All right, if you wish to follow
along, turn to Romans chapter five. God willing, this will
be my last message on chapter five. Lord willing, next Sunday
we'll move on to chapter six. Romans chapter five. Now before I read, I'll just
read verses 18 through 21. Before I read, let us remember
here that Paul in this chapter has dealt with substitution,
representation and these two are equal and it is not coincidence
or luck that he mentioned substitution first. The many and the all that
Adam represented are dead. They are dead. The many and the
all that Christ represented have been reconciled. They shall be
saved by his life. And this also, verse 18, therefore,
as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation.
Even so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners. So by the obedience of one, shall
many be made righteous. Now remember that lets us know
at least two things. One, it has a guaranteed but
yet future effect. Shall, that's something that's
going to come to pass. But it is absolutely going to
come to pass. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, they're not being made sinners, they
were made sinners. As a matter of fact, those that
Adam represented, the many and the all that Adam represented
were conceived and in their mother's womb, and when they were born,
they were born sinners. So by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, and oh, how the offense abounds. I know that we do not see ourselves
to the extent that God sees us, because God sees us absolutely. He knows exactly what we are.
He knows those righteousnesses that are filthy rags in his sight.
Jack Mattis, I don't always recognize them as filthy rags in his sight. I know they're there, but Mac,
I'm not always sure which one is a God-wrought righteousness
in me. I don't always know. Is him working in me both the
will and the do is good pleasure, or whether it's my flesh rising
up in some religious self-righteousness? Granted, there are some immoral,
ungodly things that rise up, but we can recognize those for
what they are. But self-righteousness is as
God-hating, is as God-hating, I'm gonna say it, as child molestation. Child molestation. Moreover,
the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. that as sin hath reigned under
death. Now remember again, it's not
reigning under death because this reign's already taken place.
So that when an individual's even conceived, this death reigns
in that little bitty embryo. In that fetus that's in the womb.
Death reigns. That as sin hath reigned under
death. Even physically speaking, let's just think about physical
death. Does God ask any man or woman
for his permission to kill them? No, sir. No, sir. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Adam's one disobedient act brought
utter ruin. It brought total depravity. It brought a condemned condition. It brought a state of sinnerhood. Christ's own personal righteousness
secured justification of life and righteousness for those for
whom he died. for those that he represented. And that is clearly what Paul
writes in verses 18 and 19. This is not up for debate. Somebody
says, well I just don't understand it that way. Then you understand
it wrongly. Because again, this book is not written in code.
This book was written in Hebrew, some of it Hebrew, some of it
Chaldean, some of it in Greek. And it's been translated into
clear, plain English for us. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. That's all
that Adam represented, that's where they are. Even so, by the
righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men, that's
all that Christ represented, unto justification of life. For
as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. It's not that
human beings cannot comprehend the language. They hate the concept. They hate the truth of it. That's
the problem. Somebody says I can't understand
election. Yes you can. You can understand it, you just
hate it. Well, I just, predestination,
all that's over my head. No, it is not. No, you just despise
the God who did the predestinating. Man's spiritual deadness is not
an inability to physically perceive or to studiously understand is
the fact that they are so depraved and utterly ruined that we hate
the truth of God. And you are right, Joe, this
book is right. Men will not have Jesus Christ
to reign over them. But he does. Now on top of that,
God gave the law that sin might be exposed to the brim, shown
by the law's many do's and don'ts. And it's many do's and don'ts. And the law shows as to how much
sinfulness men and women have. The law exposes us for what we
are. And the law today still exposes
my flesh for what it is. For what it is. Our cups, when
it comes to this Adamic state, our cups froth over. It's not
some people are a little dead and some people are a whole lot
dead. We're all dead, dead, dead. Spiritually speaking, we're as
dead as we can be. Somebody says, but do you really
believe people are totally depraved? Yeah, totally, absolutely depraved. Absolutely depraved. But where
this sin frothed over, God's grace flash flooded the same
cup. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded. Right in
the same place, do you see what I'm saying? In the same cup,
in the same stream, if you will. I'm using metaphors, of course.
But where sin abounded, right there is where grace did much
more abound. This religious world doesn't
seem to comprehend that. They think that somehow sin and
grace are these totally two opposite things. But they're not. But they're not. So can I say
God's grace, right where our cups frothed over, God's grace
flash flooded that same cup. It washed all the debris away. even though I cannot comprehend
that now mentally and see that in myself physically. Nevertheless,
it did. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace will
much more abound. Is that what it says? No, it
does not, does it? Grace did. That's a past act. You see, that's simple enough.
You don't have to be an English scholar to understand that. But
you do have to be regenerate to love it. You do have to be
regenerate to believe it. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. Let me tell you, when you read,
go back and read God's law. If it don't expose your flesh
to you, then you're still under that sentence of death. You're
under that sentence of death. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. The sin wrought sins, and they're
called many offenses, right? Many offenses, that's what Paul
says here in verse 16. The sin wrought sins, and oh,
if God ever begins to open a man or a woman's eyes to see that,
I don't become a sinner when I do something wrong. I do things
wrong because I am a sinner. My fountain is fouled. My fountain
is bad. You know, my whole cup is full
of the filth of the flesh. There are some good people in
this world when you compare men to men and women to women. But
compared to God's holy law, there is none good, no, not one. There is none righteous, there
is none that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God.
Not one. Oh, these sin wrought sins, these
many offenses are flood cleansed. How? That as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now that's my introduction
for this morning. My title and my subject is this,
reigning grace. Reigning grace. I just have two
points. Reigning grace. But before I
begin the first point, let me say this. Many people give lip
service to this phrase. But they do not bow to and believe
the reality behind this phrase. They may quote the word and then
they go on to talk about sending away your day of grace. How can
you do that? If sin, not if, but I mean in
the sense of it's real. Since, let me put it that way.
Since sin abounded, and grace much more abounded, that is,
it superabounded. I knew that phrase, Joe, back
when I was in free will Arminianism. But they never really taught
how it superabounded. They just loved the phrase. Well,
I guess it was once saved, always saved. At least that's one way
it superabounds. I don't want to get off on that.
Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. So again, my subject and title,
Reigning Grace. But here's my first point. What
does reign mean? It means this. It means absolute
dominion. It means absolute control. It means absolute authority. Otherwise, it is not reigning. Men and women may partially reign
in this world, but God doesn't partially reign because God is
not a partial God. He's not God some of the time,
He is God eternally. There never was a time that he
was not reigning, is reigning, and shall reign. What does reign
mean? Absolute dominion. Absolute control. Absolute authority. Absolute
might. Sin reigned under death. How
so? I'm just gonna read it. You don't
have to turn to it. If you wish, that's fine. Here's how sin reigned
under death. Ephesians 2, verse 1, and you
have it quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. We were
not dying. We were not nighing to death.
Dead. dead, and you hath it quickened
who were dead in trespasses and in sins, wherein in time past
ye walked. So this affected, the deadness
caused the walk. But notice, it's not a deadness
in the sense of neutrality, it is a deadness in the sense of
active rebellion and disobedience against God. You see? Wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air. We were under demonic influence. Somebody said, let me tell you
something. Somebody says, which is worse, Satan or a sinner? Neither. Neither. You remember the guy that was
in the synagogue and he was possessed with a demon? And he'd been going
to that synagogue for years. When Jesus Christ came to the
synagogue, that demon cried out in that man, go away, we'll have
nothing to do with you. Was that the demon speaking or
the man? It was both. It was both. Where in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit. the spirit that now worketh
in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation, or as our way of life in time passed, in the lust
of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the
mind, and were by nature the children that hated God, just
like everybody else did. He's saying this even to a people
that's been quickened. even to a people who are elected,
predestinated, and redeemed. But this is what you're like
in Adam. And we love to have it so. Oh,
we may clean up the outer part of the cup, right? But inside,
we're still full of what? Our Lord said, dead men's bones. We know that is metaphorical.
But what's he saying? Inside is nothing but a dead
corpse toward God. But very active toward self. Self. That's what it means. There's another one, I mentioned
a few of these. If you wish to look at it, Romans three. We've
looked at this recently, Romans three. Verse nine, what then? Are we better than they? Is the
Jew better than the Gentile? No, not in any way. The Jew had
advantage, but they were not better. Mac, they were not better.
What then? Are we better than they? No,
in no wise, for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles
that they are all under sin. That is sin reigns on them. Sin
reigns on them. As it is written, and this is
no new thing, as it is written, there is none righteous, no,
not one. Somebody says, well, that's before
I'm saved. Prove that. Prove that. In my flesh still dwells what? No good. There is none righteous, no not
one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable. That's when you lump us all together,
we still are what? We wouldn't find just all of
our best deeds together. Put us all together, won't there? Isn't there just something that
God looks at and adores? No. No. Though there together become
unprofitable, there's none that doeth good, no not one. As a matter of fact, one of the
writers of the Old Testament put it this way, there's not
a just man upon the face of the earth. Now he's not saying there's
no just men. There are some men who are just, justified by God,
justified in Christ, justified by faith, but there's not a just
man upon the face of the earth that doeth good and sinneth not.
Even when we do good, being wrought upon by God, it is still mixed
with sin. Because it's coming from us. Their throat is an open sepulcher. Now I know in our day and age,
I don't know that we can relate to this like people back then
probably could. Today we embalm bodies, or we
cremate bodies, or whatever, you know. and you don't really
smell the effect. And we get them in the ground,
if we do it, Bob, we get them in the ground before the real
effect starts to take place. I am told within 24 hours the
body is beginning to rot and stink. Now I don't know how,
that may vary at times, I don't know. But their throat is what,
an open sepulcher. That is, what we say is full
of rot and filth. You see, even when we read the
Bible, even when we read the Bible, everything done apart
from faith is what? Sin. Even the plowing of the
wicked is what? Sin. Now how could that be? He's
feeding his family. That's gotta be good. It is among
men. But not before God. It brings no merit before God.
Their throat is an open sepulcher, with their tongues they have
used deceit. The poison of Asp is under their lips, why? Because
it's all flowing from down in here, the real us. That desperately
wicked heart. The poison of Asp is under their
lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their
feet are swift to shed blood. Now listen to me, I'm not a prophet,
but I do know this. 36, 37 years of experience in trying
to preach the gospel and almost 60 years of experience of being
in this flesh. God is lifting his restraint
in this country. He's lifting his restraint in
this country and rebellion and self-will rules amongst men in
their hearts. Destruction and misery are in
their ways. And the way of peace have they
not known, and that way of peace is a person. There is no, oh
here it is. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. We're not talking about just
the fear of hell. Now there are a lot of people
who don't believe that hell exists. They're just very badly misinformed
in their own imaginations. But this ain't fear and hail,
this is fearing God. I mean, even Christ told his
disciples, don't fear men. All they can do is kill your
body, but you better fear God, because he can destroy both your
body and your soul in hail. Hail ain't the thing to be feared.
God is to be feared. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of knowledge and of wisdom. The fear of the Lord. So look
at it. Now we know that what things whoever the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped and all the world become guilty before God. And
I remember Earl said it, and he's probably the first person
I ever heard say it. If somebody else said it, I was blind to
it. If I heard somebody else say it before Earl said it, he
said, what the law tells us to do is shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Sin reigned, and that's
how it reigns, completely, absolutely. But now see the channel. Even
so, grace reigns. And it does so in a super abounding
way. It hinges on, it is hinged upon,
and is still hinged upon one man. One man, not your decisions,
not my decisions, not our will, His will. His will. Our will will take us to hell. That's where our will will lead
us. The scripture doesn't call it free will, it calls it self
will. And I'm gonna tell you something,
I'm not encouraging you to watch all these other people on TV,
but if you watch these other people on TV, they rarely ever
mention self will. Because somehow that would have
to be different from free will. So a man must have two wills.
And they don't even want to deal with that, do they? No, man's
so-called free will is nothing but self will. It is self will
wrapped up in emotional language and in religious phrases. No,
even so might grace reign. How? Look, that as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign. And here's what it hinges
upon. Now you won't talk about the word might, but it hinges
upon this. Through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Either you believe Jesus Christ
came and did what God sent him to do, or you believe he's a
failure. It's one or the other. It's one or the other. And I'm
gonna put it this way. And if there's better words,
I understand that. It's just my lack of vocabulary
and mental capacity. I want us to see the channel.
I want us to see the goal. And I want us to see the only
reason or merit or cause of Grace Reigning. First of all, the channel
is what? Through righteousness. But it
has nothing to do with our righteousness. That's the context. Nothing to
do with our righteousness. Well, don't we have to receive
it? Yeah, but you will if Christ reconciled you when he died.
You will. Don't we receive the free gift?
Yes, we do receive. And that's good. Physically, that's good. but
God's people love to receive the truth. God's people enjoy
receiving Jesus Christ. When I was in religion, it's
like, well, I'm supposed to do this. You ever been there? And
you knew down in here you wanted to be somewhere else and you
wanted to be doing something else, but I got to put on a good
show. And they're all like that. And
we were just like that outside of Jesus Christ. We might have
even been under Calvinism. But it's still Calvinism don't
save you. Even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. That's the channel
through righteousness. But it is always his righteousness. But see the goal, unto eternal
life. Through righteousness unto eternal
life, that's the goal. But eternal life is not just
getting to go to heaven. Christ said, and this is life
eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. But nobody today, other
than an individual here or there that God breathes life upon,
nobody today wants to know who the true and living God is. They
think they already know. They know enough about God to
be a theologian when it comes to God. But none of us know God,
the true and living God, by nature. Eternal life is knowing the only
true God, but it's more than that, and Jesus Christ, whom
the eternal living God sent. Eternal life is not just about
getting to go to heaven one day. When you talk to religious people,
this happened to Penny the other day, and I won't go into the
details, and you talk about you might die before something takes
place. We hope to see you here. Well, I will if I'm alive. Oh,
don't say that. If you're a believer, why not?
If God killed me dead right now, and I have to be honest with
you, I'd rather die, just fall over with a heart attack dead
in a doornail sitting here preaching the glory of Christ than I would
be sitting at home watching TV and be thinking some kind of
stupid stuff sometimes I think about, wouldn't you? If God kills me and I'm one of
his, it's a blessing. I remember years ago, even before
God saved me, before he converted me by his gospel. And I remember
when my granny's father died. She was just all tore up. And
I said, but wasn't he a believer? Didn't he get to go to heaven
to be with Christ? And all of a sudden, she shut up. But religious people can't help
but think of it that way. For them, heaven ain't nothing
but really a pipe dream. My desire is to see my Lord. And bow down at his feet. And
kiss his feet. And thank him for what he's done
for me. Because I don't deserve it. I don't deserve it. It is that as sin hath reigned
unto death, I know a little bit about that. But even so might
grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. But I know a little bit about
that too. The channel is through righteousness. The goal is unto
eternal life. But see, the only reason, the
only merit, the only cause, by Jesus Christ our Lord. And you gotta have all of that.
It ain't just by Jesus. Thousands upon thousands are
trusting a Jesus which is not the Christ of God. And there
are many that give lip service to Jesus Christ as Lord, but
they reject the truth behind what that means. Through Jesus
Christ our Lord. But aren't you glad it didn't
depend upon your understanding that? And this is eternal life,
that they might know thee. So God must give the eternal
life first. You don't start searching him
out and find out who he is, then believe it, then he gives you
eternal life. He got to give you life first. He got to give
you life first. That's the only merit, the only
reason, the only cause. God's grace in Christ is not
an offer. But most people think of it along
that line, it's just an offer. Christ did some things when he
came here and died, lived and died. was raised again, went
back to glory, and now he offers grace. God don't offer grace
to anybody. Ask Nebuchadnezzar if he offers
grace. Now I happen to believe he showed
him some grace. But the first thing, but what
God did is God brought him down on his knees, hands and knees
literally for seven years. And then God gave him his understanding.
And then he praised and extolled the God of heaven. Then he understood
God was absolutely sovereign. Did he not? Now I don't know
whether Nebuchadnezzar was a brother. I seem to like to think he was.
But I'm gonna tell you something, this sinner right here is just
as bad as Nebuchadnezzar. And Nebuchadnezzar is just as
bad as me. We're of the same blood. And I'm not talking about
type, I'm talking about Adamic. God's grace is not an offer.
God's grace is not an emotion. Some people think God's grace
is some kind of emotion God has. Or some kind of feeling God has
toward men. No! God's grace is his almighty,
immutable, irresistible, conquering magnificence wrought by Christ
in his person and work. Grace reigns. Grace reigns. Grace reigns. Why ain't everybody
saved? Because Jesus Christ didn't die
for everybody. Because God didn't give grace to everybody. Because
God never purposed to save everybody. But I thank God that he purposed
to save some out of every tribe and kindred and tongue and nation
on the earth, aren't you? Aren't you glad? Let me give you an example of
this. You remember Onesimus? I'm sure once God opened his
eyes, he was glad grace reigned. He did whatever he did to his
master, his owner. That's what it meant back then.
To his owner, Philemon, he did him wrong, and he runs off to
Rome. I can see him just in my mind,
skee-daddling, saying, I'm gonna get away from here. Nobody knows
me in Rome. And Paul the Apostle happened
to be locked up in jail. Wasn't that lucky for Onesimus? Grace reigned. The very sin that
drove him to flee from his master drove him into the arms of Paul
the Apostle, who then preached the gospel to him, and God graciously
converted Onesimus. Of course you know this Saul
of Tarsus, He wasn't beginning to say, well, maybe there's something
to this Jesus of Nazareth fella. He hated that name with every
part of his being. And God, like that, stopped him
in his tracks and blinded him so that he had to have people
lead him to his destination and said, now, now go sit there and
wait. Was it three days, wasn't it?
Am I right on three days? And then God goes and tells this
other fella, now I got a fella over there, he's blind as a bat,
but he's my chosen servant, and you go over there and preach
the gospel to him. And I can, was it, I forget the guy's name,
Simon? Anyway, I'm sure he was thinking,
Lord, I heard about that fella. I don't wanna go see that fella.
You're talking about a difficult soul winning day. No, but God
Almighty reigned in grace over Saul of Tarsus. I had a preacher
one time tell me that God chose some people even in their mother's
womb. He was right and didn't even know it. The problem is
he didn't realize and didn't believe and didn't love that
everybody God saved, God chose them in Christ before the world
began. One more example of this, remember on point one still yet.
What does rain mean? You remember that Moabitess named
Ruth? Bless God, grace rained there,
didn't it? Here is her, it wasn't her daddy-in-law
then, but here's this fellow named Elimelech. Times got a
little hard, he decided to sell out. But he didn't sell out so
he could have money to feed his family, he sold out and moved
down to Moab. God's wash pot. Now think about
it. Think of the chastening hand.
God killed Elimelech. God killed his two sons, who
had wives at that time, two Moabitess women they married. He left those
two gals widowed. And his lovely wife, Naomi, pleasant. Naomi was left widowed, wasn't
it? But if Elimelech, And said to
me, don't you get mad at me, because this is the truth. Grace
reigns, but it reigns right where sin reigns. If Elimelech had
never sinned against God and moved down to Moab, Ruth would
have never heard of the God of Israel. And what a great soul winner
Naomi was. Here is her two widowed daughters-in-law. And she said, take your pick,
I'm going back. I've heard that God's visiting these people and
giving them bread, and I'm going back. And you gals go on back
to where you was. I got nothing to offer you. And
one went. She loved Naomi, but she went
back. But there was something different
about this other gal named Ruth, wasn't it? She said, I'm not
leaving you. I'm going where you're going.
I'm gonna live where you live. I'll die where you die, but here's
the most important thing. Your God will be my God. That was grace reigning over
that old Moabite gal down there, an idol worshiper. And yet God
even used the sin of men to bring the gospel. Somebody says I don't like that.
I know because you hate God's grace. You hate God's grace. Now here's my second point. Is
anyone who's hearing me this morning, whether it's here live
streamed or later on, is anyone who is hearing me preach this
message? You ever been reigned over by
grace? God ever conquered you? God ever brought you to the feet
of his son? Has he? Some of us have been
brought to the feet of his son. But let me tell you this, if
he did it to start with, he'll continue to do it to the day
you die. If you ever get up from his feet and believe that you're
now at a state where you can kiss him on the cheek, you are
becoming a Judas. Judas kissed him right up here,
didn't he? You remember what that one old
whore did, don't you? She bowed down at his feet. She was already
forgiven. She didn't get forgiven because
of what she'd done. She loved him because she knew
she'd been forgiven. And can you imagine when Christ
said to her, her sins, he was actually talking to Simon, you
know, the Pharisee. Her sins, which are many, are
forgiven her. And somebody said, oh, if Christ
would just tell me that. He did. He did. He's told us that very same thing. that as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord.