Michael Moore might have re-ruptured
his Achilles heel, so everybody remember him. He's not sure yet.
Mark Moore had an accident at work yesterday with a drill and
hurt his hand pretty bad, but he was back at work today. He's
gonna have surgery in the morning, so everybody remember them. I want you to Try to listen to this message
as if you didn't know what the word grace meant and you wanted
to know what it means. You wanted to know what the Bible
has to say about this word, grace. I've entitled this message, The
Grace. I love it that there's a definite
article before the word here. The grace with you all. Amen. Now these are Paul's last
words to Titus. And I think it's interesting
that Paul wrote 13 epistles and each one of them begin and end
with the word grace. And as a matter of fact, over
two thirds of the time when the word grace is mentioned in the
New Testament, it was penned by Paul. That's why he's called
the apostle of grace. Romans, grace to you and peace.
It ends with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you
all. First Corinthians, grace be unto you and peace. And it
ends with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Now,
these are not just meaningless openings. These are inspired
by God, the Holy Spirit. Grace to you, 2 Corinthians,
grace to you and peace. And it ends, the grace of our
Lord Jesus, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit
be with you. Galatians, grace be to you and
peace. And then the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
you. Ephesians, grace to you and peace.
And then it ends with grace be with all them that love our Lord
Jesus Christ in sincerity. Philippians, grace to you and
peace, and it ends with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
you all. Colossians, grace unto you, and it ends grace be with
you. First Thessalonians, grace be
unto you, and it ends the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
you. Second Thessalonians, grace unto you, and it ends the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. First Timothy, grace, mercy,
and peace, and it ends with Grace be with you. Second Timothy, grace, mercy,
and peace, grace to you. Titus, grace, mercy, and peace,
grace be with you. Philemon, grace to you. The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Now, each epistle
of Paul begins and ends with grace. And let me say this, in
salvation, Our salvation begins and ends with grace. Oh, to grace, how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be. Now, other than the names of
God in the three persons of his glorious, incomprehensible trinity,
there's no more important word in the Bible than the word grace. This entire book is called by
Paul in Acts chapter 20, verse 32, the word of his grace. That's the whole Bible. The word
of his grace. When the Lord came back to Nazareth
to preach for the first time, they wondered, the scripture
says, at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth, literally
the grace words. Don't you love that? The grace
words that proceeded out of his mouth. From him who is described
as the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father,
full of grace and truth. And his final instructions to
Titus, look back in Titus chapter three, he says in verse 12, when
I shall send Artemis into thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come
unto me, to Nicopolis, for I've determined there to winter. Bring
Zenos, the lawyer, and Apollos on their journey diligently,
that nothing be wanting unto them. And let ours also learn
to maintain good works for necessary uses that they be not unfruitful."
Now, God, the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to make this statement about
work. That's what he's talking about
when he's talking about good works for necessary uses. You know, work was before the
fall. It's a good thing. Adam and Eve
were set in the garden to tend the garden. and it was before
the fall, and having a good work ethic, teaching it to your kids,
being the best, most hardworking employee at the place of your
employment, every believer is called upon to do. Now I know
this, the place you work, you ought to be the best worker there,
the most diligent, and you're doing this for the glory of Christ.
This is very important. Let ours learn. He's talking
about learning trades to do good works of necessary uses that
they'd be not unfruitful. You know, Paul said in 2nd Thessalonians
3 verse 10, if any man would not work, neither should he eat. That's inspired by the Holy Spirit.
If a man is unwilling to work, Neither should he eat. To give less than your best on
your job is to be a thief. Remember, when you work, it's
as unto the Lord. I wish the Lord would give us
the grace to always be aware of that, that what we're doing
is as unto the Lord. And then he says in verse 15,
all that are with me salute thee, Greet them that love us in the
faith. The grace be with you all. Amen. Grace. The grace. Grace is God's favor. We've all
heard it defined as God's unmerited favor, and I've defined it like
that. That's only telling half the
story when we call it God's unmerited favor. That's kind of like using
the term unconditional love. God loves us unconditionally.
No, he doesn't. There's no such thing as unconditional love.
God loves us in Christ. And there's plenty of reason,
infinite reason for him to love us because we're united to the
Lord Jesus Christ. So there's no such thing as unconditional
love in that sense. Unmerited favor. Well, I understand
it is in this sense to him that worketh. is the reward, not reckoned
of grace, but of debt. In other words, if you're saved
by your works, God's paying you for what you've done, paying
you for services rendered. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. Now God's grace is unmerited
in the sense that there's nothing we do to earn it. but always
highly merited because it's in the one who he favors, his favorite,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Does the Lord Jesus Christ merit
the favor of his father? Of course he does. And everybody
in him actually merits the favor of God. And grace means favor. It doesn't necessarily mean unmerited
favor. What about when, Christ, it was
said the grace of God was upon him. The favor of God was upon
him. That's not unmerited favor. That's
highly merited favor from him who is the favorite of the Father,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I love that scripture. Thou
hast loved them as thou hast loved me. What can you even say about that?
That's talking about all of God's elect. The Lord Jesus says with
regard to every believer, thou has loved them as thou has loved
me. Now I'd like to make some comments
about what the Bible teaches with regard to the grace of God
and what the Bible teaches. I'm not talking about what our
church stands for, what denominations stand for, what the confessions
and the creeds say, but what does the Bible have to say about
this thing of the grace or the grace of God. The first time
the word is mentioned in the Old Testament is, but Noah found
grace. Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Now he was
in that group described in verse five, God saw the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, but Noah
found favor in the eyes of the Lord. The first time it's mentioned
in the New Testament is with regard to Mary. Fear not Mary for thou has found
favor with God. That's what grace is. It's God's
favor. It's having God favor you. I don't care for the term, the
doctrines of grace. That's used, but do you know
every time the word doctrine is found in the Bible in the
plural, it's always with a reference to false doctrines, doctrines
of devils. I do not like hearing the term
the doctrines of grace, but I do love the doctrine of grace. The
doctrine of grace is the message of the scripture. Every word I'm going to use to
describe God's grace is inherent in the scriptural meaning of
grace, but we give these words because people don't really know
what grace means. They say, there go I but for
the grace of God. I've heard people say that so
many times. Unbelievers, people who don't even claim to know
the Lord, but they'll say they'll see some unfortunate thing happen
to somebody or somebody will fall into something and they'll
say, there go I but for the grace of God. And they don't really
know what the grace of God means. It's the grace of God. It's the grace of God. The infinite,
eternal, holy sovereign of the universe. And that is what makes
it what it is. Now, listen to this statement
really carefully. The only way you can really define the grace
of God is take every attribute of God and every attribute of
God is used to describe the grace of God. What do you mean by that? God is holy. Other. Not of this world. God's grace
is other. There's nothing like it in this
world. God's grace is just. Righteous grace. There's nothing
unclean or sinful about it. All sin. is punished because
his grace, like he is, is absolutely just and righteous. His grace is sovereign grace.
He gives it to whom he will. He said, I will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. If it's not sovereign grace,
it's not grace. It's God's sovereign prerogative
to dispense it to whom he will. That's who he is. It's omnipotent
grace. That means it can't be resisted.
That means it's invincible. That means whoever he wills to
save by his grace, they're saved. It is eternal grace. It never began to be, and it
will never end. Like God is eternal, his grace
is eternal. It's immutable grace. As God
cannot change, God can't change toward the objects of his grace. It is immutable grace. It's independent
grace. God is independent. He has no
needs. And there's nothing you need
to do in order to get Him to give you His grace. It's utterly
independent. It's gracious grace. I love that
scripture, grace for grace. In John chapter one, verse 16,
of His fullness have we all received in grace for grace. Grace because
of grace. It's omniscient grace. So wise,
God's omniscience, he made a way to be just and justify the ungodly. It's omnipresent grace. You can't
go anywhere where it's not. I love the thought that every
attribute of God can only be used to describe what God's grace
really is. You take all the attributes of
God and you, that's what his grace is. Every single one of
them. Isn't his grace glorious? His
grace is who he is. I love Romans chapter five, verse
20 and 21, where Paul says, moreover, the law entered that the offense
might abound. Now don't miss that. What does
the law demonstrate to me and you? That the offense abounds
in us. And if I don't see that, I don't
see what God's law means in the first place. This was the purpose
of God's law. The law entered that the offense
might abound, but where sin abounded, the place where sin abounded,
would that be you? Would that describe you? A place
where sin abounds? Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. that as sin hath reigned unto
death. Now, sovereign means reign. Sin reigned unto death. What's
that mean? How much power do you have to stop death? Absolutely
none. Death reigns, but just as death
reigns, sin reigns, even so in the same manner, grace reigns. Just like you can't stop death,
You can't stop grace. It's God's sovereign grace defined
by who God is. There's nothing like this in
this world, is there? The grace of God. The grace of God is purposed
grace. And this is what the scripture
teaches. the favor of God, having God's
favor. And remember, It's more than unmerited favor in the sense
that it's true, you don't earn it by your works, but Christ
highly merits the grace of God and the favor of God. And if
you're in Christ because of being in him, that's the only reason
you highly merit the favor of God because you're in him. And
that's exactly what that word means when he says, thou's love
them as thou's love me. However, he loved Jesus Christ.
He loves all those in Jesus Christ. And that's one of those things
that I wouldn't believe, except the Bible says it. And that's
why we believe it. It's what the Bible tells us
with regard to His love. But the grace of God is purposed
grace. 2 Timothy 1, 9 says, He saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace. Purposed grace, which was given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Ephesians 1 11 says,
In whom we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him that worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will, the purpose of grace. And we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 9, 11,
for the children being not yet born, either they're having done
any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. Now, if the grace you have is
not eternally purpose grace, It's not the grace of God. Is
the grace you have His eternally purpose grace? That's the only
kind of grace there is. Grace given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. The grace of God is saving grace. It's purpose grace, it's saving. Grace. You know, it's not activated
grace. There's nothing you do to activate
it, to make it work. Now, whoever came in here first
tonight, the room was dark and you switched the light on and
it's light. You activated the power. It would
not have become light had you not activated it and made it
work. People look at God's grace like
that. Here it is, it's out there for
you to accept or reject. You'll have the powerful grace
of God if you can activate it, make it real in your life and
apply it to yourself and believe and accept it and all the different
things people say. That's not the way God's grace
works. It's saving grace. It's not offered
grace, it's saving grace. By grace you are saved. And when it says by grace you
are saved, that's in the perfect tense. That means perfectly completed,
never to be repeated. It's not open-ended. It is not
like the outcome can ever be in doubt. It's saving completed. Grace, by grace, oh, rejoicing
this, by grace are you saved and every aspect of salvation
is by grace. Why did God choose you before
time began? By grace, amen, you know that so? Why did God justify
you? It was an act of His grace. Why did God redeem you through
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross? Because of His
grace. It wasn't some kind of response to something you've
done or something you believed or something you promised. He
did it by grace. Why were you born again? Did He ask you, do you want to
be born again? No, it was an act of His grace. Why have you
persevered up to this point? Why is it that you haven't fallen
away? There are many people who started and haven't finished.
They've left. They're gone. Why have you stayed? Why have you persevered in the
faith? And when I'm talking about persevering in the faith, I'm
not talking about remaining religious. I'm talking about you right now,
while I'm talking to you, the only hope you have is Jesus Christ.
You look to him alone. And that's what it is to persevere
in the faith. It's not just remaining religious. It's looking to him
alone all the time until you die. Why is it that you persevere
in the faith? because of the grace of God.
You were called by grace. Paul said, when it pleased God
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace
to reveal His Son in me. Oh, this calling is a grace. The faith you have, where'd it
come from? Grace. By grace are you saved through
faith in that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. What about
the repentance you have? You're staying in a state of
your mind being changed. Where'd that come from? the grace
of God. Every aspect of salvation is
all together by grace, absolute grace. Now inherent in the word
grace in the scriptures is free grace, being justified freely,
freely by His grace. If it's not free, it's not grace.
Being justified freely by his grace. Now, before I talk about
the freeness of it, it costs God dearly. He that spared not his own son,
but delivering him up for us all, how shall he not with him
freely give us all things? It costs God dearly. It costs
the Lord Jesus Christ dearly. You know the grace of Christ
that though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor,
that you through his poverty might be rich. But do you know that grace is
the only thing in the universe that's truly free? Nothing else is. I love the way Paul called it
in Romans 5 15, the free gift. Now, everything that you've ever
got for free, it wasn't free. They wanted something from you.
They gave you this free so that you get that from them. never
been a free gift in the history of the universe. When you give
something free, I would like to think, well, I'm doing it
because of the graciousness of my heart. No, I'm trying to get
something out of somebody. I'm trying to manipulate it. I'm
trying to make sure. God's not like that. He said
to the woman at the well, if you knew the gift of God, and
who it was that saith to thee, give me to drink. You would have
asked of him and he would have given you living water, the free
gift of God. Now anything else that claims
to be free in this life always has strings attached. In this
life, whatever's given to you for free, there's something expected
of you in return, but not here. This has no strings attached.
The only thing there is like this, God's free grace. The grace of God from the scripture
is total grace. You know, I like that, description of grace. It's total
grace. Let me read you a scripture from
Romans chapter 11, verses five and six. Paul says, even so then
there's a remnant according to the election of grace. I love
the way elections called the election of grace. He goes on to say, if it be by
grace, it's no more of works. Those are two things that'll
never go together, grace and works. They're completely opposed
to one another. But if it be of works, it's no
more grace. If you put any work in salvation
that you must do before God can act on your behalf, it's no longer
grace. It is works. You know, I've already mentioned
the Lord when he preached in that message in Luke chapter
four, and they wondered at his, the gracious words that proceeded
out of his mouth. It's literally the grace words
that proceeded out of his mouth. Grace has a language where specific
words are used that are found in the word of grace. Now, brethren, I commend you
to God and the word of his grace. That's what this is. The word
of his grace. And only those who have been
saved by grace understand this language. Somebody says, I don't understand.
Then you're not saved. Only those who are saved understand
the language of grace. I could preach a whole message
on that. There's no doubt about it, but it takes grace to understand
grace. And when you have grace, you
understand the grace of God being your salvation. But there's a
language in it. It's a foreign language to those
who do not know it. God's grace is confessional grace. Now, what do I mean by that?
Paul said this, by the grace of God, I am what I am. That's my confession. Now, I'm a sinner. And it's only by the grace of
God that I know that. There's no other way I would
know that had not God made it known to me. I'm an elect sinner. And I am
by the grace of God, I'm a justified sinner. I am what I am by the
grace of God. I'm a redeemed sinner. I am what
I am by the grace of God." You see, there's a confession involved
in this. If you've been saved by God's
grace, you're going to confess, I am what I am by the grace of
God. You're going to be in complete agreement with Peter when he
said, we believe that by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
we shall be saved even as they, those Gentiles. They're not going
to be saved like us, Jews. us Jews are gonna be saved like
the Gentiles by the grace of God. And His grace is not only
confessional grace, you'll confess this grace, you'll confess it,
this is my salvation. It's sufficient grace. My grace, my grace is sufficient for you. You don't need anything else. My grace is sufficient for you. I think of the ocean saying to
the little thimple, my water is sufficient to fill you up
and that doesn't even cover the sufficiency of His grace. It is sufficient grace. You need
nothing else. And God's grace is effective
grace. And what do I mean by that? God's
grace affects every part of us. Now let me show you what I mean.
Turn with me to Luke chapter six. Luke chapter six, beginning in
verse 31. And as you would, that men, well,
let's start up in verse 27. I'd rather start up there. Verse
27, but I say unto you, which hear, love your enemies. Do good to
them which hate you. Bless them that curse you, and
pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth
thee on the one cheek, offer also the other. And him that
taketh away thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. Give
to every man that asketh of thee, and of him that taketh away thy
goods, ask them not again. And as you would that men should
do to you, do you also to them likewise." What a glorious statement. How do you want to be treated?
This is true in every case. How do you want to be treated?
That's the way you're to treat that person all the time. Verse 32, four. If you love them
which love you, what thank have you? You know that word thank
is grace. It is the word grace. Where's
the grace there? If you love them that love you,
where's the grace? For sinners also love those that
love them. And if you do good to them which
do good to you, what thank have you? Where's the grace there? Sinners also do even the same. And if you lend to them of whom
you hope to receive, what thank have you? Where's grace there? For sinners also lend to sinners,
to receive so much again. But love your enemies, and do
good, and lend, hoping for nothing again. And your reward should
be great, and you should be the children of the highest. For
he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore
merciful as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, you shall
not be judged. Condemn not, you shall not be
condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven.
Give, and it shall be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down
and shaken together, running over, shall be given to your
bosom. For with the same measure that you meet withal, it shall
be measured to you again. Grace. Grace. When Paul speaks of giving, you
know what word he uses to describe it? See that you abound in this
grace also. What a word to describe giving. What a privilege to give in the
first place. It's a gift of his grace. And
Paul says, see that you abound in this grace also. What a glorious, argument for
giving. It's a grace. It's a grace. It's a grace given. Listen to these words that are
found in the King James translation. And this is the way the word
grace is translated by these different words. And this is
what I mean by saying it's effective grace. It affects you. You see,
You don't use grace. Grace uses you. The grace of
God. Here are the words. Acceptable. Benefit. Favor. Gracious. Gift. Joy. Liberality. Pleasure. Thank, thanks, thank
worthy. And this is what grace is. Aren't
those words beautiful that describe that same Greek word translated
grace. And my dear friends, grace is
something that can be seen. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, turn with me to Acts chapter
11. Now, when I say it can be seen,
well, I really see the grace of God operating me. I'm really,
I mean, I see such progress. I can see it. Is that what I
mean? No, no, not at all. If somebody makes the statement,
well, I can really see God's grace operative in me. I love
on the day of judgment when the Lord said, inasmuch as you did
it to the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me. When
did we do it? We're not even aware of it. And the ones who
thought we did it, they were cast into hell fire. So when
we're talking about being able to see grace, I'm not saying,
well, I can look within and see all kinds of grace. I feel really
good about myself. I'm ready to go. Sign sealed,
delivered. But look what happened in verse 22 of Acts chapter 11.
Then tidings of these things came into the ears of the church,
which was in Jerusalem. And they sent forth Barnabas,
that he should go as far as Antioch, who when he came and had seen. The grace of God. You can see the grace of God,
can't you? You can see it in others. You can see the powerful
operations of his grace in making himself known to somebody. You
can see the powerful operations of his grace in stripping somebody
and making them to see that Christ is all. You can see his grace
in the preaching of the gospel and the gathering of his people.
You can see his grace in humility and lowliness and confidence
in Christ. Now Barnabas comes here and when
he had seen the grace of God, well, that's some kind of side,
isn't it? What's more glorious than to be able to see the grace
of God? His grace can be seen. And what
did he do? When he came, verse 23, and had
seen the grace of God, he was glad. And he exhorted them all
that with purpose of heart, they would cleave unto the Lord. Now I love that counsel, don't
you? When he'd seen the grace of God, he exhorted them that
with purpose of heart, they would cleave unto the Lord. Now the
grace of God, the grace be with you. The only way the grace of
God can be accurately defined is by the attributes of God. Every attribute of God defines
His grace. If my definition of grace is
contrary to any of His attributes, it's not the grace of God. Whatever
it is, it's not the grace of God. It's purpose grace. It's saving grace. It's free
grace. It's absolute grace. It has a
language that all who are saved by grace understand. It's confessional
grace, it's sufficient grace, it's effective grace, and it's
visible grace. And I love what was said of the
early church in Acts chapter four, and I pray that that will
be said of us. Great grace was upon them. And if you have the grace of
God, you have the great grace of God upon you. The grace be
with you. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
grace. Lord, deliver us from ever seeing
your grace. And I already know that and looking
at it just as some kind of doctrine we have down pat, but let us
always be amazed at your grace. Lord, let it be always at all
times, amazing grace to us. How we thank you that your grace
is who you are and all your glorious attributes make known what is
meant by your grace. And Lord, we are so thankful
that salvation is by grace. We pray that you'd take this
message and bless it for your glory and for our good. In Christ's
name we pray, amen.