Abolishing Anxiety, Part 7

I'm so glad that you decided to join us today as we Impart God's Word to you It's it's a great day to celebrate the Lord It may be listening for the very first time We're thankful that you are here and we trust that the things you learn today will enable you to live for Christ all the rest of your days You know, this is our sixth week meeting like this

It's not the ideal but it is the real and so we are Taking the most of every opportunity to make sure we're able to get God's Word to you weekend and week out and we trust that as you gather your family around with you that as you listen to God's Word and Open your Bibles and study God's Word with us sing praises to his name That truly you're able to understand that we want you to see Jesus That's all that really matters We want you to see Christ on this first Sunday in May

We would usually gather together and celebrate the Lord's table We're not able to do that now But we still celebrate the resurrected Christ because every Sunday is Resurrection Sunday And so this morning we just want to thank the Lord for all that he's done for those of you who have faithfully given We are Incredibly grateful to you

Thank you so much for being faithful We are in the last month of our fiscal year and we have ended every year 25 years in a row in the black And God has been so good so faithful to us over all these years And so we're trusting God to do that again this year through your faithful giving your faithful sacrifice that you might Honor the Lord with the first fruits of your increase and we're just trusting the Lord that as we close out this fiscal year by The end of this month that we and once again in the black and as you pray Concerning how much you would give to the church at this time and as you had been giving I want to let you know that the elders our leadership are so grateful for your sacrifice Weekend and week out

We know it's not easy to give at this point because you're not coming to the church So you can mail it in or you can give online or you can bring it by the church if you choose to do that Whatever way is is best for you But needless to say it's it's a great joy to be able to look to the Lord and say thank you Father For working the lives of the people of Christ Community Church to cause them to want to give Week-in week-out, even though they might be going through difficult situations If you're able I would ask that you join me on your knees as we approach the throne of grace Father God, we thank you for today

This is a great day You know Lord every day truly is a great day because you gave us the day And we truly want to live it for you And for those who have gathered around with their families to listen, I want to pray for them today That you do a mighty work in their homes in their lives that they would see this time as a time to Redeem to buy back for the sake of eternity and that as they spend time together with With their families on their knees around the Word of the Lord around the dinner table Breakfast table lunch table They're able to be together all day

What a great thing that is And I pray father that you would work in through each and every family. I Want to thank you Lord for those who have faithfully given Even though some of them can't even get out of their homes and make it to church But they have sent their their love gifts in What a joy to know that through the people of this church over the 25 years that we've been together You have continued to supply You truly have shown yourself faithful to us and we are grateful And I pray Lord that you would truly fulfill your word in the life of those who honor you Because you say that those who honor you you will honor We pray that you'd honor them in a unique and special way because of their sacrificial giving for for you We want to pray Lord for The opportunity that we have to present the gospel Lord, it's not the same as it usually is when we go to work and go to the store and all that kind of stuff But there are opportunities

There are avenues that you've given to us To share Christ to lead people to a deeper understanding of who you are And we pray that we take advantage of those opportunities and that you would use us to impact others for the sake of the gospel There are a lot of people in our church Lord that have family members that aren't even saved and they are looking at this time to lead them To you to show them the way To help them understand the beauty of redemption So we pray for them as they share Christ with their loved ones You give them wisdom

We pray for those Lord who have who have lost loved ones This week this month we pray for them Lord that you give them the grace that sustains them during their time of difficulty and strengthen them through the power of your spirit and Ask that Lord you do a mighty work in their hearts and lives When I continue to pray for the governor of our state you'd save his soul You'd work in his life to help him understand that the church is an absolute essential

It's a necessity for people's lives He didn't see it that way but it is and his heart is in your hand We pray you turn his heart to have sympathy for house houses of worship That Lord he would allow us to come together once again to lift our voices in accord For your glory and for your honor We want to get back together again Lord

We're longing for that The opportunity to reach out and touch those that we love and respect and adore and we just pray Lord that you would make that a possibility sooner rather than later Until that time may we be found faithful Serving only Christ living only for Christ for the glory of your kingdom We pray this in Jesus name Amen, I Looking at what Arthur Ben Patterson said concerning Ernest Hemingway He said these words Ernest Hemingway, as you know was wounded in World War one he says that the doctors picked 237 pieces of shrapnel out of his body As might be expected he never forgot that experience But it was not so much the memory of the pain that stayed with him it was how close he had come to death He felt that it set him apart from the rest of the human race for the remainder of his life He recalled the men who shared the experience with him in the convalescent hospital some of them with faces Reconstructed Iridescent and shiny from the work of the plastic surgeon

They too were set apart by their brush with death They too were suspicious of anyone who had not had the same shattering encounter Other people seem trivial and shallow by comparison and from this Hemingway derived a formula for his novels Put a good man into a situation where he comes face-to-face with death in the arena fighting a bull or in combat Then you will see him in his truest and deepest dimensions You will find out just how good he really is The trial will not make or break him But it will reveal him Think about that The trial is not going to break him or make him It's going to reveal him When a man comes face to face with death When he's in the arena fighting in combat when he faces trials tragedies hardship difficulty when he faces a crisis Crisis will reveal the true character of that man This pandemic that we are involved in this virus This situation this crisis that we find ourselves facing day in and day out How you respond to it truly reveals Who you are? It sheds away strips away the veneer of happiness the veneer of tranquility To show us the true character of a of a person of a man and when that happens Anxiety rises to the to the top in most cases And so we're looking at how to abolish anxiety Our text is Proverbs 12 25, I I'm sure you got it memorized by now you should That anxiety in the heart of a man weighs it down

It burdens the heart but a good word Makes it glad We're in the process of giving you that good word We're showing you that the good word rests in God's sovereignty The good word is that you remember your responsibility that you realize your dependency that you regard your testimony Those principles that we have given you once applied Begin to have anxiety in your heart Subside and As we continue to give you the other biblical principles Our prayer is that anxiety would be abolished in your life because of what God is actually doing in you and through you He told us not to be anxious

He told us not to worry He told us not to fear Because he's in charge of everything and because he's in charge of everything you need to depend upon him for all things So you remember your responsibility and you regard your testimony Today, I want to give you that third of the fifth principle The fifth principle is this that you need to rejoice in his Sufficiency Rejoice in his Sufficiency if you recall point number two Remembering your responsibility

We told you you had to be joyful, right? very important and This is the outworking of that How do you rejoice in these situations in these circumstances How do you rejoice if if you're among the 30 million people That have lost their jobs Think about it. I heard a statistic last week that said that it took it took 10 years to put 23 million people to work It's taken six weeks to put 30 million people out of work That's horrific And if you're one of those people that's lost their job and you're wondering how do I rejoice in in times like like these? Or maybe you've lost a loved one and And you're saying okay, so I've lost someone dear to me How do I rejoice in in times like these? Others of you are saying, you know, I I have my children home with me now all day They used to go to school now They're home all day and I I've got a home school them and and they're around me all day and they're driving me crazy How do I rejoice when when there's so much havoc in my home And your children should not cause you havoc they should be a blessing and a joy But if you're not used to having them around all day and they're there all day You ask yourself, how do I rejoice in times like these? Well, it was Apostle Paul who said that we are to rejoice always first Thessalonians 5 16 But he says in Philippians 4 verse number 4 rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice In Philippians chapter 3 verse number 1 he said finally brethren rejoice in the Lord You see the unique thing about a statement is that his joy is in the Lord It's not in the situation

It's not in the circumstance It's not in the loss It's not in the heartache it's in the Lord and Paul was one who knew what it meant to rejoice in the Lord always and when he said that he was in prison And they weren't prisons like we have today where you know You get you know three hots and a cot and and you're able to go outside in the sunshine These were these were prisons These were dungeons

These were places infested with rats Cold dark gloomy Paul says rejoice in the Lord always and again I say Rejoice why because there's something about the sufficiency of Christ There's something about the sufficiency of his grace That's in him that causes us to rejoice And if we're going to abolish anxiety in our lives we need to learn to rejoice in his sufficiency Think about it this way the Apostle Paul said these words in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 And let's let's match your life with his and let's see if if you can compare with where he is and what he said he said I speak as if Insane 1st Corinthians chapter 11 verse number 23 I More so in far more labors in far more imprisonments beaten times without number often in danger of death Five times I received from the Jews 39 lashes lashes Five times he says Three times I was beaten with rods Once I was stoned Three times I was shipwrecked a night in a day. I have spent in the deep I Have been on frequent journeys in dangers from rivers in dangers from robbers dangers from my countrymen dangers from the Gentiles dangers in the city dangers in the wilderness dangers on the sea dangers among false brethren I've been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights and hunger and thirst often without food and cold and exposure Apart from such external things There is the daily pressure on me of the concern for all The churches Here is Paul Describing in detail different aspects of his experience It's no wonder in Acts chapter 14 he said In many tribulations are through many tribulations we enter the kingdom of God So many difficulties he faced And yes, there was a joy about him That he could rejoice in the Lord always I know There is nobody out there Watching right now or listening but listening by way of audio Who has gone through what the Apostle Paul has gone through? None of you have been shipwrecked in the deep I'm sure many of you None of you have been beaten five times 39 times each Or beaten with rods Three different times in a plethora of prisons But that was Paul And he said rejoice in the Lord always And yet there's gonna be somebody out there to say you know what yeah, I understand that but that was then this is now And and and yet my experience of what I'm going through is horrific And maybe it is I I don't know But it reveals the true character of the man What you're going through shows us what you believe about God how you respond to your anxiety your Worrisome attitude how you respond in situations tells us what you believe about Who God is and what he's done? Paul Would later say this in the 12th chapter of 2nd Corinthians he said because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations that is that the Apostle Paul was caught up to the third heaven and saw glorious things

They could not even speak about For this reason to keep me from exalting myself

There was given me a thorn in the flesh a thorn in the flesh God had allowed Satan to afflict Job With some kind of thorn in the flesh, you know when you hear that you're thinking, okay I I know what thorns are and I've been pricked with a thorn I've been scratched with a thorn and is that really that big a deal? Well, if you understand that the thorn is translated steak Big difference, right? It's one thing to be pricked with a thorn Completely different than me than to be run through with a stake Paul has been given this stake in the flesh and He says these words a messenger of Satan to torment me to keep me from exalting myself There was something given to Paul that the Lord allowed Satan to do to him to keep him from exalting himself Thinking more highly of himself than he didn't ought to think And you say well, what is it I don't know Baba didn't tell us If God wanted us to know he would tell us but he didn't tell us because inevitably there's somebody out there Who says yeah, but that was Paul and that was then and that's not nearly as bad as mine so to keep you from Comparing your situation with Paul's all we know is that there's this stake driven into his flesh a Messenger of Satan to keep Paul from exalting himself So, what do you do you pray? That's what he did Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me Three times I beseeched the Lord three times. I cried out to the Lord three times I begged the Lord to remove it from me and he said to me my grace is sufficient for you For power is perfected in weakness That's how God answered his prayer His answer was no, I'm not going to remove it. I'm going to allow you to keep it Why? Because Paul I want you to understand that my grace is sufficient. I Want you to rejoice in my sufficiency the grace that I give you Because power is going to manifest itself In your weakness As a believer when you're at your weakest point There's the opportunity to manifest the power of God through the grace that he gives that's all sufficient grace That's why we rejoice in his sufficiency And Paul goes on to say these words most gladly therefore I Will rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me Therefore most gladly I will rejoice He says this verse 10

Therefore. I am well content with weaknesses. I Am well content to be in the situation. I'm in with insults with distresses with persecutions with difficulties For Christ's sake for when I am weak Then I am strong Wow he he he was able to to realize how it is to to just be at ease and And rejoice with where he's at Because God's grace would be sufficient for him And my prayer for you and me is that as we go through the situation in which we are Encountering that we would rejoice in God's sufficiency because his grace is sufficient for us during this time And so today I want to give you three principles just three that's it three that if you can understand and appropriate in your life You can begin once again to abolish anxiety Because you can rejoice in God's sufficiency Three principles if you got a pen and paper you can write them down They're they're so rich With truth and each of them could be a sermon on their on their own I don't have time to do that But hopefully I'll be able to instigate study in your life so that you can do all the more research But three principles here

They are principle number one is this If we're going to rejoice in God's sufficiency that I must accept the truth of God's grace If God's grace is sufficient. I must accept the truth about God's grace And I want to show you a little bit about God's grace Because I want you to see how God's grace number one is Proclaimed in his revelation It's proclaimed in his revelation Remember way back in in Exodus chapter 34 when Moses said Lord, I want to see your glory. I want to see your beauty I want to see I want to see you show me your glory and the Lord said I can't let you see my glory Moses If I do I'm gonna have to kill you But I'll hide you in the cleft of the rock. I will pass by you and As he passed by him he began listen to proclaim The name of the Lord and so the Bible tells us the Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the Lord and then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed Moses wanted to see the glory Christ proclaimed his glory Because the proclamation of the revelation allows us To see Christ in all of his beauty That's why we preach the Word of God to you Because as we open God's Word to you, we want you to see Jesus Because he is glory And so he proclaimed the Lord the Lord God compassionate and gracious slow to anger and abounding and loving kindness and truth How great is that? You see the truth about God's grace Needs to be accepted Because he is the God of grace The Bible tells us in in Psalm 112 verse number 4 he is gracious compassionate and righteous Joel 2 verse number 13

He is gracious compassionate slow to anger abounding and loving kindness and relenting evil the phrase that that God Describes himself in an exodus 34 is repeated so many times over and over again in the Old Testament Because the writers would go back to that proclamation because it proclaimed the revelation of his grace First Peter 5 10 says he is the God of all grace John 1 14 says the Son is full of grace and Hebrews 10 29 says that the Holy Spirit is called the spirit of grace Remember the first time the word grace is used in the Bible It's used in Genesis chapter 6 of Noah We talked about this this past Wednesday night in our study fatherhood for a fortress for the family In Genesis chapter 6

It says the Lord saw the wickedness The wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually That was man

That was the condition of man when God looked down He saw that this was the way man was he was wicked every thought every intent of his heart was only evil continually every man was that way and so it says but Noah found favor found grace in the eyes of the Lord Noah Noah his thoughts were evil continually He was just as wicked as everybody else, but God decided to to bend down to stoop down and that's what the word grace means It's a it's a bending down

It's a stooping down to show favor condescending favor God graced Noah Wow When you think of of grace You see it as God's condescending favor the the favor that expresses God's willingness to reach down to man With affection With such affection He gives it to man who is undeserving And he gives him things unconditionally That's what God did for Noah he graced him He would stoop down He would bend down

He would affectionately reach down to Noah Who was undeserving And he could not earn it, but he reached down to Noah and he graced him It was God's unmerited favor Unearned favor that gave Noah a Specific standing with the Lord God of Israel that was grace as it's proclaimed in the Revelation And if I had time I could I would take you through the Old Testament to to explain to you How all that just opens up and all of its beauty throughout the Old Testament But God proclaimed the revelation of his grace But the grace of God not only was proclaimed in Revelation This is the truth you have to accept you have to accept the truth about God's grace So you can rejoice in his sufficiency because his grace is sufficient during your time of need That grace was proclaimed in Revelation, but it was portrayed in the incarnation the enfleshment of God God becoming man Remember what it says in in John's Gospel the the first chapter in verse number 14 that when the word became flesh and we know that The word was in the beginning with God the word was God right and and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we saw His glory glory is of the only begotten from the Father full of grace and truth Wow You see God's grace was was portrayed in the incarnation God not only reached down he came down To express his affection toward people that were undeserving that he might give them things Unconditionally, that's what his grace is This is so so amazing And so it says this in in verse number 16 for of his fullness

We have all received Grace upon grace He has lavished grace upon us For the law was given through Moses and grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ From Moses came the law the law is is righteous The law is holy

The law is good It's the it's the perfect standard of God the righteous standard of God Everything about the law is perfect and good because it shows us the character and nature of God And it shows us that we can't meet that standard It shows us how far short we fall of the holy standard of a living God the law came through Moses, but grace and truth came Through the enfleshment of God Christ becoming man Because he was full of grace full of truth He came to bestow upon man To seek and to save that which was lost his condescending favor Expressed his willingness To actually come down To seek and to save those who are undeserving that he might give them things unconditionally God's unmerited favor towards undeserving man That's what God did he came down so the grace of God that is that is proclaimed in the revelation That is portrayed in the incarnation very important that grace is Provided through revelation or should be through redemption That grace is provided through through redemption Listen what Paul says in Ephesians 1 verse number 3 blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ? Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before him in love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intention of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace Which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved in him We have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our trespasses According to the riches of his grace, which he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight Well, we have redemption through his grace That was that which was proclaimed all throughout the revelation and it portrayed in the incarnation Was provided for you and me through redemption on Calvary's cross We can't earn his grace We're undeserving of his grace and yet he bestows it upon us What a beautiful beautiful picture of our Lord Paul in Romans chapter 5 would even expound further upon it He would say the free gift is not like the transgression for if by the transgression of the one the many died Much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ abound to the many Verse 17 for if by the transgression of the one death reigned through the one much more those who received the abundance Of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ For by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves? It is a gift of God that great gift of grace everything about salvation is a gift faith is a gift belief is a gift Repentance is a gift everything having to do with salvation is God's grace to man Wow You can't earn a righteous standing with God It's a grace gift Freely given by God to those whom he chooses What a great thing

So the the grace of God, this is the truth You have to accept you have to accept the truth about God's grace if you're going to rejoice at his sufficiency, you've got to accept the truth about the The the grace that is sufficient for all things The grace that that is proclaimed in the Revelation Portrayed in the Incarnation provided in and through Redemption Because that grace is prescribed for every situation That grace is prescribed for every situation Put it this way 2nd Corinthians 8 9 for you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ That though he was rich yet for your sakes He became poor that you through his poverty might become rich

That's the grace of God He was rich and yet he who would bow down he would show condescending favor to those who were poor Who could not obtain his riches and so he came down he died in your place in mine That through his poverty We might become rich we are so undeserving of that But God is so gracious to us That's why we rejoice in his sufficiency when God said to Paul my grace is sufficient for you Paul Because my power will be demonstrated in your weaknesses Paul said most gladly then will I rejoice most gladly will I relish my weakness Because then I will be strong. I Wonder if you've learned to to rejoice in God's sufficiency It is prescribed for every situation It's called the manifold grace of God first Peter 4 verse number 10 in James 1 Manifold trials in 1st Peter 4 10 Peter talks about manifold grace because for every trial and for every temptation There's an equal and opposite provision of grace that matches that that goes beyond that and So Peter when he closed out his epistle in 1st Peter chapter 5 and remember Peter is not talking to the normal guy in the pew He's talking to the church that scattered abroad

He's talking to the church that's living in fear He's talking to a church that is filled with anxiety for They don't know who's gonna die next because they're living during the time of Nero and Nero was was taking Christians and in lighting them up With fire that he might light up his gardens at night And you can hear the screams of other Christians as they were being burned to death He would take others in and wrap them in animal skins and and throw them to the lions and the lions would would shred them Apart and they could hear the screams in the middle of the night

They could hear the screams throughout the day That's who Peter's writing to You think you got it bad? They had it Horrifically bad if I can say it that way And Peter writes to them and says this at the end of his epistle And we went through first Peter we we entitled it hope for those who who hurt He said this After you have suffered for a while Meaning that you're gonna suffer in some capacity So no matter what the size of the suffering no matter what the shape of the suffering no matter what the severity of the suffering After you have suffered a while the God of all grace Because that's who he is The God of all grace is gonna do something The God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself perfect confirm strengthen and establish you forever That's what he's gonna do The grace of God does four things which causes you to rejoice in his sufficiency because his grace is Sufficient And that is this it's going to perfect you It's gonna supply what is ever missing in your life Because it's a word used of of studying bones that had been fractured

It's a word used in mark one of of mending nets God after you've suffered for a while his grace is gonna do something that's gonna draw everything together It is it is truly going to supply the need that you have to make you whole Not only is he gonna perfect you he's going to establish you It's a word that means to make a solid as granite He's gonna supply everything you need He's gonna solidify All that you are and then he's gonna strengthen you

He's gonna fill you with his strength Wow That's what he did with Paul he filled him with his strength Because through Paul's weaknesses he became even stronger because of the grace that was sufficient for him So he'll perfect you establish you a strengthen you he's going to settle you he's gonna establish you It's the word that means to lay the foundation That's the truth you need to accept Accept the truth about God's grace You say well I'm not being solidified. I don't see My broken ends being tied back together and supplied. I don't see myself being strengthened. I Don't I don't understand how God's grace is sufficient for me in my time. I haven't seen him do that for me Well, you need to go back earlier in the chapter when he says these words All of you clothe yourself with humility verse number five toward one another for God is opposed to the proud But he gives grace to the humble you ever think That the reason God's grace is not sufficient for you Is because of your arrogance You think you deserve something You think you deserve your job You deserve to go back to school you deserve to go to the beach You deserve to go to the restaurant

You deserve these things but really You only deserve one thing And that's death that's what you deserve but God The God of all grace if you're watching today, you're watching because of God's grace if you got up this morning It's because of God's grace if you're breathing It's because of God's grace if you're walking It's because of God's grace That's it because you deserve to die the wages of sin is Death the soul that sins it will die but the gift of God the gift of his grace is Eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord He would go on to say these words therefore Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time Have you ever humbled yourself in a God's mighty hand? It's a phrase used in the Old Testament to describe God in two ways one of deliverance and one of discipline If you go back in Scripture the book of Exodus particularly it's the hand of God that delivers

It's the hand of God that disciplines And and Peter picks up on that says you need to humble yourself You need to submit yourself under the mighty hand of God because God's hand of destiny has you where you are today? You can fight against it You can scream all you want about it But this is God's mighty hand of destiny and you need to humble yourself Come under that hand that God might exalt you in due time He wants to exalt you He wants to lift you up

He wants to raise you up But he resists the proud He gives grace to the humble Those who know they deserve nothing but death But God and his grace if you're going to rejoice in a suffering you need number one to accept the truth About his grace number two You need to apply the teaching of his grace Apply the teaching of his grace the book of Titus Titus chapter 2 Paul says this for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men verse 11 Instructing us teaching us to deny Ungodliness and worldly desires to live sensibly righteously and godly in the present age the grace of God is a teacher Why Paul says I've given you the word of his grace That it might build you up Acts 20 verse number 32 in 24 of Acts 20

He talks about the gospel of grace Now he talks about the word of grace We know we had the spirit of grace Because they're all gifts that God gives We don't deserve the spirit God grace us with the spirit We don't deserve the word of God God grace us with his word We don't deserve the gospel of grace, but through the grace of God He presented to us his glorious gospel so now Paul says The grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men

You know what it does it instructs us it teaches us To deny ungodliness worldly lusts and to live a sensible life to live a righteous life That's the life God wants you to live And so once you once you accept the truth about God's grace then then you have to apply that the teaching of God's grace You see God's grace is always operative because of the spirit of grace who's in you and the word of grace which you hold in? your hand Because you receive the gospel of grace We need to apply that teaching and not live in worldly lusts and passions But submitting ourselves under the mighty hand of God They might exalt us in due time So important boy, I wish I had time to expand upon that that is that it's just so rich That that's why James says you you receive the implanted Word of God, which is able to save your soul, right? And he says make sure you're you're you're quick to the hearing of the word why because the unrighteousness of man be quick to the hearing of the word slow to speaking the word and Even slower becoming angry at the word because the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of Christ in you So what Peter says before you desire the pure milk of the word you lay aside all malice and all slander and all wickedness Lay aside all that stuff because that's what the the the teaching of grace does we need to apply the teaching of grace to our lives So once you accept listen, this is so good once you accept the truth of God's grace You begin to rejoice in a sovereignty his sufficiency Once you apply the teaching of his grace you rejoice all the more in his sufficiency But thirdly you must approach the throne of grace You must approach the throne of grace The writer of Hebrews Said it this way in Hebrews chapter 4 Therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our confession for we do not have a hey pray a high priest who can sympathize with Our weaknesses, but but one who has been tempted in all things as we are yet without sin Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace So that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need We have a high priest Jesus Christ our Lord Who can sympathize with our weaknesses Paul says let's go with confidence Let's go with boldness because there's one mediator between God and man That's the man Christ Jesus and that is crucifixion when the veil and temple was torn in two He opened up the Holy of Holies

We can actually approach the throne of grace That's why on Sunday mornings when we pray we say will you bow with us as we approach the throne of grace together? We can do that

God's given us access into his presence and if you truly accept the truth of God's grace and You apply the teaching of God's grace You inevitably want to approach the throne of grace because it's there you receive mercy and grace to help in time of need You come on bended knee To the throne of grace That's what you do Because you have a high priest who can sympathize with your weaknesses He knows what you're going through better than any other person And we want to be able to rejoice in his sufficiency Because his grace is sufficient in every situation Now think about this the book of Revelation the last book of the scriptures Is a book about God giving to man what he does deserve Judgment death Revelation 6 to Revelation 19 is all about God's wrath The terrible day of the Lord, the day of the Lord, the time of Jacob's trouble It's a time of horrific judgment upon the earth If you think the pandemic that we're facing is bad, you haven't seen anything yet Like what's going to happen in Revelation during the tribulation That's horrendous But God in the book of Revelation is Detailing What man deserves but he begins the book and Ends the book by telling man They can have What they don't deserve That's grace Revelation 1 for Revelation 22 21 grace is the bookends of the book of Revelation To show you that the horrific judgment Can be escaped If you embrace the grace of God Let me say it to you this way the book of Isaiah And I close with this Isaiah chapter 30 verse number 18 therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you Do you ever think about that? The Lord longs to be gracious to you and therefore he waits on high To have compassion on you God God longs to have have grace and compassion towards you

He waits on high He's waiting for you to come to him to cry out to him to call upon his name For the Lord is a God of justice and how blessed are all those Who long for him I? wonder today If you're longing for the Lord Jesus, oh He waits on high to be gracious to you To have compassion on you That's the Lord of grace When you accept the truth about that grace And embrace Christ himself And you begin to apply the teaching of his grace and you approach the throne of grace Let me tell you something Anxiety is abolished

It's gone Because you are longing for him wanting only Christ That's what the Lord wants for you and for me My prayer is that You would long for the Christ You would want To embrace that which he so desperately wants to give to you the gift of his grace So you might be able to echo what he said to the Apostle Paul God's grace truly is sufficient for me Therefore I can rejoice in his sufficiency Let me pray with you father

Thank you for today Another day to be able to celebrate Christ and to embrace the beauty of the gospel. I Thank you Lord for those who have been with us and I pray for them that you would use the reading of your word in their hearts and lives But they would embrace Christ the God of all grace Christ who is full of grace and truth There's so much more that we could say time does not permit us on this day to talk about all those things But our prayer fathers for the salvation of those who might be listening and never embrace the grace of Christ They would accept that truth And apply the teaching of grace and approach The throne which you have called the throne of grace They might learn to rejoice in your sufficiency You thank you Lord in Jesus name Amen I Want to thank you for for being a part of this day

Have a great week the best week ever as you Rejoice in his sufficiency