Samuel chapter 2. My text will
be found in the first verse, 1 Samuel chapter 2, the opening
words of Hannah's prayer. Hannah prayed and said, My heart
rejoiceth in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over my
enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation. Now let me bring
you up to date with the historical setting of our text. If you want
to read at your leisure the first chapter, you will find that there
was described in that chapter a godly man, a man who feared
and worshipped the Lord God by the name of Elkanah, who had
two wives, Hannah and Benaiah, or Benina, I don't really know
how you would pronounce her name, but it's not too important. She's
not too important. Elkanah loved Hannah. He was devoted to Hannah. He favored Hannah. Hannah was
a believing, godly woman, but she was barren. God had closed
up her womb, and she had no children. Whereas Peninnah, Elkanah's other
wife, had many children, and she was a cruel, cruel woman. harassed Hannah because the Lord
had shut up her womb. And Hannah, of course, worshiping
God, believing God, was terribly distressed by her circumstances.
When Elkina went up to Shiloh to worship God at the feast time,
Hannah went with him. And she found herself alone before
the Lord, pouring out her heart to God. You remember Eli came
in and saw her praying, and he saw her lips moving. The old
man saw her lips moving, but he But he didn't hear any sounds
coming out of her mouth, because Hannah wasn't praying to Eli.
She wasn't speaking to a man. She wasn't speaking to being
heard of a man. She was praying to God from her heart. She poured
out her soul to the Lord. And Eli at first thought she
was drunk, but when Hannah told him exactly what she was doing,
then Eli made a prophecy. He said, you go home, and God
will give you a son, as you requested. Now, Hannah promised the Lord
that if he was pleased, to give her a son, that she would give
that son to him to serve him all the days of her son's life.
And so she went home, and the scripture tells us that the Lord
remembered her. Alcana and Hannah soon had the
boy that God had promised, and she called his name Samuel, which
means asked of the Lord. And then when Alcana went back
to worship at Shiloh, The men were required to go, you know,
according to the law, three times a year. They had to go up to
Shiloh to keep the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Pentecost, and the
Feast of Tabernacles. But only the men were required
to go. The women were not required under the law to go and keep
those feasts. Only the heads of the household were required
to. Hannah didn't go back to Shiloh until Samuel was weaned
and old enough to be left at Shiloh there to serve the priest
and to take care of the priest's needs as God made it an opportunity. Don't think about Hannah taking
Samuel. Oftentimes, if you've seen Bible
story pictures and Bible story books, you'll see Hannah taking
her little baby Samuel up to Shiloh to be left there. Those
daughters weren't going to the daycare center. They were God's
servants. They were there to serve the
Lord God. Now when the child was weaned,
we understand that in those days, the weaning of the Jewish children
generally was done in three stages. First, when the child was about
three years old, he would be weaned from his mother's breast.
And then when he was seven years old, he would be weaned from
the care of a nurse. And then when he was twelve years
old, That child would be weaned from childish ways and childish
behavior. From that time, a man or a boy
was expected to behave as a man, and he was given responsibilities
as a man. So when Samuel was brought up
to the priest to serve God in the house of God, he was at least
12 or 13 years old. And so Hannah went up after the
child was weaned, and she brings him to the Lord. And she does
that which she had promised she would do. And she offered a prayer. What
a prayer it is. We've read it in those ten verses
of chapter two, the first ten verses. In this prayer, Hannah,
this dear lady who believed God, who had experienced such goodness
at God's hand, adores the divine perfections. She adores the greatness
of God's providence, and she adores and extols the glory of
his grace. Now, that trouble which Hannah
experienced, we recognize, was physical, carnal trouble. It
had to do with carnal things. It was because her room was shut
up, because she was barren, because she was harassed and teased and
constantly derided by her husband's other wife. Hannah had this great
heaviness of soul. But whenever you read this prayer
that Hannah offers in chapter 2, you clearly understand She
understood these things to be a picture of the believer's troubles
as it comes to Jesus Christ in faith. She understood these things
to be a picture of spiritual trouble. And she understood her
deliverance out of trouble as being a picture of our salvation
by God's grace. And so Hannah opens the chapter
like this. She says, My heart rejoiceth
in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over my
enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation." Now, I wrote
this morning, if God will enable me, to talk to you about his
salvation. I take Hannah's words for the
title of my message. I rejoice in thy salvation. And it is my prayer. It is my
prayer. that every one of you, before
you leave this house of worship today, will be able from the
depth of your heart to declare, I rejoice in thy salvation. I recognize, however, that you
will never rejoice in God's salvation. Not really. Now, you might sit
in church services and wave a handkerchief and clap your hands and shout
hallelujah, but you will never rejoice in God's salvation. until you understand by experience
what it is. You'll never rejoice in God's
salvation until you are made like Hannah to experience the
fullness of God's grace. You'll never pour out your soul
to the Lord like she did until, like her, you are brought to
bitterness of soul by the hand of God's providence. You will
not seek life, that life which God gives, until you are made
to understand the utter barrenness and deadness of your soul, so
that you have no life in yourself before him. Before the Lord lifts
you up by his grace, you can bank on it, he'll bring you down.
Before the Lord is pleased to cause you to sit among prickses,
he will cause you to sit as a beggar upon the dunghill of fallen humanity. Before he causes you to inherit
the throne of his glory, he will cause you to know the utter desperation
of your depraved, darkened soul. And so as we look at this passage
of scripture this morning, and look into the word of God concerning
God's salvation, I want to proclaim to you The good news that God
Almighty has sent me to proclaim to guilty, helpless, hell-bent,
hell-deserving, doomed, damned sinners. I'm here to tell you
that if you're here this morning recognizing yourself to be a
lost, justly condemned sinner, God Almighty is gracious in saving
sinners. We sing that hymn, God's grace
reaches to all the lost. There is certainly a sense in
which we could never say that. God's grace does not reach to
every man who is truly lost, or but to every sinner who knows
himself to be lost. I'm telling you, God's grace
reaches to you. lost, condemned sinners, meaning
women who know themselves to be under the wrath of God, I
punish you. Such sinners will find grace
and mercy in Jesus Christ the Lord. He that is our God is the
God of salvation. Lord God, be pleased this day
to grant these sinners the joy of your salvation. I know this,
in order to rejoice in God's salvation, You have to know what
it is. You have to experience it. And
you have to live in the hope of its consummation. So let's
look at it in these three ways. First, the expression of grace. Secondly, the experience of grace. And thirdly, the expectation
of grace. Shelby and I stopped by to spend
a few hours with my friend, Brother Harry Graham, and his wife, Nova,
on Wednesday. And before I left, he expressed
this outline. That's all they said about it,
just these three parts. I started working on it going
down the road, and then after she'd go to bed at night, I'd
work on it in the bed. Then studying yesterday, and
don't go yesterday, this has been a delightful, delightful
study for me. I have come to rejoice again
and more fully in God's salvation because of considering these
three things. First, the expression of grace. Salvation is God's
expression of grace to sinners. Here is God's revelation and
God's declaration of his infinite love, mercy, and grace to sinners
in Christ and for Christ's sake. That is God's expression of grace
to us, his salvation. Now, salvation is by grace alone. As you're taking notes, when
you write down salvation is by grace alone, underscore with
bold lines that word alone. A local Campbellite preacher
wrote a while back in our local newspaper, he said that while
the Bible says that salvation is by grace, it never says that
salvation is by grace alone. Now I'm going to shock you, I'm
going to agree with the Campbellite, he's exactly right. The Bible
nowhere says salvation is by grace alone. The Bible no less
states that verbally in plain written English, so that you
read in the Bible, salvation by grace alone. And there's a
reason for that. There's a reason for that. Now
you listen carefully. You can write this down and remember
it. This book is intentionally written
by God. It is intentionally designed
by God. to be confusing to unbelieving
men who will not submit to the Scriptures. It is deliberately
written by God to confuse those who will not bow to what it says.
No, the Bible does not specifically say salvation is by grace alone. But there are many, many things
plainly taught in the Scriptures that are expressed, that are
never expressly stated in the scriptures. Let me give you some
examples. The Word of God certainly teaches that this book is the
verbal, plenary-inspired Word of God. That's it. That's it. Find those words for me in the
New Testament. Find them for me in the Bible. But they're
not written in that. But the doctrine is clearly taught.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Holy men of old wrote
or spoke as they were moved by Jehovah's in it. God demands
that any man who adds to this book shall have added to him
the greater part of condemnation in the lake of fire. And any
man who takes from this book shall have taken from him all
the blessings and grace and mercy that he enjoys in this world
in everlasting damnation. This book is the verbally inspired,
plainly inspired Word of God Almighty, and the Scriptures
everywhere teach it, though they know we're saying. The Scriptures
clearly teach the doctrine of the Trinity. That is, that God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one God,
subsisting in three divine persons, eternally existent, eternally
co-equal in all things. The Scriptures know we're saying
this is the Trinity. Nowhere, nowhere, but it everywhere
teaches it. You see what I'm saying? Now,
this is what God says. There are three that are erected
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these
three are one. That plainly teaches the doctrine
of the Trinity, but it doesn't state Trinity per se. The Word
of God clearly teaches the incarnation of Christ. The Son of God assumed
thy nature. God came into the world. His
name's Immanuel, God with us. But nowhere is the word incarnation
used in Scripture. The word of God certainly teaches
the vicarious atonement of Christ, substitutionary redemption. But
the words vicarious and substitution are never used in the Scriptures,
though the words always are represented by what's taught in the Scripture.
For God hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. The word satisfaction
is never used in the scripture with regard to Christ's atonement,
but there is no atonement apart from the satisfaction of justice.
So there are many, many things clearly taught in the scriptures
that are never verbally expressed in the scriptures, and certainly
that is true with regard to this business of salvation by grace.
This is the universal doctrine of Older Scripture. Salvation
is by grace. Underscore it, alone. Alone. That means your works and my
works. Our doings, our experiences,
our anything, does not at any point yearn to the scheme of
salvation. No way. Listen to the Testimony
of Scripture. Let's look at the Book of Romans.
Turn to the Book of Romans, if you will. Now let's listen to
exactly what the book says. Romans chapter 3. Now, this is not my opinion,
this is not the opinion of the Baptist Church, this is not the
opinion of Calvinists, this is not the opinion of Gil, this
is the opinion of God himself. This is what God says. And God
wants you to believe God, you bow to what God says. It's just
that simple. I won't bow to it, whether you
go to hell or there. Believers bow to what God says.
Romans 3.28. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith Do you see that? Now, almost universally,
when Paul says, this is how we're saved, almost universally he
says, without works. In fact, just in case you don't
understand, your works haven't got a fragile thing to do with
it. We're saved by grace. He's talking here about justification.
We're justified by faith. That is, we're justified by Christ,
who is the object of our faith, without the deeds of the law. Romans chapter 4, the Apostle
is giving us illustrations of this justification by faith.
For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it
was counted to him, it was imputed unto him for righteousness. Now
to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of
death. Now hold your finger there and
listen. Merle Hart, if you go to Lexington and work for a fellow,
Now, I don't care if you only pick up a piece of board. If
you go to work, and the fellow pays you, he's rewarding you
for your work. That is not a gratuity. That
is not grace. Sometimes, we were eating at
a restaurant the other night, and when I got the bill, there
was a 15% gratuity added to it. Happened to be a very good waiter.
I had no qualms with it. But that's not a gratuity. He
earned every dime. He earned every dime. We call
it a gratuity, but that's not a gratuity at all. That which
is earned is the reward of debt. It's something that's owed to
you. It's something that you have done something to obtain.
It is something that is conditional. Oh, but grace, grace is altogether
without works. It is not reckoned to you according
to God's debt to you. It is not reckoned to you because
of something you do. All right, they don't. But to
him that worketh not, that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly." Now somebody comes along and says,
well, faith is a work. No, Paul says it's not a work.
He says it's not a work. If you can call falling down
a work, I reckon you can call faith a work. If you can call
collapsing a work, I reckon you can call faith a work. Faith
is nothing but falling down on Jesus Christ alone. Faith is
that which we have when we've given up all our works. We fall
down, we collapse upon the merits of Christ. Believest on him that
justifies the ungodly, his faith, that is the object of his faith,
is counted for righteousness. Even as David describeth the
blessedness of that man under whom the Lord imputed righteousness
without works. Look at Romans chapter 9. Romans
the 9th chapter, verse 11. We're talking about salvation
by grace alone, for the children being not yet born, neither having
done any, I'm so thankful the Holy Spirit uses the language
he does, any, nothing great, nothing small, neither having
done any good or evil. that the purpose of God according
to election might stand not of works, there it is again, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Babbling religious idiots talk
like that. Just babbling religious idiots. And I use the words deliberately,
I use the words with great care, I use the words because they
must be said. Babbling religious idiots, spiritual
idiots, men and women who have absolutely no knowledge of God
talk like that. Who in here would dare charge
God with being unrighteous? Who would dare think about saying,
well, it's not right for God to do that. God does what he
will, and it's right because he does it right. God does what
he will. God forbid, Paul says. God forbid! For he said to Moses, when Moses
said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory, God said, stand back
and I'll tell you who I am. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will
have compassion. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose
have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens."
If I don't like that, take it up with God. I'm tired of arguing
with fellas. Quit. Just quit. I'm here to
declare to you God's truth. I'm here to declare to you exactly
what God says, and if you've got an argument with it, take
it up with God. Take it up with God. I've got nothing more to
say. This is what the book says. This is what it says. Look at
chapter 11. Romans the 11th chapter and verse
6. And if by grace, in salvation
by grace alone, what does the book say? If by grace, then Bobby
has no more works. Can anything be finer than that?
I mean, is it possible to read anything any funnier than that?
If you read it in the newspaper, and it wasn't talking about spiritual
things, you'd say, well, that means salvation by grace alone,
and that works. But when you read the Bible, you read the
Bible with preconceived religious notions of nonsense. This book
says if it's by grace, then it's no more of works, otherwise grace
is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it's
no more grace, otherwise work is no more works. In other words,
if you stick your finger in this pie, you ruin the whole thing.
You learn the whole thing. Now look in Galatians 2. Galatians
chapter 2 and verse 16. Let me give you a few more scriptures.
I want you to see this is exactly what is universally taught in
the word of God. Knowing that a man is not justified by the
works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we
have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by
the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law, for by
the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. In chapter
5 of Galatians, chapter 5 and verse 2, the Apostle Paul is writing to
the Galatians. Now remember, he has dealt with the matter
of being justified by works and sanctified by works. There were
those Judaizers in Galatia who came and said, now we recognize
salvation by grace, but now if you really want to be saved by
grace, you've got to be circumcised. And then others come along and
say, okay, okay, we'll concede. We'll concede you're justified
by grace, but if you're going to be real good Christians, if
you're really going to be sanctified, then you've got to be circumcised.
You've got to keep the law. You tell you. It just makes good
sense, though you've got to do something. I was in a preacher
going down there the other day. I want to stay awake when I'm
driving, I turn the nuts on. I was listening to one of them.
And he said, well, you know you've got to do something. That just
makes good sense. Everybody knows that. No, I didn't know that.
This book doesn't teach that. But Paul says in Galatians 5,
2, Behold, I, Paul, saying to you, that if you be circumcised,
I shall profit you nothing. Now, what on earth does that
mean? Does that mean you ladies who have Little boy is for babies,
and it's hospital, you let a doctor circumcise him, he's going to
be lost? No. Does that mean that a person ought never to be circumcised?
No. Why on earth is he talking about
that? He's saying if you do something,
if you do something by which you think that you have separated
yourselves from other men, if you do something by which you
think you have gained God's favor, you've missed Christ altogether.
That's exactly what it means. Baptism. Every believer must
submit to God and believers' baptism. It is an absolute requirement
of obedience to Christ. But if you get in the waters
of baptism thinking by that you've won God's favor, baptism becomes
damnation to you. Understand that? We're not saved
by baptism, we're saved by grace. Look at chapter 5 and verse 4.
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are
justified by the law, You've fallen from grace. And of course,
this preacher I was listening to, he turned to this text of
scripture and read it and said, see there, now you can't fall
from grace if you've never been in grace. What Paul says is you've
missed the whole doctrine of grace. You've missed it all. You've missed the whole boat.
And I'm telling you, this religious world in which we live has missed
the whole boat. The church of the 20th century
has fallen from grace. They've fallen away from the
doctrine of the grace of God. They've departed from apostasy,
from the gospel. The apostle says in Ephesians
2, let me read a couple of passages, you don't need to turn there,
they're familiar. Ephesians 2 verse 8, God hath saved us. Not God might, not God wants
to, God hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
I'm sorry, that's 2 Timothy 1 now. Ephesians 2 really goes like
this, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that none
of yourselves It is the gift of God, not of works lest any
man should boast. And then the apostle says again,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy he hath saved us by the washing of regeneration
and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Well, what on earth do
all those scriptures say? We've read a bunch of them. What
do they say? Salvation is by grace alone. What's that? By grace alone. The grace of God is his free,
unmerited, undeserved, unsought favor and saving goodness, effectually
bestowed upon ill-deserving sinners in Jesus Christ and for Christ's
sake. When the scriptures use the word
grace, you can bank on it. Somewhere right down in your
Bible. I want you to get this. When the Scripture uses the word
grace, these seven things certainly describe God's grace. The grace
of God is set forth in the Scripture in this seven-fold, complete,
perfect manner. First, it is eternal grace. It's eternal grace. The Scripture
tells us that God's grace toward us, Ephesians 1, 3 through 6,
was from eternity. God blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in eternity. God chose us in eternity. God adopted us in eternity. God predestinated us in eternity. God accepted us in person in
eternity. Grace didn't begin yesterday,
it's from eternity. It's God's great act to do, and
he who is the eternal God is the God of eternal grace. Not
only is God's grace eternal, but the grace of God is sovereignly
bestowed upon chosen sinners. That means this. You don't determine
where God sends his grace. You don't determine it by your
actions. You don't determine it by your prayers. You don't
determine it by your desires. You don't determine it. There's
not a man or woman here who has a child who would not, if they
had it in their power, bring God's grace to their children.
But I'm telling you, God doesn't teach, the Word of God doesn't
teach household salvation. You can't fetch grace to your
children. You can't do it. You can't do it. You say, well,
I just believe otherwise. Well, then believe as you want
to. David said concerning this house, Although my house be not
so with God." That man, who alone is described as being a man of
God's own heart, had a house full of rebels. A house full
of rebels. He couldn't bring grace to them.
If he could have brought grace to Epsom, do you think Epsom
would have perished under the wrath of God? If David could
have brought grace to Edmund, do you think Edmund would have
perished under the wrath of God? You can't fetch grace to your
sons and daughters. You can't bring grace to men
and women. Nothing you do determines grace. God's grace is softly
bestowed so that it is not of him that liveth, nor of him that
runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Well, Pastor, what do
we do with our sons and daughters? You pray for them. You train
them with care and discipline in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord. You direct them and instruct them in the things
of God, and you commit them to God's hands and plead with God
to be merciful, and that's all you do. That's all you do. God's
greatest third measure is discriminating. That means God makes a difference
between men. These days we, you know, our politically incorrect
society says we don't have any discrimination on any grounds.
Oh, yes you do. Everybody makes discriminating
choices every day of their lives. Every day of their lives. Discriminating
on the basis of what they see. God's discriminating grace is
not on the basis of what he sees, but on the basis of what he determines. God says, don't look for me. If all the wretched human beings
Walking the streets of Western Southern North Carolina. He couldn't
have chosen one more unlikely, one more likely to wind up in
hell. He couldn't have chosen one more
likely to be the constant butt of everlasting joke and jesting
because of his ungodliness. But God said, I'll be his God,
you'll be my child. Why? Because God said it, that's
all. But what about Veritas? God passed five generations and
called this man. What have you that you've not
received? And if you've received it, how do you boast as if you
have not received it? Who makes you to differ? God
does. God's grace is free. He said,
I will love them freely. We're justified freely. by his
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. And free
grace is unconditional grace. It's unconditional. When I say
unconditional, I can't stress it enough, I can't spend a lot
of time talking about it, but it's unconditional when God first
determined to be gracious to us. Bill Raleigh, if you're his,
if you're his, God determined to be gracious to you without
consideration of anything you've done. And it's unconditional
when you experience it. If you're His, when God came
to you, there wasn't anything in you to appeal to Him. Nothing
in you to attract Him. And it's unconditional in its
continuance. That means God will never take
it away. That means God will never cease
to be gracious, for the gifts and callings of God are without
prejudice. He says, I will not turn away
from them to do them good. And God's grace is immutable. The Lord God says, I am the Lord,
I change not. Therefore, you tricky, deceitful,
sinful, suppiting sons of Jacob are not conceived. Lindsay was teaching here this
morning on God's sovereignty on a blessed subject. And that
man had been faithful. It gets better in his teaching
all the time. Been faithful for so many years, not only to this
congregation, but to God and the gospel of his grace. But
there's only one reason why he continues to this day. It's because
God doesn't change. Lots of change in you, my friend.
Lots of change. Humanly speaking, the dependable,
faithful, stay with it right there all the time, mayhem. Spiritually
speaking, if God takes his finger off you, you're gone. God's grace
doesn't depend on you. God's grace is And that which is immutable is
forever. That which God has done, he did
it forever. No man can put to it, no man
can take from it. God does it, that means you stand
before him. Now, any mixture of grace with
works is a total, total, total, total denial of grace. That's
what Romans 11 says. We read it in Those who have
mixed baptism, church membership, good works, Bible reading, prayer,
personal righteousness, Sabbath-keeping, obedience to the law, or anything
else with the merits of Christ and the grace of God, as the
grounds of salvation and acceptance with God, are totally without
the knowledge of God. Totally without the knowledge
of God. Salvation is of the Lord. We are not saved to any degree
by what we do, but by what God does for us, what God does in
us, and what God does with us. Our salvation in time is the
expression and revelation of God's eternal everlasting purpose
of grace toward us in Jesus Christ. Turn to Romans chapter 8 for
a moment. Romans 8 chapter I'm deliberately spending the
bulk of my time on this expression of grace, because I want you
to understand that this is the root of it all. Romans 8 verse
28, we know, we know that all things work together for good,
to them that love God, to them who are recalled according to
his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, the
word is foreordain, or forelove. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son. He destined beforehand to
be conformed to Christ, that he might be, that Christ might
be, the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did
predestinate, them, all of them, only them, none but them, he
also called. Whom he called them, all of them,
none but them. none but them, only them, and
all of them. He did, he also justified and
only justified them, all of them, only them, and none but them. He also glorified. This is what
Paul says again in 2 Timothy 1. God has saved us and called
us with an holy call, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began, but is now made manifest, that is, is
now revealed and expressed to us by the appearing of our Savior
Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel. Our experience in time does not,
in any way, to any degree, affect God's eternal purpose. Our experience
of grace in time is the fruit and the result of God's purpose
of grace toward us from eternity. So that the grace which the Lord
God expresses to us in salvation is perfect and complete. It too
is described in the text we have read. in this sevenfold manner.
It's described as covenant grace. It's grace arranged from eternity
with assurity. It's described as electing grace.
It's described as redeeming grace and justifying grace. It's described
as regenerating grace, sanctifying grace, and glorifying grace.
So that all for whom the covenant was made, all for whom grace
was designed, shall in the last day be glorified with God Almighty,
by his grace, in Jesus Christ our Redeemer." What grace begins,
it continues. And what it continues, it will
complete. Now, if ever a sinner comes to
understand and know God's salvation as the expression of grace, he
will sing with Hannah, in thy salvation. Amazing grace, how
sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but
now am found, was blind, but now I see." Philip Doddridge
and Augustus Toplady together, though years apart, together
they wrote this in. Grace to the charming sound,
harmonious to the earth, heaven with the echo shall resound,
and all the earth shall hear. Grace first contrived a way to
save rebellious man, and all the steps that grace displayed
which drew the wondrous flesh. Grace first inscribed my name
in God's eternal book, t'was grace that gave me to the Lamb
who all my sorrows took. Grace led my roving feet to tread
the heavenly road, and use the plies each hour I need by presting
on to God. Grace taught my soul to pray,
and made my eyes overflow. It was grace that kept me to
this day, and will not let me go. Grace holds the works of
prayer. Through everlasting days it lays
in heaven the talk most old, and well deserves the praise. Now having said all that, let
me quickly add this. If all you know is the expression
of grace, if all you know of God's salvation
is that which is expressed and revealed darkly in the scriptures,
you are yet in your sense as lost and undone as those who've
never heard the name of God. The doctrines of grace, delightful
as they are, are of absolutely no benefit to our souls until
we experience them. So second, let me talk to you
a little bit about salvation as the experience of grace. Theoretical grace will be of
no more help to a dying soul. Theoretical grace can do no more
for a doomed, damned, helpless sinner. than theoretical life
preservers can help a drowning man. A theory will never save
you, a doctrine will never save you, no matter how clearly you
think you understand that doctrine. Election is glorious, delightful,
we rejoice in God's election, but election is not salvation.
Election is untrue salvation. You take a man who's thirsty
and And some of y'all, I know, looking at a glass of water,
as soon as I get done preaching, you're going to get you a drink.
You're thirsty. But not real thirsty. If you're real thirsty,
I mean real thirsty, you'd be up here drinking. But it's not
nice to look at a glass of water anymore. And somebody stands
up and he says, now before you drink water, let me explain to
you what the chemical makeup is. And let me show you the makeup
of oxygen in your body. And all those things that go
into the making of that water. And be sure you understand where
that glass came from. How pretty that glass is, what
shape it's hooked. That's utter nonsense. A man who's thirsty would never
even be concerned about those things. As a matter of fact,
he wouldn't even be polite if he was real thirsty. He'd grab
the water, and gulp by gulp, he would quench his thirst. And
then if he got any questions, he'd go back to him. Now I'm
telling you, sinners in need of mercy. may hold of Christ
and quench the thirst of your soul. Are you thirsty? Oh, are
you thirsty for grace, for life, for righteousness, for forgiveness?
Thirsty for peace with God. Thirsty for your soul to be accepted
of God? Hear what the Savior says. Whoso
drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. Never thirst. I'll tell you exactly
what that means. That doesn't mean you won't have
any thirst for carnal things. You'll still have that. That
means if you get the right Savior, you'll never want another one.
That means if you get the Son of God, you'll cease looking
elsewhere for satisfaction for your soul's needs. In the last
day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying,
If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. he that beneath
it don't be, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. In this he spoke concerning the
Holy Spirit who dwells in us. The spirit of the bride say come,
and him that hear us say come, and let him that is a first come,
and whosoever will let him take of the water of life. Now if you can This day, drink
from the fountain of grace. You'll go out of here rejoicing
in the experience of grace. I realize that each believer's
experience of grace differs in the details, but I also know
that there are certain things commonly experienced by all who
are born of God. Let me give you a few of them.
Every person who is born of God experiences a creation. You see,
salvation begins with creation. Salvation begins with a regeneration. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things have passed away,
and behold, all things have become new. Before ever there is any
genuine conviction or even concern about spiritual matters in your
soul, you're going to be born again. I'm talking about genuine
conviction. That's what he's going to say,
a genuinely lost sinner, one who genuinely knows himself before
God, a guilty helpless sinner. That means awakened by grace.
That's right. Sometimes the Spirit of God comes
like a rushing and mighty wind, and sometimes it comes like a
gentle ocean breeze. But where the Spirit of God comes,
only there is life on earth. The breath of God must blow upon
this valiant tribe of old, or it'll never live. Understand
what I'm saying? You've got to be born again. A new birth is
not something—that's a cooperative effort between God and men. Preachers
these days talk to sinners as though somehow they've got something
to do with being born again. Walk down the aisle, Say the
sinner's prayer. Repeat after me. Kneel here at
the altar and pray through. Get baptized. Anything. Do something. Just do something.
You don't have to do something. No, if you can do something,
you're not dead. Does that make sense to you? A dead sinner can
do nothing until something's done to him. You've got to have
something done to you. That's the reason I don't stand
up here and plead and beg the sinners. I pray and beg with
God to have mercy on your soul, because if God passes you by,
you're gone. Secondly, wherever the grace
of God comes, in the experience of it, there's a conviction.
When he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will reprove the
world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Now, you don't
have to guess what that means. The word reprove means convince
or convict. God the Holy Spirit comes, he
will reprove the world of sin, not the nonsense being called
sin. Fellows, these days he'll convict
you of smoking, he'll convict you, he'll convict you of going
to a picture show, he'll convict you of having television in your
house, he'll convict you ladies of wearing makeup on your face,
he'll convict you of wearing shorts, he'll convict you of
wearing... Oh, listen to me! He'll reprove the world of sin,
because they believe not only That's the issue between you
and God, is your utter rebellion against God Almighty, your utter
rebellion against Jesus Christ. That's where the root of sin
is. It's your heart of evil. And when God the Holy Spirit
comes to you, nobody will have to tell you you're a sinner.
Nobody. You won't have to go see a psychiatrist
to find out what's going on. You know the problems in your
heart. God's shown you you're a sinner
and you can't stand yourself. The problem with this religious
generation Because we're like an attractive young lady looking
at herself in the mirror. You know, she stands there, she
tries to be modest, but she can't help it. She knows she's so pretty,
she's just goddamn gorgeous. She just knows it. And we look
at ourselves and we just know we're good. We just know there's a certain
glory in us. Oh, but if God ever shatters
and makes you to see what you are in your soul. When God comes,
he will prove, he will convince you of your sin. And when he does that, he'll
convince you of righteousness. Not yours, you ain't got any.
But of his free righteousness, established and brought in by
the obedience and blood of Jesus Christ. Of righteousness, our
Savior says. because I go to my father and
you've seen me no more." If he hadn't brought in everlasting
righteousness, he could never ascend back to the father. End
of judgment, values of justice satisfied, the prince of this
world is judged. When the Holy Spirit comes in
saving power, this is what he does, he convinces every sinner,
every sinner chosen, redeemed, and called by grace, he convinces
them of their sin. of Christ's righteousness and
of Christ's satisfaction of divine justice. In other words, he convinces
them that while they have no grounds upon which to stand before
God and themselves, Jesus Christ, by his obedience and by his death,
is sufficient to present us holy and unbindable, unrepeatable
before the presence of God himself. and those who are born of God's
Spirit experience a calling. Being convinced of Christ's finished,
all-sufficient work of redemption, as the sinner's substitute, we
have been called, effectually, irresistibly called by God the
Holy Spirit. The Apostle said we were chosen
through salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief whereunto
he called you by our gospel." Notice that belief of the truth
is the result of the Spirit's call, not the result of our decision. Faith in Christ involves belief
of the truth, and that faith is the gift of the operation
of God. Many women aren't saved believing heresy. Many women
aren't saved believing lies. People ask me all the time, Don't
you think that we ought to consider not being so plain-spoken about
the exclusiveness of the gospel? No, we need to be more plain-spoken.
We need to be more plain-spoken. In recent years, I've watched
men who once were stolen, stolen, stolen! in declaring the gospel
of God's free grace. Turn now and seek to find grounds
of unification with the Church of Rome. Why? Because we recognize
there's some sin, and this is just too divisive, and we want
to be unified with Christians of all walks. Yes, Christians
of all walks, not pagans of all walks. Those who are born of
God are born of God and given belief of the truth. And that truth is Jesus Christ
crucified, our Redeemer, our Sovereign Lord. And wherever
there is the work of God the Holy Spirit, there is a coming.
Faith is described as coming to Christ. To whom coming? To
whom coming? To whom coming? It's not something
you do with your feet. It's not even something you do
with your mints. It's something you do in your heart, right where
you are. God helped you come to Christ,
come to him. All right, one third day. Our salvation has only begun
here. We live in the expectation of
grace, and we have great expectations. The apostle says, now is our
salvation nearer than when we believed. Lord willing, I'll
talk to you a little more about that tonight, but let me, let
me say these three things. This is what I expect. This is
what I expect. I don't mean, I don't mean, I
hope you hear me. I don't mean, Jay, I hope maybe,
someday, possibly, this will be the end of my life. J-heart,
this is what I expect from God. This is what I expect from God.
Not because I'm a good man. To my part, I acknowledge I'm
not a man. Not because I labor in the Word. Not because I attend church like
I ought to. I expect these three things from
God because I trust Jesus Christ alone as my Redeemer. I expect,
when I have finished my course here, Rex, to enter into a glorious
rest. For there remaineth therefore
a rest, an everlasting Sabbath to the people of God. And secondly,
I expect a glorious resurrection. As we have borne the image of
the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Behold,
I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at
the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed for this
corruptible, this decaying flesh. must put on incorruption, and
this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death
is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O death, where is thy victory? The sting of death, the sin,
the strength of sin is the law. The thanks be unto God which
giveth us the victory. through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And I'll tell you what else I expect. I expect a glorious reward. We are heirs of God and joint
heirs with Jesus Christ. I really can't talk much about
heaven's glory because I don't know much about it. When we get to the other side,
I'll tell you this. I'll tell you this. Whatever Jesus Christ,
the Son of Man, our Mediator is, Martinson, whatever he possesses,
whatever he possesses, whatever he enjoys, I fully expect to
be, to possess, and to enjoy forever because he possesses
it, he is what he is, and he enjoys what he enjoys as my mediator
and my representative. This is God's salvation in the
expression of grace, the experience of grace, and the expectation
of grace. Oh, may God grant it to you this
day. so that you can go home rejoicing
in his salvation. Amen.