We lost Tom. Deuteronomy chapter 32 at verse
4. He is the rock. He is the rock. His work is perfect. For all his ways are judgment,
a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right. is he. Amen. Amen. Let's stand together. Tom's
going to come lead us and him on the back of your boat. ? Once more we come before our
God ? ? Once more His blessing pass ? ? O may the duty seem
hollowed ? ? Nor worship prune the town ? May we receive the word we hear
He did and on his heart Hoard up the precious treasure there
And never let it part ? To see thee all our hearts dispose
? ? To each thy blessing suit ? ? And let us see thy servant's
souls ? ? Produce a heavenly fruit ? Revive the parks with heavenly
showers, the cold with warm divine. And as the benefit is
ours, be all the glory Please be seated. Good morning. For our call to
worship this morning, turn with me to Psalm 23. Psalm 23. I'd say there's several of us
that's probably memorized this from a child, In the light of
the Gospel, it changes the entire meaning of it, doesn't it? Psalm
23, verse 1. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me
to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of my enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil,
my cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. Let's pray. Our gracious, merciful Heavenly
Father, as we come before you this morning, we ask that you
would send your spirit to this place and anoint our head with
oil. Thank you, Lord, for causing us to be here. We pray that you
would make us to see Christ this morning. Pray that you would
send your spirit to this place. Forgive us, Father, of our sin. Pray that you would give us clarity
of mind to focus upon your finished work for the preaching of the
gospel. Be with Greg as he stands, that you would give him clarity
of mind. Cause us to see Christ, we pray. For it's in his name
we ask. Amen. Let's stand together again. We'll
sing hymn number 340. 340 from the hardback teminal.
340. Nearer, still nearer, close to
thy God. Draw me, my Savior, so precious
now, Lord. Fold me, O fold me, close to
thy ? Shelter me safe in that haven
of rest ? ? Shelter me safe in that haven of rest ? ? Nearer,
still nearer, the thing I pray ? Loved as an off'ring to Jesus
my King. Only my sinful now comes my charge. Grant me the cleansing thy blood
doth impart. ? See the cleansing thy blood does
impart ? ? Nearer, still nearer, Lord, to
thee I ? ? Sin with its follies I gladly resign ? ? Of its pleasures, hope and its
pride ? ? Give me but Jesus, my Lord crucified ? ? Give me
but Jesus, my Lord crucified ? Nearer, still nearer, while life
shall last, Till safe and glory my anchor is cast. Through endless
ages, ever to be Nearer, my Savior, still nearer
to me. Nearer, my Savior, still nearer
to me. Not have I gotten, but what I
received. Grace hath bestowed it since
I first believed. Boasting excluded, pride I abate. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story. To God be the glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Once I was foolish and sin ruled
my heart, causing my footsteps from God to depart. Jesus hath found me, happy my
case. I now am a sinner, saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story to God be the
glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Tears unavailing, no merit had
I. Mercy had saved me, or else I
must die. Sin had alarmed me, fear in God's
face. But now I'm a sinner, saved by
grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story to God be the
glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Suffer a sinner whose heart overflows,
Loving his Savior to tell what he knows. Sorry. Once more to tell it would I
embrace, I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved
by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story. To God be the glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Adam, you could not have sung
a more appropriate song to prepare us for what I want to try to
preach this morning. Thank you. Sinners saved by grace. That's the message for today.
He didn't know that. Turn with me in your Bibles to
Zechariah. We studied the book of Zechariah
a year or so ago. Next to the last book of the
Old Testament, Zechariah chapter four. Zechariah chapter four. Sinners saved by grace. It's all of grace. It's all of
grace from election to redemption, to regeneration, sanctification,
glorification. It's all of grace. We are recipients
to what God is doing. Even the hard things are of grace. There's a little article in your
bulletin this morning about blessings and cursings and how many times
you have friends that say, well, you know, God's blessed me here
and blessed me there. For the reprobate, that's the
one who leaves this world without Christ. Those vessels fitted
for destruction. Scripture refers to them as nothing
is a blessing. Nothing. Every benefit, every
mercy that they enjoy from the hand of God in this world will
only serve to add to their judgment for not believing on the one
who sent them, the one who provided. Nothing, ultimately, nothing's
a blessing. And just the opposite's true
for the child of God. For the believer, everything's
a blessing. The Lord gives us faith to look
on Christ and to believe that everything he's doing, everything
he's doing is for his glory and for our good. And it's all by
his grace. And for the child of God, we're
able to be thankful in all things, for all things are the will of
God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Salvation, is all of grace. In the book of Zechariah, might I say this by way of introduction
as well, that if it wasn't for the Lord Jesus
Christ and His work of redemption, this world would not exist. you
wouldn't exist, I wouldn't exist, nothing would be here. This world
was created for his church. And the only thing that matters
in time and in eternity is the work of grace that God is doing
to save his people and to establish his eternal kingdom. And when
the last of God's elect is called by his grace, this world's coming
to an end. I mean, just like that. There's no more need for it.
We know that there's lost sheep in the world. Otherwise we wouldn't
be here. And that's what this passage
of scripture is about. It's about the calling of that
last lost sheep. Look at the last part of verse
seven, because this is the title of the message, the last phrase
in verse seven of Zechariah chapter four, shouting, crying, grace,
grace unto it. Now here's the story. The children
of Israel were carried off into Babylon. Jehoiachin was the king of Judah. when Nebuchadnezzar came and
carried the children of Israel off into Babylon, and they remained
there for 70 years in fulfillment of God's prophecy of judgment
against them. Jehoiachin's grandson now, 70
years later, his name is Zerubbabel. And Zerubbabel, after the 70
years is accomplished, leads the first wave of Jews from Babylon
back to Israel to rebuild the temple and to reestablish the
city of Jerusalem. That's the historical setting.
Zerubbabel is the one who lays the foundation for the temple. And he's going to finish what
he started because in the end of Zerubbabel's life, he's gonna
set the capstone on this place of worship, this building of
God. And that's the historical setting. Now, what's the meaning of all
that? What significance is that to me and you? Well, Jerusalem
is the church. It's the city of God. Zerubbabel
is a type of Christ. Babylon is our life in this world. And the Lord takes us out of
Babylon and brings us into his church. And he's the foundation. And he says, I'm going to set
that last stone because what I finished, what I started, I'm
going to finish. Let's read the verses together.
Look at verse six. Then he answered and spake unto
me, saying, this is the word of the Lord." I don't know if
I'm a believer, because I just believe what God says. There's no if, ands, and buts
about it. When God said it, that settles it. This is the word
of the Lord. Don't you love that? So many
words in this world, aren't there? So many opinions, so many voices.
So many conflicts in this world. Who do you believe? It's getting
hard to believe anybody, isn't it? But we can believe God's
word, fully, completely holy. This is the word of the Lord.
Unto Zerubbabel say, not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit,
saith the Lord of hosts. It's not going to be by your
physical power or your physical strength. It is not of him that
willeth. It is not of him that runneth.
It is of God that showeth mercy. Lest the Lord builds the house,
they labor in vain that build it. Whatever's done in the flesh
will be of the flesh and will end up like the flesh. The flesh
profiteth nothing. that where the spirit of the
Lord is, there's liberty. And what God does by his spirit,
oh, that's a work. That's a work that's eternal.
God's not doing something that's gonna fall apart. He's building
his church and he's doing it by the power of his spirit. That's
what the Lord said to Nicodemus. Nicodemus, unless you're born
from above, unless the spirit of God comes and breathes life
into your heart, You've got no part in the kingdom of God. Verse seven. Who art thou, O
great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, thou shalt
become a plain. And we're gonna look at what
this mountain is in a moment, but here's the word of the Lord.
Before Zerubbabel, you remember, Zerubbabel's a type of Christ.
And, He's building his church. Well, the Lord say to Peter,
Peter, you've been blessed of God. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
the son to you. My father, which is in heaven
has made it known to you. And upon this rock, what rock? The declaration that you just
made that I am the Christ, the son of the living God. Upon this
rock, I will build my church. and my friends and my brethren,
let me say to you without any equivocation, without any confusion,
the building of God's church is the only thing of any eternal
significance in this world. Only we get so distracted, don't
we? We get so caught up in worldly
things. We don't have a part in this
kingdom. We've got no part at all in that which is eternal.
That's what this story's about. It's about the building of the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, great mountain, you're gonna
flow down. Who are you before Zerubbabel?
Thou shalt become a plain and he shall bring forth the headstone
thereof with shoutings crying, grace, grace unto it. What is that headstone? We'll
look at that in a moment. Moreover, the word of the Lord
came unto me saying, the hand or the hands of Zerubbabel have
laid the foundation of this house. His hands also shall finish it. And thou shalt know that the
Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. You shall know this is the work
of the Lord. The hands of Zerubbabel started it. The title of the message is Grace,
Grace Unto It. What is it? There's two stones
mentioned here in this passage. There's the foundation stone
and there's the headstone. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ
is the foundation stone. He's the stone. that the builders
rejected, that God has made to become the head of the corner. He is the smitten rock in the
wilderness. And Moses took the rod of the
law. and smote that rock when the
children of Israel were dying of thirst and miraculously out
of the smitten rock came water to sustain them in the wilderness. And so the law of God smote the
Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross and out of him flows rivers
of living water. He's the rock, he's that foundation
stone. As I've already quoted, he said,
upon this rock, I will build my church. He's the rock of ages. But that's not the capstone that's
being mentioned here. Turn to me to 1st Peter chapter
2. 1st Peter chapter 2. Here's another glorious passage
of scripture that assures me that I'm a child of God. Look at verse two, as newborn
babes, as newborn babes desire, crave after the sincere milk
of the word. I want to know what God says.
I want to know more about Christ. I want my faith to be strengthened. You do too. That's why you're
here as newborn babes. Desire the sincere milk of the
word that you may grow thereby. So if so, be that you have tasted
that the Lord is gracious. Have you tasted the grace of
God? You found comfort in knowing
that salvation is all of God. You've been able to rest your
immortal soul in the finished work and in the glorious person
of the Lord Jesus Christ and found some comfort, some hope.
You've tasted it. And in tasting it, you like the
taste and you want more. More. That's the picture. Look,
and here's the assurance. To whom coming? To whom coming? And we find ourselves so easily
distracted away from Christ. And yet, and yet he keeps bringing
us again and again and again. He won't let us depart. He keeps
bringing his sheep to whom coming. As unto a living stone. Now that's the foundation stone
that the Lord's speaking of here in Zerubbabel. That's the, that's
the, a stone upon which the church is built. Disallowed indeed of
men, but chosen of God and precious. That word precious means without
price. Means you can't put a price on him. He's the pearl of great
price. And to have Christ. Worth everything,
isn't it? Just he's he is everything. So he says he's the he's the
stone that The builders have rejected, disallowed indeed of
men, but chosen of God and precious. And you also, here's what I want
you to see in verse five. You also as lively stones are
built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Whatever sacrifices
we make to God, they have to be made by the Lord Jesus Christ,
through the Lord Jesus Christ, to the Lord Jesus Christ, and
they become acceptable to God for his glory. And so the Lord
is likening this church. This is the picture in Zechariah
chapter four of Zerubbabel coming back from Babylon, where the
children of Israel been for how many years? 70 years. What's
that a picture of? You and I live in a land of Babylon.
You remember when the Tower of Babel was being built, that they
had stones, they had brick for stone and slime for mortar. And
the Lord said, when you build a temple, when you build an altar,
you don't fashion the bricks with your hands. And yet that's
what they had. They had the works of their hands and they were
trying to put the works of their hands together with the slime
or the covering. It didn't work, did it? It didn't
work. And they ended up with a confusion
of speech. Everybody spoke a different language. Babylon is a picture
of mixing law and grace. The slime is a picture of the
atonement. And every religion of the world,
we're not talking about just the false gospels of quote Christianity,
but we're talking about, we're talking about Hinduism, we're
talking about Islam, we're talking about Buddhism. Every religion
in the world has a works plus grace message. They believe in a God who is
merciful. A God with whom they must have
grace from, that's why they pray, that's why they make sacrifices,
and yet they have to have their works as well. Every religion
in the world, every religion is a mixture of works and grace
just like Babylon represents. And in the book of Revelation,
when Babylon is destroyed, she's called the mother of harlots.
Mystery Babylon. Nobody knew that what they were
doing in mixing law and grace was keeping them from God. That's why Zerubbabel, with shoutings
and with crying says, grace, grace unto it. So Reuben laid the foundation,
that's Christ. The last stone is that building
stone in the church of God. When the last of God's elect
and what is God saying to me and you? It is all of grace. It's all of grace, every bit
of it. All of salvation is all of God. Does that give you some place
to rest? Does that give you some hope? God's not looking to you or me
for any part of our salvation, that he did it all and he did
it all by himself and he did it all right. That's the picture. You see, the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace in the finished work and glorious person
of the Lord Jesus Christ is being set in contrast to every other
message of salvation in this world, which is a mixture of
long grace. Yeah, you've got to have the
grace of God. You've got to have the mercy of God. But you've
got to do your part too. I found in my office The other
day, a sermon outline from 1975, the church that I used to attend. And the sermon outline was L-I-V-E. And the message was, how can
I have real, how can I really live? And the L, the first point of
the sermon, the L, was let Jesus come into your heart. And the I was invite him into
your heart. And the V was vigorate your Christian
life. That's a works play. You see
what I'm saying? And that's the message of salvation
in the world. And it's not limited to just
the false Christianity. It's every religion, it's works. Some, you, God did his part. Now you do your part and you can be, and that grace, grace
unto it with shoutings and with crying. We're not, we're not
mixing it. You see, if it is of grace, it
can no longer be of works. Otherwise, grace is not grace.
You can't mix grace and works. You can't do it. That's what religion is. It's
kind of like mixing oil and water, isn't it? And religion is all
about shaking it up so you can't tell the difference. And they're
always getting everybody involved in some kind of activity so that
we can keep these works in grace all mixed up together. You set
that glass down for just a few minutes, what's going to happen?
Take a drink of it then, what are you going to get? Is that
going to satisfy your thirst? Mouthful of oil? Man's always trying to mix it
up, isn't he? What's the Lord saying here?
Grace, grace unto it. Pointing to that last stone placed
on that living household of God. All built on the foundation stone. And the Lord saying, it was all
of grace. The whole building was all of
grace. Zerubbabel started it and Zerubbabel
finished it. He did it all by himself. Zerubbabel's name translated,
he was the grandson of the king that Nebuchadnezzar led the children
of Israel out of Babylon. And his name means sown in Babylon. Sown in Babylon. And he represents
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is building his church and bringing
his children out of Babylon. In that, in over there in Revelation
chapter 20, when it speaks of mystery Babylon, that great mother
of the harlots. And the Lord says, after he describes
her, he says, come out from among her and be ye separate, saith
the Lord. And now we have Zerubbabel taking
the people of God out of Babylon, out of that works grace gospel,
and bringing them into the family of God that's built on grace,
grace, and only grace, only grace. And they're pointing to that
last stone and saying, it was all a grace. Zerubbabel, born
in Babylon, sown in Babylon, the Lord Jesus Christ, had to
come into this world to save us out of this world. He had
to be born of a woman. He had to be born under the law
to redeem them who are cursed by the law of God. He had to
be made in the likeness of sinful flesh in order for him to bear
our sins in his body upon Calvary's tree, he had to be a man. And
we have a man. There is one mediator between
God and man, The man, Christ Jesus. We have a successful savior
who's ascended back into glory and is seated at the right hand
of God. We have an advocate with the father. That's who's Zerubbabel
pictures here. He had to live in Babylon and
he had to die in Babylon. He had to put his works before
God. His works, the scripture says,
went before him and recommended him to God. And he's the only
one that could send his works ahead of him. And God saw his
works and God was satisfied. You see, what is the world trying
to do? They're trying to send their works. trying to send their
works, and God says, no, grace, grace unto it. Zerubbabel started
the building. He put his work to it by his
hands. Look at our text. Look at our
text. Who art thou, O great mountain,
before Zerubbabel? Thou shalt become a plain. Verse
nine, the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this
house. His hands shall also finish it. Anything you and I put our hands
to, we just corrupt it. We corrupt it. Babylon is all
about fashioning bricks with the hands of man. The gospel
is all about that rock that was cut from a mountain by the hand
of God and crushed all the kingdoms of this world. I'm speaking of
that imagery in Daniel chapter four. where Nebuchadnezzar has
this picture of all the kingdoms of the world and the kingdom
of God destroys it all and is the everlasting kingdom. The hands of Zerubbabel have
done it. And so with great shouting, And
with great joy, all the people of God, from the first believer,
from the first of God's elect to the very last stone that's
placed on this household, this living house, we cry unto Him,
grace, grace unto it. It was all of grace. You know, and the thing about
Babylon, you remember how the story of Babylon ended, God confused
their language. And what do we have in the world
today? There's such a confusion in religion. Religion is so complicated. It's so confusing. It's so convoluted. One of them says, well, you know,
it's all of grace. We used to quote Ephesians chapter
two, verse eight and nine, for by grace are you saved through
faith and not of yourselves. It's a gift of God. And then
we turn right around and put works into it. And then talking
out of both sides of the mouth, you can't understand it. It's
like a politician, you know, they say one thing and they say
something else and do this and do that. You know, religion and
politics are very similar, very similar. But that's the confusion of speech.
And this group says, oh, no, you got to do this. And the other
group says, oh, no, you got to do that. And they've all got
a different list of works that you have to perform with your
hands in order to be saved. And the gospel is so simple.
It's so simple. Christ is all. He's all and he's
done it all. He did it all by himself when
he bore in his body the sins of all of his people and put
them away once and for all by the sacrifice of himself. To
whom coming? as a living stone, lively stones
built up into the household of God. We just keep coming to Christ. We keep coming to Christ. For
what? For grace. More grace, Lord, I need more
grace. Turn with me to Jeremiah chapter
51. Jeremiah chapter 51. It's all of grace. Sinners saved
by grace. By grace. Don't put your hands to the work
of God. We'll just pollute it. Defile it. Grace. Grace unto it. What is this mountain? Look at Jeremiah chapter 51 at
verse at verse 24. And I will render unto Babylon
and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they
have done in Zion in your sight, saith the Lord. Behold, I am
against thee, O destroying mountain. saith the Lord, which destroyeth
all the earth, and I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and roll
thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. Who art thou, O mountain, before
Zerubbabel? What's the mountain? It's Babylon.
What is it that separates men from God? their need to do something to
earn favor with God. You see, it's not men's sin that
keeps them from Christ. It's their self-righteousness.
It's their righteousness that keeps them from Christ. That's
what keeps men from Christ. They will not be saved by grace.
Grace alone? You mean Christ gets all the
glory? I can't take credit for anything?
Yep. And God's people rejoice and
they, oh, I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful. And the Pharisee
and the self-righteous, they're cut to their hearts and they
gnash their teeth. The Lord said, if you had faith
as a mustard seed, You could say unto this mountain, be ye
cast into the sea. You see, it's not that God gives
different measures of faith. Some people have a lot of faith.
Some people struggle with faith, but there's one thing consistent
about great faith and little faith. And that is the object
of that faith. the object of that faith. All my hope, all my trust, all
my dependence for God to save me is bound up wholly in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. I've got no place else to go. And that's what the Lord meant
when he said if you had faith, as a mustard seed. You see, it's
not the, it's not how much faith you have, it's in whom is your
faith. Revelation chapter six, when
the Lord melts this mountain, when he burns this mountain,
this Babylonian mountain, this mountain that would rob Christ
of his glory and give to man some credit for his salvation. The scripture says, and they
said to the mountains and to the rocks fall on us and hide
us from the face of him that sit upon the throne and from
the wrath of the lamb. So the whole world, when the
wrath of God comes in the end, the last of God's elect is called
out of Babylon and brought into Christ. And the wrath of God
comes against this world. Those Babylonians are going to
be saved to their works, fall on us and hide us, hide us from
the wrath of the Lamb. And what did the Lord say when
he separates the sheep from the goats in the day of judgment?
He said, the goats will be saved, but Lord, Lord, we've done many
wonderful works in thy name. We've cast out demons in thy
name. We prophesied in thy name. And what's the Lord say to them?
Depart from me. What are they saying? Fall on
us and hide us from the wrath of the Lamb. Men are looking
by nature to their works to protect them from God. And God says,
depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. What's
the Lord say? And he said, again, we're not
just talking about false Christianity. We're talking about every religion
in the world. Every religion in the world is Babylonian. And that it's all a mixture of
works and grace. And you put works with grace
and it's no longer grace. No longer grace, it's just works.
Any works. And that's why Well, this is
the word of the Lord. Zerubbabel by his hands laid
the foundation. Zerubbabel by his hands will
lay that capstone and we will all cry, grace, grace unto it. He started it and he finished
it. To glory and grace, you have
to be made a son. Only sinners need grace. Those
who are not sinners, they don't need grace. They've got something
else to offer. God makes you to be... Genesis
chapter six, I quote this passage a lot. Verse five, the Lord said
that he looked down from heaven and peered into the heart of
man. And that's what You know, sometimes
the Lord uses body parts to define spiritual truth. And in Romans
chapter three, the scripture says their throat is an open
sepulcher. In them there is no good thing.
What is it? When you look down the man's
throat, what do you see? You look into his heart. Here's God taking
a sinner and opening his mouth to heaven. And God's looking
down through this open sepulcher and he's seeing a dead heart.
And that's what the scripture says in Genesis chapter six,
that God looked down from heaven and he saw that every imagination
of the heart was only evil. And that continually, how am
I going to offer anything to God if every imagination in his
sight, in his sight. And then in verse nine of that
same chapter, the scripture says this, But Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. You see, Noah fit the description
of verse five. It wasn't that Noah's heart was
any better than anybody else's heart. God chose Noah. And Noah's name
means rest. And God took Noah and put him
in an ark. And the deluge of God's judgment came upon the
earth and Noah was saved. And the Lord says, as it was
in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the son
of man. The Lord is going to save his
people in the same way he saved Noah. He's going to save you,
he's going to save me the same way. We're going to have to find grace,
grace in his eyes. Now very quickly. I want to say
some things about grace. It's unfortunate that we have
to put adjectives to grace in order to differentiate what we
mean by grace from the rest of the world. Everybody talks about
grace. Everybody talks about grace. We have to say, no, no, you don't
understand. Grace that I'm talking about
is sovereign grace. It's free grace. It's grace that's
only found in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's eternal grace. It's righteous grace. This is
the kind of grace that makes a man follow after Christ. And
this grace is only found in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, grace
cannot be given by God until justice is satisfied. And the
Lord Jesus Christ, the only one that satisfied the justice of
God. So all the grace of God is in
the Lord Jesus Christ and only in the Lord Jesus Christ. You're
not gonna find grace outside of Christ. For if through the offense of
one, many be made, many be dead, much more, the grace of God and
the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ hath abounded
unto many. The law was given by Moses, the
grace and truth came by the Lord Jesus Christ. We're justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. There's no grace outside of Christ. All the grace of God must be
found in Christ. Paul said in 1 Timothy 1, the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was exceedingly abundant with
faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. All the grace of God abundant
is in Christ Jesus. We look to Christ, rest in Christ
for all the hope of our grace. Grace is righteous grace. because Christ is righteous.
The scripture says in Hebrews chapter one, thou hast loved
righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God has
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy foes. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the anointed Christ, the Messiah, the full
power of the spirit of God. He accomplished the putting away
of sin. He established righteousness. He is our righteousness. There's no grace outside of justice.
There's no grace outside of Christ. There's no grace outside of righteousness. For the righteous Lord loveth
righteousness. His countenance doth behold the
upright. So that we have this hope brethren,
as he is. If we're found in him, not having
our own righteousness, which is of the law, the law came by
Moses. Grace and truth was given by the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
found in Him as He is, so are we. Right now in this world,
perfect in Christ. How could that be? Grace, grace
unto it. With shoutings and crying, grace,
grace unto it. Grace cannot be earned or paid
for. We're justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans
chapter five, verse 15 speaks of the gift of grace. And in Revelation chapter 21,
it is done. It is done. I am the alpha and
the omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him
that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely,
freely. We can't persuade grace. We can't earn grace. We can't
favor grace. Grace is a gift of God freely. So the spirit in the bride says,
let him take of water of life freely. Come by without money,
without price. Why do you spend money for that
which satisfies not? That's a picture of work. Why
do you try to earn favor with God by doing something that only
leaves you wondering whether you've done enough? Grace, grace unto it. God's grace is sovereign grace.
It's the only kind of grace there is. If it's not sovereign, it's
not grace. If God doesn't have the sovereign right to give it
to whomsoever he wills, and it's not grace. It's not grace. He's the potter and we're the
clay. And he has the sovereign right
to make out of the same lump of clay, some vessels of honor,
some of this is sovereign grade. That'll make a mercy beggar out
of you. That'll cause you to depend upon him for everything,
which is what grace does. That's what grace does. As many as were ordained to eternal
life, I believe. Oh, the grace of God. I have
mercy upon whom I will have mercy. And whom I will out harden. God's
grace is sovereign grace. It's only found in Christ. It's eternal grace. Listen to this. Revelation chapter
13, Christ is that lamb that was slain from the foundation
of the world. Now, I don't understand what
that means. I mean, I can't even begin to comprehend the eternity
past. How can there be something without a beginning? And yet
we know that's true of our God. We believe it. We don't understand
it. We believe it. We believe that God is. That's his name. I am. I'm not
created. I'm not dependent. I'm not contingent
on anything. I'm not derived like you. I am. I exist within myself and
always have. Always have. He's the self-existent
one. And just as God is eternal, so
is grace. So is grace. The Lord Jesus Christ
in a covenant of grace from eternity past agreed with his father to
redeem his people. And the father's always seen
the elect in Christ, always. That's why the scripture says
that he's loved us with an everlasting love. Contrary to what some people
believe, God does not have a plan B. Matter of fact, God doesn't have
a plan. He doesn't have a plan. Everything
he does is on purpose. Here's the glorious truth. The
new covenant in Christ is infinitely, eternally older than the old
covenant in Moses. The new covenant, the old covenant
was given in order to exalt the new covenant. It's all about
Christ. It's all for not unto us, O Lord,
Psalm 115, not unto us, but unto thy name be glory for thy truth
and for thy mercy's sake. It's all about Christ. It's all
for him. It's all by him. The grace of God is saving grace. We were dead in our trespasses
and sins and he has saved us by his grace. God's not trying to get anybody
saved. He's already accomplished the
salvation of his elect and just as sure as the father's elect
were redeemed by Christ, the spirit of God will make them
willing in the day of his power. It's saving grace. It's irresistible
grace. He makes us willing. He has saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which he has given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. We believe, Acts chapter 15,
Verse 11, we believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
we shall be saved. And so with shoutings and with
cryings, they looked at that capstone and they looked at the
hands of Zerubbabel and what he had done in bringing the people
of God out of Babylon. And they all cried together,
grace, grace unto it. And my final point is that grace
makes a man walk with God. Grace makes a man walk with God.
To whom coming? Yes. Are we continually distracted? Yes. Do we like Peter take our
eyes off of Christ and look at the blustering winds and the
waves and find ourselves drowning in our circumstances? Yes. And
do we cry in those times? Save me, Lord, save me again.
To whom coming? To whom coming? Yes. If any man will come after me,
let him deny himself. And that means to deny that you
have anything to do with your salvation. Take up his cross. Identify yourself as being dead
in Christ on Calvary's cross and follow him. Follow him. My sheep hear my voice and I
know them and they follow me. They follow me. Peter and Andrew. were casting
their nets, the scripture says. And the Lord Jesus walked along
the shore of the Sea of Galilee and looked at these two men and
said, follow me. And the scripture says, immediately
they cast down their nets and they followed Christ. Levi, that
man we call Matthew, sitting at the table of exchange, making
a good living as a tax collector. And the Lord set his eyes on
him and said, follow me. And immediately he got up from
his desk and followed Christ. The grace of, what, what? Did
they have questions? Did they have, what do you mean
follow you? No, that's the voice of God. God says, follow me. You just follow him. You follow
him. And then when the Lord was arrested
at the garden of Gethsemane, Peter proudly said, Lord, I don't
know about the rest of these guys, but I'm going to stand
with you. I'll die with you. And he pulled out a sword and
he cut off the ear of the high priest's servant. And the Lord told him to put
away his sword. He said, they that live by the
sword will die by the sword. You're not gonna live by the
works that you're in. You're gonna live by the sword
of the Spirit, which is the word of God, which reveals the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how you're gonna live.
And the scripture says, they took Christ off and Peter followed
from afar. That's when he got in trouble.
He followed from afar. And he got tempted to deny Christ,
didn't he? And he did, you know the story.
Denied him with cursings. And then when the Lord rose from
the grave, he told those women, he said, go tell my disciples
and Peter that I've risen. And then when the Lord reveals
himself to Peter, Peter's already gone back to fishing. He's figured
I've blown him. There's no chance of God using me anymore. I've
lost all hope of being in that building. This stone's been thrown
out. And the Lord said to Peter, Peter, lovest thou me more than these? Now by these, he wasn't talking
about those other apostles that were with him. He was talking
about those fishing nets. He was talking about the works
of his hands to produce sustenance for himself. And these are spiritual
pictures. And Peter said, Lord, thou knowest
I love you, so feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. You're going to
trust me for your salvation, Peter? And the Lord restored
him. And the Lord keeps doing that
for his people, for you and for me. Every time we look away,
to whom coming? Why? Because there's not a stone
that's going to be missing in that living household of God.
It's all being built. What Zerubbabel started, Zerubbabel
will finish. He laid the foundation stone.
He's going to lay the capstone and he's going to make every
stone willing to bow to him, to trust him, to believe upon
him and to follow him. It's called grace. All of grace. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for your. Amazing, amazing grace. Bless your word to our hearts.
We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 20 in your spiral hymnal,
let's stand number 20. Long before the world was made,
God chose to save me by His grace, and blessed me in my covenant
head with every blessing of His grace. In Christ my surety was
found, a ransom for God's chosen one. Deliverance was then proclaimed,
And God's great work of grace begun. In the due time, my Savior
came, to do his holy father's will. The body was prepared for
him that he might righteousness fulfill. When Christ had righteousness
brought in, He took my awful load of sin. Dying for me upon
the tree, My Savior took away my sin. Though I was poor, child
of wrath, deep grave and helpless dead in sin. And oh, I chose
a rebel's path, despising God and loving sin. ? My Savior's
love could not be quenched ? ? He sought and found me by His grace
? ? Awakened by His Spirit's call ? ? I'm saved, I'm saved
by sovereign grace ? ? Amazing free and sovereign grace ? ?
In love with Christ Jesus ? my place chosen, redeemed, and called
by grace to Christ alone I give praise. My only hope, my only
plea, is that Christ lived and died for me, and give alone I
am complete, to Christ alone I'm praised.