Alright, take your Bibles and
turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. We'll begin in verse 29 through
verse 31. The title of the message this
morning, The Mere Grace of God. The Mere Grace of God. Verse 29 says, That no flesh
should glory in his presence, but of him Are you in Christ
Jesus? Who of God is 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. The mere grace of God. The first thing that we can see
in this passage of Scripture is this, that God cannot be known
by natural wisdom. God cannot be known in a saving
way, in a spiritual manner, by the
wisdom of men. Now, this time that the Apostle
Paul wrote this was one of the greatest philosophical days of
history. In this day, in this town of
Corinth where this church was, wisdom of philosophy and Western
thought abounded greatly. If you want to know where most
of the Western thoughts and philosophy come from, they come from this
time and these places that the Apostle Paul preached at. These
men were highly educated men. These men had great thoughts
and intellect. Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, all
of these men are still being studied in the universities.
And astounding, some of the thoughts that they had, questions that
they raised, answers that they gave, they were astounding. I'll
tell you, you can't... I've read some of them and I'll
tell you, they are very educated men and some of the answers,
you just... you wouldn't be able to... You wouldn't be able to
reason it out. They're geniuses. There's no doubt about that.
There's no doubt that these men were mentally gifted in all the
wisdom of men. Yet, for all their great learning,
for all their great thoughts, they could not ascertain one
thing which is the most important. They could not know God. And
most of them confessed this. Most of them knew there was a
God and confessed there was a God. They had no idea how in the world
they could know Him. We know this because the Scripture
tells us this. Look at verse 21. For after that
in the wisdom of God. The world by wisdom. Knew not God. Therefore, God has a name and
His name cannot be known. His wisdom cannot be ascertained. by the wisdom of man because
God has made foolish the wisdom of men. The wisdom of men is
so vain and empty and futile. I know that some of you have
went to college and you've known the struggle it takes to get
through and the work You know the amount of hours
that we had to put in to get that little piece of paper to
put on our walls? Friends, that profit us nothing
in knowing God. That profits men nothing. Their
understanding to know God in their soul is futile. Now, we knew there was a God.
We all knew there was a God. It doesn't take much wisdom to
know there is a God. Ask a child. A child can ascertain
that there is a God. Ask a child about guilt. He understands
it's not right to lie or to steal. He doesn't have to be a super
academic genius to understand those things. We know that God
is just and God must punish sin. We know that. Man's laws are
created after that knowledge within the natural man. We know these things. We know
that God must be satisfied by some sacrifice or offering. Every religion knows that. Look at every religion. There's
something that they're doing. Every false pagan religion has
something that they have to do. Whether it is to take of the
Lord's table, or to be baptized, or to dance around a pot. It
doesn't matter. They all have to know that they've
got to do something. That God must be satisfied. So
you don't have to have much wisdom to know that. But yet man, with all his works,
with all his efforts, with all of his sincerity, with all of
his might, with all of his wisdom and thinking and power, and he
could exercise his will till he dies, he cannot know God by
these things. You cannot know God by the wisdom
of this world. Why is that? Because God alone
is to receive the glory for salvation. Look at our text. What's the
reason for this? Why is it that man cannot know
God by his own thoughts? That no flesh should glory in
His presence. No flesh. No flesh, no man will
ever be able to stand before God and say, I did it. No man. No man will ever say, God, I
knew you because of my great intellect. I knew you because
I exercised my will to know you. No man. will glory in His presence. The Scripture says that there
is none that seeketh after God. Is that not plain? I was in church all my life,
but I was never seeking God. I wasn't seeking Him. You may have been seeking your
own version of God. You may have been trying to figure
out your own God of your imagination, but you, yourself, we never sought
out God of our own power or wisdom. And there was none righteous,
no, not one. And none of us, we didn't seek
God, and if we could seek God, we wouldn't be accepted by God,
because we had no righteousness. Therefore, if any man will know
God, to know God is life. Make no mistake about this. I'm
not talking about an academic, Calvinistic, systematic knowing
of God. I am talking about a personal,
intimate knowledge of the living God in your soul. If you will
know God, you will know life. How can you know God? Only if God reveals Himself to
you. If any man will be saved and
pardoned, it will be by the mere grace of God. I use that word
on purpose, the mere grace, for a reason. Because that word means
nothing better than what is specified. There's nothing better than what
is specified. There's nothing better than grace.
Mere grace. It's the best and only means
of salvation. Mere grace. If any man claim
to know God by his will or an act of the flesh, he is a liar.
He's a liar. He doesn't know God. Why? Because no flesh will glory in
his presence. I know that. God said that. I
don't have to guess, second guess that. I don't have to try to
reason in my mind. If that man is coming to God
by any means other than grace, he is a liar and he does not
know God. Why? Because he has somewhat
to glory in. If we have somewhat, if we have
something by which we glory before God in our salvation, we have
no salvation and we know not God. Salvation is either by the mere
grace of God or by the works of man. There is no middle ground.
And yet, if it's the works of man, you have something to boast.
If you did something, you have something wherewith to go to
God and say, I did this. You should accept me based on
blank, whatever it is. But God said, no flesh, not you
and not me. We will not glory in any part
of salvation. We will not boast of anything
we have done before God. All who are saved by grace, we
confess that glory, all glory. All praise, all majesty, all
honor, all salvation is all of God and none of us. None of us. Hold your place here and read
this with me in Titus chapter 3. Titus chapter 3 and verse 5. Paul, speaking of salvation,
says, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly. through Jesus
Christ our Savior. That being justified by His grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Friends, it is not by works of
righteousness which we have done. It's not by our wisdom that you
know God. If you know God, it's not because
you're better than the person sitting next to you. It's not
because you're wiser than the person sitting next to you. It's not because you deserve
it. But it comes by grace alone. And that's all. Number two, then all of salvation
is of God. That's what I see in the text
mainly. Look at this. Go back here. That no flesh should
glory in His presence. That's the cause. The cause that
nobody will know God by their own wisdom. Therefore, all salvation
is of God. Look at that in verse 30. I want you to notice one word
right now. Of. Of. But of Him. Who? God. But of God. Are you in Christ Jesus? Who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Man is truly,
absolutely, completely and totally dependent on God for everything. Everything. The reason you're here this morning
is because God willed it so. And God gave you the breath and
the strength to get up this morning and not die. You made it safely because of
the providential grace of God that did not cause a semi truck
to run into your car and kill you this morning. That's the only reason we made
it. You and I are absolutely and
utterly dependent upon God for everything. All men are dependent
on God. When Adam was created holy and
sinless, he was given life. But his life was dependent on
one thing. that God be truthful concerning
His covenant. What was the covenant that He
gave Adam? He gave Adam this covenant. Adam, everything is yours. I
will give you life so long as you do not eat of this tree. In the day thou eatest thereof,
thou shalt surely die. So Adam, truly dependent on God,
to honor His covenant. But you see, Adam's life really
depended upon his action. The covenant was dependent, was
pivotable on what he did. He did this, if you don't eat,
life is yours. I'll give it to you forever.
You eat and you'll die. Now Adam was dependent on God.
There's no doubt about that. And so long as he lived, God
would have maintained his part of the covenant. He would. But when Adam fell and died,
we died in him. How much more dependent on God
are we than Adam? We had no life when we were born. We were all together sinners
from birth. Adam wasn't. What is it that moved God to
not destroy the human race as soon as they were born? Would
He not be right to do that? Would he not be just if he left
man to himself if Adam died and God said nothing to him and let
him die in his sins and let all of his race die in their sins? Would God be unjust to do that?
Absolutely not. He did that to the angels when
they fell. He provided them nothing. No hope. No hope. Friends, man has no claim or
right to demand anything of God. The only thing we have that we
can demand of God is this, hell. That's all we can demand. Because
that's all we deserve. That's it. If you're breathing
today, it's because God's mercy gave you breath, not because
you deserve it. The reason we are hearing the gospel today
is because of God's mercy to give us the ability to hear it. Everything and everyone is dependent
upon God because we are all guilty of treason. The only thing we deserve is
eternal, never-ending damnation and punishment. That's everything
we deserve to get. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even Even when we
were dead in sins, hath He quickened us together with Christ, for
by what you are saved. Grace. Grace. Unmerited favor with God. The salvation man is of God It's
of the mere grace of God if by God will save my children It'll
be by mere grace not because their dad was a preacher That's it I can't do anything
for I Could tell him I can witness I can show him I can't save him
That's God's business. And if God so wills, he'll do
it. And I take comfort in that because
I know this, they don't deserve it. Just like I don't deserve
it, just like you don't deserve it. It is of the grace of the
father, but of him. Are you in Christ? If you're
in Christ this morning, you can give glory to God because it
is of His mere grace that you are in Christ. First, it is the
mere grace of God the Father that saves sinners. It was God
the Father who chose and elect people for Himself and for His
own sake. The root, friends, of all salvation
is rooted in God's own sovereign purpose. It's rooted in His own glory. God saves because He would have
men glory in Him. That's the only reason. He's
it. He said, I do this not for your sakes, I do this for my
sake. I save you because I want to
save you. That's it. I choose you because
I wanted to choose you. Not because you were better. Matter of fact, you were the
worst in the world. You were the scum of the earth.
And I still loved you and chose you because I would. We are bound
to give thanks always, brethren, to you. Beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Election
is solely rooted in the grace of God. He is the first cause
of all things. I know that rolled off my tongue,
but friends, to grab a hold of that, The first cause of everything
is God. God says the buck stops here.
I do all things after the counsel of my own will, and I don't have
to answer to any of you. That's what God says. He says,
I don't have to answer to anyone, but in grace I'll show you. In
grace I'll make it known to you. In grace and love I'll reveal
it to you, only for my sake. He is the first cause of all
election of Adam's race. By grace He purposed that He
should make sinners holy and without sin before Him, and in
love predestinate them according to the purpose of the good pleasure
of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace alone. And there was no cause of his
election in the elected. There was no cause for him to
choose us. None. For the children not yet
being born, neither having done good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand. And everyone that is chosen of
God is chosen in Christ. But of God are you in Christ."
What does that mean, to be in Christ? What does it mean that
God put us in Christ? It means He gave us to Christ
so that He might be our surety. Our surety. I say that a lot, but I don't...
I take for granted sometimes that I think you know that. I
shouldn't. Surety. What is a surety? He
gave us to be a surety. What is that? Well, an example
of that is when Judah and his brothers came back from Egypt.
And you remember he came to his father and he said, Dad, we've
got to go back and we've got to take Benjamin. This man won't
give us any food. We'll starve to death if you
don't let me take Benjamin with me. And bring him to this man. This ruler of Egypt, who was
Joseph, and his dad said, I won't let him go. And Judah said, I
will be his surety. In other words, if he don't come
back, Dad, you can blame me. That's what it means. And so
when God gave us to Christ, Christ said, I will be their surety,
Father. And if I don't bring them back,
you can blame me. That's what he said. If there
is one person in hell for whom Christ died, Christ is to be
blamed for that man's death. But there's not. Everyone given
to Him will come to Him. Everyone given to Him, put in
Him, He died for. He accomplished their salvation
and they will come to Him. By mere grace, by mere grace
of God, we are made willing to see that
Christ is all our righteousness, all our sanctification, all our
redemption, and all our wisdom. He is all our salvation. Every aspect of salvation is
found in Christ. Every one of it. Who made Christ
our Savior? God did. God made Him our Savior. And He willingly took to be our
Savior. And He willingly accomplished
our salvation. First of all, we see of God that
He has made wisdom. I told you that man cannot know
God by wisdom, but Jesus Christ is the light of the world by
which we may see God and know His salvation. Jesus said, No
man knoweth the Father, save the Son, and to whomsoever the
Son shall reveal Him. You see, the Son is sovereign
in this matter of salvation. If you know God, it's not because
of your wisdom, but because the Son revealed Him to you. You
can't see the glory of God but by the face of Jesus Christ. You see, He is the wisdom of
God. How can the unjust, how can a
sinner be made righteous before God? You know how? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He is the wisdom of this. Do
you realize no other religion has that? You realize there's
no other religion in all the world but the true religion of
God that says salvation is all of the blood of Christ? How can
God be just and justify the ungodly? The only answer is Christ. There's
no other answer. There's no other answer. Everyone
else answers by works. That's how they answer. There's
no wisdom in that. Here's the wisdom. that God sent
His Son to die in our place so that our sins would truly be
punished and so that we truly may be made righteous. That's
wisdom. Christ is also made of God to
be our righteousness. God is the source of righteousness
and God only is holy always. How many of you think that there
is one sin that God has not seen? Who here has hid their sin from
God? No one escapes His holy gaze. No one. Sin never goes unpunished,
my friends. God is righteous. And if you
and I are to stand before God, we must be as righteous as God
Himself. He cannot accept us any other
way. He cannot accept you by sincerity. He cannot accept you at the expense
of His justice, of His holiness, of His righteousness. He must
be just. And you must be righteous. I am. How? God has made Christ to be my
righteousness. He is all my righteousness. Not because I said so. Because God made Him so. God made Him to be my righteousness. God is also made Christ by his
mere grace to be our sanctification. What is this? What is to be sanctified? Means to be holy or set apart.
Means to be set apart. That's an easiest way to looking
at it. Holy, something is dedicated to God alone. Something that
is holy, it is set apart from everything else. If God saves by His mere grace,
then every part of salvation belongs to God, including this
matter of setting us apart. God doesn't make Christ our wisdom,
our righteousness, and our redemption, and then we make ourselves our
sanctification. We sanctify ourselves. That's
foolishness. That's trying to take one part
of that salvation and give it to yourself. That's robbing God
of His glory. No. God set us apart in eternity. God set us apart in Christ. And
God sets His people apart in time by the Spirit and by the
Gospel. It is by the preaching of this
Gospel that God the Holy Spirit comes in power. How much power does it take to
save a sinner? Just a little power? Just a little
bit? It takes all the power of God
to save a sinner. It takes the omnipotent God to
save a sinner, to regenerate a soul. You can't do that. I can't do that. Only God can
do that. He has made Christ our sanctification. And the Spirit comes in power
because this is the means that God has chosen. The Spirit comes
in power only through the preaching of the Gospel. This is God's
means because it pleased God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And not only is it the
preaching of the Gospel, it's the man that God sent. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. You see, it's only by the preaching.
Only if a man is sent by God can he preach the true gospel.
And men are saved only by the men that God sends to preach
the gospel. Now, are we sufficient for this?
No. We're not sufficient for this in ourselves. If anyone
here is to be blessed this morning, if any believer is to be comforted,
if any sinner is to be saved, it must be of God. I don't receive my sufficiency
for this because of who I am, but because of what God has set
me to do. So the Word didn't come from
us. The man didn't come from you.
The power of the Spirit didn't come from you. What came from
you? Nothing. Nothing. You did nothing. You
did nothing. The Scriptures are God's Word.
He sends His man. And faith cometh by hearing.
And even our faith, does that come from you? Did your faith
come from you? That's not what the Scripture
says. The Scripture didn't say it came from you. For by grace
you are saved through faith, and that faith is not of yourself. It, faith, is the gift of God. Yes, you must believe. Believe
on Christ. Believe now, and He will save
you. But even that faith does not
come from us. It comes from God. And by the mere grace of God,
lastly, is made our redemption. All salvation is of the mere
grace of God and this last aspect of salvation, I want us to measure
the greatness of this, the greatness. I want you to take a measure
and I want you to measure how great His grace was to save you. How great? Jonathan Edwards said
this, this grace of God is only great
in proportion to the excellence of what is given. The gift was infinitely precious
because it was a person of infinite worth, a person of infinite glory,
a person infinitely near to God. How great was God's gift? The grace in bestowing this gift
is great in proportion to the unworthiness of those to whom
it's given. How great is God's gift and how
unworthy are you of it? If you can know those two, then
you have two points you can measure, right? We need just two points.
You need to know where you start and where you end to measure
something. Well, measure God's grace. First
of all, measure how infinite Christ is. How infinite a gift,
how precious, how glorious, how holy, how perfect a gift He was. Start there. and then measure
how infinitely unworthy you are of Him. And we'll begin to understand
grace. We can just begin to understand how great His salvation is. That God commendeth His love
for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died. Believer in Christ, how much
do you love God? How much is this gospel of grace
worth to you? You'll only know how much you
love. By how much you've been forgiven. You that have been forgiven very
little, you'll love little. This thing won't mean very much
to you. You that have merit before God, this won't mean a thing
to you. But we who have been forgiven
much, love much. And the more we know
how much we were forgiven, the more we know that we love Him. Is it your heart to serve Him? Is it your heart to give your
whole life to Him? Is He not worthy of it? Is His grace not enough? Do you
seek something better than mere grace? There is nothing better. There
is nothing pure, higher and of more value than His grace. Because there is no salvation
anywhere else. Salvation is completely of God
by His grace alone, and there is no room for our boasting in
any part of it. that according to as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Where's your boasting? Where's your happiness found?
Where's your peace? Where's your love? Where's your
treasure? It should be in the grace of
God. If you know him, I know it is. And we glory only in him. Praise God for his great mercy
and grace to us. As the men come forward and we'll
have the Lord's supper together.