where two days met and they loose him. I was thinking about that cult the other day. It says that nobody ever rode on him. He was a worthless little donkey. Nobody had ever used him. In fact, it says he was a cult. That means he was too young. Nobody would have chose him to ride into town on. You gotta think about it. We're talking about the king of kings and the lord of lords. We're talking about Jesus Christ. He would ride in on the greatest horse and he'd ride in on the best chariot money can buy. But no, my Jesus, Brother Dale, He came down and he found a donkey that had never been used. Found a donkey that was worthless, if you would. And he said, that's the one I want to use. That sounds like you and I tonight. We aren't the finest horse. We don't have everything in a row. Not everything's going great at our house. But the Lord loved us. Nothing but a couple bunch of donkeys tonight. And listen, God loved you and I enough to step down to where we are. It's good to be free, isn't it? It says that donkey was bound up. There was nothing he could do to get out of the situation he was in. There was nothing that donkey could do to escape the bindings that were on him. But when Jesus came to town, Brother Dale, when Jesus stepped down in his town, all those bindings fell off of everything that had him tied up tonight. Let him go free tonight. If I can preach for just five, 10 minutes, I wanna preach on this thought. The day God showed up when I was tied up. The day God stepped down in the midst of my mess, stepped down in the midst of my sin, and he let me go free tonight. You know what I find here in the text this evening? I find that there was an unbound sinner tonight. There was an unbound sinner. Look with me in verse number four. It says, and they went their way and found the colt tied by the door. It says that he was bound up, if you would. And there was nothing he could do to help himself in that situation, till Jesus came in and let him go free tonight. I don't know about you, you can rejoice with me if you want to, but that sounds like me tonight on the simple fact that there was a time I was bound up. There was a time I was tied up in the midst of this world, and Jesus stepped down to where I was, and he said, of the chains of sin, I've already let you go free. Don't worry about the guilt of sin. And he looked at me, he said, what sins are you talking about? I don't remember. It doesn't matter what's got you bound up. Jesus Christ can let you go free. It doesn't matter if you've tried to get off the bottle. Doesn't matter if you've tried to get off the drug. Doesn't matter if you've tried to get that stuff right. That's inside of your mind. Only Jesus can take off the bindings that have you bound up tonight. It is the grace of God. It is the mercy of God that can let you go free tonight. It's good to be free, Brother Dakota. I mean, it's good not to be bound up anymore. I'm not entangled with this world. I am free, free, free tonight. It says that he that believeth on him is free indeed tonight. I'm free indeed, I ain't got nothing that can hold me back, nothing that can keep me down. I am free by the grace of God tonight. But I want you to notice, not only do we find that unbound sinner, but we see that unlikely little servant tonight. An unlikely servant, notice that it said in verse number two, that the coat had never been rode on tonight. It says it'd never been used, that donkey'd never even been rode on, but here it is. that the king of kings and the lord of lords wants to ride in. There it is, that even though he'd never been used before, didn't know what he was doing, Jesus Christ wanted to ride into town upon this little unlikely donkey. Can I give you an illustration tonight? A couple years back, there was a mama one time, she was 18 years old. She was still in school. She found out one day that she was getting ready to have a baby. It was completely unexpected. She didn't know. She could never see it. I mean, she was just living life. She came from a home. I didn't know nothing about God. Brother Dakota, she'd never been in a church service like this. Never really, probably never been in a church service at all, as a matter of fact. But she got in, she found out one day She was fixing to have a kid. I mean, her world, Brother Dale, was shattered. It was just wrecked. It was ruined. The daddy of that little boy that was coming on the way was an alcoholic. He'd never been anything around the things of God. Didn't know nothing about church, nothing about the gospel. He was addicted to an alcohol bottle tonight. And you could look at that situation, Brother Craig, say, there's no hope. You could look at that and say, there ain't no way that can work out right. You go on a little bit farther, that mama and that daddy ended up splitting, never got married, ended up splitting, going separate ways. That little kid that was born would have to be raised in a broken home, going from home to home. And you can look at that, Brother Dakota, and say, there ain't no hope for that. There ain't no way. Something good's gonna come out of all that mess. You're going a little bit farther than that mama with that little boy. She met a man that was dealing drugs, that was addicted to the alcohol bottle. Wasn't that great of a man? I mean, he was just a thug, good for nothing, but he'd been raised in a Christian home. He had some grandparents. He had some parents that were up on a hill and were praying for God to save his soul. And you could look at that situation, Brother Cephas, and say, there ain't no way that God's gonna do anything with that. I mean, look at that little baby that's been born. He's got two parents that are alcoholics. He's got a mama that doesn't know nothing about the things of God. But I'm glad that the story doesn't stop there. That daddy, that stepdad one day went to a church named Esther Baptist Church, and he sat on the third row back, and some man got up, Brother Homer Hensley got up, started preaching on the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. And when that man did that, conviction fell on that dope dealing alcoholic man, and he got born again that night. He went home, he dumped out the alcohol bottle, he dumped out the drugs. Brother Dale, everything was changed. A little bit later, that mama that didn't know nothing about God, that mama that had a baby when she was 18 years old ended up getting born again by the grace of Jesus Christ. But a couple years later, that little boy that was born into a broken home had an alcoholic as a daddy that had a mama that had him in high school, got saved one day, and now that's dead. If daddy's a preacher, that mama's a pastor's wife, and that little boy's a preacher, and they had a couple other kids, the other boy's a preacher, and the daughter's on the piano singing, I'll tell you this tonight, if you wanna know why I'm so excited about it, because that daddy is my daddy, and that mom's my mom. I'll tell you what the grace of God can do. The grace of God can take a situation like that. It ain't always been a suit and tie. I should have been an alcoholic son. I should have been on the bottle, but the grace of God stepped down. And now today, our whole family's in the ministry. Not one of us deserves it, but it's by the grace of God. It's by the mercy of God. the fact that God stepped down and showed up in our life and uses people that are unlikely tonight. I don't know about you, but grace has been mighty good to our family tonight. I don't know about you, but I can say, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was blind, I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see tonight. The grace of God is amazing. I tell you what, now you're sitting in here, you say, there ain't no way I can do what God's wanting me to do. You can do it through the grace of God tonight. and they're saying I can't preach, I can't sing, I can't pray, I can't do that ministry. No, you can't, but God can through the grace that he gives you. Verse number one of 2 Timothy chapter number two that Brother Caleb preached on says be strong in the grace of God. You know why we can make it tonight? Because that grace. and strengthens us and allows us to serve tonight. But lastly, I want you to notice this. When God showed up in my life and let me go free, I not only saw that unbound sinner, that unlikely servant, but I saw an uplifted Savior tonight. I saw an uplifted Savior. Look with me in verse number seven. It says, and they brought the colt to Jesus, and they cast their garments on him, but notice this, and he sat upon him. says that when that donkey got in, after it'd been loosed, after it was getting ready to be used, Jesus got on top of that thing, and Jesus was uplifted in its life tonight. You know what I've been trying to do ever since the grace of God changed my life tonight? It's just to say worthy is the risen lamb, worthy is Jesus Christ tonight. How about we just uplift the Savior for a little while? Let's just praise the Lord, if not for grace, where would you be? If God hadn't showed up in your life and let you go free, I say the grace of God is better than we deserve. I say the grace of God has blessed us more than we could ever imagine tonight. Listen, Lauren's getting ready to sing again. I'm gonna give it back to Brother Dale. Let him do what he wants to. But if you're in here tonight and you're saying, I'm bound up, I mean, I can't break the chains that are in my life. I've tried to do everything I can. Listen, you've got to realize it is not you that can do it. No, no, no, no, no, it's not what you can do. It's not your power, but it is the grace of God tonight. It is Jesus that can break those chains. It's not you, it's not the preacher, it's not Brother Dale, it's not the song tonight. It is the grace of God that can let you go free. Maybe you're in here tonight, you say, God's been calling me to do something, I just haven't surrendered. I just feel like I can't do it. You gotta realize, same thing. As salvation, you can't tonight, but the grace can. I wonder if some Christians tonight would be able to worship the Lord and say, if it wasn't for grace, where would I be tonight? I'm glad one day when I was bound up, God showed up and let me go free. Absolutely. Absolutely. I want to sing that in just a moment. There's some young people. God is calling you. Right now. Right now. If you miss your opportunity tonight, this may be the moment You either have the life that God wants you to have, or you're about to step out into a world that you never dreamed that would destroy you. So I wonder who's gonna surrender. If it's not for grace, you wouldn't even be here. So it's his life, it's not your life. It's his life. I wonder what moms and dads are tired trying to live like the world. instead of living separated under Christ. Why? Because if it wasn't for grace, you wouldn't even know who God was. So I wonder if she sings this for the invitation who will come and say, God, I'll give it to you tonight. We don't have no heads bowed. There's no eyes closed yet. So if everybody looking around, I wonder what young person will raise their hand and say, God's speaking to me right now. God's speaking to me. I see that hand. Somebody else, young people, raise up your hand right now. Why don't you have enough boldness for God to say, I'm going to do something for Jesus. I see that hand. I see that hand. is what we're gonna do. I wonder what moms and dads will raise up their hand with everybody looking, saying, I'm gonna give my life to Christ. I'm tired of straddling the fence. I'm tired of living halfway. If it wasn't for grace, I wouldn't have children. If it wasn't for grace, I wouldn't have grandchildren. Sister, I want you to sing that whole song again. And I think we ought to meet around this altar and realize it's only because of the grace of God that we're breathing. It's only because of the grace of God that we're alive. It's only because of the grace of God. Why don't you sing right now? And I wonder who has enough Holy Spirit boldness that'll come one more time to this altar and say, God, I don't know what you want, but I'm gonna give it to you. I don't know what all you're gonna do, but I'm gonna give it to you. It's all because of the grace of God. Sing, sing. ♪ God for grace ♪ I could be locked up in jail Have no future, no story to tell. I know my soul would be crying from hell, if not for grace. If not for grace, I would still be lost and hopeless. If not for grace, there'd be no reason to carry on. but when he looked my way there was mercy on his face I would not be saved today if not for grace