Transcript

Woody Hayes coached the Ohio State football team for 28 years and took General George Patton as his model of leadership. His hard-nosed discipline gained him a reputation for being fiery. He was very difficult to please, had little tolerance for failure, and sometimes crossed the line when disciplining a player.

Over his career, Hayes amassed an incredible win-loss record, but he also created a long list of offenses against players, parents, fans, and sports reporters.

During the 1978 Gator Bowl, an opposing player intercepted an Ohio State pass late in a close game and wound up on the Buckeyes’ sideline.

The interception so infuriated Woody Hayes that he slugged the boy, nearly knocking off his helmet—all on national television. Appropriately, Ohio State fired him the next day.

In the weeks that followed, the nation raged, reporters mercilessly piled on, and anyone with a grudge vented on the humiliated coach. He retreated in silence and shame behind drawn drapes and locked doors.

During that time, Coach Tom Landry of the Dallas Cowboys, a devout Christian, was asked to attend a prestigious banquet in New York, and was told that he was free to invite a guest to join him. Normally, he would have taken his wife, Alicia. But instead, he invited and appeared with Woody Hayes.

Landry’s poignant act of grace lifted Hayes out of his shame and silenced his tormenters. Grace has a way of doing that.

Coach Landry later said, “I figured that since everybody else was beating up on him, he needed somebody to put an arm around him and tell him he still cared for him.”

When he was bent low, feeling ashamed, deserving nothing, Landry bent down, lifted him up, and embraced him.

Time present is all about grace, grace toward the undeserving. God’s grace is being revealed today in a way it never has in time past.

Ephesians 2:13 and 19 read, “BUT NOW in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ…NOW therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God.”

After giving a bleak outlook for the Gentiles in time past in verses 11 and 12, Paul reversed the picture and began to paint a fresh and glowing contrast.

Gentiles were in a desperate place, being aliens, strangers, having no hope, and being without God. They did not have the opportunity and access to God that Israel enjoyed.

In time past, the Gentiles were far from God. Being far from God included both separation from His people and His covenants with her, and spiritual distance and alienation from God Himself.

“But now,” in time present, we, Gentiles, “who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”

“But now” introduces a dispensational change. God’s dealings with man have changed. It was to the Apostle Paul that this change was first revealed. “But now” expresses the way it is now for Gentiles in time present under grace.

The Gentiles had many disadvantages in time past, BUT NOW we have many blessings and advantages in Christ.

IN TIME PAST, being “Gentiles in the flesh” was a problem because God “gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts” (Rom. 1:24). God’s program was with Israel. The Gentiles were on the outside looking in, cut off from the people of God.

BUT NOW we have our own program, with its own apostle, and a message and a gospel that was revealed to him for us. The Apostle Paul said, “For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles.”

After Israel fell in her unbelief, God turned to the nations and “opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27). And through this program in time present, salvation has come unto the Gentiles, Romans 11:11 says. All this was unthinkable in time past.

IN TIME PAST, we were without Christ, BUT NOW we have Christ. When we trust the gospel of grace, we, Gentiles, are “in Christ,” being baptized by the Holy Spirit into Him. We are joined to Christ and His life, and we are righteous and blessed in Him.

Colossians 1:27 also reminds us of the great privilege for the Gentiles today, “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is CHRIST IN YOU [Gentiles], the hope of glory.” We are in Christ AND Christ is in us! We are no longer without Christ, now we are made nigh “by the blood of Christ.”

IN TIME PAST, we were “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.” “Commonwealth” refers to citizenship. Being a part of the commonwealth of Israel and being citizens of the people of God, gave one many blessings and privileges.

Romans 9:4 describes them as “the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises.”

BUT NOW, in time present, we Gentiles have our own citizenship. Philippians 3:20 states, “For our conversation [or citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

In time present, Gentiles who are members of the Church, the Body of Christ, have their own unique citizenship, a citizenship in heaven.

Paul tells us in verse 19, that “Now,” in time present, “ye,” ye Gentiles that is, “are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowCITIZENS with the saints, and of the household [or family] of God.”

We Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners far off, on the outside looking in, but now, by the grace of God, we are joined to and fully a member of the family of God. We have family membership, and we have heavenly citizenship.

We are fellowcitizens with all the saints under grace, having all the rights and privileges that come with that citizenship in Christ.

And Paul reminded us earlier in this letter of the great blessings and privileges that believing Gentiles enjoy today, that we are “blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3).

In TIME PAST, Gentiles were “strangers from the covenants of promise.” BUT NOW, in time present, we Gentiles have promises in Christ. We do not receive our promises through being joined to Israel’s covenants of promise, but by the grace of God.

Ephesians 3:6 says of one of our promises, that we are “partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel.” We receive this promise in Christ, not by the covenants of promise, but “by the gospel.” What is this particular promise we receive by the gospel?

Ephesians 1:13 says, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the GOSPEL of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of PROMISE.”

Gentiles receive the Holy Spirit of promise, by the grace of God. When we trust the gospel of our salvation, the Spirit takes up residence in us and He seals us in Christ.

Ephesians 2:22 further tells us how, in the Church under grace, we believing Gentiles with believing Jews, “are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

Individually and collectively, we are a “habitation,” or a permanent dwelling place of God, through the Holy Spirit.

IN TIME PAST, Gentiles had no hope, and no basis for hope, because we were without Christ and not part of God’s people, Israel, and His promises to her. BUT NOW, we do have hope by God’s grace.

We have great hope in Christ. Believing Gentiles now have “one hope of your calling,” Ephesians 4:4 says, and our calling is “the hope which is laid up for you in heaven.”

In time present, we have the sure hope that we have an eternal inheritance in heavenly places in Christ.

Not only that, Gentiles have the hope of eternal life and the blessed hope, to be looking for the “glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ” to catch us away to heaven before the Tribulation begins.

IN TIME PAST, Gentiles were “without God in the world.” BUT NOW, believing Gentiles are no longer separated or far off from God. Rather, “through Him [or Christ] we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”

Gentiles in the Church today, have “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Eph. 4:6).

All of this is by the grace of God. We deserve none of it. This was due to a change in God’s dealings with mankind after Israel’s fall and was made known in the revelation of the mystery that had been kept secret since the world began.

In this revelation that Christ first made known to Paul, we find that by the blood of Christ and grace alone, we have a program, an apostle, a message, we have Christ, citizenship, promises, hope, and we have access and a relationship with God.

Ephesians 3:1-2 reads, “For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward.”

God has always been gracious and is the God of all grace.

Psalm 86:15 reads, “But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and GRACIOUS, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.” Nehemiah 9:17 says, “but Thou art a God ready to pardon, GRACIOUS and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness…”

God’s attribute of grace and being gracious never changes. He is the God of all grace, yesterday, today, and forever. It is Who He is in His character and nature.

And so it should not surprise us, that prior to this present dispensation of grace and after it, to find the grace of God. God’s grace can be seen in every age.

God was gracious to Adam and Eve when He provided them with coats of skins (Gen. 3:21). And Genesis 6:8 tells us that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. In time past, we can see the grace of God in His dealings with undeserving Israel.

In time future, John begins and closes the book of Revelation with a mention of grace, because the fact that God gives saints in that day that book to navigate the day of the Lord demonstrates His grace.

Even though there was grace in other dispensations, there is only one called “the dispensation of the grace of God.”

You can see the word “dispense” in dispensation, and to dispense means to hand out, to pass out, or to distribute. In the word, “dispensation,” in Scripture, we are referring to something that God has dispensed. In the Bible, a dispensation represents God’s will that He dispensed as a manner of life for people in a certain period.

And God has dispensed grace for today. His way of dealing with mankind and the Church today is chiefly and primarily by His grace. The present dispensation of grace is a dispensation whose rule of life is based upon and which functions by God’s grace.

God’s grace dominates this age. God’s grace flows and it overflows today. God’s grace abounds and it superabounds today. Everything about this dispensation is characterized by grace, from our salvation, to our spiritual blessings, to our walk, to our future hope.

All of it is by grace. And grace is that which God does for mankind through His Son, which mankind cannot earn, does not deserve, and will never merit.

Time present and this current dispensation is about BOTH vertical and horizontal grace.

Vertical grace is about the unmerited favor we receive from God through His Son that we cannot earn and do not deserve. Horizontal grace is about living out His grace before others in this world.

Every one of Paul’s epistles begins with both God the Father and God the Son declaring grace and peace. In time present, we are living in a day in which God is showing His grace and peace in a vivid way that was not done before.

This grace and peace is based on a dispensation and a program with the nations, which was never revealed or made known by God in the past.

In Ephesians 3:2, Paul said that this dispensation of grace was given to him to “you-ward,” or given to him, the apostle of the Gentiles, to be given and imparted to you Gentiles, the people of the nations, because this is a dispensation that concerns God’s dealings with the nations and individuals all over the world.

This dispensation is about an unmerited grace and peace that God is showing and offering to all people today in His kindness and longsuffering. In Titus 2:11, Paul wrote, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.”

Grace is being revealed today from God in providing salvation as a free gift through His Son to sinners the world over.

God desires that the nations and the people of the world respond to this opportunity and be saved and receive His gift of eternal life.

The Apostle Paul is the example and pattern of the grace that God is showing to all mankind. This dispensation began with God saving the chief of sinners by grace.

Paul was the enemy of Christ and a great sinner. He severely persecuted the kingdom church and those who believed in Christ that He had risen from the dead. Paul, with great zeal, had them arrested, thrown in prison, beaten, and put to death.

Though Paul didn’t deserve it, Christ appeared to him on the Damascus Road and God saved him and demonstrated through his salvation the abounding grace that God is revealing to all throughout this entire dispensation.

In 2 Corinthians 6:2, Paul calls this age, “the day of salvation.” Time present is about the salvation of souls. Salvation could not be any simpler than it is today.

The gospel of the grace of God, the gospel for this age, is a message of grace through faith alone. This means that salvation is a free gift that you receive by just trusting it.

As Ephesians 2:8 tells us, “For by grace,” or as a gift, given by God, through His Son and His provision, showing His unmerited favor and kindness toward those who merit and deserve only judgment and wrath.

“Are ye saved,” saved from all of our sins and the consequences of our sins of eternal death in the lake of fire. “Through faith,” trusting that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again, trusting in Christ’s finished work of salvation.

“And that not of yourselves,” salvation does not have its source in man, it is not because we earn, deserve, or merit it. Rather, “it is the gift of God,” salvation is a free gift.

And Ephesians 2:9 adds, “Not of works.” Thus, there is no need for water baptism, confession of sins, good works, or keeping the commandments. We receive God’s gift of eternal life through faith ALONE.

As Romans 4:5 puts it, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”

A dog once saw a “Now hiring” poster outside of a computer store. The poster read: “Must be able to type. Must be able to program. And must be bilingual. We are an equal opportunity employer.”

The dog took the poster in his mouth, and walked in. The manager spotted the dog and decided to humor it. He pulled up a chair and had him sit in front of a computer.

“Alright, if you want to work here, you need to first write a letter,” and he left the room. Thirty minutes later, he came back in, and the dog had typed out a completely error-free letter. “Well, I’ll be. This is a smart dog. But can he program?” he asked.

He left the room, twenty minutes passed, and when he returned the dog had made a perfectly running website for the store.

He was shocked. He looked at the dog, and said, “Look, I know you have the qualifications, but, well…you’re a dog.” The dog nudged the words, “We are an equal opportunity employer,” on the poster.

The manager sighed, and said, “The problem is that there’s no way you’re bilingual.” The dog looked him in the eyes, and said, “Meow.”

The age of Grace is an equal opportunity age. In time present, we find through the salvation of Saul and God putting him into the ministry, that anyone can be saved, and anyone can be used by the Lord, all by God’s grace.

And the only requirement is faith alone in the finished work of the Cross. As Romans 10:13 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” God will save absolutely anyone who responds to the gospel of grace today.

God save anyone who trusts the gospel, and by His grace, He will use anyone too.

Again, the Apostle Paul is the example and pattern of the grace that God is showing to all mankind. Paul had an awful past, and he was not only amazed at God’s grace in saving him, but also in using his life for Him and putting him in the ministry.

1 Timothy 1:12-14 reads, “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;

“Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.”

The dispensation of grace is about God’s will and way of dealing with us, but it’s also about our response and obedience and how we live before Him.

In time present, God declares and is offering grace and peace to the world AND to believers. The 13 letters of Paul were written to believers. So when he wrote, “Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ,” it was “Grace be unto you,” believers, members of the Church, the Body of Christ, “and peace.”

As believers, we have responded to God’s grace, trusted the gospel, and been saved. But God desires that we continue to respond to and live by His grace and peace.

The grace of God reaches for the heart. It changes us from the inside out.

When you realize the great grace we have been shown, in God saving us from all our sins by this incredible, undeserved provision of His Son’s sacrifice, and then blessing us in Christ so much more than we ever deserve, that grace motivates us to be a willing instrument, to go wherever He wants us to go and to do whatever He wants us to do.

Our response to God’s grace is about offering ourselves to Him as a living sacrifice out of gratitude. In time present, Paul calls us to “be followers together of me.” And like Paul, God’s grace can change us and cause us to labor more abundantly than they all, being one who zealously and willingly seeks His will and lives for His glory.

In time present, we are to be showing horizontal grace. Vertical grace is about the unmerited favor we receive from God through His Son and about our response to it as we live before Him. Horizontal grace is about taking that grace and showing it to others.

We show that horizontal grace by carrying out the commission for this age. In time present, God is saving individuals out of all nations today who trust His gospel of grace and making them members of the one true Church, the Body of Christ.

And as His ambassadors, it is God’s will that His gospel of grace and message of reconciliation be taken to the whole world. God’s program for the nations is about the grace and salvation that is available to everyone, because God desires all to be saved.

Grace is the rule of life for the Church. So we do this also by grace. As the Church, as we join our wills and hearts to Christ’s, we depend on God’s grace to strengthen us for the task to be faithful as a witness, a light, and a testimony to the truth of the gospel.

God not only desires all to be saved, but also to come to the knowledge of the truth. Thus, in grace, we should also carry out Ephesians 3:9, “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God.”

The mystery is the body of grace truth that Christ revealed to Paul for the church in this current dispensation. The Lord doesn’t want anyone in the dark to what God is doing in time present, but to make all men see it, by showing, sharing, and teaching it to others.

Horizontal grace takes place in our lives as we allow God’s grace to teach and train us.

We mentioned Titus 2:11 earlier, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” But the following verse goes on to say about that grace, “Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.”

In time present, it is God’s grace that teaches us negatively to deny ungodly and worldly passions, and positively to live inwardly sober, outwardly righteous, and upwardly godly. This makes us, the Church, a testimony to the grace that God is revealing in time present.

Ephesians 5:1 challenges the Church to “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.” As we follow God in this dispensation of grace, a characteristic we are to imitate is His grace.

We do this by showing kindness, forgiveness, and care to others in our relationships and in our dealings and interactions with people, even to those who may not deserve it.

Time present, this day of God’s grace, will not last forever. The way this age ends is in keeping with the whole dispensation, it ends with grace.

In Colossians 3:4, Paul wrote that “When Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.”

One day, Christ will descend from heaven and appear in the clouds to raise the bodies of those who have died in the Church and to call the living members of Christ’s Body up to be with Him in glory.

The time of greatest grace that this world has ever known will be followed by the time of its greatest judgment during the Tribulation. In grace, Christ will catch the church off this world before the prophesied Tribulation takes place at the Rapture.

Paul wrote that “God hath not appointed us [the Body of Christ] to wrath [the great day of His wrath of the entire Tribulation], but to obtain salvation [deliverance from it] by our Lord Jesus Christ [at the Rapture].”

Time present began with salvation, the salvation of Saul on the road to Damascus, and it ends with “salvation,” deliverance of the Body of Christ from the Tribulation.

We do not know how much longer “time present” and this current dispensation will last. Every day is a possible day.