yourself up because, you know, my fame isn't.

Oops, God missed that one. Oops, I didn't know you were going to do that, Roger. How did you sneak around me and get that? No. It's this logic. It doesn't make any kind of logic that God missed that. Or, you know, if it's something, He will prevent it or change it and make it go in this direction. Anyway, sorry, rabbit trail. Grace comes with Jesus Christ, right? So to understand grace is to understand that relationship. Well, that's where I... Never mind, we're sunk. I'm becoming to appreciate this much more.

2 Peter 3.18, what does that say?

To grow in the grace and knowledge of who? the Lord Jesus Christ. You think those two are married together? And again, as what we're talking about too in the teaching part, you have to be taught this. It's a growing experience, or growing into the grace and into the knowledge. They go together. It's perfectly melded there. It's where we grow in the knowledge of Christ, what are we growing? Grace. What Mike was saying, where does grace reside? In Christ. Where are we? In Christ. What a great position.

But again, I think it's also the growing part. I think it begins with his identification, knowing that he's kind of separating out what the old man wants to do. He wants to do, do, do. And once you start realizing that, the identification part, that, you know, crucified, put away, we're not under that bondage anymore. And as we understand that more, I think that's where we grow in Christ, and then we're able to receive that grace. And then figure out what that grace is.

Like I said, take it. I'd take it if I could see it. Thank you, Lord, wherever it is. I'll take it. Just show me where it is. I kept thinking about that. Where is that? Mike says he has five gallons, 50 tons. Well, yeah, I'll take it if I could see it. Just package it for me. I'd say thank you. Just show me what it's like. And I think it is, it's in Christ. As you know him, you'll know grace more and more, because that's who he is. I have a perfect example of that. I have a 90 pound blind dog. And you say to him, it's time to eat. He's all excited, right? But you have to show him where the food is. He doesn't know where his food is.

What's interesting is that God has given us a spirit. He's given us His word to show us what the truth is. And the Holy Spirit, I mean, He's given us all these things. He's given us all these things. But yet I see a lot of times I'm like, where is it? You know, and I'm like, He's telling me, He's showing me, He wants to, He wants to give it to me if I could just see it. You know, and I just find myself now as I go through this, what is it like? And it's Him. And as I get to know Him, grace is much more evident to me. But it's in Him. So, you know, as Mike said, I think, you know, go to the scripture and look at that relationship, who Christ is. And as you understand that, grace will become much more apparent. It's not a packaged little thing that you go and you pick up. It's all of who Christ is. And I just think about that for next week, since we're not going to get to the lesson now. I will say, please try and read that handout that we have.

It's the first chapter of this book, which is Lewis Ferry Chaffer's book on grace. That's a brain. Davis modeling the book very well. That's the book, Lewis Barry Chafer. I think I told you, I just happened to be in the Christian bookstore and I was waiting for somebody doing something and I just happened to look through the myriad of self-help books which just drove me nuts, you know, how to improve yourself, you know, and I thought, boy, These people are, you know, most of them are how to improve yourself. You know, I thought, man, grace. And then I find this little book of grace. I thought, wow, that's kind of cool.

In the midst of all this other garbage, you know, it was like, but when you read that book, it is a brain thump. You have to read this. So please try and read this. Read it a couple of times. Because maybe the first, you know, reading, you're like, what? What did he say? And the subtle nuances that he has between, you know, the different points he has there, You read it through the first time, and you're like, what?

It's the same thing. Oh, wait a minute. No, there's a little difference in here. So try and read that. And make sure that your copy has all the pages, because I think the first copy did not have all the pages. And there are more of the whole copies down here. But please try and read that.

It'll help the discussion next week, since it will be next week. And that'll help go through this. And it's very good. It kind of lays out. I think it's the first chapter of the book. It's called The Theme. And so this kind of gives you the theme for grace. But try and do that so we can have a good discussion next week.

All right, let's close. Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you for this time. We thank you just as we open up your word and our hearts to what grace is. And Lord, I confess that sometimes I am looking for a package. I'm looking for a thing. And as I realize that grace isn't a thing, it's a person. It's Christ. And as I come to know him more, I will understand grace more and more.

So Father, that's just our Our thoughts here is we study grace, that we'll come to know your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, more and more. And as we do that, we will just be afloat in a sea of grace. And we don't have to look to find it because it's all around us. And we just thank you of your unmerited, unlimited blessings to us based on the Finished work of your son the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross so father.

We just commit our time to you now We pray for Mike as he gives a message upstairs. Just that Give him clarity and presenting the word and give prepared hearts to receive it so father We just commit this time to you now in this day to you Jesus name Amen