Salvation All Of Grace

Q: What does the Bible say about salvation by grace?

The Bible teaches that salvation is entirely by grace, not based on human effort or merit. According to Ephesians 2:8-9, salvation is by grace through faith, and it is not of ourselves; it is the gift of God. This means that salvation is a divine act of favor from God towards sinners who cannot save themselves. The Apostle Paul emphasizes that it is not from works, so no one can boast about their own contribution to salvation. Ultimately, our salvation is rooted in God's mercy and grace, and it's a realization of His character as a loving and bountiful God who provides all that is necessary for our redemption through Christ.

Q: How do we know that grace is essential for salvation?

Grace is essential for salvation because it is the only means by which sinners can be redeemed from their totally depraved state. Salvation being by grace is integral to the message of the gospel. According to Ephesians 2:8-9, we are saved by grace through faith, emphasizing that our ability to come to God is entirely contingent upon His grace. Without it, no one could be saved, as all are inherently sinful and incapable of redeeming themselves. The declaration that salvation relies on grace alone showcases God's sovereignty and righteousness, as He alone makes redemption possible through Christ's accomplished work on the cross, ensuring that no human action can take credit for what God has done. Thus, understanding grace is not just beneficial; it's crucial for grasping the essence of the Christian faith.

Q: Why is understanding total depravity important for Christians?

Understanding total depravity is important because it underscores the necessity of God's grace for salvation. The doctrine of total depravity teaches that every aspect of humanity has been affected by sin, rendering individuals incapable of turning to God without divine intervention. Romans 5:12 illustrates this reality, indicating that sin entered the world through one man, Adam, and death through sin spread to all men because all sinned. This understanding is critical as it highlights that salvation cannot be achieved through human effort or merit; it is solely reliant on God's grace. If we do not comprehend the depth of our fallen state, we may fail to appreciate the magnitude of God's grace in the act of salvation, making it essential to acknowledge our utter dependence on Him for redemption.

Q: Is salvation an offer or a gift according to the Bible?

According to the Bible, salvation is a gift from God, not merely an offer to sinners. Scripture clearly presents salvation as a gift, rather than a mere offer. Ephesians 2:8 explicitly states that salvation is the gift of God, which implies an active bestowal of grace rather than a passive invitation waiting for human response. This distinction is crucial as it underscores the sovereignty of God in salvation. Just as a gift cannot be earned or worked for, so salvation cannot be obtained through human effort; it is freely given by God out of His love and mercy. This understanding fosters assurance and gratitude among believers, knowing that their salvation rests on the unmerited favor of God rather than their own efforts, which is essential in appreciating the fullness of the gospel.

Q: How does the doctrine of election relate to salvation?

The doctrine of election relates to salvation by affirming that God sovereignly chooses whom He will save. The doctrine of election is central to understanding how salvation works from the perspective of divine grace. Ephesians 1:4-5 states that God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, which emphasizes that our salvation is grounded in God's will rather than human action. This doctrine reinforces the idea that salvation is entirely an act of God's grace and mercy, ensuring that it is not contingent upon who we are or what we have done. Instead, it is an expression of God's sovereign choice and purpose to redeem a people for Himself. Accepting this truth leads to profound humility in believers, as they recognize their salvation as an act of God's grace alone, independent of their works or decisions.

I appreciate so much the invitation
to come and to be with you dear folk here and to get acquainted
better with you, you that know our God and know his grace. There are two reasons why I attempt
to preach. God knows I don't have any natural
ability of my own to preach. If God helps me, I can preach. But by the grace of God, I felt
some time ago, a number of years ago, that if I was going to preach
or attempt to preach, that it must be for the glory of God.
If we're going to preach, we must preach for the glory of
God. And I think that's the first cause of our preaching, for God's
glory. You know, some people don't understand
that the first cause of salvation is for the glory of God. Most
people feel, you know, God saves sinners just for the comfort
of the sinner. God saves sinners just to keep them out of hell,
and that's all there is to it. But God saves sinners for his
glory, number one, for his glory. And so when we preach, we must
preach for the glory of God. And then secondly, we attempt
to preach that the lost sheep, of the Lord Jesus Christ might
be brought into the fold. We're concerned about lost men
and women, men and women, boys and girls that know not our Savior,
our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus. And our desire is that we might
preach and so preach Christ and so exalt him and lift him up
that God would be pleased by the revelation of the Spirit
to show lost sinners the Lord Jesus and bring them to the cross
and give them a revelation of that cross. Now, the subject
that's been assigned to me is salvation and all of grace, and
I'm very comfortable with the subject. I know there are many,
many, many men who can preach the grace of God better than
I can, but there isn't any man alive that loves to preach it
any better than I do. And I'm glad tonight to have
this opportunity to stand before you. I invite you tonight to
turn with me in the Bible to the book of Ephesians chapter
2. To a very familiar portion of scripture, I'm sure, to most
everyone here. And I'm sure that some of you
have memorized probably a large portion of the first 10 verses
of this chapter, Ephesians chapter 2. And I'd like tonight to read,
in your hearing, the first 10 verses. for a text for our message
this evening. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in times past he walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace
ye are saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us set
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages
to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. Now let us ask God's blessing
upon the message. Our Father, we call upon thy
name. We come in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thy dearly
beloved Son, and our Redeemer. And we pray at this time, our
Father, a special anointing of thy Spirit upon this preacher. Thou knowest, our Father, that
our sufficiency, as Paul tells us in the Holy Word, is of God,
who hath made us able ministers of the new covenant. And so we
call upon thee and pray that for this hour that we might be
especially fitted for the hour and that the message might be
blessed of the Lord and used of the Lord to this congregation. We ask this evening, our Father,
that thou will open our hearts to receive the truth Lord, would
you put down any rebellion of heart against thy word, against
thy truth? And if there's any that has come
out to this place tonight, our Father, who come out with their
hearts set, and in their hearts they have already determined
that they'll not hear anything that's said in the meeting in
regards to your grace, I pray that that rebellion might be
removed and put down, and I pray that hearts may be opened to
receive the glorious truth of thy grace. We ask it in Jesus'
name, for his sake. Amen. Now, in our reading of
this text tonight, I want you to notice, if you will, in particular
verse 9. For by grace, Paul says, are you saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves? It's the gift of God. Now, beloved,
I am convicted, as I read this portion of God's word, that the
Apostle Paul is speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit
of God. I do believe that this Apostle
was speaking by God's inspiration. I believe he was telling us the
mind of God as to how sinners are saved. Now, if it is true
what Paul has told us here, and we believe with all of our hearts
that it is, that salvation is purely by divine favor, it's
purely by the grace of God, and he's told us that under inspiration,
then if we are going to preach the gospel, and if we're going
to preach to sinners, and if we're going to be able to tell
sinners how God saves sinners, then it's going to be very necessary
for us to preach the grace of God. We must preach God's grace. Now, beloved, listen, I know
that the only hope for fallen sinners is the grace of God.
Now, the best definition of the grace of God that I know is that
what God demanded of us, he provided for us in the person of his Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if God does not provide
everything for fallen sons of Adam that he demands of them,
there's not a one of us that's going to be saved. If we're not
saved by a gratuitous act of a bountiful God, then we're not
saved. If we're not saved by gratis,
there's not anyone here that's saved. Now, I'm convinced tonight
that there are many who do not understand the grace of God. I'm convinced that there are
many who do not know, even preachers that are attempting to preach
the grace of God, they do not know what is involved in preaching
that salvation is in the first place, in the middle, and in
the end of the grace of God. They do not understand what's
involved in preaching God's grace. Now, I know that there isn't
any way that you can mix the doctrine of Arminianism and Calvinism
together. There is no way that you can
speak of, and mix it. Now, the brother mentioned a
new one to me the other night, last evening, he mentioned, what
was it, the Calminian? In other words, one who was a
Calvinist and an Armenian, in other words, he had mixed, he
had found some way to bring the two systems together. Well, I'm
convinced, beloved, that this cannot be done. I'd like to take
the liberty at this time to read a statement by A brother who
is now in heaven, I really believe he's in heaven, and he made this
statement, and I'd just like to read it to you tonight before
I get very far in as kind of a preface to our message this
evening. There is no logical intermediate
between Calvinism and Arminianism that is capable of combining
both systems. It is impossible to say that
man is both totally and partially depraved, that election is both
conditional and unconditional, that regenerating grace is both
irresistible and resistible, that redemption is both limited
and unlimited. that perseverance is both certain
and uncertain, nor can there be a modification of one by the
other. One or the other of the above-mentioned
points must overcome the other. It is impossible to blend the
two, which is required or requisite in order to a modification. History
records such efforts in the past, but despite the efforts, the
two will not mix. Nor can they walk together in
peace, nor can those holding either system force the other
to their own view." Now, beloved, listen, I'm convinced that that's
a true statement. And so, tonight, I am here, the
best I know, and I cannot, like the old fellow said down south,
he said, you can't tell somebody you don't know any more than
you can come back from someplace you haven't been. And I tonight
will preach what I know and what I've experienced, what I believe,
in my heart concerning the grace of God. Now I've come to bring
to you five things this evening that is involved, I think, involved
in preaching the grace of God. Five pertinent things that we
must settle in our minds if we're going to preach God's grace.
Now, I want to be honest with the Word of God. I do not want
to corrupt the Word of God, as some do. I feel necessity laid
upon me. I feel that if I'm going to stand,
and I most surely will, I will, and you surely must, all of us,
will stand before God. and give an account of ourselves.
And I know that there are some preachers who can read the Word
of God and laugh at what the Bible says. There are some preachers,
I've known them in the past, and I was telling our brother
about a pastor that I had very early in my Christian experience.
Well, he helped me in many ways, but it was God that blessed me
through him in spite of him. Now, I know that there's many
people who maybe, they say, well, God uses me. And they may want
God to use them, but God may bless and use us in spite of
us, and I'm sure that he does. But nevertheless, in this case,
it was so. Because this man, he knew the
doctrine of election, he knew the doctrines of grace, but he
would laugh. at the Doctrines of Election,
the Doctrines of Grace, and he would tell me that the only reason
why I could believe them and preach them was because, of course,
being 17, 18 years old, I at that time had no church. He said,
if you've got a church, you can't believe or preach the Doctrines
of Election or the Doctrines of Grace. You can't do it. You
can't afford to. And of course, this drove me to a further consideration
of the doctrines, and it brought me to face seriously if God had
called me to preach. If necessity was laid upon me
to preach the gospel, woe is me if I preach it not, and you
cannot preach the gospel without preaching the grace of God. It's
impossible. So tonight, I come, I trust,
to speak to your heart Five things that I know and have met in my
ministry that's involved in preaching God's grace. Five things that
I believe that we've got to have an answer to. We've got to settle
it in our mind. You must settle it when you listen to this preacher.
And as you answer the questions or as you settle in your mind
what's involved in preaching the grace of God, you'll be able
to tell whether the preacher that's standing before you is
preaching the grace of God or not. Now this becomes a very
important point. Do you know whether the preacher
that's preaching to you is truly preaching the grace of God or
not? Do you know? Well, how would you know? Well,
Paul said, you know, to Timothy, he said, be strong in the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he didn't simply just mean
there be strong in the experience of grace. We ought to be strong
in the experience of grace. But he meant, too, that we must
be strong in the doctrine of grace, in the doctrine, in the
teaching of the grace of God. We must be strong in that. Well,
why? Well, because salvation is by grace. It's by the grace
of God. Nobody's saved apart from the
grace of God. So we ought to be strong if we're
preachers in the grace of God. Now, the first thing, then, that
we must settle If we're going to preach salvation by grace,
we must settle it in our own minds whether man was utterly
ruined at the fall or whether he was just partially disabled. We're going to have to settle
that in our thinking, in our preaching. We're going to have
to answer that question. Was man utterly ruined at the
fall or was he just partially disabled? You understand that
there are many who feel that Adam, when he fell in the Garden
of Eden, that he just simply was disabled somewhat, that he
was not utterly ruined, totally ruined, totally depraved. But
the Bible teaches that when Adam sinned, and we read it right
here in our text tonight, verses 1 through 3, and you have he
quickened or made alive who were dead. Well, why did Paul address
these people? Why, when he speaks to them here,
he speaks to those that have been quickened or made alive
by the Spirit of God, and he tells them that they were dead
in sins, trespasses and sins. where in times past you walked
according to the course of this world, your behavior in the world,
your behavior as men proved, showed that you were dead in
sins. According to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath even as others. Now, beloved, I believe that
we were in Adam when he fell. In Romans 5, verse 12, it tells
us that when Adam did what he did, we did too. That's exactly
what that verse means, I think. That by one man sin had entered
into the world, and death by sin, and death passed upon all
men for all have sinned. I think that that means that
we did what Adam did. When Adam, when he was free,
he was. He was perfectly free. He was
indeed. That's the only time when you
and I were free. We were in Adam before he fell
in the Garden of Eden. We were free then. And when we
were perfectly free in Adam, we reached up and pulled the
fruit down off of the tree and told God to mind his business.
We wasn't going to mind him. What he was going to do is we
pleased. Whatever he thought about it. Now that's what we
did when we were free. People, you know, there are many
champions of free willism around. But when you were free, you rebelled
against God. You disobeyed God when you were
free. Now, you were in Adam, he was your representative, and
you were in him, in the Garden of Eden. Now, we're not only fallen just
simply because we have a body that came from his, but there's
a union of spirit and nature with Adam. and we're sinners. This has been passed down to
us and we're sinners. Now, to illustrate that a little
bit, maybe I can illustrate it this way. How did you get to
America? How is it that you were born
in America? Where did your ancestors come
from? Somebody determined, sometime back in the years past, determined
that you were going to be born in America if you were born in
America. Someone determined that. You didn't determine it. Somebody
else determined it. Somebody got on a ship someplace.
Somebody got on a boat someplace, and you were in their loins,
and they determined that you would be born in America. You
were in Adam when Adam fell in the Garden of Eden, and he determined
that you would be born a fallen, totally ruined sinner, not one
who's partially disabled. Now, we know there are many preachers
that are telling us today that when Christ died, that he died
to correct any of the problem or any of the inability that
the sinner had, and when he died he corrected that, so the sinner
now is in a position where he can make a decision and exercise
his free will and get saved whenever he pleases. Well, is that so? Well, I do not believe that's
so. I believe that men are totally ruined. Paul said they're under
sin. That means they're submerged
in it. That don't simply just mean that they're garbage and
trash, but it means that they're condemned criminals. Sin is more
than an act, it's a condition. Men and women are condemned criminals,
they are lawbreakers, they have broken the holy law of God, they
stand guilty before God. There is none good, no, not one. All men are sinners by nature,
choice, and practice, and all men are dead in sin by nature,
every one of them. If we can answer that question,
what happened at the Falls? If we can answer that question,
we can be strong in the grace of God. If we cannot answer the
question, what happened at the Falls? Then we will never be
strong in the doctrines of grace. It's of necessity that we answer
that question, yes, man was utterly ruined at the Falls. Utterly
ruined. Now, beloved, listen, that will
determine what we preach. That will determine what we preach.
Whatever we believe about the fall and what happened there
in the Garden of Eden is going to determine what we preach.
Now, a long time ago, I believe that God showed me the truth
about what happened at the fall, and I want to tell you, it just
made all the difference in the world through the years about
the people that I've been able to associate with, about how
large a group I was preaching to. It affected all of this.
What happened at the fall? Now if a man don't preach the
truth about what happened at the fall, then of course he can
just, you know, there's just a whole lot of things that's
different in your ministry. But whatever you find out the truth
about and necessity is laid upon you to preach the truth that
man was totally, utterly ruined at the fall, then beloved, it's
going to make a whole lot of difference in your ministry.
So the man you preach to, if he preaches that centers are
ruined at the fall, totally, utterly ruined, then you can
be sure that he is preaching to you the grace of God. Because
it's of necessity that that groundwork be laid, that men understand
where they stand before they can ever experience the converting
work of God's grace. Now in the second place, and
now Do you know that, and I don't want to labor the point to the
point, well, my time is really getting away, but men and women
don't understand this doctrine of depravity that we're preaching
about. They don't understand that sinners are to pray. We
hear people say, you know, like some women, you know, they'll
ask the pastor, I've been asked it, pray for my husband. He's a good man. He's a good
man. Well, if he was a good man, we
wouldn't need to pray for him. The Bible teaches there ain't
no good man. There's no good man. Jesus said
there's none good save one, that's God. And there's people that
believe that, you know, and you listen to them talk and they
say, now these are the people we're preaching to I'm talking
about. And they'll say, well now, Sister Jones has a bad boy. Sister Jones has got, my boy's
a good boy, but Sister Jones' boy's a bad boy. Well, now, it's
evident that they just do not understand the doctrine of depravity.
They don't understand depravity because there's none good save
one, that's God. He's the only one that is good.
May God help us to understand this doctrine of depravity in
order that we'll understand that the sinner is totally ruined,
utterly fallen, and that he needs the grace of God in salvation
completely and entirely and that God must provide everything that
he demands of that sinner or that sinner is lost eternally.
All right, now the second thing is this, that salvation is either
of the Lord or it is sinner save thyself. It's either altogether
of God, or it's sinner save thyself. Now we've got to answer that.
Is salvation of the Lord? Totally, utterly of the Lord?
Or can the sinner Partially save himself. Well, I believe that
salvation, just like Jonah found it out in the belly of the whale
or the college of the whale's belly, that salvation is of the
Lord. It is 100% of the Lord. Now, I believe it's of the Lord
in its planning, because there was no one present when God planned
redemption, the redemptive work. I believe it's of God in his
provision. The Lord Jesus Christ is our solitary Savior. The Lord
Jesus Christ, there's no blood of martyrs or noble confessors
that's mixed in that fountain that is filled with blood that
redeems sinners and washes sinners whiter than snow. It's the blood
of Christ. It's of God in His planning and
His provision and in its execution, its application. It's entirely
of God, altogether of God. Salvation is of the Lord. It
is not sinner, save thyself. Now I think if we preach the
gospel as we ought, now it can't be both ways. We told you that.
It cannot be both ways. Salvation cannot be of the Lord
and at the same time be partially of the sinner. It's got to be
altogether 100% of God alone. Now, if we preach the gospel
as we ought, and if we preach the grace of God as we ought,
then we will not leave the sinner one inch of ground upon which
to glory. Not one inch of ground upon which
to glory. If salvation is altogether of
God, then the sinner, he himself does not in any way contribute
to his salvation, then the glory all belongs to God. Now, men
by nature, they're going to glory in something. Their natural tendency
is to glory in something. They're going to do that. And
when you and I, when we preach the grace of God, I know that
that pride is bred in the bone and it comes out in the flesh
of man. And I know that for us to preach that against what is
commonly referred to as the gospel in some places, when preachers,
you know, they tell people, do the best you can, Do the best
you can, and you know, if you pay your bills, and if you're
honest and upright in all your dealings and so on and so forth
with men, just do the best you can, then in the life hereafter,
when your good works and bad works are laid upon the scales,
and your good works outweigh your bad ones, then you'll be
saved. Now I know that when we preach against human merit that
that's committing treason against flesh and human nature But I'm
here to tell you tonight that salvation is altogether 100%
of God alone and the sinner You know, there's only two Gospels
in the world and the one gospel, you know where what man does
makes the difference and what man does is the point of glory
and gets the glory, man is glorifying himself, telling us that he saves
himself, that he contributes to his salvation, and then there
is the gospel of the free grace of God, where what God does makes
the difference, and what God does is the point of glory. Gets the glory. And that's the
only two gospels there is in the world. But salvation is of
the Lord altogether, and it's not sin or save thyself. And
so when we preach to you here, You can be sure of this, that
if we preach to you the salvation of our God, that is going to
be the grace of God and an explanation of the fact that God must provide
everything for you that he demands of you. The next thing is this. The third thing is, is salvation
an offer or is it a gift? is that an offer is a gift. Now
if we're going to preach the grace of God, now I've been told
that Jesus Christ offered himself as Messiah to Israel, and I'm
not here to dispute that or argue that at all. I'm just here talking
to you tonight about whether or not salvation is an offer
or whether it is a gift. Now I believe, and of course
the scripture over and over, right here like in verse 8 for
example, for by grace are you saved through faith, that and
all of yourselves, it's a gift of God. And there are many scriptures,
Romans 6.23, the wage of sin is death. But the gift of God
is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I see in the
scripture where Jesus Christ is the gift of God. Paul calls
him the unspeakable gift of God. Jesus Christ is the salvation
of his people. And you remember Simeon in Luke
1 in verse 30, after he had saw the babe Christ, why he spoke
and said, mine eyes have seen thy salvation. I've seen thy
salvation. What did he do? He looked upon
the babe Jesus Christ. And Christ is salvation. Now,
we're told in John 17, 2, that Jesus has been given power over
all flesh, that he might give eternal life to as many as the
Father has given unto him. We're told in John 10, 28, Jesus
said, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
and neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. And my Father
which gave to me is greater than all, and no man can pluck them
out of his hand. And then John 4.10, Jesus was
speaking to the woman at the well and said to her, if you
knew the gift of God, and who it was that is speaking
to you, and so on, if thou knewest the gift of God. Now, the gift
of God is eternal life, and salvation is the gift of God. Now, not
only is salvation a gift from God, but God also, I believe,
graciously prepares the heart to receive it so that none of
his sheep will be lost. Now, I can very well understand
why it is that this generation of people that you and I witness
to and the people that we meet on the street and the people
we preach to, I can understand why it is that they seemingly
reject everything that we preach about Christ, and they seem to
reject the message of the gospel, and we think that they are doing
so. But I can illustrate it like
this. Now, if you had a million dollars,
and I walked up to you and offered you a dollar, or five dollars,
I can very well see where you'd say, well, no thanks, I don't
want it. I don't want it. But you see, I believe the gospel
must be preached to men, but not first. I believe that men
and women must have the holy law of God preached to them,
It must be preached to them in order that men and women will
become insecure and they will understand their sinnerhood and
their bankruptcy before God and see their need of God's grace
and his salvation. Now, I think the law of God is
for insecure or for secure people. Now, you meet a lot of secure
people. What I mean is, you meet a lot of people who feel that
they're well off, that they don't need Christ, they don't need
the grace of God, they don't need to be saved, they don't
need redemption, they have no need whatsoever in their life.
They're very secure. They're very secure in their
own self-righteousness. They're very secure in their
false peace. They have security and they don't
feel any insecurity. They don't feel they need anything.
Well, beloved, listen, when we preach the holy law of God and
bring men up short by the law of God, when we show men and
women that they have missed the glory of God, the manifested
glory of God that's revealed in God's holy law, that they
ascend and become Lawbreakers in rebellion against God, and
the law of God kills them and brings them to see their great
need of a Savior. Then they become interested in
Christ. It bankrupts the sinner. It kills everything it touches,
the holy law of God does. And it brings the sinner to the
end of himself and makes him insecure. Makes him insecure.
There's not a sinner alive, if in all honesty you'll face the
holy law of God, that it'll not bring him up short and make him
feel insecure. It'll make you feel insecure
tonight. Then, of course, that's where
the gospel is to come in. And so we preach the gospel,
and that preparer preaches the law of God, and that prepares,
and that's what God uses to prepare the heart. of his sheep, to bring
them to the place where that when Christ is preached in the
gospel, that there is no rejection of that, there is a reception
in the heart, a glad reception, a happy reception, just like
there would be tonight if you was bankrupt, ready tomorrow
to go file the papers in the court, and somebody walked up
to you and said, everything that your situation demands, I have,
and I'll give it to you. Now that'd make you mighty happy.
And you felt mighty insecure before that, but then you begin
to feel there, there's something, and you're not about to reject
it. You're not about to reject it. And I believe that's the
way God graciously prepares the hearts of his sheep to receive
the gift of salvation, the gift of eternal life. All right? Now,
the next thing is this. Is salvation by chance, choice,
or decision, or is it by the revelation of the Holy Ghost?
Is it by the revelation of God's Spirit? Now, you know, people
talk about chance. Well, don't everybody have a
chance, they'll say. Don't everybody have a chance?
Preacher, you preach as if man don't have a chance when you
preach election. You preach that man don't have any chance. Well,
yes, man had his chance. He absolutely did have. He had
it in Adam, in the Garden of Eden. He had his chance right
there. Well, you say, well, what about choice, preacher? Well,
I say that every sinner, every fallen son of Adam made his choice
when he was in Adam in the Garden of Eden. Absolutely he had a
choice. And he chose to die rather than live. That's what he did.
He chose to die rather than live. Alright, and then what about
decision? Well, a sinner understand, submerged
in it, as we said, a sinner under the weight of guilt, not being
good, having not the ability, the natural ability, spiritual
ability. He's got all kinds of physical
ability, but he doesn't have any spiritual ability. He cannot
make a decision. He has no ability to make a decision.
He has already decided. He decided in Adam to die rather
than live. And every day of his life, when
he sinned against the holy law of God, he decided to continue
to live in rebellion against God. Now if he ever gets saved,
if he ever turns from his way and if he is ever saved, he must
have a revelation by the Spirit of God in his heart. Now, this
shuts up everybody in this room to a miracle. If anybody in this
room goes to heaven when they die, you're shut up to the miracle. God must show you his salvation. God must reveal himself to you. God must show you his salvation.
Now, the Lord does that to his people. Well, how did Paul learn
the gospel? Let's read some scripture now
to try to support, if we can, what we've said here. Turn to
the book of Galatians, chapter 1. Now let me read here just
a few verses here of scripture. How did Paul learn the gospel?
Well, he learned it like everybody else learns it. Now I know people
like to make Paul a special case and say, well now Paul, it's
all together different. But it's not so. Let's read verse
12. For I neither received it. He's
talking about the gospel. Verse 11 tells us that. For I
neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ. Now you listen to what I'm saying.
No man. can teach another man, savingly,
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. No man can do that. Paul
says that he didn't receive the gospel of man, neither was he
taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now I don't
believe that God's run off somewhere and hid, and I don't think that
God is against showing himself and showing his son to sinners.
I don't think that he is. I believe that God's in the business
of revealing himself. I believe he is. And I believe
that God is in the business of saving sinners. I know that he
saves sinners. He saved me. And I know others
that he saved. I know that God is showing himself
unto sinners as the gospel is preached, as the word of God
is proclaimed, as the holy law of God is set forth before men.
I believe God is showing himself unto sinners. Now let's read
another scripture. Turn to Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11. And let's look at verse 27. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither
knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever
the Son will what? To whomsoever the Son will reveal
him. Can we utterly commit ourselves
to an unknown Christ? I believe it's silly for anyone
to think that we can commit ourselves. Can you trust an unrevealed person?
No, you cannot. Only when Christ is revealed
to you will you know it, and not until then. Now you can make
all the decisions you want to, you can have your mother's Jesus
weaned off on you, and you can take your mother's Jesus for
whatever good that'll do you, but beloved, you'll never be
saved until God shows you his son in the gospel, until he reveals
it to you. You're shut up to a miracle.
Now you just can't make a little decision and get out of your
sin. You can't make a little decision and get the Lord's salvation. I know that some people think
they can get saved when they want to. They can walk the aisle,
make a decision, put God in a straitjacket and force Him to save them when
they get ready. But it's not so. It's not so.
God's got to visit you with His salvation. God's got to reveal
Himself unto you. Salvation's in the hands of the
Lord. And that brings us to John chapter 17. Verse 3, John 17,
3. This is a tremendous verse, and
this is life eternal that they might know thee. Now this is
more than a hidden knowledge. They might know thee. This is
more than just something for the intellect. This is an experiential
revelation of God. This is a knowing the Lord, an
intimate acquaintance with God. And this is life eternal that
they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
thou hast sent. And you can't know him apart
from the revelation of God's Spirit. Now turn with me back
to John chapter 6 and look, if you will, at verse 40. John 6
verse 40. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I'll raise him up at
the last day. Now this is a peculiar verse,
is it not? It certainly is peculiar, at least in the light of what
Armenians preach. This is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son. Have you at any
time saw the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you seen Christ? Have you?
Have you seen him? Well, the scripture here says
that this is the will of him that sent me. This is the will
of the father that sent me, Christ says, that everyone would see
of the son. You got to see him. According
to this verse of scripture. Well, how is that? How are we
going to see the son? How are we going to see? Well,
this is what I'm talking about now. It doesn't say that this
is the will of him that sent me that everyone that makes a decision is going to be saved. But it's
those that see the son. And this is by the revelation
of the Spirit. This is a miracle. Salvation is a miracle. One of
the greatest mysteries in the Bible. It's a revelation of the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's a revelation of the Jesus
that died on Golgotha's tree. It's a revelation of Christ to
the heart. You must see the Son and then believe on Him. And
you have everlasting life. And Jesus said, I'll raise that
person up at the last day, those that see the Son. All right? So I say then that salvation
is by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. And it's not by chance,
it's not by choice, and it's not by decision on your part. It's by the revelation of God's
Spirit. Now I think these are the things that's involved in
preaching the grace of God. I think you must preach that man's utterly,
totally ruined at the fall. I think you must preach that
salvation is entirely of God, and strip the sinner of every
inch of ground upon which he might glow with. And I think
you must preach that salvation is a gift of God, and not just
an offer. I think you must preach that
salvation is by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, and not by
chance, choice, or decision. Or are they holy dispositions
created by God in the heart? Now, can I give a man, as a preacher of
the gospel, as a Baptist preacher, can I give anyone repentance? Can I talk a man into a genuine,
godly repentance? Can I do that? Are repentance,
are they moral persuasion? Is it something people can be
talked into by the high pressure evangelist? Can we talk a man
into repenting? And can he genuinely repent? Well, let's turn to Acts chapter
5. Acts chapter 5. And let's look at verse 31. Him hath God exalted. with his right hand, to be a
prince and a savior, for to give repentance to Israel and the
forgiveness of sins. For to give repentance, I think,
to the Israel of God. To give repentance. Now, beloved,
somebody said, well, God has commanded all men everywhere
to repent. He has indeed. He has indeed. God has commanded men to repent
and believe the gospel. We're not talking here about
responsibility, what man is responsible to do, but I want to tell you
this, that if that's the end of it, if all God ever does is
command you to repent and believe the gospel, if that's all he
ever does, if he doesn't do more than simply command you, if he
doesn't provide for you what he commands of you, you'll die
and go to hell, and everybody in this room will. God must give
that which he demands, and that is he must give the gift of repentance
and the gift of faith. He must give us repentance. He
must work the holy disposition into our hearts that makes us
to hate sin and to turn from it and to turn to God. He must
give this disposition. You cannot. And you know, I've
often told people that they ought not to try just to discover how
sinful they are. But they ought to seek, they
ought to seek a knowledge of the character of the Holy God. And if God ever reveals himself
to you, then you will know yourself. You'll know yourself. You'll
see your sinner-hood. You'll know yourself to be a
sinner. That's what happened to Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6. He
saw the Lord high and lifted up and then, woe is me, I'm undone.
I'm undone. Depart from me, I'm a sinful
man, O Lord, one of the holy men of God said after he had
looked upon the Lord. It is true that if we ever see
God as he is, we'll see ourselves, we'll know ourselves. A man cannot
have the holy disposition to repent until God gives it to
him. Alright, and then saving faith
is not the act of the will of the natural man. I said repentance
and faith are not moral persuasions. Saving faith is not the act of
the will of the natural man. No, it isn't. Now, I can go into
any Baptist church in America and I can preach on Ephesians
2.8, For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast. Amen and amen. Everybody. Tickle to death. Praise
God. That's a good old Baptist message.
Amen. Amen. But beloved, listen to
me. Listen to me. when you get down
to telling them that faith is not the act of the will of the
natural man, that you must exercise it or go to hell, but that you
cannot exercise that which you do not have, that only God can
give you faith, saving faith. Only God can give it to you.
Now coming to Christ is a spiritual thing. Believing on the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is only as God enables us
to. Romans 4 verse 16 says, Therefore
it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end, the promise
might be sure to all to see. It is of faith. But God must
give you that faith. You see the thing that made David
Brainerd, and some of you probably read maybe some of his works. David Brainerd was a a young
missionary, and he died at a very early age. But the thing that
bothered him so much when he was lost and under conviction
was that God demanded of him that he believe. And he couldn't. He could not believe. And he
knew that he'd go to hell if he didn't believe. But yet he
could not. He could not. Did you ever try
to believe? Listen, let me tell you something.
Even those tonight that are here that are believers on the Lord
Jesus Christ, Have you ever been put in a very difficult spot,
time of trial, tribulation, test, difficulty, adverse situations,
and you were called upon to believe God, to trust in the Lord, because
the Bible says that the just shall live by his faith, they
don't live by what he He don't live by what he knows, he don't
live by what he sees, he lives by his faith. Sense and carnal
reasons is two of the greatest enemies of the child of God and
we're inclined to lean to sense and carnal reasoning. But listen
to me, did you ever have to pray for faith, to believe a God that
can't lie, did you ever have to do that? Well if you never
had to do that, let me tell you something, you don't know what
I'm talking about tonight, but if you had to do that, I'm talking
about as a believer. Pray for faith to believe a God
that can't lie. Now that's a sad commentary on
the depravity of the human nature, but nevertheless it's true. We
have to do it because faith is a gift of God. Now the scripture
says, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
I don't think that that's necessarily the Bible. I know that some people
believe that as you read the Bible, that that's faith. That faith will come as you just
read the Bible or as you hear somebody else read the Bible.
But I think what that means is that faith cometh. It must come,
and it does come. It comes from God. But it comes
by hearing from God. Hearing a word from God. Having
God to speak in the revelation of the Spirit to our hearts.
Hearing. Of course, salvation, we'll bring it out. in our message
maybe tomorrow or sometime. It's based and bottomed on the
Word of God. But nevertheless, we've got to
hear from God. Now that brings me to this, John
5, 25, and I'm going to let you go. My time is just about gone.
But John chapter 5, and I want you to look at verse 25, and
there's not very many people that know that this verse is
in the Bible. I had a conversation just recently
with a Baptist preacher in Great Falls, Montana, who is a preacher
to the Indians. And of course, he's an Armenian
fella. And so immediately when I met
him, the first thing he asked me, are you saved? Are you saved? You know, one of those kind of
fellas. Are you saved? Well, I'm glad to say that I am a sinner
saved by the grace of God. And so I told him that I was.
And so I gave him my testimony. And I told him, and I quoted
here out of the 5th chapter of John, but I told him that I had
heard the voice of the Son of God and had experienced a spiritual
birth and a spiritual resurrection in my soul, that I'd been born
from above and I'd heard from God. Well, you know, when I quoted
this verse, he said, that's not in the Bible. He said, that's
not in the Bible. Listen to this verse, John 5,
in verse 25. Very barely, or truly, truly,
I say unto you, Jesus says, the hour is coming, and now is, when
the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, And they that
hear shall live. All right, now he said, well
now wait a minute preacher, that's not in the Bible. You said that
Jesus said, truly, truly I say to you, he that hears, how's
it go now? He said, you said that the hour's
coming and now is, and he said that now is, it's not in there.
I said that now is, is in there. I said you get your Bible and
read it. And so he looked at it, And he said, well, it is
in there. The hour is coming and now is.
You've got to hear from God now if you're going to live, if you're
going to be spiritually alive, if you're going to be born again.
You've got to hear from God. God's got to give you faith. And that faith cometh by hearing
of God's Word. There's got to be a revelation
of the Word of God, the Spirit of God's got to give you revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ before you're going to be saved. Now
to me, those are at least five things that's involved in preaching
the grace of God. And it might help you to understand me a little
bit better and other messages if you can get these things somewhat
worked into your spiritual system. Because I believe these things.
I do indeed believe them. I have been faced over the years
with these things and I trust that, and I think probably most
all of you agree with me. I don't think that there's probably
any, at least there's not very many here that would differ with
me on these things. But nevertheless, if we have
these things pointed out to us and brought to our attention,
I think that it will help us to identify a true preacher of
the grace of God when we listen to him preach. And there's so
many on the radios now that's coming to us over the radio and
television, and we're reading so much literature now, men who
are not sound, Baptists for the greater part. I don't know about
this part of the country, but in the part of the country where
I'm at there in Montana, what Baptists there are there, and
I don't really believe they're Baptists. I don't call them Baptists
really. Nevertheless, they're going deeper
and deeper into Arminianism all the time. Things are not getting
better where I am. They're not getting better. And
I believe we need to have these things pointed out to us and
brought to our attention. Well, let us pray. Our Father, in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we come to you at the close tonight
of this session. We thank you for our brother
before us who brought such a tremendous message and it affected our hearts
and we pray that it might have affected the hearts of this people.
And we thank you for the privilege we've had to speak these things
and trust that they've been helpful and pray, our Father, that you'd
overrule the stammering and the stuttering and the poor presentation,
but I pray that this truth might be brought home, our Father,
to the hearts of these that have heard it, and I pray that it
might bear fruit. May there be someone here tonight,
our Father, that's affected, that's brought to see that their
little decision that they made, that that wasn't salvation, and
that they might begin to seek the Lord with all their hearts.
We thank you that when you're sought, that you're found. And
we ask now, Father, that you'll dismiss us with your blessing,
and may it please you to bring us together again tomorrow, and
to anoint us, the mouths, the lips of the speaker, give us,
Father, the tongue that's as the pen of a ready writer, that
we may speak the word of God, and then bring out the people
and give them hearing ears and understanding hearts. For we
pray it for Christ's sake, in his name, amen. The Lord bless
you, brother.

Salvation All Of Grace

What does the Bible say about salvation by grace?

How do we know that grace is essential for salvation?

Why is understanding total depravity important for Christians?

Is salvation an offer or a gift according to the Bible?

How does the doctrine of election relate to salvation?

Sermon Transcript

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Salvation All Of Grace

What does the Bible say about salvation by grace?

How do we know that grace is essential for salvation?

Why is understanding total depravity important for Christians?

Is salvation an offer or a gift according to the Bible?

How does the doctrine of election relate to salvation?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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