How to Have Access to His Grace
Key Passage: Romans 5
Date: June 7, 2024
Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Romans chapter number five. Romans chapter number five. Good to see brother Jim, Miss Angela, and Ms. Man has been in the hospital. Good to have her out of the hospital, both of them back in Tennessee. Amen. Good to see that, and praise well for that. Romans chapter number five in God’s Word.
And once you find that, would you look up here? And I know I’m ugly, but look up here anyway. You’re stuck. You’ve got to look at me for a while anyway, unless you’re like Brother Dumpur. He’s already sleeping out there a little bit. No, Brother Dumpur’s a great man.
But Romans chapter number five, and before we get to really reading that, we started last Sunday. Just wanted two weeks on the subject of two things that can hinder the amazing grace of God. Wait, can something hinder the amazing grace of God? It’s so powerful. We get saved by grace. We serve Him. Hebrews says we can serve Him by grace. His grace is sufficient during tough times. His grace is everything.
What can hinder the grace of God? I thought about Mel Trotter when I was talking about the grace of God. How many ever heard of Mel Trotter back in the day? He died in the 1940s, so this is an old story. He was 72 when he died. Mel Trotter was an alcoholic of alcoholics. And he was so bad—it was an amazing story—so bad that…
They lived in Chicago: him, his wife, and his daughter. He said, “I’m shocked my wife stuck with me. I don’t know why she did, but she did.” They lived in a little basement studio, if you even call it that, of an apartment building because he drank all the money away. His daughter got sick. True story. Daughter got sick.
Very sick. Back when you could get doctors to come to your house. Now that kind of sounds like, “Whoa, that happened?” It did actually happen in America. You can’t even get them on the phone nowadays. I want to testify, Brother Marvin, about to take a lap on that one right there, you know. But actually, a good doctor came to that little bitty, you know, just slums. He went in, and they said this little girl is so sick.
He wrote out a prescription. They didn’t have the money for it. So he actually gave the money for the prescription to Mel Trotter, the dad. And he said, “Run. Hurry. It’s really almost too late. Run and get this filled at the drugstore. Go out to the left, two blocks is the drugstore. Here’s the prescription. Here’s the money. Go get it filled.”
And this is how low he was. He went outside on the street, looked to the left. Sure enough, there was a drugstore two blocks down, and to the right, he looked, and there was a bar. He said the urge came over him for another drink. He said those urges would just take control. He literally went down to the bar, spent the money on a drink, some drinks.
There was another guy in there, addicted to it. He spent all his money. After Mel Trotter spent all his money, then he spent all of his money. They shared the money, and he stayed in that bar. Actually, he slept in the back that night. A day or two later, he kind of stumbled out, said, “What in the world is going on?” And he stumbled back to the apartment. He came in this little basement, a sham of an apartment, and he opened the door.
His wife was in there with another lady; they were talking. He kind of stepped down there, and he said he saw his daughter in a little box. She had nice clothes on; she had died. He would tell this testimony, “I hate to tell this part here. I just hate to tell this part here.”
But he says, “I looked down there; I saw my daughter in that wooden box.” He said, “I really didn’t comprehend it fully because it’s just coming out of a drunkard’s stupor. But I saw those new shoes she had on.” His wife didn’t even hear him yet, and he took the shoes off his dead daughter’s feet. He went out and got a little money to buy another drink. That’s how low he was.
He said, “I can’t believe my wife even stuck with me.” A little bit later on, he went out, walking to Lake Michigan. He said, “My wife would be better off without me,” and he was going to commit suicide; he was going to drown himself in Lake Michigan.
On the way, he passed by a rescue mission—I think it was the Chicago Rescue Mission—and as he passed by it, the doors were open. They were in there singing. He said literally as I walked by, somebody just pushed me inside there. All I found myself doing was sitting in a chair, listening to the singing, and then eventually a man preaching about the grace of God.
He said, “I can’t believe the grace of God would save a sorry guy like me, but if He’ll save me, I’ll accept it.” And he got saved that day, that drunkard of a man, by the grace of God.
It wasn’t—yes, he got saved instantaneously, but he had to grow for Him. At the end of the day, he died in 1940, 72 years old, and the grace of God had so changed him. He grew in the grace of God that God used Mel Trotter to start 67 rescue missions across the world, across our country.
God used rescue missions in a great way back in the day. I’d still use them today, but they had a great way back then. God used them to start 67. Let’s talk about the grace that… Can anything hinder the power, the amazing grace of God? Grace of God did that, friend. Can anything hinder that? Yes, two things can. We preached on the first one last Sunday: pride.
God resisteth the proud, but He giveth grace unto the humble. As God is trying to grow you, you’ll come to times where the grace of God is knocking on your door saying, “You need to change some things; this ain’t right. Let’s step up; let’s grow up.” He grows you actually by His grace, and how you react. If you act proudly and resist, you don’t want to hear that and all the rest of that, blaming all that, then God resisteth the proud, but He giveth grace unto the humble.
Now here’s the second thing that can hinder the amazing grace of God. We’re going to read about it here in just a minute. Romans chapter 5. We’re in verse number 1. Would you please stand, if you are able, just to show the Word of God respect? It’s worthy of it. We try to show it respect. Romans 5, in verse number 1.
We’ll read two verses, pray, and try to dive right into it this morning. The Bible there says, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Would you read verse number two out loud with me, please? Here we go: “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”
Would you pray with me that God would just get the truth in our minds and our hearts very quickly this morning and do work in our hearts? Would you pray that with me? Lord, we sure need you, Lord. I sometimes kind of fumble around here and there. Help me, Lord, just to get to the point. And Lord, would you take the truth deep in our hearts? And Lord, would you do a work? Father, grow our faith this morning in your grace. And Lord, we’ll thank you and praise you for what you do, Lord. It’s in Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated. Look back at verse number one, if you would please. He said, “Therefore being…” What’s the next word? Therefore being justified. What does justified mean?
Someone said it this way: “When I’m justified, it’s just as if I never sinned.” That’s a good way for us hillbillies to remember things. I need those helps. Amen, you know. Justified: just as if I never sinned. All right.
I heard James is about to turn 15, and James has sinned about 3,400,000 times—I’m joking with him. But if he’s justified in the sight of God, God looks down and says, “Just as if he never sinned.” I’m thankful for that right there, amen. God can see you as if you never sinned. That’s amazing.
Now, how does that happen? He’s describing salvation, verse number one. He says, “Therefore being justified by faith.” All right? Faith. How do you get justified? How do you get saved by faith? You put your faith—as far as getting to heaven—you put your faith in Jesus Christ. Typically, we rely on our good works, what we can do to get us to heaven.
When we stop putting our faith in what we can do, how good we can be, and we put our faith in how good Jesus was. When I was a teenager, I lived in Florida, and I worked for a man that did lawn care. Sometimes he would trim trees, and sometimes we would trim tall trees. What’s the tree that’s real tall? Palm trees. You know, I have a tough time with those big ones. You know how to tell you: palm trees. Palm trees just stand straight up, man, you know.
He had some spikes. You have boots on, or something like that. These spikes—you put these spikes on the inside; it straps all the way up here. It has this spike that comes down below your boot. As you go up those palm trees—electricians put spikes in light poles—you put that spike in there. Here’s the key: he’d give you this big belt that wrapped all the way around the palm tree and around your back. The key is that you lean back on that belt and let those spikes dig into that tree.
Now, I’m a chicken when it comes to heights, amen. Anybody else out there? Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck. Come on, yeah. The rest of you are lying, you know. But I didn’t like to lean out on that belt. I wanted to hold on to that tree. But when you do that, that spike isn’t poking into the tree like that; it’s kind of like that, and you’re going to fall.
I had to learn to not trust in my arms holding on that palm tree, because I’d get skinned up real bad sliding down that palm tree, you know. I had to learn to put my faith in that belt and in those spikes. Someone gets saved when they let go of what they can do to get them to heaven and they rely on the belt of Jesus. They put their faith in what Jesus did. That’s the only thing that will take anyone to heaven. That’s what he’s talking about, being justified by faith. You put your faith in what Jesus did on the cross. Satan loves to have you depending on how good you are because you’ll always slide down the tree when you depend on yourself to get you there.
You put all your faith in Jesus, and you’re justified. All right. Let’s keep going here. “Being justified by faith, we have…” what? We have what? Peace.
Now, you’ll never have peace when God sees the sin in your life because God turned His back on the begotten Son when He bore the sins of the world. But when I put my faith in Jesus, all my sins are paid for by Jesus. Not only that, Jesus’ righteousness is put on my account. Because of this justification by faith in Jesus Christ, I have peace with God. I can talk to Him. I know Him. He knows me. That’s the key. He knows me. After that, I’m a child. I have peace with God through Jesus Christ. See?
That’s salvation. That’s how a sinner like Mel Trotter got saved—by putting his faith in how good Jesus was, not how good he was. He was justified, and he had peace with God. See? Let’s keep going. Y’all still out there? I’m trying to get somewhere quick. Don’t lose me in the getting there, please.
“Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” It’s never through a person or a preacher or a church or a Pope or Muhammad or confusion or any other way. It’s the only way, only one way to the Father through the Son, Jesus. That’s the only way.
What’s that lady—oh, what’s her name? I’m not trying to be mean, but she’s larger sometimes and she’s smaller sometimes—Oprah. Oprah, Oprah. I’m trying to knock her. I’m just being honest, all right? But Oprah and former President Obama can say there are many ways to heaven. There’s only one way to heaven, and that’s Jesus. That’s it. Not trying to be mean to that lady, but she’s wrong. There’s only one way: Jesus. All right. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let’s keep going. Look at verse number two. We’re getting to where we want to go. Verse number two: “By whom?” It’s talking about Jesus. By whom? By Jesus. “Also, we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”
Through Jesus, by whom, this grace wherein ye stand. This morning sometimes I’ll go out for a walk with my hound dog, you know, and we’ll go out in the morning time, sometimes if I’m not too wimpy when it comes to cold weather, you know. Sometimes I go out, and to the east side of my house, there’s a field—it’s not huge—but it’s a field, and I walk through that field.
Then I climb the electric fence into this horse pasture. Praise the Lord, it’s not on right now, amen. Because the older you get, the harder it is to bend down through there without getting shocked, you know. Then there’s a horse pasture, and I walk to the back of that, and then there are about 30 yards of just woods, briars, stickers that are real thick. You can get blackberries a certain time of year for the images, but I have a little path I can go through there. Then there’s another fence that’s not on either, amen.
I climb through that fence, and then there is this beautiful field. It used to be 100 acres; they’re building on the back part. Praise the Lord, I probably still get a walk of maybe 50 acres or something. It’s just beautiful, and I go there a lot of times. About that time, the sun’s coming up, you know, and the sun’s just beautiful when I walk into that field. Now, when you get saved, you walk into the field of grace.
You are standing in grace. The good thing is, once you are in this field of grace, you can’t leave this field of grace. You’re stuck in that field of grace. You’re a morning Christian; you’re going to heaven. The other morning I went out, and our neighbor’s dog went with me, with my dog, you know. He’s a big old German shepherd, only about a year old, but he’s huge. I don’t even think he knows how big he is anymore. And the fence that we had to go through to get in the field—you know, there are about four wires on that one there—he couldn’t fit through, but he was wanting to get in. He finally got in there, and he couldn’t get out. I thought my neighbor’s going to be mad if I don’t bring his dog back. I didn’t want his dog in the first place, but I have to bring his dog back, you know. It took me forever to get his dog out of the field, you know. But once you get in that field of grace, you can’t get out. You’re safe. It was given to you; if you earned it, you could lose it. You didn’t earn it. He gave it to you, you know. You are in the field.
Now here’s the thing. If you are saved today, if you are born again, you are standing in a field of grace. I’m so glad for that, by the way. It’s a field of grace, but I want you to notice what he says there in verse number two about this field of grace. Look what it says, verse number two. He says, “By whom”—that’s Jesus—“by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.” So when you get saved, you cross over the field. If you are in this field of grace, it’s beautiful, it’s wonderful. I’m a child of God, and I’m standing in a field of grace. But I have access to this grace by faith.
You say, “What can hinder the amazing grace of God?” Our pride, and then our lack of faith. Some Christians, they put their faith in Jesus to save them. They are standing in this field of grace, but they never claim any grace to live the Christian life. They never go through tough times. They never claim the grace that is sufficient for them. This faith promise commitment giving the preacher preached last year on it—he really called it grace giving because you are giving by the grace—but some people will never claim that grace. When you are tempted, God will give you grace that you can bear it, you can overcome it, but you access all this grace by faith.
Some Christians never—they are standing in a field of grace, but they never take advantage of it because they lack faith. They are standing there; there is so much grace available to them. Jesus has purchased it for them, but they never take advantage of it because they don’t believe like they ought to in Jesus and in the grace that Jesus stored up for us. Faith is the key that unlocks the door.
Now briefly, why should you believe in the grace of God? Are you all with me? Yes, very quickly. Why? Number one, because you didn’t earn it. It’s not really you; it’s not really you. It’s Jesus. Jesus is the one that has all that grace in that field for you.
You didn’t plow the field; you didn’t plant the seed; you didn’t water it; you didn’t fertilize it. Jesus did all of it. See? I should really believe there is grace available because Jesus earned it for me. I think we said this last week, but grace—we said God’s grace is at Christ’s expense.
When Jesus died on the cross 2,000 years ago, He knew every day, He knew every minute of James’ life here. When Jesus died on the cross, He was purchasing, buying all the grace that James will ever need. If James lives to be 120 years old—you’re going to live 120 years old? Was it? He said, “Probably not.” Probably not. Happy birthday, by the way. If he does, God knows how long he’ll live. Jesus purchased the grace that James needs for every single day of his life, every trial he faces, every problem, every temptation. Jesus was purchasing the grace he needs.
So James, when he comes to this field, he ought not say, “Well, I’m inadequate.” He should say, “Man, I’ve got what I need,” not because of me, but because of Jesus. That’s really the key: us getting our eyes off of us and what we are or what we’re not, and getting our eyes on Jesus if you are going to have faith to access this grace.
Look over in John chapter 14, if you would please. This goes at a different angle, but the same thing. James chapter 14. This is an amazing verse. I want you to see an amazing promise Jesus has here. John 14. What did I say? I’m sorry. John, John 14. Come on. It started with a J, now. Come on. You know. Please forgive me. Please forgive me. Genesis chapter? No.
If you look at Deuteronomy right there—John 14, John 14. I need to slow down anyway. John 14, verse number 12. “Verily, verily,” that means I’m about to tell you the truth. Truly, truly, truly. Listen up, but I’m telling the truth. That’s what it means. “Verily, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on whom?” That’s Jesus. “He that believeth on Jesus, on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto my Father.”
Now, friend, He is saying, look, if you believe in Me, you will realize what all you have available to you. So it’s not a matter of you thinking, “I can do this and I can do that.” It’s a matter of you believing Jesus can empower you and enable you through His grace for you to be the man, the lady He wants you to be. When you believe in Jesus, you get your eyes—here is really key—get your eyes off yourself and get your eyes on Jesus. You realize, “I have all the grace I need. I’m standing in this field of grace, and I have access to it by faith.”
And I get that faith when I realize this field’s not here because of me. Grace is me getting something I don’t deserve. It’s here because of Jesus. So I can be the Christian God wants me to be. I can overcome my sinful habits. I can have a good attitude. I can witness when God wants me to. I can pray long, too, not because I am all that, but because Jesus is all that, and I am standing in this field of grace that He has available. It’s so very important because too often I rely on Paul, and that’s why I fall flat on my face. But when I rely on the grace that I have available through Jesus, that’s when the power comes alive. It’s a total different ball game.
Very, very important. In our second building, we are in a storefront over on Murfreesboro Road, LaVern. I hate to say this, but I’ve already slaughtered everything else, so I might as well tell it. That building is a vape shop today. I want to go over there, you know, right? That’s our old church building, you know.
Right there in the middle of the lot, we had a flood come through, I don’t know, Friday or Saturday, in the wintertime. Right after, man, that rain just poured right after it just turned super cold. It was already cold, and it was like ice in front of the doors there, you know. There’s a sidewalk, and the parking lot was just ice. I can’t remember exactly the way—I think I’m going to embellish it a little bit. I am being honest because I am telling you ahead of time I am probably going to embellish this because I can’t remember the details. I don’t think it was exactly like this line.
Man, our church members were talking, and I was like, “Now we’ve got to put a lot of salt out there.” He was like, “Pastor, you can’t put enough salt out there to take care of that thing. It’s like a lake.” He said, “You need a bobcat or skid loader—how do you want to call it? You need something like that out there.” My mind was thinking, “Well, that’s easy for you to say, but, you know, you have one. Praise the Lord, bring it over.” I’m like, “I can’t do it. I don’t have a skid loader. I ain’t got no bobcat.” Praise the Lord, he said, “I got one.”
He said, “I’ll take care of it.” Praise the Lord, he came out there with a loader, and he took care of it. Now, that’s you and I when we think about being the Christians we ought to be, especially under pressure, like, “No way, I can’t do it.” And you’re right. That helps you—that first step is humility so you get grace. But then by faith, you realize Jesus has got the skid loader. He is the bobcat. He can go on there, and that’s why He can take a drunkard and grow him to a man of God that started 67 rescue missions because he realized, “I need to put my faith in that God has grace available, not because of me, but because of Jesus.” It is available for him. You can be what you ought to be because of the grace of God.
Now, let’s move to another thought on this anger, grace. Would you look over in Hebrews chapter four real quickly? Hebrews chapter four. I want you to notice the words of this verse. Hebrews 4, I believe it’s the last verse of the chapter, verse number 16. Hebrews 4:16. And I actually got the book of the Bible right this time; it is Hebrews, okay? Hebrews chapter four, the last verse, verse number 16 right there.
Verses 14, 15, and 16 are talking about Jesus; He is our High Priest. Then verse number 16, He says, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace.” He is talking to Christians. Because you are standing in the field of grace because of Jesus, you got saved, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace.” He is your High Priest.
Now, I want you to watch this: that we may obtain what’s the next word? Obtain mercy. Now, that’s interesting. You obtain mercy, but watch this, and what’s the next word? Find grace. You obtain mercy, you find grace, to help in time of need.
So here’s the thing: you are standing in the field of grace. If you are looking at yourself, you are not going to have much faith because you know you have problems. We all know ourselves; we all have problems. Get your eyes off yourself; get your eyes on Jesus. Wow, He has all this grace! I can be what I ought to be because of this grace. That’s why you have faith in it.
But here’s the thing: He said you find grace. The first time grace is found in the Bible, you know I am a big man on the first time something is used. It is over there in Genesis where it says Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
About a week or two ago, at my house, we had a crisis: we lost the power cord to my laptop. That’s important, friend. I don’t know who it was, but somebody had stayed up and was watching a football game on that thing, you know. Maybe it was Pastor Paul. Anyway, we’ll bypass those parts there, you know.
I went to bed that night after that football game, and I woke up the next morning, or later on the next morning, and I was looking, and I could not find that cord. You know how good us men are. You know the next move us men do. All the wives were like, “Yeah, I know what you are going to say.” Yeah, I went there, you know. Praise the Lord, I was good about it. I didn’t blame. I just said, “Where is this?”
And, you know, my wife—here’s the thing—she’ll say, “Did you check such and such?” And I’ll say, “Yes.” And then she’ll go over there; she’ll find it about 90% of the time. That’s like mixed emotions. You are glad she found it, but you are mad because you already looked in there, and she found it. You didn’t find it. But it didn’t work out like that this time. We couldn’t find it. “Did you look?” “Yeah, I looked there. You are welcome to look there because I don’t find it.” She looked all over; I looked all over, you know, days later.
So I did the manual thing. I stole the power cord for her laptop computer. I did for a bit; I had to have that crazy thing, you know. We were kind of sharing this cord for a couple of days. Then I am over in the school back here, you know. Sarah is laughing at this already. Her school teacher back there, she is on her laptop, and that cord looked just like my cord. It even has, you know, that little Velcro thing when you wind your cord up and put it; it had that on there. I am like, “Sarah, does your cord have that Velcro?” Unfortunately, she said, “Yes, Dad, mine does too.”
So I was hesitant. I wanted to say, “That’s my cord! I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it.” Several days—I don’t know, maybe it was a week, five days a week—we found it. Now you are dying to find out whose fault it was, wasn’t it? First time in history, folks, first time in history.
Here is my point: I finally got right one time. I just won the battle but lost the war, you know what I am saying? What did He say? He said, “You obtain mercy, but you find…” You have to look for something typically to find it. Here is the hard part: sometimes it takes time.
I guarantee Mel Trotter didn’t get saved the next day. He was a man of God. God changed him, regenerated his heart, but it took a while to work all that out. He still had his flesh. That is when it takes more faith. Because the devil is going to come along and say, “Hey, you tried that grace thing, and it didn’t work for you.”
You will have to keep looking. You have to say, “You know what? I just believe Jesus is big enough. He has this grace somewhere for me, and I am going to keep looking.” You say, “Preacher, I can’t get out of depression. What do I do about it?” Keep looking for grace. “Well, it’s just my nature.” Stop looking at your nature. I am not trying to be mean. Look at Jesus. He has the grace. He has it there for you. Keep looking. “I can’t overcome this sin. I have tried to depend on God’s grace. I keep falling.” Keep looking. I am not justifying you sinning it again, but friend, I am telling you, keep looking for the grace. It is going to take faith. You have access to this grace where you stand by faith, and that is when it takes the most faith—when you are looking for the grace. That is when most people give up on it. That is when most people throw in the towel and say, “Forget it, I can’t be it. This is just my nature. I am a mean old grump, and you are going to have to live with it.” No, God can change your nature, but you are going to have to look for the grace, and it is going to take some time. It took us four or five days a week to find this crazy cord. Sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, but you keep looking; you find grace by keeping looking.
Here is the thing: during that finding, looking for time, you are going to fall, like we all do. Amen? Like we all do. Here is the key: you are going to get down on yourself, and Satan is going to come along and beat you over the head. You are going to say, “Wait a second. I am going to get my eyes off my failures, and I am going to get my eyes on Jesus. I believe He has the grace in this field that I need.” Keep looking. Don’t give up. You find grace by faith. You keep looking. That is how you grow in grace.
That is what the Bible says over there, Peter: “But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” The knowledge is not about you. You grow, and you learn how wonderful, how gracious He is, what all He earned for you. Through that, you grow. And then, at the end of that, “To Him be glory, both now and forever.” Amen. It goes with that theme. The end of the product is, “Well, look at me.” The end of the product is, “But glory belongs to Him,” because it is His grace.
I am telling you, please believe in the grace of God through Jesus. Believe in that. It is the thing that will help you be what you want to be for God if you are saved. It is the thing. Sin—the next day you always regret it. You are like, “Man, I did the thing I said I would never do again, and I did it again.” Sin is always like that. It is always empty. But you keep going, “No, I am standing in this field of grace, and it is giving me grace to get back up.” It is grace to just stand back up, and I am not finding it quite like I want to need to overcome it. I am going to be looking for it by faith. After a while, you realize He has the grace that is sufficient. It will be there for you. It will be there.
It is so key. Those guys—I never really got there, I will be honest with you—but those guys that do it for the electric company or those guys that trim trees and use spikes and those belts every single day, after a while, they get comfortable. I was not one of them, but they get comfortable in trusting that belt. Man, they will just lean back. They will hang out there for hours, literally. Those belts they use—I have never heard of a belt breaking in my life. I think you could probably pick up a pickup truck with one of those; it is so strong. But after a while, you realize, “Man, I can trust that belt.” That is how you grow in grace. He is going to give me what I need for every situation through His grace.
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please?
Our heads bowed, our eyes closed. You say, “Preacher, I need to believe in this grace. I am limiting it by my lack of faith in the grace of God. And I am going to believe in the grace of God to make me into the man, lady, young person, preacher, whatever God is calling you to be.”
“I am going to believe in the grace of God that it is sufficient for me to be what I ought to be.” God spoke to my heart about that this morning. If that is you, you slip your hand up, Preacher, that is me. I am going to believe more and more in the grace of God. Jesus has purchased it for me. I’ve got what I need to be what I ought to be for God. Many, many hands. God bless you. God bless you. Maybe there is somebody else. God spoke to my heart about anybody else. Just slip your hand up. I am going to believe more in the grace of God to be… God bless you. That is wonderful. That is what pleases Him—that faith. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you.
So if I have many, many hands, maybe you hear this morning and you say, “Preacher, I need to get my eyes off of myself.” That is not necessarily that you think you are something; typically, typically you are down on yourself. Satan is so crafty at that. And I need to get my eyes off myself because that causes me to have pity parties and lack of faith in all. And I need to get my eyes off myself. I need to get my eyes on Jesus, that He has earned the grace for me. God spoke to your heart, “I’m going to look to…” I believe in Jesus. He said, “You believe in Me, the works that I do…” You don’t do them. I am going to believe more in Jesus. I need to get my eyes off myself, get my eyes on Jesus. God is moving you this morning. You slip your hand up. Preacher, that is me right there. That is me right there. Amen, amen. Me too, me too. Oh God, let’s get our eyes on You. He has everything you need stored up. Everything, everything. You can make it because of Jesus.
One last question, we are done. You say, “Preacher, I have never entered into the field of grace. I have never put all of my faith in Jesus Christ to pay for my sins and to take me to heaven. I have never put my faith in Jesus to save me, and I need to get saved.” If that is you this morning, would you slip your hand up? I would love to pray for you. I need to get saved. I need to put my faith in Jesus to save me so I enter into that field of grace.
Anybody like that? Just slip it up. Just slip it up. I want to pray for you. I love you. I would love to be a help to you. I need to get saved. Anybody like that? He would love to save you. He would love to save you. In just a moment, we are going to stand. There will be a man down front. There will be a man in the back. We are going to pray. When we say amen, if God spoke to your heart, would you come to an old-fashioned altar? If you are not saved, there will be a man standing back there. They can take the Bible and show you from the Bible how you can know for sure you are standing in that field of grace, you are going to heaven. If you are a lady, they will get a lady to show you. Would you let us be a help? We would love to be a help to you in that. Would you please stand? Would you please stand? We are going to have a word of prayer. Would you listen? If God is just kind of calling you to believe in His grace more, would you do that? Hey, His grace will help you believe more. His grace is everything.
Would you come just ask, but I happen to get my eyes on You, Jesus, off myself? Would you do that? If you are not saved, you come. Father, help us to be obedient. Lord, help us in these few minutes to put our faith into the grace that You have purchased. Lord, help us to come humbly but in faith, believing in You. Bless our people. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
If you raised your hand, God spoke to your heart, would you come as we sing? Would you come? If you are not saved, in the back and the front, would you come? Believe in Jesus, would you come? I just need to believe in You more, Your grace.
This is what we do. We say, “Well, I believe in Him, but I don’t believe in me.” Now, wait a second. Ultimately, if you are a born-again Christian, you are saying, “I don’t believe He is powerful enough to change me.” Get your eyes off yourself. Get your eyes on Jesus. “I believe You have the grace I need to serve You, to obey You, to please You, to pray.” No self-reliance; no, that never gets us anywhere. We grow in grace. Would you tell them this morning, “I want to believe more in You, Jesus, that You can work in and through me”? Would you tell them that as we sing? Just as I am…
So glad you are in church this morning. We are honored to have every person here today. Thank you for being with us. I am excited about Mission Conference right around the corner: Friday night, then Saturday, Sunday. It is going to be grand. I hope you get involved. You will not regret it, and it will broaden our sights beyond America to the world. Mission Conference is awesome. We are going to be dismissed at 6 o’clock. Love to have you back then. And glad to have every person here this morning. Praise the Lord for you. Brother Steve Page, would you dismiss us with a word of prayer, please, brother.
Original File: How to have access to His grace - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Sunday AM 1222023