Salvation: Altogether by Grace

Q: What does the Bible say about salvation by grace?

The Bible declares that salvation is entirely by grace, as shown in Isaiah 57:18 where God promises healing despite human iniquity. The concept of salvation by grace is central to Scripture, emphasizing that it is not based on human merit but solely on God's mercy. Isaiah 57:18 illustrates this profoundly, stating, 'I have seen his ways and will heal him,' which reveals God's initiative in salvation even when individuals are entrenched in sin. Grace operates independently of our actions, highlighting that God's healing and restoration come from His love, despite our failures. This underscores the foundational Reformed belief that salvation is entirely a work of grace, initiated and sustained by God alone, aligning with Ephesians 2:8-9 that cites grace as the means through which we are saved.

Q: How do we know the doctrine of total depravity is true?

The doctrine of total depravity is supported by Scripture, showing that all humanity is affected by sin and incapable of seeking God without His grace. Total depravity asserts that every aspect of humanity is affected by sin, rendering individuals unable to seek God or do good without divine intervention. This doctrine is evidenced in passages like Romans 3:10-12, which states, 'There is none righteous, no, not one... there is none that seeketh after God.' In Isaiah 57, we see the portrayal of individuals actively engaged in sinfulness, unaware of their spiritual condition, as they pursue falsehoods and idols. God's response, offering grace and healing despite our depravity, highlights His sovereignty and mercy. Therefore, total depravity is not merely a theological position but a biblical reality, affirming the need for God’s grace in salvation.

Q: Why is humility important for Christians?

Humility is vital for Christians as it allows them to recognize their dependence on God's grace for salvation and growth. Humility is foundational to the Christian experience, as it reflects a correct understanding of our position before God. Isaiah 57:15 expresses that God dwells with those of a humble and contrite spirit, indicating that humility attracts God’s presence and enabling grace. Recognizing one’s need for grace fosters a heart that is open to learning and reliant on God, as expressed in James 4:6, 'God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.' This dependence is essential for spiritual growth, as acknowledging our limitations leads us to seek and trust in Christ, who is our only source of strength and righteousness.

Q: How does God lead us according to Isaiah 57?

According to Isaiah 57, God leads us through His grace, guiding those who trust Him and restoring comforts. In Isaiah 57:18-19, God promises to lead those who trust in Him. This leading is characterized by grace and restoration, emphasizing God's commitment to guide His people amidst their struggles. The verse affirms that God actively cares for His children, offering comfort through the gospel and leading them in paths of righteousness. This mirrors the heart of sovereign grace theology, where God's initiative in leading and restoring believers is a testament to His faithfulness. Believers are assured that as they rely on Him, He will navigate their lives, removing obstacles and providing direction, reinforcing the truth that His leadership is both sovereign and grace-filled.

I have entitled the message that
I want to attempt to bring tonight, Salvation Altogether by Grace. Salvation Altogether by Grace. Now, the reason for this title
is this passage of Scripture sets forth as clearly as can,
I suppose, possibly be set forth, how that salvation is altogether
by grace. As a matter of fact, I found
this passage of Scripture shocking. The statement of grace, I wouldn't
even believe it was in there unless I read it for myself. Now, that's how I view this passage
of scripture. The grace of this passage is
so clear that I would not even believe it was in there unless
I read it for myself. I want to read verses 17 and
18. This is the statement of grace,
and we're going to get to this in a few moments. But God is
speaking, and He is speaking of His people. And He says, for
the iniquity of His covetousness was I wroth and smote Him. I hid Me and was wroth. I was angry with Him. I hid My
face from Him so that He could not see Me. Did he moan in repentance? Did he ask the Lord for mercy?
No. Look what it says. And he went
on, frowardly, perversely, in the way of his heart. It had no effect on him whatsoever. I have seen his ways, and will heal him." Now, that is as clear a statement
as you're ever going to find in all the Word of God as to
how that salvation is altogether by grace. The Lord said he was
taken up with covetousness. I'm mad at him. I hid myself
from Him. I smote Him. I afflicted Him.
And you know how much effect it had on Him? None. He went on unchanged. I will heal Him. Now, I find a blessed hope in
that statement. I will heal Him. Now, let's look back at verse
3. Now, for the first eight or nine
verses of this passage of Scripture, he is addressing the unbeliever,
the person who is not one of his people. He'd been talking
about his people, as we saw last week, in verses one and two,
and they were described. But in verse three, he says, But draw near hither, ye sons
of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer. and the whore. Now in these next several verses,
he addresses this person and this language used is typical
language. He uses the language of sexual
sin to describe these people. Look in verses seven and eight.
Upon a lofty and a high mountain hast thou set thy bed. Even thither
winnest thou up to offer sacrifice. Behind the doors also in the
post thou hast set up thy remembrance, for thou hast discovered thyself
to another than me, and art gone up. Thou hast enlarged thy bed,
and made thee a covenant with them. Thou lovest their bed where
thou sawest it." Now, he uses sexual sin to describe the evil
of these people. This is typical language. Sexual sin is a great evil. I'm talking about physical sexual
sin. Any kind of sex outside the marriage
covenant is a great evil. The marriage covenant and the
intimate physical relationship between a man and his wife. And let me remind you, who is
the one who made sex? The Lord did. He made this intimate
relation between a man and his wife. It's wonderful. It's beautiful
within the bonds of marriage and only within the bonds of
marriage. And it's given to picture the
relationship of Christ and His church. This intimate act describes
union. The two become one flesh, the
scripture says. The two become one flesh, and
that's exactly what the believer's hope is. I'm one with Christ.
One with Him. Who He is, I am. What He does,
I do. Where He is, I am. That's our
hope, and that's what this intimate act typifies. As a matter of
fact, Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 5, he said, I speak a
great mystery, but I speak. He's talking about marriage for
the last nine or ten verses. He says, I speak concerning Christ
in the church. That's the purpose of this. It's
given to illustrate the relationship between Christ and the church.
And that's why any sexual relationship outside the covenant of marriage
is sin. How many lives have been ruined?
How many homes have been destroyed because of sexual sin? It is
so dark. It has caused so many problems. But spiritual adultery is even
darker. And the Lord is using sexual
sin to speak of spiritual adultery in this passage of Scripture. Now, you remember how Babylon,
false religion, is depicted? Would you turn with me for a
moment to Revelation 17? Now, before I go on, I want you to
look at this passage with me in Revelation 17. But if a woman
is a prostitute, what does she do? She attempts to look as good
and beautiful as she can in order to be attractive. That's what
a prostitute does. They try to look as beautiful
as they can to allure people, and that's what man's religion
does. That's why man's religion is called the great whore in
this passage of Scripture. Now, look here in Revelation
chapter 17, verse 1. And there came one of the seven angels,
which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me,
Come hither, I'll show unto thee the judgment of the great whore
that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth
have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth
have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he
carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw
a woman set upon a scarlet-colored beast full of names of blasphemy,
having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in
purple and scarlet color and decked with gold and precious
stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations
and filthiness of her fornication. And upon her forehead was a name
written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots
and abominations of the earth. Now he's speaking to these people
in Isaiah 57 who are the children of Babylon. Look what he says
to these people in verse 3. But draw not here ye sons of
the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore. What
he's talking about are people who are the products of man's
religion. That's exactly who he's talking
about, the seed of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and
the whore. Now, look what he says to these
people in verse four. Against whom do you sport yourselves?
Against whom make ye a wide mouth and draw out the tongue? Are
you not children of transgression? A seed of falsehood? He's saying,
why do you act so cocky? Why do you act so self-assured?
Why do you sneer and stick your tongue out at those that you
despise? You just look down upon anybody that's not just like
you. And this is their attitude toward the righteous. And he
says, you're nothing more than children of transgression and
the seed of falsehood. Verse 5, inflaming yourselves
with idols under every green tree. slaying the children in
the valleys under the cliffs of the rocks. You inflame yourselves
with idols the way a fool would inflame himself with a prostitute,
and you slay your children in so doing. You know, spiritually,
and this is the worst kind of slaying, if I join myself up
with Babylon religion, you know what I'm doing to my kids? Spiritual
murder. Now, that's an awesome thing
to think about. And that's what he said to these
people. He said, you're slaying your children in a worse way
than physical slaying. Now, these people were physically
slaying their kids to these false gods. But we see what this means
typically also. When we participate in false
religion, we do the same thing to our children spiritually.
Verse six, among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion.
They are thy lot. Even to them hast thou poured
a drink offering, thou has offered a meat offering. Should I receive
comfort in these?" This refers to the idols spoken of in verse
five. In light of these, should I relent and be satisfied and
find comfort in you? Obviously not. Verse seven, upon
a lofty and a high mountain hast thou set thy bed. Even thither
wentest thou up to offer sacrifice. They were very religious. Behind
the doors also in the post hast thou set up thy remembrance.
For thou hast discovered thyself, you've made yourself naked, is
what this means, to another than me, and you've gone up You've
enlarged your bed, you've made thee a covenant with them, and
you love us their bed where thou sawest it. Their religion is
set forth as sexual sin. Verse 9, And thou wentest to
the king with ointment. You've made yourself smell good.
You didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers
far off, and didst debase thyself even unto hell. Now, intending
to make yourself attractive, he says you've debased yourself
even unto hell. Verse 10, Thou art wearied in
the greatness of thy way. And you know what he's talking
about is even in this in this attempt at participation in the
religion of Babylon, it wearies you. When have you done enough? When have you worked enough?
You're wearied in it. It's not that you really enjoy it. You
know, I really believe this. Everybody that doesn't know the
Lord, when it comes right down to it, if the truth were known,
their religion doesn't do anything to make them miserable. Make
them unhappy. When have you ever done enough?
When can you ever rest? When can you ever rest satisfied
that all God requires of you, you have? You can't. He said,
you've wearied yourself in the greatness of thy way, yet even
though you're weary, yet saidst thou not, there's no hope. Thou
hast found the life of thine hand, therefore thou wast not
grieved. Like a fool, you never see the
hopelessness of it all. You always manage to find some
kind of life in your hand. Verse 11. And of whom hast thou
been afraid, or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast not
remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? Have not I held my
peace, even of old, and thou fearest me not? Which one of
these false gods should you have been afraid of more than me?
that would cause you to lie and not ponder in your heart what
you're doing. Is it not because I've not spoken to you? Is that
why you don't fear me or have a true reverence of me? Verse
12, he says, I'll declare it. And this is what God says concerning
man's religion. He says, I will declare thy righteousness
and thy works. They shall not profit me. Now, please listen to me very
carefully. I was talking to an individual,
it's just been in the last couple of weeks, and they were speaking
of somebody they knew who was converted through hearing a famous
evangelist. And I'm not going to name this
man's name, this famous evangelist, because I'm speaking of principles,
not people. So I'm not even going to bother
to name his name, but it was a famous evangelist. And this
evangelist is a freewheeler. He believes that God loves everybody,
Christ died for everybody, God wants to save everybody, but
there's something you need to do to make what he did work. That
is the message of that famous evangelist. And they said, well,
this friend of mine was converted through hearing this famous evangelist. I said, wait a minute. Wait a
minute. Did he preach the gospel? No. Can somebody be converted? Can
somebody be brought to a saving knowledge of God? Can somebody
be born again through the hearing of error? No. God doesn't use error. Why should
He? Does He need to? Is it because He can't find somebody
to tell the truth? Listen, the Lord can raise up rocks easy
enough to preach the gospel. He didn't raise up Balaam's ass
to preach the gospel. He did. It's not like He can't
come up with somebody to tell the truth. There's no profit at all in that
which is contrary to the truth, which is contrary to the gospel.
Now, that's that's just so. Your righteousness, your words
will not profit you at all. Now, verse 13, he says, When
thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee. All the things
that you're trusting in. Let them deliver you. Let's see
how they do then. You know, I've actually thought about Judgment
Day. And this is a scary thing to think about. But I can see
on Judgment Day, the Lord says, what about your works now? What
about the things you boast in now? What good are they doing?
They won't do you any good at all. The Scripture says He'll
laugh and mock when their fear comes. He'll laugh at their calamity.
When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee, but the wind shall
carry them all away. Vanity shall take them. But now
he's changing us. He's talking about somebody else
now. He's leaving these people who
who are in this religion of falsehood, human religion, salvation by
work, salvation by will, salvation by worth, salvation by something
we do. He's leaving them. And now he
says, but. He that putteth his trust in
me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain. He that puts his confidence in
me. I know that right now, while
I'm speaking to you, when I talk about that which is is contrary,
that which is false, that which is anti-God, that which is anti-Christ,
that which is not the truth. You know, I don't enjoy talking
about that. It's not something I enjoy preaching
on. I have to, because the scripture points this out. I have to, but
I whole lot rather thinking, I whole lot prefer thinking about
this when it gets to this point, that one who trusts me, his confidence
is in me. And you know, while I speak,
my confidence My confidence that I'm accepted before God. My confidence
that I'm going to be saved on that great day. That I'm going
to be justified. My confidence is holy in Him. It's not in me. It's not in what
I do. It's not in my preaching. It is in Him. That One who puts
His confidence in me, He shall inherit all things by grace. He shall be saved. Verse 14.
And here's what these people will say. That person who puts
his trust in the Lord, they shall say, cast ye up, cast ye up,
prepare the way, take up the stumbling block out of the way
of my people. Have the gospel so cluttered
that you can't hear. Get rid of that stuff. Kind of
like the highway going into the cities of refuge. Tradition has
it that they'd have priests just keep that thing clear. Keep that
thing clean. Keep the signs pointed the right way. Get rid of anything
that's contrary to that. Verse 15, For thus saith the
High and Lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity. Now, what an awesome
statement. Eternity. Eternity is a big place,
isn't it? You think of the immenseness
of eternity. That boggles our mind. And yet
the High and Lofty One, the Lord God, He says, I inhabit eternity. It's my home. You know, the Lord
doesn't see things the way you and I see it. That's so evident.
He doesn't dwell in time the way you and I do. He inhabits
eternity and everything is right out in front to Him. Thus saith
the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy. I dwell, he says, in the high
and holy place with Him also. Here's who he dwells with. I
dwell in the high and holy place with Him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and
to revive the hearts of the contrite ones. Now, God speaks of himself
and he tells us who it is he dwells with. He says, I'm high
and lofty, I inhabit eternity. He uses this language that's
just so hard for us to get a hold of. It's so awesome. And he says,
this is the one I dwell with. I dwell with that one who's of
a humble spirit. Now, what is humility? What is
true humility? Humility before God is a just
and honest estimate of yourself. That's exactly what it is. It's
not just groveling in the dirt and dust. It's a just estimate
of what you are before God. Now, I've got, by grace, I hope
I've got a just estimate of myself. And here's what my estimate of
myself is right now while I'm talking to you. I'm a sinner
saved by grace. I've got no higher claim than
that. I'm a sinner saved by the grace
of God. I'm a sinner whose only hope
is that what Christ did is everything in my salvation. I'm not looking
anywhere else. Now, that is... If that's real, I mean, I know
the right things to say, and you know the right things to
say. But if that's real, if what I was saying to you is the truth,
if that's really the way I feel, that's what true humility is.
Humility is a just estimate of yourself. I know, and I really believe
this, I know that all I am in and of myself is sin. I know that. And my hope of glory
is Christ Christ, Christ. That's it. That's humility. You know, it takes humility to
believe the Gospel. You don't look to yourself for a thing.
Faith is looking away from yourself and it's looking to Him. That's
what humility is. That's that humble spirit. What
is that contrite spirit? That contrition is the crushed
spirit. The bruised spirit. Crushed under the weight of their
own sinfulness. Crushed under the fact that they
know that there's nothing they can do to earn God's acceptance. They really believe that. Contrite. Crushed spirit. It's a good thing. You know, the broken heart is
the best state the heart can be in. A broken and a contrite
heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. The contrite spirit, what a blessing
it is. to have a contrite spirit. And
the Lord God, the high and lofty one, says this is the one that
I dwell with. Even to him that is of a contrite
and a humble spirit, I'm going to revive the spirit of the humble
to revive the hearts of the contrite ones, and they have a reason
to be contrite. Look what he says in verse 16.
He says, for I will not contend forever, neither will I be always
wroth. For the Spirit should fail before
me, and the souls which I have made. You see, there's a reason
for them to be humble and contrite. They have a reason to be that
way. Their sinfulness. But God promises
I'm not going to contend with them forever. Let me ask you
a question. Does the Lord have a reason to
contend with you? Does the Lord have a reason to
contend with you? I'm talking about what you are in and of
yourself. I'm not even talking about what we are in Christ,
because in Christ, he doesn't have a reason to contend with
me, does he? But the thing that comes to my mind right off the
bat is David. You know what the scripture says of David in 2
Samuel chapter 11 or 12, talking about David and the situation
with Bathsheba, And Uriah, it says, the thing that David did
displeased the Lord. And when you and I sin, it displeases the Lord. You know, we read of grieving
the Holy Spirit. We read of quenching The Holy
Spirit. And you cannot think in any way
that your sin, the Lord is just not paying attention to it. He's
going to contend in this life, in this life, you and I cannot
sin without consequence. Now, that's true. It's going to have some negative
effect. Sin is such an evil thing, and remember this about sin.
You think, why is the Lord so strict? Sin is so bad that when
it was found on Christ, God killed Him for it. That's how evil sin
is. So never think of sin in an indifferent way. The sin of
a believer is worse than the sin of an unbeliever. And he
talks about contending with his children, but he says, I will
not contend forever because they couldn't take it. They crumble
under this. What if the Lord's face was always
hid from you? You couldn't take it, could you?
It would kill you. To a believer, the hiding of
the Lord's face is beyond anything they can take. So he says, for
I will not contend forever, neither will I be always wroth. for the
Spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made,
verse 17, for the iniquity, and this is talking about his people.
This is not talking about an unbeliever. It's talking about
a believer right now, this one who trusts in him. He says, for
the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and I smote him. I hid me and was wroth, and he
went on fraudulently in the way of his heart. The Lord tells
us why he was angry, for the iniquity of his covetousness. Now, what is the last of the
Ten Commandments? Anybody remember? Thou shalt not covet. That's
the last one of the Ten Commandments, and covetousness is a summary
of all sin. Thou shalt not covet. And to covet what men have? To covet the praise of men? To
covet what God hadn't given you? I want you to think of this. The Lord said in Hebrews 13,
let your conversation. Now, He's speaking to every believer. He says, let your conversation,
let your conduct, let your life be without covetousness. Without it. And there's a reason. For He has said, I'll never leave
thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, The Lord is
my helper. I'm not afraid of what man shall
do unto me." In Christ, what do I have right now while I'm
speaking to you? In Christ, what do you have? A double L all. It can't get any better. You cannot, right now while I'm
speaking to you, you know there's nothing you can do that would
make God love you more than He already loves you. There's nothing
you can do to make yourself more complete. In Christ, you have all things. And listen to me, the stuff that
you don't have that you want, It's best that you don't have
it. If it was for your good, you'd have it. Isn't that so? In Christ, you are complete. Nothing lacking. In Christ, you
have all things. Now, the only thing that will
keep somebody from coveting, I've said this before, the only
way I cannot covet is if there's nothing for me to covet. What
do I have to covet? If I have all, what is there
to covet? There's nothing to covet, is there? So when the Lord sees his people
coveting, do you reckon he finds it to be disgusting? Without question, he does. He finds it to be disgusting.
Sin in a believer is worse than sin in an unbeliever. I have
Christ and I covet. I covet something this world
has? When I've already got Christ? I covet... Oh, let your conversation
be without covetousness. And the Lord says, for the iniquity
of his covetousness. I was wroth. The Lord said I
was mad. I was offended. I smote him. I chastised him. I hid myself from him. I hid
my face from him. And what did he do? He went on, perversely, in the
way of His heart. I don't know of a more sad verse
of Scripture than that. I did these things for Him, and
all He did was covet. I chastened him. Did it turn
him back to me? No. He just went on his way. Verse 18. Now, here's the way
I would have thought this would read. I have seen his ways and
will kill him. Isn't that the way you think
that ought to read? I have seen his ways, his ways
of covetousness, his ways of iniquity. I've seen his ways and will heal him. Now that, my dear friends, is
salvation all together by grace. I've seen His ways and I will heal Him. I will heal Him. If I let Him go His way, He never
returns, so I will heal Him. Now when did this healing take
place? What is this healing? Would you turn with me for a
moment to John chapter 11? I have I saw this a couple of
weeks ago and I just can't get over it. I've I've read this
passage of scripture. I don't know how many times.
And it was so I knew it was something glorious, but I don't I don't
think I really understood what it meant. I will heal him. I will heal him. Now, in John, chapter 11, Lazarus is dead and Martha is
asking the Lord and saying, you know, if you would have been
here, he would not have died. Verse 21, then said Martha unto
Jesus, Lord, if thou had been here, my brother had not died. But I know. That even now whatsoever
thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto
her, thy brother shall rise again. Thy brother shall rise again. Martha said unto him, well, I
know that he shall rise again in the resurrection of the last
day. I already know that. I already understand that final
resurrection. She was looking at that resurrection
that would take place on the last day. Verse 25. Jesus said unto her, I am the
resurrection. When was Lazarus raised? Is it some future event on the
last day? Or is Lazarus raised when Christ
is raised? The resurrection is not some
future event. He said, I'm it. I am the resurrection, I am the
life. Life isn't going to come when
you rise from the dead and come out of the grave. Now, we think
what kind of life that's going to be. One of these days, Oh,
we're going to put these bodies in the grave. They're going to
bury us and we're going to be gone. We're going to turn into
dust. And then one of these days when
Christ comes back, we'll be raised from the dead. Boy, that's going
to be living. Well, it will. I wouldn't deny that for a second.
But that's not my life. My life is that life of that
One who even right now is seated at the right hand of the Father.
That's my life. He is my life. It's not some
thing I'm going to experience. He Himself is my life. I am the
resurrection. I am the life. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Now, do you believe this? I know
you've got the resurrection down pat. You've got your doctrine
down straight. But have you understood? I'm the resurrection. I will heal it. What's that mean? When were you healed? By whose stripes you were healed. I'm healed. And you know what? It is that the Lord uses when
I'm going perversely in my way. And that's the direction I'm
going to go until I'm turned around. And I know what it is
that turns me around. One look at the excellency and
the glory of Jesus Christ and his glorious accomplishments.
That's it. I was healed on the cross. I
was healed. And I'm healed right now in looking
to Him. And it's amazing how when you
look to Him, all the things that you covet, they lose their appeal, don't
they? You think of the things you covet. What are they in light
of Him? Being united to Him. Being united
to the Lord Jesus Christ. What in the world does this world
in any way have to offer that can even in any way be compared? I have all in Him. And you know,
I can say with Paul, he said, God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which I'm crucified
to the world and the world to me. I see this world as a crucified
thing, and it sees me the same way, too. I will heal him." Back to our
text. As I said, I would almost think
it would say, I will kill him, but that's not what it says.
Altogether, by grace, I will heal him. And then it says in
verse 18, I will lead him also. He leadeth me, O blessed thought,
what words with heavenly comfort wrought. Where'er I go, where'er
I be, still tis His hand that leadeth me. I love being led
by the Lord. You know, here's what, I'm always
wanting the Lord's leadership, don't you? I want to know what
the Lord would have me do. I want to know with, you know,
I understand why David said, order my steps in thy word. Don't
you want that? Order my steps in thy word and
let not any iniquity have dominion over me. I want that. I want
to be led of the Lord. But you know what I like even
better? I like the Lord putting his hook in my nose and leading
me along to where I can't get off track. He says, I'll lead
him. He leads me. I will lead him also and restore
comforts unto him and to his mourners, the comforts of the
gospel. I'll restore those comforts of
the gospel. He says in verse 19, I create
the fruit of the lips. I create, I love that word, create
the fruit of the lips. You know, if the Lord. Had to
work with you. In order to get some praise out,
some true thanksgiving, some fruit of the lips, if the Lord
had to work with what you got. Would he come up with anything?
Not a thing. So when there's nothing for Him
to work with, what does He do? He creates. I create the fruit
of the lips. I create that spirit of thankfulness. David said, Create in me a clean
heart, O God, and renew a ripe spirit within me. You see, with
you and I, the Lord doesn't have anything to work with. There's
nothing. That which is born of the flesh
is what? Flesh. It can't rise above that. But
thank God, He says, I create the fruit of the lips. Any fruit
of my lips is His work and His creation. You know that so, don't
you? He says, I create the fruit of
the lips. Peace, peace to him that's afar
off and to him that's near, saith the Lord. I will heal him. There's
the gospel, the gospel of peace. Here's the gospel. Here's this
guy who's going forwardly in his way. Peace by Jesus Christ. He accomplished my peace. That
turns us around. I create the fruit of the lips.
Peace, peace to him that's far off. Verse 20, but the wicked are like the troubled sea when
it cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt, there is no
peace, saith my God to the wicked. Their heart is like the troubled
sea, the waves can't rest, casting up mire and dirt, no peace, saith
my God to the wicked. You know, the only peace there
is, is to the righteous. The only feeling of peace that
there really is, is when righteousness is mine. And the Lord Jesus Christ... Right now while I'm talking to
you, I've got peace. Oh, I've got peace. I've got
joy. And this is why the righteousness, the perfect
obedience of Jesus Christ the Lord is mine. And I have peace. Therefore,
being justified. Having been justified, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And what a peace
it is. Let me close with John chapter
16. Verse 29, His disciples said unto Him,
Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb? Now
we're sure that thou knowest all things, and it is not that
any man should ask thee. By this we believe that thou
camest forth from God. Boy, they're really giving the
Lord a really high recommendation, aren't they? But we really believe
you now. You're speaking plainly now. Jesus answered them, Do you now
believe? You're talking big. Do you now
believe? Behold, the hour comes, yea is
now come, that you shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall
leave me alone. Where was Peter? when Christ
was hanging on the cross. He was in hiding. What about James? What about
Thomas? Nathaniel? Where were those fellows?
He said, every one of you are going to forsake me and leave
me alone. And yet I'm not alone because
the Father is with me. These things have I spoken unto
you that... What are the next two words? In me you might have peace. Not in your faithfulness. In
me. All together in me. These things
have I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace. Now,
I want to ask you a question. is everything that God requires
of you found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that everything that He requires of you is found in Christ? Yes. Peace. I create the fruit of the lips,
says the Lord. Okay, let's pray together. Lord, how we thank You that You
have promised in Your Word, You have healed us. Lord, I ask that
you would, by your invincible Spirit, turn our hearts away
from anything but looking straight to thy Son. Teach us what it
is to walk by faith. Lord, as we look at this upcoming
week, we ask that you would give us grace to go through this week
walking by faith. We give thanks for the Lord Jesus
our peace. In His name we pray.

Salvation: Altogether by Grace

What does the Bible say about salvation by grace?

How do we know the doctrine of total depravity is true?

Why is humility important for Christians?

How does God lead us according to Isaiah 57?

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Salvation: Altogether by Grace

What does the Bible say about salvation by grace?

How do we know the doctrine of total depravity is true?

Why is humility important for Christians?

How does God lead us according to Isaiah 57?

Sermon Transcript

About Todd Nibert

Comments

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