Ephesians chapter 2. I want to read the text again,
verse 8 and 9. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Now in none of the work of God
are the attributes of our Lord so clearly seen, like they're
seen in salvation. The everlasting love of God sent
His Son into the world to be our Savior. God's love is seen
in the salvation of sinners. The infinite wisdom of God is
seen in the divine plan and purpose of salvation. The almighty power
of God is executed in the work of salvation. The immutability,
that is, God's unchanging attribute, preserves and carries out salvation. But that very foundation and
fountainhead of salvation is the grace of God. We see in salvation
the wisdom of God. We see in salvation the love
of God. We see in salvation the power
of God. We see in salvation the immutability
of God. But that which shines the brightest,
and that which forms the foundation, and that which is the very fountainhead
of salvation, is the grace of God. God's grace. God's grace. The songwriter put it this way,
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,
we see grace, God's grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse
within, God's grace, grace that is greater than all our sins. And John Newton said, "'Twas
grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear
the hour that I first believed. Take your Bibles and turn with
me to Romans chapter 11. Now the grace of God is revealed
in all of salvation. We see all of his attributes.
We see his wisdom, his power, his love, his immutability. All
of these attributes of God, but the chief and shining attribute
is grace, the grace of God. In Romans chapter 11, verse 5,
now look at the scriptures. Even so then, at this present
time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Our
election is of grace. It was grace that chose us. It
was grace that refused to pass us by. It was grace that would
not leave us in our enmity and in our rebellion. It was grace
that made us sons of God and children of the Most High. Our
election is all of grace. And then, if you will, turn with
me to 2 Timothy. In 2 Timothy, chapter 1, verse
9, not only is our election of grace, but our calling is of
grace. One day God called me. One day
God called you. One day on our road of sin, God
awakened us, God quickened us, God revealed our guilt to us,
and God revealed His Son to us. And that calling is all of grace. Look at it. 2 Timothy 1, verse
9, "...who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace. It was grace that called us.
It was grace that would not leave us alone. It was grace that awakened
us. God's grace. Our election is
of grace, and our calling is of grace. Now turn to Romans
3. Our justification is by His grace. In Romans 3, verse 24,
the apostle Paul wrote, Romans 3 verse 24. Being justified, and being justified
means to be accounted without sin, without guilt. Someone said,
as though we had never sinned. Being justified freely, watch
it, by His grace. Chosen by grace, called by grace,
justified by grace. And all of our so-called Christian
works, even our prayers, are by the grace of God. Turn with
me to Hebrews chapter 10. Now watch this, Hebrews chapter
10 and verse 19. Having boldness, therefore, brethren,
having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by
the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath
consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh,
and having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw
near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, our bodies washed
with pure water. We are to draw near unto God's
throne, which is called in the Scripture, what kind of throne?
A throne of grace. And then our trials are experiences
of grace. The Apostle Paul talked about
his thorn in the flesh, and then he said, having prayed three
times that God would remove it, the Lord said to me, My grace
is sufficient. for thee. And then one other
scripture, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 10. 1 Corinthians 15, verse
10, and summing up the whole thing, my election is of grace,
my calling is of grace, my justification is by his grace. Even prayer
before the throne, I come to a throne of grace. My trials
are experiences of grace. And then in 1 Corinthians 15,
verse 10, listen to the apostle. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. Like a golden thread, one old
writer said, like a golden thread, the grace of God runs through
the Christian's history from his election in eternity past
to his glorification in eternity future. And there is no point
in the experience of a redeemed man, there is no point in the
experience of a redeemed man where he does not deserve the
wrath of God and where he does not receive instead the grace
of God. All that he receives is by grace
and grace alone. Every natural man fights against
salvation by grace. Though we have no goodness in
ourselves, we think we have, and though we have broken the
law of God and deserve the wrath of God, we are proud that we
are not as other men are. The Apostle Paul sounded this
note, salvation by grace, loud and clear. We're not in a state
of innocence. We're guilty. We're not on probation. The probation is over. We're
lost. We have no bargaining point with
God. We're bankrupt. We're not poor
little sheep that have gone astray. We're rebels. We're rebels. We are rebels who
love darkness and hate light. We're rebels who love evil and
hate holiness. We're rebels who love sin and
hate grace. And the favor and blessings of
God are not of death, and they're not of deserving. They are of
grace and grace alone. Now there are three statements,
I believe, that arise out of my text. If you'll look back
with me at Ephesians 2. And may the Holy Spirit make
it come home to us with great authority and with a great impact. There are three statements that
are born out of this text. For by grace are you saved. And
the first one is this. Salvation by grace gives every
sinner hope. Salvation by grace gives every
sinner hope. If salvation is altogether of
grace, if salvation is altogether of the free favor of God, then
let me ask this question. Where is the man, woman, boy
or girl on this earth who need despair? Where is the man, woman,
boy or girl on this earth who can say, It's impossible for
me to be saved. Now salvation by works, you can
say that. If salvation by the deeds of
the law, there are those who will never be saved. If salvation
is by works, then salvation is for those who earn it. But if
salvation is by grace and grace alone, then salvation is for
those who want it. Not who earn it, who want it. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness God requireth
is what? To feel your need of Him. Now salvation by works is for
those who earn it. But if salvation by grace is
for anybody who wants it, and if salvation by grace every sinner
on this earth, has hope if he wants it. Listen to all the invitations
of God's Word. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come to the water. Come, let us reason together.
Though your sins be as scarlet, I'll make them white as snow.
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I will give
you rest. The Spirit and the bride say,
Come, let him that heareth say, Come, let him that is athirst
come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
Who is salvation for? The man who wants it, not the
man who earns it, not the man who's good enough for it, not
the man who's worthy of it, the man who wants it. Who wants it? So if salvation is by grace that
gives every sinner hope, who wants it? Now then, if salvation
is only of the grace of God and the mercy of God, my sins will
not prevent my salvation. In fact, Paul made this so clear. Turn back here to the book of
Romans a minute. Now, I want you to see this.
It's in Romans chapter 6. Paul made this so clear, and
I wish I could make it that clear. I fear that I can't. If salvation
is holy of mercy and totally of grace, then my sins, rather
than preventing my salvation, my sins gives God and brings
God more glory in my salvation. Now look at it. Paul made it
so clear that some people in his day said, well, if If God
is glorified in redeeming the chief of sinners, then let sin,
that grace may abound. Look at it in Romans 6, verse
1. What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin, that grace may abound? Why are they asked
that? Well, look back at chapter 5 in verse 20. Paul said, "...moreover
the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound." If we confess our sins, He's
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. Though your sins be as scarlet,
though they be red like crimson, I shall make them white as snow.
No man need say, I've got too many sins, I can't be saved.
Your sins, yea, even your sins, recommend you to the grace of
God, for God delights to save sinners. And then if salvation
is only of grace and only of mercy, then no one great sin
will keep me from God. Now I've had a little bit of
experience in dealing with individuals in regard to their relationship
with God and their interest in Christ. And usually when people
think about their relationship with God, usually when they think
about their interest in Christ, one significant infirmity, or
one significant sin, or one significant weakness comes to their mind.
And they will say, well, the gates of heaven are closed to
me because of my sin. They don't usually say my sins,
they usually say my sin. And they have on their mind one
great infirmity, one great weakness, one great failure, one significant
point in their lives that always comes to mind, they feel, that
keeps them from God. Well, Jacob found mercy, though
he committed the great sin of stealing his brother's birthright. David found mercy, though he
committed the great sin of murdering a close friend. Peter found mercy,
though he committed the great sin of denying that he even knew
the Lord Jesus. Mary found mercy, though she
was a harlot by trade. Paul found mercy, though he deliberately
killed believers in Christ. The thief on the cross found
mercy, though he was an habitual criminal. So your infirmity does
not keep you from the fellowship of God. It may keep you from
the fellowship of self-righteous religious people, but your infirmity
and your weakness and your so-called one significant sin will not
keep you from the mercy of God, for God delights to show mercy. What I'm saying is this. I'm
saying it's salvation by grace. from eternity past to eternity
future, if salvation is wholly and totally and completely a
gift of God and by the grace of God and the mercy of God on
the chief of sinners, then no amount of sin can keep me from
God. And not one significant point
of weakness or infirmity can keep me from Christ if it's by
grace. Now salvation is by works, then
it will, but not by grace. And like I say, Paul made that
so clear that some of the people in his day said, well, that's
sin that grace may abound. If God gets glory from lifting
the fallen, let's give him some real fallen people. And then this, if salvation is
only by grace, then my link of service in sin is no barrier
to salvation. If salvation is by grace, my
sins won't keep me from God, my sin won't keep me from God,
and my length of time spent in sin is no barrier to salvation. Now I know what the philosophy
of today is. It's prevalent in practically
every denomination. Get converts while they're young. Get them at a tender age. Get
them before they become hardened in sin. Get them while they're
still children. Don't wait till they grow up,
because then it'll be too late. There may be in that philosophy
just a grain of truth. There may be in that philosophy
just a little bit of wisdom. But my God can forgive ten thousand
sins as well as one. My God is able to lift a sinner
at any age with any guilt, with any record, who will call upon
Him. My length of service in sin is
no barrier to my coming to a knowledge of Christ if it's by grace, if
it's by grace. And really to offend in one point
of the law is to be guilty of the whole law of God. And then
if salvation is only of mercy and grace, and here's a problem
that many people have. If salvation is only of mercy
and grace, The continual depravity of my old nature is no barrier
to my fellowship with God. Will I sin after I'm saved? Will I fail God after I'm saved? Will I think evil thoughts after
I'm saved? Will I say things I shouldn't
say after I'm saved? Will I do things I shouldn't
do after I'm saved? Of course. But only an honest
person will confess it, but then only an honest person is saved.
Because when God saves a man, he makes an honest person of
him. But I have a new nature. I have a new nature that hates
sin and loves God. I have a new nature that hates
evil and loves holiness. I have a new nature that pants
after fellowship with God. I have a new nature that wants
to be exactly like Christ. I have a new nature that desires
the day when I shall awake in His likeness. And though I have
an old nature that continually wars and is in conflict against
That new nature is no barrier to my walking with God. Now,
we've got to make up our mind. Is this verse of Scripture true
or isn't it true? For by grace are you saved. It doesn't say, for by grace
plus works. It doesn't say, for by grace
plus faithfulness. It doesn't say, for by grace
plus Merit, it doesn't say, for by grace plus church membership,
for by grace plus something else. It says, for by grace are you
saved through faith. And even that is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. If salvation
is by grace, then my sins are no barrier to my salvation. If salvation is by grace, then
my sin is no barrier to my relationship with God. It is by grace. If salvation is by grace, then
my age is no barrier to my fellowship with God. If salvation is by
grace, then my future weaknesses and falls are certainly no barrier
to my fellowship with God. if it's by grace. Now, secondly, you say you ought to be careful.
Well, God didn't send me to protect the gospel, he sent me to preach
it. And there are those who will
misuse, turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. Well, that's
their problem. But we're not going to destroy
all ropes because some fool hanged himself. And there's no need
to take all razors off the market because some fool cut his wrist. And there's no need to take some
of the enjoyable things of life off the market because some fool
is a glutton. And even so, I'm not going to
refuse to preach the grace and pure mercy of God through Christ
because some fool turns it into lasciviousness and says, well,
if salvation is by grace, then open the floodgates and let the
sin roll. You're a fool. You're a fool. No man who knows the true grace
of God will misuse it and abuse it. Now, secondly, salvation by grace. If salvation is holy by grace,
then we have here the saving directions that God gives to
a seeking sinner. What must I do to be saved? Well,
if salvation is by grace, and it's grace for the guilty, then
the first thing for me to do is plead guilty. If grace is
for the guilty, then the first thing to do is plead guilty.
God always had mercy for those who pleaded guilty. They tell
the story, the truth of it. I can't vouch for that. But they
tell the story that many, many years ago, there was a king who
visited the prison once a year. They had a huge prison in the
kingdom somewhere, and he visited that prison. And in memory of
his visit, or to commemorate his visit, he always fully pardoned
one man. He never would say who it would
be. He would just go in the prison, and he'd come out and tell the
warden to set a certain man free. But he went to the prison to
visit, and as he walked down the through the cell blocks,
he stopped by each door of each prisoner, and he said to the
prisoner, they knew who he was, but he said, why are you here?
And they began to tell him. One said, I was framed. Another said, I was in bad company,
it wasn't my fault. Another said, they accused me
of a crime I didn't commit. Another said, my mother and father
didn't treat me right. Another said, I was born in a
poor neighborhood and deprived of the things of life that others
enjoyed and on excuse after excuse after excuse after excuse. Finally
he came to a cell and a man was sitting there on the bunk with
his face in his hands and he said, young man, why are you
here? He stood up and he said, because I'm a criminal, your
majesty. Why are you here? Because I'm
a criminal. I deserve to be here. I broke
the law. I sinned against society, and
I was caught, and I was tried, and I was found guilty, and I
was in prison. I'm here because I'm a criminal."
And the king turned to the warden and said, "'Set this man free.
This guilty man's got no business being in prison with all these
good people. Turn him loose. Set him free.'"
And my friends, the salvation is only by grace. It was grace
that opened that cell door. It was grace that set that man
free. Grace for the guilty. Everybody
else deserved it. He didn't deserve it. He didn't
merit it. He didn't earn it. And the King
said, set him free. And Almighty God has grace for
the guilty. And if I'm going to receive that
grace, the first thing I've got to do is, like the publican in
the temple, plead guilty. God be merciful to me, the sinner,
the sinner. Salvation's for sinners, only
for sinners. Religion's for good folks. Salvation's
for sinners. If salvation is by grace, these
are the directions. Grace for the guilty, then I
plead guilty. Secondly, if salvation's by grace
through Christ, then I must look to Christ. I must look to Christ. He came to the earth as my representative
before the law. He took on himself my nature
and faced God's moral law and God's ceremonial law and obeyed
it in every jot and tittle. He took my place and went to
the cross and bore my sins and paid my debt and endured my punishment. He is the substitute. He is the
sacrifice. He is the sin offering. Then
I must look to Him. We have illustration after illustration
of that in the Bible. Moses, the people were bitten
by the fiery serpents, and God said, take a brazen serpent,
lock unto the one that bit the people, and put it on a pole,
and whosoever looketh shall live. And Christ said, as Moses lifted
up that serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. It's looking to Christ. Look
unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. I'm God
and there's none else. I think sometimes we're handicapped
by our so-called learning. I think sometimes that poor,
guilty sinners are really handicapped by all of the knowledge which
they have or claim to have of divine things. Charles Spurgeon
was brought up in a Christian home. His grandfather was a preacher. And his father, of course, was
a devout church worker. And when he was just a lad, five
or six years old, his grandmother used to give him a penny for
every hymn he memorized. He memorized so many hymns that
she finally had to cut it down to a penny for five hymns. He
studied. He was taught. He was catechized. He attended prayer meetings and
church services and all these things. And even when he was
16 years of age, after being brought up in this home and memorizing
hundreds of hymns and reading the scriptures and reading the
textbooks and reading the books of theology, he didn't know how
to be saved. He said, I was in the gall of
bitterness. I had no peace with God. I had
no knowledge of forgiven sin. I was confused. I didn't know
how to be saved. And one cold, wintry Sunday morning
he started for church. And it was snowing heavily. And
he saw that he wasn't going to be able to make it to his place
of worship. So he stopped into a little primitive
Methodist church. That was the name of it, a primitive
Methodist church. And there were only a few people
there, 15, 20 people. The pastor couldn't get to church
that morning. He was snowed in. And so one
of the men of the church, Spurgeon said, just a poor, unlettered
man with no education, no training, and no preparation, got up in
the pulpit to preach in the absence of the pastor. And he said that
man took as his text Isaiah, Chapter 22, I believe it is,
verse 40. Look unto me, and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else.
Look unto me. And that man said in the midst
of that faltering, fumbling message, as he looked at Spurgeon in the
back of that little primitive Methodist chapel, young man,
you look miserable. You always will be miserable
until you look to Christ. It's not look to your books.
It's not look to your church. It's not look to your goodness.
It's not look to the law. It's look to Christ. And Spurgeon
said, it was as if God had drawn the curtain. It was as if God
had drawn the curtain and let the rays of the sun shine into
my soul. I saw that salvation was Christ. Me looking to Christ, that was
all there was to it, looking to Him. And he traces his revelation
of Christ to that very hour. Look to Christ. Salvation by
grace. By grace. If it's by grace for
the guilty, I plead guilty. If it's by grace in Christ, I
look to Christ. And if salvation is grace given
by God, then I ask God for it. Turn to Romans chapter 10. I
ask God for it. Romans chapter 10. Look at this. Verse 9. If thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart God
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. It's not make a journey to Rome. It's not go to the Holy Land
and touch some of the relics and shrines. It's not come down a church aisle
and unite with some church or some congregation that you feel
is exact or right according to the Bible. It's to believe in
your heart. that Jesus Christ is Lord, and
that God hath raised him from the dead. For with the heart
man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, Whosoever
believeth, believeth, believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
There is no difference between the Jew and the But the same
Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him, for whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Have you
called? Now you say, I've been in church
all my life. Have you called on the Lord? Well, I'm doing the best I can.
Have you called on the Lord? There was a Sunday school teacher
sitting before a class of boys. He took off his watch. He said,
this is a bull of a watch, 17 jewel, gold-plated. I paid $75
for it. He said, I'll give it to any
of you who'll ask me for it. And the boys laughed, you know.
He kept sitting there holding it. He turned to one of them
and said, Jim, you want it? No, I don't believe I do. He
said, Bill, you want it? Seventeen-jewel, gold-plated
bull of a what? You want it? Oh, you don't mean
it, teacher. Jack, you want it? Yes, sir,
I'll take it. Well, here you are. Jack took
it and put it on his arm. Bill says, he going to keep that?
Teacher said, sure, he's going to keep it. I gave it to him.
Bill said, well, I didn't think you meant it. Jim said, I didn't
think you meant it. Teacher said, I know that, but
Jack knew I meant it. And the same thing is true of
this thing of salvation. It's by grace. It's by grace. And Almighty God says, Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's what
it says right here. Will you call on Him? Salvation by grace, that gives
clear direction. If it's by grace for the guilty,
I plead guilty. If it's by grace through Christ,
you look to your baptism if you want to. That's okay by me. That's
your business. You look to your profession,
you look to your praying through, you look to your good work, you
go right ahead. That's your privilege and that's
your pleasure. But I'm going to look to Christ.
Because that's where it is, it's in Christ. And if salvation is
by grace to them who call upon the Lord, I'm going to call.
And I'm not going to quit calling until He answers. How about you? Now I'll tell you what the average
person does, they get a little bit troubled about eternity and
they send for the preacher. And he sits down, he talks them
into a profession, or talks them into some comfort, or talks them
into assurance. I'll just be perfectly honest
with you. I don't think you ought to sin for me. I think you ought
to call on the Lord. I can't save you. But in this
day, we pay somebody to pray for us, and pay somebody to study
for us, and pay somebody to act religious for us, and then we
go on to hell with a with a second-hand religion. And then the third
thing, in closing, salvation by grace will make the Lord and
his ordinances very sweet and precious to me. When Saul of
Tarsus was on the road to Damascus and was smitten down by the power
of God, and the Lord Jesus revealed Himself to him, Saul of Tarsus
said, What will you have me do? What will you have me do? Now, I tell you, you may have some hope for these
people who argue with God. And you may have some hope for
these people who tell God what they will do and what they won't
do. But I don't. I really don't. I think the Lord
saved me by his mercy, and I'm not going to quarrel with him
about baptism. He saved me by his mercy. Baptism
is so clearly taught in God's Word. Our Lord Jesus Christ came
down to the Jordan River. John was baptized in there, and
he went down straightway into the water. He was baptized by
immersion as an adult, thirty years of age. When the people at Pentecost
were saved, they all were baptized. When the Philippian jailer was
saved, he was baptized. When the Ethiopian eunuch was
saved, he was baptized. Our Lord, before he went back
to heaven, he said this, He that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Now, my friends, if salvation is by mercy alone, by the grace
and mercy of God alone, It's a free gift that I didn't deserve. Rather, I deserve the opposite.
It's a free, totally free gift. And I'm a sinner on the dunghill
of guilt, and God reached down and lifted me and picked me up
and made me whole. You mean I'm going to sit around
and argue with Him about being baptized? I just don't believe that now.
I just don't believe it. I don't believe that a beggar
is in any position to argue. And I believe he knows that.
And I believe a person who is totally stripped and totally
lost and totally helpless, and God reaches down in grace and
mercy and lifts him, he'll say, Lord, just show me what to do
in your Word, whatever you say. And I'll do it. If salvation is by grace, shall
I boast of my position? I've seen a lot of proud religious
people, and I cannot reconcile that. I cannot reconcile proud
preachers and proud deacons and proud religious folks. I can't justify that at all.
It seems to me that a man who has nothing and is nothing and
knows nothing but by the grace of God will not be proud at all,
but he will pity those who are not blessed in like manner. And
rather than having a haughty religious air about him, he will
have an air of humility. And then the Lord give it to
all men as He will. God has saved me by his grace,
and he called me to preach. He calls you to do something
else. He calls someone else to do something else. He gives gifts
in the church as it pleases him. If that's by grace, then what
room do I have to envy anybody? Or to be jealous of anybody? Or to quarrel against anyone?
I can't reconcile that. I cannot save my life, reconcile
this thing if everything we have is by the grace of God. Then
whatever I have or don't have, it doesn't make any difference.
God gave it to me, and God gave it to him, and God gave it to
her. It's all God's gifts. Why should there be any envy
at all? And my growth in grace, my growth
in Christ is by grace. If I have any spiritual maturity,
it's not me, it's Christ. And then something else I cannot
reconcile. I can't to save my life reconcile
how that a man can talk about being a recipient of free grace
and grace alone, and not love Christ above all things, and
not love his word and his kingdom and his church and his people.
I can't reconcile that. You know, if a man was facing
death in the electric chair, facing destruction And the governor
came down and pardoned him and set him free and got him a job and got him
a family and rented him a house and put him up in business. Don't
you reckon that man would just love that governor and defend
him and want to be around him? and devote his very life to him. But God stopped me on the precipice
of eternal hell, and God Almighty rescued me from eternal death,
and God lifted me from the very grave of sin and the dunghill
of corruption, and bathed me and washed me and made me whole
and gave me life. And to me, it just comes natural
to be grateful to him. and to live for His glory. By
grace are you saved. Our Father blessed this word Strip us, break us, humble us
at Thy feet. We are nothing, have nothing.
All that we are, have, is by Thy grace, by Thy grace, through
Christ our Lord. Use this message for whatever
purpose it please it be. If it can please Thee to break
hard hearts, if it can please Thee, O Lord, to use it to bring
me into knowledge of Christ, we'll thank Thee. Now throughout this day, let
it be a day of praise and worship unto Christ our King. In his
name we ask it. Amen.