Acts chapter fourteen. Verse three will be, will serve
as a text. Let's read it. Acts fourteen
three. Long time therefore they abode,
Paul and Barnabas, speaking boldly in the Lord. which or who gave testimony unto
the word of his grace." The word of his grace. The songwriters write, Grace
is a charming sound, harmonious to the ear. Heaven with that
echo shall resound, and all the earth shall hear." Grace first
contrived the way to save rebellious men and all the steps that grace
display and drew the wondrous plan. Grace first inscribed my
name in God's eternal book. It was grace that gave me to
the Lamb. who all my sorrows took. Grace taught my soul to pray
and pardoning love to know. T'was grace that kept me to this
day and will not let me go. Grace all the work shall crown
through everlasting days. It lays in heaven the topmost
stone and well-deserved the praise. Now, self-righteous souls on
works rely and boast their moral dignity. But if I lisp a song
of praise, each note shall echo grace, free grace. T'was grace
that quickened me when dead. T'was grace my soul to Christ
hath led. Grace brings a sense of pardoned
sin. and grace subdues my lusts within. Grace reconciles to every loss
and sweetens every painful cross. Grace defends my soul when danger
is near. By grace alone I will persevere. And when from this world my soul
removes to mansions of delight and love I'll cast my crown before
his throne and shout free grace, free grace alone. Amazing grace,
how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was
lost, but now am I found. I 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. Tis grace hath brought me safe
thus far, and grace will lead me home. O to grace how great
a detour! Daily I am constrained to be. Let thy grace, Lord, like a fetter
bind my wandering heart to thee." The sweetest word ever heard
by mortal ears is the word of His grace. The sweetest name
on mortal tongue is Jesus Christ, and that name is synonymous with
God's grace. Grace, the word of His grace.
Every child of God wholeheartedly confesses with the songwriters
that he or she was saved solely by the grace of God Almighty. From start to finish, it's all
of grace. And when they say grace, they
mean grace now. They mean sovereign. They mean
sovereign, discriminating grace. They mean free, unconditional. Unearned, they didn't do anything
to get it. God just gave it. Unsought, they
didn't even seek it, but God sought them. Undeserved. Grace. Every child of God, when
they say grace, that's what they mean by grace. And they don't
mean an offer. They mean a gift bestowed. A
sovereign gift bestowed. An effectual gift bestowed. Grace that actually saves. A saving gift bestowed. Every true child of God confesses
with John the Apostle. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from above. Right? Is that what your profession
is? They profess with Paul. Every
child of God confesses with the Apostle Paul, by the grace of
God, I am what I am. I know what I know, I can do
what I can do, I am what I am by the grace of God. Everything
I am, everything I have, everything I am able to do, everything I
will do, everything I will be is owing 100% completely to the
grace of God. O to grace how great thy debtor. And someday I'll see God's face. And it will all be by his amazing
grace. Oh, grace led me to repentance. That's God's grace. It's a gift
of God. It's the goodness of God. Grace
gave me faith in Christ. That's the gift of God, the gift
of his grace. I didn't earn it. And grace will
keep me. It will preserve me. Keeping
grace. Saving grace. Now, I warn. We warn. All of
us, we preach the gospel. You preach the gospel. And we
warn and reprove and rebuke and correct and instruct and teach
men and women and children from God's holy word all that God requires of us. We do. And that is obedience. The Lord said that he had not
come to destroy the law or the prophets, he said, I have not
come to destroy but to fulfill. And he said, Verily I say unto
you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall no
wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. And whosoever therefore
shall break one of these least commandments and teach men so,
he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. We warn and reprove and rebuke
and correct and teach people and preach to people and exhort
men and women to live responsibly. We tell people, I tell you of
our duty to God Almighty. Yes, duty. It is our duty to do the will
of God. It is our duty toward God. I warn, I reprove, I rebuke all
the word of God, I preach it very plainly. But when it's all
said and done, after we've done all that is
required of us, the scripture says we're still unprofitable
servant. We still sin and come far short
of the glory of God. And we have nothing to commend
us to God, nothing that God could accept. It's full of sin. Our
best deeds are full of sin. Nothing that he will accept,
nothing that merits God's favor or God's approval, or in our
language, an attaboy from God. Nothing! Because it's all of
grace. It's all of grace. And if we
get to heaven at all, it will be completely, solely, 100%,
owing to the grace of God Almighty. 100%. One more time, for the
record. This is the record. The testimony,
the gospel. This is the gospel. There is
no other gospel. This is the record, John said,
that God hath, what? Given us eternal. life, and this life is in his
son. That us there is a people that
God gave to Christ, an elect people. Not everyone, but an
elect people he gave to Christ. But that salvation is a gift.
Grace is the cause for salvation. Christ is the one who procured
it. Christ is the one who obtained
it. Christ is the one that paid for it. Grace is the reason. Grace is the reason. Christ is
the one who obtained it. He's the one that bought it.
Salvation. Man was and is totally passive
in his salvation. Totally passive. He stands back
and he sees the salvation of the Lord. God does it all. God does it all. Yes, God does
it all. It's grace. It's what I'm saying.
From the start of this message to the finish, you're going to
hear this word so many times. It's grace. I'm telling you,
I'm preaching the word of His grace. Anybody that doesn't preach
it, just like this, they're not preaching grace. I don't care
what they're saying, it's not free grace. It's not completely
grace. Grace is either grace or it's not. Or it's works, isn't
it? It's not grace and works. It's either grace or it's not.
It's either works or it's not. It's grace. I'm preaching grace. Man is passive in his salvation. He's dead. This is the problem
with preaching today. They're calling on dead people
to do something for God. They can't. They can't. They're dead. Well, you've got
to believe. Can't, you're dead. We've got
to call, can't, you're dead. Man's dead, right? He's damned,
he's dying. Physically, he's dead spiritually.
Now, what's going to happen? He's just going to lay there
until God says something, right? Like that infant cast out in
a pool of blood in Ezekiel, until God someday comes in the form
of the gospel and says, He's going to stay dead. I make no
apologies for that. I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it.
And they believe because the grace of God. The grace of God. You say a man must call. Not
until God calls. He calls first. He calls first. Joel 2.32 says
that. To as many as the Lord our God
shall call. He calls first. And this way
he gets all the glory, you see. And everybody he calls, they
call. Everyone he calls, they call.
Everyone that the goodness of God leads to repent, they repent.
Every one of them. Oh, to grace, how great a debt.
It's grace, it's grace. It's not works. It's not God's
choosing in us believing. It's God choosing for us to believe.
It's grace. It's a gift of grace. It's grace. God elected a people. Christ
was sent by God to save them. He came to live for them, establish
a righteousness. He came to die for them, satisfy
justice, pay the penalty against them. He rose from the grave
to intercede for them. Christ sent his Spirit to call
them. He sends them and he calls them
by his gospel. It's the power of God. And every
one of them that God gives ears to hear, that the Great Physician
gives ears to hear, they hear his voice as one called from
the dead. They see him. They see the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ, don't they? They see the truth. They see Christ in the scripture.
How? The one who must open the eyes of the blind, open them.
The heart receives. How do they receive? They decided
to? No. The grace of God opened the
heart to receive. It's grace. It's grace. I'm not just arguing a point,
people. I'm telling you where you can rest. I'm telling you
where you can find hope and comfort. And grace will keep those people
till the day that they die and go to be with God. It will keep
them. They're kept by the same power that saved them. That's what 1 Peter 1 verse 5
says, doesn't it? Kept by the power of God. Let me show you
that over in 1 Corinthians. I had it written down to turn
to it. I want you to turn to it. 1 Corinthians chapter 1.
Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. See if I can find this. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. It's
by God's grace that we're called. The gospel is the power of God
that calls us. See if I can find what I was
looking for. And it's the gospel that will
keep us until he calls us home. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 18. The preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God." The power of God, the call of God. Look down at verse 24. But unto
them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power
of God. Turn over to 2 Thessalonians. I'm still looking for it. 2 Thessalonians. I need to find it. Second Thessalonians, chapter
2. It says in verse 13 and 14, Now we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Not thanks
to you, but thanks to God for you, because God hath from the
beginning chosen, elected you to salvation through a setting
apart of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto Or that
is, he called you to believe the truth. Whereunto he called
you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory. Now 1 Thessalonians
chapter 2. Maybe this is it. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. Look
at verse 12. God hath called you that you
would walk worthy of God who hath called you unto his kingdom
and his glory." We are kept by the power of God, which is the
call of God. We are kept by that power, and
he keeps calling us all the days of our life until he calls us
home. God does all to save him. It is what I am saying in this
message. God does all to save him, and
we are passive in salvation. It is all because of his grace.
And that's the gospel that's the only gospel there is that's
the only hope of salvation that's and that's what the apostles
preached now look back at the text. In Acts fourteen look back
there this is what the apostles preached. Now to the Jews this was a stumbling
block to their religion. You see it got in the way of
all of their day-keeping, their Sabbath-keeping, their law-keeping,
their works of religion, didn't it? It got in the way. It was
a stumbling block. I mean, all these things that
we're doing for God are not going to amount to anything. They're
not going to earn us favor with God. You mean we're going to
be saved the same way that those old harlots and puppets? We're not going to get a little
bigger crown in heaven? God's not going to pat us on
the back? That's right. It's my grace. That's stumbling,
but we don't like that. To the Greek, to the wise, to
the learned who says, I can figure this thing out. I'll just figure
it out of my wisdom. My worldly wisdom, you say. I'll
study the Greek. I'll study the Greek meaning
of the text. Agape or Phileo. I'll study the meaning and I'll
come up with it and all these underlings, these ignorants,
these nothings, these nobodies, these unlearned, ignorant, poor
base people, they won't figure it out. But I will and God will
reward me. No, no, no. You're going to be
saved the same way they are. I don't like that. That's foolishness. That's foolishness. It's a revelation. You mean that You mean to tell
me that that man may know the truth, and I, who am a doctor,
a lawyer, whatever, may not? That's exactly right. That's
what we're saying. Now, that's foolish. That's foolish. And this preaching of blood and
all that, no, it's more than that. I was telling one of our ladies
earlier, I said, you know, one of the few times that our Lord,
it says, he rejoiced in spirit. You know when it was? When the
Lord Jesus cried. One of the few times in the whole
scriptures it says that Christ rejoiced in spirit. He must have
laughed out loud. Rejoiced in spirit. That was
a time when the Pharisees couldn't understand the parables. One of the times, and he said,
it says he rejoiced, at that time Christ rejoiced in spirit. I thank thee, Father. that thou
hast hid these things from these wise and prudent, these self-righteous
people, and hath revealed it unto faithful." Why? It's grace. It's grace. That's why. See, we're all going
to stand before God on the same level. Right? Same level. What is that level? Grace. We're
all going to be either under his grace or under his wrath,
right? We're all either going to be
saved by grace or judged according to our works. Now, it's either
grace or it's not. Salvation's either by grace or
it's not. Well, this is the word of his
grace. You're hearing the word of his grace. It's grace. You
getting tired of hearing it yet? Grace! Here's a charming sound. Harmonious
to my ear. Grace. Well, it says that the
apostles, this is what they spake. Verse 1, so spake what they speak. Well, we read it up there in
verse 43. It says they persuaded these people to continue in what? Verse 43 of chapter 1. They persuaded
the people to continue in what? Say it. Grace of God. The grace of God. Let that be your only plea, your
only place of refuge. Grace of God. The grace of God.
Appeal to His grace. His mercy. Nothing else. Not Mary. And it says a great
multitude, both of the Jews and of the Greeks, believed. Huh? We got some people in here who
were once Jews. Not in the nation of Israel,
but were religious. Oh, were you religious. holier
than thou. Oh, liquor had never touched
your lips." And I'm not condoning imbibing in alcoholic beverages.
I'm saying this to people who took great pride in the fact
that they weren't sinners like other people. Anybody in here like that? Religious
and charlestitched, that which is highly esteemed among men
is an abomination to God. That self-righteousness stinks.
You know what self-righteousness is? Jesus Christ didn't need
to come and obtain one. Jesus Christ didn't need to come
and establish a righteousness. I've got one of my own. That
stinks to God. Nothing stinks more, or at least
it stinks as much as outward and open sin. See, there were
some Jews in here, weren't you, some of you? Huh? Attended church
all your life, never drank, smoked, chewed, or ran around with women
that did? Huh? Weren't you? There's some
Jews, but then there were some Gentiles in here living in open,
I mean, and that stinks too, open cesspool of iniquity. I mean, drawn right out of the
gutter. I mean, gutter snot, Gentiles. Gentiles, dogs, filthy,
wretched, living like beasts and animals. Anybody in here
like that? Huh? Can you be both? I was both. Raised in religion and still
a gutter snipe. Huh? Gentiles also, you know,
real smart people, you know. Real smart. It says in the Jews, a great
multitude both of Jews and Greeks believe. Thank God he saves some
Jews. Thank God he saves some old Greeks,
doesn't he? Verse 2, But the unbelieving
Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil, affected
against the brethren. They stirred up the Gentiles.
These Jews, these churchgoers, these Sabbath-day keepers, these
You know where in their long robes and black trees and you
know you've seen of the day and you got but they got scriptures
written all over the cars. You know that's electric and
make broad their bumper stickers on their car. They wear their
garb and so we say you wear one well. Maybe I'd rather look like I'm
going to worship God than I've been to the ballgame. I tell
you that at least want people to think that I am going to try
to work God at any rate you've seen them. Hadn't you? You've
seen them, you've run into them, holier than thou, Jews. And these Jews stir up the Gentiles,
the average people out there, and make their minds evil-affected
against the brethren, against the true believers, against the
true people of God. These Jews didn't give the people
any real hope of salvation. They didn't give them any hope
of acceptance with God. Jews hate Gentiles. They didn't believe Gentiles
were going to be saved. They just didn't want them to
hear this gospel. And they stirred up the Gentiles.
The Jews hated Gentiles, called them dogs. Christ said they bind
heavy burdens on the people that they don't bear and they won't
remove it from the people either. He says that they don't They'll
suffer the people to go in, and they themselves won't go in either.
They won't believe the grace of God, and they sure don't want
anybody else to either. They didn't want anybody to believe
in this gospel, and that's what this evil generation is doing.
Evil seducers waxing worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived,
rejecting the gospel, and evilly infecting everybody with their
blasphemy. That's what's going on today.
They don't want you to believe and trust in Christ and Christ
alone. They want you giving them your support. They want your
head. They want to count your head
in church. They don't want your soul saved. They want to count
your head. They want to count your money for their programs.
They want to tell how many peoples they win to Jesus, he said. That's
what they're doing today. Just like these Pharisees of
old. Deceiving and being deceived. Well, the apostles had their
work cut out for them, or they thought they did anyway. The
Holy Spirit led them to stay there a long time. It says, "...a
long time they abode in this place with much opposition. And they spoke boldly in the
Lord, and the Lord gave testimony." They spoke boldly. Where is our
boldness to be found? Where is our boldness to be found?
It's in the scriptures. That's all we try to preach here.
That's all I'm trying to preach this morning, is what the scriptures
say, what God says. Not what I think, what God says.
Huh? What the words say, with authority
from the scriptures, in the Lord, in the Lord's word, that is.
Huh? Where is the wise, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1.20? Where
is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish? And I called the religious people
of this world was to stand before God Almighty's Word. And they
couldn't stand before Paul and Barnabas' preaching either. Collectively,
they tried. Paul and Barnabas preached boldly,
but the people couldn't stand against God's Word that they
preached in the Lord, in the power and the authority of God's
Word. God said he'd bless it, and he does. He does. And the gates of hell won't prevail
against it. And they preached, it says in verse 3 again, God
gave testimony. This is the only thing he's going
to give saving testimony to. The only thing he's going to
bless is the word of his grace. Not of your works, Henry. He's
not going to give testimony or not going to give glory or credit
or power or honor or strength or any place to your works. Huh? He demands, he calls us
unto him, he ordains us to walk, but you're not going to get any
credit for those, even. He must do those in us, even. He's going to give testimony
to the word of his grace, because that's how he saves, and he's
going to get all the glory for it. Grace, the word of his grace. And it says the Holy Spirit poured
out, poured out his blessings on them. Three, granted signs
and wonders to be done by their hands. Signs and wonders, but
the multitude of the city was divided. Was divided. There was a division. There always
is. Like Barnard said, preach for a verdict. People ought to
go away from hearing the gospel with a verdict. Salvation is either this way
or it's not. It's either by grace or it's not. It's either all
of God or it's God in man. And it says that a great division,
part of them went with the Jews. Look at that. Part of them went
with the Jews and with their rulers. In other words, they
said, well, we'll take the law as our rule of life. All right? We'll take the law as our rule
of life. Is that what you want? Let me
ask you people, is that what you want? Well, let me read you something
here. Let me tell you what the law says. You want to be under
the law? Some people do. They say the
law is their rule of life, don't they? Call it what you may. Call
it anything. Ten commandments, ceremonial
law, whatever law you're talking about. Here's what the law says. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things, every jot and tittle. all things which
are written in the book of the law, to do them. Hmm? Is that what you want? Is
it? Not me. Tell me that word again, preacher.
Grace. Grace. There it is again. Grace. Law? Anybody want the law? Huh? Listen
to this. Listen to this word. It says,
now these fellows will zealously affect you. Religious, they'll
zealously affect you and make you think that you can't keep
the law. You can keep it and you should
keep it and you will have a righteousness if you keep it. They will zealously
affect you. And you forget Christ. You become
zealous for the Word of God, and you forget the Word was made
flesh. You become glorified, you glory
in your works, you glory in the law, you glory in what you're
doing, and you quit glorying in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So they zealously affect you,
but not well. Yea, they would exclude you.
that you might affect them, huh? Now listen to this. You can turn
if you want. It's over in Galatians 4. He
says this. Galatians 4, it says in verse 21, Tell me, you that
desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? Huh? Do you not hear the law? I just read it over there in
Galatians 3. Galatians 2, 3. Cursed, verse 10, is everyone. It continues. Did you hear that?
Everything. Everything. I heard it. I heard
it. Well, listen to this. You that
desire to be under grace, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us. Being made a curse for
us. Listen to this. Listen to this
word of grace. Would you listen to this? Get
a load of this, would you? You that desire to be unto grace,"
verse 28, "...now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of
promise." Promise. Listen to this. If you
didn't hear that, listen to this. Brethren, we're not children
of the bondwoman, but of the free, of the Son of God. Children of God. Listen to this,
then, if you didn't hear that. Here's the word of His grace. In the liberty wherewith Christ
has made us free, be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."
Well, it says part of the Jews went with, or part of the people
went with the Jew. Well, we'll take the law. We'll
take dead work. We'll take ceremony. We'll take traditions. We'll
take superstition. Bondage. We'll take bondage.
We'll take an outward show of religion. We'll take self-righteousness.
We'll take a religion of feelings, not faith. will worship by ceremony,
and so forth. But part went with the apostles. Part of it went with the apostles.
What did the apostles do? How did they worship? Well, Paul
summed it up in Philippians 3.3, didn't he? He said, We are of
the circumcision, which worship God in spirit. Not an outward
show, but from the heart. From the heart. The law written
on the heart. We don't have to have it tacked
up on our wall. It's written on the heart. And
the law is not our rule of life. Grace is. Love is. What is the rule of the believer's
life? The law? No. The love of Christ constraineth
us. The scriptures say. That's the
rule of our life. In other words, I don't have
to look up the law to see what I ought to do. The law is written
on my heart to tell me what I ought to do, but grace, love, says,
this is what you want to do, isn't it? Yes, that's what I
want to do. Law makes me love my wife. Law makes me stay with
my wife. Grace makes me really love my wife.
Grace will never let me leave my wife. Love. Love never fails. The law's going
to quit someday, right? There'll be no more need for
the law, will there, when we're in the presence of God and everything's
holy just like God? There'll be any need for the
law? The law was given because of transgression. The law was
given that sin might abound. But we're sin abounded. What's
the word again? Grace didn't much more abound.
It's of grace now. It's the word of His grace. It's
the word of His grace. And listen to this in our text.
It says now, it says, Part of them went with the apostles.
They worshiped God in spirit. They rejoiced in Christ Jesus,
His grace, and they put no confidence in the flesh. Nothing. No. None.
Ain't nothing we do, say or are. Nothing. No confidence. We don't
have a righteousness, Henry. Christ is our righteousness.
Huh? No confidence in the flesh. Not even sanctified flesh. Huh? None. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. That's the word of his grace
now. That's how the apostles prayed. Read on, and I'll quit. And there was an assault made,
and it says part went with the apostles, and there was an assault
made, and there was a conspiracy to stone these fellas, both of
the Gentiles and also the Jews. The religious people don't like
the gospel and need to do that now centers in when it comes
right down to it. Even that Joe that shows us it's
a great thing. You'd think every center on the
face of the earth would just delight to hear this message
of sovereign grace wouldn't. Talk to a fellow I work with
on the railroad one time and he was the most notorious drug
user alcoholic womanizing He had a reputation all over the
railroad as being absolutely the wildest and delighted in
it and everybody laughed about it and he had a reputation as
being the worst man around. And he took great pride in that. And one day I began to talk to
him about the gospel and talked about how we're sinners before
a holy God. You know what he said? He said,
I'm not that bad. I said to him. After I tried
to tell him what we are before God said, Don't you see, do you
see? And I talked about how that there's none so blind as those
who will not see, don't see themselves. He said, Oh, I see, I see. Even out and out sinners reject
the gospel of God's sovereign grace. Unless God is gracious. Unless God comes to them by grace.
Nobody thinks they're bad enough to go to hell. Nobody. And they'll
join together with the most religious and self-pious in condemning
this gospel. They say, we don't want that.
If God makes them willing, though, they will. If God really shows
them, they will. It says that they all got together
to stone the apostles, to stone them, and they became aware of
it. God made them aware of it, and they fled. to Lystra and
Derby, the cities of Laconia, and the regions that lie around
the bow. Went on down the road. Well,
we're just going down the road. I guess you're not God's sheep,
so we'll go looking for them. We've got a message from the
shepherd for God's sheep. You don't like it? No. Well, we'll go down here and
try to find somebody that does. Grace, that's the word. As they
were leaving, they said, it's grace now. And he still says,
he gives more grace. You may think it's up. That's
how gracious God is isn't it? So that's the reason he said
go to Jerusalem. The very ones that rejected him, he said go
there first and preach. Isn't that gracious God? He shouldn't
have preached to the Jews at all. He shouldn't have had the
apostles preach to the Jews at all, should he? He should have
said, you go all in all the world and preach the gospel. Don't
go to Jerusalem, though. They rejected. He said, you go
there first. Boy, that's grace, isn't it?
Isn't that grace? Instead, they went on down the
road, went to another town, and they got scared and they holed
up for a while. No. No, they went out and preached
grace. preach the gospel what's the
gospel. The word of his grace is what it is no other word is
no other message to a damn doom dying dead world is no other
message. And only one God will give testimony
to. His son that's a record that's given it gives salvation and
offer it gives it freely bestowed. All right brother Joe What was
that hymn I gave you, buddy? 236. Well, you know that one. You
don't need a hymn book for that. Come up, Joe, if you would, please. Amazing Grace. Is there any other
song we can sing? 236. Jeanette comes, Joe leaves. First and second stanza, Amazing
Grace. First and second. you Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound, That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, Was
blind, but now see, It was grace that taught my heart
to fear, and grace my fear relieved. how gracious did that great love
appear the hour I first believed. Thank you, and you're dismissed. The.