Notice the wonderful things you
do for us. But each day we are we are blessed
people. But more than anything, we are
blessed because we who are your born again, blood bought people
are found in the old Lord Jesus. And we thank you for your goodness
and mercy. Thank you for dying for us on the cross. We pray
you use this message to bring in your lost sheep, O Lord, through
the preaching of thy word. May you receive all the glory
and honor and praise in Jesus name. Amen. Turn, if you would, to 2 Peter. 2 Peter will continue our study. Last week we started a new study
in 2 Peter. The name of the message today
is God's Amazing Grace. God's Amazing Grace, 2 Peter. And we know from our study last
week that this book is written to God's suffering saints. Those
same ones who Peter wrote to in 1 Peter. It's called a general
epistle because it's written, it's written to all believers
in all ages. It's applicable to all believers
in all ages. It's not written to one specific
church. It's written to God's born again people. Those we see
in verse one who have obtained like precious faith. They're
born again by the Holy Spirit of God through the righteousness
of Christ. And they are They are the ones
to whom this book is written to, those who are purchased by
the blood of the Lamb, those who have been redeemed by the
blood of the Lamb. And we'll see how important that
is as we get in later on in our study, even more in the later
chapters. We'll see how important that is because many have taken
certain portions of Chapter 3 and tried to apply it to everyone.
But when you always go back to who this book is written to,
then we'll see the answer to who those people are, which is
God's people this book is written to. So let's read the first 11
verses to get the context. Simon Peter, a servant and apostle
of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith
with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus
Christ. So we see right here in the first verse that this
book is written to those who have obtained like precious faith.
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge
of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power
hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness
through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory
and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith
virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance,
and to temperance patience, and to patience goodness, and to
godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity,
which is love. And if these things be in you,
abound and abound, they make you that you shall neither be
barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar
off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
Wherefore, the rather brethren, give diligence to make your calling
and election sure. For if ye need these things,
ye shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministered
unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. So last week we looked at verse
1. Let's read that verse again. Simon Peter, a servant and apostle
of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith
with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. We looked at the precious faith,
which is here spoken of in this verse, and we know that this
faith is a common faith, and common in the sense that all
believers have this faith. There's nothing common about
Christ and nothing common about But it's called common in the
sense that there's only one faith. We have the same faith that Peter
had, we have the same faith that Paul had, we have the same faith
that John had. And it has one object that it looks to, and
that's Christ and Christ alone. Now sometimes degrees of that,
some may have strong faith, some may have weak faith. But our
faith grows too, doesn't it, as we grow in grace and knowledge
and truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we who believe, again,
have the same faith as Peter, Paul, John, which is amazing
when you think about it. And all believers through the
ages have had this one faith, one faith. And there's one object,
again, of that faith, Christ. And he's the author and finisher
of our salvation. This faith is called precious
faith because it's true saving faith. It's God's gift to his
children, he gives it to us. It's called precious faith because
whatsoever is not a faith is sin. It's called precious faith
also because absolutely no one can please God without it. You
and I cannot please God without this faith, without this faith.
Hebrews 11.6 says that. It's precious faith because when
God commands the light to shine in our hearts, every believer
through the eye of God-given faith sees the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. Again, it has one object. This
faith is precious because it has one object, and that object
is Christ. It's precious faith Faith also
because we are kept by the power of God. We don't keep ourselves.
Contrary to what religion tells people. No, we can't keep ourselves. Christ keeps us. So he's the
author of the salvation and then he's the finisher of the salvation
too. But he keeps us all in between too, beloved. It's all him. So
it's precious to the believer. It's absolutely precious. And
it's precious faith, again, because we're kept through the power
of God, through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. Note that the latter part of this verse, we see that this
precious faith is through the righteousness of God, right? And our Savior, Jesus Christ.
It's a work of God. Adam, by his, he sinned willingly,
and his disobedience plunged the whole human race into corruption,
into condemnation. Now we're all born sinners because
of Adam. And the entire being of the natural
man, body, soul, and spirit was corrupted by Adam's fall. So
we're sinners from the top of our head to the bottom of our
feet. We're sinners. We're sinners by birth, we're
sinners by nature, and we're sinners by choice. Therefore,
we can conclude from the fact that we are sinners from the
top of our head to the bottom of our feet, that there's no
righteousness in us or anything that we can do that would make
us acceptable before God. We can conclude that, can't we?
Because that's what the scripture says. There's none righteous,
no, not one. And all righteousness that we
supposedly think that we do to gain merit and favor with God
is nothing but filthy rags in the eyes of the Lord. Turn, if
you would, to Ephesians chapter 2. Now this righteousness that's
spoken of in that verse one there, through the righteousness of
God and our Savior Jesus Christ, is only through Christ and Christ
alone. And it's that righteousness, it's the righteousness of Christ
that makes us acceptable before God. Have you ever thought that
when religion tells people to do stuff and do, do, do, and
I was flipping the channels the other day and came across some
guy and I thought I'd stop and listen for a second. And you
know what this guy said? I couldn't believe it. And it's just normal.
They say this all the time. He said, if you read your Bible,
you're accepted by God. My gosh, hold on a second. What? He said that. I stopped it, rewound
it, had Vic listen to it. And Vicki said, well, my preacher
told me today the only way I'm accepted is through Christ. And
I said, well, amen. And that's it. And that's it,
isn't it? The only way we are accepted by God is through Christ,
because the believer is clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
Look at this in Ephesians. Ephesians chapter two. And let
us always remember that there's absolutely nothing in us and
nothing we did to have God impute the righteousness of Christ to
us. Right. There's nothing in us and there's
nothing we've done. that moved God to impute the
righteousness of Christ to us. Because how were we born? Dead
in trespasses and sins. And God the Holy Spirit regenerated
us, we were quickened, as the scripture says, and raised up
from the state of spiritual deadness that we were in, to life. Look
at this in Ephesians 2, verses 1-7. And you hath he quickened,
again, Paul's writing to believers, Born again, blood-washed saints,
and you hath equipped who were dead in trespasses and sins. That's our natural state. Where
in times past ye walked according to the course of the world. We
did not know we were the elect of God, and other people had
no clue we were the elect of God, because we just looked like
everyone else. That's our natural state. According to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. among whom also we had our conversations
in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of our flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others." Oh, I remember that state. We talked
about that, Charlie. I remember that state. Oh, my.
Oh, my. Praise God, He delivered me.
If you're a believer, praise God who delivered you too. But
look at this, but God who is rich in mercy. Now in those first
three verses, right? There's nothing there that would
move God to impute the righteousness of Christ to us, is there? There's
nothing. As a matter of fact, it says we were the children
of wrath even as others, so we were deserving of what? Condemnation. But look at verse four, beloved.
But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith
he loved us. Oh, he's loved us from eternity. We didn't know
that. But his eyes have been set upon his people from eternity.
Oh, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead and since hath
quickened us together. That means you're born again
with with Christ by grace. You are saved by grace, by grace,
by grace, not by works, by grace. You are saved because we were
dead and we could not make ourselves alive. We were dead in trespasses
and sins. and hath raised us up together
and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of
His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. So the
believer is a trophy of the grace of God in Christ because of absolutely
nothing we do. All because of what Christ has
done. It's wonderful. This is wonderful news for sinners
that Christ came to save sinners, isn't it? Wonderful news. Absolutely
wonderful news. And God's people rejoice in it.
So if we don't understand original sin and total depravity, we'll
never understand salvation through Christ alone, by God's grace
alone. Hebrews 1.3 says that Christ
by Himself purged our sins. He did it. He by Himself purged
the sins of His people. Look at Ephesians 2.8 and 9 in
the same chapter. For by grace are you saved through
faith and not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works. And that works there, that's
anything you can do with your mind, anything you can do physically,
anything at all. Any kind of work. We're not saved
by our works. No. Not at all. No. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. You're saved by grace. If you're saved, you're saved
by grace, and grace alone, and that is in and through Christ
Jesus alone. Nowhere else. So with that in
mind, let's go back to 2 Peter. And now consider God's amazing
grace. God's amazing grace. We'll read verses two and three
here. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge
of God and of Jesus our Lord. Look at this. According as His
divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto
life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that hath called
us to glory. We are saved according to the
divine power. Isn't that amazing? It's not
by chance or luck. It's not because someone prayed
a prayer or walked an aisle or was baptized or did this and
that. No, the believer is saved by grace and grace alone, by
the divine power of God. So think about that. You as a
believer, you are saved by the power of God, by Him exercising
His power in your life. You're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. brought to Christ, and you're granted faith and
repentance to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, all according
to God's divine power. It changes everything, doesn't
it? It's amazing. So we see that this grace is
amazing grace. And note the order. Grace always
precedes peace. Grace always comes before peace.
It says here, grace and peace be multiplied unto you. through
the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Grace always precedes
peace. Why? Because without God giving
us grace and faith, we have no peace with God. Because that
grace and that faith points us to Christ. And peace with God
is only through who? Christ Jesus our Lord. If you
don't have Christ, there's no peace with God. But if you have
Christ, you have peace with God. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. Oh, my. So in these verses, we
see God's grace, God's peace and all things that pertain unto
life and godliness comes to those who are called to glory and virtue. If God has given us like precious
faith through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, our savior,
which again was our subject last week, then he has called us to
glory and virtue, which means he has called us by his glory
and by his excellence. That's what that means. He's
called us to glory and virtue, which means, again, He's called
us by His glory and excellence. Our great sovereign God, what
does He call His sheep with? A holy calling. A holy calling. An effectual calling. Could you
resist the Holy Spirit when He called you? No. That's why it's
called irresistible grace. Irresistible grace. Oh, you can't
resist the Holy Spirit. None of us can. He's God. And
when He exercises His divine power, we are made will in the
day of His power, and we run to Christ. We flee to Christ. Turn, if you would, to 2 Timothy
1. 2 Timothy 1, and I'll read Hebrews
3, verses 1 and 2, which say, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of
our profession Christ Jesus who was faithful to him that appointed
him as Moses was faithful in all his houses. Oh this this
Collins a heavenly call in Hebrews 3 one says we're for holy brethren
partakers of the heavenly calling if you're a believer you're partaker
of a heavenly calling God by his divine power has called you
to Christ and you heard the shepherds voice didn't you just like I
did and you fled the Christ you fled the Christ all according
to God's divine Look at this in 2 Timothy 1, 9 and 10. Who has saved us? Meaning God
has saved us. And called us with what? A holy
calling. A holy calling. A holy calling. Isn't this neat? The Holy Spirit
just emphasizes again and again. Not a works. Not a works. Not a works. No, not according
to our works, but look at this, but according to his own purpose
and grace. If you're saved, it's all according
to the purpose of God. Isn't that amazing? And it's
all by his grace. It's all by his grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus when? Before the world began. That's
what it says. Well, we were chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world, weren't we? This grace
is amazing grace. And when we were born into this
world, when we were dead in trespasses and sins, we had no clue that
we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
And now that we as believers know this, we are in absolute
awe of our God, aren't we? He would choose me, who was dead
in trespasses and sins, remember Ephesians 2? Who was walking
according to this world and lust of this world, and He chose me
in eternity? You see how it's not a works?
Because we weren't even born when God chose us in Christ.
We weren't even... Oh my, isn't that amazing? It's amazing grace, beloved.
Look at verse 10. "...but is now made manifest
by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished
death, and hath bought life and immortality to light through
the gospel." Oh, our Savior has abolished death. We'll look at
that a little bit. We'll look at that a little bit in the morning's
message too. The fear of death is gone for
the believer. The sting of death is gone for
the believer. Because to be absent from the
body is to be present with the Lord. When we close our eyes
in death here and breathe our last breath, we're forever in
the presence of the Lord, we who are His people. Forever.
Forever. Oh my. You know, beloved, there is no
calling as glorious and as excellent as that call that comes from
God himself for us to turn to Christ. Turn, if you would, to
John chapter 10. John chapter 10. We see our Lord
proclaim that our great sovereign God calls his sheep with a personal,
inward, efficacious calling, which we see contrasted by the
Pharisees, which were not his sheep. We see that right here
in this text. John chapter 10, we're looking
at verses 24 to 30. The Pharisees were not his sheep.
They weren't the sheep of God, spoken of in John 10, 27 and
30. Look at this, starting in verse 24. Then came the Jews
round about him and said unto him, How long dost thou make
us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. Well, he had been, hadn't he?
He'd been proclaiming who he was, but unless the Spirit of
God reveals Christ to us, we never know. Jesus answered them, I told you
and you believe not. Look at that. He's already told
them who he was, but they don't believe. They don't believe. And you believe not the works
that I do in my father's name, they bear witness of me. So the
works that he did in his father's name bore witness that he is
God incarnate in the flesh. Or witness of who he really was. But look at this, oh, this is
a chilling verse, verse 26. But ye believe not, because ye
are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. Look at verse 27. My
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and that's genoske in the
Greek. That's an intimate relationship.
That's like a relationship that a man has with a woman, that
intimate, that a husband has with his wife, that intimate.
I know them. He knows us intimately, beloved.
He knows his sheep intimately. I know them and they follow me.
It doesn't say they might, if they make a decision, does it?
No, it says, and they follow me. But look at that verse 26,
but you believe not because you are not my sheep. And I said
unto you, my sheep hear my voice. Now remember we were dead in
trespasses and sins? The believer remembers the day
that he heard, or when we heard the voice of the shepherd through
the preaching of the gospel, don't we? Oh my. Born again by the Holy Spirit
of God. And why did we hear the voice of Christ through the preaching
of the gospel? Because where is she? Where is
she? Isn't that wonderful? It's absolutely
wonderful, beloved. That's absolutely wonderful.
And I give unto them what? Eternal life. It's not, well,
here's eternal life, but if you mess up, then you don't have
it anymore. Well, it's eternal life. You know why it's called
eternal life? Because it's based on Christ
and what he's done. And it's given to us by the God-man,
the one who accomplished our salvation. And this salvation
is eternal salvation. As Brother Bruce Crabtree and
I talked about one time, we can't mess it up. Isn't that amazing? Now, that doesn't give us a license
to go crazy, does it? But we can't mess it up, beloved.
That's incredible when you think, That's absolutely incredible. He gives us eternal life. And
they shall what? Never perish. That's wonderful. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. You can't take us out of God's
hands. Oh my. We're in the hand of our
sovereign God, beloved. And no man can take us out of
His hands. My Father, which gave them Me,
remember we were given to Christ in eternity, Ephesians 1, verse
4, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out
of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one. He just proclaims His deity right
there, before them. He says, I'm God. This is our Savior, beloved.
Now we know He's man too. He's fully man and He's fully
God. He's the God-man. But He's just proclaimed to them
His deity. I and the Father are one. Oh my. So this calling that
God calls His sheep with is a personal calling. And He calls each of
His sheep by name, and this is an inward calling, because the
calling comes from God, and has to do with the heart, and with
the inward man. We must be pricked in the heart
by God the Holy Spirit, and born again by His almighty power,
just as verse 3 says in our text, according as His divine power
hath given to us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
All comes from His divine power. And so how God's amazing grace
is on display in the effectual call of a believer. In the effectual
call of a believer coming to Christ. Because He calls us to
Christ. And this brings life. This brings
eternal life which only is in and through Christ Jesus our
Lord. And when we hear the voice of Jesus our Shepherd, what do
we do? We follow Him, don't we? We follow Him. We follow Him. And He gives us eternal life.
And we shall never perish. That's amazing. This grace is
truly amazing. And remember, always remember,
I know I keep going back to this in this message. This is all
by God's divine power. All by God's divine power. He
calls us. He has mercy upon us. And how
do we receive it? All from Him. All from Him. We're just but receivers, beloved.
We're mercy beggars. We're beggars. We really are.
We're just beggars. We're mercy beggars. And just
as a beggar may receive bread from someone, we receive. We're
just receivers. We're mercy beggars. We're just
receivers of the grace of God. Oh my. That's all we are. And we're made alive. How? All
by God's almighty power. All by God's almighty power.
And think of this, and I want this to sink in it. I pray the
Holy Spirit will make it sink in for us. We are complete in
Christ. Complete. And remember when we
looked at the word in Colossians, in the Greek there, I had talked
to my friend in Oregon who reads and writes Greek, and he said,
Wayne, when Paul used that word, those Colossians would know exactly
what he was saying, because that word was used to say you could
no longer get any more water in a pot. Complete. Complete. Nothing to be added. The believer
is complete in Christ. So let's go back to our text.
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge
of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,
through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory
and virtue. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
believer's wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. that we may glory in Him and
not in ourselves. Because man, natural man, we
like to boast about things. The believer only boasts in Christ.
He's everything to me. He's everything. So marvel at
this precious truth. It is through the knowledge of
Jesus Christ that God calls us to glory and virtue all by His
glory and excellence. Look at verse 3 again. According
to as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain
unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him. There's
the key. Through the knowledge of Christ
that hath called us to glory and virtue. There's the key right
there. This spiritual knowledge comes
to each one of God's sheep individually under the preaching of His gospel.
We are taught the things of Christ by the Holy Spirit of God. He
teaches us the things of Christ. And we will not seek out God
for mercy until He's revealed Christ to us. Turn, if you would, to 2 Thessalonians
2, verses 13 and 14. Paul's writing to the Thessalonian
young believers in Christ. And look what he writes to them.
in verses 13 and 14 here. Again, it's said that it was a relatively
young church, young believers, but look what he writes to them
here. 2 Thessalonians 2, 13 and 14. But we are bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Whereunto He called you, how?
By our Gospel, by the preaching of the Word, to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Have you ever thought
that even when we were spiritual babes in Christ, we were just
as complete in Him as any of the saints in glory? Have you
ever thought about that? And this can be illustrated through
physical life. A little baby boy, say, is a
complete human being. A complete human being. He does
not become more of a human being as he matures. He just grows. He grows. He grows from an infant
to a complete human as an adult. So it is with spiritual growth.
We grow from being Complete in Christ as spiritual infants to
being complete in Christ as mature Christians We just grow in the
grace and knowledge and truth of Christ But the moment you're
saved you're completing Christ. Isn't that amazing? You're you're
oh My and our faith grows our faith grows, but we don't become
more complete in our Savior We just become more mature as Christians
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So our faith
is increased True saving faith that embraces the gospel and
the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Savior is what brings us
to Christ by faith. And God the Father is the one
who opens the ears of the heart so that we can hear and understand
the gospel. Because there was a time when
we did not understand the gospel. There was a time when I did not
want to hear the gospel. And there was a time when I did
not want to be around God's people. Now, all I want to do is hear
the gospel and all I want to do is be around God's people,
fellowshipping around the word. What a change. It's all for God,
by God. It's all for his glory. It's
all work God. I couldn't change myself, could
you? Brother Matt, we've talked before. We couldn't reform ourselves.
We couldn't change ourselves, who we were before. But God's
done a wondrous work. And it's amazing. It's all by
his amazing grace. All by his amazing grace. So true saving faith embraces
the gospel and the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Savior. In
verse 3 of 1 Peter, the error of man's work and free
will is exposed. Look in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse
3. Here is the error of man's salvation,
man-based salvation exposed. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. Well, it's all according to God's
abundant mercy. And then we look at verse 3 in
our text, and we see it's by God's divine power. So this exposes
man's base salvation, doesn't it? As false, as a refuge of
lies. Oh my. The believers say, not
by any works which we've done, but all by what Christ has done.
So these verses proclaim that salvation is of the Lord. Salvation
is of the Lord. And the more our knowledge of
our great God and Savior grows, the greater the Lord Jesus Christ
becomes to us. He becomes marvelous in our eyes. Oh my. And then what happens
as well? The more we're at peace then.
The more we're at peace in this world, because we know who our
Savior is, and the more we're at peace when trials and tribulations
come, because we know who our Savior is. See, we grow in the
knowledge and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. and we're
able to go through the storms of life with God-given faith.
I was talking to Vicki this morning. I said, if I wasn't a believer,
how would I have handled some of the things that we went through
in our lives? My, I don't want to even think.
I've had no hope. Now I have a hope. I've had one
that I look to all the time, no matter what comes. As we were
talking, whether you be glad or sad, You still look to Christ. You just keep looking to Christ.
You just keep looking to Christ. Oh, my. When we think about how
he's taken us through the storms of life and how he's kept us
and and knowing what Christ has done for us, knowing that we're
complete in Christ will help us to go through God ordained
trials which come in our lives. And it'll help us to go through
it without murmuring and complaining. Just to look to Him. What a Savior
we have. What a Redeemer we have. God. God Himself. Colossians 3.17
says this, And whatsoever things ye do in word or deed, do all
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, given thanks to God and
the Father by Him. Give Him thanks. Give Him thanks
for what He's done for you. Give Him thanks that He called
you by His divine power with an effectual calling. Give Him
thanks that He didn't leave you dead in trespasses and sins.
My, He's a great God. What did Paul write? By the grace
of God, I am what I am. That's what we are. And think
upon this, you who are the beloved of the Lord. God has mercifully
brought you and me out of the deep miry clay that we were in,
and we were in a pit, and we couldn't get out. And what's
He done? He's taken us out of that pit,
and He set us upon solid ground, which is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And He did that by His divine, almighty power. And each believer
can say, He did that for me. undeserving, unmerited, even
unsought after. But He did it for us. He saved
us by His amazing grace. And therefore we ascribe all
our salvation to Him, don't we? We ascribe all our salvation
to Him. All by God's grace, in and through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Is this your confession? You who profess Christ as Savior?
Do you proclaim that salvation is of the Lord all by His amazing
grace and not by one drop of works which you've done? But
all by God's amazing grace? This salvation spoken of is all
by God's amazing grace. It's not a work of man. We saw
that multiple times in the Scripture. It's not a work of man. It's
salvation is of the Lord. It's being accomplished, beloved.
is being accomplished by Jesus Christ. And He's the only mediator between
God and man. There's only one mediator. The
Lord Jesus Christ. God's people proclaim this truth
like Jonah. Jonah was taught just like you
and I are taught who believe. He's taught the salvations of
the Lord. And he proclaimed it. And that's what we proclaim.
And think upon the Scriptures. What the Scriptures proclaim.
about God's amazing grace. Again, in Ephesians 2 and 8 and
9, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
boast. That's what scriptures proclaim
about God's amazing grace. It's free. It's sovereign. And he gives it to whomever he
wills. Beloved, if you're saved, it's
God who saved us. It's God who saved us. It's God
who called us with a holy calling. It's not according to our works.
It's all according to His own purpose and grace. And remember,
always remember, it's all by His divine power. All by His
divine power. The believer can say this. God
elected me. He chose me in Christ before
the foundation of the world. A believer can say, God redeemed
me. God Himself redeemed me, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word
of God became a man and died as a substitute of His people.
God's grace sought me when I was dead in trespasses and sins.
And grace gave me life all through Christ. Grace revealed Christ
to me. Grace gave me faith, God's grace,
always God's grace. And God's grace has taught us
to pray, hasn't it? Taught us to pray to Christ. And God's
grace preserves us. From beginning to end, beloved,
salvation is by the grace of God and God alone. This is truly
God's amazing grace. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for allowing us to be here together today. the fellowship under your
word, O Lord. We thank thee as we looked at
the scriptures and we can see so clearly that this grace that
we've received as believers is free and sovereign grace, unmerited,
unsought. O Lord, and you have called us
by thy divine power. When we were dead in trespasses
and sins, you've had mercy on us. What a great God thou art.
May you receive all the glory, honor, and praise, Lord, in Jesus'
name. Amen.