Pray that the good Lord would
enable me to do that very thing, to exalt Christ, as Rex says,
to brag on Him. Pray that God would allow me
to do that. Would you turn back to Romans
chapter 1? It's indeed a pleasure to be back with you. We always
look forward to it. Thank you for having me. Our text shall be from Romans
1 verse 5, the first few words there in the text, by whom we
have received grace. The title of the message is Grace
Received. We're given the only answer to
the question as to where grace comes from. That's the first
of three questions. The message will consist of three
questions, and the first one's this. Where exactly does grace
come from? The hymn writer expressed it
this way concerning true grace. He said, it's grace that can
pardon and cleanse within. That's what the grace of God
does. It cleanses within. Because that's where the problem
is, isn't it? Religion deals with the outside,
touch not, taste not, wear not, go not. But the problem goes
much deeper than that. That's why it takes a miracle.
If we were little sinners, and until God teaches us otherwise,
we think we are little sinners, but if we were truly little sinners,
a little religion would do. a little religious spasm, a decision
for Jesus would satisfy me. I call it just band-aid religion. It's just cosmetic. It doesn't
go to the root of the problem because sin, as you often heard
from your faithful pastor and others, sin isn't just what I
do. Now, I can cease doing some things. That wouldn't make me a believer,
but sin is what I am. Remember what Paul cried out?
And every believer can identify with that. Paul said, Oh, wretched
man that I am. You ever felt that? Have you
ever stood in the shoes of that publican that our Lord spoke
about in Luke 18, that sinner? Man, he wouldn't argue the point. He knew it. I mean, he felt so
low, so worthless, that he wouldn't even left his eyes in the direction
of heaven, toward God. And he smote upon his breast.
He didn't speak of things out here, but he went to the root
of the problem inside. He said, oh God, be merciful. I need mercy. He'd been taught
of God. That doesn't come naturally.
Oh, no, that's not the product of man's will. That's a product
of God's grace. Oh, God be merciful to me. I'm
the sinner ever been there. Have you ever been there, ever
learned that? I need much more than a religious
experience. Again, the handwriter said, and
I need this. I need grace that is greater
than all my sin. Nothing less than that will do.
There was a young lady, visited our church once, came a few times.
She was the granddaughter of one of the members there. And
after our morning service, she wanted to talk to me. And she
asked me a question. She said, Pastor, I want to know,
what method do you teach as to how God saves sinners? She'd
been going to different places and hearing different things.
And she said, I'm wondering, what do you say? What method
do y'all tell a sinner how to be saved? And I told her as plainly
as I could. I said, young lady, salvation
is not in a method. It's not in a method. Salvation
is in a person. Oh, I love that, don't you? Salvation
is in a person. The Lord Jesus Christ, grace
comes by Him. Christ, period. The Son of God,
as Brother Rex read. The Son of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, grace comes from Him. There's no wiggle room there.
No wiggle room there. No exception to that God-ordained
rule. John said, we beheld Him. Jesus
Christ is the only begotten of the Father full of grace Always
full of grace grace that can pardon and cleanse within great
grace great mercy remember once when Paul and Barnabas preached
in Antioch And the Lord was pleased to show mercy to a great number
of sinners. Many people believed. And the
Pharisees stood around, as they often did, and looked down their
self-righteous noses and they said, now wait a minute, wait
a minute, this just won't do. Now, yes, yes, we'll go as far
as you do about Christ being the Savior and so forth, but
what about Moses? You can't kick Moses out the
door. Certain men, we read in Acts
15, these self-righteous Pharisees, came down from Judea and talked
to brethren and said, except ye be circumcised after the manner
of Moses, you cannot be saved. Grace is not enough. When therefore
Paul and Bartimaeus had no small dissension and disputation with
them, they determined that Paul and Bartimaeus and certain other
of them should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders
about this question. And the apostles and elders came
together to consider this matter. There was Paul, there was Barnabas,
there was Peter, there was James, the elders and the other apostles,
and here's what they agreed on. Here's the conclusion of what
they decided. Whether you're a Jew or whether
you're a Gentile. Whether you're rich or whether
you're poor. Whether you're black or whether you're white, it doesn't
matter. You're saved by grace. Here's
the conclusion, but we believe, we believe, through the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they. That's exactly what we read there
in Romans 1 from our text. Grace comes by the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God. It's by Him that we receive grace,
Him. Notice what the text says. By
whom? Not by what? Grace doesn't come by what, no,
grace comes by whom? The Lord Jesus Christ himself. Christ must have the preeminence
in all things, and that's especially true in preaching the gospel,
the glorious gospel that concerns God's Son. It's Christ that makes
the gospel glorious, isn't it? It's Christ that makes it to
be good news because it proclaims. It proclaims plainly that Jesus
Christ came into this world to save sinners. Call His name Jesus. Why? Why? Because that means
that Jehovah saves. That means the salvation of the
Lord. Give Him that name, Joseph, because He's coming into this
world to do what only He can do. Oh, behold, call His name
Jesus, for He shall, He shall He's not gonna take a stab at
it. He's not gonna try to do it. He's not gonna leave it half
done. He shall save his people from
their sins. Now, either he did or he didn't.
And yet today, either he does or he doesn't. Jesus Christ is
able. That's what I need, don't you?
I need an able Savior. I don't need a Savior that needs
my help, Sammy. If he needs my help, he's no
use to me. No, he's able to save to the
very uttermost every sinner that comes unto God by him. You're looking at a standing
testimony of that blessed truth, that God is able to save, that
Christ is mighty to save. Any message, Brother Scott said,
any message that doesn't have Christ in the beginning, Christ
in the middle, Christ at the end is a waste of time in its
preparation and a crime in its execution It's just a waste it
was announced at a Big uptown church, you know, we all have
them. The big Baptist. But the pastor one Sunday morning,
as service concluded, announced that a friend of his, a doctor
of divinity, would be there to bring the message the following
Sunday. And he encouraged all of his congregation to be there.
Because this man was a speaker, an orator. You didn't want to
miss it. This was a rare opportunity to hear this great speaker. And
the man did prove, he proved to be just as the pastor said
he would be, a polished orator. His message was just peppered
with Latin. How about that? Greek. Hebrew and a lot of the English
words Rex people didn't understand Didn't know what he meant and
after the service of was over and he stood at the door The
pastor asked the folks. What did you think about my friends
miss? Oh, which is marvelous marvelous They didn't understand
half of it, but it was just marvelous And he pressed this for poor
old farmer brother. What did you think about? Dr. So-and-so's message And the farmer
was reluctant to reply, but the pastor just kept pressing him.
Tell me, what did you think? Be honest with me now. And he
looked at his pastor and said, I'll tell you what, there was
nothing in it for me. There was nothing in it for me."
Isn't that sad? I've heard that type of preaching.
Nothing in it for me. Not a word, the old farmer said,
that pointed me and my burdened heart to that one who came to
heal the brokenhearted. Not a word. Not a word to remind
me that Jesus Christ is a high priest that can be touched with
that which touches me. He identifies with me. He's not
aloof. He's not unfeeling. He can be
touched with the feeling of my infirmities. I can go to him. He knows what I'm passing through.
He knows how I feel. I wanted to hear that. I wanted
to be reminded of that. Not a word. I came here thirsty,
he said, for a word about that water that only Christ can give,
that to those who receive it they shall never thirst again.
That's what I wanted, but instead all I got was the dry, empty
cisterns of intellectualism. Pastor, there was nothing in
it for me. God, don't allow me to be satisfied
with anything other than a genuine saving, a real interest that
only real grace from a real Savior can give. Help me not to be deceived
into thinking that I'm saved without knowing Jesus Christ
the Savior. Be saved without knowing Jesus
Christ, the select Savior. Don't let me be among that multitude
that our Lord spoke of that will stand before Him at the judgment.
Not just one or two crazy moonies. No, no, no. No, these were fundamentalists. They stand before Him in that
day and they boast of things. Lord, surely, can you imagine
the horror that must have gripped their hearts? They fully expected
to hear him say, enter into the joy, prepared for you, welcome
home. I never knew you. I never knew
you. Christ said, I know my sheep.
He said, I don't know you. He said, my sheep know me. They
didn't boast of who? Of Christ, their trust was in
things. Lord, we've cast out devils.
We've performed miracles. We've done many wonderful things
in your name. Then will I profess unto them,
depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. I never knew you. Please, Lord, don't allow me
to be satisfied with religion without Christ. There's a ton
of it out there, isn't there? Please don't ever let me forget
that Jesus Christ is that one, the only one, by whom we have
received grace. Thanks be unto God, dawns him
in your bulletin, thanks. Thanks to God, the triune God,
thanks for mercy, thanks for grace, thanks be unto God for
his unspeakable gift. Do these words ring a bell with
you? Do they find a, An agreement
in your heart and memory, brother Dave Coleman used to sing this. All my life long I had panted
for a dream from some clear spring that I hoped would quench the
burning of the thirst I felt within. You remember that? You ever been thirsty? God ever
made you thirsty, you won't be until he does. You'll be satisfied
with religion. You'll be satisfied with band-aid
religion. Oh, but if God makes you thirsty,
you'll identify with the words of this hymn. God ever gets you
lost, nobody else can. Nobody else can. Only God can
get you lost. Our Lord said everyone that's
learned of the Father Let's learn to the Father. What do they do?
They come to the altar. They come to the water. No, no,
no. They come to me, Christ. They come to me. Feeding on the
husk around me till my strength was nearly gone. Long my soul
for something better, only still to hunger on. Oh, I remember
that. Oh, I remember that. That hurt. That was hard. That was painful. Poor was I and sought for riches,
something that would satisfy, but the dust I gathered round
me only mocked my soul's sad cry. Is this all there is, I
thought. You live and you die, then you
go out. Is this all there is to life?
Oh, I'm thirsty. I'm thirsty. There's got to be
more than this. Oh, I remember that. And bless
God. Bless his dear name. I remember
this too. Hallelujah, I have found him. I have found him. Whom my soul
so long has craved. Jesus satisfies that thirst. Satisfies my longings through
his blood. I now am saved. Here's the second question. Remember,
what have we received? by whom we have received grace."
Grace. Paul, in writing to Titus, said,
the grace of God. Grace brings salvation. It brings glorious salvation. Unending salvation. Constant
salvation. Everlasting salvation. Those
that experience God's salvation, Christ said, they'll never perish. I'm giving them eternal life.
It'll never end. They'll live as long as I live.
The same life that's in our glorious head, the Lord Jesus Christ is
the very same life that flows to every member of His body.
The church will live as long as Christ lives. Oh, what a great
salvation. It brings. Salvation brings.
My works won't do it. My merit won't do it. My will
won't do it. Only grace can and does. It doesn't offer salvation. It
brings salvation. It bestows salvation. It actually
stays with a great everlasting salvation. One of the best loved
hymns I suppose ever written expresses the personal experience
of the man who wrote it, old John Newton, and of course you
know the him I'm talking about. At the end of his life, old Newton
said, my memory is not what it used to be. I can identify, my
wife can tell, I'm there now. But old Newton said, there's
two things I haven't forgotten. I'm a great sinner. And Jesus
Christ is a great Savior. This hymn is Newton's spiritual
autobiography, so to speak, isn't it? It's mine, too. I'd heard
this hymn all my life from time to time and didn't have a clue
as to what it meant. Could have cared less. Could
have cared less. And then God saved me. God saved
me. By His grace, He saved me. He
opened his blind sinner's eyes and I heard that hymn and I thought,
oh my soul, wish I'd written that. That's exactly how it is. That's exactly how it is. Amazing grace. Remember, remember. Oh, how sweet the sound that
saved a wretch like me. I was lost, now I'm found. I was blind, not anymore. Such
were some of you, but not anymore. Now you're justified. Now I see,
it was grace that taught my heart to fear that got me lost. And
grace, my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear,
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the hour I first believed. Remember, you were a sheep going
astray, but now, are now returned unto the bishop and shepherd
of your souls. Paul in Ephesians 2 wrote this.
This is needful, necessary. Wherefore remember, remember
that ye being in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called
uncircumcised by that which is called the circumcision in the
flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were without Christ."
Oh, what a horrible, horrible state. Am I talking to anybody
this morning that You're in that state. You're without Christ. You say, Larry, I know this and
that. You're without Christ. I read my Bible. I'm without
Christ. Without Christ. Being aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel. Strangers from the covenant of
promise. Having no hope. Without God in the world. But
Paul didn't stop there, did he? But now. But God, but God, but
now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh, nigh,
in the beloved, can't get any closer than that, made nigh by
the blood of Jesus Christ. May the Lord be pleased to stir
our memory, to recall what great grace and mercy he has bestowed
upon us and keeps doing so, doesn't he? Hearken unto me, the Lord
said by the prophet Isaiah. Hearken to me, ye that follow
after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord. Look into the
rock whence ye were young, into the hole of the pit whence ye
were digged. But look what grace has done,
being justified freely. Justified freely by his grace
through the redemption, where's it at? In Christ Jesus. It's only just. It's just that
if the debt has been discharged, it's been paid by the Lord Jesus
Christ, the ransom has been paid and God has accepted that ransom,
it's only right that the sinner should go free. If my substitute
has borne all my sins in his own body on the tree, then I
don't bear them anymore and there's no condemnation. To those who
are in Christ Jesus, if Jesus Christ took your load, your load
can't remain on your back. If Christ paid your debts, then
you stand in the book of God's, or rather it's written in God's
book, paid in full. Isn't it a blessing when you
pay that last car payment or whatever? The easy payment plan
is not so easy. Month after month after month.
I get a statement on my phone. You have a car payment coming
out. Thank you for your payment. I thought, well, I didn't have
no choice about it. You're taking it. You're taking it. Oh, but
when Paid in full. Paid in full. Oh, the debt that
we owe to God's justice and God's law because of the Lord Jesus
Christ being our substitute, our surety, and taking our place
before God, paid in full. Oh, since the guilt is taken,
or rather since the debt has been paid, no condemnation. No guilt, because God, for Christ's
sake, has forgiven all. I came home the other evening
and noticed a little tract on the table next to my chair. It
said the Free Will Baptist Church. I said, Robin, where did this
come from? Somebody knocked on the door
and stuck it in her hand. Just the same old stuff. Jesus
loves you. Jesus died for you. Jesus put
all your sins away. Now all you've got to do, it's
all worthless. It won't amount to nothing. It'll
all be in vain if you don't sign on the dollar line and accept
it. Brothers and sisters, if Jesus
Christ bore the sins If everyone on earth, if everyone in the
world, then everyone in the world must be saved. If they're not,
then God's unjust. People say, oh, God's unfair.
If God doesn't try to save everyone and love everyone and Christ
didn't die for everyone, then that's unfair. No, it would be
unfair if Christ did die for everyone and God didn't save
them. Well, thank God that can never
be. He won't demand payment. for
the same sin. Mr. Spurgeon said, get hold of
that grand truth and hold it. And though all the devils in
hell roar at you, grasp it with a hand of steel, grip it as for
life. God for Christ's sake has forgiven
you. May each of us be able to say
that. We shall not feel the divine
sweetness and force of the text unless we can make a personal
matter of it by the Holy Spirit. Oh yes, I am His and He is mine. A few months ago I found this
in Brother Joe Terrell's bulletin. A hymn, it said, looking and
looking through my tears one day, I saw Mount Calvary, beneath
the cross there flowed a stream of grace enough for me. While standing there, my trembling
heart was full of agony, could scarce believe the sight I saw
of grace enough for me. When I beheld my every sin knelt
to the cruel tree, I felt the flood go through my soul of grace
enough for me. When I am safe within the veil,
my portion there shall be to sing through all the years to
come of grace enough for me. The third question. If we have
received grace by Jesus Christ, so what? So what of it? Oh, there's so much we could
say. But just two things. How, thank you. The theme of
the bulletin today in light of Thanksgiving, I'm sure, seems
to be about thankfulness. Oh, there's never a time the
child of God shouldn't be thankful. Thankful and gracious, so thankful
a receiver of grace should be. We can never be too thankful
to God, can we? Don't need to worry about that.
Of all the grace for sending his son into this world to save
his people from their sin, David on one occasion asked this question.
Looking back over his life, God's marvelous providence, God's grace,
God's mercy, David said, it's followed me all the days of my
life. And that's not all. It's going
to follow me until I enter into God's presence and I dwell in
the house of God forever." But he said in contemplation of God's
mercy and grace, he asked himself this question, what shall I render
unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? The context of the
chapter, let me just read a little of it. Psalm 116, David wrote,
I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplications. Wow. Because he had inclined
his ear unto me. He didn't have to. He didn't
owe it to me. It was a matter of pure grace.
Therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. The sorrows
of death come past me. And the pains of hell got hold
upon me, I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the
name of the Lord, Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Help me. Help me. Have mercy upon me. Gracious is the Lord and righteous,
yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserveth the simple.
I was brought low, and he helped me. Return unto thy rest, O my
soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee, for thou
delivered my soul from death. my eyes from tears, and my feet
from falling. What shall I render unto the
Lord? And David answered his question. I will offer to thee
the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of
the Lord. David says, I will be thankful,
and I will worship God with a thankful heart. Having received such bountiful,
overflowing, constant blessings at God's hand, David says, I
won't bring a goat or a bullock. No, I will bring something much
more suitable for a redeemed sinner, the thanksgiving of my
heart. Young man, give me your heart.
My utmost soul shall adore him," David said in gratitude, and
I will call upon the name of the Lord. Here's another familiar
example of thankfulness. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Remember,
I won't read it, but remember the dark background in which
Paul penned these words? That time has come that it seems
the whole world is giving over to apostasy. It seems like the
whole world is. except for this, but, oh, but,
we're bound to give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God didn't leave you alone. He didn't leave
you in darkness. God had from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth, or until he called you. He called you affectionately.
He called you by His mighty grace. He called you by our gospel,
the glorious gospel that concerns God's Son, to the obtaining of
the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast,
don't budge, just stay put, and hold the traditions which ye
have been taught, whether by word or our epistle. Now the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God even our Father, which hath
loved us, and have given us everlasting consolation and good hope through
grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word
and work." There was a dear lady whom God had gotten lost. She
had been religious, but she'd never been lost. She tasted religion,
but had never tasted God's grace. God got her lost. God, as old
Newton said, taught her heart to fear. God did that necessary
work that only His Holy Spirit can do. He stripped her. Stripped
her. Snatched from her those fig leaves
of self-righteousness, and for the first time in her life, she
knew she was lost. She felt it in her utmost soul. She said this, Lord, if you'll
have mercy on me, if you'll be gracious to me, if you won't
leave me where I'm at, if you'll save me, I promise you this,
you'll never hear the end of it. You'll never hear the end of
it. James Smith was the predecessor to Charles Spurgeon at New Park
Street pulpit church. He said this, he said, My aim
is to humble the sinner and to exalt the Savior, to strip the
creature and to place the crown on the head of God's free grace.
I cannot ascribe too much to Jesus Christ and too little to
man. He told this story. He said,
I was passing through a country graveyard the other day, and
an inscription on a headstone struck my eye. The stone was
by the side of the path where everyone could see it, and it
was placed there in memory of a young man who died at the age
of 17. And it said this, it's simply this on the headstone.
Reader, one moment, stop and think that I am in eternity,
and you are on the brink. I am in eternity, and you are
on the brink. In eternity, a young man only
17 years old, in a fixed, changeless, eternal state, in heaven or in
hell, saved with an everlasting salvation or damned forever.
If you'll have mercy on me, if you'll be gracious to me, if
you'll save this sinner, you'll never hear the end of it. God
having been and being so gracious to us merits this as well, doesn't
it? Oh, we should be so gracious
and tenderhearted to others. Many years ago I was invited
to preach at a church. The pastor invited me to preach.
I wasn't really that familiar with them, but of course I went.
But before I preached in the Sunday school, the adult Bible
class, there was this young man preaching. Man, he made this
statement during his lesson. He said someone had come to him,
a mother, burdened for her son, Burden that God would show mercy
up on him wouldn't leave him to himself. That's a good thing
For that dear mother and just crying said oh brother, please
pray for my son And he said this is what I told If God's determined
to save your son, he'll save me If he's not there's nothing
you can do about it. So just quit your ball and quit
worrying about breaks It was like somebody threw a cold rag
in my face. I saw my soul First thing I did was pray, Lord, please
enable me to preach after that. How cold, how heartless. Oh no,
those who have experienced God's grace are gracious. They're gracious. Our Lord taught in Matthew 24,
because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Oh God, don't allow that. make
me thankful and make me gracious to others." Mr. Spurgeon preached
a message titled, Forgiveness Made Easy, and his text was,
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. God, for Christ's
sake, forgave us when we didn't deserve it. When we didn't ask
for it, when we were content to live without it, how many
times since God saved us has He continued to forgive us for
Christ's sake? My little children, John wrote,
these things write I unto you that ye sin not, and if any man
sin, God's done with you. Oh, no, no, no. If any man sin,
God will punish you forever. If any man sin, God will cast
you out. If any man sin, you'll lose your
salvation. No, if any man sin, we have an
advocate. We still have an advocate, always,
Jesus Christ the righteous. His grace has kept me to this
day. and will not, refuses to let
me go. What should I not forgive in
others when I remember how much God has forgiven me? The wondering
child is reconciled by God's beloved son, the aching soul
again made whole, and priceless pardon won. Here in his love,
John wrote, not that we love God, but that he loved us. loved
with an everlasting love, and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another." Let me read this quote to you. I ran across it the other day.
This man wrote, he says, we can never do amiss in showing gentleness. It's never wrong to be kind,
never wrong. There is no day when it will be untimely. There
is no place where it will not be welcome. It will do no harm,
and it may save someone from despair. Kindness may save a
life from self-destruction. Hmm. Could we with ink, the poet
wrote, the oceans fill, and were the skies a parchment made? Would
every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade?
The right to love of God above would drain the oceans dry, nor
could the whole contain the scroll, though stretched from sky to
sky. Lord Jesus, by the grace By the
grace I have received from you, make me gracious to others. By
the love you've given me continually, God help me to love others. The
blessed forgiveness you've shown me, may I be forgiving as well. Thank God for his unspeakable
gift. Again, thank you. Thank you for
having me back and it's a delight to be with you. The Lord bless
you.