Let's turn back to Ephesians
1. In the morning, Donnie Bell and I are going to be going to
Mexico to visit with the groupers. We'll be preaching there. I'll
return Friday night, and Don Fortner will bring the midweek
message. Back to our text in Ephesians
chapter 1. I've entitled this message, The
Reason for All things. And here we have it, to the praise
of the glory of his grace. There we have the reason for
all things. Now this church is called the
Todd's Road Grace Church. What denomination are you? Not. Grace. That's our message. Grace, the reason for all things. Now notice in verse 12, it says
in Ephesians chapter one, that we should be to the praise of
His glory. And this is talking about the
Lord Jesus Christ, that we should be to the praise of His glory,
the beauty, the magnificence, the supremacy of His glory. And in verse 14, he's talking
about the Holy Spirit, which is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchase possession under the praise of
His glory. That's talking about God, the
Holy Spirit. We have the glory of the Son. We have the glory
of the Spirit, but It's said somewhat different in verse six. It doesn't merely say to the
praise of his glory, but to the praise of the glory of his grace. God's grace is who he is. We're saved to the praise of
the glory of his grace. Now, I believe that I'm the spokesman
of every believer. Without exception, in their hearts,
you would find this, every believer believes that they are the biggest
instance of how much salvation is by grace. You believe that
about yourself? You are the example of just how
much salvation is by grace. In my case, it must be all, all of grace. I'm like that woman in that Lifeline
commercial, help, I've fallen down and I can't get up. That's the story. of every believer by nature, totally depraved. This is not simply a doctrine
I subscribe to, it's the truth concerning me. I'm totally depraved. I believe that about myself and
what troubles me so much is every time I say that, I think if you
would say I agree, you are, I'd probably get irritated. I wish
it wasn't like that. I wish I could just I am, when I'm gonna talk about
grace, grace is meaningless apart from sin. I am a sinner. What's that mean? That means I cannot not sin. It means that all I do is sin. If I did it, it's sin. And my
sin, listen to me, my sin is all my fault. I can't blame my
circumstances. I'm not a victim. All my sin
is all my fault. Guilty as charged. I cannot look
down my nose in moral judgment on anybody. Anybody. I can't stand to hear people
struggle. We need to preach against the sins of the times and they'll
start figuring out sins that they think they haven't committed.
A true sinner is not going to have that kind of attitude. I
can't look down my nose at anybody. And I've got no claims on God. If he passes me by in justice,
holy and righteous is his name. Now that person is interested
in this thing of grace. In my case particularly, salvation
must be all of grace in every aspect of salvation or I will
not and cannot be saved. Now in the context, all spiritual
blessings that the believer has been given are all of grace. Grace. Don't you love the way
that word sounds? Grace. It is a charming sound,
harmonious to the ear. He speaks of election in verse
four, according as he has chosen us in him. And that's by grace. If God chose you, don't you know
it was a gracious choice? He didn't choose you because
of some goodness in you. He chose you by his grace. Then he speaks of being holy.
If you're ever holy, you know it's by grace, don't you? It's
by the grace of God. He talked about blamelessness,
being blameless before him. If I'm blameless, it's by grace,
not by works. Then he talked about being predestinated
to be an adopted child. That's by grace. Oh, how much
that is by grace. Everything he does, he does according
to the good pleasure, the gracious pleasure of his will. To the
praise of the glory of his grace. Now, what does the Bible mean
by this word grace? This is called the Todd's Road
Grace Church. I mean, that's the name of this
church. Why? What is meant by the word grace? What's the Bible mean by the
word grace? And the first time in the Old Testament the word
is used is with reference to Noah. You remember that Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord? 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. That's
me, that's you, that's Noah. But Noah found grace. the eyes of the Lord. The first
time the word is found in the New Testament, it's with regard
to Mary, the mother of our Lord. Mary, the angel said, fear not,
thou has found favor with God. You ladies, if the Lord used
you to be a virgin, to bring forth his son, Wouldn't you know
that is grace? That is the free favor of God. Now, most people will say they
believe in salvation by grace until you tell them what the
Bible means by salvation by grace. And they'll say, I don't believe
that. I know you don't. I know you don't. But what does
the Bible mean by the word? Now, let me first give you Some
different words that the King James uses for the same word
grace. And this gives us some idea of
what it means just by these translations in the Bible from this one word
grace. It's translated acceptable. Acceptable. As a matter of fact, if you read
the rest of this verse where it says wherein he hath made
us accepted, that's actually just the verb form of the noun
grace. He hath graced us. Been graced? I say that reverently. He hath
graced us in the beloved. It's translated benefit. It's
translated favor, gift, joy, liberality, pleasure, thanks,
thank worth. Turn with me to Ephesians 2. You're right there, verse eight. For by grace are you saved. Can't you say amen to that? By
grace are you saved. Through faith. And that, that
faith, it's not of yourselves. You know I don't have to argue
with any believer about this thing of free will. You know
if you have faith it's not because you decided to believe it, it's
because he gave it to you. It's the gift of His grace. You know that? I don't have to
argue that with you. You believe it. And what's He
say next? Not of works. Now that's what grace means.
Not of works. Now, salvation by works. If you put works in the beginning
of your salvation, I'm saved because I. believe, repented. You're making your salvation
dependent upon you. That's works. If you put works in the middle
of your salvation, I'm become more pleasing to God, more holy,
less sinful by the things I do, my self-denial and so on. I become more pleasing, more
acceptable to God by what I do. It's a cooperative effort. It's
true salvation is by grace in the thing of justification. But
in sanctification, there's men working with God in order to
get better. That's works. That's works is all it is. If
I put works at the end of salvation, well, I'm going to get a higher
reward in heaven because of the works I've done. I'm going to
have a higher position than you or at least a higher position
than so and so. That's works. And what work, I find this so
aggravating, what work would you add to Christ's righteousness
to make it better for you? Do you see how offensive that
is? Not of works, that's what grace means. Not of works. You see, the glory goes to God
alone. We're saved to the praise of
the glory of His grace. Now, I want to make some statements
regarding grace that the Bible teaches. Here's the first one. God's grace is God acting freely. What do I mean by that? God's
grace is never him responding to you. It's not his response to you,
it's his response to himself. God's grace is God acting freely. It's not an offer from God, but
as to whether or not I have it, it's up to whether or not I'll
receive it or accept it. No, not at all. That's not God's
grace. God's grace is God acting freely. God's grace is absolute. It's all or it's nothing. That's what that means. God's
grace is absolute. It does all or it does nothing. Now I think of what Paul said
in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 10. He said, by the grace
of God, I am what I am. All or nothing. Absolute, by
the grace of God, I am what I am. I'm a sinner. The real deal. And I'm not saying that by way
of pride, but by way of shame. I'm a sinner. And the only way
I know that is by the grace of God. I would never have known
that had not God by his grace revealed to me that that's what
I am. This is a revelation of grace. You see, everybody that
sees themselves as a sinner or people who God has showed them
who he is and who they are. That's why you feel that way. I'm an elect sinner and I know
sure enough as I'm alive that that's by the grace of God. It's
only by His grace that He chose me. I'm justified before God.
I stand before God without guilt. Perfectly righteous because Christ's
righteousness is mine. He took my sins, put them away. He gave me His righteousness.
I stand before God without guilt. And beloved, that's by grace. My sins are blotted out. I've been redeemed. That's by
grace. I've been given a new heart. I've been regenerated.
I've been born from above. And that is all by the grace
of God. I'm preserved. I'm not going
to fall away. And that's because of the grace
of God. Grace is absolute in every aspect
of salvation. It's a grace and not of works. God's grace is alone. Doesn't have anything with it. Turn with me to Romans chapter
11. Verse five, even so then at this present time also there
is a remnant a small number that still believe according to the
election of grace. Don't you love the way that sounds?
The election of grace. And if by grace, then it's no
more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
But if it be of works, don't call it grace. Otherwise, work
is no more work. There's nothing added with grace. God's grace is sovereign grace. You know what that means? That means he gives grace to
whom he will. It's utterly in his sovereign
hands. He gives grace to whom he will. And he withholds. his grace from whom he will. He said, I'll be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. And I'll show mercy to whom I
will show mercy. His grace is sovereign grace. And if I bristle against this,
if this makes me raise up and think that just doesn't seem
fair, there's only one reason why I think that way. Because
I think God owes me his grace. Because I don't really believe
that I am a sinner who deserves to be sent to hell. If I bristle
at the sovereignty of His grace, the only reason is self-righteousness. I might come up with all kinds
of other reasons, but that's the bottom line. It's self-righteousness. You see, His grace is sovereign
grace. And when you come asking for
grace, you're acknowledging His sovereignty in it. You're acknowledging
His right to withhold it. You don't come and demand grace.
You say, Lord, have mercy on me. Give me Your grace for Christ's
sake. If I come for anything other than sovereign grace, I'm
coming for my rights and my entitlement, my works. No, no. It's grace. is sovereign grace, and God's
grace is free grace. It's free grace. There is nothing
we do to achieve it being justified freely, freely. Now, that ought to cause somebody
to rejoice. Being justified freely. There's nothing you have to pay.
Somebody says, I don't have anything to pay. You don't have anything.
You don't have to pay. As a matter of fact, if you got something
to pay, you're disqualified. It's free grace. Being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus.
Now, here's why this grace is free. It's because of the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. You see, God made a way for him
to be able to give you his grace freely with no infringement on
his justice because of the redemption, the redeeming work of Christ
Jesus on Calvary's tree. It is free grace, absolutely
free. Listen to this scripture. To
him that worketh not. Would that describe you? To him
that worketh not. One thing you're convinced of
is that salvation cannot be by your works. You're convinced
of that. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifies the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. Freely. Freely. You see, God's grace will not
and cannot act where there's any ability or anything to pay. Free grace. Now, this grace of
God, according to the scripture, and this is so important, the
grace of God is righteous grace. It's righteous grace. Now what
would you think of a judge who let a criminal back out into
society and says, I'm going to give you grace. I'm going to
give you grace. Go on back out into society.
Would there be anything righteous about that? No. No. That would be a wrong act on
that judge's part. That would not be righteous grace.
That would be unrighteous grace. You see, God's grace is righteous
grace. It's a way that he does it righteously. Think of this scripture. Moreover,
the law, this is Romans 5, 20 and 21. Moreover, the law entered
that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death,
even so might grace reign through righteousness. You see, God is
righteous in giving me his grace because of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is righteous grace. There's
nothing sinful about it. There's nothing questionable
about it. If God gives you grace, he does it in a righteous way. He makes you to where you deserve
his favor in the Lord Jesus Christ. So this grace is righteous grace. And God's grace is always grace. Always. Turn to Ephesians chapter
2. Here's what's meant by that. Ephesians chapter 2, beginning
in verse 1, and Hath he quickened who were dead
in trespasses and sins? And look at this description
Paul gives of us. Wherein in times past you walked
according to the course of this world. You're no different than
anybody else. According to the prince of the
power of the air, the devil, you were under his control. The
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, 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,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others, but
you turned things around. But God. Now there's grace. But God. He intervened. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. And
here's what all this means. By grace, you are saved. His grace is always saving grace. All he gives his grace to are
saved by that grace. Saved. I need saved, don't you? Lord, save me. I need him to save me. And the
only way I can be saved as a salvation is by grace. If I have to save
myself, there's no hope for me. If I have to do anything in my
salvation, there's no hope. Lord, save me. That's my continual
prayer. Lord, save me. Save me from yourself. Save me from myself. Save me
from my sins. Save me from my circumstances.
Save me. Oh, that's what a prayer. His grace is saving grace. You know, when preachers present
the grace of God as an offer, He's offering you His grace.
That's a complete denial of what grace is in the first place.
God's grace is saving grace. And God's grace has a super-abounding
nature to it. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. You light a match, pour a bucket
of water over it, what happens? That water abounded over that
match, didn't it? It superabounded, and that's
just a, who can describe the superabounding nature of God's
grace? If you're saved by it, you know
it's superabounding with you. You know His grace is just super
abounded over your sinfulness and your inability and your helplessness.
It's glorious, isn't it? The grace of God, we're saved
to the praise of the glory of His grace. Grace is what we're always under. I want you to think about that
for a moment. Child of God, the scripture says, you're not under
law, but under grace. Isn't grace a great person, place,
thing to be under? God's grace is who he is. And
you're not under law at any time, at any time. You know, when you
feel real guilty, you're not under law then. You've kind of
thought in that realm, but you're still not under law. Every believer
is always under grace. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. You know, somebody recently called me and asked me, what's
that mean? Sin does not have dominion over you. Good question. Good
question. You know, there was a time when
I could not believe. There was a time when I couldn't
repent. There was a time when I couldn't muster up love to
God. I was resentful. I can now. Why? Sin doesn't have dominion over
me. I can believe. Somebody says, well, sin doesn't
have any dominion over me. I'm able to do certain things. No, you don't realize sin has
complete dominion over you. You wouldn't be talking that
way if you were delivered from the dominion of sin. The only
people who are delivered from the dominion of sin are people
who see their sinners and they see Christ is all in salvation.
And they really believe that from the depths of their heart. God's grace. sufficient grace. Paul was given a thorn in the
flesh and nobody knows what that was. People speculated, nobody
knows. I'm glad you didn't tell, aren't
you? But he was given a thorn in the flesh. A thorn in the
flesh is painful. He said it was the messenger
of Satan to buffet me, to knock me black and blue in the face. A thorn in the flesh is painful. And Paul said, I besought the
Lord three times that this might depart from me. I can't stand
it. You know what the Lord said to
him? My grace. is sufficient for thee. You're going to have to be satisfied
and content to be saved by pure, free, sheer grace. My grace is sufficient for thee."
Now, I think it's very interesting the way the Lord answered this
question. He didn't say, no, Paul, I'm not going to take this
thorn away. You know, if the Lord would have
said that to Paul, he probably would have said, well, don't
need to worry about it then. You know, it would no longer have
the effect. The Lord didn't say, no, I'm
not going to take it away. But the Lord did say, My grace
is sufficient for thee. You do not need anything else
for your salvation. My grace is sufficient to thee. You're going to be content and
satisfied to be saved by my grace. And God's grace, listen to this,
this is just as important as anything else. God's grace can
be seen. You remember when Paul said in
2 Corinthians chapter 8, I want you to know about the grace of
God bestowed upon the churches of Macedonia? And then he talked
about stuff you could see. They gave themselves to the Lord,
their generosity. They gave things they could see.
I think of Barnabas, it says, when he saw
the grace of God in him. And I know this, where the grace
of God is, there's some things that can be seen. And here's
the first thing that comes to my mind, humility. Humility. Pride is so opposed
to grace, it's so opposite to grace. Humility. And one of the
things I've been thinking about this thing of humility. Are you
humble if you say yes? Well, that's pretty good proof
you're not. But the creator of the universe, the sovereign ancient of days,
the Lord Jesus Christ, is meek and lowly in heart. How ugly is pride, self-sufficiency,
arrogance, haughtiness. Where the grace of God is, there
is humility. And if there's no humility, his
grace is absent. Where the grace of God is, there
is faith. You're going to find somebody
that looks to Christ only. Where the grace of God is, there is
repentance. A complete change of mind concerning
God, self, salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. There is repentance.
Where the grace of God is, there is love for the brethren. And when these things are absent,
the grace of God is absent. Now this grace we're talking
about, we're saved to the praise of the glory of His grace, the
reason for everything. This grace is the only reason
for boldness. And we're called upon to come
boldly, where? To the throne of what? Grace. Now, if salvation has anything
to do with anything that I need to do, I don't have any boldness
at all. I'm scared to death. I'm thinking
I'm gonna end up in hell. I'm not gonna be saved. But if
it really is all of grace, I can come boldly to the throne of
grace that I may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need. Grace is the only reason for
boldness, and listen to this. This is from Hebrews 12, 28.
Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with
reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.
Now, the only way you have any reverence for God, the only way
you can serve him acceptably, the only way you show you really
fear God is by believing sovereign grace. If you don't believe all
of grace, sovereign grace, saving grace, sufficient grace, if you
don't believe all of grace, you don't really have any fear of
God. You don't really have any reverence for his person, and
there is no acceptable service. Let us have grace, the writer
to the Hebrews said, that we may serve God acceptably. with reverence and with godly
fear. And this grace we're talking
about is what we're called on to grow in. Grow, Peter said in third chapter of Peter, verse
18. Second Peter chapter three, verse 18. Grow in grace and the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Grow in grace. Grow in your love
of the grace of God. Grow in your understanding of
your need of grace. Grow in your graciousness. Oh,
wouldn't it be a blessing to be more gracious, not judgmental,
more merciful, more forgiving? You see, growth in grace is like
a tree. This is so simple, but it's so true. This thing of growing
in grace. A tree grows downward. The bigger the tree is, the further
down the roots go. Grow downward in your view of
yourself. May the Lord grant that to me.
Downward in your view of yourself. May we grow outward in our love
and our graciousness toward others. And may we grow up in our love
to God and our dependence upon His grace. Grow in grace and
the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now the reason for everything
is to the praise of the glory of His grace. One final scripture. Turn to
Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15. Verse one, and certain men which came down
from Judea, that's the church at Jerusalem, the church of which
James was the pastor, the church that had so many thousands of
members. Certain men which came down from
Judea taught the brethren and said, except you be circumcised
after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. That kind of
stuff going on in the church? Yeah. Yeah. Verse two, when therefore Paul
and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, Paul
and Barnabas got mad. And there was an argument. They were upset. This was no
small dissension, no small dispute. They were angry over this teaching
that was going on. They determined that Paul and
Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem
and to the apostles and elders about this question. And being
brought on their way by the church, they passed through the Nicaea
and Samaria, declaring the conversion to Gentiles. And they caused
great joy into all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem,
they were received to the church and the apostles and the elders
talking about Paul and Barnabas. And they declared all the things
that God had done with them. But here's where the problem
is. There arose up certain of the
sect of the Pharisees, which believed. Now that says so much.
He doesn't call them believers. He calls them the sect of the
Pharisees, which believed, saying that it was needful, it was necessary
to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. Now they believed. Do you believe
the gospel? Of course I do. I really do. I believe the gospel,
but it's also necessary were seven and when there had
been much disputing, Peter rose up. I can imagine all this disputing
going on. Shouldn't have been. I mean,
this question should have just been settled before it even started.
But yet you have all this disputing going on. Peter rose up and said
unto them, men and brethren, You know how that a good while
ago, God made choice among us that the Gentiles, by my mouth,
should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, which knoweth
the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, as
He did unto us. And He put no difference between
us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now, therefore,
why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples,
which neither our fathers nor we are able to bear? What Peter's
saying is, this is hypocrisy. That's all it is. Our fathers
couldn't handle this yoke. We can't handle this yoke. Why
are you even talking like this? And then he gives the creed of
every believer, the personal testimony of every believer,
but we believe. Here's what we believe. that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved
even as they. Now that could just as easily
read the way it's constructed in the original. We believe that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we've been saved. We believe that through the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are saved. We believe that through
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're being saved. And we believe
that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we will be
saved. The reason for all things, the praise, of the glory of His
grace. And every believer knows that
when you're standing in His presence, it will be to the praise of the
glory of His grace. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you and praise
you for the glory of your grace. And Lord, we ask in Christ's
name that each person here might be saved by your grace. to the praise of the glory of
your grace. Lord, how we thank you that your
grace is invincible. How we thank you that it's free.
It's you acting. It's absolute. Lord, we thank
you for the grace that's in Christ Jesus. Truly. He's filled. His glory. We beheld His glory. He's filled
with grace and truth. And we thank You for Him. In
His name we pray. Amen.