Let's turn back there to Luke
19 again, and I want you to follow along with me. Before we get
to the text, I want to tell you I was listening to the different
comments this week, and I was reading different comments folks
are making this week, and I was very tempted to preach on the
sad condition of our nation. We're legalizing sodomy in this
nation, legalizing murder in this nation. We even are attempting to legislate
love and mercy and grace that only God's grace can produce
in sinners. That's what socialism and communism
is. It's depraved man's failed attempt
to produce love and mercy, which God produces by His sovereign
grace in a new birth. That's what it is. God showed us on the day of Pentecost
what He does by grace when He gives a believer the heart to
have all things common. Grace makes believers givers
grace makes believers that he's blessed to want to provide for
their needy brethren and Grace makes those needy brethren not
to want to take advantage of those he's blessed but to thank
God for for using them to provide for us and to get a job and to
and to be able to pay our way so that we can provide for our
needy brethren. That's what grace does in the
heart of believers, and only grace can do that. But whenever
you try to legislate it by man and bring it about by man, it
creates, it fuels sin is what it does, and it fuels the the
belief that we're entitled to something, that we deserve something
from others. Grace doesn't do that. Grace
makes children of God givers. It makes them merciful and gracious.
And man's trying to do that and using law. And the very ones
to blame, the chief ones to blame for our nation being in the shape
it's in are preachers. That's where it begins. That's
where the problem begins in the pulpit. Because when you preach
morality and you preach against sin, certain sin, and you make
sinners out to think that if they've corrected that sin, they're
all right now, you do two things. You make them think they're righteous
by their works, and then those that aren't guilty of that sin,
you just make them self-righteous, hateful, hateful men and women
with that message. It does not produce morality.
Preaching against sodomites creates a nation of self-righteous, hateful
sodomites, spiritual sodomites. That's exactly what it does.
Free will works preachers. Legal preaching that exalts man
are the worst sodomites there are. That's right. and civil
governments are almost as bad. Almost as bad. Socialism does
nothing but further promote ungodliness that started in sin and the heart
of sinners and fueled by false preachers. That's all it does.
But the only one who can create sinners with a new heart and
make them bring forth fruits of grace and mercy and love is
the king of glory. The same king I woke up with
Wednesday morning, the same king I went to bed with Tuesday night.
And He's the only one that can do this. He is the only one that
can do this. So instead of preaching on those
things, I'm going to preach to you Him. I'm going to tell you,
show you how He does this and show you an example of it. What
no fallen sinner can produce. I've titled it, The Change Grace
Makes. Now you know salvation is a gift.
That's what Scripture says. The gift of God. Eternal life
is the gift of God and this life is in His Son. Now whenever we
give a gift to somebody, we pick out who we're going to give that
gift to. And that's what God does. He chooses whom He's going
to give this gift to. Whenever we give a gift, we purchase
it ourselves. And then we give it. And that's
what God did. He sent His Son to purchase salvation,
to purchase those given to Him of the Father from sin and death
by paying His own blood. And that's what Christ accomplished.
He did it. And when we give a gift, usually
the person to whom we give it shows gratitude, they're thankful
for that gift, and they express that gratitude. But when God
gives this gift into His child, this gift of life, the works
that a believer does, produced by God. I'm talking about mercy,
loving mercy instead of judgment. I'm talking about seeking to
help bear one another's burdens. I'm talking about true God-given
gifts. Mercy, mercy, love, peace, righteousness,
these things that the believer delights in. Those are works
of gratitude, showing to God this thankfulness we have for
this gift He's given us. That's what those are. And I
want to show you tonight that the effectual grace of God alone
is able to make a believer delight in mercy and that out of that
gratitude to God for the unspeakable gift that He's given in His Son,
free salvation in His Son, that's what this gratitude is. I want
you to see that now. Let's look here and we'll see
this example using Zacchaeus. Luke 19, 1. Jesus entered and
passed through Jericho. And behold, there was a man named
Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was
rich. When we think about obstacles
in our path, we usually get discouraged. I want you to see all the obstacles
that this man, Zacchaeus, was to himself. This is what we are. The obstacle is you and me, by
nature. Now look at this. He was the
chief among the publicans. The publicans were tax collectors
for the Roman government. Some were Jews, some were Gentiles.
We're not told which Zacchaeus was. I don't know if he was a
Jew or a Gentile. It doesn't say. But he was a
tax collector and they were known for extortion. When they went
out to collect taxes, if they collected $3, they put $1 in their pocket for
every $2 they collected. They were extortioners. They
stole from people. That's what they were. They were
known so much for this that the self-righteous Pharisees wouldn't
have a thing to do with publicans. They wouldn't come near a publican.
He was just too vile a sinner to have anything to do with.
But now look at this, when it says here that he was not only
a publican, but he was the chief. He was chief among publicans.
It's saying Zacchaeus was a chief of sinners. That's what it's
saying. He was the chief. And it says he was rich. Look
back at Luke 18. There in verse 25. That rich
young ruler had just come to the Lord Jesus Christ and he
thought he'd kept the law from his youth up and the Lord exposed
that he hadn't and no man can. He told him sell everything he
had and go give it to the poor and follow him. And the rich
young ruler went away sorrowful. And the Lord said in verse 25,
it's easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they that
heard it said, who then can be saved? And he said, the things
which are impossible with men are possible with God. Now none
of these obstacles are insurmountable to our Lord God, to our sovereign
Redeemer Christ the Lord. That's who Zacharias was. That's what we are by nature.
That's just like a chief of sinners. Now look at verse 3. And Zacharias
sought to see Jesus who he was. And he could not for the press
because he was little of stature. This was probably curiosity on
Zacchaeus' part. He may have felt a need for a
sinner. I don't know. I don't know really.
But the Lord was on his way to the cross. He was towards the
end of his ministry and the Lord's Word of the Lord had spread and
people knew about the Lord. All His miracles He had done.
These things had spread. And He had a multitude of people
with Him when He was going on His way there. All this crowd
was about. And Zacchaeus wanted to see what
all this fuss was about. He wanted to see this man that
had been doing all this, that he had heard all this about.
But he was too short to see over the crowd. He was too small to
look and see who he was. So verse 4 says, he ran before
and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to
pass that way. We got a lot of sycamore trees,
don't we? A lot of natural, earthy things that we think we can use
to crawl our way up and see God. Don't we? We've got a lot of
things like that that we want to use. God's given some things
for us to use. He's given us His Word. He's
given us the preaching of the Gospel. He's given us His ordinances. He's given us things whereby
He causes the believer to remember Him, to see Him, to know Him.
But we don't use the means to try to crawl up to God by the
means. We use the means to see Christ,
to look at Christ, to see Him. But I want you to see this. God
is seeking His child here. That's what's happening. Christ
is coming and He's seeking out this one Zacchaeus because He
has come to seek and to save that which is lost. And that's
who Zacchaeus was. And He's coming to him and as
He does that, though we don't know it at the time, What's going
on? God is working everything together
according to His eternal purpose to call that individual child
whom He loved from everlasting. If Zacchaeus was telling this
story, to us. It would be like some of us when
we talk to one another about everything the Lord's done in
our lives, you know, we look back on it and Zacchaeus would
have told you, you know, something like this, you know, I was out
there today and here comes all this crowd of folks and I hear
that it's the Lord coming and I'm thinking, you know, I want
to see who this man is. I want to see what all this is.
So I couldn't see everybody. And so I took off running trying
to get ahead of everybody and get out there and there was a
sycamore tree outside there and I thought I can get up in that
sycamore tree and I can see Him. But what I didn't know was God
was doing everything He did. The Lord was working everything
in my life all along to bring me right to that place. Psychics
could say, look at me. Look how short I am. Who made
me? Who made me this way? The Lord
told Moses, I'm the one who makes man's mouth. I make the ones
that are blind and deaf and I make man. The Lord made me, as I can
tell you, the Lord made me short like I am. So I couldn't see
over that crowd that day. You want to know why the Lord
led all that crowd of people? Some of those were true believers
following Him that day. Some of them were just following
Him because they were just following Him for material reasons, carnal
reasons. But you know why the Lord allowed
all the people that day to gather around Him as He was going to
Jerusalem? So I couldn't see Him. The Lord
did that so I'd have to run ahead of Him and run out there that
way out there. Lord, the Lord gave me the curiosity
I had to even want to see Him. I just thought I was just curious,
but the Lord even put the curiosity in my heart to even want to see
Him. And not only that, that sycamore tree that was right
there, the Lord put that sycamore tree there. He grew that sycamore
tree so this little stumpy man could reach up there and get
a hold to the limbs and crawl up in it. And He did it for this
purpose. He did it so that when He came
to where I was, there I'd be, hung out on a limb up there in
the middle of this sycamore tree for everybody to see so God could
show everybody, the Lord Jesus Christ could show everybody what
only He can do by speaking His power and His grace. And there
I am. I'm stuck out there and I'm in
this sycamore tree. And that's what the Lord does.
He does everything He does Everything he does so that he can call,
working it all together to call his child because he purposed
it from the very beginning. He determined what he would do
from the very beginning. Now look at verse 5. And when
Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him. It never tells
us that Zacchaeus saw the Lord. You know why Zacchaeus, it doesn't
tell us Zacchaeus saw the Lord. Zacchaeus was too busy climbing
that tree. Zacchaeus was too busy working
himself into a position where he could see Christ. But the
Lord came to the place and he looked up and saw him. Christ
knew right where Zacchaeus was and came to the place and saw
him. Now this is the key and this
is a comfort for believers. You got children, we got children,
we got loved ones, that dear aunt or uncle or sister or brother
or mom or dad or whoever that we just Hope the Lord will call
them by His grace. And this is assurance. This is
comfort to believers. If they're His, He knows exactly
where they are, and He's going to bring them right to the place
where He's going to call them at His time, in the season of
His love, according to His grace. Because He can. Because God can. That's comfort. That's very comforting
to us. Look at verse 5. And he said
unto him, Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus, how do you know his name? He'd
never personally come up to this man in person and been introduced
to him. How do you know his name? How
do you call him by name? Zacchaeus name was written in
the Lamb's Book of Life before the world was made. Whenever
a child of God is called out by His grace, I believe there
was an old song, I can't remember now, but I think there's an old
song that says, a new name's written in heaven now, or something
like that. That's not true. When sinners
are called by God's grace, their names are not being written in
the Lamb's Book of Life when they're called. That's not so
at all. He calls their name and puts
their name in the Lamb's Book of Life before the world ever
began, and because He knows them, He brings them right to where
He's going to call them and He comes right to where they are.
Christ does that right now through the Spirit of God just like He
did it right here when He came to Him personally. And He comes
there because their names are written in the Book of Life.
Whenever He became surety for His people, He became the one
before God the Father who would fulfill everything required to
bring His children to Himself. He agreed in that everlasting
covenant of grace to come forth and to fulfill all righteousness
for His people, to lay down His life, and to purge us of our
sins. And when He did that, That's
why He's called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Because from eternity past, God never ever has looked at His
elect children at all. He's looking at His Son, Christ
Jesus, because His Son is their righteousness. His Son is their
surety. His Son is the one who's going
to come forth and did. He came forth and purged us of
our sins. He purged everyone for whom he
died. It's God that justified. He did the justifying. Christ
died. God was in Christ reconciling
the world of his elect unto himself, not imputing our transgressions
to us. He made Him who knew no sin,
sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
And when He did that, brethren, He raised Him from the dead,
satisfied, bearing witness to us He's satisfied, and Christ,
He ever lives to make intercession for us. So that when the whole
time Zacchaeus was out there, and he was cheating people, and
thieving people, and building his house, and just adding more
rooms, and more decorating it inside with everything he had
robbed from the people, the only reason God didn't destroy him
from the face of this earth is because he was looking at his
surety. And Christ was his advocate with
the Father, even before Zacchaeus ever knew anything about it.
That's who Christ is. That's how come when he came
to him, he knew who he was. God determined the end from the
beginning. So when he came to Zacchaeus, he knew the name of
this man when he walked right up to him the first time, being
the first time he ever personally one-on-one walked up to him physically. Christ seeks and saves each one
that's been given him of the Father. Every one of them. You
think of the picture. I think Zacchaeus up there, you
know, he's busy climbing up into that tree, trying to get himself
up in a good perch where he can see, and he's just feverishly
working and working and working, just like some of us were doing.
Working and working and working, trying to bring ourselves to
God. Working and working and working,
trying to make ourselves acceptable to God. And all of a sudden,
he heard his name called. And he looks down, and the Lord
Jesus Christ is standing right there under that tree, looking
at him. He saw Him. He came and saw Him. And this
is what He said to him. Look at verse 5. Make haste,
come down. When Christ calls one of His
own, He doesn't make a suggestion. He doesn't give a recommendation.
He gives a command. Make haste and come down. And
that command That command. We call on sinners to repent
and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I preach and I say, repent
and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But I can't command your
heart. I can't command a sinner's heart
to repent. I can't command a sinner's heart
so that he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. But when Christ
does, when Christ speaks, you remember that old Remember that
old commercial, when E.F. Hutton speaks, people listen. When Christ speaks, people listen.
When He speaks, people hear Him. His children hear Him speak,
because He speaks effectually. And that's the only way a proud,
thieving, sinful, God-hating rebel is going to come down. And that's the only way up with
God, is to come down to Christ's feet. We've got to be brought
down. We're just too proud. And even
after He calls us, we're too proud. And we have to continually
be brought down. We have to be continually kept
humbled by His grace. And He does that. And look at
what He said to him. Verse 5 again. For today I must
abide at thy house. Today I must abide at thy house. Now, whenever these preachers
are preaching that are trying to make a merchandise of men,
when they're preaching, they're appealing to sinners' pride.
And so they talk about Christ as a beggar. And they start talking
to you, and they start telling you things like, you just need
to invite the Lord Jesus into your heart. Won't you just invite
Him into your heart? Let Him come into your life.
Let Him come and and abide in your house." The
Lord didn't say, would you let me come to your house? The Lord
told him, the Lord invited himself. The Lord told him, I'm coming
to your house. And he not only said, I'm coming, he said, I
have to. I must. It's a must that I do
so. For today I must abide at thy
house. Why is it a must? For whom He
did predestinate, them He also did call. It's a must. The Holy
Spirit enters, and this is what the picture is here, of Him coming
into Zacchaeus' house. The picture here is when the
Holy Spirit enters into a sinner, He makes that sinner, by the
new creation, by the new birth, He makes that sinner to be the
house of the living God. That's what He does. You're the
temple of the living God. The Scripture says, God has said,
I will dwell in them. I will dwell in them. He said,
I must abide in your house. God said, I will dwell in them.
And I will walk in them. And I will be their God. And
they shall be My people. Is Christ called effectual? Is
it effectual? Is His call irresistible? Look
at verse 6. And Zacchaeus made haste and
came down and received Him joyfully. That's what it means when it
says thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Whenever
Christ speaks, you won't have to wonder. You're not going to
hear an audible voice when we talk about Christ speaking. We're
not talking about that. We're not talking about that.
We're talking about in the heart. We're talking about being overcome
with the beauty of His holiness. We're talking about being overcome
with the beauty of this pure, spotless, holy, righteous One. That's what we're talking about.
You hear me preach this Gospel. And you hear me declare to you
the truth of the Gospel. But when Christ comes, He comes
and He speaks in the heart. And He makes you to hear, as
it were, Thea. He says to you, you've heard
this message. You've heard this message preached.
You've heard that God gave me a people. You've heard that I
came and I redeemed this people by my own blood and purchased
them for myself. And He speaks to us and calls
us by name and He says, now listen to me, dear child. You're one
for whom I did this for. And He makes us to see all that
wretchedness that we are, all that horrible sinfulness that
we are, whereby God has every reason left to ourselves to cast
us out into the field where we're just unworthy to be loved of
God, and yet he says unconditionally, he says, in Christ Jesus, with
his holy, righteous love, he chose you, and he put you in
Christ, and he's kept you all this time, and he's bringing
you to himself this whole time, and now he's called you by his
grace, and he takes you, and he robes you, he makes you to
know all your sins put away. He makes you to know your righteousness
is of Him. He makes you to know that everything
God requires, He is. And when He does that, It's not
that He's going to force you and make you believe Him like
a tyrant. He unshackles you from the prison
house of your own sin nature. He unshackles you from the dominion
that sin has over you. And Christ becomes King in the
heart by the beauty of His holiness, by the beauty of what He's made
you in Him. And that's what makes us to be
willing to fall after him. When you fall
in love with somebody, you can't explain it. You can't put it
into words. You can't tell somebody what
it is, what caused it, what made it happen. You just know, man,
I can't stop thinking about him. I can't stop saying their name.
I can't stop wanting to pick up the phone and call them. Whatever
I'm doing, it's just everything I'm doing is better now since
they came around. And I just want to be with them
all the time. That's what He does when He captivates
your whole being with His love. It makes you just fall in love
with Him. It stops being a system of doctrine. It stops being a
system of theology. And that Christ becomes the lover
of your soul. He becomes altogether lovely
to you. And when He becomes altogether
lovely to you, you don't want to be with anybody but Him. You
want to follow Him. Well, let's look now at this. That's what he does. He unshackles
us from being the slave of our sin nature and converts us to
a willing servant of Christ our righteousness. And look at that
verse again there. He says, and he received him
joyfully. Scripture shows this repeatedly,
over and over. Remember that eunuch? When Philip
came and preached the gospel to him and God opened his heart,
he believed, heard the word for the first time and believed God.
You know what Scripture says about it? He went on his way
rejoicing. The jailer, the Philippian jailer,
his whole house, those that God called out in his house, he didn't
just call out the jailer, he called out several in his house.
And he says, and this whole house was rejoicing. And here we have
Zacchaeus receive Christ joyfully. There's nobody in this world
as happy as a believer. A true believer is happy. He's
happy. He's got nothing to be sad about
anymore. He's happy. Christ is our righteousness. We got perfect obedience, a perfect
justification from all our sins with God Almighty. Christ is
our sanctification into light and holiness. He's our eternal
redemption from sin, death, hell, and the grave. The kingdom of
God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Rejoicing
to a believer is not a duty. It's as natural as grapes on
a grapevine. When you had children, when you
ladies had children, did somebody have to come around and say,
now it's your duty to rejoice? No. Couldn't keep you from rejoicing,
could they? Well, that's how it is when Christ
enters in. You can't help but rejoice. And
there's no rejoicing for an unbeliever. You seek and perish in things
of clay, born but for one brief day, and there's no happiness
in it. I see sinners, they hear the gospel preached, they go
away mad, and they go out and act like they're all happy in
the world. And they're not happy. That tyrant of sin is always
on them. And there's always that fear
of death. That fear of death. I remember
one time, Good Time Charlie, somebody I know, I call him Good
Time Charlie. And Good Time Charlie is the
best friend you ever want to be around when he's got money
and everything's going his way. And Good Time Charlie, he was
talking one night and I was listening to him and he was, boy, he was
just happy and on cloud nine, everything's going his way. And
a preacher was sitting there. A preacher, a true preacher,
a God-given messenger was sitting there. And he said something
about the rejoicing that the saints will have in glory with
God. And something that thrilled my
soul to hear. And immediately when he said
it, you know what a good time Charlie said? He said, here we
are having a good time. Why do you want to start talking
about stuff depressing? Stuff that just depresses us.
That's what it is for an unbeliever. As soon as he hears this Word
of God, as soon as he hears the mention of death and of judgment
and of righteousness, these things that rejoice a believer's heart
because they've all been accomplished in Christ, it takes away that
joy that he thought he had. But you see, this joy we have,
it can't be taken away. Because the one who gives it,
he said, my peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives it.
I give this peace to you. It's peace in believing, and
he sustains it. He keeps it to where we're not
happy all the time. We don't walk around smiling
all the time. But he keeps us rejoicing in
him. He does that. All right, let
me move along here. Let me move along. Verse 7. And
when they saw it, those folks standing around, they all murmured.
They started whispering to one another. And they said, this
man's going to be guest with a man that's a sinner. This one
that we thought was this righteous one, this one who's supposed
to be the Holy One of God, this one who's supposed to be the
Redeemer, he's going to be guest with this man that's a sinner.
I tell you what, they meant this to be a slur. They meant this
to be a slur against Christ, but if He ever makes you to know
you're a sinner, and He ever makes you to know that He goes
to be guest with sinners, that'll be the best news you ever hear.
Look over at Luke 5. Are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? I want you
to answer God right now. Are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? If you're not, I mean, I'm talking
about a foul, worthless sinner. If you're not, you're not fit
to be saved. You're not fit to be saved. Look
at verse 31. Jesus answering said unto them,
they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are
sick. I came not to call the righteous
I came to call sinners to repentance. We don't even know what that
is. We hear the word sinner and we think of somebody that did
something bad that we think is bad or whatever. We don't even
have a clue what sinner is. Sinner. It's as far away from
holy God as you can get. It's the opposite spectrum from
holy God. On the other end of the spectrum
from holy God. And Christ went to be guest with
a man that is a sinner. And he left the self-righteous
alone. He left them there to murmur amongst themselves. And
he tells us why. Look down at verse 9. Jesus said
unto him, This day has salvation come to this house for so much
as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to
seek and to save that which was lost. He was a spiritual son
of Abraham. He was an elect child of God.
You mean to say he was a descendant of Abraham? I don't have a clue
if he was or not. I don't know. But he was a son
of Abraham. He was a spiritual son of Abraham. He was an elect child of God.
Christ came from Came he said I came where'd he come from he
came from heaven He's God come in human flesh to seek and to
save that which law which was lost to save us from our sins
Nobody's to blame for sin but man. And nobody's to blame for
your sin but you. And nobody's to blame for my
sin but me. He came to save us, His children, from our sins. And He came to save us to eternal
glory. To make us joint heirs with Him
of all that He is. Look back now at Luke 19, verse
8. Now this is what I want you to
see. the change that grace makes. This is the only way this can
happen. What we're about to see is grace.
And Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord. Now you notice
this now. Zacchaeus experienced the power of God's grace. It wasn't wrath. It wasn't law. It wasn't binding morality. Grace. Mercy, forgiveness of
sins. And notice what this grace of
God did immediately to this one who was just a moment ago, he
was this rich, thieving publican. Look what it did. He said, Behold,
Lord. You know what he was before?
He was fearful of men. He was afraid of men. He didn't
go get up in that tree so everybody could see him getting up in that
tree. He went and got up in that tree to run ahead of everybody
and get up in that tree to just get a glimpse of Christ coming
by so nobody could notice Him looking. He wasn't wanting everybody
to see Him trying to look over everybody because He didn't want
men seeing Him looking. But those who God calls, He makes
them where they're not ashamed of Christ anymore. Grace makes
a sinner not ashamed. Remember that man that was born
blind? Look at John 9. Look at this with me just a minute.
John 9. He was brought into that synagogue
and even his own parents wouldn't stand with him. And look what
he said, John 9.30. It says, the man answered and said
unto them, Why, hearing is a marvelous thing, and you know not from
whence he is, and yet he has opened mine eyes." And he started
preaching to them. He said, we know that God heareth
not sinners, but if any man be a worshipper of God and doeth
his will, him he heareth. Verse 32, since the world began,
was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that is
born blind? That's him saying this to them. He said, if this
man weren't God, he could do nothing. That's what He told
them. Standing right there before all
of them. And look down at, well, go back over there to verse 8
with me. Back over to Luke 19, verse 8. So he reverence God
now. That's what God does. He gives
you, you quit reverencing men and you reverence God. When a
man won't confess Christ before men publicly, when he won't deny
his mama and his daddy, even though they might worship a stump,
maybe they bow down to little ants on an anthill and say, that's
God. But he's just too scared of them
to say, no, that's not God. And I'm talking about folks with
mamas and daddies who are claiming they believe Christ, but they're
believing in their will and their works and their way, and they're
afraid of men. But when God gives you a reverence
for Him, you speak the truth and love to folks because you
reverence God rather than men. Now look at verse 8. This is
what else he did. He said, the half of my goods
I give to the poor. Not the tenth, which the law
requires, half. Not another's goods, but that
which was valuable to him, my goods. And not with a motive
of looking for return. Not with a motive of trying to
get gain. He said, I give it to the poor
who could give nothing to him in return. He wasn't under the
law anymore, he was under grace. That's what he's saying. Grace
creates a gracious giver who cheerfully gives and does it
abundantly because the Lord has graciously given so abundantly
to him. And the law can't do that. Law
cannot do that. You can pass a law in a nation
and tell the rich man he's got to take his money and give it
to the poor. It'll make the rich man hate the poor, and it'll
make the poor man take advantage of the rich man. Grace doesn't
do that. Grace does not do that. Look at the next thing in verse
8. He says, And if I've taken anything from anyone by false
accusation, I'll restore him fourfold. Before his conversion,
he was a thief, and he didn't think anything about it. But
grace makes a believer confess his sins, and it makes him want
to make restitution for his wrongs. He didn't have to be given a
court order to do that. He didn't. Christ called him.
That's what did it. That's the change grace makes. Any man who denies that Christ
is able to produce good works in his vessels of mercy has never
experienced the power by which God makes a sinner his workmanship.
Because he does. He does. Being justified by faith
alone doesn't lead to licentiousness. It never does. It makes a man
gracious. Faith works by love. The power
of Christ's love constrains the believer to love mercy. This
is grace without legislation. That's what it is. God does this
by grace, by grace, by grace. Men don't have to hear about
certain sins that are wrong. It'll make himself righteous.
He needs to hear he's a puddle of puke before God. That's what
he needs to hear and all men are. Two worms won't fight against
one another. If we're all worms, we're not
going to be fighting against one another. Men don't need to
hear how they can make themselves accepted with God. They need
to be shut up to the sovereign grace of God's unconditional
grace, choosing whom He will. That makes a sinner know, if
I'm going to be saved, it's got to be by mercy, not by my will.
We don't need to hear of men making Christ's blood effectual.
We need to hear of Christ's successful particular redemption of His
people. That's what we need to hear.
We don't need to hear about our being called and coerced and coddled
and tried to make that we can somehow let the Spirit call us,
we need to be told that the Spirit regenerates and calls effectually
and irresistibly by His grace. These things take the salvation
out of the sinner's hands and show them to be where they really
are in God's hands. And that's how God saves sinners. God's not going to, He's not
going to He's not going to cure this world's problems. He's left
us here to teach us that He's already called, that He's the
only one that's going to cure our problems. He's left these enemy
nations in this body of flesh we dwell in, right here, this
sinful flesh we dwell in, to teach us we're not going to save
ourselves. He's continually keeping us and
saving us. That's what He's left us here
for. And He might just use us to tell somebody else about it.
Has He called you? Has He made you believe Him?
Made you trust Him? Has He made you come down to
His feet? Has He made you to see that He's
all? Has He made you to rejoice in
mercy? To rejoice in bearing one another's
burdens? To rejoice in love and mercy
and grace to His people? Has He made you want to tell
sinners the truth? If He has, He gets all the glory
for that. All the glory for it. And if
He has not, Don't be mocked. God's not mocked. I mean, don't
mock God. God's not mocked. We're so blind,
we can't see we're blind. We're so sick, we can't see we're
sick. We're so lost and dead, we can't see we're lost and dead.
Oh, but when He speaks this word, He does this. He works it. And
if He ever speaks, it will be effectual, because that's the
only way He speaks. That's the only way He speaks. I hope Christ
is speaking. To me, and I hope he's speaking
to you. I think he he is. In gracious to us in this place.
And I hope he continues to keep us and continues to lead us and
guide us and make us more. More willing to. To take everything
he's given to us. And use it to declare how wonderful
and glorious he is to others. And he's going to call his people
out. But this is the sovereign Lord, and this is the Lord who
saves and makes His people loving and merciful. When man tries
to do that, he only fails. He only fails. But God never
fails. He never fails. He does this
for His people. Amen.