Access to Grace by Faith

God bless you, Trevor, for taking that courageous step. I know that was not easy, but may he just want to bless you that the Spirit would be with you this week and strengthen you to to walk in faith and to walk by the Spirit. Back in the 19th century, before the discovery of discovery of electricity, major cities actually were run by, I didn't know this, but were run by pressurized water.

That's an interesting thought to think about, high pressurized pipes running around the city and equipment being run by this high-pressured water. I think it was 700 psi. Then in the 20th century, they came up with a new novel idea.

They thought what if we could run high-pressurized air throughout the city, and they actually took a clock in Paris, and they had this clock in the center of town, and this engineered it all in such a way that these pipes would connect to the clock and run throughout all of the city to shops and to homes, and for just 30 cents a day, you could have a subscription. Whenever the clock would advance a minute, it would shoot out a burst of air which would go down all the pipes and advance everybody's clocks forward by one minute. Thirty cents a day, I think that was the equivalent of nine dollars.

I don't know if you'd pay for that subscription, but up until that time, it was almost unheard of to say, hey, let's meet tomorrow for coffee at 9 a.m. because, you know, there were no such things as clocks like we know them today, being on time and synced. Everybody has a cell phone and we can, but this was the first idea where, you know, in the city streets were clocks hanging, and in your own home you could have a clock and you could actually sync up with what time the train arrived or different things like that. Past that, electricity was discovered, and we're all used to that today, just a marvel to think about, that this power plant can be producing electricity, wires are running all over the city, and these little things called electrons can run down these power plants and power lights and power things, equipment, all with this new invention called electricity.

Now, I want you to imagine you went down to some primitive jungle and found this primitive person who lived in huts, never heard of electricity, and you bring him back up to America and you bring him to a very modern home and you put him in there and tell him have a good night, and you leave and you come back the next day and you notice the whole house is dark, it's cold, and he had no idea, he had no idea that all he had to do is just go over and flip the switch, turn up the thermostat, but you forgot to tell him, you forgot to tell him that all of these electrons were waiting to be used, but he didn't know how to use them, he didn't know that they even existed. If you remember, I think maybe two months ago, I preached a sermon on grace and I talked about it being like a nuclear power plant, like this little tiny pellet I held up and I said that little pellet could power a home for two and a half months, that was the size of a piece of uranium, and then about maybe a month ago I preached a sermon on what were the conditions, what were the requirements to receive grace. This morning we heard Trevor's confession and and he did one of those requirements, one of those requirements.

Let's just, let's just write some of these things down here, so let's just write here grace and we wrote some things on the board last, the very first time what grace was. Can anybody remember what some of the qualities, what the physical definitions of grace are? I don't have this on. You guys are having problems, so you can turn it down now.

Yeah, there you go. Teaches. Empowers.

Empowers, yes. Grace! Anybody remember any other ones? Helper. Helper, yes.

Let us go to the throne of grace and receive help in the time of need. The grace of God has appeared to all men, teaching us to deny ourselves and to live soberly and righteously and godly. Paul said, I lived, I, how did it go? I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God.

That's not, probably not spelled right. So these are some of the things that grace does, it teaches us, it gives us strength, it's a helper, it labors. And the first sermon we talked about is, some people think that grace is unconditional, there's no conditions.

But we looked at a verse in James and it said that God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. And so we defined this idea of humility, an idea of dying to self, denying self. I'm not spelling right this morning, I don't know what I've spelled wrong there, but just give me forgiveness if I've done it wrong.

We, if you remember the illustration of being a zero, and we stood up here with all the zeros across the front. And Jesus says, without me you can do, what? Nothing. So considering ourself a zero, all things we can do in a circumstance, we can accept the situation.

Something bad is going in your life and some circumstance, and you can stop and say, you know what, I accept this. I can't change this, this is what has come into my life. But this is ways we can humble ourself.

We can die to ourself. Trevor, getting up this morning, I know this wasn't easy, but it was humbling. And this is one of the first things we have to do to receive grace.

It is looking at ourself, it is getting ourself out of the way, it is getting in the trunk and letting God be the driver. But if we end up here, we fall short. I'd like everybody to turn to Romans 5.2 for the second half of what is another condition we need to have to receive grace according to the scriptures.

Romans 5.2. Now I'm sure if I asked everybody to raise their hand who wants this grace to help them in time of need, who wants the teacher, who wants the labor, everybody would say yes. But the question is, are we willing to meet the qualifications? Romans 5.2. Let's read verse 1. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand. Let's stop there.

So I want to ask this question, what do we have access to? Austin, what do you think we have access to? Yes, we have access to grace. What we want this morning, the helper and the teacher, okay? What is this grace able to do? What is this grace able to do according to the verse we just read? Help us stand, it says, wherein we stand. So we have access to grace wherein we stand.

You think of somebody on a slippery slope and it gives them a firm foundation. But then there's a third thing here. What is the condition to grace? Faith.

Faith is what it says in this verse. So not only do we need to, as it says, God gives grace to the humble very, very clearly. This verse says we need to have faith.

We need to have faith to receive grace. It's not a complete circle until we have faith. Now, if we're going to, the title of the sermon, by the way, is Access by Faith to Grace.

Access by Faith to Grace. Now, that illustration I was telling you about, all these power lines coming in here. And, you know, the power line comes in right to a switch.

I'm looking for a switch, but it's all back there. And if that switch is off, think of a switch, I brought the switch to visualize it. If that switch is off, there's no benefit.

The power doesn't flow. And all it takes is a simple wire that comes up into this. And all the switch is doing is cutting the power when it's down.

When we flip the switch up, it connects. The power runs through the switch and it goes all the way up to the light like that. But, you know, as we think about that, you've got to do something, right? You've got to go flip the switch to receive the power.

You do still have a condition. And that condition is flipping the switch of faith. If we're going to have to learn how to flip the switch of faith, I think we need to define faith.

So I want to go to one of the best verses in the Bible to define faith. And that's in Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11, 1. If you'd all turn there.

Hebrews 11, 1. I'm sorry, I think we're going to go a little late this morning. I'm going to try to make it fast enough. But just with getting started later, I don't know what to leave out.

I'll try to leave stuff out if I think it's the thing to do. Hebrews 11, 1 says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Here in Hebrews 11, 1, it gives a description.

It's the substance. Or the ESV says the assurance. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for.

And for hoped for, ESV has confident expectation. So think about it like this. Faith is the assurance of things that you confidently expect.

And the evidence or the proof of things not seen. Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen. If my wife told me this morning, if she said, I'm going to make dinner tonight.

I would tell you I'd give it about a 99.9% chance. I'll just put it at 100, unless the Lord tarries. That she's going to make dinner tonight.

Now, there's somebody else in my life who has some mental problems. If she told me she was going to make dinner tonight, I'd give it a 25% chance of really happening. The difference is the personality, the character of the person I know.

It's not about me. It's not about what I think. It's not about my situation.

It's about the person I'm putting my faith in. So if I were to say faith is the confident expectation, I would have confident expectation that my wife is going to do what she says. When we become a Christian, we put our faith in God.

And God is who we are confidently putting our assurance in if he says something. Amen? That's what faith is. It's not about me.

Humility is about me. Humility is about denying myself. But faith, on the other hand, is not about me.

It's about someone else. It's about God. It's not about how I feel.

It's not about my situation. It's about the character of someone else. Faith is something that rises up.

So humility is something that goes down. It dies to pride. But faith, on the other hand, is something that rises up.

Humility says, I cannot. I cannot do this. I cannot live a holy life.

I cannot resist this temptation. I cannot be like Jesus. And if we end there, it's a lost battle.

But faith says, but with God, I can. With Christ, all things are possible. And so faith has to believe in what God has said.

So I want to turn to Romans, another passage that gives us a glimpse into faith. Romans chapter 4, speaking of Abraham, and it's verse 18. This is the kind of faith God is looking for in us.

Romans 4, 18. This is when he was promised a son. And it says here, I'm in the wrong chapter.

Let's see verse 18. Who against hope, believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations according to that which was spoken. Against hope, believed in hope.

What an interesting wording. Or another way to say it would be hoped against hope. Or another way to say it is when it looks absolutely impossible, you still believe that it's possible.

Like if I had a chair up here this morning and the thing was decrepit and falling apart and nobody would want to sit in the chair. But I said to sit in the chair and you believed me. And you said, George would say, I don't want to sit in that chair.

I know I'm going to fall on the ground. But Jeremy said, I can. And I believe what Jeremy says.

He would sit in the chair, right? Even though it doesn't look possible, he would sit in the chair. And that's the same idea as what this idea is. He was, Abraham was 75 years old.

Now, can you imagine being 75 years old, being told you're going to have a son? And then it didn't come to pass for another 25 years. That would be like me telling Caleb, hey, Caleb, he works for me, you know, I'm going to give you a raise. And I didn't give him one for 25 years.

You know, after the first year, Jeremy said he would. I believe him. Year two, Jeremy said he would.

I believe him. After what point in time would he finally say, forget this. Jeremy's not giving me a raise.

But Abraham believed God against hope. He believed in hope. He continued to believe in God because God had promised.

So from a human perspective, it looked hopeless. Just like Peter walking on the water. I mean, from a human perspective, when Jesus said, come, that looked hopeless.

But he didn't look at the circumstances at the beginning, and he walked on the water. I want you to think of your life, times when you need grace. You know, you might be at those crisis moments, or you might be at those moments where there are just little things in your life, little day-to-day things, little inconveniences, something doesn't go your way.

Someone's being annoying to you. Your plans are being messed up. You're being tempted.

Think of something in your life that happened this last week that seemed impossible but get through, that seemed like an annoyance, that seemed like something you didn't want. Faith is believing in God's promises, even when the circumstances around you look impossible, or at least they're not what you wanted. So faith is not looking at yourself.

Faith is looking at God. So what have we learned so far? Number one, that the second requirement to receiving grace is we need to have faith. Number two, we have defined what faith is, that it's having a confident assurance in God when things look impossible.

So I want to talk now about what do we need to have assurance or confidence in God about. Now, I'm sure that you could probably make four sermons through this, but these are the things that came to my mind. These are the things that have practically helped me in moments of trials, in moments of temptations.

These are things that I have found to be a help, these verses. They've become my favorite verses, and I've made songs over them. I've tried to teach my family them.

But the first one, I would say, is God makes everything happen to the way he planned. I want you to turn to Ephesians 1.11. God makes everything happen to the way he planned. Ephesians 1.11. And I want you to look at the last part of the verse.

The first part gets all in a theology about predestination, and we're not trying to go there right now. What we want to get is that last part that says, it says, being predestinated according to the purpose of him whom, here it is, worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Now, I read that verse for years and years and years and just somehow glossed right over it.

And then it just hit me one day what it's saying. God works, God makes things happen according to his own plan, according to his own will. So think about that coincidence that you think's a coincidence.

Do you think it caught God off guard? I've mentioned this before, but I still have this vivid picture when COVID hit, and Glenn was up here, and Glenn said, do you think God's up there white-knuckling it? Like, oh no, what's this going to be? No, it wasn't something that caught God off guard. But many times, if you're like me, and you're in a temptation, you're in a trial, are you thinking about God, if you're honest? If you're in a trial, what are you normally thinking about? If you're in a temptation, what are you thinking about? Myself, or my trial, right? Many times our thoughts aren't up in the heavenlies thinking God's allowed this, or God's busy. Now, sometimes we might almost imagine God that way, a little bit like the President of the United States.

He's signing executive orders, meeting with world leaders, and we call up the White House, hey, can I talk to the President? And oh, he's way too busy, he's got hundreds of executive orders to sign. Sometimes we might think of God like that. But God isn't like that.

Jesus said that God knows when a sparrow falls. He knows the number of the hairs on your head. So God is not like what we envision.

So sometimes I think we just put God over there, and we get so involved in our situation, our problem, we're not thinking about God. We're thinking about ourselves. So I want to write that on the board.

God has a plan for everything. Now, did you notice that in the verse? It said he works all things. Everything that comes into your life has been allowed, has been, it's according to his will.

Do we really believe that, that it's according to his will? So I'm going to write here, faith believes that God works all things, I'll just put, to his will. Okay, so number two, what do we need to believe God about? The second thing we need to believe, I believe we need to believe God about, is that God only allows trials that we can handle. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10.

This is another one of my favorite verses. You probably hear it come out in many of my sermons, so sorry. And you probably will keep hearing it come out, because, like Peter said, just keep stirring them up, of the things that they know.

But 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 13. It's such an eye-opener verse. It says, in verse 13, There has no temptation taken you, but such as common to man, but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.

So it says, there's no temptation. You know, you get tempted, and you think somehow, this is some special temptation, right? If anybody was tempted with the temptation I'm getting right now, they'd all fall too. No, that's a lie from the devil.

It's common to man. We are all tempted. The devil uses the same tactics on all of us.

There's no temptation that has taken you or overcome you. That's common to man, but God is faithful. Now, I love that verse that goes to that first, right? God is faithful.

That's where faith rises up. It says, God is faithful. I'm in the middle of temptation.

God is faithful. And then he says this, who will not allow you, suffer you, to be tempted above that you are able. Have you ever thought about that? You're walking down the street, young men, you see a porn magazine on the ground, and you say, God must think I'm at this grade level in his holy school of sanctification that he knows that I can somehow find the grace of God and walk right by that.

Really, that's what it says. He will not allow a temptation into your life unless you're able. Now, you can actually take some faith in that.

You can say, huh, God must think I'm strong enough to do this, to walk by. But too often, we believe the lies of the enemy, which says what? I'm just too weak. I have to do this, right? Or maybe one of you ladies, maybe you've heard somebody's talking about you behind your back, and they're saying nasty things about you, and somebody's just annoying you.

Do you think, you know, God is allowing me to go through this because he thinks I'm able, able to find his grace, not in my own strength, but able to tap in to the grace of God and overcome. So he says, not above you are able, but then it says this, will with the temptation. So he's not going to take away the temptation.

The temptation is going to stay there in your life. You know, you can pray that porn magazine away, and it's not going to go away. It's going to sit right there.

You can pray all those things away where people are talking about you, and it's not going to go away. But he will, with the temptation, make a way to escape. Now, my wife, she says, in her experience, the way is teeny-weeny.

It's very tiny, because in the moment where you're being tempted, it looks really tiny. It looks really small. I have an illustration here to give you a little bit of how that might work.

Here's a balloon here, and here's the way of escape. We'll just look at it for a minute. Do you think you can get through that? Now, let's imagine for a little bit you're this balloon, and you're going through a trial.

I don't know what that trial might be, but many of our trials include anxiety. They include fear. They include lust.

They include stress. So we'll just blow some of that into here. So now this is me, and I'm full of these things.

I'm struggling with these things. I've got these things in my life, and I look at the way of escape, and I say, I don't think that's going to happen, right? I don't think I'm going to make it through the way of escape. But the verse says, God is faithful, who will not suffer to be tempted above your head, but will with the temptation make a way to escape.

But I don't know how to get through that. So the only thing that has to happen for me to get through this is what? Or maybe two things, but what would you think? Humility? Okay, and how do I do that here? Deflate yourself. Thank you, Glenn.

So when you're deflating yourself, you probably sound like that. Serious. It won't be easy at all times.

Your flesh will make some sounds about it, right? It's going to whine. It's going to scream. But that's why it's called dying, right? That's why it's called I take up my cross.

These are things that are not easy. So anyway, we die to self. We give it up.

We humble ourself. We let it out. We let it go.

That's another way for saying accepting the situation. We become a zero until finally we've let enough of this out, right? And oh, lo and behold, we can get through the way of escape. But sometimes it causes a little flesh to be scraped off as it goes through because sometimes it's a very narrow way.

And so I do that illustration to stick it out in your mind that in those moments when we're struggling, when, you know, the way of escape, where is the way of escape? Sometimes it's very small. And sometimes it's going to take a little flesh off as it goes through. And sometimes you're going to have to let out some stuff to humble yourself and even to engage faith.

Because, you know, in those moments you don't really want to believe that God is allowing this for your good, right? You don't really want to believe that God has. This makes no sense. God has everything.

John the Baptist, he's sitting in prison. You know, the question was asked by George. Why didn't Jesus come? Why didn't Jesus come and save him? And I was thinking, well, Jesus said, I only do what my father says to do.

So obviously the father told him not, didn't tell him to go. But why did God not come rescue him as Roger was bringing out? Sometimes to realize that, that there's going to be suffering and God is allowing for John to come to a place and say God is allowing this for his own will, for the purpose of his will. Sometimes that takes a little dying, right? So let's write this on the board.

He only allows trials that we can bear. So we're talking about what things do we need to believe? What things do we need to rise up in faith and have? God only allows trials. And when I say trials, I also mean temptations.

They're both one and the same thing. Whether it's a trial that, you know, your car broke down on the way, that's going to tempt you to be stressed. It's going to tempt you not to have faith.

It's going to tempt you to be worried. So temptations are trials and or whether it's temptation to pick up that magazine, it's the same thing. God only allows trials we can bear.

And I'll put way of escape or I like this better. This will communicate better to our modern day. He gives us an escape plan.

Okay, let's look at. And by the way, a lot of times for me and my wife, when we've talked about the way of escape, a lot of times ask little questions like this. Who's in control? Oh, yes, Lord, you're in control.

Who planned this anyway? You or me? You know, you have all your plans for the day and it doesn't go like you're hoping. Who planned this anyway? Oh, right. You walk on a porn magazine.

Lord, you knew about this. You know, this is all in your plan. Yes, these are things that the way the way of escape a lot of times ask questions gives you perspective changes.

Yeah, those are questions you might ask. So the third verse I'd like to look at is in Romans chapter eight. We're talking about the conditions for grace.

Faith is the condition. How do we have faith? What do we have? Faith. How does that give us access to grace? So we are believing that God's working this situation according to his will.

We're believing that he is allowing it, that we can bear and giving him an escape plan. Number three, Romans 8 to 28. It says, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.

Now, how could a trial be good? How could a trial be good? I want you to turn to Romans chapter five, just a couple chapters back. Why would we glory in trials? Why would we glory in tribulations? Why would I even glory that like I was tempted with this magazine on the side of the road? Why would I glory over something like that? Why would I glory that my vehicle, I go out and I pull the dipstick and it's got all this white goo on it and I realize, oh no, I think my car just blew a head gasket. Why would I glory about that? Why would I do that? Romans chapter five, verse three.

Paul says, we glory in tribulation. But then he tells you why. Knowing this, that tribulation creates or works patience and patience works experience and experience works hope and hope doesn't make ashamed.

Why? Because the love of God is shed abroad in our heart. Now, I would ask you this question. Why would anybody enjoy going to the gym and working out? That sounds like a miserable experience.

Why would you like to do that? Why would you want to go tear up your muscles and come home feeling terrible? Well, I can tell you why. Because it tears up your muscles to make you stronger, right? So we go in there, we do all this terrible tribulation to our body because we hope in the end we'll be stronger. And the Lord knows that.

Glenn said it this morning in the Sunday school lesson. If he didn't allow suffering in our life, we wouldn't stop and introspect and turn back to God. These things in our life are allowed to help us grow stronger.

That's why we can glory. Now, notice the verse. It says, tribulation works patience and patience experience and experience hope.

So let's walk through this. I'm walking down the road. I see this magazine on the side of the road.

And I'm in my first trial, my first tribulation, right? And I first have to humble myself and say, Lord, I am not in myself going to be able to not go over and pick that thing up. But, Lord, you say that you have worked this according to the counsel of your will. You say that you're only going to allow this and you know that I can bear it and that you're going to make a way of escape.

And you say you've allowed this for my good. And so, Lord, I'm trusting you. Give me the strength to keep walking.

And somehow, some way, he gives you the strength to walk by that thing. And you say, wow, tribulation worked patience. I made it through.

Endurance, that's another word for patience. I endured. I made it through the tribulation, right? And then what does it say? Endurance works.

What's the next word? Endurance works. Patience works. Experience or character.

So now you come another time to a new temptation. Your car blows a head gasket. You know, last week, I prayed.

I died to self. I rose up in faith and I believed God. And he gave me the grace to get through it.

And so, Lord, here we go again. And so we do it again. And we walk through the same thing.

And he produces the grace, the teacher, the helper. And you go, wow, this is great. God's helping me.

And so now you're starting to gain experience, right? You're starting to gain this experience in walking in the spirit. Third time, fourth time. Pretty soon, you're learning to walk with God.

You're learning to bide in the vine. And pretty soon, you're noticing that grace is flowing, right? And so now you've had patience. You learned endurance.

You've learned now experience. And what does that produce in you? It produces hope. Because you start seeing the fruit of the Spirit coming out of your life.

You start seeing the Holy Spirit in your life. And you can say, the Holy Spirit does dwell in me. He does live in me.

I can see the love of God shedding abroad in my heart, right? And so we don't glory in the tribulation because of the tribulation. We glory because at the very end of it, it's creating this person with the love of God shedding abroad in my heart because I'm walking through over and over and over in faith and humility and in glorying in tribulation because it's going to make me stronger. So we have to become spiritual Christians to learn how to do that because if not, we're carnal.

We're fleshly when we just approach a problem, and our mind immediately goes to, why this problem? And I've done it. I've done it many times. But that's not a spiritual Christian.

A spiritual Christian is one who turns to the Lord and trusts in him through it. It's like we're going on a field trip with God. Somebody asked me this last week, how do you walk in the Spirit all week long? Well, you need to start your days off with I'm going on a field trip with Jesus.

What if I said I'm going to go on a field trip with Roger? And, you know, Roger, can I come over to your house tomorrow morning? I want to do whatever you do. You take me where you go. You know, go check the post office, whatever you do.

And what if about halfway through the day, you know, Roger, I'm tired of your schedule. You drive too slow. You know, your schedule is boring.

And I just say, could you get in the back? I'll drive, right? That's what we sometimes do with God, right? We just get our devotions out of the way. God, that's great. I love you.

And then it's get in the trunk. I'm ready to drive for the day, right? But walking in the spirit is going on a field trip with Jesus, spending the day with Jesus according to his schedule. And so when it doesn't go quite like you thought, you say, hey, I'm on a field trip with Jesus.

I'm not in control. When Roger turns and takes me somewhere I didn't really want to go, I say, okay, I committed. I was going on a field trip with Roger.

We're going places. So let's write this down. God allows trials, trials for my good.

We have to believe this. There is a condition there. It says those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

So there is a condition. But if you're walking in this idea of glory and tribulation, I think you love him. And I think you're called according to his purpose.

So God is allowing this trial for your good. Remember that song, How Firm a Foundation? It says this, when through fiery trials my pathway shall lie. What does it say? Somebody say the next verse, the next line.

My, what's the word? Grace all sufficient shall be your what? When through fiery trials my pathway shall lie, thy grace all sufficient shall be thy supply. Yes. The flame shall not hurt thee.

I only design thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine. You see, the songwriter captured that. I'm going through this fiery trial, but your grace will be my supply.

And the flame won't hurt me. Why? Because you only designing this to consume the dross, that means burn off all the chaff and junk and refine my gold. Refine me and make me a better person.

Make me more like Jesus. So he only allows it for my good. Okay, I want you to turn to Hebrews 11.6. What's the next thing we need to learn? Hebrews 11.6. Yes, okay.

So the next one I want to say is God wants to help you. God wants to help you. Do you believe that God wants to help you in your moment of trial? Or do you believe you're just on and on your own? Notice in Hebrews 11.6 it says this, but without faith it is impossible to please God.

Stop there. That means if you don't do this side of the circle, you're not pleasing God. And full end stop, right? It's impossible to please God if you don't engage this.

So it's not an option. It says the just shall live by faith. That means if you're considered justified, you're considered a Christian, you have to learn to live by faith.

This is repeated three times in the New Testament and one in the Old. A very important concept. So it keeps going.

It says, but without faith it's impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Do you believe God wants to reward you, wants to help you? Do you believe God as you diligently seek him, as you, as Paul says, you know, that I may know him? Do you believe as you do that he wants to reward you with himself, with his help, with his character? You must believe that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him. I remember having two dogs.

One dog, years ago, got into some porcupines. And we tried, they're Rottweilers. We tried to go get these porcupine quills out.

I mean, we had, we were taking pliers and trying to rip. This dog would have none of it. He didn't want any help from us.

We were coming up with ways. We didn't believe in drinking, but we're thinking maybe we should go down and buy some alcohol and like try to drug the dog. And what should we do to get these porcupine quills out of this dog? He did not want it.

Then another story, Belize. We were in Belize, and one of my sons somehow was chopping with a machete and hit our dog right in the leg. And I just remember watching this dog.

It would lay there and let us help it, would let us bandage it. And it somehow had some innate sense to let us help it. Do we believe that God wants to help us? Which dog are we more like, the porcupine? Get away, I got it.

Or are we more like the dog that lays there? Remember this verse, Hebrews 4. Let us boldly come to the throne of grace to find help in the time of need. And notice what it says, come boldly. Can you imagine that? We are to come boldly to Christ's throne, to God's throne.

So I want to write this fourth one. God wants to help us. We have to believe that.

It's very important. And you might think that's really elementary, but if you're really honest, do we really believe it all the time? Number five, and I added this to what I originally preached. We can receive God's character.

We have to believe that we can. It's possible. We can receive God's character.

You know what it says in Peter? It says we can be partakers of his divine nature. Think about that. That means his divine character.

You can become a partaker of his divine nature. That's found in 1 Peter 1, 3. It says according to his divine power, he has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. So when you're sitting here being tempted, he's given you all things to provide for life and godliness.

All things according to his divine power. How do you get it? Through the knowledge of him. So it's abiding.

It's knowing. It's not just knowledge doctrinally. It's knowledge like a husband and wife with Christ, knowing him.

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. So these are some of the promises we've just looked at this morning. You can find hundreds more.

But by these promises, it says we become partakers of the divine nature. So do you understand as you're going through a trial, if you don't initiate the divine promises, you can't become partakers of his divine nature. You have to initiate.

You have to believe in faith, the divine promises. And these are a bunch of his promises. So we have to believe that he wants to give us his nature.

When you say things like, oh, I'm just going to fail. That's not faith. Now that is humility.

Yes. But see, it's not coming up and finishing the circle. I can't do it.

That's not faith. That is humility. And the devil loves to lie to us on that side, right? He loves to tell us that much and stop there.

Don't believe anything else. Just stay there. I'll never be holy or I don't feel like doing it.

Those are all not faith. So let's recap. God makes everything work according to his will.

He only allows trials that I can bear and he has an escape plan. He allows trials for my good and he wants to help us. He's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

And we can receive God's character, the divine nature. What are some warning signs when you're not here? Somebody just tell me. Give me a warning sign.

What would be a flag to say I've got a problem, I'm not here? Worry? Anger? Insecurity. Okay. Yeah, almost a false humility that ends there.

Yes. Okay. Negativity.

Good. Anxiety. Bitterness.

Yes. Okay. Good.

Now let me say this about grace. So we've looked at humiliated faiths, but I'm going to read you a story here in a little bit about Corrie Timboon. I want you to pay attention to this point.

Grace doesn't normally come until right when you need it, right? You hear old-timers talk about death and how the grace didn't come until right when they needed it. There's a song we sing about that. But many times in our life, God will provide the grace when we need it.

So you don't need to be worrying if the grace is going to be coming. You just need to be doing this, believing God. Now I want to write this last thing across the bottom here.

This could all look like a nice formula, and I'm logical and I love formulas. But if this isn't done in sincerity, it might not be spelled right, but it'll all not work. Listen to this verse.

It says, it's at the end of Ephesians, it says, Grace be with all those who love our Lord in sincerity. Grace will not come flowing into your life if you're just trying to do this formula, but it's not sincere. It's not because you want to know Christ.

It's not because you want to abide with Christ. It's not because he's your Lord. It's not some formula.

It is a relationship with Christ. So in closing, if we want to experience God's grace and our power in his life, his power in our life, we need to learn to humble ourselves in those situations. We need to complete the circle by rising up in faith, and we need to do all of that in sincerity.

There's a verse in Philippians that says this, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. And that works really good on this side, right? But then the other half, for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. You see how the two work together? They work hand in hand.

And some of us, our characters, personality are going to be this type, you know. We're kind of the pessimist, and we just do real well at humbling ourselves, but we don't do real well at this. Maybe you're that guy.

And then some of us are over here. We're just all claiming God's promises, claiming our, but we have a real hard time dying to self in the moment. There's still a lot of pride there.

We all have different personalities, but these things have to work together. We have to, we have to, if for me, maybe I do better with humbling, but I struggle in the faith area. So this is going to be where I'm going to have more of a challenge.

But Peter exhorts us to grow in grace. This thing doesn't come overnight. It's something we grow in like a little child.

Peter tells us, grow in grace. Hebrews says, looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God. You know, that's a pretty important thing.

We do not want to fail of God's grace. So wrapping this three sermons up, we have a new power in the new covenant. It's called the grace of Jesus.

Remember the law came by Moses, but grace came by Jesus Christ. There's a counterfeit grace out there. We've all heard it.

Oh, it's unlimited. There's no, there's no conditions. There's nothing you can do to lose it.

That's a counterfeit grace. We defined it as God's power in our life. We've looked at conditions to qualify, to receive God's grace, humility, faith, and sincerity.

And I believe this is one of the major keys to the inner Christian life, to walking in the spirit, to learn to walk in the spirit. I'm going to close with this story. This is from Corrie Timboon.

In mid-May 1945, the Allies marched into Holland to the unspeakable joy of the Dutch people. Despite the distraction of her work, Corrie was still restless, and she desperately missed her beloved Betsy. But now she remembered Betsy's words, that they must tell others what they had learned.

Thus began more than three decades of travel around the world as a tramp for the Lord. As Corrie described herself, she told people her story of God's forgiveness of sins and of the need of people to forgive those who had harmed them. Corrie herself was put to the test in 1947 while speaking in a church in Germany.

At the close of the service, a balding man in a gray overcoat stepped forward to greet her. Corrie froze. She knew this man well.

He'd been one of the most vicious guards at Ravensbrück, one who had mocked the women prisoners as they showered. It came back with a rush. The huge room with its harsh overhead lights.

The pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor. The shame of walking around naked past this man. And now, he was pushing his hand out to shake hers and saying, A fine message, how good it is to know that as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea.

And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember me, of course. How could he remember one prisoner among those thousands of women? But I remember him and the leather whip swinging from his belt.

I was face to face with one of my captors and my blood seemed to freeze. You mentioned Ravensbrück in your talk, he was saying. I was a guard there, but since that time, he went on, I have become a Christian.

I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there. But I would like to hear it from you, from your lips as well. Again, the hand came out.

Will you forgive me? And I stood there. I, whose sins had again and again to be forgiven, and I could not forgive. Betsy had died in that place.

Could he erase her slow, terrible death simply for the asking? The soldier stood there, expectantly waiting for Corey to shake his hand. I wrestled with the most difficult thing I'd ever had to do, for I had to do it. I knew that.

The message that God forgives has a prior condition, that we forgive those who have injured us. Standing there before the former SS man, Corey remembered that forgiveness is an act of the will, not an emotion. Jesus, help me, she prayed.

I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.

Corey thrust at her hand, and as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder and raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands, and then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes. I forgive you, brother, I cried with all my heart.

For a long moment, we grasped each other's hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then. But even so, I realized it was not my love.

I had tried and did not have the power. It was the power of the Holy Spirit. God bless you.