Would you turn back to Hebrews
chapter 13? I have entitled this message. The doctrines of grace or the
doctrine of grace. The doctrines of grace or the
doctrine. Of grace. And it's my prayer
that the Lord will take this message and call someone to know
His grace, to experience His grace, to be saved by His grace. The writer to the Hebrew says
in verse 9, Be not carried about. with diverse and strange doctrines. Don't be carried about with no
root, with no foundation, so that you're made to go in the
direction of whatever way the wind is blowing, like a tumbleweed,
unstable. Paul warned of those in Ephesians
4 who were carried about by every wind of doctrine. by the slight
of men, by cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Do not be carried about by these
various and strange or foreign doctrines. A very important point. In the
Scripture, every time, without any exception, When the word
doctrines plural is used, it is always referring to false
doctrines. There's no exception to that.
Every time doctrines in the plural is used, it's always with respect
to false doctrine. various and strange doctrines. And then the writer says, for
it is a good thing that the heart be established, be settled, be
founded, be rooted. The heart, not just the intellect,
but the heart, the whole man, the mind, the affections, the
will. It's a good thing for the heart
to be established with grace and not with meats, which haven't
been any benefit to anyone who use those meats. Now, what are
you talking about when he says it's a good thing for the heart
to be established with grace and not with meats? In the New
Testament times, this was a big issue. People trying to take
Jewish dietary laws, and there were quite a bit what you could
eat, what you could eat clean and unclean. There was stuff
that was OK to eat and stuff that was wrong to eat. And they
tried to incorporate these into the life of the believer and
they said, you're more pleasing to God, you're more acceptable
to God if you eat this or if you do not eat that. This was
also true with regard to the meat's sacrifice to idols. They
would sacrifice an animal. It would be sacrifice to a false
god. And many people said you should
not eat that meat because of what it was used for. You'll
be more pleasing to God if you do not eat that meat. And somebody
else says, no, you'll be more pleasing to God if you do, because
you'll understand then that that idol doesn't have anything to
do with anything. And so they're making an issue of eating what
you eat, what you don't eat. But what they were saying in
these meats was somehow if you eat or if you don't eat, You'll
be more pleasing to God. The writer says, no, that is
not so. You're not more pleasing if you
do. You're not less pleasing if you don't. You see, what this
is doing is clouding the issue that Christ is all and you are
complete in him. He says it's a good thing for
the heart to be established with grace. And not with meat, which
have not profited them that have been occupied Now, before we
can understand what it means to have our hearts established
with grace, we have to know what the Bible means by this word,
grace. So what does the Bible mean by
this word, grace? Most of you know Evelyn Wang. She's in China now. She was a
member here and I still consider her a member, pray for her every
day, love her dearly. She's in China. And while she has been
there, she's been there for five or six years, but she has translated
a number of sermons into Chinese. She's even had some of our TV
programs where they do Chinese language. I don't know how they
do it. They do stuff like that nowadays. But at any rate, she
had a particular sermon translated and she asked her husband to
read it to see if it was a good translation. And he said that
the way they translated grace was with the Chinese word for
elegance. And you know what they mean by
that, he carries himself or she carries himself with grace and
with dignity, with elegance. By elegance you're saved. Same
word. completely different meaning. What does the Bible mean by the
word grace? What is the grace of God? Wouldn't it be a blessing if
you and I know what God's word means by this? And wouldn't it
be a blessing if you and I are saved by the grace of God? What does the Bible mean by grace? Now, most of us know that grace
means unmerited favor. And I suppose that's a good definition.
Turn to Genesis chapter 6. It is a good definition, but
as we're going to see, it's a little bit too generic. Look in Genesis chapter 6, verse 5. And God saw that the wickedness
of man. That's me, that's you. That's
Abraham, that's Noah, that's David, that's Paul, that's Peter,
that's John. Man. All men. Me and you. 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. Do you hear what that says? Not even talking about the works
now. We'll deal with that another time. Talking about what goes
on in here. What goes on in here. Every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil nonstop. Now that's me. That's you. Verse
8 of the same chapter, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the
Lord. Now, Noah, if you would have
looked in the imagination of his heart, by nature, the way
he was born into this world, it was only evil, continually,
nonstop, but Noah found grace. He found unmerited favor in the
eyes of God. Now, what is this thing of unmerited
favor. I want to narrow it down even
more from the scriptures, not from my opinion or my definition,
but from the scriptures. Turn with me to Romans chapter
four. Verse five. But Let's start in verse 4. Now to him that worketh is the
reward, not reckoned of grace, unmerited favor, but of debt. If your salvation is in any way
to any degree dependent upon something you do, that means
God is your debtor and he owes you salvation. Now that thought's
repugnant, isn't it? Verse 5, But to him that worketh
not, but believeth. And here's the phrase I want
to zero in on. On him that justifieth the ungodly. Now there's grace. You want to
know what grace is? Here it is. God justifies, not
merely forgives, but justifies the ungodly. Who's that good
news to? Huh? It's good news to the ungodly. Romans chapter 5 verse 6 says,
For when we were yet without strength, not just weak, but
without strength. In due time, Christ died for
the who? Ungodly. If you now listen to
me real carefully, if you are without strength, if you're without
spiritual strength, without spiritual ability, and if you're ungodly,
Christ died for you, guaranteed. But if that doesn't describe
you, I can't say with any assurance that Christ died for you. If
you go on in that way, I'm sure He didn't. But for everyone who's
without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly,
being justified freely by His grace. There's grace. being justified. Now, an ungodly sinner, that
means a man who is sinful, sinful, sinful, full of sin. God takes that person and says
they're justified. They have no sin. They're without
guilt. God is able to do that. He is
Him who justifies the ungodly. He does it through my sin. He
places it on Christ. Christ becomes guilty of it.
God punishes Christ. God's not going to clear the
guilty. My guilt was placed upon Christ. It became His. His righteousness
becomes mine. And I stand before God without
sin. Him that justifies the ungodly. Now, do you have no good thing
to recommend you? No good feeling? No good thought? Absolutely nothing to recommend
you? Are you without strength and
ungodly? Then this is for you. True story. There was a man who
wanted to paint a painting of a part of London. And it was
kind of a dirty part. And in that area of town, there
was always a street sweeper that everybody knew. He was a dirty,
grimy man, but he was paid to sweep the streets. And he always
looked dirty, he always looked filthy, but he was part of the
landscape. And people knew who he was. And this famous painter
wanted to paint this section of London, and he wanted this
man to be in it, because everybody knew who he is. He came to this
man and he said, I want you to come and I'm going to have a
photograph taken of you. And I want you to put this, you
know, I'm going to pay you well to do it. And you're going to
be part of this painting. And the man was agreed to do it. So when
he shows up for the photograph, you know what? He was clean. He had nice clothes on. And the
painter said, I can't use you. I won't use you. Because that's
not real. That's not who you really are. If you want to be a part of this
painting, you're going to come the way you really are. And if
I come to Christ, I come the way I really am. A sinner without strength and
ungodly. Now, I repeat, grace is God justifying
the ungodly freely. through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, the death of Christ made a way for God to
be just and justify. Aren't you thankful for that?
Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 2. What does the Bible mean by
grace? Ephesians chapter 2. Verse 1. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. Not you were weakened and somewhat
disabled, but dead. That is the language of Scripture. What can a dead man do as far
as the functions of life go? Nothing. wherein, in times past,
you walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, 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 God, here's
the difference, not that you turn things around, but you,
of your free will, decided to accept Jesus as your personal
Savior. Nothing like that. 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 I mean by all this, by grace you are saved. And He's raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that
in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of
His grace and His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus, for
by grace are you saved through faith. In fact, not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Now, let me say this about grace.
Grace is not an offer. Grace isn't thrown out there
to you, and you can accept it or reject it. That's not what
God's grace is. God's grace saves. It doesn't make salvation available.
He doesn't offer grace to you. If you have grace, it's because
He gave it to you. God's grace saves. By grace ye are saved. through faith, through faith. And that faith is not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Now what about this thing of faith? Well, if we're saved
by grace, just total unmerited favor, does that mean we don't
believe? No, it doesn't mean that. By grace you're saved through
faith. In fact, that faith is not of yourselves. It's not because
you of your free will, decided I'm going to believe. You don't
decide to believe. You believe. You don't decide to believe.
You believe. You just find yourself believing.
You believe the truth. Now, what is this thing of faith? In 2 Timothy 1.12, Paul said,
I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I've committed against that day. Now,
in that verse of scripture, we see there's three things involved
in faith. Knowledge, persuasion, or belief,
and committal. All three of those things are
involved in saving faith. Now, I know, I know him, I know
him who justifies the ungodly, I know that he justifies the
ungodly. I know that. The Bible tells
me that. I know that. You can't believe what you don't
know. But not only do I know that,
I believe that. I believe that he justifies the
ungodly. I am persuaded. I'm convinced
that what he did justified the ungodly. But not only do I know
that, not only do I believe that, I've committed. What's that mean? The only hope that I have, I
burned all my bridges. I'm not looking anywhere else.
The only hope that I have is that he justifies the ungodly. Now that's my hope. That's That's
what we believe. By grace are you saved through
faith. And that faith, it's not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Now, like I said, I've entitled
this message, The Doctrines of Grace or The Doctrine of Grace. Now, probably most of you have
heard of what people call the doctrines of grace and brief
history. They came about this. The doctrines of grace came about
in the 1600s, where there was something going on that people,
a bunch of preachers got together and thought this is this is a
bad thing that's going on in our country. And here's what
was going on. The general consensus of most
religious people was most churches was that Men have the power of
free will. They're not dead in sins. They
have the power of free will. And they said the stuff in the
Bible about election was conditional. God foresaw who would believe,
and therefore he chose them when he saw beforehand that they would
end up believing. And these people believed that
Jesus Christ died for all men without exception and paid for
everybody's sins. And these people were preaching
that God's grace could be resisted. And these people were teaching
that a true child of God could fall away and lose his salvation
and end up in hell. And so these people got together
and they had some kind of meeting and they talked about what they
called the doctrines of grace, which are that men were totally
depraved. that God's choice of His people
before time began was unconditional. He didn't see that they'd believe
and then make His choice because He foresaw their faith. He did
it simply because He would. He chose them. Christ died for
the elect. He didn't die for all men without
exception. He died for His people. God's
grace is irresistible. That means it saves. It won't
take no for an answer. And all of God's people will
persevere all the way to the end following Christ. And they
call this the doctrines of grace. And they even called it the five
points of Calvinism. Now, let me say this. That's
a horrible term. Calvin would be horrified if
he knew somebody called something like that the five points of
Calvinism. Who cares whether Calvin believed it? Who cares
whether Charles Spurgeon preached it? Who, all that matters is
what does God's Word say. That's all that counts. I could
care less what, someone says, well, so-and-so didn't believe
that, or this preacher didn't believe that, or the Bible, not the Bible,
the Bible teaches it does, but using some kind of, this preacher,
this, nobody cares. I don't. I really don't. I could
care less about whether so-and-so believes this preacher. I don't
care. What does God's word say? That's all we care about. It's not the doctrines of grace. It's the doctrine of grace. It's the doctrine of God. It's
the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the teaching of
Holy Scripture. That's all we care about, honestly. If this is what God's Word teaches,
this is the direction I'm going whether anybody goes with me
or not. This is what God's Word teaches. Now, is this the teaching
of Scripture? Turn to John chapter 6. Now,
these are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 59, these things said he
in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. Verse 60, John,
Chapter six, many, therefore, of his disciples, they claim
to be his disciples. When they heard this, they said,
this is a hard thing. This is this is. Unbearable,
this is this is. Inhumane, this is you don't expect
us to believe something like this. This is a hard thing. Who can be expected to hear stuff
like this? As a matter of fact, they ended
up leaving him. You go on reading that passage of scripture from
that time forth, they want no more with him. Now, what did
he say? Well, look in verse 44. No man can come to me. He didn't say no man may come
to me. He said no man can. Come to me. Total. Depravity. Total. Inability. Look in verse 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Unconditional election. He said in verse 36, I said to
you, you see me and don't believe it. It's like you're saying that's
not discouraging to me that you don't believe because all that
the Father giveth me. shall come to be God's unconditional
election of his people. Look in verse 39. And this is
the father's will, which has sent me that of all which he
had given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day. There's Christ's successful atonement for his
elect. Who is it that he's going to
raise up on the last day saved? All those the father gave him.
People call it limited atonement, or definite atonement, or particular
atonement. Well, it's just substitution.
That's all it means. Everybody he died for, everybody
that he stood in their place, they must be saved. Look in verse
44, once again, no man can come to me except the Father which
has sent me drawing. Can anybody resist that drawing? He says,
I will raise him up at the last day, and it's written in the
prophets, they shall all be taught of God. Every man, therefore,
that hath heard and hath learned of the Father comes to me. There's
irresistible. grace, invincible grace. And look in verse 51, I am the
living bread, which came down from heaven. If any man eat of
this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. They
live forever. They persevere all the way to
the end. They don't quit. They continue
in the faith. Now these are the things that
he said in verse 59. These things said he in the synagogues
as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore of his disciples
when they heard this said, this is a hard saying. Who can hear
it? When Jesus knew it himself that
his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, does this
offend you? Are you offended by what I said? I wonder if there's
anybody offended this morning over these words. Offended. Don't
like this. I don't agree with this. I don't
like it. Anybody offended? Does this offend
you? What, and if you shall see the
Son of Man ascend up where he was before, what he's saying
when he says that, if you're offended now, you're really going
to be offended when you see me in my glory. And you see who
it is that's saying this. It is the Spirit that quickens,
that gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The
words that are speaking to you, they're spirit and they're life.
These words that you find harsh and disagreeable, they're spirit
and they are life. But there's some of you that
believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that
believed not and who should betray him. And he said, therefore said
I unto you that no man can come to me, except it were given unto
him of my father from that time. Many of his disciples went back
and walk no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve. You fellas want to leave too?
You know, the Lord is saying to them
at this time, I'm not going to have any unwilling disciples.
The door's open. If you want to leave, go on with
them. That's what the Lord is saying.
And look at the reply of the disciples. Then Simon Peter,
verse 68, answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? I mean, there isn't any place to
go. Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are
sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Now we see that the doctrines
of grace is the doctrine of grace that our Lord Jesus Christ preached. This is the truth of Scripture. Now, in our text, the writer
to the Hebrews said, let your hearts Be established with grace. And not with meat, not with rules
and do's and don'ts. Let your heart be established
with grace. Now, your heart. Sometimes preachers try to make
a distinction between the mind and the heart. And really, You can't believe on your heart
what's not in your head. It's impossible. It's not possible
to have your head wrong, but your heart right. The heart is the whole man. My
heart is my understanding, but it's more than that. My heart
is my affections. It's what I love. It's what I
hate. That's your affections. Your
heart is your will. It's what you desire. It's what
you choose. Let your heart be established
with grace. Now, what is grace? It's God
justifying the ungodly. Can you say amen to that? God
justifying the ungodly, that's grace. Now, I understand that. I understand to this extent,
the only hope that I have is that he justifies the ungodly.
But not only do I understand this, I love this. I love the truth that when Christ
died on Calvary's tree, he accomplished the justification of everybody
he died for. He justified the ungodly. Do
you love this? Not only do I understand this,
Not only do I love this, if given a choice, this is the way I choose
to be saved. I'd rather be saved by what he
did than by what I do. That's what I choose. Let your
heart be established. Let your heart be settled. Don't
be moved back and forth, swaying. Let your heart be established. with grace. Now, let your heart
be established. And only God can do this. Ask
the Lord to establish your heart. That this, first of all, what
I've been preaching, this is the word of God. I'm not preaching
my opinion. I'm not preaching a denominational
distinctive. I'm not talking about what so-and-so
preached 200 years ago or 500 years ago or 59. I don't care. This is the Word of God. The Bible is the infallible,
inspired Word of God, our only rule of faith and practice. Somebody
says, how do you expect me to believe that the Bible is the
Word of God? Well, you believe God created the universe. Now,
if you don't believe that, what you believe is very unbelievable
if you think things just happen. Do you believe God created the
universe? Well, he who has the power to
create something from nothing, doesn't he have the power to
preserve his word? Of course he does. He's God. And this is the teaching of Holy
Scripture. That God is God. God is exactly as the Bible presents
him to be. It's not my opinion or so-and-so's
opinion. This is who God is. This is how
God saves, by His grace, justifying the ungodly. Now, let your heart
be established that men are dead in sins. As a matter of fact, anybody
who believes that, they're going to believe everything else regarding
the grace of God. Now, if you don't believe men
are dead in sins, you're going to have a hard time with this because you're looking
somewhere other than grace for your salvation. But if you really
believe man is dead in sins and you really believe that by nature
you're dead in sins, unable to save yourself, the only help
you'll have is the grace of God. this saving grace I'm speaking
of, that the Bible speaks of. Let your heart be established
that men are dead and can't save themselves. Let your heart be
rooted and grounded in the fact that God, before time began,
chose, elected, predestinated a people to be saved, and saved
they are. Romans 9.11 says, For the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, but the
purpose of God according to election, I stand. Not of works, but of
him that calleth it was said unto her, The elder shall serve
the younger. As it's written, Jacob have I
loved, this is God speaking, but Esau have I hated. And I'm
not going to apologize for what God says. Whatever he says is
right. Let your heart be established
in this thing of effectual redemption. If Jesus Christ died for your
sins, they're paid for, and you can't be anything but saved if
he died for you. Don't even give any adherence
at all to that thought that Jesus Christ could die for somebody's
sins and they end up in hell anyway. Why, that takes away
from the very justice of God. That takes away from the very
holiness. There's no gospel in that message. I say this all
the time. I'm going to say it again. The
only hope I have is that Christ died for me. And if you tell
me he can die for somebody and they end up in hell anyway, I
guarantee you I'll end up in hell. And you will too. The only
hope any sinner has is that when Christ said it is finished, their
salvation was finished. Let your heart be established
that God's grace saves, that it's invincible and irresistible
and will not take no for an answer. Oh, let your heart be established
in that, the way you rejoice in it. Let your heart be established
in perseverance. God's people persevere all the
way to the end. They persevere looking to Christ,
walking with Christ. Honoring Him in their life is
more important than anything else. That's their life. Jesus Christ is their life. And
they persevere all the way to the end. The Lord said, I give
into my sheep eternal life. not temporary, eternal, and they
shall never perish. Now, any departure from the doctrine
of grace is a departure from the gospel. Any departure from the doctrine
of grace, total depravity, unconditional limited atonement, irresistible
grace, and perseverance of the saints. Any departure from that
is a departure from the gospel. And this I know. I need this kind of grace, God's
grace, to save me. And this I know. I have to preach
this. I don't have a choice. And this
I know, I have to hear this preached. I can't listen to anything else. Salvation is of the Lord. And everybody that is saved knows
salvation is of the Lord. May God give every one of us
in this room the grace to believe on His Son, to believe that He
justified the ungodly, and to believe that salvation is of
the Lord. Let's pray together.