In his sermon 'The Means of Grace in the Christian Life,' Mike Davenport explores the integral role grace plays in the life of a believer, drawing from 2 Peter 1:3 and other scriptures. He distinguishes between common grace, available to all, and special grace, which pertains specifically to believers. Davenport emphasizes that the means of grace, such as the Sabbath, Scripture, sacraments, providence, and personal devotion, are essential for spiritual growth and maturity. These means are channels through which God's grace flows, akin to irrigation channels bringing water to dry soil. He warns against relying on these means for salvation, stressing that they are to direct believers to depend solely on Christ, the ultimate source of grace. The sermon concludes by encouraging believers to actively engage with the means of grace for spiritual nourishment and growth in Christ-likeness.

If you would turn in the Scriptures to 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. I'm going to read the opening three verses of this second epistle of Peter, and our focus will be on verse 3. Simon Peter, a bond servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue. Let us pray.

Oh, Father, we pray that you would help us to acknowledge the fact that everything in our Christian life is from you. Lord, you, your Son is the author and finisher of our faith. And so we ask that you would help us afresh to find the sufficiency of not only our justification but even our sanctification to find that sufficiency in Jesus Christ. Lord help us to not forget and forsake our first love. Him who you drew us to and in the way that we responded to that drawing.

Oh God help us to once again grow in our knowledge of Christ and in our love for him. Draw out our hearts by your spirit. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated.

Wilford T. Grenfell in his book, A Man's Faith, wrote of his conversion that had occurred in 1883 as a result of hearing a sermon by Dwight L. Moody. Some years later, Mr. Grenfell bumped into Mr.

Moody in a hotel in Boston. Coming up to him, he said, Mr. Moody, 14 years ago I put my faith in Jesus Christ after hearing you preach. Moody replied, oh and what have you been doing since? You see, it's not all about what we did some time ago.

What we have been doing and how we have been doing it since we first came to Christ truly matters. Last week we read of a church who could point back to quite an impressive start. God had done a work among them and they were now busy in the Lord's work. Christ knew their works and their purity in doctrine, nevertheless, when Christ searched their hearts, he found a church that had left its first love. He told them to return and do those things they did at the first and do them willingly and freely as they did them at the first out of a genuine love for Jesus Christ.

The zeal was gone. The fervor was gone. The love was cold. We were all challenged last week, were we not? And I trust we have all been doing some soul searching.

And my fear is that we have fallen into a mode of thinking where we operate as though we have progressed beyond those first things. We're doing more important things, more sophisticated things, or maybe a greater quantity of things. And so like the Apostle Peter in his second epistle here where he begins by calling them in the next verses to the simple realities of the Christian life. I too want to stir you up by reminding you of simple and fundamental things you already know. This is not going to be a sermon that brings to your attention things you've never thought of before.

You probably won't learn much new at all. But if you will recall the first exhortation of Christ to that church in Ephesus, we saw it last week was what? To remember, remember, and then having remembered they were to return, to repent, to renew their devotion to Jesus Christ. And so the title of the sermon this morning is The Means of Grace in the Christian Life. The Means of Grace in the Christian Life.

And in the time before us I want us to consider the following three things, the what, the how, and the why of the means of grace. The what, the how, and the why of the means of grace. Now before we begin, I want you to fully grasp the reality that these two things, the means of grace and the Christian life, cannot be separated. Apart from the means of grace, there is no, I repeat, no Christian life. The great preacher Jonathan Edwards in his works entitled On Religious Affection stated that reality this way, for any to expect to receive the saving influences of the Spirit of God while they neglect a diligent improvement of the appointed means of grace is unreasonable presumption." He says it is unreasonable to expect to receive the ongoing saving ministry of the Holy Spirit if you neglect either willingly or out of ignorance to give yourself diligently to the means of grace as they have been appointed by God the Father.

So consider with me first the what. The what. What is grace? What role does grace play in the Christian's life? Well, let's first define grace, and as we do, it's important to realize that there are two manifestations of grace in the world.

Common grace and special grace. Common grace is called common because manifestations of this grace can be found in all sorts of people regardless of conversion, regardless of where they are. Until man has hardened his heart to every bit of grace in the world, there usually is some remnants of common grace to be found in men. But since we are dealing with the Christian life this morning, I'm seeking to define and focus our attention on special grace. That grace designated for the people of God, grace that the unbeliever that is still abiding in his unbelief knows nothing about.

Dutch theologian Lewis Burkhoff in his great work Systematic Theology defines this grace in this way, quote, Grace signifies the unmerited operation of God in the heart of man, effected through the agency of the Holy Spirit. It is used as a designation of the objective provision which God made in Christ for the salvation of man. It is a comprehensive name for all the gifts of the grace of God, the blessings of salvation, and the spiritual graces which are wrought in the hearts and lives of believers through the operation of the Holy Spirit. And in another place in his theological work, he states, quote, fallen man receives all the blessings of salvation out of the eternal fountain of the grace of God in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ and through the operation of the Holy Spirit End quote. And so you see the Trinity is all involved in this grace that is manifested to man, that has been brought to man.

John in the first chapter of his gospel in verses 14 to 17 provides us with the source of this marvelous grace of God. It comes to us by nature of the glory of the Father as manifested in His Son Jesus Christ. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full, full of grace and truth. And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace, for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

So we have this picture of God the Father sending His Son, Jesus Christ, manifesting in and through Him all the glory of the Godhead and in the God-man storing up a reservoir of grace full to the top, and of this reservoir of grace we have received grace upon grace in successive communications and in ever increasing communications and in ever-increasing measures. Turn with me to Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2. Let your eyes fall upon the words of Paul to Titus in verses 11 through 14. He's talking about the grace of God and what grace does in the life of the believer.

For the grace of God that brings salvation, we all agree with that, has appeared to all men. Teaching us, what's teaching us? Grace. Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and redeem us to what? Purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works." Paul here makes clear that the same operative Grace that initially calls us into faith in Christ teaches us.

It disciples us. Grace always finishes what it starts. Grace calls us into faith in Christ, but it is not content to leave us there. Its job is not complete. Please note the two specific things in this passage.

First, those who are saved by grace are discipled by that same grace. Here what the infallible scripture says, if grace is not discipling you, you have not been saved by that grace. If you have been created in Christ Jesus, God has done so with certain things that He has before made ready. Grace continues what it started, it teaches, and it disciples. If you are a believer, you're a believer because of grace, and if you are a believer, then you are a disciple, and you are so because of that same grace.

James reminds us that faith without a subsequent display of works is dead. That such a so-called faith is actually no different than what the demons display who believe and even tremble. Secondly, please note the disciplines that grace brings about in the lives of all those whom it makes new creatures in Christ. First, grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. In Romans 8, the apostle Paul speaks of the believer as being one who is dead to sin.

And the original language communicates a completed act. It's dead once for all. Secondly, grace teaches us how to live in this present age, To live soberly, that is with self-restraint. To live righteously, that is acting justly. And to live godly, that is in love and reverence to God.

And so you see that grace changes us in how we live with a view to ourselves, how we live with a view to others, and how we live with a view to our God. Third, grace teaches us to look with anticipation and to live with the awareness of the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Grace disciplines us, as Paul tells us in Colossians 3, to set our minds and our affections on things above, not on things of the earth, But on the things in heaven where Christ is who is our life and who will appear for us again And grace teaches us and constantly reminds us of its chief purpose under the plan of God to redeem us, to purify us, to sanctify us, and to ignite in our hearts a burning zeal for obedience to the God who called us. My dear friend, this is what grace does in the life of every believer. And so you must ask yourself, do I know anything of this discipline in transforming grace?

You see, we can too easily and too quickly cheapen grace by confining grace to a conversion experience and acting as if its work is done. That kind of grace you can be assured is not the grace of God. Well having looked at the what, let's take time to consider the how. How does God bring His grace to His people? How is it that we receive this grace upon grace from this fullness found in Christ.

Well, having seen from John 1 that Jesus is the source of all grace, and from Titus 2 that true saving grace proceeds to take upon itself the teaching and discipling of all those whom it has saved, we want to consider at this point the means of that grace, the means of that grace. Now those of you who have been here for probably longer than a month will probably know by now of our connection with several churches over in the African country of Malawi. We'll be praying for one of those congregations here next week in our prayer week. Well several years ago, I ran across an article on the internet describing famine conditions that were to be found in many parts of that country due to drought conditions being experienced, and this was back in 2002. The article stated the following, and I quote, the country has vast resources of fresh water.

Lake Malawi is located in the Great Rift Basin and is the 10th largest freshwater lake in the world. Yet, Malawians have not utilized this water source for cropping purposes. The article goes on to quote a UN Food and Agricultural Organization officer from Malawi. He said quote, the Sheray Valley as well as other places where you have some wetlands, where you have rivers and lakes, Lake Malawi, for example, is an area where hardly any water is being used for irrigation. Yet the lake is a substantial water resource to be used for crop lands." The article goes on to talk about the potential ways of bringing water to those farms by the use of irrigation methods, including traidel pump.

What is the picture I want you to have in mind? The grace of God is stored up in Christ like the waters stored up in Lake Malawi. Our hearts are like the dry, parched soil on those Malawian farms, in much need of water in order to produce fruit. The means of grace then are like the irrigation channels that are formed in order to get the water from the source, Lake Malawi, to those local farms. And the treadle pump is like the spirit that produces the power and the force to actually get the water from the source to that parched land.

So when we speak of the means of grace we are talking about the mysterious operations of the Holy Spirit by the use of ordinary means by which he enriches us with salvation and all the blessings that come with it. So there's a mysteriousness to it, the Spirit taking these things which are ordinary in our lives and making them channels of grace for us. It's through the means of grace that we commune with Him and He with us And we are made more like Him because we have walked with Him. The use of these means and the grace that they convey make our hearts burn within us, even as the disciples who walked with Christ on the road to Emmaus. They draw out from our lips the cry, Abba, Father.

Well, what are some of those irrigation ditches, as it were, by which the grace of God is conveyed to us from the source, Jesus Christ. Well, the first is the Sabbath of the Church of Jesus Christ, the Sabbath of the Church of Jesus Christ. And even though we just recently spent nine Sundays on the topic of the Christian Sabbath. To not mention it once again here in the list of various means of grace would be catastrophic. I am also aware that not everyone present here with us today were here when we study the Lord's Day together.

Jesus made it clear in Mark 2.27 that the Sabbath was made for man, that it was created, that it was instituted for man's well-being mentally, physically, and spiritually. Ian Hamilton, recently retired pastor at Cambridge Presbyterian, said the following in a message on the means of grace, quote, To lose the central place of the God-ordained Sabbath in the life of the church is to erode the very foundations of vital religion. The Sabbath is a perpetual, God-ordained, creation-redemptive ordinance. It has been sanctified by the Lord to Himself and for His people, and to leave off Sabbath-keeping is to make yourself wiser than God." Within the established gathering of the church on His holy day, God has made provision for us in a multitude of ways, But God has elevated by His Word two main means of grace above all others. The Word of God preached and the sacraments.

And by the sacraments, I'm referring to baptism and the Lord's Supper. These two means of the Word of God and the sacraments can never be separated or disassociated from Jesus Christ or from the Holy Spirit or from the church. It is only through the right use of the Sabbath that we will profit from these means ordained by God through Christ, by the Spirit, and in the local church. Your need for this means of grace makes it imperative to be in a church that is serious about the worship of God, a church where God's Word is preeminent, where it is handled faithfully and skillfully, where it is preached in the power of the Spirit to be in a church that views the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper as set forth in Scripture. Baptism as an obedient response of a disciple to the demands of Christ upon every aspect of life that requires confession of Christ as Lord and Savior before allowing them to enter into the waters.

To be in a church that takes seriously the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, that makes much of true heart preparation before partaking, that stresses the importance of genuine faith and repentance in all who partake of the elements. And when you find such a church, do not forsake the times of her gathering together. Listen. To forsake the gathering of the church is to forsake the primary means of grace for your soul. Okay?

To forsake the gathering of the church is to forsake the primary, not the only, but the primary means of grace for your soul. In the Word and in the sacraments, God draws near. And in the Word and in the sacraments, God provides for our ignorance and dullness, and then for our weakness. In the Word and in the sacraments, The gracious fullness of Christ is revealed, and we receive of that fullness grace upon grace. The second means of grace is the providences, the providences of a loving Father.

Providence is described and defined by several catechisms in the following way. God's works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful, preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions. More specifically, as we think of it in relation to the Christian, providence is the works of God that He weaves into the lives of His people, whereby He preserves His people and prepares them for glory. Romans 8, 28, and 29. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose, for whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Quoting Birkhoff again, quote, the whole providential guiding of the saints through prosperity and adversity often becomes a means by which the Holy Spirit leads the elect to Christ or to an even closer communion with Him. And thus the words we sang earlier, nearer, still, nearer, close to thy breast, draw me my Savior, draw me. Dear ones, are you missing out on the means of grace that come to you through the providential dealings of your Father in heaven? Are you using even the hardest and darkest times to learn more about your loving Savior. Job came out of his suffering declaring the wonderful things that he had learned about his God.

He knew his God then in ways he had never known him before. The psalmist in Psalm 119 declares that before God had brought affliction into his life, he had gone astray, But as a result of that affliction, he had learned to keep God's Word. When Paul discovered the grace that comes with God's sent affliction, His response was, Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." And did not James magnify the means of grace that come to us even in our afflictions when he wrote, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

It's a means of grace, the providence of our God. Third, the maintenance of a devotional life. The maintenance of a devotional life is a means of grace. Christianity is not a one-day-a-week religion. True, the particular means of grace that come to us in the corporate gathering on Sunday cannot be gained in any other way on any other day.

There are particular means of grace that are particular to this day. But like the plants on that Malawian farm, once a week watering is not sufficient to provide a prospering environment under the intensity of the surrounding environment. It won't happen. Drench it all you want to. It needs consistent and constant watering.

Can I ask you a couple of questions? Maybe some of you children can think about this. You children, what day of the week is the day that you eat? Which day is it? Do you choose Mondays to eat or maybe Wednesdays?

Fridays? How about sleep? Which day have you set aside to go to sleep at night and sleep through the night? Which day do you do that? That's a ridiculous question, you say.

Indeed it is, But it's just as ridiculous to think that the means of grace received on the Lord's day is alone sufficient for your Christian life Especially when our Father has made other provisions for obtaining grace Well, what's involved in the maintenance of a devotional life? Well, first, reading the Word. Reading the Word. 2 Timothy 3.16 says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Why?

That the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Christ declared that man is to live, to live. He didn't just stress the importance. He said, man shall live, live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Not a little bit here and a little bit there.

Every word we are to live by. Secondly, memorizing the word. Memorizing the Word. Psalm 119-11, your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. Memorizing is a means of grace in the battle against sin.

But not only that, dear ones, as we see persecution increasing even in this land, and as all indications point to possible increases in restrictions, There may come a day where the Word of God is prohibited. There may come a day. How can you even begin to accurately measure the worth of the means of grace that such memorization now will be to you in that day. The means of grace to be able to recall the words of God that you may not be able to hold in your hands. Third, meditating upon the Word, meditating upon the Word, Psalm 1, 2 to 3.

Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither and whatever he does shall prosper." Do we even know what meditation is anymore? Our culture is all about newer is better. Oh, that's just so yesterday. Instant access, instant entertainment, endless, endless distractions.

Grace is communicated to us when we are still. Things are quiet And all of our thoughts are dwelling on the reality of who our God is and what He has communicated to us about who He is, meditating upon the Word. And fourth, I'll mention prayer, prayer. Philippians 4, 6 through 7, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Do you see the grace that's received in prayer?

Peace. Peace. Anxiety comes from a lack of prayer. Peace comes through praying. If we are not praying, our hearts are vulnerable.

They're left open to all sorts of attacks, but through prayer our hearts and our minds are guarded. Dear brother, dear sister, how is it with you in the secret place? Have you left off the first things? But not only that, another means of grace is the fruits of a godly family life. The fruits of a godly family life.

The responsibility of the cultivation of this particular means of grace lies at the doorstep, at the feet of every Christian father. We considered the words of Deuteronomy 6, 6 through 9 just a few weeks ago. Moses as the mouthpiece of God declares our duty, men, and these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently, diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk in the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." When we gather around the Word of God as a family within the walls of our home in order to worship this the Lord. This means of grace is placed in the hands of the Spirit to make that word effectual to the individual hearts within our families. Psalm 128 that we quoted earlier describes the fruits of the man who fears God and walks in his ways. His wife is like a fruitful vine in the middle of his house and his children like tender olive plants all around his table. This is a picture of the means of grace upon the family as a unit.

There in Ephesians 5, 25 and 26, Paul sets the expectation for every Christian man with regard to his wife, that he would wash his wife with the water of the Word of God. And in the next chapter of Ephesians, chapter 6, God sets the expectations of a father towards his children, that he would bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. This is the means of grace at work in family life through the individual relationships that God's given us in our homes. Listen to the words of Jonathan Edwards, the leader of the Great Awakening in New England, as preached in his farewell sermon to his flock. Quote, every Christian family ought to be as it were a little church, consecrated to Christ, and wholly influenced and governed by His rules.

And family education and order are some of the chief of the means of grace. If these fail, all other means are likely to prove ineffectual. If these are duly maintained, all the means of grace will be likely to prosper and be successful." End quote. So this is the how. The grace of God is conveyed to us through means that God has established and that we must pick up and use.

Well, having seen the what and the how, third and finally consider with me the why. The why. Why has God established these means of grace? What is their purpose? Well, in volume two of the collected writings of James Henley Thornwell, the late professor of theology in the theological seminary at Columbia, South Carolina, warns us of a danger of not grasping the purpose of the means of grace.

Quote, the means of grace have a clear and definite use. Their end is not to impart grace, but to remind us of our dependence upon the Spirit. Hence, any proper view of the means of grace prevents us from attributing the least degree of efficacy to them. They do their office when they have convinced us that there is no help in man and prostrate our hearts before the throne of God in entire dependence upon the will and grace of His Holy Spirit." Hence, he continues, to depend upon the means of grace, which we would be authorized to do if they were laws, to depend upon the means of grace is completely to destroy their legitimate tendency and render them worse than useless. They should only, they should only be employed as the way to the Spirit, as the galleries in which his glory will be manifested as the instruments by which we are reminded that our help is in God.

When properly employed, they are most forgotten. When most earnestly used, The eye is fixed exclusively on the Spirit." End quote. Remember what we stated earlier. In Jesus Christ is fullness of grace. We don't find the grace in the doing of the things.

In Jesus Christ we find the fullness of grace, and it is of his fullness that we receive grace upon grace. The purpose of the means of grace is to set our hearts in our minds upon Christ. In John 15 4 through 5 we have the following words of Christ, abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me you can do little, not very much, nothing.

Nothing. Let those words sink in, brothers and sisters. You can do nothing. Do nothing. God desires that our assurance finds its roots in the finished work of Christ.

When God in eternity passed purpose to save a people, he could have chosen to immediately sanctify them and to make them like Christ their Savior in that very instant. But in the wise counsel of God, he purposed to sanctify his people by degrees, and that through the means of grace that he ordained, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, He would sanctify them and make them like His Son. Well, I close by drawing our attention to several applications. For those of you who know the Lord Jesus Christ, who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. Number one, are you digging or are you drinking?

Are you digging or are you drinking? If grace is indeed needed for the Christian life, if Christ is indeed full of grace, if it really is through Christ that we receive grace upon grace, then let us drink deeply from Christ, the fountain of life. Jeremiah 2.13 describes the people who were looking elsewhere for grace. God said, from my people have committed two evils. First, they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, but secondly they have hewn themselves cisterns.

They worked hard digging through rock to get cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. So are you drawing water from the wells of grace and salvation that are found in Jesus Christ and Christ alone? Or are you digging, looking for satisfaction, looking for salvation, looking for sanctification in some other place. If you're looking elsewhere, God says that your man-created cisterns will hold no water. There will be no grace.

He alone is the fountain of living waters, so lay down your shovel, stop digging, pick up your bucket once again, and by the power of the Spirit draw grace-filled living waters from the fountain of life, Jesus Christ. Second, are you neglecting the diligent improvement of these appointed means of grace? Are you neglecting the diligent improvement of the appointed means of grace? If you are, recall the words of Jonathan Edwards from the beginning of this message, for any to expect to receive the saving influences of the Holy Spirit of God while they neglect a diligent improvement of the appointed means of grace is unreasonable, unreasonable presumption. Grace comes to us only through the means God has appointed and only from the source God has appointed.

Seek to make the most of all the means that God has provided. Seek to improve upon them all as Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3, 18, grow, grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Third, are you looking to the means of grace for your salvation or maybe for even your own assurance of salvation or are you casting yourself on the finished work of Christ? Listen my friend, These means of grace will never save you. Never.

They will not save you. Going to church won't save you. Reading your Bible won't save you. Praying in and of itself won't save you. Knowing all about God and believing right doctrine will not save.

Jesus Christ is your only hope. He alone is your salvation. Rest your soul on Him. He is the one and only sure foundation. That's what the means of grace teach us.

It's all about Christ. And fourth, are you growing? Are you growing? Are you making progress in the use of the means God has provided? Spurge, in one time, gave an illustration.

He said there in their home, they would take each year a portrait of each of their sons, year one, year two, year three, all the way up. When they got to the 12th year, they put all of these portraits into one big frame so you could see them all. And he said, if we were to do that with our spiritual lives, what kind of portraits would we see? When we look at our children, then we look at those portraits, we see growth, we see development, We see them losing that baby face, maturing a little bit, filling out, getting bigger and larger. What would we see if we looked at our spiritual lives?

Spurgeon said, I fear we would see some who have dwarfed. You would look at that picture and think, these are out of order. Certainly this one should be before that one. He said some have just stopped. And it's like the same picture, fifth year, sixth year, seventh year.

What would that picture look like? Or should I say that group of pictures look like if it were your spiritual life on that wall. For those present who have not tasted of Jesus Christ and not trusted in him, who have not embraced the gospel, I leave you with this invitation. It's not just an invitation for me, it's an invitation from the Lord of Glory. And I stand before you today as an ambassador of the King of Kings.

This great King has given me this invitation and he bids me share it with you for any who would listen. Isaiah 55 declares that God is willing to open up the fountains of His never-ending grace for you, my friend. There is enough grace in there for us who have believed and for you too. He hasn't run out by providing so many of us. There's grace there for you.

With our God is plenteous grace. Here's what it says. This is Christ speaking. Oh, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come, buy, and eat.

Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear like we've read about in Revelation, he who has an ear let him hear. Incline your ear and come to me.

Hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you. The sure mercies of David, Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord and He will have mercy on Him and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.

Such is the grace of our God. Let's pray. O gracious God, we thank you for the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ, that He is the one full of grace and full of truth. May every soul today run to Him. May they hear the gracious call of Him who says, Come and drink.

It'll cost you nothing. I've paid the price, he says, come and drink from my abundance. And oh Lord, for us who have trusted in him, forgive us for the dryness. Lord, may we break up the fallow ground that the seed may find root once again and that the waters of the means of grace may come to us from Jesus Christ the source that we might be refreshed and that we might bear much fruit because we are abiding in him. Lord may all of these things happen in our midst and may they redound to the glory of Jesus Christ throughout all ages.

In His name we pray, amen.