God is trying to do the exact opposite. We should use reasoning as always the second default
after God being our primary default. So we are always asking, I know how to do this for
God, let me go ahead, but do you want to change anything? So it's not that we are not to
use reasoning, but it's always second. Always second. There's literally a default. A default—always
remember, defaults move through three stages. The first one is choice, the second one is
struggle, the third one is default. Three stages. Everything is a choice. When you decide,
no, I want to change, then it becomes a struggle because now you've got to change. Eventually,
if you keep struggling through it, it becomes a default. So it always takes time. So when you look
at the New Testament perspective of manna, you'll have to go to John chapter 6. John chapter 6.
John chapter 6. Verse 48 onwards. John 6, 48 onwards. It's crazy, eh? Here he's supplying
manna. It says Christ was the rock that went with them in the wilderness, that the Spirit of God
was present with them. You read Deuteronomy 32, 33, it talks about that. And then you come to
John chapter 6, and what happened 2,000, 3,000 years ago now, Jesus is taking and he's showing
them what it sounds like. John chapter 6, verse 48 to 59 or so. Let me just read it from 48 onwards.
I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is
the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread
that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh,
which I give for the life of the world. Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves,
how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last
day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my
blood remains in him and I in him. Just as the living Father has sent me, and I live because of
the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down
from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.
He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. What a teacher, eh? He can see
displeasure beginning to brew in his audience and instead of backing off, instead of softening,
he ratchets it up. Doesn't back off from what he's saying. And he's comparing himself as a
bread of life to manna. So how do we look at manna in the New Testament? From a New Testament
perspective, manna is the bread of grace that we partake in daily. When we pray that prayer in
Matthew 6, 11, which says, give us this day our daily bread, we are not just talking, not just
as in it involves that, not just talking about feeding our stomachs. Because Jesus makes it very
clear here, your fathers wanted manna, I provided it for them, they ate it, they died. But what I'm
giving you is way more than filling your stomach. So he's talking about manna as the bread of grace.
It's a bread of grace that we partake in daily. It's much more than food for the stomach. Anyone
who eats it does not die ever. So when we say give us this day a bread to eat, we are saying,
oh God, give me the grace I need to be sustained in your ways and plans today. Give me the grace
I need. Guys, before we go further, we have to understand that when God talks about grace,
let's look at what he means by grace. Grace is not morsels. Grace is not a leg up. Grace is not a bit
of help. Grace is not half a cookie. Grace is not pass marks. Grace is not get me over the speed bump.
This is not grace. This is how we think of it because we use the word everywhere. Ah, she
dances with such grace. Oh, did you hear him? His speech was so gracious. The word that perhaps we
should use is charis, which is a Greek word. And we don't know anything about it, so it might help
us reframe what grace means. So now let's look at what grace is. And by the way, grace is abstract
and concrete. It's almost like manna. What did they do when they first saw manna? What did they say?
What is it? And then they looked at it a few more times and they said, hmm, looks like white coriander
tastes like wafer with honey. So on one hand it's abstract, on the other hand it is concrete.
Grace is that way too. So let's try and define grace. Here's what it can be defined as.
We'll go slow even if we don't finish.
First, all God's activity can be summed up
in one word.
Activity to man, with man, can be summed up in one word, grace. So what is it, what can we define it as?
Grace is God giving himself
to me,
withholding
nothing.
Grace is the gift of himself,
the full free gift of Christ, his son,
to me. That's the first one.
So,
Charis is the God of the universe who's present here now and who was before anything existed.
Charis's grace is God giving himself to me, withholding nothing of himself,
the full free gift of Christ, his son, holding nothing back, fully given to me.
It's holding nothing.
If we understand grace, even the way we talk about the gospel will change.
If you go to someone and tell them
that God wants to give himself fully to you, withholding nothing back, and that Jesus Christ
is a free gift, fully given to you, he's a person fully to you, withholding nothing back.
It's hard for someone not to desire it, man.
Next.
Grace is God, who by the way is consuming fire.
Grace is God
giving himself to me,
caring nothing
for the fact
that
I
that
I am undeserving
and actually worthy of judgment.
Caring nothing for the fact that I'm undeserving.
Grace is God who is holy and consuming fire,
giving himself to me,
caring nothing for the fact that I am undeserving
of his glorious, holy, personal, perpetual presence from now on to eternity.
That is grace.
Grace is God giving himself to me,
not in reluctance or out of obligation,
but with desire-filled delight.
These are truths that we have to accept.
Grace is God giving himself to me,
not because he is God,
not because he feels obliged because he made me,
but out of desire-filled delight.
It is something that has in it the joy of God.
Grace has in it the joy of God.
Love that is given reluctantly or as an obligation is contractual and is not loyal.
Grace given to me not in reluctance or because of obligation,
not even because he is God,
but because of delight-filled desire.
It is a joyful giving.
It's not a hesitant giving.
Grace is God giving himself to me so that
his wholeness, fullness completes all that is lacking,
not because he is God, ugly, hidden, weak or deficient in me.
It's powerful stuff, man.
Grace is God giving himself to me so that his fullness, his wholeness,
completes everything that is ugly and hidden and weak and deficient in me.
In a sense, grace is tailor-made for people that are bankrupt.
Grace is tailored for people that are bankrupt.
Grace is tailored for beggars.
So,
that which I am not,
that which I am not is made up by me in him.
And that which I am is undone by him in me.
That which I am not is made up by me in him.
You find that in Colossians 2.10.
And that which I am is undone by him in me.
You find that in 1 Corinthians 4.7.
In 1 Corinthians 4.7 it says, Jacob, what do you have that you did not receive?
You think you teach well, where do you think you got that from?
You think you hear well, where do you think you got that from?
You think you prophesy well, where do you think you got that from?
You think you plant churches well, where do you think you got that from?
you think you word things well, where do you think you got that from?
So if you have nothing that you can claim
you developed on your own, then where is your boast?
And therefore that which I am
is undone. Everything that I am that is good is undone
by him in me because he's the one who is the source of it.
And everything that I am not, all deficiencies, all weaknesses, all things hidden, all ugly
is made up by me being in him because it says in Colossians 2.10
that because I'm found in him he has made me complete. I am complete in him.
So then it doesn't matter and grace is not supposed to cover me. Grace is supposed to
fill me. There's a difference guys. One of the things that happens with grace and this is why
cheap grace is beginning to flourish. We think of grace as covering my nakedness or covering
the cracks in my person. Grace should not just cover me. Grace should fill me. If grace fills me
then what goes out of me will also be full of grace. You can pour out grace only if you're
filled with grace. You can stand before him if you're covered with grace which he does.
The moment Adam sinned he was covered with grace.
Grace carries in it love and love carries in its sacrifice. What happened in the Garden of Eden
was just a sheer act of grace. Here is someone undeserving who was given plenty of occasions
to repair things. He did not. He stepped into sin and grace comes just like the wind that covers him
but grace covering us allows us to stand before God but when grace fills you now out of you
grace begins to flow. It pours out to others. You become gracious. So don't let it just cover you.
Many here have heard of how the word sincere comes from the word sinseer which means without wax
because sculptors used to put wax to cover the cracks in their statues. We're not covering
ourselves with grace. That is 101. It's not even 101 it's half or half.
We want to be filled with grace. Think of yourself as a car. This is the attitude you should have.
A car that is running on empty but a car that knows that for the next 800 kilometers there's
no charging station. There's no gas station. You're running on empty but you have this confident
eager expectation that in my nothingness everything will be supplied because of him
and you keep going. Nii from Kelowna talked about how one day when he was driving back to Kelowna
he got stuck in the middle of the coke and his tank was empty and all he did was just pray. He
didn't want to call his wife and kids because he was scared that they would get anxious because
it was snowing. He had taken a wrong turn and now he's coming back. The tank is empty. All he's doing
is speaking in tongues and praying and the car keeps going and keeps going and keeps going 50,
60, 70, 80 kilometers on an empty tank till it gets to the gas station.
This the nothingness that is required. Here are the three things required for grace to take a
hold in my life. Undeservedness, no self-entitlement, no exchange. As in I will do this for you or God you
do this for me. Throw it out of the window. He doesn't owe you a dime. You can do everything you
want for him. You should because of the grace poured into your life but do not. One of the
things we should never do is go and do this thing of I've been working hard for you. I've done this
for you. I've done this for you. What have you done for me lately? Do that with Tooney and me
but not with God. Second, entitlement. It is impossible for grace to take root as long as
you think you're entitled to it. Grace marks. The very idea of grace marks is you can't march into
your teacher's thing and say I want my grace marks. No, that's why it's called grace marks.
You're not entitled to it.
Entitlement, exchange, deservedness are three things that prevent grace from taking root.
If you're not able to receive God's grace, you will not be able to receive his love.
Hear me again. If you cannot receive God's grace, you will not be able to receive his love. One of
the ways to check if you are receiving grace is to check if you're able to bask in his love.
Most of the time we are not able to bask in his love because we are constantly living by
did I meet the requirements, did I not, did I fail, did I do well, is he upset with me, is he not.
That's a constant question.
I went one of the ways to measure whether I'm receiving grace is to
question whether I'm able to receive love because grace is what allows a channel to be cut into your
life through which love flows. One who cannot receive grace will not be able to walk in love,
walk in the knowledge of how much he loves you.
Just like daily bread had to be gathered, you have to go out to gather grace. The currency for most
things in the kingdom is hunger and thirst. The currency for most things in the kingdom is hunger
and thirst. Blessed are those that those that hunger and thirst for they shall be,
satisfied. You must hunger and thirst for grace. It's available but you have to go and collect it
just like you collect manna, you have to go out. Oh God, you know my situation, you know my
circumstances, nobody knows them, you know how difficult they are, you know how scary they are,
but I come to you like a car with a tank that is completely empty and that has to go 800 kilometres
now and I come to you knowing today oh God that you oh faithful one have all the grace that I
require for today and it is sufficient. It reigns bread, it's not a little cookie, it's not a little
morsel, it reigns bread. I have the sufficiency that I need for my marriage, for my finances,
for living, for purpose, for work, I have the grace I need and I approach it with an eagerness
because I expect you to give it. Now do you see why Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 says when I am weak
then I get excited because in my weakness I know that the power of the life of the Son of God
is now going to be manifested. If I only receive grace as a covering I go back
into sin and I have to receive the covering again, go back into sin, receive the covering,
but when I let the grace of God fill me now what pours out of me is life.
And the only way to receive it is to on the best day of your life
have the same bankruptcy that you have on the worst day of your life.
On the best day of your life, when you are worshipping like Jesus, when you are walking
like Jesus, when everything you touch gets healed, on that day you should be as desperate for grace,
as empty in your tank in the car, as I've got nothing to boast about. All I need is grace and
then on the worst day it's the same thing. Children don't know better, they're always like that.
Doesn't matter whether they dress themselves up, ate without spilling anything and didn't poo,
or days when they don't dress themselves up, spread food all across and poo like crazy,
it doesn't matter. They still look forward to the with helpless eager eyes.
This is the beauty of grace, man, and we need to go back because we sometimes forget these simple
things. Grace is recognizing you're a car and empty, aware there isn't a station for the next
800 kilometers, but confident, grateful and joyful for every carefree kilometer that you drive.
Israel was in that situation. Stretchers of desert at some point,
when they were in good shape, they would be confident, grateful and joyful that they were
in the desert. This is why one of the celebrations they loved celebrating after they came out of the
desert was the Feast of Tabernacles. Why? Because the Feast of Tabernacles was a reminder that when
we were in a hostile terrain, oh God, instead of letting us drive, instead of trying to make us
do stuff, you, oh God, turned up and your very presence at the proceeding word sustained us for
40 years. So much so that not only did you provide for us, your presence was with us. Our shoes did
not wear off, our clothes did not wear, and they celebrated. How would they celebrate it? They would
leave their homes, even today Orthodox Jews leave their homes, they set up a little booth with
branches and they sit under that for days and nights. A reminder of what God can do.
A reminder of what God can do.
But so many important little things here, eh? The proceeding word, grace.
Where does grace come from? It comes from the word of God. How do we access grace? We access
grace by faith, and that too is the grace of God. Crazy. You access grace by faith, but even that
faith is provided by God. It's like a child who wants to buy a gift for his mother and goes, he
asks the father for the money to buy a gift for the mother and then buys a gift that he knows the
mother will share with him. That's how this works. How do you get grace? You access it from the word
and you access it from the spirit. Hebrews 10 29. The spirit of God is called the spirit of grace.
It says, do not trample underfoot the blood of Christ and do not insult the spirit of grace.
Now you see why in Zechariah 4, verse 8 and 9, it says, it's not by might, not by power, but by the
spirit and the glory of the latter temple shall be greater than the former temple. So set up
the foundations and when you set up the foundations, what do you shout? Grace, grace.
One of the things the spirit of God does is bring grace to us. What kind of grace? First,
the conviction of sin and righteousness. What grace? Everybody sitting here at one point or
the other came to a deep conviction of sin. Even now when we talk about grace, tears come to our
eyes. You remember when you knew you were a sinner and you said, Jesus, Jesus, I need you.
Didn't matter which church you came from, what your background was, Jesus, I need you. It was
grace and he came and he filled your life. And then there is the charismata. The very word
carries in grace. The gifts of the spirit, charismata. Gifts brought by the spirit given to
you so that you can benefit him and him and she can benefit him and he can benefit me.
Then there is the grace brought to you and given to people appointed by Christ to equip us.
And Jesus, when he ascended, gave gifts to people and he appointed them with graces so that the
church could be equipped. And finally, Galatians 5 or 1 Peter 2, 2 Peter 1, 4, whichever one you
want to choose. I will cause you to be partakers in his divine nature by giving you the grace that
Christ has in love, in peace, in joy, in goodness, in long suffering, in patience, the fruit of the
spirit. He's the spirit of grace. This is what we have guys. It's brilliant.
We'll talk about ways that we can turn grace into maggots next time. I want to break bread.
And as we come to break bread, as we gather at this table, we are gathering at the table of grace,
we eat his flesh. We partake of his substance. When Jesus said, come eat my flesh and drink my
blood, what is he saying? Come partake of my substance.
What is his substance? John 1 verse 14, and Jesus came full of what? Full of truth and grace.
Come partake of my substance. What is this covenant about? This God covenant is simply one word, grace.
I want you to read what grace is before we approach the table.
All God's activity with man can be summed up in one word, grace, from Eden onwards.
Grace is God giving himself to me, withholding nothing of himself. Try believing that, hey,
that he's withholding nothing of himself.
Nothing of himself. These are just symbols. What he's saying is, listen, as you eat this,
know that you're eating my flesh as in partaking of my substance. When you drink this, know you're
drinking my blood, you're partaking of my substance. What is the substance of Jesus Christ?
Truth and grace. That's what we're doing. And they left him, John 6, 66, and many left him.
And then he turns around and says, are you going to leave too? And Peter says,
where shall we go for you have the words of eternal life.
Second one, God who is consuming fire, giving himself to me, caring nothing for the fact
that I'm undeserving. When you come to partake in this, he cares nothing for the fact that you
are undeserving and worthy of judgment. Third,
grace is God giving himself to me, not in reluctance or out of obligation.
One of the things he said before he asked people to partake in this meal is,
I have longed to eat this with you. Not in reluctance, not in obligation, not with obligation,
out of obligation, but with desire. He says, I have longed to eat this with you.
Not in reluctance, not in obligation, not with obligation, out of obligation, but with desire
filled delight. Next one, God is giving me himself so that the wholeness, the fullness
that he has will complete all that is lacking and ugly and hidden and weak and deficient in me.
And as you come, lay down everything that you think you are, which is noble, good, godly, laid down.
Part of approaching the grace of God requires laying down the very things that he has made you
because we begin to own even the things he has made you.
Saying I might be this, but I am this simply because you do not withhold any of you when it
comes to me. That is why I get to at times be like you. Then the other part is that which I'm,
that which I'm not is made up. That which I'm not is made up. All the things that are lacking,
all the things that you can point a finger at, all the things that are valid accusations,
all of that gets covered. Daily bread. Please don't limit this to a
once a month communion thing. It is daily bread. Go gather it every day. You will become the emptiest,
fastest car there is. Doesn't matter what your outside looks like. You can be a Rolls-Royce,
you can be a Mercedes, you can be whatever. Tesla. If you don't get a charge, you don't run.
A rat's a man. Amazing grace how complex the sound, not how sweet the sound,
because it's more complex than we think. Amazing grace how complex the sound that saved a rat like
me. As we gather at this table, we eat his flesh, we partake in his very substance.
Grace is a precious promise of this God covenant through which you get to partake of his divine
nature. All you presently have and all I presently have is a result of his impoverishment on the
cross. Because of that, I am filled with riches of grace. He who withheld nothing on the cross
and he who did not consider my undeservedness then or my undeservedness today. He says,
I desire deeply to exchange my life for yours again today. He says, I am grace.
Come be complete. Let me read that again. He who withheld nothing on the cross
and he who considers not your undeservedness
is one who desires deeply to exchange his life for yours today.
And he says, I am grace. Come be complete.
So I'll just ask Tuni to come up and play and sing, just him. And just come up, take bread,
take the cup, go sit, talk to the one who gives himself unreservedly,
withholding nothing of himself, and completes you. Yeah, talk to him.