It's been a very, very good day
and I appreciate it. Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter
5. There is such a privilege to
be able to be with the Lord's people wherever
they are. And one way we know we're in the body of Christ,
because wherever you go, you feel at home. You do. It's just an amazing thing about
the grace of God and the Lord's people. Wherever, you know, I
go places first time I get there and I feel like I'm at home because
we're all members of the same body. And when you remember the
same body and worship the same Christ and he would believe the
same gospel, you just feel at home. That's a mystery, ain't
it? That's a mystery. But let me
read some verses here, starting at verse 17, make a few comments
on them. And I want to talk about the
nature of grace. The nature of grace. For if by
one man's offense, death reigned by that one sin, by that one
man's sin, death reigned by that one sin. Much more, they which
receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, Gift,
you see, it's a gift of grace, gift of righteousness, shall
reign in life, not death, but life by Jesus Christ. Death and
life are against one another right here. One is a dead old,
the other is a gift given. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, or that one sin, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness
of the free gift, Free gift, by the righteousness
of the one free gift came upon all men under justification of
all. Now I want you to notice these all men here, the same
all that's under condemnation, the same ones that made righteous.
Because we know that all men is not made righteous. So when
Paul talks about the all here, it's the same all. For as while
one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so by the
obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Obedience, disobedience,
death, righteousness, sin, grace. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now there in verse 20 is where
I'm going to get my subject. Moreover the law entered, that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. Grace. Grace. I love that word, grace. Wonderful word. Beautiful word. Powerful word. And grace, what
a comprehensive word. It covers Covers everything. Grace. And we have here some
great contrasts. We have in these verses, we have
sin abounding. But though sin's abounding, we
have grace much more abounding. Here we have judgment because
of sin. And here we have righteousness
as the free gift. Here sin reigns unto death. But grace reigns unto life, and
it reigns through righteousness unto life by Jesus Christ our
Lord. Now it says there were sin abounded. Grace did much more abound. And
that word grace, there were sin abounded, grace did completely
overflow. Now if I understand this rightly,
what it means is no matter how much sin is present, how great
and how abounding sin is, no matter how much sin is present,
The grace that comes from God through Christ is unmeasurable. What it is, it's like taking
a match and pouring a whole bucket of water on it to put it out.
That's how much grace God gives us, no matter how much sin is
present. Grace so overabounds whatever sin is. And the sin
that we have is so overabound. And you look through the scriptures
where sin abounded. Mary Magdalene, out of whom the
Lord cast seven devils. Where you find her at? Sitting
at the feet of the Master. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. Zacchaeus went up a tree. He was a thief. The Lord Jesus
says, come down, Zacchaeus. And he came down. Today I must
abide at your house. Today salvation is coming to
you. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Saul of
Tarsus. breathing out slaughterings,
taking men and women, throwing them in jail, hating the Lord
Jesus Christ with a passion. On the Damascus Road, he says,
would it please God? who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me by his grace. Put him down in the dust. Simon Peter, he said, Lord, if
you die, whatever happens, I'm going to die with you. I'll go
to prison with you. I'll die with you. I'll do anything. It don't matter. I don't care
what anybody else has done. And then he denied the Lord three
times, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Even
those who nailed the Lord Jesus Christ to the cross. When he
last words, he said, father, he said, before he said it is
finished, he said, father, forgive them. They know not what they
do. And when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, just as
sure as you are not standing here, some of those people that
Christ prayed for around that cross, they heard the gospel
that day, 50 days later, when Peter preached the gospel there.
So you see, and then Manasseh, who even put his children in
the fire and offered them to strange gods. Where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. Grace, sin is a horrible thing. Oh, what a horrible thing sin
is. But wherever it is, in God's people, wherever sin is, and
it abounds, grace super abounds, overflows. Now let's look at
the nature of grace, if I can. Grace is God acting freely. Grace is God acting freely. And
you know God, God acts according to His nature. And you know what
His nature is? And you keep Romans 5 and look
with me over in 1 John chapter 4. You know, wherever there's love,
love's got to flow out. It's got to flow out. You can't
have love and it not be manifested. And since God is love, and God
acts freely in His love, and that God acts according to His
nature, His nature is love. And love must be acted out. And
you know, and I'll tell you something, you and I aren't free to love.
We really aren't. We're not, you know, people say,
well, we can love. There's people that I cannot
love. I just cannot do it. I cannot love evil. I cannot
love rapists. I cannot love people that abuse
children. I cannot love people that's against God and that's
against Christ. And you know, so I cannot love freely. Somebody
has to win my love. They have to, God's got to put
that nature in you. Well, that's why God, since He
is love and that's His very nature, He acts freely in bestowing that
love and putting it where He will. And that's what He said
here in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 8. He that loveth not,
don't know God. Why? Because God is love. God
is love. In this, And this was manifested
the love of God towards us. Towards who? Us, God's people.
Because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that
we might live through Him. Hearing His love, now listen
to it, not that we love God, we didn't have the ability that
we love God, but that He loved us. And sent His Son to the beat,
the propitiation, the atoning victim, the mercy seat, the sacrifice
for our sins. And so you see, beloved, God's
love was manifested, how? By sending His Son into this
world. And so I'll tell you this, if
God loves, Anyone, it's an act of grace. If he loves anybody
at all, it's an act of grace. He does not have to love all.
He said, I love Jacob, but I hated Esau. So it was an act of grace
that he loved Jacob, and it's an act of justice that he hated
Esau. Now, beloved, grace is God loving
his people as individuals without promises or obligations from
us to fulfill anything. He does not require anything
from us back. He loves us freely. He loves
whom He will. And He don't come and say, well,
you got to do this, that, and the other and fulfill this if
you're going to get my love. That's not the way He does it.
And let me show you something back over here in Romans 5. Oh my, He makes promises and
does for us without any obligations from us to fulfill. And He gives
grace, and this is what I love. He gives grace righteously. In
verse 21 it says, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even
so might grace reign righteously. God's grace reigns righteously. His love reigns righteously.
How does it do it? In view of the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Reigns through the Lord Jesus
Christ. The cross, now listen to me.
The cross was an act of the sovereign grace of God. Surely, surely
you and I didn't deserve God giving His Son so that He might
give grace to us in His Son. We didn't deserve Christ going
to the cross. We didn't deserve Christ bearing
our sins. We didn't deserve God loving
us. So if He did those things, it was all an act of the grace
of God. And He acts freely in that grace. And I'll tell you something else
about the nature of grace. It's uncaused in the recipient. Absolutely uncaused. It is caused. If God gives you grace or me
grace, it's uncaused if the cause lies wholly and completely in
the giver, in God Almighty. Look in Ephesians 1. You know, people always say, I just can't
understand why God would give me grace. Well, never, you never
will. That's why it's called grace. You know, people keep looking
for a cause in themselves for God giving them grace, but you
never will find a reason for him doing it other than he just
will to do it. That's what makes grace so amazing.
It's free. Look what he said here in Ephesians
1.4. And oh, you go through here and look at how many things He
done to the praise of His, the glory of His grace. According
as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should behold Him without blame before Him in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself. And listen to this. This is the
kicker right here. According to the good pleasure
of His will. Why did He do that? He says,
according to the good pleasure of His will. What? You know, here we are people
in Danville, Kentucky. You get outside of Danville and
other than a few grace believers somewhere, nobody has a clue
who you are. And here you are. God gives you
grace. And why did He do it? according
to the good pleasure of his will. Now watch what he says. And he
done it to the praise of the glory of his grace so that we
might praise and glorify his blessed grace who made us accepted
in the beloved. That's why we do it. And look
down in verse 12. It says that we should be to
the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. Everything
about God gives us is according to his grace. And it's free. It comes from God to men as they
are. And when it finds us, it overflows. It finds sin abounding and grace
overflows. Look what it says in Ephesians
2.8. Everybody knows this. Everybody could quote this verse.
I believe everybody in this building could get up and quote these
verses. For by grace are you saved through faith. And listen
to this. That's not of yourselves. The
grace is not of yourselves. The faith is not of yourselves.
What is it? It's the gift of God. It's not
of works. Why ain't it of works? Because
just as sure as you had anything to do with it, you'd brag about
it. You'd boast about it. And listen to what he goes on
to say. We are His workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus. Oh,
you see, beloved, grace is freely, grace is undeserved, uncaused
in the recipient. And that's why, beloved, I love
grace. Grace found me. I didn't find
grace. People say, when did you come to grace? I didn't come
to grace. Grace came to me. When did you learn the doctrines of
grace? Grace has got to come to you. You won't know anything
about it and certainly won't appreciate it until it comes
to you. And if grace comes to you, I'll tell you something,
you'll never get over it. You will never ever get over
it. Let me tell you something else about grace. Grace is sovereign.
Grace is sovereign. God has no debts to pay anybody. You know Romans 4.4 says if it's
of works, it's no longer grace, but it's of debt. To him that
worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. And God
has no debt to pay. There's no condition on man's
part to wait on. Grace doesn't wait for us to
become worthy or to do some act. Now a lot of preachers believe
that you know that you got to have faith and you got to have
repentance and then God gives you the grace. But grace brings
the faith, grace brings the repentance, grace brings the life, grace
brings the light, grace brings the understanding, grace does
the saving, grace does the keeping, grace is the one that does everything
for you in Christ. And there's no condition on man's
part to wait on. God don't wait on man. Grace
can act toward whom it will, how it will, when it will, and
where it will. Whether it's on the road to Damascus,
whether it's in the church house, whether it's in a prison, whether
it's in a palace, whether you're up a tree, or whether you're
on a thief on a cross, or whether you're in a grave like Lazarus
was. Grace comes to where you are.
And it finds you like you are. Finds you dead, lost, and corrupt. Finds you without God, without
Christ, and without hope. And it brings you God, it brings
you Christ, and it brings you hope all at the same time. Oh
my, and I tell you what, it takes the worst, worst people and places
them in the highest positions. It takes the people that's the
lowest and brings them the highest. Oh my. And I'll tell you something,
beloved, it can bypass a multitude and save one. Our Lord Jesus
Christ in the middle of the day was tired and weary, sat down
on a well. High noon, here comes a woman. And you know what he
said? He must needs go through Samaria. One sheep, just one. You know
how many times he just got one person? Zacchaeus, the only one
he called out of that tree. Bartimaeus is the only one he
called on the road. Lazarus is the only one that
he brought out of a gravesite. And I tell you, he went after
people one at a time. Out of all those people on the
Damascus road with Paul, he only got Paul. And beloved Zacchaeus,
the eunuch on the Philippian jailer that Philip went to. And I tell you, our Lord Jesus
Christ went after one at a time. Look in John 5 with me just a
moment. I preached on this here a while back. Here's a perfect
illustration of what I'm talking about. And I'll tell you, beloved, it
can bypass a multitude and save one. Or it can save a multitude
at one time. When Peter preached on the day
of Pentecost, it saved 3,000 people. Our Lord went by and
saved them one at a time. He took that woman that they
took in adultery and John H. was teaching from. They thought
it would embarrass her and confuse the Lord and trap Him. But He,
Beloved, saved that one woman right there. He said, Who condemns
you? Nobody, Lord. I don't either.
Why? Grace. She was taken in the act of adultery.
But you know, I'll tell you something else. That man she's in adultery
with, nothing said about him. There was no grace showed to
him. There was cover up for him. They hid him. He was one of the
deacons. He's a big shot in the church.
We're going to cover him up. But we're going to embarrass
this woman. But beloved, they didn't embarrass her. Grace brought
her to that place. Grace brought her to the feet
of Christ. And I tell you, was sin abounded?
Grace did much more abound. Look what he said here now. This
is at the Pool of Bethesda. And here's the description of
these people in verse 3. In these five porches around
Bethesda, in this pool, there lay a great multitude of impotent
folk, blind people, halt people, withered people, waiting for
the water to move. And down in verse 5, and a certain
man was there which had an infirmity 38 years. In the wilderness,
38 years. Under the law, 38 years. And when Jesus saw him lie and
knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto
him, Will you be made whole? The fellow started making excuses.
The impotent man said, I don't have anybody, sir. Very respectful. I have nobody when the water's
troubled to put me into the pool. But while I'm coming, another
step down before me. This is what our master said.
Rise up, take thy bed and walk. And immediately the man was made
whole, took up his bed and walked. All them other people around
there, Christ just went to one. He can get one at a time or get
3,000 or 5,000 at a time. And I'll tell you something else
about grace, sovereign grace. Grace acts and can act and does
act where there's no ability whatsoever. And I tell you something
else, once it tells you and teaches you that you have no ability,
you don't get any better. In fact, you get weaker and weaker
and you understand more about your inability. Grace doesn't
help. Grace doesn't come to give us a help. Grace doesn't come
to give us a shove in the right direction. Grace doesn't come
and help us pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Grace
doesn't come and help us to cooperate with it when it comes. Oh, grace
is absolute. Grace does it all or it does
nothing. You attribute it all to grace
or you don't get nothing. Grace, salvation is by grace
from start to finish. And I tell you what, by the grace
of God, I'm saved back there. By the grace of God, I'm saved
today and God saves me tomorrow. It'll be by the grace of God.
And if I ever set foot inside of God's heaven, it'll be by
the grace of God. I know me. If I'm safe, grace
has got to do it. If I have a good thought, grace
has got to put it in there. If I get any understanding from
the Bible, grace has got to give it to me. If I manifest any love, grace
has got to put it in me. What have we got that we didn't
receive? Huh? I'm telling you, beloved, we
are just, we're just, we're just helpless. We're just helpless
now. In fact, I'm worse now than I
was then when I... I get weaker. More and more in need of God's
grace. More and more in need of Christ.
I need more than help. I need God to do it all. Help. Oh my, since there's no
cause in us, why God should show grace to us? There's no reason
for us to give God a cause for His grace. God gives us grace
because somebody said, God gave me grace because. There's never
a because. Never a because. And if there
is a because, it ceases to be grace. Look in Galatians 5. I'll tell you, you know, if there's
anything that you add to grace, and you say ever any because,
you know what you've done? It ceases to be grace that quick.
That's why Paul said, I do not frustrate the grace of God. If
righteousness come by anything, any thought, any action, any
doing, any motive, then Christ is dead in vain. Look what he
said in Romans 5. Look what he said in verse 3. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. What
that means is if you go and try to clean yourself up. And circumcision
means a cleansing into a covenant with God. And you try to cleanse
yourself and enter into a covenant with God by anything you do,
Christ profits you nothing. And then he goes on, For I testify
again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the
whole law. And listen to this, Christ has
become of no effect No effect. The blood, the righteousness,
the death, the substitutionary sacrifice, the fulfilling of
justice, the fulfilling of the law, the enduring of the wrath
of God, the bearing of sin. No effect unto you, whosoever
you are justified by the law. You've fallen from grace. You
know what you need to do to fall from grace? Just add anything. Anything! Anything! to what Christ
accomplished on the cross. Add anything to get God to do
something for you. Just try to get Him to do something
for you because you've done something and grace is gone just that quick. Now that's right. People think
you fall from grace when you go, they call it backsliding.
You know something, the scriptures, the New Testament does not teach
backsliding at all. No such thing as backsliding.
There's no such thing. Now, how do you backslide from
a birth? How do you get out of a birth?
We're born again by the Spirit of God. How do you get out of
the body of Christ? And that's why Paul worries so
much about grace. And if you add any, if you ever
say, God, give me grace because you fall from grace that quick.
Grace ceases to be grace. And let me tell you, let me move
on here. Grace. Grace produces humility. You
know in Titus 2, it says the grace of God teaches us. Grace
teaches us some things. In all words, God comes in His
grace, it produces humility. When God makes us to understand,
and makes us to feel, and cherish, and believe, and understand that
we're the objects of His sovereign grace, it humbles us like we've
never been humbled. And it keeps working in us to
that end, keep bringing us down, down, down. Old Scott Richardson
used to say all the time, said, make your headquarters in the
dust. Make your headquarters in the
dust. But why in the world would we have such humility? Because
we're brought, grace brings us to know our absolute unworthiness. Our absolute unworthiness. David
said, who am I and what is my house? That has brought me here.
When Mephibosheth came before David, he said, why would the
king look upon such a dead dog as I am? Simon Peter, when the Lord told
him to cast his net out, he argued with the Lord. He said, Lord,
we've fished all night. We know these waters. He says,
nevertheless, it's your word. And he cast it down. And because
he's seen that he debated with the Lord about it, he said, depart
from me, Lord. I'm a sinful man. Isaiah said, Oh Lord, I'm a man
of unclean lips. Oh, let me ask you some questions.
Were we worth Christ coming into this world? Are you worth, am
I worth Christ coming into this world? Are you and I worth Christ being
despised and rejected for us? Are we worthy of His horrible
treatment at the hands of sinful men? Of His beard being plucked
out? Of Him blindfolded and slapped? Of the thorns being put on His
head? Of the rotten, dirty robe they
put on Him and the reed they put in His hands and bowed down
and said, Oh, Hell King of the Jews! Was we worthy of Him bearing
the thirty-nine stripes? Was we worthy of His blood being
shed unto death? Was we worthy of Him crying out,
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? You know what, David
said, Lord, I'm not worthy of the least of Thy tender mercies.
And when we understand what this is all about, Then we say, Lord, we're not worthy of that. We're
not worthy of that. But that's what grace did for
us. That's what grace gave for us. That's what God gave for
us. And oh, beloved, we're brought
not only to know our complete unworthiness, but we're brought
to know our complete inability to ever become worthy. We're
not never going We wasn't worthy then, we're not worthy now, we'll
not be worthy tomorrow, we'll not be worthy the last day we
live on this earth. When you get red, draw your last
breath, you won't be no more worthy than you was when you
first drew your first. Now is that right? Where are you going
to get your worthiness at? In Christ. You're going to take
the Lord's table. You know the only thing that makes you worthy
to take this bread and wine? It's Christ. And the only people
that will take this is people who know. They understand and
discern the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't come here, we don't,
I don't examine myself when I come to the Lord's table. I don't
look and see if I've lived right, I've prayed right. If I've said
anything, I don't sit down and look at myself and go, You know,
do like this, Lord, let's see if I sin, let's see if I sin.
Well, man, that's a ridiculous thing. You know I've sinned. But you know what I do? I look
to Him who is worthy. If I come waiting for me to get
worthy, I ain't coming. But I'm coming because He's worthy.
He gave me the grace. He did the doing. He did the
dying. He did the blood shedding. He gave the righteousness. And
we're brought to see our complete inability We're like, oh, like
that fellow said, there ain't nobody, Lord, that can put me
in there. Nobody can do anything for me. And yet, beloved, we
find ourselves knowing our complete unworthiness, our complete inability,
yet we find ourselves blessed on another principle outside
of ourselves, grace, grace, and more grace. And I tell you, beloved,
flesh has no place in the purpose of God's flesh. Look in Romans
chapter 8. Look in Romans chapter 8. You know, flesh has no place
in the purpose of God's sovereign grace. None. Flesh has no place. Paul said,
I know that in me there is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
Look what he said here in verse 8. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. They that have their old nature,
living by their old nature, they cannot do anything to please
God. Now, listen to what it says down here in verse. Therefore, look what he said
in verse 12. Therefore we are debtors, not to the flesh, to
live after the flesh. Oh my. What do we owe the flesh? What has the flesh ever done
to us to contribute to our salvation? Has it done anything? What do
we owe the flesh? Are we debtors to the flesh?
That's what he said in verse 12. Are we debtors to the flesh
to live after the flesh? What has the flesh ever done
for us in this matter of salvation? I'll tell you one thing it's
done. It's hindered you many a time in your spiritual journey. It's hindered you in the worship
of God. It's hindered you in the reading of the scriptures.
It's hindered you in praying. It's hindered you when you come
into a service like this right here. The flesh, the flesh is
against you. And if it wasn't for the grace
of God, thank God, we're not debtors to the flesh. No, we're
not. And I gotta hurry up. Let me
just show you one other thing and I'll wind this up in Isaiah
40. Oh, thank you so much for listening. You know, Grace, flesh has no
place. What do we owe the flesh? Absolutely
nothing. Oh, flesh has no place. This old fallen fleshly nature
has no place. It's a burden to us. Grace, look what he said here
in Isaiah 40 in verse 6. The voice said cry and he said
what shall I cry? All flesh is grass. And all of
the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The
grass withers, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord
bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. God's
Spirit comes on us and shows us that we're just as frail as
flowers and grass. The grass withers, the flower
fadeth, but the Word of the Lord shall stand forever. Now that's
the first message. We cry, Oh, flesh is grass. But look what the next part of
the message is. That's what we do. Of flesh, nothing to it,
grass. But look down verse 10. Excuse me, last part of verse
nine. Behold your God. There you are, all flesh is grass,
but behold your God. Look away from that flesh. Behold your God. You're going
to wither and die away! Behold you, God. Behold you,
God. And I'll tell you something,
this is why natural men, no matter how religious they are, they
hate the grace of God. You know why they hate the grace
of God? It gives you no room for boasting. Not one person
is going to stand up here tonight and say anything good about themselves. They'll say, well, I've got a
lot to say about Christ. It has no room for boasting.
It does not give you any contribution whatever from the flesh. And
that's why we rejoice in God's grace. There's no good thing
in me. Yet God in grace loves me. God in grace saved me. God in
grace blesses me as I am right now. And as I'll be in the middle
of the night And as I'll be next week, and as I'll be next year. Ain't that right? Just as I am.
I'm not, I can't change. I'm not going to, I can't change.
But I tell you who does change is the grace of God changes.
Makes us new creatures. Huh? Oh, grace reigns through
righteousness. Bless his holy name. Grace, grace,
and more grace. Thank God for the grace of God. Oh, gracious Father. Oh, our
blessed, blessed Father. Thank you for your grace. We're
a bunch of Noahs living in a world of ungodliness, wickedness, men's
imagination on the evil continually. But here we are. We found grace
in your sight and we're in the ark. And the wrath of God can
never touch us. The justice of God can never
come and get us. The rain will never fall on us.
It fell on our Lord Jesus. Thank you for the grace of God
that given us in Christ. Help us to never get over your
grace, to always talk about you and what you did. Never attribute
anything, anything at all to our salvation. Lord, you did
it all. You did it all. It was your blood
that washed us white as snow. It's your righteousness that
covers us from top to bottom. Oh, Lord, blessed be your name.
Blessed, blessed be your name. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Amen. Thank you, folks. Thank you very
much. If you will, please take your
Songs of Grace book and turn to number 50 for the glory of
His grace. Number 50.