Forty-five years ago, when I
was ten years old, the preacher of the church of where my parents
and I attended came to our house for the sole purpose of talking
to me. And he asked me a series of questions
that I vividly remember. I can't remember things from
last week, but I remember vividly his series of questions to me
that day, forty-five years ago. The first question was, do you
want to go to hell? He then in great detail began
to describe to me what hell was. Telling me it was a place where
you burned forever, where you were forever in torture and torment
that would never cease. I remember being quite scared.
I don't think there's anyone in the whole world, do you, that
would answer that question with a yes. Do you want to go to hell? Who in their right mind would
want to go there? I was only 10 and I didn't know much about
the Bible except for the Bible stories that I had been taught. I mean, I knew about the animals
and Noah's Ark. I knew something about the three
Hebrew children who had been thrown in the furnace. I knew
something about Daniel and the lion's den, and I especially
liked the story of the strong man, Samson, and how he killed
a lion with his bare hands, but lost his strength because he
cut his hair. You know, I knew those kind of
things. I was only ten. And faced with the question that
the preacher asked me, I quickly knew something else. I knew that
I didn't want to go to hell. Then his next question to me
was, do you want to go to heaven? He told me that heaven was a
place where I could live happily ever after, just like they did
in the fairy tales. He told me that heaven had pearly
gates and streets of gold and there were mansions for all that
went there. Well, it sounded as though I would be some type
of storybook prince and that I could have everything that
I ever wanted And again, I asked this question, is there anyone,
especially a naive 10-year-old boy or girl that would answer
that question with a no? Of course I said yes. Yeah, I
want to go to heaven. Then he asked me if I wanted
to know how I could avoid hell and get to heaven. And you can
guess what my answer was. Yes. Yeah, I'd like to know that. He told me, he said, you repeat
this prayer after me. And it went something like this.
God, please forgive me of my sin. I believe that Jesus, the
Son of God, died on the cross for my sins and He rose again
from the dead. So do you believe that, he said,
in a serious tone. And I remember thinking, if it
keeps me out of hell, I do. But I really had no idea, friends,
what sin was. And I surely didn't know what
grace was. And besides that, what he was having me do was
not grace at all. It was just a form of religious,
man-made tradition. The sinner's prayer. Repeat the
sinner's prayer. Let's walk the Roman road. I
was told that the following Sunday I was supposed to walk down the
aisle as they sung, Just As I Am, and I did. Because I didn't want
to go to hell. I wanted to go to heaven. And
then what happened next was that I was going to get baptized.
Now, I didn't know that baptism was a representation of Christ's
death and burial and resurrection. I seriously thought that getting
in that water was going to wash away this thing called sin. And
I was then told by the preacher, I will say, it's a done deal.
I was going to heaven. He told me that I had found the
far escape from hell. Is that all that Christ is? Now,
45 years later, I can tell you this, dear friends, most assuredly,
that if not for the grace of God, by divine and sovereign
intervention, I'd still be trusting in what I did back then. I mean
that. I'm telling you sincerely, I
would be. There are men and women every
day who've gone out to meet God Almighty, hanging on a profession
of self-righteous works that they did when they were young
boys and girls. I repeated the prayer. I walked
down the aisle. I got dunked in the water. And
I did believe that I was saved. And I thought all these things
had something to do with my salvation. But by the grace of God, I no
longer trust in those things. Who changed my mind? Who made
me to differ? Who caused me to see that it
was not in what I did that saved me? Well, just for a few minutes,
let's consider the first word found in this glorious verse
before us. Look at it with me again, verse
10. But, but, oh, what a blessed little word. lost and headed
for hell, trusting in my works and in my will and in my decision
and in my so-called righteousness. But, but, but God. Paul wrote in Titus 3 verse 5,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to His mercy He saved us. Ephesians 2 verse 3 and 4 among
whom we all had our conversation and times past in the lust of
our flesh Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind
and were by nature the children of wrath even as others But God
who is rich in mercy for his great love Wherewith he loved
us If you would hold your place here and turn over to the gospel
of Mark chapter 2 I want to just show you this real quick. Mark
chapter 2 verse 5. Now the previous verses here
tell us that there were four men who had a friend who was
sick with what is called the palsy. P-A-L-S-Y. And in medical terms, the palsy
is a paralysis of one or more body parts. And it's often accompanied
by uncontrolled body movements, often affecting the brain. And
these four men, they brought this man upon their shoulders,
upon a bed, as if he was a dead carcass. So weak and so feeble
by his disease, friends, that he couldn't walk. And verse 4
tells us that there were so many people there that they couldn't
get into the place where Christ the healer was. So what did they
do? They climbed up on the roof. Four men carrying another man.
They climbed up on the roof and tore part of the roof off and
laid him down on ropes before the Lord Jesus Christ. And then
we pick it up in verse five and it says, and when Jesus saw their
faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, son. Boy, that just jumped out at
me when I was looking at this. Notice what the Lord calls him.
He calls him son. He says, thy sins be forgiven
me, thee. All the redeemed of the Lord
are children of the living God. I used to love it when my dad
called me son. I just did. I don't really know
why. I think it's because I wanted
to be like him and I wanted to please him. And when he identified
himself with me as son, I just, I loved it. How much more should
we love that name when it's God addressing us? Son, thy sins
be forgiven thee. And then look at verse 6. But
there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning
in their hearts, they said, Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
only? But God only. Who can forgive
sins but God? Exactly. They got it right. They'd spoken the truth even
in contempt. This was God and He only could
forgive sin. But God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I've planted," Paul said. Apollos
watered. But God gave the increase. It's everywhere you look. God
gave the increase. So it's neither he that planteth
is anything, neither is he that watereth anything, but God giveth
the increase is what? Everything. Everything. Oh, how that little word so clearly
shows forth the divine intervention of God in the salvation of sinners,
but God. The second thing I'd have you
to notice is Paul says back in our text, 1 Corinthians 15, 10,
he says, By the grace of God I am. what I am. Now every true believer, listen
to me, ascribes their salvation to the free gift and favor of
God. There's not a true child of God
anywhere that'll tell you he had anything to do with being
saved. He'll ascribe all of it to God's free gift and unmerited
favor. No true child of God believes
that they're regenerated, which means saved, forgiven, but by
God's unmerited grace. We don't imagine that we were
saved because we deserved it, been forgiven because our repentance
somehow made atonement for our sin. Some people actually think
that they're repenting. It's the reason God saved him.
Oh, God looked down and said, look, he's really sorry about
his sin. Let me tell you something. The
only reason you're sorry is that God has revealed to you what
you are. He's made it real to your heart
and you've seen what you are and you weep over your sin. No,
He causes us to repent. It's not our repenting that made
the difference. They're in a child of God on
this earth, a true child of God that believes that their prayers
had anything to do with their salvation, or that their labors
or sufferings had earned that grace which comes in God's hand
alone. Not one. A believer will not
for a moment speak of merit done by him. Won't do it. Absolutely don't. Merit is a
word which Paul's mouth had never pronounced. The child of God's
declaration is the same as the Apostle Paul's. And you know
what it is? I am what I am by the grace of God. By the grace
of God, I am what I am. We attribute this great change
and what we now are entirely to the good and sovereign pleasure
and undeserved favor of the everlasting God. Now you may clothe yourself
in some garments that you call self-made righteousness, but
I'm going to tell you, God's first act in salvation and grace
will be to strip them off of you. He'll make you to know that
all such garments are nothing but filthy rags fit for the fire. We have to deny having our own
merits in order that we can have the merits of Christ. Now listen,
church going, baptism, private prayers, family prayers, personal
Bible study, good thoughts, All of these things put together
have no merit in them that can help you inch yourself one inch
towards God's mercy and grace. There's only one way to salvation.
The way of free favor by the merits and works of Christ alone. You know, when I was preparing
this message, I thought to myself, this is so repetitious. I say
these same things week after week. I just wonder if people
are growing tired of it. And it finally dawned on me that
the child of God won't hear anything but this. We better be repetitious. We better seek God for that message
again and again of how Christ came into the world to save sinners. That's our only hope. Paul said,
but by the grace of God, I am what I am. No other reason. No other reason. I'm saved because
God saved me. And He saved me by grace. not
by any works that I had done. And I don't apologize for being
repetitious. That's what John the Baptist
preached over and over again. Repent! The kingdom of heaven
is at hand. If we believed our faith was
the work of God, if we've persevered in faith, friends, it's because
that perseverance has been the effect and the work of the Holy
Spirit in our souls. If we've ever prayed an acceptable
prayer, if I have ever prayed an acceptable prayer or preached
an acceptable sermon, it was God's grace that enabled me to
do so. If we've ever sung God's praise,
If you've ever sung a special song to please Him, it was because
God first wrote it in your heart by the Holy Spirit and caused
it to mean something to you. If we've ever sung of God's praise. And in 1 Corinthians 4, 7, you
know the passage, it said, Who maketh thee to differ? And then
it asks this question, what hast thou which thou hast not received? That's a good question. So let
me ask you, what do you have concerning the things of God
that you hadn't received? The child of God says, I have
nothing. that I did not receive except for my sin." That's what
he'll say every time. All that I have that is good
must have come from God. If any are to be saved, it's
God that must save. If you're here this morning and
you're lost, you're lost and beyond recovery of any hand but
the hand of the sovereign God. It's your own help. No other
way to be saved. It's not of Him that willeth.
It's not of Him that runneth. But it's of God that showeth
mercy. Is that not the theme of this book? Is that not the
message of God? So simple, yet impossible to
believe unless the grace of God. Make it effectual to your hearts.
The Lord must save you from first to last. You see, the Lord, His
first act of grace is when He makes you alive from being spiritually
damned. You're dead, and He makes you
alive. You can't believe anything until
you're made alive. In His last act of grace, when
He lays us down, we lay down our vowel bodies, and our spirit
enters into the joy of our Lord as the Lord is doing, and everything
in between. It's grace, grace, grace. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourselves. It's a gift of God. Did you hear
that? It's a gift of God. It's God's
gift to you. Lot of works, lest any man should
boast. A child of God will never boast
in himself. Why should we boast? What do we have to boast in?
Have we ever done anything that was good? The Bible is pretty
clear about there's none that doeth good. There's none that
seeketh after God. None. It's an astonishing thing
to me, dear friends, that any of us as believers saved by God's
sovereign grace should be the subjects of pride. Yet considering what poor, sinful,
wretched, depraved creatures we are, it's not astonishing
that we're proud. I'm often proud of my own humility. That's just how vile we are by
nature. What big somebodies we think
we are until the grace of God brings us down to our proper
place. I believe it was Mrs. Spurgeon
that once said, why the heavens themselves are scarcely high
enough for our tall and proud heads. We think ourselves to
be so great, but friends, it's a death blow to boasting when
a man or a woman can say, by the grace of God, I am what I
am. Now I want you to consider this
thought in closing. If everything that we've received
has come from God, should we not surrender ourselves and all
we have to the God who gave it? As He has made us what we are,
sons and daughters who have inherited life everlasting. May we again
by grace live unto our great Creator who loved us and gave
Himself for us. It's our reasonable service.
He's wrought all our works in us, every one. We can be of no
profit to God who can cause stones to rise up and praise Him. He who's brought us to repent
and to believe will bring us greater faith still. Faith comes
by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. He
by grace who found us, called us, will yet bring us to even
further and fuller assurance. Now I don't know about you, but
I often doubt. Not him. But me, I say how could
someone who professes to love God seem to love Him so little? And that's a mistake because
what happens is I start looking at me and not Him. It don't have
anything to do with me. Don't you see the beauty in that?
Now, we don't continue in sin that grace may abound, no. But we're brought again by this
same grace over and over again to a complete conformity to Christ. And one day when we see Him,
we shall be like Him. One day. As long as I'm in this
flesh, I will always sin. I'll always fall short of the
glory of God. But one day, And oh, what a glorious
day when the heavens are opened, and He shall descend by this
same grace when I see Him, I'll be like Him. By the grace, but
by the grace of God I am what I am. Look at the rest of that
verse with me. And His grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain. If God shows grace on you, It'll
be effectual. There's no other grace than that
of sovereign grace. Paul said, I labored more abundantly
than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with
me. See, friends, God's grace to
us is never in vain. All that we do in our future
labor in serving the furtherance of the gospel for His glory is
not of us. It's the grace of God which is
in us and with us. It's all of grace. It's all of
grace. Not unto us, David wrote, not
unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy
truth's sake.