Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
Just a few weeks ago, someone offered me a free little kitten, and after thinking it over for a couple days, I finally decided to take it, because my older cat could use a little extra company. They have been together about a month now, and she will follow him wherever he goes. Yesterday, I watched him for a few minutes from the living room window as he was teaching her how to hunt. It didn’t take very long and he eventually caught a huge squirrel, and selflessly brought it over to her so she could eat some of it. It only took her a few minutes to get full, but when she was finished, he devoured around 90% of the remaining creature, and the only thing that was left was the tail.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
A little kitten doesn’t eat very much in comparison to my huge tomcat, but all of us are the same way when it comes to God’s grace. Some of us have only sinned a few times in our life, and will only need a little bit of God’s mercy to be satisfied. On the other hand, some men have sinned a lot more, and have a much greater appetite for the grace of God. So whether it’s a little or a lot, the Lord Jesus has the grace that we need to cover our sins, and for quite a few of us, it’s going to require a double portion of His mercy.
Ephesians 4:7 (KJB) But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
How many times have you measured out something as you worked out in the kitchen? Obviously there is a great difference between a tablespoon and a teaspoon. Someone might want a tablespoon of sugar in their coffee while the next person might only require a teaspoon. To measure means to distribute a certain amount of a substance unto others.
For example, a local gas station distributes a certain measure of gas to every customer that comes in. A logging truck might roll in and need hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel to fill up his saddle tanks, while a family driving a minivan only needs ten gallons. Essentially you could say that the gas station is a distributor of certain measures of petroleum, while Christ Jesus is a distributor of certain measurements of forgiveness. But exactly like a gas station, not all of us require the same amount of grace, but God distributes to us whatever we need, whether we need a lot or a little.
But just like filling up a logging truck, the more fuel that you have been given, the more you are going to burn. What I mean by that is the more grace that you have been given, the brighter you are going to shine. Grace is like a piece of tamarack wood, and the more that you add to the stove, the hotter it’s going to get. Gods grace is extremely powerful, because the more of it that you have been given, the greater the works of repentance people are going to see in your life. Huge amounts of the grace of God can work a miracle in the most reprobate of hearts, because it can completely transform a hellbound sinner into an obedient Saint of God.
1 Corinthians 15:9-10 (KJB) For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
But with a lot of Grace, will come a huge transformation. After all, God can take a chief of sinners, and transform him into an Apostle. He can take an incarcerated prisoner, and transform him into a preacher of Christ. He can even take a prince of Egypt, and transform him into a man of God. There seems to be no end to the power of God’s grace, as it can cause us through faith, to become something completely different from what we used to be in the past.
Ephesians 4:11-13 (KJB) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Whether you have sinned one time, or one hundred times, all of us are equally guilty in the eyes of God, and to cover these sins is going to require a certain amount of Grace. Just like dishing up food at the supper table, some of your family will need more, while others will need less in order to be filled. The life of the Apostle Paul is an example of what God can do in the heart of a man who needed a plethora of His grace. We must never stand in their way, or attempt to quench the fire in their hearts, because God is doing a huge work in them, and sinners are the beneficiaries of their actions.
1 Thessalonians 5:19 (KJB) Quench not the Spirit.
I have always been dismayed at so many self-righteous people who are so quick to judge others when they choose to become Christian, simply because of their past history. The church is not a place of the perfectly righteous, it is filled up with people who have come out of many different sinful activities in their lives. In their past they might have committed adultery, fornication, theft, or even murder, but now they have renounced those deeds in order to be faithful to Christ. How many of these people do you think would be actually be allowed to preach in a church today? Not many, and the reason why is because the modern false forms of false Christianity are the most pathetically self-righteous and arrogant people that I have ever seen in my life. Each of us has a sinful past no matter how much someone refuses to admit it. God can forgive the most wretched of sinners a hundredfold, but you had better not stand in their way when they are filled up with the Holy Spirit and serving the will of God.
Galatians 1:23 (KJB) But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.
As an unbeliever, the Apostle Paul had imprisoned followers of Christ, but God used him to write most of the New Testament that we have today. His life is the example of the incredible mercies of God, given to the most sinful of men in order to reach further generations for Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:26-28 (KJB) For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
Are you preaching the Word of God? Have you dedicated your life to the furtherance of the gospel? If not, you had better be careful not to speak evil of those who God has chosen for that purpose. Their past might be filled with all kinds of wicked and evil deeds, but the grace of God is capable of covering the multitude of sins. Perhaps you only sinned a few times in your life, and got forgiven by God for them, but never stand in the way of those whose past is filled up with darkness, but upon whom through faith, God has poured out,…
…..A Double Portion
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
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