I hope that every one of us will
learn in our hearts to sing that line we just heard. Oh, to grace,
how great a debtor. What is meant by grace? Far less time is devoted to the
life of Isaac than that of Abraham or Jacob. Just a few chapters. And his faults are pointed out
glaringly in the scriptures. This man Isaac was, for one thing,
a very bad parent. And it's noted that he made a
big difference between Esau over Jacob. And the scriptures, God
the Holy Spirit is pleased to point out, it was because he
liked the venison Esau prepared. He liked what he got to eat from
him. That's a pretty shallow seemingly thing and it's pointed
out two or three times in the scriptures with regard to him
liking what uh... he's all given date in that passage
of scripture that we just read we see that he was a very you
know much of a husband this year wife nope my sister
and uh... He said, I don't want to take
responsibility for her. I might get killed over her.
I'm sure that made Rebecca feel very loved, appreciated, protected,
didn't it? I just wonder how these women
dealt with these men. And you know, Abraham did it
twice. And the oak horn doesn't fall
far from the tree. Isaac does just what his daddy
did. Now here's the story, and remember,
we're asking what is meant by grace. And we see what's meant
by grace in this story before us. Verse six, and Isaac dwelt
in Gerar, and the men of the place asked him of his wife.
And he said, she's my sister. Now, what happened when Abraham
did that, his wife was actually taken into a harem. And this
didn't happen with Isaac. They left her alone, but still
he did the same thing Abraham did. She's my wife. He feared to say,
she's my wife, lest the men of the place should kill me for
Rebecca, because she was fair to look upon. And it came to
pass when there a long time that Abimelech the king of the Philistines
looked out a window and saw and behold Isaac was sporting with
Rebekah his wife. Now was this Abimelech the same
Abimelech as in Genesis chapter 20? Could have been. I doubt
it. I think that the king's names
were Abimelech with the Philistines. But I guarantee you he knew about
what happened when they took Abraham's wife. Because the scripture
says that the Lord shut up the wombs of all the women of the
Philistines. And it stayed that way. They
were under the judgment of God until he gave back Sarah. And I'll guarantee you that was
in the annals of their history, and they knew that it was wrong. And another thing I'd like to
point out about this, sexual sin was wrong then just
like it is now. It is now just like it was then.
They knew better. Abimelech knew better. All these
men knew better. Somebody says, well, it didn't
seem to be sin in those days. Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was, just
like it is today. And look what it says. It came
to pass, and we'd been there a long time, that Abimelech,
king of the Philistines, looked out a window and saw, and behold,
Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. And Abimelech called
Isaac and said, of assurity, she's your wife, you lied to
me. How saidst thou she's my sister? And Isaac said unto him,
because I said lest I die for her. I don't want to do that. And like I'm saying, I wonder
if Rebecca was listening while he said that to her, to him. And Abimelech said, what is this
that thou hast done unto us? One of the people might lightly
have lied with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness
upon us. And he knew what happened when
Abraham did the same thing. And the nation was under judgment
because of that. No children. And God appeared
to Abimelech in a dream. If you'll remember, you can read
about that in Genesis chapter 20. And Abimelech charged all his
people saying, he that touches this man or his wife, they'll
be put to death. Now, Isaac sowed in that land
and received in the same year and hundredfold. And the Lord
blessed him. Nothing good could be said of
Isaac in and of himself. He was guilty of not believing
God. He was guilty of being willing
to let his wife be taken up in a harem in order to save his
own neck. And what happened? The Lord blessed him. The Lord blessed him. And he
received an hundred fold. Now in this bad event, Isaac,
like his daddy, came out smelling like a rose. We would think that he would
only be rewarded like this for obedience, but God rewards him
in spite of his disobedience. Now the only way me or you will
be blessed of God is in spite of us. You believe that? In spite of us. I think it's very interesting
that Isaac committed the same sin his father did before he
was born. You know, Isaac wasn't born until
Genesis 21. And that account of Abraham is
in Genesis chapter 20. Isaac committed the same sin
his daddy did. And when Adam sinned, I sinned
the same sin. When Adam sinned, you sinned
the same sin. That's what the Word of God teaches.
By one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners. You were
made a sinner by what Adam did. And your sin is all your fault.
You can't blame it on Adam. When you sin, you do exactly
what you want to do. You know, people do what they
want to do, don't they? People do what they want to do. That's
what Isaac wanted to do. That's what Adam wanted to do. Isaac
comes out smelling like a rose, and you know, I could not help
but think about how after Adam's fall, he ended up having it far
better than he would have had he never fallen. Isn't that amazing? He was much better off after
that fall. You see, God brings good out
of evil. Only he can do that. And Adam went from being an innocent
creature to a son of God with a holy nature. Oh, he was infinitely better
after this fall. Now that gives us some idea of
what is meant by grace. Doesn't it? I think of the scripture. Here's the first time grace is
ever used. Genesis 6, 5, and God saw that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth. At every imagination, of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. When God looks into your mind
and into your heart and into my mind and into my heart, here's
what he sees. And what he sees is what really
is, whether we see it or not. He sees that the wickedness of
man is great. Your wickedness is great in the
earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of your heart
are only evil continually. You plead guilty? Included in that description
was Noah. And God saw the wickedness of
Noah was great in the earth and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil nonstop. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. There's the difference. There's
the meaning of grace, but, but. Now that's true of every
one of us. If we found grace, we're described
as God described the wickedness of man in Genesis chapter six,
verse five, but, but. Now what is meant by grace? Grace is an attribute of God. Let me repeat that. Grace is an attribute of God. God said in Exodus 22, 27, I
am gracious. Exodus 34, verse 6, when he proclaimed
his name before Moses in the cleft of the rock, he said, the
Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious. What is meant by
grace? It's who God is. That's what's
meant by grace. It's who God is. The psalmist said that he's a
God full of compassion and gracious. The Lord is merciful and gracious. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion. Gracious is the Lord. He's called
in 1 Peter, the God of all grace. As God, He must be who He is. He must be sovereign because
He's God. I never will forget one time I was talking to a free
will preacher and he made this statement after I said, God is
sovereign and that means you're in his hands. He said, no, God
and his sovereignty determine for man to have a free will.
I thought, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. God must be sovereign. That's
who he is. You know what that means? That
means he controls everything going on in your mind right now.
Whatever you're thinking about, He's in control of it, because
He's in control of everything. God's sovereignty is who He is. Not only is God's sovereignty
who He is, God's absolute justice is who He is, God's immutability
is who He is, God's independence is who He is, God's omnipotence
is who He is, God's graciousness is who He is. I've heard it said,
God must be just and he may be gracious. No, he must be gracious
because of who he is. Isn't he glorious? He's gracious. He delights in
bestowing grace on people like Isaac. Isaac, look at him. I mean, everything he did, He had problems like you and
I do. He had serious flaws like you and I do. A fleshly appetite. I mean, that's
pointed out in not a good way. I mean, even when his wife was
deceiving him, what did she do? She said, I'll make meat just
like I know he loves. Why did he love Jacob? I mean,
Esau, because of the meat he brought him. He has these fleshly
appetites. He's a sinful man. But God blessed
him because God is gracious. It was said of the Lord Jesus,
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. Isn't that a wonderful description
of the Lord Jesus Christ? Full of grace and truth. You see, grace is the truth. It's the truth concerning the
character of God. You don't know God. I don't know
God. If I don't have some understanding
of what is meant by grace. Now let me give you. what the
scripture tells us of grace. Now I'm going to be saying a
lot of things in the next few minutes. And I promise I'm not
going to preach any longer than usual. I don't think I preach
very long generally. I'm going to keep it brief as
I can. But I want you to listen very
carefully because I'm going to give you what the Bible gives
us concerning the grace of God. And we can learn what is meant
by grace. Grace is never offered. It's only given. God doesn't say, I'm offering
you grace. Never happened, never will. And the very thought of
that is ridiculous. Paul said, I thank God on your
behalf for the grace of God, which is given you by Jesus Christ. When somebody talks about God
offering grace or making grace an offer, they're denying what
grace is altogether. Grace is no offer. We read in Acts chapter four,
verse 33, that great grace was upon them. Mecca grace. I like that term, don't you?
Mega grace, great grace. The only kind of grace there
is is great grace. When people talk about, well,
I believe in the doctrines of grace. No, you don't. When you even
talk like that, it's great grace. Never speak of God's grace in
any way other than astonishment, amazement. Wonder how he could
give grace to somebody like me. I guarantee Isaac thought that
way. Guarantee he did. God's grace, according to the
scripture, is purposed grace. You know what that means? If
you have grace, God purposed to give it to you individually,
your name, before time began. Now think about that. Talk about
great. Second Timothy 1.9 says, He saved
us. He called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works. What if Isaac's calling would
have been according to his works? God would have sent him to hell,
wouldn't he? Not according to our works, but according to his
own purpose and grace, which was given you in Christ Jesus
before the world began. God's grace is purpose grace,
which is why Paul called election in Romans 11, verse 5, the election
of grace. The election of absolute grace. Absolute grace. You know, it's
called unconditional election. I've heard people, you know,
it's called that, and that's a good term in the sense that
there isn't any conditions you have to meet in order to be elect.
Aren't you thankful? The election of grace. God hath from the beginning chosen
you. The beginning, before time began. You, personally, God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. Now let me say this as plainly
as I know how to say it. The elect to love election. All
of them do. I've seen and heard over the
years people who actually almost become tired of election. You
know, it's a doctrine. Well, it's a whole lot more than
that. It's who God is. It's grace. It's how God saves. God's grace is saving grace.
I love the way Peter summarized the gospel with this. We believe
that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we should
be saved just like they are. Those Gentiles, those Gentile
dogs, they're not gonna be saved like us. We're gonna be saved
like them. And that is spoken of in the
tense that actually could be read, we've been saved by the
grace of God, we're being saved by the grace of God, we will
be saved by the grace of God. By grace are you saved. Through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it's the gift of God. Not of works lest any man
should boast. Now this grace that saved Isaac,
We looked at this scripture this morning for a little bit in the
Bible study, is justifying grace. God's grace is always justifying
grace. Being justified, Romans 3 24,
being justified freely, freely by His grace, through
the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Now listen to me. I hope
that every time I get up and preach, I preach something about
this. Every believer because of God's
grace stands before God having never sinned. That's what justification means.
It means I stand before God having never sinned. Hold your finger in Genesis 26
and turn to 2 Corinthians 5. Verse 10, four. We must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things
done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it
be good or bad. Now, when I stand before God
in judgment, I'm going to be judged for the things done in
my body. And guess what? They're all good. Because my righteousness is the
righteousness of Jesus Christ. And I'm gonna be looked over
by the holy law of God, by God himself, and he's gonna say,
I'm pleased. Now that's what grace is. Isn't that amazing? And this grace arises from union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to these words, Ephesians
2, verses four and five. Ephesians 2, four and five says,
but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us
together. Don't miss that together. He's
quickened us together with Christ. You've been given life. And you
know when you were given life? When Christ was raised from the
dead. You were quickened with Christ. united to Him. Now this thing of grace has something
to do with being eternally united to the Lord Jesus Christ where
you've never been separated from Him. I love the way the Lord
said, I'm the vine, you're the branches and that union is closer
than any union that can be described because the same stem that's
going through the vine, there's not a connecting point. The same
stem going through the vine is going through the branches. That
means I've always been, always will be, united to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now that's grace. That's grace. What's meant by grace? Eternal
union with Jesus Christ. And the grace that saved Isaac
and me and you is calling grace. calling grace. Paul said, when
it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by his grace. Now this call of God, the call
of his grace, listen to this description. This call is invincible
and irresistible. Everybody he calls responds to
this call. If you don't respond, he never
called you. If he calls you, you'll respond. Lazarus, come
forth. Well, I don't know if I'm going
to or not. He that was dead came forth. Zacchaeus! You reckon he was shocked when
he heard his name? Zacchaeus! Make haste! Come down! You know it's always a call down. Today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste and he came
down and he received him joyfully. This call is always by the gospel. He called you by our gospel. That's the call. I don't know
if I've heard my name called. Well, have you heard the gospel?
Your name's been called. If you've heard the gospel, that's
the only call God uses is his gospel, the gospel of his son. That's the call of God. And it
is never without effect. Everybody he calls comes. And thank God, his grace. What's meant by grace? Here's
what is meant by grace, the forgiveness of sins. Now I like bringing out justification
first, because if you're justified, you don't have any sins to be
forgiven for. But do you mean our sins aren't forgiven? Yeah,
they're forgiven. Ephesians 1 7 says in whom we
have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins
now listen to this very carefully Forgiveness is not the end of
a process Forgiveness is not Well, I see my sin and I confess
it and I'm sorry for it. And I tell God about it and I
say, I'm sorry, please forgive me. And then your sin is forgiven. That's not the way it works. Salvation begins with the complete
forgiveness and blotting out of sin. Don't think. Now somebody says, don't we need
to confess our sin? Of course we do. But most of
them you don't confess because you don't even know what they
are. And don't feel good about your confession because it's
not very good. Every time I confess my sin,
I know I'm not being as sincere as I ought to be. I'm not being
as sorry as I ought to be. Forgiven because of my confessing
of my sin. I'm confessing it. I'm agreeing
with God what he says about my sin. I'm agreeing with him But
I'm forgiven for Christ's sake Not because of my confession
not because of anything I've done I'm forgiven for Christ's
sake what's meant by grace the grace of God the complete Forgiveness
of sin, child of God, don't look at your sin in any other way
but this, it's forgiven sin. God has forgiven you. And the reason he has forgiven
you is because he has justified you. And you stand before God
without guilt. Now that's what grace is. That
is the grace of God. God's grace, what's meant by
grace? I'm gonna call this making grace. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15,
10, by the grace of God, I am what I am. Whatever I am, it's
by the grace of God. Now the first thing I can say
I know I am, is I know I am a sinner. And it's only by the grace of
God that I know that. You know, there's a lot of folks
who are sinners that don't know it. Oh, they'll commit to doing bad things.
They'll admit to doing bad things and making mistakes and so on. They don't realize they're sinners. That means all they do is sin.
All they think is sin. All they know is sin. I know
that about myself. I've not told the truth one time
in all my life. Not unvarnished. I dress it up. Even my preaching, I'll dress
it up and make myself look better. Somebody says, well, how can
we listen to you then? Well, you're going to have to figure it out. Any preacher preaching is a sinner.
And if he doesn't see himself that way, he has no business
preaching the gospel. He ought to find something else
to do. But not only am I a sinner, and I know that by the grace
of God, I'm a justified sinner. That's by grace. I'm an elect
sinner. I sure enough know well that's
all of grace. I'm a redeemed sinner. That's
all of grace. I'm a persevering sinner. How
many times, how many people have left the gospel? Here. They're
not here anymore. I am, and I know why. It's only
the grace of God. When I enter into glory, I'll
know this, the only reason I'm there is grace. I'm gonna be
a trophy of His grace. I'm gonna be shown off, this
is how much my salvation is grace. Look at this guy, he's here,
it's grace. It's grace. The Lord said to Paul with regard
to that thorn in the flesh. Any thorns in your flesh? They hurt, don't they? They're
severe. What'd the Lord say with regard
to Paul's thorn in the flesh? He said, three times, I asked
the Lord for it to depart. He said, it beats me black and
blue. There's been so much speculation
as to what that thorn is. Well, we know this much about
it. It was a thorn in his flesh. Nothing else needs to be said,
really. Every believer experiences pain. What did the Lord say when
he said, Three times, let this depart from me. My grace is sufficient
for thee. You're going to have to be satisfied
to be saved sheerly by his grace. Satisfied with that? His grace
is sufficient Whatever He brings your way. And we've got trials
ahead of us that none of us know anything about. We're glad we
don't know anything about them. But here's the promise. My grace
is sufficient for thee. Somebody came up to somebody
who owned a Rolls-Royce. And he said, what's the horsepower
of that thing? He said, sufficient. His grace is infinitely sufficient. His grace is abounding grace. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded. Where sin
abounded. Don't miss that. Where sin abounded. Would that be you? Where sin
abounded. Grace did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, how much ability do you have to prevent death? If you practiced a perfectly
healthy lifestyle, what good would it do? Now, I'm not saying
we ought to do that. I'm not saying go ahead and eat,
dream, be merry, tomorrow we die. I'm not saying that at all.
But if you never practice, well, you know what I'm saying, it's
still not gonna prevent death. There's nothing that you can
do to prevent death. Now, that as sin hath reigned unto death,
in the same way grace reigns. What can you do to prevent grace? There's nothing you can do to
mess it up. Nothing. Grace reigns, and I love the
way he says this, grace reigns through righteousness. You see,
there's nothing unrighteous about grace. It's altogether righteous. The righteous God and his righteous
grace, all sin is punished. absolute justice of God is seen
in His grace. All sin is punished and I'm brought
into heaven in a way where the very righteousness of God demands
me to be brought in. That's what's meant by grace. How enriching is His grace. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became
poor. That you, through his poverty,
might be rich. I'm looking at some very rich
people right now. Enriched by the grace of God. Don't feel sorry for yourself.
You've got a maid. Things couldn't be any better.
You're rich in Christ Jesus. Here's an amazing fact. Peter
said, grow in grace. Don't you love that? Grow in
grace. I tell you what, I've grown in
my sense of my need of His grace. I understand more my need of
grace now than I did 10 years ago, or even when I was first
converted. I've grown in my sense of need
of grace, and I believe I've grown in my love for the grace
of God. I love salvation being by grace. It doesn't get old
to me. It's glorious. And I hope I grow in graciousness. Growth in grace is growth in
graciousness. What's meant by the grace of
God? Well, look at Isaac. That's what's meant by the grace
of God. Is it any wonder that Paul called the gospel the gospel
of the grace of God? I love that name for the gospel. I'd like us to sing that hymn
after this that we just heard some, and I hope we can sing
from the very depths of our hearts, oh to grace, how great a debtor,
daily I'm constrained to be. Let's pray. Lord, we give thanks for your
grace. We ask that you would, by your spirit, truly teach everybody
here, according to your will, what is meant by thy grace and
how we thank you that you are a gracious God who delights in
saving Sinners, by your grace, we give thanks. In Christ's name
we pray, amen.