The Grace To Be Gracious | William Carrol

Father in the name of the Lord Jesus we acknowledge your goodness and your grace we recognize our great need this morning but we realize that you are more than enough we realize that we can place all of our concerns in your hands knowing that those hands are nail-scarred that you laid your life down for us that you died so that we might live and you live so that your life might be expressed in us and that our lives might be a glory in the presence of the great and the holy K that our lives might be a manifestation of your wonderful work at Calvary we thank you Jesus that you are our Savior we thank you that you are our Redeemer thank you that you are our keeper our sustainer thank you that you are our provision thank you that you are our sanctification and our holiness thank you that you are our provider and our healer thank you that you are the source of our praise and the focus of it we thank you that there is no God beside the Lord neither is there any name to be mentioned alongside of yours we give you glory this morning because you are the Great and the holy God all power all glory or Majesty all dignity all honor goes to the great and the holy God let every knee bow and every tongue confess let it be known in heaven let it be known on the earth let it be known under the earth let it resound even in the annals of history that Jesus is the glory that Jesus is the Christ that Jesus is the king let it be known even among the lies of the enemy so that God might be glorious at every lie might bow down before him let it be known among every voice of the devil so that God might speak and the devil might be silenced you know again that there he sucks at what is God and we give you glory for it oh Jesus we bless you we bless you we bless you in Jesus Holy Name we pray amen amen hallelujah glory to that great and Holy Name I want to talk to you this morning on the topic the grace to be gracious the grace to be gracious remember the Bible talks once about a story that Jesus tells to illustrate a point he mentions a man who at midnight had a visitor who came to him and recognized that this person was in a position to provide for him a need so he asked him if he would provide a particular need but the person realized that even though there was someone who came to him he had nothing so he went to another person because it was important in that community that when somebody came to you for provision you did what you could because it was a reflection on you it was a reflection on the entire community so he went to another neighbor and said to that neighbor somebody's come to me for a provision I don't have it can you help me so in other words this was a person who wanted to be gracious but he didn't have what he needed to express the grace that he wanted to express so he went to someone else and asked that person would you give me as it were the grace to be gracious and you know the story the man gets up provides for the one man who was able to provide for the other now there is a condition that God has laid upon the Christian person and the condition that he's laid upon us is to receive His grace there's not a lot of things that God asks us to do but he asks us to receive His grace now in asking us to receive His grace then we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us so he asked us to receive grace but he asks us to receive grace so that we might also be a source of grace so he says you're supposed to be Grace in the earth you can't do it on your own people are gonna knock on your door at midnight and your response is to come to me come to God and say God I don't have the grace sufficient to be gracious in this circumstance now when we consider the circumstances of life we realize that there are some circumstances that seem to require more grace to be gracious than others so when we think about the times when we go through frustrating situations times where we feel let down times we feel betrayed times we feel as though we've invested and gotten no return and so on and so forth then those times it's much harder to be gracious toward the people that have hurt us you know there's a story in the Holy Scriptures that really speaks to my heart it never ceases to teach me it never ceases to help me to grow and to develop I've been studying this portion of Scripture as long as I can remember it's kind of like a favorite professor you know what I mean - a favorite teacher that somehow you whatever your major is you just keep getting back to that same teacher this passage of Scripture it's in the book of Exodus and the 33rd chapter it's a passage of Scripture has spoken to me as long as I've been studying the scriptures and I'm just going to read you a portion from Exodus 33 beginning verse 12 on the topic the grace to be gracious now the background of course is you know the story of the golden calf Moses goes into the mountain he receives a word from the Lord as he's coming back down to the people that he's led out of bondage out of the house of slavery he expects that they're going to be waiting and longing to hear God's voice and and he's expecting that they're gonna be doing what they can to prove that they are the people that God has delivered right that God is freed when it comes down and of course they've already made another God and they are worshiping that God according to the ways of the nation's around them and Moses gets very angry and he gets very frustrated he feels betrayed he feels unappreciated he feels let down and if you remember he takes the tablets of the law and he dashes them to the ground right and then he says whoever's on the Lord's side let him come unto me and the Levites come to where Moses is and then he says to the Levites go into the camp and destroy your brothers and so on and so forth right so they go into the camp and they start killing people who had been engaging in the lifestyle of the Moabites and the ammonites and so on and so forth and then at a certain stage Moses who to a certain degree is manifesting what he believes to be the heart and the mind of God because he knew that God was upset God had told them you know go away from me you know I'm gonna destroy these people and I'll make from you another nation and Moses splitters in intercessors said I'd rather be blotted out of your book then that these people should die but it took that sense of God's wrath and he expressed it among the people but I think that there is an element of God's character that Moses recognized was not being represented by his actions so Moses was justified in being angry his his anger was what you might call righteous indignation but it was anger outside of the full context of the character of God it was an element of God's character but now the full expression of God's character so he was justified in being angry but for us as Christians we also have to recognize that even if there are times when we are justified in being angry there is also a grace to be gracious a grace to be merciful a grace to forgive now Moses realized that there was an element of God's character that he was not expressing and he would even go so far as to recognize that there was an element of God's character that he himself had not been familiar with so in verse 12 he begins to pray it says that Moses said to the Lord see you say to me bring up this people but you have not let me know whom you will send with me yet you have said I know you by name and you have found favor in my sight now therefore I pray if I have found grace in your sight show me now your way notice that question show me your way if I have found grace in your sight show me your way that I may know you and that I may find grace in your sight now that's a third the term grace is used from the time that the Lord said you have found grace in my sight that Moses says if I have found grace in your sight and now he says that I may find grace in your sight and consider that this nation is your people then he goes on to say in verse 15 and he said to him if your presence does not go with us do not bring us up from here for how then will it be known that your people and I have found grace in your sight except that you go with us so we shall be separate your people and I from all the people who are upon the face of the earth so the Lord said to Moses I will also do this thing that you have spoken for you have found grace in my sight and I know you by name and he said please show me your glory then he said I will make all my goodness pass before you and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion so Moses recognized that in his frustration in his anger in his sense of being let down even in the sense of feeling betrayed he was justified in being angry he was along with God in his expression of wrath but what he also recognized was that's not the full expression of who God is and I can go beyond justified anger and I could move into the realm of grace and mercy and compassion I can choose to say yes I have the right to be angry but I would be gracious I have the right to be angry but I choose to forgive now how do you get from point A to point B how do you get from taking God's law dashing it to the ground and pouring wrath among whoever it is that offends you and come into a place where as you'll see and later on in the text Moses begins now hearing God's voice hearing his name Moses face begins to glow the glory of God begins to manifest on Moses face how do you get from that face of anger to the glory of God I want to show you in the text what goes on realistically you and I know that in order to be gracious in order for God to manifest his glory in us we have got to recognize how much we need God's grace and God's glory so when that one person knock to the other person's door as we talked about with the parable the person who was in the house realized I don't have what it takes to provide the grace for this individual so Moses at a certain point comes to the Lord and he's asking them the question however I found grace in your sight how about some grace in your sight and God says to him something wonderful God says Moses I want you to come and I want you to talk to me he said I'm gonna show you who I am and I'm going to ask you to do the same for me he says to him in a sense there's going to be a dual revelation that's going on I'm gonna reveal myself to you but I'm gonna ask you to antara Lee tell me who you are so he says the Moses come back up into the mountain and he says to Moses I want you to present yourself to me there so there's two things is going on God says come to the mountain and I'm gonna present myself to you but he'll also says come to the mountain and present yourself to me because that's how you and I know that we are open to the grace of God it's enough for us to recognize that in order for us to be gracious we have to be in a position where God can show us who he is and we're not afraid or ashamed to show him who we are so he goes to the mountain God says him firstly bring me two more tablets of stone just like the ones that you broke so it's important for Moses to come to the mountain and recognize his own temperament they say yes there was some righteous indignation there but there was also a whole lot of Moses there right I mean because that's what tends to close us all from the full context of God's character when we're angry we we identify with God's wrath but sometimes that's all we identify with at least in that moment somebody does something that hurts us and we recognize that it was an offense and we recognize that it was contrary to God's Way so we allow ourselves to be angry because we say it's justifiable and I look at the Scriptures enough I see God doing something similar so therefore it must be okay but we don't see the whole context of the scripture where the foolish expression of God's wrath is the of Christ with God manifests his wrath upon himself so that he could be gracious so that he could be merciful we we sometimes forget that part of how God expresses his wrath how sometimes we decide that instead of us expressing it outward we simply absorbed sometimes some of the anger and the pain and allow God to say to us I'll tell you what you do you take this thing and you lay it at the feet of Christ you take this thing and you lay it on the cross instead of expressing it outward take that wrap and bring it to Calvary just like I did because if I'm gonna follow God's pattern as far as God's expression of wrath then I have had to follow his ultimate pattern with regard to the expression of Wrath which is he took his wrath to the cross so Moses recognized that he himself broke the law he literally broke the law so whenever I think about the expression of my wrath I have to also remind myself that I broke the law I have to remind myself that he who is without sin should cast the first stone I have to remind myself that the same Jesus who died for me died for my brother and my sister and I'm as in need of grace as they are and if I'm going to be an expression of grace I need the grace to be gracious I need God to help me so he takes those tablets of stone which acknowledged the fact that he broke the first tablets and then he goes that he presents himself before the Lord that basically means that he just opens himself up before God everything about himself is there now every aspect of his personality every aspect of his ministry every aspect of his service everything that he is is there before God and as he's there before God the Bible says that God came and stood with him God came and showed him that God is not ashamed to be his father God is not the same as the Bible says in the book of Hebrews he's not ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters so this person is exposed to God the Bible shows us in the book of Isaiah where the angels are flying around the Lord and two wings they're flying and the Bible says with two wings they're covering their upper body two wings they're covering their lower body in the presence of the holy God they're crying holy holy holy and they're completely covered but in this case Moses is entirely exposed in a sense he's naked and unashamed because he's acknowledging his need he's acknowledging his fault and God comes and stands before him and then God covers him with his hand that's what the Bible says he's learning things about himself and he's learning things about God he's offering things about himself to God God who knows everything and yet looks for us to volunteer our trust and our friendship how is it then how can the all-knowing God say to anybody go away from me I never knew you it has something to do with relationship right not not knowledge but relationship so when we have this concept of a dual revelation always saying is we're not lying to God we're not giving him any new information we are volunteering trust but we are being reminded as we do that how much we need God's grace notice Moses prayer was show me your way he didn't say show me one aspect of how you deal show me your way I want to know you so the Lord begins to pass in the presence of Moses I just going to read a portion of scripture in the 34th chapter I'll just start reading at verse 1 and the Lord said to Moses cut 2 tablets of stone like the first ones and I will write on those tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke so be ready in the morning and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai and present yourself to me there on the top of the mountain and then he tells of no man should come up with you because it's a holy place as we sang it's a holy place that place of brokenness that place of reading of repentance that place of acknowledgement of one's faults and frailty is that place of acknowledging one's need for grace that's the holy place now we'll go down to verse 4 so we cut two tablets of stone like the first ones the Moses rose early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him and he took in his hand the two tables of stone now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord now the Lord could have said anything about himself and in the context of the golden calf in the context of idolatry in the context of failure in the context frustration in the context of betrayal and so on and so forth he could have said anything just like Jesus could have done anything in the same night in which he was betrayed but he chose to break bread he chose to introduce and to inaugurate the new covenant he could have done anything could have said anything but he chose to be gracious now here the Lord could have said anything about himself he could have talked about his judgment and his justice and his and his holiness it in the other way but and it doesn't exclude these realities because these realities of theirs as we will see in this portion of Scripture but this is what he emphasized in this context but he says by no means quitting the best way to read that they were to the language basically says the Lord pardons but he does not acquit in other words God acknowledges our sin and forgives us rather than acquitting us based upon our own merit and our own goodness nobody is found not guilty in the presence of the Lord based upon his or her own merit there is nobody who is acquitted based upon proof that they are innocent but every person who is the recipient of God's grace and mercy is pardoned with the full acknowledgement that they have failed in the presence of God and it is the grace of God and the grace of God only that is their hope of redemption there is no other claim for any human person except the grace of God so God is passing by Moses and basically saying Moses it is all about the grace of God and Moses's were getting to see the full picture he's beginning to recognize yes I would be justified in being angry because God was angry at this situation but that was not all that there was to be said about God yes he was angry but he chose to override that anger with grace and with mercy that means any person who is trying to appease God by their own merits they will not be acquitted but they will impact their home their house back in those days three or four generations would live under one roof this is not talking about generational curses because the Bible says the soul that sins that soul will die he said never let it be said that the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge every soul is accountable for its self so it's not talking about generational curses it's saying that in those days four generations would live oftentimes in the same house so a person would get married well first they would come patrol and it would take about a year for them to get married and they would say to that person that they would be betrothed to I go to prepare a place for you that where I am you may be also at my father's house there are many rooms just like Jesus said to the church and they would go and they would attach a wing to their father's house and then after year they would bring their betrothed into the house the only way that they wouldn't do that is if they disagreed with the theology of the head of the house so God would call people out of their homes away from their father's house and so and so forth so the only way there would be this issue of third or fourth generation would be people agreed with the mindset of who was the head of the house and the head of the house chose not to serve the Lord and people chose to follow that then it would impact them of course for the making grace is available to everyone now for us those who have recognized their failure recognize their faults we have a double portion of grace there's common grace that's available to every person God causes us sunshine on everybody just unjust grain on everybody good and evil right then there's a special grace a double dose of grace if you will and that is so that we could say along with David my cup runneth over it's the kind of grace that saves right that doesn't just provide sunshine and rain but that saves our soul but it's also the kind of grace that overflows outward the kind of grace that can over come anger the kind of grace that can overcome frustration the kind of grace that and we poured out into the most difficult situations the kind of grace that knocks on God's door at midnight say I don't have what it takes to forgive in this area I've been hurt I've been betrayed I feel like I just can't do it the kind of grace that not saw in God's door and say there's somebody at my door who's asking me to express grace and it's very difficult for me and I'm asking you for the grace to be gracious but for us it goes even farther than that because we have to be gracious even to people who are not asking us to be gracious but people who seem to be asking us to be mean but I've made up my mind that in life as God says here and by the grace of God and by the Holy Spirit who lives in us to say I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will be compassionate to whom I will be compassionate in other words that's my choice I give a choose to be compassionate and nobody has the right to tell me that I can't love them I don't care who they are or what they think because mercy and grace and compassion and love is a part of my heritage and I get to love folks whether they want it or not whether they're asking for that you see because I'm not going to allow hatred to poison my own soul hallelujah I'm gonna choose to love because I can I'm gonna choose to be gracious because I can I'm gonna choose to be merciful I'm gonna choose to forgive because it's my birthright I'm a Christian I get to do that I get to reflect the full character of God and I guess I might be justified in being angry at this thing or that thing but mercy rejoices over judgment according to the holy scriptures and when I reveal myself to God I want to be able to be entirely open to say god I'm angry right now and I don't even want to forgive some time but the Word of God tells me that God the Holy Spirit is working in me both to will and to do God is giving me the grace to want to do the things I don't necessarily want to do and then to do those things that I don't necessarily have the power to do is it plenty of midnight that I've not thrown the door of the Lord like one of those kids who ring the bell and then whenever the president comes over the door you run away clearly it sounds I'm not going God's door and when he's over it enough to give me some grace I'm running down the street not not that not just yet Lord not just yet I gotta get this off my chest the last thing I want to do is be ringing God's doorbell and running before he can get to the door nope if I'm knocking on the door at midnight then I want to stand there and I know I can't stand there my own strip but God comes and he puts his hand over me just like he did Moses and he covers my frailties he covers my weakness he covers my anger he covers my bitterness he covers me and he speaks to me and he reminds me that he is glorious that he is wonderful that he is merciful that he is good and before you know what I have what I need to do what I need to do brothers and sisters there's none of us that's gonna get through this unscathed none of us that are gonna get through this without being hurt none of us whether it be in your family whether it be on your job whether it be in the house of the Lord whether it be in school wherever you are they are going to be times when you feel like you want to express that certain strange work that the Bible calls it of God and you know you would be justified in doing so there people who have hurt you people who have abused you people have done things some unspeakable things and you have every right to be angry but God has given you an even greater privilege mercy triumphs over judgment and God has given you the grace to be gracious and today I want to pray with you and together we're gonna knock on God's door we're not gonna run when he comes to answer we're gonna knock on God's door it's midnight brothers and sisters and there are people that have come to us in one way or the other and have asked us to be gracious now some people do it by literally asking for forgiveness others are like those problem children that you run into or constantly asking for attention but they seem to be asking for the opposite of what they really want where we can hear the cry in their heart no matter what they happen to be saying no matter what they happen to be doing there's something in them that's saying help me please something in the mess in I don't want to die like this I don't want to live like this and we have been given the grace to be gracious but we also realize and even in the house of the Lord there are offenses we're brothers and sisters but that doesn't mean we don't have our struggles with each other sometime and there might be somebody even let's just sitting here thinking it might be in your mind a face that you say I haven't been as gracious to this person as I could have been and my actions towards them were justified but I can go beyond those actions because there is a double portion of grace enough for me and enough for them I want to pray with you this morning together been a knock on God's door they say God give me the grace to be gracious but we have to be like Moses right we have to acknowledge that this is a dual revelation it's not enough for me to say God reveal yourself to me we have to say God I'm not I'm not gonna hide I'm not gonna knock on your door and hide I'm gonna reveal myself to you there maybe the more I see myself the more likely I am to be gracious to others let's stand together in the house of the Lord balcony main-floor those of you who are in the annex and with us in North Jersey are various campuses around the world home churches that worship with us we just want to pray together and believe God if God is speaking to your heart come to the front of this auditorium and extend between the screens or wherever the ushers will lead you same with North Jersey if you're at home if you can stand just stand in the presence of the Lord if not about your hearts in this presence the Lord is with you this morning brothers and sisters this is a time to open your heart to God to reveal yourself before the Lord there's none of us that's immune to the difficulties of life to the pains of life none of us that's immune to the lies of the enemy none of us that's immune frustration to anger none of us that haven't felt betrayed let down but we are repositories of God's grace he's invested in us mercy he's invested grace in us he wasn't just being gracious to us he was investing grace in us trusting us with His mercy so that we not only receive it but we pour it out this is a time to be free this is the time to say I choose to be compassionate I choose to be gracious brothers and sisters listen to me you will never be free until you recognize that you are a repository of God's grace didn't give you grace just to lavish it upon yourself he gave you grace so that you can receive the fullness of it and then you can pour it out every single one of us God has invested grace in you right he hasn't just been gracious to you he's invested his name in you he's invested His grace in you he's invested his character in you it is not enough for us to show one aspect of his character and say that's it I'm justified in that it's righteous anger righteous indignation no God is gracious and merciful you and I have to show him in his full context in the full beauty of who he is brothers and sisters this is the time to be free this is the time to get rid of the bundle that's in your bosom that thing that just seems like a knot let it go let it go bow to me you need to come on down here I know it's a bit of a trip but we will wait for you if God is speaking to you this is the day to be free this is your time this is your time don't let another moment go by are you holding on to betrayal you're holding on to frustration holding on to anger don't let another moment you can begin to express that grace as you begin to intercede and pray for the people who have hurt you pray for the people that you could be angry the Bible says bless those who curse you pray for those who despitefully use we can't do that on our home but God camera God can father we simply come to you acknowledging that we don't have what it takes to do what we been called to do we know that we don't need to we have you and that's all that we need so we are coming to you and asking you to cause the grace that you have given us to flow freely Lord we need to be filled again with the Holy Spirit we need to be able to sing along with David that our cups run over Holy Spirit we need you to help us to be grace in this generation you have been gracious to us and you want to be gracious through us but we know that difficult realities are not to be swept under the rug we know that there are things for which we should be legitimately angry for which we should be legitimately hurt but we know that there is more to our situation then our pain than our anguish that I anger we know that there is the grace of God there is the mercy and the compassion of God we know that there is the comfort of God that there is a love of God we know that your hand covers us as we are open and honest with you we know that we can come to you at any time whether it be midnight or whether it be midday and knock on your door and say god help me because I can't do this on my own help me because sometimes I don't even want to but God it's you working in me both to will and to do God give me strength help me to help somebody help me to make a difference in some life help me to forgive those who are asking forgiveness and those who seem to persist in their folly help me to be me no matter what the enemy tries to do help me to be what you have made me to be no matter how the enemy tries to bend me and twist me help me to serve God in a way that blesses God and help me to choose to be compassionate and to be merciful and to be kind no matter how the enemy would try to mold me after his image and according to his likeness Lord you have made us after your image according to your likeness you have predetermined that we should be conformed to the image of your son so we choose to bring wrath to the cross with judgment and mercy meet and we choose to trust you Lord to be a healer to us and to those who have hurt us to be graced to us and to those who have hurt us to be merciful to us and to those who have hurt us help us O God to be salt and light in this bland and dark generation we will thank you for it oh Jesus and we will bless you for it in Jesus Holy Name we pray amen amen praise God praise God god bless you

Channel: Times Square Church

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Keywords: William Carrol, Sermon, Times Square Church

Id: CkLr6hreS2M

Length: 48min 7sec (2887 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 16 2019