how blessed it is to have proved for these many
years in the sweet experience of His grace that His grace is
sufficient even for me. I pray you find it to be so yourselves. I should have mentioned earlier,
I know you're all interested and concerned. I just got back
from my oncologist in Lexington. We spent the afternoon over there
and she says that everything looks good. I'm expecting to
go back and see her. in seven weeks and have a CAT
scan. Next week, I go see the radio
oncologist. I expect I'll have the same report
from her. Everything seems to be going exactly as they had
anticipated, and I appreciate your concern and your prayers
for me and for my family. Turn with me, if you will, to
Romans, the eighth chapter. Knowing I was gonna be tied up
today, I had to get my work done early, and I believe God gave
me a message for you. In the eighth chapter of the
Book of Romans, the Apostle Paul sets forth the great purpose
of God in grace. He shows us that the purpose
of God is the salvation of his elect. In verse 28, the Apostle
tells us that all the works of God's providence are brought
to pass by the all-wise, omnipotent pursuit of his purpose. We know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are thee called according to his purpose. When David thought
upon this great, glorious, soul-cheering fact, that our God rules the
universe absolutely in sovereignty and does so for the salvation
of his people, he said, Oh God, my soul trusteth in thee. Yea,
in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge. I will cry
unto God most high, unto God that performeth all things for
me. He shall send from heaven and
save me. In Romans 8, 29. Paul sets before us the great
mystery of providence in verse 28. And then in verses 29 and
30, he shows us how God accomplishes the salvation of his people according
to his sovereign, eternal, unalterable purpose. Now be sure you understand
this. The God of glory is a God of
purpose. He does everything exactly according
to his purpose. And his purpose is the salvation
of his people. Oh, God, teach us that. Seal
it to our hearts. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom
he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. Here we have the grace of God
set before us in five distinct great works of God. Matthew Henry
compared this passage of scripture to a golden chain with five unbreakable
links, teaching us that from old eternity past, if we could
use such redundant language, to eternity future. From eternity
to eternity, from everlasting to everlasting, God Almighty
works the salvation of his people according to purpose. Here are
these five links. God's foreknowledge, whom he
did foreknow. Now foreknowledge is not God
looking out in time and seeing what you would do. That's Arminian
heresy. Foreknowledge is God's everlasting
love of his people. The word that's used speaks of
God knowing his people, loving them. He says, I have loved you
with everlasting love, therefore in loving kindness have I called
you. Sovereign predestination is next
mentioned whom he did predestinate or he also did predestinate to
be conformed to the image of his son He predestinated us to
be ultimately Exactly like his son that Christ his son Might
be the firstborn among many brethren that Christ may have the preeminence
in the family of God and then the third link is effectual calling
and Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. God adopted
his elect and named us as his children from eternity. Then
at the appointed time of love, he called us to be his children
and made us his children in the sweet experience of grace. When
the fullness of time must come, God sent forth his son and sent
forth the spirit of his son, sent him into our hearts, crying,
Abba, Father, that we might receive in the experience of grace that
which he had done for us from eternity, that we might receive
the adoption of sons. And then he speaks forth of eternal
justification. whom he called, them he also
justified. Yes, God's elect were justified
from eternity. The works were finished from
the foundation of the world. But that's not all there is to
justification. We were justified in the eternal
purpose of God as we were accepted in Christ the beloved, the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. God's justice was
satisfied and we were justified at Calvary when the Lord Jesus
said, it is finished and bowed his head and said to the Father
in my hands, I commend my spirit and gave up the ghost. And we
were risen from the dead. He was raised not to accomplish
justification, but because justification was accomplished. And then in
time, he comes to every chosen redeemed sinner in the experience
of grace, giving us faith in Christ, and we're justified by
faith. That is, we receive by faith
and experience by faith the testimony of God that we're just before
him. Here's the fifth thing. Everlasting
glorification. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. glorified us together with Christ
before the world was made, glorified us together with Christ when
we were risen with Him by the operation of God in His own resurrection,
and glorified together with Christ we shall be in the last day. Now in response to this revelation
of God's sovereign purpose, In response to this revelation of
God's saving grace, the Apostle Paul raised five bold challenges
of faith. These are challenges that he
raises because he believed the revelation of God. As men believe,
so they speak. David said, I believe, therefore
have I spoken. And here the Apostle Paul, believing
the revelation of God, says, what shall we say then to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? If God is for me, nothing shall
harm me, nothing shall be against me successfully, nothing shall
do me any harm. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Then he says in the next verse,
he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? If God gave his son for you,
What do you suppose he will withhold from you? If he's given his son
for us, you can be assured that whatever is needed for you, God
will give to you at the appointed time, just as it's needed. Then
he asked, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
Lots of people do. Lots of people do. Some years
ago, one of you went out the door and asked me, he said, have
you read the stuff they say about you on the internet? I said,
well, I normally don't, but I don't pay much attention to it. I've
been accused of a lot. And it goes in one ear and out
the other. I pay no attention to it. I don't even consider
the source anymore. I just ignore it. If God be for
us, who can be against us? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? No one successfully. God in heaven
will not. That means no one can because
it is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. No one can condemn, nothing can condemn, not those for whom
Christ died, not those for whom Christ reigns, not those for
whom Christ makes intercession in heaven. And then the apostle
raises this challenge. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? I suppose it is agonizing for
a woman married to a man to think that somehow she has been separated
from his love. I suppose it is tormenting for
a man married to a woman to imagine that somehow he's been separated
from her love. But I can't imagine the terror
felt in the soul. who imagines that someone or
something can separate him from the love of Christ. Nothing in
heaven, nothing in earth, nothing in hell, nothing in time, nothing
in eternity shall separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. In this eighth chapter of Romans,
Paul describes God's great purpose of grace. It is eternal. It is absolute. It is unalterable. It shall be accomplished. He
is God. He shall not fail. When time
shall be no more, God's elect in glory shall be exactly those
whom he loved with an everlasting love, exactly those whom he chose
and predestined before time began, exactly those for whom Christ
died at Calvary, exactly those who are called by his grace.
But there is another aspect of God's grace that is just as important
and just as necessary as God's purpose of grace. In fact, this
other aspect of grace is that which makes the purpose of God
in grace glorious in our eyes. I want to talk to you, if God
will enable me, about that experience of grace which we have in the
saving of our souls by the power of His might. Turn with me, if
you will, to Leviticus chapter 22. Leviticus chapter 22. Only when you have experienced
God's grace, does God's purpose of grace become glorious. Only
when you have experienced God's grace, does God's purpose of
grace become personal. Only when you have experienced
God's grace, do you have bold, confident faith in the promise
of God in his purpose of grace. Leviticus 22 verse 31. therefore shall you keep my commandments
and do them. I am the Lord, neither shall
you profane my holy name. But I will be hallowed among
the children of Israel. I am the Lord which hallow you,
that brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord. Robert Hawker
made this observation, I thought it was outstanding. Here is God's
authority as God. Here is added to this his gracious
character as our covenant God. And as if that were not enough,
here is added that striking instance of his covenant mercy in Israel's
redemption from Egypt. It is by the authority of God
as God that God our Savior demands our reverence, Demands our faith
Demands our obedience and demands our utter consecration to himself
Now hear that hear that it is by his authority as God that
God our Savior Demands our reverence our faith our obedience and our
utter consecration and that's what he demands and our reverence,
our faith, our obedience, and our utter consecration. But here
is a picture of God's grace in experience. A picture of that
which every chosen sinner experiences when God saves him by his omnipotent
mercy. As we look at these three verses
together, I want to show you seven things experienced by every
sage sinner in this wondrous thing we call salvation. The
title of the message is Seven Links in the Chain of Grace.
Just as Matthew, Henry saw five links in the golden chain of
grace in Romans 8, I see seven things here in our experience
of God's grace as links. things linked together in a chain
that cannot be broken. God's purpose of grace is a theme
of worship and praise, but it is God's purpose of grace experienced
that motivates us. God's work of grace experienced
that motivates us. In these three verses, the Lord
our God uses our experience of grace to motivate us to reverence
and faith and obedience and consecration. Here's the first one, revelation. The very first thing we experience
in God's grace is God's revelation of himself. In verse 31, he says,
I am the Lord. As the Lord God spoke to Moses
out of the bush and revealed himself to Moses, as he revealed
himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, so he must reveal himself
to you and me. If ever we come to know God,
we will come to know God by his self-revelation of his own glorious
being. Man cannot, by searching, find
out God. It doesn't matter how much you
read the Bible. Doesn't matter how many sermons
you hear. Doesn't matter what church you go to. Doesn't matter
how disciplined you may become in your attempts at doing religious
things and righteous things. You will never know God until
God reveals himself to you and in you by his grace. There's no salvation apart from
the knowledge of God. And there is no knowledge of
God apart from God revealing himself. Men and women have an
awareness of God, a knowledge of his being, a knowledge of
his holiness, his justice, have an awareness of those things.
But every thought of the natural man concerning God, the character
of God, the work of God, the providence of God, the salvation
of God, the grace of God, the righteousness of God, every thought
of man by nature is false. Every what? Every thought men
naturally have about God is a false notion of God. How does God make
himself known? Yes, he makes himself known in
providence and judgment by his written word so that the Apostle
tells us in Romans 1 and 2 that men are without excuse. Men are
without excuse. If men would hear what God says
in creation, if they would hear what God says in providence,
if they would hear what God says in judgment, if they'd hear what
God says by his word, they're without excuse. But God is known
by three things distinctly that must take place in us. He reveals
himself to us in the man, Christ Jesus, by the incarnation. More than 2,000 years ago, God
stepped into history. God stepped into humanity. God stepped into our flesh. And the word made flesh dwelt
among us. He who alone knows God has declared
God. Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth,
in his life, in his word, in his character, in his obedience,
in his death, in his resurrection, says, this is God. He said, he that has seen me
has seen the Father. In him resides forever bodily
all the fullness of the Lord Jehovah, all the fullness of
the triune God, our Lord Jesus, who made flesh and dwelt among
us. John says, we beheld his glory as of the glory of the
only begotten of the Father. But there's more to God revealing
himself than Christ's incarnation and Christ's work as the God-man. The Lord God reveals himself
to men and women by the preaching of the gospel. It pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. I
can't stress this adequately. Nobody is saved apart from the
preaching of the Word. I know folks say, well, we believe
God's sovereignty can save men with the use of means, without
the use of means, or in spite of the means used. You're right,
He could. But it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And God sends us out
to proclaim his word in our generation. He sends his disciples, his church
in every generation, in every part of the world, and says,
as you're going through this world, preach the gospel to every
creature. Declare the good news of Christ's
accomplishments at Calvary to every creature, because it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. You
never know where God's going to work, when God's going to
work, but I can tell you how he works. God calls his sinners
chosen from eternity and redeemed at Calvary to hear his word,
to hear the gospel of his grace declared. I have reminded you many times
of an incident with an old man. I've had the privilege of baptizing
some old folks in their 90s. I guess the oldest person I baptized
was 94 years old, down in Wichita Falls, Texas, years ago. And
God saved her in her old age. But an old man was converted.
And after he was converted, someone asked him after he made his confession
of faith, said, how did you come to know the Lord? To what do
you attribute your knowledge of the gospel? And he said, when
I was just a boy, My father took me to hear a man by the name
of George Whitefield, and I have never forgotten what I heard.
God saves his elect at the appointed time of mercy. Our business is
not to pressure men or con men into making a profession of faith.
Our business is to preach the gospel and wait on God. And by the word made effectual
by the power of his spirit, sinners are born of God. Sinners believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. But it does take more than hearing
a man preach, this man or any other. The gospel must come by
the power of God the Holy Ghost to you. So that when God speaks,
you hear his voice. Our Savior said, my sheep hear
my voice. I know them and they follow me. A stranger they will not follow. When the shepherd speaks by his
spirit, through the word his sheep hear, he's talking to me. He's talking to me. And nobody
has to tell you he's talking to you. Nobody has to tell you
what he's saying. He's speaking to me. And they
follow me. And third, if ever you're saved,
if ever you come to know God, the Lord Jesus Christ must be
revealed in you. In you. Paul said, when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
His grace, He revealed His Son in me. Salvation comes to sinners when
God reveals His Son in you. I can't do that. No one else can do that for you.
Mom and dad can't do that for you. But when God speaks by his
word, by his spirit, and reveals Christ in you, you find yourself
believing God. I know I've been ridiculed some
for saying this, but it's fact, and I'll keep saying it. Many
of you have come to me at various times over the years and said,
Mother Donna, don't know exactly when this happened, but I have
found myself believing God. It wasn't so much a decision,
and yet it is. I want to believe it. It wasn't
so much a choice I made, I just found myself suddenly believing
God. I tried to believe, but I couldn't
believe. I prayed to believe, but I couldn't believe. and I
find myself believing God. When it pleased God to reveal
His Son in you, you begin to believe God. You come to trust
the Lord Jesus Christ. You hear God's testimony in you
so that you have now the seal of the Spirit, the earnest of
our inheritance. He gives faith, and that faith
is the pledge of God in you of everlasting glory with Christ.
All right, here's the second link. Back in Leviticus 22. Reverence
for God. This has something to do with
what the Bible calls the fear of God. We often say concerning people
in this age, as friends in ages gone back have said concerning
people in their age, there's just no fear of God today. There's
no fear of God. I was getting my shoes shined
when we were out in California, and the fellow shining my shoes
cussed like a sailor. My wife had been around to correct
it, but I guess he really was a sailor. He cussed like a sailor.
Tell David I'm sorry. Cussed like a sailor. And then
somebody walked by, about half dressed, and he said, there's
just no fear of God anywhere. I said, you're right, there's
not any. But I'm not talking about that
terror that causes men to dread God. No, no, I'm talking about
reverence for God. Reverence for God. When the Lord
God spoke to Moses at the burning bush, He said, take off your
shoes, the ground on which you're standing is holy ground. And
Moses bowed before God in reverence. When the Lord God spoke to Samuel,
Samuel said, speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth thee, even
as a young man. He reverenced God. When God came
to the prophet Isaiah in the year the king Uzziah died, Isaiah
said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. And I heard the angels,
the cherubim, the seraphim singing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. And I saw them bowing over the
mercy seat, looking down on the mercy seat. And the earth shook
and I trembled. And I cried, woe is me, for I
am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. You see, this
fear of God causes men and women to recognize, acknowledge, and
confess their sin. It causes you to recognize that
you are nothing but withering grass. It causes me to recognize
I am nothing but sin, corruption, and death. We bow before God,
acknowledging it. And as we do, one of the seraphim
comes to lie cold from off the altar, a gospel preacher, by
the power of God, lays the sacrifice of Christ right on your lips
and says, lo, your sin is purged and your iniquity is taken away. When Saul of Tarsus, that man
who is persecuting the church of God, quote scripture after
scripture after scripture. A man who was a strict legalist,
very religious, who didn't know God from a billy goat. The Lord
Jesus revealed himself to him. And when he did, he fell down
and said, Lord, what would you have me to do? the fear of God,
the revelation of God in you. And the person and work of his
son causes sinners to fear God, to reverence him. Ezekiel said,
when I saw his glory, I fell on my face. John describes the
Lord Jesus revealing himself to him in his saving power and
glory, walking in the midst of the churches. And he said, I
fell before him as one dead. Isaiah Gives us this word from
God Thus saith the Lord the heaven is my throne and the earth is
my footstool Where is the house that ye build unto me? Where
is the place of my rest for all those things have mine hand made
and all those things have been saith the Lord those Those things
are meaningless to me But to this man will I look? even to
him that is poor poor in spirit, poor before God, with nothing
to offer God, and contrite, of a contrite spirit, and trembleth
at my word. Here's the third thing in this
great chain of grace. Worship. The Lord God declares
here in our text, I will be hallowed among the children of Israel.
I will be sanctified. I will be hallowed. I will be
honored. Once God makes himself known,
those who know him worship him. We not only fall down before
him and confess our sin, but bowing before his august majesty
and holiness, we worship him as God, and we worship him as
God alone. We worship God in his glorious
sovereignty as God. Men and women worship only at
the throne of a sovereign God. Men and women make bargains with,
and they bribe, and they do all kinds of things, shenanigans
trying to play with their imaginary God. But men and women worship
only at the throne of the sovereign God, this holy, just, and righteous
one, who not only can but must punish sin. this one holy, righteous,
just, and sovereign who declares, I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. We worship him in all his character
as God and worship him as God alone. Then comes the blessed
experience of sanctification. Sanctification in experience. Now listen to me. Sanctification
in experience is the new birth. I had a friend who sent me a
sermon today by a friend who's going to be with the Lord, and
my dear friend who was so able in so many ways, such a brilliant
fellow, he had a way of making the simplest things real complicated.
I don't want to do that. Sanctification in its experience
is the new birth. It is Christ formed in you. Sanctification is not a growing
holiness. Sanctification is not a growing
nearness to God. Sanctification is not a growing
spiritual mindedness. Sanctification is not getting
to be more and more like Christ. Sanctification is Christ in you. The word sanctification is holiness. It's holiness. Christ is that
holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. But this
sanctification is not limited just to Christ in you, the hope
of glory by the new birth. We were sanctified by God the
Father in eternity. Jude verse 1 says so. We were
sanctified by Christ our Savior at Calvary. Hebrews chapter 10
verse 14 says so. We're sanctified by God the Holy
Ghost in us, 1 Thessalonians 5 says so. How can all three
be? God set us apart as his own from
eternity and declared we're his and we're holy, accepting us
in Christ. Christ died for us at Calvary,
setting us apart from all the rest of humanity, and declares
they're holy! I put away their sin. God the
Holy Ghost comes to us in the new birth, making us partakers
of the divine nature, putting a new man in us that's created
in righteousness and in true holiness. Now listen to me, listen
to me. It took me a long time, Mindy,
before I get enough confidence to say things I know God says,
just exactly like He says them. Look up here. Look up here. You're
looking at a man who is holy. Holy. Holy. With his spotless garments on,
I am as holy as God's own Son. Near so very near to God nearer. I cannot be for in the person
of his son I am as near as he Dear so very dear to God Dearer
I cannot be for in the person of his son. I am as dear as he
fifth in the last in the first part of verse 33 in the last
part of verse 32 put them together and And you'll see this blessed
experience of God's grace, this sweet link in the chain. I am
the Lord which hallow you, which sanctify you, that brought you
out of the land of Egypt. Here is the declaration of deliverance
by grace. I brought you out of the land
of Egypt. I brought you out by the price
of blood, the blood of the Paschal Lamb. I brought you out by the
power of my outstretched arm, picturing redemption by Christ
our Passover, who sacrificed for us, and salvation by the
power, the irresistible call of God the Holy Ghost in the
new birth. I brought you out of the land
of Egypt. Now listen. I brought you out for a reason. I brought you out to be your
God. To be your God. And once the
sinner hears God's declaration of salvation, of deliverance,
he's made to experience the wondrous, life-changing blessedness of
conversion. If ever God makes himself known
to you in grace, you will have no other God. When you hear the
law cry who is on the Lord's side, you'll take your place
on his side with great delight, with great gratitude, renouncing
every false way and every false God. That's called conversion. I had a letter yesterday late
in the evening, an email. A friend of mine in another country
asked me, said, a friend of mine asked me for some verses to help
her pray for her pastor. He preaches a weak gospel. And
I thought about it for a while, I answered her this morning.
I said, the only verse that comes to my mind would be Galatians
1, verses 8 and 9. If any man preach another gospel,
let him be damned. That's the only line that comes
to my mind. I said, there's no such thing as a weak gospel.
I would say to your friend, pray that God will either silence
him, or that God would save him. Those are the only two alternatives.
God's people, to whom God makes himself known, in the revelation
of Jesus Christ, by his accomplishments as our mediator, our redeemer,
and our substitute, turn from all their idols to serve the
living God. And they'd burn their bridges
behind them. Every other way, they renounce as a false way.
That's called conversion. Now, look at verse 31. I'll give
you one more thing, but I want you to pay close attention. When I get done, I'll send you
home, and I hope send you home rejoicing in the knowledge of
God our Savior. Once a sinner experiences this
almighty operation of grace that we call salvation, He or she
is forever consecrated to God. Forever consecrated to God. A preacher, don't you realize
that God's people fall into sin and God's people do evil things?
Oh, you know I realize that. But when Christ has been revealed
in you, God saved you by his grace, you are forever consecrated
to God. Being delivered from the curse
of the law and the bondage of guilt and sin, we are snatched
as brands from the burning, and we're God's forever. Look at
verse 31. Therefore shall ye keep my commandments
and do them. I am the Lord. This is not a
matter of legal obedience. None of us has ever kept one
of God's commandments. None of us is able to keep one
commandment, not one, not one. Read the list of the 10 commandments
again. Not one of us is able to keep one commandment, not
one of us. How do we then fulfill the law?
Only by faith in Christ. This is his commandment, that
you believe on his son, Jesus Christ. And believing God, we're
bought with a price. We're not our own. We belong
to Christ. Let us then glorify God in our
bodies and our spirits, which are God's. But Dave Burrage often
prays, as he did just a little while ago, that Lord has set
our hearts upon Christ in heaven. If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. Whatever you do, whether you
eat or drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Every
morning before we start our day, I pray before I ever pray with
my wife, and then when I pray with my wife, God help me today
to honor you in everything. So rule my mind and my heart
and my life that I can honor you, honor you. Keep me from
the evil that's in me. Whatever you do, whether you
eat or drink, Do all to the glory of God. And let me tell you what
I'm talking about. I read this late yesterday evening,
and I just gotta give it to you. Long time ago, back in, I think
it was 1800, maybe 1839, 1840, during the reign of Queen Victoria
in England, the Punjab province of India came under British crown. And the young Maharaja was then
just a boy. And he sent an offering to his
new monarch. The offering was, I hope I get
this right, the Korinor Diamond. Whether I got it right or not,
you'll be impressed with this. It's one of the biggest ones in the
world. It weighs 105.6 carats. That's a big piece of rock. It was placed by the Queen in
the Tower of London, along with other crown jewels. Many years
later, the Maharaja, full grown, came to see the Queen. And during
his visit, he asked if he could see the Koh-i-Noor diamond. And
somewhat bewildered, the Queen courteously gave orders that
the jewel be brought under armed guard from the Tower to Buckingham
Palace. When it arrived, it was handed
to the Maharaja. Everyone presently present looking
on was eager to see what he was about to do And he took the diamond
in his hands and walked over to the window in the lights and
carefully inspected it Everyone bewildered what what's he up
to? And then he brought it back to
the Queen With it in his hands. He knelt before the Queen and
said madam. I Gave you this jewel when I
was a child. I too young to know what I was
doing. I want to give it again in the
fullness of my strength, with all my heart's affection and
gratitude, now and forever, fully realizing all that I do. Oh, Spirit of God, give me that
fresh consecration to Christ. I gladly gave up the rule of
my life to the Son of God when I was just a child, hardly knowing
what I was doing. Now, in the full age of full
manhood, O Spirit of God, give me grace to give myself to Christ
my God and Savior in the totality of my being, fully realizing
what I'm doing. God do that for you. That's called
consecration. That's called the work of God
in you. That's called the gift of grace. Amen.