Parks, Alan: Grace-03 ~ Subject Studies

I promise you. Isn't that what you said, Don? There goes that smile real quick. Great to be with you tonight. We're going to be looking at at a a subject, actually, the next two nights, Sunday and Wednesday, and it is that wonderful subject of grace. We all know about it, but I think maybe the review of it will just be a delight. Sure has been to me. First reading tonight is in John's Gospel, chapter one, and as you're turning to it, I want to just give you a little plug. I'm not being paid, as far as I know, to give this plug. Uh, this afternoon I was privileged to listen to the, um, final... How do you say it, Sam? The final cut, but it's not remixed, is it? The rough draft of the new album from Praise Four. and um, as much as I've loved the other albums, it's just, I literally, every song, ten out of ten, is strong and the best work by far that they've ever done, and that's saying something. So I just think it's wonderful. I cannot wait for it to come out, um, and I want a free copy now. It's really excellent. Man, it's good. I can't wait to hear it when it's all said and done. Some of the greatest songs put together. It's just a super album. I think it's going to do very, very well. And that's my plug. John's Gospel, chapter one, verse fourteen: And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bear witness of him and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me, and of his fullness have we all received, grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Ephesians chapter three, please. Ephesians chapter three, beginning at verse one. Third chapter of Ephesians, verse 1. For this cause, I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which has given me to youward, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote before, in few words, whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body, partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel, whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God, given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages hath been hidden in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness or confidence and access with confidence by the faith of him. It is a little word, just five letters, but it makes us what we are. It is an easy word to understand and an easy concept to grasp, but it has radically transformed our lives. A slave trader, disowned by his family, was caused after his conversion to pen those most marvelous words, 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. Still an amazing grace. In all of its derivatives, grace is found one hundred and sixty nine times in our Bible. The Bible filled with grace. That's just the word, but the principle of grace and examples of grace, some of which we'll look at, frankly, on Wednesday evening, but examples of grace are found wherever you find people in the Bible, you will find grace. It's, of all things, a most glorious subject. It's grace that separates Christianity from religion. I have to read this. Haven't memorized it, so forgive me. And if you see, and I didn't make the copy, so I'm not that quite that blind, but a gentleman made the copy for me, and he gave it to me once, and he said he just loved this, because he knows that I love C. S. Lewis and his writings. This is from The Daily Bread, October thirty first of last year. What makes Christianity different from all the other religions of the world? Well, I don't really even like the way that's phrased, because Christianity is not a religion. Years ago, that very question was discussed at a conference. Some of the participants argued that Christianity is unique in teaching that God became man. But someone objected, saying that other religions teach similar doctrines. What about the resurrection? No, it was argued other faiths believe, other faiths believe that the dead rise again, and the discussion grew heated. C. S. Lewis, a strong defender of Christianity, came in late, sat down and asked, well, what's the rumpus about? When he learned that it was a debate about the uniqueness of Christianity, he immediately commented, oh, that's easy. It's grace. How right he was. The very heart of the gospel is the supreme truth that God accepts us with no conditions whatever when we put our trust in the atoning sacrifice of his incarnate Son. Although we are helplessly sinful, God in grace forgives us completely. Listen to this. It's by his infinite grace that we are saved, not by moral character, works of righteousness, commandment keeping, or church going. When we do nothing else but accept God's total pardon, we've received the guarantee of eternal life. Good news indeed. What a gospel. What a savior. What marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, freely bestowed on all who believe. Can't be said a whole lot better than that. It's one of God's pinnacle prerogatives. Grace is what God is. He is many-faceted in his character. God is entirely light, John tells us. It's not that one aspect of God is light. The entirety of God is light. But he also says that God is love. The blinding search light on one side, the wondrous love on the other. Is love yet another facet of the character of God? Not according to John. For while he is all light, he is also entirely love. See, God can be that way. And we might add this evening that God is entirely a gracious God. Gracious God. And it characterizes the age in which we're found. We're found in this age or this day of grace. It hit me the other day, and forgive me because, as you probably realize, I'm not real bright, and these things, this probably hit you fifty years ago if you're old enough, or maybe fifteen years ago, I don't know, but it just hit me the other day driving in my car. I was going back over certain aspects of the Old Testament, and it hit me how thankful I am. Just, it was a forceful moment. I'll never forget it. Driving up, in fact, Route eighty five through North Carolina on my way home from somewhere, and and I thought, I'm so glad that I live in the age of grace. I've always thought it, it just hit me, kind of like a new. And then I kind of thought again, what would I have been like had I been born in the old economy? Would I have had a heart that beat with a passion for God? Would I have been considered one of the godly Israelites had I been born under the dispensation of law? And I must confess to you, because I know myself fairly well, I do not think so. I really don't. And so I'm so thankful. I think we all are, that we're born in this age of grace. By its very definition, grace is receiving that which we've never deserved. That's what grace is. Simplest definition I can give you. We have received that which we never deserved. It has a wonderful twin sister theme, if I may. That's mercy. Mercy is not getting what we do deserve, and grace is receiving that which we never deserved. I remember years ago in Sunday school, a man came, and he had a bla- we had a blackboard, and he gave one of those little acrostics in open Sunday school. We don't use that term very much anymore, but he spelled out the word grace, and here were his points. I've never forgotten them. Probably some of you know it. God's riches at Christ's expense. Pretty nice, isn't it? Says it all, one little word. God's riches at Christ's expense. The law tells us what man should be to God, but grace tells us what God has given to us. Thank God for it. You remember Paul told the church in Rome, I think it's the seventh chapter, he said, I had not known sin but by the law. Well, thank God we would not have known grace except through the person of Christ. And that's what John wrote. He said the law came by Moses. It was given to him, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. When did grace begin? Well, certainly in one sense, it began immediately after the fall, right in Eden. Because we read in that third chapter of Genesis, I think it's verse twenty one, that for the first time in their existence, after sin had entered the world, both, uh, both of our first parents, if I may use that term, Adam and Eve, recognized that they were sinners. They had been born in the first of what will be seven dispensations, historical time periods of human existence and history. They had been born in the dispensation of innocence. It's long lost, isn't it? Long lost. In that innocence, they didn't recognize that they had no clothes. It's very hard for us to think of that today. We can't think that way. They were innocent. All of a sudden, boom, sin comes in. Hey, I woke a couple of you up. Sin comes in, and they recognize their nakedness. And what did God provide for them? A covering. A covering for their nakedness. That was grace. That was grace. It was fully within the purview of God to have annihilated those two, as if they never existed. Wipe them from the face of this planet, and start all over again. He could have breathed into existence another Adam. He could have taken from his rib and formed another Eve, but he chose to show grace. And though they were banished from the garden, and their entrance back into it forbidden, and kept out by a ring of angels with flaming swords, God showed them grace. Every dispensation, every historical time period of human existence, God has incrementally introduced more and more of himself. As human beings, you and I have become more and more responsible. There's a commensurate responsibility with divine knowledge. In every dispensation, mankind failed, and God stepped in in grace. In every dispensation, we failed to reach the measuring stick that God had for us. Never lived up to the light that was given, and God stepped in in grace. Noah found grace, we read, in the eyes of the Lord. Two verses before that, it says that it repented God that he even made man, in the sixth verse of the sixth chapter of Genesis, Noah found grace. What a God. So we learned that while God's a God of infinite holiness, and he is, he's always been a God of grace. We live in this special dispensation. It's unique too. It's lasted now roughly two thousand years. I do not think it's going to last a whole lot longer. I really don't. Now we see the signs all around us. It's just incredible anymore. But in this wonderful age of grace, we're, we're in a unique period of time. The first five time frames, dispensations of history, Jew and Gentile were separate one from the other. Frankly, at the millennial reign of Christ, they will be too. But in this unique time frame, the age of grace, Paul says in Romans chapter three, it doesn't matter whether we're Jew or Gentile, we are all alike under sin, under sin. Are Jews being saved today? Yes. How is a Jew becoming godly and holy in the sight of God today? Same way that you and I have. Trusting Christ as personal savior, trusting the Lord Jesus as the Messiah. Same way. We have to come to the same knowledge of sin, the same repentance, and by the same Holy Spirit be directed to the same Savior. So it's a really unique time frame in history. Very sad indictment in the first few chapters of the Roman Epistle. Concludes in chapter three verse twenty three. all have sinned. All have fallen short of the expected glory of God. No one has pursued God. No one has gone after God. No one is living holy. No one is doing good. No, not one. And yet the very next verse tells us, Romans three twenty nine, being justified free- twenty four, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Aren't you thankful for tonight for grace? Aren't you thankful for grace? Oh, what grace is wrought. The very heart of the gospel itself. In Ephesians chapter three, read a couple of verses again with me, if you would, please. In verses number six through nine, the apostle writes that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel, whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power, unto me who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given. Verse nine, to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages hath been hidden in God, who created all things by Christ Jesus. The apostle here is saying that he had to come to the cross the same way. Salvation is by grace and through faith alone. The unworthiness of us, of all mankind, came, certainly we know, in the fall in the garden. Sin entered the world. The death sentence passed upon all mankind. But sin has robbed both God and us. We need to think about that for a few moments tonight. Sin is a huge thief. It has robbed every person that it has ever touched. It has also robbed the God of heaven. It robbed God wi- of the relationship that he had with his pinnacle creation. I was driving up yesterday, and the weather was just turning very ominous, and so I, I hit the radio on scan on the FM, and it was... I don't know why I did it, but I did it nonetheless. Came on to a station where a man was being interviewed, and and a lady was questioning him, and it was quite intriguing, the way that she worded his her question, and I thought, what in the world is this? And so I hit the button again, and I left it stay on as much as I could hear with that rain beating on that van, and uh, and I turned it up real loud. And, and this man, in his answer to her question, which I frankly forget the, the question, he said, I am absolutely convinced, there is no question in my mind, but there is ex- but that there is extraterrestrial life, probably numerous forms of extraterrestrial life in planets and solar systems around the world. And I said, isn't this going to be fun? And so I started to listen. This man was brilliant and as stupid as I think I've ever heard anybody in my life. It's incredible. Brilliant mind. He was coming off with words, if you've sat down at a typewriter, they must be twenty five letters long. And in, in his, in his summation of his points, and he's written a book. I can't wait to run out and buy it. You know, he's written a book about this, and he's talking about this theory and that theory, and this professor from Harvard, and this professor from Stanford, and this professor from the University of Connecticut, and a man that's working right now in Los Alamos, and, and another guy here, there, and everywhere. They've, they're all contributing to this book. He talks about the theories, and all of a sudden the lady got smart, and she said, now, these theories, what's the model behind them based on? He says, well, we really can't be sure. And I thought, boy, good question, lady. One that I probably would have asked if I'd had the presence of mind. And all of a sudden, the whole conversation changed, and he started mumbling and floundering in his words, stuttering. And now this is really unique. One question, he's off on his bombastic whatever, and one question stopped him. Where did these theories begin? What are they based on? Are they the figment of some overactive imagination? Well, of course they are. And since he could not come down to a base point, the rest of his arguments were shown for being as specious as they were, and it just was fun. Finally, I found the Weather Channel, and I left that poor man to his misery, left him behind. But there it is, amazing thing. The pinnacle creation that God has ever had is us. Us. Don't let anybody ever tell you otherwise. We don't say it to boats. We don't say it tonight in a condescending manner, but he gave us dominion over the animal kingdom, and he gave us an entire planet to inhabit. It may be eighty percent covered with water. He has given people the facilities, and I enjoy it too, to dive under it and to explore to the depths of the ocean. He's given us dominion over everything else he has created. Genesis one twenty six tells us that we have been created in the image and the glory of God. Does that mean that we look like God? You're sitting there tonight, and you look at me, and you say, I hope not. This isn't what it means. God has given to us what no animal ki- in the kingdom has gotten. He has given us the wonderful ability to be intelligent, to reason, to think things through, to rationalize with the intellect rather than to react with instinct. He has made us like himself. He's also given us a sense of humor. Not an animal ever born that has a sense of humor. Don't ever doubt that God is a God of humor. He's given us music. You hear sometimes these animals, they tape them. The singing sounds, the chattering singing sounds of the whales. Fascinating, isn't it? And of dolphins and the like. I've never heard any of them that I'd go out and buy one of their albums. He's given us music. God has created us. Everything that God loved, Adam and Eve inherited. Everything. Created in the image and the glory of God. And sin ultimately robbed him of that relationship with his pinnacle creation. A breach came in, a wall of partition was built up, an alienation between God and his holiness and his pinnacle creation now in his unholiness. Sin has robbed God. Robbed God of the innocence of fellowship. His favorite creation. When, when mankind was done, he saw that everything was good, and he quit. Maybe that's not a reverent word. He rested. He was done. That was all he needed. But sin robbed him of the innocence of fellowship. Human beings became cloaked in that which God despises. Don't ever think that sin hasn't robbed God. But of course, sin robbed God of his supremacy. Even today, the so-called New Age movement, don't hear that much about it, really, but there's nothing New Age about it. It's just original sin. Satan didn't try to be greater than God. He didn't tempt Adam and Eve to be greater than God. Satan said you could be just like God. And so today people are being told that they can develop the God consciousness within, so that we can become God-like. Same stuff. New Age is just old original sin. Caused the fall of Satan, Lucifer as he was known, and more than likely one third of the angelic kingdom fell with him. Sin robbed God of his supremacy. Ah, but thank God we also read that in all things he will have the preeminence. There will come that day that every knee will bow. The most godless person that you know will bow the knee. The most godless people in history will bow the knee. Travesties of justice today? Don't worry about them then. There will be none. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. It's coming, it's coming. The supremacy of God has been, ever will be, supreme over all, but unfortunately sin has robbed it. And now there are people today, and they live their lives, and there are millions of them. There are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of them right here in Charlotte, in the metropolitan area. They live their lives ignoring God. Is he supreme in their lives? Anything but. They maybe go to church a couple times a year, maybe to soothe their consciences or to please their parents. Whatever it might be, the vast majority in our civilizations today around the world are not honoring God as supreme in the universe. And we came together this morning. That was a wonderful privilege, amazing meeting. It was a special, special meeting this morning. I didn't even take part. I couldn't. I'd had to take a number, like you're at the supermarket. It was incredible. One after the other, after the other. I sat this afternoon and I thought, how many months has it been on a Sunday morning at the Lord's Supper that I haven't done something? And I can't remember the last time. Maybe that's why it was a wonderful meeting. Maybe I just needed to sit and listen to you all, because it was something. As one by one, our brethren, and I am convinced, energized by the spirituality of the sisters, sitting in their silence as corporate representatives, the brethren stood to their feet and owned the supremacy of the God of the universe for sending his son, who willingly came, a marvelous meeting this morning. Sin also has robbed us. Maybe we don't as often think of how sin has robbed God, but boy, daily we live with the way that sin has robbed us. You know how naive you can be when you're a kid? My brother and I were too, and in a particular way. Never forget something that happened to my brother. He's not real smart either, and uh, there was an old Irish preacher who was staying at our house. Lauren and Judy, I've got to tell you, it was Willie Wark. You remember him. Now there was a piece of work. This man was something. I revere his memory. And he was a real character, funny man. There's no one that came to our house that we had more fun with, and we respected them all, but this man was nuts, and he was just something, and um, funny man. So one Sunday morning, shortly after my brother was saved and received into fellowship, he's three years older than I am, so he's thirty— He, on on a Sunday afternoon, he said to my, he said to this Mr. Ward, the preacher that was there, he said, we called him Uncle Willie, he said, Uncle Willie, it must be really nice to be old and a preacher. And he said, why? He said, it haunts me on Sunday morning. He said, the things that go through my mind. He said, I, all kinds of things that I shouldn't be thinking. He said, I know. My brother said, you do? He said, I thought when you got your age and you were a preacher that you never thought these things. He said, oh no. And I'll never forget his answer. It was actually fairly wise. He said, listen, tell me something, because we used to sit in a square circle, see. He said, tell me something. He said, on the other side, there's that blind man that only has one leg, and he said, yeah, Mr. Kelso. He said, yeah. He said, um, which, which leg is he missing? He said, let me. He, he, he's missing his left leg. He said, oh, shoot. He said, I was sitting there this morning at the Lord's Supper, thinking to myself, back home, we have a man, and he's missing his left leg also. And he said, I thought, you know, if they wore the same size shoes, one pair would do the both of them. See, now, it's, it's a stupid little story, but it illustrated to a couple of young kids in their teens how every time we want to be at the pinnacle of spirituality, our mind seems to get taken over with the stupid things of life. It happens all the time. There are times that I'll be driving, and I just, maybe it's a song, maybe it's something I've heard on the radio, a message or whatever, and, and great thoughts start coming. And you say, really? None of them will come out tonight. But then, you know, great thoughts start coming, and within moments I'm back in some stupid, mundane, trivial, useless thought process. It's going to do nothing for me spiritually. Isn't it a plague to be consumed with sin? Sin has robbed us in so many ways. It, of course, robs us as our relationship, in our relationship with him as Father. Having said that, now there are parents here, and there are young people here, and there may be young people here tonight, and you are not the perfect children that I was, and maybe your parents have had to punish you, as my parents really never needed to, to me. And so when, when we, when we think about this, uh, in, in the midst of your parents, yes, anger at times. Maybe they've punished you. Maybe they've even spanked you or grounded you or sent you to your room. Does that mean that they don't love you? Of course not. Does it mean that since they have punished you, they are no longer your father your mother? Of course not. There's always a relationship, even in spite of what you might do, and in spite of what I have done all too many times. Still the relationship. But do you understand that sin robbed our relationship with God? The relationship. He was no longer our Father. Creator, yes. Judge one day, ultimately, but not Father. We sing a little hymn sometimes on Sunday mornings. It's a great hymn. Abba, Father, we approach thee in our Savior's precious name. Some of you are not going to like this, and I'm sorry, but the closest English word that we can come up to, to Abba in Hebrew, is daddy. That's the truth. Would we ever dare to stand at our feet, or either privately go into prayer to our Heavenly Father, calling him that, Daddy? Well, obviously not. He's still the Almighty God of the universe, but that shows the relationship. He pities us as a father pities his children. That's because of grace. Grace has given us that which we never deserved. Sin robbed it from us. The Lord Jesus came to take away sin, and through grace has given it all back to us again. Sin has robbed us of the innocence of guiltlessness. Adam and Eve, for a brief period of time, are the only human beings that understood the innocence of guiltlessness. Little children understand guilt. It's interesting. I was in a home not long ago, and they had little kids. Reminded me, actually, now that our kids are getting older, reminded me of what it used to be like. There was one little kid in this household. I think he's about two to two and a half. They say terrible twos, he is living them, and so are his parents. This kid is something. He's mischief through and through, and he would stand, and his parents would have told him four or five times already not to do something, and he would do one of these things. Watching out the corner of his eye as slyly as I've ever seen anybody do it, and boom, the minute they turned their back, he was right back at it again. Innocence of guiltlessness. Little child like that, a sinner. A sinner. Doesn't take much for us to recognize, and it doesn't take much years and many, many months even of life for us to realize that we're still born in sin. Sin has robbed us from it. Our standing before God was robbed. Our ability to approach God, all of it robbed by sin. All of us, all of it, thank God, restored through marvelous grace. Well, the la- while the law came through Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, the most undeserved favor of all. You remember, God had continually given, man had continually failed. God had continually shown mercy, man had abused him and forgotten him. God had sent witnesses and prophets, even judges. Mankind had despised them and killed them, and yet Paul writes to the Galatian church that when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem us from its curse. It's all because of marvelous grace. Paul could tell the Roman church in chapter five that where sin abounded, and that really is an interesting word, it means where it began to gallop so that it was out of control. Where sin galloped out of control, grace did much more abound. Wonderful stuff. Ephesians chapter two, it was read this morning, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. Titus, in his wonderful epistle in the third chapter, wrote that we, being justified by his grace, we have been made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. It's all because of wonderful grace. And so it is that sinners have been made saints. I leave on Saturday for Park of the Palms, great place. I love it down there. Be there for a week. They about kill you when you're there. Speak twice a day, seven days. And, uh, I have a concert on the Saturday night and a special meeting, an a- added meeting, and so I have fifteen minute- fifteen meetings and a concert in seven days, and I am too old for that. But I love Park of the Palms, those dear saints. They are amazing people. Sit there for eight weeks, seven days of the week. They get Saturday mornings off, but other than that, they sit there seven days a week, and you can't give them enough. Phenomenal place to be. One of my favorite places in the world to speak. I was there one time, and I mentioned that I was only a sinner saved by grace. One of the older folks came up afterwards, and he said, so what are you? I said, what do you mean? He said, you said it this morning. What did you say you were this morning? What did I say I was this morning? He said it was a hymn that you quoted. I said, oh, only a sinner saved by grace. He said, that's all you are. I said, yeah. He said, boy, I feel sorry for you. He turned and walked away. I said, wait a minute, Paul, what's going on? What's wrong with that? I've sung that hymn for all of my life. What's wrong with that? He said, that's all you are, is just an old sinner saved by grace. I said, I think so. I still sin. I said, I'm glad you've achieved sinless perfection, but I have not yet. He said, that's not the point. He said, you know what I am? And I said, what? He said, I'm a saint. Turned and walked away again, and over his shoulder he said, to me, that's a whole lot being better than being a sinner saved by grace. You know, I stopped him again, and I said, you know what? I never thought that through before. You're right. I am a sinner, but I've been made a saint. I remember about four years ago, looking at a newspaper somewhere in the country in a McDonald's, and they had a picture on the front cover, and she was a great humanitarian, but it said Mother Teresa, colon, saint to be. I thought, oh, how sad. I'm standing here tonight looking at a room filled with saints, even though some of us maybe don't act that way all the time. We are saints. Prodigals restored as sons, aliens who have become joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ of everything that is our Father's. It's all because of amazing grace. How sweet does it sound that saved a wretch like me? Once we're lost, now we're found. We were blind, but now we see. We're going to look at some of the great examples of grace, Lord willing, on Wednesday evening together. Look forward to being with you again. Now, I'm to turn it over to Barry, but do I close it in prayer first? I do. Father, we're so thankful for grace. We're thankful for all that is ours. We certainly haven't deserved one lick of it, but it has come our way freely, forever giving us all that is ours, all that we will enjoy for eternity. We give our heartfelt thanks. So now, our Father, we commit ourselves into thy care tonight. In a very special way, we pray for Chris. We're thankful for him, for his evident desire, which we have seen since we first met him, and for this family, for their willingness to part with him for a period of time. We pray, Father, for safety down and back. Make him a blessing as he ministers there with the family. Grant, Father, that it might be a great blessing to him too, as he carries the gospel to the country of Mexico. Be with us the remainder of the evening, we pray, as we give heartfelt thanks in our Savior's name. Amen. Or which bush? And usually you're one eye open, one eye shut early in the morning delivering papers. And every time, even though I knew it was coming, he would jump out, there would be a chill that would go up my spine, and I would, I would get frightened for a minute, then I'd throw a paper at him as he ran off. I knew it was going to happen, but still it scared me. I'm not scared of cats anymore. Dogs maybe, but not cats. Uh, what is it? Here was an angel who said, I've got good news for you. And yet they were greatly afraid. What were they afraid of? Well, it was the glory of the Lord that shone around them. And I want to tell you that there's not a person living on Earth that's not afraid of the glory of God. Do you know why? Because every one of us, the Bible says, has come short of the glory of God. No exceptions to that whatsoever. And so whenever we see the glory of God, we turn our faces from it, and we run and hide. The Lord Jesus came into this world. He was God's glory revealed, and man turned their backs on him, crucified him to a cruel cross, but he's coming back again. When his coming was announced the first time, man was greatly afraid at the glory of God that shone around them. Man is still afraid of his glory because we come so short of it. You see, you'd have to be perfect not to be afraid of God's glory. The problem is, none of us are perfect. Well, what will we do? How can we get rid of this fear? See, the Bible says that we have been subject or subjected to fear all of our lifetime, the fear of death. How do we get free from this fear? Since we've come short of the glory of God, what will make up the difference? Well, let's tie it all together now. Mary found favor. You must find God's grace. It's ready for you to receive. God offers his grace because you can't earn salvation. It's a free gift, God's grace. How do you receive it? Well, remember Joseph. He responded in faith. You must exercise faith. In other words, believing what God says to be true in his word. And by faith, we come to the shepherds, and you and me, we hear the good news to all people, given to the shepherds by the angels. And here's what this good news is, the gospel, that Christ came into this world to die for our sins. The sins of the whole world were laid on him, past, present, and future. He paid for your sins and for mine. He was buried, and he was raised again the third day, according to the scriptures. That is the gospel. That is the good news. Will you accept it by grace, through faith, and have the good news? If you won't, then you still have a lot to be afraid of, because you're still short of God's glory. But if you'll receive God's great gift, wouldn't that be a great Christmas celebration, to receive the gift of gifts, Jesus Christ, God's son? If you'll receive that, you'll really enjoy the song that the angels sang as they lifted their voices in praise, and a heavenly host appeared with that angel there on the mount, on that little shepherd's field, and sang, Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, goodwill toward men. Will you be one of those men and women, boy and girl, to receive God's great grace through faith and know the good news of the gospel? If you have questions about this, I know we got to get out of the auditorium. Meet me in the foyer. I would love to tell you more about how you can receive this special Christmas gift of God's grace through faith, that good news of the gospel. Shall we pray? Our Father, we bow in your presence, and we thank you for your help today, looking at a story that is nearly two thousand years old, and yet with the freshness of your spirit applied to your word, illuminating our hearts, it seems like the first time we ever heard it, and we long to hear it again. Help us not to wait till next Christmas to speak of the mystery of godliness, God revealed in the flesh, but help us to appreciate every day like Christmas, remembering that you sent forth your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that we might receive the gift of eternal life by grace through faith. What good news that really is. Bless our hearts today, we pray, and bring us back together again tonight to meet again and to recall all the wonders of the Christmas story. For we pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Thanks for being here. See you tonight.