Turn back to Romans chapter 16. I want to read these same words
again, the second sentence of verse 20. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
you. Amen. Verse 24, the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Now each word bursts with meaning, doesn't
it? The grace definite article, the,
the grace. This is the grace of our, our
Lord Jesus Christ. I am my beloved's and he is mine. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Lord. He's the Lord
of creation. He's the Lord of providence.
Everything that happened today was nothing less than His will
being done. He controls everything. And He's the Lord of salvation.
Salvation's in His hands. That's a good place for it to
be, isn't it? The Lord Jesus. I love His name. Thou shalt call His name Jesus. He shall save his people from
their sins. Christ, the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, God's prophet, God's priest, God's king, be
with you. And so significant are these
words that they're also the last words of scripture. What's the
last verse of the book of Revelation? The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you. Paul repeats himself. Why? I mean, it's the same thing. Why does he repeat himself? Well,
number one, because God the Holy Spirit inspired him to. And number
two, I don't have any doubt he just likes saying that. The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. What greater desire or what
greater wish could you have for somebody else than that? That's
the greatest wish you could have for anybody. And it's the greatest
wish you could have for yourself. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you. If Christ be for us, and that's
what that means, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
you. If Christ be for us, who can be against us? But what I
would like to attempt to do, and I want this message to be
brief because each word is pretty much self-explanatory. I want
to give 11 words from the scripture that describe the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And if you leave out any of these
words, it's no longer the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is seen in these words that I'm
going to give you. And like I said, I want to purposely,
I hope I don't end up preaching 40 minutes, but I'd like to keep
this message down because these words are just so self-explanatory. In John chapter one, verse 17,
we read, the law was given by Moses that grace and truth came
by Jesus Christ. And here's the first word, truth. Truth. And the word was manifest,
and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Now here's the point.
Anything that's not the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is not
the truth. Now you can just write that down. Anything that is not
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is not the truth. The truth is the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's my second word. Gospel. Gospel. You can write these down
and look them up. I'm just going to quote them.
But Paul said, I marvel that you're so soon removed from the
grace of Christ unto another gospel. The grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the only gospel. Anything else is not gospel. Anything else will not save.
Paul went on to say, which is not another. But there be some
that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though
we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than
that which we preached unto you, let him be accursed. Let him be damned. Let him be
sent to hell with no mercy from God. Now that's strong language.
And that's language inspired by God the Holy Spirit. That's
what Paul said. He said, I marvel that you're
so soon removed from the grace of Christ unto another gospel. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
is the gospel. The third word is revelation. First Peter 1.13 speaks of the
grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus
Christ. Now the only way the gospel,
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will really mean anything to
me or you is if God is pleased to reveal Himself. We're shut up to revelation.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will be words and nothing more. Nice sounding words. They do
sound nice, don't they? Grace, Jesus, Christ, Lord. but there'll be nothing more
than words I cannot understand. I cannot enter into the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I will be a works believer. I'll know nothing of grace unless
God is pleased to reveal himself to me. I can't know him unless
he's pleased to make himself known. grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ is not something that can be understood intellectually. It can only be understood spiritually. And the only way I can understand
it spiritually is if He gives me a heart to believe and reveals
Himself to me. Revelation is inherent in the
word grace. If it's grace, it must be revealed. And if God doesn't reveal himself
to me, if he leaves me to myself, I will believe in salvation by
works and I'll end up going to hell. That's just so. When we speak of the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, we're speaking of that which must be
revealed. And if God doesn't reveal it,
I'll never know anything. This will just be some doctrines
to me, some words maybe I can argue over. But they won't be
life, apart from the revealing work of Christ. In Luke chapter
4, verse 22, we read, And all bear Him witness, and wondered
at the gracious words And that is literally the grace words
which came out of his mouth. It's the same word that's always
translated grace. All bear him witness and wonder
at the grace words which came out of his mouth. There are grace words that are
always with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace words
like the election of grace. You can't preach the grace of
God and not preach election any more than you can create the
universe. Words like the redemption, which is by His grace. Faith,
the gift of grace. These are grace words. And if
these words are not stated, stated as the Bible states it, Grace
is absent. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
These words must be stated and these words must be defined.
Without apology, the grace words, wherever the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ is, there are specific words, grace words that must
be used. And if they're not used, the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is not there. Acts chapter 15 verse 11 Peter
said we believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
we should be saved even as they. His grace, listen to me, His
grace is always saving grace. It's never an offer. You hear
me? God doesn't offer His grace to
you, and it's up to you to either accept it or reject it. It doesn't
work that way. His grace is not an offer. His
grace is saving grace. Somebody says, well, I've never
received His grace. Well, He never gave it to you then, because
if He ever gives it to you, you'll receive it. And His grace is
always saving grace. By grace you are saved. It's God's action. It's what
God does for you like we were considering this morning. What
He did for Simon of Cyrene. What did He do? He found him.
He laid hold upon him. And He compelled him. That's
the way God's grace works. It saves. By grace you are saved. Saving grace. It's never an offer. It's always sovereign. It's always
free. And it's always safe. That's
inherent in grace. Here's my sixth word. The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Is eternal grace. Second 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, not offered to us, given us in
Christ Jesus before the world began. All of the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ was given to us before time began. You see, everything God does
is eternal. He's not like me and you, stuck
in a sequence of events, waiting to find out what's going to happen.
Everything he does is eternal. Now let me tell you how important
this is. Somebody says, does it really mean what you believe
about that? Absolutely. If you don't believe in eternal
grace, you don't believe grace, period. Here's why. If his grace is not eternal,
that means at some point in time, we were not viewed in Christ.
but in our sins. This is by the God who said,
I will by no means clear the guilty. And this is how important
this is. If His grace is not eternal,
that means there's some point in which we were not viewed in
Christ. Boy, I don't want to go there,
do you? I don't want to ever be viewed by God independently
of Christ. My only desire is that I might
be found in Christ. That's all I want but if grace
is not eternal at some point I was viewed independently of
Christ. That means I was viewed in my sin and that means the
justice of God demands my damnation and can't do anything but that. Now If grace is not eternal but it's
something that I experience in time rather than something that
was given to me before time, that would mean grace becomes
God's response to me rather than God doing all things after the
counsel of his own will. This is so important. Thirdly, If grace is not eternal, that opens up the floodgate of
salvation by works. That's exactly what it does.
Listen to this scripture, Romans 9-11, for the children, and this
is so precious to every believer, for the children, being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand. Anybody know the
rest of the verse? Not of works. Not of works. That's God's purpose. Thank God for eternal grace. I love what one woman said to
C.H. Spurgeon. She said, I'm so thankful
that God chose me before I was born, because if he would have
waited to afterwards, he would have never chose me. That's true,
isn't it? You know it's true concerning
yourself. And this grace we're speaking
of, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, is costly grace. Freed us? Yeah. Freed us. But what did it cost Him? You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. I love it when Paul says that.
You know it. Yeah, I do. You know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, who can describe
the riches of Jesus Christ with his Father in eternal glory?
Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. That you through his poverty
might be rich. Oh, how costly the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ was to him. How costly it was to the father.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Now the ultimate insult to God
is to think you can pay for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. That would demonstrate how little
you really value it. If you think you have anything
to pay, if you think you have anything to bring to the table,
all you do is show what a low view you have of the grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Actually, you don't even know
what it is. You don't even have a clue. If you think there's
anything you have to bring to the table. Now, is there anybody
that has anything to bring to the table? You know nothing of
grace. Not the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. To him that worketh is the reward,
not reckoned of grace, but of debt. That would mean God owes
you something. But to him that worketh not,
would that be you? To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted
for righteousness. All His grace is costly grace. Here's the eighth word. Now remember,
all of these words are inherent in the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You leave any of them out, it's no longer the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's something else. It's another
gospel. But here's the eighth word. Romans
chapter 5 verses 20 and 21 says, moreover, the law entered that
sin might abound, but where sin abounded. You know any place where sin
abounds? I know somebody where it abounds. Yeah, I do too. I
do too. Where sin abounded, in the place
where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That as sin
hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now
what does that mean? This is where sovereign grace
comes from. the reign of grace. That sin hath reigned unto death.
Now here's the question. How much power do you have to
prevent death? Is there any scenario where you
could keep yourself from dying? No. No. None at all. Is there any scenario where you
could prevent the grace of God? If God determined, if Christ
determined to give you His favor and to give you His grace, and
you were going to be a recipient of His favor, is there any circumstance,
is there any scenario where you could mess it up and prevent
it from happening? Now the answer is no. It's what's
called sovereign grace. Where sin reigned unto death,
even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. His grace cannot be prevented. Now here's the ninth word. He said to Paul in 2 Corinthians
chapter 12, My grace, My grace, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
my grace is sufficient for thee. Now, why did he say that? My
grace is sufficient for thee. Now, Paul, in that chapter, talked
about that thorn in the flesh. And none of us know what it is,
but it was painful. It was painful. He'd been brought
up into the third heavens and taught the Gospel and he said,
lest I be exalted above measure, there was given to me a thorn
in the flesh. The messenger of Satan to buffet
me. And I have no doubt that this
messenger knocked him silly all over the place. And he said three
times, I asked the Lord, may this thorn depart from me. His answer was, my grace is sufficient
for thee. I think it's significant that
he didn't say, no, I'm going to allow that thorn to keep hitting
you. Because if that were the case,
Paul would have said, well, what can I do? It would no longer
really be the thorn that it was. But he did say this to Paul,
you're going to have to be satisfied. to be saved by sheer, pure, free
grace. Grace that has absolutely nothing
to do with anything you do or don't do, how you handle or how
you don't handle this thorn. You're gonna have to be satisfied
to be saved by grace. And my grace is sufficient for
thee. You don't need anything else. When we speak of his grace we
must speak of the riches of his grace this grace that's sufficient
for you. It's enough to save you. I don't care what your condition
is. It's a it's sufficient. Nothing else is needed. And that's because of the riches
of His grace. This is where the sufficiency
is found. The riches of His grace. In whom we have redemption through
His blood, even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace. And the grace of our Lord was
exceeding abundant, Paul said. How abundant? The riches of His
grace cannot be exhausted or diminished. When He showered
His grace upon you, He doesn't have a bit less left. The exceeding abundant riches
of His grace. Now I'd like you to look at the
last word, turn to Galatians chapter 5. because I've got to read several
verses. Verse 1. Galatians chapter 5
verse 1. Stand fast, therefore. Don't be moved. Stand fast, be
cemented therefore in the liberty the freedom wherewith Christ
hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke
of bondage. Now what's the yoke of bondage
he's talking about? He's talking about the law. Free from the law, O happy condition,
Jesus hath bled and there is remission. slain, cursed by the
law, slain by the foe, Christ hath redeemed us once for all. And you stand fast in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made you free and be not entangled again
with that yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised. Now, Paul was circumcised. He was
not merely talking about the physical act. He was saying that
if you think anything you do contributes to your salvation,
if any part of your salvation, beginning, middle, or end, has
something to do with your works, Christ will profit you nothing. That's strong language, isn't
it? Let's go on reading. Verse 3. For I testify again
to every man that's circumcised, that he's a debtor to do the
whole law. And if you're going to take that
route, here's what you have to do. You have to keep every commandment
perfectly every day into the day of your death. You can't
ever sin. If you're going to go that route,
that's what you have ahead of you. And look what he says in
verse four. Christ is become of no effect
unto you. Whosoever of you are justified
by the law, you are fallen from grace. Now, how do people generally
use that term falling from grace? You've heard this. Someone falls
into some kind of, I guess for lack of a better word, moral
lapse. Something bad, something sinful, something evil. Something
they shouldn't have done, shouldn't be doing. And somebody says,
well, they've fallen from grace. No, they haven't. You have. Use
a language like that. You have. Grace is His only hope.
And what a good hope it is. So, this thing of going by way
of the law. If you do that, if you really
believe salvation is dependent upon anything you do in any aspect
of salvation, you can kiss the grace of Christ goodbye. Christ
has become of no effect to you. So here is the word I want to
use with regard to these scriptures I just read. The grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ excludes excludes salvation by works in
any form. If by grace. It's no more works. Otherwise grace is no more grace
but if it be of works. Don't call it grace. It's works. Now in the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ these eleven words. Define. The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
is the truth. It's the gospel. It can only
be known by revelation. And there are grace words always
used. Not held back from, but used. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
is saving grace. It's eternal grace. It's costly
grace. It's reigning grace. It's sufficient
grace. Oh, the riches of His grace.
And it's exclusive grace. It excludes all forms of salvation
by works. Now let's turn to the last verse
of the last chapter of the Bible. Revelation 22. This is how significant
this is. Verse 21, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, how we pray that each
person here. Would be graced to know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, as we observe that
table. We ask that you would enable
us. As we're remembering. his broken body and shed blood,
what he actually accomplished, why he did it. Lord, we ask that
you would enable us to remember the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you for his grace.
In his name we pray. Amen. Let's pass out the bread.