Turn with me, if you would, to
Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. The Apostle
Paul here is telling us the mystery of God's salvation as it has
been revealed to him by the Holy Ghost. He is telling us who is going
to be saved. He is telling us how they are
going to be saved. Who is going to be saved? How
they are going to be saved. And as he said in verse 25, He said, brethren, I don't want
you to be ignorant of this. I would not, brethren, that you
should be ignorant of this mystery. I say that right along with Him.
Right along with Him, on behalf of all of us, me included, on
behalf of you, on behalf of me, I don't want us to be ignorant
of this. Now speaking of salvation, in
verse 1 he said, I say then, hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an
Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin, God
hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew." Foreknew. Foreknew. May that be burned
into our brains. Foreknew. Every soul that God
ever chose to save, he foreknew. He knew beforehand. God foreknew
His people. What that means is He chose them. That's what it means. It means
He hand-selected them. Hand-selected all of them. And
the good news for every person that He chose is He has not and
He will not ever cast them away. That's good news, isn't it? He
has not and He will not ever cast them away. Verse 2, He said,
God hath not cast away His people, which He foreknew. Know ye not
what the Scripture saith of Elijah, how he maketh intercession to
God against Israel? He was praying this prayer to
God. In verse 3, He said, They have killed thy prophets and
digged down thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek
my life. But what saith the answer of
God unto him?" How did God answer him? He said, I have reserved
to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image
of Baal. Even so then, at this present
time also, there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. God still has a people that He
has purposed to and is determined to set His love on, set His affection on, pour His
blood on, The blood that was shed to put away their sin. Verse
five says, even so then at this present time, also there is a
remnant. There is a chosen people out
there. That's great news to me. I love
knowing that. There is a chosen people out
there. And he went on to say, even so
at this present time, also there's a remnant according to the election
of grace, the election, God's election. When we have an election where we go cast our vote, we
hold elections for different things and we go cast our vote. That's what we're doing. When
we do that, we're doing the choosing. When you go into that little
booth, you make your choice. And we do our choosing based
on the candidate. The candidate has tried to make
himself look as good as he possibly can to us. He put his best foot
forward. He's wanting to be accepted by
us, received by us, welcomed by us. He's trying to earn His
title and place. So we make our choice based on
the candidate, based on his political views, or based on whatever. Well, God held an election. God held an election. It was
an election where He was the only one who did the choosing. He did the choosing. And thank God his choosing was
not based on the candidate. Not at all. It wasn't based on
anything in the candidate. It wasn't based on anything about
the candidate. It wasn't based on the ability
of the candidate. The candidate didn't have any
ability. The only thing that could be
said about the candidate is, he was corrupt. If there was
a title and a description under the name of this candidate, this
is the only thing you could put there. He is corrupt. This is
a corrupt candidate. This one is wicked. This one
is vile. This one is a liar. This one
is a cheat. Here's your candidate. A liar,
a cheat, he's corrupt. The only thing found in the candidate
was sin. But God had an election. It was not an election of merit. It was not an election of worthiness. It was an election of grace. It was an election of grace. That means unmerited favor. His election was, who will I
show unmerited favor to? Grace means goodwill. It means free gift. That's what it means. God chose
a people to give a free gift to. And that free gift was salvation
in the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. That was the
gift. Christ was the gift. Now, for
our message this morning, I want to stress. I can't tell you how
badly I want to stress. I want to stress. I want us to
focus on. May God truly dial in our hearts
and dial in our souls. I want us to really enter into
and I want us to really understand. May we not walk out of this place
having not understood this. I want us to really enter into
verse 6. It says, And if by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it
is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. What Paul is
saying in that verse of Scripture is, salvation is either a free gift of God to us or we earn it from Him. It's one or the other, but it
can't be both. You want to know what the greatest
description of false religion is? You've heard of false religion?
Our Lord warned of false prophets, false teachers, false preachers,
a false hope, a false faith. You want to know what the greatest
illustration or example or explanation of false is? Mixing works and
grace. Trying to mix the two. That's
it. That's what people try to do.
They have to mix them. He said it can't be both. It's either you earn it, do this
and live. It's either you earn it or you
don't. It's either works or it's grace,
but it will never be both. Never. False religion, try so hard to
mix those two. So hard. Can't be done. If a man has to earn any piece
of it, you say, well, you know, Christ did most of it. You just
got that last little piece. Here's the reality. If a man
has to earn any piece of it, it's not a free gift. And the
giver cannot claim that it is. He can't call it grace. We'd
have to take grace out of all the songs we just sang. Every
time you see grace in this word, you'd have to scribble it out.
If it's not free, it's not free. Free is free. It was free, but
I had to pay for it. That's not free. So if a man has to earn any piece
of it, it's not a free gift. And if a man does not earn one
piece of it, not one speck of it, then it's not a reward for
his work. And a man can't claim that it
is. This right here is the issue
that keeps men and women so bound up in error. so bound up in confusion. As long as a man tries to mix
his own works with Christ's work, that's where he's going to stay.
He's going to stay in error and he's going to stay in confusion.
He'll just be so confused. But it's this, and it says this,
and how do you bridge the two? If God ever reveals to a man
or a woman the work of Christ alone, that's a glorious thing
to see. Man, that's a glorious thing
to see. The greatest worker that has ever been, the only worker
that has ever been. If God ever reveals the work
of the worker, The grace of Christ alone. The no-strings-attached, free-gift
salvation wrought by Christ alone, start to finish. If God ever
reveals that, man won't mix anything with it. He won't mix anything
with anything. He will see and He will say,
salvation is by grace. free grace, pure grace, total
grace, complete grace, all of grace. Salvation is by grace alone.
Look with me if you would at Galatians chapter 2. Boy, what a verse this is. Galatians
2 verse 21. Paul said, I do not frustrate
the grace of God. For if righteousness come by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain. What does that mean? That means if salvation comes
to men and women because of their own works before God, then there was no point in Christ
dying. None whatsoever. If after Christ's
death, After he went through all of that and died and suffered
and bled, if after Christ's death, man is still in the same boat
he was in before Christ's death, then what good did Christ's death
do? Ultimately, what that verse is
saying is, if it be by grace, then it can't be by works. Otherwise,
grace would not be grace. Let me see if I can illustrate
this. If a person decides in his heart
and his mind that he wants to buy a present for somebody, and he thinks about it, you know,
that's where it starts. You think, well, I want to buy
them a present. You choose somebody. Okay. Particular present. So you think about it, you ponder
for a while, what will the present be? You decide on a present. That man goes down to the store
and he buys the present. And the store allows him to walk
out with it. He brings that present home and
he wraps the present up and you put a bow on it and you stick
a card in it. And then he takes the present
to the person that he bought it for and he places it in that
person's hands. Okay, think about this. What
does that person, the recipient, what does that person have to
do before that present can become his? Just think about it in your
mind for one second. What does he have to do first
What does he have to do first before that present can be considered
and acknowledged by everybody to be his? What does he have
to do first? Here's the answer. Nothing. Nothing. It was his in the mind of the
giver when the giver was thinking about what the present would
even be. It was His when the giver went to the store and purchased
it. It was purchased for Him. It was His the moment the giver
notified Him of it by placing it in His hands. And He realized,
I've received a gift. The recipient didn't select it,
but it was His. He didn't purchase it, But it
was His. He didn't wrap it. He didn't
deliver it. But it was His. Freely given. No strings attached. It was His. That's grace. That's grace. That's unmerited favor. That's
just pure goodwill. That's what grace is. Now the
moment you mix the recipient's work with the gift, the moment a requirement comes
to the recipient before he can receive the gift. Like you can't
have it unless it's not grace anymore. Let me illustrate that. Let's say that one of you ladies
decides you want to buy a pair of shoes for one of the other
ladies. So you go down to the store,
and you buy the shoes, and you wrap them up, and you bring them,
and you give it to the lady, and the lady opens it up, and
she says, oh, I love them. And while she's reaching into
the box, you say, oh, wait a minute. They're not yours yet. Those earrings that you have
in your ears, if you will give me those earrings, then you can
have these shoes. You just ruined it. Really? You just ruined it. No thanks. Never mind. You just ruined it. Flat ruined it. That is not grace. That is not unmerited favor. If one of you men decide, I'm
going to buy this tool for one of the other men. You get it
at Home Depot, you know, and we don't wrap anything up. We
just say, here, I bought this for you. And the man says, oh great,
I've been needing one of these. And you say, whoa, whoa, whoa,
it's not yours yet. Here's the Home Depot receipt. You owe me
$23.47. You just ruined it. You see that? You just ruined
it. That is not a free gift. That's not a free gift. If it
is going to be grace, then you can't add works to it. You can't. The moment you do,
grace is no longer grace. Ephesians 2 says, by grace are
you saved through faith. And that is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. I want to show you three things
about God's grace and we'll be done. The first thing is back
in our text. Look with me at Romans 11. Romans 11 verse 5, it says, Even
so then, at this present time also, there is a remnant according
to the election of grace. God's election was an election
of grace. Meaning it was of God start to
finish. Start to finish. Him choosing
who He would choose. That was not dependent on the
ones He chose at all. Not at all. There was no requirement
laid on Him in order for Him to choose them. None whatsoever. All sinners were the same. All
in the same lump. And the ones that He chose, they
did nothing to warrant or earn His choosing of them. It was
an unmerited choosing. It was an election of grace. Let me show you just how unmerited
it was. Look with me at Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1 verse 3, it says,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ, according as He hath chosen us in Christ, and He did
it before the foundation of the world. He chose every soul that
He was ever going to choose in the world, before there was ever
even a world, before the foundation of the
world. Romans 9 says, For the children being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according
to election might stand, not of works, But of him that calleth,
it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. So God's
election was an election of grace. Second thing is right here in
Ephesians 1, verse 6. To the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in
whom, in Christ, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of His grace." God's redemption. The payment that He made with
His own blood to forgive the sins of His elect. Christ's redemption. It was a redemption of grace. What that means is the payment
was of Christ start to finish. Hebrews 1 says Christ by Himself
paid our sins. There was no payment of man mixed
with the payment of Christ. It was 100% freely given by Him.
It had to be. It had to be. There was no other
option. Look at Ephesians 2 verse 4. It says, But God, who is rich
in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, He quickened us together with Christ. By grace
you are saved. We couldn't make any kind of
payment with Him. We were dead in sin. We were dead in sin. Romans 3 says, we were justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. So His election was an election
of grace. His redemption was a redemption
of grace. And the third thing is His calling.
The calling of His people back to Himself, by His Spirit, through
His Word, It's a calling of grace. It's a calling of grace. And here's how you can know the
calling. Has God called me? Here's how you can know the calling.
It's a calling to grace. It's a calling of grace. It's
a calling to grace. To a knowledge of grace. God's grace. It's a calling to
a belief and a hope and a trust in the grace of God that's given
to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. It's something inside that says,
thank God for grace. I'm so glad to hear that. You
mean it's all on Him and none on me? Boy, I'm glad to hear
that. That's a calling of grace. That's
a calling to grace. Turn with me over to 2 Timothy
chapter 1. 2 Timothy 1 verse 9, Who hath saved
us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. We see this,
don't we? We see this. He chose us, He saved us, and
He called us, and He did all of it by grace. All of it by
grace. Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that will pardon and cleanse
within. Grace that is greater than all
my sin. Don't you love it whenever you
get a little glimpse of your own sin, and buddy, you get so
down on yourself and so burdened by it, and then you get a glimpse
of His grace? And you see how much greater
His grace is than all our sin. If it's grace, then it's not
works. Otherwise, grace is not grace
anymore. This is a line in a song, but
I mean this, God shed his grace on thee. I mean that, may God
shed his grace on us for Christ's sake. All right, let's all stand
together.