Let's pray. Lord Jesus and Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the many things you've given us, and most of all, for your grace that you pour upon us each and every day. Help us now as we get back into your word and study. We pray in Jesus' precious holy name, amen. Grace from God, if you will pick it up in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 1. Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenus our brother. And to the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints with all that are In every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs and ours. Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ. The key point there, that the grace that comes unto us is by the pathway of Jesus Christ, by His finished work that He pours upon us each and every day. The very breath that we have, our thoughts that we are able to put together. Everything that we have and that are is all given upon us by grace, unmerited favor because we surely don't deserve all the many, many blessings that we receive each and every day. As he continues, that in everything ye are enriched by Him, by Jesus Christ, everything that we have is given to us, the enrichments that we have. in all utterance and in all knowledge." I like the way he's acknowledging there the fact that our information, our wisdom, our understanding, our knowledge, which is the truth, comes from Jesus Christ. Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're not lacking anything when we really are tied in with Jesus Christ, because He's pointing out here to the church at Korneth, so that you come behind in no gift. When we are in the full grace of God, He's going to pour upon us way more than we even deserve, and that is grace, and the many blessings that He pours upon us continuously. And when we're really tied in, we're not lacking anything. Verse 8, "...who shall also confirm you unto the end." There again, once again confirming. Confidence that we know we're tied in and it is going to be fulfilled. That we will be with Him for eternity. That we have salvation. That it is sealed by the power of the Holy Ghost. It is within each and every one of us that have trusted in Jesus Christ and are blessed by His grace. who shall also confirm you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. And to be found blameless, you need to be totally tied in with the Lord, stay tied in with the Lord, put Him number one in your life, and be guided by Him in everything that you say, everything that you do, every step that you take. And when you do stumble, the grace is available to us to go and ask for forgiveness for that stumble, so that we may be found blameless in the day of judgment. Alright, jump on over to Ephesians chapter 1. Here again we see a letter of Paul to the church at Ephesus. And the greeting here also pertaining to grace. In Ephesians chapter 1 verse 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, I like his introduction there. An apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Not by the will of man, or even by his own will, but by the will of God that he became an apostle. to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Him according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood for the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence." All the many things He's poured upon us, all by grace, and in here He's talking about how we are according to Him chosen. It is His will The Holy Ghost actually calls people in and it is that calling that he's speaking of here in verse 5 which was predestined, it was predetermined that this calling would occur. It isn't that we are predestined to either accept the call and become Christians or to deny it. It isn't that we're predestined down a certain pathway because there's some false teaching out there that teach that. They look at this verse right here about having predestinated us into the adoption of children that it's predetermined who's going to be saved and who's not going to be saved. That's not what he's talking about here. It was predetermined that the opportunity of salvation was there that you could become children. It's up to you, because we've all been given a free will to accept that, to receive that, and then be poured upon by all the many, many graces that come upon us, or to deny that, turn against that, and to rebel. So it's not that we're predestined that we are all chosen to be Christians. It is predetermined, predestinated that the opportunity would be there for us to be able to have that available to us. As verse 4 says, according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. before the foundation. God knows everything past, present, and future. It's beyond our capability to comprehend all of that, but He knows it. And he has established things, set things in motion, and pours upon us so much grace and gives us opportunities to be a part of his work. And it was predetermined all the way back there what would happen, when it would happen, and so forth. We can't really wrap our minds around all of it to understand all of it. But know that if we stay tied in, that He will give us, as He says down there, that wisdom and prudence, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. So when you have concerns, when you have questions, when you have confusion, turn to the Lord. Ask for more of that grace, unmerited favor, that wisdom, understanding, peace that He speaks of also. All available to us. Art, flip right on over there to chapter 2 of Ephesians. Chapter 2 of Ephesians reads, And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. The word quickened means to be brought back to life. Because we know we come into this world spiritually dead. And he, by his finished work, poured his grace upon us, and we are brought back to life, quickened by that finished work. When we accept the call, receive that call, and acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, He quickens us, brings us back from the dead. Because we were dead in our sins, in our trespasses. And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." Reminding us where we came from. among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." Once again, emphasizing where we came from, knowing what we've come from, but yet by the grace of God, we are given the opportunity to have salvation. as it continues, verse 4, but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We really need to acknowledge that and understand that, that Christ is in us and that we are in Christ. And Christ is sitting on the right hand of the Father right now. And we are in Him. When we can even acknowledge or understand a little bit of that, it's still beyond our comprehension that we are in Him. It's amazing. Verse 7, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. We haven't even begun to see all the grace that's going to be put upon us. We've only been given small portions, little samples of what we have to look forward to for eternity because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. And it is definitely by grace, as he emphasizes here in verse 8. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. We cannot say that we receive salvation because of our work. It doesn't happen that way. We get salvation by having faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. His work. And then by grace, unmerited favor, He saves us. He brings us back to life. Adopts us into His family. Verse 10, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them. The Lord has established, ordained, set aside, sanctified us, put us in a particular place, give us particular opportunities and blessings, abilities, knowledge, understanding, wisdom, boldness, whatever it may be, for a particular work. Each and every one of us has a different pathway to be on as far as the work comes to us. And we need to understand it's by His grace and He gives us the abilities to be able to do those things that He has available for us to do. We don't have to do it to receive salvation, but He gives us an opportunity to do it, so that we can receive even more blessings and rewards to come upon us. But understand and acknowledge the fact that verse 8 there, that we are saved by grace, not by works. Because where He points out, not of works, lest any man should boast, there in verse 9. That any man should boast. Like, you could brag about the fact that you're going to heaven if you could get to heaven by the way of your works. But because you get to heaven by the way of the finished work of Jesus Christ, you cannot brag about it saying, look what I have achieved. I have worked my way to salvation. Don't work that way. That's not what it's about. It's by grace. It's by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ that we have salvation. Way too many times people like to have the attitude that they achieved salvation by their works and that they obtained that and hold on to that and continue that salvation based on their works. That it's their works that keep them saved. I even saw a Bible tract. one of the places we went up in Pennsylvania. I always like to find the racks of Bible tracts and I was looking through some of them and saw one that said, how to stay saved or how to keep your salvation. I think that's what it was, how to keep your salvation. And it was all in there about how you needed to work at this task and work at that task. You had to stay prayed up, you had to stay faithful, you had all this in order to keep your salvation. The thought pattern behind that was that you could lose your salvation because you didn't work enough. But how do we get salvation? It's not by works, it's by grace. We don't keep it by works. We display the fact that we are saved to the world by our works. We show the world that we are Christians by our works. They see us by our works and we have a good testimony by our works. And we gain blessings by our works. But the salvation comes from the finished work of Jesus Christ. That is unmerited favor. That is something we cannot earn or cannot hold onto based on our works. It's all by the grace of God. All right, now turn over to 1 Timothy chapter one. In 1 Timothy chapter one, pick it up here in verse one, Of course, Timothy was a protege of Paul. Paul was teaching him and preparing him to go into the ministry to be a pastor. And here is this letter to Timothy by way of Paul that we can learn from. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope. Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. As I besought thee to abide still in Ephesus when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine. neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions rather than godly edifying, which is in faith, so do. Now the end of the commandment is charity out of the pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned, from which some, having swerved have turned aside unto vain juggling, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm. But we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for the sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine. These things that is listed here are the ungodly, and the commandments, the statutes, the law are pointed out to help people understand what is right, what is wrong, is what is speaking of here. Verse 11, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust, and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." Pointing out here how the world is, how ungodly they are, how he was, how ungodly he was, but by the grace of Jesus Christ, he was called out of that. He answered the call from the Lord. Verse 14 again, and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Paul at this time, as far along as he was in his ministry, could have been bragging and so puffed up with arrogance and pride about all the many things that he had achieved and how he had worked, but he doesn't do that. He always reminds us in his letters and he always pointing out where he came from and what he was. And that by the finished work of Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, he is no longer like that. How be it for this cause I obtain mercy. that in me, first, Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting." Paul's letting us know there that there are people out there that can look at his life and know that you still have an opportunity to come and receive that grace, to come and get forgiveness. If you are a scoundrel like he was, against the church, seeking Christians to take them back to Jerusalem so they could be persecuted and even killed. But yet, the Lord, by His mercy, called him out of that. And He's pointing out here that His life is an example to others, to give others hope that might be in a world that are evil. Thinking that they are beyond being saved. But they are not. Even if they are within the list of things that he had up there. ungodly, sinners, unholy, profane, murderers of fathers, murderers of mothers, and men-slayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, nor men-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if it be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine." It means all sin, all those sinners out there, no matter what they're into, have an opportunity to come to get forgiveness. Everyone that has come into this world will have an opportunity to receive salvation. The Holy Ghost will call all people to come in and receive that and have the grace of God poured upon them. Verse 16 again, Howbeit for this cause I obtain mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, the patience, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to everlasting, to life everlasting. Now unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. Awesome introduction to the letter going to Timothy there. Pointing out the grace that had been shown and still was being poured upon Paul. Coming from where he came from and acknowledging that the others out there that are in such sinful behaviors have an opportunity to receive the grace of God. Have an opportunity to be blessed with salvation. because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. It's awesome what He has given us and provided us. It's awesome the opportunities that He has given us as well. As we spoke over the works, that we have those opportunities to receive even more blessings that go beyond the free gift that He gives us. We can earn other gifts, but don't be confused by that thinking that you can earn salvation. That you have to earn salvation, because you cannot earn salvation. It comes to us by grace. And that grace can be poured upon anyone that accepts that free gift, that receives that. And then that just opens the floodgates of so much more that can come upon us. And it is all by grace, unmerited favor. Because we surely and truly did not deserve what He's already given us. And everything that we have is a gift from Him. All of our existence, everything that is in existence is in existence because of the grace of God. So give thanks for it. which is one of the things that you see not displayed very much in the world. They're not appreciative of the grace that the Lord has given them. They abuse themselves. They trash the many things that they're blessed with, life itself, their body, their health. They abuse it. They misuse it. And they surely are not thankful. The recent sermon that I did about how people abuse themselves, the self abuses that are out there, is they are not thankful for the grace that has been given to them. Because grace is being poured upon even the ungodly out there. The fact that they have life itself is by grace. But yet, they don't appreciate it. They abuse it. They trash it. They destroy it with substance abuse, with other abuses, with lustful desires. They need to understand and know that even if they are that low, filthy sinner that they might someday realize that they are, there's an opportunity of salvation that comes to each and every man to respond to that call from the Holy Ghost and to get clean, to get quickened that we read about there, brought back to life so that we can receive the many, many graces and the many, many blessings that He wants to pour upon us. We just need to be willing to receive them, to open up and let Him pour us full with all that grace, with all that blessings. And let's share that with others as well. Let's take the many things that He has given us and grind in the world and share them, so that more can come in and be a part of that. and be looking forward to what we, that have trusted Him, are looking forward to. So much more than we deserve, because it is all by the grace of God. Let's pray. Lord Jesus and Heavenly Father, we thank You so much for Your grace that You pour upon us each and every day. The very fact that we have the ability to gather together, that we can open Your Word and study it, that we can even think about it, that we can have a life in existence, in your world, that we can have opportunities placed before us. There's so many things that we need to be thankful for, and we do truly thank you for your grace. As we pray in Jesus' precious holy name, amen.