I love these old writers, these
old Puritans, and quite often I begin a message quoting one
of them. And the quote has something to
do with the message that I'm going to bring this morning.
George Whitfield was preaching one day from the text, Heaven
and Earth shall pass away But the Lord said, My word shall
never pass away. And Whitefield said this, The
Lord cares not what becomes of this world, for one day it will
pass away. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
and the earth and its works shall be burned up. But his word endures forever."
And he went on to say, God can make a new heaven, God can make
a new earth according to his word, and there will be a new
heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. God can
make a new heaven and a new earth. but he cannot make a new truth. God may make a new heaven and
a new earth, but he cannot make a new gospel. God may make a
new heaven and a new earth, but he cannot make a new Savior,
a new Redeemer. Because there's one Lord, there's
one faith, there's one baptism, There's one God and Father and
there's one body and there's one hope of your calling. So I thought as I prepared this
message for today that this could be my last message to a congregation. It could be. It very well could
be. As Baxter said, I preach as one
who may never preach again. I preach as a man, a dying man,
but I preach to dying men. So that being true, I'm going
to preach this morning. I'm going to try to sound a clear,
solid, straight truth, gospel, redeemer, with this The miracle of grace. The miracle
of grace. That's my subject this morning.
The miracle of grace. Remember that old song they used
to sing? My Father is omnipotent. And that you can't deny. He's a God of might and miracle. It's written in the sky. It took
a miracle to put the stars in place. It took a miracle to hang
this world in space, but when he saved my soul, cleansed and
made me whole, it took a miracle. It took a miracle of love and
grace, blood and death, sacrifice and salvation. So this miracle
of grace that I want to talk to you about involves a change. It involves a radical, complete
change. And this is what I'm talking
about. This miracle of grace involves and demands a change
of mind, a change of thoughts. This miracle of grace demands
and requires a change of masters, totally, completely. And this
miracle of grace demands and requires and involves a change
of manners. Would you keep that in mind?
If anybody's saved here today, it's because God changed his
mind, your mind, not his, but yours. God gave us a new master,
and Almighty God changed our manners. in our deeds, in our
thoughts. Because the miracle of grace
and the miracle of salvation starts where? It starts in the
mind and in the heart. And the miracle of salvation
crowns a new king, and it crowns a new lord. And the miracle of
salvation, without doubt, produces A new creature. Old things pass
away, and behold, all things become new. Let's start, first
of all, with Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. A change, a change
of mind. A change of mind and thought. In Isaiah
55 verse 6, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye
upon him while he's near. And let the wicked, the unbeliever,
the sinner, forsake his way. Let the unrighteous man forsake
his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and
the Lord will have mercy upon him. Let him return to God, who
will abundantly pardon, because my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my
thoughts than your thoughts." Somebody said one time in my
presence, they said this, they said, well, you can't condemn
a man for his thoughts. No, you can't, but God can. God
can condemn you for his thoughts. God condemns us for our thoughts
and our ways. That's what's wrong with us.
We have the bad ways, bad thoughts. Turn with me to Psalm 50. See
if this is not what we're going to say right here. Psalm chapter
50, verse 19. Psalm 50, verse 19. God Almighty demands a change
of thoughts concerning God, concerning God. What do you think about
God? Who is God? What is God like? Well, look
at this scripture here in Psalm 50, verse 19. Thou givest thy mouth to evil,
and thy tongue frameth deceit. thou sinnest and speakest evil
against thy brother, thou slander'st thy own mother's son, and these
things hast thou done. And I kept silence. Thou thoughtest
that I was altogether such a one as yourself, but I'll reprove
thee, I'll set things in order before you, I won't straighten
you out about this. He said, You thought I was like
yourself, but you're not. I'm not like you. Your thoughts
are not my thoughts, and your ways are not my ways, and I will
reprove you and set some things in order before your eyes. Now
consider this, you that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces,
and there be none to deliver. But whoso offereth praise glorifies
me, and to him that ordereth his conversations, starts talking
right, thinking right, walking right, to him I'll show my salvation,
my change about our thoughts, our thoughts about God. And there's
got to be a change concerning our thoughts about Christ. about
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's look at Matthew chapter
16. Matthew chapter 16. What think
ye of Christ? Whose son is he? That's got to
be straightened out. We've got to straighten this
thing out. Who is Jesus Christ? What did he do? Why did he do
it? Where is he now? Matthew chapter
16. Listen to this. Matthew 16, 13. When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, whom do men, now
who's the world? Men, that's the world, that's
not his disciples, that's everybody. Whom do men say that I, the Son
of Man, am? The Son of Man, Jesus Christ,
who am I? Well, they said they've got a
lot of different opinions, Lord. Some say you're John the Baptist.
Some say you're Elijah. Some say you're Jeremiah. Some
say you're one of the prophets. But He said to them, Whom say
ye? He didn't say, Son of Man. He
said, Whom do you say I am? Whom do you say I am? That's who God says He is. I
am. I am. I am God. There's none
else. Now whom do you say that I am?
And Peter answered, I know who you are. I know you're the Christ,
the Son of the living God. I know who you are. Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Simon Peter answered
and said that, and then the Lord answered him and said, blessed
are you. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you. You didn't know that by nature. You didn't know
that by education. You didn't know that from your
professors. You didn't know that until God showed it to you. Blessed art thou, Simon, son
of Jonah, for flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you, but
my Father which is in heaven. And we know this. We know this. Ron just read it. We know that
the Son of God has come. He has come and given us an understanding. That's where it starts, a mind,
thought, and understanding. The Son of God has come and given
us an understanding. He's changed our minds and our
thoughts concerning who God is and who Christ is, that we may
know Him that is true, that we're in Him that is true, and we're
in His Son, Jesus Christ. It's got to be done. It's got
to be a change. You've got to straighten out your thinking,
your ways, your thoughts about who Christ is. There's got to
be a change in our thoughts about God. There's got to be a change
in our thoughts about Christ. There's got to be a change in
our thoughts about ourselves. Lord, save me from my enemies. Lord, save me from my friends.
Lord, save me from myself. I'm the problem." Let's hear
some of God's servants' thoughts about themselves. Peter said,
Lord, depart from me. I'm a sinner. Paul said, I was
alive without the law, but when the law came, I'm a dead man. David said, I acknowledge my
transgressions. My sin is ever before me. I was
shaped in iniquity. I brought forth from the womb
speaking lies. Isaiah said, I'm a man of unclean
lips. I dwell among a people of unclean
lips. And old Job said, Lord, if I
justify myself, then not. My own mouth will condemn me.
I'll be condemned out of my own mouth if I set forth my own righteousness. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of
God. It can't be done. Now, you remember these three
facts, this change of mind, change of heart, change of thoughts.
It's got to be done. Remember these three facts, these
are powerful. Number one, most people, I mean
most people, are reluctant to admit before God the one thing
that makes them an object of free grace. What is the one thing
that makes you an object of free grace? You know what it is? It's
to confess that you're a sinner. That's hard for folks to confess.
I told this story a few days ago. Where did I preach last?
I forget, but I told this. I said, I was sitting in my study
one day and the phone rang and the lady on the end of the line
said, well, may I? I said, yes, ma'am. She said,
this is so and so. I said, how are you today? She
said, well, I'm fine. I said, my husband's in bad shape. Well, I never even met her husband. He's never been to church. I
didn't know him. She came pretty regularly. I
said, what's the problem? He said he's been hurt. He was
burning down at the sewer lines in the city and the gas thing
blew up on him and he's hurt. She said, I don't think he's
hurt near as bad as he's scared. I said, well, I don't blame him.
I think I beat this too. Well, she said, he wants you
to come to him, come down here and visit him and talk to him
about the Lord. He's in the hospital. I said,
I'll be right down. So I got my Bible and I love
to do things like this. I love to go talk to somebody
about the Bible, especially if they've been hurt or if they're
scared. But I stood and I saw he was all right, you know. And
I said, well, Fred, I said, I'm awful sorry about your problem
and this accident. And I said, you said you want
me to talk to you about the Lord. Yes, I do. Well, I said, let
me start here. Do you know that you're a sinner?
Can you confess before God that you're a sinner who needs salvation
and help? He got real quiet. He said, I wouldn't say that.
I said, you wouldn't say that. He said, no. I said, what would
you say? Well, he said, I'm not, I've
never been, I've never been a propane swearer. I never cussed. He said,
I never did much drinking. And I never did do too much bad
things, you know. He said, I don't say I was a
sinner. Do you, honey? I said, why? I said, all right. He said, no. Honestly. What can you do? Close my Bible. And I said, well,
Fred, I'm sorry you got hurt, and I'm sorry you're in the hospital,
but I don't have a thing for you. You want me to talk to you
about the Lord, but the Lord only came to save sinners. So
I can't talk to you about the Lord, because this Lord died
for sinners. And I'll see you when you come
to hear me preach. It just has to be that way. Most
people are reluctant to admit they're sinners. And secondly,
your greatest enemy is not your sinful self. Your greatest enemy
is your righteous self. The Lord came to save sinners. He came not to call the righteous
to repent. And then the third fact, the people who were turned away
from Christ at the judgment when he said, I never knew you, were
not turned away because they were sinners. They were turned
away because they claimed to be righteous. And he said, I
never, I never knew you. They would not confess that they're
sinners. What think ye of God? What think ye of Christ? What think ye of yourself? Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. That's what I think. All right,
the second thing about this conversion, this miracle of salvation, it
involves not only our thoughts about Christ, about God, about
our Lord Jesus Christ, but this miracle of salvation involves
a change of masters, a change of masters. change of masters. When the Lord
God operates on a man's thoughts and heart and the way he sees
things, God Almighty not only confesses
him of sin, but God crowns a new master in his life, a new in
his life, a new Lord in his home. God crowns a new Lord, a new
master, a new master. Someone said to Brother Barnard
one time, he said, Preacher, he said, I've accepted the Bible,
I've read the Bible, I believe the Bible, and I've accepted
Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. He said, Brother Barnard, do
you believe I'm saved and on my way to heaven? Barnard was
a person who had deep insight into people's thoughts and conversations. Barnard said, I don't know. I
really don't know. I do know this, one thing, that
if you say you've accepted Christ as your personal Savior, I'd
like to ask you this. Who's your Lord? Who's your Lord? The Scripture says this, If thou
shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe
in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Let me tell you this, and I did
this the other day. I was looking at this scripture
in John 13, and we'll read it in a few minutes. I was looking
at this scripture in John 13, and I just picked up the concordance
and started reading about the references to our Lord made by
these writers of scripture. And invariably, they called Him,
not Jesus, they called Him Lord. They called Him Master. He said,
you call me Lord and master, you say, well, so I am master. Let's look at that in John 13.
John chapter 13, verse 13. John 13, verse 13. John chapter 13, verse 13. You know, our Lord had just washed
the disciples feet. They came in from the street,
and this was a custom back in those days, that when a person
came into your home, they wore sandals and they walked barefooted,
and they came into a person's home, the first thing they would
do is a servant would wash their feet. Now, the lord of the house
didn't do that, and the lady of the house didn't do that.
The lowest servant would render that thing to them. The lowest servant
would wash their feet. And our Lord Jesus Christ says,
let's go back here in verse 3, John 13 verse 3, Jesus knowing
that all things the Father had given him into his hand and that
he was come from God, went to God, he rises from supper and
laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself. After that, he poured water into
a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, began to render
to them a service, a lowly service, a difficult service. And I'll
tell you this, I'll tell you this, No man can serve two masters. He might have a dozen different
masters, but he can't serve but one. This is the key to that
thing. Serving. Serving. Our Lord. Serving. When you serve
him, you serve his people, you serve him. That's what he said. He said no man can serve two
masters. He'd either love the one and
hate the other, hate the one, love the other. But let's go
ahead here. So he poured water into the basin, verse 5, began
to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel
wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter.
And Peter said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? Imagine
they were sitting around in a circle, and Peter just, when the Lord
came to him, he washed this person, that, and he started to wash
Peter's feet, and Peter just pulled his feet back. He said,
Lord, you going to wash my feet? And our Lord said to him, what
I do, thou knowest not now, but you shall know hereafter. You'll
understand what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, later on. I've got many things to say to
you. You can't bear them yet, but I'll tell you later on. Well,
Peter said, you'll never wash my feet. You'll never. And Jesus said, well, Peter,
If I don't wash you, you have no part in me. If I don't cleanse
you with the blood and wash you from your sins and redeem you
and die for you, you have no part. You have no part in the
covenant, no part in heaven, no part in the kingdom of God.
Well, Peter changed his tune. He said, Lord, don't just wash
my face. Wash my head, my hands. He said, Lord, such did Peter.
He just washed. He just redeemed. The blood has
been shed for his sins, and sins have been put away, and I died
for him. He just washed, justified. It needs only, it needs not to
say to wash his feet, because he's clean, ever wet. You're
all clean. You're clean, ever wet. What's the Lord mean by
that? Well, he means just this. When
I was in the Navy, in the service, and I was in a amphibians, amphibian
forces, and sometimes we'd be on land, and sometimes we'd live
in tents, and sometimes the only place to take a bath was to walk
down to the bathhouse, that bathhouse down here, you know. So we'd
take our towels and wrap them around us, and then we'd start
walking down the dirt path or by sand, and we'd go into the
bathhouse and we'd wash. And then the only way back to
the My tent was through the mud, through the sand, through the
dirt. So I walked back. But I've been washed now. I've
been washed all over. What I do now? Wash my face. And when you're walking through
this world, Christ has redeemed us. Christ put away our sin.
Every old John Wesley one time said, Lord, said, when I get
up in the morning, I pray, Lord, save me from sin. When I go to
bed at night, the Lord says, I pray, Lord, save me from my
sins still. Not only it's starting that way,
but I'm ending that. When I walk through this world,
and I'll tell you this about walking through the mud. If you
ever walk through the mud, barefooted, well, if you walk through the
mud, the longer you walk, the more mud you get on your feet.
As you walk through the mud, you get more mud. And the longer
you walk through the mud, the slower you walk. You just keep
on walking. You accumulate more mud. And
I'm going to tell you something else. The hardest thing to do
is when your feet are covered in mud, to leave the feet. So we walk through this earth.
Our Lord says this. He said you don't need to be
washed your head, but you need to forgive me of my sins. That's our start prayer. That's our prayer at the end
of the day. And then look at verse 10. He
said, he said this, he said, he that's washed, and he did
not save to wash his feet, but he's clean ever with. And you're
clean, but not all of you. For he knew who would betray
him, therefore he said, you're not clean. He's talking about
Judas. Christ died for the sins of his people, particularly redemption. So after he'd finished washing
their feet, taking his garments, and sat down, he said to them,
do you know what I've done for you? Do you understand what I've
done for you? Now here's what he's going to
say. I know he's talked to them about saving their souls and
redeeming them and putting away their sins and washing them.
But he said, do you also know what I've done for you? I'm your
Lord and Master. You call me Lord and Master. And you say, well, so I am. Now
watch this. I have given you. If I, your
Lord and master, verse 14, have washed your feet, you ought to
render the same service to others. That's what he said. Service. If I'm your master, serve me. Serve me in serving my people.
serve me in serving my people. Inasmuch as you've done it to
the least of these, my brethren, you've done it to me. Inasmuch
as you have not done it, you have not done it to me. I am
your Lord and your Master. And verse 15, and I've given
you this example that you should do, that you should do as I've
done for you. Verily I say unto you, the servant
is not greater than his Lord. Neither is he greater than he
that sent him. This is my third point. When
the Lord gives us a miracle of grace, he not only changes our
thoughts and our minds, he not only crowns us, crowns for us
a new master, a new Lord, but he changes our attitude toward
others. He changes our manners. A change of mind leads to a change
of master, which also leads to a change of attitude and spirit
and a growth in grace. And I want to close by reading
Scripture in Colossians 3, Colossians chapter 3. Colossians 3, starting
with verse 12. Colossians 3 verse 12, change
of mind leads to a change of masters, leads to a change of
manners. Colossians 3 verse 12, put on
therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercy,
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing
one another, forgiving one another, Even if any man have a quarrel
against any, even as Christ forgave you, you forgive them. And above
all, above all things, put on love, which is the bond of perfectness,
and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which
also your cause in one body be fight for. Let the Word of Christ
dwell in you richly with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
with grace in your heart to the Lord. And whatsoever you do in
word or deed, do it in the name of your Lord Jesus Christ, your
Master. Do it in the name of the Master,
giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. Submit yourselves
to your husbands as it fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your
wives. Be not bitter against them. Children,
obey your parents in all things. This is well-pleasing to them.
It's a change of manners. It's a change of thought and
heart and mind and masters, but it's a change of manners. Fathers,
provoke not your children to anger. lest they be discouraged. Servants, obey in all things
your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service,
as men pleases, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. And whatever
you do, do it heartily to the Lord, to your master. We serve in our mastery, and
not to men. Knowing that of the Lord you're
going to receive a reward of inheritance, so you serve the
Lord Christ. He's your master. And be that he that doeth wrong,
he's going to receive the wrong whereof he hath done with no
respect of persons. I want to close this message
on the change. Chains is wrought by the touch
of the master's hand." The Lord comes in. The poet said this,
"'Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer thought it
scarcely worth his while to waste much time on an old violin, so
he held it up with his fine. And he said, "'What'll I bid,
good folks? Who'll start the bidding for
me, for this old violin? A dollar? Two dollars? Somebody make it three. Going
for three. And now, from the room far back,
a gray-haired man came probably and picked up the bow, and he
tightened the loosened strings. And then he played a melody on
that old violin like a caroling angel sang. Then, the auctioneer,
in a voice of quiet and love, he said, What am I bid for the
old violin?" And he held it up with a bow. A thousand? Two thousand? Somebody make it three. Going
once, going twice, going and gone, cried he. Three thousand
dollars. And the people cheered. And some
of them cried, we don't understand. What changed the words of that
old violin? He said, the touch of the master's
hand. touch of the Master. And many
a man and woman live totally out of tune. He's auctioned off
by a foolish crowd just like that old violin, but the Master
comes. And I can't understand, you can't
understand the change that's wrought because he has to do
it by the touch of the Master. I wish we had that song gave
Shackled by a heavy burden, that'd be a good one to sing right now.
Shackled by a heavy burden, bent beneath a load of care, He touched
me and made me whole. Well, you come and lead us in
whatever you chose already. The Lord bless you. Let's sing hymn number 236
and stand. We'll sing the whole song. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now
am found. Was blind, but now I see. T'was grace that taught my heart
to fear And grace my fears relieved How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come His grace hath brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home When we've been there ten thousand
years Bright shining as the sun We've no less days to sing God's
praise Than when we first begun Okay.