The Alternative

Dr. Tony Evans: It is unfortunate today that many of us as believers live in spiritual poverty.

Guest (Male): Dr. Tony Evans explains that experiencing God's grace isn't a supply problem; it's a connection problem.

Dr. Tony Evans: The more involved you make him, the more grace he's free to dispense, because you've connected every area of life to him.

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

How do you respond when someone who owes you nothing gives you everything? We'll find out today as Dr. Evans takes us to Ephesians chapter 3 for a look at what happens inside us when we learn how to live under the incredible grace of God. Let's join him.

Dr. Tony Evans: It is unfortunate today that many of us as believers live in spiritual poverty when the grace of God offers spiritual riches. Grace is inexhaustible goodness of God that he offers to mankind that cannot be earned, is not deserved, and could never be repaid.

The fundamental feature of grace that you need to understand is that grace is always free. The moment you attach a price tag to grace, it is no longer grace.

There is a word in verse 2 that I want to introduce to you. It's somewhat technical. It says indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace. The Greek word for stewardship is oikonomia. Oikonomia meant to manage a household. God's house, his creation, is called his kingdom, and he administers his house. But he administers his house in stages. We call them dispensations or stewardships.

In this administration of his house, depending upon the stage, he had different types of administration. For example, with Adam and Eve, he administered his house via the trees. Every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but not the tree in the midst of the garden. And that was his administrative mechanism.

Under Moses, he administrated his house by the law, the Ten Commandments. That's how he administrated the house. We don't get the Bible in one piece; we get it in stages based on the administration over 1,500 years by 40 different authors because God staged his administration.

The way he runs his house, his kingdom now, is by an administration, and that administration is the administration, the oikonomia of grace. In other words, that's how he's operating now. That's how he's managing things in his kingdom. It is by grace. It is no longer by the old location.

The Bible makes it clear in Hebrews chapter 8, verses 6 to 13, that when you come to Christ, you're under a new contract. The old contract has been torn up. That's why you can't go to the Old Testament to learn how to live the Christian life because that's the old contract. It's called law. The Bible says that when Christ came, he made the old contract obsolete.

In the dispensation, the management of this stage of God's kingdom purposes was instituted, the old contract no longer applied. And God has now entered into a new contract. Now, some of the rules of the old contract are in the new contract, but the new contract has a whole different means of operating. And the means of operating, the oikonomia, the running of God's household is called grace.

Which means if you're not living by grace and operating under grace, you're using rules that no longer apply. That is, you're under old management that's been fired. My purpose is to help you to understand the new management.

Let me give you some clues. If you go back to chapter 1 of Ephesians, verse 3 reads this way: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ."

So here's the first thing you need to know about your new location, your new management in this stage of salvation history. Everything God is ever going to do for you, he's already done. Please notice the ED on the word blessed.

God has already done whatever he's going to do for you tomorrow has already been deposited. He has blessed you with every spiritual blessing already. So the issue now is not getting your blessing; it is accessing it. Because it's already on deposit.

It's like me saying I've put in your bank account a thousand dollars. If I put in your bank account a thousand dollars, the issue now is not you finding a thousand dollars; it's you accessing an existing thousand dollars because it's already been deposited.

Everything God is ever going to do for you for the rest of your life on Earth has been put on deposit once you come to Christ. So the issue now is accessing what you've been given, not trying to find something you don't have.

He says that this favor of God, grace, has been freely bestowed on you in the Beloved. Beloved means I'm pleased with you. Now, let me tell you why that's good news. Because a lot of us are looking at the wrong place for acceptance. God has already okayed you.

Now, he does not okay all we do. That's a different thing. But you don't have to earn his love, nor do you have to earn his acceptance. He is as pleased with you as he is with his Son because you are connected with his Son in the Beloved. See, a lot of us are looking for approval in all the wrong places.

That's why Paul was not concerned about the approval of man as long as he was conscious of the approval of God. Because why would you be concerned about an inferior's approval when you've got a superior's approval?

So all of us who are battling with self-significance, personal value, and not feeling like we're ever going to be anybody, you're using the wrong measuring stick. If you have come to Christ, you have from Heaven gotten an OK stamp on you in terms of your relationship.

It goes so far that he's even pre-forgiven you for sins you haven't done yet because it includes the forgiveness of sins. We can break fellowship with God because of sin, but we cannot lose acceptance from God. You're surrounded by spiritual favor. So much favor that God has already put everything for the rest of your life in your account.

So it is a different way of thinking. The Bible says in 1st John 4:17, "As Christ is, so are we in the world." God views us in this world as he viewed Christ when Christ was on Earth. Which means that the most important thing in your life and my life for maximizing grace is understanding who we are in Christ.

To the praise of the glory of his grace, he says if you really understood the spiritual riches, you'd be praising God all day. You'd be praising God, not for what you want, but for what you already have that you haven't even seen yet.

Because remember, grace is free. And it starts with your recognition of your acceptance by God. You are accepted by the highest person in the universe, flaws and all. God never endorses our sin, but neither does he let our sin cause him to reject us as his family members.

In fact, the more accepted you recognize yourself to be, the more righteous you will become. Because when somebody loves you in spite of, and you begin to give thanks for that kind of unmerited favor, then you want to please the one who has loved you that much.

But if you have to spend all your time trying to earn their love, and you never know whether you got far enough, high enough, long enough to earn that love, then you become tired and frustrated and defeated.

Guest (Male): Dr. Tony Evans will return in a moment to show how grace fits into God's ultimate plan to bring everything under the lordship of Christ. Today is the final lesson in Tony's powerful two-volume series on the magnificent grace of God. And that makes it your last chance to take advantage of the special offer we've put together for this series.

In these 12 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 today 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 as an added bonus, we'll also include Tony's devotional book, Anchored by Grace. This encouraging resource will help you learn how to apply the reality of God's grace personally and consistently in your life.

Request this special resource package today at TonyEvans.org or call 1-800-800-3222 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.

Guest (Male): What happens when faith meets the edge of survival? On the Unbound podcast, Dr. Tony Evans shares stories shaped by hardship, purpose, and redemption. At one point in my life, I could have gone down the path where probably years in prison or not being here today. Generational trauma can be passed from generation to generation, but so can healing. Forgiveness can be the key that continues to unlock your future. Unbound with Dr. Tony Evans. Listen now.

Guest (Male): You can 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: God's philosophy of history in this stage is the summing up of all things in Christ Jesus. Let me say that in case you didn't get it. God's philosophy of history is to bring everything under the tutelage and to the attention and based on his Son, Christ Jesus. The summing up of all things.

Now, the reason you need to know that, not only from a historical perspective but from a personal perspective, is that the way you access grace is by summing up every aspect of your life in Christ Jesus. To bring all of life in connection with him.

The reason why many of us are not experiencing more of God's grace is because we visit Christ Jesus. We pay him a visit on Sunday. We may pay him a visit around devotions. We may pay him a visit on Wednesday night. We visit him. We don't sum up all things in him.

In order to access grace, you have to access the Beloved. You're in the Beloved, fully accepted, but you must now attach everything to him. That is, you must practice his presence. You must involve him in your decision-making. You must involve him in your relationships. You must involve him in your finances. You must involve him in your career. You must involve him. That's why the Bible says pray without ceasing. It means just involve Christ in everything.

And the more Christ Jesus is involved, since he is the one who dispenses grace, the more involved you make him, the more grace he's free to dispense, because you've connected every area of life to him.

The beautiful thing about Christ and your grace position in Christ is his ability to override. I think of Matthew chapter 14, verses 28 to 32. There's a storm and Peter is walking on water. Now, watch this: he's walking on water in a storm. So the conditions are not favorable. But yet, even though the circumstances are bad, he's walking on top of bad circumstances.

So let's make sure you don't misunderstand me. Grace does not mean that waters are always smooth, because you live in an evil contaminated world. What grace means is you're not swallowed up by the storm of water. And then it says he began to look around him and see how bad the storm was. He saw the waves and the wind and he saw the turbulence.

And it says when he looked around him and saw how bad the circumstances were, he began to sink. Well, wait a minute. He's sinking in the same storm he was just walking on. I mean, the circumstances were bad when he got out the boat. But when he changed his focus, the circumstances took over.

When he changed his focus, the circumstances were sucking him under. When he changed his focus, conditions were now controlling him, who was walking on the conditions. While going under, he remembered about his misfocus. And while going under, he looked up and said, "Lord, save me." And the Bible says and Jesus reached down and pulled him back on top of the circumstances.

You see, what the enemy has to do is trick you. He can't overpower you because Jesus is greater than he is. Greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. So since he's not technically greater than you, he's got to trick you. And the way he tricks you is by getting you to shift away from a Jesus focus.

When he refocused on Jesus, he's still in a storm, but he's returned to walking on it rather than it consuming him. One of the ways you'll know it's the grace of God is when you're supposed to be drowning and you're still walking in a storm, in a set of negative circumstances.

And so this is the way God is running things now in this stage of his household. God made a promise in the Old Testament to Abraham before the law. It's called the promise of Abraham. The promise of Abraham had, "I'm going to bless you, and through you, I'm going to make you a blessing." That's why you always hear me say the way to experience your blessing is to be the blessing you want to experience.

Because the promise of Abraham is that I'm going to bless you and I'm going to flow through you to be of benefit to others. First and foremost in the body of Christ and then beyond. But he says this blessedness now belongs to the Gentiles. Most everybody here Gentile. So that means the Abrahamic promise is good for you.

He says and that they are fellow heirs. This is why you can't have racism in the church, because he says in my family, everybody in here is a sinner saved by grace. Everybody in here is dependent upon the grace of Jesus Christ. There are no big I's and little you's in the kingdom of God. In the kingdom of God, everybody bows a knee to Jesus Christ.

And so there's no place for classism, racism, culturalism, where there's illegitimate division, because once you have illegitimate division, you block grace because we are fellow heirs of the promise, equal recipients of the grace of God. And that's why the evil one wants to keep the church divided so that it can't flow with grace.

I love chapter 1, verses 22 and 23. "And God, he put all things in subjection under his Christ's feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all." Everybody's worried about the White House; God is worried about the church house. Because God will never do something in Washington if he can't do it in our house.

And so we are to reflect the goodness of God and reflect the grace of God by giving grace while utilizing it for ourselves. We're dealing with all kinds of issues out in the marketplace today that are contrary to the will and the word of God. And one of the best ways to keep Christ's grace from flowing in this house is to acquiesce to that world. Because if you acquiesce to that world, then you let that world take care of you.

That's why our stand will always be consistent with the authority of scripture, because I want all the grace we can get, because I know I need all the grace we can have. And when this grace grows in you because you're including Christ in everything, that's all you gotta do. You gotta practice his presence.

If you just include him now in every little thing, every big thing, every in-between thing—it's Jesus in the morning, Jesus at noon time, Jesus when the sun goes down. And I'm not just talking about throwing the word Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. I'm talking about including him, summing up all things into Christ.

When you do that, then now grace is going to flow more, and you're going to experience more of his favor even in the midst of stormy circumstances. And when you do that, praise will grow. That's why I love chapter 1, verses 6 and 7, to the praise of the glory of his grace. You're going to be a praiser and you won't need—see, some people praise because there's somebody up here telling them to do it.

Wave your hand in the air like you just don't care. Somebody tell you to praise. The preacher tell you to praise. The song leader tell you to praise. And you praise. You may not want to praise, you may not feel like praising, but you don't want to look odd, so you get up and you say the praise words: Hallelujah, praise the Lord, Amen, I'm blessed and highly favored. You go through the vocabulary because you don't want to seem like the odd man out.

But here's how you know grace is flowing. You know grace is flowing when there is no song leader and there is nobody on the pulpit, and you're still praising him and giving him glory when you're by yourself.

Guest (Male): Dr. Tony Evans will have a closing word on giving God glory for his grace when he returns in a moment to wrap up this final message in his powerful teaching series, The Magnificent Grace of God.

In these messages, Tony has taken a comprehensive look at the free gift that changes us from the inside out and rewrites our spiritual future. You can revisit the entire series and even hear additional material in the full-length messages that are included when you download or request the series on CD or USB flash drive.

As I mentioned earlier, all 12 lessons in this two-volume collection are our gift to you when you make a donation to support the Alternative broadcast ministry. And a reminder that today is your last chance to receive the audio collection along with the bonus offer of the companion devotional book from Dr. Evans, Anchored by Grace.

Drop by TonyEvans.org today where you can make a donation and request this special package for yourself. Again, that's TonyEvans.org or 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.

Coming up tomorrow, Dr. Evans talks about the ultimate biblical example of being in the right place at the right time as he shares valuable lessons for us from the life of Esther. Right now, though, he's back with this final story to wrap up his look at the magnificent grace of God.

Dr. Tony Evans: In a football game, when the lineman makes a tackle on the other team, they will often come and do this. They will come and do this, and this means three words: give it up. You know what they're doing? They're calling on the audience to join them because of what just happened.

I just sacked the quarterback, and I feel so good about what I just did, I just don't want to go through it by myself. So I'm just going to raise my hand and I want you to just give it up. So I'm inviting you, oh magnify the Lord with me, and let's exalt his name together. Don't just—let's give it up! Now, if you don't want to give it up, don't give it up.

But if anybody like me wants to see all the grace you can get, give it up! Because God tackled Satan! God has accepted you! God has already blessed you! So you don't need anybody else to tell you to do this. You give it up because he is worthy to be praised! Praise God for his magnificent grace!