The God Of All Grace

Q: What does the Bible say about grace?

The Bible describes grace as God's unmerited favor, which is fundamental to salvation and the Christian life. Grace, as presented in Scripture, is more than just unmerited favor; it embodies God's forgiving nature towards the unfaithful and His readiness to welcome back the wayward. For instance, the story of the prodigal son illustrates grace as the father’s unconditional love, embracing his son despite his failings and filth. This shows that grace includes not only forgiveness but also restoration, emphasizing that no human works can earn or merit God's grace. It extends to both past sins and future transgressions, assuring believers of God's continual grace throughout their lives.

Q: How do we know sovereign grace is true?

We know sovereign grace is true because it is rooted in biblical teaching that emphasizes God's total sovereignty over salvation. Sovereign grace asserts that salvation is entirely the work of God, affirming that He calls individuals to Himself without regard to human merit. The truth of this doctrine is anchored in biblical passages that highlight God's initiative in salvation, such as Romans 8:28-30, where Paul outlines God's predestining and calling work. Furthermore, the assertion that grace is all-encompassing suggests no person is beyond its reach, underscoring the unconditional nature of God's love. This theological foundation guarantees that neither good works nor human decisions influence or hinder God's grace.

Q: Why is humility important for Christians?

Humility is vital for Christians as it reflects the character of Christ and allows believers to grow in grace and resist pride. Humility holds a significant place in Christian living, as stressed in 1 Peter 5:5-6, where believers are exhorted to clothe themselves with humility. This is not only a reflection of Christ's own humility, but also a necessity for spiritual growth. God resists the proud, and a humble spirit invites His grace and favor. Moreover, recognizing our inherent weaknesses fosters dependence on God, allowing us to embrace His strength in our lives. Ultimately, humility builds unity within the body of Christ and ensures that God receives the glory in our actions and lives.

Q: What does it mean that God is the God of all grace?

God being the God of all grace means He is the ultimate source of grace, providing redemption and forgiveness to all who believe. When Scripture refers to God as the God of all grace, it signifies that He is the origin and giver of all that grace entails, encompassing salvation, forgiveness, and sustaining power in the life of the believer. This title signifies that God's grace is not limited but is abundantly available to all people, irrespective of their background or failings. It emphasizes that all grace experienced by believers throughout their lives is a gift from God, reinforcing the idea that no merit or human effort is necessary to receive it. Such understanding motivates Christians to approach God with confidence, assured of His infinite grace that covers all their shortcomings.

Q: Why should we cast our cares on God?

We should cast our cares on God because He deeply cares for us and is capable of handling our burdens. Casting our cares upon God, as instructed in 1 Peter 5:7, is a demonstration of faith in His sovereignty and care. This act acknowledges our dependence on Him to manage our concerns, worries, and fears. In doing so, we are reminded that no burden is too heavy for God, and His love for us assures that He is engaged with our lives. By laying our troubles at His feet, we find comfort in His presence and strength in His promises, allowing Him to undertake what we cannot. This act of surrender cultivates peace and reassurance amidst life's trials, affirming our trust in His divine orchestration of our circumstances.

I am especially pleased to be
back here to visit with you again. The Lord's blessed you with a
very beloved pastor. I love him dearly. And I just think he's one of
God's choice servants. And God's given him such a good
helpmate. who loves you and loves the gospel. They're here to stay and preach
the gospel to you. And I'm thankful for him, and
I'm thankful that God's given him this congregation to pastor
and to teach and to whom he preaches the gospel. Spurgeon made this statement
one time, I can remember, I read it. He was talking about what's a
church without a pastor? It'd be like the world without
the sun. But he said, what's a pastor
without a church? It'd be like the sun with no
world to shine on. Somebody to bless. So it works
both ways. works both ways. What's a son
without a father, but what's a father without a son, you know?
You've got to have somebody to love and to be loved. And the Lord's just brought about
a good match here, and I'm thankful. I'm thankful to be with you. I always look forward to coming
here and visiting and preaching for you. And I do want to express
my gratitude to you for your concern and your care and your
cards and letters when I was laid aside for a little while,
about six weeks and all. I've never, I told Violet and
Birgie tonight that I've been blessed. I've never been sick
before, and it was good for me. It was good for me. You know,
you all studied Psalm 117 recently. You went through it, I think,
verse by verse. And I know you covered that verse
71, is it? Psalm 119, I believe 71, which
David said, It's good for me that I've been afflicted, that
I might learn thy statutes. And I tell you, I told our congregation
this, we know these things. There's a lot of things we know,
but we have to learn them by experience. We know Him up here. We know He cares for us. We know
His way is best. We know it's good for us to be
afflicted. We know trials are of the Lord. We know they teach
us patience and so forth and so on, but we just have to go
there to find it out first hand. Now, that's just all there is
to it. God said that's all there are to it. You've got to experience
it. And so when he says, it's good
for me that I've been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes,
he knew them. And even here, I believe he loved
them. But to learn them by experience, to know what some of my folks
had been through, to go through it. I want to tell you a little
story. I went to the hospital. What happened the first 24, 36,
or 48 hours, I don't remember vividly, but I do know I was
talking out of my head. I wasn't, I couldn't put things,
I know I was trying to, I wasn't even thinking, I just couldn't,
and I was talking without thinking, and without making any sense. And Doris had gone home to get
my pajamas and things and bring them up there, and she came in
the room, and my fever was 105.1, I was talking out of my head,
and my daughter was there, my grandson, Darcy said to the nurse,
said, uh, something's wrong, said, he's incoherent. And the
nurse said, doesn't he talk that way all the time? She liked that. No, he doesn't talk like that
all the time. Some of the time, not all the
time. Oh, but it's, it's good to, I feel like the old primitive
Baptist preacher that fell down the stairs. I'm glad that's over. I'm glad to be on this side.
And I want to congratulate you on that beautiful addition, the
nursery. That's the prettiest nursery
I've ever been in. It's prettier than ours. Mindy designed ours,
but she did a better job on this one. But it's beautiful, I'll
tell you. And I'll tell you, when mamas
and daddies bring these little precious treasures of theirs to your church,
they want a nice place to put that little fellow. It means
it's important. It's very important. They don't
want you hanging them on a wall somewhere because they are too
important to them. It's mighty important, isn't
it, to have a nice, clean, beautiful place and someone to care for
them while the mother enjoys the service. I never will forget
the first church I pastored in Chattanooga, they had no nursery,
and I couldn't preach above the babies yet. I mean, they were,
you know, the old-time preachers said, let her cry, Mama, I can
out-scream her. Well, I'm not up there to out-scream
a baby. I'm there to teach God's Word.
And any kind of disturbance, you know, keeps people from learning,
keeps them from hearing and understanding what you said. So I presented
to the deacons, we need to build a nursery. And Henry, I got a
fight on my hands. That church has been there 128
years, and they've never had a nursery. And one of the deacons
said, My ma held me, let their ma's hold them. I said, Why don't
you hold one up? We had an awful time. I got fired,
but I'll be. All right, let's turn
to 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter chapter 5, and here in verse 1, the apostle
Peter said, the elders which are among you, I exhort. He's talking to the preachers,
those who preach and those who teach God's Word. Man doesn't
have to be ordained an elder or recognized an elder by the
congregation specifically. If he's a teacher of the Word
and if he's a preacher of the Word and teaches the folks, he's
an elder appointed by God, you know, to teach his Word. He said,
I exhort you who am also an elder. Paul, he didn't sound the chief
elder. He said, I am also an elder.
Paul had a humble spirit. I'm also an elder, just like
you, teacher of God's Word. Peter said, I'm also an elder,
and Peter says here, I'm a witness of the sufferings of Christ.
He saw the Lord die. I'm a firsthand eyewitness of
the sufferings of Christ, Peter says here. I'm an eyewitness
of the sufferings of Christ. And I'm a faith witness of His
sufferings. You are too, seeing His suffering
in the Word and by faith. And I'm also a witness of His
suffering. I'm a faith witness and of a
voice witness. That's our message, the sufferings
of Christ. We preach Christ and Him crucified. That's our gospel. That's our
message. So that's what he's saying. Peter says, you elders,
I'm also an elder. I'm an eyewitness, a witness
of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory
that shall be revealed by His grace. Our Lord Jesus Christ
prayed in John 17 that we might behold his glory, and he said,
The glory which you've given me, I've given them. We're partakers
of his glory. And I tell you, our light affliction
is not worthy to be compared with the glory which we shall
enjoy in his presence. All right, verse two. His word to the elders is, Feed
the flock. Feed the flock of God. That's
a pastor and an elder and a teacher's responsibility to feed the flock. Ellen said to me tonight, we
spoke downstairs, and I said, did you have a good day? She
said, I worked all day. And I said, well, I hope I have
something for you tonight that'll make it worth your while to come
here. I worked this morning so I could have something for you.
Your pastor works each day so he can have something for you.
That's our responsibility, feed the flock of God, to study, to
prepare, to preach, to teach, to give the people something
from God's Word when they come to the table. Feed. Just like
it's my wife's responsibility to feed me and our children and
our grandchildren, you know, and you ladies to feed your children,
it's the pastor's responsibility and the elders' to feed God's
sheep. Feed them what? Feed them the Word. You know,
when our Lord said to Peter, Peter, I tell you, he knows about
this. He sat there by the fire, and
our Lord said, You love me? He said, Yea, Lord, I love thee.
You feed my lambs. He said again, You love me? Yea,
Lord, I love thee. Feed my sheep. Do you love me? He was grieved, the Lord asked
him the third time, Do you love me? He said, Lord, you know I
love you. Well, feed my sheep. Lead them into the green pastures
of the wood. Feed them. Soak yourself in God's
Word so that you can teach them. take them through the Word. That's
what this means, taking you verse by verse through the Word. You
know, I believe this is the best preaching there is, verse by
verse, expository preaching of God's Word, taking you through
the Word. This is what it says. Feed them, which is among you,
your flock. You know, we have And in the
center reference there, as much as in you is, it says, but I
believe it says which is among you. This is your philosophy.
I know that our ministry reaches out to other areas, but a pastor's
responsibility is his own congregation to be there. I travel a lot now. I didn't years ago when I first
church first started, and I was there, you know, without much
help. I stayed home, and I feel like
pastors all stay home and preach to their people. Feed the flock,
which is among you, among you, and have something for them.
You know, practice—here we meet during the week. You say, well,
you fellows work hard for Sunday morning. I say this for your
pastor, and I know it's true for myself, too, and a lot of
other preachers. This is just as important a service as Sunday
morning. Maybe a little more. Maybe a little more. It's Wednesday
night. That's awfully important. But
you've come together to hear, to feast on this Word. And we
don't take it lightly. We must never take it lightly.
Not ever take it lightly. Just feed them. Taking the oversight. What's that? Leadership. Take
the leadership thereof. Not by constraint. Not coerced
to do it or made to do it, but willingly. Not for filthy lucre,
not for gain, not for popularity, but of a ready mind. Your chief
motive, twofold. The glory of God and the good
of the people. Two things motivates a true preacher. He loves God and he loves God's
people. That's it. For the glory of God and the
good of the people. That's a ready mind. All right? And neither
as being lords over God's heritage. We're not dictators. We're examples. Not being lords over God's heritage. We're brethren. We're examples
to the flock. I'll tell you, we're under-shepherds. It says in verse four, and one's
a chief shepherd. He's the chief shepherd. He's
the great shepherd. Our Lord Jesus Christ, He is
the good shepherd. And when he shall appear, those
faithful pastors and faithful preachers and faithful elders
and faithful teachers will receive a crown of glory, a crown of
joy. I'm not talking about a material
crown. I'm talking about the same crown
of righteousness and glory and joy that every believer will
receive with brethren. See, the body of Christ is made
up like our bodies of many members, and there's no single member
that's unimportant. The ear can't say, because I'm
not the eye, I'm not of the body. The ear does what it's called
to do, and the eye does what it's called to do, and the hand
does what it's called to do, and every member of the body
is important. We're brethren, and we don't
lord it over God's heritage. We're examples, we're brethren,
The chief shepherd's coming back. Oh, look at verse 5 and 6. Here,
he exhorts us to humility. I tell you, God hates pride. You know, when he said in Proverbs,
six things doth the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination.
You'd think, well, murder would be number one. You'd think, well,
you know, kidnapping or or homosexuality or something that's so degrading
in our eyes. But you know what God names first?
Six things that God hates. Yes, seven are abomination to
Him. Number one, a proud little. Pride goes before destruction
and a haughty spirit before Paul. Come on down. Come on now, if
we would do God's will, if we would be a good witness of Christ
Jesus, if we would endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the congregation and the church, let's be humble, recognizing
that what we are and who we are and what we know is by the grace
of God and not because of anything in us. You younger, likewise,
verse 5, you younger, you younger, that's younger in faith primarily. younger than faith. The younger are to submit to
the older. I'm old-fashioned, you know.
I believe that young people ought to be respectful of older people
and speak kindly to and of them and treat them kindly and say,
yes sir, no sir, I'm from the old school. I just feel like
that that those are good characteristics to be younger, to submit to the
elder. But here, this is talking about
younger in faith. Submit to those leaders God has
put in the church. Submit to the elder, to the older,
to the leaders God's put before you. Obey them that have the
rule over you as those who watch for your soul. Listen to them.
Hear them out. They got to give an account someday
of their ministry to you, and you got to give an account of
their ministry to you also. And let's hope it'll be a good
account and not with sorrow. So submit yourself to the elder. Oh, yeah, he said all of you,
everybody in the church, be subject one to another. Look not on your
own things, but on the things of others. Be careful for their
well-being and their welfare. And be clothed with humility,
literally clothed with it. Clothed with a humble spirit,
a submissive spirit. For God Almighty, listen, resisted
the proud, the arrogant. God will give grace to a humble
man, a humble woman. God will give grace to meekness,
kindness, gentleness, big gentleness. You know, this arrogant spirit,
the wrath of man, the arrogancy of man, does not work the righteousness
of God. It just does not accomplish it.
It's a meek spirit, a kind spirit, a gentle spirit. Words of wrath stirreth up anger.
Don't just softly answer, turn a bit away. Humble yourself under
the mighty hand of God. Humble yourself unto the mighty
hand of God. He'll exalt you in due time.
What's our primary example of that? Philippians 2. Listen. Humble yourself unto the mighty
hand of God. Be gentle and kind and gracious
and remember where you came from and who brought you and who taught
you and who gave us everything we have. It's by His grace. He said, Let this mind be in
you, which was also in our Lord Jesus Christ, who thought it
not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation,
a nobody, a nobody, took upon himself the form of a servant. That's right, was made in the
likeness of human flesh, became obedient unto death, yea, even
the death of the cross. Wherefore God highly exalted
him and gave him a name which is above every name. And I'll
tell you this, if a man or a woman or a young person who knows God
can find a place of service and humility and kindness and gentleness
and get the edge off and be submissive and humble under the hand of
God, he'll exalt that man someday. He'd exalt that woman someday.
The world may walk you. You say, people walk over you.
They walked over my Lord, too. They walked over Him. He turned
the other cheek. When He was reviled, He reviled
not again. He submitted to the will of His
Father, to the suffering death of the cross. Therefore, God
highly exalted Him. So that's what He's saying, isn't
it? And you look at verse seven. And you cast all your care on
Him. just cast it on him. It's a tough
world, preacher. I know that. I know that. I buried one of my dear friends
last week, a man I've known for 40, 45 years. And he suffered awful lung cancer. And he's Rick Williams, his dad's uncle. That is, dear friend,
it's a tough world, a tough world, but you've gone through some
tough times. But just what he's saying, all your care, all your
care, all of your threats and fears, cast them on Him. All
of your weight and worry, cast it on Him. All of your cares
and concerns, cast it on Him. All of your family and your future,
cast it on Him. He cares for you. And that's
twofold. He cares for you. That is, He
loves you. He cares for you. He loves you.
And not only that, but He cares for you. He's taken upon Himself
your care, your provisions. The Lord will provide. He cares
for you. You're special. You're his children. You're special to him. You're
his own. You're his sheep. He's the shepherd.
He cares for you. Cast your care on him. He cares
for you. Now listen to this. Be serious. Be sober. Be sober. Be serious. Be vigilant. Be alert. Be aware. We're in
a warfare. And not with flesh and blood.
I got a letter from a young pastor up in Ohio last week. who told me in the letter, I've
never met him, a young man, he said, I'm glad God's raising
up some young men in your church to fight the Armenians. I'm not
fighting Armenians. I'm not fighting anybody. I'm
preaching the gospel, you know. My enemy's not flesh and blood.
Principalities and powers. Look at the next, this verse
here. You be serious and be vigilant And be careful and be alert because
your adversary, the devil, principalities and powers and rulers and darkness
and high places, Satan's subtle. He deceived Eve. He deceived—he worked Peter over. Now that's—this is serious business,
isn't it? With unseen enemies and adversaries. He's a roaring lion walking about
seeking whom he may devour, whom resist, step past in faith. Not look into your own strength
to resist him, but look into Christ. That's what Michael said,
the Lord rebuked him. I got no power over Satan, but
the Lord does. You resist him in faith. You
see what he's saying there? Look into Christ. Don't you dare
take him on. I hear these preachers on television
talking about what they said to the devil. Now, I'm not saying
nothing to him. I don't want anything to do with
him. My Lord will take care of him. He's the only one who can.
You resist him in faith, knowing that these same afflictions are
accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. This is
common. What I went through the last
six or seven weeks is common to God's people—suffering, These
things are common. This is part of life on this
earth. It's part of the flesh. He said,
in the world, you're going to have tribulation. And these things, that's what
he said, they're the same afflictions, the same—I tell you, there's
nothing you endure or face that our Lord didn't endure and face,
and that your own brethren in Christ don't endure and face.
with brethren in suffering, companions in suffering. All right, but,
verse ten, here's the good news, and I'll just briefly give you
this outline here. But the God of all grace, who
is He? He's the God of all grace. Who
is He? The God of all grace. You know,
we think we have a pretty good idea of what grace is. Give these
definitions. Some might say, well, grace is
unmerited favor. That's true, but you ain't said much, you
know, of every person. Grace is undeserved merit. That's true, but it's cold, isn't
it? Well, grace is unsought love. That's true, but still cold.
You know what grace is? Grace is forgiving the unfaithful. It's a faithful husband forgiving
an unfaithful wife. and forgetting her father. That's grace. Grace is forgiving
the prodigal son and welcoming that sorry rascal back with open
arms and a kiss, within all of his filthiness. Don't you—that
boy was dirty and filthy. He'd been living in a hog pen.
He'd been a drunk. He'd been lying in the gutter.
He didn't have a friend in the world, but that daddy stood there.
welcomed him home like he never had left. That grace! That says
a whole lot more than unmerited favor, doesn't it? You know what
grace is? It's counseling the unpaid debt. Lady Doris does business with,
told her about somebody that owed her some money and never
paid her. That's been years ago. She's never forgotten it. She
keeps bringing it up. But grace is forgetting it and
counseling it. God counseled my death. That's
grace. Grace is forgetting the offense.
Doris had me tell a story. It happened two or three years
ago. Something happened to me up north in a meeting, and I
got so mad, I got mad last night telling it. I said, you shouldn't
tell me to tell that. I'd get mad all over again. It's
hard for us to forget an offense, especially when it strikes at
our gospel. But that's no excuse. But grace is forgetting the offense. Grace is unlimited forgiveness. How many times shall I forgive
Him? Seven times? No, seven times. I can't do it. I get tired. I say, enough's
enough. He never says enough's enough.
That's grace. And it says here, listen, the
God of all grace. You know why we don't understand
that? Because God's the only one that's that way. He's not
the God of some grace. He's the God of every smidgen
of it. Did you ever use that word smidgen? Not a smidgen.
Well, there ain't a smidgen of that in us. Not a smidgen, not
a whisper. It's all in Him. Come thou fount
of every blessing, the source of all grace. He's the God of
all grace. Old Thomas Bradbury said this,
all the grace you've ever experienced, ever known, ever will experience,
or ever will know all the way through life, home to glory,
is of God and of Him only. Not some grace, all grace. And this sweeps away all your
human works and all your deeds and all your merit. He's the
God of all grace. There's none of us, in us, or
about us, or from us. It's all from Him. If there's
any of us, He put it there. And if that won't take the starch
out of us, what will? And I'll give you five questions.
I gave these to Todd Niblett on the phone the other day just
as I was talking. He called me back later and said,
Let's hear those again. Maybe they're worthwhile. He
liked them. I liked them. Maybe you'll like them. Now listen
to this. Salvation's all of grace. Number one, if it is all of grace,
then no person is ineligible or exempt from that grace. That's
right, no matter who it is. That's right. If it's all of
grace, if there's nothing in us to draw his love or merit
his love and kindness, it's all motivated by his own grace and
love, then nobody's exempt. Isn't that right? It's for me
too. You mean God saved me? Well,
it's grace! It's grace. Secondly, if it's
all of grace, then my sins present no problem. Oh, you don't know
how sinful I've been. It doesn't make any difference
if it's all grace. Isn't that right? It doesn't
matter what I've done, what I've been. It doesn't matter. If it's
of grace, now if it's not of grace, it doesn't matter. So
you can't say, if I've been good enough or bad enough. It's all grace. And thirdly,
if it's all of grace, then no one sin will exempt me. Do you
know the average person? He knows he's a sinner, and he'll
look over his past life and say, well, I haven't done what I ought
to. But there's one, probably and usually one thing in the
past that they think of mostly, that depresses them. Maybe it's
the divorce. Maybe it's two or three. We have
a girl in our church that's been married, I think, four or five
times, finally heard the gospel. She likes a married woman. But
I told her, forget it. But I bet she has a hard time
forgetting. Maybe you've been a drug addict.
Maybe you were drunk. Maybe you mistreated your wife
and children. And it plays on your mind all, and it depresses
you all. But every time I think about
what I said, what I did, and the way I used to act, listen,
no one sin keeps the grace of God from forgiving them. Jacob
deceived his father and stole his brother's blessing. David
killed one of his best friends, murdered him, murdered him, planned
his death. Peter denied his Lord. Those
are great sins, but those are some of God's choice people.
Fourthly, then if it's all of grace, no future sin is going
to prevent. Might as well get that over with. We
might have a race that you won't. You'll fall. What do you mean?
That's right. You'll fall tomorrow. You'll
think something tomorrow you shouldn't think. You'll say something
tomorrow you shouldn't say. You'll do something tomorrow
you shouldn't do. It's your nature. It's my nature. We're centered
by nature. That's right. He'll hold you,
but you're not going to hold him. You can't hold yourself. That's right. So future sins
have nothing to do with all my sins under the blood of Christ.
It's by grace. God didn't forgive me up to this
point, leave me on my own. If he did, I'll spend the rest
of my time in hell, won't you? It's all of grace. And then the fifth question is
this. If it's all of grace, then it doesn't matter how long I've
been a Christian or how long I was a sinner, does it? Well,
I tell you, some of you fellows have been in the gospel all your
lives, and here I am. I'm a late bloomer. I'm a late
comer. So was the thief. But my Lord took him to glory
side by side with him. Huh? You can't get any higher
than that, Joe, can you? Walking in the glory of Christ
Jesus. He didn't know him over fifteen, twenty minutes or so,
or an hour or so. It doesn't matter how long you
served the Lord or how long you served sin. It's grace! That's what I'm talking about.
I wish we believed grace. I wish we—sovereign grace, if
you're going to believe sovereign grace, it—I tell you, it'll take
you to the mountaintop if you believe God's grace. I don't
talk about talking about it and having it on the catechisms and
creeds. I'm talking about believing it.
It's all of grace. He's the God of all grace. Listen,
the next thing. What has He done? He's called
you. He calls you. You didn't call
Him. He called you. You called Him because He called
you. You seek Him because He sought you. You believe Him because
He loves you. That's the reason you love Him,
because He loves us, doesn't it? The first step a person takes
towards glory is when God sets His affection on him and causes
it back. That's when it happens. He calls
you. And He called you by—He called
you to eternal glory. That's the goal, by Christ Jesus.
It's all in Christ. He passed away on that Sunday,
didn't He? Christ is all. He's all my redemption, all my
sanctification, all my justification, all my acceptance, all my reward.
He's all in and all. It's by Christ Jesus. He called
us to glory. And He uses means. He uses means. Moses saw the burning bush, for
it's God who called him out of the bush. The earthquake shook
the jailer up and made him listen to Paul, for it's God who spoke
to him through the earthquake. Philip went down and spoke to
the eunuch, for it's God who called him. Isn't that right?
He uses human instruments. And your pastor preaches to you,
and I come along and confirm what he says and preach the same
thing to you. But it's God who speaks through
us. It's God who calls you. He's called you. Now, what's
this next line? What's this next one? What are
we going to do? He said, He said, He's called
us, and after that, you have suffered a while. We're going
to suffer. All who would live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer. We're going through toils and
trials and sufferings. It's a lot of all of God's people. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 3. Let
me show you something here. And there's going to be some
more. We're going to suffer in our bodies. We're going to suffer
in our emotions. We're going to suffer in our
children. We're even going to be hurt in
our grandchildren. And the more your family grows,
the more heartaches you have. We suffer by our friends. There are just so many areas
in which God's people suffer. 1 Thessalonians 3, verses 1 through
4. Wherefore, when we could no longer
forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone, and
sent Timothy, Timotheus. Timothy, our brother and minister
of God, our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish
you and to comfort you concerning your faith. that no man should
be moved by these afflictions. For yourselves know that we are
pointed thereunto. For verily, when we were with
you, we told you before that we should suffer trouble, tribulation,
even as it came to pass. And you know, that's... I see what Paul's saying. I told
you, he said, when I was down there, I told you. Don't be surprised
by these fiery trials. Don't be surprised by these tribulations. troubles and suffering. I told
you, he said, it's going to come to pass. It's going to come to
pass. But I like one word here. Look
at this one word. After you've suffered a while. Boy, I'm glad that's in there. A while. The unbeliever suffers
forever. The face of God is turned away
from him forever. He may turn his face away from
us for a while. He may put us through the furnace
a while. He may send trouble our way a
while, but it's a while. Weeping endureth for the night,
but what? Joy is coming in the morning.
There's a morning. We wait on the Lord as those
who watch for the morning. I'm waiting on the morning. This
mess is going to be over someday. It's just for a while. Let me
show you a verse over in Isaiah 54. You just got to turn to this
and just look at it and mark it. You know, I told, when I
was in the hospital, I kept telling our people, For years I've told
him, it's 41 years nearly I've been the pastor, and I tell him,
read the Word, read the Word. When you're sick, read the Word.
When you're in trouble, read the Word. When you're depressed,
read the Word. Read the Psalms, read God's promises. His Word
will comfort you. And I tell you, I experienced
that in the hospital. I couldn't do much reading myself.
Darth stayed with me there for seven or eight days, and I'd
call up the other and sit by the bed and read God's Word to
me. And I tell you, I'm telling you the truth by experience.
He just lifted my soul and my spirit and settled me down. And I was getting up tense, you
know, and He'd take the tenseness of His promise, His Word. I know
it. I've said it and I know it. His
promises will encourage you and me if we just read it. When you
just Don't know which way to turn? Well, don't turn to somebody.
Turn to this book. Isn't that right, Terry? Read it. Read it. Read it. If you can't read it, get somebody
to read it to you. If you're too sick to read, or too upset
to read, or something wrong, call this man right here. He's
your buddy. He'll come read it to you, or
your wife or husband. I'm telling you, it's just God's
comfort. Listen, Isaiah 54, 7 and 8. For
a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies
will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face
from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have
mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer." You know, if He'll
give me that everlasting mercy, I can take that wrath, a little
wrath, for a while. But I tell you, if I didn't have
hope of that everlasting mercy, I couldn't take that wrath. I
couldn't take that heartache. I couldn't take that loss of
a loved one. I couldn't. If I didn't know that he's going
to turn his face back, I couldn't take that withdrawing of his
face. The Lord Jesus knew the father
didn't look back on him. My God, why have you forsaken
me? He knew it was just for a while. Just for a while. And that's
so with us. After you've suffered a while. Keep that word in mind. What's
he going to do then? All right, look back at my text
now. I've been telling our preacher, I said, don't preach over 40,
45 minutes. That's long enough. And I got
one of the elders in the study one day, he was going to church,
maybe to be the apostate, and I said, now don't, don't preach
hour and a half up there. You know, preach about 40 minutes.
Next Wednesday night, I preached 62 minutes. He was the first
one to meet me at the door, Tom Hardy. He said, that message
was sixty-two minutes and thirty seconds long. I said, you couldn't
wait to do that, could you? Watch this right here, though.
Empty yourself for a while, make you perfect. Now listen, listen
to me. Here's four words, perfect, established,
strengthened, settled. I want to look at these four
words, but what do they mean? I'm already perfect in Christ.
He has perfected forever. Isn't that right? He is righteous. In a sense, there's no way I'll
ever be perfect in this flesh. Paul said, I am not perfect.
Then what does this word mean? Mature. After you've suffered
a while, He's going to use that suffering and trial and trouble
to mature, help you grow up in Christ and make you grow up.
That's right. He's going to comfort us so we
can comfort. He's going to teach us so we
can teach. He's going to put us through
these experiences so we can show patience to others. We're going
to grow up. I want to grow up, don't you?
Grow up in growing grace in the knowledge of Christ. And that's
what he's saying here. The second word is establish.
This signifies permanence, stability, unmoving. You remember that old
song where you sang, I shall not be moved. I'm just like a
tree planted by the water. I shall not be moved. That's
what that's talking about. Old Peter, he wavered, didn't
he? He wavered. But I'll tell you
this. He was on the rock Christ even
when he wavered. That's right. Peter was unfaithful,
but he was faithful. He knows what he's talking about.
It took time. It took time. Peter retreated before the enemy,
but then when they came to him after Pentecost and told him
not to preach in that name anymore, He said, you judge whether I
ought to obey you or obey God. He said, I'm going to teach what
I've seen and heard. That's a different man. And that's
what I'm saying. He's going to, he's going to,
you're going through these trials and after you've suffered a while,
he's going to make you and I mature and he's going to establish us.
We ain't going to move. We've moved plenty of times,
but there's coming a time when we ain't going to move. It takes
time, though. I'm telling you, it takes time.
It's not done in a day or two. It takes years. I've watched
some people in 13th Street Baptist Church change. We talked about
that last night, Rick. I've seen some people grow up,
mature, established. I've seen them waver, and I've
seen me, too. Same thing. I've seen us go through
all that. But those folks, the Word of God, the trials, the
suffering, the trouble, man, they like Rock of Gibraltars. And then the third word is, He'll
strengthen you. Now here's a word, Paul and I
are talking about this today. We're all weaklings. I'm a weakling. I'm a weakling. But thank God,
when we're weak, then we're strong. You know how He strengthens us?
The average religious person doesn't know anything about this.
The Lord doesn't strengthen us by calling our attention to our
ability to stand, but calling our attention to the fact that
we can't stand, that He can keep us. When I'm weak, then am I
strong. You see what I'm trying to say?
This is—I had a friend who told me this, Jack Shex. He said,
my favorite verse of Scripture years ago, even before I learned
the gospel of God's grace, was, I can do all things through Christ
which strengthens He said, it's still my favorite verse, but
I put the emphasis in a different place. It's not, I can do all
things, it's I can do all things through Christ. The emphasis
is in a different place. I can't do nothing. I had a man
sitting on the front row in Detroit, Michigan one time, waiting to
stand up and preach. A young man came by and said, are you
ready to preach? I said, no sir, I ain't never been ready. I'm telling the truth. I have
never done that. And I'm not ready now. But I
sure swear to God, Lord, You speak to us. You even prayed
that God would enable us to worship Him. Well, why don't we just
do it? We came. That's exactly right. We don't
know what we should pray for, except He should show us to do
it. Our strength is Him. And the
more we realize how weak we are, the stronger He's going to strengthen
us. And then the last word is He'll
settle you. I'm seeing this happen in a lot
of cases. The word settle. Everything in
this world is uncertain, unstable, everything. And I'll tell you, even some
of the distinguished Believers, we are shocked sometimes to see
them waver, their instability. But there's a settling process
going on. Did you ever build a concrete block building? It'll
crack somewhere. You know why? It's settling.
I guarantee you, there's going to be a crack somewhere because
everything's got to settle. But after a while, it won't crack
anymore. It's reached. It's on the rock. And I'll tell
you this. when he brings us through all
these experiences, and we're settled on the rock. Gosh, Jesus,
we're not going to move anymore. We're settled. We're settled. And I'll tell
you this, he said, I'll never leave them, and they'll never
leave me. You can—that's not presumption,
that's just so. That's just so they're settled.
Peter said that. He said, Will you go away? He
said, To whom? Now that's the words of eternal life. And then
why is he doing all this? Verse eleven, To him be the glory
and the dominion forever and ever. That's why he's doing it.
God saved us to the praise of his glory. If you don't look
for a reason why he loved you and me, and why he called you
and me, and why he saved you and me, and why he's protecting
and establishing and strengthening and accepting us. Because we're
going to—he's going to gather together someday everything in
Christ, and he's going to put on display the riches of his
grace toward us in Christ Jesus. He's not going to—we're not going
to stand up in line and get rewards for what we've done. We're going
to be trophies of his grace. That's all right. Thank you.

The God Of All Grace

What does the Bible say about grace?

How do we know sovereign grace is true?

Why is humility important for Christians?

What does it mean that God is the God of all grace?

Why should we cast our cares on God?

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The God Of All Grace

What does the Bible say about grace?

How do we know sovereign grace is true?

Why is humility important for Christians?

What does it mean that God is the God of all grace?

Why should we cast our cares on God?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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