I love that hymn, and I particularly
love the verse, and when I stand before thy, when I stand complete,
well, how's it go? When I stand before the throne
dressed in hymn complete, Jesus died my soul to save, my lips
shall still repeat. If you don't know, Sam Robinette
passed away this week. He was a member here for many
years and moved back to Ashland. And he was running Thursday and
passed away. We're going to go to his funeral
tomorrow in Pikeville, Kentucky. And it's a reminder to us of
how close every one of us are to standing before the Lord. Trust that he's in Christ's presence
right now, singing, Jesus died my soul to save, my lips shall
still repeat. I've entitled the message for
this evening, The Grace of God. The Grace of God. Twice in this passage of scripture,
or once in Acts chapter 14 and once in Acts chapter 15, we read
this phrase, they were recommended to the grace of God. This word recommended does not
really mean I recommend grace. Lynn says to me quite often,
I recommend you do this. That just goes through me when
she says that. I'm a bad person. Everybody already
knows that. Somebody tells me what to do,
I can't stand it. But this is not I recommend grace. This is they were entrusted. That's what the word means. They
were entrusted. to the grace of God. What better
thing can you do than entrust somebody to the grace of God?
I mean, I can't do anything for you. You can't do anything for
me. But we can entrust one another
to the grace of God. God's grace has an arm that's
very, very long. Aren't you thankful for that?
What do I know of the grace of God? Now, the word grace is found
156 times in the New Testament, and 22 times we read this four-word
phrase, the grace of God. The grace of which he is the
author. the grace that comes from Him,
the One who is called the God of all grace. Now, His grace is His favor. Now, I want you to think about
having His favor. He's God. He's His will is always done. It's never thwarted. He is all
powerful. He's all wise. He's omnipresent. You can't go somewhere where
he's not. He's immutable. He never changes. He's independent. He has no needs. He's eternal. to have His favor? Paul put it this way in Romans
8, 31, if God be for us, who can be against us? Now I
want His favor, don't you? I want to be in that group, us.
If God be for us, who can be against us? Now, when we think
of the term grace, the definition we generally give is unmerited
favor, and that is good in a sense. But God's grace is much more
than unmerited favor. It's much more than demerited
favor. Here's the favor of God, listen to this scripture. Luke
chapter 2, verse 40, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ as a
child, and the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, and the
grace of God was upon him. That's not unmerited paper, is
it? Oh, the father looks at the son, this is my well beloved
son, in whom I am well pleased. The favor the father has to the
son. That's the same favor that's
in this word, grace. You see, if you're in him, if
I'm in him, WE HAVE THE FAVOR OF HIM WHO, TO HAVE HIS FAVOR
IS TO HAVE EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING. IF GOD BE FOR US,
WHO CAN BE AGAINST US? I THINK OF WHAT THE ANGEL SAID
TO MARY, YOU'RE HIGHLY FAVORED. YOU'RE HIGHLY FAVORED. MUCH GRACED
IS THE WORD. MUCH GRACE. NOW MARY WAS HIGHLY
FAVORED. That word, who's gonna deny that? I mean, to be the mother of the
Lord, to have the Christ put in your womb, to experience seeing
him grow up, being his earthly mother, what favor? You know,
that word is only used one other time in the New Testament, where
it was said to Mary, you're highly favored, used one other time.
Ephesians 1.6, he hath made us accepted. That's the word. HE
HATH MADE US," THIS IS TALKING ABOUT EVERY BELIEVER. LISTEN,
MARY'S HIGHLY FAVORED, BUT SHE AIN'T NO MORE HIGHLY FAVORED
THAN ANY OTHER BELIEVER. HE HATH MADE US HIGHLY FAVORED,
ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED TO HAVE THE HIGH FAVOR OF GOD. Now, yes, if he gives it to me,
it's not because of any merit in me. You know that. You know
that. But, oh, the favor he has toward
his son. The Lord said, thou hast loved
them as thou hast loved me. Now, that's the favor we're talking
about. The favor that God has to his son, that's the favor
that he has to everyone who's in him, who believes on him,
who's united to him. Every believer has that favor,
the favor of the living God. Paul said to the Colossians,
you know the grace of God in truth. Now, there's a lot of people
who use the term the grace of God. I was watching television
recently, and I like the Eagles. Somebody says you shouldn't mention
that from the pulpit. Well, maybe you shouldn't, but
I don't know. I like the Eagles. I like their
music. I've seen them in concert. I've always enjoyed them. And
I was listening to Joe Walsh. He's the guitarist. and he was
being interviewed. I've always liked Joe Walsh,
you know, he's a good guitarist, whatever that means. But the
man is, you know, he's been in so much trouble all of his life,
always in trouble, always, you know, the man is just, and he
was talking about himself, and he says, well, that's me, except
for the grace of God. Now, did he understand the grace
of God? I don't think so, the man's not a Christian. Yet the
word is used, the grace of God. How many people, how many movies
in Hollywood do you see where they sing Amazing Grace? I mean,
it's one of the, it's supposed to be probably the most popular
song ever written. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. And you have people who are
unbelievers all moved by that song. Everybody likes the word
grace, and I love the hymn that we, grace is a charming sound,
harmonious to the end. The only word that I like better
than grace is Christ himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. I love
the word grace, but Paul says to the Colossians, you knew the
grace of God in truth. It wasn't just a term to you.
It wasn't just a phrase. It wasn't just a cliche. You
knew experientially. You knew. grace of God in truth. Paul said to Titus, in Titus
chapter 2, verse 14, he spoke of the grace of God, the grace
of God, that favor that he has toward his son, that favor that
he has toward every believer. If God be for us, who can be
against us? The grace of God that bringeth
salvation. And let me tell you this about
the grace of God. It's not an offer. It's not presented to you for
acceptance or rejection. It's not thrown out there for
you to accept. The grace of God bringeth salvation. God's grace is ALWAYS saving
grace. Ephesians 2, verses 4 and 5 says,
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith
he loved us, that's his favor, even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ By grace you are saved. Now, that's what God's grace
is when He comes to us dead in sins and gives us life. By grace you are saved. He went on to say a couple of
verses later in Ephesians 2, 8, By grace are you saved. Everybody that's saved knows
that, don't you? I don't have to convince anybody here of that
if you're saved. By grace are you saved. Through faith, and that's not
of yourselves, that faith, it didn't come from you. It's the
gift of God, not of works. Lest any man should boast. Now, when we speak of grace,
turn with me to Romans 11 for just a moment. I love this. Romans 11. Verse 1, I say then,
hath God cast away his people? He's talking about the Jews that
have rejected the gospel. And he says, has God cast them
away? God forbid, for I also am an Israelite, of the seed
of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. I'm a Jew. God hath not cast
away his people, which he foreknew, knew beforehand. Remember, whom he did foreknow,
then he also did predestinate. He's not cast away his people,
which he did foreknow. What ye not what the scripture
saith of Elijah, how he maketh intercession to God against Israel,
saying, Lord, they've killed thy prophets. They dig down thine
altars, and I'm left alone, and they seek my life. Somebody wouldn't call that the
Elijah syndrome. I'm the only one. I'm left alone. What sayeth the answer of God
unto him? I have reserved to myself 7,000
men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so
then at this present time, also there is a remnant according
to the election of grace. Don't you love that? The election
of grace. Verse six, and if by grace, if
elections by grace, if any aspect of salvation is by grace, whatever
you're talking about, if by grace, then it's no more works. Otherwise,
grace is no more grace. You put a work in there anywhere.
It becomes all of works. If salvation, if my salvation
is dependent upon me doing something before I can be saved, that is
salvation by works. I don't care what you put in
there. If I must do this before I can be saved, you see there's
a lot of things I do because I'm saved. I believe because
I'm saved. I love Christ because I'm saved.
I don't do those things in order to be saved, but because I am
saved. But if you say there's something
I must do before I can be saved, I don't care what it is, you
make the whole thing salvation by works. I love what Paul says,
if by grace, then it's no more works, otherwise grace is no
more grace. But if it be of works, don't
call it grace. Otherwise work is no more work. God's salvation is all together
by grace. I love what Peter said in Acts
15, verse 11. We believe that through the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved, even as they
know they shall be saved. Like us, we shall be saved like
them. The Jews are gonna be saved like
the Gentiles are by the grace of God. Now, I was thinking about
this thing of somebody, I've had people ask me the question
many times, and really it's not a very good question, but I'm
gonna go ahead and put it out there anyway. When were you saved?
And whenever somebody asks you that, they mean what date in
your experience were you saved? When were you saved? Well, I've
got an answer for that. I was saved before time began.
That's when I was saved. When Christ stood as my surety,
I was saved. You know else when I was saved?
I was saved when Christ said, it is finished. My salvation
was accomplished. I was saved when Christ said,
it is finished. You know how I was saved? The
date, now I can't give you a date, but I do know when I was saved. Now, when that date was, I really
don't know. I can't even come close to telling
you. But this I do know. I was saved when I trusted Christ
as the end of the law for righteousness. Now that's when I was saved.
Let me show you that in scripture. You're thinking, well, what is
it? How can I know if I've actually believed the gospel? Turn to
Romans 10. You're there in Romans 11. Look in Romans 10. Brethren, my heart's desire.
And prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Now he's talking about his Jewish
brethren. He says, my desire is that they might be saved. Now there are two things transparent. They weren't saved. They were
not saved. And number two, Paul desired
their salvation. He wanted them to be saved. Now
let's go on reading. For I bear them record, that
they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For
they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth." Now, if you
believe that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
for you, you're saved. And you were not saved until
you knew that Christ, you trusted Christ only as the only righteousness
you possess. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. I'm being saved
right now, Lord save me. That's my most often repeated
prayer. Lord, save me. Lord, save me. Lord, have mercy on me. Lord,
do something about my sin. Save me. And I won't be saved
until, well, like Paul said, now is our salvation nearer than
we believe. I'll be saved, but I'm not a
sinner anymore in my experience. And I'm perfectly conformed to
the image of Jesus Christ. Paul said to the Corinthians,
I thank God for the grace of God. There's the phrase. I thank
God for the grace of God given you by Jesus Christ. Grace is
not out there for you to take it. It's not an offer. It's not
something you appropriate. If it's not that which is given,
He never gave it to you. Freely you've received. I love that scripture, Romans
3, verse 24, being justified freely, freely by his grace, through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God's grace is always
given. It's always given. If you have
it, it's because He gave it to you. And if you don't have the
grace of God, He never gave you His grace, His favor. It's called in Peter 4, 10, the
manifold grace of God. Well, there's electing grace. There's redeeming grace. There's justifying grace. There's
life-giving grace. There's provenient grace. Grace
before grace. Do you know if God gave you His
grace, I realize in your experience you weren't saved before You
trusted Christ for righteousness, but everything before that, the
hand of His prevenient grace was upon you. Everything. There's preserving grace. There
is the grace of faith, giving you the grace to believe, to
love God, to repent, to be in a continual state of repentance,
to be poor in spirit, To mourn over your sin, that's the gift
of His grace. To be meek before God and to
really believe that whatever He does is right, no matter what
it is. To hunger and thirst after righteousness, that's the gift
of grace. To be merciful. The only reason
you're merciful is because God showed you mercy. To be pure
in heart, that new heart that He gives, that's the gift of
grace. To be a peacemaker. And you've got to put that peacemaker
with being persecuted for righteousness. They go side by side. If you're
a peacemaker, you will be persecuted for righteousness. The fruit
of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance, grace. O to grace, the manifold
grace of God, O to grace, how great a debtor." And then I love
this phrase in Romans chapter 5, verse 17, much more, the grace
of God. You know, the grace of God is
always much more. It never lacks, it never becomes
less. It never becomes dormant. It
never ceases to operate. It's always much more. He giveth more grace. Paul gives the testimony of every
believer in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 10, by the grace of God. There's that phrase. By the grace
of God, I am what I am. Now, the first thing that I have
to say about myself when I'm talking about what I am, I am
a sinner. I have to take that to myself.
Not I was a sinner. I am a sinner. And it's only
by the grace of God that I know that. There are many people who
don't even have a clue as to what it means to be a sinner.
They think they're good people. The only reason I know I'm a
sinner is by the grace of God. I'm an elect sinner, and that's
by the grace of God. I'm a justified sinner. That's
by the grace of God. I'm a redeemed sinner. That's
by the grace of God. I've been born of the Spirit,
and that's an act of the gracious God. I am what I am by the grace
of God. I'm a persevering sinner. I'm
looking to Christ right now the same way I looked to Him the
first time, Him only. That's what it is to persevere
in the faith. You continue to look to Christ only, and that
is only by the grace of God. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Hebrews 2.9 says, for he by the grace of God should taste
death for every man. Now, somebody's thinking, well,
what's that mean, he tastes death for every man? Well, in the original,
you can look it up yourself, the word anthropos, man, is not
there. He tasted grace for the every, for the whosoever, for
the all, for the whole. He tasted death. He tasted, this
is His grace, He by the grace of God, He tasted, He experienced
death much more acutely than you or I ever could. He experienced
the separation from God. He tasted of that death. That's
the most mysterious thing to me, that the Son of God could
die in the first place. He by the grace of God tasted
death for the whole. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall I not with him also
freely give us all things? Paul said with regard to his
life in Acts chapter 20, verse 24, none of these things move
me. Talking about all the things
that God brings his way providentially, and they were some rough stuff.
He said every town I go to, I know that I've got bonds and afflictions
abiding me. He knew when he went to this
town, he's gonna be tied to a post and beat. He knew when he went
to the next town, he's gonna be thrown into jail. He said,
but none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear
unto myself that I might finish my course with joy. And the ministry
which I've received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of
the grace of God. Now, when you testify the gospel
of the grace of God, what's the difference between saying that
and saying, I determine not to know anything among you save
Jesus Christ and him crucified? Same thing, isn't it? This is
the message, the grace of God. When Paul and Barnabas addressed
those who believed, The gospel message they heard them preach
at Antioch, here's what they told them to do. After they heard
this message and the assembly was broken up, they
persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. To continue
believing that salvation was by grace. To continue believing
that you have the favor of God for Christ's sake to continue
to believe that salvation is all of grace. And then Paul said
in 2 Corinthians 1, 12, now I know I'm quoting a lot of scriptures
about this, kind of like a machine gun, you know, this, this, this,
this about the grace of God, but I'm, I'm still going to do
it. Sometimes I'll just preach on
one phrase and sometimes I'll preach on a lot. This is one
of the ones that's a lot. I'm not going to preach any longer
than I usually do, but I hope this settles in our mind that
we might enjoy His grace. II Corinthians 1, verse 12, Paul
said, This is the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity
and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace
of God, we've had our conversation in this world. Not with fleshly wisdom, not
the wisdom of this flesh, not the understanding of the flesh,
not the way of the natural man, but by the grace of God, we've
had our conversation in simplicity, simple grace, nothing else. Sincerity,
we sincerely believe that salvation is all of grace, all in Christ. It was said of Barnabas, I like
this, in Acts chapter 11, It says, when he had seen the grace
of God in the believers in Antioch. And I love thinking about this,
and I know this is so. It takes grace to see grace.
If you don't have any grace, you won't see it. I mean, the
Lord Jesus was raised up in that home as the God-man, full of
grace and truth. His brothers and sisters didn't
see. Nobody can see grace unless you have grace. And if you have
grace, you see it. when he saw the grace of God. And then Paul said to the Corinthians
that he wanted them to know about the grace of God bestowed on
the churches of Macedonia, there in 2 Corinthians chapter 8. And
you know what he talked about when he did that? He said, I
want you to know about the grace of God bestowed upon those believers
in Macedonia. He began to speak of their giving. where grace is bestowed, there
will be giving, the grace of giving. Paul said, see, you see
that you abound. I like the way he said that.
You see, see to it, see to it. You see that you abound in this
grace also. I speak not by commandment, but
by occasion of the forwardness the generosity of others, and
to prove the sincerity of your love, the grace of God makes
somebody that Paul described like this, God loveth a cheerful
giver. Oh, that's so important to you
if you know the grace of God. You want to be a cheerful giver,
one who enjoys giving unto Him. You know it's all His anyway. And then in 2 Corinthians 6,
verse 1, Paul warned us. He said, We beseech you that
you receive not the grace of God in vain. Now, I want you
to think about that statement. We beseech you. that you receive
not the grace of God in vain, to no purpose, with no spiritual
benefit to you, with no saving of your soul is what he's talking
about when he says, we beseech you that you receive not the
grace of God in vain. Now, what's that mean? Receiving grace in the doctrine
of it. and not the experience of it. Now, what do I mean by that?
I want to be real simple. I don't want to overcomplicate
this. And this is the best explanation that I can give of not receiving
the grace of God in vain. It's one thing to see that the
Bible does indeed teach salvation by grace. There it is. It says
that. By grace he is saved. It's one thing to see that the
Bible teaches the doctrine of total depravity. I dare say maybe
everybody in this room would say, yeah, I believe in total
depravity. I believe that's what the Bible teaches. I can see
that. I mean, it says we're dead in
sins. The carnal mind is enmity against God. I see that is the
biblical teaching, total depravity. I see that. But it's an altogether
different thing to believe that you yourself are indeed totally
depraved. You believe that truly, you're
not going to receive the grace of God in vain. The grace of
God's all you've got. It's your only hope. You are
going to rejoice that salvation really is a grace because if
it's not, there's no hope for you. Paul said in Galatians 2.21,
I do not frustrate the grace of God. You've read that before.
I do not frustrate the grace of God. For if righteousness
came by the law, then Christ died in vain. I frustrate the
grace of God when I look for righteousness ANY OTHER WAY than
in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's my only righteousness. This
is all my hope and peace, this is all my righteousness, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. And if I look for righteousness
in any other way than his person and his work, I frustrate, I
make meaningless the grace of God. And then finally in Hebrews
chapter 12, verse 15, the writer said, looking diligently lest
any man fail, or fall from the grace of God. Think of what Paul
said to the Galatians, Christ has become of no effect unto
you. Whosoever of you are justified by the law, you've fallen from
grace. Now, let's say somebody in here
just gets in a mess. whatever way you want to say. Well, they've fallen from grace. No, they haven't. You have. You
make a statement like that, you have. Grace is their only hope.
You're the one who has fallen from grace. May the Lord enable us to not
fall short of really believing, really believing that salvation
really is all of grace. the grace of God. And remember this, God's grace,
yes, it's unmerited in the sense that you don't deserve it, and
I don't deserve it, and there's nothing we can do to merit it. That's true. But understand this,
God's grace, God's favor is toward his son. And he has complete
favor toward his son. And the same favor that he has
toward his son is the favor he has towards everyone he saves. Now, remember this about grace.
I wish the Lord would give us grace to enjoy his grace. It's more than just, well, God's
not gonna smash you for Christ's sake. It is, you have the complete
favor of God. And if God be for you, who can
be against you? Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
grace that's in your son, Lord, how we thank you for the
favor that's in your son. And Lord, we ask. That you would
save. Each one of us. By your grace. Deliver us from receiving the
grace of God in vain. Deliver us from frustrating grace. Enable us to truly be saved by
grace. To be grace believers. And teach us, because of your
grace, to be gracious one to another. Save us by your grace. In Christ's
name we pray, amen. Dwayne, come lead us in closing
here.