Lord willing, tonight I'm going
to be speaking out of Acts chapter 20 on all the counsel of God. I've entitled the message for
this morning, If I Have Found Grace. It comes from verse three. of
our text, and I think this is a concept that very few people
have ever even considered. Look in verse 3, Abraham speaking and he says,
My Lord, if now I have found favor, that's the same word that
is said of Noah, he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He says,
if I have found favor. Now I love the narrative we just
read. Abraham is 99 years old. Look in the last two verses of
chapter 17. In the self same day was Abram
circumcised and Ishmael his son. and all the men of his house
born in the house and bought with money. And if the stranger
were circumcised with him and the Lord appeared to him." Now,
evidently this had just taken place. Very little time had elapsed
between his circumcision and the Lord appearing to him in
the tent. And we read in verse one, and
the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre. And he sat
in the tent door in the heat of the day. This event having
just taken place. Verse two, and he lift up his
eyes and looked and lo, three men stood by him. He didn't see him coming, walking
up. All of a sudden he looked up and lo, there were three men
that appeared to him. And when he saw them, he ran. This 99-year-old man, he ran. He was in a hurry. Perhaps still sore from what
had taken place, but yet he ran. to meet them from the tent door
and bowed himself down to the ground. Now, why did he bow himself
down to the ground? He knew one of these men was
the Lord. Well, how did he know this man
was the Lord? The Lord had appeared to him
before and he knew him and he recognized him. If the Lord appears to mere you,
we will recognize when he is preached and when he is not preached
because we know him. And we will know if the one being
preached is not the one he's revealed himself in his word
by. We'll see the difference. Abraham knew this was the Lord
and he did what everybody does who sees him, he hit the dirt
quick and bowed and worshiped. Verse three, and he said, my
Lord, if now I found favor in thy sight, we're going to come
back to that. But I love his attitude, not
some cocksure, arrogant confidence, But if I have, if I have found
favor in your sight, I think of that hymn we sing, pass me
not, O gentle Savior, hear my humble cry, while on others thou
art calling, do not pass me by. That was this man's attitude
at this time. If I have, found grace in your
sight. Pass not away, I pray thee, from
thy servant. You know, I see the gospel in
these next verses. Let a little water, I pray you,
be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the
tree. And I'll fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your
hearts. Now, I like thinking of this,
I need my feet washed. And it is only in having my feet
washed that I rest. And the only place I rest is
under the tree, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
the only place I find comfort, nowhere else. That was what Abraham
said to these men He says in verse five, I will fetch a morsel
of bread and come for you, your hearts that after that you shall
pass on for therefore you come to your servant. They said, do
as thou has said. And don't you love to picture
this? And Abraham hastened into the tent. I mean, Sarah was in
the tent, he knew she was there. And I can see this old man running
in there, Sarah, you need to get this meal ready. I mean,
he wanted to be hospitable to the Lord and he was so excited
about him being there. And he hastens into the tent,
runs in there, Sarah, get this meal ready, make ready quickly,
three measures of fine meal. Knead it and make cakes upon
the hearth. And then verse seven, Abraham
ran into the herd. Can't you see this old man running
into the herd? And he fetched a calf, tender
and good, and he gave it unto a young man, and he hasted to
dress it. Get this dress quick. There's no, be in a hurry. He spared nothing. He took butter
and milk and the calf which he had dressed, and he set it before
them. And he stood by them, watching them while they ate. He didn't
feel like he had any business eating this meal with them, but
he stood by them, waiting to obey whatever they said. Now let's go back to verse three.
That is a beautiful scene, isn't it? Seeing Abraham's conduct. But he says in verse three, my
Lord, if Now he'd seen a lot. He'd been walking with the Lord
for 25 years. And the Lord appeared to him
in Genesis chapter 12. And you'd think, well, is that unbelief?
Why would he be saying, if I found grace in your sight? I understand,
don't you? If I have found favor in your
sight, do not pass away Let me have your presence. If I found
grace, if I found favor in your sight. Now, how many times have
you heard people make this response to grace? If I believe what you believe, if I believe grace like that,
why do anything I wanted? I'd sin without restraint, there
wouldn't be any problems in salvation by grace. Now what someone demonstrates
when they have that response is the state of their heart.
That is what they do. Because they don't know the grace of
God. They don't really know the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what
they do. All they're doing is exposing
what's really in their heart when they make that response. But Abraham If I found grace
in your sight, don't leave me. Don't pass by. Now let me tell you two things
about grace before we consider this request of Abraham. Number one, grace is the difference. between heaven and hell. Now let me repeat that. Grace
is the difference between heaven and hell. And number two, the
only person who has a true appreciation of the grace of God is a sinner. The only person that has a true
appreciation of the grace of God is a sinner. I love that scripture in Romans
chapter five where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Are you a place, I'm not talking
about the way you were yesterday, I'm talking about right now.
Are you a place where sin abounds? Are you a sinner? I'm not talking about, well,
I used to be. No, we're not talking about that. If you used to be,
that means you're not now. Are you a sinner? I always, there's a part of me
that hates saying this because I think, well, people are gonna
be thinking, well, what's he doing? But I find this to be true. I
am just as evil as I've ever been. Just as sinful, the same,
the same. I know that so concerning me. I love it when the scripture
says, then drew near all the publicans and sinners for to
hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured saying,
this man receiveth sinners and even eats with them. The reason Abraham was the friend
of God is God is the friend of sinners. And you can see Abraham's
conduct at this time, his desire to entertain such an august,
glorious, Guest. Now, I pray that you and I will
hear this message as sinners. Now, go back to Genesis 6. We looked at this in Bible study.
What do I mean by a sinner? I mean a Genesis 6, 5 sinner.
You know, I preached the message a few years ago called Romans
7 sinners. We'll hear a Genesis 6, 5 sinner. Are you one of these? Look what
it says in verse 5. 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. Would that describe you? Are you a Genesis 6, 5 sinner? sinner." Well, that underscores what I
said, that the only difference between heaven and hell is grace.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He was one of those
Genesis 6-5 sinners. but he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And the only person who will
appreciate that is a sinner. Now, if I, you've been a believer,
I know at least 25 or 29 years. If I have found grace in your
sight. Now that concept is foreign to
the natural man for this reason. He doesn't know what grace is. If I have found grace in your
sight. So before we consider that concept,
I'm going to look at six places where that statement is made
by men over the centuries. If I have found grace in your
sight, what is meant by the grace of God, if I found grace in your
sight. Let me give you seven truths
regarding God's grace very briefly, and then we'll have some idea
of what he means by if I found grace in your sight. Let me give
you seven truths with regard to God's grace that all must
be there or it's not the grace of God. And here's the first
thing, God's grace is always saving grace. Always. It's not offered grace, it's
saving grace. That's why you can't reject grace.
Somebody says, well, I reject it. Well, it was never given
to you. You can't reject grace. If God gives you grace, you can't
reject it because it's always saving grace. By grace, ye are saved. We believe that through
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. Grace is always
saving grace. Secondly, God's grace is in Christ
Jesus, our Lord. It is mediated through him. You
can't even think about grace apart from thinking of the person
of grace. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. He's full of grace. and truth. Grace comes because of Christ. It's not God's response to you.
It's God's response to Jesus Christ, his dear son. You can't
separate the grace of God and the person of that grace, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Thirdly, God's grace is eternal
grace. It's saving grace. It's grace
that can't be separated from the person of Christ. You're
saved for Christ's sake. And thirdly, it is eternal grace. The grace any sinner experiences
in time was given to him before time began. 2 Timothy 1.9, he
saved us. He called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works. but according to his own purpose
and grace, which were given us, grace is given, it's not offered,
it's not thrown out there up for your acceptance or rejection,
it's given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Now let me tell you this, if
you can't trace the grace you have to eternity, it's not the
grace of God. God's grace is eternal grace. We just read Jeremiah 31 verse
3, Behold, I have loved you with an everlasting love. God's grace is sovereign grace. Now, what do I mean by God's
grace being sovereign grace? Well, let's say I sin against
you and offend you. And I come up to you and I say,
I'm sorry, I did that. And it's your responsibility
to forgive me. You need to forgive me. Now, if you're a Christian,
you'll forgive me. And if you have a hard time forgiving
me, problem's with you. Have I been asked for forgiveness?
You only ask forgiveness to a sovereign And if you have anything about
you that can say, you need to forgive me, like it's their responsibility,
you've not really asked for forgiveness. You only ask forgiveness to a
sovereign in the sense that it's theirs to give and it's theirs
to withhold. And you cannot say, you need
to do this, you're obligated to do this. God's grace is sovereign
grace. He doesn't give it to you in
response to, well, I did this and I did that. That's God's
job. He's supposed to forgive me. He's supposed to... No! God's
grace is sovereign grace. He gives it to whom He will. Period. God's grace is free grace. being justified freely by His
grace. There's nothing you do to earn
it. It is free to this extent. You are disqualified if you have
anything to pay. God's grace is free grace. And I love this. God's grace
is righteous grace. God's grace is altogether righteous
grace. that as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so my grace reign through righteousness. It's righteous grace. All sin
is punished. Righteousness is rewarded through
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's altogether righteous
grace. You see, if God gives you his
grace, it's a righteous thing for him to do through the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God's grace, And we're talking
about God's grace, if I found grace in your side. It's saving,
it's in Christ Jesus, it's eternal, it's sovereign, it's free, it's
righteous, and God's grace always makes a man do what Noah did. It always makes a man walk with
God. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And Noah walked with God. And if I know anything about
the grace of God, I'm going to be the same way. I'm going to
walk by faith with the living God. Now that is God's grace. Now, Abraham says, if I found
grace in your sight, don't pass me by. Now here's the first thing that
someone learns when they've learned the grace of God. Don't leave
me. Don't leave me to myself. The
worst thing that could happen to me is for God to remove His
hand from me and leave me to myself. If I found grace in your sight,
don't pass away. Don't leave me. You see, grace
humbles a man. And we see that his grace is
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, grace is, I
never want to speak negatively about doctrine because the doctrine
of God, but grace is more than a doctrine. Grace is a person,
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't pass me by. I turn to Exodus chapter 33. Now the setting of this passage
is the golden calf incident. And look in verse 12. And Moses said unto the Lord,
see thou sayest unto me, bring up this people And thou hast
not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. If you'll remember,
God said, go ahead and go up. I'm not going with you, though.
Not after this. I'll send an angel, but I'm not
going. And Moses was very concerned about that. I don't want an angel
to go with me. I want you to go with me. Moses said unto the
Lord, see thou sayest unto me, bring up this people, and thou
hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast
said, I know thee by name, and thou also hast found grace in
my sight. Now therefore I pray thee, if
I have found grace in thy sight, if I have, show me now thy way. that I may know thee, that I
may find grace in thy sight. Now, if I have found grace in
your sight, show me your way, the way of Christ. I am the way,
and I'm not gonna know it unless you show it to me. Show me thy
way for this purpose. that I might know thee. I want
to know him, don't you? I want to know God. I want to
know the living God. I want to know Jesus Christ. This is eternal
life, that they might know thee, the only true and living God,
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I want to know thee, that
I might find grace in thy sight. If I have found grace in your
sight, show me your way, that I might know thee, I'm not gonna
know you unless you show me your way, that I might, he gets right
back down to it again, that I might find grace in thy sight. Now
look across the page in chapter 34, verse nine, he says again, if now I have found grace in
thy sight, here we go again, if I have found grace in your
sight, Now, the Lord has just made the most glorious self-disclosure
to Moses. You remember when Moses said,
show me your glory, and God said, I'm gonna do it. I'll make my
name pass before you. Look in verse five. This is the Lord
showing Moses his glory. 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, that will by no means
clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children, upon the children's children, and to the third and
to the fourth generation. And Moses, made haste and bowed
his head toward the earth and worshiped. This is the only response
to a revelation from God. And look what he said. And he
said, if now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my
Lord, I pray thee, go among us Don't leave us, for it's a stiff-necked
people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for
thine inheritance. Now, if I have found grace in
your sight, go with us. Pardon, put away
our iniquity and our sin. Pardon our transgression. and take us for that inheritance
by your grace. Turn to Numbers chapter 11. Now Moses is very upset at this time. This is when the Lord was displeased
with the people Israelites because of them murmuring about the manna.
We're tired of manna. And Moses was very displeased.
And he's, as a matter of fact, he's so frustrated. He said,
Lord, kill me. I can't, I can't deal with this
anymore. I can't deal with myself. I can't deal with these people.
Just kill me. But look what he says in verse 15. And if thou deal thus with me,
kill me, I pray thee out of hand. If I have found favor in thy
sight, and let me not see my wretchedness. If I found favor in thy sight,
let me not see my wretchedness. Now that word wretchedness is
the same word translated in Genesis chapter six, verse five, evil
and wickedness. Now, if I have found favor in
thy sight, don't let me see how evil I really
am, because I know what'll happen. If you take your hand off me,
don't let me see my wretchedness. I wanna see enough of my sin
to drive me to Christ, and I don't wanna see any more than that.
I know what the Lord, why the Lord said, lead us not into temptation,
because we know if we're tempted, we know what will happen. And
we pray, Lord, let me not see my wretchedness. I don't want
to have anything to do with that. If I found favor in your sight,
deliver me from seeing my wretchedness. Now the only one who really sees
our wretchedness is the Lord himself. That's a sight that
only he has seen. And if any of us saw wretchedness,
it drives crazy. I have no doubt about that. And
he says, Lord, if I found grace in your sight, let me not see
my wretchedness. Turn with me to the book of Judges. You know, All I wanna see of my wretchedness
is what the cross tells me, which is everything. And I wanna see
more than that. Just believe that here's what
you're guilty of, here's what I'm guilty of, killing the son
of God. Does anything else need to be said? Nothing else needs to be said.
Let me not see my wretchedness. Now this is Gideon, Judges chapter
six. Verse 17. Now the Lord has already told
Gideon that he's going to use him to deliver the children of
Israel from the Midianites. He's told him. And you know,
Gideon, one of the things that I find about this man is he doesn't
trust himself. He just flat out does not trust
himself. Even if the Lord tells him, he
still doesn't trust himself. And here he goes again, verse
17. If now I have found grace in
thy sight, show me a sign that thou talkest with me. Now the
Lord talked to him. He said, if you have, show me
a sign. Well, I mean, the Lord talked
to him. He spoke to him, but Gideon did not trust himself
at all. You know, you go on down reading
when the Lord promises you something, he said, well, will you give
me another sign? I'm gonna put this fleece out and in wetness
and you make it dry. And then the Lord did that and
he would turn around and said, I'm gonna put it in a dry place,
you make it wet. I mean, the man did not trust himself. Now,
look what he says in verse 17. He said unto him, if now I have
found grace in thy sight, show me a sign that thou talkest with
me. Depart not hence, I pray thee,
until I come unto thee, and bring forth my presence, set it before
thee. And he said, I'll tarry until thou come again. Now remember,
this is the Lord speaking to him. And Gideon went in and made
ready a kid, and an unleavened cakes of ephah and ephah flour,
the flesh he put in a basket, he put the broth in a pot, and
brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it. And
the angel of God said unto him, take the flesh and the unleavened
cakes and lay them upon this rock and pour out the broth.
And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord put
forth the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the
flesh and the unleavened cakes. And there rose up fire out of
the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then
the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. And when Gideon
perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, alas,
O Lord God, for because I've seen an angel of the Lord's face
to face. And the Lord said unto him, peace be unto thee, fear
not, thou shall not die. Then Gideon built an altar there
unto the Lord and called it Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our peace. And to this day it's yet in Ophiroth
of the Abizites. Now here's the point. If I found
grace, give me a sign. What was the sign? The acceptance
of the sacrifice. If I found grace in your sight,
give me a sign to give me some assurance that you accept me. And that sacrifice was consumed. And the sign is that God accepted
the sacrifice of his son. Nothing else is needed. If I found grace, give me a sign. The resurrection of Christ, it is finished. Last one, 2 Samuel 15. 2 Samuel 15. Now let me give you
a little background before I read this passage of scripture. You
remember where David, just a few chapters before, this was right
before this took place, he saw Bathsheba with a horrible
abuse of power. He brought her to himself, committed
adultery with her, and then tried to cover it up by murdering her
husband. You say, could a believer do
that? If you ask that question, you
betray a great ignorance of yourself. And the Lord sent Nathan to him. You know the story. Thou art
the man, but the Lord has put away your sin. And he said, the
sword. is never gonna depart from your
house because of what you've done. It's never gonna depart. So right after that, guess what
happens? A coup from his own son, Absalom. His son is going to kill David. David has to flee. His son's gonna kill him. He
leaves Jerusalem. And then in chapter 15, verse
25, here are the words of the man after God's own heart. And the king said unto Zadok,
carry back the ark of the God into the city. He'd taken the
ark with him when he fled. He said, carry back the ark of
God to the city. If I shall find favor, grace,
in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again and show me both
it and his habitation. But if he thus say, I have no
delight in thee, behold, here am I. Let him do to me as seemeth
good unto him. Now that's the response of the
man after God's own heart. If I do find grace in his sight,
and he'll bring me back, but if he doesn't, if I find
no favor in his eyes, and this is the mark of someone who has
found favor in his eyes, If I find no favor in his eye, let him
do what seemeth him good to me. If I found favor, if I found
grace in your sight, don't pass away, don't leave me to myself. Show me your way that I might
know thee. all my iniquities. Don't let
me see my wretchedness. Let me see your satisfaction
with the sacrifice. And whatever's good in your sight
is good. Let's pray.