My subject is one word, one word,
grace. Grace. Now, it's easy to say the word
grace. It's a whole new ballgame to
define it. I listen to preachers preach
on television and radio and even in person. And I hear them using
these words, the new birth. That's easy to say. It's another
matter to define it. The preacher said just this morning,
come next month, all month, I'm going to tell you how to be born
again. You may tell a man how we are
born again, but you can't tell him how to be born again. Do
you see the difference? Because the new birth is of God. Our Lord Jesus, in defining it,
defined it as mysterious as the wind. And you cannot tell from
whence it cometh or whither it goeth, so are they that are born
of the Spirit. So how are you going to tell
a man how to be born again, please? You may tell a man how we are
born again, we're born of God, we're born of the Spirit, we're
born of the Word, we're born supernaturally by an act of God. So these words, you can use the
word cross, but please define it for me. What happened on the
cross? What took place on Golgotha's
hill? You can use the word eternal
life, but pray tell me what is eternal life? Believe on Jesus,
accept Jesus and have eternal life. What kind of life is that?
Well, we're not talking about how long it's going to last,
because Lazarus lived forever, but so did the rich man. Christ lives forever. But so
does the devil. So the length of it has nothing
to do with what it is. Eternal life, Christ said, is
to know God, to know God. And not just God, but the living
God. Eternal life is to know the living
God. And Jesus Christ, and not just
any Jesus Christ, but the one he sent. That's what he said,
the Christ whom he sent. Oh, these words are so easy to
say. And folks are saying them just flippantly and uselessly, in a perverted way every day. The word grace. I hear that word
all the time. Grace. Well, I'll tell you this, it's
another matter to define it. And when you come down to defining
what you mean by grace, you're really revealing what you believe
about salvation. Now, David once said, I've been
young, I've been young. This is in Psalm 37. He said,
I've been young. And now I'm old, and yet I have
never, I have never seen the righteous forsaken. I have never seen God's seed
begging bread." He said, I've been young, I'm old, but I've
never seen that. I've never seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed begging bread, because he's ever merciful,
and his seed is blessed." Now, I may be as old right now
as David was when he wrote those words. Do you realize that? Because
David didn't live to be an old man. David died in his early seventies,
if I'm correct. So really when David wrote those
words, I've been young and now I'm old, and yet I've never seen
the Lord's seed begging bread. I've never seen his people forsaken
because he's ever merciful and his seed are blessed. I can say
this, I've been young and now I'm old, and yet I am more confident
than ever before of the gospel of God's sovereign, redeeming
grace. I'm more confident than ever
before and more dedicated to the proclamation of the gospel
of salvation by the free, unmerited, unearned, unsought favor and
mercy of God. truthfully obsessed with that
gospel of grace, more than ever before. I see that this gospel of the
grace of God is effectual. It's effectual to the claiming
of bondservants for Jesus Christ. And I have seen that other gospel,
another gospel, Paul called I've seen that other Jesus and another
Jesus, Paul called him, and I've seen that other spirit, another
spirit, Paul called it, I've seen it literally fail in every
case. Fail to give any security or
any strength or any peace or any lasting joy or any lasting
foundation. But I'll tell you, I've seen
the grace of God sufficient and effectual. I've seen it claimed. Oh, I've seen the preaching of
it claim a lot of people, but I've seen the reality of it claim
some folks. Now, we preachers of the grace
of God are often referred to as antinomians. We're not without
our critics. We've been called antinomians.
You know, like Mr. Spurgeon once said, I don't object
to being called an antinomian. I don't object to that at all.
I certainly would not want to be one. But I don't object to
being called one, do you? But I'll tell you this, he continued,
if one is not occasionally called an antinomian by the legalists,
It's a good sign he's not preaching salvation by grace, because the
Apostle Paul was accused of this very same thing, antinomianism,
that is, without law. Let me show you that in the book
of Romans, chapter 3, verse 1. The Apostle Paul was accused
of the same thing. He preached grace, grace so sovereign,
and grace so sure, and grace so sufficient. And grace so complete
that they said in verse 8 of Romans 3, and not
rather, as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm
that we say, let us do evil that good may come. That's what they
say that we preach. That's Paul talking. Paul said,
I preach grace so sure and grace so sufficient that people say,
well, you're Slanderously, they said, evil reports. You're preaching, let's do evil
that good may come. Not only that, but turn to Romans
6. Here again, Romans 6, verse 1
and 2. What shall we say then? After
we preached, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, and
grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? Is that your conclusion? That's the conclusion of the
man who doesn't understand the grace of God. But Paul said, God forbid, how
shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? But
not only that, verse 15, look at this. He back here in verse 14, he
said, sins shall not have dominion over you, control over you. You're
not under the law, you're under grace. You're free from the curse
of the law, the condemnation of the law, penalty of the law.
Well, what then? Shall we sin then because we're
not under law but under grace? You've got to give people a law.
They've got to have a law. They won't know what to do if
you don't preach the law. That's what they tell me. But
Paul says, we're not under law, we're under grace, and therefore
they said, well, people will sin if you preach that. God forbid,
God forbid. I'll tell you another charge
brought against the believers of grace and the preachers of
grace. They're not intellectual enough. Not intellectual enough, not
deep enough. Someone said to me one time,
you're no scholar. Someone recently said, your commentaries
are too simple. They are of no value because
they are not of any intellectual value. They're too simple. Brethren, is that not one of
our objectives, to be simple? I don't want to listen to someone
who's trying to impress me with his knowledge and wisdom and
intellect. The Apostle Paul said, it's Satan
that beguiles me in this way. Don't we realize that when a
preacher stands up and preaches so that nobody understands what
he's talking about, that he's an ambassador of Satan? He's
not an ambassador of God. I don't care what he's preaching.
Our Lord spoke in simple language. And Paul said, it's Satan that
beguiles you like he did Eve and takes you away from the simplicity
of Christ. I can read the Bible and understand
most of what it says. It's the commentaries on the
Bible. I can't stumble. I get to reading these commentaries
and they use words I never saw or heard before. The Bible is
written in two-, three-, and four-syllable words at the most. They invent terms that are not
in the scriptures, and they take you down so deep I'll tell you
this, I hope that we can remain foolish, because God has chosen
the foolish to confound the wise. We're not preaching to theologians,
we're preaching to people. We're not preaching to intellects,
we're preaching to children. Someone else said this, they
said, well, you grace preachers just have one message. That's
all you have, one message. When you've heard one of those
fellas once, you've heard them, well, you've heard all they've
got to say, grace, grace, grace. That's all they preach is grace,
grace, grace. Well, glory to God. Christ, Christ,
Christ. You know, it may be that we've
laid hold on the message. I like the story of that old
fella playing that bass fiddle, you know. He had his fingers
up here, it wasn't electric, it was one of those old-time
boom-boom-boom bass fiddles. And he had his fingers up here
on the string and he was plucking boom-boom-boom-boom. Some fella came to him and said,
I've listened to you play that thing, and you never move your
hand up here. Haven't you noticed that other
fellas move their hands when they play that thing? They don't
just hold it in the same place and hit the same note. He said,
they're looking for the note, I found it. And that's what Paul found, he
found him on the road to Damascus. Prior to that, he was looking
for the note, wasn't he? I found it. And he said, I am
determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him
crucified. We preach Christ and him crucified. And here in my text, 1 Corinthians
15, and brethren, I've been young, I'm old, and I don't plan to
change my message. I just do not plan to change
this message. It is the message. I am what
I am. Listen to Paul here, verse 10
of 1 Corinthians 15. By the grace of God, I am what
I am, and by the grace of God, you are what you are. Now I'll define that for you
just briefly, and this is a plain scriptural definition. What do
you mean you are what you are by the grace of God? By the grace
of God, not of works, not of human merit or heritage, not
of the will of the flesh, not what someone designed to make
me or what I designed to make myself, nor of the will of man,
but of God. I am what I am by the grace of
God. By the grace of God I am. Now
here's what I mean. And I mean to define this as
simply and plainly as I can state it. Number one, it was God's
grace that gave me to Christ before the world began. And that's
what I'm talking about. I'm talking about before the
morning stars sang together. Understand it. I'm talking about
before the sons of God shouted for joy. I'm talking about, as
one old black preacher says, the angel's wings never fanned
the ether waves or something. I'm talking about back yonder
when God planned in purpose salvation when none but God existed before
the foundation of the world in Christ before he made the world.
According to his eternal purpose, he gave me to Christ by grace. I'm going to show you that in
2 Timothy 1.9. And Brother Donnie Bell told
me that he was struggling with the gospel. He had been a Pentecostal
preacher and a freewill preacher and wrestling with the gospel,
trying to preach the gospel, trying to light, trying to find
the message. And he was out in the yard one
day, out in the field reading the Bible. And like a bolt of
lightning and like a clap of thunder, this burst right here
struck his got his attention and caught his eye and went to
his heart. 2 Timothy 1, 8, Be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner,
but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God, who hath saved us, and called us with an holy
calling, not according to our work, but according to his own
purpose and grace, which was given thus in Christ Jesus before
the world began." Put it clearly, Richard. That's simple words. Commentary will mess that up.
They'll go through all that Karl Barth believed, and some other
person believed, and Luther taught, and Calvin taught, and the Romans
taught, and somebody else, and mess that up. It simply said
that God saved me, and God called me, and He did it not according
to anything I've done, or said, or given, not according to my
works, because the children were not yet born. And one that wasn't yet born
and never had done any good, God loved him. And one that wasn't
born and never done any evil, God hated him. You explain that. There's only one way you can
explain it, and that's God's purposes will be accomplished.
That's just so. If you rip that leaf out of the
Bible, you've got a lot more to rip out. He saved us and called
us, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose. We are called according to his
purpose. He doeth according to his purpose in the armies of
heaven and among the inhabitants of this earth. His purpose, his
plan, which was given to us where? In Christ. Now, in Christ, that's
where it all is. And it was given to us in Christ
before the world began, before the world ever had a first rock
laid. Christ was a Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. Now, that's what I'm talking
about. And I don't know any way to preach that but to preach
it. I don't know any way to teach it but to teach it. Somebody
says, well, you ought to teach it so that folks won't know what
you're saying. Then I wouldn't be teaching it. I asked a young
man one time, I said, where do you go to church? He told me.
I said, does your pastor preach grace? He said, well, he doesn't
harp on it. Well, I knew he didn't preach it. You've got to harp
on it if you're preaching. I tell you, I bet you every one
of these English teachers here harp on it. I bet you harp on
social studies and history, harp on it every day. That's your
subject. If he teaches history, he doesn't harp on it. Well, they don't teach it. Somebody
said, well, it's family doctrine. Yeah, but the family doesn't
even hear it. And if you preach to the family, you're going to
preach to the friends. What's the second definition of grace? It was God's grace that gave
me to Christ before the world began? Now watch this. It was
God's grace that e-l-e-c-t-e-d elected me. Don't use terms,
preacher. You have to use terms. You can't
say elected without saying elected. If you don't say elected, you're
going to have to say chosen. You didn't choose me, Christ
said, I chose you. I chose you, he elected, turn
to Romans 11. And I'll tell you, my friend,
it's called an election of grace. That's what it is, an election
of grace. Look at Romans 9, first of all. Romans 9, let's read
this first. In verse 11, talking about verse
10, Rebekah conceived, there were twins in her womb. There
were children in her womb, verse 11, children not yet born, children
not yet having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand. How long has it stood?
Well, it stood from the foundation of the world. It stood as long
as the purpose of God and the throne of God is still. And it's
going to stand. And there's not a thing in the
world that I want to do about it that alone can do about it.
And it's going to stand throughout eternity, the purpose of God
according to election, not of works now, I tell you, but of
him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger, as it is written in the Old Testament.
I've said it before, and Paul said, I'll say it again. Jacob
have I loved, and Esau have I hated. And immediately the sentimentalist
and emotionalist Their anger rises in their breast against
him. Does anger rise in their hearts
against Esau because he's such a reprobate? Or against Jacob
because he's such a cheat? No, sir, against God for having
made his choice. Their anger is against God. And
yet God says, "...the potter hath power over the clay, to
make of the same lump a vessel unto honor and dishonor." Can
I not do with my own what I will? Why are you mad at God? Somebody says, Well, I can't
understand how God could hate Esau. I can. I can't understand
why he could love Jacob. I can understand why God would
despise every one of us here. We are such selfish, proud, egotistical,
lustful, hateful, wretched sons and daughters of Adam. There's
no good thing in you and me. What is there about you for God
to love? Please give me one thing about you that God Almighty is
attracted to. Now, you just name something.
I mean in you, about you, on you, or of you that God would
love. If you can find anything in you, of you, on you, or about
you that God would love, you've got the wrong God, because the
God of heaven's infinitely, immaculately, unchangeably holy. I tell you, this generation of
religionists are in trouble because they've selected for themselves
the wrong God. God elected us. Look at Romans
11, the 11th chapter of Romans. Listen to this. And brethren,
this gospel of grace needs to be proclaimed. to the honor of
God, to the glory of God, to the hope of sinners. You say,
is there hope in this? There is hope in God. There is
no hope in decisionism, there is no hope in easy believism,
there is no hope in religious works. God has condemned it.
But there is hope in his good pleasure. If God Almighty is
dispensing mercy, even if it is based on his own purpose or
prerogative, I'm going to get in line. He may show mercy. The king of Nineveh said, put
on sackcloth and ashes, it may be that God will show mercy.
It may be. He doesn't have to. It may be. Well, I say the same thing to
you and me. Let's get in line. Let's fall on our faces. Let's
repent. Let's call on God for mercy.
It may be he'll show mercy. He doesn't have to. Come down
this aisle and shake my hand and believe on Jesus, I guarantee
you God will save you. How can you do that? How can
you guarantee God will do anything? Now you tell me how you can get...
Huh? I guarantee you this, if you
don't come to the Lord, you'll perish. If you don't, you'll
perish. But I can tell you this, if God
gives you grace and faith, If God will give you the understanding
and the ability to look only to Christ, he'll show mercy,
because in Christ is mercy. That's so. Gerald, that's so.
That's where it is. God elected us. Look at Romans
11, verse 5. Even so, then, at this present
time also there's a rendement according to the election of
grace. And if it's by grace, it's not of worth. It's not of
works, it's of grace. What is grace? The grace of God
is that grace of purpose whereby he gave us to Christ before the
world began, put us in the hands of Christ. It's the grace of
God that elected us, chose us out of Adam's fallen race, set
his affections upon us, loved us when we didn't love him. Somebody
says, well, you're teaching election to hell. No, I'm not. I don't
know anybody who believes that. The only thing God has to do
for a man to go to hell is leave him alone. God doesn't have to
elect anybody to hell, just leave them alone. That's what he said
of the Pharisees. The disciples said they were
offended by what you said, Lord. He said, well, leave them alone.
Leave them alone. He said, leave Ephraim alone. He turned to his idol. God Almighty has been pleased
not to leave some people alone. He's going to stop them and call
them to himself. Thirdly, it was God's grace that
justified me. It was God's grace that forgave
me. It was God's grace that pardoned
me. It was God's grace that blotted out my sins. It was God's grace
that made me accepted in Christ, not of the creature. Look at
Romans 3. I'm not going to read this whole chapter, I wish you'd
read it later. It talks about, we know that
what things have the law saith, it saith to them that under the
law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty.
Verse 23, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,
all, everyone, young and old, being justified freely without
any return. by his grace. How are we justified? By grace. You wouldn't believe this if
I told you who said it, so I'm not going to tell you who said
it. Some of you may have heard him. D'Arcy and I heard him last
Sunday night. He's a well-known, powerful, middle-of-the-road,
preacher, not Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart, another one.
But last Sunday night as he went off the air, he said this, he
held out the Bible and said, at the judgment the books are
going to be opened, and we're going to be judged according
to our works. And he said, my friends, that's
where it all is, it's in your works. Did he say that? He said, I can't believe he said
that. That's where it all is in your
work, doing good to other human beings. That's not where it is,
it's in Christ. It's not in your work. If my
acceptance with God is in my works, I'm as sure as hell as
a cinder in a blast furnace, because I don't have any work.
You don't have any works. We labor, but it's not us, it's
the grace of God in us. I have never given anything to
God. Everything I've ever given, He gave me first. I'm a beggar. I'm a parasite living off the
grace of God. These clothes I'm wearing, God
gave them to me. This voice I'm speaking with, God gave it to
me. It didn't originate with me. These eyes that read and
mind that understands and heart that rejoices in what I read,
God gave me that. God gave it to me. I don't have
any works. You don't have any works. You
walked over to your neighbors and took some clothes because
their children were naked. God gave you the strength to
walk over there. Those legs God made, the clothes,
God gave you the strength to earn the money to buy them. The desire to give unto them,
God put it on your heart, by nature, you'd steal. Really and
truly. If it weren't for the grace of
God, when you went over there, you'd have went over there at
three o'clock in the morning and stole something out of his kitchen, instead of
putting something in. Now, that's the truth, and you
know it, and I know it. That errand of mercy is by the
grace of God, instead of being an errand to steal. There's no
difference between me and the thief that breaks in your house,
except the grace of God made the difference. Now, who maketh
you to differ? What have you got that you didn't
receive? Now, if you received it, why do you boast? It works. There's nothing in the creature,
of the creature, by the creature that enters into our justification
before God. It's Christ and Christ alone.
I wish I could ring that bell. You say you take away everything
we've got. I'm doing my best. Because if
I can take away everything you've got, you may turn to Christ.
You leave us nothing to lean on. That's what I'm trying to
do. If you have nothing to lean on,
you might lean on Him. You give me nothing to hold to.
Hallelujah. You turn loose of everything,
you might lay hold on Christ and eternal life. Nothing in my hands I bring.
I wish we thought like we sing. I surely do. Amazing grace, how
sweet the sound. God-purposed salvation, grace
executed it, Christ purchased it, the Holy Spirit applies it.
What did you do? I received it. I'm wearing it. Fourthly, it's
God's grace that called me to Christ. Galatians 1.15 said,
He called me by His grace. Watch it now. He called me by
His grace. I got a letter from a lady this
week. It said this. She said, Here's some money.
I want the tape and the books, but one thing I don't understand.
What do you mean? She said, I don't understand
what you mean when you say Christ comes to us. Don't we go to Him? I'm not going to confuse this,
I'm going to be plain with you. Like I wrote her, yes, we do
come to Christ. Our Lord said, Ho, every one
that thirsteth, come to the water. Him that heareth, say, Come.
Let him that heareth, say, Come. Let him that is a thirst, take
the water of life for you. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Anybody got any trouble
with that? But when we do come, to Christ. It's a clear indication. He came to us first. Dead men
don't rise and walk unless somebody gives them life. Is that understood? And that's what I'm saying. We
do call on him, but we call on him because he called us. There's
nothing confusing about that. What's confusing is to say that
I called first. Now, that's confusing to me.
You who are dead in sins, called out of your graves. You who are
blind, suddenly you saw. God gave you sight. We love him
because he first loved us. The light comes to those who
are dead. The light comes to those who
are in darkness. The Redeemer comes to those who
are in captivity. Abraham, Abraham! Yes, Lord? Get thee out of thy father's
house. Who called whom? Saul! Why persecutest thou me? Who art thou, Lord? Who called
whom?" Matthew! Follow me. Yes, Lord. Who called whom? That's all I'm
saying. I'm simply saying, let's put
the glory where it belongs, at the feet of Christ. I'm simply
saying, get the crown off these naughty heads and put them where
they belong, on the head of Christ. I'm simply saying, let's quit
bragging on the flesh. His call is a call of purpose,
a call of mercy, an effectual call, and an eternal call, because
the gifts and calling of God are without change. In the fifth place, it's God's
grace that sustains me. You've read about Paul's thorn
in the flesh, a message of Satan sent by whom? That's exactly right. Let's look
at 2 Corinthians 12. Let's see what it says. 2 Corinthians
12, down here in verse 7. And lest I should
be exalted above measure, God's going to keep Paul humble. Now, Satan didn't decree this
because Satan would like for him to be proud. Satan's not
going to humble anybody, but God's going to humble them. And
lest I should be exalted above measure through the revelation,
the abundance of revelation that was given to me. By whom? By
the Lord God. To humble him, to let him know
he was a man, nothing more than a man. A thorn in the flesh,
a constant pricking in the flesh, a constant reminder in the flesh,
a constant problem in the flesh. I tell you, a thorn, it can,
under the fingernail or in the skin, that thorn is there and
it's just constantly festering and problem. But it was a messenger
of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure. And
for this thing I besought the Lord three times in earnest,
humble prayer that it might depart, and God simply said, My grace
is sufficient. What's sufficient? His grace.
It's his grace that sustains me. The wilderness road is no
easy road, but his power and grace is as necessary each step
of the way as it was at the beginning. I need his grace as much now
as I've always needed it. And I've always needed it fully
and completely. We're kept by the grace of God
through faith. I tell you this, prayer is before,
what, a throne of grace? And I'll quit. The last one is
found in Titus 3, verse 5. Turn over here. Titus 3, verse
5. It's by God's grace that we have
a good hope of eternal glory. Listen to Titus 3. Titus 3, verses
5-7, listen to it, "...not by works of righteousness which
we've done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the
washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which
he shed on us abundantly, richly, sufficiently through Jesus Christ
our Savior, that being justified by his grace we should be made
heirs according to the of eternal life. Now, I'm telling you this
in closing. Amid all the religious controversies,
amid all the confusion of voices, amid all the customs and traditions,
amid all the conflicts of life, there is a twofold question that
faces all who would know God, love God, and live in And that
twofold question is this, how can a man be just with God? And secondly,
where is that grace found? That's the question. We can go
to seed on any other argument or discussion or have any other
reason for building churches and doing our little thing. But the two-fold question is,
how can man be just with God? And the answer comes back in
Christ. And then the question comes forth, well, how is that
grace found? And the answer comes back, it's
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Well,
please, Lord, give me that gift. I wait before thee. hell-deserving, ill-deserving,
but save me by your grace. Be merciful. I cast myself as
a guilty criminal in the mercy of the court. I wait for the
verdict. Let him go. The ransom is bound. Let us pray.