The Gospel

Q: What does the Bible say about grace in salvation?

The Bible teaches that salvation is solely by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, as emphasized throughout both the Old and New Testaments. The Bible clearly states that salvation comes only through the grace of God. This is illustrated in passages like Genesis, where Noah found grace in God's eyes, and further reaffirmed in the doctrine of salvation in the New Testament, particularly in Ephesians 2:8-9, which says, 'For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.' This concept reinforces that every believer is a recipient of grace and emphasizes that salvation is not based on our works or merit but solely on God's unmerited favor. It transcends human efforts, as outlined in Romans 3:23-24, 'For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.' Grace highlights God's initiative and divine love for His people, showing that we depend entirely on Him for salvation.

Q: How do we know God's sovereignty in salvation is true?

God's sovereignty in salvation is affirmed in Scripture, particularly in verses that highlight His choosing of the elect before the foundation of the world. The truth of God's sovereignty in salvation is rooted in several key biblical truths. Ephesians 1:4-5 states, 'Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.' This depiction of divine election emphasizes that salvation is not left to chance or human decision but is part of God's eternal plan. Additionally, Romans 9:16 reinforces this doctrine by declaring, 'So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.' Mercy and grace are acts of God’s sovereign will, demonstrating that He saves whom He wishes, reaffirming the historic Reformed view that salvation is ultimately founded upon God's choice and purpose.

Q: Why is understanding total depravity important for Christians?

Understanding total depravity is crucial as it highlights our complete inability to save ourselves and our need for divine grace. The doctrine of total depravity underscores the seriousness of humanity’s fallen condition. Scripture teaches that through Adam's sin, all are made sinners (Romans 5:12). This brings about a moral and spiritual inability to seek God or merit salvation, as seen in Romans 3:10-12, which states that 'there is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.' Recognizing this total depravity is essential for understanding the necessity of grace. It prepares one’s heart to receive the gospel message which proclaims hope through Christ alone. As illustrated in the sermon through the widow's helpless state, acknowledging our spiritual bankruptness drives us to seek God’s mercy and grace, leading to true repentance and reliance on Christ's redemptive work.

Q: What role does faith play in salvation according to the Bible?

Faith is the means by which we receive God's grace, leading to our justification before Him. Faith is central to the Christian understanding of salvation, acting as the instrument through which we accept the grace offered by God. Ephesians 2:8-9 clarifies, 'For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.' This passage indicates that while grace is God's gift, our response in faith is crucial for appropriating that gift. Moreover, Romans 5:1 states, 'Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.' Here, faith is portrayed as not only believing the truths of the gospel but also trusting in Christ’s work for our salvation. It is not a mere intellectual assent but an active trust in the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice. This understanding is consistent with historic Reformed theology, which teaches that justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Well, thank you for that very
charming introduction. Glad to meet you folks. Good
to be here. It's always good to be anywhere
in the Southland. Somebody called me just before
I left home and said, You're getting pretty close to the North
up there. I said, Yeah, but I know where
the Mason-Dixon line is. I won't go beyond that. You've got a great state here.
I appreciate the history of Virginia and its contribution to our great
nation throughout history. You know, nine of the first sixteen
Presidents were from Virginia. That's a great contribution,
isn't it? And, of course, we were hand-in-hand
in the great cause. a lost cause, but a great cause.
I have a grandfather whose remains lie somewhere up around Richmond
there. He was killed at Gaines Mill. And we received 62 letters from that
old fellow while he was engaged in that war up there. He was
killed on the 26th of June in 1862 in the seven-day battle
under General A.P. Hill. Well, I came to preach the gospel.
I get off on that old war, and we were talking about it in the
study down there a while ago, and he said, Well, it's time
to go up and meet some of the folk. We came out of the study,
and Paul went to the left, he and John went to the left, and
I just kept running and walking to the end of the building. I
couldn't go any further than the end of the building because,
you know, it hit the wall down there. But Paul stood back there
at the stairway watching me. I think he never said anything,
just stood there watching, wondering what I was going to do, I think.
But my mind had wandered off again into that portion of history
there, and I was just meditating, walking up through the basement
of the church there. Turn your Bibles to 2 Kings,
2 Kings chapter 4. One thing I love above that history,
and that's the gospel, way above that history. the gospel of our
glorious Lord, and I love to find it, for it's so clearly
and distinctively to be found in the Old Testament. The grace
of God runs throughout the history of man, and man has never been
saved by any other means and source other than the grace of
God. Before the flood, men were saved by grace. After the flood,
men were saved by grace. It was grace that Noah found
in the eyes of the Lord. It was grace that found Abraham
and Ur of Chaldees. There has never been nothing
but grace that saves sinners. So I look for the grace of God
when I read the scriptures, regardless of the passage or the portion
in which I am reading. Now there cried a woman, or a
certain woman, of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto
Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead, and thou knowest
that thy servant did fear the Lord, and the creditor is come
to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. And Elisha said
unto her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou
in the house?' She said, down handmaid, Hath not anything in
the house, save a pot of oil? Then he said, Go borrow thee
vessels abroad, of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels." Now, that's
foolish, isn't it, empty vessels? You know, God never says anything
that makes any sense to the unconverted, to the ungodly. The gospel is
the most foolish thing to the world. The Lord Jesus Christ
never said anything that made much sense to the world, the
unconverted world. If you didn't have eyes to see
and ears to hear what he was saying, you missed it entirely. That seems to be very foolish
there. This woman is in distress. She is in debt up to her ears
and has absolutely nothing to pay. And so the instruction of
the Prophet is to go and borrow vessels, not full vessels but
empty vessels. And when thou art come in, thou
shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt
pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that
which is full. So she went from him and shut
the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels
to her, and she poured out. And it came to pass, when the
vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a
vessel. And he said unto her, There is
not a vessel more, and the oil stayed. Then she came and told
the man of God, and he said, Go sell the oil and pay the debt.
and liveth thou and thy children on the rest," or off the rest.
Here is an illustration of that passage, a portion of that passage
that Paul read a while ago in 1 Samuel 2. Especially verse 8, I refer to,
where Hannah was singing praise unto God. That was a prayer in
the form of a song. And in that prayer, she made
this statement, "...he raiseth up the poor out of the dust,
and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among
princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory." David,
in spite of the Lord, was somewhat familiar with this and incorporated
this in one of his psalms, Psalm 113, verse 7. He repeats those
words of Hannah. He made the statement, saying,
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the
needy out of the dunghill. David's psalms are often sprinkled
with this idea of poor and needy. The Lord Jesus Christ, of course,
came for the very purpose of saving the poor and the He's
the helper of the helpless. You know, they have a saying
in mainstream religion today that God only helps those who
help themselves. But I'm afraid that's very, very
far into the Scripture, and not very encouraging to a helpless
sinner, is it, to a man that understands somewhat of his terrible
plight. David experienced this thing.
That's the reason he could put it in words and put it in the
psalm and sing praise to God by the words that he was inspired
to give. David knew something about this
matter of being raised up. Psalm 40 gives, I believe, the
experience of David in his deliverance. He's being raised up somewhere
back there. There's a young lad, I think,
and being brought under deep conviction. understanding somewhat
of his depravity. He said, you remember, that I
waited patiently upon the Lord, and he inclined and heard my
cry, and brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry
clay, and set my feet upon a rock. He knew something about deliverance,
didn't he? About how awful it was to be down in the mire of
sin and the clay of of his ruin, of his depravity, and knew something
of how it was to experimentally cry out of that condition unto
the Redeemer and to have the Redeemer to come to his deliverance. Here is an illustration of this
very passage that we have read out of 2 Kings. I want to take
that and use this tonight. We have an illustration, I believe,
the very thought in Hannah's song, in David's psalm, a poor,
helpless widow exercising herself upon absolutely the only earthly
means that she could turn to. Here we have a wonder of transforming
grace illustrated in this story. You'll notice, first of all,
she's the beneficiary of grace. She's a woman And, of course,
that speaks to us as the weaker vessel. She's a widow, which
is a picture of desolation. In Lamentations, Jeremiah referred
to this, and it has a spiritual connotation or application. He
says, How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people? How
is she become as a widow? Next of all, being a winner not
only of desolation, but she's one also of destitution. She has no way to turn, no one
to turn to, no help within her own self. She was in debt. Now, listen to this. She was
in debt without means to pay. Doesn't that describe us all?
Doesn't that describe the race? We call the elect of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the elect of God, the race of men and women, boys
and girls who have been brought into the kingdom of Christ. And
then we see another thing here. We see in the next place the
instrument of grace, the instrumental means of God in meeting this
woman's need. And this was Elisha, called here
the man of God. Elisha is the mediator, as it
were, between this helpless subject and Jehovah God. He's the go-between,
the umpire. And so we look at this, and we
see these things, but there are seven things in the lesson here
that I want to make application to. as we come to develop this
thing now, and I want you to stay with me on this. First thing,
again looking at the object of God's grace here. Not only a
subject of grace, but she's an object of grace. She's the object
of God in this thing, to bring about a deliverance. You'll notice
it says in verse number 1, And there cried a certain woman If
you ever notice that term throughout the scripture, I like to mark
that one. I think in my Bibles, the many
that I've read and used in preaching through and studying through,
I don't think I have a Bible in which I have it underscored
or circled with a red pencil or in some way marking that certain. You remember, there was a certain
woman who had an issue of blood. Twelve years this woman had an
issue of blood. She had gone to what we term
physicians of no value. She had spent all she had, could
not find a remedy for her particular sickness, her disease, until
one day when Christ was in the particular area, and she was
in the midst of Christ. And this woman was so anxious
to received the blessing of the Lord that she ventured close
enough to touch the hem of his garment, just the border of his
garment. And of course, that certain woman
was the single person in that crowd that day that received
the blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ. The healing virtue of
Christ went out. The power of God touched her,
and she was healed of that disease that no physician had been able
to find a remedy for. And of course, what an illustration
of the gospel that is. How many people today are spending
all they have, all of their earnings, all of their efforts, all of
their labors, they're spending those labors upon physicians
of no value. Christ is our only help, our
only hope. one of those certains that always
grabs my attention. That's in John chapter 5. You
remember when Christ came to the pool of Bethesda, and there
was a great multitude of impotent people, sick people, lame and
maimed and haught They were blind, and there were all kinds of maladies,
sicknesses, diseases, and a multitude of people around the Pool of
Bethesda waiting for the troubling of the water. And Christ, it
appeared, walked through the midst of all those people, and
it says there was a certain man. He had been plagued with an infirmity
from his birth. Thirty-eight years, I believe
it was, wasn't it? And Christ came to that certain
man, oh yes, discriminated against all the others, and came to that
particular fellow and blessed him. He was a helpless creature,
wasn't he? He complained about his helplessness.
And you know, the story is so clear there. The Lord Jesus Christ
took the initiative, unasked for, unsought for, Even through
his entire ministry to that man on that particular occasion,
the man never ceased complaining. He never sought the Lord's grace
or his kindness, his mercy. He complained that no man gave
him help when the water was troubled. He had no man to get him down
to the water. And Christ, in his ministry to
him, unasked for, blessed him, healed him of his sickness that
day. Well, I think that pretty well
fits us all also, doesn't it? We're a people that really wasn't
seeking the Lord. I wasn't, for the Lord found
me. As a matter of fact, I didn't seek
God until God put the seeker in me to seek him, and none of
us did. So we have this certain woman.
She's the object of the grace of God here. And another thing
about this woman, the woman I said a while ago was a widow. She
confesses this. She said, Thy servant, my husband,
is dead. That speaks also to us in the
context of the gospel, the doctrine of the gospel. You know, death
had severed what was once undoubtedly a happy bond, and this woman
was left in a destitute state. And what is that but this woman,
that is, but a picture of God's elect people, his chosen race,
who were in union with Christ, even before the foundation of
the world, in that great decree of election, given to Christ
the Son, the Mediator? And that union broken in the
death, the spiritual death of Adam. I picture here by this woman
that scene that took place in the third chapter of Genesis,
when death entered into the human race. And death by sin came upon
all men. Isn't that what Scripture says? Wherefore, as by one man's sin
entered into the world, and death by sin And so death passed upon
all men, for all have sinned. I believe we did, don't you?
And Adam, as our federal head and our representative, guilty
of his crime, just as guilty as Adam himself. And so that
union in a sense, in a particular principle, was broken. And what
was that but the opportunity of God Almighty to do what he
had purposed to do from all eternity? And that was to magnify his grace
and the redemption of his people. You see, there had to be a fallen
race, there had to be a lost race, in order that God magnify
saving grace. And so God permitted the fall,
permitted our fall, and the breaking of that union with Christ in
election, in order that we might be raised up. So I say it was
the glorious purpose of the All-Wise God to magnify his grace by raising
up his poor ones from the dust of Adam's fall, and to restore
his needy ones from the dunghill of depravity." So in a sense,
we're all raised up, aren't we? All brought up out of that state. But observe this. story continues
to develop before us. There was a certain woman of
the wives and sons of the prophets that cried unto Elijah, saying,
Thy servant, my husband, is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant
did fear the Lord. Now watch this, and the creditor
is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. The creditor
is How does that fit in here? What does that speak of? The
woman is an object of grace, and now we have the insertion
of this particular statement, the creditor is come. What does the creditor figure
in this story? We are taking the woman as an
illustration of God's elect, God's people, you and I, the
redeemed of the Lord. What is the creditor? Well, it's
certainly not Satan. You know, there's some strange
theories among the religious people of this world. Down our
way, among the fundamental independent Baptists that I've heard for
years, I heard years ago, and I suppose they still set forth
the same peculiar idea that that in some way we were in bondage
to Satan, and God was in debt to Satan, and the debt had to
be paid by the cross of Christ, and we were actually freed from
that particular creditor. But that has no validity. No,
the creditor can only figure one thing, and that's the law
of God. we were in debt to the law. God's holy justice cried
out for our wages. The wages of sin is death. The
soul that sinneth, it shall surely die. That's what the law thundered.
And the law was held over our heads as a storm cloud of God's
a threatening wrath upon us if we did not turn, if we did not
cease from our sin and our wickedness, that his bow was bent, the instruments
of death were ready, and he would strike at any time. You know a man, he may commit
a crime and think to have gotten completely off. until the sheriff
shows up. How many stories have you heard
or read or seen portrayed of a fugitive, a criminal, who did
some particular crime in the past and changed his identity,
changed his appearance, his name, and what have you, and fled the
law? And for years he seemed to have
gotten away from fleeing the law. And maybe somewhere he had
found some particular place of comfort, some place of ease and
peace. And all of a sudden, all of a
sudden, one day, somebody knocks on the door.
And it's the long arm of the law. They finally reached him.
You know, I think before conviction comes, sometimes you and I were
in a state like that. We may have thought we had gotten
off on it. There's a lot of folks in this
world who think they've gotten away with it, don't they? They've
sinned against God, they've sinned against the law, they've broken
the commandments of God, they're guilty transgressors, they're
ungodly, unconverted, but they think in some way, that is, through
some form of deception, they have been made to believe they've
gotten away with it. I think maybe I was that way
one time. I think probably I had convinced
myself that I'd gotten off with my crime. Maybe my conscience
didn't bother me as much as it once had. But one day the sheriff came. Do you remember that day? One
day the strong, long arm of the law came knocking on my door. apprehending, arresting, convicting. Oh, how sore the conviction was!
Deep, deep into the soul that conviction ran. Miserable conviction! Miserable state! Now I found
myself in. No longer convinced that I could
get away with But God had apprehended me. God had arrested me. The law was convicting. Someone's asked me many times
about my conversion, being saved out of a background of no religion
whatsoever and relatively irreligious, pretty well comfortable in happy
in my sin, my wild career. But one day, the law came. And a fellow, line upon line,
precept upon precept, just kept laying the law upon my heart
until I was so miserably convicted and convinced that I cried out, Just like the
old Philippian jailer, I cried out earnestly and honestly, just
as sincerely, what must I do? What must I do? And that was
when I was pointed to the remedy, the deliverer. You know, no need
in this world to try to point folks to Christ until they're
ready to be pointed to Christ, is there? Until they have a need
of Christ. till they have a need of Christ. You know, there's
an idea that the law of God has been totally abrogated, and I
know that the ceremonial law has been done away with completely.
Christ is the fulfillment of all the types and the shadows
that were involved in the old ceremonial law. That was what
they were instituted for. Pictures of Christ, those that
were in the faith of Christ, saw Christ in that institution.
Those that were not in the faith of Christ trusted the institution
itself and died and went to hell. It's a form of legalism in that
dispensation time. But you know, the law of God
is holy, it's just, and it's good. It has its purpose. It
has a purpose in the application of the gospel. I do not believe
that we can properly preach the gospel without the mixing and
mingling of the application of the law. What's sin? John says it's the transgression
of the law. That's the biblical, that's the
inspired definition of sin, it's the transgression of the law.
Listen to Paul's testimony. He said in Romans 7, "'What shall
we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid! Nay, I had not known sin, but
by the law. For I had not known lust, except
the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.'" He goes on and enlarges
on that. He says, "'But sin, taking occasion
by the commandment, wrought in thee all manner of concupiscence,
For without the law, he said, sin was dead. What he's saying
there is simply what I was telling you formerly there. Without the
application of the law, without the strong, long arm of the law
being applied, without the sheriff coming, a man thinks he's gotten
away with his sin, his crime against God. Paul said, For I
was alive without the law once, But when the commandment came,
sin revived and I died." What does he mean there? Sin revived
and I died. Well, I think he simply meant
this, that when the conscience was severely convicted and convinced
of sin, that all his hope as a lawkeeper perished. It died. And that's the problem with so
many folks out here today. They've been told to do everything
in this world, and they've pretty well done it. And they've been
convinced by preachers that by doing what they're told, we'll
get them off and get them into heaven. And the conviction of sin has
not been revived. There's no convincing and convicting
there. And so they live in hope as law
keepers, and there's no hope as a law keeper. Now, the law,
if it's properly applied, what does it do? It drives us to Christ,
doesn't it? It brings us to Christ. It brings us to Christ. That
was all it was ever intended for, bring men to Christ. Bring
men to Christ. And once it's done that job,
It's accomplished its purpose. We know it's the manifestation
of the holy character of God. It reveals to us who God is.
That's what's so convincing and convicting about it. It makes God not one of us, doesn't
it? Exalts him, elevates him, exonerates
him, lifts him much higher than we ourselves could ever hope
to be. And we see him in his holiness, the glory of that holiness. You know, it was the glory of
that holiness that caused the old prophet Isaiah to cry out,
Woe is me, for I'm a man of unclean lips. I'm undone. And that's what the purpose seems
to be as it's incorporated in the preaching of the gospel. Yes, if my preaching doesn't
send the sheriff out, I don't think it's going to accomplish
too much. Without the law, there's no conviction. Without conviction, there's no
remorse. Without remorse, there's no godless
sorrow. And without godless sorrow, there's
no repentance. And without repentance, there's
no salvation. The creditor in those days was
one who exacted what was justly due him. That's what this fellow
came after. He was one who made no error
and no mistake. He rightfully claimed what was
his. And the creditor was a particular
individual that showed no mercy. Now, that's what that woman's
up against. And there again, that's a good
figure of the law, isn't it? A perfect figure of the law of
God. You know, this woman might have
said, like a lot of people are saying today, when the creditor
knocked on the door and said, It's time to pay up, either you
pay up or your son's going to bondage. She might have said,
But give me a few days, I'm doing the best I can. You ever heard
somebody say that? I'm doing the best I can. Well,
there's only one problem with that. It's just not good enough.
Under God, the best you can do is just not good enough. Under
the law, the holy demands of the law, the best you can do
will not do. The law doesn't demand the best
you can do. The law demands perfection, absolute
perfection. in word and thought and deed. That's why the law drives a man
to Christ, to a substitute, to one who has made satisfaction
to his just demand. Now, here was the awful obstacle
that was in the way of this thing. In verse 2, it says, And Elisha
said unto her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast
thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid
hath not anything in the house save a pot of oil. Oh, what an
awful obstacle. Thine handmaid hath not a thing
in the house save a pot of oil. What's she confessing there?
Why is she confessing her inability to meet the debt? Have you ever
confessed that? Is that where you came to? That's
where I came to, my inability to meet the debt. You know, I
had an idea for most of my lifetime that this thing was sort of like
scales, you know, like balances. And I knew that thing had dipped
way down over here on the left-hand side, and I was in pretty bad
trouble. But I thought maybe if I had
enough time in life, you know, when I got my act together, that
I could put enough over here to get that thing evened out.
Isn't that kind of the way most folks think about salvation,
about getting into heaven? That's about the way most religions
teach people, isn't it? To balance that thing out. Well, it was when the conviction
of God struck our hearts that we learned that we were saddled
with an obstacle. We had nothing in the house to
pay for, the debt. Inability. Ah, my friend, if
you know anything at all about grace and the grace of God in
salvation, I think you understand somewhat of where I'm going to
and where I'm at at this particular time in the message. Inability. You know, we're not only trouble
and saddle with total depravity, we're troubled and saddled with
total inability, ruined and helpless. And that's what makes us candidates
for the grace of God. You see, I stand as this woman,
poor and needy, as old Joseph Hart said, weak and sore. sick and sore, weary, heavy,
laden, ruined by the fall. And what a marvelous place to
come to, because without ever coming there, there'll never
be a seeking for a remedy, will there? Well, here's our alternative. You back up again in verse number
and there cried a woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets
unto Elisha." What was her alternative in this case? She had a debt
she couldn't pay. The creditor was knocking at
the door, ready to take away her two sons into bondage. What
could she do? She had only one alternative.
She could find the appointed instrument of God and apply for mercy. Now, we've got a responsibility,
I believe, as God's people, to publish the gospel, to make it
public out here the best that we can, by every legitimate biblical
means that God enables us with, to get the gospel out. But I'm
going to tell you something that a lot of people don't understand.
Man has a responsibility, I'm talking about the unconverted,
the lost, to seek God's instrumental means of conveying grace. This community, like my community
where I've preached the gospel for twenty-three years, will
stand in the judgment and give an account why they never sought
out the grace of God. It was here. It was in the midst
of this people, right in the midst of this community. And
they'll be brought to give an account for that one day. This
woman sought the instrumental means of God. She sought out
Elijah, or Elisha. She must rely upon the instrument
of God's own choosing, that through him she might gain the smile
of God's grace. And she seems to come to that
conclusion. The creditor is at hand, and
she must find some justifiable means of deliverance. Talking about the means of deliverance,
we think about the means of the sinner's justification. Of course,
that's the blood of Jesus Christ, according to Romans 5, verse
9. We know that the power of the
authority of justification is the resurrection of Christ. According
to the 4th chapter and 25th verse of Romans, the condition, of
course, is faith. Therefore, by faith, that is, trusting in
Christ, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are justified in the faith of Christ. We have the evidence
of justification clearly spelled out in James 2. Man is justified, he works, doesn't
he? He labors, he labors in the kingdom of God, he labors for
the cause of Christ. And of course, those things are
very important and imperative in the matter of our justification,
but the source of our justification is the grace of God. We're justified
by grace. Being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption. that is in Christ Jesus. That's
also in Romans, where Paul teaches that doctrine very clearly. Then you'll notice this, another
thing about this miracle in relationship to grace. It's not a big play. I don't make a big play on Bible
numerics, but there are numbers that are significant in the scripture.
And I believe the number five is the number that seems to be
associated and related to the grace of God. And this was the fifth miracle
of the prophet, which makes, again, a great illustration of
the grace of God. Another thing about this miracle,
the oil here that's involved, that was used to pay the debt,
I believe that's a good type of the superabounding grace of
God. David seems to be referring to
this when he says, Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth
over. That's superabounding. Isn't
that the marvelous thing about grace? It never diminishes. You never deplete the source
of grace. It's kind of like the other miracle
that Elisha works over here with the woman who had the one handful
of meal in the barrel and just a little oil in a vase, a cup. And yet that oil and that meal
under the miraculous work of God never failed. That's grace. And you know, in the same sense,
we also see the illustration of how we received the grace
of God in that miracle over there. I don't think he ever filled
that barrel up. I think he put a handful in there
every day, and there was a need every day to go back and get
that handful of meal. But it was always there, wasn't
it? And so was grace. It's always there, sufficient
enough for every need. Another thing we see in the story
here as I try to bring this thing, wrap this thing up here, is the
distinction in this illustration. This grace
that's illustrated here in the story is not perverted grace. It's not distorted. You'll notice
it obtained the freedom of the two sons by meeting the requirement
of a full It says so. When the prophet tells her in
the last part of this story, verse number 7, she comes to
the prophet, she says that the vessels are full, he says, Go
sell the oil and pay the debt. So it affected the redemption
of her two sons. That's the grace of God in redemption. Not a perverted grace. The idea
of the Armenian, you see, that God made a general atonement
for all the world. And those, of course, that are
lucky enough and respond to it become beneficiaries of it, and
of course the rest suffer. But that's perversion of grace.
Grace had a special design. This miracle had a special design. It had a design for the two sons
of this widow, that they might be redeemed from the sure bondage
of the creditor. So there is a distinction made
here in the redemption that our Lord
Jesus Christ accomplished for us. Christ paid all my dues,
and all their dues were paid. There was absolutely nothing
left owing, and so it is with my debt and your debt. There
is nothing left owing. Some people seem to be able to
accept the idea that they're forgiven of their sins at the
time of their initial salvation, but what about the sins after
that? Well, my friend, look, when Christ paid the debt for
sin, all of my sins were involved in it. Sins up until the time
of my initial conversion, and sins after my conversion were
paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ. He left nothing away. It affected
the full debt due. and canceled it completely. There
are a couple of aspects in the story here that are very important,
or principles, we might call them. In verse 5, notice as we
read this again, So she went from him, and shut the door upon
her and upon her two sons, who brought the vessels to her, and
she poured out. And it came fast when the vessels
were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is
not a vessel more, and the oil stayed. Then she came and told
the man of God, and he said, Go sell the oil, and pay the
debt, and live thou and thy children on the rest." What do we see
here but the two aspects of our redemption? The price, sell the
oil. There was a price demanded, and
that was the blood of Christ. The pure, sinless blood of a
substitute would only suffice for the redemption of God's people.
That was the price that was demanded by the law, and that was the
price that must be paid. So the price, sell the oil, that's
in the illustration here, and pay the debt. But then there's
the other aspect of our redemption, and that's the power. This was
a miraculous supply that was given here. You remember Israel
and the old economy under Moses. When they left Egypt, they left
Egypt under the blood. The blood was applied during
the night of the Passover upon the doorpost, the door header,
and they went out of Egypt under the blood, but they reached an
impasse. under blood, but in need of power. And the miraculous display of
God's power took place to effect their complete and full deliverance. The enemy was pursuing, and they
had nowhere to turn. The marsh was on one side, the
Red Sea in front of them, they couldn't go to the left, they
couldn't go to the right, so what must they do? what we all
must do, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Quit
struggling, quit rassling. You've come to that point of
an absolute need of deliverance. You see that the need is the
blood of Jesus Christ. You've bowed to that. Now we're
shut up to the effectual working of God. in the miracle of regeneration,
effecting our complete deliverance. And so the price, sell the oil,
the power of the miraculous supply. And then there is a final thing.
It's perfection. Oh, what a perfect story this
is. And it would not be a good story if it did not perfect the
idea of redemption. You see, this was no empty nor
partial redemption that this woman experienced here. It was
full, accomplishing all that it was designed for. Everything
that the miracle was designed for, it accomplished. What you
have in the house, I've got one pot of oil. That's totally insufficient
for such a debt. Go out and borrow vessels, not
full vessels, but empty vessels, and bring all the vessels that
all your neighbors can lend you. Bring them into the house and
fill them from that one pot. Impossibility. Not if God's in it. Not if God
gets a hold of it. And what was it designed for?
to pay the debt in order that the two sons might be delivered
from bondage. And was it not so? So it was
no emptying or partial redemption, but full, accomplishing all its
design. Then it was no general redemption
either, was it? It was particular. Particular
redemption. delivering the two sons. So not
only do we see it accomplished here, we see it applied. The
oil was applied to the dirt, and the two sons were delivered. And not only do we see a mere
possibility of their redemption here, their deliverance, we see
the certainty of it. Isn't that the kind of redemption
we preach? particular, accomplished and applied, not
possible but certain. And another thing, and this is
the final thing, it was no limited deliverance. You notice it said
in that last verse, he instructed it, he said, Go sell the oil,
pay the and live thou and thy son or thy children off the rest."
You know, I've been redeemed. I've been saved. I'm being saved. And you know, the dividends of
the blood of Jesus Christ, the redemption that he accomplished,
is what we'll live off of for eternity. No limitation to it. And did you know we'll need the
blood of Jesus Christ just as much in eternity as we need it
right now? I mean, it's going to be the
blood of Jesus Christ that keeps the wrath of God off of us for
eternity. There'll never be a time that
we cease needing his mediatorship, his intercessory work for will
always be what we are today, that is, sinners saved by the
grace of God, eternal monuments of the grace of God, blood-balked
and blood-washed sinners, now and forevermore. So there couldn't be a limitation
on this thing. So the story perfects it, doesn't
it? Live thou and thy children off
the rest. pay the debt, and live off the
rest. The objects of God's divine favor. I'm glad I'm one of them, aren't
you? Isn't it a marvel, a wonder of wonders? Bless his name. Thank you for listening to me.

The Gospel

What does the Bible say about grace in salvation?

How do we know God's sovereignty in salvation is true?

Why is understanding total depravity important for Christians?

What role does faith play in salvation according to the Bible?

Sermon Transcript

About Terry Worthan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

The Gospel

What does the Bible say about grace in salvation?

How do we know God's sovereignty in salvation is true?

Why is understanding total depravity important for Christians?

What role does faith play in salvation according to the Bible?

Sermon Transcript

About Terry Worthan

Comments

More from Terry Worthan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book