Let me see. OK, go back to Acts chapter 11.
With Acts chapter 11, I've been thinking on these verses for almost three weeks, perhaps,
since I read it, one verse in particular. Thinking and thinking
and thinking about it. asking for a message. The Apostle Peter and six of
his brethren had been out preaching, had been traveling around preaching
the gospel, and they came back to Jerusalem, where the early
church started in Jerusalem. They came back to Jerusalem with
reports of how the Lord had blessed their preaching, how the Lord
had blessed the gospel to the salvation of many. Gentiles,
not Jews, not those from Israel, but people from other nations
and tribes and kindreds, had heard the word and the Lord had
blessed them, the Lord had saved them, the Lord had given them
faith. And you read it with me, the church of Jerusalem was,
they were skeptical, but after Peter rehearsed all everything
that the Lord did in his story, miraculous story, they believed. And they were glad. It says they
rejoiced. They said, well, then God, they glorified God and said,
God has granted repentance unto life to the Gentiles also. And
we're happy about that. And so the church at Jerusalem,
which was a huge church at the time, the church at Jerusalem
sent Barnabas. Barnabas was a faithful man there
in the church, and they sent Barnabas on a missionary journey
to preach the gospel. It says they sent him as far
away as Antioch, which is about 600 miles from Jerusalem. They
sent him to Antioch to preach, and there was a great number,
verse 21, it says, a great number, believe, turned to the Lord.
There were a great number of believers there at Antioch, and
this is where Barnabas came. Now, verse 23, this is where
I want to do it. So when Barnabas, when he came,
Barnabas came to Antioch. When he came and had seen the
grace of God, was glad, and he exhorted them all. all
the people in Antioch, believers, that with purpose of heart, they
would cleave unto the Lord. And as you read with me, Barnabas
and Paul preached there a year, a whole year they stayed there
and preached the gospel. Wouldn't you have liked to have
been there for a year, hearing Paul and Barnabas preach? Barnabas,
it says, when he came to Antioch, verse 23, really caught my attention. It says he, when he had seen
the grace of God, he was glad. He was so happy. He saw the grace
of God. What does that mean? What does
it mean, he saw the grace of God? He came to Antioch, there
were all these people meeting to worship and hear the word,
and he saw the grace of God. What does that mean? Well, turn
with me, look at verse 14. Look back at verse 14. Now, this
is what the Lord told to Cornelius, that Peter would come preaching. Verse 14, the Lord said to Cornelius,
Peter, who, he's the one who shall tell thee words whereby
thou and all thy house shall be saved. Words. This man's going to come and
tell you words whereby you may be saved. And this is what happened. They
came preaching, not signs and wonders and miracles. They came
preaching the word of the Lord. The scripture calls it the word
of his grace. The word of his grace. And it
says that Barnabas, when he came to this city and he saw so many
people, believers, he saw the grace of God. That is, he saw
the effects of the preaching of the gospel of God's grace. He saw what God had done through
the preaching of the gospel of his sovereign grace. And he was
so glad. Go with me to Ephesians chapter
2. The book of Ephesians chapter
2. The angel told Cornelius, Peter is going to preach to you
word. whereby thou shalt be saved." Words? How are we saved? How
is a person saved? Well, 1 Corinthians 1 verse 20
tells us this. It says, It pleased God. Chapter
1 verse 21 says, In the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God, but it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save. This is what God uses, what the
world calls foolishness. The world doesn't want to hear
it. It's becoming out of vogue now. A man standing up with a
Bible declaring the truth, preaching what the world calls foolishness.
But God, this is the power of God. This is what God uses. Words,
but not just any words. Not just any word. Not just any
gospel, anything somebody calls a gospel. And the word grace
must be defined. The word of his grace. Ephesians
2, these are words whereby you also may be saved. Ephesians
2, look at it. Ephesians 2 says this. In verse, you know this by heart,
you can quote it, verse 8, for by grace are you saved. What does grace mean? What does
the word grace mean? Offer? Grace means gift, not offer. Grace means a gift bestowed,
not a gift offered. God never offered anybody salvation. God gives salvation. God bestows
salvation. Christ is never offered to anybody.
I saw a huge sign on my way to Bedford the other day on Route
460 East. A huge sign by a so-called Baptist
church there that said, and it had a big picture of a cross,
and it said, That's a lie. God didn't offer
Christ to men. Christ offered himself, the scripture
says, unto God. That's what the scripture said,
that Christ offered his own precious blood unto God, who accepted
the offering on behalf of his people. And God Almighty gave
unto Christ a people. Christ said in John 6, All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and he that cometh to
me I will no wise cast out. All given by the Father to the
Son, God Almighty sends the Holy Spirit through the preaching
of the gospel just to tell them about it. Not offer them Christ. but to
declare unto them who God is, who Christ is, and what Christ
has done for them. What God has done for them, what
Christ has done for them, what the Holy Spirit has done and
will do for them. It's called the gospel of their
salvation. It's not an offer, it's a declaration. And God Almighty, like a new
birth, doesn't ask, doesn't beg, doesn't plead, doesn't offer
this to men, he just simply declares it to them. and opens their ears
and eyes and heart to believe and receive. A man can receive
nothing, John said, except it be given him from above. John 1 verse 12 and 13 says,
As many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the
sons of God, which were born, not of blood, not of the will
of man, not of the will of the flesh, but of God. They were born of God. They received
him because they received this gift of faith from above. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
offer? No. Gifts. And the gifts and
calling of God are without repentance. It's eternal grace. Grace means,
here's a very simple definition of grace. It means getting what
you don't deserve. Getting what you don't deserve.
It's not something you earn, you do to acquire it, it's a
gift. I'll give you a simple illustration. I give John, hugely, five dollars. He didn't do anything to earn
it. I give it to him. I don't offer it to him, I give
it to him. I put it in his hands and say, here, take that. He takes it. It's a gift. He
didn't do anything to earn it. Now, if he cuts my grass and
I give him five dollars, that's work, isn't it? He's earned that
five dollars. That's work. It can't be both
a gift or grace and work. It can't be both. It's one or
the other. Paul writes that in Romans. It's either works or
it's grace. And many people make a work out
of faith. This is what I see in the great
prevalent error in religion today. They make a work out of faith.
They make faith something that man must do. Well, then God,
then it's not grace, is it? If God saves somebody because
of what they have done, it's not grace, is it? It's works. No matter how subtle it is. Well,
he decided for Jesus. Well, then God had to give him
salvation. He earned it. He decided. That's works. That's not great.
By grace he's saved. Verse 8 says, through faith.
Yes, through faith. No one is saved without believing.
How do they believe? Verse 8, what does it say? It's not of yourselves. It's
not of yourselves. It's a gift of God. It's a gift
of God. Not of works. Read on. It's a
gift of God. Not of works, verse 9, lest any
man should boast, lest any man should say, well, I accepted
Jesus. Well, I made my decision. I decided. I opened my heart's
door and let him in. That's not Bible. That's works. Let me get a little clearer with
this gospel of grace. Let me get a little plainer with
this gospel of grace. This is the second chapter. Paul
said a lot before that. Go back to chapter 1. Let's look
at this gospel of God's grace. Chapter 1. This gospel of God's
grace, this is what Barnabas saw the gospel had done. The gospel of God's grace is
election by the Father, redemption by the Son, and regeneration
by the Holy Spirit. Look at chapter 1, Ephesians,
verse 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of
God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful
in Christ Jesus, grace be to you, and peace from God. Notice how
everything is from God. And Paul, all the way down through
here, doesn't commend the people for anything, doesn't pat them
on the back for doing anything, doesn't even acknowledge that
they've done anything, but simply declares what all God has done.
what all Christ has done, what all the Holy Spirit has done.
This is the gospel of God's grace, the bestowal of salvation upon
his people, the bestowal of something they did not earn, that they
didn't even want. But it pleased God to do so.
Verse 2 says, Grace be to you and peace from God our Father
and from the Lord Jesus Christ. This thing is from God and from
Christ. Blessed, he said, be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath." Notice how
everything is attributed to the Lord. Nowhere
does it say, you let him do anything. Nowhere does it say that in here.
He keeps saying, Blessed be God who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places of things."
Where is it? It's in Christ. It's all because
of him. Verse 4, look at it, "...according
as he hath chosen us." Paul's preaching the gospel of
God's sovereign grace bestowed upon some unworthy recipients. And he says, it's all according
as he hath chosen us. This is the gospel called God's
sovereign electing grace. A gift bestowed, not an offer. According as he hath chosen us,
he said to his apostles one time. The Lord himself said to his
apostles, who do men say that I am? And they began to answer
him, well, some say you're John the Baptist risen from the dead,
some say you're Elijah, some say you're a great prophet, some
say this, some say that. And I hear similar statements
about Jesus today, that Jesus is this, Jesus is that, Jesus
wants it, Jesus wants that, talking about him like a man. All those
descriptions they gave were of men. Well, you're like John,
you're like Elijah, you're a prophet. Our Lord looked at his disciples
and said, Who did you say that I am? Peter spoke up on behalf
of his brethren. He said, We believe and are sure
that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. You're
no mere man, you're a God-man. And our Lord said to him, This
is what our Lord said to him. Have not I chosen you? That's
the first thing out of his mouth. Who do you say that I am? Peter
said, We know. We're sure. You're the Christ,
the Son of God. He said, Have not I chosen you? You wouldn't know that, Peter,
unless I'd chosen you. He'd be like the rest of the people,
thinking he was a good man, he was a prophet, he'd tried and
failed, he'd hoped he'd been king of Israel. No, I chose you,
that you may know me, Isaiah 43, the true and living God,
the living and true God. He said, according as he had
chosen us in Christ. When did God choose these people?
This is called election. The scriptures are full of it. Twenty-seven times in the New
Testament alone is the word election. Men hate the sound of it, not
God's people. According as he hath chosen us,
we, and let me ask you three questions, according to God's
word. Answer them according to God's
word, not what we think, not what others think. according
to what God's word said. All right? Who chooses who? According to the scriptures.
What does it say here? According as he hath chosen her. Well, when does God choose these
people? These people of his choice. When
does he do it? After they believe? Does it say that? See, that would be works, wouldn't
it? They say this is what election
is. God looked down a huge telescope. This is exactly what they say.
God looked down through time on a huge telescope and saw who
would believe, and therefore he elected them. That doesn't even make good sense.
Why did he need to elect them? They were going to believe. What's
election got to do with anything? And the scriptures talk about
him taking all the glory and all the praise, but they believe.
They get credit for believing, don't they? When does it say that he chose
his people? Verse 4, before the foundation of the world. but whose names were written
in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world."
That's what the scripture said. Spurgeon said, I know that God
chose me because I would have never chosen him. This is what all of God's people
know. I know that he chose me because
I never would have given him a thought if he hadn't. All of
God's people know this. And as Spurgeon said, I know
he chose me before I was born, because if he had waited until
afterward, he never would have chosen me then. I know he did. Romans 9 and 11
said, The children being not yet born, neither having done
any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election,
might stand. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. And he goes on to say, what shall
we say to these things? And there were some people that
argued, we don't like that. Paul said, shut up. That's what
he said. That's what Paul said. Read Ephesians 7 and Romans 9.
He said, who are you to reply against God? Shall the clay say
to the potter, you can't do that? That makes him God. That's what
makes him God. His power of choice. What makes
us man is our weakness. Our weakness. That's what makes
us man. The reason he's God and we're not. He does the choosing. Man doesn't have a will. We can't say, I will do anything. You know that. We can say, I
hope to. I want to. I'm going to try to. We can't even say, I will take
two steps. By the grace of God, you will.
According to the will of God, you will. If it's God's will,
you will, because his will will be done. Only God has a will. Only God can say, I will, and
it will be done. Not us. So it's not of him that
willeth, Romans 9.16. Or of him that runneth. Well, I work. It's of God that
showeth mercy. It's of God that chooseth. Well,
what's the sense of anything? Well, Paul wrote 16 books. What
do you mean, what's the sense of anything? He preached election. If I believed that, you wouldn't
want. You'd do exactly what Paul did. You'd do exactly what I'm
doing right now. I believe that when I preach.
I believe it, and this is why I'm preaching. This is what God uses. See, God
doesn't use asking people, begging people, pleading with people,
offering anything to people. God uses declaring who he is. He said, if I be lifted up, just
go out there and preach. Don't ask him anything. Don't
beg him to do anything. Don't ask him to accept me. I'm
the king. The king never sends his ambassadors
to a country. Can you imagine George Bush sending
our ambassador to Iraq and saying, won't you please let us reign
over you? Huh? An ambassador of a country
doesn't go to another country and say, my king, sorry, we hope
you really let him in. Depends on how powerful your
country is. Depends on how powerful your king is. If he's king of
kings, he doesn't ask anybody anything. He sends his servants
out and declares it. Don't ask them. Don't plead with
them. Don't beg them. Don't offer them things. Don't
bribe them. Don't say, if you'll do this, the king will do that.
Tell them, do it! Best serve the king. Bow! Repent! And God said, I send my Holy
Spirit to whom I will, and they will come. All that the Father
giveth me, he said, will come to me. They will. He said, my
sheep will hear my voice. I have dogs, and when I come,
they call. That's the way my dogs are. They've
got me right there. Yeah, when Abner hollers, I come. When I call, they come. They
come. I can holler, dog, dog, dog,
dog, dog, and neighbor's dogs won't come, will they? That's all I have to say. on Howard's name. I taught him from a puppy. Come
on! And, Rick, it doesn't matter
if he's on the farthest hill chasing the deer. He'll be there. Only a few minutes. That's the power of our God, the power of his gospel. He doesn't
beg dogs. He says, come. If they're his
dogs, they will come. The ones he chose, they will
come. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. How do you
know I'm a preacher? I don't. That's why I'm preaching. I know he has them out there.
That's why we preach. Somebody said to Spurgeon one
time, you just believe that only elect are going to be saved,
don't you? And Spurgeon said, yeah, that's what the Bible teaches. Well, he said, that person said,
well, then why don't you just preach to the elect? He said,
if he'd put an E on them, I would. Put a big E on their heads, tell
the rest of them to leave. He said, I don't know. I can't
see it. God does. How? He put it there. God said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over them. The blood? Who put the blood
there? God did. He applied the blood
to his chosen people. And lest anybody argue, that's
not fair. Wait a minute now, he did it
for a people, so many people as the sands of the sea and the
stars of the sky, Scripture said. A number of people which no man
can number. That's pretty generous, isn't it? None undeserved it. If God just elected one person,
it would be one more than deserved it. All we like sheep have gone
astray. We've all turned our own ways.
Scripture says there's none good, no, not one. None profitable.
God looked down from heaven to see if there were any that would
understand, any that would speak up to God. He said there's none.
None good, no, not one. But God, who is rich in mercy,
the Scripture says, where his great love were with his people. set his love upon them, his sovereign
love, his sovereign electing grace upon them, said, I'm going
to choose this one, this one, a people which no man can number.
The rest get what they deserve, the ones he chose get what they
don't deserve. See? Salvation is by grace. He chose
them before the world began. Let me ask you this. Third question. Why does God choose anyone? Because
they are better than others? Because there is something that
they have that God can use? Because they lived a better life? Because they were strong in faith? Oh, no. Look at verse 6. Verse 5, "...having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will." It's all according to the good
pleasure of his will. In other words, God just decided
to. Why did he choose them? Because
he decided to. Does he have that right? He's God. Didn't he say that one time?
Didn't he say, cannot I do with my own what I will? Hmm? You can't come, Kelly, you can't
come into my house and tell me anything, can you? You can't
come into my house and say, I don't like this. Take it down. Take
that down from the wall. Oh, that's my house. Cannot I
do with my own what I will? Romans 9, he talks about this
all the way. He said, have not the potter
paralleled the clay to make one vessel of honor and the other
a vessel of wrath? Have he not? If I'm a potter,
can I not make a pot to use if I want to put a rose in it or
break it? That's exactly what God says
about himself. But it's all going to be, verse
6, to the praise of the glory of his grace. Look at it, verse
6. Here it is. This is the gospel
of his grace. It's all to the praise of the
glory of his grace. Sovereign, electing, saving grace. Good, real good, better people
now, oh no, sinners. It's just that we're in Christ,
under the blood, accepted in the beloved. That's what we have
on our tombstone, do you know that? I believe that's what we
have on our tombstone. To the praise of the glory of
his grace, that's what it's all going to be about in heaven someday,
to the praise of the glory of his sovereign, electing, saving
regenerating, redeeming, predestinating, keeping eternal grace. Two people can come in and hear
this very same message and one say, I hate that. I'll never
listen to that again. I don't believe that. Gnash their
teeth and get mad and veins pop out on their necks. I'll never
come back again. Another person will sit there and say, did you
hear that? Well, I never heard that before. I like that. I think I'll come back. Who makes thee to differ? It's not in the will, it's not
in the man, it's not in the person. It's the grace of God. The one is doing what he is depraved,
God-hating, truth-hating, self-loving will, self-righteous will, has
him do, and that despises the truth. And the other, God Almighty
overcomes his will and makes him willing, Psalm 110, verse
3, in the day of his power. the day of his gospel, power,
makes that person willing. And Paul wrote in Philippians
2.13, is God which worketh in us both to will and to do of
his good pleasure. It's God. It's all of grace,
he said. It's all of grace. God chose his people. Christ
came down and redeemed them by his blood. We're not redeemed
any other way. Not by corruptible things. No, Peter said, not your
vain Life, oh no, quitting drinking and smoking, it might clear your
lungs up and your liver, but it's not going to clean your
soul. Not by corruptible things such
as silver and gold or vain life, that we all will quit this, we'll
quit that, we'll start this, we'll start that. Well, good,
that may do everybody in your marriage a good thing, but it
won't save your soul. There's only one thing that will. The blood of Jesus Christ. That's
what it took. That's what it took. The righteousness
of Christ. And regenerated by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit takes this message,
as we've said, and opens the eyes and the ears
and the heart and the mouth and gives faith and gives repentance.
Repentance from what? Not just sins. Not just the deeds
committed, but why you committed them. It's the sins. Your nature is what you repent
over. This is true repentance, godly sorrow given by God. The goodness of God leads a man
to repentance. This is the gift of God. Repentance
is by grace. That God Almighty makes you see
is not what you've done necessarily, but it's your evil nature within
you that made you do what you did. And repentance, it's a turning,
it's a turning from all my false notions of God, all my false
notions of self, all my false notions of salvation, of God's
Word, and come like a little child. Start all over again. Renounce everything. Paul said,
forgetting those things which are mine and pressing forth.
Paul said, I used to be a big man in religion, but I've lost.
He said, now I count all that's been done, and I want to know
Christ, and be found in him. This is the gospel of God's grace.
This is what Barnabas came and he saw. He
saw what had happened. He saw the grace of God. What
the grace of God had done. The gospel of God's grace. Go
back to the text. I need to. Acts chapter 11. Chapter 11, Barnabas called the
effects of this gospel of God's grace upon the people. That's point number one, Sherry.
The gospel of God's grace. Point number two, the effects
of the gospel of God's grace. And I had twelve points in this
message. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I had two points. Here's the
effects of God's Grace, the gospel of God's sovereign grace, this
is the effects of it. Number one is humility. This is always so. When the gospel
of God's grace is declared and people hear it and God grants
faith to believe it, what you'll see and hear in the people is
humility. So you go out in religion in
the world, and what you'll see is pride, boy. You'll see people
so proud of themselves, so proud of what they've done for God,
so proud of how they chose Jesus, so proud of it. And all these
things that they display on their bumper and all that, they're
not proud of the Lord, they're proud of themselves. And they
want you to know how religious they are. That's exactly right. If you're
honest, you'll know. It's exactly right. People are
proud of themselves. The Pharisees of old wore what's
called phylacteries. That was huge armbands and things
on their heads with scripture verses on it that they had memorized. They made broad their phylacteries,
the Lord said. You make broad your phylacteries.
You want everybody to see how much scripture you know. They
weren't bragging on the Word of the Lord. They were bragging
on themselves. And that's what men do today. You go out in the
world and what you'll see in the ballroom to the boardroom
is pride. But especially in religion, you'll
see pride, people full of pride, pride. What they are, what they
know, what they can do, how pretty they are, how strong they are,
pride. But 1 Corinthians 1.30 says,
Let him that glorieth glory in the Lord. All God's people, true
people, are not proud, they're humble. Realizing that by the
grace of God they are what they are. Let me give you an illustration.
Saul of Tarsus, before the Lord saved him, Saul of Tarsus was
a man high up in religion. A self-righteous Pharisee who
thought he was the most moral man on earth. And everybody else
was a bunch of sinners. And Saul of Tarsus, the Lord
came to him. The Lord chose Saul. Saul wasn't
looking for Jesus, he was looking to persecute those that believed
him. But the Lord Jesus Christ came to him and knocked him off
his religious high horse, into the dust where he belongs, as
a beggar himself. That's not the beggar, we are! And he knocked him into the dirt
and said, now what you gonna do? Where you gonna go? He said,
what will you have me to do? Who are you? He said, I'm Jesus
whom you persecute. It's hard to kick against bricks,
isn't it? He said, Lord. And from that day forward, this
is what Paul said. Now, before he thought he had
attained on all of this and how he was really somebody, from
that day forward, the apostles are the ones that said this,
by the grace of God, I am what I am. by the grace of God. He said,
I obtained mercy. Mercy. I got mercy. I didn't
get what I deserved, and I got what I didn't deserve. Mercy. I obtained mercy. I'm the chief
of sinners, he said. I'm less than the least, he said.
I'm not worthy to be called an apostle, he said. By the grace
of God, I am what I am. By the grace of God, I know what
I know. By the grace of God, I believe Christ. By the grace
of God, I worship the true and living God. By the grace of God,
I believe His Word. If it wasn't for the grace of
God, I wouldn't. By the grace of God, I am what I am. Before,
he said, by my own works, I did what I did. But when God came
to him, he humbled him. And he said, by the grace of
God. Humility is what you'll see. Second thing you'll see
is repentance. I've already dealt with this
a little, but godly sorrow, repentance. You know the hardest thing for
a human being to do is to say they're wrong? You know that? It's impossible. With man, it's
impossible. You remember that old TV thing,
Happy Days, remember Fonz? He couldn't get it out. If you
want to say he's sorry or he's wrong, he couldn't get it out. And neither will we, unless God gives us repentance. It's for a human being to realize
everything about me is wrong. You know that? That's what repentance
is. True repentance is for us to
say, everything about me is wrong. Let God be true, and every man
a liar. That's what the scripture says. God, everything about me is wrong.
My thoughts, my heart, my ways, and I just, I hate myself. Would
you teach me? That's repentance. Would you
teach me? Now, most people come before the Word of God. I've
got everything all figured out. Grace seen is repentance. The
people that's broken, humble, and realize that I'll never know
anything unless God reveals it. I'll never be anything unless
God gives it I'll never be saved unless God keeps me. Repentance. Grace seen is belief and trust. People believing and trusting,
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Listen to this. Back during
what was called the Reformation, there was a great Revival, where God brought a people out
of the Dark Ages. You've heard of the Dark Ages,
haven't you? That was a time when people didn't have—common
people didn't have one of these. This is light. The entrance of
thy word giveth light, David says. Thy word is a lamp unto
my feet, a light unto my path. This is light. Men walk in darkness
without it. There was a time when there was
only one chained in the monastery. But only the priest himself,
so-called, had a copy of it. The common people didn't. They
called those times the Dark Ages, because nobody had a light. When
you go out in the woods, do you want to follow somebody with
a light, or do you want your own flashlight? I'll take my own flashlight.
Or I'll take whoever's flashlight I can get, Dan. That's a private joke. Dan claims
I stole his flashlight. I didn't. He's lost it. I didn't steal his flashlight.
I guarantee you'll find it somewhere, wherever you put it. I didn't
take your flashlight before all these witnesses. Okay. It was the dark ages. Dark ages. Men didn't have God's Word. God
took a man called Martin Luther. A little monk in the monastery,
reading the Bible. The light's the only thing that's
going to give light. He's reading it, Sam. People
aren't. He is. God spoke that man's heart. He would cry it out on his knees,
kissing bloodstains, what they thought were the blood of Christ,
and Calvin Rosary beads, and going through all that stuff,
thinking he's holy, thinking he's that. That's abomination
to God. God Almighty through the Word, John through the Word. One sentence from God smote his
dark heart, didn't it? Remember? Martin Luther said
he was crawling on his hands and knees, kissing those steps,
thinking God's real pleased with him, when the Word came to his
heart from this book. The Word said, The just shall
live by faith. Not words, faith. says he jumped up. He's in that
dark dungeon of a religious monastery and went running outside into
the sunshine. And he took a Bible with him. And he began to translate that
thing for everybody to read. He wanted everybody to read what
he read. And that developed into what
was called the Great Reformation revival. And God used a three-fold
thing to just absolutely turn the world upside down. Three-fold
theme of the Reformation. You know what it is? Three-fold.
This is what the preachers in the Reformation went out preaching. Martin Luther and Melanchthon
and all the contemporaries, and later Calvin and Well, Huss and
Calvin and Zwingli and John Knox and on and on it goes. The Lord
used preachers. Threefold. Number one, scriptures
alone. Scriptures alone. They told the
people, don't listen to what these men are saying. Don't listen
to what the Pope is saying. Don't listen to what the priest
is saying. Don't listen to what men are saying. Listen to what
God is saying. Read it for yourself. Inspired by God, only His Word
is inspired. Read it fiercely. Scripture's
alone. Don't take anybody's word for it. Listen to the Word of
God. This is still true today. I mean, this is still the thing
that brings reformation in the hearts and minds of people today.
This is what God uses. Scripture's alone. I don't mean
denominational creeds. I mean Scripture. Second thing
was grace alone. Salvation's by grace. They went
out preaching salvation's by grace, it's not by works. Martin
Luther said, I know it's not by works, I tried. Adam could
tell you, the first man who ever lived could tell us it's not
by works, I tried. By grace he is saved. It's all
by the grace of God. The third thing was Christ alone. It's one person
that's going to save us. Not us. It's not the preacher.
It's not the soul winner. It's not Mary. It's Jesus Christ. This is what God used to turn
the world upside down. And it's the same message today. Same message. Believe and trust
God's Word only. Not feelings. Don't trust feelings. Don't trust visions and signs.
People are looking for visions and signs. You eat some bad pizza
tonight, you'll have a vision in the middle of the night. That's
right. Don't trust it. You can't trust
what you see. Boy, you can trust what you read, devil. God's words. He said, My word shall not fail you. Grace alone. Christ alone. Trust God's grace and you'll
go to heaven. Yes, you will. You look to Christ
only. Don't ever look to yourself. Not your faith, not your repentance,
not your work, not your baptism. Don't trust any of that. Just
trust Christ alone, and you'll be in glory with Him someday.
He promised it. It's all to the praise of the
glory of His grace. Grace seeing is genuine love
for the brethren. Now, I'm going to continue this
message with you. I've got to. Grace seeing is genuine love
for the brethren. Now, you know that's not natural.
I mean love for—Peter called it true, fervent love. We love
our family by nature, don't we? We love our mother, our father,
our husband, our wife, our son, our daughter, ourselves. We just tolerate other people,
mostly, by nature. But now, buddy, when the grace
of God comes, and he makes a true church family, he makes a brother,
and this is what Christ said, he'll take a man's enemies will
be those of his own household. Uh-huh. Grace, when it comes,
makes a new creature, a new person, whereby a man's brother is then,
his true brother, is a fellow believer. Not flesh and blood. He doesn't take preference over
flesh and blood. I have an earthly brother. We're miles apart. I love him. He's my brother. I love him. He's flesh and blood. He's my brother. You love your
flesh and blood? Sure you do. It's natural. It
would be unnatural if you didn't. But he hates this gospel. He
thinks what I do is the most foolish thing. And he's real
smart. He's a doctor of history, professor
of history. And he thinks I'm an ignoramus.
He hates this gospel that his dad and his brother preach. And
I don't even like to be around him. I love him. But I can't stand
to be around him. If he hears this, so be it. And what about you? That's just
the grace of God saying it. It makes a change. The natural man will forsake
the gospel and forsake God and the truth and all that for his
flesh and blood. But when grace comes, God, he'll
forsake his flesh and blood for the gospel. That's a great thing. That's
the grace of God. Number eleven, number eleven,
hymn number eleven, Contemplation of God's Mercy.
Hymn number eleven, let's stand as we sing. When all thy mercies, O my God,
thy rising souls survey, Transporting with the new and lost in wonder,
love, and praise. A number of comforts to my soul,
Thy tender care bestow, Before my infant heart can say, From
whom those comforts flow." Verse 4, "...through every period of
my life."