Now there in that passage that
Brother Robert read, we have in verse 10, the Apostle Peter
writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he says, as every
man hath received the gift, and of course that's the gift of
salvation, and the blessings of salvation, even so minister,
serve, that's what ministry means, it means serve. serve the same
one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
The title of the message is Good Stewards of God's Grace. And
that's what I want to talk to you about a few minutes. What
is a steward? Well, a steward, back then anyway,
was a trusted bond servant. Now you know a bond servant or
a bond slave was one who was serving his master out of love
and loyalty. He wasn't serving to pay a debt
that he owed. So a good steward here was a
trusted bond servant. He was taken care of by the master.
He was given gifts by the master. But he was entrusted with the
business and the property and the estate of his master to do
his master's will. That's what a steward was. And
to be a good steward, especially in this context, to be a good
steward of God's grace, there are several things that had to
be established. Number one, to be a good steward
of God's grace, we have to know the reality of what grace is,
the reality of what belongs to God. We have to know our master's
goods and what he has given us. And what the scripture speaks
of here is the manifold grace of God. There has to be a revelation. The master has to tell us who
he is and what he gives us and why he gives it. And so we see
the manifold or the many-sided, many-faceted grace of God reaching
to all of His people, all spiritual blessings in Christ by God's
grace, all of salvation given us by His grace. And it's the
manifold grace of God. It's many-sided. It reaches all
the way back to eternity past. Speaking of a salvation that
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. It runs
through into the time of the cross when Christ died for our
sins and established righteousness. Look back at verse 1 of 1 Peter
chapter 4. Peter writes here, for as much
then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves
likewise with the same mind. This is something that we know
and think in our minds and in our hearts that we arm ourselves
with in order to be good stewards of God's grace for that he that
hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin, verse two, that
no longer should he should live the rest of his time in the flesh
to the lust of men but to the will of God." Now what's he talking
about there? Now here's a point of Scripture where it's vital
that we use the right rules of interpretation and we have to
look at the context and we have to interpret Scripture with Scripture. He speaks of Christ And what
he's saying is as good stewards of the grace of God, we know
where our salvation with all of its blessings and all of its
benefits come from. We know that they are all a free
gift to undeserving sinners. It's grace and mercy. We know
that we haven't earned any of the things that we're given any
responsibility. to serve in as good stewards.
It's all of God. We're blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And it's all
based upon the work of Christ who suffered for us in the flesh. As God manifests in the flesh,
as our surety, as our substitute, as our redeemer. And in suffering
in the flesh, Christ ceased from sin. And then he says, arm ourselves
with the same mind. For he that hath suffered in
the flesh hath ceased from sin, that he no longer should live
the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of men, but to the
will of God." Basically, what he's telling us there is that,
first of all, in the way that Christ ceased from sin, that's
the way we've ceased from sin. But now think about that. You
know yourself. And if you're a child of God,
regenerated by the Holy Spirit, you know what you are. You know
that you're, as we sang before, only a sinner saved by grace. How in the world could I look
at myself, honestly, from the mirror of God's Word, and honestly,
without shame, and boldly say that I've ceased from sin? Because
I'm a sinner. Well, first of all, And this
is where we have to, like I said, interpret the Bible correctly.
First of all, the Bible tells us that we're actually, if we're
in Christ, we're dead to sin. You can see that in Romans chapter
six and verse seven. He that is dead is freed from
sin. Justify. We cease from sin in
the same way that Christ ceased from sin legally. How did Christ
cease from sin? He was never a sinner. He was
never contaminated with our sins. He never sinned. He never had
a thought of sin. But how did He cease from sin?
He went to the cross for our sins charged, imputed, accounted
to Him. And He died and satisfied God's
justice in our place. So that our sins cannot be charged
to us. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justify. We cannot
be condemned. So in order to be a good steward,
I have to know that. I have to arm myself with that
same mind. God cannot and will not impute
sin to me. Why? Because Christ died. He suffered in the flesh. He
ceased from sin. He didn't stop sinning because
he never sinned, but he stopped the judgment of God's law as
it fell on him and drank damnation dry for us. You can't be a good
steward unless you have that mind, knowing that Christ suffered
in the flesh for me. I cannot be charged. God says
He will remember my sins no more. That's a gift from God. That's
being justified. I'm forgiven. I'm righteous in
God's sight because of His righteousness imputed to me. And that's why
in order to be a good steward, you must know the reality of
God's grace. You've got to know the reality
of God's grace. It has to be revealed to you
through the preaching of the Gospel. He says here in verse two, he
says that he no longer should live the rest of his time in
the flesh to the lust of men, but to the will of God. This
also includes not living to the lust of men and living to the
will of God. Well, how can I say I do that since I'm still a sinner,
since I still fall so short in everything I think, say, and
do of the perfection of righteousness that can only be found in Christ?
And here it is. We cease from sin also spiritually
when God the Holy Spirit gives us life and a new heart and gives
us faith to turn our eyes to Christ and away from ourselves.
And we see all glory belongs to God and none of it belongs
to us. That's what a good steward, he
knows what his master, what belongs to his master. And he knows what
belongs to him. Everything good and righteous
and blessed belongs to God and He's given it to us freely. We
didn't earn it. We didn't deserve it. It belongs
to God. Paul wrote it this way. Paul
was a good steward of God's grace and here's what he said, God
forbid that I should glory, boast, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Audrey and I were talking about
this right before the message. He's talking about a preacher
who said, well, my preaching is a work, and I'm working to
earn my reward. I had a preacher say one time
years ago, he said the reason that he preaches, he wanted more
rewards in heaven. Well, my friend, that doesn't
belong to us. The glory belongs to God. Paul
said this, though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory
in. That's a good steward. of the
grace of God, the manifold grace of God. And it must be revealed
to us. It must be planted in our minds
and our hearts, our mind affections, our will, our conscience, because
without it, we won't see it. It's never entered the minds
of men, 1 Corinthians 2 tells us, but by the Spirit of God,
we know that which is freely given. Well, what is freely given? Everything about salvation is
freely given to me based upon the blood of Christ, based upon
His righteousness imputed to me. Now that arms my mind. That gets me to thinking right
in any given area of being a good steward. His grace is never conditioned
on us. It's all conditioned on Christ
and Christ fulfilled those conditions. His grace guarantees the full
salvation and eternal blessedness of all for whom Christ died.
Arm yourselves, he says, with that kind of thinking and cease
from sin. Look to Christ. Look to him alone
for all salvation. Secondly, to be a good steward
of God's grace, we have to experience the power of God's grace in our
new birth, in regeneration, in conversion, in preservation.
In our conversion, when we're born again by the Holy Spirit
and brought to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works,
in our preservation, He keeps us, He holds us, He firmly, He
brings us to understand and to know Christ and to know that
outside of Christ, there's nothing for us. You see, grace is not
only a truth believed, it's a power experience whereby we walk by
faith, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Turn over to 1 John 2, let me show you what I'm talking about. He speaks of those who claim
to be believers, but they weren't. And it was evidenced by the fact
that they left the gospel. They left the fellowship and
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and they forsook Christ. They apostatized. To apostatize
does not refer to a believer who's gotten lazy and needs to
be spurred up a little bit. To apostatize means to turn completely
against what you professed at one time to believe. And basically,
it's to call Christ accursed. And he says this, he says in
verse 18 of 1st John 2, listen to this. Little children, it's
the last time, as you have heard, that antichrist shall come. You
see, this is an opposition to Christ. Even now there are many
antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time. They went
out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of
us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went
out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
Now certainly they weren't good stewards of the grace of God.
They never had the grace of God. But look at verse 20. But you
have an unction, an anointing, an anointing power. This is the
work of the Holy Spirit to give us spiritual life. to bring us
to faith in Christ and repentance. And you know all things, all
things pertaining to salvation, the glory of God. You have that
unction. And he goes on to prove that
true believers who are born of God, the seed of Christ, his
children, they can never leave Christ. They can never apostatize,
you see. It's an experience for them that
will never leave. And the reason is, is not because
we're such good people, the reason is because God is such a good
God. The reason is, is He will not
let us go. He will not turn loose of us. We sang that hymn, Come thou
fount of every blessing. One verse in that says, prone
to leave thee, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.
That is our flesh. If we could leave, we would leave. But God won't let us go. He said,
I and my Father are one and no man can pluck them out of my
Father's hand. He's able to keep that which we've committed. And
so to be a good steward of His grace is to have that unction,
that driving presence, motivating presence, energizing presence
of the Holy Spirit that will never leave us. And then thirdly,
To be a good steward of God's grace, we must, listen to this,
we must, by the power and grace of God through Christ, and as
we're inspired and motivated and energized by the Holy Spirit,
we must engage ourselves in the business of His kingdom. Why
are we here? That takes the inspiration, the
motivation, and the perseverance that God gives us. I'll give
you an example. found grace in the eyes of the
Lord. The Bible doesn't say anything
about Noah looking for God's grace and it certainly doesn't
say that Noah earned God's grace or it wouldn't have been grace.
Right before that in Genesis 6, the first passages of Genesis
6 before it gets to verse 8, it talks about how the whole
world has forsaken God. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Now that doesn't mean that Noah
was a better guy than the rest of them. That means Noah was
right with them naturally, but Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Now how do we know he found grace?
He obeyed the Lord, he built an ark, and he preached the gospel.
Now our hearts, to be a good steward of God's grace, our hearts
must be established with grace. We have to have in our mind,
in our hearts, the grace of God. And let me give you these four
things about it. In order to be good stewards
of God's grace, we must first stand fast in the liberty wherewith
God has made us free. Galatians 5 and verse 1. And
I've already talked about it. What is that liberty? It's the
liberty of being forgiven of all my sins. It's the liberty
of knowing that I already have a complete, perfect righteousness
before God that I cannot add to and don't want to. that cannot
be corrupted or taken away. It's the imputed righteousness
of Christ. It's the liberty of knowing that I've been brought
by God from darkness into light. That I'm no longer deceived.
I'm still a sinner. I'm still a sinner saved by grace.
But I'm not deceived by the world and by the flesh and by Satan.
The glory of God has been manifested for God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. And to be a good steward of His
grace, I've got to stand firm and immovable in that liberty.
I'm not going to let Self-righteous Pharisees draw me away from that
liberty. I don't care what they do. I
don't care what they call me. I don't care what they accuse
me of. I've been called an antinomian. You know what that is? Somebody
who's against the law of God. I'm not against the law of God.
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. By faith, we honor the law. What does faith do? It pleads
Christ. Somebody said, well, you believe
you can just do anything you want to. Well, what are you doing,
what you don't want to? I believe we should obey God,
and I'm going to talk about that. I believe we should strive and
struggle to be obedient servants of God, not in order to be saved. Not in order to be made righteous
in the way of justification because Christ has already done that
and we glorify and honor Him. But we must stand firm in our
liberty. When Pharisees and lost religionists
come in and challenge our liberty because of their self-righteous
views, we're to stand firm and not be entangled again with that
yoke of bondage. That's being a good steward of
the grace of God. Secondly, turn to Philippians
chapter 2. were to shine as lights of God's truth in Christ in this
dark world. Now what does that mean? That
means we're to be able witnesses of God's truth and God's gospel. Look at Philippians chapter 2
and verse 12. He writes here, Wherefore, my
beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but
now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling. Now is he telling us to work
for our salvation there? No. He's telling us to work out
of The fact that we've been saved with fear and trembling, with
respect and reverence to the God of all grace. And look at
verse 13, puts it into perspective. Look at it. For it is God which
worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. This
is the work of God. Even the obedience of a believer.
We are his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus unto,
not because of good works. But look, in verse 14, he says,
do all things without murmurings and disputings, that is, arguing
and dividing, that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons
of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse
nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. What is our shining light? Well,
as good stewards of the grace of God, if you don't know that,
you can't be a good steward of the grace of God. What is my
shining light? It's certainly not my physical
appearance. It's certainly not my eloquence. It's certainly
not anything about me. I'll tell you what it is. It's
the gospel that I preach. John the Baptist, he knew what
his shining light was. Think about John the Baptist.
You know, when preachers, when they come in, they hold what
they call revivals, you know, they'll always list their credentials.
Oh, this guy, he was saved when he was in the mother's womb,
and he jumped forth, and you know, this guy, he went to such
and such Bible college, he's Dr. So-and-so, and he's led 10,000
to the, think about the credentials that John the Baptist could have
put on his little billing. He could have said this. He could
have said, I'm the last of the Old Testament prophets. He could
have said this. He said, I'm prophesied in the
book of Malachi. It talks about me. I can show
you the verse. That's me. Not just anybody. He said, I'm the first one that
came in and brought in, ushered in the new covenant through Christ.
And listen to this. I baptized the Lord Jesus. And then if he could come back
from that, he said, I was martyred for the faith. What a credentials. But you know what he said? He
said this, I'm not the Messiah. Don't look to me. He said, I
can't save you. I'm not the savior. I'm not him. I can put you down underwater,
but there's one who's coming who can baptize you with the
Holy Spirit. He can give you new life, spiritual life. And
that one that's coming, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sins of the world. And that one who's coming, here's
how I rank. I'm not even worthy to untie
his shoes. That's a good steward. Here's another thing, he said,
he must increase, I must decrease. And then the best testimony to
John the Baptist being a good steward, they heard John speak,
but they followed Jesus. Now that's a good steward, isn't
it? Matthew 5.16 says, let your light
so shine that men may see your good works and glorify your Father
which is in heaven. Well, what is the light there?
It's not our good works, it's the gospel that glorifies God
in Christ, exalts Christ and puts sinners in the dust where
we belong, puts us in a position where we can glorify nothing
but Him. His righteousness. My preaching,
listen, I'm not up here earning my rewards in heaven so that
I'll get more than you who are sitting there in the pew. That's
not being a good steward if that's what I'm here for. You see that? I'm up here, I hope in the spirit
of John the Baptist, I've got to decrease, Christ must increase. That's what the ministry is all
about. That's what being a good steward is all about. Let me
tell you about my master. Let me tell you about his glory.
Let me tell you about his beauty. Let me tell you about his power.
Let me talk about his righteousness. I have people criticize me. They
say, you talk about the righteousness of Christ too much. No, no, no. I don't preach about it enough.
You hear it every time I preach. I still don't preach it enough. Let me tell you where the power,
where the goodness, where the righteousness, where the grace,
where the mercy is. It's in the glorious person and
finished work of Christ. Shine as lights in God's truth. But look, look back there at
first Peter. We shine in our lives to not, not just, I'd rather
see a sermon than hear a sermon, but look at verse three. of 1
Peter 4. He said, for the time past of
our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles.
We spent enough time working out the will of men, the Gentiles
he says here, when we walked in lasciviousness, lust, excessive
wine, reveling, banqueting, and abominable idolatries. We've
had enough time for that stuff. And he says in verse four, wherein
they think it strange that you run not with them to this same
excess of right speaking evil of you. They've turned against
you now. You used to be their friend. Now they're your enemy.
Whether they're religious or immoral, you're their enemy. And they speak evil of you. But
he says in verse five, they speak evil of you who shall give an
account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.
The quick there means his children. The dead means those who stand
before him without Christ. And what is our account? Our account is in Christ. That's the account of every true
child of God. He said He will remember our
sins no more. He's not going to bring our sins back up to
us at judgment. He's going to declare to the
whole universe, this is my child. This is a sinner saved by grace
through the blood of my Son. And he says this, look at verse
six. For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are
dead. He's talking about believers here who have died, that they
might be judged according to men in the flesh. They're judged
as being cursed, pitiful by men in the flesh, but live according
to God in the spirit. They're living now, he says,
in the spirit with Christ. Think about that. But then he
says in verse seven, but the end of all things is at hand.
Now, what's Peter talking about the end of all things? Well,
depending upon when you believe that Peter wrote this epistle,
there are some who believe he's talking about the destruction
of Jerusalem in AD 70, the end of all things in that sense.
I don't believe that's the case, but that did happen. Some people
believe that first Peter was written after that event though.
I don't know. Others believe that Peter's talking
about the second coming of Christ. That we're in the last days,
the last age, as John said in 1 John chapter 2. It is the last
days. The new covenant age. The time
from the death of Christ to his second coming. This is the end.
I don't know what day it's going to come, but this is it. Others
think he's talking about the time of their death. His martyrdom
and the death of many of these saints. Either way, Here's the
point, look at it. The end of all things is at hand.
I know the end of all things for me is getting closer. The
end of all things for some of you, getting closer to it as
far as this life's concerned. So what do we do? He says be
sober. That means be clear thinking.
Be of right judgment. Somebody said, well that means
don't drink too much. Well don't drink too much. Don't! Be sober. It's not right. Drunkenness
is a sin. All right? Don't let Pharisees
burden you down with their little nuances, you know. The disciples
did not drink grape juice at the Lord's Supper. They drank
wine. And that's not a sin. But drunkenness
is. But the soberness here has to
do with clear-headedness, clear thinking. Gospel thinking. Minding
ourselves with the grace of God. And then he says, and watch unto
prayer. Be alert, be watchful, and pray. People of prayer. Verse eight, above all things
have fervent charity among yourselves, for charity shall cover the multitude
of sins. That's talking about love of
the brethren. That's the third thing. Stand fast in our liberty,
shine as a light of God's truth in Christ, and love the brethren. What does that mean? That means
stick together in this truth, in the gospel. Help one another. Serve one another. That's what
he means. All of these things. We're a
family, a spiritual family that'll last forever, even more than
our physical family. That'll go away one day. But
this family will go forever, and that's what he's saying.
Be together in love, and love covers a multitude of sins. You
know why he says that? Because this family, what are
we? We're sinners saved by grace, and we're gonna sin. We're gonna
argue, we're gonna divide, we're gonna make each other mad, you
know, we're gonna disappoint each other, but this love in
the gospel from Christ will cover a multitude of sins. Hey, notice
here, it doesn't say love will cover a few sins. It says this
love will cover a multitude of sins. Forgive one another, that's
what he's saying. Well, what if we don't deserve
forgiveness? Do it anyway. How did Christ forgive you? You
didn't deserve it. Stay together. Somebody says,
well, I'm going to take my ball and go home. I don't like the
way you're playing. No, don't do that. Stick together. Use hospitality, verse 9. Be
hospitable one to another without grudging. Giving of yourself. giving of
your time without grudging. And then verse 10, as every man
hath received the gift, the gift of salvation, and whatever gifts
of ministry we have, minister, serve the same one to another
as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Turn to Philippians
chapter three. How can I be a good steward of
the grace of God? Well, stand fast in our liberty.
wherewith Christ has made us free. Shine as a light of God's
truth in Christ in this lost world, whether it's religious
or immoral, whatever, you stand fast. Thirdly, love the brethren,
and here's the last one, strive to be obedient to His Word. Somebody said, well, what law
are we under? We're under the Word of God.
We're under the Word of Christ. Whatever He says goes, isn't
it? When He said, go into all the world and preach the gospel,
He wasn't making a suggestion there. He was commanding as the
King of kings. Well, look at Philippians 3.
Look at verse 12. We'll close here. Paul's talking
about the resurrection. I want to be resurrected unto
perfection in myself. I want to be rid of this flesh,
this veil of tears. These pains, the sadness, and
the sorrows that go along with living on this earth. And he
says in verse 12, not as though I had already attained. I'm not
there yet. I'm saved by grace. I'm sure
for heaven because of Christ's blood and righteousness. But
I'm not there yet. You look at me, I'm a poor pitiful
sinner saved by the grace of God. He says, not as though it
already attained, either were already perfect. That is, complete
in myself. I've still got a battle to fight. Flesh and the spirit. But, well,
Paul, what do you do? You just throw up your hands
and go home and say to heck with all of it? No. He says, I follow
after, if not I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. I follow after. What do you mean,
Paul? Verse 13, Brethren, I count not
myself to have apprehended. I'm not already resurrected.
I'm not perfect in myself. I'm not righteous in myself.
I'm righteous in Christ. I'm perfect in Christ, but not
in myself. But this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those
things which are before, I press toward the mark of the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I want to be like
Christ. Now look at verse 15, here's
something interesting. Let us, therefore, as many as
be perfect. Well now wait a minute, Paul.
You said not as though I were already perfect. What's he talking
about? Is he talking about both sides
of his mouth? No. If I'm perfect in Christ, if
I'm righteous in Christ based upon His righteousness imputed
to me, legally justified, and He's given me life, spiritual
life, then here's how I ought to think. Let us therefore as
many as be complete and perfect in Christ be thus minded. Think
like this, strive toward the high calling. Strive to obey
God. Fight the warfare of the spirit
against the flesh. Be engaged mentally, physically,
spiritually in this warfare against the flesh. And if anything, you
be otherwise minded. If you're a true child of God
and you're not thinking like this, God's gonna reveal that
unto you. Nevertheless, he says, whereto
we have already attained righteousness in Christ, let us walk by the
same rule. Let us mind the same thing. That's
what he's talking about. Study his word. Grow in grace
and in knowledge. Worship with his people. You
know you're being a good steward when you worship with His people.
That's what we're doing. You're not here to earn your
blessings, are you? I hope not. You'll receive a
blessing. Fight the warfare of the flesh against the spirit.
That's the good steward of the manifold grace of God. Okay.