To say that I believed what I
just heard and that I wouldn't give you a plug nickel for anything
that was less than that doesn't affirm it, but that's what I
believe. What a blessing. That is what
I believe. And anything that's not just
like that, I don't have anything to do with. Would you turn with
me to Romans chapter 11? Verse 5, Even so then, at this present
time also, there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. I like the way that sounds, don't
you? The election of grace. And if by grace, if elections
by grace, if salvation is by grace, then is it no more works. Otherwise grace is no more grace,
but if it be of works, then do not call it grace. It's no more
grace, otherwise work is no more work. Now I want to attempt to speak
on this subject, how grace and works differ. How grace and works differ. Make no mistake, they do differ. They exclude one another. You cannot believe them both. There is no hybrid gospel where
both are believed. We are either saved 100% by grace
or were saved 100% by works. There is no in between. You and
I are either a grace believer or we are a works believer. Right now, everybody in this
room can be defined as either a grace believer or a works believer. I dare say that if you ask the
average professing religious person, I don't care where you
go and to what church you're going to, If you ask the average
religious person, do you believe that you're saved by grace? What
would they say? Yes. Amen. All together. I believe that
salvation is by grace. I would almost bet that everybody
in Danville, Kentucky that's religious, would say, yes, I
believe in salvation by grace. The problem is, works believers
and grace believers use the precise same vocabulary. They use the same words precisely
with a completely different meaning. Words like grace, and faith,
and sin, and Christ, and the blood of Christ, and the atonement,
and redemption, and justification, and sanctification. All those
words are used. by the grace believer and by
the works believer. But there's a completely different
meaning. What the grace believer means
by grace and what the works believer means by grace are two totally
different things. Now, my dear friend, If you believe
that any aspect of your salvation, any aspect, is dependent upon
your works in any measure to any degree, if you believe that
it was an act of your will, that commenced your salvation. You
cooperated with God's grace as an act of your free will. You
accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and now you're
saved because you did that. If you believe that there was
an effort on your part in the middle of salvation through your
acts of self denial through the use of means, through prayer,
through Bible study, through putting down the flesh, you become
more holy than you were and less sinful than you were because
of what you've done. If you believe that when it's
all said and done, you will stand perhaps in a different
position in glory because of your works. You'll have a higher
place than somebody else. You'll be more recognized than
somebody else because of your works, because of what you've
done and you'll earn a higher reward in heaven. If you believe
any of those things, you believe in salvation by works. You are a works believer. Now what does Paul say in Romans
11 6? If by grace, then it's no more
of works at all. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it's
no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. Now, I believe the man who could
tell us most clearly the difference between works and grace, and
like I said, I've entitled this message, How Works and Grace
Differ. The man who could tell us most
clearly the difference is the Apostle Paul. You know, he never straddled
the fence. At one time, he was all works. He said in Philippians chapter
3, touching the righteousness which was in the law, I was blameless. Have you ever met anybody like
that? I never have. Oh, I make mistakes. You know,
I had a Jehovah witness come by the house not too long ago,
a couple of days ago. And she started, I said, hold
on, hold on. Before you start, let me ask
you one question. If God should say to you, why should I let
you into heaven? What would you say? And she said,
well, I'm sincere. I do my best. I try to follow
the teachings of Jesus. I said, really? Really? She goes back and, well, don't
say I don't know. Paul wasn't like that. He said, touching the righteousness,
which is in the law, I was blameless. And then when God saved him, he said, But God, who is rich
in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace. Are you saved? And every grace
believer says, Amen. Look in Acts 21 for a moment. I want to read some scriptures
about Paul. Like I said, if there's anyone
who would know the difference, it would be Paul. Verse 27. And when the seven
days were almost ended, the Lord had mercy on Paul. Paul
had taken the vow of a Nazarite. And at the end of those seven
days, a blood sacrifice would have taken place. With Paul Wright and doing that,
you know better than that. And you can understand the time
of conflict and so on, but God had mercy on him. And God caused
him to be arrested before it could take place. Aren't you
thankful for that kind of grace that prevents you? You do it. You do it. But what special grace
he had Paul arrested. And when the seven days were
almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him
in the temple, stirred up all the people and laid their hands
on him, crying out, Men of Israel, help! This is the man! that teacheth all men everywhere
against the people, and the law, and this place, and further brought
Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place.
For they had seen before with him in the city of Trophimus,
an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the
temple. And all the people, the city was moved. And the people
ran together. And they took Paul and drew him
out of the temple. And forthwith the doors were
shut. And as they went about to..." What? Kill it. Kill it. These people were upset,
weren't they? Chapter 22, verse 1. begins his defense, men, brethren,
and fathers. He's speaking to these same people
who wanted to kill him. Hear ye my defense, which I make
unto you, and when he was finished We read in verse 22, And they
gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices,
and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth! for it is not
fit that he should live. And as they cried out, and cast
off their clothes, and threw dust in the air, the chief captain
commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade them that
he should be examined by scourging, that he might know whereof. They
cried so against him. Now this is the representative
of grace. And look how the religious people
treated him. Look in Acts chapter 23 verse
12. This is while he was in prison when it was day certain of the
Jews banded together and found themselves and bound themselves
under a curse saying that they would neither eat nor drink till
they had killed Paul. Chapter 24, they hire an orator. And after five days Ananias the
high priest descended with the elders with a certain orator
named Tertullus who informed the governor against Paul And
when he was called forth, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying,
Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very
worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence, we
accept it always, and in all places, most noble feelings,
with all thankfulness. Notwithstanding that I be not
further tedious unto thee, I pray thee that thou wouldst hear us
of thy clemency a few words." He was a real orator, wasn't
he? He knew how to make a point. For we have found this man a
pestilent fellow, a disease, a mover of sedition among all
the Jews throughout the world. He doesn't bring people together,
he drives them apart. and a ringleader of the sect
of the Nazarenes, who also hath gone about to profane the temple,
whom we took and would have judged according to our law. But the
chief captain Lysias came upon us, and with great violence took
him away out of our hands, commanding his accusers to come unto thee
by examining, of whom thyself mayest take knowledge of all
these things. Where have we accused him? And
the Jews also assented, saying that these things were so. Then
Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to speak,
answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast been of many years
a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for
myself, because that thou mayest understand that there are yet
but twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem for to worship,
and they neither found me in the temple disputing with any
man, neither raising up the people, neither in the synagogues, nor
in the city, neither can they prove the things whereof they
now accuse me. But this I confess unto thee that
after the way which they call heresy, so worship I, the God
of my fathers, believing all things which are
written in the law and in the prophets. Now, obviously just reading about
Paul here, we see that grace and works can't coexist. They can't get along. They can't
be at peace. They can't embrace one another. Where you have grace, you'll
have works seeking to kill it. Now, the difference between grace
and works, how grace and works differ, that difference is as
pronounced and clear in our day as it was in Paul's day. And we see how the religious
crowd treated Paul. Now, the first difference between
grace and works is a different God. A different God. The God of works and the God
of grace are not at all alike. It's a different God. Now, am I being inflammatory? Am I being judgmental? Or am
I being truthful? The God of works religion is not holy. If He can accept anything that
comes from you or me, He's not holy. If anything He does is in response
to something you do, there's not much to it. He's not holy. He's not the God of the Bible. Not only is he not holy, he's
not sovereign. The God of works. If his will
can be thwarted, if he wants to save people who don't end
up being saved, he's a failure. If his will was for something
to take place and it didn't take place. He's a failure. He's no God at all. He's not even worthy to be called
a God, nor is he worthy of worship. He's a false God. Now the God
of grace is the living and true God. All of His glorious attributes
are magnified in this glorious salvation by grace. Every attribute
that God has been pleased to make known is revealed. He's the God who's immutably
sovereign, whose will must be and always is done, and He saves
in a way that magnifies all of His attributes. His justice,
His righteousness, His sovereignty, His wisdom, His love. Every attribute of God is magnified
in this glorious thing of His salvation. You know, I want to
say this right, creation was easy for God. All He had to do
was will it. that the salvation of a sinner,
what that cost him. So the first difference between
grace and works is the God of grace is the living God. The
God of works is a false God. Not even real. The figment of
man's depraved imagination. And notice verse 14 again, but
this I confess unto thee that after the way which they call
heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all
things which are written, all things which are written, in
the law and in the prophets. Now, the difference between grace and works is grace, the
grace believer, believes all things that are written in the
law and in the prophets. He believes everything there. He believes it all. The Bible
is a divine revelation from God, and we battle all that God says. Works believer doesn't believe
any of it. Oh, he'll say, oh, I believe the Bible is the Word
of God. And then when you say, well, here's what God's Word
says, well, that's your interpretation. He doesn't believe the Bible. Every believer believes all of
God's Word. They bow to all of God's Word. The worst believer doesn't really
believe any of it. None of it. At all. Thirdly,
look at verse 14 again. But this I confess unto thee,
that after the way which they call heresy, so worship. So worship I, the God of my fathers. Not simply this is what I believe, this is worship. Now, how do grace and works differ? Different worship. And what do
I mean by that? Well, you listen real carefully. You will only worship a sovereign
God. A God that you can't manipulate?
A God that you can't get to do what you want Him to do? You'll
only worship a God in whose hands you are. And He can do with you
whatever He's pleased to do. If He's pleased to damn you,
holy and just is His name. If He's pleased to have mercy
on you and save you by His grace, holy and just is His name. Whatever
He does. Now, listen to me. You will not
worship a God unless you see yourself as utterly and completely
in His hands. And He can do with you whatever
He's pleased to do. That's the only place there's
worship. If you can get God to respond to you and get you to
get Him to do what you want Him to do, you're not going to worship
that God. There's no worship there. You
know, even in our day, I think it's interesting. You know, you've
got traditional worship and contemporary worship. Casual worship? You call that the worship of
God? That's not worship. God is to be worshiped for who
He is. So worship I, the God of my fathers. Notice once again in our text,
in verse 14, but this I confess unto thee, that after the way, after the way, which they call
heresy, so worship I, the God of my fathers. You know what
the difference between grace and works is? There's a different
way. There's a different way. Now,
a way is the way from point A to point B. That's simple enough,
isn't it? The way from point A to point
B. Christ said, I am the way. Not, I'll show you the way. Not,
I'll lead you along the way. Not, I'll map it out for you. I'm it. You know what that means? That means if you get to the
Father, it will not be because you pled Christ's name. It will
not be because you were in front of Him. It will not be because
you were with Him and beside Him. It won't even be because
you were behind Him. The only way you'll get to the
Father is if you're in Him. So that when He comes to the
Father, you come to the Father. He said, no man cometh to the
Father but by Me. The only way I can get into the
Father's presence is by union. This eternal union with the Lord
Jesus Christ so that I'm in Him. So that when He presents Himself
to the Father, you know who else is there? I am seated together
in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. Now, any other way, it won't
get you to the Father. Christ is the way. The difference between grace
and works? They differ as to the content
of the message. Now let me give you, real briefly,
in closing, the difference in the content of the message. The
message of grace and the message of works. Here's the difference. Number one, there's a complete
difference as to what the grace believer and the works believer
believed happened in eternity. You see, the works believer believes
that God made a plan. You know, it's interesting you won't
find that word in the Bible. Did you know that? It's not there. God made a plan. He's got a wonderful
plan for your life. Oh, what a shame that it won't
come to fruition unless you do what you're supposed to do so
God's plan will work. God purposed, made provision,
hoping some... You know what the grace believer
believes? He believes salvation was accomplished
in eternity. All the works, Hebrews 4.3, we
just heard it, were finished from the foundation of the world.
Listen to this scripture, 2 Timothy 1.9, Brother Dodd quoted this
one too. Good to hear it again. He saved us and He called us. Which came first? The saving
and the calling. Oh, how I love this. Because
if it was all accomplished before I was ever born, that reminds
me that my works have nothing to do with this. And how I love
this. He saved us. He called us with
a holy calling, not according to our works. but according to
His own purpose and grace which were given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Whom He did foreknow. Then 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. Whom He called,
them He also justified. Whom He justified, them He also
what? Glorified. What shall we say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? The grace believer and the works
believer have a completely different view as to what took place in
the Garden of Eden. Now, the works believer believes
that Adam fell, and he fell, and they hurt themselves. Bad.
Bad. He wasn't just stubbing the toe.
He became sinful. He became bad. He became violent. But through his cooperation and collaboration
with grace, he can turn things around. The works believer believes man
needs help. Man needs assistance. Man needs
another chance. Man needs another opportunity. The grace believer believes no
such thing. The grace believer believes that
when the Garden of Eden, Adam died. Dead in trespasses and
sins. Now, how's somebody like that
going to be saved? The only way you can be saved
if you're dead is by grace. No other way? What about this fellow that Paul
describes in Romans chapter 3, verses 10 through 12? There's
none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understands.
There's none that even seeks after God. They're all gone out
of the way. They have together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. Does that fellow have a chance?
No, no, but don't forget salvation is not by chance. Salvation is
by the purpose of God. Now that person, yes, that person
dead in sins can be saved because salvation is by grace. Thirdly, the grace believer and
the works believer have a completely different view as to what took
place on Calvary Street. You see, the works believer believes
that salvation was made available. There it is. It's for anybody. It's available. If you just do
your part to make it work. Oh, God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son. If you just do this, it will
work for you. Now, a grace believer believes
salvation was accomplished by what Christ did on Calvary's
tree. When He said, it is finished,
the salvation of all the elect was accomplished. You know, you
were talking about limited atonement. I heard a guy preach just recently
and said, limited atonement is a bad choice of words. And I
thought, good choice of words. Everybody limits the atonement
in some way, unless you believe that everybody's going to be
saved. Hitler and Obama or... I didn't mean that. I didn't...
I didn't mean to say that. I didn't mean to say that. I
was trying to say... What the... Osama bin Laden. Osama bin Laden. I can't believe
I did that. Um... Forgive me. Forgive me. Didn't
mean it. But at any rate, every wicked person you can think
of joining with Paul, they're all going to be saved. If you
believe that, you believe that redemption is universal. But
if you believe there's a hell and there's going to be people
being in hell, then you believe in a limited atonement. You either
believe it's limited by man's will or it's limited by God's
purpose. Which is it? On Calvary's tree, Christ Put
away my sin and the sin of everybody that he died for, so that every
believer is holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight. And how he sees things is the
way they really are. You know what that means? That
means I am holy. I am unblameable. And I'm unreprovable. Then there is an infinite difference
between the grace believer and the works believer in what they
think takes place in a sinner's heart when God saves them. You see, the works believer,
he doesn't believe in the tunnel of prayer. He doesn't believe that. He believes that by grace you
are changed. By grace, by grace being received
by you, you become more and more holy. Through acts of self-denial,
through reading the Scriptures, through prayer, through all your
efforts and your sincere desire to please God, you become more
holy and less sinful. Do you know there isn't one grace
believer that believes that? Not even one. Now, why do you say that? Well,
listen to me. In my experience, my old man is just as bad as it ever was. And
I say that to my shame. I say that to my hatred. I say
that I wish it. It's just so. It's just so. I'm
just as sinful. I'm just as evil. I have the
same wicked passions that I've ever had. Haven't got a bit better. Somebody says, well, I've overcome
those. Congratulations. I'm glad. I'm happy for you. That's impressive. But no, no,
no, no. But I do know this. I have something
there that wasn't there before. It's called a new heart. You
know, it's that new man that sees the sinfulness of the old
man. I've got a new nature, a nature
placed there by God Himself, created in Christ Jesus. I don't believe in a change.
I believe in a new creation. And lastly, lastly, and this
point's just as important. as any of the rest of them, maybe
more, maybe more. Here's maybe the biggest difference
between the grace believer and the works believer. The works
believer gives man the glory. The grace believer gives God
all the glory. Amen.