with me this morning to Matthew
Chapter 11. Rick and Helen, could you all
sing if you're able? Okay, good. Matthew 11. Start here at verse 16. But whereunto shall I liken this
generation? It is like unto children sitting
in the markets, and calling unto the fellows, and saying, We have
piped unto you, and ye have not danced. We have mourned unto
you, and ye have not lamented. For John came neither eating
nor drinking, and they say he hath a devil. The Son of Man
came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold, a man, gluttonous
and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners, but wisdom
is justified of her children. Then began He to upbraid the
cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they
repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe
unto thee, Bethsaida! For the mighty works which were
done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon. they would have
repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you,
it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sodom at the day of
judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which are
exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell. For if
the mighty works which had been done in thee had been done in
Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto
you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the
day of judgment than for thee. At that time Jesus answered and
said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son but
the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him. Come unto me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. And
you shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy and
my birth is light. Subject this morning or title
of my message is thank God for grace. Thank God for grace. Stand amazed at grace. And grace for those who understand
it. What it means. And have experienced
it. And stand in awe of the God who
shows grace. It's a word that they use every
day. It's a word that crosses their
mind every day. Grace, grace, grace, grace, grace. Grace is a charming sound. Oh,
it's a charming sound. And sovereign grace, sovereign
grace. Oh my, what a blessed word. A good word. Grace is a good
word. It's a strong word. It means
something to somebody in this world. It means something to
me. Grace is a word that means salvation. Salvation that's full. Salvation that's free. Grace
is a word that brings comfort because grace brings all that
we need. and does all that we need for
us, grace, grace, grace. Grace is a wonderful word of
assurance. What a word of assurance. What
a word of assurance. For if God in His blessed grace does for us, while we were yet
sinners, had his heart and grace set on
us while we were yet sinners. Do you think for a moment he
would ever take that grace back or we could lose that grace?
Oh, we can't lose what God gave us. And grace, not only is it a word
of assurance, but it's an eternal word. It's a word born in the
heart of God before the world ever began. Before God ever created
a man. Before God ever did anything
in this world. Before he ever hung the foundation
of the earth. Before he ever spoke light into
existence. Before he ever hung the sun and
moon in the heavens. And before the stars ever gave
their sign and shine. Our Lord Jesus Christ, God had
grace given to us in Christ before the world ever began. And what
does it say in 2 Timothy? Grace given to us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Grace is a word that only God
himself could give. That's how salvation is known
in the scriptures. Only God would give a word like
this. And then he brought this blessed
grace through his son into time to have grace and give grace
only to the guilty. And then grace is the one who
makes us guilty and come and then takes away the gift. Grace, blessed grace gave us
all we have. All we will have and all we will
ever have or be. No wonder Paul said, by the grace
of God, I am what I am. Oh, to grace, how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be. Now, I want you to look with
me here. Let me read you a few verses in verse 25. At that time, Jesus answered.
Matthew 11, 25, At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed
them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father, and no man knows the Son but the Father. Neither
knoweth any man the Father save the Son. and he to whomsoever
the sun will reveal him. Come unto me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. And
ye shall find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden
is light. Now I'm going to preach grace
from these verses of scripture today if I can. But let me tell
you something about the grace of God. Every subject in the
Bible is directly related to the grace of God except the fall
of man. Man's fall into sin. He did that
all by himself. And had not God given us grace
in Christ before the world began, God could have left every man
fallen. Could have left every man in his sin. The only thing
that the grace of God is not directly related to is the fall
of man. He did that all by Himself. But
it was God's grace that determined to save a people from Adam's
fallen race. Instead of dooming men, as He
did the angels in sin. Do you know the angels in sin,
He cast them down and reserved them in chains. But He saved
some of Adam's fallen race. He determined to save some of
Adam's fallen race. And it was God's grace that determined
it. It was God's grace that made our Lord Jesus Christ our surety. made Him the one who would stand
good for us, who would compensate for all that we couldn't do,
for our inabilities, for our lack of power, for everything
that's wrong with us, our Lord Jesus Christ did surety for us.
And it was God's grace that made our Lord Jesus Christ and gave
Him a people in the eternal covenant of mercy. Oh you know in John
17 there's six times it says those thou hast given me six
times it says and our Lord Jesus Christ praying there six times
he says those that has given me them that was given to me
those that thou gave to me all that the father giveth me shall
come to me and him that cometh to me i'll in no wise ever cast
them out And our Lord Jesus Christ Himself said all that the Father,
you know, He says the Father has given Him all power over
all flesh that He should give eternal life to who? As many
as thou hast given Him. So you see, that's why it's so
delightful and so encouraging and always a blessing to preach
the Gospel. You know why? Because God gave
Christ to people and when they hear that voice, they're coming
to Him. And when He comes, there ain't nothing in the world they
can ever do to make God turn and say, no, I ain't have nothing
else to do with you. No, no. And oh, listen, it was God's
grace that sent our Lord Jesus Christ into the world, born of
a woman, born under the law, and He did it in the fullness
of time. Right when it was time for Him
to come, that's when He came into this world. And I'll tell
you something else about God's grace. Everything in the scripture
is directly related to it. It was God's grace that called
us to faith. And it was God's grace that revealed
Christ in us. When Paul said, and when it pleased
God who separated me from my mother's womb, call me by His
grace, not just to reveal Christ to me, but to reveal Christ in
me, to reveal Christ in us. Christ in you is the hope of
glory. and bless His holy name. It's
God's grace that keeps us in Christ, that keeps us in Christ
every day. Look in Jude. Look in that last
book before the revelation. Look at that last book, that
little one chapter, that one little chapter epistle, got 25
verses in it. And that's why it says we're
kept by the power of God through faith. And it's God's grace, not only
that revealed Christ to us and brought faith to us, and revealed
Christ in us, but it's God's grace that keeps us. And look
what he says here in verse 24. Jude verse 24, Now unto him that
is able to keep you falling, from falling, and listen, not
only that, but grace is going to present us and raise us up
into eternal glory. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling. You didn't say unto him who tries
to keep you from falling, or unto you that'll pick you up
when you do fall. Unto him that's able to keep
you from falling, and not only that, to pretend you faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only
wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty forever and now. And it'll be God's grace that'll
raise us unto eternal glory. So when we talk about grace,
you see why I say thank God for grace? When you think about grace
and talk about grace, so everything that I say, it means, tells us
this, that it's obvious that there's not one thing a son of
Adam has to glory in. What have you and I have to glory
in? Who made us to differ? God said
this in Jeremiah 9. He says, let the wise man glory
in his wisdom, let the mighty man glory in his might, let the
rich man glory in his riches, but let him glory that understandeth
me and knows me. That's the man that has the only
thing we have to glory in is our Lord Jesus Christ and his
blessed cross. And I tell you, he said in first
Corinthians 1 26 that God chose the very weak things. Nobody's
to confound the mighty. And that's what I just read to
you. All those things I read to you. Those folks thought that
he said, you're Capernaum. You've been exalted to heaven.
He said, I'm going to bring you down to hell. He said, I saved
nobodies to let everybody who thinks they're somebody see that
they're nothing. And he says, he said, I saved
the weak to confound the mighty. How many times have you met with
somebody and talked with somebody, and they're in religion, and
they belong to a certain church, and all they talk about is how
good they are, and they wish somebody else would get in church,
and somebody else would do the, and so you listen to them talk
about how mighty they are, and how religious they are, and how
strong they are, and how faithful they are, and you listen to them
thinking, you say, oh my, that's, He ain't talking about me. He
don't know me. What have we got to glory in?
And that's what he says. And all the only way, the only
thing that these things are written that you might not glory in the
flesh, but glory in Christ. And let me tell you some things
about grace before I get into my message. This is my introduction.
And I tell you what, that's what we're talking about grace. The
only thing we can glory in is the grace of God. Let me tell
you something about sovereign free grace is the only answer
there is to human sin. Sovereign free grace is the only
answer to human sin. Sovereign free grace is the only
answer to human inability. And sovereign grace is the answer
to man's unwillingness to come to Christ. Who's going to take
care of your sin? Only grace can come. Who's going
to give you the ability to come to Christ? Who are you going
to get the willingness to come to Christ? And if sovereign free
grace don't come and do that, then you're going to stay in
the shape you're in. Ain't that right? So here in these verses,
I want to give you seven things concerning God's sovereign grace
and free grace in Christ. The sovereignty of God's blessed
grace and how he, the unchanging rules by which that grace works
and operates in this world and in believers' hearts. Now, the
first thing I want you to notice, here's the first thing in verse
25. The spirit, the attitude, that
we are to regard the free grace of God, the sovereign grace of
God. At that time, Jesus said, I thank thee. That's the way
we regard. The Sovereign Grace of God, the
Spirit we receive it in. I thank Thee. Thank God. And our Lord Jesus Christ thanked
God, thanked His Father. Thank God that He has purpose
to save a people. Thank God that He has. And I
tell you, I go and say this, that thank God He has elected
a people, chose a people in Christ before the foundation of the
world. Had not God chosen us, we would have never chosen Him.
Had not God done something for us and chose us in Christ and
elected us, election is one of the most blessed truths in all
the Word of God. Election's not salvation, but
it's unto salvation. And I know this, Mr. Spurgeon
says, when they got on to him about preaching the election,
he said, listen, I don't know who they are, but if they had
a mark on them some way that I knew they was elect, I'd stop
and preach to every single one of them. But since I don't know
who they are, I have to preach the gospel to everybody. And
God knows who his elect are, and that's who he's gonna save.
Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. And I tell you
what, thank God that he's chosen the people. And I tell you to
be one of God's elect for God to say, I set my affection on
you. I set my purpose on you. I set my will on you. God did
that. The church didn't do that. Church
can elect church officers, but God elects sinners. Churches
can elect pastors, but God elects sinners. I like that. And when Paul writes
about God choosing the people for his glory, you know what
he does? He said, blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who hath blessed us with spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Now listen, according,
this is the first blessing he said we have, according as he
has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
And then he says in 2 Thessalonians 2, he says, WE ARE BOUND ALWAYS
TO THANK GOD FOR YOU. WHY? BECAUSE HE FROM THE BEGINNING
HAS CHOSEN YOU UNTO SALVATION THROUGH SANCTIFICATION OF THE
SPIRIT AND BELIEF OF THE TRUTH. NOW YOU GO OUT HERE AND START
TALKING TO PEOPLE ABOUT ELECTION OR THEY FIND OUT YOU BELIEVE
IN ELECTION AND THEY DON'T REACT LIKE YOU AND I DO. THEY DON'T
REACT LIKE PAUL DID. THEY DON'T REACT LIKE PEOPLE
DO IN THE SCRIPTURES. You mention election, it upsets
them. First thing they say, I ain't
fair. Maybe it ain't. to them is to me. Whatever God does is fair. Whatever
God does is right. And that's why Paul said to him,
Who art thou, O man, that replies to God? Shall the thing formed
say to him that formed him, Why did you make me like this? Shall
the pot argue with the potter? Hath not the potter power over
the clay to make one a lump of, a vessel of mercy, another of
lump of anything he choose, a vessel of wrath? And oh, and then you
also mention election, you say, well, if you know you're going
to be saved and you're one of God's elect, that means you can
go out here and send all you want to. And I tell you what,
I don't even leave the house and I send more than I want to.
I send more than I want to in one of these worship services.
I have enough pride in my preaching and in my praying and everything
else that I do that if God spent it all among you, we'd all go
to hell just on my pride, just on mine. But listen, Paul praises
the Lord and talks about holiness. Let me show you how some people
reacted to our Lord Jesus Christ preaching election in Luke chapter
4. Luke chapter 4, look how they reacted to our Lord Jesus Christ
preaching grace and talking about the grace of God. God's grace
changes us, makes us new creatures in Christ. Look down here in
verse 25. Our Lord Jesus, this is when
he began his earthly ministry. And there he is, he's in Capernaum. And he says this in verse 25,
he's preaching, he's talking to these people where he's from,
where he's raised. But I tell you of a truth. Many
widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven
was shut up three years and six months, and when great famine
was throughout the land. But under none of them, not one
of those widows, not many of those widows, Elijah was only
sent to one widow, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was
a widow. send him to one. Now they understood
that very clearly. And in many lepers were in Israel
in the time of Elisha the prophet and none of them was clean saving
them in the Syrian. Now they understood that God
passed by all the people in Israel and he went to these heathens
over here and does something for them. And look what happens
in verse 28 after they just start talking about how gracious words
proceeded out of his mouth. And all they in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, were filled with wrath." Oh,
wait a minute. You mean you passed by all us
Jews and went out here and done something for somebody else?
"...and rose up and thrust him out of the city, and led him
under the brow of the hill whereon the city was built, that they
might cast him down headlong." Oh, I tell you, he preached election
and it made them angry. Made them angry. So the first
response we have to the grace of God is, I thank thee. Thank God for grace. And then
look back over here in our text again. Verse 25. Look at who's the author of grace. Who's the author of the free
grace of God and the sovereign grace of God. Our Lord Jesus
said, I thank thee, O Father. God's the author of grace. I
thank thee, O Father. Uh-huh. Oh, listen. Hey, where's this grace come
from? Come from the Father. Now, it's true. It's true that
every child of God does choose God. And not one of us in here
who believe we're saved by the grace of God, not one of us in
here did not choose God. Does not love God. Every one
of us loves God. And every one of us who knows
the grace of God been saved by grace. Every one of us seek the
Lord. But let me tell you something. God acted first. Huh? God, we respond. He gives us grace and we respond
to that grace. Ain't that right? He said we
love Him. Why? Because He first loved us. He says, no you're not, you've
not chosen me, but I've chosen you. Brad preached a message on that
here, oh, 18 couple of years ago, and it was absolutely outstanding,
brought tears to my eyes when he talked about how the grace
of God, you've not chosen me. And I tell you, God is the first
cause. You look in Romans 8, 30 and 31, and I'll tell you
what it says. Look how many times it says,
he, he, he, he, FOR WHOM HE DID FOR ANOTHER. HE DID PREDESTINE. HE, HE, HE. WHO IS HE? GOD. AND OH, LISTEN,
GOD ACTS FIRST. ALWAYS ACTS FIRST. AND WHOSOEVER
SHALL CALL, LOOK, LOOK IN ROMANS 10. LET'S LOOK IN, LOOK AT ROMANS
10 WITH ME. LET'S LOOK AT IT. I DON'T WANT
TO QUOTE IT. I WANT TO READ IT. I'VE DONE THIS SO MANY TIMES AND YOU
ALL KNOW IT'S THERE. BUT LOOK AT WHAT IT SAYS HERE.
IN ROMANS 10 AND VERSE 13. You know, God acted first. We
respond to His grace. God's the first cause of everything.
And I'm glad He is. If I was left to luck, to chance, or fate, or destiny,
whatever you want to call it, Mother Nature, if I was left
to any of those things, I'd go through this world biting my
fingernails off to the quick. I wouldn't be able to sleep at
night, worried about everything that could happen. But I don't
care. You know, God, whatever He brings
in our life, He's the first cause, and I'm telling you. Ain't that right? Anybody that
numbers the hairs of your head and a sparrow, He feeds the sparrows. Don't you think He can take care
of you and me without us worrying ourselves? Oh, I love the grace
of God. I love it. Oh, He's going to
take care of us. Look what He said here in Romans
10 and verse 13. And this is what people say,
and this is true. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. Now ain't that, that's true,
that is absolutely so. You call on the name of the Lord
and God says I'll save you. But look what he says. How then
shall they call in him whom they have not believed? How you gonna
call on somebody you've not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? You can't believe in somebody
you don't ever hear anything about. And how shall they hear
without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
to be sent? And how beautiful then are the
feet of them that publish tidings of good things? So you see, beloved,
you call on the Lord, it's because God sent somebody to tell you
about Christ. And when you hear about Christ,
if you believe on Christ, you call on Christ, and you never
stop calling on Christ. I'll tell you, we're passive
in this business. Oh, God's the author of this
business of grace. You see, in regeneration, God's
the new birth, what we call the new birth. In regeneration, we're
absolutely passive. Absolutely passive. The seed
of God's planted in our hearts and we're passive. As passive
as we was in our first birth. And God comes and He plants in
us His seed and He regenerates us and He gives us life, and
with that life comes faith, with that life comes repentance, and
with that life, and this is what's called conversion. You regenerate
it, we're passive in that. But we respond to that regeneration,
that being saved by the grace of God, and our conversion is
our response. Here's how it works. God says,
blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and then calls us to
do what? Approach unto thee. He does that,
and then he turns us, and we go to him, we respond to him.
And that's why David, he said David, God said to David, David,
seek ye my face. Well, I'm busy right now. I got
things on my mind right now. I'm busy being a king right now.
I'm busy at war right now. David, I said seek my face. Oh
Lord, thy face will I seek. And that's the way it works.
He comes to us, gives us life, and then we respond and turn
to him. Oh, that's why God says, Adam,
where are you? God's got to come where Adam
is. And when he comes to where Adam is, he makes Adam to understand
where he's at inside. Oh, it has to clothe him. And then here's, look back over
here in the text again. Here's, here's, here's, here's
his right to do as he pleases. Here's his right. We thank you.
That's our response. That's our regard. That's the
spirit. We react to the grace of God. And the author of it
is God the Father. And then look what He said, here's
His right act as He does. Lord of heaven and earth. He's Lord of heaven and He's
Lord of earth. Do you know what it says over
in 1 Kings 8? It says the heaven of heavens,
the heaven of heavens can't even contain Him. He has to humble
himself to behold the things in heaven, but he's Lord of heaven
and earth He's the Creator and we ain't nothing but the creatures
and you know our Lord Jesus when he went out He told that parable
Of that that fella that went out at 6 o'clock in the morning
hired some people Went out at 9 hired some more went out 12
hired some more went out 3 hired some more went out at 5 and hired
some more And those last fellows that was hired, they was the
first in line to get paid. And he gave them a penny. Those
fellows looked down the line, had been up there working since
6 o'clock in the morning till 6 o'clock at night, and they
saw that fellow worked an hour get a penny. And when they got
up there, they said, well, what? What's all this going on here?
We've borne the heart and the heat of the day and the labor
of the day, and those last got the same money we did. He said,
is it not lawful what I do with my own? Did you not agree with
me? I did. Can I do what I want to with
my own? Is it not my money? Is it not
my vineyard? Did I not call you? And now he
said, that's why the last will be first. And the first, that's
the same thing as the wise and prudent. And the first, they
gonna be last. Everybody wants to put their
fell self first, they gonna end up being last. And that's what
our Lord said. And he does, oh, that's what,
he's Lord of heaven and earth and he does according to his
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. And ain't nobody can stay his hand or even ask him,
what in the world are you doing? And that's why Paul said this.
He said, who art thou, old man? That replies against God. You're
the clay, he's the potter. Let the pochets of the earth
strive with the pochets. And here's the thing about it,
when a man starts telling the way God should do, what they're
saying is that I'm smarter than God, I could do things better
than God, and I could run this world better than God, and I'd
run my own life better than God. It's not right for him to do
that. And they'll start finding fault with one another. Who aren't
they? And they'll say, God can't be this way, God can't be that
way, and my God ain't this way and that. What they're saying
is, is I'm smarter than God. I know how to run this outfit
a heapsight better than he does. And I tell you, if he's going
to save anybody, he's going to save somebody like me. That's
what they say. But here's the right act as he
does. He's the Lord of heaven and earth. And oh, listen, look
at the objects of his grace. Look down here now, then look
at the objects of his grace. He's got the right, he's Lord
of heaven and earth. Oh, our God is in the heavens
and he does whatever he pleases in the heavens, in the earth,
in the seas, in all deep places. And here's the objects of his
grace. Look what he says here. He has hid these things from
the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. That's who He
reveals His grace to. That's the objects of His grace.
Babies. Babes. People don't know nothing.
People that's helpless. People that need somebody to
do everything for them. People need somebody to feed
them, clothe them, preserve them, Take care of them. Babes. Babes. Our Lord said, except you become
as little children. You shall not humble yourselves
as little children. There ain't no way you can get
into the kingdom of God. No way you can get into the kingdom
of heaven. And look over here at Matthew chapter 21. Look at
Matthew 21. Here's the objects of his grace,
and then there's also those that he's gonna pass by. And when
I read to you this morning, that was people that he passed by.
There wasn't nothing you could do to satisfy those people. They'd
go and there's like children. He said, boy, we'll make some
music and the kids will dance. Well, they wouldn't dance. They
said, well, we'll make some sadness, we'll lament, we'll weep, we'll
cry, we'll mourn, and they won't mourn with us. We can't do nothing
to satisfy them. And then look what he said here
though in Matthew 21, 15. And when the chief priest, here's
a very illustration of what I'm saying. When the chief priest
and scribe saw the wonderful things that he did, that's the
wise, that's the proof. And the children crying in the
temple saying, Hosanna to the son of David. Listen to this,
they were sore displeased. They were sore displeased men
that they were exceptionally displeased. And said unto him,
Hearest thou what these say? Well, of course he heard what
they were saying. And Jesus saith unto them, Have
you never read out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast
perfected praise? babies. But he passes by the
wise and he passes by the prudent. Oh my. There was a fella gave me a book
here a while back. He has a PhD and he's written
several books and and and I I mentioned you know that
That education's wonderful. Good book, it's a good book. But you know, he heard me preach
one time and I just started preaching about fellas trusting their education
and how much they like being recognized as doctors. You know,
most, almost every, how many preachers now are doctor? Very
few are preachers, very few are pastors. They want to be doctors.
But when you go into scriptures, they call Paul, Paul. They call
John, John. They call James, James. They
call them by their names or they call them brother. They didn't walk up to somebody
and say, Hey, now I'll call a doctor of medicine. I'll call him a
doctor, but I ain't calling a man because he's got him a degree.
I'm not calling him a doctor. Tell you a true story. I've probably
told you this before. There's a fella in town, Dr.
Bell. I see him out off in Eaton. And I've sat around him several
times, Eaton. And he's a big, tall, white-headed
fella. And one time years ago, somebody
rung up the phone. We was in a meeting, and there's
a whole bunch of preachers in the house. And we're having a
meeting, and the phone rung, and I answered. And I said, Dr.
Bell? He said, well, is this the Dr.
Bell took out my ball pattern? I said, no. I thought he was
one of my preacher buddies just calling, you know. I said, no,
this is not that doctor. I'm not that kind of doctor. It's like my dad called one time,
and I said, hello, Mayor speaking. He said, Donnie Bell, you're
not become mayor down there, have you? That's why kids, you remember
when they had them party lines and everything, people get on
there and they call you up and say, is your refrigerator running?
Yeah. Well, you better stop it. You got Prince Albert in a can?
Yeah. You better let him out. We've
done the stupidest things when we was growing up. It took so
little to entertain us, didn't it? It still don't take a whole
lot. But oh, listen, he passes by the wise and the prudent.
And that's why they ask about our Lord that says, how does
this man know these things, having never learned letters? Having
never learned letters. My dear, dear brother and friend,
Wayne Boyd, who pastors up in Almont now, at Almont. When he was out in Oregon, this
fella that that we've been friends with him for years and listen
to him preach. He went up to Northern Oregon and went to a
reformed school and got him a degree. And he come back, him and his
wife come back and they would be home on the weekends and they
would meet with, with Wayne and listen to Wayne preach. But when
he graduated from that school, they went to a couple of services
and you know what they told him? They said, you just not, you
just don't meet our intellectual needs anymore. You just not deepen,
you just not, you just can't meet our, our capacity to, to
understand things now. And that hurt him, that grieved
him so, and that, that hurt me. Could you imagine somebody coming
in and said, that fellow's too, you know, a man's preaching the
gospel. The gospel is the grace of God. And somebody says, well,
you're just not intellectual enough for me. And then, but then God, Christ
says that He revealed grace unto who? Babes! Does anybody here
feel like they full grown? I've been at this for a many
a many a year and I still feel like I'm just starting out. One
of these days, you know, you feel like you just get started.
Oh! You know, he passes by. I want
you to see this in John. I don't mean to take too long,
but look in John 7. Look in John 7. You know, babes,
this is the wise and prudent here. Babes. That's why we have nurseries
back here. That's what we are. We are a church, a place where
people preach the gospel. It's a place for people that
are weak, no abilities, no strengths, absolutely utterly dependent
on God, utterly dependent on Christ. This is a place for sinners. But look what he said here in
John 7, 47. You know, that's when they sent
the people to bring our Lord Jesus Christ back and they said,
oh my, never man spake like this man. And then look what the Pharisees
said. Then answered them the Pharisees,
are you also deceived? That's what, how many times have
I been told you're deceiving, deceiving people? Have any of
the rulers of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not
the law are cursed. And that's what they said about,
if you know the law, none of us who are anybody ain't never
believed on it. And I tell you, babes, he reveals
it unto babes because truth is revealed to babes. Babes, you
know what they do? They respond to love. They respond
to care. They respond to attention. And
the wise and prudent, they can't see for they trust their own
light, their own knowledge, which is in darkness itself. And then
here's the reason for his grace. Here's the reason. That's the
object of his grace and those he passes by, the wise and prudent. Here's the reason for his grace
in verse 26. Even so, father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. What else can you say? You know,
we hid it from the wise, we revealed it to the prudent, and oh Lord,
we rejoice in that and thank you for that, you're Lord of
heaven and earth, and it seemed good in your sight. It pleased
God. What else can a man say than
that right there? That's good enough for every
believing son of God, for every obedient son. Whatever is good
in God's sight is good in ours. Huh? What's good is good in ours. Whatever he does is right. And
what he does, he does for his own namesake. And it pleased
God. You know what it pleased him
to do? It pleased him to bruise his son. It pleased him to make
you his people, and it pleased him by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. Oh, it pleased God. Even so,
Father, it seemed good in your sight. And ain't that what it
is in our hearts to say, Lord, your will be done? If it's your
will be done. And here's the last thing. No,
I got two more things here. I'm sorry, it's five. Here's
the sixth thing. Here's the channel that God's
grace comes to people, to who it comes to. All things are delivered
unto me of my Father. And no man knows the Father save
the Son. Here's the way that God gives
his grace, the channel through who it comes through. It comes
through the hands, through the power, through the mercy, through
the person, through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ himself. All things are in the hands of
our gracious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything is in
His hands. The Father loveth the Son, and
hath given all things in His hands. The first thing that all
things are in His hands to is towards God. There's no way in
the world that God will have anything to do with us except
through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Huh? Let me show you
that in Hebrews 5. Let me show you this in Hebrews
5. You know, everything towards
God. Everything, you know, if you're going to approach God,
the first thing you've got to have, you've got to have a priest.
You still have to have, in Israel, you had to have the priest. And
the priest had to have a sacrifice, and he had to offer the sacrifice
at the place that God appointed, and he had to shed the blood
of that sacrifice. And if we're going to come to
God, we've got to have exactly the same thing. And our Lord
Jesus Christ is every one of those things. But look what he
said in Hebrews 5.1, For every High Priest, taken from among
men, is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may
offer both sacrifices, gifts, and sacrifices for sin." And
oh, you see, we have to have somebody. He deals with everything
that pertains to God. He put away our sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. And then everything that God
has for us, He gives it to us through Christ. God hath made
Christ unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Everything we have for God, Christ
has had. And everything God has for us,
He gave it to us in Christ. Ain't that right? All things
are delivered unto me. Ain't you grateful that God this
world is in the hands of Christ? That I'm in the hands of Christ?
He's so gracious. He's so loving. He's so pitiful.
He's so powerful. He's so patient. And then look
what else. Here's my last point. And here's a gracious and a full
and a powerful invitation to all who desire the grace of God. Look what our Lord says. verse
28. Since all things are delivered
unto me and nobody knows the son but the father and nobody
knows the father except the son and he to whomsoever the son
will reveal him everything's in the son so he says here come
unto me come unto me all you that labor and this is
for believers too You that labor and you're heavy laden. Boy,
you're burdened and you're heavy laden under your guilt and you
keep laden under, you know, well, how am I going to get right with
God? When are my things going to be right between me and God?
He says, you know, I tell you what, you bring all that burden
and you bring all that labor and you bring all that you got
on you and bring it to me and I'll give you rest. I'll give
you rest from that. And then look what he says, take
my yoke upon you and learn of me. Now this says, you know, the
scripture says, be not unequally yoked. Well, I tell you what,
our Lord Jesus Christ says, take my yoke upon you. Now to have
a yoke, you're yoked with somebody. And to have his yoke on us, to
have it around us, look what he says, take my yoke upon you,
and listen to what he says, and learn of me. More about Jesus
would I know. More of His saving fullness.
See, more of His love died for me. More of His grace to others
show. But look what He says, take my
yoke upon you and learn of me. And this is what we learn about
Him. I am meek. I am meek. I submit to the Father. I submit to men. And I'll get
down on the level with you. I'm touched with the feelings
of your infirmities. I'm meek and not only that, but
I'm lowly in heart. Oh, Rob preached last week on
pride and forgiveness. Oh, God. Pride is natural to
us, and if God don't help us with it, and oh, to be lowly,
he's lowly in heart. Lowly in heart. And then he says,
when you learn about me, you know what you'll find? He says,
not only will I give you rest, but then you're going to find.
The more you learn about me, the more rest you find. The more
rest you have. Ain't that true? As we've learned
of him, don't we find more and more rest? And look what he says. My yoke is so, so easy. Sin's a hard yoke. Law's a hard
yoke. Works is a hard yoke. But my
yoke is easy. It's a yoke of grace and love
and tenderness and kindness. And my burden, oh gosh, when
I give my burden to you, it'll be so light you won't even know
you carried it. Oh, thank God for grace. Thank
God for grace. Our Father, in the blessed, blessed
name of Christ our Lord, thank you for your mercy and grace
given us in Christ. Thank you for the good attention
given to the gospel this morning. Thank you for grace. Thank you
for our Lord Jesus Christ bringing us grace. It's born in your heart
before time. God bless it, be your holy and
glorious name. Make grace real, alive, and effectual. We ask these things in Christ's
name, amen.