Well, I trust that was a blessing to your heart. What a comfort to know that our God is in control this morning. What a blessing. Turn to your Bibles, if you would, to I Peter chapter number 5. I Peter chapter 5. That's sort of going to be a jumping off place for us today. As for the next little while till we're able to come back together, God's led my heart to preach on some great words of the Bible. some great words of the Bible. And I believe Bible words are important. They help me to understand what God wants to do in my life, what God wants to do in your life. They teach me great truths about God, about His plan for man. They teach me something about His love for me, and we're going to understand that. And we're going to look at a special word this morning. Matter of fact, I believe it's the sweetest word in the Bible. The sweetest word in the Bible. Look if you would. I Peter 5, verse 10. If you don't have a Bible, the text words will be... a verse will be on the screen. Notice verse 10. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, Now notice again, first part of the verse, verse 10, "...but the God of all grace." Would you circle or underline that word in your Bible? Grace. Do you know, I believe that's probably the sweetest word in all of the Bible. As a matter of fact, you're going to find that the Bible says that our God is a God of grace. Here, I believe He's speaking of God the Father. God the Father is the God of all grace. Do you know in Hebrews 10 verse 29, the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit. of grace. And then the Lord Jesus in John chapter 1 in verse number 14 is said to be full or filled with grace. The Bible says there that the Word became flesh and we beheld His glory. The glory is the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and The Lord Jesus is full of grace, and He's the bringer of grace. Isn't that a blessing? Now this Bible word grace is used over 150 times in the New Testament. We notice that we talk about it being amazing grace, and it is amazing. It's precious. It's the sweetest word in the Bible. You're going to find that mercy and grace go together. They're two sides of the same coin. They're two rivers that flow out of the ocean of God's love. The best way for you and I to understand grace is to compare it to a couple other great Bible words like the word justice. Justice is God giving me or you what we deserve. God giving us what we deserve. God is just. And God will give men what they deserve in His justice. But now wait a minute. I'm thankful that God's not just just, but He's also merciful, aren't you? That God's a God of mercy. And so God gives us mercy is God not giving us what I do deserve. See, if all I received was justice, what I deserve, friend, I'd spend eternity apart from God in a place called hell, the lake of fire forever, and so would you. Did you know that? But thank God that God is a merciful God and that He doesn't want to give me what I deserve. He shows mercy, but then grace, grace Is God giving me what I don't deserve? Justice, God gives me what I do deserve. Mercy, God not giving me what I deserve. But then grace, is God giving me what I don't deserve? I'm so grateful for grace today. What about you? Grace, I'll give you some definitions, is the free, unmerited, and undeserved love of God in Christ, which meets man in his sin and shame and brings salvation. Grace, another wrote, is the downward stoop and reach of God's love for a lost mankind. Somebody said grace is what everyone needs, what no one deserves, and what only God can give. Somebody else said that grace is God's love lavished on undeserving sinners. Friend, listen, God doesn't just love you today. He lavishes His love on you in this thing called grace. I want you to turn your Bibles to Titus chapter 2. Would you turn there? We're going to look at several passes of Scripture today. Turn back a couple books to Titus chapter 2, and you're going to find that it is grace that saves us. Did you know that? I'm grateful that through grace God saves. There is saving grace. Look at chapter 2 of Titus in verse number 11. Notice the Bible said, "...for the grace of God," there it is, "...for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." You know, I've got good news today. You know what? Right now you cut on the news and all you get is bad news. I'm glad you opened the Bible. You get some good news, and the good news is that God is a God of grace, and He's given salvation to all mankind. Notice the Bible speaks of the appearance of His grace. that it hath appeared." That means to shine forth, to become visible, or made known. And friend, can I tell you, God manifested His grace in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. Do you know that Jesus Christ is the embodiment of grace? And God, through His Son, says, I love you, I love you, I love you. Isn't that a wonderful truth today? Notice the Bible says something about the love of the Lord Jesus. He looks over in verse number 14, "...who gave Himself for us." Do you know that God showed His grace in giving His Son? The Lord Jesus shows grace in that He gave Himself on the cross of Calvary for every one of us. I'm going to give you a verse to jot it down in your notes. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse number 9. The Bible says that He, talking about the Lord Jesus, by the grace of God tasted death for every man. You know what that means? That means He died that you and I might be saved. He took the penalty of the sin that you and I deserve so that in grace He might give us that that we do not deserve, and that's forgiveness and salvation and eternal life through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to notice something else in verse number 11 of Titus 2. Not only did grace appear, but grace is available. And I want you to notice it's available to everybody. The Bible said, The grace of God that bringeth salvation, saving grace, hath appeared to all men. Did you notice that did not say some men? It didn't say part of men. He didn't say most men. He said all men. That means you, friend. That means me. You see, God has made it possible for all men tragically lost in sin to be triumphantly lifted out of our sin. Thank God for saving grace. Now, I want you to look over with me a couple more books. Turn to Ephesians chapter 2. I want to learn a little bit more about this grace and salvation. You see, everybody needs to be saved. You know, right now, people are looking to the government and doctors and scientists to save them from a sickness or a disease and to save them physically. Friend, listen. I just want to help you understand something. That's an important need, but greater than all of that is to be saved spiritually and eternally from sin and hell through the Lord Jesus Christ. Friend, that's what the cross is all about. It's a rescue mission of grace. Look, if you would, Ephesians chapter 2 and find verse number 8. The Bible says there in Ephesians 2 and verse 8, "...for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." You see, grace equals the gift of God in salvation. Salvation is totally by grace. It's not rooted in the merit of man, but in the love of God. It's not a reward that we earn. It's a gift that we receive. The Bible is very clear in verse number 9, "...not of works that lest any man should boast." It's not of human effort or human ability. It's no part of the energy of man. It doesn't have anything to do with how religious we are, how righteous, Quote-unquote, we think we are, how good we are to other people. Friend, none of those things, not one human effort can make me right with God. You see, the world and false religion wants to spell salvation as do. Something you do. They claim that there's something you have to do in order to go to heaven, whether it's getting baptized, or joining a church, or taking communion, or doing the best you can. Friend, listen, salvation is not a matter of what we do for God. It's a matter of what God's already done for us. You see, that's grace. If it's of works, it's no more of grace. If I earn it, it's not God giving it to me. And friend, we can't earn it. No, God spells it D-O-N-E, done. Listen, it's not a matter if you do certain things like murder or lie or cheat or steal or commit adultery that'll keep you out of heaven. Friend, listen, it's rejecting Jesus Christ. It's what He's done. God in grace has done everything necessary to save us. It's not what I do or don't do, what I keep myself from. No, it's what God has done. And all we need to do is receive it by faith. And you're going to understand. Listen, you're saying, preacher, does that mean I can be saved and still live any old way I want to live? Here's the truth of it. If you get saved and experience God's grace, you don't want to live like you used to live. That's the difference. You want to gets changed. God's formula for salvation is the grace of the sinner plus the faith of the Savior, which equals salvation. Isn't that a wonderful truth? Grace is God's hand giving salvation. Faith is our hand receiving salvation. You say, but preacher, you just don't understand how bad I am. You don't know what I've done. And you know what? You're right. I don't know. But here's what I do know. That there was another man that felt that way. He was a man by the name of John Newton. He wrote a song that most everybody has known or heard about. It's called Amazing Grace. You know, earlier in John Newton's life, he was a slave trader. He was a captain of a ship and he was involved in the slave trade in the 1700s. He was convinced in his unconverted days that he was so bad, so wicked, so ungodly. He had done such wretched things that God could never save him. But you know what? He learned something everybody else needs to learn in a storm. In a storm, in a moment of peril, he was swept off of a ship by a wave out into the ocean, thought he was going to die, his life in peril. In that moment he cried out to God in salvation. You know what? God amazingly not only saved his soul, he saved his life. Another wave picked him back up, put him back on the ship. Isn't that amazing? And there God saved him by his marvelous grace. And later he goes on to write that amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. You see, what he learned was this, friend, that, listen, salvation is not a matter of how good I am or how bad I am, it's how gracious God is and where sin abounds. Grace does much more abound. Isn't that good? He learned this truth that grace is greater than all of our sin. Isn't that a wonderful truth today? But not only does God's grace save me, but God's grace enables me. Grace for the sinner. It leads to salvation. It's undeserved love that's lavished upon me that brings me to Christ. I'm glad His hand reached further down than I could ever reach up. But friend, on the other hand, once I'm saved, that doesn't mean that I no longer need grace. I need grace every moment, every hour. I'm grateful for grace, aren't you? Even after I'm saved, God gives me grace to live by. I want you to look at verse number 10 of Ephesians chapter 2. The Bible said, for we are His workmanship. That's an important word. You could write out beside that verse II Corinthians 5.17, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. You see, God makes us a new person when He saves us by His grace. And so grace makes us new, alright? We're created in Christ Jesus, alright? "...unto good works which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them." And so we find that we're to grow in grace, II Peter 3.18. We're to live in grace. Grace enables me to be the person that God wants me to be. You see, the grace that redeems the sinner refines the saint. The grace that saves us is the grace that changes us. And it's not just a one-time change, it's an ongoing change. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. Friend, listen, the old passing, the new lasting in my life. Isn't that a blessing? Aren't you glad that God doesn't leave us where He finds us? I'm glad God didn't leave me in my sin, for He lifted me out of my sin, set me on a rock, set my feet on a rock, established my going, put a new song in my heart. I'm reminded in John 8, there the Lord Jesus was being accused and there were some Pharisees that had set a trap for the Lord. Matter of fact, they had found a woman taken in adultery. They dragged her through the precincts of the temple. They cast her down in front of Jesus and they tell Him, say, Lord Moses said in the Bible that a person who commits adultery ought to be stoned. I'm just paraphrasing the event. Moses said she ought to be stoned. What do you say? The Bible said that Jesus stooped down and rode in the sand. I'm amazed at all the people that know what Jesus wrote and God never told us. I don't know what He wrote. You don't know what He wrote. Nobody else knows what He wrote except the Lord and the people there that day who knew what He wrote in the sand. I don't know what He wrote. But here's what I do know. He began to ride in the sand and then He made this statement, He that is without sin among you cast the first stone. Let me tell you what the Lord wasn't doing. The Lord, in that moment, was not condoning that woman's sin. God doesn't condone anybody's sin. He was condemning the hypocrisy of those who were trying to trip Him up and entrap Him and wanting to stone her. Alright? And He asks her, and you know what happens, when the Lord said, "...he that is without sin among you cast the first stone." The greatest of these, they began to drop the stone and they began to walk away. They left the scene. The Lord asked this woman a question. He said, Woman, where are those, thine accusers? And she said, looked around, there wasn't anybody around, and she said, No man, Lord. And here's what Jesus said, Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Do you know in that moment when that woman recognized who Jesus was, called Him Lord, She put saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He saved her, and He said, I'm not condemning you, and I want you to go, and don't continue your lifestyle. I've saved you from that, and I've changed you from that. And I'm just glad to report to you today, friend, there was a day in my life that I experienced the grace of God, and I don't have to go back and be what I used to be. Isn't that a blessing? And neither do you. Grace doesn't give me a license to live as I want. It gives me the liberty to live as I ought. Titus 2.12 tells me that the grace of God teaches us that to nigh ungodliness and worldly lusts we're to live soberly, righteously, godly in this present world. Friend, the Bible teaches me that my life is to be a thank you note to the God that saved me. That means that I'm to live out God's grace and God's grace will refine me. Friend, it will keep me from that that will harm me. It will lead me into that that will help me. It will keep me from being less and less of what I used to be and help me to be more and more what I ought to be for the Savior. It will help me to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Aren't you glad for the grace of God that saves us and then enables us? And then, you know what? We can serve by grace. I want you to look at verse number 10 again. Notice the Bible said, "...for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." That means that we're saved not by works, but to works. He's saying here that God's grace enables me to serve. Let me give you a verse. I Peter 4.11, "...if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ. Do you know whatever God gives me to do, He'll enable me to do? Do you know that when God's callings come, God's enablements? Grace for the Christian is divine enablement. It is the ability to be and do what God wants us to be and do for His glory. And whatever God calls you to do, friend, He'll enable you to do. You say, preacher, I'm confined to my house. I can't serve God. That's not true. That's not true. You can minister to your family. Matter of fact, not only that, but through social media and technology and telephone and other ways, we can send notes and cards and we can do all kinds of ways to minister. And you know what? That doesn't mean that somebody who's in a situation maybe they can't get out, that I can go by and pick up whatever they need, drop it by their house. I don't even have to see them. I can just send them a text or a call and say, hey, it's on your front porch. I want you to know I love you. There's all kinds of ways to be a blessing to somebody. To love people. Let me just tell you, friend. One day this is going to pass. Did you know that? This is not going to last. This is not going to last. We get into things and we feel like it's never going to end. My favorite phrase in the Bible, and it came to pass. This too shall pass. You know what? We're going to be back together here sometime in the near future. And we're going to be worshiping together and serving together. And folks, you know what? We don't want to get out of the habit of serving God. Let's let this be a moment where we recharge to serve God in an even greater way and launch out in an even greater way in the months ahead as we reach our community that may be in a more opportune way to reach with the gospel than it's ever been before. We have no idea. But we sure want to be ready, don't we? And whatever God calls us to do, He'll enable us to do. Sing and teach and serve and make a difference for our God. Friend, listen, we ought to just every day seek to serve Him. And so God saves us by grace. We live in grace. We serve by grace. And did you know we give by grace? Did you know that? I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians chapter number 9. 2 Corinthians chapter number 9 for just a moment. We give by grace. 2 Corinthians 9, and find, if you would, verse 7. 2 Corinthians 9, and notice, if you would please, verse 7. Notice verse 7, "...every man according to the purpose within his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity. For God loveth the cheerful giver, and God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that you always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work." You know, we have such a panic around us like we're going to run out of food, or we're going to run out of medicine, or we're going to run out of this, or run out of that, or run out of money. You know folks, it's God who takes care of us. Not the government. Not society. It's God. We've learned the frailty of riches, haven't we? That just a moment of tragedy can take all of our material resources, but it can't touch our God. David said, I was young but now I'm old and I've never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread. Do you know God takes care of those that are His? Friend, God's promised that what we need will be there. Do you know this matter of giving back to God is a love matter? I don't give because I have to love. I give because I want to love. as he purposeth is the idea of God laying it on my heart to give. God puts it in my heart about giving to Him in obedience and love and sacrifice and worship, and then gives me the grace to give it. Isn't that amazing? You see, I'm giving in response to God's grace. I gave this morning. I mentioned that earlier. It was a blessing. I was blessed because I was able to give. I was blessed because God had enabled me to do so and it was a joy. When I hit that button and I watched that little... moment of transaction take place, it blessed me. It's just like being here to put my offering in the offering plate. My heart rejoiced because I got to honor the Lord. I got to worship Him. You know, I got to prove the sincerity of my love. And folks, listen, let's remain faithful in this area and trust God in His grace to enable us who's going to meet our needs and we're going to meet the needs of God's work and God's ministry and God's will in the world today. But not only does grace save me, not only does grace enable me to live, not only does God enable me to serve, but thankful for God's grace enables me to give. Next, it strengthens me. I want you to jot this verse down. We won't turn to it, I'm just going to read it to you. 2 Timothy 2.1, Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. He's talking about being a soldier. And He said, I want you to be strong. Strong in what? In grace. You know what? We need to strengthen ourselves in grace. To be strong in the grace of God. That we might persevere. That we might remain strong. Hey, let's not wilt. Let's not wilt. Let's not give in to wrong attitudes and bad spirits and negative things. Hey, listen, we have hope today in the Lord Jesus. We have grace today. We can go on for Him. Let's trust Him. Let's be strong in Him. Let's be different from the world. Hey, they're going to wilt in the day of adversity. You and I can stand strong in the day of adversity because of our God. We're on a rock, folks. Praise God. Let me give you the last thing this morning. Not only is there saving grace and living grace and serving grace and giving grace, strengthening grace, but thank God for sustaining grace. James 4 verse 6 says, "...he giveth more grace." Do you know that just as you can never drain the ocean of God's mercy, you'll never empty the storehouse of His grace? Never will. We mentioned how that grace is divine enablement. It's strength for living. I'm going to give you another verse. Israel had been wandering through the wilderness for forty years. God had met every need. The Lord makes a statement to them in the latter part of Deuteronomy 33 and verse 25, And as thy days, so shall thy strength be. You know what God just said right there? Whatever comes your way today, His grace is sufficient to strengthen you and see you through. Isn't that a blessing? Isn't that a blessing? Now you're in 2 Corinthians 9. I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians 12. We think about adversity, and I'm not making light of the situation, but the reality of it is that while we may be confined to our homes, We may not be able to go out and do some of the things, maybe living in some uncertainty. There are other areas that are at the epicenter of this virus, and they're facing much more difficult circumstances than you and I are. Now, we ought to do our part to mitigate it, shouldn't we? Keep our community healthy and safe, and we ought to do our part in that. But you know, I think about just in our nation's history of our forefathers that faced the Great Depression, World War II, the influenza pandemic of 1918, 1919, polio outbreaks. This is not new. It's just new to us. because many in our day have never faced things because we all... I was thinking about my children and others their age. They expect to live longer than anybody's ever lived usually except pre-flood days because they live in a day of modern marvel of medicine. Hadn't always been the case in our nation. Just really been the last 50, 40, 50 years that that's the case and really just in this generation is that a reality. But the reality of it is that throughout history people have suffered. And really, I want to talk to you about a man who suffered greatly and his name was Paul. You can read about his sufferings in chapter 12. He suffered for the gospel. All of us are going to face times of suffering in life and difficulty. Whether it be what we're facing today, what Paul faced in his day, or what somebody may face in the future, I just want to remind you that the same grace that saves us and enables us to live and serve and give and be strong is the same grace that will sustain us no matter what we face in life. Did you know that? Isn't that a blessing? I want you to look in 2 Corinthians 12, look at verse 7. Paul said, "...lest I should be exalted above measure." Do you know why he said that? Because in the opening verses he talked about a trip to heaven that he made that he couldn't tell anybody about. And he said that, "...lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations." Verse 7, "...there was given to me a thorn in the flesh." Do you know that Paul saw this thorn as a gift? A gift. That word given means to give as a gift. He said, God, what's going on in my life? I'm not going to be bitter at you. I'm not going to be mad at you. I'm not going to be angry at you. I'm not going to lash out at you. I'm not going to have a bad attitude and fuss about it. God, I recognize you've given me a gift. I want to have a right spirit about it. That's a difficult thing, but grace can enable us to have a right spirit, can't it? This is not a thorn like a rose bush. It means to be impelled on a stake. It has the idea of something being thrust through him. There came points when you read about his life that he didn't think he could go on, that he despaired even of life. Every one of us, like Paul, faces times in our lives we don't think we can go on. We experience loss of our health, loss of job, loss of family, loss of livelihood, whatever it might be. But I want you to notice Paul makes a plea. Notice what he says in verse 8. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that he might depart from me. Three times Paul went to God and he said, God, if you'll remove this thorn, I'm sure I'll be a better church planner. I'll be a better evangelist. I'll be a better preacher. I'll be a better Bible writer. I'll be a better missionary. God, if you'll just remove this, I'm sure I can do so much more for you without this thorn than I can with this thorn. That makes pretty good sense, doesn't it, from a human standpoint. Look at the Lord's answer, verse 9. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee. Now I'm glad Paul didn't tell me what his thorn was, aren't you? Because I may not be able to relate. Right now, my thorn is I don't get to preach to you sitting in this building right now. That's a thorn to me. I want to be here with our people worshipping, serving, loving. I know that's the heart of our staff. That's where our heart's at. It's a little bit of a thorn right now, isn't it? We don't know what the thorn is. For others, their thorn may be much greater than our thorn, but the reality of it is we all face thorns in life. Your thorn may have nothing to do with what's going on right now, but yet you have despair in your heart. Or you feel broken. Or you feel hopeless. Or you feel like you can't go on. Or you feel like there's no end in sight and it's never going to get any better. Well, I've got good news for you. God said His grace can see you through. He said, my grace is sufficient. Did you notice that's present tense? He's not saying it was sufficient, Paul. He's not saying it will be sufficient, Paul. He said, no, right now it is sufficient. I will see you through. Church, I want you to get this. When we're at our weakest, God's at His strongest. He meets us at the point of our need and gives us the grace, the strength to go on. Look what Paul says in verse 9. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee. It's suffering grace. Sustaining grace. For my strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul, my ability is made perfect in your weakness because you can't, Paul, but I can. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me." Isn't that amazing? Then Paul says, I take pleasure in infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions, distresses, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I strong. Isn't that amazing? Christian, you may feel weak right now. It may be that temptation or Satan or something's beat you up. Life's beat you up. It might be a family problem. It might be a marital problem. It might be an emotional problem, spiritual problem. But I'm here to tell you God's grace is sufficient. Paul said, Most gladly. That's rejoicing grace, isn't it? We didn't even put that one on the screen. If we put seven up there, it would be the number of perfection, wouldn't it? Seven. I'm sure there's many, many more. But rejoicing grace. He said, Most gladly. He said, I rejoice. He giveth more grace. He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater. He sendeth more strength when the labors increase. To added affliction He addeth His mercy. To multiplied trials His multiplied peace. When we have exhausted our store of endurance, when our strength is failed and the day is half done, when we reach the end of our hoarded resources, our Father's forgiving is only begun. His love has no limits, His grace has no measure, His power no boundary known unto men, for out of His infinite riches in Jesus He giveth and giveth and giveth again. The Bible says that we're not to fail the grace of God, Hebrews chapter 12. We're to avail it. That means we're to use it, God says. God's grace is sufficient. It's there. It's available. I need to avail myself of it. I need to grasp hold of it by faith. I don't know where you are. I don't know what you're going through, but God does. And He has grace to meet you. Maybe yours needs to be saved today. Maybe yours is to live. Maybe you just need to live. And God doesn't want you to just survive this moment of upset in our lives. He wants you to thrive spiritually. It may be that your need is in the area of serving, or giving, or strengthening, or maybe today it's because of suffering, and you need sustaining grace. But I'm here to tell you, it's yours for the asking. He knows your need today and His grace is the answer and sufficient to meet your need. You see, from start to finish, the Christian life is a life of grace. It begins in grace. It continues in grace. And one day it will give way to glory. Friend, aren't you glad that it's the sweetest word in the Bible? John Newton in the second verse of Amazing Grace said this, "...through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. T'was grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home." Friend, I'm just here to tell you the sweetest word in the Bible is God's amazing, glorious grace.