Open your Bibles with me to 1
Corinthians chapter 2. The title of this message, as
you can see, is Freely Given by God. One of the things in that hymn
we just finished that you read in the line in the chorus, and
I don't know if the same author who wrote the verses wrote the
course, because sometimes they're different, but it doesn't matter.
It says, mercy there was great, and grace was free. And when
the Lord opened my eyes to see the glory of his salvation in
Christ, I come to find out that there's no other kind of grace.
than free grace. So it's kind of like a repetitive. If it's grace, it's free. Somebody said one time that mercy
is God not giving us what we deserve. And grace is God giving
us what we don't deserve. That's fine, if you understand
what He gives us. And that's what I'm gonna preach
on this morning. Freely given by God. Also come to understand,
Jim, that when they talk about sovereign grace, in the Bible
there's no other kind but sovereign grace. There's no grace that
God gives to His people that's not sovereign, because God is
sovereign. So understand that. But anyway, I wanna look at 1
Corinthians 2. The verse that I'm gonna major
on is where it talks about the work of the spirit in revealing
to his people in the new birth, to God's people, salvation. And what he says in verse 12,
it says, now we have received, not the spirit of the world.
The spirit of the world is what we have by nature. And we need
to understand when we talk about the spirit of the world, we're
not just talking about what men and women naturally see as immorality
and irreligious things. But when we talk about the spirit
of the world, we're talking about false religion too. And it basically
comes under the heading of the opposite of free grace. It's something that you have
to earn or you have to kick into gear or something like that.
We'll talk about that. So we have not received the Spirit
of the world. So when the Spirit comes to us,
and I'm gonna show you that in just a minute, when the Spirit
comes to us, sent by the Father and the Son, to give us life
from the dead, and that's what happens. Spiritual life. It says
that we don't receive the Spirit of the world. Well, I have that.
But he says, but the Spirit which is of God, now, There's a lot
of times in the Bible, there's some minor arguments about this.
For example, when he talks about the spirit witches of God, should
that be capitalized, the Holy Spirit? Well, it can be. But
the Holy Spirit gives us a new spirit. Remember back over in
Ezekiel 36, God says, I'll put a new spirit within him. That's
life. So either way, it's all fine, okay? It's the Holy Spirit
who applies the life, the resurrection life of Christ to each and every
one of God's people in time. And that's called the new birth.
Regeneration and conversion under the preaching of the gospel.
So we receive the spirit witches of God. Now how do I know that
I've received the spirit witches of God? How do I know that? How can I tell that? How do I
know that I'm not just continuing on in the spirit which is of
the world? Read the next line. That we might know the things
that are what? Freely given to us of God. And so the question of the day
is do you know the things that are freely given? And I'm gonna
show you in several scriptures, and I'll just warn you beforehand,
I got a lot of scripture. And I've got them written down. So it won't take me time to fumble
through and find them. I've already done that. But if
you wanna read them yourself, get you a pen and paper out and
write them down, okay? As I go through it. I really
want us to see this. But look back at verse nine of
1 Corinthians two. Let's get some context here.
He says this, he says, he says, but as it is written, I hath
not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
Now he's quoting from Isaiah 64 there. And what he's simply
saying here is that with all of the activity of religion,
of philosophy, of business, that men and women, smart, dumb, and
in between, all the activity in the history of man since the
fall of man and Adam, nobody has ever thought of this issue of what enters into
the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them
that love him. There's no religion, even that
which mainly calls itself Christianity, if they don't preach the gospel. Because that which is that God
has prepared for his people, all right, that's of God, And
he says in verse 10, but God hath revealed them to us by his
Spirit. Now, if you've got a King James
Version there, the Spirit there is capitalized. And that's good,
because I believe it's talking about the Holy Spirit. God has
revealed them unto us by his Spirit. Now, what he's telling
us there is if we're going to know what God has prepared, okay,
for those who love him, And to love him is to believe in him,
to love him, to love his truth, love his word, love his people. And that's a gift from God, now
you know that. We don't have that love naturally. We love
a God, the God of our imagination. But how many times have you gotten
with people who claim to love God, And you read him passages
like Romans 9. And I've had him say this to
me. He said, well, that's not my God. I said, I know it. I
know it's not your God. I know who your God is because
I used to serve him. And it was idolatry. But here's what God
says about himself. So if you love God, it's a gift
from God. And you love what the Bible says about God and how
he saves sinners. But that information. has not
even entered into the heart of the natural man, the unregenerate
man, even in religion. But God, verse 10, hath revealed
them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things,
yea, the deep things of God. Now the deep things of God there
is not some kind of a deep doctrine that only theologians can understand. The deep things of God there
are, it's the simple gospel, folks, how God saves sinners. And the reason they're deep is
not because God doesn't reveal them, it's because man can't
figure it out. Because remember what I've told
you about two things that describe all false religion. Number one,
is they believe that salvation is conditioned on men and women,
sinners, in some way, to some degree, at some stage. They can talk about the death
of Christ, but it means nothing unless you kick it into gear,
say, unless you put your stamp of approval on it. Because multitudes,
they'll tell you, that Christ died for will end up in hell.
And the Bible doesn't teach that. And I've quoted so many scriptures
on that. All for whom Christ died shall
be saved. That's what the Bible teaches.
And somebody says, well, what if I'm not one of them? Well,
I want to be one of them, don't you? So I'm going to go into
this book and find out who they are and what happens. So that's the issue. But that's
all false religion teaches salvation based upon, conditioned on what
the sinner does or what the sinner decides. And I'm gonna show you
in this very scripture how that's not true, but we'll get to that
in just a moment. The second thing that marks all
false religion is they always measure righteousness and holiness
based upon a sliding scale. You know this is true. What do they think of in righteousness
and holiness? Well, they think that some people
are holier than others. You think about the Catholic
Church, how they will canonize certain individuals to be saints.
When the Bible teaches that every sinner saved by grace is a saint,
And you don't have to be canonized by anybody. Don't care who it
is. But they measure righteousness
and holiness on a sliding scale. But when the Spirit reveals unto
us the deep things of God, what do we learn? We learn that salvation
is not conditioned on us. Our works, our decision, it's
conditioned on Christ, and he fulfilled those conditions to
secure the salvation of all for whom he died and was buried in
a rose again. And we learn that righteousness must be measured
by Christ. Not on a sliding scale. Acts
1731, how many times you heard me quote that? that God has appointed
a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained, in that he hath given assurance
unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. Romans
10, four, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believeth. You see, that's what drives us
to Christ, and grace, now, we're talking about the free gift,
grace was free, Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord, Romans 5.21. So where are you gonna find righteousness?
Don't look within. Don't look within because if
you find it, you know what you've got there? Is a big dose of self-righteousness,
like the Pharisees, who judged themselves to be righteous and
others to be lost. Where are we gonna find righteousness
in Christ? And that's what keeps our minds
and our hearts fixed on him. Lord, don't judge me according
to my righteousness, which is of the law, but judge me as I
stand washed in the blood of Christ and clothed in his righteousness
imputed. Because my hope is built. on
nothing less than Jesus, blood and righteous. You see the difference?
So he goes on, he says in verse 11, for what man knoweth the
things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him. Now what
does the Bible tell us about the spirit of man that's in him?
It's an evil spirit. It's a deceitful heart. We fell
in Adam into a state of sin and depravity. So whatever's going
to enter into your mind concerning salvation and religion, it's
gonna be wrong. It has to be revealed to you
by the Spirit through the Word. So even so, the things of God
knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. In other words, for me
to learn what salvation is, these deep things of God, what God
has prepared for His people, I'm gonna have to go to God's
Word. because that's where the Spirit of God reveals. And so
he says in verse 12, now we've received not the Spirit of the
world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the
things that are freely given to us of God. And he says in
verse 13, which things we speak not in words which man's wisdom
teaches. Man's wisdom doesn't know anything
about this free grace, this free gift, freely given. All he knows is salvation, I
gotta do something to get saved. It may be, you say, well, you
gotta believe. Well, hold on a minute now. Is faith natural
to us? Or is it a gift from God? Which is it? What does the Bible
say? Well, you've got a spark of goodness
in you and you gotta get some eloquent preacher to fan that
spark and turn it into a fire and then you'll scoot down the
aisle and we'll get you in the water. Well, if they do that, the water
will put out that fire. No. No. See, we don't speak in those
kinds of words, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing
spiritual things with spiritual things. We've got to stay in
the realm of the spiritual here. which tells us that salvation
is not by works, but it's by the free grace of God, freely
given. Now he says in verse 14, the
natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit, he
won't receive them. I'll hold off on that, I'll get into it
in a minute. But we've received, not the Spirit of the world,
we've received the Spirit which is of God. that we might know
the things that are freely given to us of God. Do you know those
things? Do I know those things? Well, first of all, we understand
from the Bible that they are free to us, but costly to him. Listen to Romans 8.32. Here's
one of those scriptures we're going to. Romans 8.32. It says, he that spared not his
own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? All things. In Christ, by virtue of his being
our surety, our substitute, our redeemer, Our keeper, preserver. We have all things. Do we really
understand how free it is? There's not one blessing of salvation
that I could rightly tell you that I've earned it and deserve
it. Because I haven't earned or deserved any. And I always
bring it down to the least of all blessings, the next breath
you take. You know what it is? It's a free
gift from God. He gives that to even unbelievers,
but that's not grace to them. It's perseverance. I'm not gonna
go into all that, because I don't have time. But listen to this,
this is Romans 8. He freely gives us all things
with Christ. If we have Christ, we have all
things freely, not conditionally. And he goes on in Romans 8, 33,
he says, who shall anything to the charge of God's elect? It's
God that justifies. And as I said, it's free to us,
but it's costly for the Lord Romans 834, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. It's free to us, to the people
of God, to the elect of God, to the redeemed of the Lord,
but it cost him his life. He came to save his people from
their sins. And what did he have to do? He
had to satisfy the justice of God, keep the law and satisfy
the justice of God against them, having our sins charged to his
account, imputed to him, so that his righteousness is imputed
to us. So we stand, like as Paul said,
I don't want to go to God and I don't want to stand there in
a righteousness of my own, which is by the law, but I want to
be found in Christ. Because in Him, God has freely
given me all things. This is Romans 3, 24. He talks about justification.
Now what is it to be justified? It's to be forgiven of all my
sins, based on a just ground, and always add that to it. See,
that's why it's called justify. You know, the word just and righteous
are interchangeable in the New Testament, and even in the Old
Testament, the Hebrew. But to be justified means this,
it means that I am, if I'm justified, it is God that justifies. If I'm justified, it means I'm
forgiven of all my sins, even those which I haven't committed
yet. But it's on a just ground. And
to be justified is to be declared righteous not guilty and righteous
in God's sight, in his court of justice, based on a just ground. Well, what is the just ground?
Well, look at it. Romans 3.24, being justified
freely. That means without a cause. What do you mean without a cause?
Without a cause in me. There's nothing, and what he's
saying here is there's nothing that I can do or you can do to
cause God to justify me. Somebody says, well, you can
believe, you can walk an hour, you can get back. That doesn't
cause God to justify you. Not at all. So freely, by His grace, through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, there's the cause. The
redemptive work of Christ, the death, the obedience unto death
of Christ. God is just. to forgive me. God is just to declare me righteous
based upon the work of Christ. Freely given by God. He says in verse 25, whom God
has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to
declare his righteousness for the remissions of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God. Propitiation. You know, in Revelation 22 and
verse 17, listen to this. The spirit and the bride say,
come, and let him that heareth say, come, and let him that is
a thirst come, and whosoever will, let him take of the water
of life freely. Freely. Whosoever will. Somebody asked, you know, a lot
of people, when they wanna deny election, they'll say, but the
Bible says whosoever will. That's exactly right. But who
makes us willing? Freely given by God. Now, I'm
gonna get to that in just a moment back in 1 Corinthians 2. But
by nature, we're unwilling. It's by God's grace that he gives
us the will. Somebody asked me one time, said,
well, does God bring you to Christ against your will? No, he changes
our will. Something that we cannot do.
I can't change my own will. You can't change your will. The
preacher can't change your will. Only God can do it. He makes
you willing in the day of his power. I think it's Psalm 111
or Psalm 110. And then it's called a gift.
Freely given. Listen to Romans 5 and verse
15. Not as the offense, that's the sin that we fell in Adam,
so also is the free gift For if through the offense of one,
many be dead, much more by the grace of God, and the gift by
grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded to many. Later on, he calls the righteousness
that we have the gift of righteousness. You didn't earn it, you didn't
deserve it. All of that. And this verse here,
I'm sure everybody knows. Romans 6, 23. which is for the
wages of sin is death. What is a wage? That's something
you earn. You go out and work and you get
paid for what you earned. Well, that's the wages of sin.
That's what we can earn, death. But the gift of God, you see
that? Freely given by God. The gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I love this. this passage, 2
Timothy chapter one and verse nine. 2 Timothy chapter one and
verse nine. Listen to this, talking about
God who hath 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. Listen to this, before
the world began, How could it be conditioned on
you if it was given to you? If you're a believer now, how
could it be conditioned on you if it was given you in Christ
Jesus before the world began? Were you there? You say, well,
I feel pretty old. Well, you weren't there. Except
in the mind and the purpose and heart of God. That's right. Now that's made manifest, that's
made known through the preaching of the gospel, which is salvation
conditioned on Christ alone, by whose righteousness he saves
his people from their sins. Listen to this, now this is 2
Peter chapter one. Peter, as he opens up his epistle,
he says, Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to them that have obtained like precious faith. Now that word
obtained is important. It means you didn't muster it
up within yourself. You didn't separate yourself
from all who don't believe. God, you obtained it like a gift. And he says, like precious faith,
and he mentions this, he said, with us through the righteousness
of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, there's the ground up.
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge
of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this, verse
three. According as his divine power hath given unto us all
things that pertain unto life and godliness. Everything that
pertains to eternal life and godliness is a free gift, freely
given by God to his people through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, go back to 1 Corinthians
2. Some say, well, the gift is no
good unless we receive it. You ever heard that? I heard
an illustration one time where a preacher was talking about
a wrapped up package. And he said, salvation is like
a birthday present. It's wrapped up with a pretty
bow on it and you give it to somebody. He said, but you've
got to unwrap it. You've got to open it, see. Now think about that. Well, here's
the first thing. Salvation's not wrapped up in
anything. What's Paul talking about here in 1 Corinthians 2?
He's talking about the revelation of knowledge. So this free gift
is opened up and it's there for all to view. Even unbelievers
can view that. They can hear. about the free
gift of God, what they won't do is receive it. And you won't
receive it either unless God causes you to receive it. So
some say, well, it's no good unless we receive it. Well, if
that's the truth, then we're all lost. Because look at verse
14 of 1 Corinthians 2. The natural man, now what is
the natural man there? That's an unregenerate person,
not born again, an unbeliever, who fell in Adam, like all of
us did, into a state of sin and death and depravity. So the natural
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. Now, how plain
do you have to get here? Now, if you say, well, I'm different,
you know, Well, that's a self-righteousness. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the spirit God, for they are foolishness unto
him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually
discerned. What that tells you is that in
order for the natural man to receive these things, he has
to be given the spirit of life. He goes on to say in verse 15,
but he that is spiritual, that's a born again person. He judges all things, yet he
himself is judged of no man. Talking about in terms of salvation
and the free gift. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord that he may instruct him, but we have the mind of
Christ. Now, how do we have the mind of Christ? Well, right here
it is in the Word. Go back to verse 14. I'm gonna
close with this and I need you to really listen to this. He
said, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know
them, because they're spiritually discerned. That word discerned
means understood. And it means to understand it
savingly. A lot of people can understand
what we say when we preach the gospel, but they don't want it,
they hate it. The light, it shines, on their works and exposes them
to be evil deeds. Well, listen to 1 John 5 and
verse 20. Now, this is 1 John 5, 20. And you know, the whole issue
of the book of 1 John is to establish the people of God in the assurance
of salvation as evidenced by their faith in Christ. But in
1 John 5 and verse 20, here's what he says, listen. And we
know that the Son of God has come and hath given us an understanding,
that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that
is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ, this is the true God
and eternal life. What has he done? He's given
us an understanding, freely given by God. Even that understanding,
that discernment, by which the Spirit convinces us of sin, to
show us that what we naturally think is sinful, bringing us
to repentance of dead works and idolatry, and showing us Christ
in the glory of his person and the power of his finished work
to drive us to Christ. Even that saving understanding
is freely given by God to his people. One of the verses that I love
to quote in line with this is Ephesians 1.3. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. How many spiritual
blessings? All. What does he say? Even faith
is a gift from God, folks. Freely given by God. It's not
in us naturally, and we certainly can't earn it or deserve it.
For by grace are you saved. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. For by
grace are you saved, through faith, that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Freely given by, do we understand
how free it is? Well, He gives it to people who
don't earn it and don't deserve it, sinners. Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief, Paul said.
If God ever, think about it this way, if God ever gave me what
I deserve or what I earned, it would be eternal damnation. So
I worship the God who freely gives us all salvation, all blessings
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. All right.