In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the power of repentance and the grace of God. He encourages listeners to turn to God and repent from their sins, highlighting that God is gracious, merciful, and kind to sinners. The preacher also mentions the story of Peter's preaching on the day of Pentecost, where he urged the people to repent. He emphasizes that repentance brings God into any situation, even in the midst of difficulties or mistakes. The sermon also mentions the example of Fred Barth, a children's evangelist, who used visual aids to teach about God's grace even in times of discipline.

Will you turn to Isaiah 56. Isaiah 56, this is our reading, the lesson. Here beginneth the first lesson, or the second, actually from the Old Testament. Isaiah 56, reading from the authorized version. Thus saith the Lord, keep ye judgment, righteousness, and do justice, for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the Son of Man that layeth hold on it, that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. Neither let the son of the stranger that hath joined himself to the Lord speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people. Neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs, that keep my Sabbath, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant. Even unto them will I give in mine house, and within my walls a place, and a name, better than of sons and daughters. The eunuchs couldn't have such, but grace is going to give them in the house of the Lord something better than that which is denied them. Also the sons of the strangers, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants. Every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant, even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar, for mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people. The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him. Preachers of the gospel have been in the habit of describing the day in which we live as the day of grace, and they have urged us to seek the Lord while that day of grace lasts. It's a phrase, it's a term. Perhaps we used to hear people talk about the day of grace a little more than today, but it's still the same. The day in which we live is the day of grace. The day when grace at last reigns. It was not always so. There was a time when sin reigned, proved by the fact that men died, and as long as men died it proved that sin was on the throne. But a great change has taken place. Ever since Calvary, ever since the just died for the unjust, as it says in Romans 5, grace has reigned. Romans 5 says, Even as sin reigned unto death, so now grace reigns, through righteousness, through that great one act of righteousness on the cross. Did you know that was an act of righteousness? The greatest act of divine righteousness was when the one who took our sins was judged as a sinner. Even so, grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ. And so this, ever since Calvary, is a wonderful day when grace reigns, the day of grace. And grace is to be defined very simply as the undeserved love of God. If the one loved deserves it in any degree at all, grace is no more grace. The whole point of this beautiful term is that whereas it is in a sense the love of God, it can differ from the love of God. The love of God could conceivably be sweet and beautiful and lovely and attractive. Well, all right. Don't call that grace though. The love of God only becomes the grace of God when the object of it isn't lovely, isn't deserving, is virtually abhorrent. And yet, this divine love doesn't change when it alteration finds, when it unworthiness finds, and it is called then by another term, the grace of God. And this is the day when grace reigns for sinners. When the doors open, when the riches of heaven are available to those of us who deserve nothing of the sort, and rightly understood, when I see that, I do not regard my poverty, my lack, even my sins as disqualifications. If confessed and acknowledged, they make me a right and proper candidate for grace. Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt. Yonder on Calvary's mount outpoured, there where the blood of the Lamb was spilt. And I want to speak this morning on three dimensions of the grace of God. Which dimensions include, I'm quite sure, every last one of us here this morning. I want to pick up three, a little phrase from three places in the Bible to describe the three dimensions. And the first one is in the passage we read, Isaiah 56, verse 7, Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer, even them. Now under the law, in Old Testament times, there were two classes of persons who were forbidden and not permitted to worship in the house of the Lord. First of all the strangers, that is the Gentiles. The Gentiles were not permitted to enter the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. There was a certain court to which they could go, but no further, the court of the Gentiles. But further in, partaking of holy things, that was reserved only for Israel, not for Gentiles. And then there was another class of person who was excluded, and that was the eunuch. I'm not discussing why eunuchs should have been excluded, but they were. There are a whole lot of things in the law of Moses which you may not understand why. Basil Akerson talks about the artificial uncleannesses devised under the law of Moses. If you touched a dead body, for instance, you were regarded as ceremonially unclean and unfit for the tabernacle until you were cleansed. Well what in the world would happen to our nurses? No, no, no, it was only an artificial uncleanness, devised in order to picture a deep moral uncleanness, which is the real thing. And so doubtless there's some significance in the fact, not only that the strangers, the Gentiles, were excluded, but the eunuchs. But the passage is telling of a coming day, a glorious day, when grace is going to be on the throne. The love of God enthroned for those that don't deserve it, that haven't got the right and proper qualifications. And in that day the strangers and the eunuchs, even them normally excluded, are going to be brought to my holy mountain and made joyful in my house of prayer. And in that day when grace reigns, they're going to find that this and that is no disqualification at all. It's going to include even them, the Gentiles, even them, the eunuchs. And here we have the breadth of the grace of God. It matters not how way out a man may be, how lacking in suitable qualifications to be a Christian, how much he's been deprived of in his upbringing, how little he knows about divine things. Even him, grace will bring into his holy mountain and make him joyful in his house of prayer. And this aspect of the breadth of divine grace is something that you need, because you and I can feel ourselves very easily excluded. We can feel ourselves with a sense of inferiority, that we don't really belong to the super saints. And the blessings of God don't really reach out to us. Some of us might feel that in coming here. You see a lot of people rejoicing in the Lord and talking freely about him. They apparently know things that you don't know. They seem to have experienced something you haven't experienced. They seem to know their Bibles in a way that you don't, maybe. And you feel excluded, you feel out. You say to yourself, quite frankly, I don't feel I belong exactly, as these people would have felt in Old Testament times. Or it may be in your church, there's an in-group, and you're not in it. And I don't think there's anything that we dislike more than feeling excluded from some in-group. It doesn't matter too much what it is, but we hate being not included. And you could well feel there's a group that you're not in. And of course the unconverted man, he feels this very much, I'm not in, I don't belong. And really, even though perhaps he doesn't really want to become a Christian, he hates to feel that there's a circle from which he's excluded, he's not in. And he knows he doesn't deserve to be in. He doesn't know what they know, he hasn't got the standards they've got, he doesn't know the scriptures as they, and he feels excluded. And as I say, at another level, even a Christian could feel himself so lacking that he has this sense of inferiority, he's not in. What a battle we've had sometimes in here, in this place, in other places, about the team. Very difficult, it's necessary for a few to take the spiritual responsibility for conference and pray through and decide about speaking and so on like that. And it's been very difficult, because some precious person hasn't been included. And it gives them quite a battle. And we're sad to know it does, but this is how it is, this feeling that you're not in. You may never feel that, now that grace reigns. Thus saith the Lord to the strangers, thus saith the Lord to the eunuchs, don't let them say I'm a dry tree, don't let them say the Lord has utterly separated me from his people, even then will I bring into my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Under grace your very way outness need be no disqualification. If grace is grace, the fact that you aren't as experienced or as knowledgeable or as gifted of others is neither here nor there. Indeed, if you rightly understand that you're so lacking and acknowledge that fact, it becomes your qualification. If grace is grace. The law came by Moses and sets all sorts of distinctions. But grace and truth has come by Jesus and it extends to even them who feel themselves out. I want to tell you the way into the holy of holies is made available to the way out, most way out people, by the blood of Jesus, which has anticipated every lack and settled it to the satisfaction of God at the cross and the empty tomb. And even you, who don't know your right hand from your left hand, it may be in spiritual things. I'm really quite lost, you see. All right, even then, grace is going to bring into your holy mountains and your lacks are going to seem to be seen, no disqualification at all. For Jesus at Calvary did it all. All to him you are the breath of the grace of God. There's been reference made to the Wesleys this morning. We are still singing their hymns. And Charles Wesley has a wonderful hymn about the dimensions of the grace of God. What shall I do, my God to love, my loving God to praise. And he has one wonderful line, and it's this, so wide it never passed by one or it had passed by me. Charles Wesley was absolutely convinced that if there was one man to which the grace of God didn't reach, he was that man. Absolutely positive, bless his heart. Yes, if there's one person, isn't quite good enough, I'm sure I'm the one. But oh, to his joy, he saw so wide it never passed by one or quite surely it had passed by me. But he saw it, it was so wide that even he was included. And you know the things that make you feel drawback? You know the things that make you say, well I'm not in on this. Even you. The arms of Jesus go right out to even those that feel cut off. And it also is good for us to see it as we look around. Because you can be on the other side, you can be rather excluding some people. Many of us will remember that our American brother Chuck Higgins was over here years ago. We've never forgotten that visit when he took the Bible readings and sang us up into the heavenlies with that glorious bass baritone voice of his. I think at this particular moment, Stanley Voak, please pray for Stanley and Doreen, they're over in America as our brothers and sisters visiting our brothers there. And I think at this very moment, Stanley and Doreen are at his church. And I remember him telling us of how he went to a certain conference, a lovely big conference, and they broke it up at certain times into a little smaller fellowship groups. And he was in one group where they were sharing and praying together. And there was a Roman Catholic woman in their group. And they went to prayer, had a lovely time of praying, and one another and so on. And when they'd finished this time, this woman turned around and said, praise the Lord, hallelujah. And Chuck tells us how he looked at her. And he said, she shouldn't be saying that, she's a Roman Catholic. Even them, even them, if they have a heart to acknowledge their need, is drawn to the Lord. Even them, even any type, no matter how he dresses, with long or short hair, if there's a heart that's hungry, he'll find that all the things that would normally disqualify him for polite society, won't do so. Even them will I bring to my holy mountain. Oh, the breath of the grace of God. And all of us have our times when we feel we just not as good as the other person. But blood of Jesus was shed for precisely those of us in that condition, to bring us by its power into the holy of holies. And as I say, if grace is grace, the things that you feel disqualify you, if you humbly acknowledge them, they become your title and right to that marvelous grace of our loving Lord. Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt. Even them will I bring. And then there's another little passage that has a phrase which suggests another dimension of the grace of God. Psalm 139, Psalm 139, verse 7, one of the most beautiful and poetic and stirring of the psalms. Verse 7, Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there, even there, the uttermost parts of the sea, shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand hold me. Even there. In whatever situation, in whatever place, you've got yourself. Even there will his right hand lead us and find us and bring us back. Even there. The impossible situation. And I tell you some of us are in difficult situations. Sometimes people confide in us and ask our prayers for the situations they're in. But even there, grace will reach you. You'll find Jesus. You'll find an answer. Be assured there's an answer for every place in which you find yourself. May not be exactly yours, but it's his, and that's the one that matters. Even there, thy hand shall lead me. And of course the situations are very often the result of our own fault. We've got ourselves into situations which are painful and difficult. You think almost, well, they're impossible. But if grace is grace, there's no obstacle. I used to feel that if I was criticized, and I was quite sure the criticism was untrue, they looked to the Lord to vindicate me. But so often it wasn't untrue. There's always some element of truth, and I couldn't really get a clear case with God to look to him for his owning of me. And I felt he could only own the right one. And I could never quite feel that my situation was quite right. But I've seen that under grace it's wrong ones whom he owns. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that is risen against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me. How did he become my righteousness? How does Jesus become the righteous of the sinner when he confesses he's wrong? And then he says, I justify that I'm on his side. And in vindicating the sinner, he doesn't say, I'll show them that you were right all along. You weren't right. You've told me how wrong you are. I accept that fact. What I am going to do, I'm going to own you as mine. And oh, we get ourselves into situations. If we haven't caused them, we've contributed to them. If ours wasn't the action that precipitated the unhappy situation, ours has been the reaction which has made that situation even worse. And sometimes a person has shared with me a certain situation, perhaps some marital matter. Well, I said, when he kept on coming home so late, what did you say? Oh my God, goodness, I told him. Not a great encouragement for him to come home early, if he knew he was going to receive those sort of words. And so we can go on to speak of the situations in which we have gotten ourselves. But listen, even there, even that situation where you're to blame, grace is not put off. And Jesus is going to be even there, that pigsty to which the prodigal was reduced because of his own foolish choice of independence of his father and his unwillingness to turn back when the famine came. Please turn the cassette over now. Do not fast wind it in either direction. To which the prodigal was reduced because of his own foolish choice of independence of his father and his unwillingness to turn back when the famine came. Even there, the grace of God was available to him. Even at that place, he was able to begin his way back. Jonah in the belly of the whale, he'd gotten himself there. He was running away from God. The one thing we should always remember about Jonah, you preachers, but don't be too hard on him. Remember, although you may point out how wrong he was, it's he who tells you about it. You wouldn't have known that he was running away from God had he not told you. It's the book of Jonah, written by Jonah. And no man says those things about himself who hasn't repented. And he did repent. They said, what shall we do to you when the lot fell at him? He said, the only one thing you can do to me is drown me. And I tell you, Jonah repented in style. He pronounced his own death sentence. He found himself in the belly of the whale. Well, that wasn't much better, I don't know, with all those entrails floating around him. But even there, grace was reaching him. Chapter two is his, purports to be, his prayer in the belly of the whale. May I just tell you, by the way, when he was in the ship, he couldn't pray. Everybody else prayed, he couldn't. Sin had silenced him. But when he was in the belly of the whale, he prayed. When he couldn't before, for the simple reason he'd repented. And there's one thing that will always happen is when we repent, we'll be heard, and we can pray. But the second chapter is really a celebration of being brought out and having been heard. There's only one little bit in the second chapter which is really his prayer in that situation. I said, I am cut off out of thy sight, but I will look again to thy holy temple, that temple that Solomon built, that temple which was promised, and if my people in their hour of need shall pray toward it, I will hear from heaven and forgive and deliver them. And here he is in a plight, and he's picked up that old promise, and he realized even there he can still look again to that place where sacrifice was wont to be made. Even in a situation you've caused for yourself, you can still look again to Calvary and know you're going to be heard. And then there was the case of Manasseh, the wickedest man in the Bible, perhaps you don't know too much about him, his is one of the greatest conversions in the Old Testament. The wickedest king of Israel who made Jerusalem run with the blood of the innocents, and who wouldn't heed the prophets, and as a result God had to send him against him, the king of Babylon, and he was taken captive and cast to rot in a Babylonian dungeon. But we read in the time of his distress, he humbled himself greatly and prayed to the Lord his God, and even in that place, grace was reaching him. One day he was restored to God, and to his astonishment even restored to his throne, and he spent the rest of his days putting right what he'd done wrong. Someone once said to someone who was counselling him, you know brother if I've got to do, put right everything that's wrong in my life, it'll take my whole life in which to do it. And the brother who was counselling him said, brother you couldn't have a better life work. And that became Manasseh's life work. But it all began in that place, even there grace reached him. And so dear one, there's a situation in which you are, and what seems to be the sad thing is largely to some extent your own fault, I can't expect much, oh yes you can. Grace is flowing like a river. Millions there have been supplied, still it flows as fresh as ever from the Saviour's wounded side. And sometimes these situations come upon us by God's chastening of us. Well Manasseh, he was in that situation because of God's chastening of him. It was God's hand that put him there, but even there grace was with him. And some of the situations we are, they will be the chastening of the Lord, not to punish us but to restore us or to teach us something we need very much to learn. And even while you suffer under his hand, even there you'll find it with you. I picked up a lovely story a little while ago of Berne Jones, a famous painter, I believe he was one of the pre-Raphaelite group of painters, one of those that were associated with men like Holman Hunt. And he went to have tea with his married daughter and his little granddaughter misbehaved, and she was punished in the way she always was punished, she was stood in the corner with her back to the rest of the people having to stand in that corner for so long. And Berne Jones was so touched by the sorrow and even the dignity in which the little one submitted to her punishment that he had a lovely idea. He came back next day with his paints and he asked his daughter's permission to paint a picture in that corner where the little girl sometimes had to stand, of trees, meadows, river, cattle, beautiful picture. And when that little girl had done something wrong and she was told to stand in the corner, she found it brightened by that wonderful picture. And even friend, when you're under the chastening hand of God, even there grace is there, even there Jesus is with you. Why? The children of Israel were chastened by being forbidden to enter the promised land, by being condemned to walk up and down for 40 years, until that generation had died out and a new generation could then enter. But even there grace reached them. Do you know, never for one day did the manner cease, even when they were under the chastening of God. Never for one day did he take away the pillar of cloud to lead them. Well that's taken, it is a pure hypothetical case, but sometimes alas, some church member has committed an immoral act and he's disciplined and he's forbidden to partake a communion. He's had to sit behind. It's right for him to submit, right for them to discipline him maybe. But even there he could be comforted by the God of all comfort, comforted by the sinner's God, which all of which is every inducement to turn back to repentance. I can think we can call it the depth of the grace of God. Even there his right hand will lead you. And you know the situation you've been, you've come. I want to encourage you this morning, even there, Jesus, the grace of God is going to reach you. And now the third is in the book of Joel, one of the minor prophets. I hope you've read Joel. You'll be embarrassed if the first person when you get to heaven is Joel, and he asks you, how did you like his book? And you never read it. I tell you it's a great, it's a great, he was a great revival preacher, and there's a great revival message here. Joel chapter 2 verse 12, Joel chapter 2 verse 12. Well keep turning, it's after Hosea. Hosea isn't the main prophet, he's not a minor one, he's an in-between one. And then you come to Joel. Chapter 2 verse 12. Yet even now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me. That rendering is from the old revised version of 1881. Yet even now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning, and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God. For he is gracious, and merciful, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil of the discipline that he thought to do unto thee. Yet even now, even now, it's not too late to repent. The book tells of the various chastening judgments God brought upon Israel, who turned away from him, their crops. If it wasn't the palmer worm, then came the locust. If it wasn't the locust, then came the canker worm, and after that the caterpillar. And they found all their produce eaten up, and themselves reduced to poverty and famine. And then the next chapter talks of the enemies from around, surrounding them, all of which, said the prophet, are from the Lord. And they're a call for you to have a solemn assembly, proclaim a fast, and humble yourselves. And although they deferred that for so long, and although their land was in such a state of disaster, he says, it's not too late. Yet, even now, at this late hour, when things have got to this pass, turn ye to me with all your hearts, says the Lord, with fasting, weeping, and mourning, and rend your heart, and not your garments. The real thing, that's the verse in most Anglican services, and most appropriate, because I doubt if there's any real repentance going on. It is an outward, if anything, going to church, rending the garments. He says, you rend your heart, the real thing, and it's not too late for that. Even at this late hour, there's something you can do. Repent, turn back again, rend your heart, acknowledge your sin. This is the length of the grace of God, even now. At this late hour, when we've refused to be broken about this or that, refused to turn back, refused to confess we're wrong, and the situation's got worse. You should have got right with God years ago. You've got stuck in your ways, but the word comes to you this morning as it comes to me. Even now, in the present situation, there's nothing to be done about it. There's something to be done about your relationship with God, and when that is restored, that's the beginning of everything else. Wonderful things can accrue from that. Even now, turn ye to the Lord. In other words, dear friends, it's never, never too late to repent, as long as grace for sinners reigns. When you repent, admit I'm the man who's wrong, it always brings God into a situation. If no one will repent, God is excluded. But the moment one man says, I'm the one who's wrong, it always brings a God of grace into a situation. The man who confesses is forgiven, but more than that, God begins to work in that situation. He lifts his hand of chastening, things change. He makes the marred vessel over again another vessel. It was so with the prodigal, was so with Jonah, and it was so with Manasseh, and so have testified sinners all down the years. And though you say, well I'm a Christian, yes, but there are things where we need to get right. We're in a difficult situation. Even now. Oh, if you got right with the Lord long since, much would have been spared. Do you know the effect this and that's had on the family and the children? A whole much evening being broken up. But this is the word of grace, even now. There's hope. Turn ye to me, with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, let it be the real thing, not the garments, but your heart. On the day of Pentecost, under the preaching of Peter, they were shocked to discover that they had crucified their Messiah. And they said, men and brethren, what shall we do? And do you know what Peter's reply was? Repent. And whenever you find yourself in a situation, you say, what in the world am I going to do now? Will you remember that Peter said repent? Even if something goes wrong with the car on the way home, what are we going to do? Well, Peter said repent. Oh, you can't repent. Oh yes you can, of your attitude of nothing more. I mean, it doesn't look very peaceful, the way you're taking it. And when you repent, it brings God into a situation as ordinary as that, as well as in many much more serious situations. It's never. This brings God in. We have members of the Barth family here, Constance and Alison, and those to whom, and Alison's husband and so on. And we love to remember our dear brother Fred Barth, who was one of the earliest of our team members, and did so much in conducting the children's meetings, and leading so many boys and girls to Jesus. Now Fred was a great children's evangelist. For some years he was on the staff of the CSSM, and for years he was down at Bristol in a parish there, and later on the staff of the Rwanda Mission. And he would, he loved to speak and give messages with visual aids. They were wonderful ones. They'd never been equal to my mind. And, you know, pictures on the flannel graph or on the easel, and as the message went on, he'd slip into a slit, some word that gave the next step in the talk. And one day, coming home, he was taking all these packages out of his boot into his home, when out from the one package there slipped one of these cards. And he went back to pick it up, and it was the word that had repent on it. So he decided not to put it back in the package, instead of which he propped it up just inside the hall, in front of the front door on the hall stand. So that when people came to see the vicar, and he opened it, they were always met with this word. Repent! And when people came to make arrangements for their marriage, they were met with this word, repent. Well, there was a wisdom behind it. This is so often the first step, and it's never too late. I picked up this little story some time ago, it's a very old one, of a famous picture of a game of chess between a young man and the devil. And the devil had checkmated the young man, and the title underneath was checkmate. And there was the devil looking highly delighted, and the young man leaning back in despair. And chess players, most of them, could look at the pieces, and yes, he was chess checkmate. But the game, one day, a famous world-renowned chess champion, and of course he looked at it with great interest, and he looked at the position of the pieces. He jotted it down. He went back to his home, and he put those pieces just where they were, and he looked at them and looked at them. I don't know why they had to look so long, a game of chess. Chess has always been beyond me, it's too intellectual. But he looked and looked, and then he said, he has one last move. And very often a man feels he's checkmate. There's always one last move. Peter said, repent. See wherein self has got in. See wherein you need to repent. It isn't a hard word, it's a mercy. It's the way out. It brings God in, it brings Jesus in, it makes the blood relevant, and it defeats the devil. And my last thing to say about this bit in Joel, he gave the people every inducement to repent. Turn to me, rend your heart, not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God, for, for, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. Gracious and kind art thou when sinners call. And when I see that mine is a God of grace, who did not spare his son, but gave Jesus for the world undone, that's the biggest incentive for me to admit I'm wrong. If you do, friend, nothing's going to happen to you, except you're going to be forgiven. Except God's going to come into your situation with mercy. And there's no greater incentive than the sight of that grace which gave Jesus. And the more I understand that mine is the God of grace, the sinner's God, who gave his son for sinners, who's gracious to such, the more ready I am to repent. I know what to do now. This way and this way lies mercy, the way out, the answer, and I believe many of us are going to discover it in these days. Amen.