Alright, take your Bibles and
turn with me to Genesis chapter 6. We're just going to consider
a single verse of Scripture tonight in Genesis chapter 6. Now sometimes, a single word can speak volumes. Just a single
word. A single word sometimes can tell
what whole stories cannot tell. Convey what hours of teaching
cannot tell. I remember my wife and my daughter
came to where I was working and got out of the car and they
said, your daddy is dead. I didn't need a coroner's report.
I didn't need a doctor's analysis. That word dead told me everything
I needed to know. He's dead. And we don't know a great deal
about these old patriarchs. We know what God has preserved
in Scripture. We know the the historical account
that's right here before us. And we've read it already. Don't know a great deal about
the life of Noah. Don't know a great deal about
the particulars about this antediluvian world that he lived in. But what
we have here is a word. And this word tells me everything
I need to know. And that's where I'm going to
go tonight. We're going to talk about this word. It says, but
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah found grace. Now the word itself says a lot. You look it up in the dictionary.
It means unmerited favor. That says a lot. You sit and
contemplate on that for a while and it has a lot to say. But
the experience of that grace, the experience of that grace
says even more. Over in Titus chapter 2 and verse
11, you don't have to turn over there, but if you're taking notes
you can jot it down. In Titus chapter 2 verse 11,
Paul is exhorting these people to good works, and here's what
he tells them. He says in Titus 2 at 11, For the grace of God
that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, all kinds
of men, rich men and poor men, black men, white men, yellow
men, men who are religious and men who are not religious. This
grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, tax
collectors and doctors princes and kings and fishermen, old
and young, men and women, men in every age, before and after
the flood, before and after the coming of Christ, all men that
he chose to see and to hear, this grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching," see that word,
teaching. teaching us. And those to whom
it appears, those who see it and experience it in their heart,
those who are brought to the place to receive it and rejoice
in it, are taught. It teaches us, Paul said. Now,
he is not talking here about the doctrine of grace. He is
talking here about the experience of grace. And it teaches us. We are made teachable, we're
made willing, we're given an understanding. I stand up here
tonight with an open book before me and I say the words. I open
this book and we read from its sacred pages and I do my best
to teach, but we'll be taught, we'll be taught when this grace
of God that bring us salvation appears to us and in us. I believe that's almost the exact
words that Paul talks about over in Galatians chapter 1, where
he said, let me read that for you over here in Galatians. Let's see if I can find it without
too much trouble. Here in Galatians chapter 1,
he said, When it pleased God who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me by His grace. What are you talking about, Paul?
What is this grace? What are you talking about? To
reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him among the people.
A revelation of Christ in him. That is that grace of God that
brings salvation. It has appeared, and when it
does, it teaches. It teaches. What does it teach?
It teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should
live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.
looking for that blessed hope. You can't live righteously and
not look for that blessed hope. And the glorious appearing of
our great God and of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself
for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify
unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. That's
what grace teaches. That is what grace teaches when
grace is found and Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
In a world filled with compromise and power struggles and wars,
giants, men of stature, men of wisdom, men of size, intimidating
men, conquering, conquering, building up estates and fortunes
and wealth and fame, a world filled with compromise, power
struggles, wars, ignorance and darkness, Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. Think of the multitude of things
before him in this world. Think of the things that were
going on and the multitudes around him, and all of these cities
and men and temples and idols and all of these things that
were going on, all this hustle and bustle around him, everything
going on. But Noah found grace. Noah found
grace. And that's what I want to talk
to you about tonight for the next little bit. Finding the
grace of God. And I say this to you. To find
grace, it must be sought where it can be found. It's the only
place you're going to find grace. came left and went to the land
of Nod. There was no grace over there. Esau sold his birthright for
a bowl of porridge, and wherever it was he went, he sought repentance
carefully with tears, but he never found it. He never found
grace again. Grace has to be sought where
grace can be found. And grace can only be found in
God. in his eyes, radiating from his
heart and his being. Paul tells us this, he said,
to submit ourselves one to another and be clothed with humility,
for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Humble
yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God. Cast all
your care on Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant,
because your adversary the devil is a roaring lion. Walketh about
seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, he said, steadfast
in the faith. Now listen, but the God of all
grace. Man, what a title. What a title. He didn't say the gracious God,
although He is. That's not what Paul's talking
about here. He said the God of all grace. The only place you
are going to find grace is in God, because He is the only one
who has it. He is the God of all grace. But
the God of all grace who has called us unto His eternal glory
by Christ Jesus, He said, after that you suffered for a while,
make you mature, establish, strengthen, and settle you, to Him be glory
and dominion forever and ever. In the Scripture, the Father
is always represented as being the source and fountain of all
grace. The Father seems to be represented. I understand that the Godhead
is equal. I'm not trying to preach an unequal
Godhead. But I'm simply saying in the
Scripture, in order for us to understand and communicate some
understanding of God to us, the Father is represented as being
absolute God. Anytime the Scriptures talk about
absolute God, He uses the term, our Father. The Father. The Father sent me into this
world. So the Father is represented
in the Scriptures as being the source and fountain of all grace.
And then secondly, the mediatorial channel of this grace is the
Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, in order for His grace to be given to vile sinners, it
must come by way of a special channel. It cannot simply flow
from the Father to you, because there are other things involved
in the character of God besides grace. In order for this grace
to be channeled to you in the purpose of God, it must be given
through Him, through Christ. And I tell you this, where there
is no Christ, there is no grace. This grace only comes through
the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
I hear a lot of preaching today and a lot of talking today about
grace. I drive up and down the road
and I know that you have done the same thing. And you will
spot a church over here and it will say Grace Baptist Church
or it will say Grace Church or Grace Fellowship Church or whatever
on the side of it. And you get this good feeling,
I think we found somebody. And you go in there and they
wouldn't know grace from a watermelon. Just nothing. Nothing. No understanding
of grace whatsoever. This grace only comes through
the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
apart from His mediation, there can be no grace. Grace is not
found in the church. Maybe I need to repeat that.
Grace is not found in the church. The Catholic church calls different
men, different people, different stature, call them my grace.
He is not your grace. The church, that mother church
so called in Catholicism, is not the channel by which you
receive grace. Grace is not found in some pretentious
priest. And grace is not found in the
ordinances. Grace is found in the eyes of
the Lord. That's where Noah found it. God
doesn't change. Man hadn't changed. Man's condition
hadn't changed. God's character hadn't changed.
If you find grace, that's where you're going to find it, the
same place He found it, in those eyes. It's the only place you're
going to find it. Grace and truth, he said, came
by Jesus Christ. He said, in the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And
the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And John said, we beheld
His glory. We saw something in Him of His
eternality and His character and His person. We saw something
in Him of the Father. We beheld His glory, the glory
as of the only begotten of the Father." Now listen, full of
grace. That's what John said. And truth. Full of grace. The law came by
Moses. And there was glory involved
in it. But you can read about it over in Corinthians. There
was a greater glory that comes with the gospel and with the
appearance of Christ. He is full of grace. The law
came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And listen to this here in Romans
3. Romans 3. I have been doing a
lot of referencing to this chapter, and it would do us good to read
it every day. Romans 3. I am not going to go
over the things Pryor said, because I am going to get into that a
little bit later on in the message. He says here in verse 24, having
sinned and come short of the glory of God, back in verse 23,
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. You see what I am saying by He
is the channel? He is the channel of all grace. God is grace. He is filled with
grace. The glory of grace is in the
Father. He is the spring and the source
of it. And it flows to us through the
second person of the Godhead. His appointment is the channel.
It is the way this grace, this grace of God flows to us, comes
to us. It comes in Him. In Him, He is
the channel for it. And then thirdly, The bestower
of grace is the Holy Spirit. He is the one who bestows this
grace. In Zechariah chapter 12 and verse
10, the Lord said, I will pour upon the house of David and upon
the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace. The Spirit of grace purging the
conscience. renewing the heart, convincing
the mind, regenerating the soul, converting, sanctifying, cleansing
by His presence and power, taking the things of Christ, showing
them unto us, our comforter, revealing to us the hidden things,
the mysteries, hidden from the princes of this world, even the
deep things of God. Coming into the lives of those
who are chosen to be sons, the Spirit of adoption gives us His
earnest pledge and promise and leaves us crying, Abba, Father. He is the bestower of grace. The grace comes through that
substitutionary work of Christ. It flows through us through those
means by which He accomplished this redemption. This grace flows
to us justly from God. justly from God, and it is bestowed
by the Holy Spirit of God. He is and He forever will be
the Spirit of grace. And then, fourthly, the gospel
is the message of grace. I make a pledge to you and a
promise to you, and I proclaim every time I get up here that
I preach to you the gospel. Paul preached to that church
for three years, and he said day and night, he said, I preach
to you the gospel. The gospel. What is this gospel? It's the gospel of the grace
of God. That's what it is. Grace is what
we're all about. That's why it's on that sign
out there. I don't have any hope apart from
grace, do you? It's grace. In Acts chapter 20,
Paul had preached at the church at Ephesus, And now he was going
away bound to Jerusalem. And he talks to these elders
at Ephesus about his sincerity and his love for him, how he
kept back nothing profitable for him. He said, I taught you
publicly and I taught you house to house. And now, he said, for
what I preach to you and what I preach to others, I am going
bound to Jerusalem. And he fully expected what he
had experienced so often, bonds and afflictions. That is what
he expected, bonds and afflictions for what he preached. Look here,
Acts 20, verse 24. But he said, None of these things
move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might
finish my course with joy. And the ministry which I have
received of the Lord Jesus, now listen, to testify the gospel
of the grace of God. The gospel is the testimony of
God concerning His grace. It's the testimony of God's grace
mediated by the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is the message of grace.
To this religious world, he said it's a stumbling block. He said
it in Peter. He said it in Acts. He said it
in Romans. He says it time and again throughout
the Scriptures. To this religious world, to the
Jew, when he says to the Jew, he is representing all the religious
world. Read the Scriptures and you will
understand what I am saying about that. When he says to the Jew,
he is talking about to the whole religious world. And he said
to the Jew, he is a stumbling block. He is a stumbling block. And to the proud, arrogant philosopher,
worldly-wise, it's foolishness. Why? Why? Because there's nothing in this
gospel to gratify, acknowledge, or exalt the pride of man. Nothing. It tears man down. Paul said, I certify this. I stand behind this. I put my
name on this. I certify you, brethren. But
my gospel is not after man. It ain't after his applause.
It ain't after his money. It ain't after his recognition.
It ain't after his reputation. It's about grace. It's about
grace. The gospel of God's grace sets
man in his place. He's dead in trespasses and sin. He's corrupt in his being and
ways. He's filthy in his mind and heart.
Listen to what God testified to His preacher Noah. Listen to what He says. Now this
is, when it says, and God said it, God just didn't poke His
head out of the sky and start talking. What He's talking about
here in Genesis is God telling this world through His preacher
Noah. That's what He's talking about.
And here's what He said here in verse 5. God saw the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That's
what Noah preached. You reckon they got upset at
him? Only evil continually. He saw
no reason in his being for continuation. He saw no potential in his being
for mercy. He saw nothing in him any longer. to glorify His existence. And
that's the only way I know of to explain those words where
he says, And it repented the Lord that He had made man. What
he's talking about is he looked in this man and found no reason
in him for him to exist. No value. And that's what Paul's
talking about over there in Romans chapter 3 when he said, We are
together become unprofitable. God looks on you and He sees
no reason for your being. No reason. Dead in the eyes of God, worthless,
filthy, self-centered, self-righteous, self-loving, spiritual corpse. Paul said there is none righteous,
none good, none who understand, none that sought after God. All
gone out of the way. Destruction and misery are in
their way. No fear of God before their eyes. Together, religious and heathen,
no prophet. Isaiah said, all our righteousnesses,
he said, are as filthy rags. All of their good intentions
and all of their new moons and sabbaths and all their holy days
and all their ceremonies and worship are trouble to his soul.
He said, it's a smoke in my nose. I challenge you to look that
up. It means burning garbage. That's what it means. They didn't
have landfills back then. They took it outside the camp
and they burned it. And that's what he's talking
about. It was a smoke in his nose. He's not talking about
our evil. He's talking about our righteousness. You really want to know how God
sees man, sees the condition of his being, sees the best of
his efforts, sees the best he can produce? Look at yourself
in Christ. Look at yourself. Look at yourself
nailed on that tree. That is you he represents. That
is you he stands before God as. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. And there he stands nailed to
that tree, nailed before God. What does God think of us? Look
at the cross. Look at the cross. Paul said,
For what the law could not do, what the law could not convey,
and never wills because of the weakness and ignorance of our
flesh. What the law could not do with all of its statutes and
warnings and punishments and penalties, what the law could
not do because of our fallen, depraved condition, God sending
His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, judged
sin in the flesh. Where did He do it? On the cross.
On the cross. I don't need somebody to tell
me how evil I am. All I have to do is look at the
cross. Just look at the cross. He said our sins in Him and He
judged it. He set it on a pole. He pointed
to it. He manifested His wrath and His
righteous anger against it. The gospel puts man in his place.
It shows him he is lost, condemned, spiritually dead, filthy in his
heart. And it shows him that God is
just in his condemnation. He's just in how he describes
us. Now, it's one thing to say, yeah,
that's what the Scripture says, all right. It's another thing
to enter into it. It's one thing to say, well,
I know I don't have any righteousness. It's another thing to understand
by experience what that means. It's one thing to say, well,
You know, I know I ain't always done the right thing. It's another
thing altogether different to see yourself separated from God.
Not be able to find one thing in you to recommend you to God.
Not a will, not a prayer, not an idea, not a potential, nothing. Separated from God. And I tell you, when you know
you've been there, you'll justify God. You'll get over on God's
side. And you look back at yourself
and you ought to send him to hell. You get on God's side on
this thing of condemnation. That's how I know when the Holy
Spirit begins to deal with a man, He pulls him over on God's side
and says, now look through my eyes. Look through my eyes. And you'll say, you're right.
You're right. You ought to send me to hell.
You ought to. Paul talks about the Jew in the
last part of Romans chapter 2. The true Jew. Circumcised in the heart and
spirit, not in the letter, not in the flesh. And he speaks of
his attitude and understanding in Romans chapter 3 and verse
4. And here is what he said. He
said this believer, this man circumcised in his heart, this
true Jew, he said, let God be true and every man a liar. Isn't
that what he said? Let God be true in every man's
life. And listen, he quotes this Psalm.
He said, As it is written, that thou mightest be justified in
thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. You know
where that comes from? That comes from David's confession
over in Psalm, I think it's Psalm 51. And here's the context. David begins to cry out to God. And he said, Against thee and
thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.
Now listen, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest,
and clear, clear, clear of all error and injustice when thou
judgest. He took sides with God against
himself. And over in Luke chapter 7, there
were some folks over there that had listened to John the Baptist,
greatest man born of woman, greatest preacher born of woman. Here
he is, and he's standing out here, and he's preaching Christ. Wouldn't you love to sit and
hear John the Baptist? I like the hero Ralph Barnard.
He couldn't hold a candle to John the Baptist. And these men
were cut to the heart, and God brought them down, and He showed
them the glory of God in Christ under that preaching of John,
and John baptized. And these Pharisees condemned
them, and hated them, and despised them. And the Lord stood up and
He said, you are like a bunch of kids. I come and preach to
you, and John comes and preaches to you, and John wouldn't eat
or drink. He was in isolation. And I come
and I ate and drank with you, and you didn't like either one
of us. You didn't like neither one of us. And your problem is
you wouldn't hear the truth. And He begins to defend John
the Baptist. You can read about it over there
in Luke chapter 7. He defended the ministry of John the Baptist
and he told them plainly who he was and that his witness was
true. And the people and the publicans
converted under the ministry of John. Now listen, they justified
God. They justified God being baptized
of John. They submitted to an ordinance
that never was before. And they justified God. They
said we had to be banned and raised. That's what they said. And he said they justified God
in this baptism of John. Luke chapter 7 verse 30. But the Pharisees, now watch
this, and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves. What did they say? They said
we're not that bad. We're not sinners. We're not
altogether corrupt. Satan's not our father. You can
read about it. Read through the Gospels. The
Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves,
being not baptized of him. They wouldn't justify God's condemnation
of themselves and own up to their hypocrisy and pretense of religion. I tell you this, the gospel of
grace puts man in his place, and the Spirit of grace convinces
him that the testimony of God is true, and the sinner takes
sides with God against himself. And without the intervention
of God's sovereign grace in your life, you are as sure for hell
as if you were there right now. If God doesn't intervene in His
grace, that is where you are going. Isn't that what he says? You are on a broad road. You
are not looking to get on it. You are on it. You're not waiting
for the wrath of God. The wrath of God, if you believe
not the Son, you're not going to see life. It ain't going to
happen. It ain't ever going to happen. He that believeth not
the Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God abides on
him. It abides on him in his love
for darkness, and it abides on him in his satisfaction with
himself, and it abides on him in his affection of false religion,
and it abides on him in his denial of the testimony of God, and
it abideth on him in his rejection of the gospel of God's sovereign
grace in Christ. I tell you this, don't be deluded
into believing that acting religious is the same thing as finding
grace. It is not. It is not. God makes no distinction
between the Jew and the Gentile. Paul said, we're no better than
they are. He said, are we any better off than they are? He
talked all the way through chapter 1 about the Gentiles, all the
way through chapter 2 about the Jews. Then he tells you that
there is a true spiritual Jew circumcised in the heart. He
tells you that this is the work of grace. And then he goes on
and he asks this question in Romans 3, are we better than
they? No. That's what he said, no. No big
long explanation. No. Because he said we have before
proved both Jew and Gentile, they are all unseen. They are
all unseen. God makes no distinction between
the Jew and the Gentile. Paul said we know better off
than they are. What does that mean? It means the Gospel addresses
all men as sinners and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
filthy thoughts, imaginations, jealousy, greed, envy, pride. Enemies of God who need to be
reconciled. Depraved in our natures and under
the curse of God. Do you understand what that means
to be under the curse of God? We read that a lot. What's that
mean? What in the world is he talking about? The curse of God.
The curse of God is to know to do good and not do it. That's the curse. Not do it. Why won't you do it? I can't. Why can't you? Because you won't.
That's the curse. That's the curse. The curse of
God is to have clear instruction of righteousness. We've got no
excuse, brethren. We've got a law. This law tells
you everything you need to know about righteousness. The curse
of God is to have clear instruction in righteousness and not obey
it. The curse is to know your accountability and responsibility
but find no ability to accomplish it. This is condemnation, Christ
said, that light has come into the world, and men love darkness
rather than light. When did they start doing that?
In the garden, at the altar of Abel, under the
ministry of Enoch, in the days of Noah. Light has come into the world,
and men love darkness rather than light. Man's decisions and
determinations, his commitments and promises, his sincerity and
confession, his restitutions and vows, his sacrifices and
offerings do not change the way God looks on him. God sees him for what he is.
He takes off that old dirty t-shirt and that old hat that had filthy
language on it, and he puts on a suit and a tie and a shirt
and goes to church and thinks God sees him different. God sees
you the same. Those restitutions and vows and
all that mess didn't do anything for the way God sees you. None of these things. These things
cannot set him apart from this world. Whether he be a priest
or a prostitute, God sees him the same. Whether he is the Pope
or a publican, all have sinned, Paul said, and come short of
the glory of God. Jew or Gentile, it makes no difference.
Man has got one hope, and that is to find grace in the eyes
of the Lord. When God stood up and said every
thought of their heart is continuous, continuously evil all the time. He's talking about Noah too. You thought he found Noah because
he didn't think like that. I'll tell you what Noah found.
Noah found grace. He didn't have to tell me what
was in Noah's mind because I found that grace and I know what it
means. I know what it means. Romans chapter 11, Paul declares
this salvation to be according to an election of grace, pure
grace, unmixed grace. Works don't enter into it. If
works creeps into it, I don't care how minute, then grace ceases
to be grace. If it's in works and grace eases
into it, I don't care how little it is, then works is no longer
works. It's all of one or all of the
other. They won't mix. They like water and oil. They
won't mix. You can stir them all you want to. That oil will
come right to the top. He declares this salvation to
be according to an election of grace, pure grace. And he doesn't
mince words in verse 7. Listen to this. He said, ìIsrael
hath not obtained that which it sought for.î What did they
seek for? Huh? What was they seeking for? Well, they sought for a Redeemer.
They didn't find Him. They sought for a King, but they
didn't find Him. They sought for a prophet. They
sought for a kingdom. They sought for a Messiah. They
sought for a righteousness to make them acceptable with God,
but they never obtained it. Now, listen to what he says.
The election hath obtained it. What election? This election
of grace. That everlasting purpose of God
to show grace to a people. I will be gracious, he said. The election hath obtained it
and the rest were blinded. Blinded by the God of this world.
Given over to themselves to believe a lie and be damned. To find
grace in the eyes of the Lord, the Lord must bashing his eyes
on you. That's the only way you're going
to find it. That's the only way you're going to see it. Old Peter
lost his pride down there at the cross. He said, these might
leave you, but I'm not going to leave you. I'm going to go
with you to the end. Old John, he's a good old boy,
but he's going to leave you. I won't leave you. This know here, he might leave.
Old Thomas, he doubts a lot anyway. He'll probably leave. But I ain't
leaving. Yeah, he said, you gonna deny me before the cock crows
three times. You gonna deny me. You gonna
deny me three times. Three times? I ain't gonna deny
you. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Now, look at him. His savior's crucified. Now he risen. And he's appearing
to his disciples. And here's Peter over here by
himself. Convicted. Condemned. No pride
left. The Lord looked at him then.
He looked right into those gracious eyes. He found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. That's what Noah found. He found
grace. He didn't find favor because
of something he did, or something he was, or some potential in
it, or who his grandpa was. He found grace because God looked
at him in grace. Because God purposed grace to
him. The election of grace obtained
it for him. And God brought that grace to
him. He brought it where he could
see it. Where he could see it. Grace has been here all along.
We just didn't see it. We didn't see it. To find grace, the same God who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness must shine in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God, the glory of God's grace in the face of Jesus Christ.
And we preach this gospel to all men, knowing what they are
and where they are and in what kind of world they live in. And
this treasure of grace that we bear about, we bear it about
in earthen vessels, Paul said, this treasure. Grace is a treasure. And we carry it around in the
flesh, carry it around in an earthen vessel. And there is
a purpose in that. He said that the excellency of
the power might be of God and not of us. If anybody sees grace
in me, it's going to be in my message. It isn't going to be
in me. It's going to be in my message. Noah found grace because
God brought his grace where he could see it. And when he saw
it, he discovered four things. Let me give you these just briefly. The man who finds grace, he discovers
God's grace to be eternal. His grace, you thought, I always
did, that grace came when you come to the front, or grace came
when you finished praying, what they call praying through, whatever
that means. I thought this grace came as
a reaction to something I did. This grace is eternal. It is
as old as God. You cannot find a beginning to
it. Paul said, God has saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to His own
purpose and grace. Now listen, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. You can't put a date on
that, can you? Huh? That's before time. God's
grace is eternal. Secondly, this man will discover
that grace is free. It's free. There is no qualification
for grace. We want to make one, but there
is no qualification for grace. Grace is what qualifies you. You don't qualify for grace. Can I prove that? I think I can. What was the Apostle Paul when
God finished? Where was he headed? Was he going
to church to worship God? He was going down to seek papers
to persecute and kill believers. He was on the road, on his way
to get some additional papers. He already held the coats of
them who stoned Stephen to death. He already agreed with those
who stoned Stephen to death. No telling how often he had attended
with the Sanhedrin, those that they judged. And now he's on the way to get
some more papers so he can go down and kill some more Christians,
persecute some more Christians. And God unhorsed that rebel and
brought his grace to him. A Pharisee. And he turns right
around and here they come with a harlot. She's not seeking God
and trying to worship God. She's not trying to go to church
or profess faith or anything else. She's a harlot. And they
grab her and bring her and throw her down at his feet. And they
said, the law says this. What do you say? He said, I say
grace. And saved that heart. There is
no qualification for grace. Grace is what qualifies. It's
the qualifier. It's what puts us all on the
same level. That's why I get so upset, brethren,
when somebody comes in here and somebody looks down their nose
at them. I ain't going to have it not
so long as I have the pastor of this church. You'll run me
off before I let that be. It ain't going to happen. Grace
levels us. It brings us down on one level. Way down here. And then it pours
those blessings out. That word means unmerited favor. Unmerited. That means you don't
earn it. You don't win it. It's not of
him that runneth. It's not of him that willeth.
It's of God that showeth mercy. This grace is free. It's free. It's free. And then thirdly,
he discovers that this grace is sovereign. It's sovereign
grace. That's what we say we believe.
Sovereign grace. Why do we call it sovereign grace?
Because it's dispensed at the hands of the sovereign. You know,
when Moses said, show me your glory, what did God tell him? I will be gracious. I will be gracious. But, he said,
I'll be gracious to whom I will. It's my grace. It's my grace. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. And I will show mercy to whom
I will show mercy. And it is sovereign, not only
because of the hands that bestow it, but because of the power
of it. It is sovereign in its rule. Paul said, As sin reigned
unto death, grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. And as sin abounded unto death,
even so grace might abound. And then fourthly, finding this
grace. Noah found this. I found it in
my experience, and I believe you have too. And if you haven't,
you're beginning to find it. Grace is distinguishing. When
this grace comes to you, it sets you apart. You know, when the
Lord came to Abraham, this always comes to my mind when I think
about this. He said, get out of your father's house. What's wrong with his father?
He was an idolater. He was an idolater. Get out of your father's
house. Where am I going to go? You don't
worry about that. You're going someplace I'm going to show you
later. Right now, you just come with
me. It's distinguishing. This grace is distinguishing. God put his vessel of grace opposed
to this world, opposed to its ways and its deeds. And this
preacher of grace, Paul said in Hebrews chapter 11, condemned
the world by himself. We've got no idea. I mean, we've
got a little bit of an idea because we sit down here in this little
church in Arkansas and ain't anybody else around. Noah was
by himself. He couldn't call Don. He couldn't
call Paul Mahan. He couldn't call Fred Evans.
Noah was alone. And he condemned this world.
He told them exactly what God said. And I tell you, he preached
his grace. He preached his grace. Grace chooses some and passes
by others. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. He found it in eternity. He found
it in his promises. He found it in His Son, He found
it in the Gospel, and He found it by the Spirit of God. God
be pleased to show me that grace. That's what I want. I want grace.
I want grace. I need grace. I need grace. I don't have anything else that
God requires. I don't have it, but by His grace. He said, don't stand up here
and say, Next year, I'm going to go over here and I'm going
to do it. He said, don't say that. He said, say if the Lord
will. Say if the Lord will, you're
going to go do that. Because you're just here by the grace
of God. I have breath to stand up here and preach tonight by
the grace of God. He can take us just that quick.
Kathy and I was in a meeting one time and I was still, I still
thought, I was just beginning to see a few things in the scriptures.
Nobody had ever really pointed me to the Scriptures. The Scriptures
were just something. It was exactly like the crosses
they had on the wall, and the Christian flag they had out front,
and then they had a Bible, and then they had other things. It
was just an ornament, the Bible was. We didn't really get into
these verse-by-verse studies and try to deal with these things.
I never heard the grace of God preached. I never heard them
talk about these things. And so when I began to see these
things, I didn't know any difference. And I had a guitar, and we'd
go play, and I'd stand up front, and I'd get to talk for a few
minutes, and I'd watch that preacher. And when I saw he was getting
ready to sit me down, then I'd go ahead and play my song and
sit down. But I'd get a few words in, and I really thought I was
doing something. We was in this church one night,
and we'd already played and sang and sat down. They had their
hymns, and they were on their last hymn before the message. And this old fella came through
the door, He came in. He sat right down in front of
me and Kathy. He sat right down in a few there. And when he got
done, the pastor came up behind the song leader and kind of moved
him aside. And he said, I just want you all to know this fellow
back here. He said, he is the one who founded. This was a free will Baptist
church. He's the fellow that founded this church, old brother
so-and-so. He said, how are things now between
you and the Lord? That old man threw up two fingers.
God killed him dead in the pew. He fell over his head in the
pew. He was dead right then. Just like that. Just like that. I tell you, it's grace. We're
here tonight hearing what we're hearing and rejoicing in it because
of His grace. That's what I want, grace. And
I pray that He'll give us grace. and put grace in my message and
put it in my mind and put it in my spirit and attitude. And give us that open door to
preach for Christ's sake. Father, use this message tonight
for your name's honor and glory. We ask it for Christ's sake.
Amen.