Understanding God's Grace: Benefiting from His Unmerited Favor

Jesus rejoices in the Father's grace given to new believers.

The Father's grace is revealed to those who are weak in their Christian faith.

Jesus weeps over the sinful state of humanity, but rejoices in the Father's favor.

The Father's will is to save humanity through Jesus Christ, not through human efforts.

Music Music Today our message is titled, Who is the Beneficiary of God's Grace? We have a message that was just given recently called, The Grace of God is a Gift, which leads to eternal life. We course through this truth by establishing on the Word of God what it means to live in Christ, using the analogy of the branch being connected to the vine, which Jesus spoke about in John chapter 15, verses 4 through 7. We learned in this message as well that the gift of God is eternal life, which is found in Jesus Christ alone, and also works together with our faith in our dear Savior. The grace of God is a gift to sincere, faithful, and obedient children of God, the Father through his Son, Jesus Christ, death, burial, and resurrection. This wonderful gift of grace of God leads the believer into Christ Jesus, into eternal life through one's faith in the one who gave his life on the cross to make salvation possible for all those who live in him and love him with all of their hearts. In this message today, we are going to look at who is the beneficiary of God's grace and how this free, unmerited grace or favor changes people's lives because of the supernatural revelation that enlightens their spiritual understanding of what and who Christ is and what he has done for them personally. Let's open and let's begin in Matthew's chapter, chapter 11, beginning in verse 25, where Jesus was speaking to the crowd, saying with joy in his heart as he was praying to his heavenly father. Verse 25. At that time, Jesus began to pray to say, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. And I acknowledge openly and joyfully to your honor that you have hidden these things from the wise and the clever and the learned and revealed them to babies, to childish, untaught, unskilled. Yes, Father, I praise you that it was your gracious will and good pleasure. Verse 27. All these things have been entrusted and delivered to me by my Father, and no one fully knows, accurately understands the Son except the Father, and no one who fully knows and accurately understands the Father except the Son. And anyone hear this and anyone to whom the son deliberately wills to make him known. Verse 28. Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am gentle, neat, and humble, lowly in heart. And you will find rest, relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet for your souls. For my yoke is wholesome, useful, good, not harsh, hard, sharp or pressing, but comfortable, gracious and pleasant. And my burden is light and easy to be borne. In making a point about Jesus rejoicing and delighting as he was praying to his father, we see a parallel gospel to Matthew chapter 11, verse 25 and verse 26, which we have just read. We are told in Luke's gospel in chapter 10, verse 21, the same report. in that same hour he rejoiced and gloried in the Holy Spirit and said I thank you Father Lord of heaven and earth that you have concealed these things relating to salvation from the wise and understanding and learning and revealed them to babes the childish unskilled and untaught yes Father for such was your gracious will and choice and good pleasure well now at this point we must look at what made Jesus rejoice. And we are told, in that hour Jesus rejoiced and gloried in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Yes, Father, for your gracious will, choice, and good pleasure. Was Jesus here? glad that the truth was hidden from the wise and prudent? Or was he joyful that it had been revealed to mere babes who were growing in their knowledge of their Savior? You see, Jesus rejoicing in returning thanks to God for his favor or grace given to the immature or recently new believers in the Christian faith. A babe, according to the Bible dictionary, refers figuratively or represents those who are weak in their Christian faith and knowledge. They are yet ignorant, but growing. They are begotten from above, but they still require the God-given nourishment, which is necessary for their maturity. The nourishment at this time is called the sincere milk of the word, which is spoken of in 1 Peter 2, verses 2-5. We read, Like newborn babes, you should crave, thirst for, and earnestly desire the pure, unadulterated spiritual milk, that by it you may be nurtured and grow into complete salvation. Verse 3 Since you have already tasted the goodness and kindness of the Lord, Come to him then, that living stone, which men tried and threw away, but which is chosen and precious in God's sight. Verse 5 Come, and like living stones, be yourselves built into a spiritual house for a holy, consecrated, dedicated priesthood to offer up those spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ. You see, dear listener, in our opening scripture in verse 25, where Jesus was praying and thanking his heavenly father and acknowledging joyfully that he had hidden these things from the wise, the clever and learned and revealed them to babes who weren't the childish, untaught and unskilled ones saying, Yes, Father, I praise you that such was your gracious will and good pleasure. This was all part of the Father's grace and favor, which was given to those babes who had the mysteries of the gospel revealed to them Their spiritual eyes had been opened up enough to know who Jesus was to them as their Savior even in the midst of the sin and ruin and sad state of the sinful cities which they lived in. even though this is the reason our dear savior came it was still no doubt very grievous for the lord jesus christ as he could not help but weep over them and have compassion as he did over jerusalem we can only imagine with this this thought knowing that these hidden mysteries were shown to mere babes must have been very refreshing to him because he states it with such joy and such thanksgiving. Praise God. And you must know that even though Jesus is the son of God, born of a pure virgin birth, he is still fully human and fully God. He knew all things. He knew why he came to this earth. His humanity allowed for him to weep over what he experienced and the reason he came. His humanity allowed for him to rejoice at seeing these young babes yield their hearts and minds to understanding who he was to them and to see his father's gracious goodwill being fulfilled in these little babes. Hallelujah! And the scribes and the Pharisees were humanly wise and foolish ones with their minds vainly puffed up by their fleshly pomp and circumstance. The scripture tells us that their foolish hearts were darkened because they refused to submit to the righteousness of God's way of saving man by sending his son Jesus Christ. They knew the scriptures, which pointed out the signs and times of his coming, but they went about it in their own established ways of defining their own righteousness and the methods of saving themselves. Isaiah the prophet, in Isaiah chapter 53, verse 53, foretold our precious Savior's rejection, saying, He was despised and rejected and forsaken by man, a man of sorrows and pains and acquainted with grief and sickness, and like one from whom men hid their faces, he was despised and we did not appreciate his worth or have any esteem for him. Yes, even though Jesus foreknew before he came to this earth his purpose of salvation for all the whomsoever the Father had chosen to give him throughout the generations of time. He taught and forewarned his disciples of his rejection and what would happen to him before he went to the cross. We see this in Luke chapter 9 verse 22 saying the son of man must suffer many things and be deliberately disproved and repudiated and rejected on part of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be put to death and on the third day be raised again. In other New Testament examples and illustrations, which are largely and mainly warnings against the rejection of God's wisdom and grace, we see that the Pharisees and the scribes observed the law carefully as far as appearances went, but their hearts were very far from God. scripture shows that their motives were wrong because they wanted the praise of men with all of their outward pomp and circumstance with all of their phylacteries and outward show of pride they also had evil desires that were hidden by their pious shows and this is why the Pharisees are often called hypocrites their hearts did not match their outward appearance The Pharisees thought they could match God's standards by keeping all of the outward rules of do's and don'ts. Luke chapter 18 verse 9 tells us that they trusted in themselves and that they were righteous. You see, dear one, this can easily happen when people think God's will is the same thing as their list of what they can do and cannot do. when they make rules to live by and ignorantly think that God is pleased with them. Can I tell you that the church today is full of people like this? The Pharisees and the scribes put the emphasis on righteous living in the wrong places. Minor details became a major preoccupation, and they forgot the more important things which lead to salvation. Let's look. at what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 23, beginning in verse 23. He declares, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders, hypocrites! For you give a tenth of your mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected and omitted the weightier, more important matters of the law, right and justice and mercy and fidelity. these you ought particularly to have done without neglecting the others verse 24 you blind guides filtering out a gnat and gulping down a camel woe to you scribes and pharisees pretenders, hypocrites for you clean out the side of the cup and the plate and within they are full of extortion pray, spoil and plunder and grasping self-indulgence you blind Pharisee first clean the inside of a cup and the plate so that the outward may be clean also verse 27 woe to you scribes and Pharisees pretenders, hypocrites for you are like tombs that have been whitewashed which look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead man bones and everything impure just so you also outwardly seem to people to be just and upright, but inside you are full of pretense and lawless and iniquity. Wow, Jesus made it very blatantly clear that the Pharisees thought they were doing their best to keep God's laws while others were not. What deception. They looked down on such sinners, especially people like tax collectors and prostitutes, and yet they themselves were rotten to the core. You see, these people rejected God's counsel and righteousness, and consequently, God sent his peace and salvation of the gospel truth to others whom he designated before the foundation of time. And these blessed people were called the Gentiles. These were some of those who were called babes, Christ's disciples. Jesus' disciples were simple-hearted people who inclined and submitted their hearts to be instructed and saved in God's own way, called the way of righteousness and holiness found in Christ alone. Jesus never rejoiced in the fact that people were lost but he did rejoice over the fact that they had repented 2 Peter 3 verse 9 tells us The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what he promises according to some people conception of slowness But he is long-suffering, extraordinarily patient towards you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance. God's nature is benevolent, and he sincerely desires eternal happiness for all people. And by what we just read, his patience towards sinners proves that he is willing that they should be saved. And if he were not willing, dear one, and if he was not patient and he was not kind, it would be an easy thing to just zap them, to cut them off and exclude them from the hope of eternal life immediately. But praise God, our God is not that way. He is just and righteous and pure and he is a God of love. Hallelujah. Now, at this point in the message, today we must ask, How or why is it that the truth is hidden from a fleshly, humanly wise person? Why is that? Well, we must understand here that this hiding refers to those things which are known only to God and are purposely hidden from man's knowledge. No matter how clever, mentally quick, or inventive people may be, They will never find out the secret truths or mysteries hidden from them by God. The truths of God which are hidden and unapproachable cannot be discovered by man in his resourceful, ingenious mind. It's because they can only be revealed by God himself. these truths of God are supernaturally imparted by the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Truth no human being can possibly discover for example the mystery of Christ in you or the Divine Trinity or the incarnation which is Christ coming into the world as a human being without the divine and supernatural revelation of the Holy Spirit Oh yes, someone can read and know that. But until it is supernaturally given in Revelation, it does not live within the heart. Apostle Paul, in 1 Timothy 3, verse 16 tells us, And a great and important and weighty, we confess, is hidden truth, the mystic secret of godliness. He, God, was made visible in human flesh, justified and vindicated in the Holy Spirit, and was seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, and taken up into glory. And Paul also, in Colossians chapter 1, verse 25 through 27, declares, in it I became a minister in accordance with the divine stewardship which was entrusted to me for you as its object and for your benefit to make the word of God fully known among you the mystery of which was hidden for ages and generations from angels and men but is now known revealed to his You see, even Jesus spoke in parables to prevent the humanly wise from understanding God's truth. the divine revelation of God is only given to the humble. And Jesus said in Matthew chapter 13 verse 10, It is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. I'd like us to look at that. I'd like us to go there in Matthew 13 beginning in verse 10. And the disciples came to him and said, Why do you speak to them in parables? and he replied to them to you it has been given to know the secrets and the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to them it has not been given verse 12 for whoever has spiritual knowledge to him will be given more and he will be furnished richly so that he will have it in abundance but from him who has not even what he has will be taken away verse 13 This is the reason that I speak to them in parables. Because having the power of seeing, they do not see. Having the power of hearing, they do not hear, nor do they grasp and understand. Well, now we have to ask, how is truth given to mere babes and the humble? You see, there are two abilities or capabilities which cannot understand God's purposely hidden mysteries. And they are the wisdom of the worldly wise and the prudence. So prudence in the Bible dictionary means skill, good judgment, and common sense. and both David and Solomon are described as men of prudence and wisdom. You see, there are many people in the world who have good common sense, good judgment, and excellent skills, which help them make good decisions throughout their lives. And the book of Proverbs even speaks a lot about a prudent person. Just as we have covered in Matthew chapter 11, Verse 25, where Jesus began to say, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, and acknowledge openly and joyfully to your honor that you have hidden these things from the wise and clever and learned and revealed them to babies, to the childish, undaughtance, and unskillful. Well, again, Jesus makes it clear that these hidden things were hidden or shrouded from the worldly, wise, or clever people of the world. And verse 27, our Lord tells us, All things have been entrusted and delivered to me by my Father, and no one fully knows or accurately understands except the Father. No one fully knows and accurately understands the Father except the Son, and anyone, hear it, and anyone to whom the Son deliberately wills to make him known. When Jesus says, no one fully knows or really understands, this is saying that they do not know by human intelligence or genius of mind, but rather that it is by faith and by supernatural revelation, which divinely opens up the spiritual eyes and ears of the one's understanding, to know that they know that what they know is God-given and it is of God. People who have received these gifts of God's grace through understanding and divine revelation of his word is because of faith and a humble heart And not only that they treasure these truths that they have understood and these truths become protected holy treasures in their inner being They guard and protect what has been given in understanding of biblical truths so that they do not offend the one who has given the divine comprehension of these treasures that guide them on their journey to eternal life. It is like tending to the garden of your heart, dear listener. If you ever have had a garden, you know that you must keep the weeds out of it from amongst the beautiful plants. Otherwise, the weeds will completely take over that garden. We have a message called the Garden of Your Soul, which can be heard by going to our website and accessing the audio messages. The website is called ShiningLight7Ministries.com, and this is a numerical number 7, Ministries.com. Dear listener, the hidden mysteries and truths come only by God's grace to a humble heart of a repentant sinner, a repentant believer who believes and trusts by faith in who Jesus Christ is and what he says he is and what the truth of holy scriptures over all teach. the babes in Christ do not stay babies but they grow daily by worshiping their creator that is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and by feeding on the divine manna in the word of God and by meditation upon the lovely and the beautiful and by fellowship with their brothers and sisters in Christ so you understand that Jesus is teaching that truth comes through faith in the Son, and these truths are given supernaturally by him through his Holy Spirit who lives in them. This you must remember also. This is a gift of God's grace. This is nothing you nor I could possibly understand without God opening one's spiritual eyes to see and know that this revelation is truth, it's real, it's divine knowledge that has pricked your heart in a new dimension of love and admiration for your Savior. Babes are characterized by faith rather than by confidence in themselves. And this is why Jesus says in Matthew chapter 18, verse 3, that we must become as little children in order to receive God's grace. Verse 3. And he said, truly I say to you, unless you repent, change and turn around, and become like little children, trusting, lowly, loving, and forgiving, you can never enter the kingdom of heaven at all. Whoever will humble himself, therefore, and become like this little child, trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. God's word tells us that the cross is foolish according to the wisdom of this world. But in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 27, Paul tells us that God has chosen the foolish things of the world, the babes, to confound the wise. Let's begin in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, beginning in verse 26, where Paul says, For simply consider your call, brethren, not many of you were considered to be wise, according to human estimates and standards. Not many influential and powerful, not many of high and noble birth. Verse 27. No, for God selected, deliberately chose, what in the world is foolish to put the wise to shame, and what the world calls weak to put the strong to shame. Verse 28. And God also selected, deliberately chose, what in the world is lowborn and insignificant, and branded and treated with contempt, even the things that are nothing, that he might depose and bring to nothing the things that are, so that no mortal man should have pretense for glorying, boasting in the presence of God. Verse 30. But it is from him that you have your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom from God, revealed to us a knowledge of the divine plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as our righteousness, thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God, and our consecration making us pure and holy in our redemption, providing our ransom from eternal penalty for sin. Verse 31. So then, as it is written, Let him who boasts and proudly rejoices and glories boast and proudly rejoice and glory in the Lord. Hallelujah. All believers who live in Jesus Christ have started out as babes in Christ who have received this wonderful gift of grace, which is meant to continually grow into a beautiful fellowship and divine union with their precious Savior. and Heavenly Father. You see, realizing one's own helplessness is the first step to receive the grace or undeserved help of God unto salvation. And you learn, as one who is a beneficiary of God's grace, how his free unmerited grace or favor changes your life because of supernatural revelation that enlightens your spiritual understanding of what and who Christ is to you and in you and what he has done for you and what he has sacrificed for you personally. Dear listener, are you on your way as a true child of God? If so, I urge you, I encourage you to press on daily and take your life in Christ serious, because life on this earth is very short and each day, every day counts. The days we live in, in this year of 2023, are very dark and bleak days for our country and for the whole world for that matter, because Satan's demons and human agents who belong to him and worship him are hard at work to bring great deceptions and perversions against mankind. Stay close to God and do your part as a beneficiary of his grace because yours and my salvation depend on it. Salvation is ongoing until we take our last breath on this earth. Our joy and peace are found in Christ alone Hold on tight to your precious Savior And worship him alone

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