Grace or Works - Which?

Q: What does the Bible say about grace and works in salvation?

The Bible teaches that salvation is by grace alone, not by works. Acts 15 illustrates the early church's debate over whether salvation required adherence to the law or if it was purely by grace. Peter emphasized that salvation is all of God's grace and not based on human efforts. James, agreeing with Peter, noted that adding any works, like circumcision, burdens the souls of believers. Salvation is rooted in God's electing love, with Scripture supporting that we are saved entirely by His grace, and our works do not contribute to our salvation.

Q: How do we know that salvation is all of God's grace?

Salvation is confirmed as God's grace through Scripture and the witness of the early church leaders. Salvation being all of grace is affirmed throughout Scripture, especially in Acts 15 where Peter and James underscore that no human work can contribute to salvation. James references Old Testament prophecies that indicate God's election of a people for His name, affirming that salvation was always part of God's plan, freely given to undeserving sinners. Thus, our faith is not something we conjure up but is a gift of grace bestowed by God, ensuring that salvation is entirely a work of divine sovereignty.

Q: Why is grace important for Christians?

Grace is crucial as it assures Christians that salvation is assured and not based on their works. Grace is vital for Christians because it is the foundation of their faith and assurance of salvation. Instead of relying on their own efforts, which are inherently flawed, believers can rest in the security of God's covenant promises. This grace not only saves but also transforms the believer's life, leading them to live a life of love and good works as a result of their salvation, rejoicing in the goodness of God rather than their ability to maintain salvation. Ultimately, it is this grace that keeps Christians secure in their relationship with God.

Well, good morning everyone. I'd like to begin our service reading from Matthew Chapter 8 this morning. When I got the. News about Novi Sparks. Lymphoma diagnosis yesterday that Dan. Told us about this is one of the. Passages scripture that came to mind. And I'd like to. Read that and. In our. prayers for Novi and their family, maybe we can kind of copy this prayer that we see here. Matthew chapter eight, verse one. When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.

And behold, there came a leper and worshiped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. It's not a question of power, it's a question of will. If you will, you can make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

And Jesus sayeth unto him, see thou tell no man, but go thy way, show thyself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home, sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus said unto him, I'll come and heal him. And the centurion answered and said, Lord, I'm not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I'm a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this man, go, and he goeth. And to another, come, and he cometh. And to my servant, do this, and he doeth it.

When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to them that followed, verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you that many shall come from the east and west and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, go thy way. And as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour. All right. Let's stand together as Shawn leads us in singing our call to worship. Assemble yourselves and honor the king. He sits on the throne, his triumphs we sing.

King Jesus, who died to atone for our sin, came forth from the tomb, and he liveth again. The Lamb from above, the battle has won. He died and arose, the work is all done. He took on himself all our debt to repay. The sins of his people are all washed away. He liveth again, we praise the great King. O terrible death, where now is thy sting? Enthroned in His glory, Almighty to save, Victorious His conquest, O'er sin and the grave. He conquered the tomb and liveth above. All praise to his name, all power and love. May righteous in Jesus we someday shall rise to dwell with our Savior above earth and skies.

Okay, if you would turn in your hymnal to song number 176 and we'll sing Break Thou the Bread of Life. 176. Break thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me, as thou didst break the loaves beside the sea. ♪ Be on the sacred page ♪ ♪ I seek thee, Lord ♪ ♪ My spirit pants for thee, O living Word ♪ ♪ Bless thou the truth, dear Lord ♪ to me, to me. As thou didst bless the bread by Galilee, then shall all bondage cease, all fetters fall, And I shall find my peace, my all in all. Thou art the bread of life, O Lord, to me. Thy holy word, the truth that saves. Give me to eat and live with thee above.

Teach me to love thy truth for thou art love. O send Thy Spirit, Lord, now unto me, that He may touch my eyes and make me see. Show me the truth concealed within thy word, and in thy book revealed I see the Lord. Let's open our Bibles now to Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15. Begin reading in verse 13. And after that they had held their peace, James answered, saying, men and brethren, hearken unto me.

Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles. to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets, as it is written, after this, I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down. And I will build again the ruins thereof. And I will set it up that the residue of men might seek after the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.

Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore, my sentence is that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God, but that we write unto them that they abstain from pollutions of idols and from fornication and from things strangled and from blood. For Moses of old time hath in every city For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day. Then it pleased the apostles and elders and the whole church to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas, surnamed Barnabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren.

We'll end our reading there. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, we bow before you, a people who are so thankful. Oh, how thankful we are for your sovereign mercy and grace. How thankful we are that you've reached way down with your mighty hand of power and salvation and plucked up from amongst the fallen sons of Adam, a people to be made your own. Father, we stand amazed at your mercy and grace, that you would do something so wonderful, so gracious for such vile, guilty sinners as we are, and that you do it for the glory of your son in redeeming his people from their sin. And Father, that you give us eyes to see it, that you give us a heart to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust all of our souls to him. We're thankful you've given us a place where he's preached, where Christ, the savior of sinners, is preached.

And Father, I pray that you would bless in a mighty and special way the preaching of your word this morning. Father, that you'd cause it to go forth in power to accomplish your purpose. We know that your word shall not return unto you void. And Father, our prayer is that you'd send your word out in power this morning. Empower to reveal Christ to each heart here this morning. Empower to instruct us to turn to Christ and empower to reveal Christ the Savior to us. Empower to draw us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, bless your word for your great namesake.

For the namesake of your son, we pray that we might be enabled to worship you in spirit and in truth. And Father, we dare not forget to pray for those, your people, that you brought in the time of trouble and trial. Father, we pray especially for young Novi. We pray for Destiny, and we pray for Deb, that Father, you'd work in a mighty way, that you'd be pleased to heal Novi's body, and that you'd give each of them peace of heart and mind in resting in thee, resting in your providence, knowing that you do all things well. Now, Father, bless us for Christ's sake, we pray. For it's in his matchless name, for his glory, we pray. Amen. I've titled the message this morning, Grace or Works? Which? Which is it? You remember, we began looking at this last week. This is what we call the first Bible conference. And they gathered together over this issue, law and grace, grace and works.

Is salvation all of the law? Is it all of grace? Is it a mixture of grace and works? Is it mostly grace, but you gotta have this one work, this one work of the law, circumcision? Which is it? And Peter, he was the opening preacher of the conference, and he brought a wonderful message, that salvation is all of God's grace. It's all of grace. He said, why would you want to put a burden on people? The burden of the law that neither we nor our fathers were able to bear. We preach Christ. We preach the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And he got done. They took a little break. Now it's James turn. James is the pastor here at Jerusalem. James is the pastor where these, False brethren have crept in unawares and trying to sow seeds of the law amongst that congregation. James had to be so upset about that. He's the pastor of this place. He's the half brother of our Lord Jesus. And James is going to pick right up where Peter left off. He's just going to amen everything that Peter said. And he's gonna leave no doubt.

As we go through this message, I hope that there is no doubt left in any mind or any heart here that salvation is all of God's grace. It's all of God's work. It's all of God's will and man's works never enter into it. And if you're a sinner, you're gonna be glad. Aren't we glad to hear that salvation, this is the truth, salvation, is all grace. And I want us this morning to be able to really hear the gospel of God's grace. Pray that God will give us a heart to believe it and that we can leave here this morning rejoicing in Christ our Savior and his grace to his people.

So here's Jane's first point. Salvation has to begin in God's electing love. Verse 13. And after they'd held their peace, James answered, saying, men and brethren, hearken unto me. Simeon had declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name. Now, Dan already covered this in his lesson this morning.

Why is it that these Gentiles heard the gospel and believed? Why is it? is because God gave them faith to believe it. They didn't conjure that up on their own. God gave them faith to believe it. The father elected them unto salvation from before the foundation of the world. And he, in the fullness of time, when it was God's time for them to hear the gospel, God sent his gospel to them. He brought them to the place where they'd hear it and he made them believe it. That's God's grace. If you know Christ, if you trust Christ, in a nutshell, that is your experience. God sent the gospel to you and gave you the faith to believe it. And I love the way that James put this.

The Lord personally reached down his hand and laid hold of those Gentile believers. He laid hold of those people that he intended to save and he took them out. He took them out of false religion and he took them To himself, he took them to be a people for his name, for his name.

Now that's grace. The only way a sinner can ever be brought to God is if God reaches down his mighty hand. I love that song, when he reached down his hand for me. I was lost and undone without God or a son. He reached down his hand for me and he laid hold on me. He didn't ask me if it was all right, he just did it. plucked me out and brought me to himself.

Now, men have been trying to figure out how to get back to God ever since Adam fell and was thrust out of the garden, and we can't do it. We cannot build a bridge big enough to get back to God. But God reaches down his hand and lays hold on his people and brings them to himself to be a people for his name.

And I love to think about that. I love to think about the God taking a people to himself. That's the grace that I crave. I crave God's grace to bring me to himself. And that's what God's grace is. I don't want, I have just no interest in my works of the law. If the God almighty will lay hold on me and bring me to himself, that's all I want. That's all I want. And I wish, I wish I'd never complain again. I wish I'd just be happy and thankful all the time. What more do you need if the father's reached down his hand and laid a hold on you and brought you to himself? while you're redeemed and you can never be lost because no man's able to pluck us out of that mighty hand. Oh, that's the grace I crave. And you know, this is exactly what the Lord should do.

He has a people that belong to him and he ought to bring them to himself, shouldn't he? They're his, God's people are his in divine election. When the father set his love on a people and gave them to his son to redeem, They became his. They're his. He ought to lay hold on them. He ought to. They're his by purchase. He purchased those people with the precious, sinless blood of his son. They belong to him. Now you think he's gonna let them wander out there forever? No, sir. He's gonna grab ahold of them and bring them to himself. Look at 2 Timothy 2. 2 Timothy chapter two. Verse 19. Nevertheless, and he'd been talking in these previous verses about false prophets and, oh, there were deceit, like as a cancer, he said. But nevertheless, yeah, there's false prophets out there.

Yes, there's people out there attacking God's kingdom and God's people, but nevertheless, the foundation of God stand assure having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. He knows them that are his. And since they're his, I can assure you of this, the Lord's gonna have them. He's gonna have them. Oh, that makes me so happy. That makes me so happy. All right, here's the second thing. James says, this is nothing new.

The Old Testament scriptures declare this, declare salvation in Christ alone. Verse 15, and to this agree the words of the prophets. As it's written, after this I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up. I will set it up.

Now here, the Old Testament, look back at the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 42. The Old Testament is full of scriptures promising this salvation, what has been happening right now where the gospel's gone out and the Gentiles have believed it. That ought not be a surprise to anybody because the scriptures, Old Testament scriptures are full of prophecies of this, prophecies that show us the depth and the riches and the goodness of God's grace to the worst of sinners. Isaiah 42 verse one.

Behold, my servant whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I put my spirit upon him. Now that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what the spirit moved Isaiah to write. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He's gonna bring forth salvation that saves those Gentile heathen in justice by Christ dying as their substitute. That's grace, grace to the Gentiles. Look at verse six. I the Lord have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand and will keep thee. And I'll give thee for a covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles.

The father, he promised this. He's gonna send his son to give light to those in darkness, the darkness of idolatry, the darkness of self-righteousness, the darkness of all their false religion. He's gonna give them the light of Christ. He prophesied, told us that's what he's gonna do. So when he did it, we ought not be surprised, should we? One more scripture. I confine myself to three. Look at Isaiah chapter 49. You can go home and look up, there's many, many more of these, but Isaiah 49, verse six.

And he said, it's a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee for light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. And here he's talking to his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he didn't say that you go give salvation or that you save a bunch of people. He said that you will be my salvation. Salvation is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's gonna send that salvation to all the world.

Not just the Jew, but Gentiles too. The worst of sinners. Now, when you think just about Israel, You know, I know that even though Isaiah wrote that, I bet you there was very, very, very few people in Israel that really believed God's ever gonna save Gentiles. And when he did it in the times of the New Testament church, they still had trouble believing it was happening, didn't they? But just think of just Israel alone for a second. The Lord chose that nation to be his people, to be a picture of spiritual Israel, to be a picture about how he would work in his people and save his people from their sin.

I tell you, that was some nation, wasn't it? I mean, they're stiff-necked. They're rebellious. It seems like they can't learn. And the Lord told them, I didn't choose you because there was anything about you. It's not because you're mighty, because you're weak. I didn't choose you because you're most in number. You're the least in number. But I chose you to be my people.

I chose to send my word to you, my prophets to you, my priesthood to you, to reveal Christ to you because I'm gracious. Not because you deserve it, but because I'm gracious. Now, if the Lord's been gracious to you and me, would we be surprised that he'd be gracious to somebody else? No, he's gonna be gracious to the Gentiles too.

I don't care whether we're Jew or Gentile, and that might not really be such a dividing point now like it was then. But how about the religious or the heathen? Whatever distinguishing characteristics you want to make, we're all sinners. I mean, I don't care what marks or distinguishing characteristics. Here's the thing about us, we're all sinners.

And you know what ought to thrill our soul? You know what ought to drive us to Christ and beg him for mercy and beg him to save our sorry souls? The promise of grace in Christ Jesus. Lord, you promised grace to sinners. Would you be gracious to me? Not because I deserve it, not because I've done any worse, but just because you would be gracious. And that grace, that salvation, that redemption, is all in the Lord Jesus Christ.

James, back in our text, says here about the Lord promising, I'll return and build again the tabernacle of David. Yeah, I know there's lots of people, and I've read them, people who I think really do know the gospel, and not today, but in times past. They really do believe this. They really believe. And that the Lord is going to have some sort of a revival in Israel. And well, I pray it.

So don't you, I pray it. So, but if he does, this is what's not going to happen. That tabernacle is not going to be rebuilt. The temple is not going to be rebuilt. It's not, oh, we're gonna have this glorious temple like the temple in the days of Solomon. The Lord will never allow that to happen. Think about it.

What did they do in that tabernacle? In the tabernacle we studied some time ago and in the temple, well, they offered animal sacrifices, didn't they? We don't need animal sacrifices anymore. Christ has been sacrificed for his people. In that building, there was a man who was the priest. Men who were priests and one man who was the high priest, who represented the people to God. We don't need a priest in that glorious outfit anymore. We don't need, certainly don't need a priest dressed up like some funny costume like the Catholics do. Christ is our great high priest. I don't want some man. If Christ can be my great high priest, we don't need that golden lamp stand anymore. We have Christ, the light of the world. That's what we just read about. Christ is the one who gives light and life to his people.

We don't need that altar of incense anymore. I know that a lot of these people in false religion are burning incense and doing all these shenanigans. If they're doing that, you mark it down. They're a false prophet. We don't need the altar of incense anymore. Christ, our Savior, ever lives. to make intercession for us. And we certainly don't need to restrict people to the Holy of Holies, do we?

Oh, the Holy of Holies, now when it was in use before Christ died, it was a special place. Special place. The Shekinah glory of God dwelt in that room. The mercy seat was there. The Ark of the Covenant was there. But a man could only go in there one time a year. Had to be the high priest, and he went in there with animal blood. as a picture of Christ. But when Christ gave up the ghost, he said, it's finished. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. What happened in the Holy of Holies? That veil was written to from top to bottom.

The way to God is wide open as long as you come to God in Christ. Now, why would we want to restrict that? Why in this world would I want to restrict your access to God to come through me? No, you go to Christ. You go to Christ. That's what the temple is a picture of. And you know why that temple and that tabernacle, God says he's gonna come and it's fallen down, he's gonna build it again. You know why it fell down. I mean, you think about that when they first reared up that tabernacle. And when Solomon first built that grand and glorious temple, the true worship of God was in that place.

This is Moses leading this in the worship of the tabernacle. Moses had just been talking to God face to face about this thing. This was the worship of God. I mean, it was to Moses. It was to Aaron. I don't know if it was to everybody, but it was to a good number of people. And when Solomon built up that temple, he didn't do that for his glory. He did it for the glory of God. He did it so people would have a place to come worship God, to hear from God. That's what the sole purpose of that was to Solomon.

But over years, it fell down, didn't it? And I'm not talking about Nebuchadnezzar coming in and tearing it down, or the Romans coming in and tearing it down. That place fell down. Figuratively, the worship of God fell down there. And you know why? Because the Jews turned it into salvation by works. Salvation by observing these ceremonies. Salvation by showing up on the Sabbath day and offering these things and doing these things. And it wasn't about the grace of God and the glory of Christ anymore, and it fell down. And the same thing will happen anywhere the gospel is preached.

The moment we turn this thing and just even add one work to it, just one, it'll fall down. It'll fall down. And give us half a second and we'll do it. Won't we? I mean, be honest with yourself and just give me half a second, we'll do it. But as sinful, as weak, as rotten as we are, the purpose of God shall not fail.

God's gonna come build His temple. He's gonna raise it back up. He's gonna raise up Christ the Savior in grace so that His people see Him and are saved. And it's never-ending grace, never-ending grace because of God who promised it. Now remember, the title of the message is Grace or Works, which you choose. I mean, that's kind of a scary statement, because God will let you. He'll let you. He'll let you choose works if you want, and he'll meet you on that ground if you want, and you'll go to hell because of it.

When I hear about God's grace in Christ Jesus, that he's raised him up to be everything we need, oh, that's who I want. That's who I need. That's who I crave. It's grace, isn't it? All right, third in our text, God graciously makes his people seek him. Verse 17 says, God's done all this, that the residue of men might seek after the Lord. And all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Now I know this is salvation. This is how it all began.

It began in God's electing love, when the Father chose a people to save. He chose them out of Adam's fallen race just because he would and he gave them to his son to save. And those people have been eternally saved. They've been washed in the blood of the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. There is that sense in which when God chose those people and he gave them to his son, they were saved. They're washed in the blood of the lamb and they can never be lost.

But in the fullness of time, Christ still had to come. He had to come and offer that sacrifice, to sacrifice his body and soul in time. And he did it. You know why he did it? Because he promised the father he would. And he came and he did it. He sacrificed himself and he redeemed all of his people by his bloody sacrifice. And they were redeemed. At that moment when the blood of Christ was shed, when he gave up the ghost and he died the death his people deserved, those people were redeemed, weren't they? They're saved and they can never be lost.

Now, what about those people? You know, those people are not just someday gonna wake up in glory and not know how it happened. they're not gonna be so shocked that they wake up in glory and say, how did this happen? What's going on here? Who is that lamb on the thigh? What's going on? That's not gonna happen. I know there are denominations who say that, well, the father chose the people, the son died for those people, and they're gonna be saved whether they ever hear the gospel or not. No, sir, not so.

The Holy Spirit is gonna come and he's gonna apply that salvation, that salvation that the father purposed. That salvation that the son purchased, he's gonna apply that salvation to the hearts of his people in the new birth. And he's gonna do it through the preaching of Christ, through the preaching of this word. Salvation is by grace, and it's through God-given faith in it, faith in Christ. And those people, they're gonna believe.

And every last one of them will say to the Apostle Paul, I know whom I have believed. I know, I don't know everything there is to know about God, but I know Him. I know Him, and everything I know about Him makes me glad to believe Him. I went preaching somewhere many years ago, and probably a good thing I didn't know what was going on in that place or I wouldn't have gone. So I went and preached, and on the way back to the airport, a man drove me. And I didn't realize that, but he's trying to trip me up. He's got a pet doctrine.

And he asked me, when is a man justified? And I said, well, we're justified in eternity past, when the father chose a people to say those people were justified. All of God's people are eternally justified. And I know that seems odd to the human mind, but let me ask you this. If there was a time you were not justified and now a time that you are, God changed, didn't he? No, we're eternally justified.

But then we're justified when Christ shed his blood. He shed his blood for his people. He put away their sin. We're justified by the blood of Christ. When Christ came and fulfilled the purpose of God. And then we're justified. when the Holy Spirit comes and causes us to be born again with a new nature that's holy and just and right and can never sin again. And the man told me, he said, he said, well, Don Fortner says that there's a fourth one that will be justified when we awaken Christ's likeness in glory. And I said, I agree with that. I am in that. I never talked to the man again ever in my life. Have I ever talked to that man? He is so angry about that. But that's so, isn't it? That's so.

Now I know from the promise of God, the Lord is gonna be gracious to his people. He's gonna show his grace. He's gonna shower his mercy upon his people. But before he ever applies that salvation, the Lord's gonna make his people beg for it. He's gonna make it, he's gonna give us a heart that desires him, a heart that hungers and thirsts after his righteousness. And we're gonna beg him for it. And then he's gonna give it to us. I can't tell you how much I love that. That the father makes it so that his people will seek him and find him.

Look at John chapter one. John chapter one, verse 35. And again, the next day, after John stood and two of his disciples and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, behold the lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speak and they follow Jesus. Now these two disciples, they woke up that morning with John the Baptist, they're following him, they're with him, he's their teacher or pastor, whatever you wanna call him. And they just figured, all day, I'm gonna be with John just like I always have been. Until they heard John declare the message of the gospel, behold.

Look, look to him. Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world, and they followed Christ. Now verse 38. Then Jesus turned and saw them following and saith unto them, what seek ye? They said unto him, rabbi, which is to say being interpreted master, where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt and abode with him that day, for it was about the 10th hour.

Now one of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon and saith unto him, We found the Messiah, which is being interpreted to Christ. We found the Messiah? Who found who here? The Lord came to them, didn't he? He found them, but they found him too. Isn't that right? That's what it is. Verse 43.

The day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee and find a Philip and saith unto him, follow me. Now, Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter, Philip findeth Nathanael and saith unto him, we found him, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. We found him. Who found who? The Lord came to Nathanael, you follow me. The Lord found him. But he can say, I found the Lord. Oh, I found him. You know why we found him?

Because the Lord came seeking us exactly where we are. Now that's grace. That's the kind of grace I need. That's the kind of grace that I love. And this is how the Lord is pleased to reveal himself to all of his people. It's by somebody preaching Christ and saying, this is who he is. Now behold him, look to him, run to him. Solomon said in Proverbs 8 verse 17, this is what the Lord said. I love them that love me. and those that seek me early shall find me. Jeremiah 29, verse 13. And you shall seek me and you'll find me when you search for me with all your heart.

If you don't know Christ, if I don't know Christ, tell you why. It's my fault. It's your fault. I am soughting and seeking. When will I seek the Lord? when he gives me a heart to seek him. See, we're completely dependent on grace. You can't even make a work out of seeking the Lord. I'll only seek him with all my heart when he gives me a heart that will seek him. Isn't that gracious?

In Adam and in my own self, by my own doings, I have rebelled against God. I've gone as far away from God as I possibly can. And he'd come to a rebel like me and give me a heart that desires him, that needs him, that seeks him. And when he gives me that heart to seek him, I'm gonna find him. Now that's grace. You can't even make a work out of seeking the Lord. It's all of grace. And then here's the fourth thing. Here's why salvation is sure back in our text. It's because God's sovereign. Verse 18.

Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Now, God foreordained everything that would ever happen in his creation. Before God ever said, let there be light, he decreed everything that would ever happen in his creation. Everything. God has arranged all the events of human history for this one purpose. It's for the glory of his son. It's for the glory of his son in saving of fallen people out of Adam's fallen race. And nothing can derail it.

You know, you've heard the illustration used before about a plane flying from the East Coast to the West Coast. That's long flight. And I don't really understand how autopilot works. I'm sure the pilot's just not taking a nap while the plane is navigating itself on autopilot. But from what I understand about autopilot is, you know, there's wind and pressures and all these things. And the plane's supposed to be going this way, and the wind gets a little off course, and the autopilot corrects it. And it goes a little way, gets a little off course, and the autopilot corrects it. Our God does not use autopilot. His purpose never even gets a centimeter, a millimeter offline. His purpose is always being done. And you know what God's purpose is? It's a purpose of grace. for his people. Let me show you a few scriptures, Isaiah chapter 46. Verse nine.

Remember the former things of old, for I'm God and there is none else. I am God and there's none like me. I declare the end from the beginning. Now God doesn't say this is the beginning and this is the end. He declares it to be so because this was his will. This is when the beginning is, this is when the ending is. And from ancient times, the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand.

I will do all my pleasure. Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country, I've spoken it, I will also bring it to pass. I've purposed it. I will also do it. Now hearken unto me. Listen, ye stout hearted that are far from righteousness.

I bring near my righteousness and it should not be far off. My salvation shall not tarry and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel, my glory. That is God's purpose to bring his righteousness near to his people so that they're made the righteousness of God in him. He's going to place salvation in the hearts of his people because that's his gracious will. Look across the page, Isaiah 48 verse five.

I have even from the beginning declared it to thee before it came to pass. I showed it thee lest thou should have say mine idol had done them. and my graven image and my molten image hath commanded him. Now God showed us what he told us before it happened, so we know only the Lord did it. Our idol didn't do that. And who's our biggest idol? I didn't do it by my works and you didn't either. It's God's grace and he did it.

Look at Jeremiah chapter one. Verse five. Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Before thou came as forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Now the Lord can say that to Jeremiah. Jeremiah, you know why you're a prophet in Israel? Because I ordained it before the foundation of the world. and he could say the exact same thing to you and me. We're not prophets of God like Jeremiah was, but whatever it is that we're doing in the world, whatever we're doing in God's kingdom, in the church, whatever it is, you know why you're doing it? God ordained you to do it for the foundation of the world. Why is it You who believe are sitting here and you hear of Christ and you believe Him, you love Him, it's, oh, it's bread to your soul, isn't it? Why? Because God Almighty ordained for you.

Him, He singled you out out of the billions and billions of people of Adam's fallen race to save you and give you faith in Christ, to see Christ and believe Him and love Him. That's grace. That's sovereign grace, and it's the only kind of grace that can ever save a dead sinner.

I won't take the time to read it. You're very familiar with it. Go home this afternoon, read the second half of Romans chapter eight. You know what'll stick out to you? It's written in the past tense. Before it ever physically happened to you and me, he wrote it in the past tense. That's how sure the purpose of God is. Because his will shall come to pass. And I love it that way. I love it that way. Because that's the only way salvation can be sure to a sinner. But now here's the last thing.

Look back in our text, verse 19. Salvation by grace is going to direct the believer's walk. Wherefore my sentence is, James says, That we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God, but that we write unto them that they abstain from pollutions of idols, from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. James here says, let's not trouble these Gentile believers.

And you know how you trouble them? Remember what the issue is, is salvation by works or grace? Is it all of grace in one work? What is it? If you add just one work, and here these false brethren wanted to add the work of circumcision, tell these Gentiles you've got to be circumcised. If not, you can't be saved.

James says that's troubling them, troubling their soul. We're not to trouble the souls of God's people. What did the Lord tell Isaiah? Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Tell them the warfare's accomplished. You don't have to keep certain laws in order to be saved. Christ has already won the war. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. So let's not trouble them by adding to them the works of the law. How about we do this, James says. Let's tell them you conduct yourself in love for Christ and love for his people.

Certainly we ought to abstain from fornication. Everybody knows that. We ought to abstain from the pollutions of idols. Don't even give a hint of impropriety. Don't even give a hint of that. And he mentions specifically here about the pollutions of idols and he's talking about the meat that was offered to idols.

And this is a wonderful example of us conducting ourselves in love. Not the rule of the law, but love. There is absolutely nothing wrong with meat that's been offered to idols. You know, they would, in those places where they had idolatry, they'd offer that animal sacrifice to the idol, and then they'd take the meat and sell it, and it would be a little cheaper than what you'd get, you know, some other place, because it had been offered to an idol. There is nothing sinful in that meat. Nothing whatsoever. The sin is in us. It's not in that meat, and it's not gonna harm you one bit to eat that meat.

But if that offends a weaker believer, someone who's, they've never been to those markets where they sell meat offered to idols. They've never eaten that kind of thing. They would never have done that. Maybe they grew up right in Jerusalem, and that was just never even an option for them.

That is so offensive to them to think if I eat this meat, I'm somehow taking part in their idolatry. That's not exactly right, but if that's what they so believe in their heart, and they're your brother, and they're your sister, don't you dare eat that meat in front of them, because you love them.

See that? Because you love them. Don't think, well, I got to straighten out all their doctrine. Just love them. Just love them. And let the Lord straighten out your doctrine. Let the Lord straighten them out on that. And the same thing is true about anything.

I mean, you know, is it taking a drink of alcohol in a restaurant? If it offends a weaker brother, don't do it. Don't. I don't know about you. I got enough stumbling blocks on my own. I don't need somebody setting another one in front of me. If we love them, let's not do that.

Let's love and help and encourage one another. Sacrifice yourself, your wants, your desires, even your freedoms for the good of this body here. That somebody won't run off on a tangent thinking about something I've done instead of thinking about Christ. What I want you to do is think about Christ. So I ought not do, if I love you, I won't do something to get your mind on me and your eyes off Christ. Does that make sense? I believe that's what James is saying there, that we're saved by grace without any of our works. Our works don't give us salvation. Our works don't let us keep salvation. But that does not mean a believer's conduct is unimportant.

Conduct yourself in love, in love for one another, in love for the Lord. And I believe we'll be just right. All right, let's bow together in prayer. Father, how we thank you. for this precious portion of your word that makes it unmistakably clear, salvation is by grace, by God's free sovereign grace to sinners. And father, I pray that you would be merciful and gracious to us here this morning, that you'd take your word and apply it to our hearts, that we be believers of your word and that your word, your This new heart of faith and love that you've given to us would guide and direct our steps to cause us to be a faithful witness to the gospel and a faithful, loving help to one another. Father, it's in Christ's name, for his glory we pray, amen. All right, Sean. Okay, if you would turn in your hymnal to song number 50 and stand as we sing Fairest Lord Jesus. Song number 50.

Fairest Lord Jesus Ruler of all nature O Thou of God and man the Son, Thee will I cherish Thee will I honor, Thou my soul's glory, joy, and crown. Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands, Robed in the blooming garb of spring, Jesus is fairer Jesus is pure, who makes the woeful heart to sing. Fair is the sunshine, fairer still the moonlight, And all the twinkling starry host, Jesus shines brighter Jesus shines purer than all the angels heaven can boast. Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations, Son of God and Son of Man. Glory and honor Praise, adoration, now and forevermore be thine.

Grace or Works - Which?

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What does the Bible say about grace and works in salvation?

How do we know that salvation is all of God's grace?

Why is grace important for Christians?

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Grace or Works - Which?

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about grace and works in salvation?

How do we know that salvation is all of God's grace?

Why is grace important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Frank Tate

Comments

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