All right, I'd like to speak
today about a very easy subject to talk about. It's grace. And
so I entitled this Ocean of Grace. And at the end, you'll find out
why. But if you'd like to, please
turn to Romans 5 to begin. Romans chapter 5, and we'll read
only two verses, verse 20 and 21. And then we will hop over
to Genesis chapter 6. So Paul says in Romans 5 chapter
5 verse 20, the law came in so that the transgression would
increase. But where sin increased, grace
abounded all the more. So that as sin reigned in death,
even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now back to Genesis 6. I'd like to read three verses
from chapter 6 of Genesis. So Genesis 6, verse 5 through
8. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness
of man was great on the earth. and that every intent of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was
sorry that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved
in his heart. The Lord said, I will blot out
man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man
to animals, to creeping things, and to birds of the sky, for
I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. So this is about grace, so we
surely need to know what grace means. The word for grace in
both the Old Testament and the New Testament, depending on what
translation you happen to be reading, is often interchangeably
translated as favor or grace. It's actually translated other
ways too, but those are the main words. The first mention of grace
in the Bible is the one here in Genesis 6. when Noah is said
to have found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The Lord had looked
on the wickedness and depravity of man, and he decided that he
would destroy them from the face of the earth. He made this determination.
But, of course, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The
Lord had grace toward him. We know that the graciousness
towards Noah caused the Lord to save him and his family. so
that the human race might continue on the earth. Otherwise, if Noah
was not saved, surely the human race would have been extinct.
This very first mention of grace in the Bible, I believe, gives
us insight into its meaning on a much grander scale. The entirety
of the human race was on the brink of distinction, destruction
even, from the Almighty. But Noah found favor and was
not destroyed. This is an early shadow, I believe,
of the salvation that Christians have in the Lord. That we, all
humans, are depraved and on the brink of destruction. And we
find favor, we find grace in the eyes of the Lord, just as
Noah did. And through that, we escape destruction, just as he
did also. And we all know that the Old
Testament is full of shadows and types of spiritual realities. One little speck, one little
human, was of particular note to the Lord, Noah. And the Lord's
graciousness toward Noah had great bearing on how the flood
would end up occurring. God obviously sovereignly controlled
the flood. He controlled everything that
happened, the releasing of the water, the winds, the waves.
He controlled the timing of the flood. The flood was brought
about at a time when Noah would have the ark built. He controlled
the animals when the animals came into the ark. He controlled
the timing of that and he controlled every single animal that would
come to the ark. He controlled things such as
the wind and the waves while Noah was on the ark, while his
family was on the ark. Any wave could have easily capsized
the ark, would have lost the entire family, Noah's entire
family and all the animals, but it didn't happen. That's God
sovereignly controlling the destruction of the earth, but through his
grace, saving one family, one man. That grace toward that one man
affected history. All history was affected by that
single act of grace. Now, the finding of grace in
the eyes or sight of persons would continue to be a common
theme throughout the Old Testament. If you do a word search and I
have some great software at home where I can do easy, quick word
searches of the Bible. So I was able to do this. But
if you do a word search of grace in the Old Testament, it's pretty
surprising how many times it said the grace is found in the
eyes or the sight of somebody. I'll give you a few examples.
So in Genesis 19, 19, when Lot is, the angels are helping Lot
to escape. It says, Behold, now thy servant
hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy. Skip over to Jacob and Esau. This is an example of grace found
in the sight of someone other than the Lord. In Genesis 33,
10, it says, And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have
found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand. So he's trying to give Esau the
presence that he had brought for him, and he said, if I have
found grace in thy sight, so Esau's sight, not the Lord's.
And the third example is Joseph, when he was in prison, the prison
keeper, Genesis 39, 21 records, but the Lord was with Joseph
and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the
keeper of the prison. So those are a few examples of
finding favor in the sight or in the eyes of someone, and we
can certainly find more. But what does it mean, really,
to find favor or sight in someone's eyes, for them to look upon you
with grace or favor? I understand that it means that
the giver of favor or grace is having thoughts of kindness,
thoughts of well-being, thoughts of love. These are occurrences
in the mind. So that's why it's found in the
eyes. In the sight or in the eyes is
an indication of graciousness being a product of determinations,
the determinations of the mind. Grace cannot be held in your
hand, it cannot be traded, it cannot be physically touched,
but rather it is in the mind. And I think that's an important
thing to consider because the mind of God is what we're all
interested in, of course. It's also true that the seeker
of grace is always inferior to the giver of grace. Such is true
when men seek grace from one another. And such is obviously
true when men seek grace from God. God is superior. You're
never going to seek grace in someone who is inferior to you.
The implication of God's sovereignty over us is necessary when we
go to him to seek his favor. So what would be the point of
seeking favor from someone grace from someone who has no power
over your situation. So the seeking of favor implies
the sovereignty of the one who you are seeking it from. For
instance, would a slave seek favor from his master if the
master did not have control over him? Would a commoner seek a
king's favor if the king did not have control over the commoner?
Inferior, the idea of inferiorness and subjection to the one you
are seeking favor from. Grace is always sought by looking
above one's position, not below. So on what grounds, then, was
God gracious to Noah? Had Noah found favor in God's
sight because he had performed good works? One might actually
come to this conclusion, because if you were to continue reading
past where we read, you would read Noah was a righteous man,
blameless in his time. That's just following where we
had finished, where it said that God had grace on Noah. And then
it goes on to say Noah was a righteous man and blameless in his time.
So one might conclude, well, that's why God was gracious to
Noah, because he was a good man. But I must agree with John Gill.
when he states that Noah was righteous not by his own works
of righteousness, for no one is just by them before God, but
by the righteousness of the promised seed, the Messiah. Other men
are said to have been blameless, such as Job. This is a quote
from Job. There was a man in the land of
Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless, upright, fearing
God, and turning away from evil. Again, Job was not blameless
because he'd never sinned, obviously. For we know that there is none
righteous, not even one. Job and Noah were righteous due
to the work of the coming Messiah and the imputation of his righteousness
to them. And I think it's even more obvious
in Job's case because of the way the book of Job plays out.
We hear in the beginning that he's a blameless and upright
man. But his conversation, especially at the end, when he when he is
contrite before God, that's not the position of a sinless man.
Job realized he was a sinful man. So grace cannot be a response
to good works, for then it is no longer grace. And Paul makes
this exceedingly clear in his example of Abraham in Romans
four. He says that to the one who works
his wage or payment is not credited as grace, but what is due. We could take examples from everyday
life to kind of bring this out. We could take the example of
someone who owns a lawn business, for instance. And you go around,
you mow people's lawns. You go to a house, you spend
time making the lawn look nice, edging. Cutting the shrubs, picking
the flowers. And when you're done with that,
do you think that you are owed the money? That it's what's due
you? Or do you think it would be a
favor or grace to give money to that person mowing your lawn?
Of course, you would expect to be paid, obviously. And it's
as if a trade has occurred there. There is work being done, and
then there is a payment made. The same goes for the person
who is receiving the work. Would they expect to have this
work done for free? Of course not. They expect to
pay what is due for the work being performed. If you paid
people for nothing, you wouldn't keep your money for long. If
you did work for nothing, you wouldn't make any money, and
you couldn't live. So then money or goods are a
means of payment for work performed. So if we apply that then to Paul's
example of Abraham, if Abraham had performed works pleasing
to God, according to God's law, and this was the method by which
he was saved, the Jews thought that was the method by which
they were saved, performing good works according to God's law.
Would not of God's administration of salvation to Abraham be payment
due? That would be the payment due
for good works. It would be the same as in our
example. Abraham gave God good works. God gave Abraham salvation. Abraham would have made a trade
with God. And how ridiculous is that to
think that a man, a sinful man, can make a trade with God and
say, I will give you good works. You give me salvation. How many
times at a funeral? This is the way the world thinks
today. If you hear a funeral, if you if especially if it's
a celebrity at the funeral, oh, he was a good person. Oh, he
did good things. Oh, he's in heaven. He was good. That's not that's not the way
of salvation. Paul destroys this idea when
he says that if one works for salvation, that their wages are
not of grace, none of grace. We know that salvation is by
grace and therefore it cannot be by works. This is a very comforting
thought to me because I realize that there is no good in my flesh.
And if salvation were based on works, I would have no part in
it. So we have a mono-directional
covenant of grace that we can take hold of. Of course, mono-directional
meaning one way. One party, one way. A one-way
promise, if you will. For the longest time, I didn't
quite understand God's interaction with Abraham in Genesis 15. If
you recall, it's where God tells Abraham to to cut up a cow, a
goat, a ram, a turtle dove, and a pigeon, slice them in two,
lay them on the ground. Shortly thereafter, at nightfall,
I believe, God put Abraham to sleep. And he made a covenant
with Abraham while Abraham was asleep. And during the making
of the covenant, God, through the image of a floating I think it was a burning incense
thing. Anyways, he passed through those pieces. Only God. Abraham was sleeping. He was
under a deep slumber. God passed through those pieces.
And for the longest time, I wasn't really clear on what that meant.
But after reading some commentaries, and I believe Gil was a good
one on this, that was a tradition back then in those days. And
depending on the people who passed through those pieces were the
ones ratifying the covenant. And if the covenant was broken,
it would come down on the people who passed through the animal,
the pieces of the animals. And so the Lord himself did that. Not Abraham. Abraham was not
a participant in the covenant except to be receiving it from
the Lord. He was not ratifying it with
the Lord. So that covenant there with Abraham was the first morsel,
first little bit of the full revelation of the covenant of
grace. When God made this covenant,
he alone passed between the pieces of the animals. He alone would
be responsible for the fulfillment of that covenant. But God was
faithful. He is faithful and we are not.
Paul records in Hebrews 6 verse 13, For when God made the promise
to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by
himself. So we can be fully confident
in the eternal nature of such a promise, because God swore
on himself that he will fulfill the promise. And that's said
there by the writer of Hebrews. God swore on himself. There's
no one above God. Normally, if you hear somebody
swear today, they might say, I swear to God, blah, blah, blah,
blah. There is nobody above God, of
course, so he swears on himself. Again, the writer of Hebrews
records, God desired even more to show to his heirs of the promise
the unchangeableness of his purpose interposed with an oath, so that
by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God
to lie, We who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement
to take hold of the hope set before us. So and then if we
travel further, even further into Hebrews, where the fullness
of the covenant of grace is repeated twice in Hebrews 8 and Hebrews
10, God will do many gracious things to his people. There is
no maybe there is no condition. It's the surety of a mono directional
covenant. So then if salvation were of
works, what would be the point of God making this covenant with
his people through Abraham? Why would God indicate that he
is fully responsible for the covenant? If he would stop being
gracious toward a person because they sin, or if he required good
works to be gracious to a person, it would make this covenant meaningless. Could God be a faithful savior
to his people if that were the case? I don't believe so. The
ultimate measure of grace can only be truly known when one
realizes two aspects of God's plan of salvation. Number one,
the Lord Jesus Christ's work and his condensation and death. So the covenant of grace established
that salvation hinges upon what the Lord Jesus Christ has done.
And number two, so if you understand what the Lord Jesus Christ has
done to understand grace fully, you also need to understand the
fullness of man's depravity. So these two points cannot be
further apart. On the one hand, we have the
holy, wonderful, perfect son of God who came down and died. And on the other hand, we have
despicable man's depravity. The chasm there is huge. Only
by grace can those come together in a covenantal union. So how
sinful is man? I don't think I need to ask you
that. We are professing Christians. We know we are sinful. We know
the Bible especially teaches the incredible sinful of men.
Paul records in Romans 7 when he learned of his sinfulness,
how he died to himself. His sinfulness was so great that
it caused him to die to himself, internally, spiritually. Paul
even said that he was chief among sinners. Chief among sinners. Now, I've often wondered, that
was said under inspiration. Does it really mean he was the
chief of all sinners? Or did he feel like all of us
should feel that we are the chief among sinners? All Christians
feel that way. We feel that we are low. The
Lord is high. So the wider the perceived gap
there between men and God, the greater grace can be understood. So those two points, the holiness
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the holiness of God, opposed
to the depravity of man, That chasm there, that width is necessary
to fully understand the grace of God. Consider with me the
parable of the moneylenders found in Luke chapter 7. A moneylender
had two debtors, one owing 500 denarii and the other 50. When they were unable to repay,
he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him
more? That was the Lord Jesus' question
to his disciples. Simon answered and said, I suppose
the one whom he forgave more. And he said to him, you have
judged correctly. So in that parable, we find this
truth that the greater your debt is, the greater you believe your
depravity to be, the greater that grace is to forgive you
and bring you out of that. So in like manner, when we perceive
ourselves as more sinful than the next, yet we are saved by
God's grace, we must perceive that that grace toward us is
very great to accomplish such a wonderful thing. Paul does not shy away from this
concept. It's a logical conclusion. It's
a logical conclusion of a system founded on salvation by grace
based on God's sovereignty alone. God's sovereign election. So
back to what we read to begin with Romans chapter 5 verse 20. Paul says the law came in so
that the transgression would increase. That's important. But where sin increased Grace
abounded all the more. That appears to be very shocking
words, at least to me it is. The law came in so that transgression
would increase. Wait a minute. Isn't God's purpose
here to alleviate men of sin? Why would God purpose something
to increase sin? Doesn't God hate sin? Wouldn't
God do everything in his power to rid humanity of sin? That's what many people think. But this biblical passage does
not agree with that view. And in fact, it's quite logical
if we think about it. What is sin? Sin is the transgression
of God's law. That's very simple. It's a transgression
of a command of God. You don't do it, you break it,
you sin. More law comes in, more sin will
result from more law. If there were no laws, such as
before the first law was given to Adam, there would be no sins. That's very logical. If God creates
more laws, what will happen to depraved humanity? We cannot
faithfully follow any of God's laws, much more less if God piles
them on top of us. The more law, the more law, the
more sin. So let's take another example
here. This is kind of an extreme example. But what if God gave us a new
law today? He said, You can no longer sleep
more than four hours a day. Now, nobody can follow that 100%. I mean, sooner or later, you're
going to slip up and sleep longer than four hours. Is that an arbitrary
law? Well, yes. It sounds like a very
arbitrary law to me. I can't sleep more than four
hours. That's very arbitrary. But think back on some of the
Levitical laws, especially. For instance, one I see on the
internet, you know, people making fun of the Christian religion
will point to this one law a lot of times, and it's the one where
in Leviticus 19, 19, where you're not supposed to mix two types
of cloth or material together in a garment. How arbitrary is
that? You know, so it's arbitrary to
us, it seems arbitrary, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's
arbitrary to God. But just for our example, though,
let's say that God made this new law that we can't sleep more
than four hours a day. Before that, before the law came,
you could sleep eight hours a day, and you weren't a transgressor.
But after the law came, if you sleep longer than four hours,
you are a transgressor of that law. You have sinned in a way
that you had not previously sinned, because there was not previously
a law. So this is an example of how transgression increases
when law comes. Law does not alter our depraved
natures. Our depraved natures are the
same no matter how much law there is. The more law, though, the
more light is shown upon our depraved natures. The more law
God gives, the more we transgress the law, and the more our transgressions
and depravities, the light is shown upon them. So when Paul
says here, The law came in so that transgression would increase. It's not such a shocking statement,
really, if we think about it. But thankfully, Paul does not
stop there. He goes on to say that where
sin increased, grace abounded all the more. And the end of
that sentence is very interesting if you examine the Greek. Grace
abounded all the more. Those four words, as translated
by the NASB, that's all actually one word in the Greek. And let
me try this. It's hooperperissuo. Hooperperissuo is the Greek word.
And it's actually a conjunction of two words. The first one is
hooper, which means over, above, or beyond. And the second is
perissuo, which means to superabound, to excel. or in abundance. So these words conjuncted together
literally means to over super abound. And that's a mouthful. But it's very telling that God,
I mean, Paul use well God too, but Paul uses this word to over
super abound in relation to grace. So when one does not understand
God's graciousness towards His people, they assume that God
is like man. When man wrongs another man,
he seeks to repay for that wrong. When a man does something nice
to another man, he seeks to reward for that niceness. But God does
not act in this way toward His elect. In fact, the more sinful
they are, the elect, not every man, The more sinful they are,
and by implication, the more sinful they realize they are,
the elect realize they are sinful, and the elect realize when they
are more sinful. The more grace is perceived to
close that chasm between God and man. There's our depravity,
the Lord Jesus Christ, all he did in God's grace toward us.
there is that chasm there, and the greater we perceive that
chasm to be, the more grace is necessary to fill it, and the
more grace we end up realizing through that. But won't this teaching lead
one to sin on purpose? If we were to take this to our
human logical ends, if I say, the more you sin, the more grace
you get, then you'll say, Well, I guess I'll send some more. Paul answers this for us, though,
of course, because he is a master at objections. He's the master
at answering things before they're said. Romans is just full of that.
But he says, are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? Exactly the question raised. And then says, God forbid. Of
course we don't. But we're not off base here in
what we said because Paul has Paul Paul makes this objection
in answer to that statement so we can be confident that we haven't
misunderstood his statement. That's one of the other things
I love about Paul. He raises these objections to the things
that he says and by reading the objection you can further understand
what he said prior to that. Because if the objection doesn't
fit with your understanding of the passage previous to it, then
you know that you misunderstand it. So one cannot say that Paul
really wasn't teaching that grace super abounds in the face of
increased sin. Because then his answered objection
would make no sense. Why would Paul have said, are
we to continue in sin so that grace may increase, God forbid? Why would he have said that if
he wasn't actually teaching that with increased sin comes increased
grace? So what do we do with this knowledge?
If we cannot conclude that we should sin more, which we shouldn't
conclude obviously, what can we conclude from knowing that
more sin equals more grace? What about Remembering that the
Lord Jesus said, we will obey him if we love him. He said,
if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Also remembering
that we love because he first loved us. So of course, grace
is love toward us. And we love because he first
gave that to us. So when we are made aware of
God's super abounding grace, and love toward us, We do not
desire to increase our sin. We instead are propelled toward
a greater love for God, which manifests itself in greater obedience. So there is some practicality
here. The human nature says, sinfulness begets grace. Let me sin more then. That's
what the human nature says. Sinfulness brings grace. Well,
let me sin more then. The spiritual nature knows But
that is wrong, though. It says, my great sinfulness
has begotten so much grace that I must love and obey the giver
of this grace. So the sinner, having received
grace, would seek to please God, not further transgress Him. Yet we know that we will fail
again and again in our task. And we will always have that
superabounding grace to catch us when we do. When we find ourselves
in sin and once again recognize our great depravity, we are able
to boldly come to God, seeking grace. Back to Hebrews in chapter
4, the writer of Hebrews says, let us draw near with confidence
to the throne of grace, with confidence, so that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. Hebrews
4, 16. So on the solid ground of Christ,
we can seek grace boldly. This is another quote, in accordance
with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus
our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through
faith in him. So if, and that's a big if, if
It is through Christ that we seek grace, then we can be bold
and confident. If it is through our works, then
surely we are most pitiful. It's also worth considering this
truth from another direction. If grace super abounds in the
face of sin, well, what about when the Christian does rightly
according to the law, according to God's law? First, I would
ask if that's even possible. I know there are plenty of people
out there, and the Jews are a great example of that. Back in biblical
times, there are plenty of people who think that they can follow
the letter of the law. But even if you can follow the
letter of the law, you can't follow the spirit of the law.
Love thy neighbor and all of the things that the Lord Jesus
expanded on from the letter of the law. There's the spirit of
the law that that we cannot follow as depraved men. So, well, let's
consider the question, even if it's impossible. When we do right,
when we do right, does grace increase? I believe it certainly
does not. The times when I have personally
perceived, and this is my perception, it's not biblical yet, But the
times when I have perceived the least grace in my life have been
the times when I thought I was walking a straighter line. You
know, you get to those points where you think you're walking
a straight line. And it's those points where you feel the least
grace from God. The Lord Jesus said that one
does not thank the slave because he did the things which were
commanded. The word translated as thank
you is actually the same word for grace. So Young's literal
translation brings us out a little more clearly. Quote, have he
favor or grace to the servant because he did the things directed. I think not. So God has no more
grace to one who does the things expected and the law is given. God's law is given in a way that
it's expected of men to follow the law. If you don't follow
the law, you're a transgressor. And the same way that the master
expects his slaves to do what they're told, God expects men
to do what they are told. So such is true of slaves and
such is true of the whole humanity. Grace is not magnified by law
following. Grace is not magnified by law
following. Walking closer to the letter
of the law can lead us to pat ourselves on the back and say,
I wasn't so bad today. I didn't sin so much today. I had a good day today. Such
thoughts don't bring us on our knees before the Holy God. Seeking
grace, mercy, and forgiveness. So let us beat our chest and
say, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Not, God, I thank
you that I walked a good path today. Grace super abounds to
the one, but not to the other. So in closing, I told you I named this Ocean of
Grace. I was listening to a song on
the radio, one of the Christian stations. I normally don't even
like the songs on those, but sometimes it's better than the
other channels. But there's a song and one of
the lines really caught me. And the line was, if grace were
an ocean, we'd all be sinking. If grace were an ocean, we'd
all be sinking. And the more I thought about
that, the more I kind of liked how there were parallels there
between what the Bible teaches about grace and grace being like
an ocean. And so here are some examples
of what I thought about. Number one, oceans are massive,
you know, and the sheer magnitude of God's grace toward his elect
can only be understood in the death of his son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. If grace were an ocean, oceans
are massive and God's grace toward us shown through the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ is massive. Number two, such a massive ocean
is inescapable without help. So imagine that you're dropped
into the middle of a massive ocean. You're not going to get
out. You'll never escape without the
help of somebody else. Number three, our human instinct
is to swim. So in relation to the ocean being
grace, our human instinct is to swim that we work. We want to do the work. We want
to tread water. We want to swim above the water,
keep our heads up. And in the same way, we want
to add our works to what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. Even
me, I mean, even though I believe in the sovereignty of God and
salvation, I still try to swim above the water. I still try
to do everything that I can to secure that salvation, when in
reality, it doesn't matter. God's grace is what matters. Of course, my actions matter.
My actions matter a lot in the spreading of the gospel and showing
my love for the Lord Jesus Christ in my actions. But ultimately,
as far as salvation goes, my actions don't matter. It's God's
grace that matters. And number four, you end up drowning.
So no matter how much you fight, no matter how sinful you are,
if you're a Christian, if you're an elected child of God, you
will drown in God's super abounding grace. Consider that the next
time you come to face to face with your depravity. Grace super
abounds in such times. And God forbid that I should
be seen as teaching that grace or that sin is good or that that
sin is. It's not good, obviously, but
we know we sin. The Bible teaches we're depraved. We know we're depraved. And so
when we're when we're caught in that, when we recognize and
realize our depravity, take hold of that super bounding grace.
that over-superabounding grace that Paul talks about. Thank
you very much for listening.