Still, I apologize that we don't
have facilities for this many people. So if we could close
those hall doors and those that are still waiting to get into
the restrooms won't be a distraction to us. Jim, could you make sure those
doors get closed, please? Thank you. Or Jeff. Okay. Don't you love it when your experience
and the Scriptures just come together? That's my experience. The message you just preached,
that's my life. And it's just so encouraging and comforting
to see that that's exactly how God said it was going to be.
And I was thinking about Isaiah 40 verse 31, But they that wait
upon the Lord, shall, and the next word is renew in our English
translation, but it's the word change. That's the word. They shall change their strength.
The Lord doesn't prop up our strength. When we were yet without
strength, Christ died for the ungodly. When I'm weak, Paul
said, then I'm strong. His strength is made perfect
in my weakness. They that wait upon the Lord,
those that look to Christ, shall change their strength for His
strength. And they shall mount up with
wings as eagles and run and not be weary and walk and not faint.
Thank you, Chris. I forgot to mention, the pews
that you're sitting on came from the church in College Grove,
Tennessee, 14, 15 years ago. So thank you all for these pews.
They're perfect. They bought a new building, already
had pews, and they sent all their old pews to us, and you're sitting
on them right now. I think we're going to sing number
44. Let's stand together and open our hymnals number 44 in
the Hart Beck hymnal. And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior's blood? Died He for me who caused His
pain, for me who Him to Amazing love, how can it be That
Thou, my God, should die for me? Amazing love, how can it
be How my God should strive for me. He left His Father's throne
above So free, so infinite His grace Emptied Himself of all
but love And bled for His own helpless race Amazing love, how
can it be That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Amazing love, how can it be That
Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? No condemnation now I dread,
I am my Lord's and He is mine. Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine. Amazing love, how can
it be That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Amazing love, how can it be That
Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Please be seated. Bri Weishi and Rebecca Vincent
are now going to bring some special music. Be Thou my vision, O Lord of
my heart, Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art, Thou
my best thought, by day or by night. Waking or sleeping, Thy
presence my light. Be Thou my vision, of Thou my
true word. Thou my great Father, I Thy true
Son, Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one. Riches I heed not, nor man's
empty praise, Thou mine inheritance now and always, Thou and Thou
only, first in my heart. I King of Heaven, My treasure
Thou art High King of heaven, my victory
won May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's sun Heart of
my own heart, whatever befall, still be my vision, O ruler of
all. Would you turn with me to Romans
chapter 11? It's been such a blessing to be here. Always is. Thank
the Lord for you. Romans chapter 11. Let me give
you the title of this message. And I hope you'll pray for me
as I attempt to preach this message and pray for yourselves. The
Lord would give you hearing ears. I've entitled this message, how
grace and works differ, how grace and works differ. And before
I read the verse, let me say something else. There's only
two kinds of people in this world. People who believe grace and
people who believe works and everybody in this room, you're
in one of those two groups. Somebody says, what about atheists?
They don't believe either. There's no such thing as an atheist.
Everybody knows that somebody made this and that nobody made
him. Everybody knows that. And I realize
that there's some people who do not want there to be a God
because they don't like the consequences of there being a God. So they
say there is no God, but they know. Everybody is either a works
believer or a grace believer. You fit into one of those two
places and every grace believer is someone that God has saved. Every works believer is someone
that does not know God. I pray that by the end of this
message, everybody in here will be grace believers. Beginning in verse five of Romans
chapter 11, even so then at this present time, also there is a
remnant. A remnant is a small number.
And the number of God's elect upon the earth at any given time
has always been a small number. That's okay, isn't it? Whatever
God does is right. Even so, at this present time,
there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Don't you like that? The election of grace. And if by grace If elections
by grace, if salvation is by grace, then is it no more of
works? Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
You put one work in there. It's no longer grace, but if it'd be of works, if salvation
is in some way dependent on something you do, if it'd be works. Don't call it grace because that's
not what it is. Otherwise, work is no more work. How grace and
works differ. Make no mistake, they do differ. They exclude one another. They're incongruent. They cannot
be brought together. There's no such thing as a hybrid
gospel. You're either saved by grace,
100%, or you're saved by works, 100%. Now, if you asked anybody
in Orlando this morning that professes to be a Christian,
do you believe you're saved by grace or do you believe you're
saved by works? What would they say? Grace. Every single one of them, I would
say, without exception. Oh, we believe in salvation by
grace. The problem is works believers
and grace believers have the precise same vocabulary. They all use words like faith
and grace. and atonement, and redemption,
election, predestination, all these scriptural words. Here's the problem. They have
a completely different meaning to the grace believer and to
the works believer. They mean something totally different. Now, if you believe that any
part of your salvation in any way to any degree is dependent
upon you doing something. You're a works believer. If you
believe that your salvation begins with your will, you're a works
believer. If you believe that during your
salvation through prayer and diligent Bible study and through
putting down the flesh and effort and works, you make yourself
holier and more pleasing to God. You're a works believer. If you believe that at the end
you'll be rewarded higher than somebody else, or if you believe
anybody will be rewarded higher than somebody else because of
their works here on earth, you're a works believer. And you can
use grace all you want, but you might as well use peanut butter.
It's meaningless. It's meaningless. A grace believer. believes that every aspect of
his salvation from beginning to end is of the Lord. He did it all. Now, I believe that the man who
could tell us most clearly the difference between grace and
works is the Apostle Paul. Now he is a man who was clearly
at one time on the side of works. He said, touching the righteousness,
which is of the law, I was blameless. Now I can't even fathom being
able to say, anybody being able to say that, but he did. He did,
and I think he believed it. He obviously had a skewed view
of God's law when he made that statement, but he believed. I've kept the 10 commandments.
He was clearly on one side. And then he said, what things
were gained to me, my law-keeping, what things were gained to me,
those I counted lost for Christ, yea, I count all things but lost
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. He said, oh, that I may win Christ
and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is
of the law. I don't want to have anything to do with that. I want
to be saved by the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness,
which is of God by faith. So we see clearly that he knew
both sides, didn't he? And he could tell us the difference.
Now, would you turn with me for a moment to Acts chapter 21? I just want to read some verses
with regard to this man. Now, like I said, Grace and works
cannot coexist. They cannot walk together. How
can two walk together except they be agreed? And grace and
works cannot agree. They're opposed to one another. Now, in Acts chapter 21, we read
beginning in verse 27, And when the seven days were almost ended,
the Jews, which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple,
stirred up all the people and laid hands on him, crying out
men of Israel help. This is the man, this grace believer
that teaches all men everywhere against the people. and the law,
and this place. And further brought Greeks also
into this temple, and hath polluted this holy place. For they had
seen before with him in the city of Trophimus, an Ephesian, whom
they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple. And all the
city was moved, and the people ran together, and they took Paul
and drew him out of the temple. And forthwith the doors were
shut, and they went about to what? Kill him. Now, works is
always gonna try to kill grace. Can't do it, but it's gonna try.
And you know what? Grace always puts to death works.
Now, after he's rescued, we read in chapter 22, verse one, men
and brethren, hear ye my defense, which I now make unto you. And
he's going to tell the difference in that message between grace
and works. You read that on your own. We're
not gonna look at that, but I wanna see what the response ended up
being. We read in verse 22 and they
gave him audience until this word and then lifted up their
voices and said away with such a fellow from the earth for it's
not fit that he should live. And as they cried out, they cast
their clothes and threw dust into the air. Now that was their
response to this man. This is how the works believers
viewed the grace believer. Look in chapter 23, verse 12.
And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together and
bound themselves under a curse saying that they would neither
eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. Now they hated this guy,
didn't they? We'll die, we'll die of starvation,
we'll fast, we won't drink until he's put to death. I wonder what
happened to those guys, I've wondered. You ever wondered about
that? I dare say they probably ended up eating, it wasn't worth
that to them. But look in chapter 24, and this is when he's brought
before Ananias. And after five days, Ananias,
the high priest, descended with the elders and with a certain
orator, named Tertullus, who informed the governor against
Paul. And when he was called forth, Tertullus began to accuse
him saying, seeing that by thee, we enjoy great quietness and
that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence.
We accept it always. And in all places, most noble
Felix, with all thankfulness, thankfulness, notwithstanding
that I not further be further tedious unto thee. I pray thee
that thou would hear us of thy clemency. A few words. Well,
he was an order, wasn't he? I'm having a hard time. reading
it for we found this man a pest a spreader of disease A mover
of sedition. He doesn't bring people together,
he drives them apart. Among all the Jews throughout
the world and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes, who
also hath gone about to profane the temple, whom we took and
would have judged according to our law, but the chief captain
Lysias came upon us and with great violence took him away
out of our hands, commanding his accusers to come unto thee
by examining of whom thyself mayest acknowledge of all these
things whereof we accuse him. And the Jews assented, saying
that these things were so. Then Paul, after the governor
had beckoned him to speak, answered. For as much as I know that thou
hast been of many years a judge in this nation, I do the more
cheerfully answer for myself, because that thou mayest understand
that there yet but twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem
for to worship, and they neither found me in the temple disputing
with any man, neither raising up the people, neither in the
synagogue, nor in the city, neither can they prove the things whereof
they now accuse me. But this I confess unto thee, I plead
guilty that after the way which they call heresy, so worship
I, the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written
in the law and in the prophets. The difference between grace
and works, how do they differ? Here's the first difference. They have different gods. It's a different God. Paul said, after the way which
they call heresy, so I worship I the God of my fathers. Now, let me first of all say
that the God of works is a non-existent God. He's not real. He's the figment
of man's imagination. But the God of works is not a
holy God. If he can accept anything from
me or you, he's not holy. He's not a just God. If he can
punish Christ for somebody's sins on Calvary's tree and then
turn around and throw them into hell because they didn't do something,
he's unjust. He punished the same sin twice.
He's not a sovereign God. If he's a God whose will can
be thwarted, who can't do what he wants unless you let him,
He's not sovereign. You are. He's not in control. You are. He is a false God. He's a failure. There's certain
things he wants to do, but he can't get them done. He's a failure. If he wants to save you and you
end up not being saved, he failed. That's a false God, but let me
remind you, that's no God at all. That's a pygmy God. That's
a weak God. That's a God of man's depraved
imagination. There's no truth to him at all. But the God of the grace believer
is the living God who saves by grace. And all of his attributes
are displayed in how he saves a sinner. If you're saved, it's
because he willed your salvation. If you're saved, his justice
is magnified in your salvation. He's made a way to remain just
and yet justify somebody like you or me. His Grace is magnified. His immutability is magnified. His sovereignty is magnified.
Every attribute of God, the living God. Now, are you a grace believer
or are you a works believer? Which God do you believe? The difference between the grace
believer and the works believer is also found in verse 14. They
have a different view of the Holy Scriptures. Paul said, believing all things
that are written. The works believer does not believe
all things that are written, and when confronted with what
is written, they ward it off with, well, that's your interpretation.
You ever heard that? That's your interpretation. Now
listen to me. The Bible interprets itself. It's not up to my interpretation
or your interpretation. The Bible interprets itself.
You can throw the whole book at any doctrine of God and it'll
come out shining. The Bible interprets itself. And that is dishonest. That's
all you can call it dishonest. That's no true reverence or respect
for the scriptures. You see, this religion is the
religion of this book. This is a divine revelation from
God, wherein he makes himself known. It's absolutely authoritative. Everything in it. And we believe
all that is written. A grace believer believes all
that the Bible declares concerning the character of God. All that
the Bible declares regarding the character of man. And I'm
going to get more into that in a general way. And all that the
Bible declares regarding the character of God's salvation
in Christ. A grace believer believes all
that is written. God is seen in how you view this
book. Now that's an essential difference,
isn't it? Somebody says, I believe everything
that's written. Well, you say that, but do you? The difference between. A grace
believer and a works believer is seen in this thing of worship. After the way which they call
heresy, so worship I, the God of my fathers. You see, there
is no worship in works. There is no worship in works. A God that you can manipulate,
a God that you can get to respond to you. A God that you can make
Him do this or that by what you do, you're not gonna worship
a God like that. The only God anybody worships
is the absolute sovereign God where I'm in His hands and He
can do with me whatever He's pleased to do. I can't manipulate
Him. I can't get Him to respond. I'm in His hands. You'll worship that God. A God
you can manipulate, A God that you can control with your will,
you won't worship him. He's not worthy of worship. He's
not existent in the first place. But a God who's absolutely sovereign
and in control. That leper came and worshiped
him, saying, Lord, if you will, I can't do anything about my
state. I can't make myself better. I can't save myself. I can't
do a thing. If you will, you can make me clean. He worshiped him, didn't he? When David said, if I find favor
in the eyes of the Lord, he'll bring me back again. And he's
going to show me the place of his habitation. But if he say,
I have no delight in thee, here I am. Let him do what seemeth
him good. That's worship. Joshua sees the man standing
with a drawn sword. He didn't know what was gonna
happen to him. He said, are you on our side or are you on our
adversary's side? He said, neither. I'm the captain
of the Lord of hosts. And you know what Joshua did?
He hit the dirt and worshiped, saying, Lord, what wilt thou
have thy servant do? There's no worship in a works
message. Oh, but there's worship of the
living God in the grace message. The works message and the grace
message differs in that there's a different way. There's a different
way. Now, a way is the way from point
A to point B. It's the way from here to there.
There's a different way. What is the way of the grace
believer? The Lord said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh through the father,
but by me. Now listen real carefully. That
doesn't mean we come pleading him. That doesn't mean we come
behind him. That doesn't mean we come beside
him. It certainly doesn't mean we come in front of him. It means
we come in him so that when he comes to the father, we come
to the father. I don't come holding on to His
coattails. When He enters into the Father's presence, I enter
the Father's presence because I'm in Him. This thing of union
with Christ, different way. The only way I can get into God's
presence is if I'm in Him and He brings me there. It's not
even me saying, Lord, do this for me or do that. I'm only coming
in Christ's name. No, no, it's just me being in
Him. Do you understand that? Do you
understand the only way you can approach the Father? is through
being in Christ and Christ bringing you into his presence so that
all God sees is Jesus Christ. He doesn't see you. He doesn't
see your works. He doesn't, he sees Jesus Christ. That is the way to the father.
There is no other way. This is the way that excludes
all other ways. There's a different way. What's
the difference between grace and works? There's a completely
different way. The difference between works
and grace is seen in a man's or woman's view of eternity.
The works believer believes God made a plan in eternity. Amen. Plan save you. He's got a wonderful
plan for your life. Oh, he, he'd love if you'd accept
his plan. He's got a wonderful plan for
your life. He wants you to be this way and that way. Do you
know the word plans on in the Bible? It's not there, but a
grace believer. believes that all of salvation
was accomplished in eternity before the foundation of the
world. You believe that? You really
believe that? He, 2 Timothy 1.9, He saved us
and He called us. Question. Which came first, the saving
or the calling? He saved us. And he called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which were given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Everything I have was given me
in Christ before the world began because Christ is the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. And the writer to the Hebrew
said in Hebrews four, three, all the works were finished.
from the foundation of the world. My salvation was accomplished
before I was even born, before a star ever shined, before the
creation of the world. Big difference. It wasn't a silly
plan. I remember hearing Henry Mahan
said, God has a wonderful plan for your life. He said, yeah,
I'll tell you what he's planning to do. He's planning on sending you to hell. And with
that kind of attitude, he will. That kind of made the Lord deliver
us from that irreverent way of thinking. The grace believer They totally differ between the
works believer on what took place in the garden of Eden. The works believer believes that
Adam fell and he hurt himself. He hurt himself. He's not what
he used to be. And now he needs grace to help
him. He needs grace to help him. He is hurt. but he needs grace
to help him. There's some things he can do.
If he doesn't receive that help, he won't be helped. He's got
to do his part, but he needs grace to help him. He fell and
he hurt himself. Grace believer doesn't believe
anything like that. The grace believer understands that when
Adam fell, he died. Dead in trespasses and sins. Let me give you four nuns that
the scripture gives. Four nuns. There is none righteous. No, not one. There is none that
understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the
way. They have together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Now what's somebody like that
need? Grace. What's somebody that's dead in
sins need? Grace. The grace believer and the works
believer have a completely different belief with regard to what took
place on the cross. The works believer believes that
there's now potential for salvation. You can now be saved. Christ
died for your sins. He put them away. And now you
have the potential to be saved if you do your part, if you accept
him as your personal savior. Gosh, that's a stupid statement.
There he is. Accept him as your personal savior.
I don't want to be mean, but this is my personal wife. What
do you mean by that? You know, it doesn't even make
sense, does it? But you accept him. I don't want
to be mean. When I say things like that,
if I am, forgive me. But that's blasphemous. That's blasphemous. Well, here's
what he did. The innocent was charged with
guilty, and the guilty can be innocent, if you just accept
Him and do your part and believe on Him, then what He did will
work for you. There's no truth to that. None at all. All you've got to do is believe
Jesus Christ died for everybody, and there's no gospel in that.
The only hope you have is that He died for you, and if He died
for you, you can end up in hell anyway. You've taken away the
only hope a believer has. You see, the grace believer Believes
that salvation was completely accomplished. Just like Tom was
singing about, uh, at the beginning of this servant, when he said
it is finished, beloved, it was finished. My salvation was accomplished. Big difference in there. And
you know, when you talk about a works believer and a grace
believer, There's an insurmountable difference
between what they believe takes place in a sinner's heart when
God saves them. A works believer thinks that
God by his grace works on his heart and makes him a better
person. He has less trouble with sin.
He has less wicked desires. He just becomes better and better
through the grace of God. Of course, we wouldn't dare give
works the credit, but we become better and better, more and more
holy, less sinful. We're just different. We're just
different. After all, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things have become new. I'm a new person. I don't desire
what I used to desire. I don't have the same struggle
with sin I used to have. Grace has done something for
me. No believer talks like that.
You see, every believer knows this. I'm not changed. I'm just as bad as I ever was.
Now I've got something new. I've got a new heart that wasn't
there before. A heart that loves God, a heart that believes the
gospel, a holy nature, a new nature, but it's not like my
old nature has changed and is gradually getting better. A grace
believer doesn't believe anything like that. You see, the worst
believer doesn't believe in total depravity. He believes God can
by his grace, take the old and work with it and bring something
out of it. A grace believer doesn't believe anything like that. The vital difference, a vital,
there's so many vital difference, but a vital difference between
a grace believer and a works believer between grace and works
is works. Believers believe the forgiveness
of sins is the end of a process. If you fill in the blank, you'll
have the forgiveness of sins. A grace believer believes that
the forgiveness of sins is the beginning of salvation. And there's
nothing you did to get it. Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Salvation doesn't end with the
forgiveness of sins. Salvation begins with the full,
free, complete forgiveness and blotting out of sin. There's
nothing you do to get it. It's given to you for Christ's
sake. And it has nothing to do with you asking for it or being
sorry. Salvation begins with the forgiveness of all your sins. Now here's the biggest difference
between grace and works, between the grace believer and the works
believer. The works believer gives man
the ultimate glory in salvation. Man made the difference. If I'm saved and somebody else
is not saved, it's because I. The grace believer doesn't believe
anything like that. He believes God receives all
the glory in salvation. And this I know, when I'm in
heaven, I'm going to be an example of just how much salvation is
by grace. He gets all the glory and none
goes to man. Now, are you a grace believer
or are you a works believer? There's a different God. There's
a different view of scripture. There's a different worship.
There's a different way. There's a differing view as to
what took place in eternity. In the garden, in the cross,
and in a sinner's heart when God saves them. A whole different
way of forgiveness. and a different view as to who
gets the glory. Now, if you're a grace believer,
because you're a Christian, because God has saved you, it's because
he has made himself known to you. If you're a works believer,
you're in trouble, because your works are no good. But understand
this, Christ still says, him that cometh to me, I will in
no wise cast out for no reason whatsoever. And if you come to
Christ, knowing that your works are absolutely no good, that
means he's made you a grace believer. Amen. I love grace. For by grace are you saved. Preacher, aren't the next two
words through faith? Yes. Don't get, don't miss the rest
of that verse. For by grace are you saved through faith and that
faith is not of yourself. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. Faith is not the cause of our
salvation, it's the result of it. Amen. Thank you, Todd. That was clear. Donnie Bell preached in Sarasota
a couple weeks ago, and I said, Donnie, bring the bell real loud. And he said, I will. You rang
the bell loud this morning. The Lord spoke to us, and I'm
so very thankful. This has been such a blessed
weekend. Just thank the guests for being
here and it's been a blessing to our fellowship for you to
come and be a part of this meeting. Very thankful. Chris and Vicky,
it's been very special to have them in our home and get to know
them better. We've, you know, known each other
just in passing for several years. I'm just so hopeful, Trish and
I are both very hopeful this is going to be the beginning
of a very close friendship with you all. Let's stand together with a tone.
We're going to sing number 46 in the hymns of grace, number
46. so Eternal love, electing grace,
Secured for me in heaven a place, Chosen from all eternity, The
Son of God by blood bought me. The Spirit came in sovereign
power At the exact appointed hour Revealing Christ, creating
faith My soul He weakened from its death Now I rejoice in sovereign
grace, my sovereign God shall have my praise. Praise God for grace, praise
God for grace, sovereign, eternal, saving grace. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you. We read it again. We're just
so thankful for this weekend, Lord. It's been a blessing to
my heart. And Lord, we ask you now to bless
our conversation as we spend time together. We thank you for
the hands that have prepared the food. And Lord, just be the
object of our discussion now and always, Lord. Go with us
in the world and bring us back where we can hear the good news
of the accomplished work of our salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. so