Back in Romans chapter 5, Martin Luther called the book of Romans the
perfect gospel. He referred to it also as the
true masterpiece of the New Testament. And we can understand why he
would feel that way because it was through the reading of this
book that God revealed the truth of Martin Luther, revealed Christ
to him and justification in Christ, by Christ, because of Christ,
and lit the fire that we call the Reformation. That gospel, the gospel, this
masterpiece, this perfect gospel is perfect Because as Paul tells
us in chapter 1, it's the gospel that concerns God's Son. And He's perfect. Christ is perfect,
so His gospel must be perfect. And the message of a perfect
gospel about a perfect Savior is the message of perfect grace. Perfect grace. Oh, the recipients
of grace, those sinners on whom God bestows His grace, Far in
themselves are anything but perfect. Oh, but God's grace is perfect
and God's grace One day will present them perfect before the
throne of God in God's sight. They are so right now right now
That's what exactly what we find here in chapter 5 of Romans and
our text is verse 20 verse 20 And the title of my message is
Grace Abounding. Grace Abounding. How do you like
the sound of that? Grace Abounding. That sounds
good to me. Grace reigning over all my sins. That sounds good to me. Nothing
less than that will help me. There are two sentences in the
verse And we'll consider the first sentence first, consider
it as an introduction to the second. The first one is this,
Romans 5 and 20. The first sentence, moreover,
the law entered that the offense might abound. The law was not
given to Moses to stop sin or to forgive sin. But to make men
see the nature and evil of sin. To expose sin. And to make it
evident how sinful a man is. That's the legitimate use of
the law. Paul says the law is lawful,
or rather the law is good if a man use it lawfully. It's not
lawful. It's contrary to God's word to
make the law a means of justification. By the deeds of the law, no flesh
will be justified. Likewise, it's just as dishonoring
to God. It's a denial of the finished
work of Christ to make the law the rule of life for a child
of God. Oh, no, no. The law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ, but after that Christ has come, faith in
Him has come, we're no longer under a schoolmaster. When a
window is opened into a dark room, when the curtains
are drawn back and the sunlight floods that room, we see the
dust and the dirt that we never saw before. In the dark, we didn't
see it. Oh, but when the light shines
in, Thus is the purpose of God's law. When the light of God's
holy law shines upon a man's so-called righteousness, he sees
it for what it really is. What it always was, but he didn't
know it. He didn't know any better. God
says, filthy rags. Filthy rags, and it's an offense.
An offense to the holy God. Turn a page there in your Bible
to chapter 7, Romans chapter 7. This is exactly what Paul
tells us here. throughout the chapter, but we'll
just read a verse or two. The purpose of the law, verse
7 of Romans 7. What shall we say then? Is the
law sin? God forbid! Nay, I had not known
sin, but by the law. For I had not known lust, except
the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. Verse 12. Wherefore
the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, Good There's
no problem with God's law. The problem doesn't lie with
God's law Was then verse 13 was then that which is good may death
unto me God forbid but sin But seeing that it might appear sin
Working death in me by that which is good that sin by the commandment
might be exceeding sinful Law does not make us sinful but exposes
our sinfulness. In the presence of the perfect
standard of God's holy law, we see how far short we've come. The law of God is like a mirror
in which a man sees the spots on his face. But the mirror can't
remove the spots. And God's law cannot take away
sin. Oh, it teaches us to seek water,
the cleansing water of God's grace. The design, the purpose
of the law is the revealing of our many offenses that thereby
we might be driven. We might be driven out of self-righteousness
unto the Lord Jesus Christ in whom we have redemption through
his blood. even the forgiveness of sin.
The law stirs the mud at the bottom of the pool and proves
how foul the waters truly are. God be thanked. Don't you thank
God that he used the law and so worked to take away from you
all confidence in the flesh. Aren't you glad? Conviction. That's an almost forgotten truth
in our day. Conviction. Painful. Painful. Oh, it's painful. Now,
on every hand in all my life, I always heard, it's easy, it's
easy. It's easy to be saved. I mean
you can, you can try up an eye, don't even bother to spit out
your chewing gum, make a decision, go on your way. I mean, you know,
there's no problem. It's just a decision. It's just
a confession. It's just baptism. It's easy. Any idiot can do it. I didn't
find it that way, did you? Oh no. When God got me lost,
it was anything but easy. Man, I reformed. I transformed. I did everything I could do.
But the cry of God's law in my heart was, you're lost. You're
lost. You've fallen short. You're undone. Lost. No, it wasn't easy. But oh, how essential. How essential. How necessary. Because of this,
as you know, there will never be, there will never be Seeking
after grace where there's no sense of sin. It's not gonna
happen in other words Until God gets a man lost. He's never gonna
seek Christ. It's not gonna happen The leper
must be made to confess that he's incurable, that he's unclean,
and that's what the law did, pronounced him unclean, and compel
him, compel him to go to the Lord Jesus Christ and fall before
him and says, if you will, the law can't do it, oh, but if you
will, I can't do it, but if you will, Christ, You can make me
clean. That's the object, the purpose,
the end of the law for all those whom God will save. When the
law works thoroughly, affectionately in a man's heart, it drives him
to despair of himself. Boy, I'd like to meet a lost
man that despairs of himself. Everybody's saved. You can hardly
find a lost person. Oh, but to find a sinner that
despairs of himself, who confesses, I can't keep the law. Oh, once
he thought he could. Once he thought he was good as
most people and better than most. And he thought, all I have to
do is just make a few improvements here and there Touch not and
taste not and go not and where not and God that'll be enough
Maybe maybe just a little religious spasm. That'll do and God would
say me and I'll go to heaven Oh, but when the law of God comes
When this spirit using the hammer of the law he smashes that idea
that peace is nothing And the sinner begins to cry, oh, what
must I do to be saved? Oh, pass me not, oh gentle Savior. Thank God for such grace. It shuts us up. that we may cry
to Jesus Christ to set us free. It's a storm that which wrecks
your hope of self-salvation and washes you up on the rock of
ages. Thank God for that. You ladies,
I can't sew with a machine or by hand or any other way, but
when you ladies want to sew something and you take a fine thread But
the first thing you've got to do is put it through the needle,
don't you? You've got to thread it through the needle to make
way for the thread to go through after that. And the anguish of
spirit which the law creates in the soul is the sharp needle
which makes way for the fine golden thread of the gospel to
enter by God's mighty grace. This is exactly what we read
in Galatians 3, verses 24 and 25. Wherefore, the law was our
schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by
faith. Oh, but after that faith has
come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. Now here's the
second sentence here in Romans 5 and 20. But, oh, don't you
love that? Robin and I were talking the
other evening. Don't know what verse of scripture it was, but
but she said oh, don't you like that? But but God doesn't that
sound good, but we're sin abound Grace did much more abound. But, here comes divine intervention. But, here comes the golden thread
of grace. But, hallelujah, here is grace
by one man. Look at verse 15 again here in
Romans 5. But naught is the offense, so
also is the free gift. For if through the offense of
one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by
grace, which is by one man, which is by one man, have abounded
unto many." Yes, it's a fact. Sin abounded. There's no question
about that. Yes, there is none righteous,
Paul tells us in chapter 3 of his book. There's none righteous,
no, not one. Yes, there is none that understands. There is none that seeks after
God. Yes, we've all gone astray. We're all dead in trespasses
and sins. We're all deserving God's wrath
by nature. You want equal rights? There
it is. There's none righteous. No, not one. It's right for God
to judge and damn a sinner. He won't be God if he doesn't.
Unless, unless he can find satisfaction. And that's exactly what he did
in the Lord Jesus Christ. But in ourselves, we have no
hope. We're without God in the world. And we're pronounced guilty.
And we're all facing everlasting torment except for this. But God. Oh, hallelujah. But God. But Christ. But grace. Reigning, abounding
grace. Grace by Jesus Christ abounds
over my sin. True grace is greater than all
my sin. There's no doubt about that either.
Thank God it's so. There's no hope otherwise. There's
no hope otherwise. John 1, we read, for the law
was given by Moses, but, but, there it is again. Grace and
truth came by Jesus Christ. Grace by one man. And it's not the Baptist man.
It's not the Pope man. It's not the preacher man. It's
not the priest man. It's Jesus Christ, the God man. Oh, there's only one fountainhead
from which grace flows to needy sinners. Look, look, look, look
away. There it is. It's the Lord Jesus
Christ. grace personified, grace in person,
grace sitting upon a throne of grace, speaking words of grace,
bestowing grace by the Lord Jesus Christ. And the grace that comes
from Christ, as we read here and throughout the Word of God,
is grace that saves. It's grace that gets the job
done, Billy. Billy, I see you sitting there
smiling. You like this, don't you? I do, too. It's not grace that offers to
save. It's grace that saves guilty,
dead sinners. Please don't tell me. Please
don't tell me that Jesus Christ only offers to save. or tries
to save, or half saves, that's not good news. That's not the
gospel. There's no use. That's of no
use. That's a sorry comfort to a needy
sinner like me. Such a message as that only mocks
my helpless condition. That's all it does. It does nothing
for me. Brother Moose Parks wrote a hymn
years ago. called we have gathered in this
chapel. This is how a couple of verses of that hymn goes.
It says, tell us not of self-salvation. Through an act of man's free
will he will bring no consolation, having heard we're hungry still.
I hope so. Oh, we long to see the glory.
of our God in Jesus' face. Tell us now that blessed story
of His free and sovereign grace. John, this sinner needs to hear
about abounding grace, about reigning grace, about mighty
grace. It's the only hope I have. Tell
us of the Christ Lord Jesus, who has died for God's elect.
His blood ransoms and releases them from sin and its effect.
Every one for whom he suffered shall be saved and justified,
and at last they shall be ushered into heaven to be his bride. Would it have been good news
to Mary and Martha to see the Lord Jesus Christ standing before
the tomb of their dead brother, and to hear him say, Lazarus,
Lazarus, if you'll take the first step, I'll take the rest. Lazarus, if you'll let me, if
you'll allow me, pretty please, Lazarus, let me do something
for you. Can you imagine that? And Martha
looking at Barry and said, why did he even bother to come? This is a waste of time. Our
brother's not going to assist him. It's not going to happen. And glory to his name, that's
not what he said, did he? He stood before that throne and
said, Lazarus, come forth. Lazarus, come forth. Not pretty
please. Lazarus, come forth. And immediately,
immediately, here comes Lazarus shuffling out of that tomb. He
that was dead came forth. The Lord Jesus Christ said in
John 5, the hour is coming and is now when the dead shall hear
the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live. Live spiritually. live eternally,
live forever, live everlastingly, they shall never perish. What
happened there, what we read of at the tomb of Lazarus in
John 11, is a picture of this. Ephesians 2, and you had he quick,
who were dead. who were dead. You didn't take
the first step. You didn't make yourself willing.
You didn't conjure up faith. You didn't do nothing. You were
dead! You were dead! And Christ said,
Lee, we were dead in trespasses and sins, but God. There it is again. But God, who
is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us even
when we were dead, in the very grip of death, helpless, dead
in sin, hath quickened us. given us life, made us alive
together with Christ by grace you're saved, and have raised
us up together and made us set together one with Christ in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come, God
might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. Well, that's only right. God's
people have no problem with that. Their praise should be to God.
Salvations of the Lord. Who else should get the credit?
Who else should we sing praises to? Not unto us, O Lord, not
unto us, but that I may give glory for Thy mercy and for Thy
truth's sake. To God be the glory. Great things
He hath done. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourselves. The grace, the faith, or the
salvation, none of them are of yourselves. It is the gift of
God. And I love how matter of factly
it's stated, don't you? By grace you are saved. Not maybe
saved, or only half saved, or just don't know if I'm saved.
No, you are saved like this coronavirus. I mean, it's just permeates the
airwaves, the internet, the television and everything. And man, I've
heard in the last several weeks, you might have it and not even
know. You might be tested and prove negative and still have
it. Be positive. Might have a vaccine
in six months. Might not have it for 12 months.
Might not have it for 18 months. I'm told there are plenty of
tests. Anybody that wants one can get one. And others say,
no, there's not. We don't have enough tests. Far short of that. I mean, just a bunch of uncertainty. Oh, but thank God. Thank God,
grace rests on no such precarious, uncertain foundation, but for
everyone who experiences it, they are saved to the uttermost
with an everlasting salvation. If I'm saved today, if I'm saved
now, I'm going to be saved tomorrow. I'm not going to perish, Billy.
That's not presumption. That's just believing God. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Why shouldn't
I believe that? Why shouldn't I honor God in
believing that? If I'm saved today, I'll be saved
tomorrow. And if I'm saved tomorrow, I'll
be saved the day after. And I'll be saved all the days
of my life. And I'll be saved forever in
glory. God saves with an everlasting
salvation. Why wouldn't we, baby? Why wouldn't
we be? God forbid that we, or that I
should direct you to look to yourself for the answer. Oh,
but look, look at the one who loved us and gave himself for
us. Look at the one who saves sinners. Why wouldn't I be? Behold, behold! As John exhorted, behold, the
Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world, Jew, Gentile,
black, white, all manner of sinners, behold the Lamb of God, look
at Him, my soul, what virtue, what worth, what merit, what
power, What a mighty Savior! Why wouldn't
I be saved if my salvation rests in His hands? Who's going to
stop it? Who's going to pluck me out?
The Lord Jesus Christ found us in a horrible pit and in the
martyr clay. And He not only left us out,
but He set our feet on a rock and established our goings. He
raised us from sin and death, and we, not to the position that
Adam was before he fell. Christ doesn't put us back in
the Garden of Eden, no. He sets us up before the throne
of God without spot or blemish or any such thing. Oh yes, where
sin abounded, grace doth much more abound. The Lord Jesus Christ
says, I restored that which I took not away. That's what we read
here, didn't we? He restored more than ever was
taken away from us. For he has made us to be partakers
of the divine nature. And in his own person, he has
placed us at the right hand of God in the heavenly places. The dominion of the Lord Jesus
is more glorious than that of unfallen Adam. Grace is so much
more abounded that in Jesus we have gained more than we ever
lost in Adam. Our paradise regained is far
more glorious than our paradise lost. Look again now. But... The little word bud and
it introduces us to the true doctrine concerning God's grace
the nature of grace It's abounding grace, but it also teaches us
something about the sweet experience of grace. Mm-hmm Oh, oh, it's
just not a word. It's just not a a Doctrine in
some theological book. Oh, no. No, it's the living vital
power of God That raises us to life all the experience of grace
Save sinners have tasted that the Lord is gracious Have we
not have we not I Know grace abounds over sin because it's
it abounded over my sin. I I know that the Lord Jesus
Christ is mighty to save because he saved me. I tell you who I
want to stand with, who I want to be identified with. That poor
blind man or former blind man that our Lord healed of his blindness
in John chapter 9. I don't want to stand with all
the smart alecks that he was standing before. You're not the
same guy. Oh, he said, yeah, but I am. Well, then you never were blind.
He said, oh, but I was. Get his parents in here with
him. Ask him. He's old enough to answer for
himself. The Pharisees, the Sanhedrin, the religious elite. You ignorant
get out of here. We don't want to hear no more.
So I'll tell you this this one thing I know I Don't know all
that you claim to know but this one thing I know One thing I
know whereas I was blind Now I see I want to stand with him. I want to be identified with
him. Don't you? Oh I once was blind But glory
to His name, now I see. And I won't deny the efficacy,
the power of God's grace that opened my blinded eyes and made
me see. Glory to His name. Never does
grace seem more glorious, does it? Then when with the silver
scepter in her hand, she touches a poor despairing sinner and
says, thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven thee. How about that? David, does God's
grace abound over sin? We won't turn there, but you
know the story. David should have been out leading
his men, but we read when they went to war, David stayed home. And he saw Bathsheba. He brought
her to his house, committed adultery with her. She is with his child,
Uriah, her husband. David gives him a note to send
to the captain. to put him, and the note said,
you put Uriah in the fiercest part of the battle so he'll be
healed. And Uriah carried the message. And that's exactly what
happened. After her mourning was over,
David's sender brought her brother to his house and she became his
wife. But we read the thing that David
did displeased God. And he sends Nathan, and you
know the story. And Nathan says, David, you're
the man. By what you've done, you're giving
occasion for all Israel the blasphemy in God. And David said, oh, I've
sinned against God. I've sinned against God. What
a sad picture for a man of God. One that God had done so much
for, had given so much, had been so blessed. Oh, but amazing grace,
how sweet the sound, Nathan said. But God, God has put away your sin. The sword's not going to leave
your house, David. You're going to suffer over this. But God's love, God's
mercy, God's grace, He's not going to take away. God has put
away your sin. David, where sin abounds, does
grace much more abound? You want to read David's answer?
We will not do it now. But he gives us the answer to
that in Psalm 32. Oh, blessed is the man, he said.
Blessed is that man. to whom the Lord imputeth not
iniquity. Blessed is that man to whom the
Lord will not charge sin." What a blessed man! What a happy man! What a man or woman more blessed
than that sinner that can lay his head on the pillow tonight
and know, know it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. Grace has made it so. Saul of Tarsus, Paul who wrote
this very epistle, does grace abound? Is that true what you
wrote Saul? After all, and these are his
own words, for I am the least of the apostles and am not meet
fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.
You've heard of my conversation in times past in the Jews' redemption,
how that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God and I wasted
it? Who before was a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious? Oh, my soul, Saul, is grace enough
to abound over that? From them same contexts, from
them same passages, Paul answers and says, but But by the grace
of God I am what I am, but when it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and rebuilt his son in me, but I
obtained mercy. And he never got over the wonder
of that. Timothy, listen, I obtained mercy. What about that? I believe old
Paul was here. With us, he would sing at the
top of his lungs. From his heart, oh, mercy there
was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to
me. There my burdened soul found
liberty at Calvary. Can I give you one more example?
It's not from the Old Testament or the New Testament. An example
of grace abounding. You're looking at him. I lived my whole life a rebel
to God. And I said, and I'm not making
this up, I will not bow to Christ. I will not surrender. I'll never
come to Christ. Those people who on occasion
would try to witness to me out behind their back, I'd just laugh
at them. And I thought, it's never going to happen. John,
it's never going to happen. I'm not going to be one of them
Christians. I didn't even really know what a Christian was. But
I will never bow. And nobody can make me. How about
that? Nobody can make me. Nobody can
make me bow. But. Oh, my soul. But. Thus the Eternal Council ran. Almighty Grace arrested that
man. And this rebel came down. Oh,
how God changed my tune. God, please have mercy on me. Oh, God, please forgive me. You don't have to. You don't
have to, but please don't pass me by. And I can tell you in
answer to the question, does grace abound? Oh, yes. Glory to his name, it abounds.
I told Eliza I was going to sing this song today. And I wanted
her to play, and she refused to do it. I'm not going to. I don't blame her. I'm not going
to sing it. I love it. I'll quote a few verses. This is me. Once my soul was
astray from the heavenly way, and I was wretched. and vow as
can be. But my Savior in love gave me
peace from above when He reached down His hand for me. When the
Savior reached down for me, He had to reach way down for me. I was lost, undone, without God
or His Son when He reached down His hand for me. Let me wrap
this up. If God's grace abounds, oh, there
are some sure sweet consequences of that, aren't there? The believer's
hope is well-grounded. Where God's grace comes, salvation
comes, eternal salvation. Did you read what Don wrote in
our bulletin concerning the certainty of God's grace? And then, if God's grace abounds,
glory must follow. Because grace is the forerunner
of glory. Grace is the certainty of glory. David said, the Lord will give
grace and glory. Each one of that multitude before
the throne are evidence and would answer the question, yes, where
sin abounded, grace does much more abound. Brothers and sisters,
before we leave, and who knows what a day may bring forth, but
according to God's word, when a believer comes to die,
grace shall bury you up in the midst of Jordan And you'll say
as one, I feel the bottom and it is good. When the cold waters chill your
blood, grace will warm your heart. When this eye gathers the death
glaze and the light of earth is being shut out forever, grace
shall lift the curtains to heaven. Looky there. And when at last
the Spirit leaps from time into eternity, then shall grace be
with you to conduct you to the Father's house. To the Father's
house. That's where Jesus is. In the
Father's house. And when the judgment throne
is set, grace shall put you on the right hand. And grace shall
robe you with the perfect righteousness of the Son of God. And grace
shall make you bold in God's presence. And grace in person
shall say to you, grace in person. Come, you blessed of my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. And oh, then we'll know like
we never have. Grace abounds. This is what Don
wrote. I think you are all probably
aware of that. I know that you've heard more than once. Dear Don used
the illustration about the fork. A family when years ago didn't
have a whole lot. I can identify with this. Dessert
wasn't a regular thing. Sundays you had dessert. And
nine kids at home was thankful to have food of any sort. But
told the story about when They were clearing off the table,
and Mom would say, y'all know that. Hold on to your fork. Keep your fork. Because something better is coming. Just a little over two weeks
ago, two weeks ago from yesterday, at Don's funeral, before they
closed the casket, Last thing they did was take a fork at his
hand. I was looking at it and I said,
oh, I know what that's about. Because thank God, my brothers and sisters, something
better is coming. Something better