Marvelous grace. That's what
we sung about. Marvelous grace. And the last
song we're going to sing is amazing grace. How sweet the sound. Grace, greater. and all our sin. This is my favorite subject,
my favorite word, grace, in the Bible, truth. This is a subject, a word, a
truth, something that every church we are affiliated with goes by
that name, Grace Church. We preach the gospel of God's
grace. Grace is salvation. For by grace
are you saved. Grace, you've heard these things
before, but God forbid that we should take for granted His grace. May it become more amazing and
more marvelous to us all the time. We've sung that song, Amazing
Grace, many times. I hate to hear people sing it
that don't believe, but boy, we ought to sing it all the time
from our home. Grace is not an offer of God,
it's an act of God. It's by grace, not works. It's
God's will to show grace. It's not man's will. It's an
act of God. It's something God does to us.
It's something God does for us. It's something that Christ did
for us. Grace is a gift bestowed upon
us. It's not an offer that we accept
or reject. It's something that God did for
us in Christ and put it on us, put it in us. Grace, grace. We
call it unmerited favor. God loved and chose. Elected, yes, elected. You can't
talk about grace without electing grace. That's where it started.
God elected, God purposed to save to be merciful to and grace
show grace to do good, do nothing but good unto people who are
nothing but bad. That's amazing isn't it? A multitude of people, not
just a few, a multitude of people that did nothing to deserve it.
Undeserved, unmerited favor. God purposed to save those who
did nothing to deserve it. In fact, they did everything
to deserve His wrath, and His anger, and His judgment, and
His condemnation. And you, who were children of
wrath, even as others, but God. By grace, you say. Grace is a
gift. It means gifts. Once again, it's
not something that God offers. Here's the gift if you'll take
it. You who were dead, you were dead. This gift was something that
God did for you when you were dead. It's the gift of His Son. Nobody on planet earth deserved
for the Son of God to come down here. The story of Lot and Sodom. is
the story of us in this world. Okay? And God the Father and
Christ said, let's go down and see if the cry, the sins of these
people are as bad as I hear it. He said, they declare their sin
loudly and I'm hearing it in heaven. He said, I'm going to
go down and see if it's as bad as it sounds. And he did. He couldn't find
five righteous, but Lot found grace. That's me, that's you. Oh, the
gift of God's Son. He came to this earth to save.
Save who? Lost. Save who? Sinners. The gift of the Holy
Spirit of God has sent the gospel. He sent the gospel preacher to
convict, to convince, to teach, reveal the truth, the gift of
repentance. You and I would never say I'm
wrong. We would never say I'm sorry
if God didn't send the Holy Spirit to convict us and convince us
you're wrong, everything about you is wrong. Give us, make us
poor, mourn. We wouldn't mourn. The gift of
faith. We wouldn't believe, though it's
clear the heavens declare His glory, the firmament show His
handiwork, day unto day others' speech, the things of God are
clearly seen. We would not believe unless He
gave us eyes. Faith is sight. The Holy Spirit to keep us. We
will not stay in this path. We will not stay unless He keeps
us. To lead us. That's what we looked
at earlier. We need someone to lead us all
the days of our life. Do you need this message? Do
you need this? Grace. The hall of grace. The gift of
God's Son to come here. The gift of the Holy Spirit. You know, the Holy Spirit, when
Galatians 5 talks about the gift of the Holy Spirit, the first
fruit of the Holy Spirit is what? Love. Love, okay. Alright, look at our text here.
It says here in verse, look at 23. Verse 23. Ephesians 6. Peace be to the brethren. Where do we get peace? How do
we have peace with God who's angry with the whole world? Christ. You know then. He is our path.
Love. Where's love come from? The Son of His love, that's what
Christ is called. The love of God. The love of
God revealed through Christ crucified. Faith, where does that come from?
It's not of yourself, it's a gift of God. From God the Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ. And now he says here, grace be
with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Truly. Every single, Paul, the Lord
had Paul write 14 epistles, 10 of them are to the churches,
and three of them are to young preachers or two preachers, Timothy
and Titus. Another one to a friend, Philemon.
Okay. Every single epistle begins with
grace and ends with grace beyond you. Doesn't it? He read it,
John. You've all read it. The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Every single one of them.
This is the only one that says. The grace, grace be with all
them that love our Lord Jesus Christ. Did you hear me? It's the only one that gives
this condition. Grace be with you, if. You love
the Lord Jesus Christ. In another place, 1 Corinthians,
Paul said, If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him
be a curse. Let him be a curse. Now, we love Him. John wrote this. He said we love
Him. That wasn't presumption. It was
a fact. They did love Him. Because he personally loved you. And if God loves you, you'll love him. You'll love
Christ. Yes, he will. We all wonder,
and I've quoted this so many times, it's one of my favorites,
By the way, I started reading in Gadsby's Hymnal, William Cowper and John Newton,
when you start about number 280, there's one by Cowper, one by
Cowper, one by Newton, another one by Newton, keeps going. But
Newton's is right in the middle of that. He says, "'Tis a point
I long to know, and it often gives me anxious thought. Do
I love the Lord or no? Am I His or am I not? If I love
Him, why am I like this? My heart is so hard and prayer
is a burden and everything just bothers me. How could I love
Him? How could I know Him? I look
within me and it says all is vain and dark and wild and I'm
filled with unbelief and sin. How can I call myself His child? Anybody? If I pray or read hear or read
that sin is in everything I do. You that love the Lord indeed,
sincerely, tell me, is it this way with you? This is striking
a nerve with you. It's striking a chord with you. Before I go any further, there
was a time I could have read that to you and it meant nothing.
In fact, you wouldn't have been here to hear me read it. I don't
care. Why are you here? And you're
hearing this. And this is touching you. He
said, I mourn my stubborn will and I find my sin to grief and
a thrall that is an aggravation. Should I grieve for what I feel
if I did not love at all? Could I joy and joy his saints
to meet and choose the ways I once abhorred and find at times this
promise sweet if I did not love the Lord? No. Can you relate to that? We
don't talk about our love for him. We're ashamed of him. He's so weak, he's so frail. But it better be there. As little
as it is, it better be there. How do you know? How can you
know? I just told you. Newton just
told you. Love is in the heart. With the
heart man believes. You don't know God. You're not
saved by believing the doctrines of grace. You're not saved in believing
a sovereign God. The devil believes and trembles. You're not saved by believing
salvation is by grace. The devil knows it's by grace.
He knows it. It's the love of the truth. It's
the love of the truth. Love is in the heart. With the
heart man believeth unto salvation. Out of the heart are the issues
of life. Life, hearts, affections, desire. Set your affection, Colossians
3. Set your heart, your affection
on things above. Why? That's where Christ is. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you also appear if your heart is
set on Him. Now, you didn't set your heart
on Him. You didn't decide to love Him. God gave you this gift. The fruit of the Spirit is love,
number one. Faith? Yes. Hope? Yes. The greatest of these is love. Alright, let me see. My dad used
to always say, let me see if I can make good on this. What it means, you know. He said, the grace be with all
those who really love the Lord Jesus Christ. Do I, do you, do
you, do I, do you? It says in Romans 5 that the
love of God is shed abroad in the heart. The love of God is
shed abroad in the heart. Do you love God as God? How many times have we looked
at it? But do you, and I know you do, and some of you, I know
many of you, if not most, I know you love, when I start talking
about God being God, and I can't do it silently, quietly, without
some enthusiasm, especially in this day and age when they've
got a God that they have to let be God. Do you not love that
God is God? That He's going to be God no
matter what? And we don't let God. God came through the preachers
and sent the Gospel to let you know that He's God. Who? You! This is election. How many people can hear this
and not hear it or hear it and get mad? I don't like that. But
God chose you and said you will like this. You will love this.
You will thank me to high heaven for electing you. Our God is God. How could anybody have any peace,
any comfort, any security, anything, if God's not God? God is our Creator. What does
that mean? That means He made everything.
That means He owns it. Do you want God to own you? Do
you want God to be in absolute sovereign control of you and
your children and everything about you? Do you want that? Only those whom God loves does
He give this love for His absolute sovereignty over them. Here's
the difference between the world and God's people. The world does
not want their destiny in anyone's hands but themselves. They don't
want anybody in charge of their destiny. God's people, we don't
want any part of our destiny. We want Him to be in absolute
control of everything. We don't know what to do. We
don't know where to go. Oh, Lord. He said, I'll perform
it. I'll do it. I'll do it all for
you. His works of creation declare
His glory. Don't you see His hand so clearly?
His work of salvation, His greatest work of salvation is His glory. It's 100%. Don't you love His
glory? Do you love God's glory? If you really love God's glory,
you will hate man taking any glory whatsoever. You will hate
pride as much as God hates it. You'll hate it when you see it
in people's faces. haughtiness, arrogance, beautiful woman, look
at me, ain't I something? You're nothing. A proud, strong
man, you ain't nothing. Don't you hate pride? God hates
it. Why? Because He's stealing His
glory. Who made you strong? Who made
you beautiful? Who gave you what you got? Who made you rich? Who
did this? God did it. We know that, don't
we? And for anybody to take any glory at all, If you love God's
glory, you hate pride, and you especially hate it in yourself.
Do you love God? You love His glory. You'll hate
to hear anybody say anything about your God, the signs, the
slogans, everything. You'll hate it. When somebody
takes His blessed name and veins you, it's like a knife cutting
you in the heart. Take my mother's name. Take my
father's name. Don't take my God's name. Is that the way you
feel? This is love. This is love. You love his kingdom. Do you
love this world? The older I get, the longer I'm
here, the more vile it becomes. Doesn't it? Filthy. I smell it. I want to dwell in a place wherein
dwelleth righteousness. Are you ready to get out of here,
Lot? Huh? We're standing in the gate, Brother
Kelley, you and I. Michael, we're standing in the
gate like Lot. Watching at the post of his door, we're standing
in the gate. Somebody come get me! Aren't we, John? Yes, he's coming. Rahab, you
like this place? All I've ever done in this place
is sin. This place got a hold of me and
would have taken me down if God hadn't sent two men to tell me
the truth. I'm waiting on that trumpet to
sound. You love His Kingdom? You love
His church? You think this is a lovely place?
Do you? A heavenly place? Is this heaven
on earth to you? Is it? These people. Look at them. Who
we got here? Who we got here? We got a horse
trainer, a railroader, a mechanic, a truck driver, a bunch of nobodies. And these are my saints. There's
a few wise and mighty and noble and just a few. But mostly they're
a bunch of nobodies from nowhere. Galileans. Franklin Countians. Can anything good come out of
Franklin County? That's what the world thinks.
Can anything good... That's what Roanoke said. We're
in Roanoke County. Well, they're joined together
at the hip. You love these people. These
are my people, huh? Man, there was a time when I was a lot younger,
in my teens and early twenties. How too cool to dwell with these
squares. That's a fact. And then a man like Henry Sword
became my best friend. There's nothing I'd rather do
than go down and sit in that old one-room general store around
that wood stove and talk about the
gospel. And we're still here, bud. That's grace. Worship. Do you love what we're doing
right now? This is what we're doing here. No entertainment. Nothing. There's nothing going
on here. But one time. This is all that
happens Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday, Wednesday. This is all we do
here. Same time. You sit and I preach. We sing and we pray and we read
and that's it. And we go come back Wednesday
and do the same thing. Do you love this? There was a time it was telegiac. My parents were trying to kill
me. It's a fact, isn't it? This is
the love of God. It should have broadened your
heart. Now here it says in our text,
Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ. What's His name? What's His first
name? Watch His cheap glory, huh? Who
is this? What Jesus is this? Lord. Grace be with them that love
the Lord Jesus Christ. Margaret used to say so many
things that make people so mad. She said, Jesus doesn't save. It's the Lord Jesus that saves.
If He's not Lord, He can't save. We can't say. He said, you can't
have Him as Jesus unless He's first your Lord. And this whole
world, you know, is talking about Jesus this and Jesus that. Which one is He? Who is He? Describe Him. Well, God's people
can. He's Lord. That's just not with
the lips. They believe in their heart.
They know. And they believe he's Lord. That man who came down
here, he's not just a man. We know why he was born a virgin.
Because he's God. We know why he was born a virgin.
Because he's not the son of Adam. He's the son of God. Not the
son of Mary. He's the son of God. He's God
manifested flesh. He's Lord. This is not just something,
well, I believe He's God, so I'm saved. No, no, no. All your salvation, your hope,
and everything depends on that man who came here being God.
Because if He's not God, He's a liar. He's the biggest liar
that ever lived. He's Lord. He's sovereign ruler.
God has put all judgment into the hands of Jesus Christ. They say, well, Jesus wouldn't
judge anybody. Hold on now. He's judging everybody. He sits
on the right hand of the Magician High as judge of the universe.
Isn't it? Right now. He's not outside somebody's heart
door. No, no, no, no. He's on the circle
of the earth. This is Jesus. This is Jesus. This is the Lord Jesus. You love
His Lordship? Did you make Him Lord? No, you
know better than that. And you'd love the fact that
God made Him Lord. He made Him your Lord. Surely,
John, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Are you one of them? Here's two.
Lord. I'm not just spouting doctrine
here. This is our hope. It's in a person. And that person is God manifest
in the flesh. Lord. Lord. The Lord is someone,
a sovereign is someone who does as he pleases, with whom he pleases,
because he pleases. Do you love that? They said,
we will not have this man reign over us. And I'm sorry, but he does. And here's the love that God
puts in the hearts of His people. Come and reign over us. Reign over us. He does as He
pleases. He has sovereign will. You cannot
know God and believe Jesus Christ if you believe free will. You
cannot. You don't know God. You don't
know man. You don't know salvation. You
don't love God. You don't believe Christ. Can't. He's the only one that says,
I will. And I'm so glad. I don't want
my will. I love his will being done. Thy
will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.
I love that. He's the Lord, our righteousness. Jehovah, Sid, Kenneth. John's smiling. You say that
name to the average Jehovah witness out there, and I've done it.
They don't have a clue what you're talking about. Jehovah Shalom. What are you talking about? The
Lord our peace. Jehovah Ra. Jehovah Rapha. Jehovah Sidkenu. Jehovah Jireh. The Lord will provide. The Lord
who provides everything. The Lord who's in charge like
Joseph of all the storehouses. He has it all. I'm so glad it's
all in His hands. You know what? This Lord gives. If you get it, you're going to
get it from Him. And He takes it away. He doesn't ask you. Aren't you
glad? You would never part with anything. Anyone. It's up to Him. Aren't you glad? He gives and
He takes away. He gave it. It's His to give. It's His to take away. Do you
love that? Would you want to know what the
future holds? Do you want to know what's going
to happen? No, you don't. No, you don't. But if you know
Him, you have peace. He's Lord. He's Lord. Oh, my Lord, our everything. Jesus. Grace be to them who love
the Lord Jesus Christ. His name is Savior. I love that name, don't you?
Jesus. It means Savior. It means Joshua.
Not everybody loves Joshua, brother. Thomas, when Joshua came, they
hated him. They wanted him dead. Didn't they? It bothered Joshua. What's Joshua
doing? He's taking everything that's
his. Taking everything and everyone
that God gave him. Joshua, go in and get them. Anybody
bows to you, anybody pleads with you for mercy, show mercy on
them. If they don't, kill them. That's the Jesus of Scripture.
But He came to save. He came to save. Who did He come
to save? What do you do when you save somebody, huh? Why do
they need saving? What does that mean? They were
lost? Huh? They were lost. He said, I've
come that they might have life. What does that mean? To give
them life. What does that mean? You didn't have life, you're
dead. He's Savior. That's His name. He didn't try
to give life. He's life. Aren't you glad that
your sons and daughter your children, your lost spouse, it's up to
Jesus Christ. It's not up to anybody or anything.
It's up to Him. And when He says the Word, John,
it's done. She's going to believe. Aren't
you glad? Because you'd be wringing your
hands with despair. No, it's hopeless. No, it's not
hopeless. Christ is there. It wasn't hopeless for me. And
if it's in the fullness of time, He sends His Son through the
Gospel, she's going to believe. So you've got to come and sit
and love this gospel. Just like you. It's all up to
Him. He's the Savior. He didn't come
to try to save. He came to save. He didn't come
to make a down payment. He came to pay for it all. He
didn't come to show you the way. He came to be the way. He's the
Savior. That's His name. If He doesn't
save every single person He came to save, don't call Him Jesus. Don't call Him Jesus. your Armenian
neighbors and all that. Say, can Jesus save anybody?
Can He save anybody? And they all say, yes, He can. Then ask them this question.
Why doesn't He? Why doesn't He? Because they
won't let Him. Oh, hold on there. I thought
He could save anyone. But they won't let Him. Then
He can't unless they let Him. Wrong Jesus. This is Jesus. Came to seek and
to save that which was lost. He said, when He finds them. Not if. When He finds them. I'm the Good Shepherd, He said.
And when I find them, I lay them on my... Here, He takes the first,
you take the first step. No, no, no, no, no. He lays them
on His shoulder and takes them all the way back to glory. He
says, here they are. My sheep that was lost. I found
them. Jesus. You love this Jesus? The Lord Jesus Christ. Christ. That's Messiah. Christ. Messiah. That's what that means.
Messiah. Covenant head. The Messiah is
a covenant head. All Israel knew that their hope
was in a covenant head. The second Adam from above. Only one God except. God deals
with two people. Adam, the first Adam, and Christ,
the second Adam. Do you know what that meant?
Yes, you do. Yes, you do. The world talks about covenant.
You need to make a covenant. We'll make a covenant. Hold on.
There's one covenant that matters. It's the one that God made, an
oath and a covenant. And he made that with Christ.
Okay. In Adam, all die. You keep this
law, you don't do this, and you'll live. If you do this, you'll
die. And Adam all died. So here Christ comes. Christ. Second Adam comes. If you keep
this, they'll live. If you do this, I'll accept them. It's all up to Him. One person.
The Christ. Covenant hands. All dependent
on Him. He gets all the glory. He did all the work, and so He
gets all the glory, and here it is in three words, Christ
is all. Do you love that? Do you love that Christ is all? Christ. He's the One coming to
destroy the world. Yes, He is. People, places, and
things wipe them out. He's the one coming to take His
people out of this world, to take them to His eternal place,
to be with Him, to behold His glory, to worship Him forever. That's it. Right. What do you think about that?
Let me close with this story. You've heard it so many times.
Go back to Hosea. Hosea. Book of Hosea. I wanted to get
to this. Daniel, Hosea. Joel Amos, Hosea. We love Him. We do. I ask you this. Do you love God
as God? Do you love His truth? Do you
love His Church, His Kingdom? Do you love Christ as Lord? Do you love that He's the only
Savior? That He's the Christ? Do you
love Him? Do you? We love Him. Here's why. Because He first loved you. He
said. You had nothing to do with this
man. And since, John, since you had nothing to do with this love,
you didn't come up with it, you can't lose it. I got some real good news here.
If God has put this love in your heart, you can't lose it. If
you're in Christ, you can't get out. John, I'd love, if you never
say anything else, you said this. He said, I can't get away. He comes to seek and to save
His law, and they can't get away. His arm's not short. They ain't fast enough. And I guess Brother Kelly said,
I tried. I tried to get away, but I couldn't. And that's good news. Hosea,
the whole book, is the book of Christ. It's all about Christ
and His forlorn people. It begins in chapter 3, just
real quickly with me, would you? Chapter 3, the Lord said, Go
love a woman, beloved of her friend, but she is an adulteress
according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel.
What do they love? Wine, women, and song and stuff. That's all they're doing. Go
love them. Christ came. The love of God. Chapter 4. Look at chapter 4.
And Ephraim is the name for his bride, his people. Ephraim. Supposed
to be fruitful. Not. And verse 17, chapter 4,
verse 17. Ephraim is joined to his idols. Leave him alone. Don't bother
with him. Let him go. Let him go. That's
what he wants. He doesn't want God. He doesn't
want me. He doesn't want... Leave him alone. All he wants
is this world and the stuff in it. Is that you? Look at chapter 11. Chapter 11. Ephraim and Israel are the same.
Verse 1. Chapter 11, verse 1. When Israel
was a child, I loved him. When Israel was a child, I loved
him. I called my son out of Egypt. You know, all these children
are so beautiful when they're young, aren't they? Man, oh man.
Oh, they're just beautiful. Well, if they get older and sin
gets a hold of them and the world and pride and all that, they
get real ugly. They can get real bad, real bad. And that precious
little beautiful son that gave his mother and father so much
joy, that daughter who was the apple of her daddy's eye becomes
a harlot. Man, it's bad, isn't it? It can
happen. It happens all the time. When
he was a child, in verse 4, he said, I drew them with cords
of a man and bands of love. Chords of a man? What's that
mean? Christ was bound. Bind the sacrifice
to the altar. That's Christ. Chords of a man. I'm going to take off the yoke
on there, John. Look down at verse 8. Are you looking at Hosea 11.8?
How can I give you up? Leave him alone. That's what
he wants. Let him have it. A lot of things happen. He gets
in bad shape. She gets in bad shape. And then
he says, I'm not going to leave you alone.
I can't give you up. Let him alone. What do you need
with him? I don't need anything with him. But I love him. I love her. I love her. Look at chapter 14
and I quit. Chapter 14 says in verse 4, I
will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely. Mine anger is turned away from
him. God commendeth His love toward
us, and while we were yet sinners, herein is love. Not that we loved
God, but He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sin. Now that anger's turned away. His anger fell on Christ crucified. And then so, verse 8, here's
how it ends. Oh, Ephraim. Listen to Ephraim's
dying words. Let these be mine. Verse 8, Ephraim
shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I've heard
him. I've heard what he did for me.
I've heard his mercy and his grace to me. I've heard what
Christ did on the cross for me through the gospel. It's amazing. It's just amazing
graces with it.