Good morning. It's a delight,
a delight to be with you. I've had a wonderful weekend.
Thank you, Grace Baptist Church, Pastor Don Shelby, for all the
blessed fellowship we've known these many years. It's a delight. And what a privilege it was for
me yesterday morning to baptize my son. That I prayed for for
many years. that God would be gracious to
them. Would you turn with me this morning to Ephesians chapter
2? Our text will be a very familiar
verse of scripture from Ephesians chapter 2. Peter in his first epistle wrote
these words. He said, But sanctify the Lord
God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every
man that asketh you, a reason of the hope that is in you with
meekness and fear. Peter says, Believer, if anyone
asks you the reason of your hope, hope of salvation, Give them
an answer. Tell them. I remember when I
was a boy at home and would get in trouble, and my father would
demand an answer of me. Son, why did you do such an ignorant
thing? And my dad wasn't an adherent
to the time-out theory. I knew what was coming. I knew
what was coming. It wouldn't be no time out. But
he'd say, why did you do that? I want an answer, son. And the
best I could come up with, just because. Just because. It didn't wash. It didn't work. But do you know
this morning, There are multitudes of people gathering in churches, and if you were to ask them the
reason of their hope of salvation, their answer wouldn't be any
more than that. Why do you think, what reason
do you have to think that God Almighty will accept you? And they'll say, just because.
I think it'll just all pan out in the end. I think because I've
been a pretty good father, husband, provider, etc. No, no. Here in Ephesians 2, we're given
the solitary reason, the one solitary reason of salvation,
the only reason that sinners are saved. And we're told what
it is here in verse 8 of Ephesians 2, a verse you know very well.
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. This grace gives a sinner a good
hope. It's the only thing that does. The grace of God. It gives him
a hope of sins forgiven, of acceptance by God, and of entering eternal
glory at last. Grace does that. My message only
has three points. Just three. First, the reality. The reality of God's grace. And
then the success of God's grace and the security of God's grace. Again, if you would ask many
people today, what exactly is the grace of God? How would you
define it? If someone should ask you, what
is the grace of God? And I've heard many people all
of my life, and so have you. They would answer the question
in this way. The grace of God is God's desire
to save sinners. God wants to save sinners. Others
say it's an offer. It's merely an offer by God to
save sinners. God will save you with your help. Did you see that in this text?
It doesn't speak that way. It all doesn't. It says very
matter-of-factly, by grace ye are saved. God has an offer to
save you. It says by His grace ye are saved. I remember years ago, Brother
Donnie Bell wrote an article for a local paper there in Crossville,
Tennessee entitled, Is Your God a Checker Playing God? And he
said, a lot of folks think that their God is a checker playing
God. He waits for you to make a move,
then He makes the move. But He can't do anything. His
hands are tied until you make the first move again. Thank God that that's not true.
That's not what this text says. This is not a supposition. It's
not a matter of speculation, but it's a blessed statement
of fact, of the reality of God's grace. For by grace are ye saved. This is true of every sinner
that's ever been saved. Old Testament, New Testament. If God this very day is pleased
to save a sinner, if God in sovereign majesty comes to where you're
at and opens your blinded eyes, it'll be a matter of pure sovereign
grace. There'll be no reason in you
why he should do so. The reason will lie entirely
in His free grace. Whether in Old Testament times
or New Testament times, man's salvation has always been a matter
of grace. In Genesis chapter 6, we read
this concerning Noah. Genesis 6 verse 5. And God saw
that the weakness of man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that
he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from
the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing,
and the fowls of the air. And it repented, for it repented
to me that I have made them. Oh, but look at this blessed
word of grace. Here's blessed intervention of
God's grace, but, but, I love that word, don't you? But Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Oh, what a blessed word
of grace. And this is exactly what the
Apostle Paul said, was the reason he was saved. Look, if you will,
in Galatians chapter 1. Paul gives the very same reason.
Why were you saved, Saul? What changed you from being a
hater of Jesus of Nazareth to being one who preached his glorious
gospel to everyone everywhere and was determined to know nothing
else? What changed you? And Paul tells
the same thing that changed Noah. Here in Galatians 1, verse 13,
Paul says, you've heard of my conversation, you've heard how
I lived in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure
I persecuted the Church of God and wasted it, and profited in
the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation,
being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.
But, There it is again. But when it pleased God. When it pleased God. When is
a sinner saved? When it pleases God. God makes the first move, the
second move, and He makes all the moves. Salvation is all of
the Lord. What part? Every part. Every
part. But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace. Grace. To reveal His Son in me,
that I might preach Him among the heathen, immediately I confer
not with flesh and blood. If God is pleased to save a sinner
today, it will be for the very same reason. Look what we read
here in Ephesians chapter 2. Look at what we are by nature. How we enter this world. Here
in verse 1 of Ephesians 2, you had he quickened who were dead,
dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in times past he 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 times past in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath even as others. If I'm quick If I'm made alive,
God must do it. If I'm ever raised out of the
pit of my depravity and my sins, God Almighty must come to where
I'm at and reach down, reach down the long arm of His omnipotence
and He must lift this sinner up. And that's exactly what Paul
says here. We were dead in trespasses and
sin, verse 4. Why are we not yet? But God,
but God who is rich in mercy, for His great love were with,
He loved us. By grace alone, salvation comes
to sinners. Through faith alone, in Christ
alone, we define grace as God's unmerited favor. And that's exactly
what it is. unmerited. There's nothing I
could do to merit God's grace, to deserve God's grace when first
received. And there's nothing that I've
ever done since God has been pleased to save me by His grace
to merit His grace. It's always been free. It's always
been unmerited. My salvation has never depended
on me. Hmm? I sure like that. Oh, that's good news. That's
good news. My salvation has never depended
on me. and it never shall depend on
me. I've been saved by grace and
every day I live I will be preserved by that same omnipotent grace
of God that's in Christ Jesus and that alone gives this sinner
hope. It was grace that taught my heart
to pray and made my eyes overflow. It is grace that's kept me to
this day right up to this very moment and that grace will not
will not let me go. One time our Lord looked at a
multitude of people who had been fed by the miracle of His multiplying
the loaves and fishes. He left that area and they followed
Him across the sea. Wasn't that impressive? They
followed Him, a multitude. And when they found Him, He said,
You haven't really come to Me. You haven't really come to Me.
No man can really come to me. No man can truly come to me in
a saving way except God Almighty drawing. Except God's grace fetch
him to me. You can't come. And they begin
to murmur. Well, they said, we don't have
to listen to this. We don't have to put up with
this. And they turned their backs and they walked away. They walked
away from the Son of God. All of them did. And there were
twelve left. Twelve. And the Lord Jesus looked
at them and said, you want to join the crowd? You want to go
with them? Do you want to go away also?
And you remember what Peter said, Lord, we don't have anywhere
else to go. Where else can we go? And child
of God, it's only because of God's constraining reigning,
abounding, full, free, mighty grace. That's the only reason
that you and I don't go away this day. Oh, how we ought to
praise our God if from our hearts we can answer in the same words
with Peter, Lord, we don't have anywhere else to go. I'll stay
right here. I'll stay right here. If saved,
it will be by grace alone. Nothing else can do it. Not by
works, lest any man should boast. Some years ago, I unannounced
dropped in on Larry Dale's at my oldest son's house to see
my granddaughters. The oldest, Laura, at the time
was only about five, and like I said, it was an unannounced
visit. Man, I'm the Pawpaw. I don't have to let people know
I'm coming. Is that right, Linda? We got
some rights. We've earned them. So I didn't let them know. And
of course, I wasn't aware of it, but they were getting ready
to go to a birthday party. Well, I just kind of casually
sat down, asked the girls how they were doing. And after about
five or 10 minutes, Laura came up to me and whispered, said,
Pawpaw, if you don't leave soon, mommy will kick you out. We got to be at the birthday
party, and if you don't leave pretty soon, mommy will kick
you out. Paul says here, grace kicks works
out. Works have got to go. There is
no mixture of salvation of works and of grace. Remember what Paul
wrote in Romans 11? He said, if it's of works, then
it's no more grace. And if it be of grace, then it
is no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it
is no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. Grace kicks works out the door. Let me ask you, do you need this
grace? Is this the sort of grace you
need? Anybody this morning? Anybody? Anyone here like that debtor
our Lord spoke of in the parable in Luke 7? He spoke to that self-righteous
Pharisee. And He said concerning those
two debtors, when they had nothing to pay. Oh, to find the sinner,
they're rare, they're rare. Only God can make them so. A
sinner who from the depths of his heart is crying, Oh God,
I've got nothing to pay. Have mercy on me, I have nothing
to pay. And you remember what the Lord
said. When they had nothing to pay, He frankly, the word is
freely, He freely, without a cause, in them. He freely forgave them
both. That's God's mercy. That's God's
grace. It's free. Free through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. Last year, a few weeks before
Christmas, I was watching the evening news. And they were interviewing
a couple, a man and his wife. who had started a few years before
that a yard sale, but they didn't sell anything, they gave it away.
And other neighbors joined in. It became so large that a local
mall allowed them to have it one day on a Saturday just before
Christmas on the parking lot of the mall. And people came
from all around. I was watching this one evening
and they were interviewing a woman who had come. And they asked
her about it, and she said, well, I can't come to this mall and
buy anything. She said, I can't, I don't have
any money. But if it's free, she said, I can have it. If it's
free, I can have it. She said, the only way I can
have any of this is if it's free. And I thought, man, that's grace. That's grace. The only way this
sinner can have God's salvation, the only way I can experience
His amazing grace and mercy, it's got to be free. And he said,
is anybody thirsty? Anybody thirsty? The Spirit and
the bride say, come. And let him that hear us say,
come. And whosoever will. I had a fellow tell me, you don't
believe that. I said, I beg your pardon. He
said, you really don't believe that. I said, oh yes, I do. No, you believe God chose the
people to salvation. I said, yes, I believe that too
and I believe whosoever will come and take the water of life
freely. It's because God's grace is free
that makes that promise sure. It's not dependent upon anything
in the sinner. Are you thirsty? Drink. Drink
and never thirst again. Do you need such grace as that?
Now, secondly, the success of God's grace. This is the grace
of God. I hear people, and you have too,
preachers, say, well, you know, if God had his way. You've heard that expression,
haven't you? If God had his way. as we've heard this week, and
it is such a comfort to our souls, isn't it? For weary pilgrims
to hear that their God does have His way. He always has His way,
all the time, with everything and everyone. Look again at verse
4 here in Ephesians 2, but God But God, I was dead. I was helpless. I was bound. I was blind. But God, that's
good news. Does that matter? Does that matter? But God, does that matter? Oh
yes, it does. Because God's grace is not an
offer to save, but His great work of salvation. through Jesus
Christ the Lord, there in verse 7, redemption accomplished demands. It doesn't suggest redemption
accomplished, atonement made demands pardon. It demands pardon. Oh yes, if my sins have been
put away, then God Almighty is just, faithful to forgive me
of all of my sins. And when that ransom was paid,
when Christ by Himself purged our sins and his own body on
the tree. God Almighty said, deliver his
soul from going down to the pit. I've found a ransom. Ransom and
I'm satisfied with it. Years ago, I pastored a little
church for a few years in West Virginia. When we would observe
the Lord's Supper and I would call on a certain brother sometimes
to pray for us, Brother Waldo Arthur, he would pray. Father, thank you for the sacrifice
of your son. Thank you for Jesus Christ. We
know that it's a sweet smelling savor to you. You feast on it
and we feast on it and both are satisfied. Both are satisfied
and indeed we are. Concerning the Lord Jesus Christ,
God's righteous servant, the prophet said, he shall not fail. He shall not fail. Joseph, lie
back down and rest easy. Don't be disturbed about Mary.
That holy thing that's formed in her is the Son of God, Emmanuel,
God with us. And when He's born, Joseph, call
His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins
and He shall not fail. Glory to His name. He by Himself
purged our sins and He did not fail. He one time entered into
the holy place and obtained eternal redemption for us and He did
not fail. That's our Lord and Savior. The
Great Shepherd has a 100% success rate. Again, when I was a boy
back in West Virginia, there was a local preacher who preached
a lot of funerals. And I was told the reason was,
and they called him Perry Mason behind his back. They said he
never loses a case. Everyone goes to heaven. Not
so. Not so. But concerning our Lord
Jesus Christ, he has a hundred percent success rate. He never
loses a case. Concerning the captain of our
salvation, he said, all that the Father giveth me shall come
to me. Every one of them shall come
to me. Every one of that multitude that
can't be numbered, that God the Father committed into my hands,
that I became surety for, that I became responsible for, they
shall all come to me and him that cometh unto me I will in
no wise cast out. I give them eternal life. Oh,
hear our glorious Redeemer speak. I give them eternal life, and
they shall never perish. When Christ, in response to the
plea of a leprous sinner who says, Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean, when the captain of our salvation says, I will,
be thou clean, that sinner is clean. If this day, as the hymn
says, the vilest offender that truly believes that very moment,
isn't that wondrous? That very moment, this very moment,
if God is pleased to remove the scales from your eyes to behold
His Son, that very moment, a full, irrevocable, eternal pardon that
sinner shall receive. When He says, Thy sins are forgiven
thee, they are forever. His grace does save. That's what
the text says, does it not? He doesn't attempt to save or
offer to save. He saves to the uttermost, as
much as you need saving. His grace in us is as successful,
as effectual, as what he has done for us. Paul said, by the
grace of God, I am what I am. I'm not what I used to be. And
we all identify with what old Newton said. I'm not what I should
be. I'm not what I want to be. I'm
not what I'm going to be. But he said, by God's grace,
I'm not what I used to be. And no one that has experienced
God's grace will ever be the same afterwards. If any man being
Christ, as Don read earlier, Being Christ, he is a new creature. God's grace through Christ saves
the uttermost from the very penalty of sin. After Paul confessed,
as a believing man, as an apostle of many years. He said, O wretched
man that I am. A lot of folks want to say, O
wretched man that I used to be. No, no. O wretched man that I
am. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? And Paul answered the question,
didn't he? I thank God through Jesus Christ the Lord and in
the same breath, after making the confession of what he was. He said, there's no condemnation.
Yes, I'm a wretched man, but there's no condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus now, he said. There is now no condemnation. No matter where now may find
you. No matter where this present
moment may find you. In what circumstance, what heavy
heartedness, what burden? They'll never be condemnation
to those in Christ Jesus. His grace saves from the dominion
of sin. It shall not have dominion over
you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. And then
one day, one day from the very presence of sin. From the presence of sin. Revelation we read, they are
without fault before the throne of God. Oh dear dying lamb, thy
precious blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed
church of God be saved of sin no more. Now last of all, just
for a moment, the security of God's grace. Look where God's
grace has put us. In Christ Jesus, verse 13 here
in Ephesians 2. But now, in Christ Jesus. Don't you just love those words?
In Christ Jesus. Oh child of God, rest easy. Just rest easy. This is the true
grace of God wherein you stand. This foundation of God's free
grace in Christ is one that will endure forever. On Christ the
solid rock we stand, rest easy. Not just because, but because
Jesus paid it all. You're so familiar with that
parable. Our Lord spoke concerning the
lost sheep. If you have a hundred sheep,
and one be lost, he leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness,
and go seek for that one until you find it. And when, not if,
and when he find it, he put it upon his shoulders, and when,
again not if, but when, he comes home, he says, rejoice with me,
I found the sheep, my sheep, that was lost. What did the sheep
do? Can you just picture that? What
did the sheep do? rest, it just lay on the shoulders
of the great shepherd. Just resting, Carol. That's it. Just resting upon the mighty
shoulders of the great shepherd of the sheep. The psalmist said,
they go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth
before God. Yes, the great shepherd will
bring all of his sheep home. John said he saw a multitude
that no man could number, standing before the throne of God, clothed
in white robes and palms in their hands, crying, salvation to our
God that setteth upon the throne. And he asked John, the elder
did, where did these come from? Where did they come from, John?
And John said, Thou knowest. The elders said, These are they
which came out of great tribulation. What a testimony to the sufficiency
of God's grace. Everyone came out. Mr. Spurgeon said, That's the greatest
battle in all the world. The believers struggle with sin.
with the flesh, with the devil, with this world. But they all
came out. Look back on that battlefield.
Satan has been slain. Sin has been put away. Every
enemy of King Jesus, he has prevailed over. But look, there's not one
casualty in the army of our great King. They all came out. Bless
His name. Bless His name. What a Savior!
When I was a boy, I remember once I had to have some surgery.
And my mother was with me in the room, and of course, I was
frightened about it. Didn't know what to expect. Never had surgery
before. She said, Larry, don't be afraid.
It'll be over soon. And when you wake up, I'll be
right here. I'll be right here. Our great
high priest said, Father, I will also that those whom Thou has
given me be with me where I am. Be with me where I am. Brother Bob, that's what he says
to you and I. Soon, soon, this life's going
to be over. But he says, when you wake up,
I'll be here. I'll be here. There was a preacher
visiting Fannie Crosby. On one occasion, of course, as
you know, she was born blind, had been blind all of her life,
wrote so many of our great old hymns. But he said, I think it's
a shame that you weren't born with sight. You may have done
so much more. And she told that preacher, oh,
no, I'm thankful, thankful that I was born blind. I wouldn't
want to see. And he said, I don't understand
that. Why would you desire such a thing as that? She said, because
When I get to heaven and I can see, the first thing I'm going
to be looking at is Jesus Christ who loved me and gave himself
for me. God bless each of you. Thank
you for your attention.