Appreciate the Lord helping us. God is on our side. We are on his side. Amen. I will not fear what man shall do unto me. That ain't gonna work. We got a new mic order, so I'll try to stay behind this podium. Amen, if I can. Genesis chapter 3. How many of y'all saved? Anybody saved in here this evening? Washed in the blood. God's been good to you. And He's not finished yet. Amen. Pray for those that are out. Continue to pray for them. God's healing grace will be upon them. And we need the Lord. God answers prayer. Amen. He does. He answers prayer. Let me encourage you to continue praying. If life gets busier, you need to pray more. And a lot of times we don't. Not until everything is crazy. And let me say, when life gets busier, pray more. But when you can't handle everything mentally and physically, pray. Pray more. Stop and pray. Something powerful about prayer that interacts with your mind, soul, and body, helps settle everything, establish things in our life, amen, and our health, too. Appreciate the Lord for that. Genesis chapter 3 and verses number 14, the Bible says, and the Lord said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle. And above every beast of the field upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust thou shalt eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. Amen. I'm interested in verse number 15 about this enmity between thee and the woman, between the enemy As you know, in the first part of this chapter, Satan came and talked to Eve, and Adam and Eve sinned, took of the forbidden fruit, right, of the tree, of the garden, and they fell, as the Bible calls it, they fell. They didn't fall out of grace. Adam didn't ever fall out of grace. Eve didn't fall out of grace, but they fell into grace. And they never knowed about grace until this took place. When this fall took place, they fell into something that they never experienced before. And so here you have Satan, the serpent, called the serpent, verse number 14, that had done this. The Lord said, Thy cow, cattle, and every beast of the field upon thy belly shalt thou go, and thou shalt eat all the days of the life." He talks about this enmity, making the two seeds an enemy. It doesn't really have to do with women and snakes. I always thought it did growing up until I started realizing how many women handle snakes. Amen. I've been to a bunch of churches. I'm not talking about churches I've been to. Amen. Thank God I've never been to a church that handled snakes that I know of. I knew where a couple were, and since I knew where they were, I stayed way away from them. Amen. Listen to that southern gospel singer, that Wendy Bagwell on the snake story. Anybody ever heard that? Y'all need to look at it. It'll make you crack a rib laughing at it. But anyway, and talking about losing faith, amen, and all that. But anyway, you know, I don't believe this verse is talking about, you know, that women ain't going to like snakes, the literal snakes. But what it was talking about, here's the two different seeds in this chapter. Got to thinking about there's a lot to study on this y'all highly educated people can spend some time studying on the two seeds It's the serpent seed and her seed y'all see that verse number 15 It's a bruised I had and thou shalt bruise this here. This is the first first Prophecy of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Bible that we know of You know, I know that there was a lamb killed probably for Cain's sin, for Abel's sin, or for the clothes that were put on Adam and Eve and all that, but as far as the Scripture, the first prophecy of a seed that would be born to crush another seed, okay, and to bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. And this is an account of the very foreknowledge of God acting in Scripture in his Word and prophesying of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we praise God for this. Now, from this time, if you hold your Bible up, I had the kids do that this morning in chapel, hold their Bible up from Genesis to Matthew, And y'all might want to do that just for the fun of it. Go to Matthew and you're holding Genesis up, and you're holding a big old thick portion of the Bible right there. I mean, a big old thick portion of the Bible. You're holding in your hand approximately 4,000 years of history, world history. The Bible is one of the greatest history books that's ever written. It's the most accurate history book that's ever written. It's not a book of do's and don'ts. It isn't. Now, there's a lot of do's and don'ts in there, but that's not what it should be known for. My relationship with God don't have to be summed up by a description of do's and don'ts. Because if I don't, he loves me. And if I do, he loves me. And when Adam didn't and Eve didn't, God did. And what we have here is a course of history of 4,000 years you're holding between two hands. And the first prophecy of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in Genesis chapter 3 that we read said that there'd be two seeds, and they're going to be at enmity. They're going to be at odds against one and one against the other. And so here you have, if you read the first chapter of Matthew, and this is Christmastime, amen, so y'all just get ready. We're going to teach on the star and teach on the... on the coming Christ, the Messiah. I don't know what God will let me say something about. I have no idea, but I just want to brag on the Lord for the next few nights and a few times that we're together. Just speak about Christ. Amen. We speak about a lot of things, but let's exhaust ourselves speaking about Christ. What you have here, if you read the book of Matthew, you'll see that there is, well, it's mentioned there's 32 generations that's mentioned. I'll talk about that in a minute in the first chapter of the book of Matthew, but if you're still holding this portion of Scripture like I am, what you're holding is about 76 to 77 generations, biblical generations, Generations that have lived and died, then lived on, right? Died, then birth, rebirth. And it's kind of hard to wrap your mind around that in just a few minutes. You're talking about 77 generations between Adam all the way to Jesus Christ. And what I want to talk about tonight and bring tonight, and the title of this will be, God Keeps His Promises. God keeps his promises. If you think about this promise of Genesis 3, verse number 15, the very promise that God would make these two seeds at enemies, at odds against one another, but that God's seed would bruise the head of the serpent's seed and that God would make sure that it would come to pass that the Lord's seed, the seed from heaven, the seed of God, the seed of Jesus, right, that we know of, amen, that would bruise the head of the serpent. And we're holding up 4,000 years before it ever took place. And God keeps his promises. If God ever promised you one thing, you can bank it, you can write it down, you can mark it down, you can take it to the bank as we say, And he keeps his promises. God is a God that confirms his promises with his truth through every generation. Every generation, in every book, I believe every book, I've preached a message before in the last few years, used to a lot about what Jesus means in every book of the Bible, but let me just say this about every book of the Bible has a prophecy, I believe a prophecy or a relation to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. No matter the age, no matter the circumstance, no matter the dispensation, Amen, the promise of Christ's coming, the first time that he comes, is in the Word of God, and it came to pass. We know it came to pass because we read it. At this time of the year, we read the book of Matthew, read the first chapter of the Matthew. Hopefully, you'll sit down with your children, your wife or your family or yourself, maybe, and just read the first chapter of the book of Luke and the second chapter of the book of Luke and read through the story of the Lord Jesus Christ. And listen, I want you to know there's so much to glean through the four Gospels about the account of John the Baptist and Zachariah and Elizabeth and then Mary and Joseph and Jesus. There's so much to read, you could exhaust the rest of the year studying and reading on just them characters and see all that God did when he kept his promise. Amen. I mean, everything in line, everything in time, everything in line, everything in time, everything just right, As we say, people in the world say, well, the stars line just right up for me. Well, I'm not talking about that, amen. There was a star that lined up for the shepherds, but it wasn't a multiple of stars that gave some kind of genealogical sign about something good that was gonna happen. And amen, there was something good that did happen, amen, but it was God. God's promise is what lined up and God's promise is what came to pass, and we're rejoicing even today. Now, we're rejoicing over 2,000 years later. Amen. Tonight, on a Wednesday night, rejoicing and reading about the promise that came to pass. Amen. And you and I can rejoice because it came to pass. Now, they was rejoicing in this 77 generations. They were rejoicing that it would come to pass or trying to see it come to pass. They were looking at it, looking ahead, hoping it'd come, waiting on it to come. Amen. And it came. Look in the book of Micah. If you're holding your Bible and Matthew turned to your left, Just back up a little bit till you run into Micah. Trenton, he knows all these books of the Bible. Man, they said them this morning. He knows all these minor prophets and what a blessing. In Micah chapter 5 and verse number 2, look what the Bible says, "'But thou, Bethlehem, Ephratah, "'although thou be little among the thousands of Judah, "'yet out of thee shall come forth And to me, there's a ruler in Israel who's going forth, have been from old, from everlasting. From old, from everlasting. And that's talking about Jesus, amen? They believed in the deity of Christ. They believed in God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost. They believed in Genesis 3 when God said, let us create man and our enemies, that they were all there. Amen. The minor prophets, the major prophets, you want to call them, the patriarchs, they believed in the prophecy of the Word of God, but they hadn't seen it come to pass. But they believed it. Our scriptures that we always read in Isaiah, let's go there, Isaiah 9. Isaiah 9. Look what the Bible says in Isaiah 9. These are not verses that are unfamiliar with you, but you're very familiar with these. The Bible says in verse number 6, "'For unto us a child is born, "'unto us a son is given.'" Notice the Scripture's reading that it is born, and us a son is given. Had it happened yet when Isaiah was written? Isaiah was written 400 years or maybe more or less than that, whatever the dates are. You read different people and they show different dates. It's flexible, but anyway, before the birth of Jesus. We're reading about something that happened before the birth of Jesus. I love the writing of Scripture. It said, unto us a child is born, like it's happened. I believe it's because they believed it was going to happen. They knew and believed with all their heart that Jesus would be born. The government should be upon his shoulders and his name should be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. and the increase of his government, the peace, there shall be no end. And it lists a lot of prophetic things about the Lord Jesus Christ concerning the first advent, which is in verse 6, and the second advent, which is in verse 7. The throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order it, to establish it with judgment and justice from henceforth even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. And that is still in action today, the zeal of the Lord of hosts. So if you think about this, we're reading Scripture tonight already about the promises that God kept already, and he kept. And because he kept his promise, number one, because he gave a promise. I mean, he gave a promise. The Bible says that when they're in the book of Luke, that Jesus' name will be called Emmanuel. as being interpreted as God with us. That was a pre-given name by God. Amen. And we thank the Lord for his promise that was given and his promise kept. Amen. Now, this promise, this Immanuel, God with us, simply was the very promise of redemption. It was the promise of redemption. The two seeds would be added against each other, and one seed would bruise the head of the other, was the promise of the seed that would come would be the seed of redemption, the promise of redemption. Now, the promise of redemption was brought to you tonight by grace. The promise of redemption was not brought to you by the law, was not brought to you by a king, was not brought to you by success in society or government. No king could form a government successful enough for God to sit on the throne, amen, to have the Lord come and take over. It couldn't happen and it didn't happen and it wouldn't happen. The only way that Jesus came into this world was because of the promise of redemption, and it was simply brought to you and me. The plan of redemption was brought to pass, had been brought to pass because of the need for grace. Look in John, if you would, please, and I'll quote Ephesians, verse number 2, verse number 8. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. By grace are ye saved. Amen, we're saved by grace. Amen. And so this plan of redemption was the very grace of God. Amen. Emmanuel, God with us. If we got what we deserve, if God came and gave us what we deserve, none of us would be here. Amen. Amen. One of the first examples of an individual finding the grace of God, why others didn't, was Noah and the flood. When God flooded the earth with water and killed all those that were wicked and sinful, and the wrath of God did that, but the Bible says in Genesis that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And so the promise of redemption was brought to us and none other but by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's by grace that you're saved. Amen. Now, I'm not talking about just salvation. But I'm not just talking about the plan of redemption, but if the goodness of God has been extended to you, it was the grace of God, and you're saved by grace. Brianne is testifying tonight about the safety that God has given us in travel. That is the safety, the word saved, God's grace is sufficient. We're saved by grace. Amen. We're kept by the grace of God. Amen. I believe living righteously for the glory of God helps us, amen, with our interaction, our relationship with God and our everyday conduct, how the Lord interacts with us as far as what he does and what he doesn't do, right? And that's even grace. but the whole picture is the picture of grace because it is the promise given of redemption. In John chapter 1, verse number 14, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bear witness of him and cried, saying, This is he of whom I speak. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. And of his fullness, have all we received and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Amen. We thank God for this example of grace. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. So the law could not usher in the grace of God, could not usher in redemption, and could not fulfill the promise of God. But grace did. Grace did. Amen. It was the grace of God that brought salvation. Amen. We were bought by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ because of the grace of God. And let me just say this tonight, there's nothing greater than grace. Amen. Grace is magnificent. Grace is marvelous. Grace is amazing. Grace is ministering. Grace is wonderful. There's nothing greater than grace. I'm here to tell you tonight that the Lord keeps His promises, but He had to use grace to reveal it to us. His very promise in Genesis was orchestrated with the intent to display grace to a fallen human, fallen sinful race. It was grace that he designed and desired to usher upon mankind. Amen. And 77 generations later, amen, Jesus was born, and the grace of God was shown to mankind. There's nothing greater than grace. There's no higher name greater than the name of Jesus. and there's nothing greater than grace. The grace of God is unmatchable. It's undescribable. It's undeserving. Amen. It's so wonderful, we can't wrap our head around it. We don't really understand it all. And let me tell you, it all excites you and wow you and enthuse you to study grace and for the very mention of the word grace. because we do not deserve one ounce of grace, but God's grace is sufficient. Amen. And his grace is greater than your sin. His grace was greater than Adam's sin. His grace was greater than Eve's sin. His grace was greater than Cain's sin. His grace was greater than the sins of the forefathers of Cain. His grace was greater than all the sins of the people that died in the flood. They had a chance to get on the board. Amen. Get on board the ark. Because God's grace is greater. There is nothing tonight greater than the grace of Jesus. Love is not greater than the grace of Jesus. Amen. Favorism is not greater than the grace of Jesus. Amen. Benefits is not greater than the grace of Jesus. The grace of Jesus is greater than them all. Good deeds is not greater than the grace of Jesus. And you can't buy the grace of Jesus with the money. or fortune or fame or an inheritance of a family name. You couldn't buy it with good deeds. But let me tell you, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ his Son expelled grace to the fallen human race and there's nothing greater than grace. Grace is matchless. You cannot put a price to it. You can't buy it. You can't describe it. Amen. As I have failed trying. It's greater than our sins. Grace is bigger than your faults. Grace is stronger than your weakness. Amen. Grace heals your pain. Grace will heal your mind. Grace is amazing. There's nothing greater than grace. Have you gotten a hold of it tonight? And the Bible says that it was given to us by Jesus. For what the law could not do, grace did. Amen. For what frustrated Moses, because they did not follow the law, did not frustrate Jesus Christ, because he came to bring grace. Amen. You know what frustrates you? Get out of grace. Underestimate grace. Get your eyes off of grace. Take your heart off of the grace of God. You'll find yourself trying to keep laws and portions of deeds and falling every time, and you'll be very disappointed. But the grace of God will pick you up, because it's always there. It's there at midnight, it's there in the morning when you get up. It's there before you go to bed. The grace of God is there waiting on you and me to confess our sins, to be forgiven of our sins. The grace of God is waiting on every sinner to accept the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ so that they could be saved. It's powerful. The grace of God is needed was needed so much, and the grace of God was shown at the birth of Jesus. Let me just say this. Mary was the earthly mother of Jesus, right? But Mary wasn't born from a virgin. Mary wasn't virgin-born. I mean, Jonathan Moore had been studying about this Catholicism. She was not virgin born, so therefore she was born in sin and corrupted, born in sin. She was born in sin, so therefore, and the Bible says, though, you was in Isaiah 9, go to Isaiah 7, or this passage of Scripture, it says, Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. And there's the very scripture, the prophecy of the scripture of Matthew chapter 1. If you look at Matthew chapter 1, and you look with me in verse number 16, Matthew chapter 1, verse number 16, the Bible says, "'And Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, "'of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.'" Amen. I'm not going to read you all the verses, but there's one verse right there. Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who was called Christ. That's Emmanuel, that's God. She was not a virgin born, but Jesus was. The law was applied to her life, but grace came when Jesus was born. Luke chapter number 1. We're going to read a few things about that. Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1, let's look at verse number 46. Luke chapter 1, verse number 46. And Mary said, O my soul, doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in the God my Savior. For he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaid. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Look at her humility. She knew who she was. She knew she was a sinner. She did not take pride in her own self about even birthing the very birth of Jesus. You know why? Because she knew she was. But God kept his promises through her. She was a avenue of the very promise of God. Amen. She was used by God like you and I can be used by God in order for God to display his promises to mankind. Amen. In chapter 2, verse number 19, it says, But Mary kept all things and pondered them in her heart. All the things that she heard the shepherds told her, all the things that was going on, she kept them all, and all the things that she heard about her son Jesus and all that, she kept them in her heart and pondered them. She knew in her heart that something supernatural took place. Had nothing to do with her. Had nothing to do with Joseph. Had everything to do with Jesus. Amen. That's grace. That's the example of God's grace. You see, Mary received grace. She received grace when the angel talked to her. She received grace when she conceived by the Holy Ghost. God showed her grace. Why? Because she needed grace. She was not perfect. She was not a perfect person. She was a good person. Amen. But she was not a perfect person. You know, God just don't use perfect people. God, don't disuse people that got it all together. God, don't disuse people that have it all figured out. Amen, that don't make a mistake and everything's just right. God doesn't look for people who have everything just right. It don't seem to me that God does. Amen, especially when I look around this crowd, amen. We ain't got nothing right, but God has it all right. Aren't you glad God knows how to use people who don't have it all figured out? Mary was one of them. This was the very display of God's grace to a young lady named Mary. Think about it. God chose her, and God provided the atonement to take away her sin as well as the sin of the whole world. Amen. That's grace. Oh, that's grace. The very picture of God's holiness conceiving in an unholy vessel, the very picture of the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon a young lady is the very picture of God's grace. Amen. She wasn't perfect. She needed the grace of God too. This was the promise of God's grace and the promise of redemption that was fulfilled through people who needed the grace too. God didn't just use perfect people. You think about Abraham. In this passage of Scripture in Matthew, it talks about the first, it says, First verse of Matthew chapter 1 says, now, the book of generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac, and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judas, and it goes on and on and on and on. Thirty-four generations over there says, let's see. All right, verse number 17. So all the generations from Adam to David are 14. Or 32, I said, I meant. Generations from David until the carrying away of Babylon, 14, and from the carrying away of Babylon until Christ are 14 generations. You ever wonder why Babylon had anything to do with it? What's Babylon have to do with it? I thought Babylon was a worldly kingdom. Didn't Nebuchadnezzar, well, didn't he run Babylon? Wasn't that an earthly empire in power at one time, but it was a worldly kingdom? But why is it mentioned in chapter, verse number 17, from Abraham to David, 14th generation, from David to the Canaanite? Because that's history. It's history. God doesn't miss anything. God's not going to blank out history of the world and say, well, I choose to kind of move this section out of the way and jump across a few years, a few generations to keep my promise. He didn't do it. Ain't you glad he doesn't do that in your life? I mean, we want to do that, right? We want to take all the bad, I mean, if y'all with me, all the stupid, bad decisions, all the things you've done, crazy things you've done and just, oh, take them out and then God see me when I'm halfway okay just use me you know don't forget about the bad no God said no I can't forget I'm using you using all the darkness and I'm going to use I'm going to display the grace of God through it all Did I say a while ago that God's looking for people that are willing to be used, but he doesn't just always use perfect people? The promise given came to pass and received through the Virgin Mary. Then we have Abraham and David. David was the apple of the Lord's eye, and yet he sinned greatly and later repented, and God showed him grace and mercy and spared his life. And by sparing David's life, he spared the lineage of David. Did David deserve to die from the Old Testament law? Absolutely. Did the woman that was caught in the act of adultery, does she deserve to die by the Old Testament law? Absolutely. Did David die? He didn't die. Why? Because of the grace of God. What did Jesus say to the woman that was caught in the act of adultery? Where are those thine accusers? Where are those that laid the law down on you and want you to die? God said, go and sin no more. Abraham and David. There's mention of Abraham even himself. The Bible calls him the father of all faith. He's a father of faith, father of all those that believe. He's Father Abraham. The promise of God was given to Abraham for the children of Israel, for us, amen, for our relation with God, for the blessings, even the blessings or curses of God, right? given to Abraham. But then Abraham lied about his wife, her being her sister to the king, and did not protect her and tell the truth, and he kept it quiet until God had to make the king dream a dream. Y'all remember that? But God used him. Well, I'm trying to say David needed grace, Abraham needed grace, Mary needed grace. They were all sinners. They needed the grace of God despite of their failures, despite of their faults. Their failures were not final. God richly blessed both of the men, David and Abraham, and prospered them in the work of God and preserved his promise of the Messiah through the son of David, the son of Abraham. Verse number 17 of Matthew, the Bible says, I read that to you, talks about Abraham. Abraham to David, what was there mentioned in there? Because there's grace, need for grace. I'm kind of going through this. From Abraham to David, these are called the time of the patriarchs. The patriarchs like Moses, Joshua, Judges. They were patriarchs. I mean, they plowed the way. before it made it easier for everybody else in their failures, in their faults, but in their forgiveness as well. This was the times of wandering, the times of enslavement in the Bible, the times of deliverance, the times of covenants. God gave the covenant to Abraham. God gave the covenant to David. God's going to sit on the throne of David. That was covenants that God gave. It was commandments, time of commandments. It was time of conquest, but also the time of victory. for each and every one of them because God keeps his promises. Think about David and the deportion of Babylon where Babylon takes over the kingdom of God's kingdom, the kingdom of Israel. These are the time of the monarchs, the kings rule, the kings and rulers and judges ruling, the time of monarchs. This is the time that Israel, those few kings, the very few kings that led Israel to God, and the majority of the kings led Israel away from God. And so we see a great decline in the monarchs and the kings, the rulers, a great degeneration, a great time of apostasy, and a great time of tragedy, a great time of trouble, because of the kings. Amen. Therefore, there was a need for grace. Abraham was a good man. David was a great man, a man after God's own heart. But still, in Israel was God's chosen people. And even though they were God's chosen people, God allowed them to be overtaken by the Babylonian in power. Then we have the deportation of Babylonian until the time of Christ, as mentioned in verse number 17, that other 14th generations. This was a sad time of captivity and exile in the Dark Ages for the people of Israel. And I could go on and on and on and bore you about the history, but that little portion of Bible that you, that big portion of Bible that you held up there tells it all, tells it all. and a whole lot more. And I don't have time, just briefly, kind of combing across a few things, making some statements to really get us to think how God chose to display grace through all them generations. And that we know the silent years between the Old Testament and the New Testament, but then we have the very birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus was born. The King Jesus comes to this earth. The Messiah. Amen. Amen. The Promised One. The Promised One. Amen. The fulfillment of all the covenants. When Jesus was born, he was the fulfillment of all the covenants because only he could fulfill all the covenants and complete all of them with his birth. And what did they do to Jesus? He lived 33 years and they crucified him. Amen. It's the seed. It's the seed that is at enmity. It's the seed that is at enmity. I mentioned Sunday about the death of Jesus Christ and how the Bible says that he went to the heart of the earth. And we know that there was a power of death. There was a power in the darkness, a power of death, the power of darkness. was released, the very authority of God, if you'd let me say it like this, the very authority of God, God's authority was yielded to the devil's power. Even Jesus said, this is the power of darkness in the book of Matthew, the power of darkness. And when the death of Jesus Christ took place, there was a power of darkness. All the demons of the world was chanting victory. The devil himself was praising himself for victory. So he thought until the power of Christ's resurrection. And when Christ came forth from that tomb, that borrowed tomb, he did, crush the head of Satan. He did overpower. There was grace expelled and the plan of redemption and the promise of God's plan of redemption came forth, amen, as a display of grace. Amen. We could say, we remember that song, then came the morning. Y'all remember that? Then came the morning. You see, that's grace. That's the very grace of God. When light can make darkness flee, and the power of Christ can make the power of Satan have to bow down and flee, and the power of God can annul, can disannul the influence of Satan, Amen. It's the grace of God. When Satan tells you that God won't forgive you and God don't care about you, when Satan tells you that nobody else cares about you and God's done with you, and Satan tells you that because you're in the mess you're in and everything's crumbling around you, it's because of this, it's because of that, I mean, he'll tell you all kinds of lies. He'll tell you all kinds of information. He'll flood your mind full of all kinds of baloney. Somebody help me. But it is the grace of God that will exceed the influence of Satan. You cannot exceed the influence of Satan by the law, by your own works. but it's for by grace are we saved. It's for by grace are we saved. Satan can't handle grace. That seed of Satan has never known what to do with the grace of God and never will. Amen. How can God take an old drunk, an old doper, an old harlot, A no good. How can God take a cheat, a liar, a stealer, a thief? How can God take someone like you and someone like me and pick us up out of that miry clay, and put a song in our heart, and wash us inside, and wash us on the outside too, and put joy in our lips, and put forgiveness in our soul, and put a purpose in our life. How in the world can God do that? Listen, it's only by the grace of God. Satan don't understand. Satan thinks that he wants our soul. He wants our life. But let me tell you, God has bruised his every time a sinner gets saved, every time a sin gets forgiven, every time a saint gets washed in the blood, every time the grace of God is dispelled upon the church of the living God, Satan is frowning in defeat. Because Christ is victorious in our life. The book of Ephesians says that we should neither give place to the devil. Don't even give him a foot. Amen. Sometimes you ought to remind him, maybe on a daily basis, maybe on an hourly basis, who's side you're on. Remind him about the grace of God because he don't understand it Now I don't understand it all neither, but I'm telling you it's the greatest thing That you and I have ever experienced and there is nothing tonight greater than the grace of Jesus There is grace greater than our sin It was a promise given Even when the children of Israel were in captive in Babylon, the grace was there. Amen. The shepherds saw that star, didn't they? Well, that kind of changed it all. There's a few shepherds, a few people of God that knew a little bit about the Bible. They're looking up. Amen. What's the Bible say? Look up for your redemption. Redemption is grace. Redeemed. How I love to proclaim it. Y'all with me tonight? Let me tell you, they saw the star, and they found the star, or the star found them. And they followed the star, and then they really found the star in the manger. Somebody go to church. Amen. His name was Jesus. An old manger in a stable, born in Bethlehem. In a poor country, born in a poor state. His name is Jesus. And we've experienced grace. Because the Bible says that God humbled himself. Amen? Humbled himself. and came to this earth to show us grace. Praise the Lord. Let's stand in it tonight. It's a promise given, the plan of redemption