My Soul Has Received

Let us go to the Word, John 1, 1, 2, and then 14 to 17.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God

and the Word was God.

He was with God in the beginning, 14.

And the Word became flesh and made us dwelling among us.

We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only,

who came from the Father full of grace and truth.

John testifies concerning him.

He cries out saying,

this was he of whom I said,

who comes after me has surpassed me

because he was before me.

From the fullness of his grace,

we have all received one blessing after another.

For the law was given through Moses,

grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

No one has ever seen God,

but God the one and only who was at the Father's side

has made him known.

Amen.

God is the God of grace.

God is the God of grace.

God is the God of grace.

God is the God of grace.

In so many places throughout the Bible says,

he is the God of grace,

Psalm 11, verse four is one.

He is the God of grace where he is gracious

in all his work, Psalm 145, 17.

And he is gracious.

So when we think of God as the God of grace,

we tend to think that he is universally gracious.

On the one hand, it is true,

but on the other hand, it's not so.

As Exodus 33, 19 says,

I will be gracious to whom I'm gracious.

I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful.

So how will you read that?

Is that while there will be those to whom he is gracious,

there are also those to whom he is not gracious.

So we have to understand that about God.

Like again, human imagination is God is like the rain.

The rain falls on the good and the evil.

The good guy and the bad guy all get the rain, right?

It's not like those fairy tales.

The rain falls on only the good people

and dry and the bad people vice versa.

When it comes to his grace, however,

it is limited in that sense.

So we have to kind of think about that.

Like does he show his grace to me?

Has he shown his grace to me, right?

So the God of grace, because he is gracious,

he lets those who know his grace

and who put every effort to repay for his grace,

come before him and serve before his throne.

How many of us want to go before the throne of God in heaven

and serve him forever?

Serve him forever.

I mean, you tend to serve like that's my job every day.

I hate I'm in the service sector

and really sick and tired of serving.

It really does matter who you serve

and where you're serving.

And as what status yourself, right?

Who am I and who am I serving?

That makes the whole difference.

If as a king, serving the king of kings, sign me up.

That is the greatest honor, amen.

Yeah, so before the throne of grace, I want to serve him.

So faith means to know God as the God of grace

and that is to say to receive God's grace.

To receive God's grace and that means

considering all things as it as grace.

Psalm 141 verse five.

So we're going to distinguish like what that grace is

and what the other grace is.

Because again, we tend to think grace is one thing.

But different times it means different things

as we see in the history of the Bible.

So if I have received God's grace, say amen,

if you have received, you know you have received God's grace.

Amen.

Then you have to live it every day.

Your daily life has to be committed, not once a week

and go like once a week, the church is enough for me.

You know, it's like if I got to come up Friday

or sat in there, like I got to pick and choose,

it's every day.

Every day I have to live my faith life.

If I know God's grace, I have to put every effort

to repay him for his grace.

So that's why the expression of debtor to grace,

in debted, debt.

It's not really good feeling.

Right, debt is like, oh, pressure, burden, stress.

Because you have to pay that.

Otherwise, the collector's coming.

Your rate goes down, like you have no credit at all.

So even in the world, paying back and paying back

on time full amount matters and impacts people's financial

as well as just social standing in their life.

How much more with God, who has given us grace

that we put the effort to pay back, return to him

for all his goodness is what Psalm 116 verse 12 says.

So that's what Christian life is.

That's what my life ought to be to put every effort

to pay back for what he has done for me.

Uh-oh, not so excited.

I like receiving, but I don't like paying back.

This is the problem.

This is why I'm preaching what I'm preaching.

So thinking about what this week is about.

Again, known as the Holy Week.

This is the week of the Lord's suffering.

And with this day known as sort of the Palm Sunday,

which is him going into Jerusalem

and that moment of people waving the palm leaves

to welcome in Hosanna, Hosanna to the one

blessed is either one who comes in the name of the Lord.

But it was not really to welcome him and see him on the throne

and worship him as worldly king

and have his worldly kingdom that he came for,

where I was for him to go to the cross.

So if we can imagine the Lord

and what he must have been thinking at this time,

2000 years ago, which is not a long time.

It's not a long time at all, 2000, to us, yes.

And if you are in your 20, yes, that feels really long.

But as you grow older, then you can kind of imagine.

Maybe 2000 is not that long.

It's not.

It's not.

It's not that long ago.

What was the Lord thinking about, all right?

So Grace in Greek is Cuddy's.

And the Old Testament, Hebrew is Kana.

And it has the same meaning.

The meaning carries over, which means extension toward extension.

Like it's giving towards someone, showing someone.

And that word, Grace, Kana and Hebrew in Cuddy's in Greek

is translated into English as yes, Grace,

favor, kindness, mercy, blessing.

So you will see, like as we read in John 17,

John 16, 16, blessing after one blessing after another,

in an earlier English translation or another translation,

it's going to say Grace after another, Grace upon Grace.

So it's the Lord's favor.

So if I have found favor in your eyes as another expression

that you read in the Old Testament, like favor in your eyes,

like, do me a favor, we like to say that, right?

But like, can you do something for me?

It's very casually, we say.

But the Lord's favor is his freely extending himself,

giving himself.

So Grace is simply freely given gift,

the freely given gift of God.

So when we receive gift, what do we say?

Thank you.

We say thank you.

And it's in the culture here in America

or in the Western culture, American culture.

But I think, you know, pretty much all cultures have ways

of gifting and then expressing gratitude for them.

So you have thank you cards.

So it's like, you give gift and then you say thank you

for the gift.

And then the other one says, well, thank you for the thank you

gift, for my gift.

Where does this end?

By the end anyway, it keeps on going back and forth back.

But people who are appreciative,

and they not only appreciative to themselves,

but that they can express their appreciation,

these are people of higher value in society.

I'm giving you tips in life, yes.

You want to have a successful relationship,

whether it's in the family, at work, with friends,

wherever you are, even to your teachers, as I say,

show your gratitude and that your value as a human being

goes up, it really does.

So because people who are ungrateful,

people who don't know how to say thank you,

who do not express their gratitude,

in gratitude, ungrateful, is the mark of the lowest kind.

You know, we think the lowest isn't like the tax collectors

and prostitutes and thieves.

But really, people who don't know how to thank,

I don't express, they don't know how to express their

thanksgiving or gratitude, these are the lowest traits

or people who have the lowest trait of being a human being.

Because being given, we are to express gratitude.

So that's what the Bible shows.

God is the God of grace, and he gives.

He gives, and his giving is boundless,

even says his love is boundless,

but those who receive such infinite grace, amazing grace,

and boundless love are expected to show their gratitude.

Yeah, we don't see him, but the Bible shows us how to.

So the Bible shows us throughout its history,

the dispensation of God's grace.

There is the greatest gift of God that God had in mind,

but for men to appreciate it and be able to express that,

God had to kind of set us up, if you will,

like give us a preview of that real thing.

So last time we talked about revelation,

but then similarly, naturally said natural revelation

and special revelation through the creator world,

and then ultimately the Son of God,

it's very similar here.

The grace of God came in stages.

So the first stage is called the former grace,

and this former grace is general grace,

because it's given to all people.

All people, whether they believe in God

or not, whether they're Jews or Gentiles,

Christians are not, this is given to all,

through what?

Through so-called nature, so through the creator world.

And just to see the beauty and the intricate details

of how things work, like, you know, from, again,

from the universe, the planets,

all the way down to the insects, the flowers,

and the, under the sea, the mimic octopus,

we talked about yesterday,

and to down to the DNA of human genes, if you will,

or all genes, all genes of all living things,

we see how God had planned and designed

and prepared for mankind to benefit from.

So yeah, we have to go to work

and go to a shopping shop or shop right

to go get our produce to get fruit and vegetables,

but it's because God had made it available

for mankind to eat.

If there was no such, we would not be able to eat that, right?

So God prepared all that,

and that benefit is for all flesh, all flesh.

So the former grace, which is general grace,

it is given in nature, or through nature,

that is creation, and it's for all flesh.

But the latter grace, the true gift that God planned

to give to all mankind is a special grace,

and it is the only begotten Son.

The one and only Son, Jesus Christ,

it's not for the flesh, he's not for the flesh,

that gift is not for the flesh,

but the souls of all mankind.

Amen, yes, you see the big contrast there.

But again, from men to appreciate God,

and show gratitude for his grace,

God began the history of the world,

and we read that according to the Bible

by making man to be a living being.

Let's go to Genesis 2.7 to find who we are, who am I?

The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground,

and breathed in this nostrils, the breath of life,

and the man became a living being.

The Lord God here is referring to the creator,

the creator that we read about in Genesis 1 here,

he is the one who created all things

and heaven and earth, including human beings.

Do you believe that?

So the creator formed man from the dust of the ground,

and he formed creatures that crawl on the ground

from the dust of the ground.

So this is the makeup of our bodies.

But to one of them, later on, as he chose him,

he breathed his breath, which is the breath of God,

which is spirit.

For God is spirit, his breath is spirit,

and that spirit therefore went into the man

who is made up of this body, but not only lump of dust,

but he has a soul, which is he thinks and feels and does.

So to a human being with that spirit, he breathes his breath,

so my man became spirit.

So as a package, he is called a living being.

And that is the ancestor of all mankind,

including all of us here today,

that ancestor's name is Adam, which means a living being.

So I became what? A living being.

I'm a living being.

My friend, you're a living being.

Maybe you don't know it, but you're a living being.

A good-looking one. Maybe a little tired today.

You're a living being. Yes.

So this living being of our ancestor,

living being living in the Garden of Eden,

where he was to live by the word of God

that forbidden from taking from one tree

while he was allowed to take from any other tree in the garden.

That tree was called the tree of the knowledge, good and evil.

And God said, if you eat of it, then you will surely die.

So do not eat of it, because if you eat it, you will die.

There's a consequence to his action.

Now, Adam, if he was remaining grateful

for all the other fruits that he was able to take from,

all the things that he could enjoy.

The whole beautiful, this entire space

called the Garden of Eden was paradise on earth.

And on top of that, remember, God gave him beautiful wife.

Until. But anyway, the bone of my bones,

the flesh of my flesh, coming from him,

he was madly in love with this wife.

So he was very grateful for that grace that he enjoyed,

which is creation, the former grace,

but until that moment where the serpent approaches that woman

and lies to her, that even if they were to take this

for a bit of fruit, they would not surely die

instead they would be like God.

So the woman ate and then gave to the man and man ate.

So that moment of eating is like motivated by,

I want to be like God, why?

Because I'm not satisfied with what I have.

I'm not grateful for what I have.

I want more.

It's basically the motivation there, becoming greedy.

It became ungrateful for what he had.

So he sinned and therefore driven out.

He was driven out from the Garden of Eden.

And therefore, all men now had to live by the sweat of his brow.

You have to go to work that is, work hard.

But even after working hard, there's no guarantee for fruit.

So you work by the sweat of your brow,

but the result is thorns and thistles.

Meaning in vain, men will struggle to survive

and even want to be happy on their own.

But nothing is guaranteed because the moment of his sin

was when he lost, Adam lost the right to all things.

Therefore, in Adam, all men lost the right to enjoy

and have all things, the result of sin.

And not only that, more importantly, all men

became destined to follow the devil, the serpent

who is actually the devil, the origin of sin, to hell,

which is where sin is punished forever.

And not figuratively, but physically, spiritually,

forever, where there's torment and pain and fear.

But because God is the God of grace,

he had always planned from the beginning to be gracious.

He continued with his schedule, his plan.

And he called the men to show his favor on them.

And these were men of faith, because in return,

they expressed their gratitude.

So Noah was one of those.

God warned him of this judgment coming against the world

by a deluge, not regional, but global.

The whole world will be drowned, wiped away.

And Noah hearing it, he understood it as,

wow, why do you tell me and not my neighbors?

You let me know, and not the other people.

I'm honored.

I'm grateful.

So in holy fear is what Hebrews 11 says.

In holy fear, he built an ark according to God's instructions.

And in the end, when the deluge came, not only he,

but his family were saved, along with the animals

that were inside that ark.

Do you believe that?

And that is what Psalm 31 19 says.

How abundant are the good things that you have stored up

for those who fear you?

So what God was looking for is those who fear him.

And Noah was such a man, he feared God.

So the secret to that blessing, the grace of God,

is to fear God.

To fear God.

Abraham was another.

His name was originally Abraham.

But later on his name changed to Abraham,

because he will, he receives the promise

that he will become the father of many nations

and many kings will come from him.

But at the time, he didn't even have

his own biological son.

So this almost sounds like unrealistic, really,

a miracle if it becomes that.

But he believed in God's promise.

So in Genesis 18, when the Lord appeared to him,

Abraham fell on his, at his feet and said,

if I have found favor in your eyes, Lord,

do not pass your servant by.

Please let me bring you my home.

And let me make you butter and yogurt.

Yogurt and butter or whatever, something dirty.

And then let me kill a goat or lamb.

It's like, hmm, it sounds like a yummy meal.

And let me serve you is what he said.

So he recognized the Lord's coming to him

as the Lord's favor on him.

And as a result, at the end of that,

visit the Lord promised him, next year,

I will return to you and you will have a son.

And by the time he holds his son in the next chapter,

Genesis 19, Abraham is at the tender age of 100.

Do you believe that?

So his promise of many descendants coming started to,

like, bud, sprout, right?

Because from him comes Isaac and then Jacob.

But before that, Abraham had also a nephew named Lot,

where the angels who visited with the Lord,

Lord God to Abraham, those two angels go to Sodom

where Lot lived to warn him of the coming judgment,

not with water this time, but with fire.

And it was only for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

And Lot said, your servant has found favor in your eyes

and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life.

So Lot recognized the Lord sending these angels to him

to warn about this destruction of his city,

to spare his life.

The angels told him to run for his life

and he understood it as God's favor.

So he was spared of death in that destruction.

Later on, Jacob comes about and he was on the run

from his brother from whom he stole the birthright.

So he runs away from him and lives away from his household

for 20 years and serves as uncle Laban for about 20 years.

So he serves as a servant, but by that time,

by that period is over, he decides to return home.

And then as he's returning home, Genesis 32,

he hears the news that his brother is coming to meet him.

And he knew that his brother was coming to meet him,

not giving a big hug, but to kill him.

So this is where he becomes very humble and broken

and he says to the Lord in 30 to 10 to 12,

I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness

you have shown your servant.

I had only my staff when I crossed the Jordan,

but now I have become two camps of wives

and concubines or wives, you know, servant

and the children through wives and the servants

as well as the animals and all the slaves.

I have become two camps of so many possessions

and this is because of your kindness and your faithfulness.

And he said in verse 11,

save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau,

for I'm afraid he will come and attack me

and also the mother with their children.

But you have said, I will surely make you prosper

and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea

which cannot be counted.

Remember, you promised me that from me

will come so many people.

So remember that promise to me and save me.

And because he gave thanks to God for his kindness

and goodness for him, God hurt his prayer and spared him

from that death at the hands of his brother.

So coming from I jake up are the people of Israel,

to whom God showed his favor, Psalm 851 says,

and therefore after they had lived in Egypt

as its servants or slaves for four generations,

God sent Moses to bring them out.

And as they're leaving Egypt by then,

like there were nine, 10 plays.

So the Egyptians are very scared.

They're like weary of the Hebrew slaves

and please leave.

Just get out of here is what they were hoping for.

But not only that, they're like,

why don't you go with my jewelry and my earrings

and my head things, I don't know that you see

at the men, you know, all the jewelry

and all the precious things.

So X is 1236, the Lord had made the Egyptians

favorably disposed toward the people

and they gave them what they asked for.

So they plunder the Egyptians when they left.

So instead of, so as they were leaving,

they thought that they were going to go to the Promised Land

where milk and honey flow because God is gracious.

They thought they were gonna go there

and enjoy their life.

But no, they had to first cross the Red Sea

and enter the desert, the wilderness.

So in the wilderness, they journey for how many years?

And during the 40 years, they have to live by,

solely depend on the mercy of Jehovah.

So they couldn't live on their own.

That's a definition of desert.

Desert is a place where you need to be guided.

You need to be led by that wilderness.

So wilderness was a place where Jehovah and his mercy

led the people, the people that he redeemed

is what Exodus 1513 says.

So they found grace in the desert for 40 years.

But because the environment was hard

and because they became proud and stiff neck,

they rebelled and grumbled against God.

So one by one, they died.

All died, but two.

All of the original generation that left Egypt

by the time 40 years is over,

only two of the original generation survives

and the desert generation.

So they then enter the Promised Land.

So during the time in the wilderness,

they were commanded to build a sanctuary

where the space is divided as the holy place

and the most holy place.

And the most holy place is where the ark of the covenant was.

I think we went over a couple of different names last week, right?

So the ark of the covenant is also known

as the ark of the testimony.

And it had a covering, like a panel, wood panel, on top

to cover the ark as the ark was like a box

with no cover on originally and with this rod on the poles

at the end or on the sides to be carried.

So that ark was covered and that cover was called

the Atomen cover.

What's it called?

That's right.

So all together, the cover was considered

where the Lord is where the Lord was speak to the High Priest,

starting with Moses and later Aaron.

And that's why that cover was known as the Mercy Seat.

Two words, what are they?

The Atomen cover, known as the Mercy Seat.

So what do you think happens at the Mercy Seat?

God shows His mercy because He knows the weakness of the people.

So when the High Priest goes in there once a year

with a blood of sacrifice, the Lord shows mercy on His people.

And when all things were done right

and the High Priest survives the process

and goes out back out of the tent or the tabernacle

and tells people, the Lord has received the Atomen was done

and now you're blessed.

The Lord will have mercy on you.

He will show you His compassion, His grace,

His love for you and the people will say, Amen, that's right.

So it reminded them the promise where the Atomen cover

was underneath were a couple of items, right?

So one of them was the stone tablets

that had the Ten Commandments representing the law.

So the people are to remind, remember,

if we keep the commandments as God promised in Exodus 20, verse 6,

He will show His mercy to not just me,

but for a thousand generations.

You know, they still sing this song.

For a thousand generations, a thousand generations, a thousand generations.

So a thousand generations, if I keep the commandments,

He will show me and my children my descendants

for a thousand generations, His mercy.

But of course, if they break the commandments, they were punished.

But even after singing, if they were to realize, I sin,

I didn't mean to sin, but I sin, I just obeyed

and I need to receive His forgiveness.

So if they turn back from their sinful ways,

if they were to return, because their Lord is merciful

and is gracious, He would show them His mercy.

So second Chronicles 3, verse 9 says,

if you return to the Lord, then your fellow Israel

and children will be shown compassion

by their captors and will return to this land.

For the Lord, your God is gracious and compassionate.

He will not turn His face from you

if you return to Him.

So even after such a gracious message,

because they were stiff necked, proud and rebellious people

when they settled in the promised land,

they worshiped other gods.

They went astray from Jehovah.

So they were punished, they were cursed,

and even they were banished from Jerusalem,

Jeremiah 1613 says.

But the prophets of the Old Testament,

especially towards the end, kept speaking

about them returning to the Lord.

Return to me, return to me, like Joel chapter 213 says,

rend your heart and not your garments.

Return to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious

and compassionate, slow to anger,

a bounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity.

So the Jewish people, by their custom, when they repent it,

they rip their clothes.

They rip their clothes.

I don't wonder, is it like a velcro thing?

Like how did they rip it?

But somehow they rip it.

Like as you read through the Old Testament,

like the kings, they rip their clothes.

The priest, they rip their clothes.

So it's to show that my heart is broken

and ailing because of my sin.

So they were doing it, but they did it by religion,

like religiously, just like maybe some people.

Like repent, they go like, Yeshua, Yeshua.

Yeah, that would be that, right?

So that's what they were doing.

They were rendering their clothes, but not their hearts.

So the Lord said, render, return.

Return to the Lord, your God, and He will show His gracious.

So both the sanctuary, which had the law,

and the prophets all spoke the same message.

Return, return, return.

And there was a specific prophecy by Isaiah

that gave them hope.

Let's go to Isaiah 61 versus 1 to 2.

The spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me

because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news

to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted,

to proclaim freedom for the captives

and release from darkness for the prisoners,

to proclaim the gear of the Lord's favor

and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who mourn.

To who do you think that prophecy was about?

About the issue of the spirit of the sovereign Lord

is on me because the Lord has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor, to the broken hearted,

to the captives, to the prisoners, to those who mourn.

That was a prophecy that Isaiah made.

So the people at the time, as they were struck by the Lord

because he was angry at them because of their sin,

their rebellion, and they were taken as captives

and exiled in foreign lands.

And the temple was torn down at one point

when the Babylonian king came, burned down,

but then the Nehemiah and Zerubobel, they repaired

and then later on, the great Herod,

made it fortified into this great temple,

known as the Second Temple.

So as long as the temple was standing,

they remembered this prophecy and said,

one day, the year of the Lord's favor will come

to proclaim good news for the poor.

So they hung onto this prophecy on top of that,

Zachariah had said in 822,

many people and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem

to seek the Lord of mighty and to entreat him,

to ask of him, to plead him.

Many people will come, many nations will come,

powerful nations will come,

so they prize in the temple of Jerusalem,

the people did not lose hope,

as long as the temple was there,

that the year of the Lord's favor will come to them.

So when one man claiming that he was sent by God,

standing before the temple of Jerusalem said,

destroy this temple and I will raise it again three days,

the Jewish leader, the priest did not take that well at all.

They saw that as a hopeless, not a hopeless,

but blasphemous, how dare you?

That temple bears the name of God, Jehovah,

and he has shown us the children of Israel,

the children of Abraham, his favor and not to other people.

Only to us, this was the favor of God

that we experience for generations.

So they thought what Yeshua was saying was insane,

it was blasphemous, but what Yeshua is referring to

was the temple of His body.

He was speaking of His what?

Death and His resurrection.

I'm gonna be killed by the hands of men,

but in three days, I'll be raised back to life.

He's prophesying, John 2.19 on.

So what is He saying?

Tear down what?

Tear down this time.

He was not talking about the physical temple,

although it tore down seven years later on,

so that came true as well, right?

His work came true no matter what.

So He is speaking of His own body as a temple,

but the physical temple did tear down

and was never built back up and is not going to,

because His body is a temple, a new temple

that is not made by hands of men, but it is from heaven

and it is His body that bears not the name of Jehovah

that was brought by angel, but the father's name.

Which name is that, the name of Yeshua?

And remember, the temple Jerusalem had the law,

the tablets, the law of Moses.

That was regarding the flesh.

You keep and you are blessed and shown mercy

and law from God for how many generation?

Thousand generation.

That was grace to the people of Israel,

all new to the people of Israel.

But here's Yeshua saying,

I have this, I have come in the name of Yeshua

and in me, for I am not the law of Moses,

but the truth, Hallelujah.

So anyone who comes to know me,

who comes to know grace and truth as we read,

He was full of grace and truth, John 114, right?

So the word became flesh and made us dwelling among us.

We have seen His glory, the glory of the one at only sign.

Full of what?

Grace and truth.

Grace and truth.

He is full of grace and truth, only when He dies, broken

and becomes complete empty and comes back to life

through the Holy Spirit.

You will know, remember, recognize

and live by the track that He is full of grace and truth

to be shown to, given to the souls of,

not just the people of Israel,

but the souls of all nations, Hallelujah.

To be received by those who come to know themselves as souls.

If you are still thinking your only flesh,

all I'm thinking about is flesh, I'm hungry,

what am I gonna do afterwards?

All these things I need to go to work and pay the bills

and I gotta go and maybe hopefully get married,

have a girlfriend and they flesh, flesh, flesh, flesh,

flesh, flesh, flesh, flesh.

That time is over is what the Lord's saying.

But what does that mean that I no longer live in the flesh?

I still live in the flesh.

But I come to know myself as a soul,

now made alive by the blood of Yeshua

because I was once dead because of sin,

that I inherited from my ancestor Adam

and that I'm bound to hell, no choice.

That is the fate of all mankind, not only that,

I didn't help myself by breaking every command

that I didn't realize.

But here's Yeshua saying,

the law was given through Moses,

a grace and truth came through him.

Jesus Christ, Yeshua Christ, amen.

That's what 117 says.

So his grace be shown to not those who pride themselves

as I keep the law Moses perfectly, the Pharisees.

But those who come to know the truth,

you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

I am the way, the truth and the life.

Who is the truth?

Yeshua.

So in the beginning was the word,

is how the book of John starts as we read.

The word was with God.

The word was God.

When was that again?

When was that in the beginning?

In the beginning of what?

Of sermon, about 30 minutes ago.

In the beginning of what?

It turning, it is the beginning.

As in the beginning of his revelation.

Do you understand?

It's the beginning of his revelation

because the moment he said,

I'm going to be the word.

As one person said,

I was so moved by last night's lecture.

Like I showed you all this stuff about creation.

Some of you are like, oh God, this is too heavy.

I don't like science.

But that's why you have to do a couple more times.

To get through that and you realize who God is

and that is Yeshua

and how He decided to reveal Himself

from the beginning.

And like the secret message was written according to His plan.

Michael is my friend, was the secret message, right?

From Archie.

Yeah, Michael is my friend from Archie.

No, I know, that's inside you.

We have to be there last night anyway.

So that message as in the genetic DNA,

the information for life,

that is inside not only the human body

but all living organisms

is to show that this is God

who made everything just perfectly and finely tuned

and tuned so that life can prosper on earth.

And it is not for us to, however,

to live here happily ever after.

It's not meant for that.

Perhaps those guys don't know that.

Those creation scientists.

But we know from the Bible specifically

that this world was made to punish sin.

And the origin of sin, the devil

and all those who follow Him.

The ultimate destination for those

to whom He will show grace ultimately

is outside the universe in heaven.

In the Father's house.

How do we get there?

The way, the truth and the life?

Yes, Yeshua, hallelujah.

So for that, the word in the beginning

that is before the creation of the world,

God decided to be the work,

God decided to be the God of grace, to be gracious.

And when it was time,

2000 years ago from here today, the word became flesh.

He became man.

So he is the only begun son, the one and only son,

which highlights his deity,

which is to say, Yeshua is God without sin.

Do you believe that?

As Peter said, you are the Christ,

the son of the living God.

The son of the living God is God.

Do you agree?

You understand?

Yes, that means he knows no sin.

He's not like us having ancestry,

which traces back to Adam,

which traces back to the sinner.

But Yeshua has no such ancestry

because He comes of God.

He is God.

Amen.

But He called himself simultaneously the son of man.

What did He call himself?

The son of man having body, having flesh.

So the word became flesh.

Say with me, the word became flesh.

God became flesh.

Spirit became flesh.

So He is 100% God, 100% man.

And why did He come in the flesh of man?

And not only just any man, but poor man, even poor.

So when He said, blessed are the poor and spirit

for theirs, the kingdom of heaven.

No one was looking to go in like,

man, you're so will, you're a billionaire.

Maybe if I stick around,

do you gonna give me some bonus and give you money?

Nobody expected the front because they did say even

could Messiah or Christ come from Nazareth?

Like, you know, like such a humble background

is a poor guy.

His father was carpenter.

He himself is carpenter.

Look at all those followers, like fishermen.

They're fishy.

They're fishermen, tax collectors,

and all these people who did not look wealthy at all.

So what grace can He show us?

So the son of man is referring to the fact

that he came as man,

that what he's gonna do in his body

is going to be given as grace

to those who know themselves as souls,

seeking grace for their souls.

And that is to say that through his suffering in his body,

his death, he will show his eternal grace

to the souls of all men,

to be received by those who know themselves as souls,

who come to him as souls,

and know the truth, hallelujah.

So that prophecy of many people

and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem

to seek the Lord of Might as Zechariah 8 said,

to entreat him, to plead him, to ask of him,

is what the people of Israel were waiting for,

even at the time of Yeshua,

and therefore they had hope.

Maybe Yeshua was king,

because He performed signs

and He taught well in His characteristics to be good,

but He refused that.

He avoided that attention.

So in the end,

their hope for Him,

their expectation for Him,

turned into anger and resentment and hatred.

So all those people in the crowd shouted,

crucify Him, crucify Him.

They did not want to do anything to do with Him,

but that prophecy about many peoples

and powerful nations coming to Jerusalem

is referring to His body,

because His body is a temple.

Jerusalem, temple of Jerusalem is His body,

where not just one nation will come to Him,

but all nations will come to Him,

to seek Him, seek from Him the grace of God.

Hallelujah!

And according to the prophecy,

yes, He in fact preached the good news,

gracious words, another word.

He proclaimed the year of the Lord's favor.

He preached the poor,

He preached the sick, the broken hearted,

He preached the captives,

the oppressed, the demon possessed,

the prisoners, those who mourn,

to set them free by His word.

But when time came for His own death,

He did not set Himself free.

Instead, He went hopelessly in the eyes of men,

like a sheep being led away to its death.

But as He died, as He was bleeding out to death,

and that was even after being flagged,

He lost much blood already,

that He could even carry the cross up to the hill

where the other prisoners carry their own crosses,

but Yeshua couldn't.

So someone else had to do it for Him.

So when He is depleted and completely empty out,

as He breathes very last, He said, it is finished.

He had to make that declaration

because it was the moment He was fulfilling

the law and the prophets.

Matthew 11, 13, the law and the prophets.

The law and the prophets make up the Old Testament.

So what did the law say?

The law said, if you disobey your condemn.

So it's called the law of condemnation.

The law condemns sinners to death.

That was the history of the Old Testament.

Once Moses received the law,

all the people came under that law.

So that's why Yeshua went to the cross,

becoming the sin on behalf of all men,

to pay the price, to pay the penalty of sin,

not of his own, but sin for the world,

sin of the world, for the world, for the souls of men.

He will pay the price of sin through His death.

And at the same time, He's fulfilling the prophets.

Again, what was the message of the prophets?

The same song over and over again, return.

Because the Lord said, if you return to me,

I will be gracious to you.

Do you understand?

So the moment of His death was fulfillment of the law

and the prophecies.

He is fulfilling the law that condemns sinners to death

and therefore He died in place of all men

kind through His one-time death because He is Adam

and all men are Adam.

Adam's death for Adam, the last Adam,

first Corinthians, 1545.

And then last Adam, as a last time Yeshua died,

paying the price of all men kind,

He redeemed the sin of all men.

So He died, but it was the moment that He was giving

thanks to the Father, not complaining to the Father.

You let me die like this.

How come I'm being killed like this?

I don't know.

I don't even, I haven't even sinned.

I don't even know sin instead.

Just like Jonah did in chapter 289, the belly of the fish.

I was shouts of grateful praise with sacrifice to you.

What I have vowed I will make good.

I will say salvation comes from the Lord.

For He obeyed the command of the Father, John 10, 18.

It was the moment He was laying down

in obedience to the Father's command,

believing that the Father will raise Him back to life

and for the Father will raise Him back to life.

For the Father will show Him His grace,

His eternal grace and bring Him home.

Yeshua gave thanks ahead and say it is finished.

Father, you alone are truly the gracious Father.

Hallelujah.

He condemned her for the ungrateful devil.

Why are people ungrateful to this day?

Because of the origin of sin in the devil.

His influence is on the whole world.

Not knowing what, how to thank, not knowing to thank,

forgetting to thank the source is the devil

and he condemned him through his death.

And once again, his death was to redeem mankind,

to pay the price instead of in place of,

in substitution for the sinners of the world.

But he didn't end there.

He shed his precious blood.

His blood was poured out from his torn flesh

to be sprinkled on the souls and be received by those

who come to him and know the eternal grace of God.

This was when he fulfilled the prophecy,

another prophecy by Isaiah 53.46.

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering.

Yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities.

The punishment that brought us peace was upon him

and by his wounds were healed.

We all like sheep have got us stray.

Each of us has turned to our own way

and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Do you believe this is what happened to the Lord when he died?

That he endured that suffering in my place, amen?

To give me that as grace, he endured all.

So what was put on his flesh,

being pierced, crushed, punished, naked?

Which means ashamed, becoming poor

and mocked.

That's what sinners endure.

Finger pointed, shouted at, yelled at, mocked it.

And going through all the pains of the crucifixion

and that is to pay the price of my sin, all our sins,

and that by shedding his blood in the blood,

it's like squeezing, making your veggie smoothie

or veggie juice, like juicer, like a juicer.

All the suffering that he endured in his flesh

put it into that juicer concentration

to be given in the blood,

so whosoever received the blood

can receive the grace given through his suffering, hallelujah.

So the souls can come to know him and drink his blood

and to know that I am a soul who has received the grace of God.

Is this you?

He died, but he resurrected in three days

and he was lifted up to heaven

and where he sat down on the throne

as the Lamb of God who was slain.

And he sits on the throne,

the throne is known as the throne of grace, the mercy seat.

Amen?

Remember the mercy seat and the Old Testament?

The throne in heaven is the mercy seat

because it's from there,

his mercy is still flowing.

What does this say that?

The very end of the Bible, Revelation 221,

describing that heaven, it says,

then the angels show me the river of the water of life

as clear as crystal,

flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb,

one throne where the Lamb is seated at the Son of Man, Yeshua.

From there, the river of the water of life is flowing

even to this day.

Not just 2000 years ago to the early church

that one time and people speaking in tongues, that's it.

No, it's in present tense, progressive tense,

which is flow in.

The river of life, the river of the water of life,

the river of grace, the river of the blood of Yeshua

is still flowing out and by His grace, I have received it.

What do you say?

Have you received the blood?

How do you know?

The Holy Spirit testifies a man.

The Holy Spirit testifies the gospel of grace.

That's what happened once the believers

received the Holy Spirit in Acts 2.

They went out to the street's bowl,

they start testifying the gospel.

The gospel is not what sounds good to the years

as I believe Jesus and He will protect you from COVID.

He will protect you from layoffs.

He will protect you and bless you.

So you have many children.

Oh, that is after you get married to your dream spouse

and then have many children and those many children

are going to be successful.

You're going to be successful

and that you're going to be prosperous

and you make a lot of money

and the money that you get to keep

and then you pass it down to generations.

You're going to live happily ever after.

That's what so-called prosperity gospel is.

That is not true gospel.

The true gospel, the good news,

is not what sounds good to the years,

but it is the Lord's favor.

The Lord's favor, the Lord's grace.

What is the Lord's grace?

We understand initially it's through all material things

of the Old Testament, initial Deformer grace.

But it is to set us up, be ready to receive the true grace,

the true gift, the greatest gift of God

that came through the sun.

And that is his life, his precious blood,

the redeeming blood of Yeshua, hallelujah.

Oh, that's it.

I still want the former grace.

Can I have some of that too?

You can benefit the material things

or materially in the world today,

but you can lose it tomorrow.

You know that very well.

I know you want to deny it, but it's true.

You could be the most successful

or the happiest man on earth,

but tomorrow you get hit by a car, it's over.

It's over.

So it's temporary, it's only by flesh,

only in the flesh comes and goes.

But eternal grace, the greatest gift of God,

because it is eternal,

because it is given to the soul.

Even if your body is gone,

the body is gone, maybe at the age of 30 or 60,

or even 90 or whatever it is,

or even much earlier,

but the grace of God never goes,

the soul never goes away.

To enter the soul, I can receive this grace

when it never goes away.

That is given through the blood of Yeshua, hallelujah.

My soul has received grace.

Once again, my soul has.

Turn to your neighbor, have you?

Have you received grace?

So comparing the law and the gospel,

the law is what, let's go to Romans 3.19 to 20.

Now we know that whatever the law says,

it says to those who are under the law,

so that every mouth may be silenced

and the whole world held accountable to God.

There for no one will be declared righteous in God's sight

by the works of the law,

rather through the law,

we become conscious of our sin.

We heard a bit of this with Pastor Karen Friday saying,

the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees,

the teachers of the law misunderstood about the law.

They misunderstood the function of the law.

When God gave the law to the people of Israel,

the Pharisees, the do's and don'ts,

they took it to the heart

and then went even further and extended the law.

So they even came up with their own commandments,

namely largely about the Sabbath keeping.

So this is also called the Pharisee law.

So the time of Jesus,

the people were keeping the law of Moses

as well as the Pharisee law.

So they were a heavy burden and weary, as the Lord said.

Come, ye whole, who are a heavy burden and weary,

I will give you rest.

Because they misunderstood that you need to keep,

keep, keep in order for you to be righteous.

When in reality, no one can, no one is.

No one can be declared righteous

because not even one is righteous.

So why did, why did God give the law?

It says to keep every mouth silent,

shout every mouth is basically what it says.

Shout every mouth isn't,

but I think I'm 60% righteous.

The law says, shut up.

That's what it's saying.

Because if you were to,

I think we say in logos too,

like a, you know, like barbed wire

with like live electric, electric current,

like there is, let's say 10,

let's just consider 10 commandments

and 10 wires and offense.

They all have a lot, it's live.

They call it live, you know, cable or wire.

And so whether you touch the top or the bottom,

and you're like, top must be the strongest,

thou shall have no other God but the Lord God.

Because if you touch you with the skeleton,

and then you die.

And then maybe like number 10 is like,

do not lie or do not cover your neighbor thing.

And so it must be weaker.

So let me touch that, what happened?

It's the same.

So the result is the same,

whether you touch top or the bottom,

the result is condemned to death.

That's the result of the law.

So did God give the law to Israel

and therefore the whole world coming under the law

to tell us that we're dead?

Yes, we're dead.

That's the conclusion of Paul writing

a Roman seven of that book at the end.

Oh, what a rich man I am.

So at the end of that effort of studying the law

and knowing the law, it is not to say,

I think I'm passing 60% maybe in school,

maybe even logo 60% you can pass.

But the law of God, the law of God,

if you're giving through Moses, the law of Moses,

the law that came through Moses,

is either your past or fail, that's it.

There's no one between.

And the reality is not even one.

No one is righteous, not even one.

Rather, the law was given so that we become conscious

of our sin.

Amen.

So that the Pharisees, the people of the Old Testament

misunderstood the function of the law.

The law is given to condemn me and saying,

I'm on my knees and say, I'm a sinner.

Can you say that?

Turn your neighbor and see if they're saying it too.

I'm a,

no, they're going like, I'm a sinner.

Right, I'm a sinner.

Man, I'm a sinner, it's not like we're smiling,

I'm a sinner.

I'm a sinner.

What a, what a man I am who will save me

from this body of destruction, this body of death.

Like the good that I want to do, this good I never do,

the evil that I want to, I keep on doing.

I'm a helpless sinner, I'm breathing in and out

sin like fish and nose water, I know sin,

I cannot even live a day without sinning.

And that is not even half of it.

Now what I do with my body, with my heart,

a hateful judging and jealous and envy and wicked

and dirty, oh my gosh, dirty thoughts, dirty dreams.

Who is, who is innocent?

No one is.

So all are to come to him and say, I am a wretch,

I am a sinner.

So that if you just do a sentence,

it is by grace you have been saved through faith.

This is not from yourself, it is the gift of God.

It is not by works by the works of Jesus Christ.

Amen?

So again, works means his suffering in his body.

His suffering in his body.

So what he endured in his body, he was pierced,

he was punished, he was sped on, he was stripped naked,

he was punched, he was flogged, he was ripped apart,

torn, nailed and ultimately killed.

What he did in his body is given to me,

that is called the works, the redemptive works

of Jesus Christ, of Yeshua, that was given as gift

to all mankind, now having received the blood,

we have received the benefits of all his suffering,

alleluia.

In him we have redemption through his blood,

is what Ephesians 1 7 says.

The forgiveness of sin and accordance

with the riches of God's grace.

So unlike the law, the gospel is about the grace of God.

It is given to us by the grace and it is by the blood

of Yeshua, I have been redeemed and forgiven.

How many of you believe that?

Is this just like a formula you memorized?

I've been reading my favorite, I had this all the time,

COJ is like ringing in my ear.

Better than not.

And better than not like in your head,

but it has to go deep in your soul.

This is where the difference is gonna come,

whether you know his grace or not, only in your head

or in your soul.

I can tell for the most part, not all,

who receive grace truly or who pretend like they receive

or they think they receive because it's all calculation.

So all this about sin, so by the blood,

redeemed of all their sins and forgiven of their many sins.

First John 1 7 says, the blood of Yeshua is described

as purifying us from all our sins.

Romans 5 and 9 says, justify by the blood of Yeshua.

And John 1 12 says,

whosoever believes in the name of Yeshua

who received the right to become children of God.

So the name is like again, like a package,

like a wrapper for the blood of Yeshua.

So when I call upon the name of Yeshua,

I receive the blood of Yeshua.

Of course, being baptized in His name is when I'm sealing

the confessing that confession gets sealed

through baptism in His name.

Amen?

So all this is by His grace.

In other words, redemption is the core of the gospel,

the central, it is central to the gospel.

Do you understand what is the grace of God?

It's redemption.

Some of you are going like, that's stage four, isn't it?

And stage five is grace.

Stage five is grace because it is what is known to them.

Like, is this by the time you have to share that?

Like what he has done leading up to that point is given now

as grace.

You didn't do anything for it.

Now you realize all that he has done has been given to you

and me free without price tag.

It's not because you've been a good, goody, two shoes.

It is not because you've been giving ties

or you've been giving bringing people even,

bringing souls, evangelizing.

It is not because of your doing.

He, that song, he is all my righteousness.

He is all my righteousness.

He's all as in cap letters.

All, 100, 1000% my righteousness.

It's not like I have 50 and then he's giving me 50.

But he is all my righteousness.

He's saying, 1000% I have no righteousness.

But it's all his righteousness.

By his righteousness, by his righteousness

these I have been redeemed and forgiven.

It's someone who knows the grace of God.

Who again?

Those who know that their souls, more specifically,

those who know that they are sinners.

COJ is always making me like a sinner

because you know what, you are a sinner.

That's why I feel like I'm,

you're always saying I'm a sinner, repent, repent.

Can I just bring you this big mirror and say,

mirror mirror, I'm a wall, mirror mirror in the wall.

Who are you?

That's what the word is.

The word is mirror, the Bible is a mirror

and the Bible is reflecting who I, who am I?

Who I, who I truly am and I'm a soul.

I'm a sinner, doomed to hell.

I am bound to go to hell, be thrown in.

And in fact, I am not the millionth person.

I'm the first one in line.

Amen?

Test again was going through the verses of the song

and sitting at the feet of Jesus.

We're thinking about that one sinful woman, Luke 7,

or John 8, the one who was,

we kind of connecting the two, the one who was sinful in town,

known as a sinner at the feet of Jesus.

She's crying and crying.

And I imagine like if I were her,

what would be going on right now around me?

People are mocking and talking about me and going,

she's a sinner and he says he's a holy one of God

and he's letting her unholy one touch his feet.

She's like prostitute.

Yeah, all the baby, her mother was prostitute

and all the stuff that she's, but she doesn't care.

She doesn't care about what they're saying.

She doesn't care what they're doing to her

or mocking her, criticizing her.

Oh, she can't think of his, thank you, thank you.

Certainly in her time, Yeshua had not died yet,

but believing that He is the prophesied one to come.

That woman surely was there to receive

but receive the Holy Spirit to be saved.

So it is to be that sinner and saying, yes,

I don't care what they say because what they're saying is true,

I am a sinner, the worst of all.

But by the grace of God, by the blow of Yeshua,

I have been redeemed for given and saved from my sins.

Hallelujah.

That is where you need to go.

And if you don't have that confession 100%,

you need to hear the word more and know Yeshua better.

Know yourself better.

The reason why grace is not grace to you

is because you don't know yourself.

And the reason why you don't know your true self

is because you don't know who God is.

You don't know who Yeshua is.

It's all a theory, it's a piece of one kind of formula

in your head.

A true Christian is someone, yes, who says,

I'm a soul and I have received the greatest gift of God

that God Himself prepared from the beginning

that is to say before the creation of the world.

Before the creation of the world.

I was thinking about, again, like visuals always help.

Like thinking about the creation, the creator

and the intricate detail and just complexities

of all the workings and the universe,

all the way down to the DNA of my body.

He had designed that, but all of that is just flesh.

Ultimately, what he wanted was to show his grace

to me the soul before the world began.

And in fact, Isaiah 30, 18 says,

the Lord longs to be gracious to you.

The Lord longs to be gracious to you.

Therefore, He will rise up to show you compassion.

For the Lord is a God of justice.

Blessed are all who wait for Him.

So even before the creation of the world,

He prepared and long to be gracious to someone like me.

So even if you grew up in the church,

maybe you never even went anywhere near sipping alcohol

or inhaling cigarettes or drug whatever.

Because Paul was like that too.

You think Paul was a party animal?

But Paul's the one who wrote,

what a wretched man I am,

who will save me from this body of death.

So you can't just say, I'm a COJ,

I'm not even allowed to go party.

Look at Paul.

He was a righteous man by the standard of his day.

He was a Pharisee.

But when he went, he meant Yeshua.

And then from Yeshua's eyes,

in his eyes and what he said, his word, the truth.

He reflected himself and realized,

I am a sinner, I'm the worst one.

So for someone like me,

He longed to be gracious.

That is amazing grace that He waited to call me by grace.

Do you believe that?

Are you grateful for that?

Even though the calling might have come from somebody

on broad avenue in Paul Park or K-town.

Excuse me, he turned around.

And the rest was history.

Because you turned around like,

I should not have turned around

that all my weekend would have been my weekend.

Now I have to be here like,

I'll be there.

Oh my God, where's my freedom?

Such person, I hope there is none,

but I think there may be just a few.

Not yet, no grace of God.

Something you don't really think deeply.

Like, do I know the greatest gift of God?

How he exchanged trade at his life for my soul.

He paid the highest price to buy my soul,

the precious blood.

For you know that it was not with perishable things

such as silver gold that you were redeemed

from the empty way of life,

handed down to you from your ancestors.

But with the precious blood of Christ,

the lamb without blemish or defect

is what 1st Peter 119 says.

He paid the highest price of his blood to buy your soul.

How is that not moving?

Who's gonna pay price of their own life for you?

Maybe my mommy, but that's your flesh.

To purchase your soul from the fire of hell,

he paid the highest price.

That is the price of the blood of God.

So my emotion, my sense of gratitude,

should never fade away.

You'll have it when you're in church,

but you lose it when you're at work,

and your boss is yelling at you.

You'll have it in the gathering,

you're going to show up,

but when you get hit in this traffic,

you're like, oh God, I'd go to church again.

It's like so tired.

Certainly moods, emotions, yes, they're present,

they're real, but they come and go.

No matter what happens, I must never lose this gratitude.

Amen?

And therefore I must become the praise of his glory,

is what Ephesians 1 12 says,

in order that we who are the first to put our hope in Christ

might be for the praise of his glory.

When we praise him, certainly we use the words

to lift him up, because praise means lifting him up.

For who he is, for what he has done,

for his name is the greatest,

those three reasons we lift him up.

We lift him up, we praise him,

and we get the help of the music, the song,

and the instruments, and all of that.

So we do that in the time of worship and singing songs,

but God does not dwell in songs,

God does not dwell in singing or playing music.

He dwells rather in the praises of his people.

What does that mean?

It is for those who are shedding tears

and knowing the grace of God,

giving thanks for water,

for a wretch like me, you saved me,

for a dead man like me.

You died to give me life.

So I cannot praise without tears.

I want to lift my life to be his praise.

My life has to become his praise.

It is not about singing.

It is not about making music.

A lot of people come for the first time.

I like your music.

I don't blame them.

They don't hear it, because they're so new.

They don't think of anything.

They don't know anything.

But as someone who has now heard and said,

you know the grace of God,

you sing amazing grace,

do you really praise him for his grace?

Have you become his praise?

And to find grace, as Hebrews 4.16,

let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence,

so that we may receive mercy and find grace

to help us in our time of need.

The more difficult life gets,

the more challenging my situation.

All the more I approach the throne of grace,

on my knees every morning or every night,

morning, weeping to seek His help.

And He hears me.

That's His grace.

I thank Him for hearing me.

I thank Him for hearing me well and cry.

And shout and beg Him.

Please help me.

Please help me.

Please hear me.

I'm sorry for my sins.

I'm sorry for my laziness.

I'm sorry, because I'm still loving the world.

I'm so sorry.

But the fact that He hears me,

because I'm before the throne of grace,

and I can, as someone who knows and has received the grace of God,

can approach with confidence that He will hear me

and help me.

Heal me.

And that He will be with me.

I thank Him.

Hallelujah.

And whatever position or obligation He has given me

through the church, Romans 12-6,

we have different gifts,

according to the grace given each of us.

I serve faithfully.

No matter what it is, I serve faithfully.

Until the leader says,

I'd like to move you to something else.

Or I think you should be doing that.

I have to be ready to death.

I will be to my last breath.

I will carry out my duty.

Because it has been given to me as grace.

So you're not like one day standing in the choir

and one next day not.

I mean, we don't have choir here yet.

But again, we have choir.

Sometimes that happens.

Pastor Ken is like so-and-so.

I don't know why they do that.

Sometimes I don't feel like it's what they don't stand.

You know what?

They don't need to be up there.

They're not committed.

They know not the grace of God.

If you know the grace of God, God has given you grace.

And even if you're not a perfect Broadway singer

or opera singer or whatever pop singer,

that by the grace of God, at least you're not told death,

that you're given a chance to sing,

you're going to sing until no more.

So whatever position you've been given to drive the vans

or to serve cooking food or teaching souls

or technical things that you have to do,

you are doing it faithfully because it is grace.

And consider all things as grace, including suffering,

is someone who knows grace.

Psalm 141.5 says,

let a righteous man strike me.

That is a kindness.

Even if I'm struck unjustly,

I take it as grace.

And top of that, because I'm a Christian,

because I'm preaching,

and because I'm COJ member,

someone strikes me,

someone says, I don't want to be friends with you.

I don't have anything to talk to you about.

I don't know who you are,

and I feel like I'm alone.

And I say, oh, is this a grace of God?

Yes, it is.

This is someone who never loses things,

who never forgets to give thanks for his grace.

And ultimately, finally, as a debtor to grace,

as Paul said in Acts 20 to 24,

now, compiled by the Spirit,

I'm going to Jerusalem,

not knowing what will happen to me there.

I only that in every,

know that in every city,

the Holy Spirit warns me that prison

and hardships are facing me.

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me.

My only aim is to finish the race

and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me,

the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace.

And that's why he said,

I'm obligated to preach both to the Greeks and the Jews.

Obligated, Romans 114.

Obligated is obligation is debt.

You know, taking out loan that's called obligation too, right?

So you use that word obligation, obligated,

because I owe him.

Do you know that you owe him?

Do you owe him?

For what?

For his redemption.

And so many more.

So many more on top of that he healed me,

on top of that he heard me,

on top of that he helped me and helped me still.

So many more things that,

besides this most important thing,

he's giving me so much.

So I need to pay back.

But when do I stop paying?

There's no stopping,

because it's impossible to pay back.

So what does that mean for the rest of my life?

So every day I have to pay back.

There should be not even a day where I'm sitting around doing nothing.

I owe him.

Just like the meter's running.

The credit card statement is going.

You have 28 days to pay off your debt.

Oh my God, I've got to pay off that.

I've got to go and get the paycheck

and put it in my account so that I can pay the bet.

It's that stress that real pressure.

But it's that the pressure is coming

because of what he has done and because I love him.

Because I owe him and I want to be like that woman at his feet,

serving him in my tears.

With my tears loving him,

paying back.

And it is for those who truly know themselves as sinners.

I want to encourage all of us to think deeply in this holy week.

Do I know the grace of God?

The Word, the God, the Creator from the beginning,

who created all things and became flesh

before I was ever born and before I ever knew any of this.

He already did it.

And he waited and waited long to be gracious to me.

And one day he called me.

Do you consider that calling as grace?

Do you consider you being here right now as grace?

So whatever he commands, how can I calculate?

How can I be waging out this or that?

What option is there?

If you truly know the grace of God,

you can only say it is by the grace of God,

I am what I am.

Hallelujah!

Let's pray.