In Ephesians chapter 2, the passage
we just read, Paul sets forth the glory of God in saving his
people through faith, in taking those who were dead in trespasses
and sins, those who were children of wrath, even as others, those
who were lost and are far off, and bringing them to a knowledge
of the truth, through the gospel, by grace. Paul speaks of those who in time
past walked according to the course of this world, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now
worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath even as others. But God, he tells us,
who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, have quickened us together
with Christ. By grace, ye are saved. and have raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that
in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For
by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. By grace are ye saved, through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. He makes it plain that salvation
is by grace. that the gospel we're brought
to believe by faith is made known unto us by the revelation of
God because by nature we do not believe and we do not have faith
to believe. He makes it plain that even the
faith by which we're justified, the faith by which we believe
the truth and believe on Christ is a gift of God itself. By nature
we are dead in trespasses and sins. By nature we have walked
according to the course of this world. according to the prints
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. Naturally speaking, we go away
from God consistently, forcefully, rebelliously, repeatedly. We have no time for God, we have
no time for Jesus Christ, we have no time for the gospel,
we have no time for the truth. We don't choose Him. We don't
choose this salvation. We don't choose God. We don't
choose His mercy. We don't choose to follow Him.
We choose to go our own way. And if we're ever brought to
believe in Christ, if we're ever brought to believe the truth
and to know Christ and to know his salvation, it is through
the intervention of God. He comes unto us when we are
like Saul riding to Damascus. intent on causing havoc, riding
away from God in our rebellious way and he comes unto us in our
pathway and stands before us and intervenes and turns us. He quickens the dead unto life. By grace are ye saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Likewise, in the epistle to the
Romans, Paul sets forth the same thing. In the first few chapters
he proves all men, Jew or Gentile, religious or irreligious, whoever
they are, wherever they are, whatever race, whatever country,
whatever creed, whatever colour, male or female, no matter how
much you know or how little you know, He proves all men, women
and children to be under sin, to be lost, to be condemned. and he shows how the works of
the law, a knowledge of the truth, a knowledge of God's ways, a
knowledge of the righteousness that God demands of man. The
works of the law, an attempt to live before God in a manner
pleasing unto God, does not save us and cannot save us. Indeed, the works of the law
are to condemn us and to bring us in before God as nothing,
in order that we should be brought to the feet of Jesus Christ and
be given faith to believe on Him unto salvation. Paul lays man low in the dust. He describes us, he shows us
what we are, he leads us to see that we are nothing. He lays
us low in the dust that we may see that salvation is through
Christ and Christ alone. In chapter 3 and verse 20 he
says, Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh
be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of
sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. Even the righteousness of God
which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that
believe for there is no difference for all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God being justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at
this time his righteousness, that he might be just, and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boast in there? It is excluded. By what law of
works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Paul sets forth Christ, God sets
forth Christ. He declares unto the world, here
is my son. He sets him forth as the propitiation
for sin, the appeasement of sin. He who will bring mercy unto
lost condemned sinners. God in the gospel sets forth
the crucifixion, the sacrifice of his own son. he lifts him
up as the Lamb of God laid upon the altar bearing the sins of
his people and he shows forth the judgment and the wrath of
God that came down from heaven upon his own son and he says
unto sinners this is salvation This is your way unto God. This is your way to heaven. This
is your way to eternal life. This is the only way. The only
way to be delivered from your sin. The only way to be spared
the wrath to come. The only way unto life through
the sacrifice of my Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He lifts him
up. He displays in the sacrifice
of Christ the revelation of the righteousness of God through
the faith of Christ. Here at the cross, Christ laid
down his life willingly for his people. He bore the judgment
of God against their sins willingly. He suffered under the outpouring
of the wrath of God through the righteousness of God against
those sins. The fires of God's wrath came
down because of the sin that Christ bore. And here God displays
His Son, this righteousness, and the faith of Jesus Christ,
that Christ was willing to go through this judgment, the darkness at the cross, death
at the cross, to be forsaken of his Father, to be forsaken
of all, God shows the faith of his son
that he trusted in God at this hour, at this moment, in the
free hours of darkness upon the cross when Christ bore his people's
sins and was slain in their place where he drank the cup of God's
wrath and felt the fires of God's fury against those sins come
down upon him, he who was innocent in the place of the guilty. This
is he whom God have set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission
of sins that are past, the forbearance of God. This is he whom he declares
as the justifier of those that believe in Jesus.
Here he displays salvation by grace through faith and none
other way. And as such Paul cries out Where
is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law of
works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Where is boasting then? When
salvation is not of works, lest any man should boast. If salvation
is entirely through the person and the work of Jesus Christ,
salvation is entirely by grace then where is boasting? Of what
can we boast if we come to know Christ and his deliverance from
our sins of what can we boast? And yet how we love to by nature
Why does Paul refer to boasting in two places where he's setting
forth the righteousness of God, justification by faith, the grace
of God in such clear terms. Why does he come to this point
of saying that salvation is not of works lest any man should
boast? of asking where is boasting then? It is excluded. Why does he come
to this? Because boasting is that which
is intrinsic to our fallen nature. It is everything about which
we must be delivered. Until God brings us low and places
us in the dust before Him, until He teaches us what we are, that
we are nothing, in need of salvation, in need of His mercy, in need
of His grace, in need of God to intervene, to save us, until
He teaches us that we are lost, without a hope, with nothing
that we can do to save ourselves. Until we're brought to that point
and that understanding, everything we do is that which leads us to boast. Our nature boasts in what we
are, what we do, what we are not, what we are different from. We boast, we love to. Whatever
character we are of, whether we are an extrovert or an introvert,
whether we are of the character that would make our boast outwardly
before others, and plainly declare what we think of ourselves or
whether we are very quiet and shy by nature we still boast
we may not vocalize that but inwardly before God in our hearts
there is still a boast of something we are indeed very often the
more quiet we may be the more our boasts may be. Well
we're not arrogant like they are. We've not done any great
things like they have. We're humble. We're more of the character that
God would seek us to be. We haven't gone to this extreme
or that extreme. We haven't sinned in this way
or that way. And inwardly, though we may not
shout it out from the rooftop inwardly, we still have a boast. We still see something in ourselves
which is meritorious. We still have a feeling that
God might favor us. We've not turned to these great
sins and we've not boasted of our great deeds and surely God
will favor us. How deceptive our hearts are. How deceptive sin is within us. We cannot help but boast. something that we are or something
that we do or something that we have which separates us from
others we compare ourselves to others we measure ourselves against
others and that becomes our criteria if we are to be saved if God
is to deliver us then surely he will approve of this I'm not
as bad as they are. I've not done what they have
done. We make a boast. We make a boast. And most false
religion, most corruptions of the gospel of Jesus Christ, most
religion today indeed, fuels such boasting. It either teaches
us how to live in order to be saved or what decision to make. It
encourages our walk in this way and decide in this way and we
feel that we are saved because we chose Christ or we lived this
way or we read the Word of God or we prayed we try to keep the
law of God inwardly and outwardly. Most religion encourages us in
these ways and we're left holding on to a boast of what we have
done or what we are. Legal freewill religion encourages,
it fuels the boasted of man, either before others or in the
heart before God. It brings us to the point where
when we go from this world to the next, we would come to stand
before our maker and say, Lord, Lord, I've done this, I've done
that. With an expectation that he will
find something in what we are, or something in what we have
done which is pleasing under him. We have a boast. We have a confidence in self.
We come before God with our own works for salvation. We're not brought to see that
we are nothing, have done nothing, and can do nothing deserving
of any good from God. We're not brought to see that
we are vile from head to toe, wretches who are lost in sin,
deserving of God's anger and God's wrath, and yet that is
what we are. And that is what Paul seeks to
make plain. in Romans and Ephesians and in
every letter and every message he wrote or he preached. He makes
it plain time and time again, we are nothing. There is none
that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher,
with their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps
is under their lips. whose mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction
and misery are in their ways and the way of peace. they not
know? There is no fear of God before
their eyes. What a description of mankind,
what a description of you and me. There is no fear of God before
our eyes. Why don't you believe by nature? Why do you turn away from the
gospel? Why does your mind wander off
to the things you will do tomorrow, to your ambitions, to your goals
in this world as though they will last? Why do you not consider
eternity and what will come next? Because there is no fear of God
before your eyes. By nature you're dead in trespasses
and sins. you're blinded, you're deaf to
the truth, you cannot hear, you cannot see and you do not understand,
we're dead, we're foolish. There is no fear of God before
our eyes then there's nothing in which we can boast and yet
how we do soon as we come to any knowledge of religion or
any desire to be saved how we embrace works, how we embrace
something we've done, something we are or something we think
and we place a trust in that and not in Jesus Christ alone. Paul says in Romans 2.21, Thou
therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou
that preachest, a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest, a man should
not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest
idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of
the law, through breaking the law dishonorous thou God. It's so easy to trust in works
and it's so easy to preach works and to look on others and to
say they shouldn't do this and they should do that when we do
all the same things ourselves. We wag our finger at others when
our hearts are just as wicked It's so easy to see the sins
of others because we know the same sin within. Oh how we love
to see someone stumble outwardly in a way that we have not done
outwardly when we know we've stumbled inwardly. Oh how deceptive sin is. Oh how deceptive the works of
the law embraced by dead sinners are. How mean religion can make
us be. I always felt it was an apt term
when Don Faulkner some years ago in conversation when we were
speaking of different things said so much of religion so many
in religion are just mean. Mean. religion taken in the flesh,
grasped hold of by human intellect, religion into which we are born
and grow up, religion which never touches the heart and brings
us to be nothing, makes a man mean. It makes him judge another. It makes him make his boast in
his own self, his own works, his own ways and look down on
others. The Pharisees who had all the
revelation of God in the scriptures at that time, who had the law,
who had the prophets, who had the oracles of God, they had
the sacrifices, they had the temple, they had all the former
religion, they knew everything and yet how mean-spirited they
were. Christ illustrated this with
the parable of the Good Samaritan how there was this man robbed
and beaten close to death laid at the side of the road and different
ones came past who should have come to his aid and the Pharisee
The priest comes by and stands aside because he does not want
to be defiled by coming to the help of this man. He's so careful
for his own self he won't go to the help of another. His religion
made him mean. There's no love in it. There's
no care for others in this. He had his own boast of how righteous
he was and yet he couldn't come to the aid of one that was at
the point of death. How often we see this with religion.
In an endeavor to do that which is right, in an endeavor to serve
God in the way we think we should serve him, to go to worship,
to do the right things and to avoid the wrong things. We can
become mean when it's all outward and it's all just words in the
head and all just doctrines and things we know. And we forget that we are nothing.
The only thing that will spare you from such a meanness Even
when religion is all through you and all in you, even when
you know everything, the only thing that will spare you from
such meanness is the revelation of God, of His Son Jesus Christ
in your heart. Bringing you to see that you
are absolutely nothing by nature before God but a wretched, broken,
lost sinner. And all you have is the grace
of God in Jesus Christ that's picked you up as that beaten
and bruised man at the side of the road that the Pharisee passed
by but the Samaritan came to the aid of. You need that Samaritan. You need the Lord Jesus Christ
to come your way and pick you up. show you love and show you
mercy and you'll never boast because nothing that you did
contributed, your boast is in Him, your love is for Him, you
just rejoice in what He did for you. There's nothing to boast
in, you have nothing that you brought to the matter. He delivered
you, he plucked you out of the grave as it were. He lifted you
off the brink of destruction. When God brings the knowledge
of Christ and his gospel, his love, his mercy to a broken sinner's
heart, the meanness of religion and the boasting of religion
is cast aside. Salvation is not of works lest
any man should boast. It's not of works. It's not of works because firstly
we can't live this way. The way that God has declared
in his law that man should live The righteousness that God has
set forth both in the law and throughout the scriptures of
how we should be is something we can't be. Not by nature, not
by our efforts, not by our deeds, not by our wisdom, not by our
will, not by our resolve. We can't do it, we can't live
this way. Secondly, we can't think this
way. We can't think the way we should
about God, about the truth, about the world, about our fellow man.
We can't understand the truth. We can't understand God. We can't
understand by nature the gospel. We can embrace these things in
our head with a human intellect and a natural persuasion. But
we really don't think this way, we don't have the mind of Christ. The love of God, the mercy of
God, the grace of God doesn't flow through our being and our
thinking. Our thinking is moved and motivated
by sin which directs all we are and all we do. when we come to
religion with a sinful heart we do it for self-preservation. We come as it were to Jesus Christ
through the gospel by our own embracing of it in order to preserve
ourself from destruction even if it's at the expense of others.
But we can't think the way Christ thinks. And thirdly, we can't choose
this way. No matter what men may tell us
about accepting Jesus Christ, making a decision for God, choosing
to follow God, we can't and we don't. You can preach the gospel
to a man for a hundred years, and if he appears to embrace
it, if he says yes I've accepted Jesus, yes I've accepted the
gospel, yes I believe, if it's in his strength he never truly
has. He takes that of the gospel and
of the truth which appeals under him and resists that which doesn't. He's never brought to a point
of saying truly that I am nothing. We can't choose. We can't choose
this way because our natural heart takes us another way. We go in a direction which is
entirely opposite from that which would lead us unto Jesus Christ. We can't live this way, we can't
think this way, we can't choose this way. We can't live this
way. God in the law has set forth
what man should be. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind.
You should love him entirely. You should have no other gods
before him. You should not covet anything
in this world. should not commit adultery, seeking
after another man's wife or another man's things, should not covet,
should not bear false witness, should not kill, should not steal,
should not lie, should keep the Sabbath day, should rest in God. But we don't and we can't. We can't live this way outwardly
and we can't live this way inwardly. You see this thing of works by
which so many seek to be saved is so far reaching. Many speak
of works, they will come to the Bible they will read the verses
like we have read that say that we are not saved, not of works
Lest any man should boast that we're saved by grace, we're saved
through faith. Everyone that professes to be
a Christian will say amen to that. Even though they may embrace
a freewill works-based religion. Well how can that be? Because
they say the grace of God is in sending Jesus to die for all
men. So I'm saved by grace. They say
that we're saved through faith because I believe in Jesus. They say I'm not saved of works
because they don't look to their outward keeping of works and
striving to keep works. They say Jesus has saved me. But they do strive to live a
certain way. and through that they feel that
God looks upon them with blessing because of how they've been in
comparison with others. And they do look to their decision
to turn to Jesus Christ and accept him in the gospel and feel that
their faith, their belief, their decision makes the difference
between them and those who go another way. So they do rest
in works. Works are very subtle. Works
cover every spectrum of our actions, our thoughts, our deeds and our
being. are those works which are outward,
our outward obedience to the law, our outward good deeds,
our outward kindness to our neighbor, our outward zeal in religion,
our outward prayer, our outward attendance at the service, all
the things we do that men can see and observe. And however we may view these
things, however we may speak of them even if we don't outwardly
boast in them even if we say oh I'm not saved by them inwardly
before God there's a certain sense in which if you live rightly
if you live a way that you feel is in accord with the scriptures
and the law of God and what God would expect of you It's so easy
to boast in it. It's so easy to take pleasure
in it. It's so easy to feel you've done
right. And God must be pleased with
you because you've done right. But how easy it is also to boast
before others. To look down on others that don't
live like we do. To look down on others that have
done things, wicked things that we haven't done. to look down
on others that have failed to do the good things that we have
done. How easy outward works deceive. But how easy inward
works deceive. God demands in his law not just
outward obedience but inward obedience. Our obedience inwardly thou shalt
not covet well we might not say anything before other men that
betray our covetous ways but inwardly we look at this one
and that one inwardly we look at these things and those things
we desire you may say well I I've got no great love for the things
of this world I'm not materially minded I'm quite happy with a
with a small dwelling and simple things But you can still look
upon the blessings that come upon others with envy. The sickness that comes upon
you, you look at someone that has been spared this, someone
who's healthier, and you wish you were healthier like them.
You can look at others who seem to have some talent that you
lack, some ability that you lack and oh, you wish you could have
that. How we covet this and covet that.
And in religion, we can look on others who seem to walk better
than we do. Others that seem to have such
strong faith. Others who can pray like we can't
pray. Others who seem to stand firm
when trials come their way, oh, we can covet their faith and
covet their standing. It's so deceptive. And likewise
on the other side, we can boast in what we do. Our walk, our conduct, our thoughts,
our minds. Yet it's all a deception, because
when God looks in our hearts, by nature, there's nothing but
sin. There's nothing but sin. It taints all that we are and
all that we do, all that we say and all that we think. There's
nothing but sin. We can't live this way, we can't
think this way. Salvation is not of works lest
any man should boast. None of our actions will save
us. Our will won't save us, our resolve
won't save us. Our thoughts won't save us, our
devotion won't save us. Our separation won't save us. Nothing that we are, do, say
or think can save us. We can't think the way God would
have us think. And yet how we can make works
out of thoughts. How we can make works out of
thoughts. What we think, what we believe,
the doctrines we hold to, the ideas we hold to, how we rest in them, in the knowledge,
in the wisdom, not that which is revealed unto us by Christ,
not that which we look to and say, this is not of me. God has
shown me a wicked and a vile sinner that which I could not
see but we grasp hold of things that we come to see and know
and decipher those things we're persuaded of and how we can be
boosted in our pride concerning them how we can look on others
with annoyance that they don't believe what we believe they
don't see what we see. How we can strive to impose our
own ideas, our own beliefs, our own thoughts on others and condemn
one another as a consequence. All of this is works. All of
this is works before God. our thought, our wisdom. We can make works out of anything. We can make works out of true
doctrine concerning the gospel. Many are brought up in the right
church, hearing the right truth, the right message but they imbibe
it intellectually in the head and they despise other churches
that differ. We can look upon others and say,
why don't they believe what we believe? Why don't they practice
what we practice? Whilst all along, the reality
of the truth, which we've heard, the reality of the gospel, which
has been made known, has never entered our hearts. So many there
are, brought up in religion, even in the truth, even sat under
the true gospel of God, who can embrace so much in their head
and use it to condemn others. when they don't really believe
it themselves when they don't know the reality of it themselves
we can believe it intellectually we can embrace it intellectually
we can trust in our own knowledge of these things but ultimately
as I've said before we're not brought to see ourselves as nothing
and therefore we make a boast in what we know The child of
God embraces the truth of election, of God's grace to a chosen people,
chosen in Christ, because he sees in this great truth A God
who intervenes and chooses to save those who left to themselves
would be lost forevermore. The child of God loves election
because he knows that if God hadn't chosen him, if God hadn't
chosen me, I'd be lost. I love the fact that God chose
me and came unto me in the gospel and delivered me from myself,
delivered me from my works, delivered me from trusting in what I am,
what I do, what I think, what I say. Showed me that I'm nothing
and brought me to himself. I love election because God intervened
and came to me. And without it I'd be lost. In
this truth I see the work of God. I see God's grace, his love
and his mercy. And the child of God sees this
in this great truth of the gospel. But many others will take this
truth and embrace it in their head and corrupt it as something
in which they boast. There are those that can take
God's election and see that as making them distinct from others. I'm chosen when others aren't.
I'm special. They make a boast in it, even
though it's God's choosing and not man's. Oh how subtle works
are. We can take the truth, even a
truth like election, and twist it into something we rest in
and boast in. What a twisting of grace into
works. How easily works get into all
of our thinking in every sphere of life. As soon as we start
to think this is what a Christian should do or believe about a
matter and start to look upon those that disagree with dissatisfaction,
with criticism, or with condemnation. We have made this into a work. Anyone who doesn't conform with
what we feel should be, we condemn. And yet we're all nothing. How
easy it is, even as believers, as we pass through this world,
we're affected by the circumstances, we're affected by the current
events, we're affected by the politics, we're affected by the
troubles in this world. How easy it is to journey through
and have a view on things. We all have a view on things.
We all come to our own conclusions about things. Whichever country
we live in, we will have a view on the political parties and
which is right and which is wrong. We will have a view on how the
government is dealing with this matter or that matter. We will
have a view on education. We will have a view on social
matters. We look upon this world and we
have our viewpoints of what is right and what is wrong. And
our belief in the gospel, our religion, will shape that view.
But how easy it is to suddenly make our viewpoints, our conclusions
become intertwined with the truth of the gospel. How easy it is
to decide that a Christian will only vote for the party, the
person that I think that they should vote for. How easy it
is to think that a Christian will view this matter in this
way and any who don't are wrong. How easy it is to start mixing
matters of the flesh and this world with the gospel and start
to see them as one and the same. How easy it is for works and
grace to intertwine. How easy it is to start to condemn
our brethren to start to condemn others, to start to divide because of
what we think. If God continues to teach us
that we are nothing, that we are nothing before him, nothing
but recipients of grace. If we know Christ, if we know
his salvation, his grace, his mercy, we know we're nothing. We know we're forgiven of a huge
debt. We know that we are saved by
grace, by the mercy of God, the love of God. And if we're brought
to see that truly, we will look upon others, whoever they are,
wherever they are, as being just as lost as we are. No worse than
we are. We'll look on ourselves as worse
than others. And we will long for others to
know the grace that God has made known unto us. We long for others
to know Christ, who is our all in all. We long for others to
know the love and the mercy of God. No more will we look on
others in condemnation. No more will we judge one another. but we will rejoice in Christ,
we will look to the propitiation, we will look to the mercy seat,
we will look, as Paul pointed us in Romans 3, and as he points
us in Ephesians, we'll look to Christ, we'll look to His blood,
we'll look to the love of God made known through the death
of His Son. We'll have no time for looking
at how others are living or what others think on this or what
others say or do. We'll point them to Christ and
our joy, our rejoicing is to walk with our Brethren as one
in Christ. As Paul says, where is boasting
then? It is excluded. By what law of
works? Nay, but by the law of faith. The law of works encourages boasting. The law of faith excludes it. Because faith, true faith, faith
given unto us as a gift of God, lays us low in the dust as nothing,
teaches us we are nothing, shows us that we have nothing to boast
of. It shows us that we cannot live
this way, it shows us that we cannot think this way, and it
shows us that we cannot choose this way. Faith is a gift, not
something we're born with. Faith is a gift of God. It is not natural persuasion. It is not mental decision. It is not truth that we embrace
naturally, leading us to a certain conclusion. Faith comes unto
us when we would choose everything but God and His Son and His salvation. We can't choose to believe, we
don't choose to believe because our choice, our will, our heart
by nature leads us away from God. Then if we're to be saved
it must be all of grace, all of mercy, or because of the overwhelming,
irresistible love of God that comes unto us in the Gospel,
points us unto Christ, and says, behold the Lamb of God, behold
my Son, hear ye Him, see His love for you in the Gospel. It takes the sinner, the broken,
the lost sinner, who has nothing, is nothing, can do nothing, and
says here is salvation. The Gospel is all of Christ,
all about Christ, and the believer loves to know Him, to hear Him,
to know His grace, His mercy, His love. The believer loves
to hear the Gospel, the message, the preaching of the cross. It's
his meat, it's his drink, it's his lifeblood. He loves to hear
of Christ in the Gospel. He loves to hear that he's delivered
from sin, delivered from works, delivered from boasting, through
the love and the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, because Christ
died in his place. Oh, how we need to look. by faith
to Christ on the cross. And there's only one way we can.
There's only one way we do. It's not by the works of man.
It's not by the works of the law. It's not by our wisdom or
our decision. It's by God's grace. This is
the work of God that you believe. We need God to work. to make
us, to cause us, to believe that which we cannot and will not
and do not believe by nature. You cannot believe this gospel
unless God says, behold. But if God says, behold, you
cannot resist. No longer when God works and
gives faith unto us, no longer will our thoughts be centred
on ourselves, on what we do, what we think, what we are, but
will be turned to Christ and what he's done. will be turned
to see that it is He alone who saves. He alone who brings us
to believe. He alone who makes us to hear
and He alone who makes us to see. He comes unto the blind
and makes them see. He takes the deaf and makes them
hear. He takes the dumb and makes them
speak. He takes the lame and makes them
walk. He takes the dead and makes them
live. Are you blind? Can you see? Are you deaf? Will you hear? Are you dumb? Will God put faith in your heart
to praise his name and sing praises unto the name of Jesus Christ?
Are you lame? Will he cause you to walk, to
run, to leap? Are you yet dead in trespasses
and sins? I'm reminded of that man spoken
of, known by the name of Happy Jack. a simple man, a sinner
shown to be a sinner. He made no boast. Christ was
his all. Whenever asked what he believed,
in what did he trust, in what did he hope, for whom did he
live, he'd say, I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all, Jesus Christ is my all in all. I'm a poor sinner and
nothing at all, Jesus Christ is my all in all. Can you say
that with him? Can you renounce all your works
inward, outward, your thoughts, your beliefs, your persuasions,
your will, your decision, your upbringing, your religion. Do you renounce it all? And do
you rest in Christ by faith alone? Can you say with Jack, I'm a
poor sinner and nothing at all. Jesus Christ is my all in all. Amen.