Good morning. It's wonderful
to be here. Always a blessing to get together
with the Lord's people and to worship in spirit and truth. I always look forward to Sunday
and Wednesday and just being able to look into the Word. Today
we'll be in Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. And the name of the message is
The Nature of Grace. The Nature of Grace. Romans chapter
5, verses 19 to 21. First, by one man's disobedience,
being Adam, many were made sinners. So by the obedience of one, being
Christ, shall many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. And here's our text from right
here. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. And
then the next verse says, that as sin reigned unto death, even
so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. The nature of grace, the nature
of grace. Verse 20 is a wonderful portion
of scripture. But where sin abounded, And sin
does abound in this world. It does. Grace did much more
abound. Now the Greek word for abound
at the end means this, to super abound. So where sin abounded,
grace did super abound. Super abound. And it also goes
on to say abound much more exceeding and then to abound beyond measure. So God's grace abounds beyond
measure. Sin abounds, but God's grace
abounds beyond measure. And it also means to overflow,
to enjoy abundantly. So God's grace is super abounding
grace. Super abounding grace. As I said,
sin abounds in this world, but oh, God's grace, it super abounds
in the believer's life. Think of it like this. Here's
an illustration. Say you have a match, and it's burning, and someone
uses a whole bucket of water to put it out. You don't need a bucket of water,
but that's what God's grace, it's super abounding. Or you
just need to quench your thirst and someone gives you a nice
large glass of water. You just need a sip. But they
give you a huge glass of water. It's like a cup of cold water.
And it just keeps coming and coming and coming. So where sin abounded, grace
did superabound. And this was also an effect of
the law and the light that it gives. Sin abounds in all its
extent. Sin abounds in all its extent.
So why? So that grace may be shown to
superabound. It's like the analogy of when
you go into a jeweler. And when you're going to look
at precious diamonds or stones, they always put a black piece
of felt down. Why? So the diamonds just stand
out and glisten. And this is what God's grace
does. The grace of God given from his
throne above not only pardons sin, and it not only pardons
the blackest, most vilest ones, but it also pardons sins that
we don't even know we commit. It gives pardon, full pardon
to the believer, full pardon of all your sins. And it also gives eternal life
with Christ. It's wonderful. God's grace is
amazing. It restores communion with God,
which we lost in Adam. When Adam fell, we saw that for
by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. We fell in
Adam. It restores communion, which
we lost in Adam, and communion, which we lost
in our own sins. Calvin says this about this portion
of scripture. He says, when sin had held men
plunged under its power, grace came to their relief. Came to
their relief. The more sin is known, the more
magnificent the grace of God appears to us. Have you ever
noticed that as you grow in grace, you feel like you're more and
more of a sinner? and you marvel more and more
at God's grace to you? Oh. The grace of God is poured out,
not only in a manner to overcome sin, but to overwhelm it. The believers purged from all
their sins, purged from the penalty of their
sins. purge from the power up there.
Not the presence, unfortunately, but we will when we get the glory.
It'll be gone. We won't struggle anymore with
sin. So let's look at seven points
that form the nature of grace. Seven points. God's grace, the
first point. God's grace is God acting freely
according to his own nature in love. God's grace is God acting freely
according to his own nature and love. Turn with me, if you would,
to Ephesians chapter 1. God acts according to his own
purpose, which he has purposed in himself. He does what he wills. Look at
verse 7. In whom we have redemption being
Christ, through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according
to the riches of his grace. Ephesians 1.8, wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, it superabounds.
Heaven made known unto us the mystery of his will. Man talks
about free will. There is only one free will in
the universe, and that's God's. Our wills are bound by our nature. Heaven made known unto us the
mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he
has purposed in himself. He has purposed to save a people
from their sins. And he's done it. So it's according to his good
pleasure. If you're saved, it's according to his good pleasure.
And it's also according to God's will, which leads to our next
point. Grace, therefore, is uncaused
in the recipient. Uncaused. There is nothing in us that would
make God obligated to save us. Nothing at all. Oh, but he's
merciful. He is merciful. The cause of
grace is totally in the giver, not in the receiver. It's totally in the giver. He
must make us willing. He must choose us in eternity.
It's all Him. And this is wonderful, because
the giver of grace is God. And it's only in Christ. It's
only in Him. Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Peter. If you're saved, it's by the
mercy of God. It's by the mercy of God. 1 Peter chapter one, verses three to five. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy,
oh, God's merciful, oh, God's merciful, have begotten us, we're
born again of the Holy Spirit, unto a lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible.
We can't mess it up. We can't mess it up, beloved. Why? Because it's God's inheritance.
He's given it to us in Christ. To an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled. Everything we do is tainted with
sin. This inheritance is undefiled. that fadeth not away. And look
at this. Do you ever go to a place or
call ahead and they make reservations and they have a table waiting
for you and a chair waiting for you? It's reserved, right? There's a place for every saint
of God in heaven, reserved in heaven for you, for you who believe. It's reserved. Verse 5, look at this. And we
looked at this on Wednesday night. But God's keeping grace, too.
Who are kept by the power of God. Through faith, you must
believe. No one's saved who doesn't believe.
Through faith, kept by the power of God, the dynamite of God,
through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. So there's no cause in us. Grace finds no cause in us. It's all in the giver. It's all
in the one who gives. Number three, the grace of God
is sovereign. Sovereign. Turn with me, if you
would, to Acts chapter nine. Oh, the grace of God is sovereign.
Since the grace of God is not relying on our works, right?
There's no cause in us to merit it or deserve it. which none
of us deserve, the grace of God, it can therefore act and be given
to whomever God chooses to give it to. And oftentimes, it's the
very ones who we think would all, you know, we look at a person and
think, oh my, you know, but we just have to look at ourselves.
And if God can save us, he can save anyone. if he chooses, if
he chooses. You know, because oftentimes
we look at man and say, oh, look at that guy. He is just so off. And when I was in the Pharisees,
and when I was a Pharisee, I used to always judge people that way
and say, oh, look at that guy. He could never be saved. Oh,
I was such a fool. And then God shows you grace,
and you're like, oh, God, he saved me. Acts chapter 9 verse 11, And
the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go unto the street, which
is called straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one
called Saul of Taurus. For behold, he prayeth, and hath
seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting
his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias
answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man. Now Paul
had a reputation amongst Christians, and it was not good. by many of this man, how much
evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem." So there's a case
where probably they're like, this man? He's hauling Christians
away. He's having them imprisoned. How much evil have you done to
thy saints at Jerusalem? And look at verses 14, 15, and
16. And here he hath authority from the chief priest to bind
All that call on my name, he had authority to go and grab
more Christians and haul them out and take them to prison.
But the Lord said unto him, go thy way, and here is God's sovereignty,
for he is a chosen vessel unto me. He's mine. He's one of my sheep from eternity. He is a chosen vessel unto me
to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of
Israel. And every one of God's sheep are chosen. They're chosen
in Christ. For I will show him how great
things he must suffer for my name's sake. So God's grace is
sovereign. It's absolutely sovereign. And
this gives us great hope. Because we know we're just frail
sinners, but we're kept by the power of God. And when he saves
someone, he saves them. It's not like when man is talked
into making a profession and he just goes off and does whatever
he wants to do. No, when God saves one of his
sheep, he saves them. They're his. They're his by name. So God's grace is sovereign,
and it's uncaused in us. It's God acting according to
his good pleasure. If he saved you, it's God acting
according to his own good pleasure. Which goes to our next point.
God's grace cannot act where there is ability. where there's ability. Grace does not just come and
help. You often hear folks say, well,
I chose Jesus. I came to Him. I used to brag
about that all the time before the Lord showed me grace. I did
it. I read a gospel track. And this
is what mine was. I read a gospel track. You know,
I prayed the prayer. I'm good. That's my own ability. And I bragged about what I did.
Now I brag about what he's done. What he's done. So God's grace,
God's grace cannot act where there's ability. It doesn't just
come and help. It is an absolute. Saving grace,
and it's all God's work. It's all His work. It doesn't
merely make us savable, as some claim. It saves us. It saves us from our sins. God's grace does it all. Turn
with me, if you would, to Psalm 27. Psalm 27, verse 1. David cries and sings, the Lord
is my light and my salvation. He's everything. The Lord is
my light and my salvation. Whom shall I? The Lord is the
strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Salvation
is all God's doing. It's all his work. Turn again
if you would to John chapter 6. God must save us or we'll never
be saved. Now does he make us willing?
Do we flee to Christ? Absolutely. After we've been
regenerated. after the Holy Spirit's done
a work in us. See, He's the Alpha and the Omega, the begin and
the end. Add any of your works or my works
to grace, and it's no longer grace. Think about this. Imagine a balloon.
Remember when we were kids, and they'd fill them balloons up
full of helium, automatically go up there. Okay, so imagine
that balloon. Jean-Claude gave me this illustration,
and I love it. It's so simple, and it's so amazing
that all of us can easily understand. So you have a balloon, and imagine
that's like the grace of God, the balloon full. And you take
one pin, and you just do a pinprick. What happens to that balloon? That's what happens if you add
one pinprick of works to grace. It's no longer grace. It's no
longer grace. John 6.44 says this. No man can come to me except
the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I'll raise him
up the last day. God's grace will not work where
there's ability. So see that little word, can? No man can,
right? In the Greek, it's defined this
way, to be able. Have power. Whether by virtue
of one's own ability and resources or even the state of your mind,
you have no ability to come to God at all on your own, none. God's grace is absolutely sovereign,
and salvation is all of the Lord. Oh, beloved, God's grace cannot
act where there is ability, which leads to our next point. Since
there's no cause in us why grace should be shown, we must cease
from trying to earn God's grace. We cannot gain merit and favor
with God by our doings. Millions and millions of folks
are trying. They're trying to gain merit
and favor with God by what they do. And they'll tell you that. They'll tell you, well, because
I'm a good person, I'm going to heaven. Romans chapter 3 says, there's
none that understand it. Verse 11 and 12. There's none
that understand it. There's none that seek it after
God. No one. No one this top side of God's
earth seeks after God. Unless you're made willing. Then
you run. Then you flee. And then it says
in verse 12, they're all gone out of the way. They're all together
become unprofitable. There's none that do it good.
No, not one. That's a humble inscription. Everything we do, Spurgeon said
it, our best prayers, our best preaching is tainted with sin.
Everything we do is tainted with sin. In God's eyes, there's none good. And folks will tell you, well,
I don't do this. I don't do that. And there's
a whole list of things that people have. I call it the checklist,
because I used to have one. A checklist of do's and don'ts.
Well, I don't do that. I don't do that. I don't do that.
It's just self-righteous pride. There's some things we ought
not to do. And there's some things that the Holy Spirit will lead
us not to do, right? And here, he'll convict us. But there's a whole lot of things
that religious folks put yokes on people, a whole lot of things. Nothing we do, though, and nothing
they do will gain merit and favor with God. So we have to cease
from our labors, because God's grace cannot be earned. We're not saved by what we do. We're saved by what he's done.
He did it all for us. In our room and place, he bled
and died on the cross for sinners, for his people. He satisfied God's law and justice. He was the perfect man in whom
there was no sin. Only Christ. And so now we live
a life of entering into that rest as believers. Resting and
trusting in Christ each day, struggling as we go through this
world. But He'll never leave us, nor
forsake us. He's with us all the time. So
no one's saved by what they do. And think of this. If a person could do something
that would gain merit and favor with God, then God would be indebted
to him, wouldn't he? God's indebted to no one. He's a sovereign king. I think
we've kind of lost some of that nowadays where we don't have
kings that rule and reign. Well, he's a king. He's a king
on the throne, ruling and reigning. This is his domain. He does whatever
he pleases. The next point is God saves us
by his grace when we exhibit humbleness. And why do we do
this? Well, because we're bought to
know our absolute unworthiness and our inability to obtain worthiness
before God in ourselves. Yet the believer finds himself
blessed. His sins pardoned. Turn with
me, if you would, to Romans chapter 4. And then also put your finger
in Psalm 3. We're almost finished. The believer finds himself blessed.
His sin pardoned and peace with God. all outside of himself and
in Christ. Romans 4, verses 6 to 8, even
as David also described it, the blessedness of the man unto whom
God imputed righteousness without works. Without works, without you doing. This is marvelous. Oh, I remember
the chains and the religion when I was in that, Oh, you go to
service and you come back feeling just worse than when you went? Saint blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered by the precious
blood of Christ. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Oh, it's marvelous, and because
of that, Our last point is, therefore the flesh has no place in the
plan of God. Our flesh has no place in the
plan of God, our works and our doing. And this is one of the
reasons why grace is hated by proud natural man, because it
leaves them nothing to do. Nothing to do. We're wired for
works, aren't we? We come into this world, we want
to do things, we're wired. In our natural state, well, I'm
a good person. Surely God wouldn't send me to
hell. People make statements like that.
I've made statements like that all the time, without even knowing
the scripture said there's none good. So this grace, therefore, the
nature of grace leaves no, the flesh has no place in the plan
of God. And there's only two religions
in this whole world. There really is. There's only
two. You can boil down every religion. There's only two, though. There's grace and works. That's
it. There are no other ones. There's
only grace and works. All other religions, no matter
what their name, has you do something to gain your salvation. But grace
says it's all in Christ and Him alone. He did it all. Turn with me, if you would, to
Psalm 3. Oh, if the Lord does not save
you, you'll never be saved at all. Salvation is of the Lord. Psalm
3, verse 7 and 8. Arise, O Lord, save me. Oh, my
God, for Thou hast smitten all my enemies upon the cheekbone. Thou hast broken the teeth of
the ungodly. Verse 8, salvation belongeth
unto the Lord, which ties right in with Jonah. Salvation is of
the Lord. It's all Him. Thy blessing is
upon thy people. Oh, may we praise His name. For here saved, may we praise
His mighty name for saving our souls.