even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace, ye are seen. And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Shall we pray? Father, we thank Thee for this evening. We thank You indeed for the shelter that there is beneath the shadow of Your wings. And Lord, we're so grateful tonight that You have offered to place us there and that we can weather any storm. And Lord, that we can be saved and safe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we pray tonight that you would bless us as we look into this passage before us. In Ephesians, Lord, we pray that you would show us that great love wherewith you have loved us. And Lord, that it would be something that we would take to heart, something that would change us, perhaps change our destiny eternally or change our attitude temporarily and Lord we just pray that you would have your work and your will in our lives and Lord that you would reach out to us tonight via your Holy Ghost through these scriptures. So we just pray your blessing upon all that is said tonight. Lord help me not to say anything that should be left unsaid. And indeed, Lord, help me to say exactly that which you would have me to say, and that to the edification of the hearers. For we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, the last time we sat around the book of Ephesians together, we considered the human condition, and we were left in no doubt as to our hopeless and our helpless estate by nature before a holy God. We read how we were dead in trespass and sins, how in times past we walked according to the course of this world. according to the prince of the power of the air. We were devilish. We were following Satan, our natural father. We read how that we were the children of disobedience, and then went on to see something of our own depravity, among whom also we had our conversation, our lives, and times past, and the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And we came to the ultimate conclusion to all of that, to our own damnation. We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. And I'm sure you'll agree with me, as you read those first three verses, it makes for some very bleak reading. It makes for some very dark reading. It doesn't lift your spirit. You don't read those three verses and go out praising the Lord and thanking God that you're such a wonderful person. You go out under condemnation of sin. You go out with this realization that you're absolutely beyond the peel, that you are without help and without hope until you come to verse four and you have these two critical words that change the whole tenor of this text. These two words upon which the whole theme of this epistle really rests. It says, but God, in verse 4. But God. Where would we be tonight if it were not but God? Where would we be tonight if it were not for the Lord in our lives? You know, it would pay us well to go into our Bibles and read all the statements that begin with, but God, in your Bible. You think about Joseph, Joseph the Old Testament patriarch, how he was sold into slavery by his brothers, and how his brothers thought that he would somehow avenge himself upon them. And as he discusses this whole matter and their fear of reprisal, he says this to them, it was not you that sent me hither, sent me here into Egypt, but God." But God did it. And that but God was important because it meant that Joseph understood the will of God for his life, and he wasn't going to avenge himself upon those who sold him into slavery and who sent him into that foreign land. Later, when his father Jacob is dying, He brings reassurance and hope to Joseph, and he says this unto Joseph, Behold, I die. Those are sad words. No child likes to hear their father say those words. Behold, I die. But then he adds this, But God, but God shall be with you and bring you into the land of your fathers. You see what happens there? The but God brought hope to a desperate situation. Later in the Bible, in the book of Psalms, we read about the end of lost humanity, and the psalmist says this, like sheep, they are laid in the grave. Death shall feed on them, and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. Then he adds, but God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave. Again, in that same book, he says this, and this is, again, in light of what we shared this morning, when you look around the world and you wonder who's really in charge, we read this admonition, for promotion comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south, but God is the judge. He puts down one and sets up another. The writer Luke, writing in the book of Acts, speaking of the death of the Lord Jesus, says this, and though they find no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulcher. What a dark day that was. But then he adds, but God raised him from the dead. You see how that phrase, but God, turns the thing around, how it changes the whole circumstance of that which you're reading about? Even in the Christian life, you read in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 that you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. And you think to yourself, well, you know, I'm not mighty, I'm not noble, I'm not very wise. But God, then says, has chosen the foolish things of this world. And it gives hope to us all. But by far, the greatest of the but-God statements of Scripture is this one found in verse 4 of Ephesians chapter 2. You know, without these two little words, where would we be tonight? I'll tell you where we'd be. We'd be trapped in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and condemned by nature as the children of wrath. We'd be lost and undone. We'd be crying with the prophet, woe is me if it were not for those two words, but God. And when Paul utters those words, he then goes on to present three aspects of God's attributes, three great attributes of God, whereby he steps into our lives, and he transforms us, and he changes everything. And these words really ought to speak to every one of us, to those of us who are already Christians, and to those of us, perhaps, who are seeking and thinking about the Christian faith tonight. These words ought to speak to our hearts. Why? Because they speak to us, in the first place, about the richness of God's mercy. Notice what he says. Verse 4, but God, who is rich, in mercy. Now I'm glad that Paul didn't just write about God who is rich and stop there. You know that would be in the first place really stating the obvious wouldn't it? I mean God is rich isn't he? You know you think about some of the people on earth that you know are perhaps in the Forbes rich list and you know I look at our income and look at their income and You know, they're worlds apart. These are people who deal in millions and millions of pounds and so on. I watched a program over Christmas about people who were wealthy and how they spent their money at Christmastime. One fellow spent £35,000 on Christmas crackers. I mean, can you imagine spending 35,000 pounds on Christmas crackers? You'd have to be crackers to spend that kind of money on Christmas crackers. But anyway, you realize these people live in a completely different world. It's a different planet altogether. And you think, well, who has that kind of wealth? But even a fellow who has that kind of money to throw around is a pauper when you put him up in comparison to the wealth of God. Because God owns everything. He owns the heaven and the earth. He owns every planet, every star. All of it is of His making. The Bible says the earth is the Lord's, and the heavens also. The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. Deuteronomy says, behold, the heaven of heavens is the Lord's, thy God. The earth also, with all that therein is. He owns it all. Really, to say of God that He is rich, is something of an understatement. He owns it all. And yet if Paul were to just stop there, if he were to simply write, but God who is rich, and stop there, well, what good is that to me? What good is it to me if God owns everything? What good is it to me if I'm just told that God has such a bank balance that no man may match it? What good is it to me to know that God is the possessor of everything in the heaven and earth? It doesn't do me any good at all unless somehow God relates his wealth or his riches to me in some way. So if Paul had just said, you know, that we were by nature the children of wrath, even as others, but God is rich, That would have done me no good at all, would it? But he didn't say God who is rich. He said, but God who is rich in mercy. And we ought to thank God for that tonight. You see, here's the beauty of the God of the Bible. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He takes no pleasure in men who are perishing. He takes no joy in sending men or women to hell. His desire is neither to condemn nor even to judge, but instead He reaches out to us in His great mercy. Mercy, when you think about it, is simply a compassion. It's a forgiveness that is shown towards someone whom it is within your power to punish. If I have the power to punish my son or my daughter, but I don't punish them, I show them mercy. If they're deserving of the punishment, but I give them reprieve, I show them mercy. That's what mercy is. You know, when I was a teenager and I was in school, in secondary school, I had this teacher that I didn't really like. And to be honest, she didn't really like me. We had this mutual hate-hate relationship. And she was a German teacher. And I didn't like German. And I particularly didn't like this teacher. And she didn't like me. And to be honest, she had good cause not to like me because I was an absolute pain in her class. I mean, I just kicked off. I was just one of those kids. I was like 13, 14 and just been a smarty pants all the time. And she was all the time sending me out to get caned. And so that was every day. Every day in my German class, it was a pantomime. I mean, literally a pantomime. We came in, 10 minutes into the class, you know, I'd shout, Sieg Heil or something, and she'd have me off. And, you know, I'd be frog-marched out of the class. I'd goose-step out of the class in a Hitler-esque kind of way, and, you know, mock the whole German language on the way, much to the merriment of my friend, much to the annoyance of my teacher. And she would send me into the next classroom where there was a French teacher. His name was Mr. Bell. My German teacher was Miss Seaton. See how long you can remember your teacher's names for. And so send me to Mr. Bell, who was very cleverly nicknamed Ding Dong Bell by us at school. That's how brilliant we were. We came up with that name, Ding Dong, because he had the surname Bell. But anyway, so I go in the ding dong bell and I would knock his door and he'd invite me in and I'd say, Miss Seton has sent me in to see you sir. And he'd say, what have you done? And I'd say, I did this or that, whatever it was I'd done. And he would cane me and then I would go back to my class and basically sit there for the rest of the class just hating Miss Seton. But anyway, this one day in particular, you know, Miss Seton got ticked off with me about something, and she sent me into Mr. Bell, and I knocked the door. Without even looking up, he knew it was me. He knew it was that time of day. He didn't even lift his head from his desk. He was writing something. He just said, come in Moore. And so I opened the door and I walked in, and he said, what is it today? And I said, sir, I did this and that and the other, whatever it was. And he just sighed, and he went, just go back and do this with your hands. and he didn't actually cane me. So I went back into Ms. Seaton's class and did that, and she told me to sit down, not realizing that I hadn't actually been punished. Now here's the thing. When Mr. Bell punished me, I got justice. I got what I deserved. When he said to me, just shake your hands, He showed me mercy. He showed me compassion. To be honest, He was just fed up with me. But nevertheless, He showed a measure of mercy on that particular day and I got off scot-free for the wrong that I did. But God doesn't show mercy toward us because He's fed up with us. The Bible says He shows mercy toward us because He loves us. Look in verse 4, it says, Now notice how Paul emphasizes the greatness of God's love with the words in verse 5, even when He says, but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins. You know, here's the thing. It's very easy to love those who are lovable, isn't it? You know, there are some people that say that only a mother could love them. You know, they're not very lovable. But there are some people, you love them and you meet them, isn't there? There are people that you just love their personality, you love their character, you love their energy, you know, you love everything about them, you take them in, you want to be their friend, you want to show all kinds of kindness toward them. But there are other people who are unlovable. Now, here's the thing. To love the lovable is easy. To love the unlovable is grain. Look what Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 5. Look in Matthew chapter 5, and the Lord Jesus touched on this subject in his great sermon on the mount. In Matthew chapter 5 and verse 43, notice what he says to those who were listening to him that day. He says, you've heard that it has been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. You know, again, it's easy to love your neighbor, but it's not so easy to love your enemy. And so the Lord goes on, and I say unto you in verse 44, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. Notice the analogy he makes. He says to us that we're to love our enemies. Why? that we're like our Father in heaven because he loves his enemies. It says he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good. You know, it'd be an interesting world if God only caused the sunshine to rise upon the good folks, wouldn't it? Imagine if only Christians got sunshine. That'd be the best, wouldn't it? All day long, sunshine for Christians. If you're an evil person, rain all the time. But God doesn't work that way. He caused his son to raise on the evil and on the good. He sends rain on the just and on the unjust. And then he says this, and this is a rhetorical question, And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the publicans so? That is the tax collectors. Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. And he says to these folks that are listening, listen, if you only care for people who care about you, if you only take the time to love those who are within your little circle, He says, you're no better than the worst in society, because even the greatest villains in society love those within their own social circle of villainry, don't they? You know, growing up in Northern Ireland, we saw a lot of villains along the way. And here's the interesting thing about the villains in Northern Ireland. Whenever one of their number dies, they really know how to take care of their own little circle. You'd be amazed. They have parades. They have all kinds. They put up monuments. They take up collections. They hold events of all kind. And they raise hundreds of thousands of pounds to take care of those who are left behind within their own little circle. But you ask me, are they loving people? No. They love their own people. but they don't love anyone else. The Lord help anybody who crosses their path and who offends them in some way. And Jesus takes that very analogy, and he says, look, if you take care of your own, so what? But here's the thing about God. God loved us when we were not his own. God loved us when we were part of Satan's cabal, when we were the very enemies of God. That's the remarkable thing about it. You see, there was nothing and there is nothing winsome about us in the sight of God. There's nothing attractive about us in the sight of God. There's nothing noble about us in the sight of God. There's nothing meritorious about us in the sight of God. We have nothing to offer Him. We have nothing to bring. Yet He loves us. And He loves you. And He loves you still. Now how is it God's love expressed? Is it expressed with flowers? with chocolates, with sentiments, with cards. You know, that's how we express love. Pretty soon it'll be Valentine's Day. You know, everybody, all the men will be under pressure to do something nice for their wives, to express their love for their wife. And you have to, you know, go into the card shop and stand there with all the teenagers who are bound to big, giant padded cards. And you've got to buy something that looks, you know, like, you know, you want to tell your wife you love her and all of that. And you feel a little bit under pressure. But, you know, here's the thing. God didn't celebrate His love by means of a card. He didn't celebrate His love by, you know, sending a line to a florist somewhere. He did something far more interesting and, indeed, far more profound than that. He expressed His love toward us by means of the cross, by self-sacrifice, by surrendering His Son to the most torturous of deaths. Here's what the book of Romans says, but God commendeth or showed or expressed His love toward us in that while we were what? Yet sinners, Christ died for us. Do you realize that? Christ didn't die for you because you were a good person. He didn't die for you because you were worthy. He didn't die for me because there was something about me that he couldn't resist. No, it was while I was yet a sinner. He expressed his love in the fact of Christ's death. He loved me when I was his enemy. When I was fighting on the other side, when I was resistant to his word, when I was hard in my heart, when I was engaged in sin, still he loved me. And that's what makes his love truly, truly great. Here Paul talks about the richness of his mercy and the greatness of his love. But notice also he speaks about the marvel of his grace. Notice what he says here in Ephesians 2 and at verse 5, he says, Even when we were dead in sins, he hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved. and has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Now here's the thing about grace. Grace is the opposite of mercy. Mercy refuses to give me something that I do deserve. Whereas grace provides a favor for me in something that I do not deserve. See the difference? It's like the flip side of the coin. It's interesting the Bible uses the word kindness there. That's the same idea for grace. Grace is a kindness. Grace is a favor. Grace is a statement of generosity. That's what grace is. It's something that is given in goodwill. One of my favorite places to visit in all of England is Hampton Court Palace. I love Hampton Court Palace. I've been there, I think, four times, which means I go every three years on average. So I love Hampton Court Palace. It's a tremendous place to visit. The first part built by, well, of course, the whole thing was a gift to Cardinal Woolsey to begin with. And then Henry VIII kicked him out whenever he fell out with the Catholic Church. And then he built his section of the palace on. And then William III comes along, and he builds a section of the palace. And then George III comes along, and he builds his part. And you can see, if you've never been to Hampton Court, you need to go, OK? You need to go. Because you can see the three different types of architecture. You can go through the rooms, and you can see how the worlds were different as history was progressing through time. But here's the thing about Hampton Court Palace. When King George III took possession of that palace, after a while he decided he didn't want to live there any longer. And he had this great big house with thousands of rooms. I mean literally thousands of rooms. And what's he going to do with all of these rooms? Well he decided what he would do with those rooms is that he would grant grace and favor apartments to those who were minor royals, to those who were considered esteemed servants of the crown. And so he basically allowed people to live in a royal palace out of the kindness of his heart for virtually nothing. In fact, there are people who, I understand, still live in some of the royal palaces today under grace and favor conditions. In other words, they live in properties in London that if you were to try and rent at market prices, you just couldn't afford. But they're paying something like 75 pounds a month to live in a grace and favor apartment in a palace. And you say, well, what do they do to deserve that? Nothing. All that happened there was that the crown, the monarch at some point, decided that he or she would reward this person with an apartment of their own, that he or she would somehow show a kindness to this person, that they could effectively live scot-free on royal property. Now you and I are very unlikely to be ever offered a grace and favor apartment. Wouldn't you think? Pretty exciting, wouldn't it? If you got offered a grace in Kensington Palace or something. You know, if you got a letter from the royal family to say you've been... It's not going to happen. Let's be realistic, is it? Okay? It's not going to happen. But God, in His grace, has made His own grace and favor arrangement for His children. Notice the Bible says at the end of verse 5 there, by grace are you saved. We'll talk more about that next Sunday evening. But how important it is to get a hold of that. It is not by means of a sinner's prayer that you're saved. You know, sometimes we talk about the sinner's prayer, where someone is led to say a prayer, as though somehow that prayer is like a magic formula that opens up heaven for us. No, that's not what the truth. God does not respond to magic formulas. God does not respond to rote prayers. It's not about what you say with your lips. It's about what you believe in your heart. It's about what God has done in you and is doing for you, that we're saved. It's by his grace. It's not because we've repented with bitter tears either. You know, sometimes I've heard preachers say, well, did you repent enough? Well, is there like a repentometer somewhere that you've got to hit a certain target on in order to be saved? No. Salvation is by grace. It's by the kindness of God. It's by the mercies of God. It's simply by the favor of God. So it's not because I've repented to a certain degree. It's not because I've said a certain prayer. It's not even because I've turned over a new leaf. Lots of people turn over a new leaf in their lives, but that doesn't mean they're saved. It's because we've been granted by an act of God's great kindness, a new life. That's the phrase that is used here. He has quickened us, brought us alive together with Christ. By grace are ye saved. You see, here's what salvation is. Salvation is God bringing dead people back to life. That's what it is. You were dead in trespasses and sins. Jesus entered in and he gave you new life. That's what salvation is. In so doing, he raises us up. In other words, grace triumphs over guilt. and God's kindness over the grave. And then notice what he did then. Notice where grace leads us. He then made us to sit together in heavenly places. He raised us up together. Verse 6, made us sit together in heavenly places. There it is. God's very own grace and favor apartment. Do you realize there's a place in heaven that has your name on the door if you're a Christian? there's a place in heaven, in the royal palace of the King of Kings, in which he has appointed you a place to dwell if you know him as your Savior." Well, you ought to get excited about that. You know, just once in a while, be a little Baptocostal and just get excited about it, you know? When I had nothing to offer Him, nothing to His cross I could bring. Simply to His cross I would cling. And He in turn gives me this grace and favor apartment, a place in His heavenly home, a mansion that's made just for me. That's amazing. He's quickened us, brought us alive, raised us, resurrected us from the dead, seated us even now in the heavenly places. You know, here's the interesting thing. You see all of those terms, raised and quickened and... sit, all of those terms, all of those verbs, are all of them in the Greek language or in the Aris tense. That means they're all in the past. That means they're all done deals. That means they're done and they're complete. And in that respect, as far as God is concerned, you already have your feet beneath the heavenly table. You know, I don't know, I don't doubt that young people even say this today, but whenever we were dating and you were going out with a girl or she was going out with you, your parents would say, have you got your feet beneath the table? Have you got your legs beneath the table? I didn't even know what that meant when my parents said to me, I've got my legs between the table, beneath the table. What's that? And what they meant was, have you been received by her family as one of the family? It was an indicator of how the relationship was progressing. If her father invited you in, her mother invited you in, and you had a meal in the family home, that was an indication that things were going okay, that you had the approval of the girl's family or of the boy's family. Well, here's the thing, friends. God has put your feet beneath the table. He says you're already seated there. You're already placed there. In his mind, in his way of thinking, and remember God doesn't dwell in time. God dwells in eternity. He doesn't know past, present, or future. God only knows the present eternally. As far as he's concerned, you're already seated in heavenly places. You're already situated in that grace and favor apartment. And you need to get a hold on that, because I'll tell you why. When you understand that you are saved by grace and by grace alone, then first of all, we don't have to wait with bated breath to see if God will accept us when we die. He has accepted us. And we don't have to worry about whether or not we might lose our salvation, because God has placed us in heavenly places, and we're already there. He's not going to kick you out once you've got in. That's not the way that God operates in grace. That's not how grace operates. That's why I believe in what we call eternal security. You know, there's a lot of Christians today who want to question eternal security. There's a lot of them who throw their hands up in the air and who will deny the belief that once you're saved, you're always saved. But friends, listen, if you have anything less than that, you've got something less than grace. Do you understand? In other words, you somehow have to work to maintain your position in the family. You know, we four children, our four children had a position, have a position in our family. That can never be changed, it can never be altered. No matter what they do, it can't be altered, it can't be changed. You know, it'd be nice if you could fire your children, wouldn't it? You just tell them one day, you know, I've had enough of you, you're fired. But you can't do it, why? Because they're your kids. And the same is true of God's children. That relationship is solid, and it's solid because it's based on birth, not a physical birth, but a spiritual birth. It's solid because it's based upon God's grace, upon his kindness, upon his favor, and never will he change our position in the heavenlies because, friends, he is expressing his amusing grace toward undeserving sinners. when we put our trust in the Lord Jesus as Savior. You see, here's what I want to say to you. Grace is everything for nothing for those who don't deserve anything. You get it all. And you get it freely. And you don't deserve any of it, nor do I deserve any of it. You know what amazes me? You know, this time of year, you watch people in seals. I'm always amazed at people who queue up for seals. I just can't get my head around that, personally. You know, the thing is, you have Christmas Day, and it's bitterly cold, and you go out two, three in the morning to stand in a queue outside Tesco or somewhere, you know, to get 100 pounds off a TV, if you even get that much off, you know. And people will do that, and they'll feel like they got a bargain. And I think, why? Why would you do that? But nevertheless, people do that. Now here's the interesting thing. All of us would travel the length of the land, really, if we thought we were going to get something for nothing. If we thought we were going to get something free that was valuable to us. But here comes God, and He offers us salvation by His grace, absolutely free. What do people say? Don't want it. Don't want it. What a nonsense. What folly on our part. You think about the trouble we're in. You think we're dead and trespassed in sins. How we're devilish, walking according to the prince of the power of the air. How that we're in disobedience. How that we are depraved, fulfilling the desires of the flesh. How we're certain to be damned, that we are by nature the children of wrath. But God steps in. And he says, here's mercy for you. And here's love for you, and here's grace just for you. And I'll forgive you, and I'll cleanse you, and I'll take you home to be with me, and you can dwell in your own grace and favor apartment in the heavenly. There's a book written by Timothy Paul Jones simply called Proof, it's about grace. In that book he writes the following, and please bear with me, this is quite a lengthy reading, but I want to read this to you as we close out this evening and to try to follow along. He says this, I never dreamed that taking a child to Disney World could be so difficult, or that such a trip could teach me so much about God's outrageous grace. Our middle daughter had been previously adopted by another family. I'm sure this couple had the best of intentions, but they never quite integrated the adopted child into their family of biological children. After a couple of rough years, they dissolved the adoption, and we ended up welcoming an eight-year-old girl into our home. For one reason or another, whenever our daughter's previous family vacationed at Disney World, they took their biological children with them, but they left their adopted daughter with a family friend. Usually, at least in the child's mind, this happened because she did something wrong that precluded her presence on the trip. And so, by the time we adopted our daughter, she had seen many pictures of Disney World. She had heard about the rides and the characters and the parades. But when it came to passing through the gates of the Magic Kingdom, she had always been the one left on the outside. Once I found out about this history, I made plans to take her to Disney World the next time a speaking engagement took our family to the Southeastern United States. I thought I had mastered the Disney world drill. I knew from previous experience that the prospect of seeing cast members in freakishly oversized mouse and duck costumes somehow turns children into squirming bundles of emotional instability. What I didn't expect was that the prospect of visiting this dream world would produce a stream of downright devilish behavior in our newest daughter. In the month leading up to our trip to the Magic Kingdom, she stole food when a simple request would have gained her a snack. She lied when it would have been easier to tell the truth. She whispered insults that were carefully crafted to hurt her older sister as deeply as possible. And as the days on the calendar moved closer to the trip, her mutinies multiplied. A couple of days before our family headed to Florida, I pulled our daughter onto my lap to talk through her latest escapade. I know what you're going to do, she said flatly. You're not going to take me to Disney World, are you? The thought hadn't actually crossed my mind, but her downward spiral suddenly started to make some sense. She knew she couldn't earn her way into the magic kingdom. She had tried and failed that test several times before, so she was living in a way that placed her as far as possible from the most magical place on earth. In retrospect, I'm embarrassed to admit that in that moment, I was tempted to turn her fear to my own advantage. The easiest response would have been, if you don't start behaving better, you're right, we won't take you. But by God's grace, I didn't. Instead, I asked her, is this trip something we're doing as a family? She nodded, brown eyes wide and tear-rimmed. Are you part of this family? She nodded again. then you're going with us. Sure, there may be some consequences to help you remember what's right and what's wrong, but you're part of our family, and we're not leaving you behind. We headed to Disney World on the day we had promised, and it was a typical Disney day. Overpriced tickets, overpriced meals, and lots of lines mingled with just enough manufactured magic to consider maybe going again someday. In our hotel room that evening, a very different child emerged. She was exhausted, pensive, and a little weepy at times, but her month-long facade of rebellion had faded. And when bedtime rolled around, I prayed with her, held her, and asked, so how was your first day at Disney World? She closed her eyes and snuggled down into her stuffed unicorn. After a few moments, she opened her eyes ever so slightly. Daddy, she said, I finally got to go to Disney World, but it wasn't because I was good. It's because I'm yours. It wasn't because I was good. It's because I'm yours. That, my friends, is the message of outrageous grace. You see, outrageous grace isn't a favor you can achieve from God by doing good. It's a gift you receive by being God's. But God, mercy, love, grace. I hope tonight you can discover that mercy for yourself. I hope tonight you can experience that love in your own heart. I hope tonight that you can feel the power of his grace. Why not this very evening, if you've not already done so, commit your heart and life to Jesus and allow those two simple words, but God. to change your direction and your destiny, and to welcome you into His beloved family. You know, I'm glad for that day when Jesus saved me. I'm glad that, you know, my life is really defined by those two words, but God, I was going nowhere but hell. But God stepped in with mercy and love and grace. And he'll do the same for you tonight.