Romans chapter 11 verse 5 and 6 Even so, at this present time,
also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Oh Elijah said to the Lord when
he was in that cave and Dale spoke about it last week son. What are you doing here Elijah?
He said I'm here because Lord I'm the only one left. They tore
down all your altars. Killed all your prophets. And
I'm here by myself. Ain't nobody left. God said Elijah. What do you think I am? Do you
think I'm going to leave myself without some people? He said, I've got 7,000 people.
They ain't never bowed to me at a bell yet. 7,000. And he
said, and that's what he meant. Even
now there's a remnant according to the election of grace. And
in this world, compared to the Lord's people, compared to everybody
else that's in the world is just a remnant. God had not left a
remnant. He said we'd be like Solomon,
we'd be like Gomorrah. But God's left a remnant. And
because of His elect people, this remnant of grace left on
this election of grace left on this world and in this world.
The reason why this world is not more corrupt than it is.
Which is fast changing. But then look what He said in
verse 6. And if this election of grace This remnant is according
to the election of grace and if it's of grace then it is no
more works. Otherwise grace is no more grace.
If it's works, if it's of grace, then it can't be no more works.
If it's of works, then grace is no more grace. But if it be
of works, then it's no more grace. Otherwise work is no more work.
What he's saying is if it's grace, works don't enter into it. If
you're going to go to works, you've got to go all the way
because grace don't enter into it. Now, how many preachers do
you know is preaching the grace of God? Every preacher uses the
same language most of them do that we do. They use the word
grace. They use the word blood. They
use the word righteousness. They use the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. But when they talk about grace,
they don't make salvation I don't believe, and I've heard a lot
of preachers. And some of you get on your religious stations
and listen to them, see what they've got to say. They may
say grace, but they're not preaching salvation entirely, completely,
and absolutely of grace alone. They do not do that. And I'm
telling you that this grace that I'm talking about is the work
of God's grace. God's grace. God's grace is eternal. It didn't start in time. There
never was a time. We have grace because God gave
us grace in Christ before the world began. When Paul says, When it pleased
God who separated me from my mother's womb and revealed Christ
in me and called me by His grace. He had always been separated
from his mother's womb. So this work of God's grace is
eternal and it's elected. If God chose you, He chose you
strictly by grace. It was grace that elected you,
grace that calls you, grace that does. And it's effectual grace.
God's grace is effectual. When He sets out to get a man,
save a man, bring a man, keep a man, it's gonna work. It works. It works. Jim wrote this down. Jim Byrd said this one time.
This generation has been hoodwinked and lied to by modern preachers
of deceit. They preach for personal gain,
make merchandise of men's souls. And then he said, I must publicly
and deliberately denounce as heresy any doctrine which teaches
that salvation is any man accomplished by man's will or man's work. Any teaching that promotes the
dignity of men and diminishes the glory of God is a lie. Ain't
that right? That's why I wrote that down.
That's good. Now if a man's preaching grace,
If a man's preaching grace, he should be preaching what I'm
preaching. Now that's the truth. I'm not
tooting my horn here, no. You know, I know Herman said,
if a man toots his horn, if he don't toot his own horn, he'll
never be tooted. But that's not what I'm doing. No, that's not
what I'm doing here. What I'm saying is, if a man's
preaching grace, he's preaching what I preach. And no matter
what else he preaches, if he doesn't confront his hearers
with what I'm preaching to say, he's not preaching true grace
and salvation by grace alone. And let me tell you what it is
to preach the grace of God. And the grace of God always,
always starts out with a negative. And what do I mean by that? If
a man's not lost, he don't need to be found. If a man's not dead,
he don't need life. Is that not right? Now I tell
you what, if you're going to preach the grace of God, you've
got to start out with what happened back there in the garden. You've
got to start out with how man got in the condition he's in
before God. You've got to find out how man
became a sinner. Now man didn't become a sinner
by doing anything. He does what he does because
he is what he is. He was born a sinner. Now I want
to show you some things, look over here in Genesis chapter
2 with me, just a moment. Or chapter 3, excuse me. Now
what really, really happened in the fall? When Adam fell in
the garden, and there are so many preachers around here that
don't know what it is when you mention the fall, they don't
know what you're talking about. They don't know what you're talking
about. They don't know what it means. Well, how did the man
become a sinner? They think they became sinners when they got
12 years of age and started doing something they ought not to do.
They don't even become a sinner until you get a certain age.
Well, if that's true, then I tell you what, little babies and little
children, they would never lie, they would never throw a fit,
they would never scream at you, would never holler at you, never
disobey you. Because they don't have sin until
they're 12 years old. But what makes babies? What makes
children? What makes babies that's 6 months
old or a year old, when you take something away from them, scream
that it's off their foot? What happened to us that makes
our children, some of them, mean? What makes them lie? What makes
them throw kids? What makes them take something
and when somebody else takes it from them, they say it's mine
and jerk it back from them? What happened to us that made
us in that condition? This is what happened. It says
down here in verse 6, this is after A.E.E. that fruit of the
tree that God said, don't you eat of it. And when the woman
saw that the tree was good for food that is pleasant to the
eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of
the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband
with her, and he did eat. Nothing happened until he ate. And the eyes of them both were
opened. You mean to tell me they didn't see nothing before? They saw the garden. Adam named
everything that's named on this earth. He named every tree, every
animal, every snake, every insect, everything that's on this earth.
Adam named it. So he had open eyes. And he had
eyes open enough to see that his wife was the most beautiful
woman ever created on the face of this earth. And then it says
here the eyes of them both were open. Open to what? And they knew they were naked.
God made them that way. But something happened that brought
great, great shame. And they foes sewed fig leaves
together and made themselves aprons with things to gird about
themselves. Now I'm telling you what, old
Ralph Barnard made this statement years ago. He said, the safest
place to hide from God is by your Bible and join a Baptist
church. That's true, ain't it? Buy your
Bible, go up here and join a Baptist church or join a Camelite church.
Buy your Bible, join a church somewhere and get your little
cross and put it on yourself and wear it around your neck
or wear it in your ears and everybody will automatically assume that
you're alright. That you're alright. They made
these fig leaves. And what's your fig leaf? What
is your fig leaf right now? What's your fig leaf? Your fig
leaf, your goodness? Your fig leaf, your morality?
Your fig leaf that you get as good as anybody else? Is your
fig leaf your idea that, well, I don't, you know, I just can't
hardly believe that God would put me in hell. I've not been
that bad of a person. I can't tell, you know, I've
made a few mistakes in my life, but I just don't believe that
I'm bad as a sinner, as you say I am. What big leap have you got? Oh,
I made a confession back when I was 14 years old. I joined
the church way back then. What have you got covered up?
What's covering your nakedness right now? I'll tell you something,
if it's not the righteousness of Christ that's imputed to you
and given to you, and the righteousness of Christ, you're still as naked
as a jaybird in the sight of God, just like you've just come
out of your mother's womb. And then they not only had their
eyes open and they wanted to cover their nakedness, they heard
the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of
the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord. Oh my! Why would anybody? People say, well let your conscience
be your guide. This fella, these people had
their conscience pricked. Their conscience were open. They
became conscious of something they never was conscious of before. And they did not run to God.
They did not walk an aisle. Nobody there was to tell them,
pray the sinner's prayer. The only thing they wanted to
do when they became sinners was hide themselves from the presence
of God. And there's not a soul being
born on this earth yet that does not want to hide himself from
the presence of God until God himself comes to them, which
is going to happen here in a minute. And oh, listen, God put him in
the garden. You think you don't know where everything's at? Listen.
And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where
are you, Adam? He wasn't interested in his geographical
location. He wanted Adam to know where
he was. He wanted Adam to know what condition
he was in. And now listen. Has God ever
asked you where you are? When the preaching of the gospel,
has God ever preempted you up and said, where are you? Where
are you in my relationship? Do you know me? Do you know me? Do you have a relationship with
me? Can you hear my voice? Can you see me with your eyes
open? Or are you still hiding from me?
Where are you? Do you believe me when I tell
you something or don't you? Look what he said here. And he
said, I heard thy voice in the garden. And I was afraid. And I just told you that we come
in boldly unto a throne of grace. Adam didn't want to come to God,
didn't want to come to the throne of grace. He said, I'm afraid
of you. What are you afraid of Adam? What are you afraid of? I'm afraid of your judgment.
I'm afraid of your justice. I'm afraid that you're going
to cast me away from your presence and I'll never be allowed back
into your presence ever again. And I heard your voice in the
garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. Oh boy, would you ever say that
to God? Why did you hide yourself? And
I'll tell you if you ever come clean with God, this is what
you'll say. I was afraid. I heard your voice. And I was
naked. So I hid myself. That's a confession. Would you ever say that to the
Lord? And then look what he said. Who told you you was naked? Oh my, who told you he was naked? One person can make you naked.
That's the Spirit of God. Look what he says now. If you
eat of the tree where I command you that you should not eat. And oh listen, that's what happened. When he did that, his eyes were
opened. He became ashamed. And listen, I'm telling you,
Adam's nakedness from God. He didn't want to run to God.
And let me say this. What happened? God said this
about man. He says this. He said, how can he be clean? That's born of a woman. Look
at the stars and the sun and the moon. They're not even pure
as he knows. He put no trust in his angels
and puts no trust in his saints. Much less man that is a worm
and the son of man that is a worm. And let me tell you, if man is
essentially good, if man is essentially good, if he's just a victim of
his circumstances, he doesn't need the grace of God, does he? And I tell you, man needs to
do something to do better or to make a change. My neighbor,
his wife came down to visit us the other day and he died, it's
been five years ago. And boy, just as quick as he
got sick and knew he wasn't going to make it, he said, boy, I made
a change. He said, I know what I've been
needing to make, boy, in a long time. He said, I've made a change.
I've made a change. Man needs something then to do
better or to make a change. You know what our Lord says?
No man, no man can come unto me. And he says, you know what? He says, you will not come to
me. You will not come to me. Did Adam go to God when his conscience
was pricked? No. You will not come to me that
you might have life. You won't do it. And everything
about man and everything around us testified to man's wickedness,
especially his religious nature and his religious notions. If
he isn't dead, he doesn't need to be born again. If he isn't
lost, he doesn't need to be found. If he's not naked, he doesn't
need to be clothed. Now that's the way it is. If
you're not dead, you don't need life. And God have mercy on you. And let me ask you, here's another
thing if you're preaching. We've got to go back to the garden
and find out how did we begin. That's why That's why we, let
me tell you something, I'm taking too long on this point, but that's
why when our children's in our mother's womb, and our grandchildren's
in the mother's womb, we start praying for them before they're
ever born. Why? Because we know exactly what
they're going to be when they're born. What they're going to grow up
to be if God don't do something for them. Why don't people get married? Because they want to live in
sin. Why do people lie? Because it makes them feel good. If they'd rather tell a lie than
tell the truth. What makes people so selfish?
What makes people so mean? What makes people so impatient? What makes people so angry? What
makes people get divorces? What makes mothers walk off and
leave their children and parents and daddies to walk off and leave
children and never take care of them after that? What makes
people like that? How did we get in this condition?
And if you're not like that, it's only because God's had mercy
on you and preserved you even if you're not even converted.
He's kept you from being worse than you are. Man's got to understand what
a miserable, wretched condition he is in the sight of God. And if a man don't get that,
and God don't make him understand that, he's going to perish. And
justly so. And justly so. If you don't want
to believe God, don't want to come to God, don't want to turn
from your sin and own your nakedness and inability before God, Why
should God do anything for you when you don't want Him to? If
you don't want God to do something for you, why would you get upset
if He don't do something for you? And oh, let me ask you
a question, then talk about preaching grace. Is salvation of the Lord,
or does God say, sinner, save yourself? Sinner, save yourself. Is the door now open and all
you got to do is walk through it? Has God opened the door and
made salvation possible? Now all you got to do is walk
through it? Are men like these Armenian preachers, these free
will preachers, these work mongers, are they saying that man's in
prison, he's got the key, all he's got to do is open the door
and use it and come on out? Well if that's so, then it's
not grace anymore, it's worms. No, look over here in Romans
9.16, I'm going to show you something. The salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. Look what he said here in Romans
9.16. Oh, I tell you, that's what people do. They think that, you know, the
door's open. God opened the door for me. He
made salvation possible now. It's up to me to accept this
salvation. It's up to me to go through the
door. It's up to me to walk through it. And boy these days I'm going
to walk through it. But look what he said here in
Romans 9, 16. So then, it's not of him that willeth.
It's not of him that put forth a great effort. It's not of him
that runneth. Oh my. Run, run, run, run, run,
run, run, run, run for Jesus. Do something for Jesus. Get up
and go get busy for Jesus. But oh no, it's of God that showeth
mercy. And I tell you, beloved, Jonah,
he found out when he was in the belly of that well, that he found
out the salvation is of the Lord. He said, this one thing I know,
the salvation is of the Lord. No too sooner did he come to
that realization. God brought that big old well,
just took him up and spit him out on dry land. And that's why,
you know, if you're going to find out salvations of the Lord,
in that darkness you're in, in that prison you're in, and you
say, I just, I know the salvations of the Lord, out on dry land
you go come, God will bring you out. And let me tell you, salvations
of the Lord and His purpose, we say planning, but I like to
say in purpose, because see it's in God and His wondrous wisdom,
devised a way and came up with a way in his infinite wisdom.
How to be just and justify the ungodly. He had to take sinners
like me and you. and justify us, and clear us
of all of our guilt, and acquit us before the bar of justice,
and still yet stay a just and a holy God, and save us at the
same time. And He devised that way, and
this is how He done it. Through His blessed Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, He executed this salvation. Nobody said God
give us a son. Nobody said provide us a means
of salvation. Nobody said would you please
send your son in the flesh. Would you make him to be sin
for me that I might be made the righteousness of God in him?
It was Christ alone who tread the winepress of the fierceness
of the wrath of God. It was Christ alone who faced
the judgment of God. Christ alone who faced the justice
of God. And I tell you what, it's not
only the Lord's purpose in this, and it's also in this execution.
Christ alone did it. After He by Himself purged our
sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
And it's of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord in its
application. How am I going to get this salvation
if God's God? How am I going to get this salvation
that Christ executed and carried out by Himself? and accomplished
by himself. And when he cried out on the
cross, it is finished. How is he going to be mine? The Holy Spirit comes, and he
calls. Our Lord says, My sheep hear
my voice, and I know them. And he said, Everyone that the
Father gives me shall come to me in the application of the
Holy Spirit works in us what Christ worked out for us. I mean,
He takes what Christ did and He works that in you. He makes
you believe. He makes you repent. He makes
you come to face everything you've got. He comes and works it in
you. Huh? Oh, it's not like these
preachers say today, God's done all He can do now. Now the rest
is up to you. And that's the rest is the point
of failing. There ain't no rest to do. Old Catholics, they got an old
legend. They got a legend. You know, they got saints. They
just made another pope a saint. And they got to go through a
whole rigmarole of things to make a person a saint. And you
know all God's got to do to make a saint, save him. I could put saint before every
one of y'all's names. I really could. But there was
this fella, they made him a saint. His name was Dennis. Saint Dennis
and they got this legend that his head was cut off and he carried
his head for 2,000 miles. That's why they made him a saint.
If he could take the first step, I believe he could go the whole
way. But it's that first step that you got to take. And that's
why I say that salvation, God has to apply it. Because if you
can take the first step without God, without Christ, without
grace, without the salvation of the Lord, you can go all the
way by yourself. Ain't that right? But taking
that first step, and that's why preachers really, really, that's
what they tell folks. Just step out of your seat. Take
that first step. Just get out of your seat and
take that first step. And if you take that first step,
God will meet you. Just come on. Get out of your
seat. Come on. Come on. Come on. Get up. Get up. Get
up. Get out of your seat. Just take that first step. God
will meet you right there. He'll tell you. You reckon that's right? Oh, listen. I tell you, let me
give you, and not only is it execution planning of God and
Christ executed alone, the Holy Ghost applies it to us. He's
the only salvation of the Lord. He sustains it in a man's heart.
He keeps it in a man's heart. He keeps a man believing. A man
can't make himself spiritually alive, and he can't keep himself
spiritually alive. You know, our Lord Jesus says,
without me, you can do nothing. Nothing. And you know what nothing
is? I was talking to me and my neighbors
the other day about how much our kids have. Oh, they just
have so much. You just give them and give them
and give them. I said, well, we need to do one of these days.
One of their birthday parties or Christmas, you know, hand
them a box and they open that box and there won't be nothing
in it. You know, to teach them something.
And that would be something, that you know, open the box and
boy you know they got to where they just say, ho hum, you know,
ho hum, ho hum, you know they get more than one birthday party
than we got all our lives put together. I said, let them open
the box and there'll be nothing in it. Well that's what men is
without Christ, open the box and there ain't nothing in it.
Ain't that right? And I said, what is this? Where's it at? That's what you
got, nothing. Why? You've already had plenty.
You've got nothing. And that's why we are nothing. And oh, that's why our Lord said,
without me you can do nothing. And it's God which works in us.
Both the will, if you ever will to do anything, it'll be God
that'll work that will in you. And if you ever do anything,
it'll be God that'll work in you to do that. And I know this,
he that hath begun a good work in you, he shall perform it unto
the day of Jesus Christ. And I tell you what else, it's
also the Lord in it's ultimate perfection. One of these days
is salvation that started way back in eternity. That Christ
accomplished in His life, death, burial and resurrection. That
the Holy Ghost comes and applies to us and teaches us and instructs
us and saves us and regenerates us. And he sustains that all
the days of our life. One of these days, he said, we
just not yet know when he appears, but we know when he appears,
we should see him as he is and be just like him. And I'll tell you what, we're
facing that in my home right now. A man asked Mary last week. He said, Mary, what do you think
about going out into eternity? What do you think? What do you
feel like about that? What do you feel? What do you think? What's your view of it? She said,
I'm a sinner. Christ satisfied God for me.
That's enough for me. That's a good answer, April. Read the scripture to her and
she says, tell me something about being a sinner. The more you
can convince me of being a sinner, the more hope you get. And listen, wouldn't it be awful
to know that when it got right down to the end, you had to do
something yourself or something was left undone? Wouldn't that
be horrendous? But to know that Christ paid
it all, that Christ did it all, And that when you know you're
fixing to leave this world and go into the next, when your breath
is getting so slow and so weak and your body is so weak that
you barely can't sit up, and you know that you're fixing to
leave this world, ain't it a blessed thing to know that the Lord Jesus
Christ will be the first person you see the moment your eyes
close? Won't that be something? And I'll tell you what, that's
why I say the Lord's going to carry this thing through. He
ain't going to stop when we get down. That's when we're going
to really know that salvation is with grace. Oh, if you're listening, did
you pray enough? Did you repent enough? Did you
cry enough? Did you read enough? Did you
give enough? Did you attend enough services?
Did you, did you, you know, wouldn't that be awful to have to ask
somebody those questions in the physical eternity? But all you got, you don't have
nothing to ask. All you can say is, I'll see
you in the morning. Good night, God bless you, and
I'll see you tomorrow. That's all you can say. You don't
have to ask them what they did or what they didn't do. Because
we know that salvation is not in what we do or don't do. Salvation's
in Christ. Salvation's in the Lord. And if there was a big pool,
jump in! If it's a cliff, jump off! If it's a lake, fall back on
it! Throw yourself on Christ, Paul,
throw yourself on Christ. Don't let somebody stand over
you. Don't let somebody watch you
go out in this world and not know whether you're going to
go to glory or go to hell. Don't let somebody ask you what's
your relationship with Christ. Don't let somebody say, well,
I hope, I hope they're alright, I just don't know. Don't do that. God have mercy,
don't do that. I've been here 35 years last
March and I'm telling you, I've asked you, I've told you, I've
preached to you year after year after year. Don't leave this
world without Christ. There's rest in Christ, peace
in Christ, joy in Christ, joy and peace in believing. That
everything you need, everything you need, everything you need
to make you saved and saved and restful as Christ has already
done it. You don't have to do anything
but say, yes Lord I believe what that preacher told me, I believe
you can finish salvation. I believe that salvation was
accomplished. When you said it's finished,
it was really finished. Amen. Oh, don't go. Please don't go. Don't go out
without Christ. It's a wonderful thing to know
that a person, oh my, It's a wonderful thing to know that a person's
got a good hope. Oh, what a blessed thing it is
to have a good hope. Now, let me move on here. Is
salvation an offer to be accepted or rejected? Or is salvation
a gift sovereignly given by God Himself? Is the Lord Jesus standing
offering Himself to everyone? with tears in his eyes? Or is salvation a gift that God
gives and bestows on a man? Our Lord Jesus said it this way He says, can I not do what I
will with my own? All that the Father gives me
They gonna come to me. Him that comes to me, I'm not
gonna cast him out. I'm not gonna cast him out. And all beloved, to deny God's
grace, men have come up with so many theories. But let me
tell you, eternal life is not an offer of grace. That's what
people, that's what they say. They say, you know, God offers
you grace. He's made grace ready for you
if you ask for it and plead with Him for it. No, no, no, no, no.
Grace comes. Grace comes. It comes powerfully.
Eternal life is not an offer of grace. It's an operation of
grace. Salvation is not an invitation.
It's the free gift of God. The gospel is not a proposition,
it's a proclamation of our Lord Jesus Christ's victorious work
of redemption. I mean He accomplished salvation.
He did it. He did it. I'm not going to stand
up here and tell people, you know, that God's got grace here
for you and all you've got to do is accept it. I know this,
if He gives you grace, you're going to know it. If He gives you grace, you go
to know it. Ain't you? If He gives you grace, you'll
respond to it. You can't help but respond to
it. Our little old Bumpy Bentley. Oh, he's eating this little old
fellow you ever seen. That's why he's so big. You know, everything
I got I'll just hold out to Him. He'll just run up, take Him a
bite, and then He'll run, play a while, and He'll run back and
give another bite, and He'll play a while and run back and give
another bite. See, I do all the feeding. He
does all He does to us, but I do all the feeding. That's the way
God does us. He gives us grace, we just run
up and get some. Go about our business. He gives
us some more. He gives us some more. He just keeps feeding us.
He just keeps taking care of us. We go about our business
and then He gives us some more grace. He gives us more grace.
He gives us more grace. Huh? Well, you know what I'm
going to do. I'm going to give you two reasons.
I'm going to give you two reasons. Why God saves a man by grace.
I've got two or three more points but I'm not going to give them.
I'm not going to give them. I'm going to give you two reasons
why God saves a man by grace. The first is to bring glory to
himself through the redemption of sinners by his Son. Now let
me show you that over Ephesians 2. Let me show you these two
things. In Ephesians 2, excuse me, Ephesians 1, I'm sorry, Ephesians
1. I remember years and years ago,
years and years ago, Floyd was sitting out in his
house and he had a swing out in the front yard and he was
sitting on that swing up that tree. And we got to talking and
I seen there in Genesis where it says that God kept Abimelech
back from sinning against him. We know that Abraham went over
there and he told everybody there, he said, now you tell everybody
here, told Sarah, you're my sister. Because they'll kill me, you're
so good looking, you're such a wonderful woman, they'll kill
me and take you. So you just tell my sister, that
way I'll get to live. Well, Obimelech the king took
her in his house. God came to him and said, if
you touch that woman, I'm going to kill you. And it says, God kept Abimelech
back from sinning against him. Boy, me and Floyd pondered that,
we thought about that, and I said, now if God kept Abimelech back
from sinning against him, why didn't he keep Adam back from
sinning against him? Well, Abimelech was kept back
from sinning against Abraham. And taking somebody else's wife.
Adam, his death, His sin affected all of us. It just affected Abimelech,
Abraham and Sam. Our sin affects everybody. But
this is the answer we came up with sitting there in that fence,
in that chair, years and years and years ago. Here's the answer
we came up with. That God let the fall happen. Because He could bring more glory
to Himself in saving sinners through the blood and sacrifice
of his son than he could any other way in this world. And
look what he says there. He said, according, verse 4,
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should behold him without blame before
him in love. Having predestinated us under
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, listen to
this, according to the good pleasure of his will. Now this is what
it says, this is what I'm talking about. God brings glory to himself
in the redemption of sinners by his Son. To the praise of
the glory of his grace when he hath made us accepted. Why did
he make us accepted? To the praise of the glory of
his grace. Huh? and look down verse 7 according
to the riches of His grace look down verse 12 that we should
be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ everything
God did He did it to the praise of the glory of His grace and
I like it like that don't you? that means I don't get He gets
all the glory That's the reason and then let me show you one
other reason Isaiah 23 and I'll be done. Isaiah 23. Here's another reason, here's
the second reason why God saves sinners by grace. Oh no wonder we're saying to
God be the glory great things he hath done. What he said here. This is the second reason God
saves sinners by grace and saves by grace. The Lord of hosts has
purposed it to stain the pride of all glory and to bring in
contempt all the honorable of the earth. It's going to stain
your pride, bring you down and say you're a contemptible person
without me. That's what he does. And let
me tell you, salvation is a work which God does in and for the
sinner, not something the sinner does for God. Salvation is completely
in and through the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was the sin offering. He was
the sacrifice. He was the one who made satisfaction. He's the only mediator between
us and God. And salvation is not a temporary
experience or work. But it's a permanent, permanent
work which God has done in and for the sinner. If He saves you,
you'll always be saved. You'll be saved from eternity
to eternity. And I'll say this in closing.
Everything that God does, He does on purpose. No accidents
with God. Salvation is not by decision
or chance. But if a man is saved, he's saved
on purpose. God's purpose. But salvation
if it's a decision, it's God's decision. Ain't that right? O our Father, in the blessed,
blessed name of Christ our Lord, O take this message and use it
to your glory. Therefore so, people, So much, so little glory to yourself,
so little honor to yourself. Oh Lord, who's able to speak?
Who's sufficient for these things? Lord, I'm sorry for, don't have
more heart, more zeal, more love, more commitment to you. God save
you people. Oh Lord, if you save a man, by
your grace. If you keep a man, it's by your
grace. So Lord, manifest your grace
this morning in the hearts of Jesus gathered here. Lord, let that heart go to rest
in Christ. Let that soul find its peace
in Him. Let them know what it is to be
able to look God in the face. without any fear and come so
boldly and so gratefully and so thankfully into your presence.
Let them know what it is to come to a throne of grace. Let them
know what it is to call on you and you hear them. To look to
you and you'll meet their needs. Let them know what it is to rest
in the Lord Jesus. Let them know what it is to have
this joy and peace that's unbelieving. Let them know what it is to face
your darkest days and the Lord's grace is sufficient. His light's
so bright. Oh Lord, do a work that only
you can do. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen. Amen. Learning to lead, learning to
lead, I'm learning to I need more power than I've ever
known. I'm learning to be on key. Jesus again. Learning to be. Learning to be. I'm learning to be. O Jesus, my Jesus. I'm learning to live on