Open your Bibles tonight to the
first book of Holy Scripture, the book of Genesis. The book
of Genesis, Genesis chapter two. I want us to begin reading in
chapter one at verse 26 and read down through the greater part
of chapter two. Genesis chapter one, verse 26. God said, let us make man in
our image after our likeness. The one true God, he who alone
is God and he who is one God said, let us make man in our
image and after our likeness, the one God, Jehovah, His Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, three divine, distinct persons in one eternal
Godhead. And let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in
his own image. In the image of God created he
him. Male and female created he them. At the very opening of the book
of God, we see a clear demonstration of the three persons of the Godhead
of the divine trinity. God states emphatically the fact
of creation. You and I did not evolve from
some lower species of life. God created man and we're told
specifically that God created our father Adam in the image
of God. He created Adam as a representative
man in the image of the one who would come in time, the God-man,
our mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be a figure, a type,
a picture, a similitude of our Lord Jesus. And we're told that
plainly in Romans chapter 5 verse 14. So Adam was created in the
physical image of God the Son who would come the last man,
the last Adam, our representative. He was created in the image of
Christ in that he was a representative man, representing all the human
race. So that everything Adam did in
the garden, we did in him. When he sinned against God, we
sinned against God. When he died, we died. So to
our Lord Jesus Christ is our representative. When he lived
in righteousness, we lived in him. When he died under the wrath
of God, we died in him. When he arose, we arose. When
he ascended, we ascended. When he sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high, we sat down with him in heavenly
places. And God made man. in Christ's
image to have dominion. To have dominion. Dominion over
everything. Dominion over the fish in the
sea, the fowl in the air, all animals, all creeping things,
all things in heaven, and all things on earth, God alone accepted. so it shall be when God is finished
as He purposed in the beginning it shall be in the end and all
God's elect in Christ our mediator shall have dominion over Everything
we will sit upon thrones with God our Savior read on verse
28 and God blessed them God blessed this original couple Adam and
Eve And God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish
the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of
the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living
thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, behold, I have
given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face
of all the earth, and every tree in the which is the fruit of
a tree yielding seed. To you it shall be for me. I created this whole thing for
you. I created this whole thing for
you. And to every beast of the earth
and every fowl of the air and everything that creepeth upon
the earth wherein there is life, I have given every green herb
for meat. And it was so. And God saw everything
that he had made and behold, it was very good. And the evening
and the morning were the sixth day. Chapter 2, verse 1. Thus the heavens and the earth
were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day
God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh
day from all his work which he had made. He stopped working.
So he gives us here at this place in Holy Scripture in the beginning,
a wonderful picture of salvation by his grace. How are sinners
saved? They stop working. They stop
working. They rest in Christ the Lord. Christ is our Sabbath. We do
not keep a physical Sabbath day because Christ is our Sabbath.
We keep a Sabbath of faith. We don't. And God blessed the
seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested
from all his work which God created and made. These are the generations
of the heavens and of the earth. created in the day that the Lord
God made the earth and the heavens and every plant of the field
before it was in the earth and every herb of the field before
it grew. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the
earth. And there was not a man to till
the ground, but there went up a mist from the earth and watered
the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man out
of the dust of the ground. and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life and man became a living soul. And the Lord God
planted a garden eastward in Eden and there he put the man
whom he had formed and out of the ground made the Lord God
to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life also in the
midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and
from thence it was parted and became into four heads. The name
of the first is Pison, that is, it which compasseth the whole
land of Havilah, where there is gold, and the gold of that
land is good. There is Delium there, an onyx
stone. And the name of the second river
is Gihon, The same is it which compasseth the whole land of
Ethiopia. And the name of the third river
is Hitticale. That is it which goeth toward
the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
And the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of
Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded
the man saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat. But of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now I call
your attention to one word in verse 16. Freely. Of every tree of the garden,
God said to Adam, thou mayest freely eat. Freely. Freely. This is the first time
the word is used in the scriptures. And I have gone through the word
of God this day and looked at every place where this word is
used and everywhere it is used in the book of God. This word
freely in the Old Testament and in the New is connected with
God and his grace. God's work of grace or God's
grace in his people. The word means without call. without condition, without qualification,
without constraint or coercion, without cost. That which is free,
that which is free, free, is uncaused. It's unconditional. It's unqualified. It's unconstrained. It's uncoerced. In the beginning,
before sin entered into the world, As we've read here in Genesis
1 and 2, everything was free. Everything was free. Everything. Everything God did for and with
Adam was free. Every gift, every blessing, every
privilege, everything was free. And everything Adam did for and
with God was free. Completely free. Nothing forced,
nothing coerced, nothing bartered for. Everything was free. Then
sin entered into the world and everything changed. Sin brought
with it bondage and fear and death. There's only two ways
to control sin. Death and love. If God did not
destroy the sinner immediately, he would control his sin by law,
threatening the sinner with punishment. There's no deterrent for sin,
no deterrent for ungodliness, no deterrent for rebellion in
a natural sense except law. But law can't change the sinner.
Law can't show forth the glory of God. Law can't display God's
character. All the law can do is control
the sinner and condemn the sinner. Religion is built on bondage. All religion except truth. All
religion except the gospel. Our Lord Jesus raised Lazarus
from the dead and said, Loose him and let him go. Loose him
and let him go. Religion says bind him firmer
and don't let him out of your sight. The whole religious world
seeks to bind people. It doesn't matter whether it's
papacy or Hinduism or Islam or Judaism or Protestantism. It doesn't matter. The whole
religious world seeks to bind folks. Hold them tight. Give
them rules to live by. Seek to govern their lives and
regulate them. All except the gospel of God's
free grace. God's people live freely. We worship God freely. And that's
my subject this evening, freely. The entrance of sin also made
a way for grace to be revealed. We read here of the tree of life. Without question, I can say the
tree of life portrays our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus, who is
called the tree of life, full of life, full of grace, full
of truth. The tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, I won't say this emphatically, but I am fairly
well persuaded, appears to represent the law, that by which comes
both the knowledge of sin and the death it brings. The law
entered. that the offense might abound.
That sin might be seen for what it is, a horrible affront to
God. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. That as sin reigned unto death,
even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. I would urge you to read again
the opening chapters of Genesis and behold the grace the superabounding
grace of our God in Christ Jesus as it's set before us here. In
Genesis 3, Adam is lost and he's made himself some fig leaf aprons
and he and Eve are hiding from God and God came walking in the
garden and he called Adam. Oh, what a picture of God's grace.
Not Adam, the lost one seeking the Lord, but rather God coming
to seek the sinner who had sinned against him. Not only did the
Lord God call Adam, he brought Adam to himself. That's what
God's call does. It's always effectual. And he
made a sacrifice for him. And he stripped off those fig
leaves. And Adam, that one who was created
and was naked before God and was unashamed, now is naked before
God. And I can just picture the horror
he has. But God strips off the fig leaves
and that man, embarrassed and ashamed, is covered. Covered
with the skins of those innocent victims slain in his stead. And thus God portrays how it
is that he saves sinners. God comes to sinners and he strips
them of their righteousness. He strips you of your imaginary
goodness so that you are made to blush before God with the
conviction of sin. And he reveals to you Jesus Christ,
the Lamb of God, slain in the sinner's stead and puts on you
the perfect righteousness of his own dear son. And then Genesis
3, 15. God promised a Redeemer, a Redeemer
who would come the woman's seed, one who is God, but is a man
who comes in the world, the woman's seed, to crush the serpent's
head. And this one whom the Lord God would send is our Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And then God drove Adam and Eve
out of the garden. He drove them out of the garden
to keep the way of the tree of life. He drove them out of the
garden to keep the way of the tree of life, to protect, to
preserve, to guard, to hold firm the way of the tree of life.
It was God's grace, not his wrath that's revealed in driving Adam
and Eve from the garden. He did this and placed cherubim
with a flaming sword east of Eden to guard and keep the way
of life, turning every way to protect it. That flaming sword
by which the triune Jehovah kept the way of life at last was found
in our Redeemer at Calvary, buried in our Savior's side. when he
died for our sins, the crucified one. Awake, O sword, against
the man that is my fellow. Smite and slay the shepherd. That sword by which God guarded
and still guards, kept and still keeps the way of the tree of
life is nothing short of God's holy, perfect justice. You see, God always does everything
in justice. God always does everything in
justice. God never exercises mercy. God never shows his love. God
never displays grace at the expense of justice. He is a just God
and a Savior. And the Lord God tells us even
in the very beginning of the book, there is no way for sinners
to be saved except justice be satisfied. And the only way justice
can be satisfied is by the sacrifice of his darling son. Now, all
of this was done freely, freely. In grace, everything is free. All that God does for sinners
is free. All that God does for sinners
is free. And all that those who worship
God do for him, they do freely, freely. Everything God does for
his people, he does only because he wills to do it. And everything
God's people do for God, They do only because they will to
do it. Everything is free in God's free
grace. You can't talk about grace and
law in the same breath. The two are mutually exclusive.
God's grace toward us is free. And the grace of God in us causes
us to serve him freely. Wherever you find grace in God
or in man, it acts freely. without condition, without qualification,
freely. It's not something purchased,
not something earned. It's free. And in every case
since the fall of our father, Adam, where this word freely
is used, it is used in this connection with God's grace. And it tells
us that God's grace is free. Let's look at just a few of them
this evening. First, turn to Hosea chapter 14. Hosea chapter
14, very familiar text. Hosea chapter 14. Here is God's counsel to us. Oh Israel, return unto the Lord
thy God. Don't you love how God reasons
with us? I can't imagine this. Return
to me because you don't deserve to return. Return to me because
you have gone astray from me return to me because you deserve
my wrath what it says Oh Israel return to the Lord thy God for
thou has fallen by thine iniquity We think We can't Call on God. Somehow or another, Satan deludes
us and we think we can't call on God because we're so sinful,
we're so dead, we're so cold-hearted, we're so empty, we're so vile,
so filthy. How can I call on God? That's
just the argument God gives. He said, return to me, for thou
has fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words and turn
to the Lord and say to him, take away all iniquity. and receive
us graciously. So will we render the calves
of our lips. What's that mean? Lord, Lord,
take away our sin. Receive us graciously and we'll
praise you. Asher shall not save us. We will
not ride upon horses. Neither will we say any more
to the work of our hands, ye or our gods. Lord, we've we've
forsaken all. And here we are, sinners, corrupt
and vile with no help and no strength, fatherless. But with
thee, the fatherless find mercy. Now, hear what God promises to
all who turn to him, to all who trust his dear son. Look at verse
four. I will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely. For mine anger is turned away
from him. I hope I don't quit looking for
these things. I hope you do look for them.
In the scriptures, so often when God speaks, Psalm 89 is a perfect
example. Here in Hosea 14.4, another. The scriptures speak of them
and him. Them and him. Them and him. He says, David, that he will
heal our backsliding. And he will love us freely. And this is the reason. For mine
anger is turned away from him. From him. What's that talking
about? God poured out all the fury of
his holy and just anger on his darling son at Calvary. Until his fury was satisfied. and fury now is not in him. Therefore, he says, I will heal
your backsliding. I will love you freely. I got
no reason to be angry with you. I've turned away my anger from
him. In free love, he chose us. In
free love, he redeemed us. In free love, he called us. Look
at Romans chapter three. Romans chapter three. This is
very familiar to you, verse 24. The apostle tells us that we
are justified freely by God's grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. Justification is being made righteous
by God. I wrote earlier in my notes justification
is being made righteous before God. And I reckon that's all
right. But we tend to think, when we use words like that,
that we're justified in God's sight. But that's not really
the way it is. That's just how it appears to
be before God. No, to be justified is to be
made righteous by God. It is to be made righteous by
God. Now, I realize that brilliant
theologians think your pastor's a real dummy and he doesn't get
things straight and confuses things and he confuses justification
and sanctification and redemption and regeneration and all that.
No, they're the ones confused. I got it right. Let me tell you
what this is to be made righteous by God. We're made righteous
by God imputing to us the righteousness of Christ from eternity. We were accepted in the beloved. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 6.
That's what the book says. Now folks can argue with it,
jump up and down, and hoot and holler all they want to. We were
accepted in Christ before the world was justified, we're told
in Romans chapter 8 verse 29. That's what the book says. Justified
before ever time began. You couldn't have been accepted
with God from eternity, Bill, if you weren't just and righteous
before God. We were righteous in Christ Jesus
the Lord from everlasting. For as long as Christ has stood
as our surety, we have stood before God righteous in Him. Righteous in Him. Righteousness
declared to be ours because it is ours. Righteousness declared
to be our character because it is our character. Righteousness
declared to be our record because it is our record. We're one with
him whose name is Jehovah's Akinnu, the Lord our righteousness. But
not only is that so, this righteousness earned by our Savior's obedience
when he was delivered for our offenses and raised again for
our justification. That is, he was delivered into
the hands of divine justice and put to death because of our offenses
made his. And when sin was put away, he
was raised again because justification was accomplished by him at Calvary. And that righteousness, which
he fulfilled by his obedience unto death, is imputed to us
consciously when we believe on the Son of God. Our hearts being
sprinkled with the precious blood of Christ in sanctification,
in regeneration, when we're given a holy nature and we believe
on the Son of God, the righteousness of God is made ours experimentally
so that being justified, we are right in God's eyes, always right
in God's eyes. Well, Pastor, that kind of Mixes
election and redemption and justification and regeneration and sanctification
All together does doesn't it? It sure does because you can't
separate it's the whole of God's salvation and this righteousness
Which God has made us in Christ is free Without qualification
without cause, without condition, without cost, free, free. Several years ago, I wrote a
small booklet that arose from a couple of sermons I preached
here. The title of it doesn't mean to be reformed. You can
look it up on the internet. And it caused no small stir amongst
workmongers. folks who claim to believe grace
but they still teach that somehow or another that actually justification,
this righteousness, is conditioned upon you believing. And I spent
a good bit of time demonstrating clearly the scriptures do not
teach that. Our faith does not justify us. Our faith does not
make us righteous. Our faith is not the cause of
God doing anything. Our faith is the result of God
doing something in us. And that faith receives God's
free justification. That faith receives the atonement. Romans chapter 5 verse 11. Faith
doesn't make atonement. Faith doesn't make righteous.
Faith doesn't make us justified. Faith receives these things by
God's free grace in Christ Jesus, the Lord. We're justified freely
by the grace of God. Freely, but through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. Free to us, but oh, what it cost
our safety. It cost him his life's blood. It cost him taking to himself
all the fury of infinite intensity, holiness, justice, and truth
in God, the offended God. When He was made sin for us,
He suffered all the intense, indescribable, infinite hell
of God's wrath at one time until God said, OK, that's enough. That's enough. I require no more. Enough. This is free justification. Now turn to Revelation chapter
21. Revelation 21. The Lord Jesus gives this salvation
freely. And he invites you and me to
take the salvation he freely gives. It's a gift. It's a gift
and you'll never take it if he doesn't work it in you, but you
gotta take it Yep, you sure do Faith is an active thing Faith
is reaching out and taking the Lord faith is receiving Christ
faith is laying hold on Christ Faith is coming to Christ read
what it says verse 6 revolution 21 He said unto me it is done. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning
and the end I will give to him that is a thirst of the fountain
of the water of life freely. Now, look at verse 17. And the
spirit and the bride say come. I'm sorry, verse 17 of chapter
22. And the spirit and the bride say come. And let him that heareth
say come. And let him that is a thirst
come. What does that next word say?
What does it say? What does it say? And whosoever
will. Whosoever will. I have a good
friend, Brother Herbert Wilson, an old man now, the pastor of
Rosemont Church in Winston-Salem for years. And somebody said
to him one time, said, said, you folks don't believe in whosoever
will. He said, yes, we do. Right here it is. We most certainly
do. Whosoever will, let him come
and take of the water of life freely. We just don't believe
in whosoever won't. Whosoever will, would you like
to have God's salvation? I mean really, do you want God's
salvation? Do you want God's forgiveness?
Do you want Christ's redemption? Do you want God's righteousness?
Do you want Christ himself? Whosoever will, Let him take
the water of life freely. Let me try one more time. One
more time. Let's suppose I don't know who
fixed that glass of water. This time I know who did it.
Sometimes I go places I don't have any idea who did it. I wonder if that's for me. I wonder if it was set there
for me. Well, it doesn't have my name
on it. But I don't see any fences around it. I don't see anybody guarding
it. Man, I sure would like to have a drink of water. I wonder
if that was for me. Don't y'all pay any attention
now. I know it was, because I got
it. I know it was, because I got
it. Take the water of life freely. Freely. Freely. And I want to tell you something.
If you're thirsty, you will. If you want it, you will. If you don't, you'll go to hell. And when you take the water of
life freely, I'll quit here, but you look up to the passages
in the scriptures, you worship God freely, freely, freely. freely receive, freely give. I preach the gospel freely to
you, the apostle told the Corinthians. Everything believers do for Christ is done freely. And if it's not done freely,
Merle, you didn't do it for God. That's just right. That's just
right. Well, don't you think you need
to put pressure on folks? Well, I do. The pressure of free
grace. The pressure of free grace. But
we don't establish rules and we don't have covenants and creeds
and confessions and laws for folks to go by and holy days
and Sabbath days and you have to read so much scripture and
you have to pray so much time. I actually know of a congregation.
No folks who used to attend the congregation. Fellow claimed
to believe free grace and had produced a lot of good stuff.
If you missed service, you had to report as to what happened.
Why? And you had to get the tape of the message and listen to
it and then write down enough so the pastor knew and the deacons
knew that you had listened to it. And it was just intimidating,
intimidating like, no, not God's, not the worship of God. Free,
free. What do you reckon I ought to
give? whatever you want to, whatever you, what do I need to, what
do I need to do? Whatever you want to, whatever
you want. How can I help? Any way you want to, any way
you want to. How many services should I attend this week? Just
as many as you want to, just as many as you want to. And I
promise you, I won't berate you if you don't come. If folks come
and they don't show up, and I don't know
why they're not here, I'll call. And I'll call a few times. But
after a few times calling and getting excuses, you know, well,
I had an eyelash in my eye or my dog needed feeding or walking
or pooping or something. Now you think I'm joking. I've
heard folks tell it. I've had folks tell me they didn't
stay for service because they had to take their dog out. Well,
just go take your dog out. It's exactly right. Do what you
want to. Do what you want to. Do what
you want to. That's exactly what you're going
to do, what you want to. God did what he wanted to when he saved us by his grace.
God did what he wanted to when he sent his son to redeem us.
God did what he wanted to when he chose us as his own. Made
us his sons and daughters. And I'm doing what I want to
as I seek to honor him. How about you? How about you? Amen.