Wounded in the house of your
friends. I'd like to say that I taught
Brother John everything he knows about that banjo. I'd like to
say that, but it wouldn't be true. But I love him. I love that song
too. I am grateful to God for his
mercy. If you think it's a mercy for
you to extend a call to me to be here, it's nothing compared
to His mercy in calling me to be here tonight. And I want you
to turn to 1 Peter chapter 5. I want you to turn there and I
want you to hold your finger there. while we look at three other
passages. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 5. When you get there, I want you
to turn to Deuteronomy chapter 6. Deuteronomy chapter 6, and I
want you to listen closely to these verses. Deuteronomy 6, beginning in verse
10. And it shall be when the Lord
thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he swear
unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give
thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildest not, and
houses full of all good things, which thou fillest not, and wells
digged, which thou diggest not, vineyards and olive trees, which
thou plantest not, when thou shalt have eaten and be full. Then beware, lest thou forget
the Lord which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt and
from the house of bondage. The next passage is in Joshua,
the book of Joshua, chapter Joshua 24 and verse 11. And you went over Jordan and
came unto Jericho and the men of Jericho fought against you,
the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hittites
and the Girgashites the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I delivered
them into your hand. And I sent the hornet before
you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings
of the Amorites, but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow. And I have given you a land for
which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build,
and you dwell in them, of the vineyards and olive yards which
you planted not, do you eat." And then the third passage is
in Psalm 135. Psalm 135. And if you note what
it says in verse 6, It says, Whatsoever the Lord
pleased, that did he in heaven and in earth, in the seas, and
all deep places. Then part of that is in verse
10. He says, Who smote great nations,
and slew mighty kings, Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og
king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan, and gave their land
for an heritage, and heritage unto Israel his people. Thy name, O Lord, endureth forever,
and thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations. I wonder do you really realize
what all those passages are saying. God gave all the land of Canaan, all the crops, all the vineyards,
all the houses, and all the possessions of the people of that land to
Israel. He just gave every bit of it,
lock, stock, and barrel, to the children of Israel. And I think I can hear someone
say, as a matter of fact, it's almost always said, that's not
fair. And you'd be exactly right. That's not fair. That's grace. That's exactly what that is. That's grace. And that response is the same
natural response to salvation by grace. To the sovereign grace of God
in Christ. That's the natural response to
the gospel of grace. But there are really a few things
that we need to understand right in the outset. And that is, first
of all, as we read in Psalm 135, the Lord did what He did because
it pleased Him. Everywhere in every place and
with everything, He always does what pleases Him. As a matter
of fact, the psalmist says that He did. And most of the things
that we find naturally offensive and rise up to defy and say that
he can't do that, they're the things that he already has done. That he did, heaven, earth, beneath
the earth, and in deep places, he did what pleased him. And the second thing we ought
to realize is this, it all belonged to him. Every piece of ground,
every vineyard, every grape, every grain of wheat, whatever
it was, everything in all those houses, it all belongs to God. He has the title deed to it. He is the sovereign Lord of all
the universe. And He says this, can I do with
my own what I will? I ask you that, can God not do
with His own what He will? Well, regardless of what we say,
that's what He's done, and that's what He'll always do. And not
only that, we need to remember this, neither of these groups
deserved anything. They didn't, either one, not
the Israelites and not the people of the land of Canaan, they didn't,
either one, deserve anything but the wrath and judgment of
God. And we ought always to remember
this, and that is, whatever God does, it's not our good that
is His first concern, it is His glory. He does what will give
Him all the glory. And that is nowhere any more
true than it is in this salvation which He has wrought and given
to a people in the Lord Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact,
when Moses sought after all he had seen, And yet he is still
seeking from God, asking God, show me thy glory. And so God
manifests himself to Moses and he says this to him, he says,
I will make all my goodness pass before thee. That means that God's great glory
is his goodness. His great glory, as we find in
this book, is His grace. His great glory is in the sovereignty
of His grace. Because He says, And I will proclaim
the name of the Lord before thee, and I will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show
mercy. We fly into the face of that. We flaunt so-called free will
in the face of that. He could have said, I won't be
gracious to anybody. But rather than that and rather
than there being anything found in any center, anywhere, at any
time, Rather being moved toward us because of anything in us,
he simply, as I would say, retreated into his sovereignty in his right
as God to act like God. Thank God, pastor, the Lord has
revealed himself to us and he has shown himself to be a God
that acts like God. And as that God who does whatever
He will, gives whatever He will to whomever He will, He says,
I will be gracious. Gracious. As a matter of fact,
back here in 1 Peter chapter 5, the Apostle Peter, he describes
Him as the God of all grace. Did you hear that? Not grace
from this one or not grace from that God or this God. He is the
God of all grace. Look at verse 10 of chapter 5
in 1 Peter. He says, but the God of all grace. who have called us unto His eternal
glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while,
make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion
for ever and ever. Amen. And then notice what he says.
Thou Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you as I suppose I have
written briefly exhorting and testifying that this is the true
grace of God wherein ye stand. Now if there is true grace, and
my friend there is true grace, If there is true grace, there
must also be false grace. And everywhere I look and listen
in this day, especially in all the halls of religion at this
hour, there are all kinds of expressions about the grace of
God. But most of it, I'm afraid, is
false grace. You see, this is the grace of
God. As it is pictured in all of these
instances, Peter calling Him the God of all grace, His grace
is the way He says it is, and if we receive grace, we'll have
to get it from Him. There's just one God. One God. And He is the God of
all grace. Do you need grace? If you need
grace, if you need something else, there's no good news for
you. But if you need grace, it'll
have to be from the God of all grace. And His grace is the only
true grace that there is and it is set forth in the gospel
of the grace of God. Here is one over here talking
about the gospel and another talking about the gospel. And
all the time they are just simply telling men what they are to
do. This is the gospel of the grace
of God. And all who are truly saved,
all who will ever be truly saved, they are saved by God's grace. And if we know anything about
what even the word grace means, we'd have to know that one thing
that is essential to grace is the exclusion of every human
work. You see, God is obviously picturing. He's given us in these clearest
of illustrations something about what His grace really is and
He shows us it is totally opposed to works. Did you hear what He
says in all those instances? You're eating vineyards from
vineyards you didn't plant. You're living in houses that
you don't dwell, you didn't build. You're reaping harvests from
fields that you didn't plant. Why does He go to all that trouble,
all these times, and I assure you, many more to show us that grace excludes
all human works. I know you're familiar with Ephesians
and the second chapter. Turn over to Ephesians chapter
2. Because there can never be in
any measure, any mixture, with grace of anything. Suppose I told you tonight, I
suppose I have a glass of water here somewhere. It's down right
here. I've got a glass of water. And
I say, this is a nice glass of water and all I'm going to do
is put one drop of strychnine in this water. Would you drink it? You say, well, no, I wouldn't
drink it. And I'd say to you, well, it's mostly water. And the most easily polluted
thing in this world is not water. It's grace. You see, salvation is by grace.
And so he says here in Ephesians chapter 2 to these believers
at Ephesus and to believers in every age, in verse 8, he says,
for by grace are ye saved. He didn't say you can be saved.
He said, by grace you are saved. You are being saved in its entirety. For by grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works. Lest any man should boast. Absolutely. Absolutely. That means there
are no conditions. Do you hear me? No conditions. If there were any conditions,
the whole thought, the whole principle, the whole meaning
of grace would be not grace. No conditions. But I'll tell
you what I hear in this day. They say something like this,
salvation is by grace, but it's conditioned on faith. Did you
hear what I said? No conditions. If you notice
what Paul writes here in verse 8 of Ephesians 2, he says, for
by grace are you saved through faith. Salvation by grace is
not disassociated from faith, but he makes sure we know that
it's not on the condition of faith because he says, and that
not of yourselves is what? The gift of God's grace. Salvation is not conditioned
on faith. Salvation is not conditioned. Because when we speak of something
being conditioned on something, it implies the possibility of
non-accomplishment. Salvation is in Christ. Salvation
is by grace. And all the grace of God is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the gift of God. And then
somebody said, well, yes, but it's conditioned on repentance.
Nope, that's grace. That's grace. All the Lord's
people, they repent. That repentance is toward God.
Somebody said, well, you got to repent all your sins. I don't
even know all my sins. today is right. Repentance is
toward God. It means I had wrong ideas, wrong
thoughts, wrong doctrines, if you will, wrong ideas about God. And associated with that is faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. But repentance is a gift of God.
That's why we don't browbeat people and beat them and bruise
them and make them worry and fret and all that kind of stuff,
all that physically and mentally induced guilt. Paul writes to Timothy and he
said, the servant of God, the preacher of grace, preacher of
the gospel, He says, in meekness, instructing those that oppose
themselves, if God, peradventure, will give them repentance, to
the acknowledging of the truth. You see, if you repent, and all
God's people will repent, are repenting, God gives it to us. He gives
us faith. He gives us repentance. He gives
every grace. And all who will be finally and
fully saved and enter into God's holy heaven, they were all chosen
in grace. They're all redeemed by grace. They'll all be called by grace. And they'll all be kept by grace.
You see, grace doesn't just get us in the door. Grace doesn't
just get us over the hump as we say. It's always grace. It's always grace. And true grace,
it doesn't soul God. It satisfies God. True grace is righteous grace. And true grace meets man in his
true condition and honors God in his true character. Turn over to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5, most marvelous
passage of Scripture. Because in Romans chapter 5,
Paul is led by the Spirit in the wisdom of God's Spirit to
show us that man's salvation is the same as man's fall as
far as a principle is concerned. You say, what do you mean? He
shows each is in one man. Let me ask you this. Were you
there when you fell in Adam? Did you eat that fruit? You say,
no, I didn't. No, but the representative man
did. The one we call the federal head
of all his race, he did. And on that principle, Paul goes
on to say here, comparing and contrasting these two men, the
first Adam and the last Adam, that we all, by the same principle,
being in one man, come to a state and a condition. But the results are very different.
You say, why would God, why would God bring all of Adam's race
to be represented by a man who falls, because they are all just
like him. But most of all, show that he
can by another man. Show them grace. Now listen to
what he says here in Romans chapter 5, beginning in verse 51. He says, but not as the offense,
so also is the free gift. They are alike in some ways,
they come to us by one man, but the results are much different.
For if through the offense of one, or the one, many be dead,
much more, what? The grace of God. How in the world does anybody
expect to know anything about the grace of God outside of the
Lord Jesus Christ? Don't even utter grace on your
lips apart from Christ. The grace of God and the gift
by grace which is by one man, Jesus Christ. What's that next
line? Hath abounded unto many. In other words, the many that
Adam represented, which is all of us, we all fell in him. But all who are in Christ, all
who received the gift of God's grace in Christ, that's abounded to many. And
not as it was by one that sin, so is the gift, for the judgment
was by one to condemnation, but the free gift. You know we're such a skeptical
society now. And rightly so. Would you like
this free gift? Send in $20 and we'll send it
to you. They say there's no free lunch.
No there's not, but there's a free salvation. It's by grace. And the free gift is of many
offenses under justification. For if by one man's offense death
reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace
and the gift of righteousness. shall reign in life by one Jesus
Christ." The gift of righteousness? You
see, that's the only way a sinner ever gets righteousness. By a
free gift. By the Lord Jesus Christ and
His righteousness. That's the only way any of us
get righteous. And that's the way it's always been. Therefore,
as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. He's talking about Adam there.
But even so, by the righteousness of one, or the one, Christ, the
free gift came upon all men under justification of life. All one
represents, Phil, that's everybody, and all the other represent God's
elect. He justifies them. I love that
word. He declares me in Christ what
I'm not in myself. What is that? That's grace. That's
just grace. For as by one man's disobedience
the many were made sinners, so by the obedience of the one the
many shall be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Super abound, I believe it is. And he says that as sin hath
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness. Grace doesn't mean God does wrong.
Grace means God does right in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I'm a just God and a
Savior. And so grace of necessity, if
God show it, if He's the righteous God as He declares Himself to
be, then His grace has to be righteous grace. What is righteous
grace? It's the grace of God in Christ.
And so all grace is not only from God, it is in Christ Jesus
and it is not God merely making salvation available or offering
it or making it possible. Grace is God in action saving. Could you hear Paul and Silas? Paul says to Silas and those
other believing prisoners in the jail, now would you fellas
hum a few bars for me while I give this invitation to this jailer? Maybe he'll be saved. Maybe he'll walk down through
the door of the cell here or something. Maybe he'll pray the
sinner's prayer. As our brother said, grace is
God buttoned in. That's what he says to these
Ephesians. You were dead in trespasses and
sin, you followed the course of this world, you were in slavery
to the prince of this world, and you were by nature the children,
like the children of wrath. That's what you were by nature,
but you were the children of grace. He said, but God. Who is rich
in mercy? Oh, I'm telling you, if you and
I, if we're ever saved, the only way we ever could be saved is
for God to but in. to intercept us. For grace being
more than just a benevolent feeling toward us, but grace being God
in action, actually saving us. Somebody said, well you know
God loves everybody. No, He doesn't. If He did, He'd
save everybody. Wouldn't you if all your children
and you're able to do something for them to preserve them, what
will you do for them? I'll tell you this, don't ever
say what you won't do for them. Because before you die, you probably
will. That's right. I've spent quite a few years
doing what I said I'd never do. You know anything about that? Well,
that's a long story. But God is not like us. His will is the will that determines
everything. His love is the love that He
sets on His people, determining, purposing, and powerfully saving
them all of grace. You say, why is it all of grace? Because He knows, as He showed
us time and time again with the nation of Israel, that we never
have it were it not for grace. Oh, I know how we are. We're
just like those Israelites. They said to Moses, if you'll
tell us what God wants us to do, we'll do it. He told them. They never did. They never got one thing from
God based on their obedience to any command, any law, anywhere,
at any time, in any place. What they got. They got by grace,
didn't they John? That's it, the grace of God.
You see, if you turn back a page or two to Romans chapter 3, listen
to Paul. If you like universal statements,
as they seem to do in our day, here's one in verse 23 of Romans
3. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. There's your universal one. But to these believers, he writes
to in Rome, listen to what he says in that next verse. Being
justified freely. Freely. That's that word that God used
a long time before this particular epistle was written, when he
was using Hosea and his love toward Gomer as a picture of
his love and salvation for his people. What did he say? I love them freely. I will love them freely. And when they said concerning
the attitude of men toward the Lord Jesus Christ, they used
that same word too. But they translated that word
without a cause. Being justified without any cause
in ourselves. You say, but. There are no buts
following grace. being or having been justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. That's grace. It doesn't depend
on what we do. It's always depended on what
He does. Absolutely without a doubt. And there is not one aspect of
salvation that is not all of God's grace in Christ. And you
can't add to grace, and you can't take away from grace, and you
can't make it better, because it's complete. Complete in Him. That's grace. And that means that at no point
before or after our conversion is what we do any part of the
ground of our salvation. Now you better not talk about
that preacher. Because these folks, they'll
go right on out and sin. You dummies, don't you know that's
what you're already doing? That I can't do anything that's
not sin. That the plowing of the wicked
is sin. That the words I speak, they're
sin. The deeds I do, the thoughts I think. And they're that way
because I'm a sinner. So if everything I do is tainted
and polluted and defiled by sin because the one who does it is
a sinner, how can I be saved but by grace? Paul said, let me tell you something. You sow, you will not have anything
to boast in. He said, of Him, God has made Christ all wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Now I'm not real
smart, but I think that's the whole ball of salvation. Wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification? by grace. It's not grace enabling
you to do better, it's grace in Christ having done everything. That's right. So that he that glorieth, let
him glory in the Lord. You see, sovereign grace is the
only, only gospel It's the only way that we can be saved and
it's the only way that God could assure that we wouldn't try to
steal a little bit of the glory. You know you will. I mean to
your dying day. You ever hear that little nursery
rhyme about little Jack Thumb? Stuck in his finger, pulled out
a plumbing. What did he say? Oh, what a good boy am I. That's us. That's why we have to continually,
continually, continually, continually preach the gospel of grace. In our moments of pride, It's
the only thing that brings us down. In our moments of despair,
it's the only thing that lifts us up. It's a perfect gospel. And all the believers' trials,
and all our experiences, and all our labors, and all our troubles,
or whatever, they don't make us better. They just show God's grace. And all of the redeemed, they
will persevere simply because they're preserved. They say,
do you believe in the perseverance of the saints? I do by the preservation
of God. It's all of grace. They're never
able to glory in any part of salvation because they're saved
all together by grace. I'll say, this is the way it
is, so where's boasting? It's excluded. I hear people all the time. They're,
oh, yes, preacher, we believe the same thing you do. We believe
in salvation by grace. Oh, is that right? Well, what do you attribute your
salvation to? Well, I'll tell you, I am not
grace anymore. When it begins with I. I believed. I did this. I walked
down the aisle. I had this experience. No, that's
not grace. Grace always begins with what
God does. What God has done. And He says,
who makes you to differ? And what do you have that you
didn't receive as a gift? And if you received it, what
is your glory in it? If you are saved by grace, what
are you doing tooting your own horn about it? In the first chapter of Ephesians,
where Paul in a long statement, about 14 verses or so, he begins
by blessing and praising the Godhead. He talks about the work
of the Father in salvation, in grace, choosing us in Christ
before the world began. And what does He say? To the
praise of the glory of His grace. He talks about the Son, He says,
in whom we have forgiveness, the forgiveness of sin, redemption.
To the praise of the glory of His grace. He talks about the
Spirit of God calling us and revealing the truth to us and
sealing us. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. That's grace. And what about our growth? We
always get around to that, don't we? What about our growth? There's a church near where I
live, or a religious institution, and they're always passing out
these pamphlets. It always says the same thing,
come grow with us. Let me tell you this, you gotta
be alive to grow. And you'll never be made alive,
but by God Himself in grace. And if He makes you alive, you
will grow, but you'll grow in grace. Does that mean you're
getting smarter? Does that mean you're getting
this or that or the other better? I'll tell you what I believe
it means to grow in grace. I believe those who truly grow
in grace, they grow more and more to see their need of grace.
And they grow more and more to see that the only way that they
could be saved is by grace. And they grow more and more to
see that all grace is in Christ. And it's all through His substitutionary
death. That offensive cross, I'm not
talking about the symbol either. I'm talking about the one hanging
on that cross as the savior of sinners. That cross, the preaching of
the cross that Paul said is so naturally offensive to us. You mean to tell me that the
only way God will accept me is for somebody to die in my place? No, not just somebody, His Son
in your place. We're so vile and wicked and
lost and helpless that the only way that the thrice holy God
could be gracious to us is for himself to take on a human body,
a sinless perfect body, and fulfill the law in this great sense,
to die the death of the cross. Because that's what God said.
The soul that sinneth shall surely die. That's the righteous grace of
God. And when he hung on that cross,
neighbor, he said, it is finished. And that means what I do and
what I do can't change what is finished. And I'm so glad. I don't think I ever finished anything
in my life. I got more projects. I've had
more hobbies. Do not say anything, woman. It's the truth. I know that. As a matter of fact, when the
Lord saved me and I began to preach the gospel, somebody said,
He won't last that long. They were right if it was left
up to me. But it's by grace. Surprises me. Oh, the gospel of God's grace
is so perfect. First of all, it glorifies God. That's what you said. The gospel
of grace is the only message that actually glorifies God in
its entirety. But not only that, when the grace
of God is preached, the free, sovereign grace of God in Christ,
when it's proclaimed, it does a perfect work, it will find
out the worksmonger, the liberal, The legalist, it'll find them
out. I'm from North Carolina, we have
a lot of sayings. One saying was, if you throw
a rock in a pack of dogs, the one that's hit will squeal. And you just preach the gospel
of free grace. Salvations of the Lord. A to
Z, everything in between. Not of works lest any man should
boast. And it'll find them out, soon
or later. And it'll say, preacher, don't
you think that maybe you ought to be telling us how to live? Don't you think you ought to
be telling us about the family and marriage and all these things? Don't you think the children
need to hear these things? I can interpret that for you.
We don't want to hear about grace. I don't know about you, but a
long time ago I knew more about those things that I could do.
In the face of my failures, I need
grace. I need grace. But it'll not only
do that, I'll tell you what else it'll do. And that's too much
grace for the legalist. But it also shows and reveals
and manifests the truly lawless ones. They'll show themselves. They'll say, well, let's just
sin that grace might abound. I can sin all I want to because
I'm saved by grace. You know nothing about grace. But I'll tell you what else it'll
do. It'll be used of God to call out His sheep, like that old
jailer. And it'll be used of God to comfort
His sheep. Our Lord likened us to an ear
of corn. And that ear of corn in its youth
and all as it begins to first grow and sprout and come up and
that ear progresses and oh, it's just so stately looking, standing
there soaking up the sunshine, but the older it gets, it bows down to the ground. And the more we grow in grace,
find out and realize and are taught of God how much we need
it, how it really is the only way we could ever be saved, by
one outside of ourself, all together. The more we hear about that,
realize that, the more we need to hear about that. God calls. his people, shows them that need, and they'll say, Lord, save me
or I perish. I don't know about you, but I'm
really about it at that point every day. If you don't save me by your
grace, 100% grace, I'm a goner. I'm an absolute goner. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. And I'll tell you this, grace
is the only thing that truly motivates the people of God. The Lord has been so merciful
to me. Sin not. God has delivered me from so
much Sin not. But when any man sin, he has
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And when the last sinner is saved
by grace, when the last stone is made alive and set in that
building, the church, it will be, as the old prophet said,
with shoutings of grace, And grace is so contrary to our
nature. It's so contrary to human flesh
now. I mean well-meaning human flesh,
if there be such a thing. It's so contrary to us we'll
even sing about how much I owe. Now let me assure you of something.
I know that Christ deserves everything. He deserves all the glory. But I don't owe anything. That's
contrary to grace. Or we might sing this song. Jesus
paid it all, all to Him. Really all the debt I owe. I don't owe Him anything. But because of His grace to me,
I won't. It's not duty. It's not a pressure
put on me. My heart grieves because I don't
praise Him enough. Don't give Him all the glory.
Don't live to His honor. But I want to. I want to. And the fact that I want to,
that's grace. That's grace. It's God's grace. And it's perfect. And it's in Christ. And it's
the only way anybody's saved.