Do you know what we mean by the
attributes of God? Most of us, unfortunately, grew
up and our church life consisted
of playing softball or basketball in church leagues and trying
to see how big a Sunday school that we could get together and
marking records and having socials and listening to evangelists
try to get folks to join the church. And we weren't taught these things,
imputed righteousness and justification and sanctification and the attributes
of God, the glory of God in redemption. We weren't taught those things,
but a simple definition of the attributes of God, and many things
have been written on this subject. One of Arthur Pink's greatest
works is on the, and is almost must reading for everyone, is
entitled The Attributes of God. The attributes of God, simply
stated, is the character of God. The character of God, the characteristics
or qualities which belong only to God. the character of God
or the characteristics or qualities that belong only to God. For
example, listen to these scriptures. The heavens declare the glory
of God, His attribute of glory. The heavens declare to us, preach
to us. Their voice is heard in every
language. The heavens declare the glory of God. And then this,
in wisdom, O Lord, Thou hast made the world. in wisdom thou
hast made the world. Wisdom is a quality which belongs
only to God. Real wisdom. True wisdom. The eyes of the Lord, omniscience,
the eyes of the Lord are in every place. God is omnipresent. He's in every place. And then
the name of the Lord enduring forever. He's eternal. He's without
beginning or ending. The Lord is eternal. The name
of the Lord endureth forever. The Lord is omniscient. He knows,
known under God are all his works from the beginning. And then
our God is in the heavens. He's omnipotent. He hath done
whatsoever he hath pleased. The heathen said, David, where
is your God? Our God is down here in the particular
shrine. Our God is over here in the high
places, in the groves, which we have built for him. Where's
your God, David? Where's your God? David said,
Our God's in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He pleased. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
David said, that did He in heaven, earth, in the seas, and all deep
places. Our God is in the heavens. He's
omnipotent. And then the cherubims and seraphims
cried, holy, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. He's
holy. That's a quality that belongs only to God. Justice, listen
to this, justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne,
O God. Justice, pure, immaculate justice
and judgment. True judgment. Shall not the
judge of the earth do right? Mercy and truth go before thy
face. God is love. He that loveth not
knoweth not God, for God is love. And really, most of the Scripture
is dedicated to declare who God is. Who God is. And wise men long to know the
true and living God. If you'll turn to John 17, I
want to show you a scripture. The scripture is dedicated to
declaring who God is. Who is God? And wise men long
to know, not a God, any God, some God, but the true and living
God. You thought I was altogether
such a one as yourself, he said. Oh, you've got your ideas about
God. But my thoughts are not your thoughts, he said. My ways
are not your ways. There's a way that seemeth right
to man. The end is death and destruction. And our Lord said
in John 17 3, and this is life eternal, John
17 3, that they might know thee the only true God. Know the only
true God, David said, as the deer panteth for the water brooks,
thirsty. weary, hot and dry. He panteth for the clear, crystal,
clean water brooks. So panteth my soul in a dry and
thirsty land for thee, the living God." I've got to know God, for
to know God's eternal life. And the only way I can know God
is to know God in the character of God, in the characteristics
of God, in the qualities that belong only to God. I hear preachers trying to introduce
me to a God, but His qualities and characteristics are not the
same as the God of the Bible. That's the reason Paul cried,
O that I may know Him, that I may win Christ and be found in Him,
whom to know is life eternal. Nowhere are the attributes of
God Remember what I said about the attributes of God. Nowhere
are the attributes of God, His glory, His wisdom, His eternality,
His deity, His love, His justice, His truth, His mercy, His righteousness,
nowhere are the attributes of God seen. Quite like they are
revealed in the way that God saves sinners. in the grace of
God through Christ for sinners. The wisdom of God plans salvation. The love of God sent His beloved
Son. The holiness of God is revealed
in His obedience to the law. The justice of God is revealed
in the death on Calvary. It pleased God to bruise him.
The power of God raised him from the grave. The holiness of God
accepted him and his righteousness. The immutability of God keeps
his covenant promises. All of the particular qualities
that belong to God, the characteristics that are his only, are revealed
in the gospel of his grace. But the chief and the foundation
and fountainhead and the chief source of all of God's mercy
through Christ is his grace and love for sinners. And that's
what I'm reading here in Ephesians 2, verse 8, by grace are you
saved. We see in the redemption of Christ
the wisdom of God, the power of God, the truth of God, the
justice of God, the glory of God, all of these things. But
the chief, the chief fountainhead and foundation is the grace of
God, infinite grace. For by grace are you saved, infinite
grace, sovereign grace. Marvelous grace, amazing grace,
how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was
lost, dead, blind, walking according to the course of this world,
according to the prints of the pile of air, fulfilling the lust
of the flesh and the will of the mind and the flesh, by nature
a child of wrath. I once was lost, but now I am
found. I was blind, blind to the mysteries
of grace, blind to the glory of Christ, blind to my own sinful
heart, blind, but now I see it. It was grace that taught my heart
to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did His grace appear
the hour I first believed! By grace! Amazing, infinite,
marvelous, sovereign grace! It's grace that found us. Look
back here at Ephesians chapter 2, verse 4. In chapter 2, the apostle talks
about what we were. What we were. We were by nature. We were dead in sin. We were
dead in sin. We were by nature children of
wrath. But God, but God, God made the difference. God in his
mercy, God is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved
us. We didn't love him, he loved us. And he loved us even when
we were dead, even when we were enemies, even when we were by
nature children of wrath. And he quickened us with Christ
and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly
places in Christ. Watch this now, that in the ages
to come he might show off the trophies of his grace. He's going
to show us off. He's going to hold us up before
the angels. He's going to hold us up before
all the redeemed. He's going to hold us up before
all the universe. And He's going to say, look,
trophies of my grace! Trophies of my grace. He's going
to show the exceeding riches of His grace. He's going to show
us off throughout eternity. I can't, to save my life, find
anywhere in the Bible where it's taught that he's going to point
to us and say, he faithfully served me. I want everybody to
gather around him and pat him on the back and put another crown
on his head. He faithfully supported my kingdom. He faithfully won
souls to Jesus. He stayed true to the cross.
No, He's going to show the exceeding riches of His grace toward us. Not our works to Him and our
goodness to others, but His grace in lifting us from the dunghill
and making us princes and king, in lifting us from darkness and
translating us into the kingdom of light, the kingdom of His
dear Son, in lifting us from the grave. and making us to live. It's His grace that did all that.
Let me show you that in the Scripture. Now listen to me. Let me run
through this quickly. First of all, our election is of grace.
There's no reason for anybody to get frightened by the word
election. It's a Bible word. You find it
time and time and time again in God's Word. You find the word
election a whole lot more times than you find you must be born
again. You find the word election over
and over again in the Bible. You find it more than you find
many of the things that people hold so dear. But our election
is of grace. It says in Romans 11, 5, there
is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if it
is by grace, it is not of works. I didn't choose him. He chose
me. That's what Christ said. I didn't
choose him. He chose me. When did he choose
me? It says before the foundation of the world. It says, in the
beginning, God hath chosen you to salvation. God chose me. I
didn't choose Him. He loved me. I didn't love Him.
He sought me. I didn't seek Him. Our love is
a response to His. Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that He loved us. How long has God loved us? Well,
God has loved us with an everlasting love, He said. God never changes.
He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. If God loves a man
now, He loved him then. before the children were born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand, it was said to Rebekah,
Jacob have a love, but Esau have I hated." God never changes. We hear that song, He never changes. Some of the rankest Arminians
in the world saying, He never changes, He's always the same.
Well now, wait a minute. He never changes? Jesus Christ
the same yesterday, today, and forever? Then if He loves me
today, See, so he always has loved me. If he's going to crown
me in glory, he intended to crown me before the world began. He
declares the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things
that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand. I will
do my pleasure. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. My election is by grace. You say, why did he choose you?
Because of his grace. That's the only reason I can
give. by His grace. And then our calling is of grace.
Listen to 2 Timothy 1.9. He hath saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His purpose and grace. It was grace that chose me. God
didn't look down through the years and see what I would do.
He knew what I'd do. He knew I'd continue in sin and
continue in darkness and continue in rebellion if He didn't disturb
me and quicken me and awaken me and call me. And He did call
me. He was pleased to call you and
call me by His grace. Our justification is by grace.
Romans 3.24 says, being freely justified by His grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Our hope is through His
grace. 2 Thessalonians 2.16, He hath
given us a good hope through grace. Our prayers go to a throne
of grace. Don't they? That's what it says. Come boldly before the throne
of grace. You don't want to come to a throne
of justice. If you come to a throne of justice this morning, seeking
justice, God's going to point out what you thought a few minutes
ago. Say, here, boy, hold on now. Hold on. You're not welcome
here, because nothing can come in here that worketh or maketh
a lie. You're not welcome here. Your thoughts are perverted,
twisted, warped, sinful. Your imagination is corrupt,
filthy, sinful. You can't come in here. You come
in here on your own merit. You can't come. But if you come
through Christ by grace, you can come. That's right. You can
come in Christ's righteousness. You can come through his grace.
Our prayers go to the throne of grace, our trials. Paul said,
Lord, take this thorn away from me, this thorn in my flesh. God
said, My grace is sufficient for you. Our trials are relieved
by sufficient grace. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. Brethren, let me tell you something. From eternity past, back yonder
before the Morning stars sang together, back yonder before
the sons of God shouted for joy, back yonder before the seraphims
and cherubims sang in glory, back yonder before the angels
ever moved through space, back yonder before God laid the foundations
of this world, back yonder before God Almighty ever said, let us
make man. God Almighty set His heart and
His affection and His love upon a people in Christ. And by His
grace, He gave them to Christ. And from that time, all the way
through the creation of this world and the devastation of
this world and the creation of man and the fall of man, and
all the way through the promises and types and pictures and symbols
of the Old Testament to the coming of God's glorious Son through
the Virgin's womb and His perfect obedience and righteousness in
rejection and death on Calvary and burial and resurrection.
To the day I was born and lived in sin and God called me by His
grace and made me a child of His, to the day I die and they
bury me and Christ raises me from the grave, and the angel
says, let time be no more, and with Christ I reign forever,
being made in His likeness. Every bit of that is by His grace. All the way from eternity past
to eternity future. runs that golden, unbroken thread
of the grace of God through the whole life and history of every
believer. There is no point from the day
God set His love upon me to the day God crowns me, there's no
point at any time that I depend on myself and my works. There's
no time anywhere between eternity past and eternity future. There's
no point in the life of any redeemed man that he cannot say, it's
grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home. At no time do I make any contribution
to that salvation. That's right. If it's of grace,
it's not of works. If it's of works, it's not of
grace. If there's any time between the day God sets his affections
upon a people and the day he sets his approval upon them,
if there's any time, God has to stand back and wait for anything
done by that sinner. It's not grace. It's not grace. I don't care if you pay a nickel
or a dime. I don't care if you take one
step or lift one little finger or wiggle one little pinky. If
it's anything the sinner contributes in any way to the redemption
of his soul, it's not grace, it's not a gift. By grace, by
grace are you saved. And the Apostle sounds that note
loud and clear. Now let me tell you something.
While you're saying that, O preacher, I'm saying all that to make three
statements. This kind of salvation by grace,
for by grace are you saved. I'm saying that so that I can
say three things. This kind of salvation gives
hope to a sinner. I'm talking about a real sinner.
I'm not talking about you play-like sinners. I'm not talking about
you religious sinners. I'm not talking about you pretty
good sinners. I'm not talking about you not-so-bad sinners.
I'm talking about this kind of salvation gives hope to a real,
bona fide, genuine sinner. A man who's described in these
first three verses, dead in trespasses and sin. Not wounded, not sick,
dead. And dead means without God, without
life, without Christ, without hope, without strength. Huh?
That's what dead means. They don't put folks out there
in Rose Hill till they're dead. But once they put them out there,
you can come on home. Now, you can stay down at the
hospital with your loved ones. And you can stay by the bedside
at home, but when you put them out yonder at Rose Hill, come
on home, there ain't no hope. They're dead. That's the kind
of sinner I'm talking about, Richard. Dead. Dead. Not play-like
sinner. Dead. And I'm talking about sinners
who walk according to the course of this world and know it, who
have their behavior in the lust of the flesh, in the will and
desires of the flesh, and you know what we are by nature. You
know what we are by nature, by birth, by practice, by choice.
But I got hope, hope for that kind of man or woman. I got hope
if salvation's all of God and all of grace, then there's hope
for a genuine, bona fide, unadulterated, self-confessed, unadorned sinner. Huh? There's hope. The Christ
died for sinners. And the second thing we want
to talk about Yes, salvation by grace gives hope to a sinner.
It gives directions to a sinner. Directions. And then thirdly,
it gives assurance. Now let's look at these briefly.
First of all, salvation, all of grace. I want you to understand
what I mean by that. I don't mean the kind of grace
you're hearing preached today, that God's done all He can do
and that's up to you. I don't mean the kind of grace that says
you take the first step and God will meet you halfway. If I can
take the first step, I don't need God. If a dead man can take
the first step, he's alive, John. He doesn't need anybody to give
him life. He's already got life. Catholics had an old tradition
years ago about St. Dennis. Somebody cut his head
off and he walked ten steps. The fellow said, I don't have
any problem with that. I believe he could take ten steps or a
thousand steps or a million steps. I want to know how he took that
first step. If you tell me how he took that first step, I believe
he took ten. People that are dead don't take
steps. They have no concern, they have no desire, they have
no response. We're dead. I got hope. Salvation by grace is that God
has quickened, God has called, God has regenerated, God has
justified, and God has kept us by his power through faith. And
he presents us. And He raises our bodies, all
right? If salvation is all of grace and not of works, then
not one person here, not one person, not one person here needs
to despair. Not one person here needs to
say, well, I can't be saved. It's impossible for me to be
saved. Why is it impossible for you to be saved? I'm such a great
sinner. Now wait a minute. Salvation by works is for those
who earn it. Salvation by grace is for those
who need it. Now come on. I'm not preaching salvation by
works. Salvation by works is for those that earn it. And you
know what the law says? Tell me, you that desire to be
under the law. Do you hear the law? What does the law demand
of those who work for salvation? It demands perfection. What kind
of perfection? Perfect is Christ. is only one
righteousness our God's accepted and pleased with and approved
of, and that's Christ's righteousness. Perfect. Now, if you're going
to come that route, if you're going to come to salvation, if
you're going to come to God by your works, by your good works,
by your good deeds, they've got to be as holy as Christ in birth,
thought, and deed. But if it's all of grace, then
our sins do not prevent our salvation. If salvation is all of grace,
you see what I'm saying? If salvation is all of God and
all of grace and all of Christ and all of his blood, then my
sins do not prevent my salvation. He says, though your sin be as
scarlet, I'll make them white as snow. He says the blood of
Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. He said where sin did
overflow, grace did much more overflow. Let not conscience
make you linger, nor a fitness fondly dream. All the fitness
Christ required is to feel your need of him. Who came to him
when he was on the earth? Helpless people. Whom did he
help? Helpless people. Whom did he
condemn? Religious people. He called the
Pharisees a generation of vipers and hypocrites. He knelt down
beside the harlots and the publicans. and the sinners. And that much
a religious people said, look at him, he's gone to be the guest
of a man that's a sinner. Christ said, the well don't need
a doctor, sick people need doctors. I've come not to call you righteous,
but sinners to repentance. You go learn what that means.
And when you learn what it means, then there's hope for the sinner,
a genuine bona fide sinner. Our Lord died for sinners. all
sorts of sinners, sinners without qualification. Let me tell you
something else here. If salvation is all of grace,
my sins do not prevent my salvation. Secondly, if salvation is all
of grace, now stay with me, I know what I'm talking about, then
one great sin will not prevent my salvation. One great sin. One principal sin. You know,
I tell you this from experience, usually when people start thinking
about their relationship with God. Usually when people start
thinking about their relationship with God, usually when people
start thinking about salvation, usually when they start thinking
about being redeemed, one great primary principle, sin, comes
to mind. There's a divorce, a dirty, scandalous
divorce. And you think about it, I can't
be saved. Because I knew a young woman back years ago that had
an abortion when she was about 16. And every time you start
talking to her about Christ, that's what she'd talk about.
No hope for me. Perhaps a murder. I had a fellow
sit in my study who killed his wife. Shot her with a shotgun. He served time in prison. And
he asked me, you reckon God had saved me? I said, well, he saved
sinners. He said, but I shot my wife.
See, one, that's why I know what I'm talking about. I know that
people, an occupation, perhaps you were in an occupation that
was a dirty occupation. You cheated people. And you say,
well, God won't save me. Because every time I think of
God, every time I think of Christ, every time I think of heaven,
every time I think of hell, I think of that sin, that failure. Let me tell you something good.
Jacob found grace and he cheated everybody. But Cecil, he didn't
keep on cheating them after he met God. That's the difference.
You see, when they brought that woman down in adultery, she had
five husbands. She was living with a man who
wasn't her husband. And Christ said to her, go and sin no more.
And the harlot, go and sin no more. Now, he wasn't telling
that individual, you'll never commit another sin. He was saying,
that one has got to be fixed up. You don't go. God will save a harlot, but she's
not going to be in the same business next week after she meets God.
God'll save a man that's been a crook, but he's not going to
keep on being a crook. God'll save a man that's murdered
somebody, but he's going to go out of the murdering business.
You see what I'm saying? David found grace and he murdered
his best friend. Rahab found grace and she was
a prostitute. Peter found grace, he denied
he knew Christ. The thief found grace on the
cross and he was dying under capital crime. Paul found grace
and he killed Christians. Your infirmity may keep you from
the fellowship of the self-righteous, but not from God. Huh? I know churches that won't ordain
a man to be a deacon who's been divorced, but they'll ordain
a man to be a deacon who's been the biggest crook in town, and
some of them still are. That's silly. That's denying
the grace of God. Now, your great sin, that thing
that happened to you back when you were a young girl, you made
a mistake when you were 15 or 16 years old. That may keep you
from the fellowship of these hypocrites, but not from the
fellowship of God, or his Son, or his people. His people will
love you. They'll love you best of all,
because they love people that are sinners. They know what they
are. No, if salvation is all of grace. Now, if it's of works,
the works gang can't offer you any hope. If your life's been
a mess and your life's been messed up, the works people can't help
you. Don't go to them. You can't help yourself and they
can't help you. But God's grace can cleanse you and make you
as white as snow. Watch this. If salvation is all
of grace, If it's all of grace and no man makes any contribution
to it, then my length of service in sin is no barrier to my salvation. Now, I know what these churches
are operating on today. Get them while they're juniors
or primaries, because if you don't get them then, you won't
ever get them. That's right. That's right. They'll be too smart after
a while to fall for your foolish plans and recipes. They'll be
too smart to go for that raise-your-hand-and-go-to-heaven-when-you-die. They'll be too smart to fall
for that, shake the preacher's hand, meet us in the promised
land. They'll be too smart to fall for that foolishness, if
you give God something, he'll give you something in return.
But I'll tell you this, mercy can forgive ten thousand sins
as well as one. Mercy can save a man seventy-five
as well as one sepon. Come to Christ when you hear
the gospel! I don't care if you're hanging
on a cross! In the eleventh hour of life, or you're a little fair-haired
child with a filthy heart, you come on to Christ. Whenever you
hear the gospel, some of you have never heard it up till this
time, but when you hear it, you run to Christ. You flee to the
refuge when you hear it. When you recognize the danger,
when you recognize your inability, when you recognize your need,
when you recognize your nakedness, flee to Christ. When you get
thirsty, you'll drink. When you get hungry, you'll come
to the table. When you get weary and heavy laden and you can't
lift that burden, you'll come to him who can. And you're not
coming until you come to that place. Nobody's ever been saved
until he's been lost. If it's all of grace, listen
to me, if it's all of grace, then the depravity of my nature
right now does not hinder my acceptance. Brethren, I know
this doesn't sit well with some people, but I'm going to say
it anyhow because it's the truth. God saves sinners, and people
who are saved are still sinners. Now, that's a fact. You don't
go a day in your life that you don't sin. And I know we've catalogued
sin. We've made sin to be this, that,
or the other. But sin is a nature, it's a principle,
it's a root. When God called me, I was all
sin. I had an evil nature, a wicked
nature, a nature that loved darkness and hated light, that loved sin
and hated holiness, that loved myself and hated God. And when
He saved us, that was the flesh. We were born of the flesh. We
had a fleshly nature. But when He saves us, He gives
us a new nature, the nature of Christ, a holy nature, a divine
nature. That's the new birth, born of
the Spirit, born of the Word. And now that a man is saved,
he has two natures. That's so. Turn to Galatians,
if you will, chapter 5. You wonder, you say, Brother
May, I believe on Christ. I trust Christ. Christ is my
Lord and Savior. He's my only hope. I want to
be holy, I want to tell the truth all the time, I want to think
pure thoughts, I want to do good deeds, I want to understand the
Word, I want to walk with God in holiness, but I have a struggle
and a conflict and temptation, and I fail and fumble and fall. Join the crowd. Join the crowd. Everybody that's heaven-bound
and heaven-bent has that same problem. Every man that's truthful
in his heart and truthful to himself and truthful to God and
truthful to others has the same power. He said, if you say you
have no sin, you're a liar and the truth's not in you. If you
say you have not sin, you make God a liar. But now look at verse
16, Galatians 5. He says, This I say to you. Paul
says, Walk in the Spirit. Walk in the Spirit. That is,
walk in the Word. Walk in the fellowship of believers.
Walk in the fellowship of God. Walk in the fellowship of His
Spirit. And you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh if you
walk in the Spirit, if you walk in the atmosphere of godliness
and righteousness. Now, you know, here you are here
this morning, and we've got our Bibles open. You're sitting next
to your wife and your children around you and your friends,
and we've sung beautiful hymns and we've praised God and we've
prayed and we've given our gifts to be used for preaching the
gospel. And you feel a joy, don't you? You're around that crowd, and
the social crowd, and the political crowd, and the atmosphere, and
you're away from the scriptures, and away from prayer, and away
from the church, and away from the people of God, and that influence
drags on you and pulls on you. We'll read that next verse. Here's
what's going on. The flesh lusteth against the
Spirit, makes war on the Spirit. It tries to pull the spirit down,
the flesh. Now, let me tell you something.
I don't care if you are saved. There are still things that appeal
to you that you wish didn't. That's right. There are still
things that appeal to you, the material things of this world,
the lustful things of this world, the competitive things of this
world, the pleasures of this world. There's pleasure in sin,
if it is just for a season, but let's don't deny it. And that's
the flesh. Lusting against the Spirit, but
the Spirit also lusts against the flesh, or makes war on the
flesh. Thank God for that. Thank God for that. And these
are contrary one to the other. So you cannot do the things that
you would. Let me tell you something. What
does that mean, you cannot do the things you would? It means
that you get up in the morning, you say, now today, I'm not going
to think one bad thought, I'm not going to say one bad word,
I'm not going to do one, I'm going to be nice to everybody,
I'm going to pray all day, I'm going to read three chapters
in the Bible, and I'm going to witness, and this is going to
be a good day. No, I've got news for you. I've got news for you. You can't do it. You can't do
it. Why? The flesh won't let you. But here you get mad. And you
say, I'm just going down there and I'm going to give him a piece
of my mind. I'm going to tell him what for and where to go. No, you're not. God won't let
you do that. That flesh gets mad. That flesh
gets all upset. And you say, I'm not going to
speak to him ever again. Put him out. No, you're going
to speak to him. You can't do that. Not if you're
a child of God. You see what I mean? You can't
do it. Neither one of those, neither one of those natures
is going to dispose of the other one until Christ comes. And then we're going to dispose
of that old fleshly nature. God's going to get rid of him.
That body of sin, that man of sin, that principle of sin, when
he puts my body in the grave and raises my soul, he's going
to leave that flesh there. Leave it there. I'll be glad,
won't you? But I know this, and this is
what I'm saying, is salvation's all of grace. Now wait a minute,
friend. If salvation's of works, you ain't got a prayer. That's
right. Not a prayer. If salvation's
by goodness, you're not good enough. If salvation is by holiness,
you're not holy enough. If salvation is by faith, your
faith is not strong enough. And what are you going to do
when your faith, when you get hardening of the arteries and
you can't remember faith? Huh? What are you going to do
then? It's going to have to be somebody else's faith, isn't
it? And it is. It's Christ's faith. It's Christ's
faith. If salvation is all of grace,
if what I'm preaching is so, and I'm convinced it is, that
from past to future, it's all of grace, then there's hope for
a real sinner. And there's hope for that little
girl or that man or that woman or that grandmother or grandfather
that's made that horrible principal error. My God can forgive all
sin. He delights to show mercy. Some
of those who claim to know Him don't, but He does. He delights
to show mercy. He's the light. And my link,
you say, but I've been in sin so long. But it's time you turn
to Christ then, isn't it? But I'm going to be in grace
a whole lot longer than I was in sin. I'm going to be in grace
eternally. And what's five years or ten
years or twenty years? That's a thousand years of the
day with the Lord. And if it be all of grace, then
the depravity of my nature has nothing to do with my being kept. Now watch this. Secondly, and
I'm going to go quickly with this. But salvation, all of grace,
gives directions to sinners. It's not pay, it's plead for
mercy. That's right. It's not pay. Our
Lord's not selling heaven. He's not selling salvation, He's
giving it. That publican said, Lord, I thank
you, I tithe and give alms. The publican said, just be merciful
to me, a sinner. That's paying and pleading. The
pleading was justified. It's not labor, it's look to
Christ. It's not render my merit, but receive him in his righteousness. It's not come to an ordinance,
or come to an altar, or come to a priest, or come to a preacher.
It's come to Christ. Come to Christ. Salvation's not
down here. Salvation's not in there. Salvation's
not in the bread and wine. Salvation's in Christ. He obeyed
the law for me. He died on the cross for me.
He ascended to the Father where he prays for us. And my salvation
is in what he did, who he is, where he is, what he does. It's
all in Christ. He fulfilled it. Well, you say,
what's your motivation then for living a righteous life? Love
is the motive. What's your motivation for nursing
your children, mothers? Why do you put up with that?
You love them. What's your motivation for washing
clothes and ironing and cooking some meals? That's a pretty hard
job. What's your motivation? You're not going to get any reward
for it. Most of the time your family don't even say thank you.
Why do you do it? You love them. Huh? Daddy, what's
your motivation when the alarm goes off at 5.30 in the morning?
Why don't you just lie there? Boy, on that job, why do you
want to go out there and work and labor and sweat and get your
hands dirty and listen to all that junk you have to listen
to and take all that abuse you take and put up with what you
put up with and send half of it to the government and try
to meet your bills and buy your children bicycles? Why do you
put up with that back-breaking labor, huh? Nobody's making you?
You love them, huh? Well, now, you tell me that that
I can be motivated by carnal love to serve people, and it
takes something else to motivate me to serve God, my? Huh? You've got to give me a list
of rules, ten commandments, or something like that, and threaten
to whip me if I don't mind Him, and threaten to send me to hell
if I don't serve God. You mean that's... Oh, come on,
you don't know anything about the gospel. You ain't come learning,
you say you ain't wittin' spittin' distance of it. The motivation
for a believer is love for God, love for Christ, gratitude for
his grace. I love him. Do you love me, Peter? Lord, you know I love you. Then
you feed my sheep. That's all the motivation you
need. That's all the pressure you need. Do you love me? then
down across upside down for me. Okay. You love me? Paul, go to prison and suffer
and be stoned and shipwrecked, beaten with rods. What are you
doing that for, Paul? I love him. I love his Word. That's all you need. That's all
you need. Last of all, salvation, all of
grace. If it's all of grace, it gives
assurance to folks like me. The only assurance I've got is
no way that any creature on this earth can find any confidence
or assurance in his works. Because, brother, it comes back
to you, which works? How many works? How long shall
I work? What if I stop working? Now,
that's right. But I'll tell you this, if it's
in Christ, I can say he's done it all. He's paid it all. He's satisfied it all. He kept
it all. He honored it all. I'm already
justified and already risen and already, it says, seated with
Christ. All of my works are mixed with self anyway. Now, that's
true. There's nobody here that's ever done a perfect work. Never
have. I'm sorry. You never have, you
never will, as long as you're on this earth, because every
work you do, every prayer you pray has got a little self in
it. Every gift you've ever given, come on now, got a little bit
of self in it. Every kind deed you've ever performed,
got a little self in it. Yes, sir, and having a little
self, it's got a little sin in it, but the works of Christ are
perfect. Perfect works. We're His workmanship. So we bow before His throne,
and salvation's all of grace. It's a free gift. It's not of
works. I don't have one thing to boast of. Not one thing. And you just tell all these little
silly religious pious folks out here bragging about how good
they are and how righteous they are and how God depends on them,
how they're serving the Lord, you just tell them it's all of
grace. All of grace. Every gift, every mercy, it's
all of grace. It's all of Christ. We don't
have anything. We got something to boast of, God forbid, that
I should glory save in the cross. Our glory in His cross. Now,
if that message has given you a little help, a little hope,
let somebody know about it. I believe you will. If you want
to confess Christ in baptism, we'll run the water and we'll
rejoice with you. If you want to declare Christ
as your Lord, then we'll rejoice with you. But let me tell you
this. is all of grace, and that gives hope to a sinner. I'm looking
for sinners. Looking for sinners. They're
hard to find. They're hard to find. But when
I find one, I'm going to tell him, this Christ died for you,
because it says Christ died for sinners. And that gives hope. That gives direction. Well, a
sinner says, what shall I do, preacher? Look to Christ. Just
look to Christ. Four-letter word, and two of
them just alive, the other devil located. Just look to Christ.
Not do. It's done. It's done. Look to Christ.