If you would, you can turn to
Titus 2, verse 11. I'm only going to read one verse. Titus 2, verse 11. And I might find it in a minute.
Titus 2 verse 11. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men. I want to continue with the subject
of Jesus Christ and the topic of grace. But really every message
that you preach is all of grace. If it's the gospel, it will be
all of grace. But I wanted to give a little bit more on the
favor of the son as it concerns the father in scripture. We talked
previously about grace being the canopy, if you will, from
which all his purpose comes down. All things that happen to a believer
before they were born into this world, after they were born into
this world, before they were born of God, being born of God,
and after they are born of God is all because of His grace.
The first part of 1 Peter 5.10 says, but the God of all grace,
who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, This is
not saying God is the God of all graces, as if there are many
kinds, but that there is no grace at all where he is not the God
of it. If it is grace, then it comes
from him. We also talked about God's schoolmaster,
the law, that he sends in grace to show us who God is and what
we are. At this first initial time, the
sinner sees God and self, That is, they see justice and guilt,
power and helplessness, a holy law and a broken commandment,
eternity and time, the purity of the creator and the filthiness
of the creature. Our experience of this grace
may not be the same depth or intensity as another's, but all
of his people will receive this bondage to fear. You will begin
to fear, not hail, but he who created hell, he that can cast
both body and soul in hell. It will be that time when you
come to see God the righteous one and myself the sinner without
hope in the world. This will lead to pleadings of
mercy for the soul by the sinner. No one will be able to quiet
you. If they try to shut you up, all you will do is cry the
louder. Have mercy on me, oh God. This
is that time, as J.C. Philpott says, which is like
the newborn babe who feels life in all its limbs, though it knows
not yet the earthly father from whence that natural life sprung.
It is the same thing for the child of God. They initially
will not know much at all or why some of these feelings and
thoughts are coming into their mind where they never were before.
Then we have that time of healing, that which informs the soul of
the very grace of God personified. That time when the light of the
gospel shines in our heart, bringing life and immortality to light
through that very gospel. All of this because of his son.
He is full of grace and truth. So I wanna talk about those things
for which the scripture tells us come because of the work he
did. I really only have one point
today, and that is, what are those things that come from His
grace? I heard a preacher here recently
say, and I agree with him, talking about it's better to give than
to receive. When it comes to Christ, He gave
us everything. 2 Corinthians 8-9 says, For ye
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich,
yet for your sakes He became poor. that ye through his poverty
might be rich. Jesus Christ became poor. I think
I've said before that he gave up all, but that's not really
true. He left all. He still has all things and will
never lose what is his. He became poor that we might
be rich. He has lost nothing. But as it
says here, through his poverty, we have been made rich. We will
go through some of those riches, but those riches are what will
keep us going and carry us along. Those gifts by His grace that
are given to us that will keep us until the day of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 9.8 says, And God
is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having
all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. So what are some of those things
he has given us? What comes with grace or under
that canopy, if you will? I want to look at these things
in two ways. First, those things he has done for us, which scripture
shows us he was highly favored in all glory and preeminence
must go to him because he earned it and merited it. But specifically,
how did he do this that would satisfy the justice of God? So by and through that, God would
have favor on me. Those things he done for us and
not necessarily to us specifically. If you would, turn with me to
Romans 3. Romans 3, if you wanna follow
along. Romans 3 and verses 24 through
26. being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness, that he might be just, and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Here it says being
justified. That means being made righteous. Not because of anything we have
done, because it says freely it was given to us or done for
us. It was not, however, free to
him. He became poor that we might
be made rich. This all being done by his grace,
this is favor to those who are his. This being done through
the redemption, that is deliverance, that is salvation, that is in
Christ Jesus. God has set him forth, that is
Jesus Christ, to be the atoning victim. He took the punishment,
do me and do you if you are in him, so that we could be justified. This is grace. This is grace
that saves, a salvific grace, if you will, that Jesus Christ
did, which we had no part in other than being recipients of
it. This is why God forbears what he does, because it was
his purpose to do this for some people. This, it says here, is
how God can be just and the justifier of them that believe. This one
man died the just for the unjust. He was righteous intrinsically,
yet he was made sin for me. My sin has been paid for by the
death of his son so that I might be made free and right in his
sight, given me favor in God's sight. That is how I and that
is how you find grace in his eyes. Through our Lord Jesus
Christ, If you find grace at all, it will be in the face of
Jesus Christ. So we have justification and
righteousness. We have redemption, all because
of his favor in Jesus Christ. One more I want to mention, and
it goes along with these. Ephesians 1 7 says, in whom we
have redemption, that is salvation or deliverance, through his blood. And what is this redemption?
The forgiveness of sins. according to the riches of His
grace. His favor, which is upon Jesus
Christ and is Jesus Christ, is the reason I have forgiveness
of sins. All of this falling under the
canopy of His grace, salvific grace. I want to be clear about
that. Had this not happened, then all
that would follow would have been of no value to us. Sin had
to be dealt with. It had to be put away. This is
what Jesus Christ did by grace. What else comes along under the
canopy of grace? 1 Timothy 1 and verse 2 says,
unto Timothy, my own son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace
from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Mercy here means
compassion. We, through the grace that is
in Jesus Christ, have the God who is creator of all. He is
holy, he is just, and an all-consuming fire. This God is compassionate
to us in his Son. What Christ has done was accomplished
from the foundation of the world. What was done by Christ is the
reason why God has peace with us. It is why we are made righteous. It is why we are justified. It
is why we see mercy. It is why we are redeemed. Jesus
Christ saved us before we were ever born into this world. I
don't just mean us here today, in this day. This was done as
God says in his word from before the foundation of the world.
It was as good as done then because it is God that did it. God is
always faithful to his word. He is the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. This is salvation. Salvation
before anyone ever walked on this earth. First Peter 1, 18
through 20 reads, for as much as ye know that you were not
redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your
vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained, and
that is known, known to be the lamb slain from before the foundation
of the world, it says, who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of the world, but was manifested, that is render apparent, in these
last times for you. Then we have our text, Titus
2.11, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared
to all men. So now we have salvation itself
has appeared to all men, Jesus Christ the Lord. So God carries
out that which he promised to do. Also in time, he gives other
things in his favor towards some. Here are some of these. We are
given the following things from scripture. Communion of the Holy
Ghost, belief, peace, love, joy, consolation, hope, utterance,
knowledge, and much assurance. Those are just some of the things.
When God sends his gospel to us giving us faith and having
been given faith in us, the Holy Spirit confirming to our hearts
that these things are so, we have sweet communion with him
by his spirit. That life-giving power of God
giving us the gift of faith both in the gospel and in us. For
if the faith of the gospel is not mixed with faith in them
that hear it, nothing will come of it. but we are given by his
gifts belief on the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing that he has made
peace with God so that God has never had wrath towards his people,
we then begin to lay down our arms against him and instead
of now having wrath toward God, we have peace with God. We then
have peace with God by his grace giving us these gifts. The fruit
of the Spirit being love, we also come to love the truth of
Jesus Christ and him crucified so that no one can stop us from
wanting to hear it. Every time in hearing that gospel,
joy floods the soul. Romans 15, 13 says, now the God
of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye
may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. In believing
Jesus Christ, we have consolation, that is, comfort, which in turn
causes us to have that confident expectation, that is, hope of
eternal life, all this by His grace. By the abundance of grace,
we therefore are abundant in all things, utterance, knowledge,
and diligence. This being all by His grace and
by His power, His people then believe Jesus Christ, they then
have much assurance. Much assurance of what? That
we really truly do believe Jesus Christ? So do we have assurance
in our believing? I read of a man who said to Jesus
Christ, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. We have much
assurance of who Christ is and what Christ has done. Because
of this, then I know I will believe. We are confident by the faith
given us that what Christ came to do, he accomplished. There
is no doubt about his ability, his works, his grace. That will
calm the soul. 1 Thessalonians 1 and verse 5
says, For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also
in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as ye
know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. Being
told of what he has done, and having confidence bestowed on
us by his grace, we know Jesus Christ is faithful, who has promised
those who are his that they are one with him. Knowing this, in
Titus 3.7 it says, that being justified by His grace, we should
be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. We will
continue by His grace and we will see Him as He is in eternal
life. That is our hope, that we will
lay this body down either when he returns or when this body
dies. But that which is life in me
now will remain eternally so that I never die being in him. What a comfort to dwell in that. Now, I hate to burst everyone's
bubble this morning, but we need our bubble burst every once in
a while. All the things we went through this morning are in the
scripture and they are sure and they are true. But we will not
always be on top of the mountain. As we sang in our hymn this morning,
there are some other things that we are also promised. These may
not seem so glorious when we experience them and it may not
feel so glorious. As we have went through previously,
there is a time to kill and a time to heal. There are also some
things God has promised that will come to pass for those who
love him, those who are the called according to his purpose. John
16.33 says, and this is Christ speaking, these things I have
spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace. In the world
ye shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world. So Jesus Christ himself tells
us we shall have tribulations. Tribulation here means pressure,
affliction, anguish, burden, persecution, and trouble. Then
again in Acts 14.22 we read, confirming the souls of the disciples
and exhorting them to continue in the faith and that we must,
through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. This
is twice where scripture has told us we will go through this.
John the Baptist said in John 3.30, he says, he must increase,
but I must decrease. This world is full of wanting
to tell you what they have done for Jesus. Here is one that was
actually sent by God. We are told in scripture that
John was that voice of one crying in the wilderness, who was sent
to prepare the way of the Lord, to make his path straight, is
what it says. We do not see him or hear him
bragging on what he has done. He says he must increase, that
is Jesus Christ, and I must decrease, that is ego, that is me. This
is how all of his people will be. God's people by his grace
will lift up Jesus Christ and put themselves where they belong,
at the feet of Jesus Christ. God lets us know that there is
a reason for these tribulations. Romans 5 3 says, and not only
so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation
worketh patience. We learn through tribulations
to wait on God. No matter what we go through,
we can count on the fact that Jesus Christ has overcome the
world. We can never be separated from
God. If you are in Christ, nothing,
no matter how great or small, can touch you. Now, if you would,
turn to Romans 8. Romans 8, if you want to follow
along. Verses 35 through 39. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. Nay, in all things we are more
than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. No matter what comes, it will
not be able to separate you from the love of Christ for his people.
He is faithful to do what he tells us he will do, and it's
in his word. This is for his people and only
for his people. There are those who are not one
of God's, as we have read in the parable of the seed and the
sower. They will hear God's word and receive it with joy. Some
of these grounds, other grounds did. These also will go through
trials, the same trials of the gospel, but these will not last
under the trials of the gospel. It will not be worth it to them.
We've seen this here before. They went out from us so that
it would be made manifest that they are not of us. Matthew 13,
20 and 21, on this parable it says, but he that received the
seed in stony places, the same as he that heareth the word,
and anon with joy receiveth it, yet hath he not root in himself,
but doreth for a while, for when tribulation or persecution ariseth
because of the word, by and by he is offended. God's people
by his grace will last. They have what it takes to last
because they have been given what it takes to last, Jesus
Christ the Lord. The life that comes from Jesus
Christ, they have been given in a new heart. Now one thing
about the gospel that those who have been given this new heart
will hear, God does not give you a new heart for nothing.
It is so that you can hear the gospel. 1 Corinthians 1 21 says,
for after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. I read this passage
for a reason. This says here that by the foolishness
of preaching, God was pleased to save them that believe. Does
this mean we were not saved by Jesus Christ? Not at all. In fact, what Jesus Christ did
was the salvation of his people. What God is telling us here is
this is how his people come to know him. It says the world by
wisdom knew not God. God has known his people from
eternity, from before the foundation of the world. This is speaking
of us coming to know the salvation that is in Jesus Christ, thereby
letting us know we have already been saved. God was pleased to
do it this way. This is certainly salvation.
It must and will come to pass, all of this being by His grace,
every single part of it by His grace. the one in the same grace
that is of God to choose us in his Son because of what the Son
did. There are things God has done
in grace that were done to satisfy his justice. Then there are things
that are done to us because of that justice being satisfied
so that we might know and give glory to God for that salvation. Scripture tells us in Hebrews
12, 12, Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down and the
feeble knees. So how do we do this lifting
up? Do we tell them how they have to do better? Do we tell
them how good they have been doing? Do we tell those who are
down in the dumps, spiritually speaking, that everything is
okay? Do we tell them to just pick yourself up by your own
bootstraps and shake off this feeling? You better not. First of all, we do not know
man's heart. We have no idea why God brought this on them.
The only thing we can do is point them to Jesus Christ and what
he has done. That is the only thing that will
lift up their hands and strengthen their knees if they are a believer.
If they are not a believer, it will not do anything for them.
If something else picks you up more than this, then maybe you're
glorying in something else. There are some things that are
joyous to other believers, but it always involves Jesus Christ. For instance, someone else coming
to know and confess Jesus Christ as Lord. Scripture says there
shall be great rejoicing in heaven over a sinner being found by
Christ. But that is just it. Again, it
is something that our Lord has done and nothing of what we or
anyone else has done. That much assurance spoken of
in scripture is what Jesus Christ has done for His people. That
work is done and will never change. Therefore, nothing else will
change because He has promised to keep us until He returns,
so that where He is, we shall be there also. This grace upon
men will cause men to turn to God. This turning to God is by
His graciousness and those gifts given in His favor toward men
because of the Son. It will cause them to turn to
God from idols. This is a grace that saves from
start to finish. The results of what Christ has
done and does do for those whom he loves, that grace looks like
this. Matthew 9 27 says, and when Jesus
departed thence, two blind men followed him crying and saying,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. Have mercy on us. Those who cry out for mercy in
this way, he will have mercy on them and heal them. If you
always look to Jesus Christ, you will be lifted up by what
he has done. Do you need grace? I do, and
I want his grace even though I have not earned it or merited.
It is all because of his grace. This is a choice of God to show
grace to some. It is all because of his dear
son. Jesus Christ is all. Do you see
his grace that brought salvation? Amen. Dear Lord God, all things come
from your hand, dear Lord. May it be that what comes to
us is graciousness from you. All of this being, all this grace
that's worth anything must come from you. Dear Lord, help us
to see your grace, your salvation, Jesus Christ. Be with those who
were not able to be here to make it. Heal them, dear Lord, in
whatever way you see fit, dear Lord. Be with Walter as he stands
here to speak. Oh, dear Lord, open our hearts,
minds, eyes, ears, dear Lord, because if you do not, our words
mean nothing. All power is in your hands. All
these things we ask in Christ's name, amen.