Oh, Father, how we praise and thank Thee for Thy presence with us throughout the day. We do thank Thee that Thou hast turned our hearts, our attention, unto Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And we do see in Him the fullness of the gospel.
Oh, how we praise and thank Thee that Thou hast given Thy Son even to us, we the chief of sinners, that He should become our portion. We do want to declare before principalities and authorities that our cup runneth over. We do rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, Father, as we gather together again this night, we do desire that Thy presence shall continue with us. We do desire that by Thy Spirit Thou wilt turn our hearts and fix them upon Thy Son, that truly we may see no one but Jesus only.
Oh, how we praise and thank Thee that Thou art the only One Who is worthy to be noticed, Who is worthy to be seen, and to be heard. And we do desire to hear Thee, to see Thee, and to be occupied—possessed—by Thee.
So, Lord, once again we commit ourselves to Thee. We commit this time into Thy hands. We do trust Thy Holy Spirit to reveal the Son in us, that we may be led into those unsearchable riches that are in Christ. We ask in the precious name of our Lord Jesus and for His glory. Amen.
I believe, dear brothers and sisters, you agree with me that the Lord has been good to us, and He has been speaking to us.
Our brother has helped us to set our focus upon the one thing—or may we say, upon that one Person—even our Lord Jesus Christ. And then this morning, our brother spoke to us on the unsearchable riches of the grace of Christ: how that God came in His great mercy to us, that He should give us grace, delivering us from shame unto glory.
I do feel that God has done two impossible things. On the one hand is that impossible situation that we were in. As our brother has told us, David and any of us—all of us—we were even outside the pale of Levitical sacrifice.
We had got ourselves into a situation, an impossible situation. We could not get out ourselves; nobody could help us out. We were there in that impossible place, and yet grace has delivered us out of that impossible condition.
And, brothers and sisters, I think on the other hand there is another impossible state: that is glory—the glory that belongs to God, to God alone. And who can enter into that glory? It is impossible. It is beyond human effort.
And yet grace has uplifted us and has brought us into glory. Brothers and sisters, my heart rejoices in the fact that grace, the unsearchable riches of His grace, has done these things.
And, you know, after the morning session I went out, and a few brothers met me. They said, “We wonder what is left for you to say.”
I do rejoice in the Lord. Our brother has said what I am thinking of saying tonight. I rejoice because our brother could say it much, much better, much more clearly, than I can ever try.
I asked myself, “What is left for me to say?” I remember years ago, when I was in Bangkok, Thailand, I had a friend there who had a store. And the name of that store was “Grace Limited Partnership.”
Now, brothers and sisters, if we know anything of grace, that word limited is the very contradiction of grace. Our brother has been showing us the unlimited riches of grace, and yet this store was called “Grace Limited Partnership.”
And, brothers and sisters, in a sense I feel that that is what I am. God shares His grace—His grace—with us, and His grace is unlimited. But when He shares His grace with me, I feel that I tend to limit His grace, and it becomes “Grace Limited Partnership.”
So, brothers and sisters, tonight I would like to say something a little bit on this matter of grace, maybe from another angle. Now, if you feel that it is limited, remember that it is this partner that limits grace. The other Partner has unlimited capital.
And, brothers and sisters, I do desire that God would deliver us out of that limitation. Because of that limitation in us, oh, how we limit God Himself. May the Lord be merciful to us and deliver us from our limitedness, that we may enter into that unlimited partnership with Him in grace.
May we turn to a few places in the Bible.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ:
even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blemish before Him in love:
having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself,
according to the good pleasure of His will,
to the praise of the glory of His grace,
which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved:
in Whom we have our redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of our trespasses,
according to the riches of His grace.
But by the grace of God I am what I am:
and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not found vain;
but I labored more abundantly than they all:
yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
For our glorying is this, the testimony of our conscience,
that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God,
we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you-ward.
And He hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee:
for My power is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses,
that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Dear brothers and sisters, when you take up that letter to the Ephesians, you will find there is one word repeated many times in that short epistle, and that is the word grace.
If you try to count how many times that word grace is used in that epistle, you will find—if I am wrong, please correct me—you will find it twelve times in that short epistle.
It is in Ephesians 1:2, 1:6, and 1:7; in Ephesians 2:5, 2:7, and 2:8; in Ephesians 3:2, 3:7, and 3:8; in Ephesians 4:7 and 4:29; and in Ephesians 6:24. So there you find that word grace used twelve times in this short epistle.
Paul begins his letter with a greeting on grace: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” And he concludes his letter by saying, “Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption.”
In other words, you will find that in the heart and mind of Paul, that word grace, and what that word represents, looms very large before him.
Grace—oh, grace! From the beginning to the end, it is grace. It is pure grace.
The whole life and ministry of Paul may be summed up by this one word: grace. He is called by the grace of God. He is saved by God’s grace. He receives the forgiveness of his offenses according to the riches of the grace of Christ.
He is called to serve the Lord by grace being given to him. He is enabled to suffer; it is because of grace. He has love and faith toward Jesus Christ; it is due to the grace of God. And he said, “I am what I am by the grace of God.”
Brothers and sisters, with Paul, grace is everything to him. Grace explains his life, and grace explains his ministry.
If you take away the grace of God from him, there is nothing left but a dead Pharisee by the name of Saul.
And you remember when he wrote that letter to the Galatians, how he drew their attention to his former life. He said, “You know that formerly, my manner of life, my conduct, in Judaism—how I persecuted violently the church of God, determining to destroy it; and how I was more advanced than many of my own age, being extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.”
Oh, brothers and sisters, you listen to Paul before he knew grace. What was he? He was zealous, energetic, active in Judaism, more advanced than those contemporary with him.
And yet there you find that man in the flesh, which means just flesh, could do many things, thinking that he was serving God, and yet he was going in the opposite direction. He was an enemy of God, a rebel, the chief of sinners. That was the kind of man Paul was before he met grace.
And then he said God, Who knew him even before he was born, called him by His grace.
Dear brothers and sisters, if we ask Paul, “How is it that you became Paul? How is it that from a rebel you became a child of God? How is it that from a sinner you became a saint? Who changed you? What happened to you?” the only thing Paul can tell us is grace—the grace of God.
He cannot explain this by anything that is in himself. Anything that was in him was contrary. So what has become of him after he met the Lord? Everything that was in him would lead him further and further away from God and take him deeper and deeper into himself.
There is nothing in him that explains the life and ministry of Paul—nothing, absolutely nothing. His being born a Hebrew of the Hebrews does not explain that. His being circumcised on the eighth day does not explain that. His belonging to the tribe of Benjamin does not explain that.
His belonging to the sect of the Pharisees does not explain that. His sitting at the feet of Gamaliel does not explain that. His being overzealous does not explain that. His persecuting the church certainly does not explain that.
Dear brothers and sisters, nothing in him—that is, all himself—can explain a single bit of what has become of him after he has met the Lord.
But, on the contrary, every bit of his life, no matter which direction you look at it—whether it is Paul at rest or Paul at work, whether he is alone or whether he is with people, his personal life, his concern for the church, his being in prison—everything and anything in the life and ministry of Paul can be traced through the grace of God.
There you find it begins, and there you find it ends: grace. Here is the explanation of the life of the apostle.
Yes, brothers and sisters, quite definitely our brother told us this morning that no one can define grace. I fully agree with that.
People try to explain what grace is. Maybe you are able to explain that word in Greek if you are a Greek scholar. But if you want to explain grace according to the Son of God, it is beyond description. It is unsearchable, because it is the unsearchable riches of Christ.
Those Greek scholars tell us this word grace is, first of all, a quality that is in a thing which gives joy and pleasure to those who hear and those who see. It is a joyous quality inherent in a thing or in a person.
And, of course, to the Greeks nothing gave them more joy than beauty, so they put beauty and grace together.
Then Greek scholars continue to tell us that gradually that word takes upon itself a deeper meaning. It tells us more than that quality of beauty inherent in that thing or person that causes joy to other people. Gradually, that word grace means the thing or the person itself that gives help.
They also tell us that there is an element in grace of being freely given. It is not something that is a debt. It is not something that is a reward or payment for some work. It is a free, outgoing, spontaneous, gracious act for those who are undeserving and unlovely. And that is grace.
Furthermore, Greek scholars tell us there is still another element in grace. Because of the gracious act that comes upon the person who receives it, it is so gracious, so beautiful, gives so much joy, that it inspires thankfulness unto the one who gives it. So it comes back in gratitude. That is grace.
Now, brothers and sisters, these are the different meanings of grace as Greek scholars tell us. But, dear brothers and sisters, do not limit grace to its word.
When that word is taken up by the Spirit of God and applied to our Lord Jesus Christ, it means much more than the word itself. It is being lifted from a mundane, worldly use, and it has become a word that defies any explanation.
Dear brothers and sisters, I dare not try to tell you what grace is. It is too vast. But this evening, by the grace of God, we would like to look into that understanding of the riches of the grace of God in Christ.
What is Paul’s understanding of grace? What does it mean to him?
Of course, in the first place, we have already mentioned that man’s soul is being rescued from destruction, from shame, and turned around and brought into glory, into the light eternal. That is grace.
Paul tells us himself that the forgiveness of sins is grace. In Romans 3:24, we read:
Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Oh, brothers and sisters, Paul says he is justified freely by the grace of God through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. He is not justified because he has done so many good things or has fulfilled all the law.
He is justified freely, without any cost, without doing anything—really by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ.
And you know, when he wrote the letter to the Ephesians, in the second chapter, how he told us that we all were once dead in trespasses and sins. We were following the passions of our flesh. We were under the rule and dominion of the evil spirit who is now working in the sons of disobedience, and we were all in that state.
And yet God, Who is rich in mercy, has come to our rescue. He has quickened us together with Christ. He has raised us up from the dead, and He seated us in the heavenlies together in Christ Jesus.
And as Paul is describing what God has done for us in Christ Jesus, he puts in a parenthesis—he explains it and says, “By grace ye have been saved.” Oh, that is grace.
The grace of God has quickened us. We were dead in trespasses and sins. Is it not true that we were dead in trespasses and sins? Of course, we were very much alive, you see, but we were dead spiritually because we were in a condition where there was no sensitivity to God.
As our brother mentioned in his account, our spirit was dead. So far as God was concerned, there was no response.
Maybe we were very active physically. We were very keen mentally. And yet God said we were dead men. We were dead in trespasses and sins—hopeless, beyond repair, beyond improvement, beyond restoration.
And yet, dear brothers and sisters, He has quickened us together with Christ. He that is born of the Spirit is spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to us and quickens our spirit, and we become a new creation.
And, dear brothers and sisters, at that very instant there is a cry within us, “Abba, Father.” At that very instant, you do not need anybody to tell you that you are a child of God, because the Spirit of God witnesses with our spirit—our new and quickened spirit—that we are children of God.
Brothers and sisters, this is grace. A dead person has come to life. What can it be except grace?
You may try to improve a dying person. You may try to restore the health of one who is weakening. You may improve his health. But who can call a dead person back to life and give him a new life, a new spirit? Nobody can but grace. This is grace: “By grace ye have been saved.”
Is there anyone here who is trying to restore himself to life, who is trying to regain his connection with God, who is trying to improve his spirit’s health? May I tell you, it is a waste of time.
Just come and receive the grace of God that is in Christ Jesus. He alone can quicken you. He alone can connect you with God in a living way. He alone can give you the forgiveness of your sins.
Dear brothers and sisters, I believe all of us here, in more or less degree of intensity, were once under that burden—that terrible burden. I do not know about you, but I know what happened to me.
When I was in my teens, humanly speaking, I was not at that age of thinking of my eternal future. Humanly speaking, I should live in the present day and enjoy myself. But, strangely, for a whole year I was under conviction.
God knows how many years, you see, because of my sins. I felt the terribleness of my sin. It weighed upon my conscience. I woke up in the night and wondered, “Where would I be if I should die?”
Dear brothers and sisters, that terrible burden weighed upon my conscience heavily. I cried out for help, and I reformed myself. I read the Bible. I prayed every day. I faithfully went to church. I was active in Christian service.
Wherever there was a revival meeting, I was there. Even when there was a final examination, I had to go, because that weight was so heavy upon me.
Oh, thank God, one day, when the Spirit of God came and quickened me—quickened my spirit—dear brothers and sisters, I received the forgiveness of my sins according to the riches of His grace.
And I can tell you, when that thing happened to me, the load was gone. I could fly. I was free. Dear brothers and sisters, how thankful I was that God had come to me in Christ.
I say, we may experience it in different degrees of intensity, according to the different degree of our understanding of the terribleness of our sins. Oh, thank God, thank God! It is by grace that we are saved, and it is by grace through faith. It is not by our works, but by trusting in the Lord Jesus, Who has done all.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, I believe we have experienced it. We have experienced the riches of the grace of God in Christ Jesus in the forgiveness of sins.
But is that alone enough? My dear brothers and sisters, as our brother mentioned this morning, it is such a wealth that probably it is just the beginning—and it is.
Grace is not limited even to the forgiveness of sins. If you read the first chapter of Ephesians, you will find Paul says the forgiveness of offenses is there. Oh, but it is always more than that.
He has chosen us in Him before the world’s foundation, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love.
Here, brothers and sisters, grace is not only the forgiveness of sins. Grace will carry us all the way into glory, that we may be holy and blameless before God. We have been marked out beforehand for adoption, for sonship, that we may be sons.
The only begotten Son is to be the Firstborn. He is to lead many sons to glory. How does He do that?
I believe, brothers and sisters, we are all looking forward to that day when we shall be led by the Son into glory. But how?
It is by grace that we are delivered from shame and carried on into glory. This is the understanding.
Dear brothers and sisters, often I feel that we limit the meaning of grace. When we talk about grace, it just means the forgiveness of offenses. Yes, it is grace—very great grace. Oh yes, my brothers and sisters, but is that all?
Oh, maybe you say, “No. After I have received the forgiveness of my sins, well, I was told that I should ask grace before each meal.”
In other words, I know that grace does not stop at the forgiveness of my sins. But I do recognize that when I am having my daily meals, it is the grace of God. That is good.
And as you go on in your life, you discover here and there, in this need and in that need, when you meet this problem and you meet that problem, and when you come to the end of your wit, to the end of yourself, you realize that you need some grace.
It is not only the grace for the forgiveness of your sins, but you need special grace for special needs. When you are sick, you need grace of healing. When you are in sorrow, you need grace of comfort. When you are in lack, you need grace of supply.
When you are in suffering, you need grace of endurance. When you are put together with someone very special and very difficult, you need the grace of patience.
Dear brothers and sisters, at different occasions, at different times, as you go along in your life’s journey, you will discover that you need the grace of God here and there and all along. “Oh God, give me this grace. Oh God, give me that grace. Hast Thou not promised to bless me with all spiritual blessings in Christ? Now give it to me. I need it now.”
It is true. The Word of God says that we can come boldly to the throne of grace and receive help for all our needs. That is all true.
My dear brothers and sisters, is there not a difficulty here? We come to consider grace as something that God will give to us. In other words, we consider grace as a thing.
When we need forgiveness of sins and we have tried our best and cannot be forgiven, we give up. And so, “God, give me the grace of the forgiveness of sins. Thou hast to give it freely to me because I cannot earn it.” And God says, “All right, here it is—the forgiveness of sins. I give you this grace.”
Then after a while, you find that you need grace to be patient. Oh, you cannot be patient. You cannot be patient with the one who lives with you or the one who works with you.
And you know, as a Christian, you ought to be patient, because it is a very outward thing to lose your temper. Certainly it dishonors the Lord if you throw up in a temper and rage. That does not look like a Christian. You try to control yourself.
But there is no self-control. And when you discover that you cannot control yourself, you come to God and ask, “Oh God, be gracious to me. Give me the special grace of patience, that no matter how my colleague will stimulate me and stir me, oh, give me grace that I can bear with him, if not for him.”
Dear brothers and sisters, you pray most earnestly, with the best of intent, for the glory of God. But does He, out of that bag of grace, pick up the grace of patience and say, “Here it is,” and after you take that, you become a patient person?
Dear brothers and sisters, is that our understanding of grace? No wonder our store is called “Grace Limited Partnership.” There is a limit. There is a limit to our patience.
Oh, brothers and sisters, may I put it this way? Do I understand Paul rightly?
With Paul, grace is more than something that comes from God to meet his need. Grace to Paul is not a dead thing. Grace to Paul is not an impersonal thing. Grace to Paul is not isolated items.
To Paul, grace is a Person.
Dear brothers and sisters, God has only one grace to give. God does not have many graces for your many needs. God has only One, and that is His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, brothers and sisters, why was Paul, because of the greatness of his revelation, assaulted by Satan with a thorn in his flesh? Oh, how he cried to the Lord, “Take it away! Take it away! That makes me weak.”
“Do You want me to be weak? Is it a good testimony to You if I am weak? I am preaching, I am ministering, and the people are looking at me and saying, ‘Look at that. He is preaching all the greatness of Christ, the unsearchable riches of Christ, the riches of His grace—and here, look at Paul, a Paul in his flesh.’”
We do not know what that thorn was, but that weakness—everybody knew it. “It is not a good testimony. It will curtail the effectiveness of my ministry. It will certainly frustrate the glory of God.” Oh, he came to God and said, “Oh Lord, take it away, take it away. Give me grace to take it away.”
Brothers and sisters, quite often grace to many people is the taking away of unpleasant things. But if the unpleasant thing is not removed, then you begin to doubt: “Is God gracious? Is He the God of grace?”
Brothers and sisters, our concept of grace, if so, is very limited.
But the Lord did not answer him in that way. The Lord seemed to be very hard on Paul, seemed not to be gracious to him. No, the Lord said, “That thorn shall remain in your flesh. You shall be weakened by that thorn. You will be weak in the eyes of the people whom you serve.”
That is difficult. But the Lord said, “I do not leave you there bearing the thorn alone. No. My grace suffices thee. My grace is sufficient for thee, for My power is made perfect in weakness.”
Here, brothers and sisters, what is grace? Grace is never merely the taking away of unpleasantness. Grace is not giving you something that will gratify your flesh.
Grace is the life of Christ in you. When that life is in action, in weakness there is power. In sorrow there is power. In death there is life.
Dear brothers and sisters, when the Lord says, “My grace is sufficient for you,” He means, “Is not My Son sufficient for you? Why do you ask Me as if something else were sufficient?”
“Do you not know that Christ in you is the hope of glory? Do you not know that Christ in you is My grace to you? Do you not know that you will find all the spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus? And this Christ Jesus is in you.”
If only you will get out of the way. If only you turn to Me. Let Me prove My sufficiency.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is the principle. The reason why we do not know more of His grace is because we stand in the way. That is the principle of law.
Law demands, “Obey, and then you live. If you do not obey, die.”
And, brothers and sisters, yes, thank God, we love to live under law. Oh, you say, “No, I do not want law. Law is too severe. I have been trying hard to find law no more.” But there is no law in the love of God.
For, dear brothers and sisters, we do not know ourselves. We love to live under law. That is to say, we will accept any challenge that comes to us in our life’s journey and try to meet it with ourselves.
“Let me do it. I will do it. I can. I am able to.” Like the Israelites, they said, “All that God has commanded us we will do.” Very good heart.
But, dear brothers and sisters, if only we can see that we were crucified with Christ. God has got us out of His way on Calvary in Christ. Why? Because He wants to manifest His grace upon your life.
Not I, but Christ. It is important. “I do not set aside the grace of God.”
How often we quote Galatians 2:20:
I have been crucified with Christ;
and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me:
and that life which I now live in the flesh
I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God,
Who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.
What do you mean by that? In Galatians 2:21, he said, “I do not set aside the grace of God.” What is the grace of God? The grace of God is not I, but Christ. That is the grace of God.
Oh, brothers and sisters, the grace of God is really given to us. You do not need to do anything. He will do it. Grace says, “Believe and live.”
So, dear brothers and sisters, the riches of His grace are in Christ. And thank God that He has given this Christ to us. He is in you. He is God’s grace to you.
And this grace is sufficient to carry us through into glory: Christ.
Oh, heavenly Father, how can we thank Thee? For Thou hast given Thy Son, our Lord Jesus, the only begotten Son. In Him is everything.
Oh, we do praise and thank Thee for the unsearchable riches of Christ. We do thank and praise Thee for that grace. He is full of grace and truth.
Of His fullness we have received grace upon grace. Oh, we do pray, worshipping, we do pray that Thou wilt open our eyes, that we may see Thy wisdom in getting us out of Thy way.
It is not because Thou art ungracious; it is because Thou art gracious. Thou dost desire to show Thy greatness. Oh, may we live under grace and not under law. In the precious name of our Lord Jesus.