The title of the message today
is Grace. Grace is unconditional. Grace
is unconditional. It is not any condition that
we can put up on ourselves before God to get God to receive us
in any way, shape, form or fashion. It's only by God's grace that
we come to a knowledge of ourselves. It's only by God's grace that
we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's only by God's grace
that we serve Him and magnify Him in our hearts by His grace. It's all of grace and it's all
of grace from purpose to eternity and it's all of God's grace.
And God gives His people a heart knowledge of this. He gives them
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And they come helpless within
ourselves and then they see Christ as their all and they look to
Christ. And they know that it's God's grace that works in them
to see Christ and to know Christ and to serve Christ. And in 2 Timothy 1-9 he says,
Who hath saved us and called us. He's talking about God's
purpose and God's purpose before the foundation of the world.
He saved us. He looked upon us in the person
of His Son and we were saved in Christ. Christ stood as a
Lamb slain. In the fullness of God's time
He would send Him forth to die under all those whom He saw in
His Son, Christ would come and represent them in the flesh and
serve in their place instead, and to die under the wrath of
God against them. So God saved us in His purpose
and He saved us in reality in sending Christ, didn't He? Christ
died for us, His people. And in time, He reveals that
to the hearts of His people. In God's time, He'll speak to
their hearts. Revealing unto them who they
are in his line, and bring them to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is their all, a true and right faith I'm talking about.
Everybody that profess Christ don't know Christ, but I'm talking
about the true children of God, whom he brings to true faith
in the heart by his grace, through a knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ as their Savior. And he does this according to
his own purpose. It's not because of anything
in them or anything that he would see in them because they're altogether
unrighteous. They're altogether sin. They're
wrong by the fall, ain't they? We can't do anything or be anything.
You hear that well taught by Rowland. Very plain. But He saves
His people according to His own purpose. He calls them by His
grace. He reveals His Son in truth in them. He gives them
a heart to receive Him and look to Him and rest in Him. So He
calls us by His purpose and grace, don't He? Not only did God purpose
in Christ to have a people, He sent Christ. And He works grace
in their hearts to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He will
do this. He does do this. Election is not salvation, but
we're elected unto salvation. All those who are elected will
come to Christ. They'll know Christ. They'll
see Christ. They'll believe on Christ. They'll bow to and rejoice
in the Lord Jesus Christ. So it was according to God's
purpose and grace. It's nothing within us, nothing
of us, but it's all of God. Salvation is all of God. So all
this purpose of God and when he brings it to pass through
his grace was given to us in Christ. before the world began. Most churches and religious leaders. They claim to believe in and
teach salvation by grace, don't they? You can't go anywhere. I don't know of anywhere that
you can go that people don't claim to believe in the grace
of God. You hear it all the time. They
believe in the grace of God. They claim they teach salvation
by grace. But they say salvation is dependent
upon man. Therefore, they don't know what
grace is. Grace is only of God. Grace is
God giving to the undeserving what they don't deserve. That's
grace, ain't it? God, that's mercy. God giving
us what we don't deserve. That's grace. But they preach Grace depends
upon the will of man. Grace does not depend upon the
will of man. It would be no more grace. If
it depended on me, anything that I am or do, then it would be
by works. And it would be no more of grace.
You see, that's what he said in Romans 11.6. That's what Paul
said. And if by grace, then it's no more of works. It's not anything
that you do or anything that you perform or anything that
you are by nature. You are nothing and can do nothing
before God to get Him to receive you. God must work grace in my
heart to kill me, to bring me to despair of myself and bring
me to faith in the One that took my place and bring me to rest
in Him. You see that? It's of grace.
It's all of God. Therefore, it's of grace. It's
something that we don't deserve. If we deserve anything towards
God, then it's not of grace. It would have to be of works.
It would have to be. And by grace, then it's no more
of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. If you put 99% and 99% and 100%
grace and 1% works, you've added them together, then it becomes
no more of grace. It has to be all of works if
you put works in there. And it can't be of works, he
said. But if it be of works, then it's no more grace. Otherwise,
his work would be no more work. See? For by grace are you saved. That's plain, ain't it? That's
what they preach. You're saved by grace, but it
depends upon you. That's not grace. You see what
I'm saying? That is not grace. That's the works of evil men.
Men by nature. So it's not dependent upon me.
It's dependent upon God himself, as God is pleased to do with.
You see that? It's by grace to undeserving
creatures. That's what makes it grace. If
I deserve it, it's not grace. You see that? But it is of grace,
and it's to the undeserving. All those who are in the covenant
of grace in the Lord Jesus Christ, they will be brought to a saving
knowledge of who they are in the light of God, and they will
see Christ as their all in all. You see what I'm saying? They
will gladly bow to Him. See? Gladly. willfully, won't
they? Bow to Him and they'll come to
rest in Him. It is all of grace. It's all
of God through Christ to the hearts of His people and through
His people until eternity. That's it. It's all of grace.
So if we put a condition upon grace, it's no more grace. It's
not grace at all. It becomes worse. Otherwise,
grace is no more grace, you see. So any condition which is placed
upon grace before conversion or in conversion or after conversion
makes it worse. It's not grace. And you can't
make it worse because God said it's of grace and you're by nature
are evil. You see that? And you can't do
anything or be anything before God to get God to receive you. The Bible says, if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
If you do this, it's not a hue. You see what I'm saying? It's
God at work within you, both to will and to do, of His good
pleasure to bring you to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So
it's not anything pertaining to works whatsoever. Rowland
talked about works. Works is the attitude of God's
people's heart towards God. in honor to God, not to be justified,
but because they love Christ and they have faith in Christ
and they look to Christ and they honor Christ in that. The Holy
Spirit seeks to serve Christ, but we can't serve Christ in
a way that God can receive us apart from Christ. It has to
go through Christ and Christ has to take it and bring it to
God in Himself. Rightfully and truthfully, we
look to Christ. Therefore, we look to Christ,
don't we, Rowland? We don't look anywhere else by God's grace.
We can't look anywhere else. If we look at ourselves, we don't
see anything but ruin and corruption and misery and sin and helplessness.
But in Christ, we see all. See? He's all in all and everything. The Scriptures insert universally
That salvation in its entirety is by the free and sovereign
grace of God, the unconditional grace of God. The grace of God
is unconditional. I've got to get into a certain
condition and then I can do this or I can do that and be pleasing
to God. No, you can't. No, you can't
get in a condition that causes God to receive you. You must,
by grace, look to the Lord Jesus Christ and depend upon Him entirely
as your substitute before God. It's unconditional grace of God. It's in Christ. Grace is in Christ. The grace of God to the hearts
of these people points them to Christ and keeps them looking
to Christ. So they didn't have anything
to do with it. They're just recipients. You see what I'm saying? They're
not producers. They're recipients. Conditional
grace is a denial of the gospel of God. The gospel of God's free
and sovereign grace, which people call it. They don't know grace.
You see what I'm saying? Grace is unconditional. Election
is unconditional. Right? You say, well, God elected
me if I do this. God already saw that I was going
to do this, therefore He elected me because of something I did
for Him. That's not grace. That's the
works of men in their evil nature. Grace is looking to Christ. You
see that? Electing grace is unconditional. You didn't have anything to do
with it. You weren't born. There was nobody. God had all
to do with it. See? Electing grace is unconditional. for whom He did foreknow. See
that? He did predestinate or predetermine
their destination. They would in time come to Christ,
yes, by the grace of God. But He predestinated them to
be conformed to the image of His Son. He would make them just
like His Son in His time. That He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Christ is the firstborn and all
others are born in Christ. New creatures in Christ. Apart
from Christ, God's a consuming fire. Ephesians 1,4 says it's according
to His choosing. It's according as He has chosen
us in Christ. You see that? It's all in Christ
and it's by God's grace before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy without blame before Him. How would we be holy? He chose us in Christ to be holy.
we will be it were in christ by the purpose of god when christ
would come he would represent it in that that for us it put
away for him wasn't for all of the sacrifice of himself and
therefore in christ only in christ we're all we shall be like him
made exactly like him he's still our lord and we're still in christ
and we'll be made like him It's not anything in us or of
us. This old nature has to be changed,
don't it? It does, yeah. Into His nature. So, God didn't choose us because
of our works. It's not the works of righteousness
which we have done, but it's according to His mercy that He
saved us. Our faith in Christ, our faith. We have faith in Christ. We look
to Christ. We rest in Christ. We trust Christ.
Do we count anything in our faith? Well, I'm saved because I have
faith. No, you're not. You have faith
because you are saved. You see that? That's the difference.
Faith looks to Christ. Faith don't look to faith. Faith
rests in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is the gift of God. It's
not a result of man or an attitude of man. or something that man
does for God is something God does for man and in man. So our
faith in Christ and the works of faith is a result of Christ
in you. You see that? Faith in you that
God's put there. We are unable to perform works
in a rightful attitude, in a rightful manner, only because of the grace
of God that He's worked in us by making us new creatures in
Christ and working in our hearts to His honor and to His praise. So, our faith in Christ, the
works of faith, we are unable to perform, are the result of
the grace of God. Not the cause of God's grace.
Faith is a result of grace, ain't it? Not the cause. This is not the cause of our
election with God. This is the result of our election
with God. See what I'm saying? To preach
conditional election is to preach salvation by works. You can't
put a condition upon election. God elected the people according
to his own purpose and will. He didn't look down and say,
that's going to serve me, I'm going to elect him. That would be according
to your purpose and will. You see that? But God elected
them according to his own will. They are the elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit and obedience and strengthening of the blood of
Jesus Christ. Grace be unto you, and peace be multiplied. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? See, they're
God's elect. You didn't elect God. God elected
you. And if God elected you, who's
going to lay anything to your charge? It's rolling tall. Christ
died for you. Sin's been put away. We fail
and come short of the glory of God continuously. But through
Christ, through Christ, we're accepted in the beloved. Sin
has been put away. God has been satisfied. That's
it. Ephesians 1, 3, and 4 said, Blessed be the God and the Father
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who have blessed us.
God didn't look down and say, He's going to bless me, therefore
I'm going to choose Him. No. It said, Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who blessed us
in heavenly places in Christ. Have thee glasses according to
His own choosing, His own will, according as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. 2 Timothy 1-9 said,
Who saved us? He saved us. We didn't have anything
to do with it. It had to do with us. You see
what I'm saying? You don't have anything to do
with salvation. Salvation has to do with you if you come to
faith in Christ. Who saved us and called us. That's
what we're talking about. Romans 9, 11, 13 says, For the
children of God being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election,
might stand. Children of God that hadn't done
anything. They weren't even in this world.
And besides, in their nature, they couldn't do anything. Neither
having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according
to election. See, God elected Them. They didn't elect Him. He elected
them. And He worked grace in their
heart. He brought them to the saving knowledge of Christ and
to the spirit of self, didn't He? He caused them to look to
Christ and to rest in Christ and to follow Christ. That's
their desire. That the purpose of God, according
to election, must stand not of works, but of Him that calls.
It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it
is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Why would
he love Jacob and hate Esau? Only because of God's own purpose
and will, His own grace and glory to Himself. See that? For by
grace, it's all of grace. That's why. Redeeming grace is
unconditional, ain't it? Electing grace is unconditional.
Redeeming grace is also unconditional. Where in the Bible does God set
forth redemption as being a work of man in order to gain favor? Nowhere. He has redeemed us,
isn't that? It's not what you had to do with
God, it's what He had to do with you. You see the difference?
He redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse
for us. Cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. He took our place before God.
He redeemed us. That was in God's purpose, in
His electing grace. Now it's in His redeeming time,
His redeeming grace. He redeemed us. He put away sin. And in time, God calls them to
Christ. Redemption is not what we accomplished
before God. It's what Christ accomplished
on our behalf. See that? He redeemed us. In time, it's affectionately
applied to the heart by the grace and power of God. But we didn't
have anything to do with it. It had to do with us. If we believe
on Christ, it's not because we... You know where we was at. We
were in self-righteous religion. We were in the free will of Baptists.
Trying to serve God with our hands and feet, wasn't we? We
didn't know God. We tried to do what we could
to justify ourselves before God. We didn't know God. Being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the only way. It's His redeeming grace. He
has redeemed us. He has worked grace in our hearts.
He affectionately applied it to His people in His time, Donnie. By His power, by His Holy Spirit. You didn't reach out and take
hold of the Spirit. The Spirit created life in you. Galatians 3.13 tells us Christ has redeemed
us. See that? From the curse of the law. He
was made a curse for us. He took our place. He suffered
the wrath of God against us. The wrath satisfied His throne
and said there is no condemnation. Hebrews 9.12 says neither by
the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood. You see
that? He entered in once into the holy place. Those goats and
calves and things under the law could not represent men. Only Christ can represent men.
They just pointed to Christ, the one sacrifice. See that?
And by that one sacrifice, that one offering, He perfected forever
them that are chosen, them that are sanctified, them that are
made holy in Him. having obtained eternal redemption
for us. For if the blood of bulls and
goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctify
to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood
of Christ, see that, sanctify unto the purifying of the flesh,
those pointed to Christ, then, so how much more shall the blood
of Christ Through those offerings they look to Christ. We look
to Christ by the grace of God and all who have already come
and went back and are coming back again. Who through the eternal
Spirit offered Himself without spot to God. Purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God. He purges your conscience
from dead works. What's dead works? Dead works
is trying to justify yourself before God. When you see Christ
as your substitute and yourself and your sin and Christ as your
all, your conscience is purged, ain't it? You don't try to serve
God in order to be saved. No. You're already justified in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He redeemed us. We've been redeemed. Those who, by God's grace, look
to Christ and rest in Christ through a true knowledge of the
Word, in their heart, they have been redeemed. That's it. They're redeemed. And we have
justifying grace, don't we? We're justified in the Lord Jesus
Christ. God's people are justified. What
does it mean to be justified? Always remember this. Just if
I'd never sinned. That's justified. to be counted
before God as though you had never committed one sin. Why?
How are you counted that way? Because sin is completely annihilated. Sin is completely put away once
and for all by the sacrifice of Christ. It's been put away.
There is no condemnation. There is no sin between me and
God for God to punish. You see what I'm saying? Sin
has done been punished. I'm a sinner in this flesh, yes.
And I come short and fail the glory of God, but in Christ,
I'm justified. I'm counted before God as though
I had never sinned in my life. That's right. So we're justified
freely by the grace of God, which is in Christ Jesus through the
redemption that is in Christ. And to preach conditional election
is to preach salvation by works, right? And to preach salvation
by works is to preach a false gospel. And to preach a false
gospel is damning to the souls of men. Nobody's ever going to
be saved under a false gospel. That's what we're saying. You
must hear the truth by the grace of God. And it must be applied
by the power of God to you. To you. And Christ must become
your Savior, you see. were justified freely freely
god justifies people it's not what people does for god it's
what god does with his people he justifies them in christ being
justified freely by his grace how through the redemption that
is in christ through the shed blood of the lord jesus christ
romans 4 5 says but to him that worketh not but believeth on
him that justifies the ungodly his faith is counting for righteousness
you see that He has true faith. That's what he's saying. To him
that worketh not for justification. He didn't mean you didn't work. He meant what you're working
for. See? If you're working to be justified
before God, then it's to him that worketh not to be justified.
That's who it's to. See? But believe of him that
believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ. Him that believeth on him. He
justified the ungodly. We know who we are, don't we?
By nature, we're ungodly. But He justifies us. We're accepted
in Him. God looked at me as I am. He'd
have to condemn me to eternal damnation. But in Christ, I'm
justified. If I'm in Christ. I'm holy before
God. How holy? As holy as God. Can
you explain that? No, I can't. But it's so. God
couldn't accept me any other way. So it's justifying grace. It's
a regenerating grace, ain't it? You have He quickened. You come
to Christ. And because you come to Christ,
you're saved. Isn't that what He said? No. He quickened you. He caused you
to despair. He brought you to Christ. See
that? He worked grace in you, the Spirit in you. He gave you
faith. He gave you the Word. He gave
you understanding of the Word. You saw yourselves. You know
who you are. You know who Christ is. You came
to Christ. That's regenerating grace. If
you've come to Christ in regenerating grace, you've been quenched by
the Holy Spirit. You've been made alive. You really see Christ. You see
yourself in the light of God and you're nothing and nobody,
but Christ is all. In this flesh, you know, you
were spiritually dead. You are spiritually dead in this
flesh. By nature. By nature, children of wrath,
even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy for His great
love for women, He loved us. Even when we were dead in trespasses
and sin. And He had raised us up together,
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. So sinners by nature are spiritually
the dead. And to put any condition upon
a sinner who is spiritually dead before they can live is to tell
them that there is no hope. See that? If salvation is dependent
upon the dead man, then there's no hope. I'm as much dead by
nature as a dead man is in the flesh when he's lying here in
front of us. See that? He can't move. He can't think.
He can't do anything in that body. Well, that's how dead I
am by nature. And for me to come to Christ,
to God by nature, I can't do it. It's impossible. I have to
be made a new creature in Christ. I have to be given faith in Christ. I have to be given trust and
rest in Christ. I have to be given the righteousness
of God in Christ and only in Christ. See that? It all has
to be given to me. It's not anything I do for God,
but it's what God does with me and in me. It's unconditional. If I had anything to do with
it, it would be conditional. And it's not of works, it's of
grace. See that? It can't be of works because
of who I am. It has to be of grace because
of who God is. John 1.11-13 says, He came unto
His own, and His own received Him not, but as many as received
Him. See that? He came unto His own
flesh and blood, His own nature there in flesh and blood in that
regard. But they didn't receive Him. They couldn't. They couldn't
by nature. But some did. Why? Because it was given unto them
to receive him. Why didn't all of them receive
him? It wasn't given unto them at the time, was it? It wasn't.
He came into his own flesh and blood, in his own receiving not. But as many as received him,
to them gave, there it is, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God. How did they receive him? He
gave them the power to do it with. even to them which believe
on his name. What was the result of him giving
them that power, that revelation, that faith and that knowledge?
The result of it is they came to believe on him. Who gave it
to them? He did. They received him. See that? He gave it to them.
Which were born, not of blood, there it is, nor the will of
the flesh, nor the will of man. They were born, if they received
him in right, by the Spirit of God, in truth. They were born. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible seed, the Word of God, the true Word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. That means if you've
been born again by the Spirit of God, brought to faith in Christ
through the Word of God, that Word will live and abide forever. You'll never go back to yourself
and justify yourself before God. That's what it says. It's regenerating grace. It's
what God has done. It's what Christ has done. He
quickened us and made us alive in Christ Jesus. Made us new
creatures. John 3 says the wind bloweth
where it listeth. This is pertaining to the Spirit.
God's Spirit. And thou hearest the sound thereof,
but cannot tell whence it cometh or where it goeth. So is everyone
that's born of the Spirit. Born of the Spirit. He sends
it forth. See that? wherever He directs
it. They might be two sitting together
at the same time. The Gospel. God might use His
Gospel to speak to the harsher one and send it into that heart,
and that other might not even know when nothing has been said.
You see what I'm saying? That's the deference. The wind
bloweth where He sends it. The Spirit goes where He sends
it. Where it lifts us. Where He directs it. But those
that He directs it to will believe on Christ. They will come to
Christ. They will rest in Christ. But they don't stake anything
in their cunning. It wasn't because of their nature
that they came. It's because of God. It's God
bringing them. It's the spirit that quickeneth.
The flesh profiteth nothing. Nothing. The words that I speak
to you, they are spirit and they are truth. When God speaks the
word to the hearts of His people, they're spirit. They're truth.
It's not of him that will. It's not of him that worketh
or runneth. But it's of God alone that shows mercy to the undeserving. And we have sanctifying grace.
Sanctified. Sanctifying grace. Unconditional. We're sanctified. We're holy. Perfect before God. Completely
holy. Christ is our sanctification
and He is. He's our holiness. We don't dare
to try to do anything or present ourselves in any way, shape,
form or fashion before God to get God to receive us on something
that we are. No. Christ is our sanctification. We're perfect in Christ before
God. That's what the Word of God teaches. Hebrews 10, 10-14 says, By which
will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. You see that? One time, that's
it. He offered himself once. By one
offering you are perfected forever. He hath perfected forever them
that are chosen, them that are counted in Christ, looked upon
in Christ, them that are sanctified. Christ put away their sins. The wrath of God is satisfied,
right? You're sanctified. You're holy.
Not in yourselves, no, but in Christ. And every priest stand up daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sins. Those high priests back under
the law, they offered up them sacrifices. These sacrifices
didn't put away sin. These sacrifices didn't make
men holy before God. They pointed to the Lord Jesus
Christ. That one sacrifice, by one offering, He had perfected. See that? He sanctified by one
offering. But this man, after he had offered
one, there it is, one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. For by one offering, how be sanctified? By that one. By that one. Even
when God purposed in Christ to have us, He looked at us in Christ,
or He couldn't have purposed it. See that? That one offering,
we're perfected forever in the Lord Jesus Christ. For by one
offering, He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, them
that God hath purposed, them that God chose. They were made
holy, how? In the Lord Jesus Christ, in
the mind of God, and in time, God sent Him forth. to do what
He had already purposed. And in time, God will call those
by His grace and by His power and reveal Christ in them the
hope of glory. They will come to faith in Christ
by the grace of God. They will love Christ. They will
serve Christ. They will look to Christ. Their
heart will rest upon Christ and no where else. They will sin
and come short of God's glory. But they're accepted, I'm telling
you. They seek to serve, don't they?
They're accepted in the Beloved. Of God are you in Christ Jesus? Who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification? There it is. There's our sanctification.
We're perfect in Christ before God. It's nonsense for a man to preach
conditional sanctification. You become more holy as you do
more. No. That's the same nature you
started with. What you do is really heap sin
upon sin. That's what you do. The longer we live in this world,
the more sin we heap up, really. It really is. That's the more
we sin and the more our minds think about the things that's
not right and true. And in this flesh, we can't help
it. We just get We don't get better. You get worse. Worse. Really. It's only by the grace
of God. Where does the Bible command
a man to try to sanctify himself? Make yourself holy and live a
good life. Be a child of God and I'll save
you. He don't say that. That's not
scripture. To preach conditional sanctification
is to preach conditional holiness. You put yourself in a condition
to be holy. If you quit doing this or quit
doing that, quit cursing, quit swearing, quit sinning, and you
strive for perfection more and more, you're more sanctified.
You get bigger and bigger and bigger, closer and closer and
closer, till you get right into heaven. That just don't sound
right, does it? No. We're sanctified. in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 3.13 says, O foolish
Galatians, who have bewitched you that you should not obey
the truth. What does the truth proclaim?
Christ. Christ. Wherefore, whose eyes
Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth. There it is. He's
been evidently set forth. How? Only in truth. In the truth. Crucified among you. This only
would I learn of you, receive you the Spirit by the works of
the law or by the hearing of faith. Are you so foolish, having
begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?
Are you so foolish, if you've begun in the Spirit, having begun
in the Spirit, are you so foolish to look back at the flesh and
say, I'll do this and I'll do that and I'll be more justified
before God? When if you have faith in Christ,
by the grace of God, new creature, you're justified completely in
the Lord Jesus Christ. You're fully sanctified. You're
counted holy. And you're going back to works
to say that you can make yourself more holy. That's ignorance of God's righteousness
and going about to establish your own righteousness. We serve
him because of faith and love, don't we? Not to justify ourselves,
because when we look at what we've done, it's full of holes,
it's full of sin. Christ takes it and straightens
it out. And we have preserving grace,
which is unconditional, and all the graces of God are unconditional. In Jude 1 it says, Jude the servant
of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are sanctified
by God the Father and preserved, preserved in Christ Jesus, and
then called, see that? They were sanctified by God.
What does that mean? That means that God counted them
holy in Christ. Sanctified by God the Father
and preserved in Christ Jesus. When? before the foundation of
the world in the mind and purpose of God. It must come to pass.
It did. It shall. He's come back. They
are preserved in Christ Jesus. And then called. You know how
you can things and you seal it and when that seal pops it goes
down and it closes it off. It's preserved. And that still,
as long as it stays, That can't ruin. You know that? Well, God's
people are preserved in Christ. They can't change directions.
They will be brought to Christ. See that? They're preserved.
That's what he's talking about here. Preserved in Christ Jesus
and then called. They're preserved under their
calling. God cannot fail but to call them. He will call them.
They shall know Christ. They will bow to Christ, won't
they? They will. They're preserved. God has preserved
them in Christ before the world began. And He calls them in time
when He's pleased to do so. But He will reveal Christ to
their hearts. Those whom He preserves, He will
speak to them. He will regenerate them, make
them a new creature. John 10, 27. Here's proof. 27-30.
10, 27-30. My sheep hear My voice. Whose voice is that? That's the
voice of God. When they hear His gospel preached,
they hear His voice. He speaks to their heart. He
gives them a heart. And He speaks to their heart.
And I know them. When did He know us? He always
knew us. We didn't know Him. But they
will hear. My sheep hear. I'll see to it.
I'll speak to them. And they follow Me. Those that
hear, they look to Christ. They follow after Christ. They
rest in Christ. And He said, I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish. How long is never? Well, there's no end to it. I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of My hand. And My Father which gave them
Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out
of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one. So they preserved in Christ,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. In Him that
God has given me, I will in no wise cast out. I came down to heaven, not to
do my own will individually or separately, but as a man I had
to take their place and to represent them and to die for them. Not
to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this
is the Father's will which has sent me. This is, see there,
of all which ye have given me, I might lose one. I didn't know what he said, is
it? I should lose nothing, but should raise them up again at
the last day. They are preserved, ain't they,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And they shall in time be glorified. They'll be made like Christ.
And with Christ, won't it? They'll be glorified. They will
receive a heavenly inheritance. God will see to it. That's our
reward. Our reward is glory, ain't it? We will see Him in glory. Christ
is our re-reward. We will be with Him and see Him.
It's not something that we earned or that we purchased, but it's
something that He purchased for us. See that? And to preach the
degrees of righteousness, The degrees of glory for man to be
glorified is based upon works. That's to preach salvation by
works. To preach salvation by works is to preach a false gospel,
a damning gospel. That's what it is. Damning to
the souls of men.