# Walk By His Grace

Category: Grace
Key Passage: Hebrews 7:25
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: June 25, 2023

Hebrews chapter seven. We are going to go around a little bit to get to the one thing, but I am trying to be a good pastor and get resurrection in there. I am working at that. A lot of angles you can go at this, but we are going to try to go the way of the resurrection, so we will go around a little bit. We will not twist scripture, but we will go out a little bit just to get to the main truth we believe the Lord would have us focus on tonight.

Hebrews chapter seven. You know the book of Hebrews is very much about how much Christ is better. He is better than the angels. He is better than the Old Testament, Aaronic, from Aaron, that high priest. He is a high priest through Melchizedek.

And he is better. He will live forever. We are just going to briefly touch on that to kind of get us going here. Hebrews 7, verse number 25, if you would, please.

Verse number 25: “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

Notice that he ever liveth, ever liveth. He is alive forevermore.

And resurrection Sunday. Praise the Lord, we serve a risen Savior. I read a story this week in preparation for today, and I was not planning on using it, but it was about a preacher who had led his son to the Lord. And the son said, “Dad, I get all that, but he died on the cross. How can he save us? He’s dead.” And he said, “No, no, son. You don’t get it. He rose again.” And praise the Lord, he ever liveth.

To make intercession for us. We are going to go at the beginning here. Would you pray with me that God would work in a heart? Lord, I come to you. Father, forgive me, Lord, that I have been just trying to make it through this Easter night. We do not want that. But would you meet with us? Would you give us something tonight? Would you grow us tonight?

Lord, these people are great people. They have been faithful to your house like they ought to be on a Sunday night. So, Lord, would you give them what they need and grow us? Lord, would you give someone a little nugget from your word tonight? Another building block, another line upon line. And the Lord, we will brag on you and praise you for what you do. Thank you, Lord. You are able. You are so faithful. You are so good to do that. We love you. Thank you for it. In Jesus’ name, we pray all these things. Amen.

A little while back, we had some people who were having a fallout between each other, and they asked me to intercede for them. I, of course, do not like to get in the middle of things, but I was like, “Ooh, I do not know about all that.” And they said, “No, no, no, please do that.”

So I somewhat got in there, and it did not turn out real good, I will be honest with you. I ended up getting one black eye out of the whole deal. No, it was not like that, but a little bit along that line, and I do not know that they are any better off because I tried to help a little bit. But Christ, he never fails in his intercession, the go-between.

Now, I want you to think about it. His Father is so holy and just and pure. Just think about that one word: He is just. He cannot sweep anything under the rug. He is just. He is righteous. In every single little bitty issue, he is always just.

And then us, the sinful mankind, we are falling, we are flawed. I mean, we all have our issues. We just do not measure up. Anybody want to say amen there? Come on now. I know I am there for sure. And yet Christ intercedes for us. He ever liveth to make intercession for us.

Now this verse here really directly deals with salvation. When it comes to salvation, he has never failed to be a successful intercessor. Never has. Never has one come to Jesus Christ humbly and in faith and asked for their salvation, and Christ has not been able to save them.

He said, “What about the unpardonable sin?” No, it does not mean he cannot save them then. It means they will never come to him for salvation because his Holy Spirit never draws all of them. They have quenched the Spirit of God. He has never failed. In fact, the Bible, over in Revelation chapter 12, verse 10, talking about Satan, he says, “For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before God day and night.”

Now, you think about that. He accused them before God day and night.

Now let us just take Brother Adam, for example. Miss Melissa told me that Brother Adam has a bad habit and addiction to cigars. You know, there are New York people; you have to watch them. And the other night he just gave in—of course, do not take me seriously, all right? I am joking about all that. Miss Melissa, so as well, you do not know. But Brother Adam is going to be elbowing her back tonight, you know. We are just saying, just say he gave in, and he, Friday night, whatever, he was nervous about choir singing. They did a great job. He was nervous about it. And so he said, “Well, one of those cigars will kind of”—by the way, it is not true—“but it will carry me through.”

And so the devil, he, man, he goes to God and says, “Hey, Lord, you see it. You see it. Your eyes behold the evil and the good everywhere,” Proverbs 15. You see what he did. God is just, and God cannot just take that little sin and sweep it under the rug. “Well, he is from New York; you have to compromise a little bit with those New Yorkers.” God can do that. He is just.

And Satan says, “Oh, Lord, hey, in your word, right there it says, ‘For the wages of sin is death.’” And he has committed to sin. His body is your temple. He is defiling it. What are you going to do about it? Your word says for sin, the punishment is death—that is the second death, that is a lack of a… Lord, hey, you are just."

Justly right, he did not run. And praise the Lord for Jesus Christ that steps up. He is better than those old high priests that would live for 70 maybe years or so. He ever liveth to make intercession for us. And he stands up and he says, “Now, Father, Father, look at the records. That sin, that New Yorker—Father, years ago, as a boy, if I remember right, he has pleaded my shed blood, and Father, that sin is recorded on my account.”

“And Father, if you remember, I shed my blood for that sin over 2,000 years ago. And Father, I shed my blood. I went through all that. And Father, you showed that you were satisfied with my death and my burial because, Father, I resurrected. And I am ever living to intercede for that New Yorker down there.”

God Almighty says, “Oh, let me wait, hold on here, old devil over there.” And the Lord Jesus Christ says, “Father, not only that, but if you look on his name, Adam Miller, the New Yorker, serial number so-and-so, and if you look, Father, if you look on his account, my righteousness is placed on his account.”

And the Father says, “Whoo-hoo! Devil, get on, get lost, get on out of here! Man, that boy down there—hey, I do not see those sins anymore. Gone, gone, gone. Yes, my sins are gone, buried in the deepest sea, amen. As far as the east is from the west, so far as he removed our transgression from us. And that old smutty-faced Adam Miller has Jesus’ righteousness on his account.”

He ever liveth to make intercession for us. Oh, yeah.

Can I go a little different angle for just a moment here? One of the things in his intercession, he never fails to give us. He is praying for you; he is interceding for you. He ever liveth to make intercession. And one of the things that our high priest provides for you is this word: grace. Grace.

Often, it is true, we think of grace when it comes to salvation. Well, that is very truthful: by grace are you saved through faith. That is exactly right. And sometimes we think of grace as when we mess up. Praise the Lord, I have a gracious God, even though I am not what I ought to be, and that is for sure true. But can I mention to you a couple of things very briefly tonight about the grace of God? You are already in Hebrews.

So we should look over in chapter 12 very quickly here, chapter 12 of the book of Hebrews. As just his intercession, he is interceding. He gives you—part of the things he gives you is grace. And I want you to see this. I think sometimes we just use grace so occasionally when we really, in our mind, think we need it. But the honest truth is we need it every second of every day. And it is available.

Look at Hebrews chapter 12. Would you look in verse 28, please? Hebrews 12:28: “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” And I want you to notice that you can serve God empowered, if you will, by His grace.

I was at Preacher’s Fellowship. It sounds like I go to Preacher’s Fellowship all the time. I was talking about this morning. This was years ago. A good preacher was preaching, and he said this: “I have served God in my own power for years, and I have ruined my health.”

In fact, it was such an astonishing thing—and he is a great man, I do not mock him—but it just registered in my mind. I thought, wow, to the point I wrote it down because I did not want to forget it. Now, friend, and I appreciate his honesty, we all do that from time to time, but that is not God’s plan. God wants you to serve him being empowered by His grace.

I debated about this. I probably should not mention it. It has been years and years ago. I am going to come to the altar tonight and confess, but years and years ago, I watched The Beverly Hillbillies. And, you know, Granny, she always had that brew going. You do not know what I will talk about. This is not an endorsement for moonshine, all right? We are in Tennessee, but do not go there. That is a sin. It is wrong.

But you remember their old car—it was old, you know—and Granny was sitting up on top of the moon and all that, and that old antique of a car. And they ran out of gas, broke down in the middle of nowhere. They did not have any fuel. And Granny had one of those things hidden somewhere, and so they poured that in there. And then they cranked it up and took off, and tires and dirt flew. Foo! Man, it was gone because it was empowered by that.

Now look, look. The reason why I confess my sins and use that illustration for you is because when you do not run on your own resources, you run on the grace of God. You are empowered, not within your own resources, because that is so limited. Your resources come from what Christ has earned on the cross of Calvary and is interceding in heaven, and he gives you the grace whereby you can serve him with that grace. It is a moment-by-moment thing. Thank God, he gives you the grace, and he has given you the grace you need.

That is what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:10: “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” And it is a higher level of Christianity.

That is where Paul, in 2 Corinthians 3:5, says, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.”

Brother Ricky, we were at breakfast—so what a breakfast! By the way, praise the Lord for those ladies that make a good breakfast for us on Saturday. Amen for that. We had pancakes with chocolate chips in there. If you want to go healthy, there were some nuts there and some strawberries too. And there was a breakfast casserole. It had some spinach in there and peppers in there and a whole lot of eggs, and I think a lot of salt and pepper. I do not know what all was in there. It was good. Amen. I like those kitchen-sink casseroles—put everything in there, man, just put it all in there, and I like it. It was good. Amen.

Now, what was I talking about? I forgot. I got on food, you know. Me and Brother Rick here were talking, Brother John, I think too. He was talking about a boat. A fellow has a boat, and he races it. He says, “Man, he’ll hit 100 miles an hour on the water in that boat.” That is faster I have ever been on water, I guarantee you that. And he says he runs Norse in there. Yeah, Brother Ted is like, “No longer, he runs 100 miles an hour.”

That is what it is like when we do not run on our resources, but we run on his grace. That is what he wants you to serve him. And Christ is always interceding to make sure you have the grace you need.

Let us hurry along very quickly. Look over in 2 Corinthians 12, verse number 9. You know this verse; it is a very familiar verse, just talking about grace. Christ will always be interceding, making sure you have the grace you need. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9: This is Paul. He is going through a tough time. He is getting beat up by the devil, the messenger of the devil. We call it the thorn in the flesh. Sometimes we hear that and just think it is a little minor, but he is saying, “I am getting beat up.” For Paul to say that means something. Paul had been shipwrecked, what, three times, and beaten with rods five times—I am getting them all mixed up—but he has been beaten and tortured and all that. For him to say, “This guy is buffeting me,” he is beating the tar out of me, is what that means. That means something.

So he went to God: “God, what are you going to do about it?” Notice what he says in 2 Corinthians 12:9: “And he [that is, God] said unto me, My—what is the next word?—My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Christ is always interceding, and he will make sure you have the grace to make it through every single trial you have, every single one of them. Whatever the trial, he will make sure—he has set his blood, he has purchased what you need, and he is always making sure you will have the grace for every single trial you face, every one of them. He will always be there. He is interceding and making sure you have the grace that you will need.

I thought about my dad. By many people’s terms, according to who talked to him, he would not be called an alcoholic before he got saved, but he drank every day. Someone called him a functioning alcoholic, but he took a drink every day. Before that, he had said, “Well, I am going to quit all that and get straight,” without getting saved. Of course, you do not do that without God.

Finally, one day he got saved at the revival meeting. That afternoon he drove down the road and pulled his bottles out and tossed them out the window into the river. So all the fish got drunk that day, you know. But he did. He tossed it out and he never drank again. How did that happen? When he got saved, God empowered him by his grace to win over temptation. And every trial you ever face, Christ will make sure that you have the grace. That is what he means.

That is what it means over in 1 Corinthians 10. Would you look over there? You are already in Corinthians chapter 12. Would you look at verse number—excuse me—1 Corinthians chapter 10? Go over to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. And would you look at verse number 13? 1 Corinthians 10:13: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” Now, that is called grace.

No matter the trial, God will always—Jesus is interceding—he will always make sure you have the grace available, a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it. I do not have to give in. I do not have to live in defeat. If I am defeated, it is because I have not chosen to use the grace he makes available for me.

Jesus is interceding. He has given you what you need for every trial, every temptation, every moment. You can serve him empowered by that grace. He has got it all every moment of every day. It is a wonderful thing. Christ is interceding for you.

They have these diet programs. I need to go on one of them. Miss Jenny convicted me when she said, “You are not fat at all, besides you and your belly.” The problem is she was right, you know. It is gracious, you know. Bad enough they said it, but when they are right, you know.

They have these diet programs where they deliver your food, and they have all the meals prepared just what you need. They know it, and they have it delivered. They have it all set up. There is a plan. And you pay $10,000 a week for it—I am joking about that—but they deliver that meal, and it is all lined up ready to go for you.

Christ intercedes for you, and he lines up all the grace you need for every day. His foreknowledge—he knows what tomorrow holds, and he knows. You do not have to live in fear. “Well, I do not know what is going to happen about this test coming up.” I do not know either, but God knows, and God will have the grace available for you. And Christ is interceding for you, ever liveth to make intercession for you.

These are some wonderful verses. Would you look back over in 2 Corinthians just about grace? Second Corinthians chapter 3rd. I love these verses about the grace of God. I would say my two favorite verses about the grace of God: 2 Corinthians 8:9 would be the first one. We mentioned it this morning. First—excuse me—2 Corinthians. I cannot get first and second straight tonight.

Second Corinthians chapter 8. Look at verse 9, if you would please: “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” Man, you can be rich. He says, is that a lot of money? No, not necessarily. It might mean a great quality of life. It might mean souls saved. It might be to make a great ministry, make a great marriage.

My wife and I were speaking to some people, and I am happy for them. They make a good living, and they have their own business, and we are happy for them. We have been doing it for years and years, but they are so busy, and I told her today, I said, “I wonder if they are happy.” I hope they are. I love them, and I really do mean that. But richness in happiness is better than money. Money is the cheapest of God’s riches. You understand that? But look, this grace—you can be rich because of the grace of God. Jesus is interceding, always making sure you have the grace you need.

Look over in chapter 9. It is interesting: 8:9. Now look over in 9:8, if you would please. The problem is once it gets past eight, I cannot go there. I am learning out of fingers, you know; that is my problem there. But look at chapter 9, verse 8. The context here is finances, but you will notice all these terms—superlatives, if you will—God is just including everything. It is a wonderful promise. Nine, verse 8, right there: “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” Oh, is that not wonderful? You can abound to every good work through his grace.

Christ is interceding for you so that you will have the grace where you can abound to every good work. That means you can be the husband God wants you to be, the dad God wants you to be, the wife God wants you to be, the mom God wants you to be, the prayer warrior God wants you to be, the forgiver, the forgiving neighbor God wants you to be, the coworker God wants you to be, the example of God in your relatives, in your family, in your neighborhood. You can be all those things God wants you to be. How? By the grace of God, you can abound to every good work in Christ. He is making sure you are all of God. You can abound to every good work.

I love Joseph. Joseph is a beautiful picture of Christ, a wonderful picture of Christ. You can really just see all these examples or types, if you will, of Christ. He was loved by the Father. Joseph was. Remember his dad? He made him that coat of many colors. We have the example tonight right there. He was loved by his dad, and Christ was loved by the Father.

Joseph was sold for silver—20 pieces; Christ, 30. He was sold, and Christ was sold. Judas betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver.

Joseph lived and died in a foreign country, Egypt. Christ left heaven and lived in a foreign world, a country, and he lived and he died. So many similarities. He was lied about. Remember old Potiphar’s wife? Christ was lied about. Oh yeah. He was lied about. He was falsely accused. Christ was falsely accused.

Joseph forgave his brothers. They never fully got it, but he forgave them. Christ forgave his own Jewish countrymen. He forgave them. So many examples. He provided for his family. Christ has provided for you and I, his children.

Now think about this, I love this on resurrection Sunday. Joseph, remember he died there in Egypt, but he said, “Hey, one day you are going to go back to the promised land of Canaan, and I want you one day to carry my body back over there.” And Christ suffered and bled and died on Golgotha, Calvary, outside the city of Jerusalem. But he is not there anymore. His body resurrected. He is at home, sitting on the right hand of the Father now, is he not?

Now, wait a second. Here is the part I love—I love it all. But think about Joseph in those seven plentiful years, storing up. Storing up. I mean, silos! Can you imagine going through Egypt at that time? Silos everywhere, full of all the grain and maybe the corn and the wheat and all these things. Just full of it where Joseph stored it up.

A little while later, all the family comes, and the testing comes, you know that. Eventually, Dad and all the brothers and everybody—all seven of them—come back over there. And oh, they are worried about Joseph. And Joseph said, “No, no, no. You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. Why is that? To keep you alive while you are living in this world, this whole Egypt down here, I am going to nourish you.” That is the word used; I am going to nourish you. I will give you what you need. I have got it all stored up.

And friend, Christ is storing up those silos of grace for you. Everything you go through, every moment, he has got it stored up. And Christ—he suffered and bled and died, and he rose again—and he has the grace available for you.

One last thing, and we are done. Would you look over in Romans chapter 5? This is the key part for you to have that grace: Humility is a key. Humility is the key. “God resisteth the proud, but he giveth grace unto the humble.” That is the key. I am going to say another key. We are done tonight. This is so important.

Romans chapter 5. Would you look at verse 1? Romans 5:1: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Peace with God—how? Through Jesus Christ; he is interceding for us. Praise God for that. But watch this, verse 2: “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.”

You are saved. You are standing in fields of grace. But you have access to that grace by faith, into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Here is the sad thing: I am putting along in the river, can’t go two miles an hour because I am depending on Paul. And I do not really believe God has the grace that I need for that. And I am struggling. I am beating myself down looking at me, me, me. And God says, Jesus is interceding for you. You have got all the grace available, but you have access to it by faith. When I get my eyes off of all there to get my eyes on Jesus—that is why Jesus said, “If you believe in me, the works that I do shall you do also, and greater works than these shall you do.” Why? Because you have your eyes—you are believing in Jesus, not yourself. He said, “Man, you know what? He has got the grace I need for this trial, for this temptation to serve God thereby, and he has got all the grace.” God said, “Woo! That boy is getting access to the grace that he is standing in by faith.” And God pours that high octane in there, that… Boy, that old boat motor kicks in, and you are gone! Woo! Look at that right there. We have the Word of God right there. Better than some old rock and roll song coming off, amen. We have access to that grace.

I think, “Hey, would you just say, ‘Hey, he has got the grace I need’?” Jesus is ever living. He is interceding. He is going to give me—I am never going to lose my salvation, oh yes, oh yes, oh yes. But he will always have the grace you need. And I serve him for every trial, for every temptation. I mean, I can abound to every good work, not because of old Paul, no way, but because he has got the grace stored up.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? Would you tonight—I am going to ask you to raise your hand—would you tonight say, “I want to claim that grace”? I want to stop putting along in despair and whatever it may be and pity parties—and all of us are there for sure at times. Let us just say, “He has got the grace.” I am going to believe him for it. I am going to trust him for it. Let us just claim that grace. Jesus is interceding for you. You have got the grace. He will make sure it is always there.

Would you please stand? We are going to have a word of prayer. Would you just come and claim that grace? He has got it available for you tonight. Father, these are great people. Thank you for them. I love them. Help us, help me, Lord, to come by faith and access this grace you have available every moment of every day. Remind us of these truths. Thank you, Jesus, you ever liveth to intercede, and you make sure we have got the grace for always. Help us to claim it by faith. We will thank you and praise you for what you do. Jesus, in that name we pray. Amen.

Would you come? As our instruments play, would you come? Would you come? Just say, “I want to claim it by faith. He has got the grace for me. I have to get my eyes on you, Jesus.”

“Child of weakness, watch and pray, finding me thine all in all.”

It is always a mistake when I look at my gas tank—it is on empty. I mean, I am running on fumes. Man, his gas can of grace is always full. It is always there. I mean, whereby we may serve him—what? By grace, by grace, by grace. And Jesus is interceding, making sure you are saved, saved to the uttermost, but is also making sure you have the grace you need. Let us just claim it by faith today. “Nothing good have I, grace to claim. I will wash my garments white in the blood of Calvary’s land. Jesus paid it all, left a crimson stain.” Amen, amen.

Man, this right here tonight—I do not want to… John and Zach used to say some boy in their church said, patting up their heads. I do not want to fatten up your head, you know. But this is the cream of the crop. I mean, Easter weekend, everybody is busy doing this, that, the other. You are here this morning, praise me for that. By the way, 197. If we could have just divided three of them or something, I mean… Next time I am going to go tell the neighbors, I try to get someone to come over here, you know. But anyway, we are right there. Praise the Lord, just a good weekend. But you are back on Easter Sunday night. That is awesome. And I love you. You are wonderful. You are awesome. But Ken, I say, man, that preacher, he speaks to me. I serve God in my own power, and I am there two more times I like to admit, but his grace is there. And let us just say, I… He is interceding. He is getting to the grace. It is available. I want to live by his grace. It is an awesome, awesome way to live. Glad you are here tonight. Excited about hearing stories and pictures and whatnot of that little one on the way Wednesday. And you would be praying for Brother Josh and Mr. Zell, if you would. Hey, we are pro-life, right? Now we are pro-life. Come on. Amen. Amen. Evangelistically speaking, we had 553 this morning. Come on now, you know. Praise the Lord, a great weekend. God has been good to us. There is, on your way out in the lobby, some Reese’s Easter eggs. That is good. The Lord is good. That is some grace involved in that, I believe, right there. And then even better yet, there are some York peppermint—not patties, but Easter eggs. That is close to revival right there. That will make you have a Baptist fit right there, you know. I will tell you what now. So grab you one of those. We just want the Easter Sunday night crowd. You are awesome. Glad you are here tonight. And let us go on as grace. Praise the Lord. He has got the grace for babies to be delivered. Amen. You know what about that? And praise the Lord, Brother Josh, Mr. Zell, they are great. Pray for them if you would, and excited about them. What a good weekend God has given us. Praise the Lord for Brother Dumpeter. I was thanking this morning talking about those pastors. Brother Dumpeter pastored for years and years. I appreciate Brother Dumpeter. What a blessing he is.

Original File: ＂Walk By His Grace＂ Pastor Paul Chisgar - Sunday PM 4⧸17⧸2022 [L2vgIEnK2Jc]