We sang that hymn that says,
write on my heart every word. There's a scripture that says
it's a good thing that the heart be established with grace. Grace. That's the title, the
subject of this message. Grace. Go with me to Ephesians
chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. Brother
Gene, you talk about a scripture that's been worn out. If I was going to turn to a passage
of scripture, if you wanted to turn to a passage of scripture
to tell somebody the truth, and I venture to say most everyone
in here, when they first really heard the truth of God's sovereign,
electing, saving grace in Jesus Christ, it was Ephesians 1, or
maybe Romans 9, or maybe Genesis 1, but oh my. Never get tired of these things,
do you? Never get tired of them. This
is our story. This is my story. How the Lord
saved me by His sovereign grace. Is that your story? It's the
story of every child of God. Grace. Grace means gift. Salvation is by grace. Through faith. And that is not
of yourself. It's the gift of God. Not of
works. Not of works. It's all His work. Salvation is by grace. It's a
gift. Most people think of grace, they
call grace. False preachers say grace is
an offer of God. That's what they say. God offers
you grace and you're saved if you do something with it. That's
not the grace of God. That's not the salvation of God.
Salvation is not an offer of God, it's an act of God. Salvation
is not a cooperative effort between God and man, it's an operation
of God. Not cooperation, an operation
of God. God does all the work, and He
does it through His Son, Jesus Christ, and His Holy Spirit.
Look at it with me again, again, and to write the same, to preach
the same things, it's not creepy. I remember years ago, my dad, when he was winding down,
actually when he started winding down, he got wound up. But he
started preaching the old messages. He was going back, he said, I
want to just preach the old messages. And he went back and preached
on Cain and Abel, and the brazen serpent, and the manna, and the
smitten rock, and Mephibosheth, and Ruth, and all those old...
Do you ever get tired of that? You see, those that tell me the
story, Tell it to those that know it best. Seem hungry and
thirsty to hear it like the rest. This is how you know that God
has established your heart with grace. This is what you want
to hear. This is who you need to hear.
And you never tire of it. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the
faithful in Christ Jesus. Paul. That's how he addresses
himself, Paul. Someone asked me one time, what
should I call you? I said, well, Paul. That's my name. I know these men like me, still
not very comfortable when somebody even addresses you as a pastor.
You feel so unworthy. Paul, perhaps the greatest of
all the apostles. What's your name? Paul. John,
the last Old Testament prophet. What's your name? A voice. A
voice. Our names are not important,
are they? We are not important. I'll tell you who is. Jesus Christ
is. It was George Whitefield that
once said, let the name of George Whitefield perish from the earth.
Let the name of Jesus Christ be praised. Paul. Not reverend, not doctor, not
father, not most holy right reverend Paul. Paul. And he'll tell you
his story. I was saved by grace. It was
all the grace of God. I was a false preacher. I was
a heretic. I was injured. I was a blasphemer. But when the grace of God came
to me, Paul, an apostle, that means a messenger. Small a, doesn't
it? Small a. Apostle. A messenger
of Jesus Christ. By the will of God. Everything
is by the will of God. Man doesn't have free will. You
don't have a free will. You can't say, man can't say
I will do anything. He hopes to, man has a want to,
but he doesn't have an absolute will. You can't even say I will
breathe 30 seconds from now. Can you? You can't add one cubit
to your stature, one hair to your head. Believe me, if you
could add a hair to your head, we'd have done it a long time
ago, wouldn't we, Brother Drew? You can't do it. Or one cubit
to your stature. And what do you have that you
haven't overseen? It's by grace. By the will of God. Everything's
by the will of God, who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. Here's the difference between
the God who is God and the God that men's claim to be God, figment
of their imagination is. The God that most people believe
is a God that they let be God. A God who says, if you will,
I shall. Isn't that what they say? If
you're willing, God shall. The God of the Bible says, I
will, and you shall. That's the difference. He worketh
all things, that's what verse 10 says, he worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. Verse 11, God does all things
after his own will. He said, I will and you shall,
by the will of God. Aren't you glad everything by
the will of God? All right, this is to the saints. What does that
mean? Sanctified one, set apart, made holy. consecrated to God,
shall be offered up to God someday, given to God. Who does that?
Pope in Rome? Oh no, one much higher than him,
the great potentate, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Christ
said, I have sanctified them. I sanctify myself that they also
might be sanctified. By the which will we're sanctified? By the Lord Jesus Christ, His
will. He's the one that makes saints.
to the saints which are at Ephesus or at the Madisonville, and to
the faithful in Christ Jesus. That just simply means those
who have faith in Christ Jesus. There's only one faith in them.
One Lord, one faith is given to them by this one Lord. And
that faith is in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. When Paul
preached his final message to the Ephesians elders, he said,
I preached repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now that's preaching. Repentance
toward God against whom we have sinned and faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. There's only acceptance in Jesus
Christ. There's only mercy in Jesus Christ. There's only love in Jesus Christ. Salvation is found in two words,
in Christ. All through this, you know these
verses, many of them, most of them. All through the scriptures. Salvation is to be found in Christ
Jesus. Well, how do you get in Christ?
How do you get in Christ? Well, 1 Corinthians 1.30 says,
of God are you in Christ? How did Noah and his family get
in that ark? Huh? Did they of their free will
decide to go in that ark? Oh, no. God called them. It says
that God was in that ark and said, come. And they came. And
they were in that ark. Salvation is to be found in Jesus
Christ. And when the overflowing scourge
of God's wrath comes nigh, it won't come nigh to you if you're
in Jesus Christ. Like that ark, like Noah's ark.
Only those in Christ were loved by God. Only those in Christ
were saved by God. Only those in Christ had the
mercy of God, the acceptance of God. Right? Everyone outside
of Christ was hated by God. Hated by God. Right? It's in
Christ. Salvation is in Christ. And if
you have this faith, it's a sovereign gift of God. Verse two, grace
be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. Grace, God's given you this wonderful
gift, the gift of life, the gift of repentance, the gift of faith,
the gift of righteousness. It's all a gift, a free gift,
bestowed, not offered, bestowed. by grace. Peace. Peace. Peace with God. God who's angry
with the wicked. Every day. And we don't make
our peace with God, do we? How do we have peace with God?
How does a sinner who's offended God, how does a rebel against
God, what if a rebel, what if a criminal stood before the throne
or the bar of a judge and said, I've decided to let you accept
my I've decided to let you pardon me." What would that judge do?
Bind him hand and foot and cast him in that jail, wouldn't he?
That's what God's going to say to all those who claimed, accepted
him and let him save them and all that. Peace is obtained with God one
way, Jesus Christ, by the blood of his cross. The chastisement
of the peace of God's people, necessary for them to have peace
with God, was laid on Jesus Christ, and by his stripes were he in
peace with God. Grace and peace from God our
Father. Why is anyone a child of God? Children of flesh are
not the children of God, but the children of sovereignty,
electing, adopting grace. Why is your last name Edmunds?
Because you were adopted, weren't you? Did you choose him? Did
he choose you? That's the same with God. You
don't... We're not born His children. We're adopted as His children.
Chosen. And then born again. And we don't
get born. He begets us with the word of
truth. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father, and we're children of God. Christ is the only begotten
well-beloved Son of God, and we're chosen in Him. Verse 3,
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
is blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. Paul talks about the blessings
of God, am I right? It's a popular saying today,
a popular salutation. You see it, you hear it when
you go at the gas station or the grocery store, don't you?
Somebody says, have a blessed day. Say it all the time. What
they mean by that is, I hope you don't have a flat tire, or
I hope you don't get sick, or I hope everything goes well for
you. I hope you get your bills paid. I hope all these material
things, blessing, that's what they consider blessing. Paul
doesn't mention in these verses one single material thing. Not one. He said, this is the
blessing. These are the blessings. And
this is the blessing of blessing. The blessings of blessing is
to be found in Christ in that great day. That's the great blessing.
And here it is, alright? Here's the first thing. Here's
sovereign electing grace. Electing grace. And brethren,
it's no coincidence that the word grace and the name Christ
sound alike. Grace, Christ, Christ, grace.
Sounds similar, doesn't it? That's because they're synonymous.
You can substitute the word grace with the name of Christ everywhere
in the Scripture. By grace, you say. By Christ,
you say. Elect in grace, elect in Christ. It's all in Christ. Grace. He
is the grace of God. He is the gift of God. Thanks
be unto God for His unspeakable gift. What's that? Not a what.
It's a who. The Lord Jesus Christ. Here it
is. Sovereign electing grace. According as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before Him in love. Sovereign electing
grace. You ever get tired of hearing
that? If you've been elected, you don't.
Who believes election? The elected. Do you have to believe
an election to be saved? Well, if you're saved, you do.
That's a silly question. God's people don't ask that question.
Ask Abraham. Abraham, did you choose God or
did He choose you? You say, what a stupid question. I was an idolater. I didn't know God. I wasn't seeking
God. I had it all figured out. I didn't know who God was. But
God! Seventy-five years old. What
can you teach a seventy-five year old person? Nothing. But God did. Ask any child of God. Do you
choose God or do you choose you? Are you kidding? Ask Jacob. Jacob, are you seeking the Lord?
No. Ask Saul of Tarsus. Saul, did you choose him or did
he choose you? Do you accept Jesus as your personal
Savior? Saul of Tarsus. I was blind, injurious, a blasphemer. Thought I knew God, doing what
He did. I didn't know God, didn't know Jesus Christ. I was out
to wipe the name of Jesus out. But the Lord Jesus Christ found
me one day and put me on my knees in the dust and just revealed
to me, I am your Lord. Not, will you accept me? He told
me right then and there, I'm your Lord from this day forward.
Aren't I? Yes sir, you are. He chose me. Only an unbeliever would ask
a question like that. I get tired of trying to explain it. Yes, you have to believe it.
If you believe in God, you believe He elected you. Don't apologize
for God's truth. This is where it all started,
isn't it, Brother James? This is where the truth started,
when God, before the world began, chose a people. And gave them
to Jesus Christ. That's where it all started.
That's where everything started. With God's sovereign choice and
will to save a people. None of them were worth saving.
But God chose a people and gave them to Christ. And Christ came
to save them. None of them deserved it, but
that's who He came to save. Unless anybody's got a problem
with that. They shouldn't have. Nobody deserves to be saved. If God saved one person, that
person would be in heaven for the rest of their days praising
God for his sovereign electing grace, for choosing me. But God,
rich in mercy, has chosen a people as the stars of the sky and the
sand of the seashore. Why? Because it just seemed to
him. Somebody said, now my pastor's
the first one I heard use this, he said, And somebody asks you,
if you're talking to somebody about this thing of election,
deal with them according to God's Word. OK? What does God's Word
say? All right? Ask them, did you choose God or did He
choose you? According to Scripture. Well, Ephesians 1, 4 says, according
as He hath chosen us. All right? If He chose you, when
did He choose you? According to Scripture? After
you believed? No, no, no. According to this,
He had chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Alright, why? Why did He choose
you? Because you're a good boy? No. Verse 5 says, According to the
good pleasure of His will. Because He did. That's why. They
said, Our Lord, you can't do that. He said, I just did. I
just did. That's what makes Him God. That's
who He is. According to this, He hath chosen
us in Christ. Brother Spurgeon once said, I
know that it was the Lord that chose me, but I sure didn't choose
Him. And I know He had to choose me
before I was born, because if He had waited until after I was
born, He sure wouldn't have chosen me then. It is not that I did
choose thee, Lord, that cannot be. For if Thou hast not chosen
me, I would have never chosen thee. Is that you? I didn't give
God a thought. I wasn't interested in God. The
only reason I am now is because He chose me. You hath He chosen. Of course, He hath chosen us. That's sovereign electing grace. All right, here's predestinating
grace. Verse 5, having predestinated
us under the adoption of Jehovah. Predestinating grace. I used
to work on the railroad. I worked there 12 years. And
there was a fella on that railroad who was one of these so-called
preachers. Always smiling all the time. Beware of dogs that
smile all the time. Preachers, smiling preachers. Alright, he could get along with
everybody there but me. And one time I was talking to
him about this thing, about the truth. And he said to me, he
just, that smile got all wiped off his face and he gritted his
teeth and the veins came out of his neck and he said, I'll
believe anything but that predestination. I'll believe anything. And he
did. He believed anything. And that's everybody else. I'll
believe anything but that. I'll accept anything but God
being God. You know, the thing that men
hate about God's sovereign electing grace, predestined grace, that
God is sovereign in salvation and the will of God being sovereign
in all things, the thing they hate is that it takes everything
out of their hands. It takes man's destiny out of
his hands. And everybody hates that. You
know, the child of God, that's the very thing they love about
it. It takes our destiny out of our hands. and puts it totally
in the hands of Him who loved us and washed us from our own
sins in His own blood. Takes everything completely out
of our hands and puts it in the hands of our sovereign God. Boy,
that's where I want my destiny, don't you? If it's left to me,
anything is left up to me. I'm a goner. If He ever takes
His hand off of us, we're a goner. We are kept by the power of God,
preserved on the salvation, ready to be revealed. Predestination, I love it. Don't
you love that God has predetermined everything concerning us, concerning
our children, concerning this world? Don't you love it? Don't
you love it? You can go to sleep at night.
False religion says God didn't want that to happen. Bad things
happen. God didn't want that to happen. Then why didn't he
do something? Something bad happened. God didn't
want that to happen. Well, who did it? Well, Satan
did it. Well, he couldn't stop him. Then
he's no more powerful than Satan? Well, why don't you pray to Satan? Get him to stop. No! Our comfort, our peace is that
God does it all. I'm the Lord, I do all things.
We don't understand, but we're going to have to wait aren't
we? And we're going to wait and we're going to see that God did
all things well. All things predestinated, even
the hair on your head. He said, not a hair of your head
falls to the ground without your heavenly Father. He says, there's
not a bird in the forest that falls to the ground that God
didn't purpose it. Predestination. It's just another
word that describes our God. Predestination. And everything
about God's people, predestination is all good. It's all good. Romans 8, 28. You know that scripture. We know, God's people know, that
all things work together for good. Who's working them? God is. And they're working together
for good. It's all good. We don't see it
now. We will. Look at the back of
a tapestry, you know. It all seems like a jumbled mess
of threads, doesn't it? We don't see any connection of
any of those things. You turn it around. And what
you'll see is everything perfectly connected, a glorious, beautiful
picture of the kingdom of God, all these people in it, all connected,
all the events in their life, everything in their life, and
right in the middle, one big face, the face of Jesus Christ.
All of them surrounding him, in him. We don't know, but He
does. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God. Why does anybody love
God? This God, the true God. God who is God. Why? Because
He first loved them. They're born of God. And He put
in them the love of God, the love for His Son, the love for
the truth, the love for His people, all that love God, who are the
called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He
did predestinate. Whom He did predestinate, He
called by our gospel. The gospel. There's only one
gospel. The gospel I'm preaching right
now. The gospel this man preaches. The gospel that man preaches.
The gospel that man preaches. There's only one gospel. Everybody's
not preaching it. Is this your gospel, Brother
Drew? Is this your gospel, Brother Gene? This is it. There is no other gospel. Anybody
preaching anything else is not the gospel. that Maurice preached
for so long, that my dad preached for so long. This is the gospel concerning God's will, God's
purpose, God who purposed all things. Maybe everybody hadn't
heard this story, and I love telling it. Most of you know my father, Henry
Mayhem. But there was an evangelist that
came into Ashland, Kentucky in 1950 named Ralph Barnard. My
dad was an Armenian false preacher. He was a pastor of the largest
southern Baptist church in eastern Kentucky, a thousand members.
He'd tell you that they all weren't in service every Sunday. But
pastor of the largest church in eastern Kentucky, a thousand
members. He didn't know God. He didn't
know Christ. He didn't know the truth. And Rolf Barnard came
to town, evangelist. And he was preaching what I'm
preaching. He's preaching this, the truth. And my dad was sitting
on the front row with my mother, zealous, just like Saul of Tarsus,
zealous, exceedingly zealous. Thought he knew God, didn't know
God. Thought he knew Christ, talked about Jesus, like all
these false preachers did. And Ralph Barnard said to him,
young man, stand up and quote Romans 8.28. Have you heard that? He said, stand up and quote Romans
8.28. Well, dad was 26 years old. He stood up and said, we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God.
And he sat down. And Barnard, dad said, they used
to call him old brother Barnard. He said he was 45 years old.
And he had glasses and he looked over at you all the time like
that. And he said, you didn't quote all of it. Stand up and
quote it all. And Dad stood up and said, Now
he's really nervous. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God or the called according
to purpose. And he said, Barnard screamed
at the top of his lungs, Purpose! Purpose. God does everything
on purpose. He said if you want to know something
about the God of the Bible, learn about His purpose. that God purposed
all things before the foundation of the world. Salvation is not
by chance. Salvation is not by accident. Salvation is not by
the will of man. It's by the purpose of God. And
God purposed everything in Jesus Christ. He created this whole
universe for the purpose of glorifying His Son. Salvation is for the
purpose of glorifying His grace. It's all on purpose. And aren't
you glad? God's people are glad. Everything
that happens to us happens on purpose. And Barnard told that
young Armenian false preacher and his wife, he said, you and
your pretty little wife, y'all go home and take the book of
Romans and open it up and ask the Lord to reveal himself to
you. And they did. And he did. And now you know
the rest of the story. And like Saul of Tarsus, Brother
Gene, my dad renounced all that religion. Renounced it all. Church split down the middle,
40 families left, formed 13th Street Baptist Church. I was
born the year that church was established. Buddy, I cut my
teeth on grace. And I'm thankful. Predestinated grace. Here it
is, verse 6. to the praise of the glory of
His grace. See, that's what it's all about. Praise of glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. This
is sovereign accepting grace. Why does God accept any sinner?
It's not because of anything we do. It's because of everything
Jesus Christ did. This is the verse on the sign
out in front of our church. to the praise of the glory of
His grace. Accepted. Now is the acceptable time, the
Scriptures say. God is accepting sinners. Nowhere
does God say, will you accept my son? That's not it. He's not up for acceptance or
rejection. We are! And why does he accept anybody?
Because of Jesus Christ. Whoever believes on Jesus Christ,
and the only reason they do is by sovereign electing grace,
the gift, the faith. But whoever believes on the Lord
Jesus Christ is accepted, received. In fact, every single person
who really trusts and believes and looks to the Lord Jesus Christ
only as their hope, as their peace, as their righteousness,
as their salvation, as their only acceptance with God, God's
accepted. Come on in. Sovereign accepting grace. Do
you want to be accepted for what you are or what you've done?
Do you want to stand before the throne of God and be judged for
whether or not you come into heaven on the merits of what
you've done? Or free gifts? Or what Christ
has done? Oh, hide me. Hide me. Hide me. Oh, my Savior, hide
me. And everybody in Christ, hidden,
covered, is accepted. Accepting grace. Look at that. Where am I? Verse 7. In whom we have redemption
through His blood. Redeeming grace. Anybody have
any redeeming qualities? Anybody? Oh my. But Christ does. He's
the Redeemer, isn't He? He gave Himself for us. Did God
accept His Son? Did God accept His sacrifice?
Did God accept everything? Is God well pleased in Christ?
Yes, He is. And so He's well pleased with
those that He came for, those that He redeemed, those that
He represented. Oh, we're redeemed through His
blood, forgiving grace. Here it is, forgiving grace.
Forgiveness is sovereign in it. It's always sovereign. You don't
let somebody forgive you, they decide. Forgiving grace, forgiveness
is a wonderful thing. You know that? Forgiveness is
a wonderful thing. If you're guilty, you know, it's
completely up to the person whom you've offended to show you forgiveness. Right? And God, frankly, freely,
eternally forgives all those who come to him by Jesus Christ
on the merit because of what Jesus Christ did. He's frankly
forgiven it all. Oh my, why'd you do that? Because
of my son. Because I'm a good God. Because
I'm merciful. Because I'm gracious. Because
I did. Forgiving grace. And forgiveness
means forgetting. You've never really forgiven
somebody until you've totally forgotten the transgression. That's right. God's people are
not on probation. They don't have any sins to their
account. They're gone. God is well pleased, satisfied,
forgiven, and is forgotten. Completely forgotten, gone, forgiven
in grace. According to the riches of His
grace, verse 8, He's abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. This is abounding grace, where
sin did abound, grace did much more. He made known unto us the
mystery of His will. That's revealing grace. Verse 10, in the fullness of
time, verse 9 says, according to his good pleasure, he purposed
it himself. In the dispensation of the fullness
of time, he gathered together in one all things in Christ.
That's gathering grace. Oh my, you know why anybody's
going to be in heaven someday? Because God chose them and God
gathered them and Christ died for them. The Spirit of Christ
was sent to gather them up and he does it through the preaching
of the gospel. And we're all of God's elect going to stand
there someday just amazed that they've been gathered together
with God's people. You're all just going to say,
for lack of a better way, I can't believe it. I can't believe. and I'm here. I wouldn't be here
at all if God hadn't chose me, if Christ hadn't died for me,
if the Spirit of God hadn't sent the gospel to call me, and if
Christ hadn't kept me all those years, and hadn't gathered me,
I wouldn't be here at all. Gathering grave. There's a hundred
more, but I'm not going to get to them. But it does say in verse
11, in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestined, there's that word again, but
inheriting grace, inheriting grace. My folks, Brother Gene,
they don't have much, they don't have much. And, you know, don't
know if they're going to be in assisted living, you know, in
the days ahead and spend up whatever there is to, don't have much.
but what my Heavenly Father does. What are you gonna inherit? Him.
And with him all things. Join heirs with Christ. My, my. And it goes on down to talk about
how you were sealed with the Holy Spirit. Sealing grace. Sealing
grace. Why did Noah and his family stay
in that ark? You think after a while they
might not wanna get out of that ark? Couldn't get out. Sealed. Pitched. Somebody shut
that, shut them in. That's sealing grace. What about you? What do you think
about grace? How were you saved? What do you mean grace? This
is what God's people know. By grace, you say. Sovereign,
electing, redeeming, calling, keeping, saving, redeeming, accepting
grace. May the Lord bless His word.
Amen.