I count it a privilege to be
with you. I thank the Lord for you folks. This is my third trip
over here, and I enjoyed it. And I thank the Lord for your
pastor. He was reared just about 30 miles
from where I live now in Weston-Salem. And we've had great fellowship
over the years. I just thank the Lord for you
folks and your pastor. Turn with me to the book of Ephesians,
chapter number one. Somebody said, here's a chapter
that feeds your soul, which it will. It should enrich your mind,
which it will. It should move your heart, which
it will. A few weeks ago, one of my best friends, in August, he would have been
90 years old, but he went to be with the Lord, with Vaughn Durham, and has this
pastor many years. He'd come up to me on Sunday
mornings. He says, Have you got a message
of grace today? And I said, Not any other. You
know, I always say, you've got a message of grace today. I want
to preach to you this morning from verse number seven, the
last part of this verse. And may the Lord just bless His
word to our hearts today and touch our lives. And again, we
just look to glorify our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I'm
nothing I'm just Clay, and that's what we all are, and he's the
potter. Let me read this verse, and I
want to just speak to you the last part of it today. In whom? In whom? How important is that
word to us this morning? In whom, Christ? Paul said, In
whom I have believed, isn't he? In whom? is a person, and it
says, in whom we have redemption, to be redeemed, bought. And it goes on and says, through
his blood, Peter says, that precious blood, the forgiveness according to the riches of His
grace. I want you to notice something
here as Paul writes, and he talks about the riches of His grace. Look in chapter number 2 and
verse number 4, he's fond of this word, but God who is rich
in mercy, He's fond of this word, rich. Riches. And he says, God is rich
in mercy. Look in verse number 7, that
in the ages to come, chapter number 2, He might show forth,
show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. Chapter 3, verse number 8. Unto me, who in the least, or
the less than the least of all saints, is this grace given,
that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable ridges
of Christ. The unsearchables. We can search
But they are unsearchable, as rich as are. Look here at verse
number 7. If we turn there, and you see
also in verse number 18, did I look at it? Oh, yeah, 18. Chapter 1, verse 18. The eyes
of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the
hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His
inheritance in the saints. So Paul was very fond of this
word. And it was the Holy Spirit giving it to us, wasn't it? To
riches and rich. We know that Paul proclaimed
the grace of God, the free, the full, the sovereign, eternal
grace of God. Turn with me back just a few
pages to Galatians chapter number 1. I've thought about this a
whole lot over the years. And Paul, he preached the gospel. And here in chapter number 1,
he talks about the gospel of the grace of God. And he talks
about another gospel. There is just one gospel, and
that is the grace of God. Look at verse number 8. But though
we are an angel from heaven preaching the other gospel unto you than
that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." Now,
I've taken one thing from that over the years, and that is that
the message that is preached must line up with the Apostle
Paul. Am I right on that? That's what
I've taken over the years from that. What is preached must line
up with the Apostle Paul. And he adds that he doesn't preach
that message. He says, if I come back and preach
something different, let me be accursed, isn't he? He says,
if I, notice he says, if I, we are an angel from our preaching
the other gospel. If I preach another gospel, even
let me be accursed. So the message must line up with
the Apostle God was pleased to use him as an instrument. The
Holy Spirit pitted him for the work. Paul was called by grace. There was grace before his conversion,
and grace, he says, separated him from his mother's womb. He
attributed his ministry to the grace of God. And he said to
me, who am less than the least of all saints is grace given,
that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches
of Christ. We see, and if you follow his
life and you see under the circumstances, and there's a lot of circumstances
to his life, he was lifted up. And also he was bowed down. He
was in prison. He had infirmities and all of
this. But he says, by the grace of God, I am what I am. John Newton, the slave trader,
that great sinner, he could not forget grace, could he? And he
wrote Amazing Grace. You know, we sing it. We like
that song. It fits us, doesn't it? I was
in a doctor's office a few months back, and this doctor was telling
one of the workers there, said, where he was at a few days before,
said, they sung Amazing Grace. And he says, I don't like that
song. And he says, I wouldn't sing it. I don't sing that song. sort of floored me. But we know, we sing, and we
know that God snatched us from the pit, and we are brand, plucked
from the burning. We know what God has done and
what grace does and what grace has done. And as John Newton knew what
grace was and what it done in his life, He became a champion
of grace, didn't He? To know that He has rescued us
from eternal woe and from eternal damnation. It talks about the riches of
His grace. And again, we can't search out
the unsearchable. We can't find all out about it. We don't know what all dwells
in the mind of God, but He's revealed things to us. George Bishop, he wrote this,
and maybe you've heard it. I read it many years ago. He
said, Grace is a provision for a man so fallen that can't lift
acts of justice, so corrupt that they can't change their nature,
so adverse to God that they can't turn to Him, so blind that they
can't see Him, so deaf that they can't hear Him, so dead that
He Himself has to open the grave and lift them into resurrection. When we speak of the grace of
God, We speak of the gospel, and it's
the gospel of grace, the application of it, the saving power of it. Paul wrote here in Ephesians
in chapter 2, and he says, By grace are you saved. We know
that this grace is free, and it's like light and dew that
comes from heaven. We know that grace acts from
itself to itself. It's nothing but human power.
are human merit. There's the unworthiness, and
that doesn't keep us from it. Aren't you glad of that this
morning? It's the absolute free favor of God, the eternal favor
of God, and it manifests itself in eternal blessings. Look what
it tells us here in verse number three. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. He hath done this. Several years
ago, I was listening on the television to a preacher, and he read this,
and he says, Now if you'll let him, he'll bless you. He says, He's already blessed
you. He hath blessed you. with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. And it's to the guilty, the unworthy. It brings us these great and
eternal blessings. It brings it to those that have
no mercy. And there's no compensation demanded
either from them. Grace can never be bought. It
can't be earned and it can't be won. If it could, it ceases
to be grace. The recipients of it has no claim. It's not due. It's a pure favor,
charity, and it's totally free. It stands in opposition of works. As the scripture tells us, if
by grace no more of works, if it's of works, it's no more of
grace. Now, this morning, God's power can do anything. I think about His great power
in creation, how He spoke this world into being. And we don't
even know how vast it is, do we? They don't know what the
limits of it is. That's His power. And His power
can do anything. This morning, His grace can give
anything. I preached upon it, but I said
I don't know much about what I'm preaching about. That verse,
it says, all is yours. I don't know that anybody else
knows that much about it either, but Scripture says all is yours.
That's what His grace does. All is yours. Paul You asked him. And it gives everything to the
chief of sinners. You ask Paul. That's what he
was, the chief of sinners. Brother Irvin Wallace said, if
he says he's the chief, let him be the chief. But it gives everything. There's no limit to God. And
there's no limit to His grace. His knowledge comprehends all
things, and His grace comprehended all sins, and all of our sins. That grace can't be exhausted. Look at it over the years of
time. I don't know, but man's been
here a few years, and His grace has been here all
of this time, and it's here before. But it is no less. There is a
great treasure of divine grace in this old. It is before the world was made,
grace was. And we see this grace in our
first parents fail. Now in this fall, God is determined
to raise up A multitude that no man can know by His grace. There's the Father. There's the
Son. There's the Holy Spirit. And
the Father says, I will that they be saved. And the Son says,
I'll go to earth and I'll bleed and die for them. I'll redeem
them. I'll take upon me the suffering There is justice to be paid.
And I like that song Jesus paid it all. And the Holy Spirit says, I will
call them. I will search them out. Chapter 2 says, in verse number
1, I will quicken them. Quicken them to life. And He says, I'll preserve them. Aren't you glad that He does
that? Who would you be today if He
didn't preserve you? He says, I'll sanctify them.
He says, I'll set them apart. You know, Most of this world
today is not concerned about anything we're concerned with,
are they? They're not concerned about the
preaching of the Word. You've been set apart. You know
Him this morning, you've been set apart. You've been set apart
from this world. He says, I'll perfect them. He
says, I'll bring them home safely. My dear brother, Vaughn, lived to be 89, almost 90 years
old. And there's the Holy Spirit's work.
You know, we ought to thank God for the grace of God. His grace
brought him home safely. So there's this covenant of grace,
and it's signed and sealed ratified between the Trinity. The Father
gave the Son, gave Him a people, and the Son gave Himself. And there is a Spirit of God
that is promised to carry out the covenant. This morning, and here's the
key to it, are you one that the Father has given to the Are you one the son that's bled
and died as the sister sung long ago? It was for me? It tells us here in verse number
13, the gospel of your salvation. One day this just hit me like
a lightning bolt. I was preaching in a meeting
and it just hit me. The gospel of your salvation. That's how it comes to us. It's
my salvation, isn't it? It's what Christ has done for
me. And as the Holy Spirit quickens you,
giving you life, partakers of a divine nature set you apart,
keeping you, if He has, He'll bring you home
to glory. It's all of grace. It's in His
grace. God gives Himself. He gives His
Son. He gives His heaven. He gives us His all. the riches of grace. We read
it. We see it. And we thank God for His grace
and what all it contains. And His grace contains it all. It contains election. It contains
redemption. It contains calling. It contains
justification, sanctification, pardon, adoption, glory. It contains all these spiritual
blessings. Who is like unto thee? Father? None? The riches of His grace? You
know, there's been rich people in this world. Rich people. Solomon had it all, didn't he? Nebuchadnezzar. The pharaohs. And most of all, they come out
today with the top ten of the richest people in the world.
And they have been inert several times. But it's nothing. It is absolutely nothing compared
to the reaches of grace. God's grace. If we could see
heaven today, you know, His church, part of
it's here, part of it's going on. What are they doing? They're praising God. They're
worshiping Him. They're there. Do you know what
they are? They're trophies of grace. Every
child of God is a trophy of God's grace. Look where they all come from. There's the thief on the cross.
Do you know what the world was saying? He wouldn't fit for society
to live here. Now that's grace, isn't it? Take
him to heaven. Today, thou shalt be with me
in paradise." That's the grace of God. He said, Lord, remember
me! Isn't that the riches of His
grace? Just look at old Saul of Tarsus. A persecutor. A blasphemer. injurious. He done everything
contrary to the Lord Jesus Christ. And looking at him, you would
sure thought that he is a vessel of wrath,
wouldn't you? He is a vessel of mercy. The riches of God's grace. How great is the riches of God's
grace. The old publican, you see, the
grace of God. One was telling God all the things
that he had done. And the old publican just mowed
upon his breast. He knew the problem was within
himself. God be merciful to me, a sinner. Riches of His grace. Look at those in heaven today. Look at what they were by nature,
just as we are. Those are sins. They became a
servant of the Lord Jesus Christ and followers of the Lamb. Oh,
the testimonies of what God has done for them. They attributed
the riches of His grace and how gracious God is. All the nature are children of
wrath, sinful thoughts and actions. I ask you, just how gracious
has God been to you and me? How gracious has He been? Where
would you be this morning if it hadn't been for the grace
of God in your life? Where would I be this morning if it hadn't been for the grace
of God? Something else about the riches
of grace? There's enough. There's multitudes that receive
it every day. We need His grace and His mercy
every day, don't we? You know, there's enough for
each of us. You need it. I need it. And there's enough. There's enough for all of us.
There's enough for everyone. You know, we, God's children do not
lack I was thinking about that verse
one time where it says, Lord Jesus Christ, He supplied us. You know, much of what He supplied
us was already given before we got here. We think about, in
time, how much that was done already, wasn't it? The cross,
His suffering, His blood, all that was done before we even
got here. He supplied us. We don't like, as children do
not like, You think about how much is required. And it's supplied,
it's supplied daily to God's children. And it's been supplied
year after year, from generation to generation, century after
century and on down. No wonder the scripture talks
about the fullness of Christ. You know the woman, she just
asked for some crumbs from the table, didn't she? God gives plenty. The prodigal,
he said, just make me one of your hired servants. Grace just makes us ours, doesn't
it? Makes us ours. Ours of God. Ours
of Lord Jesus Christ. It gives plenty. Now let me give you something
else this morning that grace does. You know, the rich, they clothe
themselves and they dress up. I'll tell you what grace does. Grace dresses us up in the very
best, the finest robe. It's one that you can't buy on
earth. It excels the finest linen. I had a preacher friend of mine
said he tried to find some real fine linen. He said it's just
impossible. But this excels that. If you
could find it. It's whiter and purer than anything
on the earth. Grace dresses us in the righteousness
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. A divine robe. A complete robe. It's far better than what Adam
had in the garden. His was just that of human righteousness,
but we have a divinely wrought and a perfect righteousness,
a royal robe in Christ Jesus. That's the riches of His grace.
That's how you're clothed this morning in Christ. Oh, we see
the riches of His grace in providing the remedy. And that is sending
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He poured His wrath upon
Him, His only begotten Son, His beloved Son. When we look at
the cross, and the suffering, and the agony, and the grief
that was born, and the pain, the bloodshed, think about the riches of His
grace. How inexhaustible, how beyond limit is the riches of
His grace. Now the scripture speaks here,
and it tells us that we have the forgiveness of sin. according
to the riches of His grace. God forgives. He freely forgives. Though they may be the chief
of sinners, He freely forgives. And He is blessed in giving because
we said, blessed be God. Blessed be Him that forgives
us. It's done willingly, not grudgingly, and it's not limited. When He forgives, He wipes the
slate clean. There's a blotting out. I like
the Scripture that says He cleanses us from all sin, don't you? If
there's one left, you'd be in bad shape, and I'd be in bad
shape. But He cleanses from all sin. Oh, the greatness of this. Think
about sin's nature. Think about it. He forgives and there's not a
single sin left. Not even the shadow. It's gone. Once for all. It's called a full
remission. No sin is against. And if there's
no sin against, there's no punishment for sin. Now, a lot of people
have a confusion between God's chastening hand and God's judgment
hand. There's a difference this morning.
God chastens His children, but He chastens them out of love,
doesn't He? And there's a difference between
that and the punishment of a judge. But by the Savior's blood, there
is a full discharge this morning of our sins. When one casts themselves
upon the Lord Jesus Christ, his blood and his righteousness,
their sins is gone. As the Scripture tells us in
this great chapter, we are accepted in the Beloved. I read many years ago of an old
preacher said he was on his dying bed. And they said he could just
barely whisper. Said the deacons of the church
went over, and they visited with him, and they asked him, they
said, have you got a word for the church? And he said, he whispered
to them and says, Exsented and Beloved. That's good words for dying,
isn't it? accepted in the Beloved. But we are accepted. Our punishment
was in the Beloved, and we are saved in the Beloved. Oh, to
hear that voice, small, still voice, say, Be of good cheer. Thy sins, which are many, are
forgiven. I've said over the years, and
I've been preaching almost 40 years, I guess, getting close
to 35 years. I've said this over the years,
you better not hear it from man, you better hear it from the Lord
about your sins. You better hear it from Him. Man, He might say, well, your
sins are forgiven. And we have people that go around
telling people that. But you better hear it from the
Lord. Better hear it from Him. It's done freely. You can't buy
forgiveness this morning, and you can't earn it, and you can't
trade for it. My son worked for a person, and
he was a rich, very rich man. And he just give to everything
that come along, no matter what it was. He said, I want to cover
all the bases. That's his thoughts. If I just
do this and do this and do this everywhere, I'll be covered.
Nah, you can't trade for this. And you can't earn it. And you
can't buy it. It's God's. And it's His to give. You know, there's a little controversy
there in the scripture. And this time, the Lord said,
thy sins are forgiven. They said, well, God only forgives
sins. Well, who is Christ? He's God. That's His deity. God forgives sins. He's the only
one that forgives. We have a great picture of this
in the Old Testament, and I know that you know this, where the
high priest would confess the sins of Israel. Upon that goat,
and he's called the scapegoat, and after he confessed his sins,
he'd take him out to the wilderness, and nobody would ever see him
again. See this goat again. Representing
that of our Lord, taking away our sins. Taking them away, never
to be seen again. You know, it's interesting also
that we have the redemption here through this blood, the forgiveness
of sins, God did this without man asking. He did this without
man pleading. He did this without request.
So it's all entirely and absolutely of God. And it's all from God. So the results of the riches
of grace, as we see it here, is according to the riches of
His grace is the forgiveness of sins. Now, let me just give
you a few things in closing. What happens with the forgiveness
of sins? One is, peace is given. Can you have peace and be unforgiven? That's just turmoil and trouble,
isn't it? Yet there's so many people in
this world. They live. But Christ is our
peace. He's the giver of peace. And to live a life of peace,
there must be the forgiveness of sins. I spoke at a camp of
young people one time, and as I thought about what to say to
them, I thought about the message of peace. And that's something
that is great in life, isn't it? To live a life of peace.
And that's what the forgiveness of sins does. Gives you peace. Christ says, I give you peace.
Not like this world gives. His is different, isn't it? It's
a lasting peace. It's a solid peace. And I don't know how anyone can
have peace if they know they've got to face their sins. Do you? I don't know how they can have
peace If they've got to face the judgment of sins, there'd
be no peace. This forgiveness of sins gives
us rest. And there's only one resting
place, and that's Christ and the forgiveness of sins. You
can't rest in your works. I can't rest in my works. I sure
can't rest in my goodness, and you can't either. And I can't
rest in my own righteousness, and you can't either. But I rest in places right here,
in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins. We rest there. It gives us joy, joy unspeakable. When we come to know our interest
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and our sins is forgiven, isn't it
like a great weight is removed? It's like you come, you bow over
these sins, and it's taken off your back. It's just taken off. The burden
is lifted. There's joy. gives happiness. You know, we may have earthly
trials and troubles, and we will. But yet there's a happiness when
our sins are forgiven, even in midst of troubles, aren't they? We know that our sins is forgiven. When our sins are forgiven, it
gives us access to the Lord. The unforgiven are far off, but
it gives us access. Paul even speaks of this here.
He says, we have access to Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. We can come to God. We come to
Him. We have fellowship. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for
what you've done for me in Christ. We can walk with Him. Thank you
for your forgiveness. We can walk with Him. We can
pray. I think one of the great statements
in the scripture, God called Abraham His friend. That's something, isn't it? It
wasn't Abraham calling God, but God calling Abraham his friend.
You know, that's recorded for time
and eternity, isn't it? Boy, that's something when God
would call Abraham his friend. He had fellowship with Abraham,
didn't he? They walked. He walked with God. Say there's
a reconciliation. This forgiveness of sin means
that we are reconciled. We have a ministry of reconciliation,
don't we? It means this morning there is
no hell. I appreciate Brother Lindsey this morning and the
opening and what he said. But the forgiveness of sins means
there is no hell. All has been forgiven. It means
that there's, the Bible says that no sin is laid to the charge. That's how God saves. It means
this morning that judgment is passed. It means that justice
can't touch the believer because it's been satisfied in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I like that word, been satisfied. It means this morning, heaven. The forgiveness of sins means
heaven. It means glory. Several years
ago, one of my neighbors is my Sunday school teacher. He passed
away and he called me and asked me to come help in the funeral. God gave me a verse out of Psalms. He will give grace and glory. Where He gives grace, He gives
glory. They're always connected. And
they stay connected. And that awaits every child of
God. It's the results of being forgiven. May the Lord bless you. Father,
take the message. We rejoice in what you've done
for us. In Christ we rejoice. The Holy
Spirit bless these people. Take the message and apply it.
With nothing in our sales, but all that the Holy Spirit can
do in our midst. May we just give thanks this
morning and praise to Thee. And if there's one here that
doesn't know about the forgiveness of sin, sins, may this morning
you touch their lives. May they cry out to thee. And oh, Father, the scripture says that you shall
save, save from sins. We thank you. Blessed be thy
name, in Christ's name, Amen.