This morning is Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 16. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. I want to talk to you this morning about grace. Grace.

I had a letter that I answered earlier in the week. A man was asking me about a subject about which there is considerable debate and suggested that maybe I should give some consideration to preaching along this line, after all, just suppose this is right.

And I wrote him back and said, I never preach about things I suppose might be right. Never. I make you that promise. I will not stand up here and speculate about what I think might be. What I'm preaching to you, I know it's so. What I'm preaching to you, I have absolute certainty, is the truth of God. And what I'll preach to you tonight, I have absolute confidence, is the very truth of God. I'm not going to speculate. I want to talk to you this morning about grace.

And I do so because I recognize that almost all professing Christians profess to believe that salvation is by grace. Almost everybody does. The Bible states the fact so plainly. Hardly anyone can be found who claims to be a Christian who does not also claim to believe in salvation by grace. I know very few religious people who deny that fact that's so plainly and clearly revealed in scripture.

The trouble is that the vast majority of men and women and the vast majority of preachers talk about grace in such a way as to frustrate grace. That is, the way they talk about grace, they make grace to be a meaningless and insignificant thing. The grace they talk about is not grace at all, but really it is works and freewillism under the name and title of grace.

It's therefore needful that we constantly and clearly be instructed in the doctrine of the grace of God. I want to talk to you about this subject this morning. The grace that comes from God, the grace that comes from God who sits upon and sovereignly rules the universe, his lofty throne of grace. This is grace that comes down from the throne of grace and is worthy of the God of grace. I'm talking to you about grace.

And the message is important for several reasons. First, salvation by grace strips man of every ground for human boasting. Now that's important. Anytime man can be stripped, anytime man can have his room for boasting destroyed and just knocked out from under him, that's good. Boasting excluded, pride I abase, I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Who maketh thee to differ from another? It's God Almighty and only God. Now you listen carefully to me.

If your idea of salvation allows you to boast that the difference between you and other people is something you are, or something you have done, or something you have experienced, or something you have felt, then you do not yet know the doctrine of the grace of God. You do not yet know the gospel of Christ. You do not yet know God. Salvation by grace excludes totally boasting on the part of man. God's people know better. than to boast even of their repentance and faith. For we recognize that even these things are the gifts of God and the operations of His grace. This is repeated so many times in the scriptures.

The apostle says in Acts 5 that Christ is a prince and a savior to give repentance to Israel. The Apostle Peter, when he looked back at Cornelius and what happened, he said God granted them faith and saved them by faith just like he did us. When the Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians, he tells the Corinthians that Apollos is nothing and Paul is nothing and Peter is nothing, but God by whom faith is given.

God uses us as instruments by which he gives faith to men and grants salvation and eternal life. It is the goodness of God, he told the Romans, that leadeth thee to repentance. So that all the graces that are in us, beginning with repentance and faith, the graces that are in the people of God are the fruit of God the Holy Spirit. They are the operations of God upon us.

Secondly, The message is important because salvation by grace, by grace alone, means that God alone shall have the praise, honor and glory for it. It is written that no flesh should glory in his presence, but he that gloryeth let him glory in the Lord. Now, I mean that God the Father gets all the praise for planting salvation. God the Son gets all the praise for purchasing it. God the Holy Spirit gets all the praise for performing it in us and preserving us in it. God alone gets the praise.

Now this is a test. Talk about litmus test for this thing or the other. Here's a litmus test. This is the Ashton test by which you can judge the truth or the error of all doctrine, of all preaching, of all religious experience. Does it cause your face to kindly flush red with pride? Does it cause you to just sort of feel good about who you are and what you are and what you've done? Does it cause you to kindly imagine that somehow you're just a cut above the others and you're just a little bit better than others because of who you are, what you do, what you imagine, what you feel? If so, The doctrine you embrace is heresy. It's contrary to the grace of God. If your religion makes you think you're something rather than nothing, then your religion is altogether wrong.

I got a packet in the mail the other day from a lady who used to attend the ministry of the gospel regularly, and she's gotten swept up in charismatic trash. And I meant to use the word trash because I'm being polite. She just swept up in it. And she sent me a copy of their church's rendition of Amazing Grace. It says, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved someone like me. Isn't that good? Save someone like me. After all, we're not wretches. Now you say, well, what's the importance of that? It is the implication of the doctrine, for it makes you imagine that after all, you are something.

And I'm telling you, you're nothing. I'm nothing. All of us together are nothing. If we put us all together and wait us out, God says the whole race of mankind is not even as the dust of the balance, less than nothing in vanity, wretches, wretched, sinful worms.

On the other hand, if the doctrine you embrace causes you to acknowledge your wretchedness and causes you to acknowledge your utter sinfulness. and causes you to look to God, trust Him, trust Christ, give all praise to Him, and all honor to Him, and all glory to Him, I'll guarantee you your doctrine is the doctrine of God our Savior. I'll guarantee you it is the message of God's free grace and according to Holy Scripture. So that you look to the Lord God and you cry not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory for Thy mercy and for Thy truth's sake.

Thirdly, this message is important because any mixture of grace and works, any mixture of merit with mercy, any mixture of what you do with what God does is not only terribly evil, but it is utterly damning to your soul. Now, I can't state that strong enough. I cannot overemphasize what I'm saying. The mixture of grace with works, the mixture of your will with Christ's worth, the mixture of your merit with God's mercy is damning to your soul.

Salvation is in Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone. Now Christ plus anything is not salvation but damnation. Grace plus anything is not salvation but damnation. Faith plus anything is not salvation but damnation. The scriptures are so abundantly clear.

The apostle says, now, if you're justified by your works, you've fallen from grace. He says, if you're circumcised, Christ profits you nothing. The Apostle says in Romans 11 in verse 6 that if you have anything put in grace of works, then grace is no more grace. If you put grace with works, then work is no more work. You've confused both.

Salvation is by grace alone. And once more, as I said in the beginning, this message is important. Because very, very few people, Very few professing Christians, very few preachers, very few people in this world consequently know what grace is. Most people imagine that grace is a passion or a desire in the heart of God to save sinners. Or that grace is something that God offers to men. Or that grace is something God gives to men, giving them a chance to use it to work out their own salvation.

But none of these things, none of these things are stated in the Scriptures. The Word of God never talks about grace like that. The Word of God never talks about grace as an offer. Find me a place where it does. The Word of God never talks about grace as being something that God just sort of wishes to exercise. Find me a place where it does. The Word of God never speaks of God Almighty sitting in heaven, kindly longing and yearning to be gracious.

The Word of God speaks of grace as an attribute of God Almighty and the mighty operation of His arm by which He accomplishes salvation for somebody. So grace is the operation of God, not the offer. Grace is the gift of God, not the presentation, not the possibility. Now, whenever you think about grace, whenever you talk about grace, whenever you meditate on grace, always remember that as it is described in the Bible, grace has specific characteristics.

Any definition of grace that violates those characteristics is an utter denial of grace. Let me show you some of them. Turn to second Timothy chapter one and verse nine. Second Timothy chapter one and verse nine. Here are four distinct characteristics of grace. I'll give them to you hurriedly, but I want you to get them.

Number one, grace is eternal. It's eternal. I mean, it has neither beginning nor end. It's eternal. What God winds up doing for sinners, God did for sinners before the world began. What God does for you now is the result of what God has done for you from eternity in Jesus Christ.

Read 2 Timothy 1.9. Paul is talking about the gospel which is according to the power of God. Verse 9, 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, get it now, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

That's grace. It's eternal. Secondly, the grace of God never changes. It's immutable. Like God himself, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. So with the grace of God, there is neither variableness nor the shadow of turning. The grace of God is that which God describes when he says, I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. The grace of God is that which the apostle Paul is talking about when he says the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. God doesn't change, neither does his grace change. So that the grace of God is never conditioned on something you are or something you do.

The grace of God never is determined by something in the center, but rather the grace of God determines everything for chosen centers and accomplishes everything for us. Thirdly, the grace of God is sovereign. Sovereign. What does that mean? That means it comes from a throne. That means it always has its way. That means the grace of God is independent. That means the grace of God rules. That means what Paul says, so then, salvation is not of him that will it, nor of him that run it, but of God that showeth mercy.

But preacher, the way you're talking, you act like salvation is not up to me. I'm hoping you understand exactly what I'm saying. Salvation is not up to you. No, sir. God is not in your hands. God is not waiting at your beck and call to do something for you. God is not on the sidelines hoping somehow you'll let Him in and have some influence in your life. God Almighty exercises His grace as He will. And it's up to Him whether He saves you or not.

All together. All together. If He passes you by, He's done you no harm. If he leaves you to yourself, he has not in any way violated you, but rather he leaves you to yourself because you have violated his honor by your transgression. You violated his honor by your sin. And God passes by some.

Oh, but there are some to whom God stretches out the arm of his grace and snatches them from the pits of everlasting ruin. And that's the fourth characteristic of grace. It's effectual. The scripture never says, by grace, God offered you salvation. The scripture never says, by grace, God gave you an opportunity to be saved. The scripture never says, by grace, God is waiting to be gracious. The scripture says, By grace you're saved.

Grace gets the job done. That's right. And any grace that leaves the possibility that maybe the job won't get done is not grace, but a frustration of grace. Any doctrine that suggests that somehow God is frustrated in his effort to save sinners is not the gospel and the man who preaches it is not God's servant. The gospel is a declaration of grace. Wherever God bestows his grace, salvation is the result. Grace is not, I repeat, the offer of salvation or the offer of an opportunity to be saved. Grace is the accomplishment of salvation. Now, let me show you from the scriptures. how the word of God describes, defines and illustrates grace.

Let me let me just turn to several passages in scripture. I'm going to show you seven things. I'm just going to touch the highlights, but I want you to get them. And I hope you can rejoice in them. First, turn with me to Ephesians chapter one, Ephesians chapter one. I could go to a lot of places for this opening statement, this opening point of the message. But Ephesians chapter one happens to be my favorite.

The first thing I want you to see is the grace of God by which we are saved. As it is set forth in the word of God is covenant grace. It's covenant grace. Oh, covenant grace. Judy and I didn't collaborate, but of what she's saying about just a little bit ago, that's the kind of grace I'm talking about. That grace which chose us and put us in Christ in covenant mercy, securing our salvation.

Read what Paul says beginning in verse two of Ephesians one. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. And with those words, Paul's heart just burst out in praise to God and calling us to give praise to God. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

Now that word blessed or blessed as we say it so often has two meanings in the scriptures. Sometimes the word that is translated blessed means happy And that's the word that's used when our Lord says, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who are suffering or persecuted for Christ's sake. That word means happy, happy are you. The word that is here translated blessed means to eulogize. It's the word from which we get our word eulogy. A eulogy is what a man does when someone has died.

For example, Mr. Nixon died a week or so ago, and politicians who hated him while he was living began to eulogize him. They spoke well of him. Now, some didn't, but most began to speak well of him. That means because you want to honor somebody, you stand up and speak well on their behalf for whatever reason.

Well, here is a well-deserved eulogy. Paul says, sons of God, You who have experienced grace, eulogize God. Say something good about God. Because God in covenant mercy said something good about you before the world began. He eulogized you. The same word used. What did He say? He blessed us.

That is, He spoke well of us. and gave us all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ and this is how he did it. 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, having predestinated us under 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, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Covenant grace. Is the grace that is set forth in the gospel. It is a grace that back before the world began in the covenant, chose a people unto salvation and predestinated everything necessary to their salvation. It is grace that found a ransom, that is, found a way for a holy and just God to be merciful and gracious to guilty sinners. And that ransom is the Son of God himself, Jesus Christ the Lord. By his death on the cross, the Son of God was set up and established by God before the world was as our ransom, our redeemer and our substitute. And a seal was pledged. God the Holy Spirit was pledged in covenant grace to be the seal of the covenant.

If you read in Revelation chapter seven concerning the judgments that are to befall the earth, the Lord God says to the angels of judgment, hurt not the earth, hurt not the earth till we have sealed the hundred and forty and four thousand in the earth. Don't don't bring judgment to this world. until the Spirit has come and sealed every one of God's elect. Don't do it.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to us. That is longsuffering for the sake of his covenant ones, longsuffering for the sake of his chosen, longsuffering for the sake of his redeemed, not willing that any of us should perish. Not willing that any of his elect should perish, but that all should come to repentance and to the knowledge of truth. You see, God won't bring judgment to this world until the last of his elect is saved. He won't do it. That's the whole message of Revelation chapter 7. God won't bring judgment until the last of his elect is saved.

When God sent his angels to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham Imagine that somehow he must drive a bargain with God and he kept pleading with him. He said, if I find 50 righteous, if you find 40 righteous, if you find 30, if you find 20, if you find just 10, will you destroy the righteous with the wicked? And God said to Abraham, I won't destroy the righteous with the wicked.

No, that will not happen. I won't destroy my own with the world. No, never. Well, what's got to happen? Lot must be delivered from Sodom. And so God sends his angel down and takes Lot out of Sodom. And I'm telling you that not one of God's elect will perish, but he'll save them all before judgment comes to this world. Folks, debate, I get letters all the time, folks ask me about the coming of Christ. I'll tell you exactly when the Lord's coming, exactly when it's going to happen, when the last of God's elect are saved. and everything God purposed to bring to pass has come to pass. Christ is coming.

Until then, judgment will not come to the earth. Secondly, the grace of God that bringeth salvation is prevenient grace. Prevenient grace. Now, preachers don't talk about it much anymore because preachers, for the most part, don't know anything about grace anymore. But a common theme of preaching and meditation in days gone by was God's prevenient grace.

Now, some of you, I suspect, are sitting scratching your heads and wondering what on earth does that word prevenient mean? I guarantee you, you young people, if you want to go to school tomorrow morning and you have your English class, ask your teacher to explain prevenient. You'll get a puzzled look on your face. Prevenient? Who ever heard of prevenient? The word prevenient means preceding. Or it means to go before.

And prevenient grace is the secret operation of grace that precedes and prepares the way for the experience of God's saving grace. Prevenient grace is illustrated in many ways in the scriptures. Let me show you just a few of them. Turn to Second Timothy chapter one or chapter three, Second Timothy chapter three and verse 15. Prevenient grace is formative grace.

You know how the sociologist and the psychiatrist are telling us how important the formative years are for a child, those early formative years. His character is established in those formative years and they're right. They're exactly right. Well, God's purpose of grace toward his elect begins to be unfolded in what we call formative grace. God determined who your parents would be and what the circumstances of your rearing would be and what the experiences of your life would be. God determined that. God determined that.

I've told you before, I was born down in Bladen County, North Carolina, born at home. And for some reason, my mother decided to name me Don. I don't know why. Never have asked her, really. Been afraid to ask. We don't have any relatives in the family named Don. And Don sure doesn't characterize me any. It means a little brown stranger, if you find it in Latin. If you find it in Spanish, it means a mighty ruler. But either way, it doesn't characterize me.

But I was named Donald Stuart Fortner because God from eternity had ordained that on June 10th, 1950, there'd be a pudgy little old fella born in Bladen County, North Carolina, whose name's written in the book of life, Donald Stuart Fortner. And all the circumstances of my rearing All the good things and the bad. All the blessings of my environment and all the adversities of my environment. All the good influences and all the bad influences on my life were ordained and brought to pass by God in formative grace.

Listen to what he says concerning Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 15. He told Timothy, he said, now this This grace of God, this faith in Christ was in your mother and in your grandmother. And I'm persuaded that it's in you. And now in verse 15 of chapter three, he says, from a child.

Thou hast known the Holy Scriptures. Oh, what a blessing. What a blessing. Tonya Dardy sitting back there, been raised by somebody who cared enough about you from your babyhood to teach you the scriptures. What a blessing. Most folks, we used to say, just jerked up by the hair of the head. Spiritually, that's the way most folks are raised, just jerked up by the hair of the head, planted out here, go raise hell, do whatever you want to, we don't care. Just don't bring any shame on mom or daddy, don't cost us too much, you can do whatever you want to. Oh, but Timothy, like many of you, had been raised from infancy, taught the scriptures, taught the scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation.

That's not an accident. That's not an accident. You could have been born a Hottentot in Africa, just like the Hottentots in Africa. You could have been cast off in your mother's womb, just like many others. You could have had many experiences just like others have had that would drive you away from all light and revelation. But God set you where he did and taught you the scriptures.

Grace in the scriptures is often described as restraining grace. Oh, how I thank God for restraining grace. You remember how David, he had treated Nabal so good, protected him. And David's men found out Nabal was over in Carmel shearing his sheep and they had been so kind to Nabal, David sent 10 men over and said, Nabal said, now whatever comes into your hand, give it to us and we'll be thankful.

And Nabal said, I ain't giving you nothing. I'm not giving you a blooming thing. You go back and tell David, I'm not interested in him or in you, and you're getting nothing from me. And David took 400 men. He said, you put your swords on your sides and saddle your asses. We're going up to Mount Carmel.

And when we come back, there's not going to be a man left standing in Nabal's household. And Abigail, Nabal's wife, heard about it. And she went to David and brought him gifts and bowed down before him. And she said, oh, David, My husband's a wicked man, the son of a wicked man, and nobody can reason with him. Nobody can talk to him. But we recognize that you are the servant of the Most High God.

Now, don't do this thing and foolishly avenge yourself. And when she got done, David said, the Lord prevented me. The Lord prevented me from shedding blood to avenge myself on Napal. Prevenient grace restrains men from the evil that's in their hearts. When Abimelech took Sarah, Abraham's wife, the Lord God said, I kept you from touching her. I did that. I restrained you from it.

Every one of us here. can attest to the fact that God in his providence and grace, while he even let some run wild in their lust, still puts a check and restrains you. So that there's certain things either by fear or by providential hindrance or by companions or just by what we call the fortuitous circumstances that you were determined to do in your youth that would have brought utter ruin and destruction to you. God kept you from doing it. The only reason the whole lot of us aren't either in prison or in hell or somewhere between here and hell. It's because God said, hitherto shalt thou go and no further. He let you run just as far as you needed to run till you ran out and into his eyes.

Like the prodigal. All right, here it is. Take it and do what you will with it. But somehow, if you read, Don't read into the scriptures, but do read between the lines of scripture. Somewhere in there, there was a servant in the father's house who was always watching over that boy. Always.

Let him spend everything. Let him be tattered and worn and ragged. Let him waste everything in riotous living. Let him eat the husk with which he tries to feed the swine. But don't let anything happen to him. When that prodigal came home, the father knew he was coming. He already had a fatty calf in the stall waiting on him, had the garment fixed for him, had the ring waiting on him. Everything's taken care of.

And I'm telling you that God in his providence often lets his chosen run the mad course of wild rebellion to the very end of themselves. And then when they're at their wit's end and they call on him, he has mercy upon them. God's grace is also seen in overruling grace. Sometimes he even permits his chosen to commit the vilest of deeds. Sometimes he even permits his chosen to steal their master's goods so they wind up in prison like Philemon. And here Paul preached the gospel. And Paul writes back and says, now, perhaps he departed from you for a season that you might receive him forever.

God overloads. Sometimes In God's providence and grace, he allows the man whom he has chosen, whose heart's full of murder, to commit murder, that he might put him in a prison cell to hear the gospel, like my dear friend, Brother Tom DeJonah, in God calling by his grace. Oh, God's let things go. Oh, no, nothing's out of God's control. He overrules everything. for the saving of his own.

Surely the wrath of man will praise thee and the remainder of wrath thou will restrain. How I rejoice and give thanks to God for free covenant grace and for his secret prevenient grace. It is this prevenient grace that keeps and preserves God's elect throughout their days of rebellion unto the day of their calling.

It is prevenient grace that gives charge to the holy angels and declares to them they should be servants sent forth to minister to those who shall be the heirs of salvation. Shelby and I were talking the other day driving down the road and I was She asked me what I was thinking about and I told her I was thinking about an experience I had a long, long time ago. She said, what do you think about when you think about those things? I said, I think about God's prevenient grace and those holy angels who watched over me all the days of my rebellion and would not let me die. until he had called me by his grace. Prevenient grace. Thirdly, the grace of God by which we are saved is regenerating grace. I read it to you in Ephesians chapter 2.

We were dead. Dead. Well, if you get life and you're dead, you're going to have to get it from somebody besides yourself. If you're dead and God saves you, your free will ain't got nothing to do with it because you're dead. If you're dead and God saves you, your good works ain't got anything to do with it because you're dead. If you're dead and God saves you, your little decision for Jesus ain't got anything to do with it because you're dead.

Take something more than deciding to change things to raise the dead. Take something more than saying, I will to raise the dead. Take something more than signing your name to a decision card, getting baptized, joining the church and straightening out your life to raise the dead. It takes the power of God. You have the quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins. That's God's regenerating grace. He doesn't offer eternal life. He produces it. He doesn't advise sinners to be born again. He causes them to be born again. He gives them life. Fourthly, the grace of God by which sinners are transformed, saved and made to be saints is justifying grace.

Turn over to Romans chapter three. Romans chapter three. Now, I know that grace, justifying grace, and the accomplishment of justification comes long before regeneration is experienced. We were justified in the purpose of God from eternity by Christ the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. I don't see how anybody can read the Word of God and not understand that. Romans 8, 29 declares that God in eternity justified us. That's what the scripture says. That's not a point of speculation. That's a declaration of what the Bible says. Christ was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And when God looked on the lamb slain, he looked on us as justified.

Justified from eternity. We were justified by the purchase of Christ's blood that was shed for us at Calvary. When Christ died for us, he paid our debt and the debt was canceled then. He was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. However, in our experience of things, Justification comes to us and is known by us after regeneration, after we are born of God as the result of our faith in Christ's blood atonement. Romans 3, 24, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.

Do you see that? Faith does not cause his blood to make propitiation and faith does not justify. Faith is not the grounds of justification or the calls of justification. Faith receives the justification. Faith embraces the justification. Faith experiences justification. And we experience it looking to Christ. His blood. His blood atonement for guilty sinners, I trust you. And the spirit of God says through his word to my conscience, you're justified.

That's it. I'm a little thirsty right now. There's a glass of water sitting here. The water was, uh, uh, drawn out of the tap this morning, about seven, 38 o'clock. Been sitting here ever since. And I'm fixing to take a drink of it. Mmm, how refreshing. Now, my taking the water in my hand and taking a drink of it added nothing to the water. Added nothing to it. But I couldn't get any refreshment from it until I took a drink of it.

And justification is accomplished without our faith. We were justified when Christ died and rose again for our justification. But by faith, believing Him, we get the refreshment of free justification and our souls are at ease. We are justified by His blood, by the grace of God. And that means three things. Being justified, we are completely forgiven of all sin by the blood of Christ. And being justified The perfect righteousness of the son of God is imputed to us. We're robed in his spotless righteousness. And being justified, we shall never come into condemnation. We shall not come into condemnation. Thank God for grace that freely justifies helpless, guilty sinners. Now look in first Corinthians chapter six and verse 11.

God's grace is also sanctifying grace. Many are sadly confused here who truly believe the gospel of grace. They believe salvation by grace alone, but somehow they take this matter of sanctification and set it aside as though it had nothing to do with salvation. And they say sanctification.

Now that's a work which God the Holy Spirit enables us to perform. Watch out now. Watch out now, that's mixing works with grace. No, sanctification is not something God the Holy Spirit enables us to perform. It's something God the Holy Spirit performs within us. There's a big, big difference. Listen to what the scripture says here. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 11.

And such were some of you, but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified. in the name of the Lord Jesus. Paul says these three things are done for every believer. You're regenerated, washed, and you're sanctified, made holy, and justified, declared to be holy.

All of it by the grace of God. Set apart in God's eternal purpose, for him we were sanctified. Redeemed by the blood of Christ judicially at Calvary, we were declared to be righteous and so sanctified. And in regenerating grace, God the Holy Spirit has given us a new nature imparting to us the very righteousness of Jesus Christ and so the believer is now sanctified by faith in Christ Jesus as well.

So that sanctification is altogether the work of God's grace. Now, though it is not a partial and progressive mercy as many imagine, sanctification is a continual thing. So that all through the believer's life, Sanctifying grace enables the believer to grow in grace. Sanctifying grace causes the believer to pursue after righteousness. Sanctifying grace causes us to consecrate ourselves unto the Lord our God. Now, sixthly, look in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. You know the text. The Apostle Paul has been translated to the third heaven.

And he couldn't tell about it. Was it 2020 Friday night? I didn't see it. I heard an advertisement. There was somebody who had died, been embraced by the warm light. I'm going to tell you all about it. Liars. Liars. I'm not talking about they're deceiving. I'm talking about they're liars.

The only fellow who ever went to heaven and came back to this earth said what I saw no tongue can describe. That's what he said. And he didn't tell us anything about it. He said no tongue can describe it. It's amazing to me how that men and women who refuse to believe the plain revelation of Holy Scripture will believe every perverse imagination that comes down the pike. I'm talking about folks who normally act like they've got fairly good sense, just get crazy, chasing after a pipe dream. But Paul had been translated to heaven. He said, I saw things no tongue can utter. It's not lawful. That is, a man is not capable of speaking it. And then he said, I was afflicted with a messenger, Satan, who buffeted me. And he said, I prayed to the Lord three times, take this thing away from me. And the Lord answered in verse nine and said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee. And I'm here to tell you that God's grace is sufficient grace. It's sufficient. to meet all my needs as a sinner.

I was dead. Grace gave me life. I was and am by nature guilty. Grace gave me pardon. I was without righteousness. Grace made me righteous. I was a man whose only bent was on sinning. Grace gave me a heart. bent on righteousness. The old heart of sin and flesh is still there, but grace put a new heart in me.

The grace of God is sufficient for the tried believer. When you pass through the waters and through the fire, he says, I'll be with you and I'll uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. Grace is sufficient for the believer in temptation. He will with the temptation make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. Grace is sufficient for the child of God seeking to do his will. He said my grace is sufficient. Someone said the Spirit of God will never lead you where the grace of God will not keep you.

And that someone was right. One of my favorite texts when I was just a young man enduring some difficulty. After God saved me, I went back to school and tried. For better or for worse, I did try. A very faithful witness to my Redeemer. And the ridicule and the mockery and the laughter and the ribbing got a little tough at times.

But one day, Reading 1 Thessalonians, came to the latter part of chapter 5 where the scripture says, faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. That's enough. His grace is sufficient. His grace is sufficient for his faithful laboring servant like Paul too. We endeavor to do good to the souls of men, and we have to cry, who is sufficient for these things? No man.

But he said, my grace is sufficient. To the fallen saint, oh, if you've fallen, I don't care how far you've fallen. And I don't care how long it's been since your fall. And I don't care how other people may view the fall. To his fallen children, he says, my grace is sufficient for them. Still sufficient. Still sufficient. And to the dying saint, the Lord God whispers, my grace is sufficient.

One last thing, turn to 1 Peter 5. I'll tell you about God's grace. It'll keep you. It's keeping grace. The God of all grace, verse 10, who hath called us unto his eternal kingdom unto his eternal glory, rather, by Christ Jesus. After that you have suffered a while, that comes first, and I guarantee it's coming. I'll talk about that a little bit tonight, but I guarantee it's coming. After that you've suffered a while, the God of all grace make you perfect. Establish, strengthen, settle you, and he will.

The grace of God is grace that cannot be altered. It cannot be destroyed. It cannot be taken away. It cannot be lessened, not even by anything that we may do. And therefore, every true believer should be able to confidently sing with Augustus Toplady, my name from the palms of his hands. Eternity will not erase. Impressed on his heart, it remains in marks of indelible grace. Yes, I to the end shall endure. As sure as the earnest is given. More happy. But not more secure. The glorified spirits in heaven. That's the grace of God.

That's the reason I can confidently say to you who believe what the Apostle Paul said to the Philippians. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, making request with joy for your fellowship in the gospel. from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Now, for you who are thus far on the outside looking in, and everything I've been talking about this morning Maybe God's awakened your interest and you think to yourself, oh, I wish I knew that kind of grace. I wish I knew something of what God's been talking about in the experience of my soul.

To you, the Lord God says, come boldly, come freely. Isn't that amazing? Sinners can come freely. Because we have a high priest who's touched with the feeling of our infirmities, we come freely to the throne of grace. That you may obtain mercy and find grace in time of need. Maybe you say, well, Don, when can I find grace? Just as soon as you need it, that's when you find it. Just as soon as you need it. O Spirit of God, create in the hearts of some a need for grace, and grant it through Christ our Lord. Amen.