We'll turn, if you would, over
to Genesis this morning. We've got a few concluding remarks
about grace before we wrap up the study on the doctrine of
grace. Genesis chapter 6. I thought I might just ask, you
know what, we've kind of looked at grace
from a lot of different angles. Historically, we've kind of followed
the pattern of TULIP, basically kind of what we did. We looked
at God's sovereignty first, but we've seen the total depravity
of man, the unconditional election of God. the limited atonement
of Christ, the irresistible grace that the Holy Spirit does in
the heart, and then the preservation of God's saints that God does
for His people. And then we looked a little bit
about law and about grace and about freedom in Christ and what
it is to walk in grace. But I thought we might look at
some remarks final concluding remarks about grace, and see
some other places in Scripture that it speaks about grace. Now
some of these things are going to kind of be repetitive, maybe
some of the same verses we've already looked at, but also some
of the same themes may kind of hint towards some of the things
that we've already talked about. The first thing I'd like us to
see is in Genesis chapter 6 that one of the things that grace can be described as is
God's unmerited favor. I think everybody's probably
heard that definition of grace. That it's God's unmerited favor. What do we mean when we say favor?
God's favor. What are we talking about? Any
thoughts on that? We kind of throw those words
out really quick and easy. But whenever we say God's unmerited
favor, eternal love, that's definitely
a favor of God. If I say I'm going to do you
a favor, what do I mean by I'm going to do you a favor? I'm
going to do something for you. I'm going to freely give you
something. I'm going to do something for you or I'm going to help you, better you, gift you,
you know, it could be a lot of different things. So whenever
we look at the definition as it is, unmerited favor, then
we see that grace would be God's favor or doing something for
us, not being owed, okay, not not requiring anything of our
own. And so grace is a favor. And if you'll look in Genesis
6 and verse 8, we find a verse of Scripture that not only does
this have to do with Noah, but this has to do with every elect
child of grace. Noah is a great picture of the
work of salvation. Matter of fact, even Jesus used
some of the examples in the Old Testament to show His salvation. And we see here in Noah, we see
verse 8, it says, But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now, before I tell you what that
does say, I'm going to tell you what it doesn't say. I'll take
the John Gill approach. I'll tell you a thousand words
of what it don't mean and then I'll tell you what it does. What
that does not mean is that Noah was seeking for grace and looking
for something and finally found it, and he found it because he
found Christ. We hear that terminology in our
society today that if you'll just seek Him, you'll find Him.
If you'll just look for Him, you'll find Him. Or, I found
God, or I sought God, or I sought after the Lord. The only ones
who seek after the Lord are those who have been quickened by the
Holy Spirit. They've been given a spiritual
life, and with that spiritual life, they've been given a spiritual
appetite, that that spiritual appetite needs to be fed by spiritual
things. And that's what causes the seeking. So whenever God says, seek me
with all your heart, and you shall find me, or verses similar
to that, He's speaking to those who have been quickened of God,
who know God, and are known of God, and they're the ones who
does the seeking. So this is not saying that Noah
was looking for grace, wanting grace, but that grace found him. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Meaning that in the midst of
a generation that was in debauchery, there was grace that came to
Noah in the midst of wrath. God was about to pour out wrath
upon all mankind. But in that wrath, God gave grace
to eight people, right? And eight people only. The ark
was given to Noah and his family. The door was closed by God. It was designed for Noah and
his seven family members and those animals that God brought
to Noah. We have these little children's
stories where it shows that Noah went out and gathered all these
animals in. If you read the Bible account, the Bible says God brought
them here. TV shows and all this stuff of
trying to get the door down just in time and all this kind of
stuff. No, the Bible says, and God shut the door. It was God
who called into the ark. It was God who provided the ark
first, but it was God who called into the ark. It was God who
sealed the ark. He was God who killed mankind
and saved those whom He chose to save. This also doesn't mean
that Noah was out there preaching the gospel and trying to convert
souls and win souls. Now, Noah was a preacher and
did so, but it never was God's intent that all those people
ever come into that ark. And so, I mean, because even
as big as that ark was, it wasn't enough to hold everybody even
if that was the case. And it wasn't the case. So it
says, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Meaning
that God bestowed upon Noah grace. He didn't deserve it. Matter
of fact, even though the Bible talks about Noah being righteous
and just and upright and things like that, he still was a sinner. He still was of Adam. He still had sin. And he did
not keep God's law perfectly. Matter of fact, the ground hadn't
even completely dried up yet when we've seen Noah's debauchery
and sin. which shows us that even though
we are saved by God's grace, that doesn't mean that we become
perfect. Okay? Noah continued to have his problem
with sin. He had sin before he went in.
He had sin when he came out. Okay? Now we have sin before
we are born of God. We still have sin after we are
born of God. But what makes the difference?
We have found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God's grace covers
our sin. We sing that song sometimes,
grace, marvelous grace, grace that exceeds our sin and our
guilt. We found grace in the eyes of the Lord. No one knew
of his sin. No one knew of his sin afterwards,
but what did he find? He found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. So one of the things that grace
is descriptive of is God's favor upon us. Whenever God bestows
grace upon us, He bestows a favor on us that we don't deserve.
We also see in Scripture that grace can be defined as, or described
as, as forgiving mercy. If you would turn with me over
to Romans. Romans 11 if you would. Actually, I want to back up to
verse 1. It says, I say then, hath God cast away his people?
God forbid, for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham,
the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people
which he foreknew? Why ye not what the Scriptures
saith of Elias, how he maketh intercession to God against Israel,
saying, Lord, they have killed Thy prophets and dig down Thine
altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what
saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself
seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of
Baal." Even so, then, at this present time, also there is a
remnant, according to the election of grace, and if by grace, then
it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if
it be of works, then it is no more grace, otherwise work is
no more work. What then? Israel hath not obtained
that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it,
and the rest were blinded." Now, a lot of times when we come to
these verses, we're looking at the topic of election, and I
think it's very clear here that there is election, and especially,
this is a great place to come to prove that the election of
God is made up of Jew and Gentile, and that there is no everybody
who's an Israelite is an Israelite, okay? There's still, even as
clear as Romans is, that not all who are of Israel are of
Israel, are Israel, that not all those who are the children
of the flesh are counted for the promise, or the seed of Abraham. Right here is very clear that
he's saying that there is a people, but it's a people that's according
to the election of grace, right? But there's something else here,
and if you'll notice, there's an argument here because he goes
back and he talks about what Elijah said. He said, Lord, they have killed Thy prophets
and dig down Thy altars and I am left alone and they seek my life. He's thinking that all of them
are worthless, not worthy, and shouldn't be kept, saved, be
His people. See, there's something else in
here just besides election. There's also forgiving mercy.
Yes, these people are people who, as he said, killed thy prophets,
dig down thine altars, and even was seeking after his life. And what's going on even in Paul's
day? There were religious people who were the exact same way.
As a matter of fact, Jesus made that comment in a lot of times. He
says, you know, you have killed the prophets. Fill up thy father's
iniquity. He was talking about those Israelites
that they had amongst all of them had a problem, but yet in
the midst of that, there were Israelites who had, as the first
topic said, found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and God had
forgiving mercy upon them even though they killed the prophets,
even though they tore down the altars, although they followed
blind guides, God had reserved for Himself a people and bestowed
upon them forgiveness. In the midst of all their wrongdoing,
He forgave that and gave grace in forgiving them. Look, if you would, back in John
1. So we see that grace is God's
favor. We see that grace is God forgiving
and showing mercy to His people in the midst of the fact that
they are wretched people. But looking, if you would, in
John 1 and down, if you would, Let's start at verse 14. And
the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. John bare witness of Him and
cried, saying, This was He of whom I spake. He that cometh
after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. and of His fullness have all
we received, and grace for grace." Here it is, verse 17. For the
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. So here John the Baptist is contrasting
the law and the Gospel. the words about Christ, the good
news about Christ. You'll notice there that Jesus
Himself is full of grace and truth. And Jesus conveyed the
truth of who He was and what salvation was all about to that
first church. give to them to hold that doctrine
and to share that doctrine and to preach that doctrine and to
spread that doctrine into all the world. And it was He that
empowered them. It was He that gathered them,
empowered them, sent them out. And we see what took place, of
course, in Acts of all this taking place. But we see here that it
was by grace that God give us the Gospel. See, until then,
while there was grace talked about and the Gospel was preached
in the Old Testament, but it was preached veiled. It wasn't
fully disclosed. It wasn't fully uncovered the
way that we see it now. It was preached in a veiled way. And now it has come and Christ
has opened that up and showed us the Good News in its full
extent. What a merciful, gracious favor
that God has given to us by giving us the Gospel, the Good News,
that we are not under the law. That everything that the law
held against us, Christ has taken for us and has taken that away
and we are no longer under. those things, and what a blessed
good news that is. I don't know about you guys,
but every day that I wake up and I find myself unable to do
the things that God would have me to do, when I look into the
law of God and I see the things that He talks about and says
and admonishes us to do, and I find most of the time that
I can't do those things, What a blessed good news it is to
hear the Gospel that Jesus has taken those things for me. He
has accomplished those things for me. That He has set up a
righteousness for me that cannot be spoiled or tainted. And so
I'm thankful for that. So the Gospel in and of itself
is grace. The fact that we've been given
the Gospel is grace. Any comments on any of that? Turn with me if you would back
to 1 Peter. Another thing about grace that
we can find throughout the Scriptures, and of course there's Scriptures
that we can go to that will fully unfold and develop all of what
I'm talking about. These are, like I said, just
kind of a summary conclusion of some things about grace. I
hope that you would take some of these things and write them
down and maybe develop a study of your own on each one of these
topics throughout the Scriptures where we find that. I'm just
going to one certain verse and showing you that that is tied
to grace, but you can find it through many places in Scripture.
itself, this next point, is one of those very things. It's found
in several places in the New Testament. But look with me,
if you would, down at v. 10. 1 Peter 4 and v. 10. Peter writes, as every man
hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another
as, here it is, good stewards of the manifold grace of God. So one of the things that the
manifold grace of God does for us in His favor is He gives us
gifts. Do you know what gift God has
given you? Now I'm not going to be as dogmatic
as some guys. Some guys think that you can
just pinpoint certain gifts and have them lined out and those
gifts are yours all the time, never goes away. I know that
the Bible says that the gifts and the calling of God are without
repentance or without taking away or recalling. God keep the same gifts throughout
your whole entire lifetime. I'll be honest, I don't have
a solid answer for that. I have kind of what I think about
that, but I don't have a solid answer. I kind of vacillate on
that, to be honest with you. Some places I see that yes, if
that's true, we have the same. Sometimes it doesn't look like
that. So I'll be honest with you, I'm
not for sure, and I'll be glad to be instructed on that if anyone
has any verses that they'd like to share about that. But we see
here that the manifold grace of God bestows gifts upon His
people. And as we learn in 1 Corinthians,
those gifts are not given for our edification, self-edification. So whatever gift you have, that
gift is given for the edification of the brothers and sisters in
Christ that God has brought you into assembly with, has brought
you into fellowship with. That is what the gift is given
to, is to edify your brothers and sisters in Christ. As a matter
of fact, Paul makes it clear that those gifts are given to
edify the whole with all. And so that's why we are given
those gifts. But if you look today, there's
a lot of churches out there that they take these gifts that they
find in the New Testament, and they look at those gifts and
they say, This is mine. This is for me. I'm going to
speak in tongues so that I might worship God. I'm going to have
this prayer language so that I can pray to God because it
makes me worship better. It makes me feel better. And
so they embark on this working up of the gifts and exercising
of these gifts to enhance their worship to God. But brethren,
the gifts were never given for your benefit. They were given
for everyone outside of you's benefit as far as the people
of God is concerned. Okay? And so, one of the things
that God gives us is a grace. Now, with that being said, what
a wonderful thing. God has given you a gift that
He uses through you to build up, that's what edify means,
to build up your brothers and sisters in Christ. Matter of
fact, isn't that what we're called to do? We're called to build
each other up in the most holy faith. We're called to edify
one another, but one of the things we find today, and a lot of them,
especially if you troll through Facebook, is the tearing down
of each other. Just the constant tearing down
of each other. And man, how... How backwards that is To what
God has called us to do he is given in his grace to us a gift
for building up Not a gift for tearing down. Although I will
say there's a lot of people that has a gift of tearing down. I But He's given us a gift of building
each other up. Brethren, that's a grace of God.
Because in our natural self, we aren't naturally inclined
to build each other up for the other's profit. Usually we're
geared to building somebody up for our profit. but not necessarily
for their profit. The natural man is always looking
at self and how he can better himself. But the one who is spiritual
looks to build each other up. And that is a grace that's given
to us by God. As a matter of fact, it says,
of the manifold grace of God. Does everybody know what that
means when you say manifold? I'm not talking about a part
of a car, but that's a good illustration. A manifold means many or several. In a x-ray processor, there is
an old x-ray processor, there's a chemical called developer and
that circulates through these tubes and is heated up. Whenever
that developer is heated up, whenever the x-ray film goes
in to those rollers and goes in that tank where that developer
is at, that developer When that heated developer, when it hits
the emulsion that's on that film, it causes that film to begin
to develop, turn black, and it begins to develop that film.
Whenever it goes through that heating process, there's a manifold
in there, and in that manifold, the chemical comes in one end
and goes out the other. There's a temperature probe,
there is a thermostat, And there is a heater there, and so that
manifold has many outlets, and that developer comes in, circulates
in through there, and comes back out. And so we call that a manifold
because it has many inlets. Your car is called a manifold
because it has many inlets and outlets in there. And so a manifold
means many. And here we see God says that
we are given gifts from the manifold grace of God, the many multifaceted
grace of God. And so far we've seen God's grace
is multifaceted. We've seen a lot of points and
a lot of things and even this morning seen different things
that God's grace does but one is gifts and Miracles things
such as that whenever Jesus was here every miracle that he done
was by the grace of God And he did many miracles in fact the
Bible says that he there were so many things that Jesus did
here that if anyone would have actually put a pin to everything
that he did and couldn't contain it. The books couldn't contain
it. I mean, that's a lot. I mean, even what we read is
a lot, but I mean, you think about it, you know, in three
years that Jesus did so many miracles that Nobody can write
about it. That's amazing. The apostles,
they too, did miracles after Jesus resurrected and ascended. They did miracles as they established
the New Testament church among the Gentiles and among the Israelites. And we've seen that those miracles
were manifested in many different ways. And so that was all by
the grace of God. Now look with me while you're
still there in 1 Peter. Look back at chapter 1. 1 Peter
1. Verse 13, Wherefore, gird up
the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace
that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So the return of Jesus Christ
is also considered gracious. And I tell you, the more we live
in these days, I'm looking for that grace. It is gracious that
God is going to reveal Himself to us and take us to Himself. That is gracious. So grace can
be described as God in His favor, God in His mercy, God in His
Gospel, God in His gifts to His people, and God in His I guess
we could tag that as eternal life, the life that they're going
to have forever and ever and ever when Jesus comes to receive
them and to reveal Himself to us. Well, let's take a quick
break there and we'll come back. There's a few other points that
I'd like to make on this, but let's just stop there and we'll
go to the bathroom, we'll get a drink and take a break.