I want you to turn in your Bible,
if you will, to Acts, the book of Acts, chapter 15. The book of Acts, chapter 15. Now, I hope that God Almighty, He
would never cease to amaze me. that it pleased God to use a
sinner like me to preach to His people who are sinners just like
I am. It never amazes me that God Almighty would be pleased
to put this gospel of the glory of God in a sinful vessel, this
treasure of the gospel. But it pleased God to do so.
And I hope that He'll bless us today and that He'll enable us
to worship Him around that sacrifice of the bleeding Lamb of God,
who put away our sin. Look at Acts chapter 15, verse
11. Verse 11 will serve as our text, and I'll give you some
background on what's going on here, but let's read this eleventh
verse. He says, We believe. But, he says, we believe. Well, what do you believe? We
believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we
shall be saved, even—watch this last part now—even as they. Even as they. You know what's
going on here? Let me tell you, let me give
you a little background of what's happening here in Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas had been preaching
the gospel of the glory of God, this blessed gospel of the glory
of God, among the Gentile heathen, those barbarians you talked about.
Greeks, heathen, barbarians, that's us. That's what we are
before God. And God had blessed—oh, how God
had blessed their ministry. And God had blessed their ministry
with many conversions. Many people were converted to
this gospel. Look at Acts chapter 14, verse
1. The last couple lines are Acts
14, verse 1. He says, Both of the Jews and also of
the Greeks, Gentiles, believed this gospel. A great multitude,
not a few, but a great multitude. God had blessed this ministry.
And I'll give you several reasons, scriptural reasons, in a way
of introduction, why God had blessed this ministry. You see,
Paul was a chosen vessel. Paul was a chosen vessel, sent
of God. Let's look at Acts chapter 9.
I hope you'll use your Bible. Don't lose it, use it. Use your
Bible, and let's see if God will speak to us. Look at Acts 9 verse
15. You know the story here of Ananias
and the Lord speaking to him in verse 15? And the Lord said
to him, Go thy way. For he, speaking of Paul, he
the chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles,
and the kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him
how great things he must suffer for my name's sake." First of
all, we know this man was chosen of God and sent of God to preach
this gospel. Not only that, the vessels God
uses, he himself The vessels that God chooses, it pleases
Him to use them. Not only that, but God has taught
this man the gospel. He didn't learn it by himself.
You see, you don't learn this gospel by education. It comes
out of the revelation of God. God must speak to you. God taught
this man the gospel. He called him, he sent him, and
he taught him the gospel, by the grace of God. And we know,
secondly, about this ministry of Paul and Barnabas. They were
sent out of the Holy Spirit. Look at Acts chapter 13, verse
3. And here we see the early church
here gathering in Antioch. And we've seen several ministers,
they're ministering in that church of Antioch. Notice verse 2, he
says, As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit
said, Separate me Barnabas and Paul, and asked Paul for the
work run through, I'll call them. They were set apart of the Holy
Spirit. And thirdly, we know this, stay right there in that
chapter, they had the support They had the support of the local
church. Look at verse 3 right there.
And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on
them, they sent them away. Now, you know what that means
by laid their hands on them? That means, does it mean they
put their hands on them and transferred any sexual power or anything?
That's not what it's talking about. What it means here is
they approved of their ministry. They approved of that message.
They laid hands on, they laid hold of that message, and they
said, go preach this message. And we're going to support you
in this gospel. We're going to support you. That's what he said
here. And they sent them away. They sent them away with their
prayers and with their support. But fourthly, we know this about
this ministry of this man Paul. Paul of Armistice. Look at Acts
14, verse 27. And here we see them returning
from their first, first journey, first missionary journey. And
when they would come, Acts 14, 27, they were, when they would
come, had gathered, when they would come and had gathered the
church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them. You see, God had blessed this
ministry, all that God had done with them. Now watch this, how
he opened the door. God opened the, this thing, God
has to make this thing work. It's God's work. This ministry
is God's work. It's His ministry. It's His gospel. God opened the door of faith
unto the Gentiles. God opened the door. That's the
key to this thing. God opened the door. God gave
them opportunity to preach this gospel. Here's the situation. Here they go out to this countryside
and they run into this little town, Iconium, Lystra, Derby,
different towns, and they go into this humongous Jewish synagogue. And here these Jews in here worshiping,
they're not preaching the gospel. And here Paul and Barnabas come
in, and God, in a miraculous way, opens the door and gives
these men an opportunity to preach the gospel. God opened the door.
And God, not only that He opened the door of opportunity, but
He opened the door of utterance. He gave them and enabled them
to preach this gospel boldly. They didn't speak it in a, in
a, well, it might be the way it is. No. They boldly told men
this gospel of the grace of God. And He gave them great boldness
in the face of much persecution and opposition, like you talked
about. At one place that we read in the Scripture, I think it's
in Acts chapter 14, it says that these Jews were so stirred up
with envy and jealousy and hatred toward the apostles, but actually
they vented their hatred toward them, but actually their hatred
was vented toward God. And they stoned this man. They
stoned him and they drove old Paul out of the city. They thought
he was dead. They thought they killed him.
Do you know what happened? Did he quit? The scripture said
the next day. What did he do? He went out,
and he went to Derby, and he preached this same gospel. In
the face of God gave them boldness to preach this gospel. And we
know this from that 27th verse, God opened the door of faith.
God opened the door of faith in our hearts to receive this
blessed gospel of the grace of God. God had wrought—and notice
what it says here. God had done with them. They
rehearsed all the things that God had. They didn't go and say,
now look what we've done, brother. They didn't say that, did they?
They said, look what God Almighty was pleased to do. This is God's
ministry. This is God's business. Oh, I
tell you, God had brought a great work through them. And I think
of the verse there in Psalm 18. He said, this is the Lord's doing.
Ah, this is the Lord's doing, and it's marvelous in our eyes. Marvelous in our eyes. But notice
this. Now let's look at our text in
Acts chapter 15. We see Paul and Barnabas, they've
been out, they've been preaching, and here they come back to this
church, their home church, Antioch. And they tell this good news
of the grace of God towards sinners. And now notice verse 1 in Acts
chapter 15. Now something happens. They've
got trouble right here. Trouble. And a certain man which
came down from Jerusalem and talked to brethren and said,
except, watch it now, except you be circumcised after the
manner of Moses, you can't be saved. Well, that caused a great
stir. Well, who were these men here?
We get some sort of an idea of who they are. Look at verse 5,
"...and they rose up a certain sect of the Pharisees," that's
where they came from, "...which believed, saying that it was
needful to circumcise them, and to command them," watch it now,
"...command them to keep the law of Moses." Keep the law."
These old Pharisees. And it says here they believed,
but did they really? Did they really believe? Out
of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. If God had
convicted their heart, they wouldn't have been speaking like this.
Keep the law, God. My soul. These old Jews. These fancies couldn't get rid
of that old Jewish law of bigotry, and strongly urge these converted
Gentiles that they ought to be circumcised and they ought to,
my soul, keep the law of God. Now look at verse 2, and here
we see a great argument. When therefore Paul and Barnabas
had no small, and I like the way Luke writes these, it wasn't
a small thing. It was no small. In other words,
he's saying it was large. This thing was big, big. No small dissension, disagreement,
no small disputation, discussion with them, and they determined
that Paul and Barnabas and certain others should go up to Jerusalem
about unto Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this
question." So you see what's happened here? They have this
question that comes up. Do we have to be circumcised
to be saved? And they have a discussion about
it. And then they determine to send
Paul and Barnabas to the elders, to the headquarters of this religious
outfit, and we're going to find out and debate this once and
for all, and what's going to be the outcome here. Now look
at verse 3. So here they go on their trip,
and being brought on their way by the church, they pass through
Pharnassus, Samaria, and notice what happens. They declared the
conversion of the Gentiles, and they cause great joy unto all
the brethren. You see, the brethren rejoice
that God will show mercy to sinners. But the Pharisees and the self-righteous,
they've got a problem with that. They want you to be law men. But he says, and you know the
scripture says, in that parable of the lost sheep, that there's
joy in heaven over one lost sheep that repented. Then ninety-nine
unjust sinners that need no repentance. The brethren rejoice, and doesn't
that melt your heart? My soul, when you hear the conversion
of someone, Knowing in a condition that we're all a sinful wreckage
of God the Holy, doesn't it just melt your heart when God Almighty
is pleased to show mercy to some sinner? Oh, I tell you, it delights
my soul. Oh, how it delights my soul. Great joy unto all the brethren. Now look at those stories. And
when they were come, to Jerusalem, they were a receiver of the church
and the apostles and elders, and they declared all things."
And here he says again, he doesn't go up there and say, now look
what we've done. He said, they declared all the things that
God had done with them. God was pleased to use them.
You see, God's sovereign, but he's sovereignly pleased to use
instruments to call out his sheep through the preaching of this
gospel. God had done it. Now look at verse 5, "...and
there rose up this sect of the Pharisees, Now, it's evident
to me that they didn't believe the gospel, they wouldn't be
talking like this, but they had an outward confession of religion,
but they had no inward conviction in the soul. They believed, and
here's what they said. Maybe this is what they believed.
I think this is it right here, that it was needful to be circumcised,
and they commanded them to keep the law of Moses to be saved.
And here, look at verse 6. And the apostles and the elders,
they came together to consider this. You see this Bible conference
we're having right here in Jerusalem, and here's the question. Here's
the question. Circumcision in law versus grace. That's the issue right here.
And it's the issue today, isn't it? It hasn't changed any. It started way back in the, just
out of the garden, Cain and Abel. Salvation by what? Salvation
by grace. You lump up the whole outfit
in one or two camps. Salvation by works merited on
man's work, on his work, which renders all the glory to the
sinner, or salvation by grace, which renders all the glory to
God alone? To God alone. That's the issue
today, is it not? And now look at verse 7. And
when there hath been much disputing, and you notice here, this caused
a great turmoil here. There have been much disputing.
You got the picture here? I can just picture this in my
mind, can't you? What's going on here? Peter rose
up, a whole impulsive Peter. Old Peter rose up and said, now
brethren, look what he says here. Now brethren, he said, men and
brethren, you know that a good while ago, a good, this happened
a good while ago, God made a choice among us. that the Gentiles by
my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe." You
see, God made a choice. And he said it happened a good
while ago. God from eternity made a choice. God from eternity elected a people. God from eternity sent His affection
and love upon that people. God from eternity called Peter
to go out and Paul, and these other men, to go out and preach
this gospel of the grace of God. And it happened a good while
ago, from ancient times. He said, from the beginning,
notice verse 18 in this chapter, knowing unto God of all of his
works, from the beginning. God knows all things. Why does
God know all things? Did He look down through the
telescope of time, as some men say, and He seen what the creature
would do, and then predestinated the creature to do that? That's
not so. How does God know all things?
He decreed all things for eternity. That's why, you know, His foreknowledge
is based upon His eternal decrees. He knows all things. He decreed
it to be so. That's how He knows all things.
And He said, God made a choice among us. You see, God elects
the people. We don't need to be ashamed of that. That's the
truth of God. Now, God elected the people, and that's the sum
of election. God made a choice, isn't it? Does that harm any? No, my soul. Here's this, oh,
we're all on death row. You go down to the prison here,
and all these men are sitting condemned criminals on death
row. And you pick out two or three men. The governor's going
to let two or three men go and pardon them. He picks them out. Does that harm the other men?
Well, no. They're all condemned. They're
all worthy of death, and we've all seen it come short of the
glory of God. But God Almighty has pleased
Him to choose some unto salvation. Does it harm those He didn't
choose? No! No, sir. God made a choice. Paul said we are bound to give
thanks unto God. This gospel of election is a
gospel of thanksgiving. Paul said we're bound to give
thanks unto God because God has from the beginning chosen you
unto salvation. God made a choice among us. He
made a choice among the apostles who would preach. to these Gentiles. You remember, Peter went down
to Cornelius's house and preached the gospel to them. And God made
a choice among the people who would hear and believe this gospel. Terry mentioned that in his lesson
there in Acts chapter 13. When he came and he preached
to them Jews, and he said to them, He said about those Jews,
you judge yourself unworthy of the everlasting life. He said,
lo, we turn to the Gentiles. And the Scripture goes on to
say there, as many as were ordained to eternal life believe this
gospel. No more and none less. But as
many as God Almighty, in His eternal election and decree,
ordained to believe this gospel, they believe. You see, friend,
God has a sheep. God has a people. And He's going
to save His people. None are going to perish for
whom Christ died, and He's going to call them all out. And they're
all going to believe this gospel. They're all going to believe
this. All the sheep believe the gospel now. They don't have a
problem with the gospel of God. Not when He teaches them the
gospel, they don't. They don't have a problem believing
that false gospel, but the gospel that renders all the glory to
God alone, God must teach us that gospel. Oh, He must reveal
that gospel to our hearts. Now look at verse 8. He said
that God knows the hearts. Oh, I tell you, He knows our
souls. And he bared them witness, giving
them. Notice this. He gave them the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It wasn't that they earned it
or that they merited it. He said he gave it to them. He gave it to them. Paul said
we're sealed with the Holy Spirit of redemption. Holy Spirit, earnest
and token of that pledge. Now look at verse 9. He said
that God put no difference between us and them. You see, God put
no difference between us and them. It didn't matter if they
were a Jew or a Gentile. You see, God has an elect out
of every kindred, tribe, nation, people, and tongue under heaven.
God's going to redeem a people from all nations, in Africa,
in Mexico, in China. God has an elect over there,
too, everywhere. God has a people, and God has
a preacher, too. He said he wouldn't leave his
people without a witness. He put no difference between
us and them. Notice, it says, purifying their
hearts by faith. God values no man the more because
he's a Jew, nor anyone the less because he's a Gentile. Christ
has redeemed a people out of every nation, and he purifies
their hearts by faith. by our faith, which was done
by implanting faith in them, leading them to that saving object. You see, faith has to have an
object. The foundation, like we sang a while ago, the foundation
of our faith is the Word of God. That's the foundation. But this
faith, this faith of God's elect, has to have an object. And it's
Christ. whose blood cleanses us from
all sin. That's how our hearts are purified
by faith. There's no merit in our faith,
none at all. But this faith receives him who
has the meritorious sacrifice that pleases God Almighty. That's
how our hearts are purified by faith. Now look at verse 10. Now he says, and this is still
Peter preaching here, Now, why do you tempt God to put a yoke
upon the neck of disciples which knew our fathers nor we are able
to bear? We couldn't. He said our fathers
couldn't bear the law. Our fathers couldn't keep the
law. Now, why do you want to put that upon the neck of these
people who can't? My soul. Oh, I tell you, God
has owned them for his own. That's what he's saying. God
has owned each Gentile whom he has called out for his own. Now
he says, why do you call into question what God has already
purposed and determined to do? This is an insult to the character
and very wisdom and glory of God, and it's denying the very
person and work of Christ. to say that a man must keep the
law to be saved. It's denying Christ's effects
of atonement. It's denying His efficacious
blood that puts away our sins. You see, Christ came to proclaim
liberty to those who are captives. Isn't that what the Scripture
says? Sure it does. You know it does. He went about,
and he said, you go about to put these people back in slavery.
Christ has just set them free through his blood, through his
merit, and then now you say, back in bondage. That's what
they're saying here. Back under the law. Back under
the law. The scripture said whom Christ
has set free, he is free indeed. Now think of that. Blessed Scripture
in Galatians, chapter 5, verse 1, he said, Paul said, stand. They had a problem with this
law and grace thing. He said, stand fast, therefore,
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath set you free, and don't
be entangled again with this yoke of bondage. The law of God. You see, the law of God was never
given to save men. It was given to show our exceeding
sinfulness. That's all. It was given to show
us that we're sinners and that God is holy. Now, let's look
at our text here. But he says now, here's our truth. But we believe that through the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. You see, it's through grace. That's it. You've got to say
that now. It's through grace we shall be
saved. That's what he says. It's through
grace that we shall be saved. By God's free grace in Christ
alone. Listen to me. If what the Bible
says is true about our fall in Adam, do you know what happened
in the garden? One man. stood as a representative
man for all humanity. And that one man, when he sinned,
we all stood in him. When he sinned, we sinned. Wherefore,
as by one man, sin entered into this world, and death by sin. When he fell, all of us, all
humanity fell in that one man, that federal head, that representative
man. When he fell, we fell in him. If that's so, and it is, It's
what the Bible says about our condition as a result of our
ruin in action, as a result of that sin that Scripture says
we're dead in sin. that were lost, that they were
ungodly, that all our righteousness are stealthy rags before God.
You see, we lost our fellowship with God. We inherited this corrupt
nature from our father Adam. When our children are born into
this life, they're born sinners. They have that sinful, rotten
nature, and it's even manifested. Those that Those of you, I've
got two small children. One of them's two, one of them's
four. You don't have to convince me. I can see their depravity.
It just manifests itself over and over. Isn't that so with
your children? How many of you teach your children
to lie? Well, none of you do. How many
of them do? All of them do. I can't get my
four-year-old to tell the truth for nothing. I have to whip him
every time I ask him something he lies to me. Now, I don't have
to whip him, game, to tell the truth. He has that rotten nature
that's inherited in us. And we're all, we're all consumed
with it, with that nature. A man's a fool. And he says he
calls God a liar. The man that says he has no S-I-N.
Nature. That's what he's talking about.
I'm not talking about what we do. I'm talking about what we
are before God. We're sinners. were S-I-N, his
sight. That's what we are. And that's
what the Bible says we are. And considering our condition
before God, We have to come to this conclusion. If God Almighty
is to show mercy and to redeem a people, it must be by grace
alone. Is that right? It must be by
grace alone. Because of our condition, because
of our character, it renders it certain that if we're saved
at all, it must be because of God's almighty, sovereign, effectual
grace. He calls out His people. Now
we see other divine attributes manifested in our salvation.
The wisdom of God divides the plan. The power of God executes
salvation in our soul. That verse you quoted several
times in your lesson, thy people shall be willing in a day of
God's power. We see the immutability of God.
He preserves this salvation. He carries on this salvation.
All the attributes of God are magnified in the salvation of
a sinner. All of them. His love, His mercy,
His holiness, but the grace of God. is glorious throughout this
salvation. Paul said, I am what I am. By my works? No, by the grace
of God. By the grace of God, I'm called
an apostle, saved man. Grace is seen in the whole of
our salvation. Listen to me now. Grace is seen
in our election. He said there's a remnant according
to the election of grace. And he said if it's by grace,
it's no more works. In our redemption, he said we're
redeemed through his blood. We even have the forgiveness
of sin according to the riches of his grace. riches of His grace. In our calling, it's God who
saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ before the foundation of the world. In our
justification, it's all grace. This whole thing is grace alone.
Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus our salvation by grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourself it's a gift of God and he's given
us a good hope he said we have an everlasting consolation and
a good hope through grace through grace is that your hope is that
your hope that God in Christ has been gracious. So we see
the golden thread of grace running throughout the whole of our salvation
from our election till we're perfectly conformed to the image
of Christ in eternal glory. Grace all along. reigns through
righteousness. Now God is gracious, but he is
gracious in a way in which his inflexible holiness is not offended
and violated. He's both a just God and a Savior
in Christ. both a just God and a Savior. So grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Where sin abounded,
the Scripture said, grace did much more abound. And there's no point in our lives
in which we can point to ourselves and say, I've earned it or I've
deserved salvation. You see, both things excluded.
because deservings are excluded. You see, grace is given. Grace
is given, you see. Earned grace. Now, what's that? That's no grace at all, is it?
That's wages. That's wages. Merited mercy. Now, what's merited mercy? Well,
that's no mercy at all, is it? Merited mercy is no mercy at
all. You see, the old songwriter said, boasting excluded, pride
on the base, I'm only a sinner. Saved by grace. Do you know anything
about that? Oh, the grace of God in Christ. He said, we're going to be saved
through this grace. We shall be saved through this
grace. No man will ever be saved except
as a result of God's free favor and sovereign mercy that's seen
in Christ. Not of deservings, not of debt,
but entirely to God's, what's Persian called, royal prerogative. He'll have mercy on whom he will,
and he'll be gracious to whom he will. It's not him that willeth
nor him that runneth, but it's what? God who's going to show
mercy. It's God's prerogative to show
mercy to whom he will. Now notice this in our text.
He said, We believe that through grace we shall be saved. But
now notice this. He said here, to the Lord Jesus
Christ, we shall be saved." Doesn't it? Through the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, salvation is of the
Lord. You have to say that. Now, if you want to hear it,
if you've been redeemed by his blood, if you're God's child,
you have to say, salvation is of the Lord, Rick. You have to.
From its origination to its ultimate perfection, in its execution,
in its application, in its sustaining power, in its ultimate perfection,
all the way throughout, salvations of the Lord, all the way throughout. And we see the working of the
triune God, this whole Godhead in the working of our salvation.
salvations of the Lord, the Father in planning this salvation, the
Son in redeeming us, and the Holy Spirit applying this especially
to our soul. And let me show you a verse here
in Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. And we've
seen this Godhead, this triune God working in our salvation. Hebrews chapter 9, verse 14. Now watch this. And here we see
that if you have a pencil or you like to make notes or something,
write down Trinity right here. Or make a mental note, and this
is what we've seen here in the Trinity working in the accomplishment
of our salvation. He said, How much more shall
the blood of Christ, who is the Son in this, who through the
Eternal is buried, as God the Holy Spirit, offer himself without
spot to God, there's the bottom. Purge your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God." You see the whole of the triune
God working this salvation in our soul. The Father who conceived
the thought of redeeming His people from their sin, it was
the Father who first planned the way of salvation by substitution
and satisfaction, who sent Christ to be our surety, as our representative
to suffer for our sin. That's what Paul said in Ephesians
chapter 1. Bless God and the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us with all blessings, according as He chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. You see, the Father selected
those who would receive an interest in this redemption through the
Son. As we said, God made a choice, and it's His right to do so,
Sam. God made a choice in this business of salvation. And we
see not only the work of God, but we see the work of the Spirit
of God. God, the Holy Spirit. God, the
Holy Spirit, gives us power and conviction to understand this
gospel. You see, by nature, my thinking
is all wrong. The Scripture says, my ways,
in Isaiah 55, my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts
are higher than your thoughts. You see, the way that we think
naturally, left to ourselves, is the way of works. That ingrained
in this old rotten nature and mind that is so large that we've
got to approach God on the basis of works, of our works and merits. But that's all wrong. Come to
God, yeah, on the basis of Christ's blood and righteousness. On the
basis—and this Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit reveals this
way of salvation unto us. You see, only God can reveal
God. You can't figure God out. Who
by searching can find out God, Job said? He must reveal this
gospel unto us. The Holy Spirit makes us willing
to receive this gospel. The Holy Spirit quickens us and
regenerates us and makes us new creatures in Christ. He's our
instructor. He teaches us the gospel. He's
our comforter. And He comforts us with Christ,
who is our comfort. He said, He'll glorify me. Not the Holy Spirit. Glorify
the person and work of Christ in our soul and in our heart,
whom we're in love with and whom we love. And then we see the
glorious work of Christ, the Redeemer. He said, We shall be
saved through the Lord Jesus Christ. Every single blessing.
Listen to me now. Every single blessing which we
receive from God comes to us through the channel of free,
sovereign, American grace revealed in Christ. I quote that now. It's not in religion. You can
go out and play religion all you want to. This church is full. This town is full of churches
out there this morning playing religion. They just go there
to stab their conscience for a little while. They're not interested
in the glory of God. They're not interested in the
wisdom of God. They're not interested in this blessed redemption that
gives all the glory to God over a plain game. Patting each other
on the back, telling them how good they are. My soul, deliver
us from that untoward generation. But we see this salvation revealed
in Christ. That's where it's at, and that's
in Him. It's in Him, in our justification, and it's all through Him. Now,
I want you to use your Bible just a few minutes, and I'll
quit here. I want you to look at these verses now. If you've
not heard nothing else, I want you to take your Bible and look
closely at these verses. I'm saying salvation given to
us is through Christ. It's because of Him, because
of His merit and blood. It's through Him in our justification. Romans 3, 24. 324. This voice has been read now
three times. I called it at once, Terry read
it once, and here it is again. It's through Him. Now notice
this word here. Romans 3, 24. Justified freely
by His grace. What's the word? Through. Through
is redemption. That's in Christ. Our justification
is through Him. We have peace with God. How do
we have peace with God? Do you want to know? Look at
Romans 5, verse 1. Romans 5, verse 1. Stay with
me now. Romans 5 verse 1, he said, Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God, how? Through the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said in Romans 5 verse
9, look at Romans 5 verse 9, he said, We're saved from wrath.
Look at Romans 5 and 9, right across the page. We're saved
from wrath through Him, through Christ. It's all through Him,
isn't it? We joy in God. Look at verse 11. Not only so,
but we also joy in God. How are we going to joy in God?
He's holy. We're centered. How can we enjoy
Him? Through our Lord Jesus Christ,
whom we have now received, in whom we've received atonement,
and the word of reconciliation in Him. It's through Him. Romans
6.23. Stay with me now. Romans 6.23. He says we have
eternal life. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life." What's the word? Through Christ. Now, it's through Him, isn't
it? It's in Him, in redemption. Look in Ephesians 1, 7. Ephesians 1, 7. I'm almost through. Ephesians 1, 7. I hope you're
interested in these things. I hope you're not listening with
indifference. God saved me from an indifferent
spirit. My soul's at stake here. The
eternal welfare of my soul's at stake right here. Look in
Ephesians 1, 7. He says, "...in whom we have
redemption." Through His blood. Through Him, you see that? The
forgiveness of sin according to the riches of His grace. And
the forgiveness of sin, look at Acts, back to our verse here,
our text. Acts 14, 38. And this is Paul's
first sermon he preached here. Acts 13, 38. He said, Be it known
unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, through
Christ, is preached unto you. the forgiveness of sins, for
and by him all that believe are justified, justified from all
things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses."
You see, you can't be The just—Terry read it to us on—the just live
by faith. They don't live by law. They
don't live by work. The just live by faith, and that
faith rests in Christ, rests in a person, in Him. In another
place we have the victory. He's given us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now look back at our text, and
I'll quit. I'll quit here. He said, but we believe through
the grace. You see, we said, we said here
we are saved, we shall be saved through grace. And it's through
the Lord Jesus Christ. But now wait a minute, it's through
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's through His graciousness
that we're going to be saved. Look at 2 Corinthians 8, 9. 2
Corinthians 8, 9. Here's a tremendous verse. Second Corinthians 8 9 we see
something about the grace of Christ. 2 Corinthians 8, 9. Look at it. Take a good look
at this verse. Go home and look at this verse today. He said,
For you know. Now believers know something
about the grace of God. For you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake
he became poor. He impoverished himself with
our sin, that you, through that poverty, might be rich through
him. I believe back four or five years
ago, I preached the message from that right here in this book,
from that verse 5. Check me out on that. I think I'm right. But
it's through his grace we shall be saved, through him. And we
see his grace manifested in many things, in his incarnation, God
became a man. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
He's God Almighty, manifested in the flesh. He assumed my nature. He took upon me. He became identified
with my blood and my flesh, apart from sin. He was the Word made
manifest in His incarnation, God Almighty. In His obedience,
then, this God-man, He perfectly obeyed and exalted the law of
God on my behalf. Now, that's my righteousness.
What was he doing all these, all these, here he is, God, walking
in a body, and him well out of the form, what's he doing down
here? Is he just going along and making a few fellows see
and heal a few folks that are lame, feed a few folks that are
hungry? Is that all he's doing? No, no. He's working out and obeying
and exalting and magnifying the holy law of God in every jot
and tittle on my behalf. And He takes that righteousness
which He worked out for me, and He imputes that to me. The Scripture
says, Blessed is the man to whom God would impute righteousness
without works. Oh, my soul, are you interested
in that? The righteousness of God without works on your part. Receive thy faith. Imputed don't
believe us. Oh, He's faithful in all that
He determined to do. And we see His grace manifested
in His substitutionary death. my soul. As our substitute, he
died under the penalty of that law. You see, the law says a
soul that sins must die. God laid my iniquity on my substitute. He bore my sin and his own body
on a tree, and the holy wrath of God fell upon him as my substitute. God punished my substitute instead
of me. He bore, He was wounded for me,
bruised for me, cast fire for me. And He made full satisfaction
to the holy law of God which I offended. Made full satisfaction,
full payment for my sin. And the scripture said, as far
as the east is from the west have I separated you. He did
it. He separated me from my sin by
His substitutionary satisfying death. And we know this, this
salvation is by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. This salvation
is received and given to believers through a means which glorifies
Christ. Did you get that? This salvation
is received and given to believers through a means which glorifies
Christ. Do you know what it is? Faith.
Faith. Faith alone. By grace are we
saved through faith, not through ceremony, not through works,
not through religion, not through law, but by what? Faith lays
hold of this sacrifice. Spurgeon said this, you can't
get hold of salvation by grace than by any of the means by that
of faith. Faith lays hold. Salvation by
grace can only be gripped by the hand of faith. Let me show
you an interesting verse here. I'm almost through, believe me. I want you to see this verse
here. This is an interesting verse. Look at Romans 4, and
it's a verse we just read over. Look at this verse here. Look
at it real good about faith and grace. Romans 4, verse 16. This
is not read very often. Look at this. He says, therefore,
it is of faith that it might