We're going to be looking again,
once again, if you would, turn to Matthew chapter 9. Matthew
chapter 9. And you'll notice at the top
of our handout, the title tonight is The Experience of Grace. And
we'll be reading from Matthew 9, verses 26 through 38. So let's begin by doing that,
and then we'll take a look back through it a little closer. Beginning
at verse 26, we read these words, and the fame thereof went abroad
into all the land. And when Jesus departed thence,
two blind men followed Him, crying and saying, Thou Son of David,
have mercy on us. And when He was come into the
house, the blind men came to Him, and Jesus said unto them,
Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto Him,
Yea, Lord. Then touched He their eyes, saying,
According to your faith, be it unto you. And their eyes were
opened, and Jesus straightly charged them, saying, see that
no man know it. But they, when they were departed,
spread abroad his fame in all that country. As they went out,
behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with the devil.
And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake, and the multitudes
marveled, saying, it was never so seen in Israel. But the Pharisees
said, he casteth out devils through the prince of the devils. And
Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their
synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing
every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he
saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because
they fainted and they were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Then said he unto his disciples,
the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray
ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, pray ye, therefore,
the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into
his harvest. Now, we'll spend the rest of
our time tonight in the handout if you'd like to set your Bibles
to the side for a moment there. We could consider this a continuation
of our study last week. A Wonderful Savior was our title. And we looked about how the Lord's
wonderful graciousness in saving a people. This glorious Savior
has mercy. When mercy is sought, all who
seek for God to deal with them on the basis of what they deserve
shall have what they deserve. everlasting ruin. But all who
seek mercy shall obtain mercy. And ye shall seek me, and find
me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith
the Lord, and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather
you from all the nations and from all the places, whether
I have driven you, saith the Lord." That's in Jeremiah 29,
13, and 14. sought mercy, and received the
thing they desired. Their eyes were opened, as we
read in verse 30. Yet we are given three examples
here in our text, are we not? The experience of grace is pictured
in these three men as examples. And they're set before us, one
immediately following the other, to teach us that the experience
of grace is as diverse as the recipients of grace are themselves. All three of these men needed
mercy. All three obtained mercy. All
three obtained mercy through Christ, their mediator, and they
did not obtain it, but they did not obtain it in the same way.
Mercy came to the blind men only after they actively, earnestly
sought for it. But mercy came to the dumb, demon-possessed
soul by such immediate power, it's possible he never even thought
about it before he had obtained it. Salvation is the same. Wherever it is found, it is the
same in experience of all who are saved. Every true child of
God has experienced the same salvation. All are saved by grace
alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. But we do not all
experience grace the same way. Paul's experience was not the
same as Peter's. Both experienced the same grace,
but not the same way. The experience of grace is not
always the same. Our needs are the same, the grace
is the same, and the results are the same, but the experience
is usually not. I want to share with you how
an experience of myself and my brother Lee were. My brother
Lee was seeking help for raising his children. His children were
of teenage years growing in a way that was very worrisome to him. And so he went to my dad, and
my dad told him about this little church in Rescue, California.
At that time, he said, OK, that's fine, we'll go to there. And
him and his wife both heard the gospel the first time they sat
here. So they weren't looking for it either. They were looking
for help for their son. So you see what I mean by grace
coming in different ways? When the Lord called me out of
darkness, I came here seeking to cry on my brother's shoulder,
because my heart was hurting so. And instead of hearing my
brother give comfort to me, the Lord gave comfort to me through
His Word. So, in a way, I wasn't seeking
for mercy and grace either, but God's grace and His mercy came
to me in a powerful way, as it did to the dumb man. My wife,
Kathy, had come here to be with me because she was alone. She
didn't want to be alone on Sundays anymore. And she had heard a
couple of messages before and didn't know what they were talking
about, didn't understand it, until one day, again, under the
preaching of the gospel, the Lord called her out of darkness.
And he shined his grace in her heart. So we see that grace comes to
us all. It's all the same grace. It's
the favor of God. It's all unmerited favor. None
of us can earn of it. None of us deserve it. But it's
the same grace from Jesus Christ, and that's the love He has for
His people. Page 2. All who are saved have
what is called common salvation, as mentioned in Jude 1, verse
3. We have a common savior. We are
born into a common family. We have a common father, a common
hope, a common blessedness, and a common inheritance. But do
not try to put God in a box, a box of our own making. Do not
imagine that he must work in the way that we think. As the
wind bloweth where it listeth, and now hears the sound thereof,
but can't not tell where wherein it cometh, and whither
it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit." That's
in John 3.8. Familiar words. Listen to these words from Romans
11.33-36. Oh, the depth of the riches of
both the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are
His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who hath known
the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor,
or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto
him again. For of him, and through him,
and to him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
And then we read in Isaiah 55, 8-9, For my thoughts are not
your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
So let's never get in a position where we think everybody's received
grace in the same way as ourselves. Let's never judge in that way.
The God of all grace as he will, works as he will, and we must
never attempt to determine the validity of one's personal experience
by grace by comparing it with our own or another's. Faith is
frequently found where it is least expected. None who knew
me would have thought I would one day believe God. I've run
into folks, I've known a lot of people over the years in business
that I've been in, met a lot of different people, and I've ran into several over the years. You're what? You're a pastor? The John that I used to get so
drunk with that we couldn't climb out from underneath our cars
on a Saturday morning? The guy that we used to go out
partying with all weekend long, you're a pastor now? People who
used to know me before are just blown away. Will Wilkins, you
know him. He's one as well. He couldn't
believe it. I'm a pastor. Well, you know,
I wouldn't believe it either, to be quite honest with you.
I wouldn't believe it either. Those who knew me would have
thought I would never have thought that I believed God. Who would have thought that these
two blind men or that poor demon-possessed wretch would have believed Christ?
You know, there was a lot of religious people there not knowing
If I was still in the state of unregenerate state that I was
in before God called me out of darkness, I would have thought
all those people who acted so pious and dressed up so nicely
and went to church, I would have thought of the pope
of the Catholics as being very religious. But no, who would
have thought of these two or these three? The multitudes marveled,
as it says in verse 33. The Pharisees blasphemed, as
it says in 34. But these three needy souls,
they believed and obtained mercy. The two blind men could not have
seen the miracles the Lord Jesus had performed. They were blind.
But having heard the common reports of Christ, remember, as we read
last week, the fame thereof went abroad into all the land, in
verse 26. They believed. And believing
Him, the eyes of their understanding were enlightened. It is written,
faith cometh by hearing. That's what we read in Romans
10, 17. They heard and believed. The Word of God teaches us with
unmistakable clarity that faith is the gift of God. Now I want
to be very clear about that. We've talked a lot about faith
lately. I don't want to give anyone the
misunderstanding, and I know that there have been those who
have heard me preaching recently about faith and have come away
with the thoughts thinking that I'm hammering faith so hard that
people think that that's the way of salvation, and that it
is not. You cannot be saved by faith. We are saved by Jesus Christ
and what He did on that cross a little over 2,000 years ago.
But it is through faith. We are saved by grace through
faith. Through believing the Lord's
Word. Through believing what He says
in His Word. Through believing who He is.
through believing what he's done, through believing where he is
right now. We believe you cannot be saved
by faith, but you can't be saved without it. It's the doorway. It's the doorway, exactly. Well
said. And our Lord's Word teaches it with unmistakable clarity.
Faith in Christ is not something we muster up in ourselves by
exercising our free will, which is what the world preaches. True
faith is something God the Holy Spirit must give, and we're on
page 3, to and produce in chosen, redeemed, called sinners. chosen in Christ before the world
was, redeemed in Christ on the cross 2,000 years ago, called
by the Spirit at the day of His power and the day of His love,
and we who are sinners, unworthy, unmerited, deserving nothing
but the wrath of God. In John 1, verses 12 and 13,
we read these words, but as many as received him, to them gave
he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Romans 9, 16, so then it is not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but God that showeth
mercy. Ephesians 2, verse 8, for by
grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it
is a gift of God. Colossians 2.12, buried with
him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through
the faith of operation of the operation of God, who hath raised
him from the dead. So we see that faith must come
from God, or it's not true faith. Faith or belief is a gift which
God sovereignly gives to some and withholds from others. John 10, verses 25 and 26, our
Lord said these words, He says, I told you, when He was asked,
how long do you cause us to doubt? I told you and you believed not.
The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me,
but ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep. This faith is a gift that God
works in sinners by the preaching of the gospel. So then faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, it says in
Romans 10, 17. And the object of God-given faith,
saving faith, is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. It is always
the object of our faith, not our faith that saves us. What
has grace experienced? Grace experienced is a sinner
being brought, caused to know their standing before a thrice
holy God, a dead. bankrupt soul, not just sick,
but dead, stinking dead, with no ability to even ask for mercy. A true sinner is one who must
be brought to that understanding, one who is blind to their own
condition. The hymn writer was dead on when
they wrote, once I was blind, but now I see. In our natural
state, our carnal condition, we cannot see the truth about
ourselves. We cannot nor will not accept
our imaginary righteousness as it is. And here's how it is,
because the Lord tells us in Isaiah 64 6, but we are all as
an unclean thing. And all our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. And we all do fade as a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. We will not come to the light,
for He, and I want to add to that, He, the light, sheds the
truth on our lie. That's John 3, verse 19. What is grace experience? It
is seeing the truth that Christ chose a people before the world
was made. The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. That's Jeremiah
31.3. And because he has loved me,
he drew me, caused me to come to him, seeking the mercy he
freely gives to those who seek it. Matthew 25, verse 31 through
34, we read these words. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He
sit upon the throne of His glory. And before Him shall be gathered
all nations. And He shall separate them one
from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And
He shall set the sheep on His right hand, I'm sorry, and he
shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, come,
ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world. In Ephesians 1, 4, we read these
words, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him. Romans 9, 11 through 16, 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 under
her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
What is it to, what is grace experienced? It's to know, and
every child of God knows this. I've said it so many times, and
I've watched all the heads bob up and down. Yep, that's right,
we know it. that if God hadn't chosen me,
I would not have chosen Him. What is grace experienced? It
is to be chosen in Christ. It is being brought to know God's
reasons are for no other reason than the complete glory of His
Son, Christ Jesus. Matthew 17, 5, we read these
words. Our Lord said this. He said,
this is my son in whom I am well pleased. Here ye am. What is
grace to experience? Page 5. It is to be given an
understanding. The atonement made on that cross
just over 2,000 years ago was for the elect of God and the
elect alone. God's Son did not die that all
mankind would be saved. Because if He had, all mankind
would be saved and none would go to hell. But in John 17, 9,
our Lord tells us very clearly. He says, I pray for them. I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me. These
are the ones that He went to the cross for, the ones that
God the Father hath given Him. He prays for them, not for the
world. Listen to John 10, 14-15. He says, I am the good shepherd,
and know my sheep, and am known of mine, as the Father knoweth
me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the
sheep. You see the distinguishing love
of God spoken of in those very words there? How about John 10,
26 through 30? But ye believe not, as we read
a moment ago, because ye are not my sheep. As I said unto
you, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
me. and I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish." Folks, these are words of great
comfort to those who are sinners, those who know we deserve the
wrath of God, those who have been given an understanding with
the blood that was shed on that cross, accomplished its purpose. Our Lord says we shall never
perish because of what was done on that cross 2,000 years ago.
Our Lord tells us that we shall never perish because the blood
of God was shed on that cross for us. Because God himself had
taken the damnation the wrath that you and I believe and made
atonement for it that day on the cross. It irritates me to
no end to hear people say, God loves you, speaking of the whole
world. That means God's blood was worthless. And my God, the God of the scriptures,
is everything, is sovereign in all things. He's God. I love
the way Brother Larry Crisp brought that out in the messages here
at Rescue. Be serious about that! He's God! How could anything take it out
of his hands? I know it was something to that
effect. That's how I took it anyway, when I heard him say
his words. He says, going on there in John chapter 10, my
father, Lord says, which gave them me is greater than all.
And before he says that, neither one shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father, which
gave them me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of my father's hand. I am my father alone. Folks,
when God separates the goats from the sheep, as we read in
Matthew 25, our only hope is to be found in Christ, our atonement. To be found washed in His blood. To be perfected by His one offering,
as it says in Hebrews chapter 10. To be purged, or 9, chapter
9. To be purged of our sin by His
atoning sacrifice, as it says in Hebrews 1. All else will hear
these words, depart from me, ye worker of iniquity, I never
knew you. That's what we deserve to hear. That's what we have earned to
hear. But we've experienced grace.
The grace of Christ, God Almighty, opening our hearts, giving us
a new heart to understand and to love Him. That's what it means
that we love Him because He first loved us. What has grace experienced? It is to know the call of God
to those He has loved with an everlasting love comes with the
power to move anything and everything in its way. In John 17, verse
1 through 3, we read these words. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. glorify thy son, that thy son
may also glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over all
flesh. that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him, and this is life eternal,
that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent. Page six. The Apostle Paul puts
it best. He says in the letter to the
Romans, for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8, 38-39. In verses 33
and 34 of that same chapter, Paul wrote these words to the
Romans. He says, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? It is God that justifies. How can anything get in the way
if it is God who has justified His people? I like the way Pastor
Gene first expressed that word to me, just as if I had never
sinned, He had justified His people. Who is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. One more point, if you will. What is grace experienced? Experienced
grace leads us to lean on, to trust in, to rest in our substitute. Christ the Lord. Because the
works are His, God the Father has accepted us in His Son. We are kept by Him. Listen to
these words from 1 Peter 1, verses 3-5. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
has begotten us again unto a lively hope, a living hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. Folks, God the Father accepted
what Jesus Christ had done. He had accepted the sacrifice
of His Son, the Lord Jesus, and because of that, He raised Him
from the dead, and because of that, we have a living hope,
a hope and a living Savior. Jesus Christ is the Son of the
Living God. He's not dead. He's sitting on
His throne today. In His abundant mercy, He has
begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead to an inheritance. Now listen to the description
of this inheritance. Remember, this is an inheritance
from God. It's incorruptible. It's undefiled. and that fadeth not away, and
it's reserved in heaven for you, who are, what does it say next? Who are kept, oh, to be kept
of God. That means we can't fall. Oh,
we might just sink a little bit in the seas, as Peter began to
sink in the sea. when he took his eyes off of
Christ. But all that did was bring him right back to looking
to the One who reached down in love and grabbed a hold of him
and kept him from sinking. We are kept by the power of God
through faith. Through faith. Through believing
who He is. Unto salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time. When the Lord Jesus cast out
cast the devil out of the man in Matthew 9, 32 and 33, the
Pharisee said this, he said, he casteth out devils through
the prince of devils. And then we read in Matthew 9,
35, and Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching
in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and
healing every sickness and every disease among the people. What
a wondrous grace, what wondrous grace was in our Savior's answer
to their blasphemous slander, those ones who blasphemed against
Him. He simply ignored them. Did you catch that? He simply
ignored those who declared a blasphemous statement about him. You think
it wise to follow his example? I do. Nothing is ever gained
and much is lost by answering the slanderous accusations of
men. When I was charged recently with stealing from this congregation,
stealing to make repairs about this facility instead of using
the money wisely in something else, I was charged with making
this facility my idol. By God's grace, I simply ignored
the one who made the charge of me, and eventually he went away. Matthew 9.36 shows us that the
Lord Jesus is a Savior full of compassion for needy souls. But
when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on
them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep
having no shepherd. We have here a great display
of our Savior's great compassion. We ought to rejoice in it and
pray for grace to emulate our Savior, Him. When our Savior
saw the lost multitudes before Him, He was overcome with sympathy.
What He saw with His eyes affected His heart. His whole being was
stirred by the sight of perishing souls. He was moved with compassion
on them, it says. What are our thoughts when we
see the lost multitudes around us? Multitudes are seen on every
side. May we have the mind of Christ,
as it says in 1 Corinthians 2.16 in such matters. Then saith he
unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers
are few. Pray ye, therefore, the Lord
of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his
harvest, Matthew 9.37-38. There is a great harvest of souls
to be gathered by grace. The harvest of souls to be gathered
out of earth is a great multitude which no man can number. They
are God's elect, the redeemed of Christ, and they must and
shall be gathered. The Lord of harvest is the triune
God Himself. He owns the field and He controls
it. The plants to be gathered are
His and the laborers are His. Our Savior here calls faithful
gospel preachers laborers because the faithful performance of their
work involves much labor. God's servants labor in the Word
and in the doctrine and teaching. They labor in prayer and study
of Holy Scripture, devoting themselves to the work as workmen that need
not be shamed for the glory of Christ and the salvation and
edification of God's elect. But such laborers, men who are
willing to spend and be spent for Christ are few in every place
and every generation. That reminds me of what I mentioned
a moment ago about our brother Mike Lesher and how the Lord
used him to encourage me as one of his laborers to keep on keeping
on. That's what I hope to do with
all of my dear friends and brethren who preach, just as our brother
Marvin's stoniker. Keep on keeping on. Get back
up there in the pulpit if you can. If the Lord's closed the
door for you, He'll make it clear. And what did Marvin do? He got
back in the pulpit. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that
wonderful? Pray ye, therefore, it says,
the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into
his harvest. None but God can send them. Man-made preachers are not just
useless, they are in the way. Only God can, by the power and
grace of his spirit, gift a man for the work of the gospel, incline
his heart to the work, and enable him to perform it faithfully.
What thankfulness should be in our hearts that God has sent
us laborers into his harvest. Page 8. Yet it is the responsibility
of every believer to make God's harvest a matter of prayer and
personal concern. Our Savior says to his disciples,
pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send
forth laborers into his harvest. You may not be called or gifted
of God to perform the work of a pastor or an evangelist, or
missionary, but there are many things you can and should do. You can give generously to the
support of the preaching of the gospel. You can bring people
to hear the gospel preached. You can distribute tapes and
literature proclaiming that gospel, and you can pray Pray for those
God has sent forth as laborers in His vineyard. Pray that He
will raise up and send forth others. And pray that He will
give His church a time of reaping. Our Lord Jesus asked the blind
men, and I put the question to myself and to you as well, believe
ye that I am able to do this? Do we believe that He is able
to heal the blind, free the possessed, and gather in His lost ones scattered
through all the earth? This much I know, if we believe
him, we will act accordingly. And I say amen.