Last week, I brought a message
on the subject, Grace is for the Guilty. Well, this morning
I'm going to bring another message on the grace of God, and the
title of this message is, Grace in the Eyes of the Lord. Now,
both of these messages will be available to you if you'd like
to hear them again or share them with someone else. They'll both
be available on the same cassette tape. It'll be a 60-minute tape
with 30 minutes on each side. Grace is for the guilty, and
grace in the sight of the Lord. And you write for the tape. At
the close of the service, we'll give you the address. But here's
my text this morning, Genesis chapter 6, verse 8. Genesis 6,
verse 8. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth. and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the
Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the
face of the earth. But Noah, but Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. The picture here, the whole world
lay in a sea of corruption, evil, wickedness, depravity. But Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Every imagination of every
heart was evil continually. The thoughts of men were anti-God,
evil, blasphemous. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. The wrath of God hung like a
cloud over the whole earth. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And God said, I will destroy
man. I will destroy man from the face
of the earth and every creeping thing and every fowl. I will
destroy every beast. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And God sent a flood. that destroyed
every creature except those in the earth. But Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. Now, if you go back to these
statements, which I've taken from this passage of Scripture,
and apply them to this present day, you'll get the same picture
today that you had back then. Our Lord said, as it was in the
days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of
the Son of Man. When, like in Noah's day, the
whole world lay in a sea of corruption, is that not true today? Crime
and corruption and depravity, wars and rumors of war, hatred,
all throughout this earth, terrorism. But some people are objects of
the grace of God. And every imagination of men's
hearts are evil continually. And God said, I will destroy
this world, not by water. He'll not destroy it by water,
but he will destroy it. He said the element shall melt
with a fervent heat. God will destroy this world.
And the wrath of God is hanging like a cloud over this world
upon which we live. But some people are finding grace
in the eyes of the Lord, like Noah of old. God's always had
his people. He's never left himself without
a people or a witness. The hymn writer put it this way,
Oh grace, she has a charming sound, harmonious to the ear,
heaven will the echo resound and all the earth shall hear.
Grace first planned the way to save rebellious men. All God's
attributes are on display in that eternal plan. Grace first
inscribed my name in God's eternal book. It was grace that sent
that blessed Lamb who all my sorrows took. Grace taught my
heart to pray. Grace made my eyes overflow. It was grace that keeps me to
this day, and His grace will not let me go. Grace, grace. But Noah, found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. My friends, if there's one word,
I want you to think with me a moment, if there's one word by which
you could sum up the character and attributes of God, the living
God, if you just take one word and sum up, I know God is love
and God is truth and God is merciful, but if you took one word to sum
up the living God, what word would you choose? Well, I choose
the word holy. He's called the holy God. Holy
and reverend is his name. When Isaiah saw the Lord, the
scripture says that the seraphims were flying about the throne
saying, holy, holy, holy. God's word is called the holy
Bible. His angels are called the holy angels. His temple is
called the holy temple, the holy of holies. When the priest went
into the Holy of Holies, he wore a mitre on his head that says,
Holiness to the Lord. So there's one word that sums
up the character and attributes of the living God. It's the word
holy. Remember that. If there's one word that sums
up the nature and character of all men, all men, the nature and character
of all men, what would it be? One word. It's the word evil.
Evil. Every imagination of his heart
is evil continually. I'm talking about in the sight
of God. Man is evil. Evil. There's none good, none
righteous, none that seeketh after God, none that understand.
They're evil. If there's one word that can
sum up redemption, this thing of redemption, eternal life,
salvation, salvation from sin, deliverance from eternal wrath,
What one word would you use to sum up this thing of redemption
and salvation and eternal life, reconciliation to God, union
with God, child of God? What one word? The word Christ. There's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. God hath highly
exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that
at the name of Jesus Christ ever kneel down. in heaven, earth,
and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that he's
Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Well, if there's one
word that can sum up the character and attributes of God, it's the
word holy, the nature and character of men, evil, salvation, redemption,
eternal life, it's Christ. Well, if there's one word that
can sum up our gospel, Our message, what I'm sent to do, the function
of the church, the business of the church, the ministry of the
church, the minister, the missionary, the evangelist, the pastor, the
preacher. If there's one word that can
sum up our ministry, our message, our gospel, one word, what would
it be? Well, it'd be the word grace.
Grace. For by grace, are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them." It's grace. The Apostle Paul
was bidding farewell to the elders from Ephesus, his friends, his
brethren, his co-workers, co-laborers, He preached the gospel to them.
They were devoted to one another. He was leaving them. He knew
he would never see them again. He knew he would never preach
to them again. He knew that they would never meet again. He was
going to go to prison and to suffer and die as a martyr for
his message. And he said to them in Acts chapter
20, if you read that whole chapter of Acts, the 20th chapter, you'll
hear You'll hear Paul's farewell message to these men. They wept.
Never would they see him again or hear him again. And they told
him, the Holy Spirit revealed that prison and death awaited
Paul. And Paul said to them in verse
24, none of these things move me. None of these things move
me. Neither count I my life dear
unto myself. so that I might finish my course
with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus
to testify the gospel of the grace of God." That's my ministry,
Paul said. I wish the church would move
back, if it ever was there in this day, back to the ministry
of the grace of God. That's what Paul said. He wanted
to finish his course with joy and the ministry which he received
with the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Like a golden thread, the grace
of God runs through the believer's whole history. Did you know that?
Are you a believer? If you are a believer, if you're
a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, If you're a child of
God, the grace of God runs through your whole history, from your
election in eternity past to the day that you'll stand perfectly
conformed to the image of God's Son. That grace of God runs like
a golden thread through your whole experience and existence,
your whole history. There is no point, there is no
point from eternity past to eternity future, there's no point in the
existence, in the history, in the experience of a child of
God where he cannot say, there's no point where he cannot say,
I am what I am by the grace of God. I know what I know by the
grace of God. I have what I have by the grace
of God. Let me give you six or seven
things. If you'd like to, you can jot these down and then take
the scriptures down and study them. We'll get the tape and
hear it later. But let me give you six or seven things about
this grace. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. I can say that. I have found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. I'm not bragging about what I've done or what
I've given or what I've professed. I'm bragging on God that showed
mercy to a sinner. and shows mercy and will show
mercy. We have been saved, we're being
saved. Now is our salvation nearer than
when we believe. At no time are we dependent on
ourselves, always on Him. By His grace, I am what I am.
But first of all, number one, our election to salvation is
of God's grace. And don't be afraid of a scriptural
term. Don't run from a scriptural term.
Somebody says, if you meet a truth in the road, you've got to accept
it or run from it. Don't run from it, accept it.
Romans 11, 5 says, even so, at this present time, there's a
remnant according to the election of grace. It is the election
of grace. And Paul said, if it's of grace,
it's not of works. Otherwise, grace is not grace. The cause of our election is
not found in us, it's found in God. That's what our Lord Jesus
said. He said, he lifted his eyes to
heaven and he said, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I thank
thee that you've hid these things from the wise and the prudent
and you revealed it to babes. Even so, Father, it seemed good
in thy sight." You see, the cause of our election is not found
in us. God didn't look down through
time and see what we would be or what we would do. God chose
us, and we are what we are by his grace, and we do what we
do by his grace. The cause of our election is
not found in us, it's found in God. He loved us, and then we
loved him. Listen to the Word of God. Herein
is love. Not that we love God, but he
loved us. We love him because he first
loved us. And the cause of that love was
found in himself, not in the sinner. There was nothing in
us to love. There was nothing in us that's
lovable. There was nothing in us to attract the love of God.
We are everything that God isn't. We're the opposite of what God
is. But he loved us because he is love. God is love. He found
the source in himself, the cause in himself, the reason in himself,
and he drew us with an everlasting love. He set his love upon us. And we love him in response to
his love. The glory alone is due unto God.
He said, not many mighty, not many noble, not many strong,
not many wise, are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the
base things of the world, and the things which are despised,
and the weak things of the world, to bring to nothing the things
that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. Of him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, that it is written, that as it is written, he that
gloryeth. Let him glory in the Lord. That's
1 Corinthians 1, 26-31. Our election is of the grace
of God. "'Tis not that I did choose thee,
Lord, that could not be. If thou hast not chosen me, I
would have never chosen thee." I have no problem with that,
do you? God chose us. Our election is
by pure grace. We weren't better than this man
or that man. We're all the same. And we were
chosen according to the good pleasure of his own will. And
then not only that, but our call is by grace. Our call is by the
grace of God. All of you know or have heard
of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. You know about or have
heard about the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. Well, he's on
his conversion up this way. Listen to Saul of Tarsus, who
became Paul. writer, evangelist, missionary,
preacher. He said in Galatians 1 15, But
when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, to
call me, to call me by his grace to reveal his Son in me. Now
there's a general call that goes to all men. There's a light that
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. God's judgment,
God's providence, God's law written in every heart so they're without
excuse. There's a general call that goes
forth like I'm preaching right now. General knowledge. General knowledge. But there's
an effectual call. And that's what Paul is talking
about here. There's an effectual call that God extends to his
own in which he says, my sheep, hear my voice. And I know them,
and they follow me, and I give them eternal life. They'll hear
my voice. They'll hear my voice. 2 Timothy 1.9, Paul wrote, he
has saved us and called us. And called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace. It's a call of grace. It's a
gracious call. according to his own purpose
and grace which was given to us in Christ before the world
began. One of our dear listeners said
to me just two weeks ago, talked about an interest in the gospel,
an interest in prayer, and an interest in Christ, and this
person said, I believe that I've been effectually called. Have
you? Call. Peter said, make your calling
and election sure. It's called a holy calling. It's
a calling by the Spirit, by the Word. It's an effectual call,
an invincible call. It will get the job done. And
then thirdly, I've been elected by grace and called by grace,
and the Scripture says our justification is by His grace. Listen to Romans
3, 24, being freely justified by His grace. By His grace, being freely justified
by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Do you
know what it means to be justified? Justified. I was preaching to
a prison down in St. Kitts Island last year. There was, I suppose, 80 or 85
inmates in this Her Majesty's prison on St. Kitts Island in
the West Indies. And I didn't know exactly what
I would talk about to these men. They wanted me to bring a message.
We had some songs and then I stood up to preach. And I wanted to
talk to them about salvation, about forgiveness and mercy and
life in Christ. And I said to these men, I said,
do you men know what it means to be pardoned? And they all
nodded their heads. Yes, they knew what it meant
to be pardoned. Some of them smiled. Well, I said, now you
can be pardoned and you're still guilty. I said, how many of you
know what it means to be paroled? Well, they all smiled again and
nodded. They knew what it meant to be. Well, I said, you can
be paroled and still be guilty. I said, how many of you know
what it means to be forgiven? They knew what it meant to be
forgiven. I said, wait a minute now. The people against whom
you committed this crime may forgive you, but you're still
guilty. But I said, what the Bible teaches, what I'm interested
in, And what we need in the sight of God is justification. Do any
of you know what justification means? And they all shook their
head. Well, I said, I'll tell you what
justification means. It means to be not guilty. Not
guilty. Just as if I had never sinned. And my friends, that's what we
have in Christ. We're cleared of all charges. A man can be found guilty, and
you can parole him, or you can pardon him, or you can forgive
him. But to justify him means he's not guilty. Justify him.
Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Being freely justified by his
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. And then
you can say with the Apostle Paul, when he wrote in Romans
8.33, who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect. It
is God that justifies, not guilty, clear of all charges. Who is
he that condemns? So you see, our justification
is by his grace. It's not by works. You can't
work off guilt. Guilt's still there. You can't
work it off. A fellow may be charged with
a crime. He may pay his fine, but he's
still guilty. He's got a record. But God's
people in Christ have no record. God said, their sins I'll remember
no more. They're justified. They're not
guilty. With his spotless garments on,
we're as holy as God's Son. You see what I'm saying? What
a gift of grace. Then the fourth thing, our daily
strength in time of trouble and trial and affliction is by His
grace. It's by His grace. It's not through
a positive mental attitude alone. It's by His grace. He's our strength. He's a present help, a very present
help in time of trouble. The Apostle Paul, again, let
me use Paul to illustrate, the Apostle Paul was a man of great
blessings and great visions and revelations. God spoke to him,
taught him the gospel, took him to the third heaven, used him
to write the scriptures. He was a mighty man, used of
God, but the Lord told him, lest he be exalted above measure.
And that's in all of us, the potential and possibility of
being lifted up in pride. God sent him a thorn in the flesh,
a messenger of Satan to buffet him. A real trial, a real thorn,
trouble in the flesh. And he said, I prayed, I besought
the Lord three times to move that thorn. But the Lord said
to me, keep on working, keep on trusting, keep on believing,
keep on looking up. He said, Paul, my grace is sufficient
for you. And that's what I'm saying to
you, whether it's a trial or affliction or trouble, you'll
find your strength in the living God, in Christ Jesus. The Lord David said, you know
what David said in Psalm 119, verse 71, I believe it is. He
said, it's good for me that I've been afflicted. That's strange
language, isn't it? It's good for me that I've been
afflicted. that I might learn thy statutes. Whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth. Our Lord said in the world you
shall have tribulation. They that would live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, but be of good cheer. I've overcome
the world. But one thing I know, his grace
is quite sufficient. Whatever the valley, whatever
the mountain, Whatever the trial, his grace is sufficient. But
where he is, his grace dwells. But you can't have his grace
without him. Now, this is not applicable to
people who do not know Christ by saving faith. Now, just like
that Romans 8, 28, that's not a blanket promise to this whole
evil world. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to his purpose. That's to the people who love
God and who are called according to His purpose. My friends, not
only is our election by grace and our call by grace and our
justification by grace and our strength in His grace, but our
prayers ascend to a throne of grace. That's right. Listen, let us therefore come
boldly unto the throne of grace. We're beggars, do you know that?
Everything we have is by grace. We don't earn a thing. The only
thing we earn is the wages of sin, which is death, the gift
of God's eternal life. But let us come boldly unto the
throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to
help in time of need. Not many of us know how to pray.
Abraham, you know how he prayed? Lord, if I have found grace in
thy sight, do this. How'd Moses pray? Lord, if I
have found grace in thy sight, I ask this of thee. A man will
only learn to pray when he learns something of the grace of God. Not deserving. You don't back
God in a corner. No, you don't. You don't demand
of God. He's the potter with the clay.
And then our spiritual growth is a growth in grace. In 2 Peter
he says, but grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior, to whom be glory both now and forever. You know
what spiritual growth depends on? It depends on four things.
Number one, it depends on spiritual life. You've got to have life
before you can have growth. Dead things don't grow. Living
people grow. And you've got to be alive spiritually
to grow. You've got to be alive in grace to grow in grace. Secondly,
the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. Thirdly, the
Word of God. Desire the sincere milk of the
Word that you may grow. And then fourthly, the grace
of God. We grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ. And
then we're called stewards of the grace of God. My friends,
there's nothing we have in nature or spirit that's not the gift
of God's grace. And as we have therefore received
what we have, let's minister that gift or those gifts to others,
remembering that we are what we are, we have what we have,
and we know what we know by the grace of God. Oh, to grace, how
great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be.