Our Father, how we praise and thank Thee
for Thy presence with us throughout the day.
We do thank Thee that Thou hast turned
our heart, our attention, unto Thy Son, our
Lord Jesus Christ.
And we do see in Him the fullness
of the Godhead.
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
will turn our hearts fixed 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 do 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 hand.
We do trust Thy Holy Spirit to reveal
the Son in us, that we may be
led into that unsearchable riches that is of
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 through our brothers.
Our brother has helped us to sharpen 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 Sparks unfolded
to us the unsearchable riches of the grace
of Christ.
How that God, in His great mercy towards
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
in a sense, all of us, we were
even outside of the pale of Levitical sacrifice.
We had got ourselves into a situation, an
impossible situation.
We could not get out ourselves.
Nobody can help us out.
We were there in that impossible place.
And yet, grace has delivered us out of
that impossible.
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 share, who can enter into
that glory?
It's impossible.
It's 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 possible.
And you know, after the morning session, I
went out and a few brothers met me.
And they said, Brother Cohn, we wonder what
is left for you to say.
I do rejoice in the Lord that our
brother has said what I am thinking of
saying tonight.
I rejoice because our brother could say it
much, much better.
Fuller, deeper than I can ever try to.
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 their store is 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 unlimitedness
of grace.
And yet this store is called Grace Limited
Partnership.
And brothers and sisters, in a sense, I
feel that that's 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, if tonight I'm
trying 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
in us.
And because of that limitation in us, oh
how we limit God Himself.
May the Lord be merciful to us.
Deliver us from our limitedness.
That we may enter into that unlimited partnership
with Him.
May we turn to a few places in
the Bible.
Ephesians chapter 1, we'll read from verse 3
through verse 7.
Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3 through verse 7.
Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with
every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ,
according as He has chosen us in Him
before the world's foundations, that we should be
holy and blameless before Him in love.
Having marked us out beforehand for adoption through
Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good
pleasure of His will, to the praise of
the glory of His grace, wherein He has
taken us into favor in the Beloved, in
whom we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of offenses, according to the richest.
1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 10.
But by God's grace I am what I
am, and His grace which was towards me
hath not been vain, but I have labored
more abundantly than they all, but not I.
For the grace of God, which walketh in
Corinthians chapter 1, verse 12.
2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 12.
For our boasting is this, the testimony of
our conscience, that in simplicity and sincerity before
God, not in fleshly wisdom, but in God's
grace, we have had our conversation in the
world, and more abundantly towards Him.
And the last place will be 2 Corinthians
chapter 12, verse 9.
That most familiar verse.
2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 9.
And He said to me, My grace suffices
thee, for my power is perfected in weakness.
Most gladly, therefore, will I rather boast in
my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may
dwell.
Now, 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 12 times in
that short epistle, that word grace is being
mentioned.
It is mentioned in chapter 1, verse 2,
verse 6, verse 7.
In chapter 2, verse 5, 7 and 8.
In chapter 3, verse 2, 7 and 8.
In chapter 4, verse 7 and 29.
And in chapter 6, verse 24.
So there you will find that word grace
is used 12 times in this short epistle.
Paul begins his letter with a greeting of
grace.
Grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he concludes his letter with saying grace
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.
All of 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 towards Jesus Christ.
It is due to the grace of God.
And he said, I am what I am
by the grace, brothers and sisters.
With Paul, grace is everything.
Grace explains his life and grace explains his
ministry.
If you take away the grace of God
from him, there is nothing left.
But that's Pharisees 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.
And he said, you know that formerly, my
conversation, my conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted
violently the church of God, determined to destroy
it, and how I was more advanced than
people of my age, being extremely zealous for
the tradition of the 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 contemporaries of it.
And yet there you'll find that man, in
the flesh, with tremendous drive, could do many
things, thinking that he was serving God, and
yet he was going the opposite direction.
He was an enemy of God, a rabble,
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, call him by
his name.
Dear brothers and sisters, if we ask Paul,
how is it that you become a Paul?
How is it that from a rabble, you
become a child of God?
How is it from a sinner, you become
a saint?
Who changes you?
What happens 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 is in him is contrary to
what has become of him.
After he has met the Lord, everything that
is in him will lead him further and
further away from God, and get deeper and
deeper into what is himself.
There is nothing in him that can explain
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.
He belongs to the tribe of Benjamin does
not explain that.
He belongs to the sect of Pharisees does
not explain that.
His sit at the foot 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 Paul, that
is Paul himself, can explain a single bit
of what has become of him after he
has been met.
But, on the contrary, every bit of his
life, no matter which direction you are looking
at, whether it is Paul at prayer, or
Paul at work, whether he is alone, or
whether he is with people, his personal life,
his relationship with others, his concern for the
church, his being in prison, everything and anything
in the life and ministry of Paul can
be traced to the grace.
There you will find it begins and there
you will find it ends.
Grace is the explanation of the life of
Paul.
Dear brothers and sisters, what is grace?
Our brother told us this morning that no
one can define grace.
I fully agree with that statement.
People try to explain what grace is.
Maybe you are able to explain that word
in the Greek if you are a Greek
scholar.
But if you want to explain grace according
to the thought 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 the property that is
in a thing which gives joy and
pleasure to those who hear and who see.
It is a joy inspiring property 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 gradually
that word takes upon itself a deeper meaning.
And that is it tells us more than
that property or quality that is inherent in
that thing or person that will cause joy
to other people.
But gradually that word grace means the thing
or the person.
Greek scholars tell us and also they tell
us that there is an element in grace
and it is the element of being freely
given.
It is not something that is a debt.
It is not something that is a reward,
a payment of some work.
It is a free outflowing spontaneous gracious act
towards those who are undeserving unlovely and that
is grace.
And furthermore Greek scholars will tell us that
there is still another element in grace and
that is because of the gracious act that
comes upon the person who receives it.
It is so gracious, so beautiful, it gives
so much joy that it inspires a thankfulness
unto the one who gives it.
So it comes back in grace.
Now brothers and sisters these are the different
meanings of grace as Greek scholars but dear
brothers and sisters do not limit grace to
its word.
When that word is taken up by the
Spirit of God and applies it to our
Lord Jesus Christ it means much more than
the word itself.
It is being lifted up, sublimated, glorified and
it has become a word that baffles any
explanation.
Dear brothers and sisters I dare not try
to tell you what grace is.
It is impossible.
But this evening by the grace of God
we will like to look into that understanding
of the riches of the grace of God
in Christ.
Paul's understanding of that grace.
Paul's experience of that grace.
When Paul mentions grace what does it mean
to him?
Of course in the first place we have
already mentioned that this man saw being arrested
from destruction from shame and be turned around
and be pushed in a sense into glory
into life eternal.
That is grace.
Paul tells us himself the forgiveness of sin
is grace.
In Romans chapter 3 verse 24 being freely
justified by God's grace through the redemption which
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 he has fulfilled all
the law.
He is just free without any cost without
doing anything freely by the grace of God
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
And you know when he wrote that letter
to the Ephesians in the second chapter how
he told us that we all were once
dead in sins and transgressions we were following
the fashion of this world 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 and he has
quickened us together with Christ.
He has raised us up from the dead
and he has seated us in the heavenlies
together in Christ Jesus.
And as Paul is describing what God has
done for us in Christ Jesus he put
in a parenthesis that is he explains it
and says we are saved.
What is grace?
The grace of God has quickened us we
were dead in sins and transgressions is it
not true that we were dead in sins
and transgressions?
Of course we were very much alive through
sins but we were dead in sins because
we were in a condition where there was
no sensitivity to God as our brother mentioned
this afternoon.
Our spirit was dead so far as towards
God.
Maybe we were very active physically we were
very keen mentally and yet God said we
were dead now.
We were dead in sins and transgressions hopeless
beyond repair beyond improvement beyond restoration.
And yet dear brothers and sisters He has
quickened us He that
is born of the Holy Spirit comes
to us and quickens our spirit and renewing
it making it a new spirit and dear
brothers and sisters at that very instant there
is a coming 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 true.
Brothers and sisters this is grace.
A dead person what can it be except
it is grace?
You may try to improve upon 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?
Give him a new life a new spirit
this is grace.
You are saved by grace.
Is there anyone here who is still trying
to restore himself to life?
Who is still 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
which 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 a new life.
Dear brothers and sisters I believe all of
us here in more or less degree of
intensity once we were under that burden that
terrible burden of I do not know about
you but I know what happened to me.
When I was in my teens humanly speaking
I wasn't in that age of thinking of
my eternal future.
Humanly speaking I should live in the present
day and enjoy myself.
But strange for a whole year I was
under deep conviction God knows how many tears
I shed.
Because of my sins I felt the terribleness
of my spirit.
It weighed upon my conscience.
I woke up in the night and I
wondered where would I be if I should
die.
Dear brothers and sisters under that terrible burden
of sin it weighed upon my conscience.
I cried out for deliverance.
And brothers and sisters I reformed myself.
I read the Bible.
I prayed every day.
I faithfully went to church.
I was active in Christian service.
Whenever there was a revival meeting I was
there.
Even when there was final examination I had
to go because that burden of sin weighed
so heavily.
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 glory.
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.
I said we may enjoy it in different
degree of intensity.
According to the different degree of our understanding
of the terribleness it is by grace
that we are saved.
And if it is by grace then it
is through faith.
It is not by our work but it
is by trusting in the Lord Jesus who
has done.
Now dear brothers and sisters I believe we
have experienced this.
We have experienced the riches of the grace
of God in Christ Jesus in the forgiveness.
It is rich enough.
But 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 in the forgiveness of
offences.
If you read the first chapter of Ephesians
you will find Paul says the forgiveness of
offences is there.
Oh but always more than that.
He has chosen us in him before the
world's foundation that we shall be holy and
blameless before him in life.
Dear brothers and sisters grace is not only
a forgiveness of offences that just starts us
in grace.
Grace will carry us all the way into
glory.
That we may be holy and blameless before
God in life.
We have been marked out beforehand for adoption
for sonship.
Oh 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 offences.
Yes it is grace very gracious offering.
But brothers and sisters is that all?
Oh maybe you say no.
After I have received the forgiveness of my
sin well I was told that I should
ask grace before each meal.
In other words I know that grace does
not stop there.
Ask the forgiveness of my sin.
But I do recognize that when I am
having my daily meal and
as you go on in your life oh
you discover then here and there in this
need and in that need when you meet
this problem and when 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 that grace for the
forgiveness of your sin but you need special
grace for special need.
When you are sick you need the grace
of it.
When you are in sorrow you need the
grace of comfort.
When you are in lack you need the
grace of supply.
When you are in suffering you need the
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
lives journey you 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 Hasn't you promised to
bless me with all the spiritual blessings in
Christ Jesus?
Now give it to me I need it
now.
The word of God says that we can
come approach boldly to the throne of grace
and receive help for all our needs.
But dear brothers and sisters is there not
a difficulty here that we tend 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 say God give me
the grace of the forgiveness of sins.
You have to give it freely to me
because I cannot earn it.
And God has already here it is the
forgiveness of sins.
I give you this.
Then after a while you find that you
need the grace to be patient.
Oh you cannot be patient.
You cannot be patient with the one who
lives with you with the one who works
with you and you know as a Christian
you ought to be patient because it is
a very ugly thing to lose your temper.
Certainly it dishonors the Lord if you throw
up in a temple a wretch.
That does not look like a Christian.
You try to control yourself.
There is no self-control.
And when you discover that you cannot control
yourself you come to God and say Oh
God be gracious to me.
Give me the special grace of patience that
no matter how my colleagues will stimulate me
and stir me.
Oh give me grace that I can bear
with Him, if not for that.
Dear brothers and sisters, you pray most earnestly
with the best of intentions for the glory
of God.
But does He answer?
Out of that bag of grace, God picks
up the grace of patience and says, 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 right?
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 living.
To Paul, grace is not a thing.
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 grace, and that is
His only Son, our Lord Jesus.
Oh, brothers and sisters, once Paul, because of
the greatness of his revelation, Satan has fallen.
A thorn was in his flesh.
Oh, how he cried to the Lord, take
away that thorn 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
say, look at that.
He is preaching of the greatness of Christ.
The unsearchable riches of Christ.
Oh, the riches of His grace.
And here look at Paul, a thorn.
We do not know what that is, but
that weakens him.
And everybody knows it.
It is not a good testimony.
It will curtail the effectiveness of his ministry.
It will certainly frustrate the glory of God.
Paul came to God and said, Oh Lord,
take it away.
Give me grace to take it away.
Brothers and sisters, what is grace?
Grace to many people is the taking away
of unpleasant things.
If the unpleasant thing is not removed, then
you begin to doubt, is God gracious?
Is He the God of grace?
You begin to doubt.
Brothers and sisters, our concept of grace is
so.
The Lord did not answer.
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.
But the Lord said, I do not leave
you there alone.
Bearing the thorn alone?
No.
My grace suffices.
My grace is sufficient for thee.
For my power is manifested, is perfected in
your weakness.
Dear brothers and sisters, what is grace?
Grace is not the taking away of unpleasant
things.
Grace is not giving you something that will
gratify your flesh.
It is the light of Christ in you.
When that light is in action, in weakness,
in sorrow, there is comfort.
Dear brothers and sisters, when God says, My
grace is sufficient for you, He means what?
Isn't my son sufficient for you?
Why do you ask me as if something
is insufficient?
Don't you know that Christ in you is
the hope of glory?
Don't you know that Christ in you is
my grace to you?
Don't you 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 get out of here.
If only you turn to me.
Let me prove myself to you.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is the principle
of grace.
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 live.
If you do not obey God.
And brothers and sisters, in a sense, we
love to live under law.
Oh, you say, No, I don't want law.
Law is too severe for me.
I have been trying hard to find a
loophole in law.
But there is no loophole in the law
of God.
But 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 there is life.
They say, Oh, that God has commanded us.
We will do it.
Very good heart.
But dear brothers and sisters, if only we
can see that we were crucified.
God has got us out of His way
on Calvary's cross.
Why?
Because He wants to manifest His grace upon
your life.
Not I, but Christ.
And Paul says, I do not set aside.
That's in Galatians chapter 2.
How often we quote Galatians chapter 2 verse
20.
I am crucified with Christ and no longer
live I, but Christ who lives in me.
And now I live in the flesh.
I, the faith of the Son of God
who loves me and gave Himself for me.
What do you mean by that?
In verse 21, I do not set aside.
What is the grace of God?
The grace of God is not I.
That's the grace of God.
Oh, brothers and sisters, the grace of God.
It is freely given to us.
You do not need to do anything.
Grace says, believe.
So dear brothers and sisters, the richest is
in Christ.
And thank God that He has given this
Christ.
He is in you.
He is God's grace to you and God's
grace.
And this grace is sufficient to carry us
through.
Our Heavenly Father, how can we thank Thee
enough?
For Thou has given Thy Son, our Lord
Jesus, the only begotten Son.
And in Him, 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.
All peacefulness we have received.
Grace upon us.
Oh, we do pray and worship Thee.
We do pray that Thou will 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 dost desire to show
grace to us.
Oh, may we live under grace, precious name.