God's Method of Grace

Q: What does the Bible say about God's method of grace?

The Bible reveals God's method of grace as the means by which He saves sinners, exemplified through the conversion of Paul in Acts 22. In Acts 22, the Apostle Paul recounts his dramatic conversion as a pattern for how God saves sinners. Paul, a zealous Jew, initially tried to earn his way to God through works and adherence to the law, yet God intervened. When Paul was on his way to persecute the Christians, a light from heaven stopped him in his tracks, illustrating that God's method of salvation is initiated by His sovereign grace. This story teaches that it is God's choice and action that brings enlightenment to the sinner, who is otherwise dead in their sins until God gives light.

Q: How do we know that God's method of salvation is by grace?

We know God's method of salvation is by grace because Paul’s conversion shows that it is God who takes the initiative to save, not the individual’s efforts. Paul’s testimony in Acts 22 serves as a powerful reminder that our salvation is solely a work of God's grace. Throughout the scripture, we see that no one seeks God on their own; rather, God seeks us first (John 6:44). In Paul's case, he was on a mission to destroy the church, yet God intervened, blinded him with a divine light, and revealed His glory in Christ. Thus, Paul’s experience is significant evidence that salvation is entirely by grace – initiated by God and not by human merit or decision. As Romans 9:16 states, 'It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.'

Q: Why is it important for Christians to understand God's method of grace?

Understanding God's method of grace is vital for Christians as it underscores the sovereignty of God in salvation and dismisses any reliance on self-effort. For Christians, grasping God's method of grace fundamentally transforms how we view our relationship with God. It emphasizes the sovereignty of God in the process of salvation, reminding us that we cannot earn our way to Him through good works or religious observance. This perspective leads to profound humility, as we recognize that we are sinners saved not by our efforts but by the grace of God through faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). Furthermore, understanding this method encourages believers to cultivate a heart of gratitude and worship, as we are fully aware that our standing before God is based solely on His mercy and grace, not our performance. It aligns with the core of Reformed theology, highlighting that salvation is all of grace, ensuring that God receives all the glory.

I have for you today a most interesting
message. I want you to listen very carefully.
The title of this message is God's Method of Grace. Or I might entitle the message,
How the Lord God Saves a Sinner. Now, if you'd like to follow
in your Bible, and I certainly wish you would, because I'm going
to be dealing with the 22nd chapter of the book of Acts, Acts 22. And I really am going to deal
with about 10 or 12 verses. Just look at what the verse says
and comment on what Paul says here. Now, what he's doing here
in Acts 22, you see, these fellows, these religious fellows had tried
to have him arrested by the authorities for preaching the gospel. And
the Apostle Paul in this 22nd chapter of Acts gives the account
of his conversion. See, he was a very religious,
very legalistic, very intellectual man before he met Christ, before
he came to know God. And he's telling these fellows
how the Lord saved him. The method of God's grace. See
what I'm saying? God's method of grace. How the
Lord saved sinners. And here Paul is telling these
fellas how God saved him. You say, why should I be interested
in that? I'll tell you why. Because Paul said that his conversion
is a pattern. That's right. His conversion
is a pattern for those who should hear after. In other words, the
way God saved this man, the way God delivered this man, the way
God called this man to faith and to Himself is the way God
will save you and me and deliver us if He's pleased to save us
and not to pass us by. So I want you to look at it carefully.
Here in verse 1 of Acts 22, Paul addresses them, men, brethren,
fathers, hear me. Hear the defense that I now make
to you. And you know, he spoke in the
Hebrew tongue. And it says here that when he
spoke to them in the Hebrew tongue, when they heard him speak in
their own native tongue, he was one of them. They didn't realize
that. They kept the more silence. And
then he went on. Now here's the first point. In
verse 3, Paul says this, I am a Jew. I am a man which am a
Jew. I was born in Tarsus, a city
of Cilicia. I was brought up in that city
at the feet of Gamaliel. There were just two major teachers
in those days. Gamaliel was one of with teachers
of religion. And he said, I'm a Jew, and I
was brought up at the feet of this religious teacher called
Gamaliel. All of you are familiar with
his writings and his works. And he taught me. He taught me
religion. He taught me according to the
perfect manner of the law of our fathers. And I was zealous
toward God. Now watch this. As you are, this
day." He said, really, as you all are this day. Now listen
to me. This man didn't know the Lord.
He didn't know God. He didn't know Christ. But he
was a Jew. And people today, everybody's
got some kind of religion. Everybody's something. I'm a
Catholic. I'm a Protestant. I'm a Jew.
I'm a Baptist. I'm a Nazarene. I'm a Pentecostal.
I'm Church of Christ. I'm a Presbyterian. I'm a Quaker. I'm this, that. Everybody's something.
Everybody's got religion. And everybody learned it from
somebody. Paul said, I'm a Jew. I'm a Jew. And I learned it from
Gamaliel, the best teacher of my day. Your religion didn't
originate with you. You learned it from somebody.
You were taught it from somebody, either at a church, by a preacher,
or by your parents, or by someone, whoever your guardians were,
whoever raised you. That's the way Paul was, and
that's what he's saying here. I'm a Jew, and I learned the
traditions, and the laws, and the religion of my fathers at
the feet of Gamaliel, and most people are serious in their religion. He was. He
said, I'm zealous. I was zealous. I was a Jew. I learned my traditions and laws
from the best teacher of the day, and I was zealous toward
God as you are, as you are. I was working my way to heaven.
I was trying to earn salvation. I was trying to make myself accepted
of God by what I did, and I was serious in it. I was serious
in it. In fact, the next verse said,
and I persecuted this way unto death. This way? What's he talking
about this way? I'll tell you what he's talking
about. He's talking about the way of Christ. He's talking about
the way of sovereign grace as opposed to human works. That's
what he's talking about. When he says, I was a zealous
Jew working my way to heaven by keeping the customs and traditions
of my father, and I hated the way of faith. I hated the way
of grace. I hated the way of mercy as opposed
to human merit. I hated the way of Christ as
opposed to the way of ceremony. I hated the way that gave God
all the glory and left me with no glory. I hated the way of
election as opposed to decision. I hated the way of Christ's righteousness
and substitutionary sacrifice and precious blood as opposed
to my keeping the law. I hated it and I persecuted this
way to death. Oh, I hear people today say,
well, I'll worship God, but I'm not going to worship a sovereign
God. I hear folks say, well, I'll
take salvation, but not the way you preach it. I'll take salvation,
but not sovereign mercy. I'll go to heaven, but not by
Christ alone. One lady wrote to Abby one time,
I was reading, dear Abby, and she said some preacher said that
Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life And the only
way a man can go to God, she said, well, I'll just tell you
this, Abby, she said, if that's the only way to go to heaven,
then I won't go. I'll be willing to go, but not
that way. Not by the cross, not by Christ, not by the blood,
not by faith, not by mercy. And that's what he said right
here, I hate it that way. You'd be surprised how many times
in the scriptures that the way of Christ, the way of the cross,
the way of grace and mercy is referred to as that way, that
way. And that's what he's saying here.
I persecuted that way. And then notice verse 6. And
you know, he got letters from the high priests and the rulers
of the synagogue to go down to Damascus to kill some more of
these people that were that way, those believers, those grace
people. He hated He's going down and
kill some more. I mean he said in verse 6 now
listen, and it came to pass as I made my journey as I made my
journey Paul Was on his journey my journey. He was comfortable. He was serious He was content. It was his journey. It was the
broad road that leads to destruction It was the journey of darkness
It was a journey that seemed right to him. There's a way that
seems right to a man. The end is destruction and death.
But he said, I made my journey comfortable and content. I'm
a Jew. I'm zealous for God. I hate to
wear grace and I'm walking my own way. Are you familiar with
some of this? This is what God's method of
grace. And he said, listen, and suddenly,
suddenly there's shown from heaven a great light. Last week I told
you if you get a revelation of God, it'll come from heaven.
It won't come from the earth, it'll come from heaven. Christ
said that. He said, I'm from above, you're from beneath. I'm
from heaven, you're from the earth. If you hear from God,
you'll hear from heaven. And hear this man, earthly religion,
natural religion, joined his own journey, going his own way,
doing his own thing, zealous toward God, and God moved. And God moved. Let me tell you
something. Dead will stay dead till God
gives light. That's right. Darkness will stay
darkness until God gives light. The scripture says in Genesis
1, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and
the Earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the
face of the deep. And I mean darkness. Dark darkness. Have you ever been in a cave,
taking a tour, and the guide will say, we're going to turn
the lights out and just show you some real darkness. Have
you ever done that? My friends, I have. That's darkness. You can't even see your hand
up against your eyes. Darkness. And that's what was
upon the face of the deep. And God said, who said? God said. The tadpoles didn't get together
and decide to have light. God said, let there be light. And here is this religious man,
in his bondage and tradition and custom, in his hand-me-down
religion, zealous, and hating truth, and hating grace, and
hating mercy, going his own journey, going his own way, comfortable
and content in his blindness. And God said, God said, let there
be light. That's right, a light shone from
heaven. And you know, Paul wrote about this later in II Corinthians. He said, God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts. to give us, to show us, to reveal
to us His glory in the face of Christ Jesus. He never thought
it, sought it, or bought it. God did it. I don't know much
about awakening and quickening and the conception of sinners
and the regeneration of sinners. I just know this. I know no one
will move till God moves. I know that no one will come
till God draws him. I know that no one will seek
God till God seeks them. There's got to be light from
above. Got to be. You'll never move
toward God till God moves toward you. No man can come to me, Christ
said, except my Father which sent me drawing. And this man
was an object of God's affection. This man was an object of God's
love. And this man was walking his
own road. And God said, That's far enough. That's far enough. He's over
40 years of age. Been in religion all his life.
He climbed the ladder of religion. He was a member of the Sanhedrin.
One of the most notable, respected men of his day. Intelligent,
but empty. That's where most religion is
and most religionists are. Straight as a gun barrel and
just as empty. Dead. But dead's gonna stay dead
till God speaks. darkness will remain darkness
stumbling about till God gives light and he said look at that
verse 7 and something happened when God moved he said I fell
upon the ground I fell upon the ground this man was a proud man
he was leading a band of religious Crusaders down into Damascus
to destroy the gospel of grace and everybody that believed it
riding a white charger with all the decorations on his saddle,
leading the pack. And here he is in the next moment
lying face down, blind as a bat in the dust. God unhorsed him,
someone says. God smote him. God brought him
down. And Almighty God will always
bring a man down before He raises him up. I'm telling you that.
God hates pride. pride goeth before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before the foe. God resisteth the proud,
He gives grace to the humble. And the proud must be humble.
The righteous must be exposed for what we are. That's right. The wise must become
a fool. You may be wise in natural things,
but you don't know anything about God. Well, I think this, Your
thoughts are not my thoughts, God said. Your ways are not my
ways. You call bitter sweet and sweet bitter, good bad and bad
good. Every mouth must be stopped,
every heart must be broken. God is known to them of a broken
heart. Save as such as be of a contrite
spirit. Every good man's got to become
bad. That's right. God only saves
sinners. He died for the ungodly. Every
know-it-all will know nothing. If God doesn't strip me and humble
me and crush me and break me and bring me down in the dust
at His feet, then God does not intend to save me. He'll pass
me by. Because you go through this Bible
and everybody whom God saved, everybody whom God visited in
grace, He brought them down, down, down. Oh, Paul said himself,
I'm less than the least of all the saints. I'm not worthy to
be an apostle. Christ came into the world to
save sinners of whom I'm the chief. I'm nothing. That's not language you hear
today. And the reason it's not language you hear today is because
these folks are still over here in this proud zeal, trying to
find acceptance with God by their deeds and works. They've never,
God's never visited them. Because when he does, he breaks
the heart, humbles the spirit. Everybody in the Old Testament
who saw God, how'd they talk? Job said, Lord, I've heard of
you by the hearing of the ear. Now I see that I hate myself. I put my hand over my mouth.
Isaiah said, I saw the Lord, and I cried, I'm as woe as me.
I'm unclean. I'm a man of unclean lips. I'm
cut off. Peter, John saw the Lord on the
Isle of Patmos, even this converted disciple. And he said, I fell
at his feet as a dead man. I fell down. Everybody's inviting folks to
come up to the front. What happened to Saul here is
he fell down. He didn't come up anywhere. He
fell down. And a voice said to me, listen,
Saul, So why persecutest thou me? Now watch this. And I said,
Who art thou, Lord? Who am I dealing with? Well,
I thought he knew God. I thought he was zealous toward
God. Everything back here was I, I, I. Now it's who. That's a lot of difference. I
was a Jew. I was taught. I was zealous.
I persecuted this way. I made my journey. I fell to
the ground. Now it's, who are you? Who is this Lord? Who is this
who holds my destiny in His hand? Who is this that has all power
in heaven and earth? Who is this that quickens whom
He will? Who is this that has all authority
over all flesh? Who are you? And he said, listen,
I'm Jesus of Nazareth. I am. There it is again. I'll be back in last Sunday's
message if I'm not careful. I am. That's the first thing
he said. Saul said, who art thou? He said,
I am. I am that I am. That I am Jesus
of Nazareth. Now you can quit talking about
what you're going to do with Jesus, Saul. Now you can talk
about what you're going to quit You can quit talking about what
you're going to do with Jesus, and the question is, what will
he do with me? That's the question. When God
sufficiently humbles a man, he'll quit bragging on what he's going
to do for God. And he'll start asking, who art
thou? And here's the next question.
In verse 10, he said, Lord, what shall I do? What shall I do? This is God's method of grace.
Everybody's got religion. Every natural man's got religion.
Take a religious census sometime, and you'll find out everybody's
got a denominational preference. Everybody's got some kind of
information about religion and some thoughts about God, and
most of them are pretty serious. They all hate the way of grace,
and they're all walking their own way, doing their own thing. That's the big thing today, my
rights. And then God comes along, and
we fall to the ground. And we say, now, who art thou?
Who is this God with whom we have to do? Who is this God with
whom we're dealing? Who art thou? I am Jesus of Nazareth. And then comes the question,
what will you have me do? How long has it been since you've
heard someone cry this, what shall I do? That's what they
said at Pentecost when Peter preached. Men and brethren, what
shall we do? That's what the Philippian jailer
said when he saw the power of God shake that jail. Oh, he said,
what shall I do? But we preach today and some
fella says, well, I'd like to have a meeting with you and ask
you some questions. I. What he wants to do is tell
you what he believes. Or somebody else will say, are
you implying I'm not saved? Someone else will say, well,
what makes you think that's right and everybody else is wrong?
See, argue. Somebody else says, well, you
know, I'll tell you, I'll go to heaven, but I'm not going
to do this, that, and the other. All Saul said was, what do you want me to do? You do the talking. My mouth
is closed. I'm listening. I'm listening. Well, God said to him in verse
10, All right, Saul, go to Damascus. Oh, my goodness. To Damascus? That's where I was headed. Those
people hate me. Those people know who I am. I
hated them. You know, Lord, won't you send
me to Jerusalem? That's a bigger place anyway,
and the temple's up there, and Peter, James, and John are up
there, and they're important people. Let me go. You go to
Damascus. Let me tell you something. God
will meet a man at his point of rebellion. That's exactly
right. God, He was going to Damascus
to start with. He was going there to persecute
these people, to oppose them, to make fun of them. Now, God
said, you go sit at their feet. Somebody may be sitting there
and say, well, maybe I'm not saved, but I sure am not going
to, I'm not going to listen to that mayhem fellow. It might
be you'll have to. But I'll tell you this, I'm not going to go
where those sovereign grace people are. You may have to. Old Naaman
had to go to the muddy River Jordan. Nowhere else would do. And God said to Saul, go to Damascus. Go to Damascus. Go down there
where those people are that you've despised and ridiculed and made
fun of. I'll meet you at your point of
rebellion. You'll go right there to the people where you were
going to persecute and you'll become one of them and you'll
become humble and you'll sit at their feet and sit with them
and be identified with them while the world makes fun of you. That's
right. So he said, I couldn't see anything
for the glory of that light. Everything else was lost and
done. So being led by the hand of them with me, I came to Damascus. I came to Damascus. And you know
verse 12, listen to this. And one Ananias, a devout man
according to the law, having a good report of the people which
dwelt there, came to me. Ananias, you know Saul of Tarsus
is a big fish. He's an important fellow. He's
a Pharisee of Pharisees. He's a graduate of Gamaliel University. He's on the Sanhedrin. He's a
close personal friend of the high priest. Looks like the Lord
would have sent at least John or James or, for that matter,
Peter down there to talk to him. This man is somebody, no? Just
an unknown, unheard of, humble, devout believer, God sent him. See, God will always, if a man,
if God ever brings a man down, strips him and humbles him, shuts
his mouth, and he's saying, what must I do to be saved? God'll
send him a preacher. But he'll send him an honest
preacher, a true preacher, and a plain man, and a simple man,
with a straightforward, truthful, gospel message. And he'll be
listening. And you know what he said? Here's
the message. He said, Ananias came to me.
You see, it's People are so, today, so geared to the importance
of the preacher. The preacher's not important,
it's the message. It's not who preaches there, it's what's preached
there. What's the message? Doesn't matter
who preaches it. Apollos is plowed and Paul watered
and God gave the increase with nothing. He came to me and he
said, Brother Saul, verse 14, the God of our fathers hath chosen
thee, First thing he said, the God of our fathers had chosen
him. See, you didn't choose God, He chose you. You didn't seek
God, He sought you. And you called on Him because
He called on you. It is not that I didn't choose
thee, Lord, that could not be. This heart would still refuse
thee. Thou hast chosen me. And He's chosen you that you
should know His will. Old Saul knew His will of command.
Thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt, thou
shalt, thou shalt not. Saul knew that. He studied that
all his life. He didn't know God's will of
redemption. Hebrews 10 talks about it. Lo,
I come to do thy will, O God, Christ said. By the which will
we're sanctified forever by the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ. That's his redemptive will. And
God has chosen you that you should see the just one. Christ is the
just one. He died the just for the unjust
to bring us to God. He died that God may be just
and justified. And you're going to see the just
one, the holy one, the righteous one, the one who enables God
to be righteous and holy and just and save you and me. And you're going to hear his
voice. He's going to speak peace to you, and he's the only one
who can. I hear preachers shake a man's hand and say, now you're
saved, brother. How do you do that? How do you tell a person
they're saved? How do you speak peace when there
is no peace? You can't see the eye. Only God
can speak peace. And he said, Saul, he chose you
that you should know his will, see the just one, and hear his
comforting words, thy sins be forgiven thee, and you'll be
his witness. God's method of grace, the way
he meets a sinner and saves him. $2.00. Send it to us. We have two messages on it. We'll
mail it to you. Here's the address. Until next
week, God bless you.

God's Method of Grace

What does the Bible say about God's method of grace?

How do we know that God's method of salvation is by grace?

Why is it important for Christians to understand God's method of grace?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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God's Method of Grace

What does the Bible say about God's method of grace?

How do we know that God's method of salvation is by grace?

Why is it important for Christians to understand God's method of grace?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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