Common Mercy, Special Grace

Q: What does the Bible say about common mercy?

Common mercy refers to the blessings and gifts from God that are available to all mankind, such as life and sustenance. Common mercy is the general grace that God bestows on all people, irrespective of their status as believers or non-believers. This includes the basic necessities of life, such as breath, food, and the beauty of creation. In Acts 17, Paul emphasizes that God gives life and breath to all, underscoring that these mercies, while abundant, are not an indicator of salvation or special favor. As the psalmist states, 'The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works' (Psalm 145:9). Thus, common mercies reflect God’s kindness and patience, allowing all to experience His goodness, but they don’t equate to the saving grace given to the elect.

Q: How do we know special grace is true?

Special grace is evident in God's elect, where He saves and regenerates individuals according to His sovereign purpose. Special grace, distinct from common mercy, is the grace that God extends uniquely to His elect for salvation. It is grounded in God's sovereignty and is not based on human merit or effort. Ephesians 1:4-5 highlights that God chose His people before the foundation of the world for salvation. This grace is effectual—it accomplishes what it is intended to do, leading to the regeneration and faith of the individual. As the Apostle writes in Titus 3:5, 'not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us,' demonstrating that salvation is solely the work of God’s grace. The transformation in the lives of believers serve as evidence of this special grace, showing remarkable changes in heart and nature.

Q: Why is divine sovereignty important for Christians?

Divine sovereignty ensures that God's will and purpose are accomplished in creation and salvation, providing Christians with unshakeable assurance. Understanding divine sovereignty is crucial for Christians as it affirms that God is in control of all aspects of life and history. As stated in Isaiah 46:10, God declares the end from the beginning, and His counsel will stand. This means that God's purpose in salvation is not subject to human actions, decisions, or failures. Romans 8:28 emphasizes that 'all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose,' reinforcing that nothing falls outside of God's sovereign rule. Knowing that our salvation is not based on our merit but on God's unchanging will gives Christians peace and security in their faith, allowing them to trust in His plans despite their circumstances.

Q: What is the difference between common mercy and special grace?

Common mercy is available to all people, while special grace is reserved for God's elect, resulting in salvation and regeneration. The distinction between common mercy and special grace is foundational in Reformed theology. Common mercy refers to the general kindness that God shows to all humanity, which includes physical life, sustenance, and temporal blessings. As noted, God causes the rain to fall on the just and unjust alike (Matthew 5:45). In contrast, special grace is particular and is given only to those whom God has chosen for salvation. This grace is effectual, resulting in the people’s regeneration and faith as stated in Ephesians 2:8, 'For by grace you have been saved through faith.' Special grace encompasses the entire work of salvation and is not dependent on human actions but rather the sovereign will of God, which leads to eternal life for the elect.

Well, I am glad to be here. It has been a while since I've
been here. I don't do much traveling anymore. As you can tell by the
color of my hair, I'm getting a little age on me. Point well taken. If you'd like
to open your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 17. Luke chapter
17. Your pastor asked me to come
down and preach this evening. I was glad to do so and yet was
a little bit hesitant. I think I've told you before,
I hold your pastor in such high esteem for the gospel's sake. I love him dearly and count it
a great privilege to call him my friend as well as my brother. Luke 17, we'll get to the text
in just a minute. The portion I want us to look
at this evening is the account of our Lord cleansing ten lepers,
and of one of them returning to give thanks, returning to
the Lord to give thanks. And the Lord enabling, I want
to speak to you, as Brother Clare said, on common mercy, common
mercy and special grace. When we talk about common mercies,
I want to let you know that we don't do so because they are
of little value. That's not why we call them common
mercies. We call them common mercies because
of the abundance of them, for one thing. And we call them common mercies
because all men can partake of them. All of mankind. Paul, in Acts
17, he said, the Lord is not worshipped with men's hands as
though He needed anything. But He giveth to all, He giveth
to all life and breath and all things. That's what we're talking
about, common mercies. We who are gathered here this
evening, we all have physical life at this moment, and that's
a common mercy. That's a gift of God. That's
something he gives us that we don't deserve. We don't merit. We're able to breathe, and we
breathe his air. That's a common mercy. And He
sustains us in this life. Did you have breakfast this morning?
Did you have a nice lunch after the morning service? He gave
that to you. He gave that to you. That's a
common mercy. And in light of all these temporal
mercies that He bestows upon us, In addition to that, our
Lord is slow to anger. That's a common mercy. Aren't
you glad that He's slow to anger? If He reacted to us, if He reacted
to our sin as a holy and just God might do, we'd have been
in hell a long time ago. That's a common mercy. If one
old preacher said anything this side of hell is mercy, that's
what we're talking about, common mercy. Our Lord withholds judgment. He's long-suffering, long-suffering. The psalmist said in Psalm 145,
verse 9, he said, The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies
are over all His works. Common mercies. Did you know
that he causes the rain to fall upon the just and the unjust? Common mercies. His sun shines
on the wicked and the righteous. Common mercies. Common mercies. But now, grace. Grace, on the
other hand, is not common to all. When you Some men may talk
of common grace, but it is not so. It is not so. Grace is special. It's special
and in particular to God's elect alone. For by grace are you saved. That's grace. That's special. That's to God's people. Oh, we're
bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto he call you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm telling you, beloved,
that's gracious, and that's special, and that's not extended to all. And this special grace, this
special grace of God whereby He saves His elect is always,
always accompanied by that special mercy of God whereby propitiation
for sin is made by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the sinner is regenerated, he's born again, he's newly created
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Always. Always. This grace is
accompanied by that special mercy whereby sin is atoned for. Reconciliation
is made. Peace with God is established. And the sinner is given a new
life. He's given a new heart. He's
given a new spirit and a new nature. That's grace and that's
special. You hold Luke there. I know you're
familiar with this text, but turn over to Titus chapter 3. And here's what I'm talking about
stated very well here. Titus 3 verse 5. The apostle writes, It's not
by works of righteousness which we've done, but according to
his mercy he saved us. By the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace,
we should be made heirs according to the whole of eternal life."
Now, that's special grace. That's special grace, and that's
special mercy. Special grace and special mercy.
And this special grace that I'm talking of, this special grace
of our Lord by which we are saved is, first of all, we need to
keep this in mind now. Don't ever take it for granted
that the grace of our Lord by which we are saved is, first
of all, it's sovereign. It's sovereign. Our Lord is sovereign
in all things. He's sovereign in creation, He's
sovereign in providence, and He is especially sovereign in
salvation. He saith unto Moses, I'll have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I'll be gracious to whom
I will be gracious. And this grace by which we are
saved is secondly, it's free. It's free. It cannot be earned
or merited. It cannot be bought. We are justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that's in our Lord
Jesus Christ. This grace of our Lord by which
we are saved is effectual. It's by grace are you saved. Not might be, not made savable,
not will be saved if you cooperate, but by grace are you saved. And
this grace by which we are saved is in and by the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. By Him alone. It's all in Christ. It's all by Christ. We believe
that by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved,
even as others." Paul wrote to Timothy, and he said, speaking
of his own conversion, he said, "...the grace of our Lord was
exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in our Lord
Jesus Christ." You understand what I'm talking
about now when I mention common mercy and special grace? All right? Let's look at the
text then and pray the Lord would be pleased to speak to us this
evening. Now, Luke 17, verse 11. It came to pass as he went
to Jerusalem that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Our Lord here is on the way to
Jerusalem. He's on the way to Jerusalem.
When he gets there, When he gets there, he's going to observe
the last Passover. And he's going to institute his
supper. And then he's going to be betrayed into the hands of
the scribes and Pharisees and chief priests. And then he's
going to be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles to be crucified. And he's going to be hung up
between heaven and earth. He's going to suffer those terrible
agonies, and he's going to die. He's going to shed his blood,
and he's going to be taken down and buried, and the third day
he's going to rise again. And then after a time, he ascends
back to the Father and is seated in glory. That's what's going
on. He's on his way to Jerusalem.
And at this time, this time, his fame had spread throughout
all the land. He's been in his public ministry
now for about three and a half years. And he preached in the
synagogues, and he taught the people. He taught from a boat
on the ocean. He taught on the shore. He taught
in the mountains. He taught in the fields. He taught
the people. He preached the gospel of the
kingdom. And as he went from place to place, he performed
miracles, confirmed his message with miracles. He performed all
manner of healing. restored sight to the blind,
caused the lame to walk, caused the dumb to speak. He raised
the dead to life, and he was well known. His fame spread throughout
the land. And here he is on the way to
Jerusalem, and it appears here in this verse that he avoided
the larger cities. along the border between Samaria
and Galilee. You know, he grew up in Galilee,
in Nazareth of Galilee, called a Nazarene and a Galilean. But
he avoided those larger cities and went between the two, went
between the two, on his way to Jerusalem. And that's what's
going on. But the phrase I want you to
look at, and I want you to take notice of August In verse 11,
the opening phrase, it says, And it came to pass. And it came
to pass. We just read over that so lightly,
don't we? Hardly even pause to think about it. But it came to
pass. You know what that means? That
phrase is the mark and the stamp of the divine purpose, will,
and Word. You get that? It's the mark and
stamp. of the divine purpose, will,
and word. That phrase, I don't know if
you know it or not, but that phrase occurs 453 times in this
book. It came to pass. And I'll tell you something about
that phrase. It's peculiar to God alone. To God alone. It's peculiar to him who purposes
and speaks, and it comes to pass. And the Scriptures tell us that
clearly. You remember Isaiah 46. We love to quote it. Don't
love to read it, quote it, think about it. Where God says through
the prophet Isaiah, remember the former things of old, for
I'm God. And there's none like me. I'm God. There is none else. I declare
the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things
that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I'll
do all my pleasure. I call a ravenous bird from the
east, the band that executes my counsel from a far country.
I've purposed it. I'll do it. I've spoken it. I'll bring it to pass. And only
God can do that. Only God can do that. It came
to pass. You know, we often hear people
make statements like this. Oh, they stand in a place like
this at a time like this, and they say words like this. Oh,
God has a wonderful plan for you if you'll just cooperate. Well, beloved, that's hogwash. It's pure and
simple. Our God indeed has a plan for
the salvation of His people, but His plan is not dependent
on us at all. It's not dependent upon anything
we do or do not do. It's not dependent upon our cooperation. It's dependent upon His declared
purpose and will. It's according to His own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ before He ever floated
this world in space. Oh, yes, indeed, He has a plan.
Isn't that what He said? Isn't that what He said to Timothy? God who hath saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His what? purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before
the world began." I don't read anything there about requiring
my cooperation, or yours, or yours. You see, God saves His
people on purpose, and God saves His people by grace. When I was looking at this, I
thought, I know Brother Henry, he's preached to you all quite
a bit here recently, and I know you know him and love him as
I do. He's my pastor for many, he still is my pastor. But he probably told you, he
told me one time, about when he was a young pastor, pastoring
up in Ashland, and Roth Barnard came to town to preach. Brother Barnard was standing
up here preaching, and Brother Henry said, I'm sitting right
over here on the front row. So Barnard looked over at me
and he said, Pastor, can you quote Romans 8.28? And Brother
Henry said, yeah, I think I can. He said, well, quote it for us.
He said, I stood up. And he said, we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God. And he
sat down. And he said, Barnard looked over
at me and he said, Can you quote the rest of it? He said, Well,
I'll try. And he stood up and he said,
We know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the call according to his purpose. At which time Barnard yelled
out, Purpose! Purpose! Young man, if you would
know the gospel, you'd learn that God does all things on purpose. On purpose. And that's so. That's so, my There are no accidents
with God in this thing of salvation. Whom He saves, He saves on purpose. On purpose. He saves, He purposed
it from all eternity. In that eternal covenant, God
chose a people unto salvation. He chose them in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He gave them to the Lord Jesus
Christ, who stood as their surety. who in the fullness of time came
forth in the flesh, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. And He came into the world as
a man, as a representative man, as the substitute for His people.
And when He came, He obeyed and He died and He accomplished the
redemption and salvation of His people by His substitutionary
obedience and death on the cross. And then in time, He crosses
the path of every single one that the Father gave Him. Every
single one for whom He died. He crosses their path in the
gospel. And He crosses their path by
His Spirit, who invincibly and irresistibly calls them to life
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. No chance involved. No accident
involved. We talked, we quoted Romans 8.28
a few minutes ago. Who are the called according
to his plan? Four. Four. Whom he did foreknow. Them he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son. That he, his son,
might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called,
them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. Now, what are you going to say
about that? What are you going to say about that? Well, if God
be for us, who can be against us? Who is he that can never? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
that's risen again. Who's even at the right hand
of the Father? also maketh intercession for us." Who's going to separate
us from the love of Christ? Nothing in heaven, on earth,
or under the earth just cannot be done. Our Lord said, My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give
unto them eternal life, and they will never perish. It's all done on purpose. And
it came to pass. He came to pass. He came to pass
that our Lord went to this place at this particular time because
it was purposed and ordained of God. Christ Jesus came to
this place on purpose, and He came here for purpose. He came
here because He purposed to save a sinner. It's a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. No accident that he went to this
place at this time. Now look back at the text at
verse 12. He says, And as he entered into a certain village,
there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off.
Now notice, he entered into a certain village. A certain village. No accident here. I told you,
no accidents with God. No accidents. He entered this
village and he was met by ten men, all of them lepers. All
of them lepers. We need to understand that our
Lord, as I said, He's sovereign in providence as in all things.
He rules and He overrules all things for the accomplishment
of His purpose. Now, these men were lepers, all
ten of them. I'm sure you know that leprosy
in Scripture is typical of sin. Leprosy is to the body what sin
is to the soul. Leprosy is a disease from within, and it eventually breaks out
into the open. breaks out into open sores. And then it ends in death, and it's humanly incurable. And all ten of these men were
limpers. And in the same manner, all mankind
are sinners. all mankind are sinners. We are
all sinners by birth. We are all sinners as the offspring
of Adam. We became sinners in him. By
one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and
so death passed upon all men. Adam stood as the representative
of all who were in him, and we all spring from Adam. That includes
all of us. And so when he sinned, that sin was charged to all of
us. And we're guilty of original
sin by imputation. By imputation. But we also have a sin of nature.
We're guilty of original sin, but we're sinners by nature.
Children of wrath, even as others. You see, after Adam fell, After
Adam fell, he begot children by Eve in his own image. But it was a fallen image. No
longer in the image of God, but fallen mankind. And so we're
not only sinners by imputation, we're sinners by impartation.
He passed that fallen nature onto us. That's why we're conceived in
sin and brought forth from the womb, speaking lies. And then we're sinners by choice.
We're sinners by choice. Nobody, nobody forces anyone
to sin. They do it of their own will. And we don't have to look far.
We don't have to look far to understand this. I see a lot
of young people, young families, young children here. And all I love, I love children.
Just like, just like you, I love my children, love my grandchildren.
You know, I just, I'm a pushover for my grandchildren. Remember,
remember when you went down to the hospital when they were born?
And all they just, the instant you saw them, they just captured
your heart. And we speak of them, oh, look at that sweet little
innocent thing. Well, sweet, yes. But innocent? No. No. They've got that same nature
in them. And I tell you, it don't take long to come out, does it?
And we don't teach them those things. We don't teach them to
lie. We don't teach them to practice
falsehood. We don't teach them to steal. You look at your little child,
mother looks at the child and says, did you do that? And they'll look up at mommy
and say, no mommy, I didn't do that. And you know, you know
they're guilty. Who taught them to do that? They
do it by nature, by nature. All beloved, listen, and sin
when it's finished, you know what happens? Just like leprosy
in that leper. It breaks out and opens sores,
and when it's finished, it causes death. And sin, when it's finished,
brings forth death. We're spiritually dead now by
nature. Physical death is coming, and
eternal death will follow unless the Lord intervenes. And just
like this leprosy, our sin problem is humanly incurable. Humanly
incurable. We can't cure it. There's nothing
we can do to put our sin away. Wouldn't you like to be able
to stop sinning? Come on now. Boy, I wish I could just stop. I wish I could be done with sin
right now forever. But I have to confess like the
Apostle Paul, that which I would not, that I do. You been there? Yeah. And so
these ten lepers, these ten lepers that met our Lord, they stood
afar off. They stood afar off. You see, they knew they were
sinners. They knew they were lepers. And not only did they know it
by self-examination, but also under the law, according to the
law, When these signs appeared in the skin, they were to present
themselves to the priest, who according to the strict guidelines
of the Levitical law was to examine them. And according to that law
was either to pronounce them lepers and unclean, or not lepers
and clean. And they'd been down to see the
priest. And he'd looked at them. And
he'd pronounced them lepers or unclean. And so, by law, they
were separated from the people, and they were separated from
the place of worship. They couldn't go up to the temple.
They weren't even allowed in walled cities. And here we see
why our Lord went between Samaria and Galilee and voided the larger
cities, because lepers weren't allowed there. They could be
around these small villages, and that's where He purposed
to meet them. And sin does the same thing for us, my friends. Listen, sin separates us from
God. It separates us from the people
of God. It separates us from the place
of worship. Your sin, your iniquities have separated between you and
your God. And we came just like the leprosy. It ends in death. ends in death,
eternal death, the soul that sinneth and shall surely die.
And we can't do anything about it. We can't do anything about it. Now look at verse 13. They lifted
up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. They sought mercy. They sought
mercy. They knew they were lepers. They
knew that the law declared them unclean. But they cried out for
mercy. Now, why would they do that?
Well, I don't have any doubt, as I told you before, the fame
of our Lord spread through the land. And I don't have any doubt
that they had heard that our Lord Jesus had mercifully cleansed
some from leprosy. Don't have any doubt at all.
You know, back in Matthew chapter 8, you remember the case of that
leper there? Matthew chapter 8 verse 1, When
he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.
And behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. If you will, you can make
me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand
and touched him. Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute.
Won't he be made unclean if he touches a leper? Ah, no. This is the Holy One of God.
This is the Holy One. He's not contaminated. He's not
made unclean. He makes clean. He touched him
saying, I will be thou clean. And that was early in his ministry.
Don't you think that spread throughout the land? Don't you think that
I could just see that going through these leper colonies like a hot
piece of gossip goes through the... Well, I better not say
that. But you know what I'm talking
about, don't you? You know how fast that spread.
And here are these ten lepers. They looked up, and they could
see Him. They had to stand afar off, but
they could see Him just right over there. And he was within earshot. He was close enough to where
he could hear them. And so they cried out to him
for mercy. And all my friends, listen. Listen
to me now. The only hope for a sinner is
the mercy and grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ. We can't
earn it. We can't merit it. We can't demand
it. We can't obligate God by repeating
some words like a parent. But I'll tell you what we can
do. Just like these lepers, we can ask for it. We can ask for
it. Like the publican in the temple,
we can cry out, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Well, I'd sure like to do that
if I could just find Christ. Do you really want to find Him? I'll tell you where to find Him. If you want to find Christ, you
find out where His people meet and go there. Now, is that so or not? Where
two or three are gathered together in my name There am I, right
in the middle of them. So if you want to find Christ,
find where his people meet. If you want to find Christ, you
find out where the gospel of his grace is preached. Because
his power to save is revealed in his gospel. Paul wrote to
Romans and said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for therein, in that
gospel of Christ, is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith as it's written, the just shall live by faith. And I'll tell you something else.
We're met here this evening, I trust, in the name of Christ. And it's no accident that we're
met here. No accident that we're here this evening in this class.
And so I ask, are you a sinner in need of mercy? And if you
are, why don't you do like these lepers and call out? Well, preacher, you mean it's
that easy? I mean it's that hard. It's that hard. Remember, Nehemiah
came to the prophet, and the prophet told him, go dip in Jordan
seven times. And he got so mad. Oh, he said,
the rivers up in Damascus, they're a lot better than this. Can't
I go up there? And his servant said to him,
now, master, if he'd asked you to do something hard, wouldn't
you do it? How much more will Jesus go dip in Jordan? You see,
it's hard to do that. It's hard to receive salvation
as a gift. It's hard to buy it without money
and without price. That goes against our will, against
our nature. But that's the way you get it.
You've got to ask for it. You've got to ask for it. You've got to ask for it. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved." I want you to note here for a
minute how they addressed him. How they addressed him. They said to him, Jesus, Master. Jesus, Master. Now, they didn't call him Lord. Didn't call Him Lord. Not like that leper back in Matthew
8. They said, Jesus, Master. And you know, He is indeed, and
in fact, Master. He told the disciples, He said,
you call Me Master and Lord, and you say, well, for so I am. He is. Call no man Master, for
one is your Master, even Christ, He said. So he is master. He is master. But I took a little bit of time
and looked this up, and except for the disciples
of our Lord, master, master, that title master, while it was
a title of respect, it was not an acknowledgment of his lordship. Actually, it was a denial of
his lordship. You see, the disciples called
him Master and Lord. Everybody else who called him
Master denied his lordship. Now, I want to show you that
Matthew 19. Matthew 19. Matthew 19, look at verse 16. And behold, one came and said
unto him, Good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have
eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest
thou me good? There is none good but one. That's
God. You see what he's saying? This
fellow came up to the good master. Good master. Wait, hold it, hold
it. There's none good but God. You
don't believe I'm God, don't call me good. Don't call me good
master if you don't think I'm God. You remember Nicodemus? Pharisee,
the ruler of the Jews, came to our Lord by night and said, We know that you're a teacher
sent from God, for no man can do these miracles except God
be with him. Not except he be God, but except
God be with him. And our Lord answered him very
sternly. As a matter of fact, you must be born again. You must
be. This is important. I'm telling
you it's vital. It's vital. There absolutely
has to be a belief and confession of His Lordship in order to be
saved. Now that's just so. If we confess with our mouth
the Lord Jesus, and believe in our heart that God raised Him
from the dead, we shall be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation." Our Lord in John chapter 8 was
talking to these Pharisees, these cold, hard, religious, self-righteous,
blind leaders of the blind. And he said to them, I said therefore
unto you that you shall die in your sins. Four, if you believe
not that I am. That same name by which God told
Moses, you tell them I am that I am, said you. If you believe
not that I am, you'll die in your sins. That's how vital it
is. That's how violent it is. All right, back in the text,
I've got to pick up speed here. Verse 14, look at it. He says,
And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go show yourselves
unto the priest. And there's that divine stamp
again. It came to pass that as they
went, they were cleansed. You see, under the law, under
the law, only the priest could pronounce a man clean of leprosy. One of the things we learn here
is that the salvation of Christ is in complete agreement with
the law of God. He cleansed from leprosy, but
he sent him to the priest. And we need to learn from this
also that the law doesn't cause sin, and the law doesn't cure
sin, but with inerrant accuracy. It points it out. It finds it. It pronounces the presence or
the absence of it. It pronounces clean or unclean. Do we, through faith, make void
the law of God? God forbid. We establish the
law. The salvation of Christ by grace
is in complete accordance with the law of God. And notice the
effect. It says, as they went, they were
cleansed. All of them were cleansed of leprosy. Now, we could use this as a good
illustration of faith, because they acted on His Word.
He said, go show yourselves to the priest, and they set off.
They set off before there was any indication whatsoever that
they were any better. And as they went, they were cleansed. And beloved, I say to you, I
say to you, don't wait for signs of improvement. Don't wait till you have a good
feeling. Don't wait for anything. You do according to what Christ
says. believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved." Well, I, no, no. Do what he says. That's faith. Abraham, get out of your father's
house. Go to a place I'll show you,
and I'll make of you a great nation. Well, all right, Lord, but I
think I'll wait around until I see a little indication of
it first. No. What'd he do? Got out of that place. That's
faith, acting on the Word of God. Do as He commands. Do as He commands. Look at verse
15. One of them, when he saw that
he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice, he glorified
God. Now listen, here's an example of a general and effectual call.
You've heard that, haven't you? You've been taught that all your
life under the Gospel. It's an example of common mercy
and special grace. One of these lepers was a Samaritan.
Evidently, the other nine were Jews. But the one that was a
Samaritan returned, and he glorified God. He glorified God. He acknowledged his healing was
of God. He fell at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and worshiped
Him, giving thanks. How do we glorify God? How do
we glorify God? We ascribe salvation unto Him,
don't we? Paul said, Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us with all spiritual things
and the heavenlies in Christ, according as He has chosen us
in Him from before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children. Huh? That's blessing God. Peter said, Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His
abundant mercy have begotten us again into a living hope.
That's blessing God. And that's what this leper did.
He came back and blessed God with a loud voice. He fell down
at the feet of God, at the feet of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks,
giving thanks. And he worshipped Him. Now here's
the point I'm getting to. All of these lepers had some
kind of faith, some kind of faith. All of them were cleansed of
leprosy. Nine of them went to the priest, went down to the priest. And I just suspect that when
they got down there, and showed themselves to the priest, they
got into a theological debate with him about the doctrines
of grace. But one of these people had the
faith of God's elect. And he came to the priest, but
he came to that great high priest and fell at his feet and worshipped
him. and worshipped him. And all ten were cleansed of
leprosy, but one gave glory to God. My friends, I'm telling
you, it's even so that many are called, but few are chosen. Many hear the gospel. Many make
a profession of faith. Many look clean on the outside.
Many have some knowledge. Many have an experience that
they can look to, but they don't acknowledge or worship Christ
Jesus as our God and Savior. Now, what made the difference?
We know who made the difference. Who made the difference? We know
the answer to that. But what made the difference
between this one and the next? Well, I'll tell you what made
the difference. Sovereign grace and sovereign mercy of our Lord
Jesus Christ in salvation, experienced and evidenced in the new birth
by the Holy Spirit. God wrought upon this man. God
wrought. How do you know that, preacher?
Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. Our gospel came
unto you not in word only. but in power and the Holy Ghost
and much assurance. And you became followers of us
and of the Lord, I'll say. Peter said, being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth for him. By these precious promises,
we're made partakers of the divine nature. If any man be in Christ,
he's a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new." I'm telling you, the grace of God
wrought in this man to make him a new creation, and that's the
difference. This man, like all of God's people,
and just like Thomas. You know Thomas. Thomas, when
they said, we saw the Lord, he said, I don't believe it. And
I won't believe it. till I could see Him and I could
reach forth my hand and put it into His womb. And then our Lord
appeared and said, Thomas, reach forth your hand here. And do
you remember what He said? He fell down and He said, My
Lord and my God. My Lord and my God. Well, He's
my Lord and my God. He is to all of His people, every
single one of them. Look at verse 19. Verse 19, well, 17, Our Lord
said, We are not ten cleansed, but we are of the nine that are
not found that return to give glory to God and save the stranger.
Now he said unto him, Arise, go thou away, thy faith hath
made thee whole. Now we know, we know, literally
speaking, that it was not faith that made him whole. Faith is
not the Savior. Faith didn't die for him. Christ
did. Christ did. Christ is the Savior. But Christ saved him through
faith. Not without faith. Not without faith. But through
faith. Therefore, being justified, we
have, by faith, we have peace with God. Therefore, it is of
faith that it might be by grace, to the end, the promise might
be sure to all the saints. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. Faith's not the Savior, but Christ
is. But we're not saved without faith. Now, we said, what was the difference?
What made the difference? The four. And now I ask this
question, what is the difference? Ten were cleansed from leprosy. Ten were cleansed from leprosy.
But one, one, now watch this, arise, go thy way, thy faith
hath made thee w-h-o-l-e. One was made whole. Complete. Complete. In Christ dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are what? Complete in Him, which
is the head of all principality and power. One was made whole. Ten were
cleansed of leprosy. One was made whole. That's special
grace. Now what does it mean to be made
whole? And I'll shorten this and quit. I'll just give you this. What
does it mean to be made whole? As He is, so are we. in this world. That's hope. Nothing lacking. That's complete. That's salvation. That's the
new birth. That's the new creation. That's
the divine nature. That's all. That's completeness,
wholeness. As He is, so are we in this world. Well, I pray the Lord to make
that a blessing to you.

Common Mercy, Special Grace

What does the Bible say about common mercy?

How do we know special grace is true?

Why is divine sovereignty important for Christians?

What is the difference between common mercy and special grace?

Sermon Transcript

About Charles Pennington

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Common Mercy, Special Grace

What does the Bible say about common mercy?

How do we know special grace is true?

Why is divine sovereignty important for Christians?

What is the difference between common mercy and special grace?

Sermon Transcript

About Charles Pennington

Comments

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