That last verse, listen to this. Without the music, listen to
these words very carefully. Oh, the love that drew salvation's
plan. I want that to sink in for a moment.
Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan. See, the plan of God has
always been His plan, from beginning to whenever you want to call
from as far that way as you can to as far that way. It's always
been the same plan. Before the world was ever created,
the plan was in place to be executed according to His purpose. Oh,
the love. And that's why that plan was
put in place, for love. The love that God has for His
people, His chosen people. Those for whom He would send
His Son to become flesh and sacrifice Himself because those that He
has loved could not honor the law that needed to be honored. Oh, the love that drew salvation's
plan. Oh, the grace that brought it
down to man. Jesus Christ is all grace. All
grace is Jesus Christ. Oh, the mighty gulf that God
did span. Think about that for a moment.
I've said this many a times, how we can't even comprehend
what that means for God to humble Himself and become flesh. He is so holy that you and I
can't even understand what that holiness truly is. How deep it
truly is. Oh, we can't understand this
because of His Word that we can't be in the presence of that holiness
because He can't be in the presence of sin. Oh, for the grace of God that
He sent His only begotten Son. Oh, the mighty gulf that God
did span at Calvary. Mercy there was great, and grace
was free. Amen. I'd like to ask you to
join me in your Bibles, if you would, to the first epistle of
Peter. Peter chapter 2, please. I told the dear folks that are
able to be here for Sunday morning Bible study, we've been following
Peter for about two and a half years now. When the Lord walked by Peter
on the seashore and he said, come follow me. And Peter got
up, left everything. That was it. Left everything,
followed God, followed the Lord Jesus Christ. And we took it
from that point. We went all the way through. I think we started in Matthew.
And it's been so long ago now, I don't remember all the books
that we covered. But we covered all the places where it talks about
Peter till we finally got to Peter's letter. to the saints,
to God's elect. We have a little bit of an idea
what all the things that Peter had gone through. Some of us
can go through years of coming to church on Sunday morning and
not hear all the things that Peter went through, because messages
can skip around at times. And you may miss what Peter's
going through over here. But we followed it through, and
we were able to see the things that God brought Peter through,
so that when Peter sat down and penned the words in 1 Peter chapter
2, When he penned these two letters, he had not only the inspiration
of the Spirit leading him what to say, he had the experience
that he had been through in the flesh. Paul, all of God's men
are the same thing. I come to you today with experience
in what I've gone through to where I'm at right now. Paul
did the same thing. He was able to relate to the
experience before the Lord called him out of darkness. Have you ever taken a moment
to consider the wonder of our great God's creation? The ice fields of Canada. That is some beautiful stuff.
Kevin and his wife were able to go down to Yosemite here not
too long ago for their anniversary. Pictures just cannot do justice.
Standing there at the bottom of El Capitan or on top of the
dome, the big half dome, standing on top of that. I've never been
to the top of that, but he went to the top, him and Kimberly. Pictures
don't do justice with it. The lands, the seas, I can sit
and watch the waves of an ocean for hours. Just sit on the beach
and watch the waves flap. Same spot, don't move, just sit
there and watch it. Beautiful. The elements, the different climates that move through an
area, storms, heat waves, the rule of all the natural things,
rain, sun, wind, snow, all these things that a great and wise
God created going together to supply our needs. I've told our congregation this
many a time, some of you may not have heard this before, but
everything in creation. When the Lord said,
let it be, and all the stars were there. When He who is God
said, let it be, and the earth became the earth. And man came
to the earth. He created man out of the dust
of the earth. All these things that the Lord
has done throughout all the time before you and I have walked
this earth was so that you and I would be exactly where we were
when the Lord called us out of darkness. so that we would be exactly where
we are this evening. You see, the Lord of Scriptures
is the Lord of all. There's no accidents, there's
no maybes. His purpose shall be done, that's
why we call Him God. Anything less than that, you
could not call Him that. But we can take it a step further
than the creation, can't we? Have you ever stopped to consider
the wonders of this body? This body that the Lord has created
so that our soul would be sustained, have a place to
be. We have eyes. ears, nose, and
tongue. We see the beautiful colors of
the rainbow, the blue sky, the green meadows. We hear the beautiful
songs of the bird, the babbling of the brook. I like that one. Having a window
right there and that thing running next door to us over here, that
little creek. Oh, that's such a nice way to sleep. The babbling
of the brook, the sound of the wind, We smell the sweet flowers,
those roses that Judy left behind when her and Gene moved back
east. Kathy's been able to keep them
up, and they just, oh, they smell so good. Right there in front
of the front room window, when the breeze blows, it just comes
right in the house. The smell of the sweet flower,
the fresh fruit, the air after a good rain. Oh, what a sense
we have. with all these, but there's one
more. One more I'd like you to consider, the sense of taste. You all know I like pie. Well,
it's not really pie. It's the taste of pie. Sweet. I love sweet pie. The taste of
seasoned, good seasoned steak. All of these senses that I've
just described, I hope you understood I've described them in a sense
of experience. A man who's blind has never had
the experience of seeing a blue sky, has he? One who has no taste. My dad, Calvin Ellis, he had
no smell. He couldn't smell the flowers.
I know people who are colorblind and can't see color at all. How
can you experience seeing that if you're blind? These senses are things that
we experience. And tasting is the same thing. It's an experience. I experience
chocolate. OK, I experience all kinds of
food. And you know, you know I do. And our great Creator in all
of His wisdom, in all that exists, inspired the prophet to write
these words. Are you with me in 1 Peter chapter
1, chapter 2? I'm going to get it right. 1
Peter chapter 2. Look at verses 1 through 3 with
me if you would. Wherefore, laying aside all malice,
and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may
grow thereby. If so be ye have tasted." If
you have tasted. If you have tasted. that the
Lord is gracious." Oh, what wonderful words. Tasted grace. You could put it down this way,
if so be ye have experienced grace. What a wonder of His great
wisdom. My thoughts are drawn to this
chapter, this first chapter of Peter. or the second chapter
of Peter. And I want to consider for just
a moment the picture that our Lord has given us in these words
using the expression of tasted. You see, there are many who talk
about the grace of God. If you go down to Sacramento
and pull up the word grace before any kind of religious organization,
you'll find thousands of churches that call themselves grace this,
grace that, grace whatever, first grace this. And I'm not going to say all
of them, because I don't know that. But every one that I've
ever been in is nothing more than a goat barn. It has nothing
to do with grace. Do we understand what grace truly
means? In order for us to see the picture
of the importance of tasting grace, experiencing it, you have
to know what it is not to have at first. In order to have grace and experience
the greatness of it, you have to know what it is not to have
at first. A lot of people talk about grace,
but they have no idea that the word grace means unmerited favor. And if that's still too hard
to understand, it means this. You can't do anything. You can't
purchase it. You can't work for it. It's something
that's given to you just because the person giving it to you wanted
to. Just because the one that gives
it loved to give it. And God is a gracious God and
loves to give grace to his people. Effectual grace. Not a grace
that depends on man to do something, because that would make it not
grace, right? That would mean that he would be obligated to
give you that grace. Isn't that what that means? If
man could do something for it, if man could get in this baptismal
behind me here and say, OK, God, you've got to give me your grace
now, then it wouldn't be grace anymore. It'd be something you'd
had to earn. And you can do anything. You can put anything you want.
in that as far as the baptismal is concerned. Some want you to
come down to the front of the aisle. Others want you to pray
a certain prayer. Some want you to count some beads.
Some want you to go into a little box and talk to a guy all dressed
funny. Tell him what you did wrong today
so he can say your sins are absolved. Put whatever you want there.
Whatever you put there will take the word grace and throw it out
the window. Have you tasted the grace of
God? Do you desire the sincere milk
of the Word? Have you tasted the sweet savor
of God's graciousness to His people? Hear the words of Matthew
11, 25. At that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, Because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes. In the book
of Luke, Mary is singing a song of praise to her Savior for His
goodness to her, and she cries out in Luke chapter 1 verse 53,
He has filled the hungry with good things. He has filled the
hungry with good taste, grace, Newborn babies have but one desire,
don't they? The sweet milk of the mother. What do babies do? They eat and
sleep. And maybe one other thing, but we won't mention that here. They love the sweet taste of
the mother's milk. Verse 1 in chapter 2, it says
we read these words, wherefore? Now this is to point us, you
and I, to what was just said in chapter 1. So let's go back
over to verse 1 of chapter 1 of this epistle, and I pray that
the Lord will give me this remaining time, and that he might be pleased
to satisfy our taste with his word. Are you with me in chapter
1 of 1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 1? Peter, an apostle of Jesus
Christ to the strangers. God's people. Those who are strangers
in the land. Why are they strangers? Because
we're not counting on ourselves. The Lord has taken us and shown
us that we are unworthy of anything and that everything He gives
us is by His grace. What makes us different to the
world that we walk in? We believe God. We believe who
He is. All the fullness of the Godhead
dwelleth in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God in the flesh. God manifests
in the flesh. We believe what He's done. In
grace He came to this world and walked perfectly for each and
every one of His people. And then He went to the cross. God told, or Abraham told his
son, when his son asked him, Father, we have the wood, we
have the fire, where's the sacrifice? He goes, God will provide himself. That's what Jesus Christ is.
Himself, God, being provided as the sacrifice for God's people.
The perfect blood of God shed on that cross a little over 2,000
years ago is the reason why God the Father can look on you and
I, sinners. He looks upon us and He sees
the righteousness of His Son. The perfect obedience of His
Son in going to the cross and shedding His blood for us. You get in the picture of grace?
This is something you can't do. In your sinfulness, you can go
to any cross you want, it's not going to do any good because
you're full of sin. From the top of our heads to the bottom
of our feet, we're full of sin. Nothing. We have nothing before
a thrice holy God to offer. Nothing to give. I need a Savior. Do you? There is one. His name is Jesus, for He shall
save His people. And that's a word that cuts out
any maybes, any mights, any possibilities. He shall save His people. Continuing
on. Strangers scattered throughout
Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. And then
he goes into verse 2 and he says, elect, called out. According to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, and to obedience
in the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, Peter is addressing
God's people. He's addressing Israel, the called,
as it's said in Romans 8, the chosen from before the foundation
of the world, as it says in Ephesians chapter 1. They were scattered
about the land going through much trials just as it is today. Is there anyone here who has
a trial? Do you have a loved one who knows
not the Lord? I have many. That's a trial. Do you have any sin? In this
flesh that you walk in, in this earth, if you say you have no
sin, you call God a liar. I need a Savior. Do you? Robert Hawker wrote this about
what we just read there in the first and second verses. He said, I love the way
he puts his words. I don't change anything that
he says to bring it up to the new stuff. Reader, the oftener
I read this precious verse, the more my soul becomes impressed
with the sublime truths contained in it. Were there ever a form
of words chosen or can be chosen to express the plainest and most
palpable truths that by here are used, both to show and manifest
the existence of three distinct personalities of the Godhead
and their distinct office characters? as revealed to the Church of
God in Christ, what can more fully prove the joint operation
of the Holy Three in One by way of defining their distinct personality? And at the same time of doing
that, at the same time of that, what more fully show their oneness
in the essential nature and design in their merciful tendencies
to the Church?" Now, is not the Lord gracious to call any Why would the Lord call any?
Because He's gracious. He's gracious to those that He
loves. He's gracious to you and I, though
we deserve not. And He's gracious for one reason,
for the sake of His Son, the Lord Jesus. The Lord is merciful. He has mercy on whom he will
have mercy, as it says in Romans 9, 18. His love is for this people. His love for this people is an
eternal love. It's an everlasting love. It's
a love that cannot be turned. And Peter wastes no time to declare
the gospel in the beginning of this letter, right here out in
front. First, we see that God the Father chose a people. He
chose them in his Son before the foundation of the world.
Turn over to Ephesians chapter 1. Mark your spot in Peter. We're
going to come back to it. Turn over to Ephesians chapter 1. Don't take John's word for anything.
Be as the Bereans. Check the Word of God and make
sure whoever it is that stands before you preaching whatever
it is they're preaching is of the Word of God. God the Father chose a people
and His Son before the foundation of the world. Look at verse 1
of Ephesians chapter 1. And an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God to the saints, which are at Ephesus, to the
faithful in Jesus Christ. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father. and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and the 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 Him, in Christ,
God the Father chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him.
In love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through
his blood and forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace. What else did it say back here
in Peter? It said we have sanctification of the Spirit. Turn over to 1
Corinthians chapter 6, if you would. 1 Corinthians chapter
6, to the left. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. I thought
I had that already. Where'd it go? We have sanctification of the
spirit. Look what it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, reading
verses 9 through 11. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor impotent, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the
kingdom of God. He went through that whole list.
Whether you be all of that list or part of that list, it doesn't
matter. Because all you have to do is be one little inkling,
and you've sinned against God. And it doesn't matter if you
cover the whole thing. It's still the sin against God. The cost
is the same, death, blood. And such were some of you. But you're washed. but ye are sanctified, but ye
are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit
of our God. Through the obedience of Christ.
Back in our text again, we see just quickly there, again we
see by the obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
Christ, His own blood on the cross being sprinkled on the
mercy seat. And by the way, our Lord Jesus
is that mercy seat. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. We're checking the Word. We're
making sure the man that stands before you speaks the Word of
God according to the Word of God and by the truth of God.
We worship our Lord in spirit and in truth. Not in what we
want God to be, but what He is. Who He is. What He's done. Hebrews
chapter 10, look at verse 14 through 17. For by one offering,
This is talking about the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus. The obedience
of Jesus Christ. Didn't that blow you away? Our
Lord had to learn obedience. Now people think that we have
to be taught obedience in a certain way, don't we? I don't know about
you folks, but when I was a little child, my dad taught me with
obedience with a big old black thing called a belt. Or even if it was really needed
to be taught, it was go out to the willow tree and get me a
willow. Give me a switch. And if I came
back with anything less than this size, it would be twice
the beating. I learned. And I was really,
I had to be taught a lot. Our Lord had to be taught. He
had to learn obedience because God doesn't need to obey anybody. Obedience was something that
was not part of being God. He's God. Who's He going to obey?
The Lord Jesus Christ obeyed everything that the Father sent
Him here to do. All that the Father gave Him,
all that the Father had Him come here to do, He did, and God the
Father was pleased with His Son. That's important to know that.
He was pleased with His Son because when He went to that cross and
laid down His life and shed His blood for us, God the Father
was pleased with that blood. He was satisfied. His justice
was satisfied. Because Christ took that justice
upon Himself. What you and I should have been
judged for, He was judged for. Even though He never sinned.
Even though there was never any sin in Him, He was made sin for
us. That we would be made the righteousness
of God in Him. continuing on there. For by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. For after that he had said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them. After those days,
saith the Lord, I will put my laws in their heart and in their
minds, will I write them? And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. And their sins and iniquities
I will remember no more because of the blood of Jesus." Back
in our text, if you would. 1 Peter chapter 1. Look with me at verses 3-5. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to His abundant mercy, Abundant grace hath begotten us again
unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Our Lord could not be held by death. He has the keys to everything.
He's the Lord of everything. Everything above the earth, everything
on the earth, and everything under the earth. He's Lord of
all, or He's not Lord at all. It bothers me when men say, well,
I believe in the Lord, and they call Him Lord. I believe He's given me a will
to choose Him when I want to. I believe He's given me the ability
to make the decision above His. I believe that He's given me
the right to rule over Him when it comes
to me. That's making ourselves gods.
That's what the devil was talking about when he was talking to
Adam and Eve. And ye shall be as gods, little gods, thinking
that you have power over God to make a decision. The Lord
of Scripture is Lord of everything. And salvation is of the Lord
and the Lord alone. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy,
hath begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. You, those
for whom He laid down His life, those for whom He shed His blood,
look at verse 5, for who are kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation ready to be revealed at the last time.
Does not our cup runneth over when we see the mercies and the
grace of God for you and I? Does not our cup runneth over
as we see His mercies our Lord has bestowed upon us through
His Son, the Christ, the Lord Jesus? What a hope! Imagine the hope people might
have in their own works. I'm such a better person now.
I can't even imagine what that's like. Because since the Lord
called me out of darkness, I see the depth of the sin of this
flesh. Things that go through my mind
that I would never... I don't even admit them to my
wife, I'm so ashamed of them. I see the unworthiness. And this
is the picture of all God's children. We are all brought to the point
that we see our unworthiness, our need of grace. This is how you taste grace.
By knowing how much you need it. and seeing the graciousness
in God in giving it to us when we don't deserve it. That's why
the writers can write, He's my only hope. I've got no hope in
this flesh. I got no confidence in anything
I can do. Everything I do is tainted with
sin, but everything my Lord has done for me. Every part of salvation
has been done by my Lord for me. Because He loves me, and through
His grace and mercy, He has given it to me. What a hope, a hope
that rests in that power, that very power that we saw there
in verse 5, that we are kept by the power of God. There are
those, and I'll try not to be too long with this, but I was
hoping they would be here tonight, but I was told that there's a
church over in Gardnerville that preached pretty much everything
that we preach here, except for one thing. And it was the one
thing that stood out to this couple, and bothered them by
it, and caused them to call their mom down in San Diego and say,
we can't go to that church anymore, and there's nothing else we can
find up here. Mom said, hey, there's somebody down to rescue.
Go down there. They came here, and the first time they came
here, they walked out saying, this is our church. We'll be
back next Sunday. You'll get a chance to meet them.
I'm sure they'll be here. They have motels over here in Cameron
Park. young couple from Tahoe. She
said that the one thing that bothered me about it was they
talked about something called progressive sanctification. And
I'm like, oh, uh-oh, there it goes, folks. If somebody comes
to you and starts trying to tell you that now you're saved. But now you've got to start doing
this. Now you've got to start doing that. If you're not doing
that, you need to question whether you're saved or not. If you're
not doing that, you need to do this. If somebody comes to you
and starts telling you that you need to do something, get into
God's Word and get away from that person. and find out that
all of God's Word is about grace. Are there things that we're supposed
to do? Absolutely. But that's between God and you.
And you'll find out when He brings it down to the fine tax, you
can't do any of it. I can't. None of the other saved
people I've talked to have been able to. But my Lord has done
it already. And He does it for me every day.
He makes intercession for me even though I can't do it right
now. How can I make anything perfect when it's already been
made perfect by my Lord? That's grace. That's tasted grace. That's grace that you can grab
ahold of and, mmm, that's even better than chocolate. We rest in that power that we
read about, keeping us from falling, holding us up as an anchor holds
the ship. It's held by the very power of
God. Look at verses 6 through 8. Wherein
ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season need be, ye are
in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of
your faith, being much more precious than gold, that perisheth, though
it be tried with fire, might be found unto the praise and
honor and glory of the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen ye love,
in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice
with joy unspeakable and full of glory." I love to sing about
grace. I love to preach about grace.
I love to tell others about the graciousness that God has for
His people, the graciousness that God has for me. The Apostle
Paul writes this. I don't know why that is in there.
Now look over verses 18. I had put four messages together
in four days, so I think I just got part of Sunday's message
in mixed in with today. Look over verses 18, and we'll
wrap this up pretty quick here. I want to read verses 18 through
chapter 3, or verse 3 of chapter 2, right back to where we were
at the beginning. For as much as ye know that ye
were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ as the Lamb without blemish
and without spot, who verily was ordained before the foundation
of the world." Now, I've been saying that since we started
tonight's message. I've been telling you it was
from before the world began. There is God's Word, proven it,
who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you, who by Him do
believe in God." By who? By my own free will? No, by Him
do believe in God. Faith is a gift of God, folks.
If it was a gift, if it was something I could conjure up on my own,
I'd boast about it. who by him to believe in God
that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your
faith and hope might be in God. Seeing you have purified your
souls in obeying the truth through the spirit of unfeigned love
of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure
heart, fervently. Being born again, not a corruptible
seed, but if incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever, For all flesh is as grass, and all the
glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and
the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth
forever. And this is the word by which
the gospel is preached unto you. Wherefore, wherefore, all of
those things that we just read, because of all those things,
lay aside. Because of the grace of God, lay aside. Oh, how I wish I could lay aside
how I could put it away out of my mind and never do it again,
lay aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies
and all evil speakings. As newborn babes desire the sincere
milk of the word that ye may grow thereby, if so be ye have
tasted that the Lord is gracious. What is your desire? What is
your need? Folks, I can tell you this, that
if you belong to Christ, you can lean on the everlasting arms,
and they'll never let you go. Now look at verses 4 through
10 of this very same chapter 2. To whom? To whom? This very One who is gracious,
to whom as unto a living stone, disallowed, rejected by the world,
turned away by the very world that we walk in, turned away
by you and I at one time until the grace of God came to us and
called us out of that darkness we walked in, disallowed indeed
of men, but chosen, chosen of God and precious. Yea, also as
lively stones are built up in the spiritual house and holy
priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained
in Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect,
precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
Unto you, therefore, which believe he is precious, but unto them
which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed,
the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense unto them which stumble at the word, being
disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. But ye, a chosen
generation. a royal priesthood and holy nation
of peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which
in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God,
which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."
There was a time we all were without God. We all walked in
the darkness of this world. Yet in the day of His love, in
the day of His power, through the preaching of His word, the
word of truth, the child of the Most High is called out of that
darkness. And the light and the glory of
God is shed abroad in their hearts, a new heart. Ye must be born
again. We are brought to believe His
truths, though we once were dead, and now we live. Look over Romans
chapter 9 for a moment. Romans chapter 9. We'll leave
Peter. Romans chapter 9. And read with me verses 25 through
26. Romans chapter 9, 25 through 26, it says, Hosea, I will call them My people,
which were not My people, and her beloved, which were not beloved.
And it shall come to pass that in the place where it is said
unto them, Ye are not My people, there shall they be called the
children of the living God." Oh, to be called a child of the
living God. Have you tasted His grace? Have
you experienced the graciousness of the Lord? We read in Romans chapter 10
verse 17, So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God. We are saved by grace. Isn't that what we read in Ephesians
chapter 2 verse 8? We are saved by grace, through
faith. A gift of God, not of works,
lest man should boast. So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. How are you going to call on
somebody you've never heard of? If all you've ever heard is about a
Jesus who wants, if all you've ever heard is about a Jesus who
would like you to do this, if all you've ever heard is a Jesus
with no power, And how are you going to call
on the true and living God who has all power in heaven and earth? How are you going to call on
the one who you've never heard of? Folks, our Lord's yoke is easy. Why? Because the work is done. Have you tasted His graciousness? Don't let those who know not
grace tie you down with the yoke of works. Don't let those who
know not grace bind you under the schoolmaster, the law. Our Lord has fulfilled the law
for us. The law's purpose was to bring
us to our Savior and His grace. If you've tasted the grace of
God, then you will know faith. You will know what it is to believe.
John 3.16 says, whosoever believeth. Oh, how the world wants to take
that and mean that it means every single soul. No, it doesn't. It means whosoever. It means whosoever. Only those that God gives the
gift of faith to can be a whosoever. Do you believe God? Do you believe
in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in laying down Himself
for you? Let's look at one more thing,
if you would. We've got just a moment. Luke chapter 24, and
then I'll bring this to a close, I promise. Luke chapter 24. Two men were on the road to Emmaus,
and the Lord spent some time walking along with them. They
didn't know who He was until He revealed Himself to them.
And they were complaining about how they had presumed that God,
that the Lord Jesus, was going to be sitting on His throne there
in Jerusalem and free them from the bondage of Rome. But He's gone now. Some women
said that He arose, but what happened? Verse 25, then He said unto them,
the Lord Jesus Christ, He said, O fools and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ
to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?
And beginning at Moses, after saying those things, our Lord
did this, He began at Moses. The four books that Moses was
inspired to write, all the prophets, not just Moses, all of the Old
Testament prophets. And He expounded, He explained,
He taught unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning
Himself. Now I want you to go down to
verse 31. And their eyes were opened and
they knew Him. And He vanished out of their sight. Now listen,
here's the result of a child of God who's had the grace of
God shine in their hearts, revealing Jesus Christ and His grace. And their eyes were opened, and
they knew Him, and He vanished out of their sight. And they
said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while
He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us, while
He explained to us, while He talked to us, while He revealed
these truths to us in scriptures? Tasted grace brings one result. Heed it glorious. Let Him glory
in the Lord. Amen.