The Alternative

Dr. Tony Evans: Grace means all that God has put on deposit for you has already been deposited. He can give you thoughts that you didn't think of to provide income you didn't have to produce things you didn't know.

Guest (Male): Dr. Tony Evans talks about how the Lord empowers us to invest those resources. This is The Alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.

When many people think of generosity, they think of it in terms of giving money away. But today, Dr. Evans will explain why it's really more of an investment than a handout. We'll discover the difference as we join him in 2nd Corinthians, chapter nine.

Dr. Tony Evans: Now, our series on grace starts with a definition. Grace is unmerited favor. You can't earn it, it's always free. You can't deserve it, you can't repay it. It is the free gift of God. So you can't earn grace, but you can respond to grace. Which means the bigger view you have of grace, the easier it is to respond in giving. But the smaller view you have of grace, the more you have to be manipulated to give, because you have to be pulled and pushed by law or threats or earning God's favor.

Remember Ephesians chapter one, verse three. It says you have already been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. Translation: everything God has ever planned to do for you, He's already done. Grace means that all that God has put on deposit for you has already been deposited. So now the issue is not getting grace, it's accessing grace. Grace can be accessed, but it can't be earned.

But because we have gotten so little teaching on grace, or misinformation about grace, we do not respond as we should respond to the magnificent grace of God. Now here is the principle. You've heard me say it a million times, I'm going to try it one more time for those who have not yet got it. You only have one source. Everything else is a resource, a means through which God does things, but it is not the source.

Once you make the resource the source, you've created an idol. If your job is your source, your job has become your idol. If your bank is your source, your bank has become your idol. God is your source; that's just a resource vehicle. It is in this context that the greatest verse on grace in the Bible exists, verse eight: "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good work."

He says there is no situation for which there is not sufficient grace. And you know it's sufficient grace because it always has leftovers, because His last phrase was "an abundance." Abundance means leftovers. It's like when the boy brought to Jesus two fish and five barley loaves, and He gave it up and fed five thousand people. There were twelve baskets full of leftovers. Grace always comes with an abundance. He says God has all grace, always, for all things, with leftovers. That's how much grace is there.

When you talk about grace, you're talking about something staggeringly big. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 8:18, it is God who gives you the ability to even create wealth. Your ability to get up and go to work tomorrow is tied to grace. If you don't believe that, get sick enough so you can't go, and then you will know that the grace of God is your provider of strength. The Bible says in Isaiah chapter 48, verses 17 and 18, God even gives you ideas to make a profit. He can give you thoughts that you didn't think of to provide income you didn't have to produce things you didn't know. Why? Because from God, He is our source.

If I could just get you to believe that, it would transform your life, because then you'll stop looking to the idol to be your source. When you've walked with God long enough to see grace, then you don't need trickery. You don't need water from the Jordan River. You don't need a blessed prayer cloth. You don't need to be manipulated. You don't need what he calls in this passage to be placed under compulsion, that is, pressurized to give.

Anybody who's pressured to give doesn't understand grace. Grace is the overflow of gratitude. That's why verse 15 says, "I thank God for His indescribable gift." What's the gift? It's grace. We know that because in verse 14 he says, "by prayer on your behalf for you because of the surpassing grace God has given." So grace is so powerful and so sufficient that when you know, when you know everything I'm ever supposed to get from God has already been placed on deposit, I'm only concerned about one thing: accessing it. Not earning it; it's already been placed on deposit.

You don't have to earn God's favor. He has already favored you. If you've accepted Jesus Christ, Romans 8:32, he says, "will He not with Christ give you all things?" Give, grace. With Christ, all that you're supposed to get from the time of your salvation to the time of your death is on deposit. You don't have to earn; you have to access, but not earn.

So now that you understand or we have rehearsed that you only have one source, please read First Chronicles chapter 29, verses 10 to 21. David lays out this brilliant prayer, and he says, "God, because You own it all, God, because anything we have has come from You, because of Your goodness, because of all You have done, we can't help but give back to You." That was a grace prayer. "I'm only responding," David says, "to the goodness of God in my life."

Anybody who knows about the goodness of God is going to give as a cheerful giver, not as a reluctant giver. They're going to be glad to do it and joyful to do it, because they know God loves a cheerful giver, and all I have comes from God. So some of my time, some of my talent, and some of my treasure I'm going to give to God because I know what I have came from Him. And when you understand grace, you not only become a grace flow to, you become a grace flow through.

Now, let me tell you a secret that he talks about in this passage. You're going to have to do a mental shift right now to get this secret. We live in a technological age. Before the technological age, there was an industrial age. These are the factory workers, these are the people who were working with machines and all of that that got us to the age we're in now. So I want you to skip for a few moments the industrial age. I want you to pretend there are no factories, there are no machines, and go with me back to the country. To understand what I'm getting ready to explain to you from this passage from the Apostle Paul, he needs you to go back to the country to understand this.

The country principle starts off with verse six, sowing and reaping. That's called country: sowing and reaping, planting and harvesting, because that's what you do in the country. He brings up another word, "he that scatters" in verse nine. What are you scattering? Verse 10: "He who supplied seeds to the sower." So we've got sowing, reaping, and seeds. All that's country. When you go to the country and Farmer Dell has a seed, grace is embedded in the seed. A watermelon this big from this seed? Who would have thought it? Because God in His grace embedded in the seed something bigger than the seed. It's already embedded in God's creation.

Who would have thought that out of an acorn, we got this huge oak tree? Who would have thought that in the seed of the acorn is the life of an oak? Because God has built in to His creation something bigger than you start with. Grace is that way. You may hear the concept until you see the expansion.

Guest (Male): But it's possible to have the world's best seed and still wind up without a crop. Dr. Evans will talk about why that can happen when he continues our message in a moment. First, though, today's lesson is part of Tony's powerful two-volume series called The Magnificent Grace of God.

In these twelve lessons, Tony explains what grace really is. Not just a theological word, but the very foundation of our relationship with God. You'll discover how grace not only saves you, but strengthens you, restores you, and reshapes the way you live every single day. When you make a contribution to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station, we'll say thanks by sending you both volumes of this series, available on CD, USB flash drive, or instantly downloadable MP3s.

And for a limited time, we'll also include Tony's devotional book, Anchored by Grace. This encouraging resource will help you learn to apply the reality of God's grace personally and consistently in your life. You can request this special resource package today at tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3222 anytime of the day or night to make the arrangements. That's 1-800-800-3222. I'll repeat that contact information for you after part two of today's message and this.

On the Unbound podcast, Dr. Tony Evans brings honest stories to light. Guests bring thoughtful insights on topics like love, marriage, and how they relate to faith.

Guest (Female): There's something about being seen in your pain. I wouldn't allow myself ever to admit how lonely I was.

Guest (Male): It's not wrong to ask God questions; it's wrong to question God.

Guest (Male): From broken marriages to restored homes. God still raises marriages from the dead. Unbound with Dr. Tony Evans.

Guest (Male): Listen and subscribe to the Unbound podcast on Dr. Evans' YouTube channel or on your favorite podcast platform. Right now, let's get back to today's lesson.

Dr. Tony Evans: You only see what's in the seed when the seed has been planted. Farmer Dell loves Jesus. He comes to church every Sunday morning because he loves him some Jesus. He sings songs, he listens to the ministry of the word. In fact, Farmer Dell gets up every morning and has devotions and he spends his precious time with God. Farmer Dell will sing hymns throughout the day and Farmer Dell will thank God for all that God has done. Farmer Dell even thanks God for the seed. After his prayer, after his worship, after his farming, after his prayer for rain and sunshine, he gives thanksgiving to God. But after all of that, Farmer Dell has not planted a seed.

See, we have a lot of folk who tell God, "I have a need," who won't plant a seed. But they'll go to church, they'll praise God, they'll wave their hand in the air like they just don't care. He says you sow the seed in order to reap the harvest. And it's true not only related to money; it's true of life. Luke 6:38: "Give and it will be given to you, pressed down, flowing over." The key word is "it." In other words, whatever you want from God, give to God so He can expand it.

The widow of Zarephath ran out of food. God told her to give some food to the Prophet Elijah. "But how could I give food to the Prophet Elijah when I hardly have any food?" He says, "Believe me about the need by planting a seed," because planting a seed shows you have faith in me as your source. So when she gave to Elijah, it says, "and she and her son did not run out of food," because when she planted the seed, God met the need because of the demonstration of faith and the realization that God was her source.

Now let me make sure you understand. There is always a gap in time between sowing and reaping. You don't sow today and reap tomorrow; that's not how that works. You don't plant corn today and look for a stalk tomorrow. Underneath the soil, the seed is developing. It's opening up, it's starting to sprout, but you can't see it because it's hidden. But behind the hidden purposes of God, there is development.

So here's the problem. A lot of folk want to sow and want to reap who don't want to spiritually develop. See, they want their blessing, they may even do something on the front end, but they have very little concern for their spiritual development, and so God can't trust them with the reap. He says, "so that it produces thanksgiving to God," and notice at the end of verse 10, "so that you increase the harvest of your righteousness."

So God is concerned with your spiritual development, not just with your bank account and what new money He can give you, and what new job He can give you, and what new career opportunity. That may be what you're praying for, but that's not just what God is after. He is after seeing you produce more righteousness. So if you have planted a seed, and if you're waiting for Him to meet a need, make sure you're developing spiritually so He can trust you with the result. Because He doesn't want to waste His watermelon and His corn and everything else on people who are going to abuse it, misuse it, and throw it away.

But all of that depends on God. It depends on God's sunshine, it depends on God's rain. It depends on whether you sow, what you sow, he says how much you sow. Don't expect a big crop if you sow sparingly. So this is a mindset. If you understand grace and that it has been completely provided—everything for all of your life has already been put on deposit, and I mean everything, verse eight and nine says that, for every good work, for every legitimate thing He has, it's already ready to be given. You access it, but you don't earn it.

But if you don't know that, then you will spend your life trying to earn God's favor, trying to manipulate His response. And so, everything is produced after its kind, Genesis 1:12. Apples produce apples, oranges produce oranges, pears produce pears. Everything is after its own kind. So that's why he says, "give it," the thing you need. Let God see it, show the relationship.

Ruth wanted a relationship, needed a relationship, so she gave a relationship to Naomi, and she got a relationship. See, God has this thing worked out where the need is already built into the seed. It's already built in, and it's built in by grace. So you've got to think farming, you've got to think farming so that you are enriched, he says. Not tricked, not manipulated. Philippians chapter 4, verses 18 and 19, Paul says, "Because of your kindness to me, my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." So when you plant the seed, you set in motion God's harvesting process.

So here's our problem. The average Christian gives God 2.7% of their income. That's the average person. Which means there's a lot of theft going on in the kingdom of God. People wearing stolen clothes, driving stolen cars, living in stolen houses, because they week by week, month by month, year by year rob God while asking God to bless them. Why would You bless a thief? Why would You honor a thief, somebody who steals and robs You, but they say, "Give me the key to the kingdom"?

Now, here's a way a lot of people get frustrated. They say, "Well, tithing was under the law. That was under the law, that's Old Testament." Well, first of all, they haven't read their Bibles fully. It was under the law, but it was also under grace. Hebrews chapter seven, verse eight says in the New Testament they gave tithes. But the issue is why. Why would they give 10% under grace? They gave it under law; law meant you have to, grace means thank you. Two different mindsets.

The Bible says in chapter five of Hebrews, Jesus is after the order of Melchizedek. Now most Christians don't know who Melchizedek was. Melchizedek was the king of Salem, and he's called the King of Righteousness. And the Bible says Jesus is after the order of, that is, in the priestly line of, Melchizedek. Let me tell you about Melchizedek.

God gave Abraham deliverance from his enemies, He gave him victory. And out of Abraham's gratitude for the victory, he gave a tithe, the Bible says, to Melchizedek. And this all happened before the law. The law came with Moses; Abraham was long before Moses. You and I are called the children of Abraham, not the children of Moses. So before Moses was Abraham, and Abraham gave to Melchizedek.

Why did Abraham give a tithe to Melchizedek? To express to the priest his gratitude for victory. He was so grateful for victory that he demonstrated it with the tithe before there was the law. Watch this, this is deep. Jesus is after the order of Melchizedek. That is, He is in the priestly line not of Moses and Aaron, but of Melchizedek. And just as Melchizedek received that tithe for the purpose of Abraham expressing his gratitude for victory, since Jesus is after the order or the priestly line of Melchizedek, He receives the same tithe for the same purpose.

What is the purpose? To thank God for victory. Satan doesn't have the last say-so. The good news of grace today is He's already victorious over your pain, He's victorious over your problem, He's victorious over your circumstance. And even though you haven't experienced it yet, you thank God by faith for His victorious favor. For you are more than conquerors through Him who loved you and gave Himself for you. So it's all a response to the grace of God.

And when you understand that you are victorious in Christ, then that is not a problem you're trying to get out of, it's an opportunity you're trying to take advantage of. There has never been one month in my life that I can recall where we did not give our tithe and an offering on top of that. When we started this church, we were making $900 a month. When I was in seminary, we made $350 a month, and still, we would always put God first and then believe God that in the seed, He would meet the need. And it would be the exercise of faith, even when we couldn't see how it would be answered, that God would demonstrate.

So, here at this church, you will not be manipulated, you will not be tricked. We will keep you informed of what's going on, and then we will believe that if we make grace big enough, if we make God's favor big enough, if you see God working big enough, then you will be self-motivated to say thanks, not manipulated into having to do something that's not in your heart to do. And as long as we do that, we'll have the joy of the Lord.

Guest (Male): Dr. Evans will return in a moment with a final story that'll get you thinking about what's really valuable. First, though, today's lesson is titled Giving by Grace, and you can hear additional material in the full-length version that's included when you download or request The Magnificent Grace of God series on CD or USB flash drive.

As I mentioned earlier, all twelve messages in this two-volume collection are our gift to you when you make a donation to support The Alternative broadcast ministry. And for a limited time, along with the audio series, we're also including a copy of the companion devotional book, Anchored by Grace. This is a special bundle that will only be around for a short time, so be sure to contact us right away. Just drop by tonyevans.org where you can get all the details and make your donation online. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or you can call our 24-hour resource center at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our friendly team members help you. That number again: 1-800-800-3222.

It's always easier to carry a burden when you're walking beside someone who truly understands. And tomorrow, Dr. Evans will point out where you can find that someone. Right now, he's back with this final thought for today.

Dr. Tony Evans: David Simpson robbed a bank of $6,000 in Ottawa, Canada. What he used to rob the bank with was a 1918 Colt 45 semi-automatic gun. Now, a 1918 Colt 45 semi-automatic gun is worth $100,000. But because he was ignorant of what he had in his hand, because he was ignorant of what he possessed, he lost the use of something more valuable to get something less valuable.

I'm here to tell you today, if you ever discover what God is like and His grace is like in His hand, then you won't have to use Him to get something less, because you'll already have something more.