Let's open this morning's service
with hymn number 23 in your hardback timbrel, number 23. Come, we
that love the Lord. Let's all stand together. ? Come we that love the Lord ?
And let our joys be known ? Join in a song with sweet accord ?
And thus surround the throne ? Let those refuse to sing ?
Who never knew our God ? But children of the heavenly King
? May speak their joys abroad The hill of Zion yields a thousand
sacred sweets before we reach the heavenly fields or walk the
golden streets. Then let our songs abound and
every tear be dry. We're marching through Emmanuel's
ground to fairer worlds on high. Please be seated. Good morning. I want to read
a few verses from the Psalms. If you'd like to open your Bibles
with me to Psalm 131, Psalm 131. You know, by nature we are very proud
and haughty, but before the Lord, when he does a work of grace
in our hearts and enable us to come before him. This really
is our hearts before him. Psalm 131. Lord, my heart is
not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty. Neither do I exercise myself
in great matters or in things too high for me. Surely, I have
behaved and quieted myself as a child
that is weaned of his mother. My soul is even as a weaned child.
Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and forever." If the
Lord's pleased to speak to us today and enable
us to meet with him, this will be our hearts, or won't be. won't be haughty, won't be quick
to speak, be still, know that He is God. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that You'd be merciful
to us today, that You would rim the heavens and come down, that
You would speak to our hearts and cause us, Lord, to be quiet
and still before Thee. Lord, we thank you for the promise
of your presence. And we have no place to go but
to rest our hope in your precious promises and in your faithfulness
to fulfill them. Lord, we pray for Jeff and ask
Lord that you would give him the ability to lift Christ up
and Lord that you would give us ears to hear. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Yesterday, we went to Lexington
via Cincinnati in 25 degree snowing weather for Matthew and Rebecca's
wedding. And we got home early this morning. And I had asked Jeff to be prepared
in case something happened and we weren't able to get back.
So as it turned out, it was a really short night last night and a
long day yesterday. So I asked Jeff to bring the
message that he had prepared. So he's going to do that now,
the first hour, and then I'll try to bring a message to you
the second hour. So Jeff, you come, brother. Thank
you. Good morning, everyone. Let's pray first. Let's pray
about this. Our Lord God, Lord, we do need you here today. We
cannot worship you on our own. We cannot cause our hearts to
bow to you, Lord. We ask you, God, because you
have promised and because nothing is too hard for thee. Lord, please
honor your word and command the blessing here this day. Please be with me. Have me to
speak clearly, Lord, and boldly and in a way that people can
understand. God, please make the rough places
plain and make that which is crooked straight by your word,
by your Holy Spirit that you've promised, Lord, because thy son
is at your right hand. We ask these things in Jesus'
name, amen. I wanted to bring a message today
from 1 Peter 5, verse 12. I want to speak to you about
the true grace of God. 1 Peter 5, verse 12. A verse says this, at the end
of the letter, Peter writes, by Silvanus, that's who he had
write it, by Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose,
I have written briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the
true grace of God wherein ye stand. I saw a bumper sticker. I was talking about this with
Megan on the right here. I saw a bumper sticker that said,
God is my co-pilot. You've probably seen those. Does
that mean that he's going to go to hell with me? If he's only
a co-pilot, because that's where I'm going, unless he turns this
around. But God says that he's given
him, his son, to be a leader and a commander to the people.
We have a captain of our salvation. That bumper sticker comes from
a false understanding of grace, a false gospel. But Peter says,
this is the true grace of God. And he is not a co-pilot. What he exhorted and testified
briefly in writing to them is the true grace of God. And if
it's true grace, it must be a grace that has nothing to do with lies. It can be scrutinized and examined. That's because the scripture
says the word of the Lord is right, and all his works are
done in truth. And if it is grace of God, that
means it's a grace that cannot fail, like God, because God says,
I will work, and who shall let it? Like Gamaliel said, if it
be of God, you cannot overthrow it. You can't overthrow the true
grace of God. And Peter says, this is that
grace. Do you remember what is the very
first description given of Satan in the Bible, the first thing
said about him? Now the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which God had made. Subtle means you
can twist words without it seeming like you're doing that. Every
professing Christian will say that salvation is by grace. That's
because in Ephesians chapter two it says, by grace are you
saved, they have to say that. But when you ask, you quickly
get a picture painted in your mind that to them grace means
something, this is how I teach my daughters, grace to them is
kind of like a lifeguard standing at the edge of a pool asking
a drowning man to swim to him and if he can make it, He'll
save them. See, but it's subtle. There's
a subtlety to it because that same man will say there's nothing
you can do to earn God's favor. There's nothing meritorious at
all in anything that we do. You can't merit the lifeguard
being at the edge of the pool. Nothing you can do can deserve
him to be standing there offering to help you. But They say that we can do nothing,
yet they say that we can and must do something, but that when
we do that something, it's not meritorious. You can't make sense
of it, it's subtle. But if I gather strength to swim
to the lifeguard and others don't, then I've made myself to differ. God says that it's not by might
nor by power. His true grace is not by might
nor by power. Whether or not this laundry,
laundry list that false preachers give us, whether or not it's
meritorious is not the issue. The issue is I'm running as far
away from God as I can. The issue is I'm drowning, and
I love what I'm drowning in as an unregenerate man. The issue
is that in my heart, I hate God as I came into this world, and
God knows it. Whether it's meritorious or not
is not the point. Mankind is ruined, we're a sinner. That means that we're sinful,
full of sin, no room for anything else. We won't even look up to
thank God for our next breath. And if we did, it would only
serve to puff us up and make us think that he owes us. And
to further complicate things, there are those who say that
they believe in free grace as it is preached from this pulpit.
but they tolerate the Arminian and free will gospel. They dishonor
God by being a trumpet that gives an uncertain sound. They say
that the only difference between those two gospels is in what
is emphasized and in the details, but it cannot be the same gospel. when one message says God saves
you because you and the other message says God saves you in
spite of you. It can't be the same gospel when
one says people allow God to save them and it's conditioned
on their will and the other message says that God gives a new heart
without our will and that new heart begs for him to save us
conditioned on the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. See, something broken cannot
fix itself, and we are broken. That's what sin does. We are
ruined. We don't even believe we're drowning. Only the true
grace of God can save us from the hell that we deserve, and
Peter says this is it. I'm not gonna have us turn to
anywhere except for 1 Peter, but with this one exception,
please go to Genesis 6. Salvation works the same in all
time and in all places. This is the first time in the
Bible that the word grace is used. Now in Hebrews chapter
11, it says, Noah, by faith, being warned of God, of things
that were not seen as yet, moved with fear, with reverential awe
for the God who had warned him. You see, God gave Noah faith
to believe something was going to happen that had never ever
happened. He'd never seen anything like
it. And he had no reason to believe
it was going to happen other than that God said it. God could
have warned everybody. Now, Genesis chapter six, let's
read verse five. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The way
of man is forward and strange, says God. And it repented the
Lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him
at his heart. because God's eyes are too pure to look on iniquity,
but iniquity is all that there can be seen on this earth. And
the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from
the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing,
and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made
them. But Noah, but Noah, the true
grace of God makes some to differ. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Was he looking for grace? According
to the scriptures, no, he could not have been. God says in Isaiah,
I was found of them that sought me not. The earth was filled
with violence and Noah's heart was only evil continually, but
God had mercy on Noah, but Noah found grace, and this grace is
in the eyes of the Lord. True grace is from what God sees,
not feels or imagines or hopes. What God sees, it's in his eyes. What did God see? He saw the
earth that was filled with violence and wickedness, But here's grace,
he saw Noah in Christ. In chapter seven, verse one,
it says, of Noah, thee have I seen righteous before me. God saw
Noah righteous, and what did God see? He saw his son standing
in Noah's place as the lamb slain before the foundation of the
world. He saw Noah's sin being laid on Christ. He saw his son
who would set his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem for Noah and
coming to that day where he said, father, the hour has come, glorify
thy son, that the son may glorify thee. He saw his justice satisfied
because the justice due to Noah's continually evil heart was already
put on his son. I have seen righteous. Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. Let's go back to first Peter.
That is the first time grace is mentioned in the Bible and
it works the same way all the way through. Now, Peter says in chapter five,
this is the true grace of God. Naturally, our eyes scan right
around that verse to look for what is the this. He says this
is, so maybe it was something he had just said, but it's not. It's actually the entire letter.
He's summing up all five chapters. This all from the first word
is the true grace of God. I want to do what Peter did,
is exhort and testify from the first page. that this is the
true grace of God. Let's start in chapter one. I
won't, I'm really trying not to spend very long on any one
point. Chapter one, verse one. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia. Peter says he's an apostle of
Jesus Christ. He doesn't say an apostle of
religion, of church teaching. He doesn't even say an apostle
of the scriptures. He says of Christ, because true
grace of God comes from Christ and leads us back to him. When
Peter sinned and denied the Lord, who was it that forgave him? It wasn't the church or Peter's
friends. It wasn't, it was Christ himself,
Jesus Christ. So he's an apostle of Christ. Verse two, elect according to
the foreknowledge of God the Father. We're chosen according to the
love of the Father. Grace is given because of Christ
and love, but there's no reason given in scripture for why God
loved other than that he would because he would. Elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father. The true grace of God
begins with election because election is what puts us where
the grace is. We are blessed with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenly places in Christ before the foundation
of the world. God did not choose us in Ephesians
one. He did not choose us to later
become in Christ. He chose us and when he chose
us, we were in Christ. The scriptures speak of grace
being brought to us in our experience, but that's only because, first
of all, we are put where the grace is in Jesus Christ. There is no gospel, there is
no true grace of God without election. Through sanctification of the
spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
We are chosen unto the obedience of Christ for him to obey for
us. He who for the joy set before
him endured the shame. His joy was to win his church
to himself and he obeyed God his father perfectly throughout
his life up until the cross, even then. I need the true grace
of God, and only this can do it. I have sin in my members,
Paul says, breaking out constantly. I need to know that he lived
the perfect life for me. I need to know that I was chosen
unto his obedience for him to obey God for me. In sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ, This is the blood sprinkled on our conscience to
purge us from dead works and to know what David said, that
God has taken away all his wrath, he's turned himself from the
fierceness of his anger. This happens through faith when
Jesus Christ sprinkles his blood on our conscience to know that
it is finished. Verse three, 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. Now the false
grace of man says that we're born again because a dead sinner
decided to believe. The true grace of God says we're
born again because the living God rose to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven
for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. It says that
we are kept through faith. Look back at verse three. How
is that faith given? By the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. See, if faith that keeps us is
a faith given because Christ rose from the dead and is at
the right hand of the Father. As sure as Christ rose, as sure
as he rose, that's how sure we can be that God will keep us.
That is the true grace of God that we need. The disciples prayed,
Lord, increase our faith. But they, as yet, did not understand
the scriptures that he must die and rise again. They prayed,
Lord, increase our faith. How much more boldness in prayer
can we have knowing that he did? We can say, Lord, increase our
faith because thy son is at thy right hand. And that's how you
bestowed this faith at the first, Lord. As sure as that tomb is
empty, that's how sure I can be that God will perfect that
which concerneth me. This is the true grace of God.
Everything we have, everything we are is given because of Christ. Let's look at chapter two now. We'll start in verse six. Wherefore,
also it is contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion, a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. God says that his son is precious
to him, and we that believe on him cannot be confounded because
the one who's precious to God is precious to us. Unto you therefore
which believe in verse seven, he is precious. But unto them
which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed,
the same is made the head of the corner. The true grace of
God divides men into two camps. It divides. Jesus Christ said,
I came not to bring peace, but a sword, and a man's enemies
shall be they of his own household. It divides because there are
those to whom Christ is precious, and there are those to whom he
is not. And the only reason why this
stone is disallowed, the reason why Christ would not be precious
to any man, there's one reason. It's because something else is
precious to them. whether it's their works or their
wisdom or their perceived autonomy and pleasure chasing after this
world, something else is more precious to them, they're treasuring
it. The proverb says, treasures of wickedness profit nothing,
but righteousness delivereth from death. Such people are in
darkness, they are darkness, and the darkness of blackness
forever is reserved to them. But then there are those to whom
the Lord Jesus Christ is precious because we're taught by God that
what we used to treasure as our joy and as our righteousness
is actually nothing but wickedness. It never was. And the true grace
of God teaches us that Jesus Christ, the Lord, our righteousness,
is the only one who can deliver us from death. The true grace
of God always divides. In creation, in Genesis chapter
one, God said, let there be light, and he saw the light, that it
was good, and he divided the light from the darkness, and
he called the light day and the night, he called darkness night. And we see God giving the spiritual
meaning of that when he writes to the Thessalonians and says,
ye are all the children of light and the children of the day.
We are not of the night nor of darkness. God separated the light
from the day. Jesus Christ is precious or he
is not. Something else is. The false
grace of man tries to unite. If you hear preachers talking
like Christ came to unite everybody and we can all just get along,
that comes from the plains of Shinar, that is Babel. It's nothing. But the true grace of God, we
must, must be on one side or the other. Verse eight, and a
stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them which
stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. But ye, but Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. But you are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people that you should
show forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness.
The true grace of God is to the praise of God. In Ezekiel 36,
He says, God says, I did not save you for your sakes, but
for my holy name's sake. That is the true grace of God,
God saving sinners for his name's sake. Now the rest of chapter
two centers on verses 11 and 21. Verse 11, dearly beloved,
I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims. abstain from fleshly
lusts which war against the soul. The true grace of God makes us
call the things in our life what God calls them, fleshly lusts. And what does it look like to
abstain? Well, it's all the things in verses 12 up to 13. through 18, like honest conduct,
submit to every ordinance, silencing fools by well-doing, that's what
it looks like to abstain from fleshly lust. Now verse 20, for
what glory is it if when you be buffeted for your faults,
you shall take it patiently, but if when you do well and suffer
for it, you take it patiently? This is acceptable with God. If you get yourself in trouble
by chasing fleshly lust, there's no glory in it. But look at what
Christ did to save us, though. He did well, and he suffered
for it, and he took it patiently, and it was acceptable with God. For even hereunto were you called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example
that you should follow in his steps. who did no sin, neither
was guile found in his mouth, who, when he was reviled, reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously,
who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness,
by whose stripes ye were healed. The true grace of God makes his
people follow in the footsteps of Christ outside the camp bearing
his reproach. It makes us happy to follow our
Savior knowing that he's upholding us all the way. The false grace
of man says to follow him for a new Corvette or health, ease,
that is nowhere in the scriptures. In Isaiah chapters 36 through
38, There was a wicked king, King Sennacherib of the Assyrians,
and he laid a siege against Jerusalem while Hezekiah was the king of
Israel. Hezekiah feared God. Now, Sennacherib
sent Rabshakeh, his messenger, to taunt and threaten the Jews. And he said this in chapter,
in verse 18, he said, beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying,
the Lord will deliver us. Have any of the gods of the nations
delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
You see, Sennacherib didn't know what he was in for. He thought
that Israel's God was the same as the gods of wood and stone
that the nations worshiped that he had already conquered, but
he didn't know Israel was defended by the true and living God. Now
Rabshakeh went on, he named all the nations that his king conquered
while he was there threatening the men of Israel on the wall,
he went up to them and was taunting them. He named all the nations
that Sennacherib had conquered already. And then he says, who
are they among all the gods of these lands that have delivered
their land out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem
out of my hand? Can't you hear in Rabshakeh,
The same wicked men at the foot of the cross, isn't that just
what they said? 700 years later, they taunted
our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 27. And they said, he trusted
in the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing
he delighted in them. It's the same cruel blasphemy,
always, that the enemy brings our way. Let him deliver him.
God can't deliver you. But Hezekiah and his men, they
were following in the steps of our Savior. They were given the
true grace of God. When they were reviled, they
reviled not again. And when they suffered, they
threatened not. Rabshake said, don't trust the Lord to deliver
you. But what did Hezekiah and his men say? What did they do? Did they start a heated debate?
Did they strut around? Intimidate him until somebody
went home scared? No, no. This is the true grace
of God. The very next verse says, but
they held their peace and answered him not a word. For the king's
commandment was saying, answer him not a word. Oh, for grace
to just do nothing, to do nothing when we suffer at the hands of
men. when we're reviled, just do nothing.
Unto us is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe
in him, but also to suffer for his name's sake. Now look, here's
the Savior who we follow. Here's what he did to bring us
true grace. In 24 and 25, verse 24, who his
own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree that we
being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose stripes
you were healed. For you were a sheep going astray
but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your soul. He bear our sins in his own body
on the tree that we Being dead, this is the true grace of God.
If he bear our sins in his body on the tree, we are dead to sins. When are we dead to sins? When
he bear our sin in his body. The false grace of man says that
he bear the sins of many men who will never be dead to sins.
It says it right here. He bear our sins on the tree
that we, being dead to sins should live, will live unto righteousness. I think of the words, when I
think of those men answering Rab Shacky and his threats, I
think of the words of a song, may I be willing, Lord, to bear
daily my cross for thee, even thy cup of grief to share. Thou
has borne all for me. And why does God tell us to not
revile again when we're reviled and to threaten not when we're
threatened? Because he's going to show the
world through us that he chose the foolish things of the world
to confound the wise and the things that are weak to confound the things that are
mighty. Just don't even say a word. That is the true grace of God. Let's go to verse, or chapter
three, sorry. Chapter three, let's look at
verse, we'll start in 13. But rejoice inasmuch as ye are
partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be
revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be
reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye. For the spirit of glory and of
God resteth upon you. On their part, he is evil spoken
of, but on your part, he is glorified. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I was reading from
chapter four there, I'm sorry. Let's start in, ah, let's start in verse 13.
And who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that
which is good? This chapter is continuing on
with the same theme as chapter two. He's talking about following
Christ and suffering for it. Verse 14, but and if you suffer
for righteousness sake, happy are ye and be not afraid of their
terror. Neither be troubled, but sanctify
the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer
to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is
in you with meekness and fear, having a good conscience that
whereas they speak evil of you as evildoers, they may be ashamed
that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. Now, I think of verse 14, he
says, but and if you suffer for righteousness sake, happy are
ye. I think of when our Lord said
in the Sermon on the Mount, blessed are they that are persecuted
for righteousness sake. Now, if we went and asked 10
evangelical Christians in this country, what that verse means,
you'd get 10 versions of really the same story. They would say,
on Friday, I went to the theater with my friends and they wanted
to see a rated R movie. I wanted to see a PG-13, or a
PG movie. I said, we can only see that.
And we settled for PG-13. And then they made fun of me
on the ride home and they haven't talked to me since because I'm
being persecuted for righteousness sake. See, the false grace of
man focuses on man's behavior being his righteousness. But
these verses are not about friends making fun of you, they're about
enemies hating you. See, look, who is he that will
harm you? And it's not speaking of our godly conduct, and it's
not saying that our behavior is our righteousness. Instead,
this verse 14, being suffering for righteousness sake, This
is talking about being a stench in the nose of polite society. This is talking about being hated
and cast out by people. Because even though you do maintain
upright conduct in their eyes, yet you boldly, God's people,
by the true grace of God, they will boldly say that they have
no righteousness of their own, that everything in them is nothing
but sin, and Jesus Christ is their only righteousness. That
is why they're persecuted. If you say that boldly, you will
be. Why do men hate? Why do men hate
us for that? Because they can put two and
two together. They know that if you're saying
that about yourself, it must also be true of them. If you
have no righteousness on your own, they can't either. They
know that. And it says, happy are you though. Happy are ye, because You have
a righteousness that was all of Christ's doing. You have a
righteousness that cannot be abolished. It will never fade. It will bring you to glory. It has made you perfect. You
have a righteousness freely given to you. You're happy because God can
Ask no more and accept no less. You're happy are you because
he's made you perfect and unblameable before him. You're happy because
he gave you boldness by his spirit to speak it plainly. That's why
people will persecute you. To verse 18 now. For Christ also
hath suffered have once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust,
that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the spirit. Here's how he is our righteousness.
Here's how we have the very righteousness of God credited to us. Now the
false grace of man says that he suffered for those who will
never come to him and will be in hell. But the true grace of
God says that Christ suffered for the sins, the just for the
unjust, that he might bring us, bring us. There is an us and
he brings them. If I pay for something at the
store, I'm taking it. I'm not leaving without it. So
he says, they will hear my voice. That is the true grace of God.
His death guarantees. we will believe. God says, blessed
is the man that thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee. This is the true grace of God.
I need the true grace of God because if my behavior is my
righteousness and I'm persecuted for it, I'll walk away. I'll
walk away from it. But if God makes Christ to be
my righteousness, and I can hide from my enemies in the same one
who hides me from the wrath of God, I think that's the true
grace of God. I would have never believed had
he not given me grace. Let's go to chapter four. Just the first verse, for as
much then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves
likewise with the same mind, for he that hath suffered in
the flesh hath ceased from sin. God's elect, or those who are
elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, God's elect
are in Christ. That means that what he did,
they did in him. And he suffered for us in the
flesh. On the cross, he suffered the
wrath of God. He suffered separation from God
that was due to us. And he was charged with it as
our substitute so that we can never know one drop of God's
anger. And the verse says that he that
suffered has ceased from it. It's over. He will never be charged
with sin. Again, and this verse says to
arm yourselves likewise with that same mind, because if it
is finished for him, it's finished for all those in him. We arm
ourselves. This is the true grace of God.
God tells us to arm ourselves by knowing that Christ being
raised from the dead dieth no more. Death hath no more dominion
over him. I need the true grace of God
because I see a law warring in my members every day. If I feel
like I've gotten any kind of victory over any sin, which I
don't, It just pops up in another place in another way. It never
stops. We see sinfulness in our hearts,
in our lives, in our thoughts every day, and it brings us into
captivity to the law of sin. We need the true grace of God
because we need to know that since victory over sin and death
is finished for him, it's finished for me. Harm yourselves likewise. Since he is seated in the heavenly
places, I am too. I need to know that. I need the
true grace of God. Now, when it feels like sin has
dominion over me, I need God to tell me on the authority of
the resurrection. I need God to tell me that sin
shall not have dominion over me. Our Lord said, because I
live, you shall live also. Arm yourselves likewise with
the same mind. He that suffered has ceased. This is the true grace of God,
brethren. Now chapter five. Chapter five, but verse 10, verse
10, and we'll close. Verse 10 says, but the God of
all grace who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Jesus
Christ. After that you have suffered
a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. Since
all grace is God's grace, the glory that he calls us to is
all God's glory. In heaven, the chorus will be
thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, because
we did not contribute anything to what you've done, Lord. Since
all grace is God's grace, we must say the same things about
grace that we say about God. God's grace, the true grace of
God, cannot fail. Is there anything too hard for
me, saith the Lord? God's grace cannot change. He
says, thou art the same and thy years shall have no end. The
true grace of God needs nothing from us. God says, if I was hungry,
I would not tell you. Verse 12, right where we started,
by Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose I have
written briefly, exhorting and testifying. that this is the
true grace of God wherein ye stand. The true grace of God
causes us to stand. We stand upon the rock, Jesus
Christ, who cannot fail, who cannot lie,
who is a true friend, who died and rose again and put our sins
away that he might bring us to God and bring us to God's heavenly
kingdom. That's a grace I need. I can't
do with the false grace of man. It has my fingerprints all over
it and God won't accept it. But the true grace of God, look
in verse 10, it makes you perfect, establishes you. David said,
thou has established my feet and you've set my feet upon a
rock and settled all my goings. strengthened with all might in
the inner man. This is something you can stand
on. The true grace of God is what sinners need when they realize
that the false grace of man can never do. This is what he gives.