I invite you to turn back with
me to the book of James chapter 4. The book of James chapter
4. Let me read beginning with verse
6. But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth
the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves
therefore to God. Resist the devil, he will flee
from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will
draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners.
Purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep.
Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness.
Verse 10, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he
shall lift you up. But he giveth more grace. He giveth grace unto the humble. I felt this morning, shut up
to this verse of scripture, it was a verse that provided some
encouragement and grace, renewed strength for me, the grace of
God. Here, we're told that the Lord
giveth more grace. These words were written, of
course, to believers, those that James ministered to, and he wrote
these words saying that God would give more grace to them. He would
give grace to them. The scripture says that God resisted
the proud. God resisted those that depend
upon their own strength. God resisted those that believe
that they're sufficient in themselves for the task. But he says God
will give grace unto the humble. The man who has come and experientially
learned his inabilities, learned his deficiencies, learn that
he is nothing in and of himself, and that it's God that must always
give the blessing and the increase, and when there is any increase
in strength or grace or whatever, We know that it's the Lord that
gave it because we're nothing in and of ourselves. It's God
that giveth the increase. So the grace of God is the favor
of God. It's that kind favor of God. It's that which flows from God
into the heart of guilty man. We do not deserve the grace of
God and even as believers, all that comes from God is, of course,
free grace. We don't earn it as an unbeliever
and certainly we don't earn it after we become believers. It
flows out through the kindness and mercy of God. And we understand
by our study and reading of the Word of God that when the Bible
talks about the riches of His goodness And when the Bible talks
about His long-suffering, when the Bible talks about God's forbearance
toward His own, and all that we've experienced in our life,
all that awakens, all that informs, all that humbles, all that consoles,
all that animates our hearts and makes us meet for the inheritance
of the saints in light, it's all of grace. It's all of God's
grace which He's given. The importance of grace is unspeakable. It is unspeakable. Now we believe
here that salvation is of grace. We're told that plainly over
and over in the Word of God. Salvation is by grace. Now the reason that salvation,
I think there's two reasons basically why salvation is of grace and
why all of God's dealings with these people is through grace.
And that is number one, because of who God is. God is a God who
is quite able to do whatever he purposes and whatever he sets
out to do. He's a very able God. And he
has a purpose which he is sticking to, which he is bound by oath
to complete. And in this purpose, God has
determined that he will have a family. He's determined that
his son will have a bride, and that the Holy Spirit will have
a temple. And God is going to save his people. Now, he's not
left that to man. Because of who man is, man is
unable to save himself. He's unable to do anything that
will bring him into favor with God. Because of man's fall in
the garden, all men are by nature at enmity against God. They are
enemies of God, and they are not in any way, shape, or form
attempting to side with God, or in any way attempting to fit
into the purpose of God. They must be fit into that purpose
by the sovereign grace and mercy of God. And so the importance
of grace. Without grace, we'd all be lost.
There would be none of us here that would be able to say this
morning, I am saved. I have been delivered. I have
been rescued. I've been brought back from where
I was in the state of nature. None of us here this morning
would be able to lay hope, lay hold of any hope. We would not
be able to entertain any idea of future glory or of eternal
blessing because by nature we were all lost in sin and we could
not save ourselves apart from grace. I would like for you to
hold your finger here and turn with me to the fifth chapter
of the book of 1 Peter. the fifth chapter of the book
of 1st Peter. And in verse 12 of chapter 5,
we read these words, By Silvanus, a faithful brethren to you, as
I suppose I have written briefly, exhorting and testifying that
this is the true grace of God wherein you stand. Now Peter
here is writing this to the people of God, and he says, I've written
this briefly, but I exhort you and testify that this is the
true grace of God. The grace of God which has saved
us, the grace of God that has given us acceptance before God
is the grace wherein we now stand. We have a standing in this grace. And as the Lord's people, as
we look to the trials and the difficulties of life and the
struggles that we face, we do desire more grace, we want more
grace, but we must recognize first of all that we have a standing
in the true grace of God. Now, in order to understand what
it means to have a standing in the grace of God, I'd like to
point out that, first of all, in regards to our relationship
with God, that God initiated this relationship. When a man
talks about true grace, and when he talks about the grace of God
in the gospel, he's talking about the grace that initiates salvation. God initiates salvation. No man
takes the first step toward God. You show me a man that has a
standing in the true grace of God and I'll show you a man that
God started the work in. We know that regeneration is
an act of grace and that no man can born himself anew from heaven. No man is able to start the process. No man can in any way induce
God to bestow upon him regenerating grace. We have a standing in
grace because God initiated that standing and it was initiated
before the world began. God loved us in Christ and gave
us a standing in his son. He gave us to his son and put
us in Christ and by doing so we have experienced the true
grace of God. He initiated that grace. I heard
a story about B.H. Carroll. B.H. Carroll wrote several
Bible commentaries and was also, I believe, a president of a Bible
college in Texas back in the late 1800s. But Mr. Carroll, as a young man, was
an agnostic. He did not believe the Bible,
he didn't believe anything about the Bible, and so when the Civil
War started in 1860, 1861, why Mr. Carroll joined up with the
Confederates and uh... he was uh... wounded
severely uh... i think about five times and
so while he was uh... healing from his wounds he went
back to his mother's home and uh... he lived with his mother
over a period of four or five years because he was severely
wounded and it took him a long time to recover from his wounds
but while he was recovering he would go out on Sunday evening
and as it was later found out he would attend a free Methodist
church where a man was was preaching the gospel and one night he came
home quite late he was on crutches and he came in the house and
he Walked to his room and was one
of those old Shacks down there in Texas back in those days And
I guess the boards made a lot of noise and and he made a lot
of noise getting to his room But his mother had been accustomed.
She was a believer and a praying woman and she'd been accustomed
to listening as BH would walk around in the house, so she was
very accustomed very accustomed to the way he sounded when he
walked And that particular night when he came home, in just a
little while after he got to his room, she got up and she
went to his room, and as she began to talk to him, she said,
I come in because I could tell that there was a difference.
the way that you walk tonight on your crutches there was a
difference in the sound that you made and I know that God
has done something for you I know he has and and so of course they
had a they spent the whole night in reading the Bible together
and and and praising God and Rejoicing over what God had done
for bh carol now here was an agnostic Here was a man who had
no use for the things of God whatsoever, but God was pleased
to initiate salvation in his life. God was pleased to deliver
him and save him. God was pleased to use him mightily
for his glory. And in writing all these commentaries,
he was a believer in grace. and was a man that God blessed
and used. And so we see how, and that illustrates
to me at least, how that God initiates salvation. And the
same is true in the case of the Apostle Paul. All of you know,
as Saul of Tarsus, how that he was a persecutor of God's people.
how that he was a man who knew nothing of the gospel and nothing
of Christ and had no love whatsoever for Jesus Christ and how that
God struck him down on the road to Damascus and blinded him with
a light from heaven and saved him, and delivered him. God mercifully
intervened in his life, and he was on his way to hell, and he
would have went to hell if grace hadn't stepped in, if God hadn't
initiated the work. But to have a standing in grace,
God must initiate it. Now in both, as well as in all
of the elect, God starts this work before the foundation of
the world. Now not only does God initiate
the work of salvation, and any preacher you listen to that tends
to teach you or in any way implies that the work of salvation is
initiated by man, that man takes the first step toward God and
then God takes the next step toward him, that's heresy. That's contrary to the word of
God. God initiates salvation and that's what grace is all
about. And then in the second place we know that God maintains
the salvation that he initiates. And this is maintained by grace. And when the scripture says,
when James says that God gives more grace, Then that's what
he's talking about. He's talking about God giving
the grace that's necessary to maintain the salvation which
He's given us in our lives. Whatever our situation will call
for, God gives His grace. He gives more grace. So God will
maintain His salvation. You mark it down. You write it
down. God will maintain it. God will
come to you in strength and in mercy and will provide for you
and will sustain you in the way. And then God also will consummate
salvation. That's what it means to have
a standing in grace. God initiates it, God maintains
it, and God will consummate it. The last step that is taken by
a believer into eternal glory where he'll be enabled to do
so by grace. God will consummate his salvation. We will be like his son in eternal
glory. God's going to give us, he's
going to give us a body like the body of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God is going to perfect us in the end. We're going to be raised
from the grave and we're going to have a body like unto the
body of our Lord Jesus. God will consummate salvation. Now then, how do we get this
grace? Well, I want to impress this
upon you. We wouldn't be anything without
it. We'd be lost without it. And only as we partake of the
grace of God can we be maintained in this life. But how do we get
it? Well, the scripture says He gives this grace. It is an
absolute donation. It is an absolute donation. God gives His grace. No merit or deserts on our part. Grace does not help. It does it all from the beginning
to the end. I said that's because God is
who He is and because we are who we are. God must do it all. You cannot assist. You cannot
help. God must do it all. And anybody
here that's saved today, their testimony is that God has done
it all. All praise be unto the Lord. He's done it all. Of His grace,
we read in John 1, and I'd like you to turn back there with me.
John chapter 1, and look at these two verses. John chapter 1, verse
16 and 17. And of His fullness have all
we received, and grace for grace. This is talking about the fullness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The fullness that's in Christ.
Jesus said that the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in
Him. And of His fullness have all
we received, and grace for grace. And then listen to the next verse,
for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. It was given, the law was given
by Moses, and so grace and truth was given by the Lord Jesus Christ. It was given in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now then, the scripture, as I
read it to you out of James 4, says that he giveth more grace. He giveth more grace. More is
necessary. I think that's what really struck
me this morning as I thought about it. More grace is necessary. Now I'm quite sure that God knows
all things. I don't think there's any question
that everything is naked and open unto the eyes of Him whom
we have to do. I don't think there's any question
but that God, every time He looks upon us, He is aware and conscious
of everything we have need of, but I'm here to testify to you
this morning that I feel this morning that more grace is necessary
as we advance in age, as we advance in age spiritually and as we
advance in age physically, more grace is necessary. Have you ever felt that? Have
you ever felt that you'd just like to get a new dose of grace,
a little more of it? That you need more grace? Well, I certainly feel that this
morning. You know, as we find our life,
God leading and directing and using in our life, we find that
we come across new responsibilities all the time. new duties to perform,
new obligations placed upon us, new situations in which we must
be Christians. If we're going to be Christians
at all, we've got to be Christians in every situation. And sometimes
it's easy to be a Christian, and other times it's downright
hard and very difficult to be a Christian. So we need more
grace. And so as we find ourselves getting
older, This grace wherein we stand, this grace that is operational,
this grace that is being communicated by God to us, we find we just
need more of it. And then when we have new trials
to bear, and only God knows the trials that we have to bear,
and only God really knows the depth of them, and only God knows
the trials that others will be called upon to bear shortly.
Shortly. And so we need grace, beloved. We need to pray for it. We need
to ask God for it. We need to receive from God's
hand what it is that enables us to continue and what it is
that will continue to enable us to be what we should be before
the world. Well, more is desired. I think
that in somebody that has received grace, it's the tendency of grace
in them to make that individual seek for its own increase. I think Grace will, as it is,
you know, we used to have an old pump outside when I was a
kid. We was raised in the country
and we had a pump And this pump was fixed up so it'd lose its
prime every time you got done using it so it wouldn't freeze
up in the wintertime. Now it had a pit and with a well
curb built over the top of it. And we'd go down in the summertime
and we'd drive a wooden peg in the hole down there so that the
well would hold its prime, so that it wouldn't lose its prime,
so it wouldn't have to prime it. And then in the fall, when it
started getting cold, we'd climb down in there and pull that plug
out so that the water would all drain out when you got done using
the well. And then when you go out, you'd
have to pour water into it and then pump it. And gradually,
slowly, you'd pump the water up and you could get water out
of the well that way. And so it seems to me that God
has primed the pump. in those that are saved. In his elect, he's primed the
pump. That he's put in grace. And we have received grace. And
somehow or other, that grace, just like that water, you cannot
get a pump primed unless you've got some water to pour into it.
You gotta have that water to pour in. And so when it's in
there, when God gives you grace, then it primes the pump and it
seeks after its own increase. And you want more of it. you
know the world gives a little that it may give no more but
christ gives that he may give he gives that he may give the
scripture says that that uh... he laid down his life uh... that we might have life more
abundantly he laid down his life that we might have a more abundant
life and of course the life that we have in christ is an abundant
life. We're not looking for any super
spiritual experience. We just believe when we have
Christ that we have God's life in us and that is an abundant
life. He gives a little grace that
He may give grace upon grace. He gives a little comfort that
He may give fullness of joy. And so souls that have experienced
grace and are rich in grace They just labor after a greater measure
of grace out of love to grace. And he who has it loves it and
pursues after it for its own native blessing and beauty. We want grace. We've experienced
it and we just want more of it. By how my soul weeps and how
my soul longs for more grace. What God has done in my life
just makes me hungry for more more of the same now this is
a source this verse of scripture is a source of christian encouragement
he giveth more grace well of course he gave more grace to
me than I ever deserved this is a self-evident proposition
deserving the Lord has given what is undeserved to the undeserving
and so I don't deserve what God's done for me grace is entirely
beyond and above deserving It's entirely above that. God does
not... He has never give something to
a man because he deserved it. It's above all human merit of
every kind. I was thinking this morning about
this verse in Romans and I know that you're familiar with it,
but I'd like you to turn there with me and look at it. It's
in Romans chapter 11. and verse 5 and verse 6 I was
thinking about how grace is so undeserved and how that it is
so opposite of works and just listen to these two verses Romans
11 verse 5 and 6 even so then at this present time also there
is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by
grace, then is it no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no
more grace. But if it be of works, then is
it no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. That is a tremendous a tremendous
verse of scripture and it sets forth clearly that grace and
works are two separate things entirely and that God, when he
gives grace, he gives it independent of all works. All we have is
due entirely to grace. Listen to this poem by Horatius
Bonar. All that I was, my sin, my guilt,
my death, was all mine own. All that I am, I owe to thee,
my gracious God, alone. The evil of my former state was
mine, and only mine. The good in which I now rejoice
is thine and only thine. The darkness of my former state,
the bondage, all was mine. The light of life in which I
walk, the liberty, is thine. Thy grace that made me feel my
sin, it taught me to believe. Then in believing, peace I found,
and now I live, I live. all that I am even here on earth
all that I hope to be when Jesus comes and glory dawns I owe it
Lord to Thee. Now that is a blessed blessed
hymn and you can sing that to the tune of Amazing Grace because
it's a blessed and sweet hymn but it just sets out what I'm
trying to say here is that The Lord gives more grace and he
gives grace when we don't deserve it. It doesn't have anything
to do with our dessert. It's all free merit, free grace. We have no right to it. You may
think you do, but you don't. You have no right to God's mercy
and favor and grace. All of this is the fruit of his
amazing love and mercy. All the gifts of God are the
unmerited expression of his divine pity and his love for his elect. He giveth more grace than and
we desired as we said earlier we wanted. Now another thing
that has struck my mind about this verse and I believe this
is true and I'll pass it on to you. He gives more grace than
we know than we know. You know a lot of times especially
after you've been in the way of the Lord for a long time and
sometimes I have a difficult time remembering when I wasn't in a state of grace
I know there was a time when I wasn't and but I I have experienced
many, many times the help of God and the blessing of God and
the grace of God poured out, the strength of God in the inward
man. But I don't know how much grace
the Lord has really given me. I think we have more grace than
we know. And we've been helped through a lot of situations.
We've been helped through a lot of real tough times, real trying
situations. And we somehow or other lose
sight of that. Maybe we think we are graceless.
Many times we feel that way, that we're just simply without.
But we have more than we know. And then here's another thought.
We're here in this world, and this verse here led me to think
this thought, and that was that we're here amid beginnings in
this world. He give us more grace. We're
here amid beginnings. We have the best things that
we have in seed only here in this world. In seed and what
we might say germ. The Christian has everything
here but it's just simply in seed. It's like the farmer has
his whole crop in the bin and he's seed corn. He has, maybe
he has two three hundred pound sacks of seed corn and that's
his whole crop in that seed right there. Go in there and take a
look at them sacks and you look at them sacks in March and there's
the farmer's crop that you'll see in the field in July and
August. You'll see the corn up seven
or eight feet high like it is in Indiana right now. Go out
there and look and you see that corn way up there and see them
fields of corn. Well all of that field of corn
was in them sacks in March. when you went in there and looked
in the greenery, there it was. Well, the same is true here with
God's people. Much of our joy hereafter will
be the joy of surprise because we never expected that we would
ever see in the eternal glory what we will find there. We have a little joy here. We
were glad of it when we're able to say that we truly have the
joy of the Lord, but that's in seed You just wait till we get
over there. He giveth more grace and He will
give more joy, and we'll be surprised When we get to heaven we will
say with wonder Was I so rich and did not know it? Didn't know
how much grace God had given didn't know exactly what all
that he had given us And you know, there's many things that's
precious to us here in this life. Many things that we would have
an extremely difficult time living without. Many, many things. But
we must remember that all of them are in seed and that God
will multiply those blessings a hundredfold when we get to
glory. And that's the reason why that
we should not be so cast down here in this life and so discouraged
and so despondent at the setbacks and the difficulties and struggles
that we have to deal with. Just remember that the Lord gives
more grace and that we already have more in what he's already
given than we can ever imagine. And only when we get to glory
will we really know what we had here in this life. How could
I have been so despondent, weak, and trembling? God has given
me now more grace than I ever knew. Well, He gives more grace
than we use. Is that right? Well, I think
He does. I think He gives more grace than
we ever use. You know, the Bible talks about
a man failing in the grace of God. And I believe there are
times when when we don't use what we have. All grace And I
think this is a true statement, it's for use. It's for use. It's not to show off. It's not
to hold up and say, I got grace here. I've got all this grace. Grace is to use. Beloved, and
I'll tell you this, that you'll never get more grace from God
until there's a situation that you're cast in to where you need
it. where you're gonna have to have.
God don't give any man anything to carry around to show off.
And nobody got grace he don't need. You get grace from God,
it's because you need it. It's just like a fella give a
flashlight to a man on a real dark night. He gives that flashlight
not because he just wants to give the fella something, he
gives him the flashlight because he's gonna need it. He's got
a journey to make over a real difficult place. over a trail
that's very, very rocky and that's slippery and needs a flashlight. And that's the way God is when
he gives his grace. He gives it to those who need
it and those who are going to have it or who must have it. And so God gives it because as
we said, we need it. Well, what does all this mean, all
this that we tried to say today? Well, He gives new supplies of
grace, larger supplies of grace, that's what it means. He gives
higher and larger, deeper, stronger grace so that we may go from
strength to strength. This is a statue, this verse
of Scripture, the Lord giveth more grace, a statue to the Lord
which we ought to live upon every day. You know, I believe it's
proper and I believe it's scriptural for a man to say with Paul, Paul
said, I am what I am by the grace of God. And I think that it's
scriptural for a man at the end of the day to say, well, I've
lived through another day by the grace of God. I've lived
another day by God's grace. And we will live the rest of
our days every day on this grace that God has pledged to give. and so the Lord will give more
grace. What will your day hold yet today? I prayed a few minutes
ago up in Grandma's apartment and asked the Lord whatever the
day would hold to give us sufficient grace for it, whatever would
hold. What will your day hold? You don't know now. Nobody knows
what this day is going to hold for them. But the Lord will give
the grace necessary and needful. We can make use of this verse
when we're called upon to face bereavements, trials, and when
the doctor tells us you have a terminal illness, you're going
to die. We can say the Lord gives more
grace. He gives more grace. Somebody said, well how
will you be able to handle that? The Lord gives more grace. He
gives more grace. And so you'll be able. What's
the song say? The song says that when the burdens
get heavier, something like that, I think it says, then the grace
will be more. Well, I know this, that we have
more fear now. I guess, uh, Job said, what I feared the most
has come upon me. And you know, sometimes you can't
keep fear out. You have fear of different things. And, uh, But the only way to
overcome fear is the straight way, the right way, and the safe
way, which is to have more grace and ask God to give you more
grace. I guess that's what this is about, is ask God to give
you more grace so that you'll be able to deal with whatever
is coming your way, whatever trials that you have. And then
we're to go forward God means for us to. And ours is to obey,
not to reason or ask why. Ours is to dare and die, the
fellow said, if need be. But don't you think that this
is a prediction of victory. When God says through James,
He gives more grace. Isn't that a prediction of victory?
I mean there's no need to be too downcast here. There's a
prediction here of victory. If the Lord is going to give
grace, surely he's not going to give grace for us to be overcome
and defeated. He's going to give us grace to
ensure victory and to ensure that we're going to come out
on top. And where sin abounds, grace did much more abound. And
so God gives more grace to ensure that the victory is ours. and
that sin will never rob us of anything that God in His mercy
has purposed to give us. That's a wonderful consolation
to me. Where sin abound, grace doth
much more abound. And I used to be terribly, terribly
afraid that I was going to lose what God had purposed to give.
You know, I used to hear people talk about how that the stream
was flowing and you had to get in that stream. Get out there
and get in that stream. If you don't get in that stream,
you're going to miss all of this. Well, I come to see that God
sees to it a man's in the stream and that his purpose is not going
to fail and that we're not going to miss anything that God's purpose
for us if we're his children, if we're believers. God's going
to undertake and we're going to be. Christian experience when it
comes to be summed up is going to be this. because you give me more grace.
I made it. Well, sin gets us down at times. And I want you to believe that.
I want you to trust that. I want you to believe that. win, but God's gonna win the
battle. He purposed to do it. Jesus is the captain of our salvation. He's the ultimate victor. And
He's gonna give us grace sufficient to see us through. I said that
the grace of God initiates salvation. It maintains it and it'll consummate. It will. God's gonna see His
people through. Beloved, I got home about two
o'clock yesterday afternoon. and did not feel the rest of
the day like anything else except that I was still moving and I
got up this morning and the Lord led me to these thoughts and
so I share with you what I have with what ability I have this
morning to share. May the Lord bless and may we
profit from the word. Father in the name of Jesus we
thank you for ruling and overruling today We thank you for the victory
that you gave. We thank you for your purpose.
We thank you for your faithfulness. How faithful thou art to us. We ask now that you be with us,
your will to be done, remaining of this service. In Jesus' name,
amen.