If you will, turn with me to
2 Corinthians chapter 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. The Apostle Paul was given of God, he was given
of deformity of some kind. We're never told what it is in
the scriptures. But whatever it was, it was a
great hindrance to him, or he saw it as a great hindrance in
his ministry to men. And most speculate that it had
something to do with his eyes because of the scales that were
on them and so on in his conversion and all of these things. But
we're never really told what it was. He told the Galatians,
he said, I bear you witness, when I came to you, you would
have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me. It
seems to hint that it had something to do with his facial features
or his eyes or something. But whatever it was, he saw it
as a great hindrance to his ministry. And so he prays to the Lord to
take it away. Now Paul's seen, he's prayed
over many sinners, And he's watched their illnesses taken away. He's
fully confident that the Lord can take care of this ailment,
whatever it is. And so he prays, but it stays. And he prays again. And he prays
a third time. And after praying the third time,
he said in verse 8, For this thing I besought the Lord thrice. that it might depart from me.
And the Lord said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee,
for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Now, Paul reasoned
to this thing again, and he said, Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmity at the power of Christ may rest
on me." When our Lord comforted His suffering
saint, He used these words, My grace
is sufficient. And He didn't say those things
only as an expression of passion, and of love and of assurance
to his apostle, but of an active, eternal, irresistible force,
which the scriptures call the grace of God. Don't ever mistake
the grace of God for simply a passion. That's how religion expresses
God's love and God's grace as a passion. It's not a passion. It's a force. And he tells us
over in the book of Romans, he said that as sin hath reigned
under death, even so grace might reign under eternal life. Reign under righteousness through
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. It is a force. It is a power. It is not just
the gift of God, but the God who gives. And there's power
involved in this thing. There's a might and a principle
involved in these things that accomplishes what it's given
to do. He said this about our faith.
By grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. You had never believed. I was
talking to Joe last night and I told him, I said as deeply
as you were dug into that refuge. You think about it, how deeply,
how influenced, how grounded and settled you were in that
refuge. And yet a word from God and the
refuge, the walls of the refuge come tumbling down. That's grace. Grace is not just a passion,
it's a force. And this grace is bestowed through
His gospel. That's why I'm here this morning.
I believe that with all my heart. By grace are you saved through
faith. That not of yourselves. You can't
accomplish it. You can grit your teeth and clench
your fist and determine with everything you have, I'm going...
No, you're not. No, you're not. Not till God
enables you. And when He does, it will be
the simplest thing in the world to embrace Him. That's an act
of grace. And here, our Lord tells Paul,
that's what he's worried about. He's worried about this ministry.
He's worried about how he's going to accomplish these things that
God sent him to do. And he's looking to himself.
That's what we do. We look to ourselves. And our
Lord is trying to get him to... I hate to use that word, trying.
Our Lord is going to take him away from looking at himself.
And He's going to turn His eyes to him. And he said, my grace,
Paul, is sufficient. It's sufficient. This grace in
Christ was then, is now, and ever shall be sufficient in all
things. Comprehended of God and considered
in the giving of this grace is all things. All things. How many times do you read in
the Scripture where he talks about Christ being given all
things? All things. And you just let
your imagination go as far as it can go. And you still want
to reach the end of it. All things. Every event, every
advent, every situation, every circumstance, every act of divine
providence from beginning to end is comprehended in God's
eternal purpose of grace. Paul said, we have obtained an
inheritance way down the road. God blessed us back in the beginning.
He put us in Christ back in the beginning. He predestinated us
under the adoption of the Son way back in the beginning. But
He said, in time, we obtained an inheritance being predestinated
according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after
the counsel of His own will. And what is that purpose? He
tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 1.9, God has saved us, called us with
a 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. Alright, let me give you several
things this morning that God has done, is now doing, that
manifest this all-sufficient grace. Now we tend, we want some
assurance, we want some evidence, that's all flesh. We want this
and we want that. What's given to us is an all-sufficient
Savior. And if you're looking for evidence
of your election and you're looking for some assurance in your salvation,
it's all in Him. Embrace Him and you have everything
God has for sinners is in Him. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in Him. And those feelings
will come and go, but He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Alright, let me give you several
things. First of all, His grace was sufficient. We're talking
about sufficient grace. Here's this apostle, and he's
considering this great this great grace that's been given to him,
this great privilege to go out and preach his gospel, and he's
looking to himself and seeing himself inadequate as he should. And Christ tells him, my grace
is sufficient. It's sufficient. Alright? When
we're talking about sufficient grace in Christ, what are we
talking about? Well, let me give you eight things. First of all,
His grace was sufficient enough in Christ for Him to make on
our behalf an everlasting covenant. Now you think about this. An
everlasting covenant. When David, the man after God's
own heart, when he died, his dying words, you should have
them memorized by now. Although it be not so with my
house, yet hath He made with me an everlasting covenant. Now
listen to this. ordered in all things and sure. This everlasting covenant, before
time began, before creation came to be, before anything was done,
way back yonder, for lack of a better word, in the council
halls of eternity, God the Trinity made with themselves an everlasting
covenant. And they appointed Christ as
the surety of that covenant. And all things ordered in that
covenant were sure because of the surety. You want to talk
about all-sufficient grace? Here it is. Here it is. Everything
that God has willed to do in His redemptive purpose is in
Christ. He's the surety. That's all-sufficient
grace isn't it? All-sufficient. In his dying
words, David said that. This is all my salvation and
all my desire. Every provision was made, every
appointment filled, and Paul wrote to Timothy and said he
saved us according, not according to our worth, but according to
his own purpose and grace, giving us in Christ before the world
began. I was going through the book
of Genesis, and I completed chapter 1 on the creation series, and
I began to meditate on verse 1 of chapter 2. I'll tell you,
it's worth your time to go there and look at that. God finished
all of His works, and it said He rested. And I was talking
to Joe about this last night. Didn't God know that Satan was
still in the world? Had he forgotten that Satan was
cast out in the earth? Did God not know that Satan was
going to enter into His garden and by temptation cause the woman's
fall, and by the woman's fall cause the man to fall, and by
his fall cause the whole human race to fall? Did God not know
that? Did He not know that just in
a few generations that every imagination of the thoughts of
men was going to be only evil continually, and it's going to
repent him that he ever made man, but by his grace, Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. By his grace, he saved eight
souls. Did he not know in a few more generations that his influence
on humanity was going to come to a peak in Babylon? And such a peak it came to that
God had to confuse the languages? And having confused them and
sent them out worldwide, did you know that clear to the end
of this book, false religion, antichrist religion is called
Babylon? Did God not know that? Did God
not know when He sent His Son into this world that men were
going to despise Him and hate Him? torment Him and hound Him
every day of His life that they were going to murder Him on a
cross? Did God not know that? If God knew these things, how
could He rest? Ephesians chapter 1 verse 12
gives us that. He said that our salvation according
to this great God who predestinated us and worketh all things after
the counsel of His own will. Now listen to this. Who first
trusted in Christ. I'm not talking about you, I'm
talking about God. God first trusted in Christ.
When did He do that? In the everlasting covenant of
grace. Trusted all things into His hands. Now listen to this,
and he rested. Read that next verse, in whom
you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation. I tell you, you can trust Him.
In Him is all sufficient grace, so much so, so completely so,
that God Himself trusted all things into His hands and rested. And you will too if you ever
see Him. If you ever see that grace of God in Him, you'll rest
in Him. You'll enter into that rest.
Secondly, His grace was sufficient in Christ to create a world which
He knew could not stand on its own. Creation, as it's set forth in
the Holy Scriptures, I don't know if you've ever even thought
about this, is an act. of God's Mediator. You ever think
about that? Over and over and over, Scripture
says that Christ created the world. John chapter 1, he said,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God, and all things were created by Him, and without Him
was not anything made that was made. This mediator, he which was chosen
to mediate the sovereign redemptive will of God, that's what he tells
us in Hebrews 10. He said in the whole of the book,
it's written of me, I come to do thy will. What will? His redemptive
will. That's why he came. And he which
was chosen to mediate the sovereign redemptive will of God was assigned
the work of creation. Paul said, God, who at sundry
times and in divers manners, this is over in Hebrews chapter
1, spake in times past unto our fathers by the prophets, hath
in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, now listen to
this, whom He appointed heir of all things, by whom also He
made the worlds. How did God create the world?
Through His Son. through His Son. Listen to this
scripture, Colossians 1.15. Paul's talking about and describing
His Redeemer to the Colossian people, giving them some assurance
in Christ, talking about this light into which they've been
called, having been made meat to be partakers of this inheritance
of Christ. And he tells them that this Christ,
their Redeemer, is the image of the invisible God, The firstborn
of every creature. Now, if you have a margin in
your Bible, some of them are going to say this. Creation.
Not creature. Creation. He is the firstborn
of every created thing. Now, watch this next verse. Verse
16. For by Him were all things created that are in heaven, that
are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him,
now watch this, and for Him. You mean creation is for our
Savior? That's exactly what I'm saying.
And that's what, you talk about all sufficient grace, The whole
of creation, the whole of God's redemptive purpose with men and
creation that sustains man was given to our Savior who created
it. And I tell you, the longer I live, the more I see His work
demonstrated in the things He created. He is before all things, Paul
said, and by Him all things consist. They have a continuance. Why
don't things just fold up and blow up and blow away? We're
told that's what's going to happen. The ozone is going to disappear,
and I don't know what the thing is going to happen then. The
stars are going to cave in, or we're going to get sucked down
a black hole, or what it is that they believe. But here it says,
He is before all things, and by Him all things have a continuance. And he's the head of the body,
this one who created the world, and the world created for him.
He's the head of the body, the church. He's the federal head.
He's the beginning. He's the representative of God's
elect, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.
Now listen, that he might have the preeminence. And as some
of you have been questioned by your relatives saying, now wait
a minute, you're exalting Christ above the Trinity? Read the next
verse. For it pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell. You're not going to anger the
Trinity when you exalt Christ because it's the purpose of the
Trinity to exalt Christ. He was chosen to that station.
Men talk about creation as though it was a powerless, purposeless
mass set afloat on a great sea of eternity and left to shape
itself with some unknown circumstance. The Bible has a different explanation.
In Romans 8, verse 19, it says, For the earnest expectation of
creation does what? What's it waiting for? Why does
creation continue on? What's the purpose of it? What's
the purpose behind it? Why was it made? What's it going
to do? The earnest expectation of creation waiteth for the manifestation
of the sons of God, because that's why it was made. That's the end
for which it may. Listen to this. 4. The creation
was made subject to vanity, not willingly. but by reason of Him
who created the same in hope. Thirdly, we're talking about
the all-sufficient grace. This One whom I exhort you to
put your trust in. Embrace Him. Rest in Him. Look
to Him. You don't need anything else
but Him. You have Him, you have everything. He's like that pearl
of great price. When the man saw it, he knew
he was a collector of pearls. He knew there was not another
pearl on this earth like this pearl, and he gave everything
he had to have it. Everything's in Christ. All hope's
in Him. Everything's in Christ. So, this
is what we're talking about, this all-sufficient grace. And
the grace of God in Christ was sufficient to defer God's judgment
of men to the Redeemer. Now, I don't know if you know
this, but God outside of Christ is a consuming fire. Spurgeon
said if we were to approach Him apart from Christ, it would be
like a butterfly going into a bonfire. You wouldn't get anywhere. You'd
just burn up, burn to cinders. So why didn't God, at the first
act of the sin of man, why didn't He just burn this whole creation
to cinders and start over? Because that judgment was deferred
to Christ our Redeemer. Because God had purposed to save
a people for the glory of His name. And He appointed His Son
as the Savior, the Redeemer, the Mediator. Oh, you talk about
all sufficient grace. Here it is. Here it is. God looks
on this evil, wicked world. I'm telling you, when you begin
to learn something about sin, you won't even want to look in
the mirror. What we are by nature is the more you know about God,
the more you'll see about yourself. It's like what Joe said last
night. You can try to convince me of
anything when I'm standing in the dark, but turn the light
on. Now I can see. And the brighter that light shines,
the more things you see. And it's the same with Christ.
The more of Him you see and the more of God you see, the more
of your sin you see. And there's no hope in yourself.
It's just a black hole. The hope's all in Christ. All
in Christ. He deferred the judgment of men
to the Redeemer. Peter said, Somebody said, well,
the Lord's not coming back. That's a bunch of garbage. They
talk about Him coming back, talk about His judgment. Peter said,
this men are willingly ignorant of. That God destroyed the first
world, saving only eight souls. That first world stood in the
water and out of the water by His command, by His Word. He's
the one who gathered the seas into its place and gave the commandment,
Here shall your proud ways come, but no further. God gave these
commands. God ordered all things. And it's
God Himself who preserves these things. And by that Word, this
first world that then existed, He said it stayed just like it
was. by God's command until God gave
command otherwise. And then it was destroyed. It
was destroyed. And he said, the world which
is now is being kept in store by that same word reserved under
fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. And then he says this, he said,
but the Lord is not slack concerning His promises, as some men count
slackness, talking about His return. But His long-suffering
to usward has nothing to do with this world, has nothing to do
with God's love for this world. The reason this world is going
on as it is, the reason it consists, the reason it's being preserved
and shall never be destroyed until God gives the Word. It's
because God is not slack concerning His promises to us for it. Not willing that any should perish. None of His elect is going to
perish whom He gave to Christ, whom He appointed surety of the
covenant, whom He appointed the guarantor, the one mediator between
God and men, the Lord Jesus Christ. His longsuffering to us were
not willing that any should perish, and none shall perish. None shall
perish, but that all should be brought to repentance. Judgment's
been turned over to the sovereign mediator. When all his elect
have been righteously saved and called to him, then shall the
pure and unbridled judgment of God be exercised on this world. Peter describes it. You can read
it for yourself over in 2 Peter, I think it's chapter 3. He said
the elements are going to melt with the fervent heat. This world as we know it is going
to pass away. But God's elect shall sit with
Christ as He justly judges this unbelieving world. That's all
sufficient grace. And His grace, fourthly, was
sufficient in His Son to manifest a holy union of His people in
the body of a man who is the Son of God and the Son of Man. A holy union in Him. Paul summed
up our ministry this way. He said, Too wit that God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not charging their
trespasses unto them. And this is the only basis of
reconciliation. This is the only ministry of
reconciliation that we've been given to preach. That reconciliation
is in the man, Christ Jesus. The God man. In a short while, the Lord willing,
I'm going to baptize five of you people. This baptism confesses
their hope of union with Christ. That's what we're going to demonstrate
in the water. We were buried with Him. It tells us that in
Ephesians chapter 2. Buried with Him. Risen with Him. Ascended with Him. Seated at
the right hand of God. That's union with Christ. And
there's no salvation apart from that union. Eternal covenant
union by which God chose us in Him and blessed us in Him and
by physical union. The scripture said he took not
on himself the nature of angels. What did he do? He took on him
the seed of Abraham. The seed of Abraham. God and
man in one person. You see that union? That union
that was manifested in that perfect man was the same union given
to us by covenant before the world began. And it's that same
union that we receive by faith. That's what I believe. If I'm
a saved man, if I have any hope of glory, it's Christ in me. My union with Him. I don't have
anything to do with it. I don't have any part in it.
It's all of Him. All of Him. In Him, it says, we have redemption
through His blood. Oh my! To look on Christ with
eyes of faith is to see yourself in Him. Obey the law. You have to obey the law. I did. I did. Perfectly. You are going to have to face
God now. You better be careful what you say. Huh? Justified. In Him. God raised Him. He was delivered
for our offenses, raised again for our justification. I'm justified
in Him. Seated with Him in the heavens.
Alright, fifth. His grace was sufficient in Christ
to put away our sins through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. There it goes. A preacher, you
saying you don't sin? No, I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that. We say that,
the truth's not in it. Isn't that what John said? And
we make God lie. We sin every day. I can't have
a thought that's not mixed with sin. I can't pray a prayer that's
not mixed with sin. I begin to pray a prayer and
I begin to think about myself and how I'm saying it and how
everybody's looking on it and how they're hearing it. I can't
pray a prayer without sin. I can't preach a message without
sin. But I don't have any sin in the
sense that my sin has been put away. Once for all, it's gone. It's gone. And one day, He'll
deliver me from the presence of it. And take me into glory
without sin. Without sin. Listen to this scripture. Ephesians
1 verse 6. to the praise of the glory of
His grace, that's what we're talking about, all sufficient
grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the blood. Do you ever look at that scripture
and consider yourself when it's talking about the Father looking
on you? And he says, well done, thou
good and faithful servant. You can't look yourself in the
mirror and say that, can you? But God can. Because He has made
us accepted and beloved. In verse 7 it says, we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace. Oh, my soul. Listen to these
scriptures. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Just about everybody I know in
religion. Satan does. He's the accuser
of the brethren. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God who justifies. He justifies. Who is He that
condemns? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. In Christ my sin has been
put away. That's all sufficient grace. The God-man came to this world
and bore my sin, was made sin, it says over in 2 Corinthians
5.21. How was he made sin? By virtue
of my union with him. He not only stood before God
as God Himself, sinless man, but He stood before God as me,
the sinner. And God poured out His wrath
on me, and in Him I died. I died. Sixth, His grace is sufficient
in Christ to raise us up together and cause us to sit together
with Him in heaven itself. Paul preached these things to
the Colossians, and then he said, If you then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Set your affection on things
above, not on things of this earth. Because your life, you're
dead. And your life is hid with God
in Christ. And when He shall appear, you're
going to appear with Him. You've always been with Him.
You were put in Him before He was ever created. You've put
in Him. Sitting upon the Father's throne
is the guarantor of our salvation. I remember Brother Mayhem was
walking to church one warm spring day. He didn't live too far from
the church, just three or four blocks. He decided to walk that
morning, and he was out walking. He was coming down 13th Street,
and he ran into a man that he knew and went to seminary with. They began to exchange pleasantries
there on the sidewalk. And after a minute or two, this
man looked at him and he said, Brother Mahan, are you still
saved? And Brother Mahan looked down
for a minute and then he looked the sky in the eyes and he said,
Is God still on the throne? Christ still seated at the right
hand of God? I'm still saved. That's my salvation. That's my salvation. Every ounce of my salvation depended
on Him. Alright, here's the seventh thing.
His grace by virtue of His work and God's purpose of grace in
Him is sufficient to begat dead sinners. That's all sufficient
grace. Sufficient to begat dead sinners
to life everlasting by His spoken Word. After His resurrection,
the Lord Roamed this earth for almost 30 days. And at the end
of that time, he gathered his apostles, his disciples, who
were his apostles, around him, and they walked out to a hill. And the Lord turned to them,
and He said, All power in heaven and earth is given unto Me. Go home and rest. Put your hands in your pockets
and always say it. Go ye now into all the world
and teach my gospel to every nation. He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved. They shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. This saving power that was given
to our Lord as He prays in His high priestly prayer in John
17, He said, was given to Him to give eternal life to as many
as the Father had given Him. And He's telling them that this
power is now active. It's always been His, but by
virtue of His life and death and His accomplishments, it's
given to Him. And now, He said, this same effectual
grace is going to be on you, and you're going to go preach. Preach something that the world
despises. They despise the very Son of
God, and you want me to go preach the Son? Exactly. And His grace
is so sufficient that it will begat dead sinners through that
Gospel. Isn't that what Paul said? He
said, I can't remember how he words it now, but anyway, he
said, I have begotten you through the Gospel. You just have one Father, one
spiritual Father. He said, I have begotten you
through the gospel. A man said that. You think Paul
believed that he had power to begat dead sinners? No. But he
believed in God's purpose of grace and His all-sufficient
grace that appointed him as a preacher and sinner. That's right. I don't have any power. The most
I can do to you this morning is exactly what I'm doing. Telling
you the truth. Trying to point you to Christ.
I do that everywhere I go by the grace of God. And then I
wait on Him. Because I don't have the power
to go any further. Any further. And then finally,
His all-sufficient grace is able to sustain the weakest, sickest,
most suffering saint Whoever lived. Oh, I think about that leper
who came to Christ. He describes in detail the lepers
in the Old Testament. It was a living death. It just ate away the flesh and
exposed it. Under the commandment of the
Jewish law, they had to have a rag and they kept it over their
mouth. Anytime they come anywhere near
anybody, they were to cry, unclean, unclean, unclean. And here comes
this leper, and he's probably got holes in his jaws, and he's
covered with leprosy, and he's dying, and he's forbidden to
even come anywhere near. Here he comes, right up to Christ,
falls down on the ground, and he said, Lord, if you would,
you can make me clean. If you will. Huh? Do you believe that? You believe
in His hands is the power to cleanse a filthy sinner. Well,
that leper did. You know what the Lord said? He gave him this big complicated...
No. He said, I will. And he was clean. He was clean. And that's just
how it happens under the preaching of the gospel. That's just how
He saves sinners. That grace is all sufficient.
Paul, my grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made
perfect in weakness. So Paul opens his letter to the
Corinthians with these words, Blessed be God, even the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God
of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our trouble, that we
might be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by
the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. That is
all sufficient grace. He exercises and manifests that
grace in a believer, and that believer can't keep his mouth
shut. How often did our Lord tell those He saved, He said,
now go your way and don't you tell anybody what I did. They
told everybody they knew what He did. They couldn't help it.
Couldn't help it. And that's the way it is when
God puts His gospel in a man's heart. He couldn't shut his mouth
if he wanted to. He's going to tell everybody
he knows. All sufficient grace in Christ.