If you will, turn back with me
to Ephesians chapter two. I'm gonna be concentrating on
verse seven. The title of the message this
morning is The Exceeding Riches of His Grace. There's nothing that excites
the minds and hearts of true believers more than to think
on, to read about, or to hear of the sovereign grace of God. Old John Newton, that great preacher
of the gospel, He said so many things and wrote
so many things, but he sat down and penned this hymn one day,
Amazing Grace. Listen to what he says. How sweet
the sound. Oh, it's sweet to the sinner.
He got nothing to offer, nothing to give. He's got no hope and
he comes to Christ and there he finds the exceeding riches
of God's grace. And it's amazing grace that saved
a wretch like me. It's sufficient grace. I once was lost, but now I'm safe. I'm found now. I once was lost, now I'm found.
Was blind, but now I see. It was grace that taught my heart
to fear. Grace did that. God's grace. God sent me a preacher. God caused
me to buy a Bible. God gave me the ability to read
it and to listen, gave me ears to hear. It was grace that taught
my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious
did that grace appear the hour I first believed. My prayer to
God today is that I As I go through these verses and preach this
amazing grace to you, that God would reveal it to you in such
a way that you can't help yourself. You'll just find yourself rejoicing
in it. Not balking, not fighting, not
resisting, but rejoicing in this great grace. Now let me begin
with this. Salvation is 100% by the grace of God. How can
you say that? It's 100% by the grace of God, beginning
to end, first to last, and everything in between. Salvation is by grace. From the very conception of salvation,
if you don't mind me using that word, I know I'm not saying that
God had an original thought somewhere in time. He's eternal. I have no way to even comprehend
that except to use a term to convey what I'm trying to say
to you. But from the very conception of salvation, if you don't mind
me using that word to describe its beginning, we find the word
grace in connection with salvation. Far back as you can go. The old
writers used to talk about the halls of eternity, looking back
as far as you can go down the great halls of eternity. When
you get as far back as you can comprehend, there's grace. There's
grace. Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy
1.9, God hath saved us. Who did? God did. God did. And then he called us with a
holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his
own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus, now
listen, before the world began. Isn't that what that says? There was no world as of yet,
neither any creatures, nor a garden, nor a fall of man, nor a devil
to pollute that garden. There was nothing back there,
just the everlasting purpose of God and the grace of God by
His Son to bring it to pass. And it was given to us. How was
it given to us? In the purpose of God. In the
purpose of God. There is no purpose of God to
save sinners excluding the grace of God. If your hope is based on something
you do, you don't know the grace of God. I know that the election of the
saints, one of the first things he mentions in Ephesians chapter
1, is an election of grace. Paul says in Romans 11 verse
five, at this present time also, just like there was back in the
days of the old prophet, at this present time also, there is a
remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then
it's no more works, otherwise grace is no more grace. God's purpose is a purpose of
grace. God's election of his saints
is a gracious election. And I know this also. God's grace
is sovereign grace. Why? Because God's sovereign.
If he's not sovereign, he's not God. He said, I'm God. There's nobody
even liking me to. There are none else beside me.
He said you just think on the former things of old. You remember
those things. I'm God, there are none like
me. I declare the end from the beginning and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand
and I'll do all my pleasure. God's sovereign. But he's gracious. And that makes
his grace sovereign grace. What's that mean? Well, he told
Moses what it means. Moses said, show me your glory.
He said, I'll show you my glory. Put him in the cleft of that
rock and declared his name to him. He said, I'll be gracious.
Now listen, to whom I will be gracious. And I'll be merciful
to whom I will be merciful. And whom I will, I'll harden.
I'm God. God shows His grace to whom He
will and passes by others. And then fourthly, I know this
about this grace. His grace is provenient grace. That's not a word we use much
in our everyday language. It just means grace before, before. Provenient grace. In John 1 16
he said, And of His fullness, that is the Word that was made
flesh and dwelt among us, that one in whom we seen the glory
of God, that one by whom grace and truth came to men, of His
fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. That's provenient grace. Grace
upon grace. And grace because of grace. Continual grace, fullness of
grace. Until as they cried in the completion
of that temple over in Zachariah, grace, grace unto it. When the
temple's done. We're the temple, right? Fitly framed together when all
that temple comes together. That's what they'll sing, grace,
grace unto it. Salvation is the story of grace. Because God is gracious, He has
a purpose of grace. Because He has a purpose of grace,
He has an election of grace. Because He has an election of
grace, He has a surety of grace, and a covenant of grace, and
a providence of grace. Because of these things, we have
an acceptance by grace. Huh? Accepted in the beloved. We have acceptance through the
Son, and then he tells us that we have a free, being justified
freely by His grace. We have a gracious justification
in the Son. Provenient grace is a golden
chain of grace that connects everything from beginning to
end. And that includes the hearing
of the gospel. He calls that in Colossians 1,
6, knowing the grace of God in truth. God is the source of grace, Christ
is the conduit of grace, and his life, death, and resurrection
is the means of grace, and his gospel is the revelation of the
glory of his grace. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians
12, 9, he tells us this about this grace, it's sufficient.
Paul said, I've got this thorn in the flesh. I don't know if
it's the way he looked. I don't know if it's some kind
of fault with his speech. I don't know what it was. We're
never told what it is. But he prayed three times for
God to remove it. And he said, Paul, my grace is
sufficient. My grace is sufficient. His grace is sufficient. It doesn't
require anything in me that it does not enable me to do or provide
for me in Christ. In Ephesians 4, verses 1 through
6, Paul speaks of the believer's calling and of that unity of
the Spirit that enables them to be called. A unity he defines
as being one body, one spirit, One hope of our calling, one
Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all,
who is above all and through all and in us all. Now watch
this here in verse seven. But unto every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. He takes a man and changes his
heart calls him out of death unto life, out of darkness into
his marvelous light, and he causes that man to believe on Christ
and to love Christ and to see these things. And what does that
man do? That man's whole life is rearranged around the ministry
of the gospel. Changes everything. Changes his
priorities, changes his ideas, changes his concepts of God. He rearranges his whole life
around the gospel of Christ. And every one of us. And then
another one, he'll set him aside and he'll make him a pastor. Or he'll make him an evangelist.
And he'll tell him, I'm gonna send you to Ireland. I'm gonna
send you to Alaska. I'm gonna put you on an Indian
reservation down in Cherokee, North Carolina. He says, okay. He says, okay. And every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. And everything
we know is owing to the grace of God. We're told in the scriptures
that believers grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You can't grow in knowledge without
growing in grace because grace is what brings the knowledge.
They go together. And this growth comes through
another gift of God's grace, pastors and evangelists. Ephesians
4, 13, they're given till we all come in the unity of the
faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Unto a perfect
man, that is, unto that perfect man, Christ Jesus. Unto the measure,
the stature, the fullness of Christ. And what about the believer's
walk? Nah, we're gonna talk about man's
work. No. No. Paul writes in Hebrews 12,
28, let us have grace. Are you listening? Let us have
grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and
godly fear. What's the key to service? The
grace of God. The grace of God? You mean I
don't have to beat him over the head? No. Now all you gotta do
is preach to him. Preach Christ to him. Let us have grace whereby we
may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. To
walk with God, I must walk in the righteousness of Christ.
I must walk under his direction and through his intercession
and for his glory. I can't make it a half a second
without his intercession. I can't make it a half a second
without his representation. As you have received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk ye in him. Rooted and built up in him. You
see what I'm saying? It's a gracious walk. It's a
gracious walk. Grace makes the believer's walk
possible. Makes it possible. Salvation is all of grace. It's all of grace. Now here's
the second thing I know about the grace of God. It is the glory
of this grace that he's purposed to reveal in his gospel. Boy, we just wear out the boots
trying to find something to preach. Until God reveals Christ to us.
Then we know what to preach. Now the struggle is to find which
one of these scriptures that talk about Christ am I gonna
use today? How am I gonna describe him to
the people? Where in the word of God am I
gonna base my message? You read through Ephesians chapter
two and you'll find the sinner where grace finds him. This is where grace finds him,
dead in trespasses and sins. He finds him walking according
to the course of this world, that is, on the broad road to
destruction. That's where God found us. We
wasn't seeking heaven. There are none that seeketh after
God. Told that in Romans chapter three, right? We're all under
sin, none righteous, none that understandeth, none that seeketh
after God. He didn't find us seeking after
God. He found us on the broad road. on our way to destruction,
going to hell as fast as we can with both hands. Walking in the vanity of our
minds, walking under the curse and fall of our father Adam.
By nature, he said, children of wrath, even as others. But God, here's that grace, who's
rich in mercy, Infinite mercy, mercy for the chief of sinners. I'll have mercy and not sacrifice.
You go learn what that means. That's what he told them Pharisees. God who is rich in mercy, for
that great love wherewith he loved us, everlasting love, eternal
love, unchangeable love. That great love wherewith he
loved us, even when we were dead in sins, quickened us to gather
with Christ. Now let me tell you something.
I read I don't know how many authors, and I believe they missed
it on this one. They talk about this being that
quickening and regeneration. But that quickening and regeneration
doesn't bury me with Christ. When was I buried with him? I
was buried with him when he was buried. I was raised with him when God
raised him from the dead. Isn't that what he says here
in Ephesians 2? That's what this quickening is about. This quickening
is about about things that He's already done for us. In grace,
He quickened us together with His Son, and His Son came as
our representative, and we walked in Him under the law, and we
died with Him under the wrath of God, and God justified us
when He raised Him from the dead. And then He raised us up with
Him. He got on that cloud. And His
disciples were just standing there looking, and the angel
said, what are you looking at? He'd be right back. That same
Jesus is taken from you, he's gonna return again in like manner.
What are you looking at? He raised, Paul said he raised
us up together and seated us together in Christ. Huh? That's what he did. Or where's the quickening of
regeneration? When he shows you the exceeding
riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
When we see that. When we see that. All this he did, verse seven.
And here's what he calls it, way back yonder in these verses
after he said you were By nature, children of wrath, even as others.
But God, who's rich in mercy, and for that great love wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ. Now listen to this. By grace,
ye are saved. When did he save us? When he
put us in Christ before the world was. When did he save us? When we walk with our Lord in
this world under the law. when we died with Him under the
wrath of God, satisfying the justice of God, when He raised
us from the tomb with Christ, when He raised us up and seated
us together with Him in complete victory and glory at the right
hand of God. By grace, you say? Now watch
this. He did all this, that, verse
7, Ephesians chapter 2, that, that is in order that, In the
ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace
and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are
you saved, not by grace you are saved, that's what happened back
yonder, but by grace are you saved through faith and that
not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works lest any
man should boast. That which shines in the hearts
of chosen sinners is the glory of God's sovereign grace. It was an eternal quickening
by which we were chosen in Christ to be blessed in His Son, and
a covenant union without which God would have been forced to
destroy our whole civilization at the very outset. but a great
mediator who alone is worthy to take the book of God's decrees
and open the holy seals. And in time, our holy surety,
our covenant surety, came into the world, made of a woman, made
under the law, and redeemed us that we might receive the adoption
of son. He accomplished our redemption,
he secured our salvation, and he provided for us a perfect
righteousness making us accepted in the beloved. Of God, he said,
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. There is an eternal quickening
by which we are truly saved in the purpose of God. and by his
sovereign grace. But there's also a quickening
of regeneration by which God makes us meet. That's what Paul
said in Colossians chapter 1. He said, I thank God the Father
who has made us meet to be partakers of this great
inheritance, this inheritance with all the saints in light. That's talking about enlightened
saints. This is what the scripture calls
the new birth, born of God, 1 Peter 2.25, as the incorruptible gospel
seed is preached to his people. And by way of this gospel, eyes
and ears are given to see and hear spiritual mysteries and
rejoice in them. I have not seen or heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man, that is mankind, the things
that God has prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed
them unto us. He's revealed them unto us. We
see them. Why do you see things and everybody
else don't see it? Huh? Why is it you look there in the
book of Ephesians and it said that God has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ according as
he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.
And the man that you're talking to and reading that to says,
yeah, but that's not election. It's not? That's what it says. That's what it says. Why do you see that and he don't?
Why do you rejoice in these things and others don't? Grace, that's why. Grace, it's
the grace of regeneration, born of God. After Peter talked about this
new birth, the word which by the gospel is preached unto you,
He said, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word
that you may grow thereby, if so be you tasted that the Lord
is gracious. Boy, once you taste of his grace,
you don't want anything else. You don't want anything else. My youngest, my son, My wife
breastfed him. And you give him a bottle and
he throw it in the floor. He didn't want it. He didn't
want it. As newborn babes desire that
sincere milk, I tell you, that's what they want. That man who
tasted of the grace of God, he don't want works. Throw up if
you give him work. He don't want it. Get it away from me. I don't
want it. I don't want it. What I want is to hear about
the grace of God. Oh, by way of this gospel, eyes
and ears are given to see and hear spiritual mysteries. By
way of this new birth, we pass from death unto life. We're called
out of darkness into light. By this new birth, we have an
unction from the Holy One and know all things. We know if that
man's of God or he's not. We know if that scripture's being
interpreted right. We can prove all things in the
Word of God. We know truth from error, false
preachers from true preachers, grace from works, gospel from
lies. By this new birth, we're enabled
of God to rejoice in His grace and mourn over our sins and hunger
for His presence. By this new birth, we're able
to lose all confidence in the flesh, to worship God in the
spirit and worship God in truth and rejoice in Christ Jesus. And all this we do because he
shows us the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. We're enabled then to love and
to be gracious. Well, aren't you afraid, aren't
you afraid if you don't preach works that your folks are gonna
be antinomians, they're gonna run out and be a bunch of drunks
and they're gonna run out and live like the worst of men and
just come in here all religious? No, I'm not worried about it
one iota. They're not motivated by law
and fear anymore. They're motivated by love. Paul
said it's the love of God that constraineth us. We love him
because he first loved us. On this, our Lord said, hangs
the whole law. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength. You love
Christ, you talk about walking the line, you walk the line.
You don't want his name to be defamed. You don't want to be
the reason for defaming his reputation. You know what I mean? It's the
love of God that constrains us. And the only reason that I can
find in the scripture why everybody's not enabled to see and to do
these things is because the God of this world has blinded the
minds of them that believe not. Lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who's the image of God, should shine unto them.
And just as God commanded that light to shine out of darkness
back there in creation, he shined in our hearts. He commanded and
that light was shined into our hearts through gospel preaching. And Paul said, we've got this
treasure. Oh my soul, what I'm giving you this morning is the
treasure of heaven. There's nothing else like it.
That man was walking along one day and in the scriptures passed
by this field and he looked over there and he said, what in the
world is that? He walked over there and he raked
some dirt back. It was treasure. Treasure, gold
and pearls and gems. And he run down the road as fast
as he could go and he said, who owns that field? Well, that guy
over there owns it. Where? That guy right there.
He went over there and he said, hey, you want to sell that field?
He said, yeah, I'll sell it. Well, I won't buy it. And he
bought the field. This is the field. You want the
treasure? You buy the field. Buy a whole
book. And it's filled with treasure.
Filled with treasure. Christ is that treasure. Faith
is born of seeing the glory of this grace in Christ. And then
thirdly, I know this about This great grace, this riches of God's
grace, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Where did sin abound? Huh? Think about it now. Where did sin abound? It abounded
in the nature, minds, and hearts of man. Isn't that where it abounds? All my soul, it just bubbles
up. Out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts, adulteries, fornication, thefts, lies, murder. All these
things come forth from the heart and defile the man. Sin abounds
in the flesh. It abounds in the nature, minds,
and hearts of man. It abounded in man, causing his
fall and consequent curse of the whole race. Sin abounded
in the death past, and Adam all died. Well, where did grace superabound
in a man? Huh? In a man. The God-man Christ Jesus, the
law was exalted, justice satisfied, righteousness freely given, and
all his elect secure forever and ever. By one offering, he
sanctified us once for all. Huh? By one offering, he's perfected
all those he sanctified. Where sin abounded, where did
sin abound? In the lies and empty promises
and false hopes given by wicked men. Where did grace abound?
In the truth. Our Lord said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Where did sin abound? In the
Gentile nations, heathen idolatries. But in the midst of their practicing
idolatry and witchcraft, God sent the gospel of his sovereign
grace, and multitudes were saved, seeing the glory of his grace
in Christ. Where sin did abound, where did
it abound? in the faculties of man, in his
understanding, having the understanding, the scripture said, darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that's in them. In the will of man, man has no
free will. His will is chained to his nature. He can't will anything outside
of his nature. He's like a bird. A bird can't
swim. It flies. Fish swim. Bird flies. Man's will is chained to his
nature. It can't go further than his
nature will allow it. Sin abounded in the affections
of men. This is condemnation. Light come
into the world and men love darkness rather than light. Sin abounded
in the nature and lives of men. But where sin did abound, grace
did much more abound. The Son of God hath come and
hath given to us an understanding that we may know Him that's true,
that we're in Him that's true. Even in His Son, Jesus Christ,
this is the true God and eternal life. My friend, gospel preaching is
the spirit of the living God showing to those quickened in
Christ the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. If a man's not preaching that,
he's not preaching. He lied. He lied. By grace are you saved
through faith. And oh, what a salvation it is
by the grace of God. My soul. I never heard anything,
never seen anything, never felt anything, never experienced anything
like it. You come to him and you're nothing. You have nothing. You are nothing. You got nothing to offer. There's
nothing out there in time. You stop all that empty promising. God, if you save me, I'll do
this. That's what a guy told me one time. He's dying on the
battlefield, throat slit ear to ear. And he said, I told God,
if he'd let me live, I'd serve him till I die. I said, I just
want to know one thing. Did you? He hung his head. Huh? That's not it. It's not
you coming to God with your empty promises. It's God seeing you
in his son and extending his grace to you, his sovereign grace. There's a baby over there in
Ezekiel chapter 16. That describes the sinner coming
to Christ. It was cast out on the day it
was born. Can you imagine? Here's this
tiny little baby and it's born. And there's the death. And he
just takes that baby and he just runs it over in the sand. His
cord wasn't cut, it wasn't salted, it wasn't cleaned, it wasn't
cuddled, it wasn't covered. He just threw it out in the sand.
He didn't want it, he despised it, and he walked away. God said,
when I passed by you, I saw you in your blood. I saw you despised. I saw you filthy and dirty and
uncared for. But he said, it was a time of
love. Huh? And I took you, and I cleansed
you, and I dressed you, and I raised you, and I matured you, and I
made you the queen. Huh? Oh, my soul, that grace. That grace, that's what we're
trying to preach, the grace of God, the exceeding riches of
his grace. Well, where is it? Where do I
see this? In his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Still, still at the right hand
of God, interceding, arranging, saving our souls. All to him
be the glory for his great grace. Come here, boy.