Good morning. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 475. 475. Redeemed how I love
to proclaim it. Redeemed by the blood. redeemed redeemed by the blood
of the lamb redeemed redeemed His child and forever I am Redeemed
and so happy in Jesus No language my rapture can tell I know that
the light of His presence Redeemed, redeemed Redeemed by
the blood of the Lamb Redeemed, redeemed His child and forever
I am I think of my blessed Redeemer I think of Him all the day long. I sing for I cannot be silent. His love is the theme of my song. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. I know I shall see in his beauty
The king in whose law I delight Who lovingly guardeth my footsteps
And giveth me songs in the night Redeemed, redeemed ? Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb ? ? Redeemed, redeemed ? ? His child and forever I am ? Be seated
and we'll sing hymn number 249. 249. Just as I am without born plea,
but that thy blood was shed, Thou bidst me come to thee, O
Lamb of God, I come, I come. Just as I am and waiting not
to rid my soul of one dark lot to Thee whose blood can cleanse
Each little limb of God I come, I come. Just as I am. ? With many a conflict, many a
doubt, ? ? Fightings and fears within, ? ? Without a lamb of
God, ? Just as I am, poor, wretched,
blind, sight-wretched, sleeping, love-blind, Just as I am Thou mayst I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America and to the republic for which
it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. To whom coming? If you ever come,
you'll always come. Never stop coming. Ephesians
chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. Read the first 14 verses. Paul, an apostle. Of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God. To the saints, which are at Ephesus
and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you and peace
from God, our father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children,
by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made
us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of His grace, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself,
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have
obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first
trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard
the word of the truth, word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with the Holy
Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until
the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of
His glory. As the apostle said today, your
blessed word said today, blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has so blessed us, so blessed us with
these wonderful, blessed, glorious, spiritual things that you've
given us. All the things that belong to
the Lord Jesus Christ, that belong to you and you alone, You've
given to us. You've given us all these wonderful,
blessed, glorious things. And Lord, we bless you for it,
thank you for it, praise you for it. And Lord, enable us to
worship you today. Oh God, I pray always that you
come among us. Come in power. Come in the Holy
Ghost. Come in the presence of the gospel.
Come into our hearts. Come into our minds. Come into
our understandings. Come into our wills. Oh, Lord,
come into our souls and meet with us here today. Oh, God,
we're just flesh. We're just dust. We're frail.
And, Lord, you're great and glorious and all-powerful and all-majestic. Without the glory, And so may
we, by your grace, give glory to you today. May we bring glory
to your holy name, bring glory to your blessed son and his precious,
precious work. Father, now we pray for those
among us who are weak, who are frail, whose bodies are not well,
and whose Flesh is so weak, we pray for your grace to uphold
them and meet their needs. And Lord, again, we pray for
our loved ones that's lost and undone. We pray for the lost
in this congregation today. Oh God, for Christ's sake, for
Christ's sake, interfere in their lives. May you and your power
and grace break in on them, break in on them. and Lord, make them
see their great need of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Meet with
us, bring glory to yourself, help us to honor and glorify
you. For Christ's sake, amen. We'll sing hymn number 40. Number 40 Great is thy faithfulness
Oh God my father no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest not, thy compassions
they fail not. As thou hast been will be. Great is thy faithfulness, great
is thy faithfulness, morning by morning. me and provided great Lord unto me. Summer and winter and springtime
and harvest. Sun, moon, and stars in their
courses above. All nature in manifold witness
To thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. Great is thy faithfulness, great
is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies
I have received. All I have needed, Thy hand hath
provided Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me Pardon for sin
and a peace that endureth. I know dear presence to cheer
and to guide. Strength for today and bright
hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine, with ten
thousand beside. Great is Thy faithfulness, Great
is Thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies
I see. All I have needed, Thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. We'll all stand together as we
sing the hymn of the day in the bulletin. 233. 233. Sons of God, redeem us. Raise your songs to Zion's God. Made from condemnation free,
Grace triumphant sing with me. His wonders let us trace. magnified in grace. Mark the crimson streams and
say, Thus my sins were washed away. Vengeance spoke, our surety said. Jesus paid the dreadful debt. Lamb of God, thy death hath been,
born in peace and hope of heaven. It is finished, let us raise
songs of gratitude and praise. Be seated. Back in Ephesians 1, if you will. My subject this morning is the
glory of His grace. The glory of His grace. It talks about the praise of
the glory of His grace. We're to the praise of His glory
who first trusted in Christ. It talks about the riches of
His grace. And there's nothing, no truth
taught more plainly in God's Word than that salvation is of
the Lord, and that salvation is absolutely of the grace of
God. No doubt about that whatsoever.
And that means in spite of us, in spite of everything that's
against us, In spite of this world, in spite of our flesh,
in spite of everything that's against us, God saves sinners
absolutely by the grace of God. And He does it to the praise
of the glory of His grace. And that's what I want to talk
about. God's Word also teaches us that men are lost. People
say, well, He's going to He's gonna be lost if God don't do
something for him. Every man's born lost. The minute
you come into this world, you're lost. You're dead in trespasses
and sins. And if God don't take you out
when you're an infant, and God didn't, you wasn't in the redemption
of the Lord Jesus Christ, there's no hope for you. And I tell you,
it teaches men are lost and they trust. Men, because they're lost,
they trust in their works. They trust in their works, trust
in who they are, but God saves them. If they're saved at all,
they're saved by the free favor of God Himself, by the free favor
of God. Their ruin, their ruin is justly
merited. If a man perishes, it's justly
so, it's justly so. But their salvation is unmerited,
unmerited. If a soul wants to work for their
salvation, God'll pay them. He'll pay them. You know what
He'll pay them? The wages of sin is death, and
He'll pay every man their just wages. He will do that. If you want to work for it, He'll
pay you. He'll pay you. He'll pay you off. He'll pay
you, but blessed be His name. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin left a crimson stain, but
He washed it white as snow. As plain as this truth is, that
salvation is to the glory of His grace, absolutely of the
grace of God, most people ignore it. They absolutely ignore it.
A multitude deny it. THEY DENY THE SALVATIONS OF GRACE. THEY BRAG UP FREE WILL, THEY
BRAG UP THEIR WORKS, THEY BRAG UP THEIR LAW-KEEPING, THEY BRAG
UP THEIR REFORMED DOCTRINE, AND THEY SEEK SALVATION EVERY POSSIBLE
WAY THEY CAN, BUT THE WAY THAT GOD ANOINTED AND THE WAY THAT
GOD APPOINTED THROUGH HIS BLESSED ETERNAL GRACE. THEYLL GO TO THE
WORKS OF THE LAW, THATS WHAT PAUL DID, THATS WHAT THE PHARISEES
DID, They look to the works of the law. They look to their merit. They say, boy, I'm worth something.
And that's something this generation, they really think they're something.
They really think they're something. They hide. They hide behind their
self-righteousness. They hide behind their morality. They hide behind their goodness.
They hide behind their goodness. But look what it says here in
verse six. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. Now listen to this. When He hath
made us accepted in the Beloved. And the glory of His grace is
seen, is absolutely seen in every, every detail of our salvation. Every detail of it. Predestination,
I love that word. I get on a bus or I get on a
plane or I get in a car, I've got a destination to go. I plan
it ahead of time. So that means I pre-plan, I predestinate
to get to such and such a place. But now there's a lot of things
that goes in doing that. But for God to predestinate us,
all He's gotta do is say, I want you to go from here to there,
and I predestinate you to start right here, and you're gonna
end up over there. He predestinated us to be conformed
to the image of His Son. He predestinated us unto the
adoption of children. He predestinated us, beloved,
that we should be to the praise of the glory of His grace. And
you know, and if you think that I'm going to get to the destination
that God's pre-purposed for me, you think I'll get there? Huh? You think I will? And then our
acceptance. Acceptance. There's nothing,
you know, everybody wants to be accepted. You know, they want
to be accepted by their peers. They want to be accepted into
school, want to be accepted into colleges. But I want to be accepted
by God. And God hath made, He hath made
us accepted. We didn't make ourselves accepted.
We didn't have nothing to do with. He hath made us accepted. We're at in His beloved Son.
In His beloved Son. And then our adoption. Here's
a wonderful thing about adoption. God had one Son. One Son. And that Son was there of all
things. He was like Abraham. He had one
Son. Isaac. and Isaac was heir of
everything that Abraham had, all of his wealth, all of his
riches, all of his promises, and that s the way we are. God
had one son, and God said, I m going to have some people that s going
to be inheritance with my blessed son. He s got so much He's got
so much, and I've got so much, and I'm so wealthy, the earth
and all that in it belongs to me. All the cattle on a thousand
hills belongs to me. All the gold that's ever been
mine belongs to me. Every soul belongs to me, and
I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna take a multitude
that no man can number, and I'm gonna make them heirs with my
Son. I'm gonna have them to inherit all that He is, all of His promises,
all of His power, all of His riches, all of His wealth. I'm
gonna make Him to be an inheritor with my blessed Son. And you
know what it says there? In verse 11, in whom also we
have obtained an inheritance. We've got the inheritance. We've already got it. That's
in the will. And God's will's been accomplished
in Christ. And why do it? Being predestinated
to it. Being predestinated to it. And
all to this is to the praise of the glory of His grace. And
I said every detail. Well, look here. Here's one of
the things that God's glory of His grace is, is our election. Our election. Look up there in
verse four. According, according as He hath
chosen us, we're at in His blessed Son. Oh my, oh my. Before the foundation of the
world, Thank God for electing grace. Had not God chosen us,
we would never, ever have chosen Him. John, excuse me. Yeah, John 15, 16 says this. No, you're not. You've not chosen
me. You have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you, and I've ordained you. And I tell you, thank God
for His electing grace. Now look with me over in Romans
chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. You know, our
Lord Jesus Christ, He was with His Father, and He was praying
to His Father, and He was giving thanks to His Father. And He
said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast hid these things. What? Hid grace. Hid salvation. Hid Christ. Hid the Gospel. Hid salvation. man's ruin thou's hid these things
from those that are wise from those that are prudent those
are trying to make their own way he said but you know what
you've revealed these things revealed these things unto babes
unto babes unto And he said, and oh, Father, you know why
I thank you for it? Because it seemed good in your
sight. Because it was just good to you. And I'll tell you, thank God
for election. Look what it said here in Romans
9, 11. I love election. I love it. I'll tell you what. And people
say, well, that's a family secret. Well, the family ain't gonna
know it if somebody don't tell them. For the children, Rebekah and
Isaac having children, and it says here, for the children being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, hadn t
even born yet, that the purpose of God, listen to this, according
to election, might stand Not of works, that's why He chose
them before the foundation, that's why He chose them before they
was ever born. Not of works, but of Him that calleth. It was
said unto Rebekah, the elder shall serve the younger. As it
is written, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. People say
that means he just loved him less. Is that what it says? You know how many things God
hates in the scriptures? He hates the workers of iniquity.
He s angry with the wicked every day. He hates those that are against
Him. And here He goes on to say, But
what shall we say then? What are we going to say about
all this? That God hates one and loves another. That God s
purpose of election is going to stand. Works has nothing to
do with it. What are we gonna say? Well,
that's not fair. There's unrighteousness with
God. Oh, Paul said, God forbid. Oh, don't you even let, don't
you think that. Don't you let that enter your mind. Don't you
ever consider that God would ever be unrighteous. For God
said to Moses, he goes to the Old Testament, God said to Moses,
When he asked to see his glory, he said, I'll have mercy on whom
I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom I'll have
compassion. So then, so then, since salvation
is of election and the purpose of God according to election,
so then, it's not of him that willeth, oh, it's my free will's
gonna, you know, not of him that runneth, I gotta go to work for
Jesus. but of him that God showeth mercy. Oh, my. See, I tell you what, and you
know when was this election done? When was this choosing done?
Before the foundation of the world. He asked Job, where was
you, Job, when I laid the foundation of the earth? He said, before I laid the foundation
of the earth, you know what I did? I chose you. I chose you. You're mine. For God to say,
that's mine. That belongs to me. That belongs
to me. And then not only we have election,
but what about redemption? Look down here, back over in
Ephesians with me. Look back over in Ephesians 1
with me. Look over here. Oh, I'm talking about, and then
he said, in whom? In Christ, we have redemption.
And I'll tell you, how's redemption? By his blood. You know, we sing
that song, power, wonder-working power in the blood. There's power in the blood, wonder-working
power in the blood. You know, I want you to see something
in Revelations. Now, you keep Ephesians, look
over in Revelations chapter one. I love to, you know, when I write
a letter or something, I often use this, this verse of scripture
here. Revelations 1, 5. And from Jesus Christ, who is
the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and
the prince of the kings of the earth. Now listen to this. unto
him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. It s like that, that word loved
us and washed us, that s the same word that s lave in the
Old Testament where the priest would go in there and wash. He
laved us, washed us in his precious blood. You see, beloved, when
we talk about redemption, we were slaves, We were slaves to
sin, we were in bondage to sin, and we could not set ourselves
free. We could not, you know this idea that you need to stop
your sinning, you gotta live above sin, you gotta try your
best to quit. You know why people, you know
why people is always trying to overcome a sin, always, you know,
they deal with particular sins, is because they don't know what
sin is. You know, people can live together,
but yet they find sin in somebody else. And that's what people
do. People don't know nothing about
sin. They're always trying to find fault with something, quit
trying to do some particular sin. Well, Christ dealt with
sin, and sins have redempted from our sins in His blood. And we were slaves. We couldn't
buy ourselves, we couldn't do anything about it. We're slaves
to our flesh, to our fallen nature. And we were on the slave market,
slave market. And I'll tell you this, like
Hosea and Gomer, we was on the slave market. We were bondage
and there was nothing we could do to get out from under it.
And Christ came. He said, I'll pay the price.
I'll pay the price. I'll pay for their sins. I'll
count their flesh as dead. I ll assume their nature and
I ll pay their sin debt. And I ll tell you, He bought
us off the slave market of sin. Can any of us say we were worthy
of the death of Christ? Can any of us say we were worthy
of the blood of Christ, the death of Christ, the shedding of His
blood? Oh, why did He do it then? Grace, free grace brought Him
down to be cursed Hang on that cursed tree to purchase us, buy
us, buy our freedom. Buy our freedom. Look what it
says, the forgiveness of our sins even. Oh my. And I according to the riches
of His grace. Oh listen, we have no idea what
it cost to redeem us. All that blood. this blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We sang that song. There is a
fountain filled with blood, filled with it, drawn from Emmanuel's
veins. We're washed in the blood. He
said he washed us in the blood, washed us in it. I'll tell you
what that means. He washed us from the top of
our head to the sole of our feet, from our heart, our soul, our
will, our mind, our affections, everything about us. He washed
us. How else could God look at us
and not be disappointed? How else could God look at us
and not find fault? You know why? Because we're clean. What cleansed us? The blood of
Christ. He redeemed us, bought us, paid
for us. And I tell you what He buys and
pays for, He gets. You know, you'll go and you'll
buy something and you decide that you don't like, you've paid
for it. You've paid for it and then there's some kind of a snag
somewhere and you'll fuss and you'll fight and you'll call
and you'll argue until you get what you paid for. Huh? Well, Christ paid for his church. Feed the church of God which
he purchased with his own blood. And I'll tell you what he paid
for, he's gonna get. He's gonna get. The good shepherd
lays down his life for his sheep. And here's the third thing in
our election. I'll tell you every detail. It's
effectual calling. It's effectual calling. Oh my. You know it says in verse 80
on here, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom. And
our effectual calling, you know if we're redeemed and we're chosen
in Christ, redeemed by His blood, then we have to be called to
Him. We have to be called to Him. And it's of grace that the
Gospel goes out to anybody. If the gospel goes out to any
soul, it's because of the grace of God. It's because of the grace
of God. God said to David, seek thou
my face. You know what David said? Thy
face, oh Lord, I'll seek. And when God says to you, seek
my face, you know what you do? You seek his face. And when you
talk about his face, that means his presence. That means everything
that there is about him. And I'll tell you, in the day
of His power, His people are made willing. And it's the glory
of His grace. Oh, what the glory of His grace
is when He makes the unwilling willing. Old Scott Richardson
used to say, He saves us against our will with our full consent.
Ain't that right? He saves us against our will
with our full consent. Yes, sir. Yeah, Lord, yeah. You
said, seek my face, Lord, I am. You said, oh, Lord, that that
you made me willing, Lord, I'm so willing. You don't know how,
oh, I'm so willing, Lord. He takes us that are so unwilling
and makes us so willing. Anybody here unwilling? Anybody
here because they don't will to love Christ, don't will to
be here, don't love the Lord? Anybody here against their will? Anybody ever trust Christ against
their will? You know why you don't? Gave
you a new one. He gave you a new will. He took
that old stubborn will out and put in a willing will. He took
that old enmity that was in your mind and he slew it. And now we say, Lord, the only
thing that I find fault with, well, a lot of things, but one
thing, yes, that I wished I was more willing, more willing. Shirley and I was talking about
it on the way over here this morning. It's awful, it's awful
how your mind, you're getting ready to go worship, getting
ready to go meet with the saints of God, open up his word and
deal with it and pray and sing some hymns, and your mind's everywhere
but there. That's the awfulest thing in
the world. And it's in my heart and it's in my will to have my
mind on this service before I get here. A long time before I get
here. I'm willing to be that way. But
how, you know, the will is present with me, but how to perform,
I know not. But He sure makes us willing
to come to Him. And it's free grace, free grace,
free grace. Now here?s the thing about it,
it?s like our Lord Jesus Christ said, ?A king prepared a great
feast.? And then He sent word out, He
said, ?The meal?s ready, come on.? People began to make excuses,
?I?ve done this, and I?ve done that, and I?ve got to do this
other thing.? He told His servants, He says, ?Go Go out into the
highways, hedges, and byways, and find the hawk, the maimed,
the blind, everybody that's hungry. I tell you what you do, you go
out and find them. And I tell you what else you're
gonna have to do, you're gonna have to compel them to come.
Because they're not gonna come unless you compel them. And he
said, I mean, I want you to compel them to come and sit at my table,
or they ain't coming. So God takes old poor, lame,
filthy people that don't know how to walk, don't know how to
talk, don't know how to believe, don't know how to do anything.
He takes them and He goes out by the Holy Ghost and compels
them to come and sit at His table. Ain't you grateful He come and
found you? He come and said go seek them
and then compel them to come. He said when you find them, you
got to compel them. You got to make them do it. Oh my, you talking about grace,
upon grace, that's superabounding grace, huh? And then I want you
to look at justification. Oh, here's another thing. Oh,
you keep this and look with me in Romans 3. Keep Ephesians,
look in Romans 3. Oh my, justification. I love,
there's another one of them words that I absolutely love. Justification
is another word for righteousness, being justified. You know, justification
means that God looks at you and absolutely considers you without
any fault, any blemish, anything wrong with you whatsoever. And
look what he said here in Romans 3, in verse 23. For all have sinned, all have,
and come short of the glory of God, misted by a country mile. But listen to what he says, but,
but being justified freely by his grace. Justified freely. Oh my God, God, you know, Justification
has to do with what God does outside ourselves. And God in
His sovereign mercy, and God in His blessed grace, He comes
to us and He says, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to
justify them people. I'm going to clear them of all
their guilt. I'm going to clear them of all
their shame. I'm going to clear them of all
their sin. And you know how I'm going to do it? I'm going to
do it freely. And I'm gonna do it through grace.
Ain't that what it says? Through, freely by His grace. Why? Because Christ paid the
debt. Christ paid the debt. Listen
to what it says now in verse 25. And God set forth Christ. God set Him forth. He set Him forth in His birth.
Set Him forth in His life. set Him forth on the cross, set
Him forth in His death, set Him forth in His resurrection, set
Him forth, and He set Him forth to be a propitiation, that means
mercy seated, an atoning victim on a mercy seat. And listen to
this, through faith in His blood, through us believing Christ and
His blood, just like they did with the Passover lamb. They
put the blood over the post and over the lintels of the door.
He said that's what they, they believed that God would pass
over them because of that blood. Well, that's what God's doing,
passing over because of the blood. To declare God is righteous and
that He puts away the sins of the past through the forbearance
of God. Oh my. Justify freely. God set him forth as our only
justification before God Almighty, only one. Now back over in Ephesians,
look at this with me. Then we have sanctification and
perseverance. Everything about our salvation
is of grace, to the glory of His grace. Look what he said
in verse four. According hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world, it's this now, that we
should be holy. That's our sanctification. He
done this, that we should be holy. Do you feel holy? Do you feel
holy? I just gonna show you, our feelings
have absolutely nothing to do with it. God says that we may
be made holy. How? Through Christ. If you ever
feel holy, God have mercy on you. But God says we're holy, and
what God says is so. And holy, and look what else he says
here, without blame. He can't find any blame before
him in love. Now you can find all kinds of,
you can find all kinds of things to blame me on. I mean, you know,
I blame myself for a lot of things. And you know, that's just part
of living, you know. But I'll tell you one thing,
God says they're holy and they ain't got any blame. I don't
find a thing in the world to blame them for. Huh? Now that's
salvation by grace. That s salvation by grace, huh?
And then hold him without blame, and I tell you, not only do we
sanctify it, but the scriptures here teach us also at the same
time, we re gonna persevere. We re gonna persevere, huh? Look what he said back up in
verse 1. He says, You know, To the saints which are at Ephesus,
and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Oh, our sanctification
and our perseverance, because we are holding without blame,
to be faithful in Christ. How do we stay faithful? How
do we stay faithful? Because it tells us there in
verse 8, where he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom. Oh,
my. He's faithful, faithful, so faithful
to us. and he hath abounded in wisdom
and prudence to us, making us know his will. And you know,
Bruce Crabtree used to use a phrase, I don't know if he still does,
I hadn't heard him say it in a while, he used to call it perseverance.
Perseverance. And that means that you know
you're gonna be preserved and you're gonna persevere at the
same time. I think it's a pretty good word. Perseverance. And somebody told him one time,
Bruce, that's not a word. He said, well, I like it. He covers both of them, preserved
and persevere. You know why we persevere? Because
we're preserved. You know why we persevere? It's
because we're holy. You know why we persevere? We're
without blame. You know why we persevere? Because
Christ is faithful. We all, listen, if God ever looked
at us for our faithfulness, we wouldn't stand, we'd be a gone
Jesse, as I often say. But I tell you what, Christ,
we're gonna persevere because Christ preserved us. You know
what the scriptures tells us? He maketh us, he maketh us to
lie down in green pastures. Huh? And then he says this, he
says that we'll dwell in the house of the Lord forever, and
until that happens, goodness and mercy's gonna follow us all
the days of our life. You reckon goodness and mercy'll
follow us? He keeps us saved like He saved
us by His grace, by His free grace. David said, my foot had
well nigh slipped. But it didn't slip. You know
why it didn't slip? Because there's God is faithful. My foot had, how many times has
your foot well nigh slipped? But it didn't. You know why? Because of Him. Oh my. There's no part, no part
in a believer's life where he's kept by anything he does, anything
he thinks, any work he does, or any strength that he has of
his own. Huh? Oh, there's only one strength
that keeps us, and that's the strength of Christ. It's of grace
that makes a dead soul live, and it's grace which keeps that
living soul alive. Now what makes this grace so
glorious? Huh? What makes this grace so
glorious? And why do we say it's to the
praise of the glory of His grace? First of all, because it's sovereign
grace. It belongs to Him and Him alone.
He don't owe it to anybody. If he gives it, he's a sovereign
and he dispenses out of his own will. You know, there's a, I
hope I don't take too long, but anyway, you remember the story
about the fellow went out and six o'clock in the morning hired
a fellow to work. Went out at nine o'clock, found some other
fellas, called them to work. Went out at noon, found some
other fellas, called them to work. Went out at five o'clock,
found some more fellas and called them to work, put them to work.
But when they all lined up to get paid, that fella that was last, he
got up there in line and he got a penny. And that fella got there
first, he got a penny. And he said, this ain't fair,
this ain't right. Said, we've worked all day long. And you gave us what that fella
just worked for an hour for. He said, this ain't fair. You
know what our Lord told him? Can I not do with my own what
I will? Huh? That means the first right
to the last gets everything the same. Nobody gets any more than
anybody else. It's all of grace. It's mine,
it's mine, I'll do what I will with it. Listen. The Lord's gave me a heapsight
more than a penny. Ain't He you? Oh my, He's filled up, He's filled
up our coffers. He's filled up our plates. He's
filled up our souls countless times. Countless times. He's
not gonna stop now. Grace is not owed to anyone.
Here's the second thing about it. Third thing. Second thing
about what makes grace glorious, it is freeness. It's free. Now
a lot of people think grace is not free. They think that you
gotta do something to get it. But no, no, if you have to do
something to get it, the minute you do something to get it, it
ceases to be grace. And it's free. You people say,
oh, how am I gonna repay him? You don't. You don't pay something
for somebody that's free. If he gives it to you free, what
are you gonna pay him with? You didn't have nothing to pay
for anyway, that's why he gave it free. Who maketh thee to differ,
huh? Oh my, he said out of the same
lump, out of the same lump. He made someone to honor, he
made someone to dishonor. Huh? Oh, I tell you what, out
of the same lump, you know, he has to do it. It's free. God
said, I'll love them freely. And the third thing is, it's
fullness. It's fullness. Let me tell you something. It's
never just a little grace. Never just a little bit of it.
No, no, no, no. It's never a little grace. Grace
upon grace. Grace to cover all my sins. Grace, grace, happy grace, blessed
grace, glorious grace. And there's never a time that
you go through anything that His grace is not there, that
His grace don't uphold you, that His grace don't get you through
anything you go through. Grace, blessed grace, superbounding,
free, full, sovereign grace. And I tell you, you know another
thing that's to the glory of His grace? It's unfailing. It never fails. It never fails. Huh? Oh my. You know what our
Lord said? I'll never, no never, no never,
no never, no never leave you or forsake you. Huh? Husbands forsake wives, wives
forsake children. Parents forsake children, wives,
husbands, they forsake one another. People will forsake one another
and it's not nothing. But one thing Christ will never,
ever, ever do, He'll never leave one for whom He died or forsake
them. Never, never, never, never. His
mercy endureth forever. And all has said to the praise
of the glory of His grace, And this grace is the subject of
our praise. No wonder we sang Amazing Grace,
because it is amazing, ain't it? It's amazing is what it is.
Chosen, given to Christ, redeemed by His blood, closed in His righteousness,
preserved from sin, called effectually, adopted, made partakers of the
divine nature, Why? Look what it says in verse 5. According to the good pleasure
of His will. Why according to the good pleasure
of His will? Oh, blessed God, our Father. Oh, blessed God of our Father.
And our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, grace, grace, grace, grace,
grace. Free grace, blessed grace. And everything you've done for
us, you've done it to the praise of the glory of your own grace.
that we may find that the subject, that we may praise you for your
grace, glorify you for your grace, thank you for your grace. Without your grace, there'd be
no salvation. Without your grace, there'd be
no preservation. Without your grace, there'd be
no perseverance. Without your grace, we'd never enter glory.
Without your grace, we would never have been chosen. Lord
blessed be your holy name. Thank you for this blessed grace
given us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy and without blame before you in love. Thank
you and bless you. Amen. Let's sing 125. 125. I think that's it. Jesus
paid it all, is that it? Yeah. Let's stand together and
we'll sing this and then you'll be at liberty to go. ? I hear the Savior say ? Thy strength
indeed is small ? Child of weakness watch and pray ? Find in me thine
all in all Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin hath left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find Thy power
in Thine alone. and melt the heart of stone. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. For nothing good were by thy
grace to claim. I'll wash my garmless wife in
the blood of Calvary's Lamb. all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
he washed it white as snow. And when before the throne, I
stood in the way, Jesus died my soul, Oh th th Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.