Well, good morning once again. I want to encourage you to take your Bibles and open them to Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6. I just want to read the last verse here in chapter 6. The last verse of Paul's epistle to the churches in the region of southern Galatia. His last word to them is simply this. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen. The title of the message this morning is The Infinite Riches of Saving Grace. If you have the sheet there that you picked up as you walked in, it just says the infinite riches of grace, but I would like to talk about the infinite riches of saving grace. My prayer today is that you'll understand the infinite riches of saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that you'll realize that there's no sacrifice too costly to make for Jesus, and that there's no sorrow too heavy that the infinite riches of the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ cannot wash it away. I pray that as we study the infinite riches of the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we will realize that there is no sacrifice that is too costly to make for the sake of Jesus Christ. And that there is no sorrow that you bear that is too heavy that the infinite grace, the infinite saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ cannot wash away the riches of the infinite saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the grace that provides redemption. It is the grace that provides regeneration. It is the grace that sanctifies. It is the grace that justifies. And it is the grace that glorifies. It is the grace that will transfer you from the dominion of darkness to the kingdom of Jesus Christ. It is the grace that will justify you though you are condemned. It is the grace that will sanctify you though you are still a sinner. It is the grace that will free you from your body of sin and clothe you with a glorified body like that of the Lord, Savior, Jesus Christ. The infinite riches of the saving grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is the grace that will transport you from this heavens and this earth, which is plagued with sin, to a new heavens and a new earth that knows no sin. Again, the title of the message is the infinite riches of the saving grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Certainly when you contemplate the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, you understand the riches are infinite. They are infinite. Let's pray and then we'll continue to look at this grace. Almighty God, as we come into your presence and we begin to contemplate the riches of your grace, that You've shown us through Your Son and our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. I am immediately made aware that such knowledge is far too high, far too lofty, far too infinite for me to comprehend. there is a desperate, immediate recognition of the continual outpouring of regenerating grace. We would ask you, Almighty God, this morning, that as your Word is proclaimed, that your Spirit would take that Word and would use it to continue to regenerate our minds to the point where we truly comprehend Truly comprehend the significance of your grace. Truly understand the infinite value of the riches of your grace and that it would cause us, Lord, to recognize that no sacrifice is too much to make for Jesus Christ and his building of his church. And we would pray, Father, that Your Spirit would regenerate our minds with the truth that is spoken to such an extent that we would understand that there is no sorrow, there is no pain, there is no heartache that is so heavy, but that the infinite riches of saving grace cannot wash it away. Father, these are not things that are humanly possible. These are things that only your Spirit can do. We did not come here this morning, Father, for human help. When we got here this morning, we are here for divine help. We gather on these Sunday mornings to receive divine help. We would cry out to you, Almighty God, help us understand the infinite riches of the saving grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To you be the glory, to your word be honor. Amen. The first thing I would like to do is just work together with you a working definition of grace that I want us to use as we look at this verse. And to do that, I want to just contemplate, think with you some different definitions of grace and then put them together and formulate for us the working definition that we are going to use as we study the infinite riches of saving grace. The first definition is very simple. Grace is often referred to as unmerited favor. A very simple definition of grace is unmerited favor. This means that grace is undeserved. We do not deserve grace. No one can do or be anything that merits grace. Grace is a gift and the motivation for giving of that gift is found only in the giver. Unmerited grace means that the motivation for giving the gift is found in the giver and not in the one receiving the gift. There's nothing within or about the recipient of the grace that would motivate the giver of grace to extend grace. Grace is an expression of love, but there's nothing within the recipient of the grace that warrants such love. This is the biblical understanding of grace. God gives us His grace. He extends His grace to us. He bestows His grace, not because of anything within us, not even because of anything lovely within us, It is solely because of who He is. Another way that grace is defined is to take the letters that spell grace and use them as an acronym. And the acronym simply goes like this, God's Riches at Christ's Expense. If you take the five letters that make up the word grace, G-R-A-C-E, you come up with the acronym God's Riches at Christ's Expense. Certainly this would be true because one of the greatest expressions of God's grace is God's justification of sinners. What richer blessing could God dispense than to justify the condemned? How much richer does it get than that? To be condemned and be justified. How much richer does it get than that? To be a sinner and to be declared innocent. That's what justification is. By the grace of God, we sinners, though we are still sinners, are declared to be innocent. Though we're still guilty, we are declared to be innocent. Now what can be more rich than that? What can be more greater than that? And of course we know the expense of that great riches of God. The expense was the death of his own son. What greater expense can there be than that? Then for God, to give up his own son to die for our sins, that we sinners might be declared innocent." See, so that acronym really fits, doesn't it? It is God's riches at Christ's expense. John MacArthur has also provided an understanding of grace by comparing it with mercy. He recognizes that both grace and mercy flow out of love. But he says, mercy responds to pain, misery, and distress, all of which are the result of sin. Mercy responds to your pain, your misery, and your distress, all of which are the result of sin. Sometimes they are the direct result of sin of the one who's receiving the mercy. Sometimes we are suffering pain, misery, and distress as a direct result of our sin. And yet God will show us mercy and alleviate the pain, the distress, and the suffering. Sometimes that pain and that suffering and that distress that we experience though are not the direct results of our sins. Sometimes they're just the indirect results of living in a sinful world. Sometimes we suffer not because of any sin we committed. We suffer simply because we live in a sin-fallen world. But God in His mercy still will alleviate that misery, that suffering, and that pain. Grace, on the other hand, MacArthur recognizes, deals directly with the cause of misery and distress. Grace deals directly with the sin. He uses this analogy in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Mercy was shown when the wounded man's wounds were bandaged. Grace was shown when the wounded man was taken to a place where he could be treated until good as new. Mercy deals with the consequences of sin. Grace deals with sin itself. So, our working definition when we consider the Pauline understanding of the infinite riches of saving grace is going to be this. Our working definition is simply going to be that grace is the unmerited favor of God dealing with your sin through the death of Jesus Christ. Grace is the unmerited favor of God dealing with your sin through the death of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul was fixated on grace. The Apostle Paul had a passion for grace The Apostle Paul, you could say in a good way, he had an obsession with grace. Paul's epistles are saturated with this understanding of grace. He ends all his epistles with a Holy Spirit-inspired expression of his desire or wish for his readers to experience this type of grace. The Holy Spirit inspires the Apostle Paul to express his desire or his wish for his readers to experience the grace of God which is the unmerited favor of God dealing with their sin through Jesus Christ. At the end of 1 Corinthians chapter 16 verse 23 and 24 we read this. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. At the end of his second inspired letter to the church in Corinth, he says this, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. Near the end of his letter to the Romans, he writes this, the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. At the end of Ephesians, he writes, the grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an incorruptible love. and the Philippians. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. The end of Colossians. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my imprisonment. Grace be with you. The end of first Thessalonians. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. The end of second Thessalonians. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. The end of the epistle to Timothy, the first epistle. O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge, with which some have professed and have thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you. His second letter to Timothy. The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you. Titus, all who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. And at the end of Philemon, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. At the end of every one of his holy and spirit inspired letters, he desires, he expresses, this desire, this wish for his readers to experience the grace of God. The grace of the unmerited favor of God that deals with their sin through the death of Jesus Christ. What's interesting is he also starts every one of his letters with the same expression of grace. Look with me in Galatians chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1 verse 3. He writes grace to you and peace from God our Father in the Lord Jesus Christ. He does this at the beginning of every one of his letters that he writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul wants to be sure that all the readers of his inspired letters have their sin problem fully and completely dealt with. Our sin problem is not fully and completely dealt with at the moment of salvation, is it? There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Understand that this morning. When by the saving power of the regenerating grace of God, you put faith in Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven, there is no condemnation. But every one of us, who are truly honest with ourselves. We know that even though our sins are forgiven, we still struggle with sin. There's still the ongoing struggle with sin. That's why we need a constant pouring of the grace of Jesus Christ. We have no more ability to deal with our sin after salvation than we did before our salvation. We still are totally dependent upon the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. As we study this grace, and as we study justifying grace, the grace that justifies, the thing that we want to realize is that although we have been declared to be righteous, we are not righteous. Although we have been declared to be righteous, we are not righteous. We are still sinners. There is no more righteousness within us that enables us to deal with sin after salvation than there was before. What we do have going in our favor is that we have been regenerated. And what we do have going in our favor is that the Holy Spirit is going to continue to regenerate us. The grace of regeneration is an ongoing grace. And what we have going in our favor is the Holy Spirit is going to continue to take the Word of God and continue, by the grace of regeneration, to continue to regenerate us in such a way that we know more and more about God. We grow in our faith in God. We grow in our understanding of God. We embrace that increased understanding with our faith. It becomes part of our spiritual DNA. And you know what the natural outflowing of that process is? You naturally obey. You just naturally obey. The more you learn about God and the more you take that knowledge and incorporate it into your spiritual DNA through faith, the more you're going to naturally have victory over sin. And the more you're going to be able to naturally live a victorious life. The Apostle Paul knows this. That's why He begins and ends every one of His letters with an expression of a wish, of a desire, that they have grace. And let's understand who is really making this expression. Who's really expressing the desire that we have more grace in our lives? It is the Holy Spirit. It is God. These are not the words of the Apostle Paul. These are God's words. God would tell you this morning, you need a constant outpouring of grace. Thus, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the great apostle begins and ends each of his inspired letters with an expression, a wish, or a desire that his readers experience the grace of God because he knows that it is only by the grace of God, that is, he knows that it is only by the unmerited favor of God dealing with their sins because of the death of Jesus Christ that sin's problem will ever be fully and completely dealt with. The last great outpouring of the grace of God will be the grace that glorifies. One day you will be free from this body of sin. And one day, by the grace of God, you will be clothed with a glorified body like that of Jesus Christ. One day we will be transported from this heavens and this earth, which is corrupted by sin, to new heavens and a new earth which knows no such corruption, the grace of glorification." The Pauline understanding of grace is a grace that unifies. Look at how he expresses this expression of a wish of grace in verse 18. He says, "...the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ He's writing to these believers in the churches in the region of the Southern Galatia and he says, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn't say the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ. He says the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He recognizes that his readers have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord. That unifies him with his believers. As his believers understand the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, they accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and that unifies him with those believers. It unifies him so much with those believers that look how he refers to them in verse 18. He says, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. He recognizes that the grace of the Lord Savior Jesus Christ has brought them together and made them one in the family of God to such an extent that they are brothers. They are among the brethren. They are brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. This is an understanding of the Pauline understanding of grace will do for a group of believers. It will unify them. It puts them all under the same Lord. It puts them all under the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It makes them one because it makes them brethren. They're all one in the same family. And Paul affirms this reality at the end of verse 18 when he says, Amen. A declaration of affirmation. A declaration of affirmation that because of the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we worship Him not just as Savior, but as Lord. A declaration of affirmation because we all come under the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is a bond that we have with one another that is greater than even the bond that we would have with a physical brother or sister, a brother or sister of blood. There's a spiritual bond that will last forever and ever. For the Apostle Paul, there's nothing more precious than the grace of God. This is because he realizes that it is only by the grace of God that there is a plan of redemption. He realizes that it is only by the grace of God that regeneration takes place. It is only by the grace of God that justification takes place. It is only by the grace of God that sanctification takes place. And it's only by the grace of God that glorification will take place. We need to realize, though, that it was Paul's high view of grace that was one of the reasons for the harsh tone that we saw in the previous verse. The harsh tone, his warning to the troublemakers. It was because he has such a high and lofty view of grace that he had this harsh tone against troublemakers. You see, a proper understanding of grace not only unifies, but a proper understanding of grace is also going to divide. You cannot stand shoulder-to-shoulder with someone who denies the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You cannot stand shoulder-to-shoulder with someone who denies that your sins are dealt with simply by a favor of God that is accomplished through the death of Jesus Christ. This is one of the biggest problems with the troublemakers that Paul issued his warning to that we looked at last week. One of their biggest problems is they despised this grace. They despised a grace that told them that there was absolutely nothing they could do to become right with God. They despised a grace that told them that they had to rely completely upon God and not themselves. We saw this many months ago when we were looking at the characteristics of those who hate the gospel. Go back with me to chapter 6 verse 12. This is a characteristic of those who hate the gospel. This is a characteristic of the troublemakers that Paul issued his harsh warning to that we looked at last week. Galatians chapter 6 verse 12, those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised. You see, these troublemakers were trying to say that they could do something in and of themselves to make themselves right with God. And not only were they saying that they could do something in and of themselves to make themselves right with God, they were telling the Christians within these churches that they too, if they want to be right with God, must be circumcised. That they too must put faith in their human achievement. They were telling these Christians who had put their faith in the grace of God, full faith, full trust in the grace of God, full faith, full trust in the divine work of Christ on the cross. They put all their faith in that, no faith in themselves. These troublemakers were coming along and saying, no, that is not good enough. You must trust in human achievement. They despised. the grace of God. They despised the grace that said that forgiveness of sins was an unmerited favor of God that was accomplished through the death of Jesus Christ. And that made them troublemakers and that made them the recipients of Paul's harsh warning. So realize that when you learn to embrace the grace of God, it is going to unify you with others who understand that grace. But it is also going to divide you from others who refuse to accept that salvation, justification, is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. You cannot have unity between someone who understands the Pauline concept of grace and someone who denies the Pauline concept of grace. There can be no union there. It cannot happen. I want us also to consider man's need for the grace of God. Let's take just a moment to consider man's need for the grace of God. Let's consider your need for the grace of God. The grace of God is dealing with what? It's dealing with your sin. You see, man's got a problem, and his problem is sin. I realize that there are many problems in this life. There are many struggles. There are many difficulties. But there is really only one eternal problem. There is really only one problem that is of eternal significance, and that is the problem of your sin. Your sin creates two problems between you and God. Your sin creates a relational problem between you and God. And your sin creates a judicial problem between you and God. Your sin creates a relational problem. It separates you from God. Your sin separates you from a holy God. Listen to these verses, Isaiah chapter 59 verse 1. Isaiah writes, Behold, the Lord's hand is not so short that he cannot save. Nor is his ear so dull that he cannot hear." You see, the people of Israel are beginning to wonder, why doesn't God save us? Why doesn't God hear our pleas for help? Why doesn't He come to our rescue? And Isaiah is telling them, it's not that God's death, it's not that His hand's too short and He can't reach you. There's a bigger problem. He goes on in verse 2, "...but your iniquities, had made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear you." See, the problem isn't that God can't hear. The problem is that between you and God is your sin. And your prayers can't get through your sin, because your sin is separating you from God. That's a relational problem that you have with God. Paul writes in Romans chapter 5 verse 10, for while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. He recognizes that before we are justified, before we are made at peace with God, we were enemies of God. Your sin creates a relational problem between you and God, wherein that you treat God like an enemy. That's the reality of your sin. Your sin puts you at enmity with a holy God. Paul writes in Romans 8, verse 6, For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace. Why? Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God. For it does not subject itself to the law of God. For it is not even able to do so. For those who are the flesh cannot please God. And I believe in this context that Paul is specifically referring to when he says the mindset on the flesh, he's referring to the one who thinks he can do something to please God through his human achievement. He's speaking of the one who doesn't recognize the Pauline concept of grace, that there's nothing you can do to please God. You're totally dependent. upon the grace of God to be made right with God. When you live with such an understanding that you can do something to please God, you continue to be at enmity with God. That is a huge problem that sin causes. Sin also causes this judicial problem. One verse is enough. Romans chapter 6 verse 23, for the wages of sin is death. That's the payment for sin. It's death. That's a judicial problem. The judicial problem is you are under condemnation. And the condemnation, the penalty, is eternal, non-ending torment. Non-ending conscious torment in the lake of fire. which John describes in Revelation as the second death. The second death. Non-ending conscious torment in the lake of fire. That's a judicial problem. But by the grace of God, if we put faith alone in Christ alone, God will forgive us our sins and deal with the judicial problem of our sins by clothing us with the righteousness of Christ. God will forgive you of your sins dealing with the judicial problem. Sin's forgiven. No condemnation. No judicial problem. Sin's absolutely forgiven. But you're still a sinner. How do you get to be in the presence of God? Well, God takes care of that too. He closed you with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. By putting faith alone in Christ alone, you can have your sins forgiven, no judicial problem, you can be clothed with the righteousness of Christ, no relational problem. Sin problem completely taken care of. And the only way it ever happens is by the grace that provides redemption, the grace that provides regeneration, the grace that provides justification, the grace that sanctifies and the grace that glorifies. It's by understanding the Pauline concept of grace. By grace we put faith in Jesus Christ and we are saved from the problem of our sin. This is why the word of grace must be preached. If man's going to have his need met, the word of grace has to be preached. Churches need to hear the Word of God being preached. Churches need to hear the Word of Grace being preached. I want us to consider that churches need to hear the Word of Grace preached. Churches need to hear the Word of Grace preached in order to understand the pervasive nature of sin. Our world does not understand sin because the world is not hearing the word of grace being preached. You all have friends that go to church and you know they don't understand sin. And I can guarantee you they are not hearing the word of grace being preached. The church needs to hear the word of grace being preached so they can understand the pervasive nature of sin. Augustine understood the pervasive nature of sin. Listen to what he said. Sin is a pervasive power that controls and defines human beings. We are controlled and we are defined by the pervasive power of sin. That's what defines who we are as human beings. That's what controls who we are as human beings. It is the pervasive power of sin that lives within us. Augustine's view of sin helped him to formulate a proper understanding of grace. Speaking on the grace of God, Augustine once wrote, The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord must be understood as that which by alone men are delivered from evil and without which they do absolutely no good whether in thought or will and affection or in need. You can do no good! Not in thought, not in your affections, not in your will, not in your deed, apart from the grace of God. Why? Because of the pervasive nature of sin. It pervades every part of you. Not to such that you are as evil as you possibly can be. Certainly there are degrees of evil that we see in sinful man. But there's not one simple human being out there that can do anything, whether in thought, whether in affection, whether in will, whether in deed, to be pleasing with God, because there's so pervasive, the pervasive power of sin within them. Unless one understands the devastating effect sin has upon man, one will never be able to adequately preach the grace of God. The church will never appreciate and long to hear the preaching of the infinite riches of grace until she begins to realize that sin has completely decimated man's ability to do anything acceptable to God. When you don't preach the fullness of a Pauline understanding of grace, you leave people with a misunderstanding of their sin. When you undermine the preaching of a Pauline concept of grace, you trivialize sin. And it's because we don't preach the Pauline understanding of the grace of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that so many people in churches, so many people who call themselves Christians just trivialize sin. It really is a vicious circle. You have a low view of an understanding of grace, and that produces a trivialized view of sin, and as you have a trivialized view of sin, you continue to have an even lower view of grace, and as you preach an even lower view of grace, you continue to have a more trivialized view of sin. It's just a vicious, vicious circle, until we are ready to stand up and say, man has a problem with sin that he cannot deal with, and only the grace of God can deal with it. But praise God, that not because of anything within me, a complete unmerited favor of God, He has dealt with my sin through the death of His Son. When troublemakers downplay the appalling concept of grace, they trivialize sin And a trivializing view of sin will result in the preaching of a cheap type of grace that cheapens the cost of following Christ. We now preach a very cheap type of grace, and it is producing a very cheap understanding of the cost of following Jesus Christ. Grace is at the forefront, in the center, in the conclusion of how one gets right with God. Without the grace of God, no one has even the slimmest chance of being made right with God. It is imperative that the church fully understand the appalling concept of grace and that the word of this grace be preached from the pulpits of the church. When troublemakers downplay the essential importance and indispensable nature of man's need for grace, they cheapen grace. They cheapen grace. When one cheapens the Pauline concept of grace, one cheapens Christianity. A cheap understanding of grace produces a Christianity that refuses to recognize there is a cost to be associated with following Jesus Christ. When you truly understand grace, when the Pauline understanding of grace is breached, And you understand how wretched your sin is and how much you need the grace of Jesus Christ. You will be willing to pay whatever cost it takes to follow Jesus Christ. And following Jesus Christ may cost you everything. Look with me in Luke chapter 14. Luke chapter 14 verse 25, Now large crowds were going along with him, and he turned and he said to them, The large crowds are following Jesus Christ. They're following Jesus Christ because they don't understand their sin problem. They don't understand how much they need grace. All they can see is that Jesus is performing great miracles. All they can see is, hey, this is exciting, following Jesus. They're at a gathering where everybody is just all excited and all whipped up in emotion. And they're just thinking, this is great. Hey, let's follow Jesus. What a ride this is. This is just fantastic. And Jesus turns and he says to them, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, Yes, even His own life, He cannot be my disciple. You see, if you are going to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, if you're going to be a follower of Jesus Christ, you cannot be in agreement with even your father or your mother if they disagree with the Pauline concept of grace, if they disagree with your need for grace to be made right with God. You cannot even agree with your brother or sister You cannot be in agreement with any human relation, no matter how dear. You cannot continue to be involved in that human relationship as if nothing exists, as if there's no conflict. You cannot be in harmony with anyone who disagrees with the Pauline concept of grace. It will cost you everything. It will cost you even your life. He says in verse 27, whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot, cannot be my disciple. What does it mean to carry your cross? If we were to transport ourselves back 2,000 years to the first century, we would understand what it means to carry your cross. When a person walked out of their house with the cross on their shoulder, they were not coming back. They were going to be killed. They were going to death. They were going to be crucified. You see, our understanding of the infinite riches of saving grace has to be such that if need be, we will take our cross, we will walk out the door and never come back. We will take out our cross. We will walk to our death and never come back. Because we understand the infinite riches of saving grace. Without that unmerited favor of God to deal with my sin through the cross of Jesus Christ, I would still be under condemnation. I would still be heading for the second death, an eternity of non-ending conscious torment. And there is nothing I'm ever going to experience in this life that can be equated with the pain and the suffering of an eternal non-ending conscious torment of the unmitigated wrath of God being poured out upon me. Nothing compares to that. There is nothing that I would be willing to not give up in order to have my relationship with God, to have my sins dealt with, and to know God, and to be able to grow my understanding of who God is. I wouldn't give that up. At least I pray I wouldn't, by the grace of God. I pray that the grace of God is so strong that all of us who have trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of our sins would be willing to take up our cross and follow Jesus Christ. We cannot be His disciples otherwise. The church needs to hear the Word of God preached in order to overcome the current gospel crisis. The church needs to hear the grace of God be preached in order to overcome the current gospel crisis. The lack of clear and concise preaching on the doctrine of grace has led us to have a lack of clarity on grace that needs today be considered as a gospel crisis. The church is under a gospel crisis. Grace is not being preached. The Pauline type of grace is not being preached. The Pauline understanding of grace is not being preached. It has created a gospel crisis. A gospel crisis that currently exists because of the lack of the clarity concerning grace is made evident by the state of the church which is now fully in the grip of pragmatism. It is because we don't preach the gospel. It's because we don't preach the word of grace that we have this gospel crisis. And you can see the gospel crisis if you just look at the church and see how the church is fully gripped by pragmatism. That's what grips the church today, pragmatism. Whatever works, that's what we'll do. And what they're looking for is just to bring people in. They're not even really concerned about the eternal destination of the human soul. They just want to bring people in. And whatever works to bring them in, that's what we'll do. It doesn't matter if it's commercialism. Make the gospel attractive. Make the church the place to be. Make the church cool. Do whatever you can to commercialize the church and make it the place to come. That's pragmatism. It doesn't matter whether it's sensational. Bring in the bizarre. Appeal to the senses of the sinful nature. The more extreme, the better. It's a gospel crisis. It doesn't matter if it's the pragmatism of easy believism. The lack of the clarity concerning the grace has resulted in a trivializing of sin to the point that the church now allows people to practice that, what God would call an abomination, and still call themselves children of God. We have so downplayed a Pauline understanding of grace, and we so trivialize sin, that now churches are filled with people who are willingly, openly practicing what God calls an abomination, and still call themselves saints, still call themselves Christians. Is there not a gospel crisis? The church needs to get back to preaching the word of grace because the church is under a gospel crisis. A renewed understanding of the Pauline view of grace will cause the church to be so dependent upon God that she will insist all man-centered ways of doing church be vanished and replaced by the preaching of the word of grace. If we just begin to preach the word of grace, perhaps God would have grace upon these churches and cause the people to rise up. Get your commercialism out of here. Get your sensationalism out of here. Be done with the easy-believism. Bring me the word of grace. When that happens, the lives of Christians will no longer be characterized by defeat. They'll be characterized by victory. As you look out at most people that call themselves Christians, are they characterized by victory, by conquering, or are they characterized by defeat? See, that's another reason why the Church needs to preach the Word of Grace. The Church needs to preach the Word of Grace in order for Christians to live victorious lives. You cannot live a victorious life as a Christian unless you really understand the Pauline concept of grace. The victorious Christian is the Christian who has adopted the motto of John the Baptist, he must increase and I must decrease. The more you understand the Pauline concept of grace, the more you are going to adopt the model of John the Baptist. He must increase and I must decrease. A proper understanding of the Pauline concept of grace is going to elevate your view of God and it's going to give you a proper view of self. We live in a church age now where man is elevated and God is looked down upon. Remember, once said that the most important thing About you is what comes to your mind when you think about God. What comes to your mind when you think about God, that's the most important thing about you. You want to be sure that what comes to your mind when you think about God is this motto, He must increase and I must decrease. Simply put, it's not about me. It's not about me. It's about God. And a proper understanding of the word of grace will help us to be able to live that model. Much of what troubles the Christian could be dealt with if the Christian could adopt this model. Let's make it very simple. Life is not about me. Much of what the Christian struggles with could just be dealt with if they would just accept that. Life is not about me. Think what that would do to help you overcome temptations when you understood life is not about me. It's not about my pleasure. It's not about my joy. It's not about what I want to do. It's about God. See, the more you understand the grace of God, the more you understand this Pauline concept of the grace of God, the more you're going to have the unspeakable ability to overcome temptation. Understanding the Pauline concept of the grace of God would go a long way in dealing with the multiplicity of problems that you all deal with. A multiplicity of problems that you deal with in the workplace. A multiplicity of problems that you deal with in your communities, your neighborhood, and your culture. A multiplicity of problems that you deal with in your marriages. A multiplicity of problems that you deal with in your families. If we could all just learn that life is not about me, How much better would we be able to deal with the multiplicity of problems that we all face day in and day out if we would just grow in our understanding of a Pauline concept of grace that causes us to live by the model, He must increase and I must decrease. Life is not about me. We begin to have victory over all of these problems. An understanding of grace that enables one to live by the model that He must increase and I must decrease is a key component to experiencing the abundant life Jesus came to give those who by the grace of God put faith in Him. Jesus said in reference to His sheep, I have come to give them life and to give it to them abundantly. Apart from an understanding of the grace of God, no sheep in Christ's flock will ever experience the abundant life He came to give them. The key to happiness, joy, contentment, and peace that surpasses all understanding is to realize that life is not about you, which is in essence what John the Baptist is saying when he says he must increase and I must decrease. Overcoming bitter memories and lives dominated by anger, wrath, and vengeance can happen when you really understand the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Having victory over a life that is weighed down by the weight of anxiety and fear and doubt can happen when you begin to understand the Pauline concept of grace. The favor of God to deal with your sin through the expense of the life of His Son. Grace that provides redemption, grace that regenerates, grace that justifies, grace that sanctifies, grace that glorifies. By God's grace, we'll take a look at these five concepts of the Pauline concept of grace next week. Let's pray. Father, please let no one leave here this morning without a deeper understanding of Your grace. If they be dead in their sins, by Your grace, regenerate them right now. Cause them to understand in a way that they've never understood before, the truth of what has been spoken. Even though through the foolish medium of preaching, Lord, use it to accomplish your good and perfect will. We pray this in Christ's name, Amen.