If you would summarize the message
of the book of Ephesians, you could do so with just two words. Grace alone. Grace alone. That's my subject this evening.
Grace alone. Here in Ephesians chapter 2,
the Apostle Paul reminds us of what we were, and he tells us
what we now are by the grace of God. And it tells us that
this which God has done for us is by grace alone. Let's read the entire chapter
together and remember what you were. And remember what you are
by God's grace. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sin. Wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation
in time past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind. And whereby nature, the children
of wrath, even as others. You were dead. Not just dead, dead in trespasses
and sins. Not just dead in trespasses and
sins, but like all other human beings, you lived your life under
the constant influence of Satan, fulfilling the lust of your flesh
and of your mind, living in rebellion to God all the days of your life. But God. But God. Oh, aren't you glad
that God stepped into your life? Stopped you in your mad rush
to hell. But God. Who is rich in mercy. For his great love wherewith
he loved us. Even when we were in that mess,
dead in sins. Hath quickened us together with
Christ. He's given us life together with
his son. By grace you're saved. And hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And he
did it for this reason, that in the ages to come, He might
show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. Verse eight, for by grace are
you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the
gift of God, not of works. Lest any man should boast for
we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. Verse 11, wherefore remember,
wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the
flesh, dogs, unclean, filthy, vile Gentiles, Gentiles in the
flesh. who were called uncircumcision
called a reprobate people, call the people who do not know God
by that, which is called the circumcision in the flesh made
by hands. That at that time, at that time,
before God saved you by his grace, you were without Christ. Oh, for you who are without Christ. What more sorrowful words could
ever be found to describe you? Without Christ. Without Christ. That means you were aliens from
the Commonwealth of Israel. And strangers from the covenants
of promise. You had no claim on God. No claim
on God's covenant. No claim on God's promises. You
who are without Christ Have no claim on God. You're dead in
trespasses and in sins. Unless God steps in and does
for you what you cannot and will not do for yourself, you will
leave this world dead forever in trespasses and in sins. Without
Christ, strangers, aliens, having no hope, Having no hope. Oh, hopeless. Hopeless. Utterly hopeless. Hopeless, left to yourself. Hopeless,
if left in my hands. Hopeless, if all you have is
what you can get from this world. Without hope! But oh, bless me
God, there is hope. even for such sinners as you.
Because salvation is by grace alone. Having no hope and without
God in the world. Verse 13, but now, but now, that's
the way things used to be. That's the way they used to be.
I was, I was a vile Gentile. Called by all the religious world
around me a reprobate man. and rightly so-called. Without Christ, alien from the
commonwealth of Israel, alien to God's people, stranger to
the covenants of promise, having no hope, without God in the world. But now, oh, how different things
are now. Now, in Christ Jesus, ye who
sometimes were far off Made nigh by the blood of Christ made nigh
to God Made nigh to God's Israel made nigh to one another Verse
14 for he the Lord Jesus is our peace He is our peace. He's the one who made peace.
He's the one who gives peace. He is our peace He is the one
in whom we have peace and he is the one who brings us together
from all our various walks of life and all our experiences
in peace. Jew and Gentile, black and white,
male and female, rich and poor, learned and unlearned. He is
our peace who hath made both one. He made Jew and Gentile
one. He made you and me one. and hath
broken down the middle wall of partition between us having abolished
in his flesh what a word having abolished in his flesh the enmity
the enmity the thing that divides men particularly here he's talking
about that which divides Jew and Gentile but more than that
the thing that divides men are proud rebellious ungodly sales,
the inmate. What is that? Even the law of
commandments contained in ordinances. Christ abolished it. I love the
word. He abolished it by fulfilling
it for to make it himself of twain, to make it himself up
to one new man. So making peace. and that he
might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having
slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you
which were far off, and to them which were nigh. Christ came
and proclaimed peace to you. Christ came and proclaimed peace
to you. He's the only one who can. He's
the only one who can. Ralph Barnard used to say, nobody
but a lost man will try to tell another man that he's saved.
I have folks come to me a lot, call me, write to me, folks I
meet in various places, many of you, and you want me to speak
to you something that will give you peace, and I refuse to do
so. Not about to do so. I just spoke
to a dear friend just recently. I said, I wouldn't do anything
to tell this man he's saved. I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't
do that. We recognize that God is right in what God does. But
we're not about to try to proclaim peace to folks who have no peace.
But when Christ comes and preaches peace, when he speaks peace to
your heart, you have peace. Peace with God. Peace before
God. He came and preached peace to
you, the far off and to them which were nigh for through him
through Christ. This is our peace through him.
We both have access by one spirit under the father. We come to
God through Christ. We have access to God by faith
in Christ. And this is our unity. This is our union. We are made
one in Christ. The only place in this world
where race and place and face don't matter. The only place
in the world where race and place and face do not matter. Is in the body of Christ. And
in the body of Christ. Your race. And your position. And your wealth or your poverty. Your learning or lack of learning.
Your rank in society or lack of rank in society. Is utterly
insignificant. Our union is Jesus Christ the
Lord. In him we're one. Verse 19. Now therefore. Now, therefore,
in the light of all this, you are no more strangers and foreigners,
but fellow citizens with the saints, fellow citizens with
God's Holy One and of the household of God and are built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets. What is that foundation?
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom all
the building fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in
the Lord." God brings each one into his temple, living stones.
And he sets us in our place in his temple. And those stones,
if you remember, weren't cut to fit. They were a little too
big. Here sits Don Fortner with all his rough, craggy edges. And here sits Rex Bartley with
all his rough, craggy ages, and then God bring Merle Hart in
here, and all his rough, rough ages, and it works them together. Pop! Right in place. Fitted together in one holy temple
as one holy temple in the Lord so that by God's providence each
influences the other each Benefits the other and we are welded together
in the grace of God now watch this in whom ye also are building
together For an habitation of God through the Spirit That's
the best description to be found anywhere in literature of God's
church. A habitation of God through the
spirit. And it's not talking about the
church universal. This is talking about Grace Baptist
Church, Danville, Kentucky. An habitation of God through
the spirit. Grace alone has done this. Grace alone is my subject. All that I was, my sin, my guilt,
my death was all my own. All that I am, I owe to thee,
my gracious God alone. When we come to think about grace,
Grace. Understand that everything regarding
the salvation of God's elect is by grace. Everything. Every detail. Every aspect of
salvation. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Absolutely nothing depends
upon you. Nothing is determined by you.
Nothing depends upon your good works Nothing depends upon the
might of your free will nothing depends upon your decision your
choice Everything is by grace alone the whole of salvation
Beginning to end is by grace and by grace alone How can I
Speak this as I want I intend I intend to drive this nail until
this hammer is completely worn out driving it. I've lifted my
hand to God like Jephthah of old, and I cannot go back. This
is the message that must be proclaimed in this day of will-worship Antichrist
religion. We must, in our generation, proclaim
the gospel of God's free grace in salvation declaring to sinners
everywhere. Salvation is by grace alone through
faith alone in Christ alone. I said the whole of salvation
every single aspect of salvation. Lots of folks. Lots of folks
think about one aspect of salvation is by grace, but we've got your
works on this side. You can't get lopsided. You've
got to have God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. Would
to God every preacher would get completely lopsided and speak
not about man and his dignity and his goodness and his worth,
but rather about God and his dignity, his goodness and his
worth. Election. That's where salvation
begins. Election. What a wonderful word. Election. Election. Election. Isn't that good? You're
here rejoicing in what I'm saying to you because God from the beginning
chose you. And if God hadn't chosen you,
you would not be in Christ. What is election? It is God's
eternal sovereign choice of some of Adam's fallen race to everlasting
salvation by his free grace. Redemption. Redemption is the
particular ransom, the effectual ransom of God's elect from under
the curse of the law by the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Altogether,
according to God's gracious purpose, man does nothing to make redemption
complete. Man does nothing to make the
work of Christ effectual. It is effectual. And his effectual
complete work is that which brings us into the blessed enjoyment
of God's grace. Justification. Justification is righteousness. Righteousness before God. Righteousness
with God. The righteousness of God. Now
hear me, my brother. Hear me, my sister. If you're
in Christ, God has made you perfectly righteous. Though you can never
do a righteous thing. Don Renier can't do good. You
can't do good. Just do best you can. Can't do
good. Your best thoughts are selfish,
full of sin. You can't do good. That's not
possible for a man. Only God is good and only God
can do good. But God has made us the very
righteousness of God without us ever doing a single righteous
thing. In exactly the same way as God
made his son to be sin for us, Though he could never sin, he
could never do evil, he could never do wrong, without him ever
doing anything sinful, God made his son sin by a marvelous transference
of grace. It's altogether a matter of grace,
regeneration, the new birth, people uh... talk about you uh...
you need to get born again you can't get born again you can't
get born again they write books about how to be born again you
can't tell somebody how to be born again that's like telling
a dead man how to get up and walk out of the grave the new
birth is a resurrection from the dead it's described in this
book of revelation twenty verse six as the first resurrection
blessed and holy is he who hath part in the first resurrection,
on such the second death hath no power. The second resurrection
will be the day when Christ comes and these bodies are raised from
the grave. But the new birth is the first
resurrection. It is God, by his grace, giving
life to dead sinners as only God can. Sanctification. People have what I do. that somehow
sanctification of this. This is holiness that we do.
God starts the work. He starts the ball rolling and
then he leaves it in our hand. It leaves it for us to make ourselves
holy. It's it's horribly evil and horribly
sad, but laughably evil and laughably sad to think of a man making
himself holy by anything, by anything. Sanctification is holiness
imparted to us in the new birth. Sanctification is Christ in you,
the hope of glory. Sanctification is God coming
into you, setting up his throne in you, living in you, having
the spirit of God in you. Perseverance. Yes, it's necessary. The righteous shall hold on his
way. He that endure it to the end, the same shall be saved.
But perseverance, though it is absolutely necessary, as necessary
as redemption, sanctification, regeneration and election. Perseverance
is not our work. It's God's work. It is not our
hold on God that keeps us safe. Or it is God's hold on us that
keeps us safe. heavenly glory. Whatever heaven's glory is, it
is the possession of Jesus Christ, the God-man, our mediator, because
he earned it. He earned it. He earned everything
he possesses as the God-man, our mediator. Now, whatever that
is, whatever that is, that's ours by grace. That's ours by
grace. no degrees of reward, no greater
saints and lesser saints, none a little closer to God, others
a little farther away, none getting in just by the skin of their
teeth. We inherit the glory of heaven by the grace of God in
Jesus Christ, our Lord, not because of something we do. Oh, no, the reward is not of
debt, but of grace, the free gift of God. to make any part
of salvation dependent upon our works, upon our will, is to deny
the grace of God altogether and to trample underfoot the precious
blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, doing despite to the spirit of
grace. Now, let me try to answer four questions briefly and I'll
wrap this up. Number one, why is God gracious
to Saul? Why would God be gracious to
you? Why would the God of glory be
gracious to me? Why? Why would he make us the
objects of his grace? The answer is not to be found
in us. We are full of nothing but wounds
and bruises and putrefying sores. There's nothing in us to attract
to him. Well, why me? Why me? We had nothing to offer him,
did nothing for him, did not want him. Why is God gracious
to us? Turn back to Romans chapter 9.
Let me show you. Moses said, Lord, show me your
glory. And this is what God said. I
will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. Why would God choose me? Why would God set his love on
me? Why would God be gracious to
me? Romans 9 verse 11, the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said to her, the elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now you can get all the different
translations you want to, and the sentence still comes out
the same. Jacob have I loved. But Esau
have I hated." What does that mean? What does that mean? Let me tell
you something. It means exactly what you think
it means. It means exactly what it appears
to mean. If you read this in a letter
that I wrote to you and I said, I love this man and I hate that
man, you wouldn't have any trouble understanding what I was talking
about, would you? God said, Jacob have I loved. Esau have I hated."
Well, how can you explain that? What shall we say then, verse
14? Is there unrighteousness with God? That doesn't sound
right. God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Verse 18, therefore hath he mercy
on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hearteneth. Why on earth God be gracious
to Bobby Estes and not be gracious to your neighbor? Why would God
be gracious to you, not be gracious to your brother, your sister,
your son, or your daughter? Why? Why? because he would be
gracious. That's all. Samuel said to the
children of Israel, it pleased the Lord to make you his people. And you are his, if you're his,
only because that's God's good pleasure. Number two, what does
the gospel of God's grace proclaim? Twice we're told in this second
chapter of Ephesians that you're saved. You're saved. You're saved
by grace. And then he gives us the negative.
Not by works. You're saved by grace. He's telling
us this because the grace of God proclaims a present salvation. Salvation is ours now. It is ours now. This present
salvation is a salvation to which nothing can be added. It is a
present salvation and it is a perfect, complete salvation. God Almighty
will do nothing more for me when I stand before Him in Heaven's
glory than He has already done for me by His grace. He will
not make me more holy. He will not make me more righteous.
He will not make me more forgiven. He will not make me more justified.
He will not make me more accepted. You, the Apostle says, are complete
in Christ. Right now may meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light. And this salvation
that grace proclaims is an eternal salvation. The works, Hebrews
chapter 4 verse 3, were finished before the world began. It's
an eternal salvation. The work was done from eternity. It is given to us in the sweet
experience of grace in time, and the work reaches to eternity
so that those who are saved by God's grace are saved presently,
perfectly, and saved forever. No one can imagine such a thing
except those who know the grace of God. If salvation somehow
depends on your work, something depends on you. You're left wondering,
have I done enough? If salvation depends on the strength
of your faith, you're left wondering, do I believe enough? If salvation
depends upon the earnestness of your repentance, you've got
the question, have I repented enough? If salvation is left
to your will, then everything is fickle and likely to fall.
But blessed be God's salvation is by grace alone. The terrors
of the law and of God with me can have nothing to do. My savior's
obedience and blood hide all my transgressions from view.
My name from the palms of his hands, eternity will not erase. Impressed on his heart it remains
in marks of indelible grace. Yes, I to the end shall endure,
as sure as the earnest is given. More happy, but not more secure,
the glorified spirits in heaven. You can't say that. You can if
you believe God. You can if your hope is Jesus
Christ, the Lord. You can't if you depend entirely
upon the Lord Jesus for everything. Amazing grace. How sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. Marvelous. Marvelous is the
grace of God. Brother Don, what does grace
mean as it's used in scripture? What does it mean? Let me give
you a definition I wrote down years ago. This is something
I got from Lewis Perry Schaeffer's theology back when I was still
in college and haven't found a better definition yet. He said,
when used in the Bible to set forth the grace of God in the
salvation of sinners, the word grace discloses not only the
boundless goodness of God and his kindness toward man, but
reaches far beyond and indicates the supreme motive which actuated
God in the creation, preservation, and consummation of the universe. Imagine that. Imagine that. This is what prompted God to
create the universe. This is the rule by which God
governs the universe. And this is the thing by which
the universe shall be consummated. And that is grace. God's grace toward his elect. It is nothing less than the unlimited
love of God expressing itself in grace. Grace is God's good
favor. It is the favor of God making
us accepted in the beloved. Grace is the marvelous operation
of God. It's God who did the work. God
who created life in us. God who gave us a desire for
him. God who taught us to pray. God
who answered our prayers. God who gave us faith. God's
grace is the operation of salvation. Grace and grace alone is the
sovereign prerogative of God himself. God says, I will be
gracious to whom I will be gracious. One last thing. What inferences
may be drawn from the doctrine of grace? First, if we're saved by grace. We of all people ought to be
humbled before God. and walk with humility before
him. Second, if we're saved by grace, we should have great compassion
on poor needy sinners in the same shape we once were in. I have a dear friend down in
Sylacauga, Alabama. Her daughter had to go through
some serious treatments with cancer. Some of you know her,
Pat Hoag, her husband, Terry. And a couple of years ago, been
a few years now, Pat started a fund raising money to help
folks with cancer treatments. And she works at it. Man, she
works at it all the time. All the time. She's all the time
doing things to raise money to help folks who need some help
with their cancer treatments. Why? Because she knows what it
is for someone to go through the treatments and have need. I know where you are, my friend.
You go without God, without Christ, without hope. And I know how desperately you
need grace. the free grace of God in Christ
Jesus. Let us have compassion upon folks
who are in the same shape we once were in. We all get a little
indignant and haughty, but oh, how proud we are and how our
pride shows when we act self-righteously and harshly towards sinners. I don't mean, I don't suggest,
I don't imply that somehow we should give any indication of
approval to the ungodliness of men in this generation. Absolutely
not. But let us deal with folks graciously
and proclaim the grace of God to sinners and seek the grace
of God for sinners. If we're saved by grace. If God has saved me by his grace, then nothing should bring me
discomfort. Nothing. Are you afflicted? Well, that
doesn't much matter. You've been saved by the grace
of God. Are you poor? That doesn't matter. You've been
rich, made rich in grace. Are you neglected and despised
by men? What's the matter of that? God
doesn't neglect or despise you. You've been saved by his grace.
Are you sick? Well, that's unimportant. I'm
saved by God's free grace. Saved. Here I am. Saved by grace alone. Children of the Heavenly King,
as you journey, sweetly sing. Sing your Savior's worthy praise,
glorious in his works and ways. If we're saved by grace, If we're
saved by grace, I mean saved by grace, we ought to be utterly,
utterly, utterly devoted to the glory of him who saved us. Utterly devoted to him. Oh, may
God give you his grace and God give us grace to walk constantly
in the sweet knowledge of His grace and proclaim His grace
to this generation. Amen.