Well, it's been a delight to
be here. Brother Gary already gave me
a check. He told me if I didn't preach
well, he'd stop paying me before I got a new seat. Thank you to the dear Boring
Girls for that beautiful song. Turn in your Bibles please to
Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5, I just want
to read one or two verses of scripture, but mostly look at
verse 20. Paul says, moreover, the law
entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. The fifth chapter of Romans is
a study of the things that confound the flesh it establishes the fact that
Christ came into this world to save sinners and the driving
force behind that word of salvation was the love of God the love
of God for ruined and depraved men and women who were neither
righteous nor good, and were even enemies of his. And also established in the chapter
is the truth that sin and death entered into this world by one
man, a man named Adam, and that all men that proceeded from his
loins were born in sin and transgression against God. And they were dead
spiritually as they entered this world. And they were naturally sentenced
to death because they were guilty before the law of God. This is called the doctrine of
imputation. And this is the glorious truth
in that it sets forth Adam as a figure of the Lord Jesus Christ. in verse 14 it says nevertheless
death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that did not sin
after the similitude of Adam's transgression who was a figure
of him that was to come Adam was a figure of Christ in his
representative character and those whom he represented received
from him what he did and therein he pictured the Lord Jesus Christ
for those whom he represented received from him what he did
by his sacrifice by his one sacrifice death for sin he saved all whom
he represented in that death every one of them and made them
to stand wonder of all in a perfect accepted righteousness before
the thrice holy God where God said I will remember their sin
no more scripture says and Adam all died even so in Christ shall
all be made alive this is the declaration of God's
sovereign eternal grace And Paul concludes this great chapter
by assuring believers that salvation is by grace, by sovereign grace,
and not by the law. For he says in verse 20, moreover
the law entered. That means, first of all, that
the law is not eternal. There was a time it entered.
In Galatians Paul said that the law came because of transgression. it came because of transgression
this is the law entered for one reason that the offense might
abound that's why Paul told Timothy that there were some that were
did some vain jangling in their preaching and they were trying
to bring believers back under the law and what they were doing
they were saying believers weren't actually saved by Jesus Christ
but because the law makes the offense abound, not be forgiven. But then he says this, which
is an astounding statement. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. What a statement. Where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. And this truth of the grace of
God is the soul's food of the redeemed sinner. But it never
will and never has made sense to the flesh. It doesn't make
sense to my flesh. It doesn't make sense to your
flesh. It only makes sense if God has
given you his spirit. And by that you can take the
things of Christ are taken and given unto you. It makes no sense
to the carnal nature. Where sin hath abounded, grace
did much more abound. The corrupt mind cannot perceive
or receive the concept of grace, and it cannot believe it. The
natural man, scripture says, receiveth not the things of the
Spirit, they are foolishness to them, neither can he know
them nor discern them, because they are spiritually discerned.
But the spiritual man discerneth all things, yet he is discerned
of none." We have in ourselves, of which we're born, we have
a natural logic about things. And that's what we deal with
when we tell folks about the gospel. We're dealing with folks,
if they don't know Christ, we're dealing with folks who have a
natural logic. And it's not an illogical thing. The human nature
of man, the carnal nature of man, man himself operates in
a scheme, a mindset that is reasonable and logical to him. The flesh
believes that if you work real hard you ought to be rewarded
for it. Don't you believe that in the
natural realm? You work real hard and hopefully you get a
promotion, you make more money and you'll be able to buy a house
and things like that. That's a natural, reasonable
thought. But that's not God's thought.
God says if you work real hard you won't get anything. God says I'll give you everything
or you don't have anything. but God's thoughts are not our
thoughts neither is ways our ways but that's a natural logical
response so when we talk about the grace of God there is a natural
logical response of the flesh and it never understands or perceives
or grasps anything that we're talking about our natural logic
is tainted and warped by sin but it's still a formidable characteristic
of humanity by which human beings set up principles of morality
And they use as a compass by which humanity navigates its
existence. And when sovereign grace, and
there is no other kind of grace than sovereign grace, when it
is preached it evokes a visceral, gut-felt response in the minds
and hearts of men. It can't be avoided. It can't
be avoided. Even those who've been saved
by grace, often struggle with the fact that where sin abounds,
grace doth much more abound. We struggle with that concept. Now we know it's true, and God
has given us faith to believe it, but men have written things
like, "'Tis a point I long to know, and often gives me anxious
thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am
I His or am I not?" Have you ever said to yourself, how can
I be saved? and act this way. How can I be
saved and think this way? You know what that is? That's
the flesh. That's a reasonable answer to the grace of God. That's how we naturally think
about these things. Human natural logic holds to
what the Hindus would call karma. And that is the flesh thinks
that good begets good and bad begets bad. The flesh cannot
believe that a generous philanthropist can ever be accounted in the
same category as a murderer or a thief or a pedophile. We feel
that way. it just doesn't wash when those
planes flew into the towers in New York we were so mad at those
rotten sorry people those vile creatures well that was an act
of faith that they did there you know it was wrong faith false
faith but it was an act of faith it was a faith based thing that
they did them sorry no good people just like us except for the grace of God Isn't
that right? We don't like to think. Don't
our flesh rebel against that. I ain't that way. I wouldn't
fly no plane until you wouldn't do. You know if it wasn't for
the law, wasn't for the grace of God, somebody pulled out in
front of you on a highway and you'd shoot them if you had a
gun. You know it. It's true. You felt that way.
You felt that way. There is a way that seemeth right
unto man, the end thereof are the ways of death, but they are
nonetheless the ways that seem right unto man. They seem right
unto man. The flesh is appalled when bad
things happen to good people. It is appalled when good things
happen to bad people. It is a truth that sin has a
natural course. We know that. And no good will
ever come of it. But even David had trouble with
the concept that those who serve God often suffer and are poor. When good people suffer, he said,
he gets mad because bad people don't seem to suffer much. That's
what he said. Look over at Psalm 73 just for
a moment. Here are the words of David.
Now this is the apple of God's eye, the hero of the Old Testament,
the great king whose throne our Lord inherited. A man after God's own heart. In
verse 3 he says, For I was envious of the foolish when I saw the
prosperity of the wicked. No bans in their death, that
the strength is firm. They're not in trouble as other
men. Neither are they plagued like other men. It didn't wash
with him. He looked at that and spoke along
those lines. And what our Lord is teaching
about this is we never get over this. We never get past this
way of thinking. Grace to the natural man. to
the natural mind just seems to be wrong. And to preach it and
believe it will cause men to say that you are saying things
you never said. They said to Paul in chapter 3 of this very
same book, well, you're saying that we ought to sin so we could
get more grace. Chapter 3 and verse 8. That's
what you're saying. And people say things like that.
That's the way the natural mind thinks. Have somebody ever said
to you after you told them the gospel, you're saying I'm not
saved. I've never said that to anybody. Have you ever said that
to anybody? I never have. Maybe that's what
they're hearing. It's what their flesh is hearing
when you talk about the free grace of God that before the
world began chose whom he would save. That before the world began
Jesus Christ became their surety and assumed their sin debt so
they never owed God a thing even before they existed. and they
came into this world sinners all guilty all but never responsible
for the payment of their debt well that's crazy talk yeah it
is and it doesn't make any sense to the flesh doesn't make any
sense to the flesh but the truth is solid it's unchangeable where
sin hath abounded grace has much more about it and only the spiritual
mind can and does embrace this wondrous illogical truth and
that by God-given faith alone because it will never make sense
to our flesh it will never make sense to our flesh Paul addressed
the state of human logic in the epistle of Romans perhaps more
than any other epistle that he wrote When he declared the truth
of grace in a particular aspect, he always addressed the fact
that the flesh would rebel against it in a particular way. He addressed
the fact of grace would engender a particular response from the
flesh. And when you talk grace, you're
going to get the same answer just about every time. Paul was
a lawyer, and being a lawyer, he never asked a question he
didn't know the answer to already. For our benefit, the Holy Spirit
inspired the Apostle to address the natural response of the flesh
to spiritual truth. Not only so when we tell folks
and they look cross-eyed at us and think, what in the world
are we talking about? Then when our response to the gospel is
that way, we might understand it. Paul said forth, and we'll
look at three times tonight, I'll be quick. I know it's evening
and I know you'd like to get home. So I won't take long. The flesh's response to grace,
we'll look at three things. And look at it as a if and then
scenario. The first is our text. The last
phrase of verse 20, once again, where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. What is the logical Carnal response
to such a bold statement we find it in verse 1 of chapter 6 What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? That's the natural
response isn't it? Holy Spirit told us that's what
our flesh and how the flesh of men would respond. What should
we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
It seems a logical argument to me. It seems a logical argument
to my flesh. If grace super abounds where
sin abounds, then if we sin more we ought to get more grace. Does
that make sense? Of course it makes sense to nature
and to the flesh. The heart of such a response
is born of natural religion of the flesh, that grace is a result
of something, is a result of doing something, or not doing
something. Generally folks think that grace
is a kind of reward God has given for good works. But when confronted
with the fact of grace, being for sinners only, Then the flesh
responds, well, let's do evil so that we can get some grace.
That's the natural response of it. These texts do not say because
of sin, grace abounds. It just simply states the fact
of God's thoughts that are so much higher than ours. The truth
that no matter the sin, no matter the extent of the sin, no matter
the depravity in which it is manifest, sin is no match for
grace. Where sin hath abounded, grace
did much more abound. Sin, in fact, is not even taken
into consideration in the matter of grace. Grace is just bestowed.
It's just bestowed. It's unmerited favor. What does
that mean? Just that. It's favor that you don't merit. Favor that you don't merit. We're
dead in trespasses and sins by nature. And if you're in Christ,
you died in Christ when He died on Calvary's tree. And you're
no longer under the law, which is the sentence of death, because
you've already died. You've died in Christ. Over in
verse 14 of chapter 6, it says, For sin shall not have dominion
over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace. That
says if you're under the law, sin dominates you. Sin rules
you. Sin has reigned unto death, it says. How can I tell you?
Sin is reign under dead, but you're not under the law. You're
under grace. What does that mean? You're dead to the law. You're
dead The law is dead to you and you are alive in Jesus Christ
and that's because God has shown you grace You mean we're not
under the law. What kind of what starts with
the flesh given that we're not under the law We got to have
some kind of rules bridges escape people run around willy-nilly. I want you to run around willy-nilly.
I Just be as willy-nilly as you can be. I'm serious. The gospel
sets men free. It does not put any shackles
or any bonds on them to the place where they themselves under God's
rule and care are told, make whatever decision you want. Paul
said, nothing is unlawful to me. Not all things are profitable. And so we make a decision. Does
this edify our brother and sister? Does it edify me? Does it help
me? Is it expedient? Well, maybe I shouldn't do that.
But you're free to do it. Only those things which God prohibits
you're not free to do. But when God says everything
else, you're free to do that. You're that free. But religion
says that can't be. That can't be. We gotta have
some rules and regulations. When you get saved, you get really
saved. Some things happen, people say, you know. You get really
saved, you put down them cigarettes. I ain't really saved you. If
you get really saved, you'll stop going to the dance hall.
I remember one fella told me one time, a preacher told me,
back in the days of his false religion, that he went to one
of these camp meetings and got saved. Yeah, you know, that kind
of saved. And a couple of months later,
he saw the preacher that had preached his salvation message, and he
said to him, he says, preacher, I got a problem. This was back
in the 60s, late 60s and early 70s. He says, I got a problem. Preacher said, what's your problem,
son? He said, well, you know these girls wearing these miniskirts.
He said, I just can't seem to stop looking at them girls wearing
them miniskirts. And the preacher says, well,
you ever get really saved, you won't have a problem with that. Yeah, you will. Yeah, you will. The people think along those
lines. Secondly, when the natural mind
hears of the election of grace, that God chose to save some,
that God loved some before the foundation of the world, the
flesh responds to that idea with the idea of equity. It don't
seem right, preacher. doesn't seem fair. We like to talk about universal
love. You know, everybody loved God
love everybody. That's what we want to tell people.
I'll say to you, it wouldn't wash in any circumstance for
anybody that sat in this room. Imagine if you will stand Marlene
going out to dinner, candlelight dinner and Stan looks across
the candle at Marlene says, honey, I love you and all the rest of
the women in the world. Now he would probably see how
wrong he was in about a week when the swelling went down he
could open his eyes again. But that's, you know, it's a
stupid thing to think, isn't it? Love never acts like that. Love is always particular, and
that bothers the flesh. Because they think, well, God
created all men, then He must love all men. Surely He loves
all men, but He doesn't. Surely He loves all men. I listened
to several preachers on one day just to see what they were saying
because they were having some kind of conference on electing
grace and they all responded to what they read the scripture
that God had of old chosen whom he would save by his grace and
they declared the existence of the doctrine of election by adamantly
omitting it from the Bible. They wanted to take it out of
the Bible altogether on the basis of fairness. It just isn't fair. If God loved one and chose one
to salvation simply because that's what he did, then that would
not be fair to the others. And to assure that men understood
the principle of grace, Paul chose two characters when he
talked about elections, two characters that proved to be polar opposites
in their lives. One would live to be a man's
man, and the other would be a mama's boy. One would be a liar and
a cheat, trick his father, steal his brother's birthright, and
even his name meant supplanter or cheat. The other would be
someone folks would like to know because he was a deer hunter
and he made venison stew and he was a man's man. The rub is this, that before
either one of them were born, while they were still in their
mother's womb scripture saying neither having done any good
or evil God loved one and hated the other he chose one and disregarded
the other scripture says it in Romans chapter
9 verse 11 for the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It is said
unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written,
Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. And this, the way
this is worded leaves no doubt that the intent of it was to
teach that grace was unconditional and particular and most assuredly
not merited. The flesh has a logical but gut
reaction to this and they say simply, that ain't right. That's not fair. Verse 14, what shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. God forbid. Paul goes on to say,
that's just how God operates. If you read the rest of Romans
9, that sets everything in order. It teaches the doctrine of full
employment for the universe. Absolute employment. You know
everybody's got a job in God's factory. Everybody's got a job
in God's universe. Some jobs are temporary jobs. Their men are put in positions
and they will fulfill their job and then they will be discarded
like a pot of clay that's of no longer use. But they'll be
employed and they'll be used and they will fulfill God's purpose.
Then there are those whom God will make on the potter's wheel
as trophies of His grace. They're out of the same love,
the same Adamic love these two are made. One are made to honor,
the other to dishonor. One is made to destroy, the other
is made to show forth the glory of God's grace. But everybody
gets a job. Because God is absolutely sovereign.
And this is the way He operates. This is the way he operates.
Everybody here is going to serve the purpose of God. You're going
to honor God. You're going to glorify God.
And everybody that walks out on these streets and everybody
that walks and rides and wriggles upon the faces of the earth is
going to honor God and glorify God. And it's all going to be
for the glory of His grace even if He destroys them in His wrath.
Because God's salvation always involves and must involve the
destruction of the enemy. It must involve. That's why when
we're talking about being in sin, we're talking about being
held captive. We're talking about being in
shackles and bonds. We're talking about being in
jail. We're talking about being in a cave. We're talking about
being held by someone. In order for us to be released,
in order for us to be taken from our captor, that captor must
be destroyed. For Israel to escape Egypt, Egypt
had to be drowned in the bottom of the sea. For Christ to save
us he must go into the strong man's house and dethrone him
and take from him his spoils. Now Satan served his purpose.
He serves it yet today. He will perish. He is one of
those vessels made to destroy. And he will be used of God to
sift Peter like wheat. He will be used of God to give
Job the hardest time any man could ever imagine having. And
then he will be tossed aside into the lake of fire, and yet
he will have glorified God in everything God appointed him
to do. Why? Because that's just how God operates. And he chooses something to salvation.
aren't you glad? It chooses some to salvation.
It is God's glory to operate in this matter. It's God's glory. Thirdly, when the fact of this
is declared, the fact that grace is sovereign, the sovereign attribute
of God, that it is bestowed on whom God chooses to bestow it
on and withheld from whom God withholds it. The flesh responds
in arrogance and hubris. Romans 9.19, Thou wilt say. Now this is the
flesh talking. Well, what's he talking about?
Well, let's look back just a little bit. Verse 15, For he saith unto
Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but God that showeth
mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same
purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in
thee, that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore
he hath mercy on whom he hath mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
And the flesh says, God is that sovereign He's that sovereign to do what
He will with every creature on this earth and use them exactly
as He sees fit to fulfill His purpose of glorifying Him. He's
that sovereign? The flesh says, well, why doth He yet find fault? For who hath resisted His will? This is arrogance and hubris,
but it's nonetheless the response of the flesh. If this is how
God is, and that's how He does things, then how can He hold
me responsible for what I am? That makes perfect sense to the
flesh, doesn't it? Makes perfect sense to the flesh.
How can He hold me responsible for what I am? It's logical to
the flesh. If sovereign mercy and grace
are true, then it would be unfair to hold men accountable for sin.
That's what the flesh says. Paul's answer to that is simple
and it's anathema to the flesh. Paul said he is God and you're
not. How are you going to deal with that? You're going to deal
with it. Barnard said, do you think God's
a monster? Get ready to meet a monster. Because God is God and you're
not. You're not. He says you have no say in the
matter. Whether I'm a vessel made to
destroy or a vessel made for glory, I have no say. No, you
don't have any say. Well, it doesn't seem right. Well, you
don't have the right to ask. You don't have the right to answer
to it. You don't have the right because you're a creature. You're
not the creator. You don't have any rights. At the heart of the claim, unfairness,
because he does not have rights to what you own. The heart of
the flesh's response is the ignorant but universal false notion that
men own God. That's what they believe. Well,
that's what he's for. Listen to men talk. Listen to
these clowns out here that stand in pulpits day after day and
lie on God. Listen to how they talk. They
own their God. He does what they want Him to
do. They own him like stock and barrel. That's the response to
false notion. The universal false notion that
men own God and He's at their disposal when they're ready to
use Him or make use of Him rather than the opposite. It's just
the opposite. God does what He will with everything and everyone
and praise His name. He did not leave all men to themselves
but loved some and chose some and saved some out of every kindred,
nation, tongue, and people and made them kings and priests unto
Himself. Why'd he do that? Because he's
God. He's God. And part of us, our nature will
always rebel against that. It will rebel against that till
the day we die. And then it'll stop rebelling.
Donnie and I were on the phone the other day talking about Mary
leaving this world and going to the next. We were trying to
think, I wonder what it would be like to worship God without
sin. We don't know. I wonder what
it would be like to sing his praises without involving myself. We don't know. Why? We were in
our study in Isaiah. About ten years ago I decided
I was going to try to preach all the way through the scriptures
before I died. I don't think I'm going to make
it, but I'm going to try anyway. Our Lord talking about Israel
and how it just continues to fall back into sin over and over
again said this in Isaiah 22, 14. He says, and it was revealed
in my ears by the Lord of hosts. Surely this iniquity shall not
be purged from you till you die. That's what you're
going to get rid of. If you hear these truths, and
I know that Brother Donnie stands in this pulpit day after day
and knows many ask here. These young men who are in the
congregation who are preaching here, they proclaim this glorious
truth every day. And part of you, your own nature
says, and your spirit says, Amen, Brother.
Amen and Amen. Tell me more. Tell me some more.
Tell me some more. And that nature, that flesh is
subdued by hearing that gospel. That's the only way it's subdued.
It's subdued by believing that gospel. You can't make, you can't
work up something in yourself to make yourself better. You
can't mortify the deeds of the flesh by going to the flesh as
the source of mortifying the deeds of the flesh. It's through
the spirit that it's mortified. The flesh is mortified when it
has less to eat. when it's attended to less and
the only way to attend to it less is to attend to Christ more
attend to the things of the gospel you remember old, some of you
remember old Gerald Stoniker run a fish camp down in Louisiana
he said one time These people were trying to get
their baby out of the high chair to go, and that baby wouldn't
come. He had a hold of a little old corn cob, and he was gnawing
on it, and every time they tried to get him up, he'd just scream.
It started to bother the customers. And they couldn't get that baby
to do anything. They tried to pick it up, and he'd just scream.
So Gerald went over behind the counter and picked up a Hershey
bar. Unwrapped it, held it in front
of that child, and that child smiled and grabbed hold of that
Hershey bar. Lift him up and take him home. No more tears. The gospel is that Hershey bar.
You and your flesh hold on that corn. What we do is we say this
is a Hershey bar, let go of that man. This is Christ. Are you glad he is who he is? Are you glad he tells you the
truth about yourself? I am. I am. Thank you so much
for having me. God bless you.