This verse of scripture is a
verse that has often been a real challenge and blessing to my
heart. I've received many good things from this text of scripture. And I was much impressed with
this phrase, the Lord will give grace and glory. Now, wherever in the Old Testament
you see the word Lord spelled in capital letters, it ought
to be read Jehovah. And so the text would say Jehovah
will give grace and glory. Now who else I might ask could
give grace and glory? Who else has grace and glory
to give? No one, beloved, but Jehovah
God has grace and glory to give. God is full of grace and God
is full of Glory, it's according to the nature of God to give
good things to his people We're told here in the last part of
the text that no good things Will he withhold from them that
walk upright? Now there are many times that
we question that verse of scripture and say well, I don't know whether
that's true or not because there are many seemingly good things
that we don't have or that I don't have that I I would like to have
and I guess it's a mistake in judgment on our part. We just
simply don't know what is good and the Lord does. He knows what
good things are and you and I have a warped sense of understanding
what good things are sometimes and we say well it would be good
for me to have this or that But the Lord withholds those things
that we think are good, and He gives us the true good without
question. Without question, we'll not question
the authority of God or His word. Surely, the Lord bestows good
things and will withhold no good thing from them that walk uprightly
before Him. Now, what better gift, though,
could God give unto His people than grace and glory? If you understand anything about
the grace of God, what better gift could God give unto His
people than grace and glory? In Him all fullness dwells, and
all grace and all glory are perpetually resident in Jehovah, the Infinite
One. All grace and all glory is resident
in Him, and He is willing to give it. What a mercy it is that
we poor empty sinners have such a God as this to do with, a God
that is full of grace and glory and goodness. Now if he were
short, if God was shorthanded on grace and glory, what would
become of us? What would become of us as poor
sinners. But Jehovah will give grace and
glory, the text says. Not only does he have grace and
glory to give these wondrous blessings, but also, beloved,
he is willing to give it unto the people, those people that
are His people. He's willing to give grace and
glory. Now the Lord does not sell grace
or glory. He does not sell it. Neither
does He put these on auction to sell to the highest bidder.
God is a giver, my brethren. God is a giver, and also He is
a great forgiver. And we ought not lose sight of
that, that the God of the Bible is a giver. He's a giver. He
does not sell grace and glory. Now God, my friend, gives this
grace and glory without money. He gives it without price, and
He gives it without any merit whatsoever in the receiver. Those that receive grace and
glory from the God of the Bible, they receive it without money,
without price, or with any merit. The Lord gives and there is nothing
freer than a gift. Nothing freer than a gift and
there can be nothing freer than eternal life which sums up I
think these two things Which the text talks about grace and
glory nothing can be freer than eternal life the wages of sin
is death and Romans 6 23, but the gift of God is eternal life
and grace and glory is wrapped up in eternal life I give unto
my sheep eternal life That means that he gives to them grace and
glory Now are you asking how? How will I ever get to heaven?
Have you ever thought about how you're going to get to heaven?
Have you ever asked, well, how in the world am I, a poor sinner,
black with sin, a guilty sinner, one who has broken God's law,
one who has offended the thrice holy God of the Bible, how am
I going to get to heaven? Well, this is the answer, beloved.
The Lord will give grace and glory. That's the answer. But
I'm so unworthy, you say, but the Lord will give grace and
glory. You say, I cannot pay anything,
preacher. Well, you need not pay anything
because the Lord will give grace and glory. Now, grace and glory
are inseparable gifts of God to his elect. Indeed, they are
the same thing given in different degrees. Grace is glory in the
seed. Glory is grace in full bloom. Glory begins with grace, and
grace is completed with glory. Now both are free gifts of God. Neither grace nor glory can be
earned, merited, or purchased by any man. And I wanted to say
that again because I don't want anyone to think that the things
that I'm talking about this morning can be had anywhere else except
from the hand of Jehovah, the God of the Bible, because glory
and grace is His to give, and He's the only one that can give
it, and no man can have it till he opens his hand and gives it. And then when he gives it, you
have it in possession, and you have it forever. grace and glory. God cannot be obliged to bestow
either grace or glory upon anyone. He cannot. He freely gives both
to his elect in the person of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord will give grace and
how we love that word grace. I know that some people say,
well, I think that preacher loves it too much. I think he talks
too much about grace. It's impossible, my friend. You
cannot talk too much about grace because there ain't no way for
a sinner to get out of this world and to get into the fellowship
of a holy God apart from grace. That's the only way to get there.
Now grace, and you get this, is the unmerited favor of God
to sinners who deserve His wrath. Grace is God's riches. at Christ's expense. That's what
grace is. It's God's riches at Christ's
expense. And there isn't any way to get
out of this world and get into the fellowship of God apart from
grace. And we do love the word grace.
And we mean for you to become acquainted with it and to know
and to understand what the word means so that you'll be able
to appreciate it and sing about it and rejoice in it. Now, to
whom will the Lord give grace? Well, he'll give grace for all
of his elect. In Romans 11 and 7 it says, The
election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. The election
hath obtained it. The election hath obtained what
God has. And what does God have? God has
grace, and He has glory. And that's what He gives, and
He gives it unto His elect. Now He also gives it to all who
have been redeemed by Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5 and 21 says,
For He hath made Him to be sin for us, He knew no sin, but that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. God gives grace
to all that Jesus Christ bled and died for. Now He also gives
it to every sinner who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. But
now, these are all the same people. They're all the same people.
The elect are those who have been redeemed and those who believe
are those who have been chosen and those who have been redeemed.
And the redeemed and the chosen believe. These are all the same
people. But God gives grace and He gives
glory unto them. It is regenerating grace. That's the grace that God promises
to give unto His elect people. They need to be regenerated,
don't you see? Because they're dead in sin and
they need to be brought to life. And so He promises in Ephesians
chapter 2, and you can read about it there in verses 1 through
5 sometime, He promises quickening and spiritual resurrection for
sinners through grace. Regenerating grace. Every dead
sinner needs to be made alive, and only by the regenerating
grace of God can this occur. Now he gives convicting grace. You ever hear about anybody talk
about being under conviction? If you're ever under conviction
by God, it's through the grace that God gives that men and women
get under conviction of sin. You ever heard about anybody
being convinced under the preaching of the Word of God? That's the
grace of God that convinces men and women of the truth of God
and of the truth of the wrath and the judgment of God and the
truth of the gospel. It's the convincing grace of
God. And then have you ever heard
about being converted? Well, beloved, God gives converting
grace. He gives grace to men and women
to turn them about. And only as God gives this grace
are souls turned from sin to life and from death to life and
from darkness to light. Only converting grace can do
that. And then also there's preserving
grace given by God. And every one of us are aware
here how quick we would fall away if sheep of Christ could
fall away. My fickle feeble soul would fall alas a thousand times
a day. All of us know that we must be
kept. And so it's preserving grace
that God gives and it's instructing grace. It's directing grace that
God gives. Have you ever asked God to direct
you in the way? To show you the path you ought
to take? To lead you that you will not go astray? To lead you
in the way everlasting? David prayed unto God and said,
lead me in the way everlasting. Well, that was a confession by
David that he needed the Lord's leadership. That he needed the
Lord to guide him and to lead him in the way. Well, God gives,
beloved, He gives directing grace. And He gives comforting grace.
Comforting grace. How many times has God come to
you to comfort you? Well, that's all of grace. That's
because God loves you and because He sees you in your pitiful state
and your misery, your state of misery. And He draws nigh and
comforts your heart. And then He gives reviving grace.
And this song, this last one that we sang here, was in reference
to that, about the Lord drawing near, our hearts being warmed,
and our hearts being drawn closer to Him, reviving grace. If you
feel your need of being revived, my friend, look to God and look
to His grace. Because that's the only way we
can be revived is for God to come to us and do this. And when
it happens, all praise be unto the Lord God who gives grace. Now then, how does God give this
grace? I think also that I should mention
this because it's so clearly brought out in the Word of God
that God gives also sufficient grace. He gives sufficient grace. Now, you know, many, many times
we just feel that there's not going to be enough to go around
and that we'll not have enough of whatever it takes to get us
by in this world. Whatever it's going to be, we
just don't have enough of it. Well, my friend, listen to me.
God gives sufficient grace. You remember when he told Paul,
when Paul was laden down with a heavy burden and had an affliction,
and he just simply couldn't get rid of it, and he prayed about
it, and he prayed again about it, and he was a man of prayer,
and he was a man who wouldn't be denied at the throne of God,
and the voice of the Lord came back to him and said, My grace
is sufficient for thee. My grace will be sufficient.
You got this heavy burden and you can't get it off your back
and you can't get a lighter load in life, but my grace will be
sufficient. Now, this is the kind of grace
that the Lord gives. He gives us a sufficiency of
grace. Well, let me go on and answer
this question. How does God give this grace?
How does He give it? Well, I think He gives grace
to sinners through the mediatorial work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Apart from Christ, we could not
be the recipients of this grace. And I think He also uses the
appointed means, and I think God is appointed means by and
through which he gives this grace unto his people. Jeremiah 29
and 13 says, and ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall
search for me with all your heart. And so I believe that God uses
the means of prayer. I believe we can ask God for
grace. And the scripture says in James that he give us more
grace. And I think that's an answer
to prayer. And then I think also through the ministry of the Word.
through the ministry of the Word of God. I have many times in
listening to the Word of God, I don't get to do it very often,
hearing somebody else preach, but there's been many a time
when I've heard somebody or read something out of a book, a book
of truth that has been a blessing to me and has administered grace
to my heart. And so through the ministry of
the Word of God, we receive the grace of God. Now my friend,
you can never adequately receive all that you need in this life
in the way of grace apart from a true scriptural ministry. You ought to sit under the sound
of the Word of God as it's being expounded and preached and as
the Lord is being exalted and lifted up and grace will be ministered
unto your soul. And also I think that it's through
the ordinances that we partake of, I think that we receive grace
and instruction from that, and also public worship. This public
worship that I'm talking about, sitting under the ministry of
the gospel with God's people, gathering together, forsaking
not the assembling of ourselves together. It is through these
means that God gives this grace. And we cannot expect to have
a full measure of the grace of God upon us in this life if we
neglect the means. If we neglect prayer, if we neglect
the seeking after God, if we neglect the ministry, if we neglect
public worship, we cannot expect to have full measure of the grace
of God in our life. Just read the promises of the
scriptures, beloved, as broadly as your needs require, and the
grace of God will be sufficient as you use the means to supply
those needs. Because I believe this text is
addressed to every poor child of God, every empty child of
God, everyone who is seeking and hungering, thirsting after
righteousness. The Lord will give grace. He
will give grace to serve Him. He will give grace to walk with
Him. He will give grace to suffer
for Him. He will give grace to live for
Him. And He also will give you grace
to die in Him at the time when your days are done. When this
life on earth is finished, He'll give you grace. Now, He don't
give you this grace to die with. And somebody said, I don't think
I'd have grace to die today. Well, my friend, until the time
comes for you to die, God will not give you the grace. And many
of these, many of the people of God find in this life that
grace comes when the need is there and you don't pack it around
in a suitcase or put it in a fruit jar or something and cap it and
put it away. It just comes when you need it.
But God always gives grace when you need it and he gives sufficient
grace unto his people. Now then we pass on to the next
thing and that is and the Lord will give glory. And the Lord
will give glory. Now if we have grace, we shall
have glory too. Yes we will. If we've been given
grace, then we shall have glory. God will not give the one without
the other. God will always follow up the
one with the other. Now grace is the bud, but glory
is the flower, my friend. Grace is the fountain, but glory
is the overflowing river. Grace is the first fruit, but
glory is the full harvest. And the Lord will give unto His
elect all the fullness of glory freely, All the glory of heaven
and eternity, all the glory of perfect holiness, the glory of
total victory, the glory of complete conformity to the Lord Jesus
Christ, God will give. Yay! All the glory of Christ
himself, with whom we are one, God will give it unto his people. Now, beloved, those are not empty
words. Listen to John 17, 22. Listen
to what it says. And the glory which thou gavest
me, I have given them, Christ says, that they may be one even
as we are one. And Romans 8 and 17 says, And
if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with
Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also
glorified together. Romans 8 and 17. Now, you might
say, somebody might say here this morning that all this sounds
mighty good, makes a good subject, it's wonderful to talk about
the grace and glory of God God giving this grace and giving
this glory and all of this, it just simply elevates the child
of God and puts him on a plane a little higher than what he
is normally to talk about this or to hear this kind of truth
preached. But is there not some, somebody
says, is there not some practical truth that we ought to be hearing
and ought to be obeying and walking in between the time that God
gives grace and then gives the glory? Isn't there something
in between? Well, beloved, there is, and
I want to talk to you a little bit this morning because I believe
with all my heart that once an individual has become a recipient
of the grace that I've been talking about this morning and the glory
promised, the glory that the Lord will yet give to His people,
that that individual will not remain the same, that that individual
is different. I have preached and I have declared
that those that are the recipients of God's grace that they become
gracious people by and through the grace that is given. Now,
beloved, there isn't any need to have all this hoopla about
the grace of God and about the glory of God that's to follow
if in our lives here in this world this grace is not in evidence
and if you're not able to see it. There's no need to preach
about the grace of God unless we are experiencing the grace
of God in our daily lives and showing that grace to others
around us. I believe that God's people are
able to see grace. Now turn to the book of Acts,
chapter 11 if you will. Turn to Acts chapter 11. And
I want you to look at this scripture with me here. Now, here's a tremendous
passage of scripture, and I believe that this is very enlightening,
and I'd like for you to see it. Now, if we look back here to
verse 19 in Acts chapter 11, it says, Now they which were
scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, that's
the brother that was stoned to death, the first martyr of the
Lord's Church, traveled as far as Panais and Cyprus, Antioch,
preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. And then
verse 20, And some of them were men of Cyprus, Cyrene, which
when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching
the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was
with them, and a great number believed and turned unto the
Lord. Then tidings of these things
came unto the ears of the church, which was in Jerusalem, and they
sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. In verse 23, it's what I've been
getting to here. Who, when he came, and had seen
the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with
purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. Now, this 23rd
verse, I've just often been stopped in my tracks by this verse. Can you see the grace of God? Can you really see the grace
of God? Can this preacher Barnabas, I
mean, really, did he have good enough eyes that he could see
the grace of God? Well, beloved, listen, let me
say to you this morning that wherever the grace of God truly
is, Where it really is, it can indeed be seen. The grace of God can be seen
where it really is. Now, if it's not there, you can
talk about it being there or you can say it's there, but it's
not going to be seen unless it really is there. Now, if God
has given grace and given it to the heart and made the promise
of glory and the soul has received it, I've said that men and women
will not be the same. Now then, I want you to turn
to the fourth chapter of the book of Ephesians. Ephesians
chapter 4 and there's some verses here in this chapter that I want
us to spend a little time with this morning because I believe
that here in these verses we have some of those things given
to us that Maybe we don't enjoy reading too much. Maybe there
are times when we do, but a lot of times maybe we would want
something that maybe we'd want to maybe dwell on the first part
of the message this morning rather than to get into this. But this
is something that I've been laying off to say and I've been wanting
to say it and I felt that it ought to be said and I want to
speak the truth. in love and I want to be able
to bring out this truth to you this morning and I don't want
this church to ever be accused of just preaching grace and saying
well all there is is grace and that we don't show grace and
that there's not grace evident in our lives because as I made
it clear if it's there truly you can see it Barnabas saw it
at Antioch And you'll be able to see it where it really is.
But now listen. Here in Ephesians chapter 4,
I want to spend most of our time this morning talking about verse
32. But before we get to that verse,
let me read here. I want to read from verse 25
down through verse 31. But perhaps there's no verse
in the Bible that is sweeter, more gentle, or more universally
beneficial than this verse 32 here. in the fourth chapter of
Ephesians, but I want to read beginning with verse 25. Wherefore,
putting away lying, well maybe I should back up to verse 24,
and that you put on the new man, which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore, putting away lying,
speak every man truth with his neighbor, for remembers one of
another. Be angry and sin not, let not
the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil.
Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working
with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to
give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use
of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve
not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you're sealed unto the day of
redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you
with all malice. and be a kind one to another,
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you." Now then, I believe that this verse,
especially verse 32 here, contains the essence and the fullness
of both practical Christianity and gospel doctrine. There, I
think, a threefold admonition of the grace of God found in
Ephesians 4 and 32 that I want us to deal with this morning.
But let me say just this first. In the preceding verses to verse
32, Paul has told us many things which should never be done by
us. lest we grieve the Spirit of
God. Verses 25 through 31. Many of
these things that if they're found to be practiced by a child
of God will grieve the Holy Spirit. Now in verse 32 we come to that.
And here he tells us three things that we must do if we would keep
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace in the church of
the Lord Jesus Christ. If we're going to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of the peace, in bond of peace,
then there are three things that we ought to do. And I want us
to dwell just a little bit on these three things today. And
it's as these three things are practiced by the people of God
through the grace of God, that the grace of God will be evident
and those that are attending the services, those that are
in fellowship, those that are members of this body will be
able to see the grace of God. And I want you to be able to
see God's grace. I want you to be able to see
it and to be able to say, well, I have seen the grace of God. Now, beloved, listen, let me
tell you this, that no man can counterfeit very long Christianity. No man can counterfeit the grace
of God very long. Sooner or later it'll get out
on you. There's certain things that'll cross the path of a child
of God that will show whether or not the grace of God is in
him or not. There's going to be certain things
come up in the church between you all and in your relationships
with one another and in my relationship with you and so on that is going
to show whether or not the grace of God is truly in us. And like
I mentioned before, we don't want to be just knowing because
we talk loud and that we talk about grace. That's not it. We want that men and women would
see the grace of God in this place as well as hear about the
Lord gives grace and glory. I want that the Lord's people
would manifest that grace. All right, now then, let's deal
with these three things here just a little bit. And you bear
with me. And I think that God will show
us this morning some of the ways in which grace, which he has
given, will manifest itself publicly so that men and women will be
able to see this grace. First of all, he says, be a kind,
one to another. Now, kindness is one of those
things that needs little explanation, really. We all know when we're
being kind and when we're not. Most of us are aware when we're
being kind and when we're not, and we know when we are receiving
kindness, and we know when we're not receiving kindness. Now, to be kind is to be disposed
to do good to others and to make them happy. That's what it means
to be kind. Kindness is goodwill, it's benevolence,
and it is thoughtfulness toward others is what kindness is. Now
to be kind is to be thoughtful of one another's needs and feelings
and to take care to meet those needs and those feelings. Kindness is the warmth of love,
it's the warmth of kinship. to show this kindness to those
around us, to those who are members of the household of faith. Only
God can give grace. Now, beloved, if you're in a
fellowship of believers where there is kindness shown among
the believers, and where there's thoughtfulness toward the needs
of one another, and where people are disposed to be good, and
where there's a kinship and friendship and fellowship among the believers,
then you're to give credit to the grace of God. It's not naturally
so, and many bodies do not have it. It doesn't exist. in many
churches. Kindness does not flow in the
veins of human beings apart from the grace of God. The milk of
human kindness is not even in the veins of depraved sinners. And apart from the grace of God,
you'll never see any spiritual kindness in the hearts of men
and women. Now, we cannot be kind without
also being tenderhearted. Tenderhearted. Now, tenderness
is not weakness. It's not weakness. Tenderness
is the strength of love, is what it is. To be tenderhearted is
to have a heart that is quickly moved to pity and compassion
and sympathy and kindness. It's the very opposite of hardness
and harshness and cruelty. The very opposite of that. Now,
the tenderhearted believer is not critical, but he's compassionate. He's not quick to take offense,
but he is quick to understand the problems and the difficulties
of other believers because he's in a body just like they're in. and he understands what's going
on, and he understands the conflicts that go on in an individual as
a believer in this world, and he knows something about the
tests that God's people have, and so when there's a slip-up,
or a mix-up, or when something's not right, they're very slow
to take offense because they understand. They understand what's
going on. Now, may the Spirit of God, and
by the grace of God, enable us to have a tender heart for our
brethren and our sisters in the Lord. Now, if anyone has ever
been tender toward you in the body of Christ, credit that to
the grace of God. That's what it is. It's not but
so-and-so just naturally bent to being tender-hearted and sympathetic.
In the body of Christ, when we're tolerant and patient with one
another and kind and tender-hearted toward each other, it's the grace
of God that is being revealed and is evident. Now, more than
anything else, kindness and tenderness It seems to be demonstrated,
and I preach not myself, but the Lord Jesus Christ. I preach
God's Word and God's truth, and wherever I come, measure up or
not measuring up, that didn't have anything to do with it.
I got to preach the truth. Now listen to me now. More than
anything else, kindness and tender-heartedness is demonstrated by forgiving
one another. That's what Paul says here, forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you.
Now, forgiveness, listen, is the free, unsolicited response
of a kind, tender heart to the offensive behavior of one who
is in Christ. Now did you get that? Forgiveness
is the free, unsolicited response of a kind, tender heart to the
offensive behavior of one who is in Christ. Forgiveness is
never conditional. Forgiveness is free. Now listen to this. Forgiveness
does not look for retaliation, but for reconciliation. Forgiveness
is never deserved. Never. Now, it's never deserved
by anyone. It's never deserved when God
forgives you. From God's standpoint, it's not
deserved by you. And when anyone else forgives
you, it is not deserved by you. You don't deserve it. You don't
deserve to be forgiven. And when God's people forgive
one another, it's got to be by grace because you don't deserve
it. And men are not inclined by nature
to give to others that which they do not deserve. I don't
know when we're going to get around to seeing that, but if
there is any forgiveness, and we must be aware of this, that
many, many times We owe our whole life. We owe so much. I mean, how can I describe what
we owe to the grace of God and Him enabling other people around
us to forgive us of our offenses when we don't deserve it? We
don't deserve to be forgiven. Well, how much do we owe to the
grace of God? Now, beloved, listen. I'm not
in any way exalting the forgiveness. I'm exalting the grace that enables
men and women to be tolerant of one another, not cut each
other's throat, not take the shotgun and shoot one another. I'm talking about the grace of
God that enables somebody to be civil when somebody has offended
I mean offended them greatly and hurt them deeply and they're
able to go on in this life and tolerate the presence of that
individual and fellowship with that individual and go on. I
mean all glory to the grace of God. I'm telling you that once
an individual is a recipient of God's grace, that individual
will take God's way, and he must go God's way, and he will. He'll be compelled to do it by
an inward compulsion. He won't be able to do anything
else. He must take God's way, and this is the way of the Lord.
You must be forgiving to one another. Now listen to me. Forgiveness
is never deserved, it's an act of mercy. It's an act of mercy. When God forgave me, it was an
act of mercy. That's what it was. It wasn't
that I deserved it, it was that He just had mercy on me, that's
all. He had mercy on me. Now I'm talking
about the grace of God. I wouldn't leave anybody ever,
if I could help it, with a misunderstanding about God's grace. There's one
thing, if I ever do anything in my little life, is that I
want to be able to tell the truth on God, and I want to know the
truth about grace, and I want to preach that grace, and I also
want to live that grace. I want to live it. I've got to.
I must. I can't do anything else. I mean,
I've been a recipient. The Lord has given grace and
glory. And I cannot deny that he's given
grace to me. I will not deny it. I believe
he has given it, and so therefore I'm called upon to demonstrate
that grace. Okay, kindness and tenderness.
Forgiveness is the stretching out of the kind, tender heart
to one who has alienated themselves. May the Lord teach us. And he's
the only one that can. May the Lord give more grace
that we may freely forgive those who do things to annoy and offend
and hurt us as God's people. Might we be able to live and
keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. I'm talking
about the fellowship of the church and believers in Christ. Now
here also in this verse, and I've got to get to that, is a
gracious motive for all of this. is a gracious motive, even as
God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Now, this text here contains,
I'm talking about Ephesians 4 and 32, both the glorious revelation
of the gospel and the believers' motivating governing principle
and rule of life. Here is the good news revealed
in and proclaimed by the gospel. God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you. The forgiveness of sin is not
something that's conditioned upon the will, the work, or the
worth of the sinner. It is something that is accomplished
by the will of God, the work of Christ, and the work of his
precious blood. I say the worth. of His precious
blood. The gospel of God does not proclaim
the possibility of forgiveness, but the effectual accomplishment
of forgiveness. Listen to Isaiah 40 verses 1
and 2. Now you may wonder what the difference
is in that, but I want you to get the difference. The gospel
of God does not proclaim the possibility of forgiveness, but
the effectual accomplishment of forgiveness on behalf of God's
people. Isaiah 40 verses 1 and 2, Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. that it is accomplished, that
her iniquity is pardoned, and that she is received in the Lord's
hand, double for all her iniquity. Now every sinner who believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ receives from God forgiveness of all sin
for Christ's sake. Now, this forgiveness was accomplished
when Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures.
He obtained eternal redemption for us, Hebrews 9 and 12. Neither
by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. Now, in the New Testament, redemption
and forgiveness always go together. Now, you follow this. In Ephesians
1 and 7, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of His grace. Colossians 1 and
14, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. Do you see what I'm talking about?
I'm talking about as far as God's people are concerned, and as
far as the gospel is concerned, we do not just preach and say
that there's a forgiveness possible. We preach an effectual, accomplished
redemption which guarantees forgiveness for all whom Christ died. And that's exactly the teaching
of the scriptures. Now, then it's good for us to
have this foundation to be able to fall back upon and to see
what God in Christ has really done for us. Because that gives
us an understanding of the grace of God. If you now believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven
you of all your sins and He's forgiven you for all your sins
forever. That was for Christ's sake. That
was because of Christ. Forever. Romans 8 and 1. There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 32 through 34, he that spared not his own son, but delivered
him up for us all, how shall he not also through him freely
give us all things? Who shall weigh anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us. I'm showing you here
this morning that for Christ's sake, God hath forgiven us of
our sins forever. And it didn't have anything to
do with your worth, your merit, you were undeserving and ill-deserving
people But out of an act of mercy, God forgave you, and that puts
you under obligation. That's the meaning of the grace
of God. That shows you where you are and places you in a position
where that if you're going to walk after the rule of Christ,
then you must be tenderhearted, kind, forgiving one another. Now, for Christ's sake, because
of Christ, God will never charge you with another sin. He will
never charge you with sin. Romans 4 and 8. Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. So God's not charging
you with it. So y'all have to be careful about
charging folks surrounding you with it. Gotta be careful with
it. Well, here's the believer's rule of life. Here it is, right
here in this text. Paul has been telling us how
to live in this world for the glory of God, how to walk in
love, kindness, and tenderness apart with men and women who
are weak, sinful, and often offensive, freely forgiving one another.
Well, what will he offer as a motive for all this? What is the motive
for all this? How are we going to do all of
this? Will he take us back under the yoke? of the Mosaic Law? No. Listen to me, friend. Pharisees
who pretend to honor the law are the meanest, the most unkind,
the most unforgiving people in the world. I'm talking about
legalistic Pharisees. I say they're the meanest people,
the most unkind, the most unforgiving people in the world, and they
pretend to be honoring the law. Now listen, those people who
crucified the Lord of Glory did so in the name of the Mosaic
Law. Do you know that? They did so
in the name of the Law of Moses. Well, what rule of life would
Paul give to effectually motivate the people of God to be kind,
tenderhearted, and forgiving of one another in the body of
Christ? What motive would he give? Well, here it is. It's
the last phrase of verse 32. even as God, for Christ's sake,
hath forgiven you." That's the motive. That's the motive, beloved,
of your life. The gospel is not only our source
of life, it is also every believer's rule of life. 1 John 3 and 23
says, and this is his commandment, This is His commandment. Everybody's
always looking at a commandment. They're wanting a commandment.
Well, this is His commandment that we should believe on the
name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as He gave
us. Commandment. Now that's the rule
of life for the believer right there. By grace, so easy, so
kind, so pleasant a law, is just what we might expect from Jehovah,
who said, I will give grace and glory. So you see, beloved, it's
wonderful to get up and exalt the grace of God and to talk
about the glory that is to follow. But you see, it places men and
women, when they become the recipients of this grace, It places them
in a position of responsibility. And you must live out the grace
that God gives. It's got to be lived out. It
must be! And when that grace is lived
out, then men and women see the grace of God. And oh, that's
what my desire is, is that in this fellowship, in the fellowship
of God's saints everywhere that believe that are true grace churches,
that the grace of God will be evident. She'll be able to say,
well, I don't know about that preacher's doctrine altogether.
I can't really understand it all, the way he presents it and
everything, but there's one thing that's clear. And that church
there now, they're different from a lot of churches. But there's
one thing that is clear, and that is there's something in
that church that makes those people act different than just
what an ordinary bunch of whorlings would act when they get together.
I mean, they're just different people. The grace of God is there. The grace of God is there. Well,
this is what I felt burdened of the Lord to preach. Now, beloved,
listen to me. Listen to me. I'm not like a
lot of preachers. I cannot preach something that
I don't have, that the Lord don't give me, that I don't feel. I
can't do it. I can't do it. And when the Lord does give me
something, I'm duty-bound to preach it. I have to preach it.
I gotta preach it. And so that's the feeling of
my soul this morning. I just had a message to deliver.
And I must deliver it to you. Now wherever that puts me, if
that puts me at a 5 or a 6 or at a 9 or 8 or wherever it puts
me, then that's just where it puts me. But this is the truth. I'm telling you the truth. This
is the truth of the Word of God. And I'm duty-bound to preach
that to your soul. I'll give an account to God because
I got up on May the 13th, 1990, and talked about Him giving grace
and glory. I was duty-bound to tell you
how that grace and glory that He gives to His elect, how it
affects people in their hearts and their lives.