Grace Before Grace

Q: What does the Bible say about grace before grace?

The Bible teaches that grace acts before our awareness, preparing us to receive the gospel and salvation. Grace before grace refers to God's sovereign work in our hearts before we are even aware of it. This is evident in the ways God preempts any human action, as seen in scriptures like Jeremiah 1:5, where God declares that He knew the prophet before his birth. This concept aligns with what is termed 'prevenient grace,' indicating that God's grace is at work in us, preparing our hearts to accept the gospel when it is preached. Essentially, God's grace operates in our lives well before we actively seek Him, revealing His sovereignty and mercy in every believer's journey.

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

Scripture asserts that all humanity is sinful and unable to seek God on their own, confirming total depravity. Total depravity is a doctrine grounded in passages like Romans 3:10-12, which states that none are righteous and that all have turned aside. It reflects the biblical teaching that sin affects every part of our being—mind, heart, and will—rendering us incapable of saving ourselves. This is not to say that people cannot perform moral actions, but it emphasizes that without the intervention of God's grace, we cannot seek God or choose Him. The natural heart is 'desperately wicked' (Jeremiah 17:9), and only through regeneration by the Holy Spirit can we be transformed to embrace the truth of the gospel.

Q: Why is the concept of God's sovereignty important for Christians?

God's sovereignty assures Christians that He is in control of all things, working for their good and His glory. The sovereignty of God is essential to the Christian faith because it reflects His ultimate authority over creation, redemption, and the lives of believers. Scriptures like Romans 8:28 affirm that God works all things together for good for those who love Him, emphasizing that nothing is outside of His control. Understanding God's sovereignty provides comfort and assurance, encouraging believers to trust in His plans and purposes, especially during trials and suffering. It reassures us that our salvation is secure, as our God is actively involved in orchestrating every detail of our lives toward His will.

Q: What does it mean that every believer will bear fruit?

Bearing fruit signifies the evidence of a believer's genuine faith and the work of the Holy Spirit in their life. The concept that every believer will bear fruit emerges from Jesus' teaching in Mark 4:20, where He describes those sown on good ground as producing varying amounts of fruit. This fruit represents the transformative work of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life, manifesting qualities such as love, joy, and peace, which are characteristic of a Christ-centered life. Importantly, while the amount of fruit may differ from person to person, it is essential that there be evidence of spiritual growth and maturity. This fruit-bearing is a reflection of God's grace operating within us, confirming our identity as His children and our participation in the divine life.

Q: How does grace operate in the lives of believers?

Grace operates through various means, including covenant grace, sufficient grace, and sustaining grace, throughout a believer's life. Grace functions in multiple ways in the lives of believers, beginning with covenant grace, which establishes our relationship with God before time. This grace assures us that we are chosen and loved by God, as reflected in Ephesians 1:4-5. Additionally, sufficient grace is highlighted in 2 Corinthians 12:9, where Paul learns that God's grace is enough to sustain him through every trial. Furthermore, sustaining grace enables ongoing growth and perseverance in the faith journey. This multifaceted grace intertwines throughout a believer's existence, ensuring their spiritual well-being, guidance, and ultimate salvation, thus allowing them to reflect God's glory in their lives.

All right, back to Mark 4 for
a little bit. Give you something tonight that
you can, I hope, be blessed and take home with you. Recently
I preached on this parable in Mark 4, which was read to us
by Brother Frank Tate. And I enjoyed preaching the general
application of the parable. And everybody here is very familiar.
with a general application. I'll remind you, verse 14, the
sower soweth the word of God. The seed is the word of God.
He said a sower went forth to sow, and he sowed the seed, and
the seed is the word of God. That's what we do here every
Lord's Day. We go forth preaching the gospel
of God's grace to every creature. We make these trips and we You
saw me sitting there at the table and those two Russian preachers
across from me and the translator, I was talking to them about who
God is and who we are and who Christ is and what Christ did.
That's the seed, that's the word, that's what we were talking about,
how God saved sinners, how God can be just and justified. And
that's what our missionaries Ken and Bill, Ken Wymer and Bill
Clark, right now, this week are having seminars and Bible conferences
and teaching sessions with those native preachers in Africa. The
Word. Brother Walter will be down there
preaching the Word. That's the seeds of the Word,
all right? And some of it fell by the wayside. And our Lord tells us what that
is, verse 15, these are they by the wayside where the Word
is sown. But when they have heard, Satan
comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their
heart. This is Satan's territory. You remember in Ephesians 2 where
he said, you followed the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience among
whom we all had our conversation in times past. This is Satan's
territory. Foul ground. Hard ground. the wayside, unprepared, not
ready for the seed, can't receive the seed. And when the word is
preached, it just falls on that old hard, natural turf, ground. And Satan takes it away and it
bears no fruit. It's Satan's territory. And then
next he said, some fell on stony ground. And he tells us what
that is. Verse 16, these are they likewise
which are sown on stony ground. When they've heard the word,
immediately they receive it with gladness. Temporarily it springs
up, but they have no root. This is all head knowledge. This
is where you preach and they listen to it and they say that's
logical and that sounds pretty good. It's all flesh. received it with the mind, not
with the heart. There's no root, there's no depth,
there's no heart contact, there's no reality, there's no conviction,
there's no conversion. It's just passing through. That
sounds pretty interesting, that sort of thing, you know. But
it says when persecution and affliction arises for the word's
sake, they're offended and they're gone. Verse 18, some fell among
the thorns and These are they that hear the word, and the cares
of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other
things, entering and choke the word, it becomes unfruitful.
Our young people are familiar with this sort of thing, that
all of the pressure that's brought to bear on them, you know, the
cares of the world, the lust of other things, and Spurgeon
said one time, for every person I've seen fall because of poverty
or persecution, I've seen fifty fall because of prosperity and
riches and things of this world. That's the reason our Lord told
that rich young ruler to get rid of these things and you come
take up your cross and follow me. Because these things are
enemies of the gospel. The world is the enemy of the
gospel and all of the things that we're involved in. is the
enemy of spirituality. All right, verse 20, now here's
the one I want to look at. And he said, fourthly, These
are they which are sown on good ground, such as hear the word, and receive
it, and bring forth fruit. They don't all bear the same
amount of fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, some a hundred. Some
bear more fruit than others, but every true believer, and
all good ground will bear fruit, some fruit. Fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, patience, humility, meekness,
gentleness, kindness, against such there is no law. That's
the fruit of the Spirit. And every believer, when the
seed falls on this good ground, it has depth, it has roots, there's
not any thorns to choke it out, those things are gone, there's
no stones and shallow ground, it reaches the heart, it springs
up, it bears fruit. Some thirty, some sixty, some
a hundred fold. But here's the thing that's interesting
to me. Good ground. It says here, good ground. Now where does good ground come
from? The scripture says there's none
good, no not one. I understand Satan's territory,
I understand the natural mind, the natural flesh. I understand
the stony ground, don't you? I understand the cares and riches
of this world, that's nature. But this good ground, this ground
that's sitting there waiting on the seed, this ground upon
which the seed is sown and receives it and nourishes it and gives
life to it and the seed grows and bears fruit, miracle of God's
grace. The Scripture says there's none
good, there's no such thing as good ground by nature. All our
hearts are desperately wicked, deceitful about all things. Who
can know it? All flesh is bad. How do you
account for the good ground? How do you account for this good
ground? Well, I'll account for it this way. I'll say, now the sowing of the
seed is grace, and the fruit buying is grace. But I say there's
grace before grace. That's the title of this message,
grace before grace. In other words, God actually
deals with his people in grace before saving grace is manifested. That's what I'm saying. That
God actually deals with his people in grace and mercy. long before
they hear the gospel. Long before they hear the gospel
and receive it. But this ground was plowed by
God. This ground was prepared by God. This ground was ready when the
sower came. When the sower came with the
seed, this ground was ready to receive it. The old writers John Flaming
and I were talking about this before the service. The old writers
called it what, John? Prevenient grace. That's what
they called it. If you read some of their old
books, you won't run into anybody nowadays talking about prevenient
grace, but if you read some of their old books, P-R-E-V-E-N-I-E-N-T,
prevenient grace. It's even in Webster's dictionary.
Prevenient grace theologically means going before, preceding
any human action. That's right. Preceding any human
response. Grace before grace. I'm saying,
this is what I'm saying. When a person comes here, like
you have back through the years, come here and sit down. for various
reasons. You might come with someone.
You might come out of curiosity. You might come like you did,
like you asked Caroline what they preached there. She said,
I don't know, let's go see. You popped in. You think that
was an accident? The same thing happened here. You quit where you were going,
you decided to come here. Why did you quit where you were
going? God was already working. This is what I'm saying. It's
grace before grace. What you do in order to hear
the Word is of God as well as hearing the Word is of God. I'll tell you how Gerald came
here. His daddy came to this church for years. His dad came
when I was pastoral poly. And Juanita did too over a long
time ago. And Gerald wouldn't come. Gerald
lived, you could throw a rock from my study and hear his house
right down here, second door from the church, five years and
wouldn't come inside this place. He despised what was preached
here. Isn't that correct? I'm not telling a lie. He despised
what was preached here and he lived two doors from this church.
And his daddy's sitting here, believing every word of it. He's
just rejoicing in his support. He was an Armenian, free will,
Sunday school superintendent. And his daddy went home from
church, if I get this story correct, one Sunday, and was weeping,
because his children wouldn't come to church with him, something
like that, wasn't it? So they decided to surprise daddy and
on his birthday come to church here, you know, just, they didn't
come to hear the gospel, they didn't believe any gospels preached
here. His daddy's tears were the grace
of God. His greatest concern was the
grace of God. And he came here and sat down,
and you can tell the rest, can't you? He said, hey, that's scripture. Grace before grace. If you didn't
have grace before grace, you wouldn't be exposed to the grace.
That's exactly right. My Lord's grace is in full operation
and purpose in us, on us, and about us, preceding us, long
before we ever hear the gospel. Long before we hear the gospel.
He said to Jeremiah, before I formed thee in the belly under thee,
God picked the belly in which you were formed. and where you were formed, in
what country you were formed, under whose ministry you were
formed. That's what he told us. He said, I anointed you as a
prophet before you were ever born. Our Lord Nathanael came to our
Lord, and the Lord Jesus saw him coming, and he said to him,
he said, I saw you under the tree before Philip found you. Nathaniel sitting over under
a fig tree somewhere, not even thinking about the grace of God,
but the grace of God was thinking about him. Our Lord said to Paul,
the apostle, he said, Now you stay in Corinth and preach, because
I've got much people in that city. You see, those people in
Corinth are going to hear Paul preach the gospel. because they're
God's people. They're God's people when they
hear the gospel, they're God's people before they heard the
gospel. And they're going to come under the sound of the gospel
because they're God's people. We're looking for the sheep.
I'm telling you the truth. Galatians 1.15, Paul said, God
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace.
One old hymn writer wrote this, thy hands had made the sun to
rule by day, or earth's foundations laid or fashioned Adam's clay,
what thoughts of love and mercy flowed toward me in Christ my
Lord." Think about that. Before Adam ever made that man
out of the dust of the ground, every man born of that given to Christ, God loved him
and had his hand on him. That's a long ways back. I stood
in that old castle built in 1400 and that old church built in
1325. That thing, 1325, 660 years ago. I stood in there,
I thought that was a long time ago. But when they were laying the
bricks on that old church, The Lord had his hand and had in
his heart John Newton, who would someday preach in it, the gospel
of his grace. That's right. Listen, "'Twas with an everlasting
love that God, his own elect, embraced, before he made the
worlds above, or earth on her columns placed. O Lord of grace,
how great a debtor daily I am constrained to be! Let thy goodness,
like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee." That's comforting. That's encouraging. And I'll
tell you, for a man who preaches the gospel and sees so much false religion in
the world, how comforting it is to know that somewhere wherever
we go and preach this gospel, that there are some folks who
are going to hear it and rejoice in it and believe it, because
God's got his hand on them. Let me give you, in the next
few minutes, eight things about grace. You write these things
down. I'll give them to you, just the outline, and this grace,
grace upon grace and grace before grace. First of all, this covenant
grace. covenant grace. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning. He declares the end from the
beginning. I'm saying that the Father, back before the foundation
of the world, chose us in Christ, loved us in Christ, put us to
save us in Christ, gave us to Christ, and predestinated us
to be like Christ. And in that same beginning, the
Son became our surety, our head, our federal head, our representative,
and took upon himself the redemption of his kingdom. He bore in himself
at that time his elect. He was our surety. That's covenant
grace. The Holy Spirit took upon himself
the responsibility to regenerate, call, convict, and reveal Christ
to these people. Paul said we were chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. Paul said to the Thessalonians,
he said, I'm bound to give thanks to God for you brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation. I say that grace goes all the
way back to covenant grace. before the world began. God brought
again from the dead that great shepherd of the sheep through
the blood of the everlasting covenant. The Lamb's Book of
Life written before the foundation of the world. That's right. Secondly,
this formative grace There's not only covenant grace, but
there's formative grace, there's molding grace, shaping grace. That's what formative grace is,
is molding grace, shaping grace. Let me tell you something. Every step you've taken through
your life, and the life of those before
you, your family tree, your father and grandfather, Every step was
ordered by God's amazing formative grace, bringing you to the place
you'd meet Christ, bringing you to be like Christ. You know, Joseph's pass to the
throne was ordained of God. 2 Timothy 3, I want you to look
at this a moment. 2 Timothy chapter 3. Turn over there just a moment.
2 Timothy chapter 3. Verse 14, Paul said to young Timothy, now
2 Timothy 3, 14, You continue, thou, in the things which you've
learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom you've learned
them, and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures,
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith
which is in Christ Jesus. He didn't know Christ Jesus when
he was a child, but God Almighty brought him under the sound of
the gospel like he did some of you and some of the children
here. Formative grace. Have you traced the hand of God
in your life? Look back over your life. From
the early days, go way on back, and trace the hand of God in
bringing you to this day. Here I raise mine Ebenezer. Ebenezer
means, hither by thy help I'm coming. You don't just come into a church
and hear the gospel and that's when your life, that's when your
relationship with God starts. That's when you know Him and
He knew you before you came. That's how He brought you here.
Formative grace. I was in Spain, preaching in
a place called Carcajente, Spain. We were having services, Brother
David Estrada, Brother Bill Clark and I, Brother Farrell Griswold,
way up a back street. We had 400 people there that
night in a little Baptist church. They weren't allowed to advertise.
They weren't allowed to have a sign or anything. It was Catholic
territory. But they had an organist. He
was great, just a great organist. Loved the gospel. He'd play and
those people would sing and rock that building. And I asked Brother
David Estrada, I said, how in the world did you all ever get
an organist like that in this forbidden place? He's great. And Brother Estrada said he used
to play the organ down at the Catholic Cathedral, the big Catholic
Cathedral here in Cochrahinty. I said, well, did he know God?
He said, oh, he loves the gospel of grace. He's been saved, born
again, he's a child of God. How did he come to knowledge
of the gospel? He said he was sitting in the
Catholic Cathedral one afternoon practicing organ, playing that
big old pipe organ. And the priest came in, and he
had in his arms some books. And he stopped playing the organ,
the organist did, and he said, Father, what do you have? He
said, I've been around to some of the homes where these evangelicals
have given out Bibles and have taken up these Bibles. Well,
he said, I've never seen a Protestant Bible. He probably hadn't seen
a Catholic one either. He said, could I have one? And
the priest took that Bible and just threw it over there too.
And when he did, he threw him salvation. That man went home
and just received that word. looked up one of these Protestants
and talked to him about the gospel. There he was playing that organ
for us while we were preaching and singing it. God moves in
a mysterious way, his wonders to perform, William Cowper wrote. How did you come to the gospel?
I'll tell you, it was covenant grace, formative grace. And then
there's restraining grace. Where would you be if it weren't
for the grace of God? What would you be doing were
it not for the grace of God? You remember when that fellow
Nabal, you can read about this in 1 Samuel 25, I wish you'd
read it sometime, 1 Samuel 25, but Nabal refused to give David
and his army provisions. And David got so angry. He threw one of those mad fits,
and he told his men, he had 400 trained men, he said, buckle
on your swords. We're going down to this village,
and we get there, you kill everyone that pisseth against the wall.
You remember, every male, no matter how young or how old,
kill him. Wipe every male out in that entire
place. Is this God's will? It's David,
ornery and mean, mad, taking ventures. And this label's wife,
Abigail, heard about it, and she got a bunch of provisions,
raisins and bread and everything you can think of, and put them
on some donkeys and headed out there to intercept David and
his men. These were her children and grandchildren and whatever,
and family was back there in this village, and she met David. And she said, David, don't bloody
your hands with the blood of this evil man. God's not in this. God's not in this. And she talked
to him. Read it, 1 Samuel 25. And David
just melted. And he said, I thank you. I thank
you. You kept me from doing what I
shouldn't do. And he turned around and went
back. 1 Samuel 25, it's one of the most beautiful. That's restraining
grace. And it's operative in the life
of every child of God. What would you be were it not
for his restraining grace? You'd be in prison. I would too. Or dead. Oh, determined, listen to what
John Newton said about this restraining grace. Determined to save me,
he watched over my path. When Satan's blind slave, I sported
with death. Though dark be my way, since
he is my guide, no foe can destroy me, it is his to provide. His love forever forbids me to
think that he'll ever leave me in darkness to sink. Each sweet
Ebenezer I have in review, hitherto by thy grace I'm come, confirms
his great purpose to see me through." The heirs of salvation, I know
from his word, will never see death till they see their Lord. Write it down. Write it down. Write it down. The heirs of salvation,
covenant grace, formative grace, restraining grace, will never
see death till they see him in grace. Got to do it, Dave. I'm immortal until I meet the
Lord. Got to be, because his purposes
cannot change. All right. Fourthly, there's
regenerating grace. What's regenerating grace? You
have to correct them who were dead in trespasses and sin, one
day. And there may be people sitting
right here who yet aren't familiar with regenerating grace, or saving
grace, or believing grace, or the grace of a relationship with
God. But if you're here, you will. I really, and you may be saying
this, you may be saying, well, I really admire my father's faith,
but I don't have it. I really admire my mother's faith,
but I don't have it. I really admire and appreciate
and I'm grateful for you people that see Christ and love Christ
and are devoted to Christ and committed to Christ, but I'm
not thus far. If you're here, you will be. I guarantee you. Because he's
going quicker than you. He's going to call you. He's
going to reveal himself to you. He said, every sheep I have,
they're my must for him. and they shall hear my voice,
and they shall be onefold in one shall." They're going to
come. They're going to come willingly. They're going to come lovingly.
They're going to come permanently. They're going to come. Now, they're
always going to keep directing, but they're going to come. A young man said just recently,
he said, I believe everything y'all preach here at this church,
at least in my head. I see it's logical, it's truthful,
but it hadn't happened to me. I understand that, I understand
that, and I can't make it happen, and you can't either. But God
can, can't he? And I'll say to you, if you're
here tonight, you keep sitting listening, because that's how
faith comes, is by hearing the Word of God. And don't you go
talk to a soul winner, because they can't help themselves, let
alone you, Don't look for some magic formula. It's to hear the
word. You have to quicken who were
dead, and in whom you trusted after you heard. And one day,
by God's grace, if you're one of his own, in that covenant
grace, in that formative grace, in that restraining grace, in
this regenerating grace, I see it! I see it. Where have I been? That's what you'll say. Where
have I been? Where have I been? I see it. Everything fades into insignificance
when it comes. And then there's growing grace,
isn't there? Jim, there's growing grace. The
Scripture says growing grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what God sends his preachers, that we
may grow in grace, that we may grow up. If the babes in Christ
might become young men in Christ, the young men might become elders
in Christ. That's growing in grace. I wish
I had time to read all the scriptures I've got written down here about
growing in grace. See that you grow in this grace
also, 2 Corinthians 8. And then there's sufficient grace.
I want to learn more about this. Oh, Paul got down, down, down. He got so down, he prayed three
times to the Lord to move that thorn, and the Lord said to him,
My grace is sufficient. There's sufficient grace. Grace
for every day. Sufficient for the day is the
trouble thereof. And also sufficient is the grace
for the trouble thereof. That's right. And then is there
not, in the seventh place, is there not keeping grace? Turn
to 1 Peter 5. We'll read this. This is number
7. I've got one more. 1 Peter 5. There's keeping grace. 1 Peter
5 says this. 1 Peter 5, verse 10. but the God of all grace. He's the God of all this grace. Covenant, formative, restraining,
regenerating, growing grace, sufficient grace, keeping grace.
The God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal glory
by Jesus Christ after you've suffered a while. He'll make
you perfect. He'll establish you and strengthen
you and set you. That's keeping grace. I will
not let you go. To Him be the glory and dominion
forever and ever. And then last of all, last of
all, this is what we're waiting on, is dying grace, is dying
grace. And these all died in faith.
And David, when he came to the end of the way, last words he
said, My comfort and consolation is
in his covenant grace. It goes all the way back to the
start. Covenant grace. Although it be
not so with my house, God hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
and this is all my salvation and all my desire. And we'll
have that. I'll tell you this story again.
I've told it before. I'll tell it again. He said, pray that I'll have
thine grace. And Spurgeon said, are you dying?
He said, well, no. He said, well, you don't need
it. When you do, he'll give it. Now, we can count on that, because
he provided all the other, didn't he? When it was needed. And John, when we need it, we'll
have it. We'll be ready. Have our bags packed and waiting
on the station platform for the train to pull in. and will be
glad to see it come. Dying grace, O to grace how great
a debtor, daily I am constrained to be. Let thy goodness, like
a fetter, bind this wandering heart to thee.

Grace Before Grace

What does the Bible say about grace before grace?

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

Why is the concept of God's sovereignty important for Christians?

What does it mean that every believer will bear fruit?

How does grace operate in the lives of believers?

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Grace Before Grace

What does the Bible say about grace before grace?

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

Why is the concept of God's sovereignty important for Christians?

What does it mean that every believer will bear fruit?

How does grace operate in the lives of believers?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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