I invite you this morning to
turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 5. This is a general epistle or
letter which Peter writes to the churches scattered abroad
in this area he describes. He gives them in general those
things which we need to preach to God's people. 1 Peter 5, verses 10 and 11. This is a short prayer Peter
offers after talking to the church here about all kinds of matters,
but especially on their suffering. The suffering. They've been called
to suffer for Christ's sake. And they must suffer persecution. They must suffer diseases and
things of that nature. They must suffer problems even
within the church. They're called on to suffer for
Christ's sake and for the sake of peace in the church and for
the good of the church. Now listen to these two verses.
1 Peter 5, verse 10. But the God of all grace, who
hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after
that you have suffered a while, make you perfect. That word is
mature. strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion
forever and forever. Amen. This is a very brief prayer. Very brief. Just two verses.
Very brief prayer. Yet because it's breathed through
this apostle by the Holy Spirit of God, it is full. I wish I
could say as much in an hour as he says in these two verses. So full because it's inspired
by the Holy Spirit of God. One man said this about these
two verses. He said, he who gets the contents
of this prayer, gets it all. He gets it all. Do you get it? Do you get it? He who gets the
contents of this prayer gets it all. Now the man who wrote
this prayer was a man who knew something about the grace of
God. I don't know any apostle or any man in the Scripture that
I can identify with more readily than the Apostle Peter. Peter
was always in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was apt
to put his foot in his mouth. He was quick, too quick to speak. I find in his shortcomings, I
find myself more than I do in any of the rest. He was a man who knew something
about the grace of God. How this man came from the rough
and rowdy ways of the sea. You think about what he was.
He was a fisherman. He lived down at the dock. He
lived in the ships and the seas and the bars. And how this man
came from the rough and rowdy ways of the sea to the highest
office in the church could not be told but by grace. And that's the title of my message
to you this morning is the story of grace. It's the story of grace
and how this man came from the sea to the highest office in
the church could not be told but with grace. Grace was his
story. Grace was his confession and
grace was his testimony to this world. Grace was a story, and
grace is the story of every blood-bought soul that has been brought to
Christ from Adam to this day. If any could be resurrected today
and stand here where I'm standing this morning, I guarantee you
their story would be a story of grace. It wasn't based on
what they did. What they did was God had ordained
for them to do. What they did was God working
in them. Let every man work out his own
salvation. How many times have I heard that
in my past preached to me? But they never quoted the second
half of the verse. It said, let every man work out
his own salvation and that in fear and trembling for it's God
who worketh in you. both to will and to do of His
good pleasure. That's what grace is, God working
in you. God doing for you what you cannot
do for yourself. It's God and therefore it's grace. It's grace. It's all grace. Listen to John Newton. We used
to sing this in the church I grew up in and had no idea of what
these words were talking about. I'd sing this song. It's as loud
as I could sing it. I'd look around and people were
singing with tears and stuff who had no idea what they were
singing. He said, amazing grace. That's what it was to him. Amazing
grace, how sweet the sound. Boy, it is to the center. Oh,
what a sweet sound, the sound of grace that saved a wretch
like me. I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see. T'was grace that taught my heart
to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear,
the hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils and
snares, I have already come. Tis grace that brought me safe
thus far, and grace will lead me home. My story is the story
of grace, and I believe every believer's story is the story
of grace. And grace is the cry of the heart
of a sinner who surveys his life and his calling. It's all of
grace, only of grace, and grace alone that can tell his story.
Only one thing separated Peter from other men, the grace of
God. Whom do men say that I am? One
of them said, well, you're Some say you're Jeremiah, and another
one said, well, some say you're Isaiah. Some say this, some say... Yeah, but whom do you say that
I am? Who stood up? Peter. He said, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. Blessed art thou, Simon
Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. How
come he knew who Christ was? He was the only one of the bunch.
What separated him from other men? It wasn't flesh and blood. No. God revealed it to him, didn't
He? It was the grace of God. He stood there in the midst of
the other disciples, and the Lord said, I'm going to be taken
from you now. I'm going to be taken into prison,
and I'm going to die on a cross. Peter said, well, they might
leave you, but I won't. I won't. I'm not going anywhere.
I've made my decision. I've determined I'm going to
stand here no matter what. He said, Peter, Satan desired
to shift you like wheat. But, that's what grace is. But, he said, I prayed for you. That's grace. That's grace. Sinners saved by grace find no
solace in the world. And they find no solace in this
world's religion. They find it only at the feet
of Christ, because in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead. And if all the fullness of the
Godhead dwells in Him, all the fullness of grace, this God of
all grace, that's who Peter prayed to, the God of all grace, He
can only be discovered in Christ. Grace and truth, John said, came
by Jesus Christ. Now, what I want us to do this
morning is to survey our lives and our own stories and see if
this is not at the heart of it. Huh? Is it grace? Is it grace? How did I discover
this God? How did I come to this knowledge? How did I come to this understanding?
How come I see it on every page and in every type and in every
figure in the Old Testament and in the New? How come I can see
it and lots of folks don't? Why is that? Grace. Grace. That's why. I want us this morning to survey
our lives and our own stories and see if this is not at the
heart of it, and to examine our understanding of the gospel and
see if this is not the cause of it, and the way of it, and
the glory of it. It's all grace, John. Nothing
else in it. Now, to tell the story of grace,
you must begin and end with the source of grace. And the source
of grace is the God of all grace. Isn't that what Peter says? Huh? He pours out of his heart these
people he never met. These little groups, just like
this one. And there was one here and one there all over Cappadocia,
all over that whole area over there. These churches were scattered,
little groups meeting in homes, meeting in huts and wherever
they could meet. I kind of get the vision in my
mind of the ministry down in Yucatan, Mexico by Walter Gruber. I'd go out with him into those
little thatched huts and things and preach to those Indians out
there. And I kind of get that in my
mind when I'm thinking about these people that he wrote to.
And he sums up everything that he said. And he said, now unto
the God of all grace. If you're going to start, that's
where you have to start. We want to talk about grace this
and grace that. I see names on churches, Grace
Church, and I listen to them and they don't know anything
at all about grace. He's the God of all grace. Grace is the
character. That's who God is. God is gracious. Huh? You remember Moses back
there in the Old Testament where we were reading and he came on
that burning bush He discovered God, God revealed Himself to
him, and he said, show me your glory. God said, all right. He said, I'm going to pass by
before you, and I'm going to declare my name to you. He said,
I'll be gracious. There's the glory of God. You
want to know who God is? God is gracious. He's gracious. This is the character of our
God. What is grace? I've heard all the definitions
of men and the Bible is full of declarations about grace,
but I don't believe any one sentence or paragraph, no book can fully
describe the grace of God. Grace is who God is. You've got
a one-liner for God, you've got a one-line definition for God,
then you don't have a one-line definition for grace. Grace is a divine attribute and
it can only as such be known as it's revealed by the Spirit
of God in the hearts of chosen sinners. I'll tell you how God
reveals this grace. He reveals it in a man so that
men can perceive it. Huh? Grace and truth. Where did it come from? Well,
the Word was made flesh. Ain't that what John said? and
dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace."
Isn't that what he said? You want to know something about
grace, the thing to do ain't to pick up a book, pick up this
book. and find out something about
the Son of God, He that was made flesh and dwells among us. And
when you come to know Him, if you come to know Him, you'll
know something about grace. Grace. Oh, you want to know what
grace is? Study Christ. Study Christ. I may begin this morning by telling
you just a little bit about the God of all grace. This book teaches
and declares a triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We talk
about God. We're talking about the triune
God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three distinct persons, but one
God. And the grace of God, or should
I say the God of grace, manifests His attributes of grace as it
concerns men in each of these three persons. The grace of God
can be identified. He calls the Spirit of God the
Spirit of grace. Did you know that? He's the Spirit
of grace. And the Father, He's the Father
of grace. And I've already told you about
the Son. But the Father is the source
and fountain of all grace. As the source of all God's grace
to men, God the Father by an eternal covenant of grace. You
know, I never heard of a covenant of grace. until I heard a man
preach the gospel. And I grew up in church. All
kinds of churches. Sang in them. Played the guitar
and sang. Traveled church to church to church. Very rarely
ever heard the word grace. But when I did, it had nothing
to do with this. And I sure never heard of anything
like a covenant of grace. But it caused the blood of Christ
in Hebrews, what is it, Hebrews chapter 12? What's he call that? The blood of the everlasting
covenant. Huh? Did you know that David,
here's a man after God's own heart, you know what his dying
words were? Although my house be not so with God, yet hath
he made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things
and sure. And this is all my salvation
and all my desire. My soul, I never even heard of
it, Russell, let alone was it my desire. David said, it's all
my salvation. God made a covenant. He made
a covenant on his behalf. Father is the source and fountain
of all grace. And as the source of all God's
grace to men, God the Father by an eternal covenant of grace
became the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Did you
know that? Did you know the Scripture said
that? That God the Father is the God and Father of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Listen to this, Ephesians chapter
1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. That is, in old eternity,
a covenant of grace was struck by the triune God to save a people
for the glory of His name. And in this covenant, Christ
was appointed as the representative of these people. And as such,
He took to His name the Son of Man. You think about that. The Son of God became the Son
of Man. The Son of Man, the hope of man.
The life of man. Now as the Son of Man, the Father
becomes His Father. And as His Father, He becomes
the Father of all His elect. All that He chose in Him. All
that He appointed Him to represent. He becomes their Father. If you
read those first few verses there of Ephesians chapter 1, you'll
see that that's what He's saying. Grace and peace from God our
Father. How did He become our Father?
Because He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
as He is the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, He is
the source and fountain of all grace. Every spiritual blessing. Isn't that what that says? All
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Every morsel
of grace that comes to men finds its beginning in the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And apart from this arrangement,
there can be no experiential knowledge of grace. No man has
seen God at any time. The only way that we can discover
God and discover in Him eternal life is to study Christ and see
God in Christ. In Ephesians 1, verses 4-7, he
tells us that we were chosen of the Father in Christ, and
predestinated to the adoption of children, and made accepted
in the Beloved by way of the redemption of Christ and through
His blood, and all of these things to the praise and the glory of
His grace. Ain't that what it says? You
know why? Because He's the God of all grace. If there's grace anywhere, it
comes from God. Because He's the God of all grace. So God the Father is the fountainhead
of all grace. And then secondly, God the Son
is the mediatorial channel of grace. In John chapter 1, verse
14, I quoted to you just a few minutes ago. The Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory
is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
And then in the 17th verse of John chapter 1, it says, "...for
the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ." There's the channel. That's how the grace gets from
the Father to men through the channel of Christ. Grace and
truth came. That's the only way it can come.
You see what I'm saying? This thing don't come through
your good works. It don't come through God looking
through a telescope of time. It comes through His Son. He's
the channel of all grace. There must be a channel of grace
established because our God is also just and righteous. He's
not all gracious, but He's also You know, when he revealed himself
to Moses back there, he said, I keep mercy for thousands, for
giving, iniquity, and transgression, and sin. But he said, you know
this, I will by no means clear the guilty. You know why? Because he's also just. So there
must be a channel for this grace. And Christ is the channel. Grace
is not just an inspired desire of God, but it's something He
has determined to show. And he's determined to show it
because that's his very nature. That's his very character. The Lord put Moses in the cleft of the
rock and said, I am gracious. Now to be gracious, the holy
God must provide a channel of grace. No man of Adam's fallen
race could be that channel. No angel could be trusted to
be that channel. Only one could do the job, the
Son of God. He must become the Son of Man,
the firstborn of many brethren. And as the effectual channel
of grace, the God of glory justified, justified His chosen people freely
by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. How do
I know that? Because that's how God set Him
forth. That's what that Old Testament
lamb was all about. That's what that red heifer was
all about. That's what those goats and those
doves and those pigeons were all about. They were setting
for Christ, God setting for Christ as a propitiation for our sins
through faith in His blood. It's the substitutionary work
of Christ. There's no grace. I want you
to hear me. People talk about, well, This guy gets an inheritance
over here. Well, God was gracious to him.
No, that's not grace. That's mercy. That's mercy. Anything this side of hell is
mercy. God can be merciful to all men. He can only be gracious
to His elect. Don't you think about that. There's
no grace outside of Christ. Mercy is a different matter.
Anything this side of hell is mercy. Every breath we breathe,
The drop we drink, every morsel we eat. But not so with grace. Grace is the peculiar gift of
God to His elect. There is no grace outside of
Christ. Somebody said, mercy is God not
giving to you what you deserve. You don't live a day in your
life without mercy. Mercy. Even those unbelievers,
even the heathen, every day he lives by the mercy of God. God just took us all to hell,
shouldn't He? We were all guilty. Why didn't
He? The mercy of God. That's right. Mercy is God not giving you what
you do deserve. Grace is God giving you what
you could never deserve. That's what grace is. And therefore,
it's His gift to His elect. And the only way He could do
this is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, our Substitute
and Redeemer. And if God shows grace to us
in Christ, He gives us all things by that grace. You see what I'm
saying? He's not going to give you just
a taste of it and then send you to hell. That's what it'd be.
If He was showing grace right now to every man, woman, and
child in this world, it'd be like saying, here, you get a
taste of it, now you can have it. When I was a kid, I'd have
candy and I'd do that to my cousins. I'd let them see it and then
pull it back. That's what that'd be. You don't
do that. God's grace is His unmerited
favor to His elect. And if He holds it out, He's
going to give it to you. All of it. All of it. In Romans chapter 5, And I tell you this, the glory
of God in the Gospel has always been the free grace of Christ. In Romans 5, summing up what
men are in Adam and what God has done for us in Christ, He
makes these three declarations. He says in Romans 5, verse 15,
But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through
the offense of one many be dead, Much more the grace of God, and
the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded
unto many. Grace. Grace. Verse 17, For if
by one man's offense death reign by one, much more they which
receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness,
shall reign in life by one. And then in verse 21, that is,
sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace
doesn't come through the church. It don't come through the church.
You say, everybody knows that. Oh, I beg your pardon. There
are thousands on this earth who believe that this grace of God
comes through the church. And there are thousands in this
world who preach that this grace of God comes through the Lord's
table, and through baptism, and through church membership, and
through all kinds of things. Grace doesn't come through the
church. And it's not conferred upon men through some pretentious
priest, nor is it transferred through the ordinances of baptism
or the Lord's table or church membership. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the only channel of the free grace of God. You know, folks say, well, you're
just narrow-minded, you know, and you just get on this thing
of grace and you just wear it out. You just wear it out. Well,
I'll tell you this, if I wear something out, that's what I'm
going to wear out. Because it's on every page in the scripture
and it's all my hope. It's all my hope. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only channel of the free grace of God. And the simple declaration
of grace, or God being gracious while it might inspire, would
do me no good without the proper channel of this grace. You see
what I'm saying? I've got to have Christ. Just
to know that God's gracious doesn't do anything for me if He's not
gracious to me. Well, how can I know that He's
gracious to me? How can I know that I'm one of
those elect? How can I know that I'm one of
those that He purposed to show this grace before the world began? Because I believe on Christ. That's what faith's all about.
The call of grace is the call to faith. I read it to you a
few minutes ago. By grace are you saved through
faith. Now we're saved when God quickened
us together with Christ. He didn't just raise up Christ
from the dead. He raised up all those that Christ
represented. We were quickened together with
Him and He raised us up together with Him and seated us in heavenly
places with Him. That's why that little exclamation
mark there, it says, By grace ye are saved. Huh? But he did this that in the fullness
of time when the future times has come and when his elect are
born and reach this state, whatever age it is, that the age of his
calling according to the purpose of his grace. When that age comes,
He's going to show the exceeding riches of His grace. Now what
He said? In their calling. For, He said,
by grace are you saved. Are you saved? Through faith.
And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. That's what
grace is. It's the gift of God. The undeserved,
unmerited, free gift of God. But the simple declaration of
the grace of God being gracious, while it might inspire me and
it will do me no good without the proper channel of this grace.
God cannot be gracious and clear the guilty. The only way He can
clear me is in that redemption that's in Christ. The only way
I can walk with God is by that righteousness established in
Christ. You see what I'm saying? And then thirdly, the Holy Spirit
is called the Spirit of Grace. He's called the Spirit of Grace
because He's the bestower of grace. He's the one who bestows
the benefits of God's grace in Christ on chosen sinners. He's
the effects of power behind the words and works of men. Paul
said, I know your election of God. Because when I preach to
you, just like I'm preaching to you this morning, he preached
to the Thessalonians. They weren't formally gathered
like this. They probably just gathered in some little assembly
out there in dirt. And Paul stood up and preached
to them. But he said, when I preached, he said, my gospel came not unto
you in word only, but it also came in power and in the Holy
Ghost. And it changed your life. You
become followers of me and the Lord. And you turn from your
idols to serve the true and living God. And you become examples
of all them that believe. And he said, from you sounded
out the gospel throughout all the world. Oh, he is the spirit of grace
because he's the effectual power behind the words and works of
men. He quickens dead sinners. He conquers their rebellious
wills and melts their cold hearts and opens their blind eyes. And
he cleanses us, Paul said, through the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost. It's through His presence and
power that a stony heart is taken out and a heart of flesh put
back in its place. He is the bestower of grace.
And then fourthly, the gospel is the message and means of grace.
Paul said in Acts chapter 20 that the Lord put him in the
ministry to testify the gospel of the grace of God. He said,
that's why I'm here. I got a message for you. God's
grace. God's grace. Now to the superstitious, self-righteous,
religionist, this is a stumbling block. It's like a pothole in
the road. You're driving down through there
and you've seen them, you just don't even pay attention to it,
and all of a sudden, boom! It's a stumbling block. Stumbling
block. You fall over. It's like a pothole in the road.
Wise or ignorant, formal or casual, no worldly religion can walk
his walk under the sound of gospel preaching and the power of God's
Spirit. He can't do it. He can't do it. He can pretend
out there in the world. But he can't pretend where the
Holy Spirit opens eyes and hears. Like old Felix, he said, much
study has made thee mad, Paul. He didn't want to hear him. But
Paul began to preach to him, and Felix began to tremble under
the sound of it. He can't walk his walk. He can't
hide in his refuge, because the gospel of God's sovereign grace
uncovers the refuge. It exposes those things. That's
what makes men angry. That's what makes them mad. It exposes his ignorance and
deceit. It exposes his self-righteous
claims. It exposes his hollow shell of
religion and exposes his pride and arrogance. To the worldly
religionist, the gospel is a stumbling block. And to the proud philosophical
wise man, the gospel is altogether foolishness. Do you really believe
that? You bet your life I do. You bet
your life I do. You mean you don't? Huh? I'll give you enough scripture
this morning to bury you. Talking about the free grace
of God. And some of you will go out the door today saying,
that man's crazy. That's foolishness. Why? Because there's nothing in the
gospel of the free grace of God to magnify, brag on, and feed
the pride of fallen man. That's why. He won't brag on. Boy, you're a fine person. You know that this morning, Mother's
Day, thousands of mothers are going to be recognized in churches
and bragged on about their motherhood and bragged on about their goodness.
And by the end of this day, motherhood will be right up there beside
God. Do you know that when they... Some churches put Mary right
up there almost equal with Christ. And what do they call her? The
mother of God. Huh? You know what they say? The gospel of grace lays the
sinner in the dirt. When God got ready to call the
apostle Paul, He took him off that big white stallion and put
his face in the dirt. stripped him of his vain pretenses,
stripped him of his traditional concepts of God, and stripped
him of his false refuges, and stripped him of his self-righteousness.
And it left him naked before the Holy God in all of his guilt
and shame, and dependent 100% on the free grace of God. And then in time, old Paul, He
had these scales on his eyes or whatever it was that God gave
him, that thorn in the flesh, and God wouldn't take it away.
He left him with it. That's what Peter's talking about, some of
this suffering. He suffered this. This thing was a hindrance to
him. People couldn't stand to look at him. He looked funny.
And he prayed. He prayed three times, sincerely,
prayed for God to take it away. You know what God told him about
that? My grace is sufficient. You see what I'm saying? It's
all about grace. The gospel is foolishness to
this world because it denies the wisdom of men, does not recognize
their potential, takes away all their so-called rights, and leaves
them totally dependent upon the mercy and grace of God. The gospel
addresses every hearer as depraved guilty, condemned, and perishing. And it tells him that all his
righteousnesses, not the evil things that he's done in the
past, but all the good things that he hugs and warms and hangs
on to, like Paul did his heritage and his righteousness and all
those things, he holds on to. He exposes those things as filthy
rags. Gospel's foolishness to this
world because it denies the pride of color. It denies the pride
of station and sex and nationality. Jews and Gentiles, there's your
two examples. In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul
said, He is our peace who hath made both one and broken down
the middle wall of partition between us, making in Himself
one new man. The gospel is the message of
grace. It denounces the self-righteous
works of men and exalts the gracious works of God in Christ. Let me tell you this and I'll
quit. Grace reigns in believers. It reigns. It reigns over their
lives. It reigns over their goals. It
reigns over their affections. It reigns over their motives.
It reigns. Grace reigns. Romans chapter
5 verse 21, that is, sin hath reigned unto death. How did that
sin reign unto death? Well, it reigned in a fallen
nature. Didn't it? Isn't that what Paul describes
there in Ephesians chapter 2? He tells us, you had the quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins. 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. We lived out our days after the
lust of the flesh. Isn't that what this is? That's
how sin reigns unto death. It reigns through a fallen nature. How then does grace reign? Through
the righteousness of one man and his substitutionary work,
the firstborn of many brethren, and through the nature given
us by him and the grace of God given and revealed in us. Grace reigns. Grace reigns. I'm going to have to stand up
here every day and go like this and look at you or point somebody
out and make fun of them. I'm going to have to do that.
Grace will take care of that. If I can get you to the gracious
Christ, if I can just get you there, if God the Holy Spirit
be pleased this morning. I'm not trying to build a church.
You're happy where you go, go back. Go there. Go where you're
happy. I'm trying to get you to Christ.
I'm trying to get you to believe on Him. That's where life is.
That's where righteousness is. That's where pardon and peace
is. That's where wisdom is. And that's where all the grace
is. And if I can get you to Him, I won't have to worry about where
you go. You'll go where you can hear the free grace of God. Our Father, be pleased this morning
to take this message Not just reveal it to us. We
need it revealed to us, but reveal it in us. Make this work an experiential
work in our hearts and in our minds and over our wills. We
ask it for Christ's sake. Amen.