I'd like to ask you to turn your
Bibles into the book of Deuteronomy, if you would, chapter 7. We began Friday night in the
book of 1 Peter, and we'll get there in just a moment. And we
brought out what it is to taste grace. If so be it, you have
tasted that the Lord is gracious. And we talked a little bit about
what that means to taste grace. In order to taste it, you've
got to know what it is that is not grace. And we went over some
things. And there may be some who felt
like I was beating people up pretty hard with their own sin,
even. But oh, how it brought us back
around to the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and supplying Himself
as our substitute. And then last night, we looked
at, Last night we looked at the Stone of Stumbling. The title
of last night was Precious or Stone of Stumbling. And we looked
at how the Word of God is precious to God's people. Grace is always
precious to one who needs grace. But it's also a stumbling stone
to those who don't need it. And once again, there may be
some who felt like I was beating them up pretty hard again about
their sin. This morning, I'd like to bring this series of
messages from 1 Peter to an end, but we're going to start in Deuteronomy,
verse 7. And before I do that, I want
to read a verse from Isaiah 49 and 16. Our Lord says, Behold,
I have graven thee. I have graven thee upon the palms
of My hands. Now, that word graven, first
thing that pops into your mind is the Lord hanging on the cross,
his palms having the spikes put through his palms. Isn't it?
Isn't that kind of what went through your mind at first? That
was what went through my mind. But you know that word graven?
When you look at the base word of the original language, it
goes so much deeper than that. Not only did the Lord graven
our names in his hands, You see, this is the point of Jesus Christ
going to the cross is for us. The point of Him laying down
His life, the point of Him becoming a man and walking this earth
and laying down His life, shedding His blood is for you and I. So
much so, that our names, not just our names, but our whole
being, who we are, what thoughts go through our minds, It's everything about us was
engraven in the hands, in the palms of our Lord and Savior.
He says, I have graven thee. God Himself has put our very
being in the palms of His hands. He's not just carved names in
His palms, but He is graven. He has inscribed you. He's inscribed
all of His children. All for whom the Father hath
given you. Everything about you is in the
palms of His hands. Every detail, every hitch, every
curve, every wrinkle. It's a personal thing. The word
THE used there in that scripture is more than just a name. That's
why it's a good verse to describe His love for us. It means so
much more. Our Savior thinks upon us. Is
that not a wonder that God would think upon this sinner? That time would tick by for this
sinner? For you, the sinner? Yet when we stop and consider
the depth of His love, we must look to the cross. The ultimate
description of love. He gave Himself a perfect sacrifice
for His own. He took what we deserved. He
was made sin that we would be made righteous in Him. Oh, what
a wonderful Savior we have. A wonderful Savior indeed, what
we sing. You may remember me mentioning
unmerited favor. That's grace. It's called distinguishing
grace. You can't earn it. It must be
a gift. It must be given. You can't mix
it. Folks, there are those who want to try
to mix grace with works. They're diluting the power of
God by saying, you've got to do something. You've got to be better now. You've got to get better. Yeah,
you quit smoking, but you've got to do this too. Yeah, you
did this, but now you've got to do that over there. It's called
works. No matter how you look at it,
it's called works. And Scripture is very clear.
Works and grace don't mix. If it's of works, then it can't
be of any more grace. It must be a gift given for no
other reason than because it pleased the giver to give it. That's distinguishing grace. I choose, says the Lord, to have
grace here. I choose to have grace here.
Isn't that what He says when He says, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy? Isn't that the same thing? Didn't that mean the same thing?
You're not going to tell me I have to be merciful to you. I'll have
mercy on whom I will. The word distinguishing, it means
to separate. It means to make a difference
between two, two kinds, two types, two persons. We distinguish between
two. One is this, and the other is
that. We may not find this word distinguishing in the scriptures,
but the meaning of it is found throughout the books. God had
respect for Abel's offering, and He had no respect for Cain's. Cain brought him an offering
with his hands. Abel brought him an offering
that pictured the Lord Jesus, the blood of the Lamb slain for
His people. Jeremiah 24 5, we read these
words, thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, like these good
figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive
of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of
the Chaldeans for their good. The Lord sent his own people out
into the Chaldeans, out into the world of idle worshipers? For their good. Does it not say
in Romans 8.28 that all things are for our good? Do we believe
God's Word or don't we? I know that's a hard thing to
think of. Especially if the Lord's taken
one of your loved ones from you. He sent them out for their own
good. And it says in verse 6, for I
will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them
again to this land, and I will build them and not pull them
down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up, and I will
give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and they
shall be my people. And I will be their God, for
they shall return unto Me with their whole heart. Are you with
me in Deuteronomy chapter 7? Look at verses 6-8. Deuteronomy
chapter 7, beginning at verse 6. For thou art a holy people
unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen
thee. There's that word thee again.
The personal noun, pronoun, thee, you. The one He knows intimately. For I have chosen thee to be
a special people unto himself above all people that are upon
the face of the earth. The Lord did set his love upon
you, did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because,
we're talking about distinguishing grace, folks, because you were
more in number than any people. For ye were the fewest of all
people, but because the Lord loved you. And because he would keep the
oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought
you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house
of the bondmen from the hand of the Pharaoh, king of Egypt."
The God of all creation distinguishes between the world and those he
calls my people, my elect. He says, for thou art an holy
people unto the Lord thy God. How can that be? How can He be
talking about me? He calls me a holy people before
the Lord? How can He be talking about me? How can He be talking about one
who has sinned Every moment of every day since
the day I have come into this world, and that includes today. You wouldn't think a minister
would be sinful, would you? But yeah. I see my sin more than I ever It's ever before me. I got out
of bed this morning, I doubted my Lord. That's enough sin to
deserve hell right there. To doubt my Lord of who He is. To doubt who He is. Lord of time. Lord of ticking. How can He call us holy? Distinguishing
grace, that's how. Grace given to us by our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Lord of all creation, has chosen
to be gracious to some. Romans 9.18, we read it this
way, Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and
whom He will, He hardeneth. Now if you would, please turn
over to the New Testament, to the book of John chapter 10. Our great God distinguishes between
those that were given to Him by the Father before anything
was ever created, before anything else had come to be, and in all
the rest of creation. In John chapter 17 verse 9, we
read these words in our Lord's priestly prayer. He says, I pray
for them, I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou
hast given Me. For they are Thine. And all mine are thine, and thine
are mine, and I am glorified in them. We whose names are written
in the Book of Life, we whose names are inscribed, graven in
the palms of our Lord, have been made holy by our substitute,
by our blood sacrifice, by our blessed Redeemer, the Lamb slain
before the foundation of the world as it is known in Revelation.
His name is Jesus, for He shall save His people. Malachi chapter
1, verses 2 and 3, we read these words, I have loved you, saith
the Lord, yet ye say, in wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau
Jacob's brother, saith the Lord, yet I loved Jacob, and I hated
Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage a waste for
the dragons of the wilderness? You may say, well, how can that
be? How could God love one and not
another? This is the stumbling stone that
we were talking about last night. How can God love this one and
not love that one if we're all in the same boat? The real question
is this, is how can God love any of them? How can God love this one who
stands before you? My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And that's how. And only through
Him. distinguishing grace. His blood was shed for each and
every one of his children, blood-bought children, God-given children. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, he says. Why? Because his blood paid for
their sins. His blood covered their sins,
just as the Lord God covered the sins of Adam and Eve in the
garden with the skins of an animal, shedding blood. Their own works, trying to cover
their own nakedness with leaves did not work. It was worthless. They were still naked before
God. To say that God loves everyone
and is wanting them to love Him back is to call the perfect Creator,
God Almighty, weak and worthless. It's to take the blood of Christ
and step on it as though it was worthless. To say that someone
could go to hell for their sins and that Christ paid for those
sins is to saying Christ's payment was worthless. I tell you this,
the God of Scripture is able He is the very meaning of strength.
He is victorious in everything that He desires. He cannot fail. This is our only hope. The Son
of the Living God has saved His people to the uttermost, as it
says in Scripture. That means everything. There's
not one little thing left. He paid it all. All to Him I
owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
but He washed it white as snow. All of our sins have been put
away as far as the East is from the West because of His perfect
sacrifice. And He remembers our sins no
more. Isn't that what Scripture says? He puts it away. He can't
even look upon it. Christ has paid for it. Washed
it all away. You and I may see our sins as
we walk through this valley of death. But it's no more than a shadow.
The Lord's covered it. God does not see our sins anymore. He sees the blood shed at Calvary.
He sees the death of His only begotten Son. And He says, I
am satisfied. Justice has been served. That's
how we read in the Old Testament, by His stripes we are healed.
The idea that we've come to believe these truths is because of His
distinguishing grace. To believe is to have faith.
We believe because He has given us the gift of faith, but not
all have been given that faith. And this is where grace shines,
because we don't deserve to have been given that gift. That gift
isn't anything that we can deserve, anything that we can earn. God
has just given it to us because He loves us. Look here at John chapter 10
with me if you would. Verse 24. Beginning at verse
24, then came the Jews round about him and said unto him,
How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ,
tell us plainly. And Jesus answered and he says,
I told you and you believed not. Folks, God God wasn't beating
around a bush. Oh, maybe I'm God Almighty in
the flesh. Maybe I'm not. No. He was point
blank with it. Look down there in verse 30.
I and my Father are one. How often does the Lord Jesus
say, I am, in Scriptures? Many. Over and over. Many times. He was not bashful about declaring
who He was and what He was there for. How long do you make us
to doubt? I have told you, says the Lord,
and ye believe not. The works that I do, the very
miracles that I do, that no other man can do, prove who I am. 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. Those who are not God's sheep
will not believe His Word. I hope and pray that you're hearing
these words this morning and you're saying, I know what I
am. But God has revealed the truth to me that reaches down
and grabs a hold of this poor sinful soul. I believe Him. I believe His Word. I believe the Lord teaches in
His Word my total depravity. I believe the Lord is teaching
in His Word that His election, His distinguishing grace is unconditional
of me. I believe. that the calling that Christ
has for His people is a call with power, the power of God. Not just some man, but the power
of God that says, Lazarus, come forth. Mike, come forth. Each and every one of us have
been called by the power of God and will come according to His
word. There's not going to be any empty
seats. Everyone for whom He died on the cross shall be saved.
Only the people of Israel were given the oracles of God. Isn't
that correct? Only Israel had the prophets.
Isn't that correct? Many claim that they know the
Lord. Yet they deny His power in so
much that they do and so much that they add to that claim.
But here comes some great news, folks. Here comes some news to
poor sinners that just light us up because we know it's by
grace and by grace alone. Look at the other half of verse
26. As I said unto you... See, I
told you, He's not bashful. As I said unto you, My sheep
My people, those for whom I will die for, those for whom are called
by me, hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. For my Father which gave them
me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them from
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." God,
by his distinguishing grace, he calls his sheep by name. Is
that not the picture that we see in Lazarus when the Lord
said, come forth? I've titled this morning's message
this, The People of God. We've seen how the Lord sends
His grace into the hearts of His people and we taste it. We
experience it. And in doing so, we saw, like
last night, that that taste of His grace is solid and cannot
be moved. It's the rock of our salvation. And it becomes precious to us.
His Word burns in the hearts of God's people saying, I want
to hear more of this grace. I want to hear more about what
my Lord has done for me. I want to hear more about Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Because that's what I need. That's
what I need to get through the day. Grace, and more grace. Look over at 1 Peter now, if
you would. 1 Peter chapter 2. And we left off last night at
verse 8, so let's pick up this morning at verse 9, but ye, 1
Peter chapter 2 verse 9, But ye, those lively stones, those
ones whose the gospel is precious to, but ye are a chosen generation. a royal priesthood, and holy
nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises
of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous
light, which in a time past were not
a people, but are now the people of God. who had not obtained
mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Folks, we come into this
world acting like goats, we walk as goats, we ate as goats, and
we lived as goats, but we were never, ever goats. We have always been sheep. God's
sheep. We just didn't know it. It wasn't
until the day of His love when He comes to us when we were yet
dead and trespasses in sin and says, live to the dead to us. In verse 27 of John 10, we just
read this. He says, I know them. That word
know means intimate. It's like a husband and wife.
Isn't that why we see the picture of Christ and His bride? We are the bride of Christ. He
knows us personally. Someday when you have a moment,
And I realize that it's full of symbolism and maybe a little
bit difficult to understand, but if you picture yourself,
and I know for you guys this may be a little hard, it was
for me too, but if you picture yourself as the bride of Christ
and you read the Song of Solomon, He's talking about your beauty
in His eyes. What is beautiful about John
that God could look on and say, oh, what beauty He sees in me? My Savior. His Son. There's coming a day, folks,
when this body of flesh, this body of death, is going to go
back to the dust where it belongs. And the Lord's going to give
me a brand new, glorious body, and I'm going to spend eternity
praising my Savior. Praising my Lord for his grace
and his mercy, and every single one of you for whom he shed his
blood will be doing the exact same thing. He says, I know them. Their names
are engraved in His palm. This is the very thing that I
was talking about in my opening statement. God knows us personally. He knows us in a personal way.
Yes, He is omniscient. He knows everything about everybody,
and everything about this. But this know, this know that
we're looking at in John chapter 10, is to know them intimately. I ask you this. No? Paul asks you this. He says, if God be for you, who
can stand against you? You know the devil's going to
stand there and say, wait a minute. What about what that, what about
this, what that person did? What about this? What about that?
There's going to be people that are going to go to hell, and
they're going to be, well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Didn't I? Didn't
I do this? There's going to be accusers. But when Jesus Christ does something,
He does it perfectly, and His blood was perfectly shed for
everything that you could charge us with. Can anything separate the sheep
of God from the love that is in His Son, Christ Jesus? Can
you separate yourself from His love? You see, the news of the
gospel of Christ and Him crucified just keeps getting better and
better in every word. As we see the sin that is in
this flesh, we see the grace of our Lord and His love for
us in paying for that sin. Taking it upon Himself. God dying. Sacrificing Himself for us. What
love? Can you explain that? I can't. But God's word declares it, and
it sure feels good to know it. When you separate yourself from
love, to say that you can is to say that you have power over
God. You make yourself out to be gods.
This is what those who teach free will are doing. They're
declaring that their will has the power, the power to thwart
the hand of God. And folks, it's just not so. Who can separate the sheep of
God from His love that's in Christ Jesus? People who go through
that doormark death and don't believe the salvation is only
by the sovereign power of God's grace are not His sheep. Did
we not just read in verse 29 of John chapter 10, he says,
my Father gave them to me, is greater than all, and no man
is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. Isn't that
what we just read? Folks, when Christ went to the cross, the
blood of the Almighty God was shed. The perfect blood of Christ
has accomplished its purpose. That's why our Savior cried out,
it is finished. It's done. Salvation of my people
is complete. There's nothing for them to do.
Come, take my yoke upon you. You who are weary, trying to
earn your way into heaven, put it aside. Rest in Christ, for
He's done it all. That's why our Savior cried out,
it is finished. Redemption for the sheep is complete. The work
is done. What is there left to do? Rest. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Graze in green pastures. Sit by the river that flows by. You know what that is? That's
the gospel. Water. The beautiful water of
the river. Flowing right on by us. Walk
along the still waters. We read in the 23rd Psalm, the
Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie
down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. Folks, we're talking about the
people of God. Those who have had grace shine
in their hearts. Those who have seen the light
of Jesus, because He has shined it in their hearts. He says,
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His namesake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff,
they comfort me. Nothing in this is going to give
me any comfort. If you're looking to anything
inside of you for comfort, you're going to be sorely disappointed. But if you look to Christ... You know, there's nowhere in
Scripture that I have any understanding of, and if you find one, then
please show it to me. But me and several other ministers
have looked, and we can't find it. But there's no place in Scripture
where we see somebody who came to Christ was actually turned
away. Oh, now some say, what about
that woman that came up from the coast of Tyre? Didn't he
turn her away? No, he didn't. No, he didn't. He hesitated to bring her out
to show her that she needed the crumbs of the table of the Lord. And then he said, go thy way.
Thy faith has healed thy daughter. Our Great Shepherd is watching
over us right this very moment. He is guiding us into His good
works. That's what we read in Romans
8, 28. For we know that all things work together for the good to
them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose,
for whom He did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called, and whom He called, them He also justified,
and whom He justified, them He also glorified." Didn't we read
in John 17, and Lord, I will be glorified in them, and they
will be glorified in me? What shall we say then to these
things? What shall you say to these things? If God be for us,
who can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? He gave his son, not so that
some might be saved, but that some would be saved. Folks, as you hear me say often,
there will be no empty seats in heaven. All for whom the Father
giveth Him shall come to Him, and those who come to Him shall
in no wise be cast out." That's God's Word and that's His promise.
And if God has said it, shall it not come to pass? In John
10, 27 again we read these words, 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, 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 hand. I and My
Father are one." Our subject this morning is distinguishing
grace, the people of God, the difference between one from another.
Look over at John chapter 10 again if you would. Go back to John chapter 10 for
just a moment, and we'll bring this to an end. Look at verse 31. After telling these folks that
our Lord has mercy on whom he will have mercy. And that's basically
the exact same thing that he's saying here. You believe not,
because you're not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. That's
the same thing. Look what happens, 31, then the
Jews took up stones again to stone him. They don't like that. How dare you choose between one
of us instead of choosing us all. They took up stones to stone
him again. In verse 32, we read these words,
then Jesus said, Many good works have I showed you from my Father.
Of which of these works do you stone me?' And the Jews answered
him, saying, for a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy,
because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God." See, I told
you. They understood exactly what
he was saying. There was no reason. You can't
give an excuse, well, they didn't know what he was meaning. They
knew exactly what it was meaning, and they wanted to kill Him for
it. And you and I would have been right there with them if
it weren't for the distinguishing grace of our Savior. In John
chapter 8, verse 47, we read these words, He that is of God
heareth God's words. Ye therefore hear them not, because
ye are not of God. Our text in verse 24 of John
10 says this, How long dost thou make us to
doubt? If thou be to Christ, tell us plainly. And Jesus answers,
He says, I did tell you. I told you and you believed not.
1 Corinthians 4 verse 7, Who maketh thee to differ? Distinguishing
grace. Grace for the people of God,
those who He has loved from before the world was. Our great God
distinguishes between His people and the rest of the world. That's
why we're seeing amazing grace. It's so amazing to God's people
that He would have grace on us because we're just as bad as
Jacob was. Why would God love me? because
of His distinguishing grace. It's amazing, it's amazing grace
that He would be merciful to any, especially to me, a sinner
condemned unclean, yet by His grace I am made clean. Made clean through His Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord. I'd like to change our closing
hymn this morning.