look back at the past year and
look forward to another year. And there's nobody that has more
reason to be hopeful, more reason to be thankful than a child of
God. In doing this, looking back,
I realize that we're beginning our eighth year together. It's went by quick, hasn't it?
Our eighth year together. And during that span of time,
those seven years or so, some that were with us are no longer
with us. Some have gone on. Some have
already entered. Just think about that. As the articles in your bulletin
speak of today. What a blessed, happy prospect. Some have already entered that
city that has no need of the light, because the Lamb is the
light thereof. Some are already standing before
the throne of God, waving the palm leaf of victory and shouting,
Glory to our God that setteth upon the throne and unto the
Lamb. And some of us are still on our
journey. We're still following in the
footsteps because Revelation 14 believers are described as
those who follow the lamb whether so ever he goeth. Father I will
that where I am that these may be also I want them with me. I want them to behold my glory. But as old John Newton put it,
I couldn't think of better words than these. Along this line in
his most famous hymn amazing grace. He said through many dangers,
toils, and snares we have already come. Is that not so? Is that not so? And we can't
expect it any different. In the world you'll have tribulation.
That's a promise of our Redeemer as well as all the others. This
grace that's brought us safe thus far, he went on to write,
and grace will lead us home. What a glorious blessed hope
and grace will lead us home. That's exactly what Paul, Peter,
and James answered to these legalists. It's not works that will lead
us home. It's not the law that will reconcile us to God, but
it's grace. It's that marvelous grace that's
in none other flows from no other fountain except one And that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. That was the very reason they
called this meeting at Jerusalem. It was to set forth that believers
are saved by grace alone, apart from any works of the law. As we mentioned in the reading,
these legalists were telling the Gentile believers they were
troubling them. and telling them. Wouldn't it
trouble you as a young believer if you didn't know any better
and someone told you, well, you believe and that's good, but
that's not enough. You can't be saved. That's what
we read in verse 1. This is what they were saying.
You can't be saved except, except blah, blah, blah. And Paul and
these others come together and they speak in unmistakable terms. First Peter speaks, then Paul
spoke, and then James spoke, And isn't it wonderful, comforting
to hear them give one voice, one answer, united together and
they say in verse 11, oh no, no, no. It's as if they put their
foot down and says, and Paul tells us concerning this meeting
in Galatians that we didn't give them an inch. We would not budge. There can be no compromise on
this. No, no. There are some things
on which believers can agree to differ. But not this. Either salvation is all of grace
from beginning to end or it's all of works. It cannot be both. This is what Paul said in Romans
11, didn't he? Either it's all of grace or it's
all of works. And they give one voice and in
one accord, verse 11, they say, we believe through the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved. Whether you like it
or not. Whether you believe it or not,
we shall be saved. There are not two ways of salvation. You know, some people think there
is. They think that in the Old Testament, God had a different
way of saving folks than in the New Testament. But he didn't.
What did our Lord say concerning Abraham? Abraham, he said, I
think it's in John 8, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it and was glad. The
word is, he literally leaped for joy. When did Abraham see
the day of Christ? I think it was when he offered
up Isaac. And that substitute was in the bush. And God stopped
him and said, do the lad no harm? And how Isaac must have rejoiced
in substitution. He didn't have a problem with
it, did he? And neither does any child of God. They rejoiced
to know that God hath made him, that is Christ, to be sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the very righteousness
of God in him. Oh, what a sweet pillow to lay
our weary heads upon. There are not two ways of salvation,
one for the Jews and another for Gentiles. All who are saved,
whether they be Jew or Gentile, are saved the same way. Whether
during Old Testament times or New Testament times or since
that time, all are saved by grace alone through faith alone in
Christ alone. We read that all have sinned
without exception, all have sinned, and all have come short of the
glory of God. Therefore, all who are saved
must be saved in the same way, through grace that is in Christ
Jesus. In Christ Jesus, Paul said, neither
circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new
creature in Christ. Grace flows from only one fountain. Let's just pause and take another
look. But we believe, verse 11, that
through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, there's the fountainhead. Trace the stream of grace. That
grace that saves. That grace that justifies. that
grace that keeps, that grace that preserves, that grace, again,
John Newton, that's brought me safe thus far, grace that will
not let me go, grace that will present me This takes faith. Grace that will present even
this sinner without spot or wrinkle or any such thing before the
throne of a holy God. Grace that will present me faultless,
that's what the scripture says, without fault, before the throne
of God. That grace flows from only one
glorious fountainhead and Paul tells us it's here, the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. What glory, what merit, what
virtue. Remember when he was on the way
to heal the daughter of Jarius, and in route, someone said, it's
mercy by the wayside. On the way to perform an act
of grace and mercy, this woman says, I've got to get to him.
If I can just touch him. Sinners, remember that touch. Oh, if I can just touch him. If I can get through what Mr.
Spurgeon said, all the rubbish, all the religious nonsense, if
I can just wheel through all the rubbish and get to Christ,
if I can just touch, if it be but the hem of his garment, I
will be made whole. And that's exactly what happened.
And that's a picture of faith. We reach forth, the hand of faith,
and we touch Christ, and we read concerning that woman as soon
as she did. As soon as she did, she was healed
of her infirmity. That hemorrhage by which she
was bleeding to death, it dried up immediately. And Christ did
for her what all those worthless physicians could never do. She
was made whole from that very hour. Oh, when he reached down
his hand, remember? When he reached down his hand
for me, He had to reach way down, way down. I was in the pit, and
I couldn't get out. I couldn't reach down and lift
myself out. There was nothing I could do.
Oh, but He, by His mighty arm of omnipotent grace, reached
down His hand for me. Yes, I stand as a witness to
you that Jesus Christ is mighty to save. He's able to save unto
the uttermost every sinner that ever comes to Him. And glory
to His name. He'll do so until time shall
be no more. Trace grace to its fountainhead
and you see Him, the very embodiment of grace. Setting upon the throne
of grace. Not through the law Paul tells
us here, or rather we read here in Acts 15 and 11. Not through
works. Not through man's merit or man's
worth or man's imaginary. Yes, imaginary free will. but through the grace of Jesus
Christ. Isn't that good news? Why would
that not be good news? To whom would that not be good
news? It wasn't to these Pharisees,
was it? Oh, but to sinners who have been
made sinners by the work of God's Holy Spirit. Sinners who have
been stripped, they're not going to argue about it. They're not
going to argue about it. Oh, those who know they are nothing,
have nothing, can do nothing, those who like that public and
stand in the temple and say, yes, that Pharisee's got it right. He's better than me. I'm worse
than him. I'm worse than he even imagines
me to be. I'm the sinner. I'm the sinner. I'm the greatest sinner in the
world. God have mercy on me. When such
a person hears that salvation is free, when they hear that
Jesus Christ sits upon his throne of grace, full of grace and truth,
and he tells sinners, sincerely, come unto me, come unto me, Anybody
thirsty, come to me, I'm the water of life. Anybody tired,
anybody weary, anybody heavy laden, under a burden and yoke
of sin, come to me. Come to me and I will give you
rest. Salvation comes through Christ,
no one else, no other way. Paul said, Timothy, be strong
in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3. Turn back there
if you will for a moment. Romans 3. This is what we're
told. Verse 24. Being justified freely. I like that. You remember in
Luke 7 concerning those two debtors that owed the dead and neither
of them had the ability or the resources to pay? And our Lord
said, when they had nothing to pay, He frankly, frankly, the
word is freely, freely, without cost or cause in them. Same word
here. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Chapter
5, Romans chapter 5 verse 20. Romans 5 and 20. Moreover the
law entered that the offense might abound, that every mouth
might be stopped, every mouth be shut, and we all become guilty
before the throne of God. That's what the law does. It's
our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. It reveals sin in
us. It shows us what we are, but
it can do nothing to remove That's it. Oh, for that, we must look
elsewhere. The throne of grace, the Lord
Jesus Christ. But, where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. That as sin had reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign. Oh, I like that. Don't you like
that? Grace reigns. Grace abounds. Grace overrules and overrides
my sin. Grace that is greater than all
my sin. Grace that can not only pardon,
but it can cleanse within. Even so might grace reign. Victorious, glorious, in majesty,
sovereignty, reigning through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. Ephesians chapter 2. Very familiar
passage of scripture, but look at it again. Ephesians 2 verses
7 through 9. Verse 7 of Ephesians 2. That
into ages to come, he that is God might show the exceeding
riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. What? The grace, the faith, the
salvation, all three. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. That
God might show forth the exceeding riches of what? What is most
conspicuous in the salvation of a sinner? What is most evident
What shines forth most gloriously? Is it not grace? Is it not grace
from beginning to end? The hymn writer said, it was
grace that wrote my name in God's eternal book. Imagine that. Rejoice, our Lord said. Rejoice,
not because the devils are subject unto you, but rejoice rather
that your names are written in heaven. Your names are written
in God's eternal book, in the Lamb's book of life, under His
name. The Lamb is the name of all of
His redeemed, all of His chosen. It was grace that put our names
there. It was grace that wrote my name in God's eternal book. It was grace that gave me to
the Lamb, who all my sorrows took. Brothers and sisters, after
all the smoke, of earthly man-made religion has clearly been blown
away. After every attempt to come to
God any other way but by Christ who said, I am the way, the only
way, no man comes to the Father but by me. After every other
way has been proven a lie, has been proven false, this will
be forever so. This will stand forever, so we
shall be saved. Save today. Yes, yes. But more than that, save tomorrow. Save with an everlasting salvation. Billy, a salvation that ceases
is not eternal life. The salvation that stops is not
everlasting salvation. The salvation that's a product
of God's amazing grace that blows through Jesus Christ. He said,
because I live, you shall live also. What does that mean? Does
that mean that I will live, that a child of God shall live as
long as Jesus Christ His head lives? That's exactly what it
means. How about that? How about that? Saved today, saved tomorrow,
but saved forever. Oh, but wait now, Larry. Wait. Isn't that a little presumptuous?
No, this is not a vain presumption. We sang it a moment ago. But
you don't know, Larry, what tomorrow holds. How do you know you're
not fall away. How do you know you'll be safe
forever? How do you know you'll be safe tomorrow and the next
day and into eternity? Because you don't know what tomorrow
may hold. And you're exactly right. I don't
know. I don't know. Neither do you.
I don't know what a day may bring forth. But child of God, we know
something better than that, don't we, Louie? You didn't know what
was going to happen if you did a few months ago. You didn't
know what that Doctor was going to say to you, oh, but you know
something better than that. Yeah. We don't know what tomorrow holds,
but we know who holds tomorrow. He holds all, and that's where
our peace is. That's where our comfort is.
That I'm in his hands, not that we won't have sorrow, we will.
Not that we won't suffer, we will. But all to learn what Elisha
learned when he told his servant. After praying, God opened his
eyes. Remember that? I think it's in 2 Kings. The
enemies of God had encamped around Elisha, God's servant and his
servant. And the servant woke up early
one morning and he looked down and he woke up Elisha and he
said, Oh Master, what are we going to do? Look, look. And all around was the enemies
of God. Had them surrounded. And Elisha
prayed and he said, Father, Lord, rather open his eyes that he
may see. And we read that he opened the
eyes of the young man, Elisha's servant, and he looked and around
their enemies was the chariots and horses and army of God Almighty. And Elisha said, don't be afraid,
don't be afraid, greater is He, greater is He that be with us
than those that be with them. Glory to God, greater is our
great God and Savior than all the enemies that the devil can
bring against us. Yes, we don't know what tomorrow
holds, but glory to His name, I know this, He holds all my
tomorrows. He's never caught off guard.
He's never taken by surprise. He works everything after the
counsel of his own will. And until God's purpose can be
overcome, until God's purpose, God's will, can be overcome,
we shall be saved. Listen to what Paul wrote in
2 Timothy chapter 1. concerning God who has saved
us, verse 9, God who has saved us and called us with the holy
calling, not according to our works, not according to our works,
but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us
in Christ Jesus when? Before the world began. Until the precious blood of Christ
loses its power, loses its efficacy, loses its merit, its worth, its
value. Until that can happen, we shall
be saved. Until the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, ceases to be able to wash us and cleanse us from
all sin, we shall be saved. Until Jesus Christ has laid down
his life in vain, and God the Father no longer accepts the
sacrifice of his Son, we shall be saved. Oh, but glory to his
name, beholden. Listen, what's that he's about
to say? After he has trod the winepress
alone? after he has been made sin for
you and I, after bringing in an everlasting righteousness,
what's that he's about to do? Oh, listen, he lifts his head
in glorious majesty and he cries once forever, it is finished,
glory to his name. And they've not got over that
yet. Angels wonder about that now. Yes, believers, we shall
be saved until grace ceases to be grace. Grace that reigns,
grace that abounds, we shall be saved. Larry, you make it
sound like that by the grace of God, we shall be saved no
matter what. You heard me right. That's exactly
right. As long as salvation is by grace,
and not by Mary. Long as salvation is by the will
of the triune God and not by the so-called free will of man,
we shall be saved. Yes, I don't mean to deny this. Paul himself in Romans 7, after
being an apostle for many years, he cried out, oh wretched man
that I am. You ever heard somebody say,
a professing Christian say, well you know when I was a sinner,
I used to be a sinner. I did that when I was a sinner.
We're still sinners. John, we're still sinners. That's
what Paul said. O wretched man that I am, right
now at this moment. Wretched man, as I ride under
inspiration, being guided, directed, dictated to by God's Holy Spirit,
even now I'm a wretched man. And he cried out, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me? And every believer knows
something about that battle. And we'll continue to utter that
mournful cry until that day we lay this body of flesh down to
rise without it forever and ever. Until that last day we'll utter
that cry, but we shall be saved. Yes, in the world we'll have
tribulation, but we shall be saved. Yes, we will suffer, but
we'll never perish. We'll be cast down. as David,
but will never be cast out. We shall wonder, but never be
lost. We'll never completely leave
Christ and never be left by Christ. I'll never leave my sheep. I'll
never allow them to be plucked out of my hand and we'll sin,
but we'll still be saved. There must be those long nights
of weeping, but they'll be followed by joy. that'll come in the morning,
we shall be saved. And when we're being tossed on
troubled seas, when the storms of life are raging,
and as we read in John 6, the disciples were in such a predicament
on that troubled sea, and it's growing dark and darker and darker,
and Jesus, oh these words, And Jesus has not yet come. Jesus has not yet come to us. Oh, glory to His name. We shall
still be saved because He will come. He will come. He'll never leave us. He'll never
forsake us. Turn, if you will, to Revelation
chapter 7. I'm sure I've told you before
these two verses of Scripture are two of my favorites. concerning
that multitude before the throne that no man can number." Revelation
7 verses 13 and 14. The elder, one of the elders,
answered, asked John this question, verse 13, What, who are these
which are arrayed in white robes, and whence came they? And I said
unto him, Sir, thou knowest And He said to me, these are they
which came out, not they which perished, not they which were
overcome, not those who were finally lost or plucked from
the hand of their great Savior. No, these are they which came
out of great tribulation. They all suffered tribulation.
They all endured tribulation. There was none that were not
exempt from tribulation, but glory to His name, they all came
out. They all came out. Look back
on that battlefield. Look back. Sin has been slain. Satan has been bruised under
their feet. There's not a casualty under
the banner of the army of King Jesus that lies on that battlefield. Glory to his name, they've all
came out. And now each and every one of
them stand before the throne of God waving the palm leaf victory
and shouting salvation to our God and unto the Lamb that sits
upon the throne. Yes, we shall all be saved. And when? When I made this note,
I thought to myself, well, Larry, that time has probably arrived. A lot closer than I care to admit,
but when that time comes, I've grown old in people. Brother
Maurice Montgomery, I remember reading an article about him
not long ago. He said, that time may come when
I can't remember as I once did. That time may come due to the
infirmity of the flesh and the failing memory that I don't see
the Lord Jesus Christ as clearly as I have. He said, what's going
to happen to me then? He said, oh, I'll still be kept
by the power of God. I'll still be in the hands of
my glorious Savior. And when I've grown old and feeble,
and perhaps am beginning to feel the cold hand of the chill of
death reaching forth, I'll still be saved. No matter what. In spite of myself,
I'll still be saved. Isaiah chapter 46 listen to this
child of God. Hearken unto me, our God says.
Hearken unto me, listen, O house of Jacob, and O the remnant of
the house of Israel, which are born by me from the belly, which
are carried from the womb. Even to your old age I am he. I was with you when you came
into this world. I'll be with you when you go
out. And even to whorehairs will I carry you. I have made and
I will bear. Even I will carry and will deliver
you. When all mankind, as the Word
of God teaches, are standing before the great white throne
of a thrice holy God, and death and hell are delivering up their
dead, and the books are being opened, and all whose names were
not written in the Lamb's Book of Life are being cast into the
lake of fire, we, God's people, shall still be saved. for this
reason alone, through the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Grace is in Him. Grace comes
from Him. We must, in order to obtain grace,
go to Him. Oh to grace, how great a debtor. Acts chapter 15 again. Look after
Paul was sent forth, sent back to Antioch. They delivered this
epistle, this conclusion of this conference that was held and
in verse 31 verse 30 rather we read and when they were dismissed
they came to Antioch and when they had gathered the multitude
together they delivered the epistle which when they had read they
rejoiced for the consolation all the consolation of knowing
that salvation is not by works but by grace The consolation,
the comfort of knowing that this grace comes through the Lord
Jesus Christ. Therefore, that being so, we
shall be saved. Oh, what peace. What sweet comfort
to know that nothing can separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus. Verse 31, when they heard this,
they rejoiced. They said, man, that's good news. That's the best thing I've ever
heard. They rejoiced in that free grace of God, by which we
shall be saved. Let's do likewise. May God enable
us to do the same. Turn if you will to Psalm chapter
85, Psalm 85. I may have told you this story
before. Years ago when I was just a youngster,
a boy at home, I don't know, seven to eight years old, One
winter, I followed my father out of that hollow. I've spoken
about that a time or two. Man, the snow was deep. Snow
was deep. And I was behind him, following
him. And I would stretch as far as I could and put my foot in
the footprint that he'd already left behind. That way, I was
making it. I was plowing through that snow
because He had gone before. He had made the way before. These
are they which follow the Lamb whether so ever He goeth. The
Lord Jesus Christ in His life and death rendered to His God the obedience
that He demanded, that He required. He's satisfied. Every precept
of God's holy law. I come to do thy will, O my God. And when he died, he also satisfied
divine justice, being made sin for you and I. Now here's God
Almighty. Puts every child of God, every
believing sinner, in the steps of perfect obedience of his Son. Like me putting my step, or my
foot rather, my shoe, in the step of my Father. Psalm 85 verse
13. Righteousness shall go before
Him. Righteousness shall go before Him and shall set us in the way
of His steps. Put us in the way of His steps. And those steps are going to
lead us right up to the throne of God where we shall see Him
who loved us and gave Himself for us. Hallelujah, what a Savior. God bless you. God bless you.
Happy New Year