Acts chapter 13 and we have what I call a strange
request a strange request and it's found there in verse 43
Paul had been preaching preached a good long sermon started with
God saving his people out of Egypt and went to the Lord Jesus
Christ and how God did all things because of Him, fulfilled all
the promises and all the salvation for His people in Christ. But
here in verse 43, and it says, now when the congregation was
broken up, when the message was over, everybody started leaving. Just like we do when a service
is over. Congregations broke up. And the
Jews had gone out of the synagogue, and many of the Jews and religious
proselytes, they followed Paul and Barnabas. Followed them fellows
out, started talking to them. And men who were following Paul
and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, spoke to them now, persuaded
them to continue in the grace of God. Now that's a strange
request. A man who preached grace, believed
grace, and he's talking to people who had just heard him get through
preaching. He spent quite a while there. It's an astounding statement
when you give it much thought. To continue in grace, continue
in the doctrine of grace, the truth of grace, to have to persuade
souls to continue in the blessings, in the love, in the power and
the grace of God. It seems almost foolish to say
such a thing and even to consider that we would have to exhort
men to continue in the grace of God. Continue in true religion. But we are persuaded here, Paul
said, to continue in the grace of God. Now I want you to hold
that and look with me over here in 1 Corinthians 15. Look what
the apostle says over here. What the scripture says over
here. You know... You know why we're here today? To
hear about the grace of God. To hear about Christ. Why? Because you know, you know yourself
and how desperately you need it. That's why. And I'm here
to tell you, let's just keep on keeping on with the same thing.
But look what the Apostle said here in verse 1 of 1 Corinthians
15. Moreover brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel. I preach the gospel to you. And you also received it. and
you received it and you stand in this gospel by which you also
saved the gospel saves you if you keep in memory and that margin
says hold fast hold fast what I preached unto you hold on fast
to it unless you believed in vain now here's what he's saying
is I preached it to you But if you don't, you believed it and
you received it and you say you're saved by it and you stand in
it. But if you don't hold fast to it, it's what he's saying,
if you don't hold fast to it, it'll amount to you believed
in vain. And I'll tell you what, for I
delivered unto you. This is where the gospel starts,
how that I also received, for I delivered unto you first of
all that which you all received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures. So let's go back over here to
Acts chapter 13 now. So he says, contol fast of that. But you know when I said this,
it almost seems like a foolish thing to have to talk about.
But it makes all the sense in the world when we consider man. When we consider man. Consider
his nature. Consider his depravity. Consider
his selfishness. His pride. His ungratefulness. No wonder the psalmist says,
what is man? What is man? That you're mindful
of him. Man at his best state is vanity. But it's a fact persuading men
to continue in the grace of God. It's a fact and it's a sad fact
that we have to be persuaded to continue in the grace of God.
Why? Why? Why do we have to be persuaded? I'm going to tell you, here's
the first thing. We're all by nature free willers. We're born that way. That's our
nature. That's our natural religion.
And I tell you what, we'll fall back in. You know, why in the
world do we have such a struggle with sin? You see, we're always
born free willers. I tell you what, you don't have
to convince a man to be a free willer. He's born that way and
he'll live that way and he'll die that way. And we all was
that way. I was a freewheeler and I still,
apart from the grace of God, I'd still be a freewheeler. And
what I mean by freewheeler is, is that everything depend on
my will. On God's will depended on my
will. My salvation depends on my will. And we is all by nature that
way. And we is by nature that way
at heart. No matter how much we think of the grace of God.
No matter how much we talk about it. How much we study it. We have to continue to do that. Talk about it. Study it. Preach about it. We have to just
continue over and over and over or else it will slip away. And
you look down through history. You look at Spurgeon's Tabernacle.
He used to have people, they had to have tickets to come in.
After he had his own congregation in one night, he'd say, well,
we'll let other people in. And they would come in with tickets
and have places to sit. Because he'd have 5,000 to 7,000
people in the service at a time. I went over there one day, and
there wasn't enough people in there to say grace over in the
tabernacle that make five, six times this building. I got my
picture taken up in the pulpit. And I tell you now, beloved,
you go and listen to the fellow's preaching over there and see
if he's preaching the grace of God. Jonathan Edwards considered
the most, best American theologian that ever lived. You can go and
find his sermons. And he preached in Massachusetts
and I tell you what, you know what they did? After he started
preaching that he didn't want anybody in the church that is
unconverted. They wanted to just let anybody
become a church member. If you wanted to join that church,
you can join that church. And he says, no, no, no, no.
We just can't let people into the church and admit them into
the church unless God's done something for them. Next thing
you know, you'll have a whole building full of unconverted
people. And that's exactly what happened. And you know what they
done? They fired him, run him off. And this is a man that preached
the grace of God. I remember your daddy, when we
first started the first service we had in here. He is the one
that prayed that day and he says, oh God don't ever let anything
in this building ever be preached but the grace of God and the
gospel of the grace of God. He died believing that, went
into glory believing that. And I tell you what the scripture
says, oh my, hold fast. Hebrews 2.1 says this, he said
hold fast lest it slips away from you, lest it runs out of
you like a leaking vessel. Now I'll tell you another reason
why we have to continue and be persuaded to continue, not only
because we're free willers by nature, because we're depraved. Now what does depravity mean?
That don't mean you're as bad as you can be. It means that
you're as bad off as you can be in the sight of God. And I
tell you, we got a will. And we're talking about a will.
You know what that will does? It sins. If a man could stop
sinning, he would do it in a heartbeat. And that's what preachers preach.
Quit sinning. Quit sinning. If I could quit
sinning, I would. My mind, if I wish that, I wish
it was like these tapes and CDs, you could just run a racer across
it. But we have a will and that will
is to sin. And that will that we have, this
depraved nature we have, wants to make ourselves something to
God. Appear something to God. Appear
like God is just delighted to have us. And we are so self-righteous
by nature. That's our nature to be without
fraud. We sung that song this morning. Come thou fount of every
blessing. Tune my heart to thank thy grace. Oh to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be. Oh, we have to be persuaded,
got to be preached to. Got to be over and over and over
again. I'll tell you another reason
why we are persuaded to continue in the grace of God. Because
we're lovers of self. Oh, how we love ourselves. We
love honor. We love praise. We like folks
to commend us. We love, we love to be, you know, if somebody else is
getting all the, you know, people talking and bragging on somebody
else, you know, we get, we get kind of upset about it, you know.
Well, listen, I'm somebody too, you know. And I'll tell you something about
us. Our hearts promise what we came before. Our hearts promise
that I'm not going to do this. Our hearts promise that I'm going
to do that. Our hearts promise that I'm going
to continue this way. Our hearts promise that I'm going
to do this thing, that and the other thing. And our hearts,
our hearts can't perform what we promise ourselves. That's
why Solomon said this, A fool trusts his own heart.
Do you know whose heart I'm more scared of than anybody else's?
My own. My own. You say, well boy, they got a
good heart. Well, not me. Not me. No, no. I'm not going
to say anything about my heart, but the only thing I know about
it for sure For sure that it's deceitful. It's deceived me more
times than I can tell you. It's deceived me thinking that
I was doing right when I was doing wrong. It's deceived me
and told me that I could accomplish something and I couldn't. It's deceived me and made me
believe that if I could do just this one thing here, that that
would satisfy me. But it never did. Huh? Oh my. So we have to continually,
continually be persuaded. Not just to believe grace. Now
listen to me. Not just to believe grace. Not
just to believe grace, but to live grace. Live it! How many people actually live
grace? How many people actually live
grace? How many people act according
to grace? How many people live according
to the grace of God? Not living in fear Not living
in fear. You can't live in the grace of
God and live in fear at the same time. You can't believe in the
absolute grace of God and live in fear and be lovers of yourself
all at the same time. You can't be in the grace of
God and run around complaining. Complaining all the time. No,
you can't believe in the grace of God and boast in yourself. Pleasing self. And I know this,
if we need grace, we will attend where grace preaching is preached
all the time. You know, no wonder the apostle
Paul, you know, he says this, we're sin entered because the
law came, the sin entered. It come and it convinced us and
convinced us how awful we were, how far away from God we were.
And how we could not make ourselves right. But then where sin abounded. Here comes grace and grace much
more abounded. And then that grace, it reigns,
it reigns as a sovereign. It reigns. How? Through the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? God forbid. How can we that are
dead to sin continue any longer therein? And I tell you what,
for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's not of works lest any man
should boast. For we are God's workmanship
created in Christ Jesus. Let's not give the enemies of
grace ammunition against us. There's a dear, dear preacher
friend of mine. He said this when this pandemic
started and this virus started. He said, well, we're going to
find out how many people who just had a habit of going to
church. And when they had a chance to
break the habit, they lost the habit. Would you all agree with that?
And I'm not here out of habit. No, no. I'm here because I want
to be here. You know why you're here? You
want to be here. You know why you want to be here?
Because you need the grace of God. And you need to hear it
three times a week and more if you could. Most of you listen
to sermons on sermon audio. You're watching them on television. You watch every chance you get.
You're listening to something about the grace of God. Huh? And I'll tell you another reason
why we have to be persuaded to continue in the grace of God.
We're all legalists. You know, we're all legalists. We're moralists by nature. So
we'll see somebody do something and say, oh I wouldn't do that.
I wouldn't do that. I can't believe they did that.
Well how in the world? Oh my goodness. I would have
never dreamed he'd have done that. And I'll tell you, here's another
thing about us. When things go wrong, things
start going wrong in our hearts, in our lives, in our families,
and cars start breaking down and all that kind of stuff, and
we have to get in and have to do all kinds of things to, you
know, get messed up, you know. We begin to say, oh my, what
have I done that God's treating me this way? What have I done
that God let this happen to me? And not one of us in this building
ain't thought that sometime. Huh? Oh, you say, well, I'll
tell you what, I'll just, I'll tell you how I'll get out of
this mess. I'll start praying more. I'm going to read my Bible
more. I mean, I'm going to get up and
I'm going to read my Bible. I'm going to get up and I'm going
to start, the first thing I'm going to do is read my Bible. Well, that
lasts about two days. I'm going to go to church more.
I'm going to give more. That's just legalism. Just legalism. That's why we need the grace
of God preached to us. Oh my. Oh my. You know the apostle says this,
that if you come and trust your circumcision or your cleanliness
or your morality or your legalism, anything about you, you know
what he said? You've fallen from the grace of God. You know what
it takes to fall from the grace of God? Just to put anything
in the place of Christ. That's all it takes. People say,
well, he back slid and he's lost and he's fell from grace. All
it takes to fall from grace is for you or me to look to anything
within ourselves to commend ourselves to God. Christ profits us nothing. And I want Christ to be everything.
Do you? Oh my. And I'll tell you why. Let me tell you some things when
we're not continuing in the grace of God. You know, when Paul preached
this message here, starting in there in verse 16, when we're
not continuing in the grace of God, when? Let me tell you when
we're not. When we diminish the person.
And we diminish the work. of our Lord Jesus in any way
or add anything to His work. When we add anything to His person,
anything to His person. What is this person? Who is this
person? Well, He is God manifest in the
flesh. That's who He was. He was God
Almighty. He was holy. He is omnipotent. He had all power. He is omniscient. He knows all things. And when
you see His person and know His person, God's glory is revealed
in Him. And then you turn around and
not only is He God manifest in the flesh, but He is a man. He
was a man, had blood in His body. He had to eat. He had to rest. He had to sleep. He had to do
all the things that a man has to do. But yet he is a sinless
man. A perfect man. A blessed man. God's man. God's son. Not related
to Adam in any way. And so, oh, and we diminish his
person. And then about his work. What
kind of work did he do? God gave him a work to do. And
when he came into this world, he came into this world as a
representative man. He did not represent himself.
He represented God first. He told out God. He said everything
right. He honored God in everything
He said and done. He was a representative man. And then He was a representative
man for us. He represented us. before God
and then he came and he would come time for him to die and
he was counted as God's lamb as God's substitute as that lamb
that when his blood was shed God said I'll see the blood and
I'll pass over you Oh my! And in His sacrifice, in His
death, in His blood shedding, He gave complete, absolute satisfaction
to God. And if God is satisfied with
Him, the only way He can be satisfied with us is us to be in Him. And how do you get in Him? God
puts us in Him. And I tell you what, we're not
continuing in the grace of God when we add anything to grace.
Paul made it very plain in Romans 11, 6. He said, if it's of grace,
it's no more works. And if it's of works, it's no
more grace. You can't mix them. Oh, we can't
mix them. Salvation is of the Lord. And
I tell you, beloved, to believe some facts, to believe some doctrine
in your head, but not to attend the means of grace, we're not
continuing in the grace of God. I'm talking about attending a
ministry. Not just any ministry, but a ministry of the gospel
of the grace of God. That's what I'm talking about.
Look in Hebrews 3 with me, just a moment. Let's look over here
in Hebrews 3. Look in verse 12. You know, to
attend a ministry, not just any ministry, a ministry of the gospel
of the grace of God. Look what he says here. Take
heed brethren. Take heed brethren. Lest there
be in any of you an evil heart. Now you think about this. An
evil heart of unbelief. Unbelief is called evil. And listen to this. In departing
from the living God. But exhort one another daily
while it's called to day. That's what I'm doing today.
exhorting you, we exhort one another, lest any of you be hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin. Sin so deceives you that
you think that I'm alright and not continue in the gospel of
the grace of God. That's a sad state to be in.
Well, what is it then to continue in the grace of God? What is
it to continue in the grace of God? I think this is, to me,
the most important thing I'll say today. Most precious thing
to my heart. To place your soul in the able,
willing, powerful hands and of the Lord Jesus Christ and be
glad you did. And to know why you put your
soul in his hands. You know why you did? He made
you willing in the day of his power. He said seek my face. You know what happened? We sought
his face. He says Come unto me, he said
this, he says, blessed is the man whom thou choosest. Now listen
to this, that's a wonderful thing to be chosen of God. But that
won't do any good unless he says, causes us to approach unto him. And if He ever starts you causing
you to approach unto Him, you know how long you're going to
approach Him? For the rest of your life. I'm going to tell
you. Oh my goodness. To find in Him,
to find in Him all you need for time and eternity. That's why
Jude said that you know Christ shall present you flawless. At His coming He will present
you faultless before His presence in glory. And I tell you what is to continue
in the grace of God is to find yourself a sinner and a saint
at the same time. You are a paradox to yourself. You have a war going on in you
every single day. You're a paradox to yourself,
yet you press on. You're empty. You have nothing. And yet, you're full. You're naked. But yet, you're clothed. You're
ignorant. And yet, you know all things. As dying daily, yet we live. As rejoicing and mourning, almost
at the same time. As having nothing, and yet possessing
all things. Now how in the world does all
that happen? I don't know, but it does. That's us. I tell you to continue in the
grace of God is to have a hope. Have a hope that only God himself
can produce. God can only one that can produce
that hope in you is God himself. And it's based, it's foundation
is the holy word of God itself. Not the preacher, not the church,
but Christ and God's word himself. Oh my, it's taught by God, revealed
to your heart by the Holy Ghost. He says the Holy Ghost comes
and brings the gospel to us and he persuades us in that gospel
and by the Holy Spirit that this is salvation, this is the only
assurance I have and the only assurance I can get is in this
gospel of Christ. That's the only one. Oh, that's
why the Apostle says, you know, you received the Word of God,
not as the Word of men, but indeed, as it is in truth, the Word of
God. Oh my! This is not, listen, this
is not some words about God. This is the Word of God. God
speaks to us. This is words in black and white,
punctuated. Got jots and tittles in it. Got
paragraphs and chapters in it, but it wasn't written that way.
But God did that for our sake. But when I open this book, when
I don't care if I'm reading the genealogies, or I'm reading about
a king, or I'm reading about anybody, I'm reading what God
said. And when we get into eternity,
He says when them books are open, you know what books He's talking
about? This one right here. And when that book right there
is opened, you know the only people in the world that God's
going to accept and receive? Them that say, yeah, God said,
thus saith the Lord. And I don't know everything that
He said, but I do know I believe everything He said. I don't have
to know it all, I just have to know Him who said it. And I'll
tell you why. You know they call them red letter
and I don't have nothing against the red letter Bible But I don't
need red letters to find out what Christ said or God said I don't you know everything he
said is bloodstained oh my well let me say this Who is it that continues in the
grace of God? Who continues in the grace of
God? If you and I, if you and I do
continue in the grace of God, it will be by and because of
the grace of God. It's all of grace. All of grace. Our belief and our faith right
now is by grace. Look what it says down here in
verse 48 of Acts 13. Now listen to this. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad. You glad over here in the gospel? Yeah, of course you are. And
glorified, listen to this, glorified the word of the Lord. not Paul,
not the Apostle but glorified the word of the Lord just like
we just talked about and as many as were ordained to life what
did they do? They received the word of the
Lord and they were grateful for it not only is it dependent upon
grace that grace causes us to believe in but it depends upon
the spirit of grace on the spirit of grace and this just this touches
my heart oh it touches my heart we'll never get strong enough
we'll never get wise enough we'll never be mature enough To ever
step, to ever stand, or ever move, or to have anything by
our own power. We can't do it. We can't do it. We can't do it. Look at Acts
here with me, 18 and verse 27. 18 verse 27. And when he was disposed to pass
into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive
him, who when he was come, listen to this now, helped them much
which had believed through grace. What does that mean? He helped
them that believed through grace, because of grace. You know, and he talked about
us persuading us to continue in the grace of God. I'll tell
you what he didn't persuade us to do. He didn't persuade them
to continue in church membership. He didn't do that. He didn't
persuade them to live a good life and be very religious. He didn't
exhort them to pay tithes so they could get a blessing. or
to continue reading their Bibles or pray. He's persuading them. You start in grace, continue in grace. Don't never ever go anywhere
else except where grace is preached and believe it And rejoice in
it and find it Christ and His grace to be the only hope you
have. I persuade myself to do that. God help me. God help me. To continue in the grace of God.
To continue to preach it. Continue to believe it. To continue
to rest in it. continue to embrace nothing but
the grace of God. Amen? Our Father, in the precious,
precious name of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you
for meeting with us today. Thank you for your precious Word.
Oh Lord, there's nothing like it. There's nothing like it. Oh Lord, it does something to
my heart that nothing in this world can do. Lord, I don't want to ever preach
anything, but your gospel, the gospel of grace, the gospel that
gives you all the glory, that debases man, abases man, puts
him down. Makes you high, high, high and
holy. Makes man low, low, low, low. God help me always to do that. And do it with some love. Do
it with some wisdom. Do it with some understanding.
Do it with heart. With heart. God bless it. Be your holy name. Thank you
for these saints. We bless you in Christ's name.
Amen. Let's stand together and sing
Amazing Grace. Because it truly is amazing. If you don't know it, know it.
It's in 236. how sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me I once was lost but now am found Grace that taught my heart to
fear And grace my fears relieved How precious did that grace appear We're going to a house this afternoon, but we're
not going home. We've no less days to sing God's
praise than when we first begun.