Ephesians chapter four in the scriptures. And I want to begin here. And I also want to reference our theme verse for the month, because that's where we draw our sermon series and our monthly theme, the word of his grace from. And as you can see, the verse is printed here on the screen in front of you, where Paul said to the elders of the church, of Ephesus in Miletus. And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified." Here Paul was commending the leaders of the church unto God and unto the Word of His grace, assuring them that it was able to build them up and to give them an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. And I want you to understand now that this epistle that we are going to look into today was written by the man that said this to the elders of the church that received this. So there's a nexus here. We can understand that. And there's some further light that we can draw about the word of His grace as we study this epistle to the Ephesian church. And I want us to begin reading in verse number four of Ephesians four, where here it says, there is one body and one spirit, even as you're called in one hope of your calling. One Lord. One faith. One baptism. One God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. Now let me just stop and say that these are foundational doctrines for every believer that we must lay hold of that are spoken to in the scriptures. It tells us that there's one body. What is that? Alright, that's the church. That's that body of true believers in Jesus Christ that make up what is called the body of Christ, or the church. Now, God is working in this church age through churches local, like that that received this letter in Ephesus. and like Freeway Baptist in Phoenix. And so there's only one body, though, that is the greater body of true believers in Jesus Christ. And I stipulate by saying true believers in Jesus, because I imagine that perhaps in every church, wherever we might go in this world, There are people whose names are on a church roll, a membership roster, that are not a part of the body of Christ. because they have never genuinely trusted Christ by faith in Him alone for their eternal salvation. They're trusting in their communion, they're trusting in their baptism, they're trusting in their good works, they're trusting in the fact that their parents told them they made some decision years ago that they have no recollection of, and they're not genuinely saved. They're not a part of the body of Christ. So there's only one body. There's not many. There's one. One Spirit, there's only one Holy Spirit. There's not many mystical forces that God is using or anything like that. And I want you to understand that the Spirit of the living God is not a mystical force. He is a person, the third person of the Trinity, And He is the manifestation of the power of God. Jesus said, ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. Then we see in this verse, one hope of your calling. That is, look, there's going to be a resurrection of that body. That's the hope of every believer. And we know that that's what we have to look forward to, the blessed hope the Bible calls it. Then in verse 5, one Lord. There's only one Jesus, there are not many Jesus. We know that the Bible teaches us that in the last days there would be many, Antichrist that would raise up claiming to be the Lord, but there's only one there's one faith not many Pathways to heaven. There's not many ways of belief or systems of belief that God has ordained. There's only one that's why Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life and No man cometh unto the Father but by me. There's a one baptism, and that's not water baptism. It's talking about what we read of in 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 13, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, by which all true believers in Jesus Christ are at the very moment of their conversion baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. Then we see one God. There's only one God. Amen. Every morning and every evening, every good Jewish person says what is known as the Shema, which is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength. And they would say that every morning and every evening. There's only one Jehovah God was one. true God that they were told of, and yet, knowing that truth, they tried to turn away to other gods and committed spiritual adultery on Jehovah God. That's what the Bible says. There's one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. So, how do we know about these seven truths that bind us together as one? I hold it in my hand right here. It is the Word of His grace. That's how we know it. That's what binds the church together. And those were the things that Paul the Apostle was reminding the church in Ephesus about because they were having a little bit of dissent. And he wanted them to understand that their shared conviction of these things brought them together as a unified body, having these fundamental things shared in common. Now, in verse 7 we read this, But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Now he's going to talk about spiritual gifts. And God by His grace has given spiritual gifts to every man. Believer friend, you have spiritual gifts whether you know it or not. God speaks of them here in Ephesians 4. They're enumerated in greater detail in 1 Corinthians 12 and in Romans 12. But this is one of the texts that introduces that to us. And he says in verse 8, Wherefore, he saith, when he ascended up on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. So, he was dealing with the Jew. Those that were held in Abraham's bosom under a covenant were preached. Liberty. Those held captive there because of the Old Covenant. Jesus declared Himself to them during that three days where His body laid in the grave. And when He ascended up on high, He led those who were once captive out of Abraham's bosom. And the Bible tells us He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. So, when He led them out, He gave gifts to those New Testament saints to do the very things that He had commanded them to do. He didn't just say, try your hardest, do your best. No, He said, I'm going to gift you and the church as a whole with all that you need to do everything that I have told you to do. God never asked you to do anything without giving the means to do it. Did you hear me? God never asks you to do anything without giving you the means to do it. And so, that's a promise that I have claimed, as I have given to the work of the Lord when I felt like I was too poor to do so, and God always made a way. And many of you have discovered that as well. But then it says this, in verse number 9, now that he ascended, what is it? But that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth. And that was when he went into Abraham's bosom during that three-day period. Verse 10, he that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens. that he might fill all things. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body under the edifying of itself, in love. Lord, help us today as we study Your Word to discern this great truth, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. If you feel like you do not understand God's purpose for your life, you don't have to enroll at GCU to find it. Even though their billboards say, discover your purpose by coming to GCU, you'll discover your purpose by digging into the truth of God's Word. How many of you know God has a purpose for your life? The fact that you're here today and drawing air is an indication of the fact that God's not finished with you yet. He's got a work for you to do. At whatever age you are, at whatever place you are and stage of life, God has a purpose for you. I'm going to tell you, Brother Hilmer, went to be with the Lord four or five years ago now, and he was 92 years of age. And in the waning days of his life, there were times where he said, Pastor, I do not understand why I'm still here. And I would often chide with him and say, Hilmer, you know that you wouldn't be here unless God had a reason for you to be here. He's not done with you yet. And so, you know what? There were doctors and nurses that needed His witness. There were neighbors and friends and family members that needed His witness. And God was keeping Him here because He was using Him to salt this old unsavory world, to light this old sin-darkened world. God had a purpose for His life, and it was revealed in the Word of His grace and the Word of His grace. Now I want to just remind you of something that God's nature is that He is light. We understand in John chapter 1 the Bible says God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. But I want you to also bear in mind that the old devil, old ugly as I like to refer to him as, he's also got a plan for your life. How many of you know that? And so, if God is light, then the devil is darkness. If God is love, then the devil is hatred. If God wants to build you up through the Word of His grace, the devil wants to tear you down with his pack of lies. And the fact of the matter is that there are far too many people that are feasting on the lies that the devil is telling them, and they're being torn apart in their spirit and in their soul, and what they need to do is get plugged in to the Word of His grace. The devil would say, look, go ahead and go to church, just don't get carried away with it. It doesn't matter if you have a little bit of Jesus. Don't swallow the anchor. Don't get really excited about it because he wants to keep some minions on the church roster so that he can keep things stirred up among the saints. And so he doesn't mind if you come to church as long as you're a carnal church member. As long as you sleep through church and check the sports scores and your Facebook feed, he doesn't mind if you come. And that's what some people are doing right now. By the way, the devil doesn't mind you doing that, but God has a plan for your life and it's not that. Amen? Can I get an amen? Okay, good, I'm thankful for that. Brother TJ, would you go get me a bottle of water, please? He could find one, I need one to this morning. But I want you to see this. The Word of His grace is the Word of God which reveals the grace of God to man. And apart from the Word of God, we would have no basis for a belief in God. Because it is His Word that reveals it to us. How many of you know that? So, look, people say, oh, I've just always loved God. Well, how did you even know there was a God? I just felt Him. Look, this is not so ethereal, friends. I want you to realize that God has revealed Himself through His Word. I don't have time to go all into it and develop this as fully as you want me to, as I would like to, but read the first half of Hebrews 1. And God has spoken to us in these days, revealed Himself to us through His Word. And it is the word of his grace, and we need to know it, which, by the way, Brother Daniel is normally the guy that will upload these to the website. And since he's not here today, I took the liberty to copy these notes if you want to pick them up for the Max and Barbara will have them in the foyer. But look, we have no basis for belief in God without the word of God revealing to us. It is a word that reveals God to us and tells us that he has a plan for our lives. We wouldn't know that any other way. Sometimes we might believe that there is a God, but we wouldn't know that He has a purpose for our life unless He told us so. That we can have relationship with Him. And I want you to understand that those that neglect the Word of God, they're doing so to their hurt. And what will happen is even though you may be a Christian, you'll regress in your Christian life. You will begin to atrophy in your faith. Just like there are those who once were as strong as could be and they went to the gym and they lifted weights. And then you know what? They took a year off the gym and when they went back, they found that they couldn't lift as much weight as when they left the gym. How many of you have had such an experience? My hand is up. And the fact of the matter is the Bible really calls us as believers. Paul said to Timothy that we are to exercise ourselves unto godliness. How do we exercise ourselves unto godliness? By Doing the heavy lifting every day. Picking up the Word of God and opening it and allowing God to exercise our hearts under the Word of His grace. And I want you to understand, those that neglect the Word of His grace will never be able to stand strong when the storms of life begin to blow their way. God has ordained a way for you to grow. To grow stronger. To grow more mature. to grow in wisdom, and it is through the Word of His grace. In fact, when we look at this verse here, when it says, which is able to build you up, the word in the Greek, build you up, it's a long word, I don't want to try to impress you by quoting it to you, but let me tell you, it gives us the same indication as food for nourishment. It's what gives us the strength For the day, Linda is wanting me to be more physically fit. I don't know why she thinks that. I'm a beautiful specimen already, but specimen of what, I'm not sure, but she wants us to be more fit. We decided we're gonna try and go on this special diet this year, and I'm still rebelling against some of it, but Timothy is gonna go on it with me for a little while. He said, I'll try it with you for a month, Dad. And the other day he came home from basketball practice and said, Dad, I just didn't have any energy today. He said, it seemed like I didn't have the strength that I normally have. And I said, you weren't taking in the same nutrients and the same volume that you normally do. That's what you can expect. And the fact is, when he got home, I wanted to make him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or something, but it wasn't on the diet. And I think it's probably from the pit of hell, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are not on a diet. Can I get a witness there? That or fried chicken, either one. It's got to be straight from the pit of hell. But God wants you to grow in Him. He wants you to be built up in Him. And I think that we have to acknowledge as we begin this study that it is the Word of His grace that is the instrument of growth in our life. is a word of His grace that is the instrument of growth in our life. It is not the law of God. Because the only thing that the law alone could do for you is tear you down. Reveal how weak you are. Show you how incapable you are. Show you how depraved you are. That is the function of the law. No one will ever be made holy by keeping the commandments. That's why, look, the Bible says in Romans 3, for by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. The law was given, it says there in Romans chapter number 3, that every mouth may be stopped And every man might be made guilty before God. That's why the law was given. So, a religion that tells you you've got to keep the law in order to make heaven is feeding you a crock of bologna. That's not on my diet. And I'm taking it off yours, alright? So, get off that bologna diet and just start trusting what God said. Because all that the law could do is tear you down and everything that the word of his grace will do is build you up. I don't know which you would prefer, but I know what I'd prefer, right? How many of you have ever done something in your life and you had a great deal of fulfillment and someone tried to pick it all apart? How many have ever had that happen? And then how many of you have talked to somebody else and they just were effusive in their praise about how wonderful it was, what you're able to accomplish. And it just added something to you. Have you had that experience? And look, I want you to know that the law is only going to pick you apart until there's nothing left on your carcass. But what God wants to do is put meat on the bones and strengthen the bones and help you to stand up tall. in the storms of this life. I want you to notice here in Ephesians that the Bible reveals to us, the Word of His grace saves. Would you notice this as we look at the ministry of the Word of His grace today is our message, the ministry of the Word of His grace. Would you notice with me first of all, the Word of His grace saves. And the Bible reveals in chapter 1 that plainly to us, it says in verse number 12, or verse 13 rather, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard, what? The word of truth. The gospel of your salvation. What is that? That's the word of His grace. The word of His grace. The gospel of your salvation. In whom also after that ye believed. So how did I come to believe? By the Word of Truth. By the Word of His Grace. That's what led me to the place to believe in God. And it was the Gospel of my salvation. It's the Gospel of your salvation. And so what we see is that The Bible says, "...in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." Now, folks, as I mentioned earlier, there are those that would say, I just always love God. Well, I'm glad that you love God. I'm glad that you have a warm, fuzzy feeling about God. But the reality is this, you may have had a warm, fuzzy feeling about the concept of God without knowing the person of God. And it is the Bible that reveals it. It is the truth that declares it. And so the Word of God will ultimately be that which is our salvation. Apart from it, we are lost helplessly and hopelessly, my friends. Now, how many of you had a difficult time getting to church this morning? Let me see your hand. How many of you encountered the freeway closure? And that wasn't very much fun, was it? No, we tried to get the word out to as many people as we could. And how many of you got the email from the church office? All right, several of you did. And I hope that many more will plug into that. But we sent out an email to try to help as many people as we could with that. But you know, there were those that tried to take a shortcut to get by that. And you know what? They found themselves somewhere where they weren't sure where they were. And I want you to know that, look, when you try to go your own way and follow your heart, right? Chase your dreams. You know what? You're going to find yourself in a place that you didn't intend to go. But the word of His grace will lead you all the way home. It's the gospel of our salvation. It's the Word of God. That's why oftentimes, Brother John, when I talk to people that say, well, I've trusted Christ as my Savior, I did that a long time ago. I generally will ask them this question. I'll say, was there a time in your life where someone opened the Word of God and from the Scriptures showed you that you were a sinner and that you needed a Savior? Well, nobody ever did that. I just kind of believed it. Well, how did you know even what to do? How did you even know your condition? You didn't just know. Right. It's something that is revealed through the word of His grace. And apart from it, we are lost. The Bible tells us this. It is the word of truth that is the basis for our faith, because it says in whom he also trusted after he heard the word of truth. You don't believe on him and then say, oh, that's what I believe. No, it was. This is what I need to believe. Brother Richard Lassen is not here today. His mama is. I texted a little bit with Richard yesterday. And when I first sat down with Richard, he shared his personal testimony with me. And I was very blessed. And I talked to him about his salvation. He said, you know, I just decided I was going to study the word of God and I was going to try to discover the truth for myself. It wasn't anybody that took him. And so he just opened the word and he started reading and asking God to bring it home to his heart. And through reading the word, guess what? He came to the conviction he was a sinner and needed to be saved. And he trusted Christ. He said, he said, no pastor sat down and showed me from the Bible. It was the Holy Spirit that showed me as I went through the word of truth. And when I saw the truth in God's word, I believed it. So you know what I did? I took him through the plan of salvation, and at every point I said, is this what you believe? He said, yes, sir. I said, do you believe it? He said, yes, sir. I said, you believe the gospel of our salvation and on the authority of God's Word, you're safe. It may not have happened in what we might consider to be a conventional way, but God uses every mean to get His Word out, and if we simply believe the truth, it will save us, amen? And I don't know about you, but I'm pretty tickled that He does. Otherwise, I'd be in a world of hurt. If it was up to me to try to find my own way, I'd be lost forever, and so would you. And so, the Bible is what establishes our faith. Romans 10, 17 says, So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And so, apart from that new birth, which is salvation, occurs in salvation. Jesus told Nicodemus about it in John chapter 3. Apart from that, we would never be built up. The Bible says in 1 Peter 1 and verse 23, being born again by an incorruptible seed, which is the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." So I come into this world as a baby when I have believed Jesus as Savior by means of the new birth that is affected by the truth of God and the Spirit of God, bringing it to light in my mind and giving me the faith to simply believe it. The Word of His grace saves us because God doesn't want to condemn you. The Bible says in the book of John 3 and verse 17, For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. So, that's the Word of His grace, man! Come on, man! just appealing to the left side of the audience today. But come on, man! Some of you are awake enough to get that one, all right? The rest of you are like... I'm glad you're thinking about it. I smell the wood burning. I want you to understand, secondly, that the word of His grace secures. It secures. I'm going to tell you something. If this were not the Word of His grace, we could almost come to the place where we believe that, as long as I did what God told me to do, I would be in good stead with God. But when I stopped, then I'm in deep yogurt. I am in big, big trouble. Amen? So, look. That's not the truth. Because nothing can ever affect the standing that you or I have before God right now. It's eternal. Look at chapter 1 with me, alright? It's not in the notes, but you can write this down. In chapter 1, here's what the Bible says. In verse 19, what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and have put all things under His feet. and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is the body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." I want you to know that the Bible tells us that in chapter 2 and verse 6, He hath raised us up together with Jesus and made us, meaning believers, sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Do you know where you are today, believer friend? Do you know where I am today as a believer in Jesus Christ? I am right now in Christ, far above principalities and powers, in heavenly places, at the exalted place, the right hand of the throne of God on high, and that is where I will remain, and so will you. I have an eternal standing before God because of the Word of His grace, not because of anything which I have done. You can say amen when I preach that good. That's where we are right now. That is my eternal standing before God. And we're going to talk about this in later months, but it is our standing in grace, the Bible tells us. We're only there because of the word of His grace, not because of the goodness of your deeds. And listen, if you didn't do anything to get there, You can't do anything to be kicked out of there. Let me say that again. If you didn't do anything to get there, you can't do anything to be kicked out of there. What did you do to get saved? I'll tell you what I did. Believe. Believe God. It wasn't that I got baptized, took communion, kept the commandments, you know, kept the Boy Scout Code of Honor or anything else. Right? It was, I believe God. And that's what brings about salvation. So we see the word of His grace secures us. In verse 13 of chapter 1 it says, In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye have believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. The Holy Spirit of God himself, the manifestation of the power of God, sealed you. And you know how long he sealed you for? Forever and ever world without end. Amen. Forever and ever. So can I ever lose my salvation? Can you? No, never. You say, well, somebody told me that, you know, the idea of once saved, always saved is not in the Bible. And the person that told you that has never read the Bible. Okay, I'm just telling you. I'll give you another verse that's in the Bible. It's the book of Jude, verse number 24. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless For the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. I don't know about you, but listen, I'm so grateful that God secures me by the Word of His grace. The only way I know that I'm eternally secure is because God tells me in the Word of His grace. Do I deserve it? No. It's only by the grace of God. It's only by the grace of God. I'm going to tell you something. There are people in here today that they really want to believe that, but they kind of think that maybe I'm reading it wrong. They say, you don't know what I've done. No, but God does, and you're still sealed. God put His signet on that. That means finality. It's done. Finito. You can't take anything from it. You can't add anything to it. It's done. It's sealed with the signet of heaven. And what God has sealed, no man can open up. You read sometime about the books that no man was worthy to open because they were sealed. But the only one that could break the seal was God Himself. And God swore by an oath and sealed it with His own blood. that we would indeed be partakers of the Word of His grace, and once saved, saved eternally. And praise the Lord for it. I want you to see we're sealed until the day that God calls us home. I like that verse that the Bible gives us in 1 Peter 1.5 that says that we are kept by the power of God. It's not our own. Because if it was up to us, we would be on the fast track to hell. We would. We absolutely would. I want you to see with me if you would here, the word of His grace supplies. Let's go back to Ephesians 4, and we'll notice this. Word of His grace supplies. It says in verse 12, the reason why He gave apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers, which their whole job All those guys that were just named, that were given to the church, their whole job is to preach the Word of His grace. That's their whole job, right? When Pastor Eccleberry was here as our senior pastor, he characterized a ministry at this church as a senior pastor for almost 34 years by preaching the Word of His grace. He wrote a book called Unclaimed riches and it served as the foundation for Bible study Cottage Bible studies all over the valley. Okay. Do you know what it was revealing? The word of his grace why because the job of a pastor is is wrapped up in declaring the Word of His grace. That's my job. That's really my biggest job, is to make sure that I'm rightly dividing the Word of Truth and feeding the flock of God. That's what Peter admonished the pastors to do in 1 Peter. But what we see is this. It supplies us. And so, when we discover the meaning of words, and words have real significance, in our theme verse for this month it says, I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace which is able to build you up. And the word build you there is of course meaning building as with an edifice, but it also means to strengthen. and to grow. When you build something up, it's getting larger, it's growing. God wants you to grow in Him. And He wants you not just to grow tall, but to grow strong. I have had the opportunity to play basketball for many years of my life. I played competitively in the college. And I know I don't look like that, but you know, it's true. But the fact is, look, I knew a lot of guys who were really tall, but they weren't really strong. Have you ever seen guys that, man, seem like you're about 10 feet tall, but they had no meat on their bones whatsoever? And in fact, I can remember getting in a fight with a guy that was about a foot taller than me, and I cleaned his plow because he was weak as teeth, and he was just as slow as he could be. He was all lanky and stuff. And the fact is, I wasn't a big fighter, but he picked it with me, and you know, He's going to start it, I'm going to finish it. That's all there was to it. And you know, when you're kind of the shorter guy on the ball team, you can't back down to that or they're going to be shoving you around the rest of the season. But anyway, he was really tall, but he wasn't all that strong. I know a lot of Christians that are just like that. They have an experience with God that is a mile long and an inch deep. They've been saved for a long time, and they read devotionals here and there, and they look on the Internet every once in a while for inspirational verses. But you know what? When the storms of life come to blow, and when their kids are in a crisis, and when their marriage is in a crisis, they don't know where to turn. Why? Their experience with God is a mile long and an inch deep. They want to Google the solution instead of going to God and seeking the Word of His grace. The Word of His grace will give us all that we need to nourish us. Now, I want you to understand something. The Word of God will always fit together like a hand in a glove. Because when we consider the Word of God, it is likened to milk. 1 Peter 2. As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may what? Grow there by. So it's like milk. Look, milk does the body what? Remember that commercial? Some of you are old like me. Right? Milk, it does the body good. Right? And so, what does it do? It helps to strengthen bones. It gives you calcium that you need. It helps to build you up. And the Word of God is like in the milk. It's like in the meat. The Bible says in Hebrews 5.14, that strong meat belonging to them that are of full age, who by reason of use have exercised their senses to discern both good and evil. And it's talking about the Word of His grace. And what we have to understand is we need the meat of the Word of God, too. We need that protein to build muscle and to grow. And so, look, it's like unto bread. Jesus said in several places, and we read it throughout the Scriptures, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God shall man live. The Word of God is like unto bread. We need it. Jesus said, I'm the bread of life. And so, look, this book reveals Jesus. It's the bread come down from heaven. It's like unto honey. And it's sweeter, Psalm 119, verse 103 tells us, sweeter than the honey in the honeycomb. It's like water. Without water, you shrivel up and die. How many of you know that? When I was laying there feeling sorry for myself, I was getting ready for oral surgery, and I made the mistake of bringing up a YouTube video of someone having their wisdom teeth pulled out. It was zero comfort to me. It was like me just seeing the torture that was going to be imposed on me. And so I had a serious talk with the oral surgeon about sedation dentistry. Doc, I need you to put me out, because I saw too many YouTube videos on this. But look, I watched a video about what happens to your internal organs when you don't drink enough water. And you know what it convinced me? That I probably need to drink some more water. And my wife is on that big bandwagon, especially when you live in the valley. Your body is mostly water, and if you deprive it of that, you're depriving it of something that it needs for life and health. And the Bible says that the Bible washes us with the Word. It's the washing of the water of the Word. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy Word. And so, it is like in the water. These are the things that nourish a body, that give it health and strength. And apart from that, what are you going to do? Google it. How many of you have ever sat in or listened to some of the hearings with the magnates of the tech companies like Google and Facebook? You know, those guys think they're smarter than anybody, including you and God. And they're the ones that are paying people to say what Google should say when you ask it questions. Well, you have a lot of faith, don't you? The question is in who? Amen. We had an electronic magnetic pulse attack on our country, and it disabled every computer within an eighth of a second. And you didn't have an Internet. Some of you would have no idea. What to do when trouble came. You wouldn't have any idea. Listen, it supplies us. It gives us everything that we need. Some people think, well, the Bible is irrelevant. It doesn't speak to the issues in my life or I've been through this or I've been through that. Listen, you're only saying that because you haven't read it. Because if you read it, you'll discover that your problem that you think is so unique to you and that, you know, nobody can understand, not even the best psychoanalyst can figure you out. The Bible says in 2 Peter chapter one in verse three, that he hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. Not some stuff that you need. He spoke to some of the problems you're going to face. No, he spoke to All of the problems that you're going to face. The twisted stuff? The twisted stuff. The convoluted stuff? The convoluted stuff. The really base and degrading things? Yes, the base and degrading things. Because all of those things are spoken to exhaustively in the Word of God. I cannot even begin to tell you how many verses there are in the Bible about addictions, and people, they wanted, you'll give me the big book, a big... Well, why not give me the Word of His grace? It's going to be the thing that set me free. And it has more in there about addictions than you could ever imagine. Well, you know, I was I was violated by someone that I trusted, and I don't find that because you haven't read it. You didn't read about the children of David and the incest there. You didn't read about the children of Noah. You didn't read about Lot's daughters. You didn't read about those types of problems. But the Bible is chucked full of things to say about the base, the sinful, the wicked, the evil, the deceptive, the ugly. It's all in there. And so we're going through life thinking, nobody has the answers for me. It's because we haven't read the book, the Word of His Grace, because you've been torn down by the circumstances of your life, and God wants to give you the hope that you can be built back up again, and it can happen as you go to the Word of God. It will supply you with everything that you have need of. Now, I want to tell you something. There are a lot of people who say, OK, what I need to do is I need to join a Bible study. You know what? That might be your downfall. Now, I'm just, follow me here, because how many of you are astute enough to know that not everybody that hosts a Bible study knows what the Bible is really saying? Now, how many of you have ever been in a small group Bible study? Let me see your hand. Raise it up big and high. Okay, you've been in a small group Bible study. Now, how many of you have ever, like me, been in a Bible study situation where you go into a room and there's a circle, everybody sits down in a chair and it's in a big circle, and so then, The facilitator of the class says, OK, I want you to read that verse. OK, now, Mark, tell us what that verse means to you. OK. Well, I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of vocation where you're called. What it means to me is that I am in a hellacious prison in my life. That's what it means to me. Okay, next. Linda, you read the verse. Tell us what it means to you. Well, it means that Mark needs to get probation. Because we've got babies to feed. Now, I know I'm making a little lie, but you've been to those where everybody goes around in a circle and says what it means to them. You're not studying the Bible! Fourteen opinions of what they think it says. We don't need to ask people, what does this mean to you? What do you think this is? What we need to know is what is God saying here? We need someone to study the Word, to rightly divide the Word, and then declare the truth so that we can be built up with it. Instead of going home saying, well, I feel better because everybody else is as screwed up as I am. None of us has any answers, but we're going to come back next week and find out about Linda's problems. And that'll make me feel better because when I discover she's got problems, it'll make me feel better about mine too. You know, God doesn't want to give you that lame old stuff. He wants you to have the truth that's going to build you up and set you free. The law will put you in bondage, but the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ will set you free. I want you to see the Word of His grace. It strengthens us. I don't have time to develop this all the way through, but most of you know this. 1 Corinthians chapter 13, I believe it's verse 8, it says, when I was a child, I spake as a child, I thought as a child, I understood as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. So the indication is that there is a growth process and that the goal is to grow up. True or false? So if I'm a newborn babe in Christ when I get saved, the goal of the Christian life is not just to go to studies or download stuff or repost things that someone else said. It's for us to grow up in our relationship with the Lord. I think about what Paul said in Hebrews 5. He said, what time you ought to be teachers of the Word ye have need that one teach you again the first things as of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk and not meat. For hitherto ye are not yet able to bear it, but strong meat belonging to them that are of full age, who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." So what is he saying? Listen, we've got to come to the place grow to the point where we're not on a baby food diet. that were on the bottle throughout the duration of our Christian life being spoon fed. And I'm going to tell you there are people that will flock to people on TV and radio and buy their books because you know what? They know how to reprocess and break it down and add a little sugar because a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. And they want to candy coat it so you like it and you're happy with them and you keep sending them money. Every once in a while we need somebody to just cut the meat and say, Eat everything on your plate. Right? Look, this is the meat of the Word. This is the bread from heaven. This is the water that God has given us. This is the milk. But understand, this is not a smorgasbord. How many of you know what a smorgasbord is? You ever read at Luby's? That's what we call a smorgasbord. You know, I have a little of that. I have some of that. You know, oh, no, I'm swearing off of that, right? I don't want that. And that's how a lot of people are when they go to the Word of God. Well, I have a little bit of this. Give me a double scoop of 11 verses, but all of the judging verses, you can omit those. You know what? Those judging verses, they get me excited about the Word of His grace. Because I know that I don't have that to look forward to. And God wants me to look at His whole counsel, not just the parts of it that please me. And there are people that are running after what pleases them. I'm going to tell you, And I'll finish up here in a minute. Are you nervous? You okay? You good? Okay, good. Listen, there are people that have been in church for a long time, long enough to know the truth. And they've come to learn a little bit of it. But you know what? They quit using the Word. The Bible becomes a prop on the coffee table of their life. Okay? It's just something they carry around all the time. When my mom had Alzheimer's, she carried a wallet, but there was no money in it. She wasn't allowed to have any. She would have lost it or given it away. She didn't have a driver's license anymore because she wasn't allowed to drive. So, you know what the wallet was? It was like a security blanket for her. It just made her feel better, but it served no real purpose. And there's a lot of people that carry the Bible that makes us feel good for having it, but it really serves no purpose in your life. Because you rarely open it and read it with any understanding without somebody standing over you telling what it means. God gave you the Holy Spirit to teach you what it means. To bring to light those passages that you have darkness in your understanding about. And I want you to know that Look, the Bible tells us in Proverbs 27.7, the full soul loatheth even the honeycomb. But to the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet. You know what that means? When you haven't been in the Word for a long time, and your soul is withering away for spiritual hunger. you'll eat just about anything. You'll start digging into the dumpster behind Cain's to try to find some chicken. There are people that will go on a junk food diet because that's all they see in front of them. And it'll be great to them because they haven't had anything to eat. When I got this dumb toothache, About five days without eating solid food, I lost 12 pounds. Gained it back in about 12 hours once I started being able to eat. But let me tell you something, I just, I couldn't take anything. But you know what? When I decided, okay, I'm gonna eat something, I went to the grocery store and I'm thinking, what can I eat, what can I eat? I'm walking around thinking, what's not gonna hurt this dumb tooth? And I'm walking around and I, there's Jell-O pudding. There's chocolate pudding packs and six packs of chocolate pudding. I said, you know, I believe I can eat that. And I hadn't had anything to eat in days. And you know what? I took those back to the office. I had them on my desk. I was hurt. And I said, Jenny, I don't know how long I'm going to be here, but while I'm here, I'm just going to have something to nourish myself with. She's like, what do you have? And I said, pudding. So I mean, I broke those open, I'm digging into the pudding. Man, that was as good as if I'd eaten prime rib and a baked potato loaded and salad, all the fixes. Listen, it was great. To the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet. You know what that means? If you get away from God and His Word, and you don't exercise yourself in it, and you leave and you go to a place and you find yourself withering away spiritually, you might go to a church that doesn't really declare the whole counsel of God, that doesn't even preach doctrine. And you'll think, because there's a Bible on the table and someone's talking about it, then I'm all in for it. And you'll start even swallowing the error. And that's what the devil wants to plunder, because you're easy pickings. Listen, the word grows us up and strengthens us in the faith. It says there in verse number 14, it says, or in verse number 13, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God. That's through the word of God and unto a perfect man. That means mature, fully developed under the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, He wants to grow us up. Why? That we, verse 14, henceforth be no more children. Don't be a child in your understanding of the Word of God. Dig into it. Get to know it. It will bring the saint of God and the church to a place of maturity. The last thing I would say about the word of His grace is the word of His grace, it satisfies. It satisfies. Verse 13 says, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man. What is that characterized by? The measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. I'm being formed into the very image of Jesus. And that's not a physical visage of Christ. That means my life as I live it will resemble the life of Christ. I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. You see, Christ came to dwell within us, not so that you could, in your own strength, live out the life of Christ, but so that you could be a vessel through which he might live out his own life, the very life of Christ through you. He gave His life for me, that He might live His life in me, that He might live His life through me. And so we understand that when we are formed in the image of Christ, it will make us like the one who is peace. You know what the Bible says in Psalm 119 verse 135? Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. They don't think somebody's violated my rights or being mean to me, I have the right to be offended. No. You know why? You can't offend a dead man. When I realize that I'm dead to sin but alive unto God, It's revealed in His Word, and I love that truth. Guess what? Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. You know what? If you're always mad and upset, if you're always frustrated and in a tizzy, read Psalm 119, 135, and then come and tell me that you are consistently, faithfully feeding on the Word of God. strengthening your emotions, feeding your spirit and your soul, so that when you're offended, your feelings are hurt, you're at peace. Because when I grow through the Word of His grace, I'm formed into the image of the One who is the Prince of Peace. So, don't tell me you're in the Word. You won't even have to tell me. Oh, no. Because when the trouble comes, you're not going to be blown out of the tub. You're not going to be in a tizzy, all up in arms. You'll have great peace. It will fulfill you like it did Paul. And I'm going to just close with this. I'm going to say, Not all the way to the end yet, but I'm going to tell you. The Apostle Paul said, And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified. Then you know what he said next? I have coveted no man's gold or silver or apparel. You know what he was saying? What I'm leaving you with was enough for me. And it'll be enough for thee. It was enough. He didn't have to have the validation of the world. He didn't have to have the things of the world. He had God. He had the word of his grace. And it was enough. He who has God and everything has no more than he who has God and nothing. He said, I'm satisfied with Jesus. I'm satisfied with the word of his grace. It's good enough for me. It'll be good enough for me. Heavenly Father, thank you for this time and your word. Help us, Lord, to understand that You have given this Word to us so that we might be, day by day, brought into the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ, that we might be like Thee. Lord, may we see that You fulfill a vast ministry through the Word of Your grace in each of our lives. May we not neglect it, May we be grateful for it and may we hunger for it day and night. Our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed. No one's looking about. Perhaps this morning you're seated in the service and you would say, Pastor, I don't have that security that you were talking about earlier, that once I'm saved, I'm always saved. I'm not even sure that I'm saved and on my way to heaven. Not sure that if I died today that I would go to heaven, but I'm concerned about that. And if that's you, I don't want to embarrass you at all, but I'd like to have the joy of remembering you in prayer. And today, if you're not certain that you're on your way to heaven, you would say, Pastor, don't embarrass me, but I would appreciate it if you would pray for me. If that's you, while no one is looking, I wonder if you just slip your hand up and say, Pastor, pray for me. Just put it up and write that down. I'll see where you are and remember you in prayer. Is there one like that? Just put it up and write that down. God bless you. Is there someone else who can put it down? Perhaps there's someone that would say, Pastor, I know I'm saved, but I have to admit I'm a little immature in my development because I haven't really been feasting on the Word of His grace to build me up. But God is speaking to my heart today, and I want to begin to lay a hold of this ministry that it desires to have in my life. Pray for me that I would begin anew and afresh to have a relationship with God through His Word. Here's my hand. Lift it up, would you, if you'd like that. God bless you. Many hands. Several hands here. God bless you. Perhaps today the Lord is speaking to you about becoming a part of this church fellowship, maybe about following the Lord in believers' baptism. I don't know how God may be dealing with your heart, but if He is, we want to give you the opportunity to respond. In just a moment, we're going to sing just a couple of verses of invitation. Most importantly, if you're not sure that you're on your way to heaven, I want to invite you to step out and just meet me at the front. I'll be waiting here for you. Allow me to have a counselor with a Bible, show you from that Bible how you can be absolutely certain that every sin is forgiven and that heaven is yours forever. Be the greatest decision that you've ever made. Perhaps you just want to come and kneel and say, God, here I am. I'm a little A little skinny, because I haven't had much to eat lately out of your word. God, I want you to strengthen me through the word of your grace. It'll build you up. It'll build you up. Lord God, I pray that you would bless this invitation time to every heart. Lord, have your will in our lives in these few moments, we pray. In the lovely name of Jesus.