Man's Sin and God's Grace

Q: What does the Bible say about man's sin?

The Bible describes man's sin as exceeding even that of Sodom and Gomorrah, emphasizing the depth of human depravity. The Bible articulates man's sin in stark terms, with passages like Ezekiel 16 highlighting the severity and complexity of human rebellion against God. God presents our sins vividly, declaring they surpass those of Sodom and Gomorrah. This undeniable truth reminds us that our sins are not merely mistakes; they embody a profound separation from God, revealing our deep need for grace. The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins, guiding us to a true recognition of our state before a holy God. The Apostle Paul echoes this sentiment, stating in Romans that he had not known sin except through the law, indicating that awareness of our sinfulness is essential for understanding our need for a Savior.

Q: How do we know God's grace is sufficient?

God's grace is displayed supremely in Christ's death for sinners, proving its sufficiency for our salvation. The sufficiency of God's grace is beautifully illustrated in the way He reaches out to sinners, as seen in Ezekiel 16 where He promises to establish His covenant with us despite our failures. This grace is not a mere concept but a reality exemplified in the sacrificial love of Christ. Romans 5 explains that while we were still sinning, Christ died for the ungodly, showcasing the magnitude of grace offered to those utterly unworthy. The understanding of grace deepens as one recognizes their own sinful state and need for redemption. When we grasp the depths of our depravity, we can appreciate how the grace of God exceeds our sin, providing not just pardon but reconciliation and acceptance in Christ, thus affirming its sufficiency for our lives.

Q: Why is understanding sin and grace important for Christians?

Understanding sin and grace is crucial for grasping our need for salvation and the reality of God's love. For Christians, the concepts of sin and grace are foundational. Recognizing the reality of our sin helps bring us to repentance, as it's only when we see ourselves as we truly are—rebels in need of mercy—that we can appreciate the depth of God's grace. The sermon emphasizes the need to view oneself in light of God's holiness and to embrace the conviction brought by the Holy Spirit. Without an accurate understanding of sin, the grace offered through Christ seems diminished. Conversely, the clearer our understanding of our sinfulness, the brighter the grace of God shines. It brings about a humble appreciation of the mercy received, fostering a deepening relationship with Him and motivating our walk in faith.

There are two breathtaking subjects
dealt with, man's sin and God's grace. God deals with our sin,
and in dealing with the sin of Israel, he's dealing with our
sins. He deals with our sins in the
strongest language. In fact, actually, I had rather
just not read this chapter in a public gathering. I suggest
you read it alone in your own private devotions. God represents
our sins as being equal with that of Sodom and Gomorrah. We
talk about those wicked, wicked cities of the plain, and yet
God said your sins have exceeded your sister Sodom and her sisters
Gomorrah and others. He draws the plainest pictures
of our lust and our envy and our covetousness and our jealousy
and our hatred and our malice and our rebellion. Charles Spurgeon
in writing on this chapter said this, it's the Holy Spirit's
work to convict us of our sins. And when the Holy Spirit takes
a plain chapter like this one and puts us through it, verse
by verse, and makes us eat the bitter herbs which each verse
contains, and makes us feel that we're drinking the water into
which the dust of our idols have been cast and ground up, like
the golden calf of Israel. The Holy Spirit makes us to feel,
we who are honest, willing to face our sins, he makes us to
feel the grit between our teeth in every drop. Believe me, my
dear friends, it's a lesson which, if learned well, will never be
forgotten. A man's never been saved who's
never been lost. We will never know sin until
the Holy Spirit reveals it. Paul said that. I had never known
sin, except the law said, Thou shalt not covet. By the law is
the knowledge of sin. Have you ever really come to
see yourself a sinner? All who came to Christ and received
mercy came as sinners, sinners. Our Lord's kindest words were
always for the guilty. Our Lord's strongest rebukes
were always for the righteous, for the religious. And we'll
never know sin. We'll never know sin until the Holy Spirit reveals
it. And we'll never grieve over sin
in a proper fashion until it becomes exceeding sinful. Exceeding
sinful. Now, you're not going to grieve
over sin as long as you look upon it with an indifferent,
careless attitude. You're going to have to see it
exceeding sinful. And then you'll be able to weep
over it and grieve over it and mourn over it and will never
repent. We'll never repent of desolation until our sins, our
personal sin, not the sins of America, our personal sin, not
the sins of the world, Not the sins of the wicked. I'll never,
never repent unto salvation until I can see that my sins are personal
rebellion against God Almighty. David felt it. Turn to Psalms
51 and listen to this man after God's own heart. And that's what
I'd like to be, wouldn't you? A man after God's own heart. Psalm 51, have mercy upon me,
O God, according to Thy lovingkindness. According unto the multitude
of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me throughly
from mine iniquity, cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge
my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me against Thee,
The only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that
thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, be clear when
thou judgest, if you send me to hell, you're just, righteous,
holy. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me." David's lamentation over
his personal sins. A sinner is a sacred thing the
Holy Ghost hath made him so. It's hard to find a sinner. We
all are good at justifying ourselves. We've got a reason, we've got
an alibi. It's hard to find a sinner. But
God deals with our sin in this chapter, and Spurgeon says, believe
me, It is a lesson which, if learned well, will never be forgotten. And the benefits from learning
it, and the blessings that come from this knowledge, are innumerable. And then we have in this chapter,
in this chapter, the other marvelous subject is God's grace. Now, men who are sinners are
interested in God's grace. Men who are needy are interested
in God's mercy. The reason men gnash their teeth
against God's grace is because they're not sinners. Everywhere
you find a sinner, everywhere you find a helpless, needy sinner,
you'll find a person who's interested in mercy, in grace. That convicted criminal is not
interested in justice. He knows if he gets justice,
he'll be damned. That convicted criminal is interested
in mercy, mercy. And here in this sixteenth chapter,
God compares us, His Israel, with that little baby that was
born to two heathen parents, an Amorite and a Hittite. And
right after the baby was born, it wasn't washed, her navel wasn't
cut nor tied, it wasn't salted nor swaddled, they just took
the little fellow and when she was born and cast her out in
the field, left her for the beast to eat, for the sun to burn,
left her lying there to die. And God said, ìI passed by thee,
and I saw thee polluted in thy blood. I saw thee cast into the
open field. I saw thee a wretched, miserable
lump of flesh, and I passed by you.î Verse 6, ìI saw you that
way, and I said, I passed by you in your helplessness,
in your inability, in your wretched condition, and I said, Live. And he said, verse 8, When I
passed by thee and looked upon thee, it was the time of love.
Who loved whom? Herein is love, not that we love
God He loved us. We love Him because He first
loved us. I loved you, and I spread my
skirt over you, and I covered your nakedness, and I swore unto
thee, and I entered a covenant with thee. God passed by us in
our blood, unwanted, unwashed, unclean, guilty, and gave us
life and washed us from our filthiness and clothed us in His righteousness. That's grace. marvelous grace of our loving
Lord, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt. Yonder on
Calvary's mount outpoured, there where the blood of the Lamb was
spilt, grace, grace, God's grace, grace that exceeds my sin and
my guilt, marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, there where
the blood of the Lamb was filled. Two words, if you can learn them,
sin and grace will open the scriptures for you. Two words, if you can
learn them, sin and grace will lead you to true repentance and
true faith. Two words, if you can learn them,
sin and will reveal unto you the gospel of God's glory, not
the gospel of man's dignity, the gospel of God's glory. Not
the gospel of bargain, God you do this and I'll do that, but
the gospel of God's free grace. Two words, if you can learn them,
will impart unto you spiritual wisdom. Two words, if you can
learn them, May God have mercy upon your soul and reveal them
to you. Two words, sin and grace. No
one's ever fully measured them except Christ. At Calvary our
Lord knew the fullest measure of sin, for he cried, My soul,
my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. God ever let
you see just a part of your wretched, miserable, sinful condition. It turned your blood from flowing
through the veins to pouring through the pores like Christ's
blood did. Two words, if you can learn them,
sin and grace. Christ measured the fullest extent
of them. For he bore our sins in his body,
and grace poured from his lips. He knew them to perfection. The fullest measure of sin, the
deepest measure of grace, two words if you can learn them,
will bring you to salvation. Two words if you miss them, will
add to the condemnation of your soul that's already wrapped in
heathen darkness. Sin, sin, sin. I preached from the book of Hosea at a church
in this area not too many months ago, and I showed how that God
told Hosea, the righteous, godly man, to marry an harlot in order
that he might show his love for sinners, that God might reveal
God's grace and God's love toward the fallen. And I preached that
message, I thought, in the power of God's Spirit. God gave me
liberty to preach. I thought I showed how contemptible
we are by birth, by nature, by choice, by practice. Not comparing
ourselves with other people, but comparing ourselves with
the holy matchless perfection of God. And when I got through preaching,
I stepped down from the pulpit to the front of the auditorium,
and a dear lady walked up and said, You know, she said, I started
reading that book of Hosea one time, and I saw it was about
a fallen woman, and I quit reading it. And I said, My dear lady, you're
a fallen woman. We fell in Adam. We're all fallen
people. I tell you, we've got sin cataloged. We've got sin classified. There
are real bad people, and there are pretty bad people, and there
are not-so-bad people, and then there's us. And that's the very
reason why we're missing God's grace. The Scripture says all
have sinned. There is none good. God looked
down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did understand. I'm not talking about understanding
mathematics. I'm not talking about understanding
geography. I'm not talking about understanding
science. I'm not talking about understanding
these things of the world. I'm talking about understanding
the holiness of God. The awful holiness of God. All the way through this Bible,
when men saw themselves in the light of God's holiness, they
cried, Oh, woe is me! They fell dumb in the dust at
the feet of God. This chapter is summed up in
the last two verses. I want us to look at them briefly
and see three things. And may God be our teacher. May
the Holy Spirit be our teacher. We've been slaves too long to
tradition. We've been slaves too long to
old wives' fables. We've been slaves too long to
denominational creeds. We need for the Holy Spirit to
be our teacher. Under God may God speak to us. Everybody in the world, religious,
Everybody's got a God and a Bible and a Savior, but very few people
know the living God. In Ezekiel 16, 62, I'll establish
my covenant with thee. Thou shalt know that I am the
Lord, that thou mayest remember and be ashamed, disappointed,
and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when
I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done." Sayeth
the Lord. I see three things here. First
of all, I see God's wonderful covenant of grace. He says in
verse 62, I will establish my covenant, my covenant. by your concordance. I'm not
talking about one of these back in the back of the Bible. That
doesn't even touch the hem of the garment back there. By your
concordance. And you look up the word covenant.
And you see how many times it's used from Genesis to Revelation. I will establish my covenant. My covenant. The last line in
that sixty-third verse, he said, when I am pacified toward thee. When David became king of Israel,
you remember how God had Samuel anoint David the king when he
was just a lad. How God had rejected Saul in
his house, anointed David. And the years passed, Saul tried
to kill David, tried to destroy him, tried to put him out of
the way. How David had to run in the mountains and live in
the caves and pursued and hunted a fugitive from Israel. Finally Saul was killed and David
became king. And David sat upon the throne
of Israel and one of the first things he asked was this, is
there any of the house of Saul still living? Now back in those
days when a man became king, the former king's household was
always considered his enemy. And usually they destroyed the
entire household of the preceding king, especially if they were
at odds, because those sons and grandsons would rise up and claim
the throne. So when David said, Is any of
the house of Saul still living? I'm sure his servants began to
tremble. They were afraid they were going
to see a bloodbath. And one of them spoke up and
said, Yes, yes, King David, there is one grandson, his name is
Mephibosheth. But now he's lame on both his
feet, he can't walk, he's a cripple, he's a helpless cripple. Back
when he was just a lad, the nurse dropped him and crushed his legs
and he's never walked. And he's right now in the house
of a very poor man down in the place of no pasture, no bread,
Lodibar. David said, go get him. So they
went down to Lodibar to the house of no bread and they found this
little helpless cripple lad by the name of Mephibosheth. They
brought him up to David, and they put him down in front of
David there on the mat. He couldn't stand because he
was laying on both his legs, the Scripture says. And he sat
there on the mat, and David said to him, and if you'd like to
turn to 2 Samuel, you can read it for yourselves. 2 Samuel 9, beginning with verse
7. And verse 7, 2 Samuel 9, David
said to Mephibosheth, Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. I will surely show thee kindness
for Jonathan thy father's sake. I will restore unto thee all
the land of Saul thy father, thy grandfather, and thou shalt
eat bread at my table continually. You're going to be one of the
king's sons. And old Mephibosheth in verse
8 bowed himself and said, What is thy servant? that thou shouldest
look upon such a dead dog as I am." Brethren, I'll tell you
this, when you see your inability to love God with all your heart,
mind, soul, and strength as you ought, when you see your wretchedness
of thought and imagination, when you see your pride, when you
see your sins, in the searchlight of God's holy law. And God says,
I'm going to cleanse you, I'm going to save you, I'm going
to make you a child of mine, I'm going to give you the keys
to my kingdom, I'm going to make you a son and sit at my table
continually. You'll say the same thing Mephibosheth
said, O God, who am I that you should look upon such a dead
dog? God loved us when we were unlovely. lame on both our feet, lame through
the fall of our father Adam, sons of God's enemy. But He loved
us, it says, when we were without strength. Enemies, God loved
us and gave His Son to die for us and sent His Holy Spirit to
fetch us. I tell you, when you lay this
beautiful diamond of God's grace against the black background
of man's sin, that's when you come to really appreciate it.
Have you ever gone into the jewelry store and asked to see a diamond? And the clerk will take out a,
first thing, he won't get the diamonds out, first thing he'll
take out is a tray, and it's dark blue or dark black. And he'll put that tray right
up on the counter, and then he'll begin to get these diamonds,
and he'll lay them right there on that black background. And
my, how they sparkle, all of their brilliance and glory and
beauty is seen there against that black background. Well,
I'll tell you this, to whom much is forgiven, he'll love much.
And to the man whose background is black, black as the pits of
hell, The brighter shines the love and mercy and grace of God
Almighty. Turn to Romans, chapter 5. Look
at this, Romans, chapter 5. Here in the fifth chapter of
Romans, we see those to whom that grace is given. Romans 5,
verse 6. Listen to this. For when we were
yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for righteous man
will one die, yet for adventure for good man some would even
dare to die. But God commended his love toward
us in that while we were what? Sinners! Christ died for us. For if when we were, look at
verse 10, if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God. God
says, Israel, I want you to know your abominations. I found you
when you were nothing." Abraham was an idol-worshipper. Did you
know that? Abraham and his father. When God called Abraham, he was
living among heathen, stone-worshipping idols, idolaters. They were worshiping idols. And
God called him out. And that's what he says, Israel,
I chose you. When you were out in the field,
your mother and father were heathens, barbarians. You were cast into
the field. I came by you and chose you and
loved you and put my mercy and grace upon you. And then what
did you do? You read Ezekiel 16, what they
did. They bowed down to other gods.
They worshipped other gods. They walked through the very
lowest path of iniquity and violence, and yet God comes along and says,
I still love you. He still loved you. And we stand
back and say, Grace! What grace! God put up with their
rebellion. What grace! God loved them in
spite of their sin. What grace! Oh, what love! Well, that same thing is true
of you and me. God loved us the same way. And the price He paid for these
blessings, He spared not His own Son, but delivered Christ
to die for us. and His continuing mercies. Turn
to Romans 11. Let me show you something over
here. Finally, the Apostle Paul comes
to this place. In Romans 11, verse 32, he says,
God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have
mercy upon all. Oh, the depths of the riches
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are
his judgments and his ways past finding out. My friends, if we
could enter just a little today into the grace of God toward
us, perhaps we would be prepared to live more graciously. Perhaps we'd be prepared to live
more faithfully if we could enter into the grace of God. I don't
think very many of us really realize the depths of God's grace
toward us, the heights of God's mercy toward us, the length and
breadth of God's love toward us. Now the second thing that I want
to point out from this chapter. I would not speak harshly. I
don't like to be harsh. Because I don't think we really
accomplish anything by just making people angry. I don't want to
be overly dogmatic. But I believe every child of
God, every true believer, has learned or will learn three things. I really do. I'm persuaded of
this. Now, I've got almost thirty years in the ministry, and they've
been thirty active years of study and preaching. And I can say,
I believe dogmatically, that every believer learns three things.
Every true believer. I'm not talking about those with
a passing fancy for religion. I'm not talking about those who
don't want to go to hell. I'm not talking about those who
would like to go to heaven when they die. I'm not talking about
those who are trying to live for God. I'm not talking about
those who are trying to do the best they can. I'm talking about
believers, believers, true believers. I believe we've learned three
things. Number one, I believe every true believer learns something
about what it means to be by covenant, by covenant. We're back to that word again,
but God says, I'll establish my covenant, my covenant, my
covenant. Now brethren, he who knows, someone
said years ago, how to pronounce the word covenant, is well on the road towards spiritual
knowledge and understanding when he learns to pronounce the word
covenant. Now we were lost through a covenant.
I guess everybody knows that, be a fool to deny it. Our father
Adam stood for us. Scripture says in Adam we lived,
we stood, we were represented. By one man's sin entered the
world, death by sin. By one man's disobedience many
were made sinners. Adam represented us in a covenant
of works. We can pronounce that word. He
fell and we fell to a fatal death and condition. Now when the angels
fell, they fell individually. Each one fell for himself. And
according to the book of Jude, there is no restoration. They
are reserved in chains of darkness awaiting judgment. But when we
fell, we fell by another in a covenant made with him. by representation. And here is the opening for restoration
by representation. As we sin representatively, it
is possible for us to satisfy the law representatively. As in Adam we died, so in Christ
we're made alive. By one man's disobedience many
were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be
made righteous." Have you learned this? Have you learned to pronounce
words like this, accepted in the Beloved, justified in Christ,
risen in Christ, seated in Christ? In the Beloved, accepted am I,
risen, ascended, seated on high. You learn to talk that way. The
Bible talks that way. Chosen in Christ, redeemed in
Christ, forgiven in Christ, accepted in Christ, risen in Christ, crucified
with Christ, seated in Christ. That's covenant language. The
language of this world is accept Jesus. The language of the Bible
is receive Christ. I believe every true believer
has learned, is learning, and will remain in the school of
the Holy Spirit to learn some more about covenant mercies. Covenant mercies. Not what I've
done for God, what He's done for me. Not my faithfulness,
Christ's faithfulness. In him, in him, in him! I believe the second thing every
believer has learned is this, that Jehovah is God. Jehovah
is God. Now look at this line down here,
Ezekiel 16, 62. I will establish my covenant, and you shall know that I am
the Lord. I am the Lord. You're going to
know that I'm the Lord. One old preacher 200 years ago
said this, to be saved in a way that makes you to know that God
is God is to be saved in a godly way. Now that God is God is easy to
say. But that God is God is hard to
know. Did you know that? It's hard
to know. Easy to say. Why, by the time
a fellow matches his finger, my God. Now, he said that, but
does he know that? I hear people say, well, my Lord,
it looks like it's going to rain. You said that, but do you know
it, that he's Lord? And he's your Lord? And you're
God. That's what he says here. You're
going to find something out that I am God. I am God. Job learned it. Old self-righteous
Job. Old holier-than-thou Job. And
don't get mad at me. He did. He had a lot of self-righteousness. But you know what he said? Lord,
I've heard of you. I've heard of you with the hearing
of the ear. And now, man, I seeth thee. Therefore
I hate myself." That's what he said. That's what Job said. Thomas
learned it. Old Doubting Thomas. He came
and fell at the feet of Christ and cried, My Lord and my God. Proud Saul learned it. Old Righteous
Religious Saul. Lord! Lying there in the dust. Lord! blinded by the power of
God, Lord, unhorsed from his haughty place, Lord, what will
you have me do?" And I learned it. I confess unto
you I learned it, and I'm learning it every day. None can stay his
hand or say unto him, What doest thou? He's God. I learned it,
and I'm learning it every day. He worketh all things. all things
after the counsel of his own will. Isn't that what Scripture
says? I am the Lord. I kill and I make alive. I wound
and I heal. I, the Lord, create light and
darkness, good and evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. I maketh poor and I maketh rich.
I'll raise the beggar from the dunghill and I'll put him on
a throne. The heart of the king is in the
hands of the Lord. Now you just take this little
old, weak, silly, frustrated Jesus. I won't preach him and
I won't worship him. He's not worthy to be worshiped.
That's what the world talks about. This little Jesus that wants
to and can't, that likes to and not able. He will if he can. He will if you let him. That
sort of thing. He's outside the door knocking.
He's going to stay out there because the latch is on the inside.
The walls of Jericho didn't bother him too much, did they? The Red
Sea didn't hold him up too long, did it, huh? Do you think you
can hold him up? I found out who God is, have
you? That he's on a sovereign throne,
that he created all things according to his own will and wisdom and
purpose, and he didn't take anybody into his council. He's God in providence. He's
God in salvation. He said, I'll have mercy on whom
I will have mercy. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. And God's not obligated to save
your soul. God's not obligated to make you
whole. God's not obligated to put away
your sin. God's not obligated you, His
kingdom, to enter in. No, sir. No sirree. He said there were many widows
in Israel in the days of Elias, and God didn't feed any of them.
He fed a Gentile woman. There were many lepers in the
land of Israel in the days of Elijah, but God Almighty did
not heal a one of them. He didn't have to. He didn't
have to. Old Eli, one day Samuel came
to him and Eli said, Samuel, what God say to you? Well, Samuel
said, I'd rather not say. And Eli said, now Samuel, you
tell me what God said to you. And Samuel said, well, God said
he's going to kill your sons because you didn't rebuke them
when they offered strange fire offering or sinned against God.
You know what that old man said? I've served the Lord all my life,
now this is something." No, he didn't. He said, it's the Lord. Let him do what he will. Let
him do what he will. And that's the second thing that
every true believer learns. He learns salvation by grace. And he learns salvation in the
hands of God. And God is God. And God is God
in every area. God's going to stay God. And
the third thing he learns, he learns himself. Look here at
this chapter 16, Ezekiel again, verse 63, that you may remember
and be ashamed. Oh, we're proud. Can you see
this Sunday morning crowd of religious folks being ashamed of anything?
We're dressed up, and we're fixed up, and we're powdered up, and
we're painted up, and we're all the rest of these things, and
we're just so good, bless your heart, that you might be ashamed,
God said, ashamed and disappointed. Ashamed. When you think of your association
with the enemies of God, are you ashamed? When you think of
your identification with Adam in rebellion, are you ashamed?
When you hear your voice with those who cried, Cursed by Him,
give us Barabbas, are you ashamed? When you see your years of unbelief,
are you ashamed? When you think of how you've
taken his name in vain, in idle conversation, without giving
him glory, are you ashamed? When you think of your thoughts
and your imaginations, are you ashamed? When you think of your
hatred for others and those thoughts of vengeance rising up in your
heart, are you ashamed? When you think of your indifference
and your coldness, are you ashamed? When you think of the fact that
you're not like your Lord, are you ashamed? prostrate, O God,
before thy throne. There my guilt I confess, I tell
thee, Lord, I'm a wretch undone without thy sovereign grace.
Now to the gracious King approach, whose scepter mercy gives, may
be he'll receive my touch, and this old sinner will live. He
doesn't have to. I know what preachers are preaching,
won't you please let God save you. But if God's so small, you
have to let Him do anything. He can't save you. He can't save
you. I can but perish. If I go, I
am resolved to try. If I stay away, God, I know I'll
forever die. You learn those three things.
Salvation's by grace, plus nothing, minus nothing. It's not of the
deeds of the law. It's not of the works of the
flesh. It's not of the merit of men. It's of grace, because
God determined to have a people like His Son, determined from
all eternity that He would have a people to populate glory like
His Son. A covenant, mind you, of grace. Grace. Have you learned that
He's God? That He's God? That you live
and move and breathe and have your being by His permission? Let's see you get up and walk
down here without God. Let's see you raise your thumb
without God. Let's see you blink your eye
without God. You see what I'm saying? He's
God. And He's God in every area. He's
not God in some places, and you're God in others. He's God. And
Jesus Christ stood before Pilate, and Pilate said, Don't you know
I have the power to crucify you or let you go? And Christ said,
Thou couldest have no power over me at all, except it were given
thee from above. None at all. And I'll tell you
this, that third thing, if you don't learn it, I'm a sinner.
Christ is the friend of sinners. He died for sinners. He died
for the ungodly. He came to seek and to save sinners.
Have you learned yourself your weakness, inability? Well, here's
the next thing that it'll do if we learn those things, and
never open your mouth anymore. and never open your mouth any
more." Brethren, when God fills a man's heart with grace, you
know what it does? It shuts his mouth. That's right,
it shuts his mouth. And I'll tell you, the more grace
God gives him, the more his mouth is stopped. Somebody said, it takes a great
God to fill a man's heart. It takes a great God to shut
a man's mouth. It took a great God to shut Job's
mouth, didn't it? He said, once have I spoken,
yea, twice. He said in Job 40 verse 3 through
5, I will proceed no further. Listen, I will lay my hand on
my mouth. On my mouth. Now, my friends, let me tell
you what the grace of God will do for you. I'll tell you what
it will do for you first of all. As God shuts your mouth, you'll
speak no more against His divine sovereignty. That's right. That's what Paul said in Romans
9. He said in Romans 9, verse 20,
"'O man, who are you?' And when he says old man, I add old woman
because we're living in a day when you got to differentiate,
you know. Women are worse about it than men. Because women are
self-righteous hypocrites. That's right. They hide their
sins and cover their guilt. Hardest thing in the world is
to get a woman to admit she's a sinner. All mothers are Christians. Didn't you know that? All mothers
go to heaven. God couldn't be everywhere, so
he made mother. That's what they tell me. Old woman, who are you to reply
against God? Some 18, 19, 20-year-old girl
that's just out of diapers a few years knows all about the gospel. She can straighten you out on
theology in a minute. When God saves you, he'll shut
your mouth. O man, who art thou that replies
against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, Why have you made me thus? Does not the
potter have power over the clay? To make of one lump a vessel
of honor, and another lump a vessel of dishonor." And when God brings you to see
His sin, your sin in His grace is shut your mouth. Especially
in regard to things you don't know anything about. His kingdom,
His glory, His majesty, His sovereignty. I'll tell you this, you spout
off all you want to about the things of this world, but you
better be careful what you say about God. You better buy your
Bible and find out who this is you're talking about. Because
he could send you to hell. That's right, I'm serious about
this. I tell you, the longer I live, I have to preach, because
God called me to. But I have fewer answers all
the time. I don't know. I don't know. Some things I don't know. I know
who God is. And I'll tell you, when he saves
you, he'll shut your mouth. We're the best fed, the best
clothed, the best housed, the best in health of any people
on the face of God's earth. And on top of that, we've got
the scripture. On top of that, we've got the
gospel. On top of that, we've got God's mercy in grace through
Christ. Now, if God ever saves you, he'll
shut your mouth and you'll start being content with what you have.
murmuring, complaining. God says, having food and clothing,
be content. Be content that you may shut
your mouth and not speak any more in your shame. Isn't it
awful? And then I'll speak no more in
unforgiving spirit toward other people. I'll speak no more in
hatred. How can you and I, to whom God's
forgiven so much, how can we be unforgiving toward others?
It's like the man in the scripture that owed that huge astronomical
debt, and his master forgave him of the whole thing, and five
minutes later he is out here, got a man by the throat that
owed him $15. Demanding that he pay His Lord
called him in said put him in prison and don't let him out
till he pays every dime And here we are God's forgiven us of our
rebellion and our hatred and our guilt and I feel every day
He forgives us. We confess our sins. He forgives
us. He forgives us and yet we don't
forgive I don't believe we've been forgiven Come ye sinners lost and hopeless,
Jesus' blood can make you free! Can you say that? Let me read
it again, then I'm going to read the last line. Come ye sinners
lost and hopeless, Jesus' blood can make you free! For He saved
the worst among you when He saved a wretch like me. Huh? And then, I'll speak no more
of my works. I'll speak no more. I hear these
people talking about rewards in heaven. I don't know what
they're talking about. I confess unto you, I do not know what
they're talking about. Christ is our reward. Christ is our
crown and our jewel. We don't deserve anything when
somebody else did it all, do we? He paid it all, all the dead,
our old sin, leprosy, crimson stain. He washed it white as
snow. Don't talk anymore about what you've done for God, what
you've given up for Jesus. The service you've rendered,
the sermons you've preached, the miles you've walked, the
good deeds you've done, that you might shut your mouth. That's what he says. God, fill my heart, fill my heart
with love and grace and humility and patience, and seal my lips,
and seal my lips. Let me speak in a gracious, quiet
spirit. Let me show kindness as I have
received it, and mercy as I have received it, and grace. Let me
not sit in judgment against things of which I know nothing, and
have to face Thee at the judgment and give an account for it. God help me to speak in wisdom,
measure my words. It's the tongue that's set on
fire with hail, James says. It's the tongue that's a little
member, but what a fire, it kindle it. Let me set a watch on my
mouth and keep my heart, for out of it are the issues of life.
That's the two springs, the heart and the mouth.

Man's Sin and God's Grace

What does the Bible say about man's sin?

How do we know God's grace is sufficient?

Why is understanding sin and grace important for Christians?

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Man's Sin and God's Grace

What does the Bible say about man's sin?

How do we know God's grace is sufficient?

Why is understanding sin and grace important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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