Inward Grace

Now let's open our Bibles to
the book of Galatians, chapter 5, verse 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. I heard a statement this week
that has caused me to give it a lot of thought and a lot of
personal soul heart searching. One of the speakers at the Bible
conference said this, a man may be as straight as a gun barrel
theologically and just as empty. A man may be as straight as a
gun barrel theologically and just as empty. Our Lord said, you call me Lord
with your lips, but your hearts are far from me. This is the
same thing. He said you're like whited sepulchres
which appear beautiful indeed outwardly, but on the inside
you're full of dead men's bones. I see so many professing Christians
who are unable to experience inwardly what they profess to
believe outwardly, and it bothers me. We must depend upon the Holy
Spirit to reveal Christ. We must depend upon the Holy
Spirit to grant repentance toward God and faith in Christ Jesus. We must depend upon the Holy
Spirit to work the fruits of the Spirit in a person's heart
and in their lives. But are we somewhere failing
to declare the whole counsel? Are we keeping back something
that is profitable in that in our day, in what we call Christian
circles, there is so little of this fruit of the Holy Spirit? I look about me and I see husbands
and wives that cannot get along, both of them professing to be
Christians. They quarrel, they argue, they
speak hatefully to one another. I see parents and children that
cannot get along, children who are disobedient
to parents and parents who are unreasonable with their children.
I see homes breaking up. I see divorces. I see people
who don't speak to one another. I see people who harbor grudges
and hate and inward malice. And that troubles me deeply because
that is not of the Lord. I see people who are careless
in their worship. who absent themselves from the
house of God over the least little thing, to whom the worship of God is
something that's packed on at the end of the week instead of
something that begins the week. Call on a person to perform in
the Paramount Arts Theater and he'll work for a month on it.
Call on him to do something in the house of God, and he may
make some preparation, but most of the time it's just a last-minute
pick-up thing. Give someone a job to do in which
they will receive some honorarium, maybe a good bit of money, they'll
do it well. Give them something to do for
God. or in God's house, or connected
with God's people, and it's something that requires their little effort.
That bothers me. We talk of believing in God's
absolute sovereignty. We believe that all things work
together for good to them who love God, who are called according
to God's purpose. But when I meet you on the street,
you're murmuring and complaining and quarreling and you're unhappy.
Now for a man for whom everything's working together for your good,
you're an awful unhappy fellow. For a person whose life, you
tell me, is controlled by a sovereign father, who whether it be good
or evil, whether it be success or failure, whether it be friend
or foe, everything's working out for your good. But you don't
act that way. You don't impress me at all as
believing it. Is it just lip service? Or do
you really believe that in your heart? Don't you think that if a person
really believed that, that he would be a happy individual?
That he would be rejoicing in the Lord? That in everything
he would give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you? He could say if something happened
that was against his plans, he could say, well, that's the will
of God concerning me, and that's all going to work out for my
good. I wouldn't have done it that way, but my father chose
to do it that way, so praise the Lord. We talk of forgiveness of sin
in Christ. We talk of the peace that passeth
understanding. Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. We talk about the joy that
we have in Christ, but you can search and search and search
and search, and that peace is hard to find. About the only peace that most
church members today get is when they take aspirin, or Bufferin,
or tranquilizers, and then they can get a little peace, a little
rest. Christ said, you come to me, I'll give you rest. He giveth
his beloved sleep. We find little or no joy, little
or no praising the Lord. About the only time we really
praise the Lord is when we're in church and the song leaders
leading us in singing praise the Lord. We talk of victory
in Jesus, victory in Jesus, but we're overcome by the smallest
trifles of daily life. A broken glass will ruin our
day. The failure of a machine, a washer
or a dryer or a vacuum or an automobile Ruin our day. The loss of a dollar. The intrusion
of someone into our plans. We're easily upset. Well, that's a great discrepancy,
wouldn't you say? There's something wrong with
that. One man said one time, don't tell me about your Redeemer
till you begin to act like redeemed people. We talk about the love of God
which is shed abroad in our hearts for the Holy Ghost. And I find
it difficult to believe if that love does not express itself. It's hard for me to believe that
God will put something so great in a person's heart as love and
you never see it. It's not manifested. It's not
manifested toward those who are closest to us. Those who are
dearest to us, or we say they're dearest to us. This is what Paul is talking
about in 1 Corinthians 13, listen to it. Though I speak, in chapter
12 he's been talking about the gifts of the Spirit, the gifts
of healing and the gifts of tongue and the gifts of prophecy and
all of these other things. And then he says in chapter 13
verse 1, if I speak with the tongues of the greatest orator,
even the tongues of angels. And have not love? I'm like a
sounding brass, a clanging gong, or a tinkling cymbal. It's just
hollow sound, there's nothing to it. And though I have the gift of
prophecy, and I understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, and
have not love? I'm nothing. Nothing. This is
that great discrepancy we're talking about. This is that outward
profession and absence of inward grace. This is talking about
the doctrines of grace and sovereign grace and redeeming grace and
knowing nothing about grace operative in the heart. Grace on paper means nothing.
Grace in the heart means everything. Bodily exercise profiteth little. Godliness is profitable in all
things. Real godliness. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and this is a giving church, and I thank
God for every gift. Bless your heart, you're not
going to bow your way into the kingdom of God with your tithes
and offerings. And though I give my body to
be burned, I'll defend the doctrines, I'll fight for the doctrines,
I'll go down professing to believe in sovereign grace, I'll die
for particular redemption, I'll die for sovereignty, I'll die
for perseverance, I'll never recant. Might as well if you
don't have love, because he says it'll profit you nothing. You
go out here and roll up your sleeves and spit on your hands
and fight for the sovereignty of God, and if you have not the
love of Christ in your heart, profit you nothing. You send
missionaries around the world to preach, you give, you take
care of them, but if you have not love, profit you nothing. That's what it says. It's that
great discrepancy, that thing that troubles my soul, straight
as a gun barrel, just as empty. Orthodox as a Pharisee, but just
as empty. Fundamental. We believe in the
verbal inspiration, we believe in the virgin birth, we believe
in the crucifixion, the burial, the resurrection, the second
coming, in all of its aspects, but just as empty as a gourd. Turn to Hebrews 6, verse 1. Scripture
over here, look carefully at it, Hebrews 6, verse 1. I'm going
to read it in the King James, and I'm going to read it in the
Amplified Version, which I think is clearer. Not better, it says
the same thing, but it's clearer. In Hebrews 6, verse 1, Therefore,
leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let's go
on unto perfection. not laying again the foundation
of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. Now
listen to this and to amplify it. Therefore, let us go on and
get past the elementary stage in the teachings and doctrines
of Christ the Messiah. Let us advance Steadily towards
the completeness and growth that belongs to spiritual maturity
Let's move on what does he mean by that well watch this watch
these scriptures now I Am what I am by the grace of God Now
we quote that Paul said that by the grace of God. I am what
I am in other words God chose me. I believe that God Almighty
elected me, I'm not ashamed of that word, it's a scriptural
word. God Almighty put me by His grace in Christ Jesus before
the world began. Almighty God sent His Son to
die for me, He justified me, He called me. Whatever I am,
I am by the grace of God. But here's the question, what
am I? You see, by the grace of God,
I am what I am is the result, but what am I? Is the cause,
but what am I? That's the result. What am I? Am I a person who manifests the
love of my Lord? Am I a person who shows forth
the praises of Him who called me? Am I a son that reveals the
image of the Father who created me in the image of His Son? What
am I? I hear people sometimes quoting
that I am what I am by the grace of God, and I want to say God
didn't do that. Don't you blame that on God. Don't you blame that on God.
God didn't do that. I want to say like Christ said,
you are of your father the devil. That's who you are, and his works
what you do. He was a liar from the beginning,
and you're a liar just like him. God didn't do that. God didn't
make you contrary. God didn't make you hateful.
God didn't make you irritable. God didn't make you do what you're
doing. You're not what you are by the grace of God at all. Isn't
that true? All right, here's the Scripture.
It says, Who maketh thee to differ? Paul's talking about the power
of God, the grace of God in a person's life. Who maketh thee to differ?
But now here's the question. Am I different? Am I different? Who maketh thee
to differ, but am I different? Am I a person who, contrary to
the worldly people, who has peace? Am I a person who has the joy
of God in my heart? Am I a person who is tender and
gentle and kind and merciful and faithful? If you are, God
made you to differ, but maybe we're no different. What hast
thou that thou hast not received? Well, what have I received? Have
I just received some doctrine? Have I just received a position
in theology? Then I know better than the Sadducee
or the Scribe or the Pharisee. They had a position. They had
a theology. They had a doctrine. They had
a foundation. Here's another This is the foundation. We emphasize the latter part.
We love Him because He first loved us. None of us had any
love for God. He loved us first. None of us
chose Him. He chose us. It is not that I
didn't choose thee, Lord, that could not be. If thou hast not
chosen me, I never would have chosen thee. His love is first. But here's the question. Do I
really love Him? This scripture's no good if I
cannot truthfully say I do love him. I love him because he first
loved me. You see, we talk about the foundation
and ignore the results. We talk about who maketh he to
differ, but nobody's different. We say, what have I that I did
not receive? We don't have anything. We talk
about we love him because he first loved us, but we don't
love him. And then this one, listen to
this. Our Lord said, All that my Father giveth me shall come
to me. That's true. That's the foundation.
That's the grace of God. That's so. There's no man going
to come to Christ. No man can come to me except
my Father which sent me draw him. But here's the question. Have I come to him? And him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Have I come to him?
Have I really come to Christ? Turn with me over here to the
book of Titus for a moment. Let's look at another scripture.
Let us go on. Let us leave these elementary
truths. They are the foundation. That
foundation will never be removed. Other foundations can no man
lay than that which is laid in Christ Jesus. But let's go on
to spiritual maturity. Let's start manifesting some
of these things that we claim were given to us in Christ Jesus. And if these things are not there,
then the question has to be posed, were they ever given? Look at
Titus chapter 2. Titus the second chapter, verse
4. Verse 14, He gave Himself for
us. Now we grace people, and that's
exactly what I am. By the grace of God, our message
is He gave Himself for us. I never tire of it. I never tire
of preaching it. That's where we start, and that's
where we live, and that's where we wind it up, at the cross.
where I first saw the light. The burden of my heart rolled
away. It was there by faith I received my sight. And that's the reason
I'm happy all the day. That calvary, what can wash away
my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
That's the foundation. That's the heart of it. That's
the gospel. That's the message. He gave himself
for us. I see that Old Testament priest.
Goes out there and picks two goats. without blemish, without
spot. And he brings one of them and
he slays the goat and puts the blood in a basin and then he
goes under the veil into the Holy of Holies and he puts that
blood on the mercy seat as an atonement. All the people out
there waiting. And he puts that blood on the
mercy seat and then he comes back. And out there in front
of that vast, silent, solemn group of people, he lays his
hand on the head of that scapegoat. And there he confesses the sin
of Israel. He confesses his sins and their
sins. And then the Scripture says,
look out a fit man. And let that fit man take that
goat, called the scapegoat, which is a picture of our Lord, just
like that atonement is a picture of his sacrifice, and the shedding
of his blood, and the application of that blood to the mercy seat,
to cover the law, to put away sin. And here is Christ the scapegoat. And that fit man takes that goat
and starts leading him, and the people begin to open up a path.
Bare, strong, silent, solemn people. And there he leads that
goat on which the sins of Israel had been confessed. He walks
through all of that crowd. They stand there. No one says
anything. What a solemn moment. He leads that goat right out
through that crowd. They watch him. Every eye is
looking that way. He closes back up. There he goes
into the desert. There he goes and he gets smaller
and smaller, the goat and the man. After a while they can't
even see him. He's totally out of sight. Now
out there in the desert all alone is the man and the goat. The
scapegoat. He keeps on leading him farther and farther and deeper
and deeper into the wilderness. Finally comes to a place where
it's viewed by no man, no human eye. He takes the rope off and
turns that goat loose. And then he turns and starts
back towards the camp. And the people are all still
out there waiting. And after a while somebody says,
there he comes. Just a spot on the horizon. And
he comes closer and closer and closer. He's coming back, the
man, the fit man. But the goat's not with him.
The sins are not with him. They're out there in the wilderness.
They're separated as far as the east is from the west. They're
remembered no more. They're cast behind God's back.
They're cast into the depths of the sea. They're separated.
They're no more. To them that look for Him shall
He come the second time without sin unto salvation. Glorious
day! We love that! I love it. That's not all that verse. He
gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and
purify unto himself a peculiar people. That doesn't mean people
that wear their hats backwards and wear some silly little uniform
and beat tambourines and make themselves appear ridiculous
to the world, but a peculiar people, a different people. Let
me show you, it's used over in 1 Peter. Turn over there now,
let's see what these peculiar people, what's peculiar about
them. First Peter, look at it now, chapter 2. First Peter,
chapter 2, verse 9. Here it is. It's talking about
these peculiar people. But, you are a chosen generation. First Peter 2, 9. A royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a peculiar people. That you should show forth the
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light, which in times past you were not a people, but
now you are the people of God. One time you had not obtained
mercy, but now you have obtained mercy. So, dearly beloved, I
beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims and people of God, and
those who have obtained mercy in a peculiar people, abstain
from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, and have your
conversation honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak
against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which
they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. While they behold your chaste
conversation, coupled with fear, whose adorning, let it not be
that outward adorning, plaiting of the hair, wearing of gold,
putting on of a pair, let it be the hidden man of the heart,
and that which is not corruptible, the ornament of a meek and quiet
spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. Verse
7, Ye husband, dwell with your wives according to knowledge,
give honor to your wives. as unto the weaker vessel, as
being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be
not hindered. Finally, be ye all one of one
mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be
pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil and railing for
railing, but contrarywise blessing, knowing, that you are there unto
call, that you should inherit a blessing. For he that will
love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from
evil, and his lips that they speak no guile." This is a peculiar
people. We can't take just part of these
scriptures and say, I rejoice in the cross, but I don't rejoice
in this doctrine of compassion. I rejoice in redemption, but
I don't rejoice in this doctrine of mercy. Turn to 1 Timothy 4, verse 16. 1 Timothy 4, verse 16. Take heed, Paul says to Timothy,
take heed to thyself and to thy doctrine. Take heed to thyself
and to thy doctrine." Now brethren, as a child of God, I've not only
got to examine my doctrine, make sure that I'm on the right foundation,
make sure that I preach the right thing from this pulpit, but I've
got to give diligence and I've got to give some searching to
my own personal prayer life, to my devotional life. to my
study of the Scripture, to my attitude towards trial and trouble,
to my attitude toward you, to my attitude toward people without.
I've got to make sure, I've got to examine my heart, not only
my doctrine, but myself. I've got to make sure that I
speak kindly to people, that I feel kindly toward people.
Like Cecil and I said, Lord, I pray for my enemies. Forgive
me as I forgive others. Show mercy to me as I show mercy
to others. How do I treat my wife? How do
I treat my children? How do I treat my neighbor? How
do I treat people that work for me? How do I treat people who
work with me? How do I treat people in restaurants?
I've seen some Christians who are just so rude to waitresses,
and that to me is not justified with grace. Take heed to yourself
and to your doctrine. Even the paper boy that comes
to your door, or someone else that comes to your door, you
show the courtesy and the compassion and the kindness of your Master. Take heed to yourself. It's not
enough to be orthodox. You can be orthodox and be damned. We need the Spirit of Christ,
and we need to weep over our sins and weep over our impatience
and weep over our intolerance and weep over all these things
that are so contrary to our Lord Jesus Christ. Turn back to Galatians
and I'll close with this, Galatians 5 verse 22. I'm not preaching
down to you, I'm preaching to myself. As I've said so many times here,
I want to know the Lord. I don't want to have a profession
of religion only. I want to know Christ. I want
to grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ. I want to grow in
humility and faith and love and compassion. I want the fruit
of the Holy Spirit because it is sure that I don't know the
Spirit if I don't have the fruit of the Spirit. It says the fruit of the Spirit
is love. Let's look at these words just briefly. I won't tell
you a lot. Love. Love to Christ and love to one
another. Is there somebody you hate? How
can you? How can you really hate anybody? Christ lifted you from the dunghill,
Christ brought you back from enmity, a traitor, a rebel, even
now. His mercy is so great toward
me. How in the world could I hold
any kind of grudge against anybody and claim to know Him who is
love itself? He says joy, joy in God, joy
in Christ, joy in His promises, joy in life, rejoice evermore. joy, peace, peace with God in Christ. That's about as far as we get
with that word, peace. There's therefore now no condemnation
of them who are in Christ, therefore being justified by grace or by
Christ, we have peace with God. And that's about all we're interested
in, that enmity with God being removed. But I'll tell you, that
enmity's not gone if this enmity's not gone. That's so. If there's anybody, if you're
sitting here and there's somebody over here, between you there's
enmity, forget this service, mark it off as a lost one. Until
that sin is confessed, if you know that your brother has ought
against you, Scripture says you leave your gift, don't give,
leave it in your pocket, go and make it right, then come and
give. God won't honor your prayers, God won't honor your gift, God
won't honor your worship, God won't hear you. If I regard iniquity
in my heart, what does it say? God will not hear me. That's
what it says. Well, we'd better do something
about this now. It'd be a shame for a man to
go to hell from one of these pews, wouldn't it? It'd be a
shame. Peace, peace. And it's not this
kind of peace either. There's peace in here. Real,
genuine, honest, sincere peace. Long-suffering. What's that?
That's patience. Patience. Not only patience in
waiting for the redemption of the body, but patience day by
day. Like I said this morning, we
need God's grace not only to preach, we need it to plow. We
need it not only to build buildings, we need it to build haystacks.
We need God's grace not only to walk with God, but to walk
with men. Patience. And oh, when I think what God
puts up with in us, I ought to be able to put up with in somebody
else. Gentleness. Look at that word there, gentleness.
You know what that is? John Gill says that's just plain
old courtesy. Kindness. Tenderness. Tenderness in our dealings with
others. Tenderness in words and gestures and actions. Tenderness. You can be tough and be tender.
You can be dogmatic and be tender. You can believe something and
be tender. It doesn't cost you anything. Goodness, as you would
that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them. Faith,
not in myself, no confidence in the flesh, but in him. I believe
God. My faith will strengthen others.
They'll take courage from my faith. You'd be surprised how
many people follow examples They may never say to you, I'm walking
in your footsteps, I'm following your examples, but they are.
Meekness. Humility. Look on the things
of others, not on myself. Please not myself. These things
go all the way through the word of God. Please not myself. Let conscience be your guide.
Not yours, but the other man's. That's what Scripture says. Look
not on my welfare, but the welfare of others. Brethren, do you know
where happiness is? Happiness is found in making
somebody else happy. That's where real happiness is
found. Temperance, not abusing God's gift. Turn to Matthew 5, and we're
going to close. Matthew chapter 5. Bring my heart into conformity
with my mouth. Make that inward grace of thy
divine spirit, that work of the living God, not only to be a
doctrine of my head, but a real experience of my heart. Teach
me, O God, to love people. Not to force it, not to feign
it, but to really make love as spontaneous as hate used to be.
Make forgiveness as spontaneous as vengeance used to be. Give
me a tenderness of spirit. Not one that's forced, not one
that's put on, not one that's done in order to gain a reward
in heaven. A tenderness like the tenderness
of my Lord, who looked down and said, Father, forgive them. They
don't know what they're doing. David walked out one day after
Absalom had tried to take his throne away from him. Some fellow
standing there cursing him, and one of his servants said, I'll
cut his head off. David said, leave him alone. Leave him alone. God sent him. God sent him. I'll give thanks to God even
for the cursing of people. Matthew 5, blessed, verse 3,
blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn, they shall be comforted. Blessed
are the meek, they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they that
hunger and thirst after righteousness, and that's not just imputed righteousness,
that is true righteousness imparted. They shall be filled. We can
seek these things, we can pray for them. Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart,
they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers,
they shall be called the children of God. And blessed are they
which are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall
revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against
you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad,
for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you." I hope God will take this message
tonight that I feel that he has led me to preach and do something
for me personally. Something out of the ordinary.
Change my life. Change my thought. Change my
attitude. Make me more like Christ. Let
me grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep
my feet planted on the rock Christ Jesus. There's no other place
to stand. Keep my eye looking to the cross where he shed his
blood. Keep my hand reaching up toward
him and searching and seeking for him and panting after him
like the deer for the water brook. But oh God help me also to reach
out here and out yonder and out yonder with my heart to embrace
my wife and my children and my friends and my loved ones and
my neighbors and to love them for Christ's sake. Pray for them. Keep my mouth shut. Cease to
be critical, unkind, but to have the compassion and the mercy
of my Lord. Oh, to be like Jesus. To be like
Jesus. All I ask is to be like him.
All through life's journey, from earth to glory, all I ask is
to be like him. Our Father in Heaven, we Look
to thee for thy grace and thy mercy. Only in Christ do we live. Only in Christ are we forgiven.
Only in Christ do we find mercy. Lord, what we ask for ourselves,
grant that we may give it to others, that we may let them
live, that we may show mercy to them, forgiveness to them. that we may show forth the grace
of our living Lord, of which we have partaken. Help me, Lord. Send a revival,
and let it begin in me. Send the mighty work of Thy Spirit
in manifesting the beautiful fruit of Thy glory, and let it
begin in the pastor, in the deacons, in the elders, and all the people
of this church. Blessed be the tie that binds
our hearts in Christian love. In Christ's name we pray and
for his sake. Amen. Why don't you come lead
us in a hymn? Let's sing 166. 166. Next stand, please. Search me, O God, and know my
heart today. Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts,
I pray. Let there be some wicked way
in me. Cleanse me from every sin and
set me free.

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