I have been preaching the gospel
of God's free grace for 49 years, since I was 17 years old. And
it has never been more weighty, more meaningful, more tried to
my soul than it is right now. I realize that if God ever speaks
to you, it will not be through visions and dreams and the stupid
nonsense that folks think about when they think about religion.
If God ever speaks to you, He will speak to you by His Word
through the voice of a preacher. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. For the time that makes preaching
serious business. And if God speaks by this preacher,
this hour, what you hear will be to you either a savor of life
unto life or of death unto death. One or the other. You will either
hear me for the profit of your soul or for the destruction of
your soul, that you will not be indifferent and you will not
go away unaffected, not if God speaks. Now let me tell you how
important that is to me. I received three telephone calls
earlier this afternoon. One informing me that a pastor's
friend, a friend who is a pastor, that his wife was very sick.
The next call telling me that God had taken her to glory. And
then the third call, one of the ladies in our congregation was
driving up to see her dad. And before she got there, the
Lord had taken him. Soon, you're going to meet God. Soon, you're going to meet God. And you have but one hope, and
that hope is Jesus Christ, God's darling son. His blood, his righteousness,
his atonement, his grace. If you know him, if you have
him, all is well. But if you don't know him, I'm
not talking about if you're not a member of the church. I'm not
talking about if you don't have a good feeling. I'm not talking
about if you don't do some good stuff. If you don't know God,
you're going to hell. This is life eternal, that they
might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou
hast sent. Now let me tell you what it will
take for you to go to hell. For God to just leave you alone. If God leaves you alone, you're
going to hell. Unless God steps in and stops
you on your mad rush to everlasting destruction, by omnipotent mercy
and irresistible grace, perish you will. Oh God, I pray he'll
not leave you alone. I want to talk to you tonight
as plainly as I possibly can about His grace. Our text will
be Ephesians 2, verses 4-9. His grace. Ephesians 2, verses 4-9. Almost all professing Christians
profess to believe that salvation is by grace. The Bible states
that fact so plainly, so repeatedly, that almost no one who professes
to be Christian would deny that salvation is by grace, at least
not openly. The trouble is that the vast
majority of men and women, the vast majority of preachers, talk
about grace in such a way that they do what the Apostle Paul
said, I do not. They frustrate the grace of God.
They frustrate the grace of God. Now, some of you may have studied
a little bit of church history and doctrines such as that. Some
of you, well, a good many of us are old enough to remember.
I'm not quite old enough. Some of y'all fit the category
of the liberal fundamentalist controversy that started back
in the late 30s and up in the 40s and 50s and kind of tapered
off in the late 60s. The problem with liberal theologians
was not that they denied that this book contains God's Word. I never read a one of them that
said it didn't do so. They just denied that it is God's
Word. They didn't deny, they didn't
say the word redemption shouldn't be used. They simply used the
same words that we use in describing the work of God, but they took
the meaning of those words away from them and gave them different
meanings. So the redemption meant nothing
more than just, well, some of you maybe watch O'Reilly on television. Y'all see that? Once in a while
I watch him. He says, I believe in redemption. What does that
mean? He believes I believe you get
a second chance. That's not what redemption means. That's not
what it means. They use the word atonement.
They use the word salvation. But they make it to mean something
different. And almost everybody in the religious
world who talks about grace talks about it in such a way as to
make grace meaningless. make grace altogether meaningless.
Grace is something somehow or another has something to do with
salvation is the notion most folks have. The grace they talk
about isn't grace at all but really is works. Free willism
presented in the name of grace. You have illustration of it time
and again in the scripture. Let me call your attention to
one you'll be familiar with. When Moses was up in the mount
receiving the law from God, Aaron and the children of Israel down
here below at the foot of the mountain, and they said, we don't
know what's happened to Moses. What are we going to do? Aaron,
make us some guards. And they took their jewelry,
and Aaron made them some golden calves, you remember? And they
worshipped the calves in the name of worshipping Jehovah.
Read the book. We're worshipping the Lord. But
they were dancing naked around cash and called it the worship
of God. The vast majority of what goes
on today in the name of religion is not the worship of God and
the worshiping God by His grace, but rather just dancing naked
around gold and cash we have made. Let's look in the Word
of God and see what this book teaches about His grace. Grace that comes from God, who
sits upon and rules the world in absolute sovereignty on His
throne of grace. If you found our text, Ephesians
2, let's read together. Ephesians 2, verse 9. But God,
that word but takes us back to what He's been talking about.
He said, you were dead. You were dead. Dead in trespasses and
sins. Dead. What's that mean? Isn't it strange that you read
the Bible and you run across a word that you, a kindergarten
child couldn't mistake what it means. If they read it in a book
or in a newspaper or on a chalkboard, dead. Dead. Well, I know what
dead is. Dead can't talk. Dead can't feel. Dead can't know. Dead can't learn. Dead can't do. Dead is dead.
But when you read the book of God, folks somehow, what does
dead mean? It means dead. Dead. That means you can't feel
anything. You don't know who you are. You
don't know where you are. You don't know what you need.
And if somebody tells you you can't hear them, you're dead.
You're dead. Unless God does something for
you, you're dead. And you're going to remain dead forever.
But God. who is rich in mercy, for his
great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in
sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. When Christ was
raised up from the dead, somebody was raised up from the dead with
him. When Christ was raised up from the dead, it guaranteed
that somebody would be raised from the dead by virtue of his
death and resurrection, quickened together with Christ. What does
that mean? By grace you're saved and have raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That
in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For
by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves,
It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Three times in this one short
portion of inspiration, God the Holy Ghost tells us that salvation
is by his grace. Now this message is important
for several reasons. Let me give you just four of
them. Number one, salvation by grace. destroys all room for
human boasting. Boasting excluded, pride I abase,
I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? And what hast thou that thou
hast not received? Now if thou hast received it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hast not received it? If you
have anything from God which distinguishes you from any other
human being, you have it by the gift of God's grace. The only
thing makes you and me different from anybody in hell or anybody
this side of hell is what God has done for us and in us by
his grace. Grace destroys every ground of
human boasting. If your idea of salvation allows
you to think or boast that somehow or another something that you
have done Something you have performed, something you have
decided has made you different from other folks. Somehow, you
said a prayer, or you made a decision, or you walked the church aisle,
or you got in the baptismal pool, or you joined the church, or
you, you, you, you, you, you, you. If somehow, You've got the
idea that salvation in any measure, in any degree, at any point is
determined by you or depends on you. You don't know the grace
of God. You're yet lost in your sins.
You do not know God. You don't know what Jesus Christ
is, who he is, or what he's done. God's people, all of God's people,
no better than to boast even of their repentance in faith.
Christ is a prince and a savior who gives repentance. If you
repent, he turns you to himself. This prophet said, after that
I was turned, I called on you. David said, turn us and we shall
be turned. Draw us and we will run after
thee. God's people understand that
repentance and faith are not works of man's free will. God's
gift to men is faith in Christ. Repentance toward God with the
gift of everlasting life. In fact, the book describes,
in Colossians 2, verse 12, faith like this. It's called the operation
of God. Well, I thought faith is something
I'd do. You thought wrong. Faith is the operation of God.
Faith is the gift of God. We believe according to the working
of His mighty power, the very same power that He wrought in
Christ when He raised Him from the dead. What does it take to
make a sinner believe? The omnipotent, life-giving power
of God. We preach, and we pray, and we
plead with folks, and we urge folks, I urge you, believe on
the Son of God, trust Jesus Christ the Lord. And I do so with the
full knowledge that there's nothing I can do to get you to believe
God. Nothing, nothing. We take our
sons and daughters and we teach them, we instruct them. When
our daughter was just a little girl, I wrote a catechism just
for her. And I taught her the catechism.
She memorized it. But I can't give her faith. I
can't give her faith. Now I've got two grandchildren
about grown. I can't give them faith. I pray for them. I instruct
them. I can't give them faith. And
I won't do anything to delude them into thinking they have
faith if God hasn't given it to them. Nothing. Nothing. What do you do? You wait on God
because salvation is by God's gift of grace. Only by God's
gift of grace. The Lord Jesus works grace in
us called faith, hope, and love. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith. These are the fruit of the spirit,
not the works of the flesh. Number two. This message is very
important because salvation by grace alone means that God alone,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost get all the praise, all the honor,
and all the glory for what God has done. Look back in chapter
1. Look back in chapter 1, beginning verse 13, or verse 3 rather. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. That word blessed is not the
word that's commonly translated blessed, which means happy. This
is the word from which we get our word eulogized. When you
have a funeral for someone who's respected and you want somebody
to speak well of them, you eulogize that person. That is, you speak
well of them. Paul says, speak well of God. because God has spoken well of
us. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. in heaven that places in Christ. I realize to whom I'm talking.
I know you folks have just coming away from this Pentecostal nonsense
that's been deluding you for so long. And folks have the idea
in Pentecostal religion that somehow you get saved and then
you have some other things that come down the road. And if you
pray good, and you read, and you discipline yourself, and
you dress right, and you work right, then you get these other
blessings. Psst. What do you think you're going
to earn from God by what you do? Just exactly what is it you
think that you are wearing your hair a certain way or crossing
your legs a certain way is going to get you from God? What nonsense!
But we all love legalism. Where do these blessings come
from? They were given to us, all God's elect, in Christ, in
heavenly places. Watch what it says now. You got
your Bible in front of you? According as He hath chosen us,
in him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before him in love, in love having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. to the praise of the glory of
His grace. That is, God did all of this
saving work for us before the world began in Christ to the
praise of the glory of His grace, wherein, that is, in this great,
great work of eternal grace, He hath made us accepted, highly
favored of God in the Beloved, in Christ Jesus. in whom we have
redemption through his blood. What does that mean? The forgiveness
of sins. Everybody redeemed by blood is
forgiven of sin. If Christ died for everybody,
then everybody's forgiven. If everybody's not forgiven,
Christ didn't die for everybody. Redemption through his blood
is the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace wherein
he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having
made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his
good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that in
the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are on earth, even in him." I make this for that day. There's
a day coming when God Almighty declares there should be a restitution
of all things and everything that is and has been and shall
be shall redound to God's glory and his praise. Verse 11, in
whom also, now watch this, we have obtained Now we're going
to obtain, we have already obtained an inheritance, all the blessedness
of grace being predestinated according to the purpose of Him
who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will,
that we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted
in Christ. Very good. This is for God's
glory. The Lord God looked upon Christ
before the world was as the surety, the mediator, the good shepherd,
the redeemer, the savior of his people. And the Son of God assumed
total responsibility for all his elect in the covenant of
grace and struck hands with the Father and said, I'll redeem
them and I will bring them back to you and not one shall perish,
lo, I and the children which thou hast given me. And the father
said to his son, go do it. He trusted him. Imagine that. The triune Jehovah trusted Christ
the mediator with his people before the world was. He's called
the good shepherd pastor. Now you tell me, you tell me,
who is responsible for the welfare, the protection, the deliverance,
the well-being of the sheep? The sheep or the shepherd? Who's
responsible? If you should hire Don Fortner
to tend the flock of sheep that you own, and you have his wages
promised to him upon condition that he care for the sheep, And
he should come back and report to you, I have all of the sheep
except for this fellow here who just wouldn't pay any attention
to me. And that one over yonder that the wolf got. And that one
over there fell over the side of the cliff. All the rest of
them I've got here. What? It's not the sheep's responsibility. It's your responsibility. Now
listen to me, children of God. Oh, this will sail your boat
to troubled waters. The Lord God Almighty from eternity
ceased to look to you for anything. He looks to His Son for everything. If the triune God could trust
His Son with your soul, surely we can trust Him with all things.
Read on. in whom ye also trusted. After that you heard the word
of truth. That is when God calls you to hear the word of the gospel.
What is that word of truth? The gospel of your salvation. The gospel of your salvation.
Not just the gospel of salvation. The gospel of your salvation.
I heard the gospel, and heard the gospel, and heard the gospel
like you, and I didn't pay any attention to it, and I couldn't
hear it, and I couldn't believe it. One day, God revealed His
Son in me, and I heard gospel of my salvation. Believing on
the Son of God, God spoke peace to my soul. Read on. In whom
also, after that ye believed, having believed, ye were sealed. Sealed with that Holy Spirit
of promise. What is that seal? What is that seal? The gift of
the Holy Spirit giving you life, creating Christ in you, making
you partaker of the divine nature is that by which God seals to
you all the blessings of covenant grace given you in Christ before
the world began. How can I know that God chose
me, that Christ redeemed me, that the Spirit has called me?
I believe Him. Believing Him is the gift of
the Spirit, sealing to me all the promises of God, which is
the earnest, the down payment, the pledge of our inheritance,
until the redemption of the purchased possession. And here it is again,
to the praise of His glory. Now let me give you a litmus
test. By this test, you can judge the accuracy, the rightness or
the wrongness of every religious thing you hear, or read of every
sermon you hear, every one you listen to, whether it's truth
or heresy, whether it's profitable to your soul or damning to your
soul. If you hear the message, you
go to church and you listen to the preacher, you go to Sunday
school and you listen to the teacher, and you go to Bible
study and listen to the fellow leading the study, and it all
rubs your feathers the right way. And you go away feeling
good about your boy. I know I used to be a bad shit,
but I'm pretty good now. I'm pretty good now. Believe
me, it is totally foreign to this book. If, on the other hand, you go
to church, you go to Sunday school class, you read a sermon, listen
to somebody on the radio or on the internet or on television,
and they point you away from yourself, to the triune God and
all his glory and majesty and grace. And you see yourself nothing
but sin and him nothing but God. Yourself nothing but corruption,
him nothing but righteousness. Yourself hopeless and all hope
in him alone. That's the word of God. Grace
gives all the glory to God for everything. Third, this message
is very important. Because any mixture, now listen
to me while you turn and turn back a couple of pages to Galatians
5. Any mixture, any mixture, doesn't matter where the mixture
comes in. Any mixture of works with grace, any mixture of merit
with mercy, any mixture of what you do with what God does is
not only a terribly evil thing, but utterly damning to your soul. I said what I said intentionally.
Any mixture of what you do with what God does. Bruce Workman
is not just bad doctrine. It'll damn you. It'll carry you
to hell if you believe it. Any mixture. Unless this is what
the book says. Listen to Romans chapter 11,
verse 6, just listen here. If by grace it is no more of
works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works,
then it is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. Now here
in Galatians chapter 5, you got your Bible there? Look at verse
2. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that if ye be circumcised,
Christ shall profit you nothing. Now, that is a little difficult.
Is there anybody here who has an appointment sometime next
month to go get circumcised? Well, this must not be talking
about us. Oh, yes, it is. Oh, yes, it is. Oh, yes, it is.
If you do something, if you do something, it don't matter what
it is. I'm talking about get up in the
morning at 5 o'clock so you can pray for an hour or read your Bible
for another hour. or fasting twice a week, or giving
tithes of all you possess, or giving half of all you possess,
or going to the far missionary field. If you do so, I'll quit
dancing, or smoking, or drinking, or chewing, or all that stuff.
If you do so, to win God's favor, to keep God's favor, or to improve
your standing in God's favor. Watch what it says. If you be
circumcised, Christ won't mean as much to you as he should.
That's not what it says, is it? If you be circumcised, Christ
shall profit you nothing. Nothing. Nothing. He got in front of you. Look
at verse 4. Christ is become of no effect
unto you. Now you're not going to make
Christ of no effect, but Christ is of no effect unto you. Whosoever
of you are justified by the law. You've fallen from grace. That
doesn't mean you were once saved and then you lose it. That's
horsemanoeuvre of another kind. But what that does mean is this. You've missed the gospel altogether.
If you think you can be justified by something you do, you've missed
the gospel altogether. All right, here's the fourth
bit. I said this message is important. I said in the beginning, it's
important because very few people, very few professing Christians,
very few preachers, and consequently, very few people in this world
know what grace is. Most people imagine that grace
is a passion or a deep desire in the heart of God to save sinners. They imagine that grace is something
God offers to men. Or that grace is God giving people
a chance to get saved. Or that grace is something God
gives men that they can use to work out their own salvation.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The Bible never talks
about grace like that. Grace is an attribute of God,
an operation of God, and a gift of God. Grace is an attribute
of God, an operation of God, and the gift of God, by which
he saves sinners. Whenever you think about grace,
whenever you talk about grace, always remember, as it's described
in the Bible, grace has certain characteristics. Number one,
God's grace is eternal. God had saved us and called us
with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Grace is not something that starts
in time. Grace is eternal. There's a people God loved from
eternity, a people Christ redeemed from eternity, a people described
in Romans chapter 8 as being justified and glorified and called
before the world began according to the purpose of God. Grace
is eternal, eternal. It's experienced in time, but
it's an eternal thing. Number two, grace is immutable. It never varies. in any degree. I just saw my friend Matt there.
Hadn't seen you in a long time, buddy. A long time. God's grace
is the same to you now as the last time I saw you. Same to
you now as it was before you came into this world. Immutable. But you don't know what he's
been doing. No, I don't have a clue. I don't know if it's
good or bad. Well, I do, too. I know it was
all bad, even the stuff we think's good. That's right. I'm not joking. But how can you say God's grace
is safe? Because grace doesn't depend
on you. Grace can't be fouled up by you. Those who are new
creatures in Christ. The scripture says old things
are passed away. And behold, all things have become
new, new creatures. 49 years ago, 49 years ago, God gave me a new life and God
stamped a new record in my soul. God gave me cleanness that I
could never mess up. Can't mess it up. Can't mess
it up. Grace is immutable. It never
changes. Listen to this word from God.
I am Jehovah. I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you tricky, conniving,
stinking, sinful sons of Jacob. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. If there was any change in God,
you'd go to hell before you breathe again. But God doesn't change. The objects of His grace are
always the same. The measure of His grace is always
immeasurable. God's grace is immutable. For
the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. Here's
the third thing. God's eternal immutable grace
is suffering. Listen to this. You can now turn
and read it. Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. Verse 11, For the children being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. What are we going to say about
that? What shall we say then? Folks say, well that ain't right.
Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith
to Moses, I will have mercy on him, I will have mercy. And I
will have compassion on him, I will have compassion. So then,
this thing of salvation, it is not of him that willeth, nor
of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the Scripture
saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised
thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name
might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath
he mercy, on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Oh, God's grace, God's grace,
God's grace. free sovereign grace. He has
mercy on whom he will have mercy. Nobody merits it. Nobody wins
it. It's the gift of God. Let me
give you an illustration of how he does it. God has people. He's going to use those people
to preserve the promised woman seed. They called the children
of Abraham the children of Israel. And God called Abraham out of
Ur of the Chaldees, and he made his covenant with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. And Abraham said, your children
are going to go down to Egypt and going to stay there for 400
years. And then I'll bring them out, bring them into a land that
they knew nothing of. And they went down to Egypt.
And there, God sent Joseph to prepare the way for them. And
everything going fine, and then Joseph died. And there rose up
a Pharaoh. who didn't know Joseph. And the children of Israel were
blessed and multiplied. And they said, what are we going
to do? We've got to kill them. We've got to kill them. And Pharaoh
sent out an order. He said to the Hebrew handmaidens,
you kill every one of the male children born to the Israelitest
woman. And Moses' mother and daddy had
a child. And they saw that he was a proper
child. That is, they understood he was God's chosen one. chosen
to deliver. And Moses' mother hid him for
three months until she couldn't hide him anymore, and she put
him in an ark. Good place to put a child. And she put him
in a river. And just as luck would have it,
just as chance would have it, when she went and put him in
the river, Moses' sister Miriam was standing by to watch, see
what happened. And you know, Pharaoh's daughter came down
to bathe herself. Isn't that something? Isn't that
something? Guess who raised Moses? Guess
who educated him? Guess who trained him in all
the skills of the most powerful empire the world had ever known? The man who ordered his death,
Pharaoh. And then Moses slew an Egyptian. And he saw two of his brethren
the next day, and they said, who made you ruler and judge
over us? You gonna kill me like you did the Egyptian? But if you read the same account
in Hebrews chapter 11, it says Moses left Pharaoh's house by
faith. Fear and faith? Oh yeah, you'll
often find them together. You'll often find them together.
Moses fled believing God and fled fearing Pharaoh. And the
Lord was preparing a place for him. And then he sent Moses back
to Pharaoh. Moses, the meekest man who ever
lived. Now what do you think about when
you think about meekness? I guarantee, I tell you. Y'all remember Mahatma
Gandhi? Y'all remember him? Here's meekness.
A fellow who walks around in a dress, and he walks like this. Everybody thinks that's meek.
Let me show you meekness. Meekness is a man who knows who
he is, and knows who he is, and knows what God sent him to do.
Meekness is a man, nothing but a preacher, walking into the
throne room of Pharaoh, the mightiest king the world had ever known,
and said, God says, let my people go. And Pharaoh said, who is
the Lord that I shall obey him? Hang on, boy, you're about to
find out. And Moses brought Israel out. Pharaoh finally chased them
out of Egypt. Said, get out of here. I've had
all of you out and take. Take. And while you go, we'll
take all of our silver and gold. And they chased them out of Egypt.
And they went out to the Red Sea. And there stands the children
of Israel. What are we going to do now? They start to murmur.
There's the Red Sea in front of us. Pharaoh and his army's
behind us. The mountain's on the side of us. What are we going
to do, Moses? Stand still and watch God work. And God opened
up the river. And they walked across on asphalt.
And Pharaoh and his horsemen followed them into the river.
I remember when I went back to high school, finished up in high
school, after God had saved me, our English teacher liked to
poke fun at religion. And he said, that wasn't really
the red, see, that was the reeds. It was just only about 18 inches
of water, maybe 12 inches of water. And one of the girls in
the class was smarter than the rest of us. She said, wow. He
said, what? She said, that's a greater miracle
than I thought. He said, what are you talking about? She said,
if there was only 12 or 18 inches of water there, it took a miracle
to drown the mightiest army in the world in 18 inches of water.
God overthrew them in the water. Now, why did God raise Pharaoh
up? Why did he do that? So you'd know about that. That's
what he said. I raised up the whole world. And I raised up you in the world. so that everybody in the world
will know I dumped your carcass in the Red Sea to save my people. Everybody I've ever met in the
world knows about that, because God's grace is suffering. He
has mercy on whom he will have mercy. He destroyed Egypt. He didn't even tell them about
Passover lamb, let alone make them participants of it. He destroyed
them and took everything they had and gave it to Israel and
brought them through the Red Sea, saving his people by the
blood of a Passover lamb and by the power of omnipotence.
That's grace. God's free grace. God's grace. I'll tell you something
else about grace. One more thing. God's grace is
effectual. Effectual, that's a big word.
We don't use it much these days. Effectual grace. What does that
mean? It means it gets the job done.
It gets the job done. Irresistible grace. Blessed is
the man whom thou choosest and callsest to approach unto thee. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee. How does God save
sinners? Pastor, you talk about God saves
sinners against their will. Well, he does with their full
consent. Every sinner he saves, he saves against their will with
their full consent. You see this pretty blonde-headed
lady sitting over here? When I was 17 years old, I walked
in the store where my mother was working and saw her standing
there one day. And I thought, as soon as I get my driver's
license back, I'm going to ask her out. And I'll guarantee I'm the only
man in here who can tell you the date of the first date. Our
first date was June 29, 1967. I had no clue. I said, I got
my driver's license back. And we went out. And we started
courting. And I did everything I could
to impress her. And after a couple of weeks,
I told her I wanted to marry her. She said, you're crazy. You don't know what you
want. So I proceeded to court her. And I lived across town. I would drive plumb across town.
I'm talking about all the way across town, drive five miles
so I could walk her from one door to the next because I wanted
to impress her. Every time I could get 50 cents
together, I'd take her to McDonald's and buy her a milkshake, whatever
flavor she wanted. And we went to church, and I would do everything
I could be nice to her. I remembered every possible day
I thought I could remember, and I wouldn't let anybody sleep
in between us. I was courting that girl. I only showed her
my best side. All I showed her. And then after
dating her about a year, we were up in Spruce Pine, North Carolina,
visiting some of my relatives. Stayed with my aunt and uncle,
and they'd all gone to bed. And I thought, I believe I've
got the job done. I believe I've got her. And I
knelt down on the floor right beside the couch, took her hand,
and I said, Shelby, I love you with all my heart. Will you marry
me? She about jumped off the couch to say yes. What happened? What happened? In the course
of that year we'd been dating, I showed her myself. And she couldn't resist. She couldn't resist. Now that's
a bit of a silly illustration. But let me tell you how God saves
sinners. When God comes to save a sinner, by the preaching of
the gospel, he reveals Christ in you. And if ever you see him,
you can't resist. You can't resist. You just find
yourself believing God. You just find yourself believing. It's not a decision you made.
You just, you can't help it. You just believe God. I tried
to believe yesterday and I couldn't believe. And today, brother Don,
I found myself believing God. Called irresistible, effectual
grace. That's God's grace. His grace. When I was in college, shortly
before I started pastoring, I was selling shoes. And about 75%
of our trade did trade business said they're the welfare folks,
most of them black folks, and they'd come up, they'd buy a
pair of shoes, and they'd put $2 down and pay all on for several months. We had layaway plans. And I was
waiting on this old lady, old, skinny woman. She had to be pushing
100, at least I thought so. I was 18, I was 19 at the time. And she's an old woman. And she
bought a pair of shoes, and I went to the layaway counter and started
to fill out the receipt and ask her for her name. She said, Grace
Krabs. I said, what? She said, grace grabs? I said,
ma'am, I don't know whether you know it or not, but that's just
what the grace of God does. She said, it shall do it. That's what God does by his grace. He grabs you from the pit of
destruction and sets you on the rock, Christ Jesus. He brought me out of the miry
clay. He set my feet on the rock to
stand. All by His amazing grace. May God make it yours for Christ's
sake. Amen.