The Alternative

Dr. Tony Evans: The greater you appreciate what Jesus has done at salvation, what Jesus is doing with you now, the more grace is multiplied.

Guest (Male): Dr. Tony Evans says grace flourishes as your relationship with Christ deepens.

Dr. Tony Evans: You're experiencing more of God because you are operating in this atmosphere of grace.

Guest (Male): This is The Alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.

It's possible to know the Bible but still miss the one the Bible points to. Today, Dr. Evans explains the difference between simply studying scripture and truly experiencing the living Christ through it. Let's join him at the end of 2nd Peter chapter 3 as he talks about how to bring your faith alive.

Dr. Tony Evans: Peter comes to the end of his book and this chapter. He says, "Therefore, beloved," affectionately. "Since you look for these things, be diligent to be found in Him in peace, spotless and blameless." I want you to look for these things. I want you to be aware of what's happening around you related to what I'm talking about—the coming of the Lord.

And make whatever adjustments in life, in priorities, in repentance that needs to be made, because He's coming. Paul speaks to this issue, and he calls it salvation. The word for salvation means to be rescued or delivered. But he's talking to Christians. He says, "Therefore, my beloved." So he's not telling them to get saved again. He's talking about another kind of salvation.

And that is the salvation of prophecy or the deliverance that he says Paul talked about. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, Paul is speaking, verse 10, "and to wait for His son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come." So here, Paul says that we're waiting for Jesus to be rescued from the wrath. Not through the wrath, not after the wrath, but from the wrath. And guess what? The Day of the Lord is the day of judgment, we're told. It's the day of God's wrath. We're waiting to be delivered from the wrath.

After talking about the Rapture in chapter 4, verses 13 to 18, he comes to chapter 5, and he wants them to be informed. Verse 3, "While they are saying 'Peace and safety,' then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child. But you, brethren, are not in darkness that the day would overtake you like a thief."

So what's happening to them is not happening to you. He says, verse 9, "For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." The goal is that, verse 10, we will live together with Him. So, He wants you personally and ministerially to cause people to value the return.

How many of you paid for your kids' college? Okay, a bunch of you. You paid in one way or another. What that means is you expected them to study. You didn't pay for parties. You didn't pay for drugs. You paid for them to study. If they were partying all the time, getting failing grades all the time, they were not appreciating the price that you paid.

They were not valuing the sacrifice you were making to get them their college degree. What he is saying is, "I want you to value the return of Christ so much that it affects you, and that it changes you, and that it re-prioritizes you because you value it that highly." You embrace it.

And when you do that, you're giving the return of Christ its freedom to impact you, your life, your thoughts, and your priorities. He says in verse 17, "You, therefore, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness."

I don't want you to regress. Why would he tell Christians this? Because they're his beloved. Because Christians can regress. Christians can go backwards. Christians can lose their impact. I pray that you don't regress because you've lost sight of the return and you've lost sight of the truth of scripture.

And that leads him to a famous verse. Instead of falling back, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. He says, "I want you to grow." I want you to progress in the faith. You've got to look to the coming, you've got to be tethered to scripture, and you've got to decide to grow.

Spiritual growth is guaranteed, but spiritual growth is not automatic. You don't automatically grow. You have to decide to grow. Until that decision is made, not only won't you stay where you are, you will regress because static equals regression unless there is the decision to grow or to develop in your Christian experience.

So, his call is to grow. But the question now is, how do we grow? He says, "I want you to grow with respect to two things: grace and knowledge." These are the two towers that facilitate spiritual growth. Now, how does one know when one is growing? The way you know that someone is growing is that they're changing.

The proof of growth is change. If there is no change, there is no growth. The change happens in decision-making, priorities, not doing this, start doing that. You are changing. To facilitate the growth or the changes we want to happen in our lives, in our ministry, there must be an understanding of grace as it relates to the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Grace and knowledge. So we have to talk about those two. Grace is the great theological word of the New Testament. If I were to give you a formal definition of grace, I would say it is the inexhaustible supply of God's goodness where He does for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

The short version of that is unmerited favor. It is what God does for us independent of us. Grace can't be earned. Grace can't be worked for, but it can be expanded. In 1 Peter chapter 1, he says, verse 2, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord."

He says grace can be multiplied. Not just added. Grace expands. Grace—you can get a deeper experience with, and that is the supply of God's goodness that has no exhaustion to it. Coupled with what Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 8, that God is able to supply abundant grace so that you have grace left over.

Grace is a doctrine, but it is also an environment. It is the sphere of where the Christian operates in order to grow. That's why it's connected to prophecy. Because if you are in the environment of looking for the return, you're in the environment of grace. And because you're in that environment, it facilitates it.

When you go to—in one of our buildings, we have a weight room. Once you walk in that weight room, you're in an environment of physical development. The environment is already established. You don't bring in any weights, you don't bring in any equipment because the church has already put it in there and created a workout environment for you to develop.

Now, you've got to work in the environment, but you don't work for the environment because the environment for your physical development was supplied by the church. But you're expected to work out in the environment of grace that has been provided. So, grace provides the environment for the work to produce the spiritual muscle for spiritual development.

But if you are not operating in the environment, you don't have the stuff to work with. So, he is saying, "I want you to grow in your understanding of grace." The greater you appreciate what Jesus has done at salvation, what Jesus is doing with you now, and what Jesus will do in His return, the more grace is multiplied.

The more the environment has an effect on you. The more the atmosphere of grace is—you're experiencing more of God because you are operating in this atmosphere of grace. So, grace is an atmosphere. But this atmosphere of grace is tied to knowledge because grace is an atmosphere connected with a person.

The knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, the way you engage the grace of God is what you're learning about Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ and knowing Him, growing in Him, developing in Him makes the environment work.

Guest (Male): When Dr. Evans continues in a moment, he'll explain why simply being around spiritual truth isn't the same as learning how to live in it. Don't go away.

Get ready to set sail for spiritual renewal. Join Dr. Tony Evans on a relaxing seven-day Caribbean cruise departing February 28th. You'll experience powerful teaching, meaningful worship, and the beauty of unforgettable destinations. From the turquoise waters of the Bahamas to the shores of the Dominican Republic, each stop and every day at sea offers time to relax, reflect, and be renewed. Don't miss this unforgettable journey. Find out how to book your passage today at tonyevans.org.

Today's lesson is the final installment in a special series recorded live at this year's Kingdom Leaders Summit. It's called The Sure Word: Living in Light of Prophecy. In these messages, Dr. Evans has been explaining why understanding eternity changes the way we hold on to the things of this world.

So many of us live as though everything around us is permanent. But scripture reminds us that this life is temporary and that our real hope is found in God's eternal kingdom. These lessons help us recognize that eternal perspective so we can discover the peace and confidence that come from trusting God's promises about the future.

If you missed any of the presentations of these messages over the last week, you can receive the full-length copies on CD, USB flash drive, or digital download. We'd be happy to send them to you with our thanks in return for your donation to help support the ministry of Dr. Evans and The Alternative.

And as an extra way of saying thank you, we'll also include an insightful book that goes hand-in-hand with this series. It's called Thy Kingdom Come: Exploring End-Times Prophecies. This is the final day we'll be offering these two resources together, so visit tonyevans.org to request your copy today.

Or call 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our friendly team members help get this package coming your way. Again, that's tonyevans.org or by phone at 1-800-800-3222. I'll repeat that contact information for you after the second part of today's message. Here's Tony.

Dr. Tony Evans: Many people, when they go to work out, have a trainer. They're in the environment with somebody who knows how to work it. Because you may not know how to work the environment, you just know you are in the environment. Now, what a lot of people do is visit the environment. I'm sure there are a few people here who have gym memberships and you don't go.

You're a member, but you hardly go. You go every now and then. Well, you got church members like that. They're on the roll, but they're not engaged in the environment. But when there's a trainer in the environment, and the trainer knows the equipment of the environment, the trainer partners with you in maximizing what the environment was designed to give you.

They empower your use of the environment of grace in order to produce growth in muscle. So, grace is an environment, but there is a trainer in the room. The word of God gives us the website and Jesus is the pass code. The more you tie the word to Jesus Christ, the more the grace of Christ is experienced in this environment.

And so, when you connect what the word of God says with the person of Christ, then the equipment that grace has provided will bring the development in the life. So, he says, "I want you to grow in grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ." There's an event that took place when Jesus rose from the dead in Luke 24.

Two disciples are on the Emmaus Road. They had been given a prophetic word by Jesus. "I'm going to rise again." Jesus had prophesied that prior to his death. These two disciples didn't get it yet. So, they are despondent, depressed, discouraged, on their way home.

Out of nowhere, the risen Christ comes camouflaged. They don't recognize Him. So, the risen Christ comes camouflaged and says, "Why are y'all so sad?" They say, "Where have you been, stranger? Don't you know the events that have happened over the last few days?

The one who we thought was going to be our deliverer was killed and crucified. Where have you been?" And they're talking to Jesus, but don't know it. Jesus said, "O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that came from Moses and the prophets."

He then opened the Bible and taught them the word of God about Himself from Moses and the prophets because we don't have a New Testament yet. So, the Old Testament is used by Jesus to teach them about Himself. We're told in the story that Jesus acted like He would continue going when they reached their home.

So, they're saying goodbye to one another, and Jesus keeps going. They say, "Hold it. We're not finished. We need you to come in the house and hang with us for a while." So, Jesus goes inside the house. And then you read this statement: "During the breaking of the bread," it says, "their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him."

The breaking of the bread, their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him. When this story started, they're depressed. When this story started, they're confused. Somebody comes up—they don't know it's Jesus—and has a Bible study, because He's showing them Moses and the prophets and what they said about Jesus. So, they get a Bible study.

When they get to the house, they invite Him in. They invite the person in, but they don't recognize Him. All they know is, "This is my Bible teacher. This is my pastor. This is my spiritual guide." That's all they know, but they loved what they were hearing from the word.

In fact, they said, "Did not our hearts burn as we were taught the word of God along the way?" So, they were set on fire by the Bible teaching. But they still hadn't recognized Him until the breaking of the bread. When He broke the bread with His hands, of course, the nail prints in His hands would show up.

So, they saw the risen Christ, and then it says, "Their eyes were opened." Okay, wait a minute. They heard and enjoyed the scripture without their eyes being opened. Their eyes were not opened during the Bible study. The Bible study excited them. "Did not our hearts burn?"

But they were excited with closed eyes because they hadn't recognized Him yet. But when Jesus became recognizable—and how did He come recognizable? He became recognizable when they invited Him into their home for fellowship. "If any man opens the door, I will come in and have fellowship with him."

You need the Bible, and they may get excited, but you want them to have fellowship with the person. Because they may be on fire with the Bible study, but their eyes are still closed. But if they develop fellowship based on the Bible study, now their eyes are open.

And guess what they did? When their eyes were open, Jesus disappeared out of their sight. He disappeared out of their sight. Those boys got up after walking seven miles, ran back to the disciples, and said, "Guess what happened to us?" You mean to tell me they didn't have to be begged or cajoled or arms twisted or guilt-ridden?

No. The personal encounter took a burning from the written word, transferred it to the living word, so you didn't have to tell them to be a witness. They couldn't help but be a witness because they made the connection. And so, you and I are to take the written word and let their hearts burn with its truth.

But knowing if you let Jesus keep on walking, you'll be excited with the Bible study, but your eyes will stay closed. But if you take the truth of the word of God and allow that to engage the presence of the Lord in your life, in your ministry, then your eyes get open and you see things you didn't see before because Jesus is sitting right there to let you see it.

And then he gives the closing line: "To Him be glory. To Him be glory." Glory means to highlight. Glory means to put on display. When we talk about the glory of God in the Old Testament, we're talking about God on display—in the fire, in the cloud.

In other words, He's not just there; you see Him. And there's one thing is knowing He's there; it's a whole different ballgame seeing Him show up. That's Shekinah glory when He shows up. He says that I want you to give Him the glory. As you're growing, you're going to give Him more glory.

Guest (Male): Dr. Tony Evans on how our growing understanding and expectation of Christ's return opens our eyes, changes our priorities, and deepens our walk with Him. Well, today's the final day to take advantage of that resource offer I mentioned earlier.

It's a collection specifically designed to give you a better understanding of prophecy and how God's plan for the future can help you live a more fulfilled and purposeful life today. The package includes the full-length versions of the messages we've been presenting from the Living in Light of Prophecy series, and it also includes Tony's helpful book on biblical prophecy called Thy Kingdom Come.

Through today only, we are offering these items with our thanks when you make a donation to help support the ministry of The Alternative. Get the details right now at tonyevans.org or call our 24-hour resource center at 1-800-800-3222 where a friendly team member is ready to help you. Again, that's 1-800-800-3222.

And one final note, Dr. Evans engages in insightful conversations with special guests on his Unbound podcast. You can listen to these discussions on a variety of topics anytime of the day or night. Find them on his YouTube channel or on your favorite podcast player.

Most people picture angels the way movies and television portray them. But the Bible paints a very different picture. Tomorrow, we'll begin an intriguing series where Dr. Evans explores who these heavenly beings really are and the powerful role they play in God's activity around us. Be sure to join us.