Grace Is Real

Introduction

Good morning. It was about a month ago that Greg told Elijah and I that we were going to be presenting these 10-minute talks that we’ve been working on. And uh and uh he told us about a week, I think, before the last song service that he needed one of us to do it, and we’d just kind of gone over a very very bare outline of our talks. And um after saying that, Elijah gave a very helpful and definitive answer of who should go first. He said, I don’t really care who goes first. So after that answer and a couple minutes of discussion and subtle hints from me that I was uh volunteering, volunteering Elijah to uh give his talk, he ended up going that Sunday, and now it’s my turn.

Anyways, I’ve got some good news and unfortunately some bad news. The bad news is that one of your distant relative relatives that lived in Los Angeles, California, has passed away. But the good news is they have left you one million dollars as an inheritance. But there’s a catch. The lawyers that have been overseeing the will, making sure that everything gets to the right person will only give out the money to you in person. So you have to get a ticket, fly down, walk, drive, however you prefer to travel to LA to collect your money. Now I’d imagine that everyone in here would take the first plane ticket out to Los Angeles and go go get their cash. But in this world we have an opportunity that is much greater than this one and is passed up by many people every single day.

1. God’s Grace Is a Conditional Grace

This opportunity is the grace of God, and we um but there are a few things that you need to know about this grace. The first thing, of course, is that God’s grace is a conditional grace. If you’ll turn over to 2 Kings chapter 5 and verses 8.

We’ll look at this our first example from here. And this, of course, is the um the story of Naaman. Naaman was the captain of an army of Aram, and according to the scripture, he was a valiant warrior and highly respected by the king. But, unfortunately, Naaman had leprosy. But, fortunately for him, one of his servant girls who waited on his wife informed him of a prophet who lived in Israel, who was able to heal him. And Naaman informed the king of this prophet and was granted permission to travel to Israel. And I’ll start reading in verse 8 of chapter 5. And it says, And it happened when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent the word to the king, saying, Why have you torn your clothes?

Now let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stood at the doorway of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you, and you will be clean. Now, in this day and age, leprosy was an uncurable disease. If you had leprosy, you were exiled from your community, from your city, and pretty much just left to die. And here Naaman’s presented an opportunity to heal himself, which was unheard of back in this day. But, of course, in verse 11, it says, But Naaman was furious, and he went away and said, Behold, I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.

Are not Abanah and Farper, the rivers of Damascus, not better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in rage. Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then when he says to you, Wash and be clean? So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

Now, if you’ll turn over to Acts chapter 9, we’ll look at one more example for this point. And this is the story of Paul, or at this time Saul. Saul’s scenario is a unique one, of course, as Jesus directly confronts him on his way to Damascus, but he still had many options as what to do in the scenario. Saul was a very well known persecutor among the Christian community, as he had killed and murder or killed and imprisoned many, many Christians. But as he was traveling to Damascus to do what he did, a bright light came to him from heaven, and Jesus said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Jesus then instructed him to enter the city and wait for further instructions. And after hearing these things, Paul was blinded, and his men led him into Damascus, and he stayed there for three days while he was fasting.

Jesus then went to Aeneas, and in verse 11 of chapter 9, he said, And the Lord said to him, Get up and go to the street called straight, and inquire the house of Judas, for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come and lay come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight. Now, after some persuasion, Aeneas eventually made his way to Damascus and spoke to Saul. And in verse 17, it says, So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him and said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight and got up and was baptized, and he took food and was strengthened.

Though blind, he had his men with him to do his bidding, as we see in verse 14, he says, He had the authority from the chief priest the chief priest to bind all who call on his name. But he accepted that what he was doing was wrong and corrected himself and was baptized and received the grace of God.

2. If Solomon Could Fall Away, We Can Fall Away

Now, if you turn back to 1 Kings chapter 3, we’ll look at the story of Solomon. At this uh Solomon, of course, was the last, the third and final king of the United Kingdom, and at this point in time, Solomon had been following in the footsteps of his father David, and had loved the Lord greatly. Now, beginning in verse 3, we see that it says, Solomon loved the Lord, and walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. And Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night, and said, Ask what you wish to me to give you.

Then Solomon said, You have shown great loving kindness to your servant David, my father, according as he walked before you in truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward you, and you have reserved for him this great loving kindness that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, yet I am but a little child. I did not know how to go out or to come in. Your servant is in the midst of your people which you have chosen, a great people, who are too many to be numbered or counted. So give your servant an understanding heart to judge, your people to discern between good and evil, for who is able to judge this great people of yours?

And it was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked these things, and God said to him, Because you have asked for this thing, and have not asked for long life, nor have asked for riches of yourself, nor asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice. Behold, I have given according to your words, and behold, I had given you a wise discerning heart, so that you would be like no one else before you, nor shall anyone arise after you. I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that you will not be am so that there will not be among any among the kings like your days. If you walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and commandments, as like as your father David walked, then I will prolong your days.

Solomon was a king of Israel who had everything. He had wisdom, he had he had a deser a discerning heart, and he had riches beyond any other king of his time. But this wasn’t enough for him to stick with the Lord. If we’ll flip over to chapter 11, beginning in verse 1, we see that Solomon eventually fell away from the Lord. And in verse 6, it says, Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not follow the Lord fully, as his David father as his father David had done. And Solomon built high place a high place for Termosh, the desolate idol of Moab, and on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, for Moloch, the detestable idol of the sons of Amaron.

And thus he did for all his foreign wives, who burnt incest and sacrifice to their gods. Now, Solomon had everything, as we could see, and none of us, I would imagine, have anything close to what Solomon had. A heart, wise heart directly from God and all the riches in the world. If Solomon could fall away, we can easily fall away, and out of his favor and be separated from God.

3. Without God’s Grace, We Have No Salvation

And the last thing, the last point that I’m getting to is that without God’s grace, we have no salvation. And we’ll be looking at Jonah. Chapter 3 is our final chap, our final verse this evening or this morning. Now, Jonah was a prophet of God in the Old Testament and is mainly known for his encounter with the large fish. But for this example, we’ll be mainly focusing on the nation of Nineveh. Now, Jonah’s job in this book, was to go to Nineveh and tell them that if they didn’t obey the Lord in forty days, they would be overthrown. But as we know, he didn’t like the idea of going to this nation, for they were very corrupt and sinful in these days. And he attempted to run away and got swallowed by the fish, and eventually made his way to Nineveh.

Now, beginning in verse one of chapter 3, the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise and go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk. Then Jonah began to go through the city, one day’s walk, and cried out and said, Yet forty days, and then Nineveh will be overthrown. Then the people of Nineveh believed in God and called for a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. When the word word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the ashes.

He issued a proclamation, and it said, In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles, do not let man, beast, herd, or flock, taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water, but both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth. Let men call on God earnestly, that each may turn from his wicked way, and from the violence which is his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and withdraw his burning anger, so that we will not perish. When God saw their deeds, that they had turned from their wicked way, then God relented, concerning the calamity which he had declared he would bring upon them, and he did not do it. Now, as we see from the text, Nineveh was an extremely wicked nation, and even them, realizing that God who sent Jonah was much more powerful than them, humbled themselves before him, fasting, putting on sackcloth, and accepting that he was their God.

Conclusion

And of course, God accepted this with grace and mercy and did not exhort the punishment that he said he would. Even though the wicked city of Nineveh, when meeting the conditions of God’s grace and sticking to it, were saved. Even Paul, a well known persecutor of the church, who killed and imprisoned countless Christians, was saved through the grace of God. And every day this opportunity was presented to you and Christians around the world to accept the grace of God and follow him. Think on these things as we continue our song service.