Open your Bibles with me to Romans
chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. I hope you know how very dear
this congregation is to me. How very dear your pastor and
his family are to me. So very, very thankful that God's
made you part of our lives. And I ask you to pray for me
as God enables you. I recognize that at best I have
but a few years of productive life left which I can serve the
interest of our God and Savior. And I want, by God's grace, to
give myself more wholly to this blessed work than I ever have
in the past and pray that God will be pleased to continue opening
doors of utterance for the gospel and giving grace to fill those
doors for the glory of his son. Our subject this morning is grace,
the grace of God. free, abounding, super-abounding,
much more abounding grace of God. Our text is Romans chapter
5, verses 20 and 21. Romans 5, verse 20. Moreover
the law entered, that grace, that the offense might abound.
But where sin abounded, Grace did much more abound, that as
sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. And by way of introduction, let
me make four statements. First, understand this. The source
and fountain of all grace is our God, God our Father, who
purposed in himself the everlasting salvation of an elect multitude
that no man can number and chose them in Christ Jesus before the
world began. On behalf of those elect people,
The Lord God entered into a covenant with His Son called the covenant
of grace, the covenant of life, the covenant of peace, a covenant
ordered in all things and sure. Psalmist David saying as he lay
on his deathbed, although my house be not so with God, yet
the Lord hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered
in all things and sure. And this is all my salvation
and all my desire. That is to say, God has established
a covenant with his dear son, our surety and representative.
And this covenant, finished before the world began, is all my salvation
and all my desire. God, from eternity, ordained
and finished all the work of his grace on our behalf in the
person of his son. And this is the totality of salvation. And this is all my desire. God's purpose, God's grace, God's
salvation. Here's the second thing. The
mediatorial channel of grace is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Brother Don read last night,
the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. The grace of God is revealed
and known only in the person and work of God's dear son, the
one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ. If you would
know God, if you would know God's grace, you must know his son. If you would have God, if you
would have God's grace, you must have his son. Knowing his son,
you know God and you know his grace. Having his son you have
god and you have his grace grace in truth came by jesus christ
that does not mean that before christ incarnation god save sinners
another way if you've got one of those bibles has been missed
with the may write up notes and tell you that this dispensation
that dispensation in back in the old dispensation under the
old law and under the old covenant under the old testament men were
saved by law and say by works and now since christ came to
say by grace Pay no attention to the notes. I'd suggest you
get another Bible. The fact is, Moses, or Noah,
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. From the beginning, the
Lord God has dealt with his elect in grace. And that grace was
given us in Christ the Mediator before the world began. It is
fully revealed, fully manifest, fully made known in the person
and work of the incarnate God, our Savior, who by His obedience
unto death brought an everlasting righteousness for us and put
away our sins by the sacrifice of Himself. But grace is always
the way in which God deals with His elect. God has always dealt
with sinners chosen in grace by grace. He does now and he
will tomorrow. There is no other means of salvation
except by the grace of God in Christ the mediator. I can't
stress this sufficiently. Grace does not come by the church. not by this church or any other
church. Grace cannot be conferred upon
people by some pretentious priest, as though a man has the power
to bless you and absolve you of your sins and give you forgiveness. That's blasphemous. And grace
isn't something that you obtain through the sacraments, as they
call them, through the ordinances of the gospel. We rejoice in
the ordinances God has given us. We rejoice in the great privileges
of hearing the gospel, eating the bread and drinking the wine
in remembrance of our Savior, confessing Him in believers'
baptism. And we rejoice in the blessed
privilege of gathering with God's saints as one body in this assembly. But grace isn't found here. No
grace is found yonder in glory in Jesus Christ the God-man our
mediator Grace comes to sinners through Christ and Christ alone. Here's the third thing The only
one who can give you grace The only one who can give you
grace and The only bestower of grace is God the Holy Ghost. I was talking to Brother Art
last night with regard to our children. I have such great concern. And rightly so. You men and women,
teach your children the things of God. Pray for them and make
them know you pray for them. Commit them to God and wait. Commit them to God and wait.
Don't try to twist a profession out of them. Don't try to get
them to make a profession of faith. Don't try to persuade
them that they're saved when they're not. Commit them to God
and wait. Grace doesn't come because mama
wants it or daddy wants it. Grace doesn't come because of
relationship to mom and dad. Grace doesn't come because mom
and dad serve God. You young people who are here
without Christ, I plan tonight, I try every week to send a text
to my granddaughter and grandson. I plan sometimes this afternoon
to send them a note. Encourage them to listen to their
pastor brother Nybert tomorrow understand this understand this
you are a sinner a Sinner under the wrath of God and everlasting
hell is what you deserve Life is short Judgment is sure Eternity
is long and Christ alone can save you God give you grace to
seek Him. God give you grace to seek Him.
But our business is to wait on God to do it. For God the Holy
Spirit alone can give you life and faith in Christ. He alone
is the bestower of grace. That grace that brings salvation. That grace of God that teaches
us, educates us, causes us to learn to deny ungodliness and
worldly lust and to live soberly, righteously and godly in this
present evil world. The Holy Spirit is called the
spirit of grace and peace. He is the one who applies the
gospel to the hearts of sinners with saving power. Your pastor
and I study and labor in the word. I've been seeking this
message from God for you. And I ask God to give me grace
to preach it to you with effectual power. But young or old, learned
or unlearned, educated or uneducated, smart or slow, it doesn't matter. The only way you'll ever learn
the grace of God is if God teaches you. If God teaches you. The only way you will ever believe
on the son of God is if God gives you faith. Some of you know God
and his grace. And when the Lord began working
with you, you started reading your Bible, some, and going to
church, try to pray, and correct your life, and you try to believe,
and you try to believe, and you try to believe, and you come
and talk to your pastor, and you want him to help you, and
he can't help you. He can't help you. He's a faithful
man. He's not going to try to convince
you you're saved when you're not. It shuts you up to God. You try to believe. And then
one day you find yourself believing God. You just can't help it. You find yourself believing God,
not necessarily from some conscious choice you've made. Not necessarily
from some conscious decision you've made. You didn't decide,
I'm going to believe today. But you find yourself believing
God because God's given you grace. Oh, may God do that for you.
It is God the Holy Ghost who gives life to the dead. opens
blind eyes, unstops deaf ears, causes the lame sinner to walk
to Christ, gives the hand of faith by which to lay hold of
Christ, and makes you glad to do so. One last thing in this
regard. The gospel of God is the message
of grace. I'm not looking for something
to say, I want you to hear it. The gospel of God is the message
of grace, not the message of the church. Not the message of
the ordinances. Not the message of do's and don'ts. Not the message of our historic
fathers. The gospel of God is the message
of grace. Not the message of Bible history.
Not the message of the order of various things given in the
scriptures. The gospel of God is the message of grace. That
man who preaches the gospel preaches grace. And if he's not preaching
grace, he is not preaching the gospel. And if he's not preaching
grace all the time, he's not preaching the gospel. It is called
the gospel of the grace of God. Pure, free, sovereign, eternal,
immutable, irresistible, indestructible grace. To the self-righteous
religionist, it's a stumbling block. To the learned philosophical
worldling, it is foolishness. Why? Why do people we try to
witness to, you bring them to hear the word and you can't get
them to come back. You can't get them to come back.
Somebody comes and sits down, well, that's not for me. Why? Why is the gospel so offensive
to men? I'll tell you why. Because there's
nothing in the gospel of the grace of God to gratify your
flesh. There's nothing in the gospel
of God to make you feel good about yourself. There's nothing
in the religion of Jesus Christ to make you think highly of yourself. The gospel of God declares that
salvation is by grace alone. That is, that man can never be
saved but by the grace of God. The gospel declares that apart
from Christ, the unspeakable gift of God's grace, there is
no salvation. And that the state of every human
being by nature, young and old, is desperate hopelessness, a
state of being irretrievably lost. Forever damned except God
intervene What will it take for you to
go to hell Are you listening to me? What will it take for
you to go to hell? I'll tell you what it take for
you to go to hell is for God to just leave you alone For God to just leave you alone
Unless God steps in There's no hope for you. Except God stop you in your bad
rush to hell, you'll perish in your sins. The gospel, the gospel
of God's grace addresses men and women, boys and girls, all
of them, as depraved. Depraved. We're all proud, self-righteous
Pharisees by nature. The other night, I went home
after coming back from the office in the late edition of Hattitude. It was on the television. I tried
to catch up a little bit on the news and stuff with regard to
these abortionists that come out. And he gave warning. What
I'm about to show you is don't let your children see it. Picture
that. baby ripped apart by the hands
of a man. Without question, I've seen some
horrible things in my life. Most horrible thing I ever saw
in my life. And immediately I thought, how could a man do that? Because
I am by nature a proud, self-righteous Pharisee. And Eric, that's what you are.
By nature, depraved. just as capable of any atrocity
any man's ever committed as any other human being and you who
are without Christ that's what you are all men and women by
nature utterly depraved corrupt at heart at the very core of
your being as vile and wicked as hell itself you and me your
sons and daughters and my sons and daughters You don't have
to teach them to be wicked. That's what we are by nature.
Depraved, condemned, perishing sinners. Grace, the gospel of God's grace puts
everybody on the same level. Everybody wanting to have equal
rights. You've got equal rights. An equal
right to everlasting damnation. All of us on the same level,
and it's a very low level. The gospel declares that the
purest moralist is in the same state and condition as the vilest
profligate. The most zealous religionist
is no better off than the most profane infidel. The purest,
most virtuous person is no more righteous or good than the vilest
harlot ever walking on the earth. Without Christ, without grace,
all are lost. We address every descendant of
Adam as fallen, polluted, hell-bent, hell-deserving sinners, utterly
incapable of changing their ruined condition. The grace of God that
I now preach to you by the gospel is your only hope. All people by nature stand before
God's holy law, justly condemned as felons, awaiting execution,
the execution of his justly deserved wrath upon them. Our only hope
is God's grace. George Bishop made this statement. Let me read it to you. It's a
little bit lengthy, but it's worth hearing. Grace is a provision
for men who are so fallen that they cannot lift the axe of justice. so corrupt that they cannot change
their own nature, so averse to God that they cannot turn to
Him, so blind that they cannot see Him, so deaf that they cannot
hear Him, so dead that He Himself must open their graves and lift
them into resurrection. Our only hope of salvation is
grace. Our only hope of eternal life
is grace. Grace of God freely bestowed
upon sinners through Jesus Christ the sinner substitute And let
me wrap this up and I'll do so as quickly as possible I show
you three things about God's grace and when I get done, there'll
be plenty of room for more to be said I'm just gonna skim around
the edges first We need in this dark, dark day to understand
what the scriptures tell us about the character of grace. And then
I want you to look in scripture with me and see something of
the works of grace. And finally, we'll look at some
trophies of grace. First, let me show you the character
of grace as it's revealed here in the book of God. The whole religious world, so
far as I know, somehow or another talks about salvation involving
grace. But most people, most people,
whether they're Papist or Protestant or a Baptist or Pentecostal or
Methodist, when they talk about grace, they think of grace as
being a sort of tender passion, but a helpless passion in God.
A great desire on God's part, but a helpless desire. So that
God's grace is something he has for you if you will turn it loose. God's grace is something he will
give you if you will take it for yourself. God's grace is
not a helpless passion. I go visit friends who are sick,
in the hospital, dying. Go visit a mother or dad who
has a son or daughter breaking their heart. And I weep with
them. And my heart aches for them.
And I make a statement that reveals how much power I have. If there's
anything I can do, I'm here for you. And I recognize there's
nothing I can do. Most people think that that's
the way God's grace is. It's something that he cannot
exercise, he cannot perform, except somehow man by his will,
man by his contribution of his works, man by something he does,
makes God's grace to be unleashed upon himself and work for him.
The grace of God is not that way at all. Grace is an attribute
of God and an act of God. An attribute of God and a work
of God. An attribute of God and an operation
of God. Like His love, His grace is exercised
only toward His elect. Nowhere in this book, nowhere
in this book will you see anything that speaks about universal grace
or common grace Grace from God that all men experience the grace
of God you read it just a minute ago hath appeared to all men
Christ had been revealed in his word the gospel is preached to
everybody here But it has taught us it educates us the grace of
God is exercised only toward God's elect only toward sinners
chosen of God the grace of God is the solitary source from which
the goodwill, love, and salvation of God flows to chosen sinners. I've heard it said the mercy
of God is anything short of hell. You better read the book again.
The book of God tells us about men and says God has set the
world in their hearts so that they cannot find him. The book
of God speaks of men who are obviously what people call so
blessed. They live sumptuously. They have everything heart could
desire. Their children never give them any heartache. They
meet and all the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren
gather around them, never have any difficulties. And God describes
them as calves being fattened for the slaughter. Oh, no. God's
mercy and God's grace are not universal things. God's mercy
and grace are given specifically to his elect. Grace is completely
unmerited and unsolved. It's altogether unattracted by
us. Grace can't be bought, earned,
or won by anything we do. If it could, it would cease to
be grace. Grace is bestowed upon sinners without any attraction,
without any condition, without any qualification. Clay and I
were talking about it a little bit ago, but you must know your
sin, isn't that a qualification? Oh no, that's a result. But you
must believe on Jesus. Isn't that a condition? Oh, no.
No, that's the result. Grace comes to sinners unsought,
unattracted by them, without qualification or condition. And
when it comes, it comes as a matter of pure charity. In Bible terms,
grace is always placed in direct opposition. to works, worthiness,
and merit in the creature. Let's look at scripture. Turn
back a page to Romans chapter 4. In the scripture. I'm not talking
about in the Catholic church, or the Baptist church, or the
Presbyterian church, or the Mormon church. I'm talking about scripture
now. In the scripture, grace is always presented in direct
opposition to merit, and worth, and ability in man. Grace and
works just won't mix. Any attempt by man to mix the
grace of God with the works of man, the worth of man, or the
will of man is blasphemy and a total denial of grace. Look
at Romans 4, verse 4. Paul is talking about free justification. He says, now to him that worketh
is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him
that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted to him for righteousness. Turn the other
way to Romans chapter 11, verse 6. Romans 11. If by grace, then it is no more
of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
But if it be of works, then it's no more grace. Otherwise, work
is no more work. You can't mix the two. You can't
mix the two. Well, Brother Don, you talk about
God's part of salvation. What about man's part? Man doesn't
have a part. Nothing depends on man. But that just, that shuts
us all together up to God. It does, doesn't it? That's just
me altogether up to God having mercy on me. It does doesn't
it? Well if what you're saying is so and you search this book
you will find out it so that shuts you up to God's free mercy
alone turn to Ephesians chapter 2 Ephesians 2 hear what God says
Verse 8 for by grace are you saved through faith and that
not of yourselves That phrase refers back to the previous phrase
in its entirety. The grace is not of yourselves.
The salvation is not of yourselves. And the faith by which you receive,
experience, and enjoy it is not of yourselves. It is the gift
of God. It is the gift of God, not of
works, not of effort of any kind. Lest any man should boast. Look
at 2nd Timothy, chapter 1. 2nd Timothy 1. Paul is writing to his young
son in the faith, Timothy. This preacher, he had trained
and been instrumental in the hands of God as the instrument
by which he believed and the instrument by which he was taught
the things of God. And he's writing to him, knowing
this is his last letter, his last epistle. I sometimes think,
what would I say to those dearest to me when the time comes, and
I'm certain this is my last word? Those are going to be important
words. Hear this very important word from the apostle given by
inspiration, 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 9. hath saved us, and called us
with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Well, that looks like this was
done from eternity. It does, doesn't it? But is now
made manifest. Is now made manifest. Saved from
eternity. Justified from eternity. Made
righteous from eternity. Accepted from eternity. Blissed
from eternity. Sanctified from eternity. Redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Slain from the foundation of
the world. From eternity! But when God comes in grace,
giving you life and faith in His Son, He turns the lights
on. Makes you to know by experience
what he's done for you from eternity is now made manifest By the appearing
of our Savior Jesus Christ who have abolished death and brought
life and immortality to light Through the gospel. Let me show
you one more text Galatians chapter 5 I want you to be sure to turn
here and look at it Galatians chapter 5 I want you to see that works
have nothing to do with grace. And as long as you keep trying
to make yourself good, as long as you keep trying to make yourself
righteous, as long as you keep trying to do something to make
yourself commendable to God, you're going to perish under
the wrath of God. One time my dad was visiting
with us, he and mother, Right before he left, right before
he walked out of the house, he started to weep a little bit.
That was rare for my dad. And he said, son, someday, I
hope I can do something to make up to God for all I've done.
And with a broken heart, I said to him, dad, I pray someday God
will give you grace to quit trying. You can't make up to God. You
can't make up to God. And if you try to make up to
God, you push God out. Look in Galatians 5 verse 1.
What's he saying? I don't think there's really
any real danger of anybody here having an appointment to go tomorrow
morning to be circumcised. That was a Jewish custom men
sought to impose upon Gentile believers and Paul says this
is wrong. It's just a symbol of works.
If you do something, if you do something, No matter what it
is, if you do something by which you attempt to make yourself
accepted with God, if you do something by which you hope to
win God's grace, you start to pray more. You say your prayers.
Oh, I hate that term. Say your prayers. You read your
Bible. You go to church. You quit smoking
and chewing and cussing and acting mean. You quit doing this thing,
quit doing another thing. If you be circumcised, if you
do something, If you do something, it doesn't matter what it is,
by which you hope to gain God's favor, Christ is utterly useless
to you. Christ will never be of any benefit
to you. Read on. The verse three, for I testify
again to every man that is circumcised that he's a debtor to the whole
law. That is, if you're going to be saved by your works, you've
got to work perfect. If you're going to be saved by
your works, you've got to keep the law perfectly from beginning
to end with no sin. You can't owe anything to the
law. Verse four, Christ is become
of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law. You try to do something, Christ
is of no benefit to you. You've fallen from grace. Now
that doesn't mean you used to have grace and now you've lost
it. That means you've missed the whole thing. You've missed
the whole thing. If you'll search the scriptures,
you'll find that there are four things that always characterize
God's grace. These four things. Whenever men
speak contrary to these four things, they utterly deny the
grace of God. The grace of God is eternal,
like God himself. I've quoted it already in Hebrews
chapter 4. The apostle says, the works were
finished from the foundation of the world. In Romans chapter
8, verses 28, 29, and 30, the apostle Paul makes that statement
that folks like to hear. Get it right, sorta. Everything
gonna turn out for good. That's not exactly what it is.
Is we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God. To them who are thee called according
to his purpose. And then it tells us what the
purpose of God is by which all things in providence are accomplished.
Listen to this. For whom he did foreknow. those he loved from eternity,
approved of, accepted, and foreordained from eternity. He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified,
and whom he justified, them he also glorified. But how can that
be done before ever we were born? Done by God in his covenant mercy
and his purpose of grace. God is eternal. Now you and I just can't get
a handle on that. He speaks to us in human terms,
in human language, but we just can't get a handle on that. God
doesn't first do this and then do that and then do that. He
doesn't first think this way and then build on that thought
like we do and think another thing and build on that thought
and think another thing and then come to a conclusion. God's eternal. He knows all things. And all
that he does in time, he did in eternity. So that for God
to will our redemption, to will our justification, to will our
sanctification, to will our glorification, is for God to do it, done from
eternity. God saved us before the world
was. The grace of God doesn't originate
in time, and it can't be controlled or directed by anything in time. God's grace is eternal. Second,
God's grace is free. Free. Justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus God doesn't look
to you for anything And he won't take anything from
you Grace is free without condition without qualification and without
change free free and eternal And the grace of God is sovereign. Grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life. Sovereign. What does that mean?
It means exactly what you think it means. It means God has mercy
on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens. It means
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. It means there
are vessels of mercy and vessels of wrath. Vessels of mercy are
for prepared to glory and vessels of wrath fitted by their own
evil deeds for destruction. But God's grace is sovereign.
The Lord God Almighty in sovereign eternal grace gives life to whom
he will. gives faith to whom he will.
He sends the gospel to one place and refuses to send it to another.
He calls his son to hear his word and refuses to allow others
to hear his word. There are people in this world
who've never heard the gospel of God's grace. There are people
in this town who've never heard the gospel of God's grace. Oh,
how God's faithful to you. He sent his word to you. He sent
his word to you. The means by which he gives grace
to sinners. But multitudes never heard it.
Well, that just isn't right. You take that up with God if
you dare. You take that up with God if you dare. That's the way
it is. God has mercy on whom he will
have mercy. Salvation and eternal life are
the gifts of God. For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. If it's a gift, you can't claim it by right. If it's a
gift, you can't earn it. If it's a gift, the giver is
free to bestow it on whom he will. Nothing so riles man's
hatred of God as the declaration that grace is free and sovereign. This is the offense of the gospel.
As I said, it puts proud man on level with all other men. Grace gives no recognition to
man's imaginary righteousness. Grace makes fallen man utterly
dependent upon the goodness of God. And the grace of God, fourthly,
is distinguishing. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou'st not received it? Turn back to
Exodus chapter 12, or chapter 11. Exodus 11. I want you to
see this. The children of Israel are in
bondage in Egypt, and God's about to bring them out by the mighty
hand of his power. In verse 7 of Exodus 11, he says,
Against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his
tongue. What a statement. Against any
of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue against
man or beast How is that? Why is that that you may know? How that the Lord doth put a
difference between the Egyptians and Israel Oh What grace God put a difference
between you and the Egyptians. God put a difference between
you and the rest of the world. The Lord God said, I'll make
a covenant with you, with the beast of the field. Even with
the beast of the field. So the Lord God says concerning
his elect, touch not my anointed. And Satan himself can do us no
harm. The Lord put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel so that the dog of hell doesn't move
his tongue against his elect. Well, that's discriminating.
It is. Grace discriminates. Grace segregates men. Grace makes
a difference between men. Grace chooses some and passes
by others. God has his favorites whom he
has from eternity singled out from the rest of Adam's race
to whom he will be gracious. There was a man down in Ur of
the Chaldees by the name of Abram. God said, Abram, you come out.
And he didn't speak to anybody else. Separated Abram from his
family. There were two sons of Abraham. Jacob and Esau. Jacob and Esau. And God said,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Abraham's son,
Isaac, Israel, had these two boys. He said while they were
in the womb to his mother, I love Jacob. I hated Esau. Grace sent God's
prophet Samuel down to the house of Jesse. And he said, God has
chosen one of your boys to be king in Israel. And he said,
go get your boys. And oh, you can imagine that
daddy's excitement. He went out and gathered up his
oldest, strongest, tallest, brightest boy, brought a man and said,
that's not him. And he went out and got another,
and Samuel said, that's not it. He said, don't you have any others?
And went through all of them. And finally, he said, is this
all of them? I can't be mistaken. He said, no, I've got one young
boy named David. Can't possibly be him. Samuel
said, let's go get him. And David came in, and David
said, this is him. Samuel said, this is him. The
Lord said, this is the man. Arise and anoint him. And God
separated David from all his or how God has distinguished
us by His grace. The fact is, the only difference
between saved sinners and lost sinners is grace. And every child
of God knows it. Every child of God knows it.
By the grace of God, I am what I am. All right, now let me briefly
show you something about the works of grace as they're set
before us in Scripture. The word of God is crystal clear.
And I won't spend much time on this. I just want to call your
attention to these facts. Salvation from start to finish, from beginning
to completion, from the gates of hell to entrance into glory. Salvation is of the Lord. It's God's work. Not one aspect
of God's salvation in any way Ascribed to you not one aspect
Turn to Ephesians chapter 1 Let's just read one chapter and then
I'll call you teaching a number of things Ephesians 1 verse 3 Blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ Who hath blessed us? In a wonderful
who hath blessed us and with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. according as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him. He chose us that we should
be conformed to the image of his son, holy and without blame
before him. Now about every commentary you'll
read is that he chose us so that we'd live a good holy life. That'd
be a pretty good trick if you could do it, but you can't. You
just can't. He chose us to make us holy and
without blame before Him. Now that's something else. Holy
and without blame before Him. How could that be? Holy and without
blame because I'm one with Christ. His righteousness is my righteousness. His holiness is my holiness. In love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will. to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made at one time in the past from
eternity made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, look
at it, according to the riches of His grace. wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all of his providential works, in all
wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of
his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed
in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might
gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in
heaven and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we
have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory
who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted, after
that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
whom also after that you believe you were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until
the redemption of the purchase possession to the praise of his
glory the Bible teaches election election you've heard fellas
say the Bible doesn't teach election one or two things either the
fella has never read this book or he's a liar The Bible teaches
election. You might be confused about what
it teaches, but the Bible teaches election. And this is what it
teaches about election. Election is by grace. God chose
us because he would choose us, for no other reason. He loved
us because he would love us, no other reason. He chose us
in his Son. God's covenant is a covenant
of grace, pure, free grace, a covenant of life and peace, not made with
me. Well, it was made with me. The
Lord hath made with me an everlasting covenant, but it wasn't made
with me. I wasn't there. Yes, it was there. It was made with Christ,
my covenant surety, my covenant head, with whom I am from everlasting,
one in him. And the Lord God made a covenant
with him. And a covenant, all the blessings
of which were conditioned upon his obedience. And when he finished
his obedience, he said, I finished the work you gave me to do. All
of this done from eternity, so much so that before the world
was, God put the universe in the hands of his son as our covenant
surety. And when he finished his work
on this earth, manifestly finished his works, publicly finished
his works, he said, Father, give me the glory. Manifestly give
me the glory. Testify publicly that this glory
is mine, which I had with you before the world was. We are
adopted as the sons of God, adopted by God's free grace, redeemed,
redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, having the forgiveness
of sins by God's free grace, justified by grace alone, pardoned
by grace alone, and born again, called by the irresistible grace
and power of God the Holy Spirit. When it pleased God, who separated
me from my mother's womb, he called me by his grace. Well,
but we all understand that, but we've got to be sanctified, too.
We do. We do indeed. The word sanctify
is holy. That's the word. Sanctification
is holiness. And the apostle tells us in Hebrews
12, 14, follow peace with all men and holiness, without which
no man shall see the Lord. And you hear these legal preachers,
these workmongers, these will-worshippers, they'll say, now the Lord, He
redeemed us, and He chose us, and He justified us, all by grace,
and then He gave us life in Christ, and we've got to exercise ourselves
spiritually. Strengthen ourselves and make
ourselves more and more holy until we get gooder and gooder
and gooder until at last we're too good to live in this world
and rightful glory takes us home. And they call that sanctification.
God calls that works. God calls that works. Christ
is our sanctification. He is that holiness without which
no man shall see the Lord. It is that which he performs
for us in regeneration, giving us to be partakers of the divine
nature, forming Christ in us, the hope of glory, creating us
a new man in righteousness and in true holiness. But what about
perseverance? He that endureth to the end shall
be saved. That's right. That's right. They
went out from us because they were not of us. If they had been
of us, they would have remained with us to this day. You must
persevere. But if that perseverance depends
on you, you won't last before we get out of here. No, no. Perseverance is not your work.
Perseverance is God's work. We're kept by the power of God. I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish. my granddaughter, my grandson,
my babies. One of the great delights of
being granddaddy is you get to torment your daughter or your
son. You just get to torment one of
those kids. And, you know, you mamas learn today you don't dare
pick the babies up by their arms and swing them, you don't shake
them, you're liable to kill them, all that stuff. Well, you know, we've
raised a few. And I'd take those grandbabies
and I'd pick them up and they'd grab hold of my thumbs. and hang
on for dear life. And I'd swing them. I'd swing
them all around me. And they'd hang on for dear life.
And they'd just laugh. They'd just laugh. Our dear Grace, till
she got too big to do it, get embarrassed folks there, she'd
say, standing in a poplar while we were walking with her, she'd
say, swing me over the apple tree, would you? Take her and
swing her over the apple tree. And she just tickled her to death.
And Faith would just, scared to death. Scared to death. They
were perfectly safe. Not because they were holding
my thumbs. Their little hands couldn't hold
on strong enough for me to pick them up. They were gripping with all
their might, but their security was they were in my hands. And I wasn't about to drop them.
My friend I mentioned to the other night, Brother Jim Jemson,
I hear from him often. He almost always signs his notes
this way. His grip. Oh, what a good place to be in
the grip of God. In the grip of God, kept by the
power of God. And in resurrection glory, we
shall at last be presented faultless before the presence of His glory
with exceeding joy. Every time I read that or think
of it, I try to imagine whose joy, his or mine. Both. God, my Savior, presented me
to his Father with exceeding joy, and me presented with exceeding
joy, holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection. Such the second death shall have
no power Now let me finish my message by calling your attention
to some of the trophies of God's grace You see your calling brethren
How that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise. And God hath chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
and base things of the world, and things which are despised
hath God chosen. Yea, and things which are not,
to bring to naught the things that are. Why on this earth would
God Almighty choose to you such things as we are, for the furtherance
of the gospel and the building of His kingdom, that no flesh
should glory in His presence? But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, that according as it is written, He that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. When I think of trophies of grace,
I think of Manasseh. Manasseh, the barbaric, monstrous
king of Judah. Manasseh sacrificed his sons
and daughters on the altars of idols. Manasseh built altars
to all the host of heaven and worshipped all the host of heaven. Now this is what that means.
Manasseh was as superstitious as a Hollywood movie star. He
worshipped everything he could see in heaven. He worshipped
everything. He built altars to the heathen
gods in the house of God, in the sanctuary of God. Manasseh
taught Israel to follow all the ways that reprobate heathen that
were unimaginable to men before his day. Manasseh. There wasn't
a more wicked king who ever ruled upon the earth than Manasseh.
We were told in 2nd Chronicles 33 that when God sent Manasseh
into bondage, then he prayed unto the Lord. And God was entreated
of him and heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem
into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord
was God. There was a man by the name of
Saul, Saul of Tarsus. A mighty figure of man. Not physically,
probably, but mentally, and then power and authority in his world. Oh, what a figure of a man. He
had papers in his hand, which gave him lawful right to persecute
the Church of God, and he did it with glee. He was standing
in the crowd one day when the crowd took up stones to stone
Stephen to death. And this young man saw Senator
holding the coats, fellas, and says, throw a rock for me. The
most barbaric religious man you could imagine, full of cruelty,
breathing out hatred and slaughter against Christ and his church,
wishing himself a curse from Christ, having nothing to do
with Christ. But one day, as he's on his way
to bring some of God's people again into prison, Disperse the
crowd worshiping the Savior hidden in small corners here and there
he wouldn't have two or three Gathered in the name of the Redeemer
the Lord God struck him down from heaven Conquered him by
his grace and made him a trophy of grace Turn to 1st Corinthians
chapter 6 The Corinthians were the most
sinful, sensual, profligate people of the ancient Roman world. They
were the vilest people of the vilest age in the annals of human
history. Yet we read here what God in
His grace did for them. Verse 9, Know ye not that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived,
neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers. nor effeminate,
nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit
the kingdom of God. And that's just what you were.
Such were some of you. But you're washed. But you're
sanctified. But you're justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Now look up here. Here stands a trophy of God's
grace. God saved me, called me. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. I don't want to say more than
should be said. But I tell you with blushing
face, that of all the young men in Winston-Salem, North Carolina,
if you'd asked anybody who might possibly be the object of God's
choice and of God's grace, the last human being anybody would
have thought of, especially my mother and dad and my sisters,
is Don Fortner. And here I am, telling you about
free grace. My name is Gober. My name is
Omniscimus. I am the prodigal son. I'm a
sinner saved by God's free grace. He chose me. He preserved me
through the long ages of history. Preserved me in German stock
among the people that are most notoriously known for their hatred
of others and brutality with others. Preserved me in that
stock, preserved me in the stock of a family in which nobody knew
God. And at last brought me into this
world in 1950. My mama named me Donald Stewart
Fortner. Because my daddy's name was Fortner,
I don't have any idea why she named me Donald Stewart except
one. Before the world was, God wrote my name in the book of
life, chosen by his grace. In all the days of my rebellion,
While I lived with my fist shoved in God's face, hating God and
cussing God with every breath, he preserved me. While I toyed
with death, flirted with hell, he preserved me and wouldn't
let me die because I'm the object of grace. He redeemed me. And at the appointed time of
love, he called me. I have another name. My name
is Jacob. God calls me that all the time.
One day, the angel of the Lord met me. His name is Jehovah Siddiqui,
the Lord our righteousness. Jesus Christ, the angel of the
covenant, and wrestled me to the ground. He wrestled me to
the ground until at last he broke my leg and I couldn't stand before
And he wrestled me. And he said, let me go! Let me
go! And I couldn't let go, because
that's all the hope I had. And I said, I won't let you go.
I've got to have what you alone can give. He said, what's your
name? I said, my name's Tricky Deceitful
Sinner Chick. He said, not anymore, it's not.
Your name's Israel. You prevailed with God. You, Dodd-Fortner, you, you're
a prince of God. How so? By grace that reigns
through righteousness unto eternal life. Oh, may God now wrestle
you to the ground and break your leg and fix it so that you have
no hope but Christ. and calls you to seek his face. And if he does, if you seek him,
you're going to find him. That's his promise. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath everlasting life. Amen.