Good evening. It's a delight
for me to be with you. I've looked forward to it. Yeah,
John, it didn't take long for God that did our hearts together.
Robert and I, with John and Kathy, it's been delightful to get to
know them, what time we've been able to spend with them, and
it just gets better and better each time. It's a delight. It's
a privilege to be here. I appreciate you asking me back,
Pastor. I've been places before, once,
and not get asked back, but it's good to be back. A year and a
half, my, my, my, how time does fly. Pray for me. Pray that God
will be pleased to bless His word and make it effectual to
our hearts. As He said, that's what I want
to do. I want to brag on Christ. As John the Baptist said, I must
decrease, but Christ, he must increase. He increased in our
hearts and in minds this night. Turn if you will with me to Romans
chapter 11. I'm being very careful with that
water because I'm a lefty. Oh, I'm sorry. Well, that's all
right. I didn't spill it, so we're good. Romans chapter 11. I would like
to read one verse, begin by reading verse 6. Paul has been talking
about, actually he begins in chapter 9 of Romans, about God's
election of grace in the salvation of sinners. And he says concerning
that election to salvation, if by grace, then it is no more
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. The title of the message is,
Know Two Ways About It. That's what Paul says here. Know
two ways about it. If salvation in its entirety,
all of it, is of grace, then Paul tells us here, as we read
throughout God's Word, then there are some definite blessed consequences
of this truth. And the first one is this. The first consequence of God's
salvation being by grace is this. Paul says, then it's not works.
It can't be worse. It can't be both. It's got to
be all of one or all of the other. They don't mix. They don't gel. Common sense would seem to dictate
that, wouldn't it? But when it comes to God's Word,
common sense seems to just go out the door. I mean, you hear
people. You've heard statements like
this in conversations with perhaps your family. or neighbors or
friends, they'll say something like this, well yes, I believe
as you do. I believe that salvation is by
grace, but God still gives everybody a chance. And they don't seem to see the
contradiction in that statement. Or they'll say something like
this, God is doing all he can do to save everybody, because
if he didn't, it just wouldn't be fair. Well, Paul says that's
just not so. Those statements are contrary
to what Paul says here, as contrary as they could possibly be. First
of all, salvation is not by chance. Salvation is not by chance. Salvation is about a deliberate
act of God Almighty. The pastor read it a moment ago
to us, 2 Timothy 1 and 9. We read, God who had saved us
and called us with the holy calling, not according to our works, there
was no consideration given to works, but according to his own
purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the
world began. Now that sounds pretty conclusive
to me, doesn't it to you? It sure sounds like that God
saves by grace alone on purpose, according to His eternal purpose. How could God act otherwise?
When I hear people say, well that's not fair, you're telling
me God saves on purpose? I want to ask them, please, explain
to me how He could not save Does God suddenly have an idea
that He never had before? I mean, that sounds kind of like
me, doesn't it? I mean, does He suddenly say,
well, now I have a thought now that I've never had before. No,
anything God does today, since He's the unchanging God, The
immutable God, He must have purpose to do it before today, hence
before the foundation of the world. Everything God does, He
does on purpose. Whether men like it or not, and
they don't like it. Men don't like it. No, unless
God Almighty, unless God Almighty shines the light, into our darkened
hearts to give us the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ, then we'll like it. It'll be all right with us. Oh, then we can sing, oh, to
grace, how great a debtor. Daily I'm compelled to be. That's good news, isn't it? Amen. Clay, that's worth preaching,
isn't it? That's worth listening to. That's
worth hearing. My mother, several years ago,
I was visiting her, and someone invited her to go to their church,
and they went. And she said, Mary, this is what
the man preached. And she told me, and she said,
Mary, what do you think? I said, Mom, I wouldn't get out
of bed for that. I wouldn't even bother to, I
would just soon stay home. Oh, Paul knocks works completely
out of the saddle, doesn't he? He says, it's not of works, it's
all of God's grace. Oh, how they hated the message
that Paul preached. The work monger, the religionist. Can you imagine that Pharisee
that our Lord spoke of in Luke 16? That man was eat up with
it, wasn't he? I mean, he was just plump eat
up with self-righteousness. Can you imagine? I mean, he stood
and prayed thus with himself. What a bragger. What a boaster. Lord, I'm so thankful. I'm a
self-made man. I'm a self-made man. can you imagine the shock when
the only mediator between God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the only way to God, the only door, the only surety, the only
savior, the only high priest, the only intercessor, he said,
listen to this, he said, I tell you, I tell you, I, the only
one that have a right to say so. I, the only one that can
make it so. I, not the priest, not the preacher,
not the soul winner, but I say unto you that this man, this
man, and he wasn't pointing at the self-righteous Pharisee,
he was pointing at that lowly, despised publican that wouldn't
even lift his eyes toward heaven He wasn't a bragger, he was a
beggar. God, please have mercy on me. I need mercy. When is the last
time you talked to a real sinner? A sinner that knew they were
sinners. Knew they were lost. Oh, no,
we can talk to many like the Pharisee. Oh, but they'll find
a real genuine sinner. And Christ said, I tell you that
this man, this man, the despised publican, is going home justified. Justified. Oh, my soul. I imagine that that Pharisee
gritted his teeth at that, don't you? Oh, I imagine that made
his neck turn red. But that Pharisee just looks
over and says, oh, I'm only a sinner saved by grace. As he dances
out of the temple, only a sinner saved by grace. Hey, Mr. Pharisee,
listen to this. To God be the glory. This is
my story. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Grace. Thank God that salvation
is not of works, but by grace. If God is trying to save everybody,
why aren't they saved? When I hear people talk, people
who profess, because it's not the drunkard in the gutter, but
it's preachers, professors, say, well, if God had his way, Jesse,
and I want to reach over Is anybody home? If God has His way, please,
please tell me, explain to me, who's preventing God Almighty
from having His way? Who is that? No, no, no, no. God has His way all the time,
everywhere. God has His way in the whirlwind. The clouds are but the dust of
His feet. Is God not able to do what He
wills? If not, why? If not, why? Either
God is all-powerful or He's not. Either His will can be resisted
and His purpose not carried out or not. If so, if His will can
be resisted, He has no claim to omnipotence. No claim to omniscience. Actually, he has no claim to
be God whatsoever. Oh, but he is God, and there
is none else. Listen to how he himself says
it. This is from Isaiah chapter 14. This is the purpose that I have
purposed upon the whole earth. And this is the hand that is
stretched out upon all the nations. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed,
and who shall disavow it? And his hand is stretched out,
the hand of the omnipotent God. And who shall turn it back? Whatever God purposes shall be
accomplished. Isaiah 43, the Lord again speaking. I, even I, am the Lord, and beside
me there is no Savior. I have declared and I have saved
and I have showed. When there was no strange God
among you, Therefore you are my witnesses, saith the Lord,
that I am God. Yea, before the day was, I am. From everlasting to everlasting
thou art God, or thou art everlastingly God. You've always been God. You've always ruled. I am the
Lord, and besides me there is no Savior. Yea, before the day
was, I am He. And there is none. There is none
that can deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who shall let? Who shall hinder it? Who shall
stop it? Who shall undo it? Ephesians
chapter 1, Paul writing in verse 9, having made known unto us
the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he
had purposed in himself. God saves people on purpose. Well, isn't that a novel thought?
God Almighty saves people on purpose. And lo and behold, like
your pastor said a moment ago, what a wonder that He would have
mercy upon me. That He would save me. You remember
when King David was told by the faithful prophet that it wouldn't
be David but his son after him? that God would give the privilege
and honor of building him a temple. And David went in the king and
he sat down before the Lord. There is David the king, but
like a little child he sits before the Lord and he says, who am
I? Oh, who am I, oh Lord, that you
would do these things to me? That you would have such mercy
upon, oh child of God, who are we? that God Almighty with purpose
to save us before He ever created the heaven and the earth, He
purposed that He would save up people and He committed every
one of them into the hands of our surety, the Lord Jesus Christ. And He said, Father, I will do
everything, everything you require. everything necessary. In the
fullness of time I will go and I will do your will, oh my God."
And he got the job done, didn't he? Oh my soul, what a Savior. Paul went on to say that in the
dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are on earth, even in him. in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose." You
just run across that word throughout God's Word, don't you? Purpose,
purpose. God does it all on purpose. "...of him who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will." Dear brother Henry Mahan,
in his Bible class commentaries, said this on Romans 11 and 6.
He says, salvation is by the pure, unmerited grace and mercy
of God. The works, the efforts, and deeds
of men are not involved. If salvation comes to us because
of our works, however small, then it is not a grace. If you
can find any reason why God should save you other than that by his
grace in Christ he was pleased to show mercy, then you are advocating
salvation by works. And that's contrary to God's
word. Years ago, when my granddaughter was only five or six years old,
now she's beginning, or will be beginning her second year
of college. But I dropped in to visit her.
I was in Kentucky, probably preaching. I said, I want to drop in. And
I didn't call ahead of time. Man, I'm the Pawpaw. I don't
have to have an invitation. I just drop in, you know. And
I was chatting with her. And I noticed she just seemed
a little anxious. And she whispered in my ear. She said, Pawpaw, she's sitting
on my lap. She said, Pawpaw, we're supposed to go to my friend's
birthday party soon. And if you don't leave, Mama's
going to kick you out. That's what Paul does here, doesn't
he? Grace kicks works out. Kicks them plum out the door.
Grace and works will never share in the salvation of the sinner.
One or the other gets kicked out. Free will Free grace, they
won't mix. There's no meeting place for
them. If you advocate free will, free grace gets kicked out. Oh,
but free grace exclaims with joy. It's not of him that will. Thank God. It's not of him that
runneth them. How is a sinner saved? It's of
God. It's all of God that showeth
mercy. Oral Rolf Barnard put it this
way. He said, preachers are wrapping salvation up in a neat little
package and selling it to unsuspecting men and women. Preachers are
trying to present the great mysteries of redemption in language which
the natural man can understand and approve of. Isn't that the
truth? So that he can make his peace
with God and go on about his regular routine and blessedly
pursuits. Brothers and sisters, we live
in a day of a so-called Christianity without Jesus Christ. Is that
not so? A salvation that doesn't require
grace whatsoever. Conversions, so-called conversions
that have no need of the work of God's Holy Spirit. Man does
everything in this salvation. But after he does, after he goes
through all the religious hoops, makes all the decisions, talks
to all the owls, says the sinner's prayer, after he does all this,
what does he have left? What's he left with? Nothing. A false hope. Because his hope
is found not on God's free grace, but his own works. And that's
no hope at all. Only God's free and sovereign
grace can cause a sinner to rejoice as he sings this, oh my hope
is built on nothing less. Isn't it a joy tonight, Mike,
that you can go home and lay your head down on a pillow and
know that my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. When darkness veils his
lovely face, what happens? Oh, I rest on his unchanging
grace. In every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil. God said concerning his son in
Isaiah 28, verse 16, therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold,
I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone. a tried stone, a precious
stone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. And believers are standing on
that God-laid foundation of Jesus Christ himself. This is the rock
upon which the church of God is built upon Christ himself
and he said the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
It's not going to happen. It'll never happen. My sheep
are in my hands. Who's going to pluck them out?
Who's going to pluck them out of the hands of the great shepherd? We stand in that one who stood
as our surety, the surety of his people from all eternity,
standing after all things written of him have been accomplished,
standing in sovereign majesty, ruling all things. with absolute
authority, having been given all power over all flesh in heaven
and in earth. Yes, there He stands, my great
God and Savior, interceding for His redeemed, willing that they
all be with Him where He is. My soul, my Redeemer, the Lord
Jesus Christ, be with Him where He is. He wants me with Him in
glory. That's what he prayed in John
17. Father, in addition to all else he said and willed on the
behalf of his people, he said, Father, I will also that those
whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory." Wow! What about that? My soul, what
a blessed prospect. In Revelation chapter 7, the
Apostle John writes, after this I beheld and lo, a great multitude. You know, people hear that you
believe that terrible doctrine of election. You know, most churches
in our day would just assume you stand in the pulpit and utter
a curse word when they didn't say election. But John said,
I saw a great multitude. And folks think, well, if you
believe election, you believe only one or two people might
be saved. No, no, no, no. There's a multitude of people.
And there's no question about it. They will be saved. They
must be saved. John said, I saw a multitude
which no man can number. So many, I couldn't number, of
all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before
the Lamb and before the throne, clothed with white robes and
palms in their hands. And they cried with a loud voice,
salvation to our God, which setteth upon the throne and unto the
land. And every one of that innumerable
multitude are thankful to confess that salvation, all of their
salvation, was all of grace. All of grace. Otherwise, they
would not be there. Here's the second thing, another
thing. As a consequence of salvation being all by grace, it's the
only message that gives sinners any real hope. Is that right,
Clay? I mean, people say, well, if I believed what you do, I
wouldn't preach. Man, if I believed that salvation
of a sinner was dependent upon that sinner giving himself life,
then I wouldn't preach. Just shut her down. Just close
the doors and forget about it all. But thank God, salvation
is not of the man that... Can you imagine standing before
the tomb of Lazarus? Our Lord and Savior and saying,
Lazarus, I'm going to wait here. I'll be right here until you
take the first step. And they call that good news?
Oh, no. He who's the resurrection of
the life, he said, the hour is coming, and now is, that the
dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And when they
hear, they'll come forth. We read that our Lord said, Lazarus,
come forth. And the very next verse says,
he that was dead came forth. You hath he quick. given life
to, everlasting life, eternal life, who were dead in trespasses
and sins. The only hope is a good hope
through grace. And that's a real hope, isn't
it? William Cowper, William Cooper, who wrote that good old hymn,
There is a Fountain. You perhaps know how that hymn
came to be written. Cooper struggled with depression
for much of his life. He was instituted several times. He was put in a mental hospital
once after attempting suicide. I mean, he was ready just to
throw in the towel. I believe it was a cousin visited
him, a believer, and tried to witness to him about God's grace,
God's delight to show mercy. And Cooper just began to weep
and he said, It's the first time that I had seen a ray of hope. It's only salvation by grace
that gives a sinner any hope. Salvation being of the Lord.
When his friend had gone, Cooper had a Bible there and he opened
it and he read this from Romans 3. Concerning Jesus Christ, whom
God has set forth to be the propitiation through faith in His blood, And
Cooper said, then God turned the light off. And he saw that
Jesus Christ and his redeeming work was all that was needed,
and he believed. He said, there shone upon me
the full beams of the sufficiency of the atonement that Christ
has made, my pardon in his blood. and the fullness and completeness
of my justification and in a moment I believed." He was so thrilled.
He was so thrilled that he described it in verse and he based it upon
this from Zechariah chapter 13 verse 1. This is what he wrote
his hymn from. In that day there shall be a
fountain opened up for sin and uncleanness He wrote, there is
a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins,
and sinners plunge beneath that flood. What happens? Look. They
lose all their guilty stains. When I was a kid, a boy growing
up in West Virginia, every so often one of our friends would
come and gather us around and say, hey, I've discovered a new
swimming hole. Say, you know, like nobody had
ever seen it before. It was like Columbus had discovered
it. I found a new place to swim. Well, let's go to it. Let's find
it. And more often than not, you would have to jump off a
cliff, rocks, to get down to the swimming hole. But we weren't
completely ignorant. So someone would make their way
down and swim out to the center of this swimming hole and dive
down and soon come back up. And they say, I didn't touch
the body. It's safe. You can jump in. Listen to this. Paul said, know
ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?
Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covenants,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit
the kingdom of God in such were some of you but. Thank God for
that blessing. But you're washed, you're sanctified,
you're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the
Spirit of our God. Come to this fountain so rich
and sweet. Cast thy poor soul at the Savior's
feet. Plunge in today and be made complete. Glory to His name. Jump in, sinner. Jump in. You will never touch
the bottom because the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, still
reaches deeper than the stain has gone. And it always will. As Cooper learned, only this
truth of salvation by grace answers the question, how can I be just
with God? How can I be just with God? Multitudes of folks try to answer
that question by making the demands of God less than they are. They
lower God's standards down to where they can reach it, thinking
if they accept it, if it's good enough for them, it'll be good
enough for God. Not so. God demands and will
accept no less than perfection. Is that right? How good does
a sinner have to be to be saved as good as God? He must be perfect. Our Lord said of ancient Israel,
thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself. Oh, doesn't
that describe our day? Do you ever have people talk
about you like you're not there when you are? I have to. I'm smiling. Oh, she's giving me the look. I think it happened just the
other day. We were in the living room and Kathy and my wife were
talking, Robin and Larry. I said, I'm here. Ask me, I'm
here. People talk of God as though
He's not there. Years ago, there was a newspaper
in the city on Sunday, their Sunday edition, Sunday morning
edition. They got the ad for a car dealership. Mixed up with advertisements
of what was going on at local churches that day. And it came
out like this. Jesus Christ at the lowest price
in years. Oh, not so. Jesus Christ never
lowered God's standard. He met God's standard. Head on,
Jesus Christ answered every claim of God's holy law. And he gave
his life to the full satisfaction of God's offended justice, and
that alone enables God Almighty to be just when he justifies
a sinner. God is just, old Scott Richardson
said. God's got to do something for
himself before he can do anything for you. And that's exactly what
Jesus Christ enabled God to do, to be just, and yet justify a
sinner, whom God has set forth to be of propitiation through
faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission
of sins, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. Again, when I was a young boy,
my grandmother attended a church. And every so often she would
tell my mother, you really need to get those children in church.
There were nine of us. That would pack a few. But she
said, especially that Larry, he's a regular heathen, and you
need to get it in church. So we would go. And it was owned
and operated by an old woman who thought she was working her
way to heaven. It was touch not, taste not,
wear not, go not, smile not, laugh not, enjoy not. And needless to say, what a miserable
looking outfit. Anyone who is serious about working
their way to heaven has got to be one miserable human being.
Oh, that is a far, far cry. That is so contrary and different
to know by the grace of God, as the hymn writer put it, oh
love with an everlasting love, led by grace that loved to know,
spirit breathing from above, that was taught me, it is so.
All this full and perfect peace, all this transport all divine,
in a world which cannot cease, I'm sorry, in a love which cannot
cease, I am His, and he is mine. The Lord hath appeared unto me
of old saying, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore,
with loving kindness have I drawn thee. All such words as these,
be of good cheer. Thy sins, which are many, are
all forgiven thee. And what did he say to his apostles?
Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. Grace be unto you in peace from
Him which is, and which was, and which is to come. Here's
the last blessed consequence of salvation by grace. It's this. If by grace every believer has
a good hope, really the only hope of being kept here in this
life and after it's over, brought to glory. That is only so if
salvation is by grace. I can live with that. Oh, how
great, how marvelous to have a God like we have in a world
like we live in now. Oh, to have Him. I can live with
that and I can die with that. with salvation by grace and I
can face eternity with that. And I can stand before a righteous,
holy God with that. All the while thanking Him for
Christ, that one who is full of grace and truth. Until that
day I see Him and thank Him with an unsinning heart. Oh Jesse,
I can't imagine. Rick, I can't imagine what that
would be like. In 2019 I was in Indiana, near Newcastle, Muncie,
Indiana, at my son-in-law Robinson's house on Christmas Day. And I
called my dear, dear friend, Don Fortner, because he was spending
Christmas Day in a hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. And I called
him, and we talked a while, and I said, Don, I'm sorry. You're
spending Christmas in the hospital. And I want you to know that I
thank God for you, Don. We met each other, I think, in
77 or 78. He was passing a little church
in West Virginia. And I said, I'm going to miss
you, my friend. And he said, Larry, you listen to me. Don't
you feel sorry for me. He said, God's been so good to
me, and if anybody, and I don't think I'm the only one he said
this to, if anybody should ask you about me, You be sure to
tell them that there is nothing sweeter or of greater comfort
than going out to face God knowing that Jesus Christ has put away
all my sins and I'm accepted in Him." And it was just a few
months after that he went home to be with the Lord. Oh my. Let me give you one more
illustration concerning my grandchildren. You grandparents know how it
is. One time I was visiting again and my youngest granddaughter,
Allison, we call her Allie, she had her phone and she's going
over to this side of me and this side of me and I said, what are
you doing? She said, Papa, I'm taking your picture. I said,
let me see that. And I looked at that and I said,
oh well, I said, Pawpaw needs to go on a diet. She said, Pawpaw,
what's that mean? I said, your Pawpaw needs to
lose some weight, don't you think? And she said, no Pawpaw, you're
perfect. You're perfect. I gave her a
big hug. But listen, listen to this. Listen. In the sight of God Almighty,
robed in the perfect righteousness of His Son, God looks at His
people and He says they're perfect. They're perfect. Listen. And
thy renown, this is Ezekiel 16, and thy renown went forth among
the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect. Through my comeliness,
which I have put upon thee, saith the Lord, in the Beloved, God's
marvelous grace, caused me to dwell in this Wonderful place. God sees my Savior and then He
sees me in the beloved, accepted and free. Yes, if salvation is
by grace, I'm perfect. I'm perfect. God bless you. God
bless you. Thank you for your attention.