to be in Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians chapter four. There are so many churches that use the word grace to describe what they believe or what they preach. But very few actually preach grace, very few.

When I was, we had just bought this building and it was time to name it. Rob and I, I believe me and Steve, we all talked a little bit and every church in the scripture was associated by the city that it was located in. The church at Ephesus, the church at Philippi, the church at Thessalonica, the church and so on. And so I wanted to make sure that we were putting our city. Now it's ironic because every time somebody tells me something about it, they say, Do you, are you, is your church in Ole? No? It's pronounced Ole. But I knew that that's what I wanted for people to be able to know the city so they could look us up. And also I knew that we were going to preach Christ. We're going to preach salvation by grace alone. And so the Lord laid upon my heart to call our church Holy Grace Church. And somebody said, why didn't you put Holy Sovereign Grace Church? Because there's only one type of grace. It's sovereign. There's only one type. The Lord doesn't have many different kinds of grace that may manifest itself in different way, but the Lord's grace is sovereign. It always accomplishes that which he purposes because he is sovereign. So we named our church Holy Grace Church.

And for this morning, that's going to be our topic. All sufficient grace is what I've titled the message. All sufficient grace. Let's read this Ephesians four, four through seven. There is one body and one spirit even as you are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. He is the doer of it. If we receive grace, it's because He chose to do it. He gave it freely. Grace is not something that's merited, nor is it earned. It's something that amazes the Lord's people. because it literally has nothing to do with our efforts, nothing to do with my lifestyle, nothing to do with my works. It all is freely given by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. This is how we are given anything from the Lord is because of that.

Does the Lord's grace still amaze you? It amazes me how that a sinner can be made righteous. how a sinner can be made righteous, how that which is unclean can be made clean, how that which is unpure can be made perfect, that which is sinful, utterly wretched and vile be made sanctified, holy in the sight of God. And how he sees it, that's how it really is. It's all by grace, and that grace still amazes me.

Do you stand in awe of how the Lord saves sinners? How he could love a depraved vile creature such as us. That's amazing, isn't it? That he would choose to give his love in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. He loved us when we were unlovable. He loved us when we were unlovable.

Thanks be to God for his all-sufficient grace given to his elect before time Salvation is all of grace given of the Lord to whom he will. And the first point I want to make this morning is God's grace was all sufficient in election. His grace was all sufficient in election. What does that mean? Well, that means that election is not based upon you and election is not based upon me. If you go to the supermarket, and I've said this before, I think it's been a long time ago, The difference between selection and election, if you go to the store, and I'm going to use tomato as an example. It's the first vegetable. Some people say it's fruit, whatever. The first item that came to mind expires. OK, how about bananas instead? So bananas, they turn brown, right? And if you get a slightly brown banana, it's probably going to go pretty bad pretty quick. So you're probably like my wife, and you get the green bananas. So your entire decision was based upon the, way that that banana looked, the way that that banana, how good that it would be, how long the shelf life would be.

When God looked down through the eons of time and he elected his people, it had nothing to do with us. We were all rotten to the core. We were all depraved sinners. We were all wretched and vile. So it wasn't that he was looking for a good banana, silly as that sounds. He was seeing the sin that we are, and seeing the righteousness of his son, and he elected his people to be conformed, predestinated them even, predestinated them to be conformed to the image of his son by grace. God's all-sufficient grace is perfect in his election. He chose to have mercy on whom he will have mercy. Those that he loved, he chose to set his affection upon them. It's called an everlasting love, and we can't comprehend anything we believe. We just believe it by faith. Did you know that? That God always seen us in Christ, never not seen us in Christ? That's amazing, isn't it? I can't explain that. Before we even existed, Do you know anything before you existed? No, we don't, we didn't have a clue about any, we weren't alive. God knew you by name. Ain't that, that's incredible. And why would he choose to set his affection upon those creatures of dust that are sinful and wretched and vile? For his honor and for his glory. For his honor and for his glory alone.

Romans 8, 29, for whom he did foreknow that he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. No, there wasn't nothing good in us, as so many believe. Do you ever heard the statement, there's a little good in everybody? I heard that recently. Well, there's a little good in everybody. No, there's not. Not if you believe what God says. God says there's none good, no, not one. God says they that are in the flesh cannot please God. So what is my hope of salvation? That God was sovereign and gracious in election. That he chose to save his people from their sin, not because they were good. To the contrary, because they were the most wretched, the most vile, the most desolate creatures, empty, without hope. He gets the most glory out of those creatures because he takes something that's unclean and makes it clean all by grace. He takes something that's dead and makes it alive. He makes us a new creature in Christ, the scripture says, a brand new creature. That's amazing, isn't it? He would set his affection and then that affection accomplished that on the cross of Calvary.

So it wasn't just that he wanted to save some, Or as some foolishly say, wanted to save everybody, but couldn't. No, that's not the case. He was sovereign and gracious in his election, and it accomplished exactly what it was supposed to, exactly what it's supposed to. Something I failed to mention, but I'm going to mention it now is his love is particular. And that's something that, that is one of the things that the flesh hates, that pride hates more than anything else is that his love is very particular. It is very particular to those whom he's elected. It's very particular to those whom he's elected because they're found in his son.

Now, I don't know how to explain this exactly, but we believe it by faith, but the Lord had to bear our ugly, our sin upon the tree so that we be made his righteousness, so that we would be conformed to his image. So when the father looks at his people, because of this election, because of the finished work of Christ, he sees the Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember Mephibosheth, I love this account. Mephibosheth came before the king David, he was summoned. He said, fetch him. They brought him in. And he fell on his face in reverence. And David said, fear not, for surely I will show thee kindness for Jonathan's sake. And Mephibosheth said these words, what is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I? I love the fact that David didn't even respond to him. Didn't say a word to him. He said, get the robe, get the ring. You're gonna sit at my table. Ziba was the servant. He said, Ziba, you're gonna till his ground for him, you and your sons. You're gonna be his servants. You're gonna take care of him. He's gonna sit at my table for the rest of his life. He's gonna eat from my table.

And why do you think that was? Because David didn't see Mephibosheth. David saw Jonathan when he looked at Mephibosheth. Isn't it amazing how our children reflect us? But more so, They are the apple of our eye. They're the love of our lives. We love our children. It's a natural love the Lord gives us. But being a believer in the gospel, it's more so because you see that they're sinners as well. You see that and you've got to get them to Christ. So you love your children for who they are as your children. But they look like us and they act like us.

But when it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ and us, it's not that we resemble him a little bit. It's not that we act like him a little bit in the eyes of God, it's that we've always looked like him, that we've always had his characteristics, that we've always had his righteousness, his works on our account. That's the beauty of grace. That's the beauty of grace. So that was what was accomplished on the cross, all because the Lord chose in his all-sufficient grace to elect a people. That's where it all started with God. He's the alpha of salvation. He's the beginning of salvation. And it ended on the cross. Well, I guess you could say it'll end whenever he comes back. It returns, if you want to say it that way, but it's finished. We know that. It's all by grace. It's all by grace.

Which brings me to the second point. His grace is all sufficient in redemption. His grace was all sufficient in redemption. Why were you redeemed? Because of grace. Oh, to grace, how great a debtor. The scripture, the song says, Oh to grace, how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be. The Lord's grace is all sufficient in redemption. He successfully redeemed his people back to God. The ones that he chose, God shows in the covenant of grace and that covenant is called the everlasting covenant. When he talks to Abraham, that everlasting covenant is displayed on the cross. Um, what it took in order for you and I to be made the righteousness of God. in the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as the Father had elected a people, the Lord had to redeem them. If he didn't redeem them, they wouldn't have been redeemed. This is all by grace. I'm reminded of the book of Ruth. I haven't talked about Ruth in a long time, so I got excited when the Lord led me there this time. In the book of Ruth, there's a woman, the whole book's about her story. Her name's Ruth, and she's a Moabitess. And Naomi, her mother-in-law, and Orpah, her other sister-in-law, are all that's left. The father and the two sons have died. So now Naomi is a widow and also she's sonless. She doesn't have sons anymore.

So it was a customary under the law that you would marry the next of kin in order they would bear seed unto your name so that it would honor you if you were to die. That was the law. And that wasn't just a custom. That was a law that God implemented when he was given the law to Moses. And so In the fullness of time, Ruth went to glean in the field. And I love the how the scripture says her hap fell on the field of Boaz. Her hap, like it was an accident or something. No, no, no, no. God and his glorious purpose in election was also glorious in his redemption. Nothing's by happenstance, nothing by chance. There's no such thing as luck. We don't go around saying luck for that reason. It's just we don't believe in it. That's a Chinese superstition. We don't believe in luck. We believe in purpose. We believe in purpose.

So she goes and she's gleaning, comes back to Naomi and Naomi says, where'd you go glean? And she says, I went to this field. She says, that's Boaz. That's our near kinsman. I mean, what's the odds of that happening, right? Well, when she found that out, it was his duty and responsibility, but it also honored the Lord because the Lord's the one that said that the nearest kinsman would marry and bear seed unto the previous husband. And so it was honoring to the Lord to honor his word. And therefore, Naomi went to Boaz at midnight, the scripture says, and I may be getting ahead of myself here. Yeah, so Ruth went to Boaz, her near kinsman, at midnight. And he was on the threshing floor, sleeping. He woke up at midnight. He was frightened. He saw a young lady at his feet. And he says, who are you? And she says, I'm Ruth. And you're the near kinsman. Do the service of near kinsman unto me. Marry me. You know, you understand what I'm saying.

And we'll turn over there with me, Ruth chapter three. Ruth chapter three. Look at verse eight with me. And it came to pass at midnight that the man was afraid and turned himself, and behold, a woman laid his feet. And he said, who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth, thine handmaid. Spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid, for thou art a near kinsman. And he said, blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter, for thou has showed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning. And as much as thou followest not young men, whether poor or rich, and now my daughter, fear not, I will do to thee as all that thou requirest. For all the city of my people doth know that thou are a virtuous woman. And now it is true that I am a near kinsman, how be it there is a kinsman nearer than I. Tarry this night, and it shall be in the morning that if he will perform unto thee the part of a kinsman, well, let him do the kinsman part. But if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman to thee as the Lord liveth, lie down until the morning. He said, there's one that's nearer to thee than I am. So it had to be the closest kinsman. Now remember, we're still talking about the Lord's grace. And we're still talking about how he was gracious and it was sufficient in redemption. This is a story about redemption. That's what this is called whenever the near kinsman does his part, it's called redeeming, redeeming.

So after this, Boaz goes to the other near kinsman, he had 10 men with him, and walks up to him and he has a conversation with him. Look in chapter four, verse three. And Boaz, Boaz is speaking here and he says in verse four, and I thought to advertise the saying, buy it before the inhabitant. Let's read verse three. And he said into the kinsman, Naomi, that has come again out of the country of Moab selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech. And I thought to advertise the saying, buy it before the inhabitants and before the elders of the people, if thou will redeem it, redeem it. But if thou will not redeem it, then tell me that I may know, for there is none to redeem it besides thee, and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it.

Now, he's ready to redeem the field at this point, but get this next part. Then said Boaz, what day thou buyest the field at the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. That changes everything. That changes everything. Listen to what he says in verse six. And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance. Redeem thou my right to thyself, for I cannot redeem it.

Now there was a manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing. For to confirm all things, a man plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor. And this was a testimony of Israel. Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe. So he's going to buy it. Boaz is gonna buy it. And after he bought it, Boaz married Ruth, he bought the land, he got Ruth, and by God's all-sufficient grace, because there is no chance, there is no circumstance, Ruth and Boaz were the great-grandparents of King David. Ruth and Boaz were the great-grandparents of the King David. That's the lineage of Christ. That's the Leaning to Christ. This is the Lord's work here in this story, in this account.

Now we can take that at face value and just see that the beauty and the Lord's grace in just their life. But really it's much deeper than that. This is our story as well. We were husbandless. We were dead in trespasses and in sin, unable to produce life. She couldn't have children on her own. She needed a kinsman. They're near kinsmen. That's us by nature. We couldn't produce life. We were dead in trespasses and in sin. And yet by God's providence, he brought us to the floor. He brought us to the field where he dropped handfuls of purpose, as the scripture says. And what is that handful of purpose? That's what Boaz told the men. He said, whenever she's there, drop extra. Drop handfuls of purpose. I used to think it said handfuls on purpose. That's not what it says. Read it. Handfuls of purpose. It was the Lord's purpose, wasn't it? And so she's gleaning all this grain, and that's what struck up the conversation with Naomi. She's like, where'd you glean today? Where did you glean? This is our Lord dropping grace upon grace upon grace to you and I before we even know his name, before we know who he is, before we know he's sovereign, before we know anything about him, before he's introduced himself to us. There's a lot of people that know some things about the Lord, but you don't know God until he introduces himself to you. And when he does, that's called salvation. He introduces you to the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Lord's salvation. It's that simple.

Here's the Lord giving us grace, provenial grace. That means it's before our eyes were ever opened. This is when we're dead. He's showing us kindness and compassion, just as Boaz was. Well, we hear that he's our near kinsman. The Lord Jesus Christ is our near kinsman. What do we do? We fall at his feet, don't we? Just as Ruth was at the feet of Boaz on the threshing floor. And we beg him, Lord, you're gonna have to give me life. I don't have life in me. And what does he say? He says, I'll do the service of Neerkinsman. I will take care of you. How be it there's one closer than I am.

Now, who is that? That's the law. See, the law had a claim on you and I. The law couldn't redeem us though. You know why? Because it would mar its inheritance. It would mar the person and the character of God. It would make God out to be something other than what he is, which is holy and just and right. So the law couldn't redeem us. So what did our near kinsman do? He removed his shoe. He said, I'll buy it. And it cost him his life. He shed his precious blood on the cross of Calvary. That was the purchase price to redeem you and I. Whenever we were dead and trespasses and in sin, whenever we were the wretched vile cast outs that we are by nature, he redeemed us because he was the only one that could have redeemed us. His grace was all sufficient in redemption.

And the most glorious part about it is, is he keeps giving us that grace over and over and over. And that offspring we talked about, King David, that's the fruit of the spirit that he gives to his people. He's the vine, we are the branches. You say, well, I don't see myself producing any fruit. Well, that's the idea. It's done by faith, looking to Christ. But you're producing it because you got life inside of you. That's just how it is. Cost him everything. But he took complete ownership of our ugly to give us his beauty.

And I'll always, I quote this scripture a lot. Second Corinthians says, he, God hath made him, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be sin for us. You know that word to be is in italics. It actually says, he hath made him sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. What does that mean? It means he suffered the grief and the guilt and the shame of it. And there are those that says, well, he couldn't have done that because that would mean the sacrifice wasn't perfect. No, the sacrifice was perfect. And the Lord made him sin. You say, well, that doesn't make sense. Nothing we believe makes sense. This is the Lord Jesus Christ's book. And the Lord made him sin. I don't know how to explain that. I just believe it because if he didn't do that, I wasn't made righteous. It's that simple.

That means that my sin would have been pasted onto him or glued onto him and his righteousness would just be a mirage I'm wearing. I wrote an article on that this morning. But no, we've been made the very righteousness of God in Christ. Explain that. Because he redeemed us. He redeemed us freely by his grace. freely by His grace. His grace was all sufficient in redemption. By His blood we've been cleansed, by His death we've been justified, by His, the law is now satisfied, the wrath of God's assuaged, the justice of God is satisfied, no more work to be done. His grace was all sufficient in redemption.

You know what that means? It means it had nothing to do with you, and nothing to do with me, and I can't mess it up, and neither can you. Is that good news? I can't mess it up, and neither can you, because it's God's salvation.

Now let's go back to Ephesians chapter four. Look at verse four. We'll just read a text again. There is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. But in every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Somebody might say, well, does that mean everybody has grace? Well, the Lord does let it rain upon the just as well as the unjust, the scripture says. But the grace that he's referring to here are the gifts that the Lord gives after salvation. And it'll have to be next week when we get into that. But it's also grace to believe, grace to believe. And the measure is how the Lord sees fit to give, how much ever the Lord sees fit to give, because it's his grace. It's the gift of Christ. It's the gift of Christ.

His grace. is given to his people when they are elected, when they are redeemed, and his grace is all sufficient in regeneration, in regeneration, how God saves sinners. He regenerates them by the washing of water by the word, by the preaching of the gospel. Paul said, Romans 1 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God and a salvation to everyone that believeth. Doesn't matter whether you're a Jew or a Greek. Doesn't matter whether you're religious or irreligious. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. His grace was all sufficient, is all sufficient in regeneration.

told Nicodemus, you must be born again. I love the fact that he told Nicodemus exactly what Nicodemus needed to hear that would make his brain do a cartwheel. He said, that doesn't make any sense. How can a man, when he is old, enter into his mother's womb a second time and be born? It's not possible. I love the Lord when he says all things are possible with God to his disciples in another place. He said, you must be born again. He said, well, I've talked to you about physical things and you didn't understand. How am I going to talk to you about heavenly things? That's so us, isn't it? That's so, Lord has to, he has to break it down in bite-sized pieces, don't he? We get choked. But that's what he does for his people, he allows us to understand, he causes us to see him, he causes us to see, oh, born again, and then we read the rest of it, it says, the wind bloweth where it lifteth, and thou cannot tell from whence it come or whither it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

What does that mean? That you're born, not of your will, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of men, nor of blood, but of God. That's how we're born. His grace is all-sufficient regeneration. That means he's not looking to you to regenerate you. He's not looking to me to regenerate me. If I am to be regenerated, he's got to do all of it from start to finish. It's not a choice that I make. I'm dead, remember? How could a dead man make a choice? It doesn't make any sense.

I've already quoted the verse, they that are in the flesh cannot please God, but that's so much abundantly truer when it comes to spiritual things. I mean, There's no choice to be made. Choice was made by God in election, in God, in redemption, in God and regeneration at the appointed time.

He comes to a center for the preaching of the gospel. He sends his spirit and power. And just like Mephibosheth, he says, fetch him, fetch him. And he says, live, live.

In the scripture, Ezekiel was brought to a valley of dry bones, the scripture says, and it says, and lo, they were very dry. And Lord asked Ezekiel, he says, can these bones live? Ezekiel said, Lord, thou knowest. Meaning, Lord, if they're gonna live, you're gonna have to be the one to do it. I don't see how, but Lord, you know all things. It was a renouncing of his own logic is what that was. Lord, thou knowest. I'm not answering that question. If I say no, I'm gonna be wrong. And if I say yes, then he might say, well, go ahead and make them live then. The whole point is, is that he was made to say, truth, Lord, thou knowest. I don't know anything.

And guess what happened? Lord said, prophesy unto the wind. And the wind began to blow, and he kept telling him to prophesy, and he kept prophesying. And before you knew it, there was a whole army of men standing up, a whole army of men standing up with skin on their bodies and hair on their head. The bones lived. How could the bones live again? Because God did it.

God can take the most wretched, vile creature that is dead and trespasses in sin and transform them by his all-sufficient grace into a creature of light and perfection. Transform them, making them bear the image of Jesus Christ himself. And the father says, I'm well pleased with him. I'm well pleased with him.

God sends his spirit and power and blows, and he's dead bones by the preaching of the gospel. We are regenerated by his all sufficient grace at his appointed time, at his appointed time.

Lastly, God is, His grace is all sufficient in keeping His people to the end, keeping people to the end, causing us to persevere. So it's the Lord that did the electing, the Lord that did the saving, the Lord that did the calling, and it's the Lord that does the keeping. Where is boasting then? It is excluded, Paul said. Where's boasting then? It's not by the law, it's by faith.

Paul was straightened out a situation where they thought, we need to look at what works we're doing to see how good we're living. No, you're kept by the power of God. You're kept by the only reason we haven't. came unhinged, if I can say it that way. All of us deal with frustrations, disappointments, anger. Only reason we haven't become unhinged is God's sufficient grace. He said, I will keep you. I'll never forsake you. I'll go with you all the way even to the end. He's gonna keep his people.

Now that does not motivate a true believer to go do whatever they want to do frivolously or negatively. That makes me wanna just bow at his feet, just like Martha did, kiss his feet. that he would keep me from myself. That's the problem. I don't need to be kept just from you. I need to be kept for myself. I don't need to just be kept from the world and Satan. I need to be kept for myself. I can't combat anything. Lord, keep me. Keep me or I'll be lost. Lord, you're gonna have to elect me. You're gonna have to save me. You're gonna have to call me. and you're gonna have to keep me.

Here's the good news of the gospel. The Lord said in the book of John, all that the father giveth me shall come to me and he that cometh to me I'll in no wise cast out. I'll in no wise cast out. He said in John chapter 10, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never, never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

John 17, all that thou hast given me, talking to his father in the intercessory prayer, he said, all that the father had given me, I've lost none. I've lost none. He's the good shepherd, and the good shepherd keeps his sheep. He's not gonna lose a single one of the elect, not one. If God spared not his own son, shall he not with him also freely give us all things that we need? Grace for today, grace for tomorrow, What do we pray for? What's the one thing needful? Lord, give me Christ. Give me Christ.

Well, how are you going to have Christ? By grace. And it is by grace, the scripture says, that we are saved through faith in that not of ourself, it is the gift of God. Grace is the catalyst whereby God saved his people from their sin. Second Corinthians 12, nine says, he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect in weakness."

Paul's with the Lord because he has an affliction, a thorn in the flesh, the scripture says. Men talk about what it may be. I have no idea. The Spirit's silent on it, so I'm not going to guess. Quite frankly, it doesn't matter because it could be anything and that's perfect because that puts it where we can apply it to our lives, whatever's going on in my life. The Lord says this, my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I'm strong. Why? Because you're resting in his strength. His all-sufficient grace is perfect in keeping his people to the end. I'm not gonna leave you. I'm not gonna forsake you. David said, if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

His all-sufficient grace is how he elected a people, how he redeemed those people, how he regenerates those people, and how he keeps those people to the end. In Christ alone, God's people are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time. Thank God for his all-sufficient grace. We could have named the church, Holy All-Sufficient Grace Church. That'd have been all right, in my opinion. Holy Grace Church is just fine. Thank God for his all-sufficient grace.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your grace. Cause us to reflect on it. Worship you because of it. Forgive us of our sin, what we are. Forgive us of our, Lord, You showed us what we are and we give us repentance and you give us faith to look to Christ. Call us ever to look to Christ. Bless us to our understanding in Christ's name, amen.

Let's take a break.