Turn to Exodus chapter 33. In
verse 18, Exodus 33, and he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all
my goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious
and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Now look in verse five of chapter
34. Remember he said, I'm going to
proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. And the Lord descended
in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name
of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, And that will by no means clear
the guilty. Visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children and upon the children's children
under the third and fourth generation. And I love Moses's response.
And Moses made haste. and bowed his head toward the
earth and worshiped. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name. That you would come and proclaim
your name before us in the preaching of the gospel. And we pray that
we may be enabled to do as Moses did to make haste, bow our heads
to the earth and worship. Lord, we give thanks for who
you are. We give thanks for your salvation. We give thanks for the forgiveness
of sins. We give thanks for the freeness
of your grace. Lord, we're so blessed to be
saved by your grace. And I ask in Christ's name that
you would speak in power to our hearts. Lord, we pray for those
that are sick. We pray for your healing hand
upon them according to your will. Lord, we pray for those that
are traveling. We pray for your traveling mercies
upon them. Lord, may we be found in Christ
and may he be exalted. In his name we pray. Amen. Christ alone, scriptures alone,
faith alone, God's glory alone, we're going to consider this
morning, grace alone. Now, understand
this, if grace is not alone, it's not grace. Grace alone. what is meant by
this, grace alone. And if we look at this as a doctrine
formed during the Protestant Reformation, championed by Luther
and Calvin, we trivialize it. I wouldn't dare diminish what
those men did, the way they suffered for the gospel. It's not about
diminishing them, but grace is a whole lot older than John Calvin
or Martin Luther or Augustine or anybody else. God's grace
is eternal. God's grace has always been alone. When God proclaimed his name
to Moses, He says, I will be gracious. It's who he is. It's his attribute. And he also
said in that same passage of scripture, I will by no means
clear the guilty. Now, I want you to think of those
two, for lack of a better word, concepts. I will be gracious. He forgives iniquity and transgression
and sin. And in that same passage of scripture,
he says, I will by no means, under no circumstances whatsoever,
will I ever clear someone who is guilty. Now, those are two
concepts we can't think of happening at the same time. Grace, forgiveness,
graciousness, and absolute justice. In our minds, we can't bring
those two things together. You got one or the other, but
here's the glory of the gospel. You have both in the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Absolute justice. He by no means
clears the guilty. The cross lets us know that.
And yet we have the freeness and the greatness of his grace
revealed in the cross of Christ. Now grace alone, grace alone. There are only two ways that
we can consider salvation. Only one of them is right, but
there are only two ways that we can consider salvation. Salvation
by grace alone. or salvation by works. Turn with
me to Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. Verse five, even so then, At this present
time, also, there is a remnant, a small number of believers. You know, God's people on the
earth at any given time have always been called a remnant,
a small number. There is a remnant according
to the election of grace. I love that word, the election
of grace. God elected a people before time
began and he did it because of his grace. Now look what he says
next in verse six. And if by grace, if elections
by grace and it is, if salvation is by grace and it is, It's no
more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, don't
call it grace. It's no more grace. Otherwise,
work is no more work. Now, works are what you do. Grace is what he has done. It
is that simple. Works are what you do. You think
about what you need to do. Oh, I need to change. I need
to be able to stop this sin in order for God to be gracious
toward me. I need to straighten up my life. Then I'll have mercy. That's
works. That's all it is. That's salvation
by works, salvation by works is what you do. Salvation by
grace is what he has done. Now let's look in Genesis chapter
six at the first time the word grace is mentioned in the scripture. Verse eight, but Noah found grace. in the eyes of the Lord. That can only be read in light
of verse five, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great
in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of
his heart was only evil continually, nonstop. Now, was no one in that
bunch? Was Noah included in this description?
Absolutely. This was Noah. This was me. This
is you. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Now we believe in what is known
as the doctrine of grace. And I will not use the term doctrines
of grace because there's only one doctrine, the doctrine of
grace, not doctrines. As a matter of fact, every time
you read the word doctrines in the scripture, it's always referring
to false doctrine. It's not the doctrines of grace,
it's the doctrine of grace, the doctrine of God. It is represented
by the acrostic tulip, if you haven't heard of that, tulip. This is not reform doctrine.
I want to give you some kind of history behind this acrostic
tulip, but this is not reform doctrine. This is not Calvinistic
doctrine. This is the doctrine of God.
This is the doctrine of scripture. Now, how did we come up with
this term tulip? Well, Back in the 1600s, 1618
and 1619, there was some kind of church council that met together.
I don't know about that kind of stuff, but they met together
at any rate because they were protesting to what they saw was
being preached. Here's what was being preached.
This was in the Netherlands. Man is not totally depraved because
his will is free and he can exercise his will to accept Jesus to be
saved. Election is conditioned upon
God foreseeing faith and works. It's not free. It was conditioned
on God foreseeing what one would do. I foresee Todd's going to
believe I'm going to elect him. making God some kind of time
traveler, going through time. The third point, El, remember
Tula, El, what was being taught was that the blood of Christ
was Unlimited. It was for everybody. It paid
for the sins of all men, the sins of Judas, as well as the
sins of Peter, the sins of Cain, as well as the sins of Abel,
the sins of those in hell, as well as those in heaven. There
was no limit to his atonement. He died for everybody. God's
grace, this is what was being preached. God's grace can be
rejected and resisted. So God can want to give you grace,
but you can reject it and you'll end up in hell. And the fifth
thing that was taught was that someone could actually be saved
and fall away and lose their salvation. Now, that was the
teaching. And what TULIP stands for, that
acrostic, is total depravity. Man is totally under the dominion
of sin. The you is unconditional election. Election's not conditioned upon
you doing something. It's simply because God freely
did it by his grace. The atonement is limited to the
elect. You know, I've heard people say,
well, limited is not a good term. I don't have any problem with
it. I know people say that. But if you believe in heaven
and hell, you have some view of limit in the atonement. You
might limit it to the free will of man. It's limited by what
men let happen. But everybody believes in a limited
atonement of some kind, unless you believe in universal redemption.
and the atonement was limited to the elect, God's grace cannot
be resisted. It's always saving grace and
all of God's people will persevere looking to Christ only all the
way to the end. Now that is what is known as
the doctrine of grace. And let me say this, in John
chapter six, the Lord brought a message where he brought out
all five of these points. The Lord, not some man, not some
reformer. The Lord brought out every one
of these points clearly in John chapter six. It is the doctrine
of grace. Now I'd like for you to turn
with me to Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter two. I couldn't select a passage of
saying is this is the best passage on grace because they're all
grace and you can't pick out one and but I love Ephesians
chapter two. What what a statement with regard
to the grace of God. Now let's begin in verse one
of Ephesians chapter two. And you Hath he quickened and really
that doesn't come up. The translators put that it's,
it's in verse three, but they think this makes it clear. And
you who were dead in trespasses and sins, and you have, he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins. Now grace is meaningless
without some understanding of this. I'm born into this world
dead. Dead. Graveyard dead. As far as spiritual life goes,
I have no life. Now you remember when God said
to Adam, in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. Beloved, he did die that day.
The day he ate, he died dead in trespasses and sins. No spiritual
life. Dead. What can a dead man do? He can stink. He knew that. We'll give him
that much credit. But he can't perform any of the
actions of spiritual life. He's dead. Now let's go on reading. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. If I went into a graveyard and
said, if you'll just let God save you, you'll come out of
that tomb. If you allow him, why you'd say
you're crazy. Yeah, that is crazy. That is
crazy. Dead. Verse two, wherein in times
past you walked According to the course of this world. This evil world that has no love
for God. He was in the world. The world
was made by him and the world knew him not. Now you were in
that bunch. I was in that bunch walking according
to the course of this world, according to The prince of the
power of the air, that's what he calls the devil. You were
under the dominion of Satan. Completely under his control. You didn't know it, and that's
what proves you were under his control. You thought, I'm okay.
I can do this whenever I get ready to be saved, I can be saved.
There's something I can do. When you thought that, you were
under the complete domination of Satan himself, the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. The Lord said to the Pharisees,
you're your father, the devil and the lust of your father,
you will do. Verse three, among whom also
we all, Paul's including himself in this, he's saying all men
are described thusly, among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind. That's all covers every thought,
everything we've ever done, whatever it is, whether religious or irreligious,
whether debauched or supposedly moral. What we were doing is fulfilling
the lusts of the flesh, the desires of the mind. And we were by nature,
the children of wrath. even as others, wrathful, vengeful,
hateful people, just like everybody else. Now, if you're, if I'm
saved, if you're saved, God's delivered me. He's done something
for me because I was by nature of children of wrath, just like
everybody else. But here's grace, verse four,
but you turn things around. But. You. Saw the light and saw
what you needed to do and you changed your life. But. But. God. Now that's grace. But God. Not that you did anything. But
God. who is rich in mercy, for His
great love wherewith He loved us." Now, involved in grace is His
great love wherewith He loved us. As a matter of fact, that's
where it all begins. Whom He did foreknow for love. He also did predestinate. This is speaking of His great
love. But God, who is rich in mercy,
He's so rich in mercy, He delights in mercy. For His great love
were with He loved us even when we were dead in sins. hath quickened us together with
Christ. Now think of what is being said.
When we were dead in sins, even when we were dead in sins, He
quickened us. He gave us life. And don't miss
this, together with Christ. Now this really, okay, somebody
said, this is talking about regeneration. Well, I'm sure that that can
be included in it, but what the text says is that when Christ
was quickened, I was quickened. When he was raised from the dead,
I was raised from the dead. I was quickened together with
him. Don't miss that, that's so important.
Quickened together with him. Now this is my hope that I'm
in Christ. This is God's grace, that when
he lived, I lived. When he died, I died. In the beloved, I went to the
tree. When he was raised from the dead,
I was raised too. When God looked at him and said,
he lives, I've given him life, he's saying that with regard
to every single one of his people. Quickened together with Christ. Now, notice this parentheses,
Paul says, here's what I mean by all this. By grace, are you
saved? That's what this means. By grace,
are you saved? Christ Jesus is the grace of
God. It's not just some concept out
there. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
is the grace of God. The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. By grace, are you saved? Let's go on reading verse six.
Look at the word together again. He's raised us up together. When Christ was raised, I was
raised. and made us sit together. There's that word together again.
That's talking about together with Christ right now, present
tense. I'm sitting in heaven in Christ
Jesus because he's there at the right hand of the father. I'm
there too. Now, how much of that's by grace? That's evident, isn't it? And
here's what he's going to do, verse seven, that in the ages
to come, eternity, this is how eternity will be spent. That in the ages to come, he
might show the exceeding riches of his grace. in his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. Now, that's what heaven is going
to be. Seeing the exceeding riches of
his grace in his kindness toward us. And I love, Paul never says
anything without a through Christ or in Christ or by Christ. I
love that. You know, when I start thinking,
if I don't have that along with it, I'm gonna think there's something
I need to do to get this grace. No, it's through Christ. Christ Jesus is the grace of
God. Now he repeats himself in verse
eight, four, by grace are you saved. Now that, saved is in
the perfect, passive, perfectly completed, never to be repeated,
it's done, it's a done deal, perfect, passive, I was acted
on, I didn't do anything to get this, God gave it to me. By grace
are you saved. Through faith. There's no salvation apart from
believing the gospel. I, you know what? I believe what
I'm saying. I believe that Christ is salvation.
I'm relying. I'm relying on this, that everything
God requires of me, he looks to his son for I'm relying on
that. That's what faith is. It's looking to Christ only by
grace. So you say through faith and
look how Paul is so jealous to make sure we understand what
that means. That, that faith, it's not of
yourselves. Somebody says, well, at least I believed. That's not
of yourselves. That's not because of something
in you. That's not because of an act of your free will. That,
not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. That faith that you have right
now, God gave it to you. And the only reason you have
it is because God himself gave it to you. Aren't you thankful? Now to deny that in any way is
to boast of works. Look what he says. That is not
of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works. Lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works. That's why every
believer is going to be rich in good works. Now, you're not
gonna look at yourself and say, boy, I'm rich in good works. No, you're
gonna be saying, well, when did we do these things? But still
God says, this is true of every believer, they're created, and
this is why this is gonna happen, they're created in Christ Jesus
unto good works which God hath before ordained, that we should
walk in them. Now, one other scripture, Romans
chapter five, Verse 20, grace alone. You know, I love
the word grace, and it sounds awful good with the word alone,
because if it's not alone, it's not grace. Grace alone. Now look at this passage in Romans
chapter five, verse 20. Moreover, the law entered. God's holy law, the 10 commandments. You know, I love the 10 commandments.
I delight in the law of God after the inward man. I love God's
law. And the reason I love it is because
I've kept it. You ought to try to keep the
law. If you try to keep it, it means you didn't. If that's what
you're doing, trying to keep it, no, I've kept it in Christ Jesus.
I've kept it. That's why I don't fear it. That's
why I love God's law. I've kept it. And how God's law
honors God, how God's law honors Christ. But look what it says.
Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, overflow. Now, if you can look at God's
law and think that you've kept even one commandment one time,
you've never seen the law. You're still blind. God's law enters to expose one
thing, that you are nothing but sin. You agree with that? It's true
whether you agree with it or not, but the law entered that the
offense might abound. But where sin abounded. Are you a place where sin abounds? Where sin abounded. Now there, ask somebody, does
sin abound in you? No, no, I make mistakes, I commit
sins, but I wouldn't say sin just abounds in me and bubbles
up and covers everything. But where, are you a place where
sin abounds? Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. Everywhere where sin abounds,
grace super abounds over that, that as sin hath reigned unto
death. Verse 21. Now, how much ability
do you have to keep from dying? None. How come? Sin reigns and you can't control
that. You could practice perfect health
for the rest of your life, and you're still gonna die of something. Why? Because you're a sinner.
Sin reigns unto death, and there's nothing you can do to stop that. We all know that's so. That as
sin hath reigned unto death, in the same manner, even so might
grace reign. Now, somebody says, what's sovereign
grace? Right here, grace reigns. Even though you're dead, that's
not going to prevent grace from reigning in you. Just like you
can't prevent death, you can't prevent grace. There's nothing
you can do to stop this. that as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so in the same manner might grace reign through righteousness. That's so important. This is
righteous grace. This isn't God just looking at
your evil sin and saying, well, I'm just going to forgive it
and accept anyway. No, this is altogether righteous
grace that honors the righteousness of God because you're saved in
such a way as you have perfect righteousness through the righteousness
of Christ. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life. And there's another one of those
by Christ, by Jesus Christ, our Lord. Grace alone.