Okay. Crow's meandering in here,
I guess. He may be sauntering, but I think
he's meandering. Well, it's good to see you out
this morning. Liz got a birthday this week. See, it's right there
in the bulletin. Happy birthday. Remember those
who requested prayer. Arlene and Cynthia and Hannah.
And Teresa, all down in Florida. Enjoying the 84 degree weather
down there. Life is tough. Suffering for
the cause. Remember those who've lost loved
ones and seek the Lord's help for them. And those who are going
through trial. Okay, let's begin our worship
service this morning with hymn number 474, Only a Sinner Saved
by Grace. What have I gotten, but what
I received? Grace hath bestowed it, and I
have believed. Boasting excluded, pride I obey. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner. ? Saved by grace ? Only a sinner
? Saved by grace ? This is my story ? To God be the glory ?
I'm only a sinner ? Saved by grace Once I was foolish, and
sin ruled my heart, causing my footsteps from God to depart. Jesus hath found me, happy my
case. I now am a sinner, saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story. To God be the glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. ? Tears unavailing, no merit
had I ? ? Mercy had saved me, or else I must die ? ? Sin had
alarmed me, fearing God's face ? ? But now I'm a sinner, saved
by grace ? ? Only a sinner saved by grace ? Only a sinner saved
by grace ? This is my story to God be the glory ? I'm only a
sinner saved by grace Suffer a sinner whose heart overflows,
Loving his Savior to tell what he knows, Would I embrace? I'm only a sinner Saved by grace
Only a sinner Saved by grace Only a sinner Saved by grace
? To God be the glory ? I'm only a sinner ? Saved by grace After
scripture reading and prayer, we'll sing hymn number 287, Like
a River Glorious. If you have your Bibles turned
with me, please do Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter
one. We'll read verses three through
six. I've taken my text from verse six this morning. Blessed, verse three, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love having predestinated us to the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will
to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made
us accepted in the beloved. Let us pray. We are astounded to once again
read these glorious words that speak of the things you have
done to exalt and honor your grace in the salvation of your
people by the blood of Jesus Christ. We are so thankful that you have
given your children everything they need. We are so thankful that you have
blessed them with all spiritual blessings. They have need of
nothing spiritually. Even as they grow in grace and
in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, it is merely part of the process
that you have ordained through the preaching of the gospel to
feed your sheep and nourish them that they may grow. We are thankful
that you chose them in Christ before the world began, that you ordained them to be
holy and without blemish before you, that in loving kindness and mercy
you adopted them by Jesus Christ and birthed them into your kingdom. Father, you have done all things
for us that pertain to godliness and life in Christ. And all we
can say is thank you and praise your holy name for what you've
done. You have accepted us in the beloved. We know what we are. We deem
ourselves and know ourselves to be unacceptable in nature. unclean and undone, but we can
say, as we just sang, we're only a sinner saved by grace. We know that what you've done
for us, that we are the beneficiaries of these things. The purpose
of your doing them is to glorify your grace. We thank you for
grace, sufficient for every need. for mercy in you every morning. We pray for those of our company
who are sick and away from us for whatever reason. We ask,
Lord, you be with them. For those who are traveling,
we ask you to give them traveling grace, bring them safely home
to us. For those who are going through
trials and tribulations and lost loved ones, we ask, Lord, your
mercy and grace for them. And we ask this day, if you might
be pleased, to cause us to catch a glimpse of the glory of your
grace. It's in the name of Jesus Christ
we ask these things. Amen. Hymn number 287, Like a
River Glory. Like a river glorious is God's
perfect peace, Over all victorious in its bright increase. Perfect yet it floweth, fuller
every day, Perfect yet it groweth, deeper all the way. State upon Jehovah, hearts are
fully blessed. Binding as He promised, perfect
peace and grace. ? Hidden in the hollow of his
blessed hand ? ? Never foe can follow, never traitor stand ?
? Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care ? ? Not a blast of hurt, hearts are fully blessed, finding
as he promised perfect peace and rest. Every joy or trial
falleth from above, traced upon our dial by the sun ? Find him wholly true ? State
upon Jehovah ? Hearts are fully blessed ? Finding as he promised
? Perfect peace and rest Stephen, Sam, Sam, Stephen, Stan to receive
y'all this morning. It's tough when you get old.
Things never work quite like they should. Let us pray. Our
Father in heaven, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ that
you would allow us the privilege to worship you in this manner
which you've ordained, the giving of gifts from your people for
the furtherance of the gospel of preaching here and in other
places. We are thankful for such an opportunity and that you have
included us in this great and glorious plan. What a sweet thing
for us who have nothing but what you've given us and then you
have us return that unto thee according to as you purpose to
have you and it caused us to have it and then father you use
it for the preaching of the gospel what a thing what a privilege
is ours let us reflect in our giving with a heart of thanksgiving
we pray in christ's name you. I invite your attention back
to Ephesians chapter one. You're going to use your Bibles
today, so make sure you've got one in your lap. We'll be turning
to different passages here in Scripture because the subject
this morning is glorious grace. Glorious grace of God. There
are some, it seems, who stand in the pulpits who have gone
to seed on the grace of God. I am one of those people. i have
gone to seat on the grace of god has been the subject of my
messages for forty five years i continue will continue to preach
about it because as i consider the experience of knowing christ
of being saved by his grace i've never got over the wonder
of it precious moments that the lord gives me to think about
what i am and what he's done for me I can but praise and thank
Him for His grace. This first chapter of Ephesians
is one that a lot of people wouldn't like to be in Scripture, but
I certainly love. But it's all about the glory
of God's grace. The first 14 chapters deal with
the work of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the salvation
of the elect, and it's all for the glory of His grace. I think, and I believe the Bible
supports this, that when all else is done, when time is no
more, the subject of heaven will be the glory of His grace. When
an innumerable company of sinners saved by grace stand in perfection
before the thrice holy God, before the law, perfect and righteous,
The sound will be as Zerubbabel said in Zechariah, grace, grace
unto it. It's all about the grace of God. I have nothing and am nothing
except by God's grace. The poet wrote, grace, tis a
charming sound, harmonious to the ear and to everyone who has
tasted first of the bitter vile of their own depravity, and have
come to know and feel their own vileness, grace is the only sound
that will ever be charming. It's the only sound. It's not
so with everyone. There are those in whom the Word
of God, the principle and the doctrine of grace is distasteful.
and is discordant to their ears. Those who believe they have something
to do with their salvation, whether it be their will, their decision,
their works, their law-keeping, they have no interest in the
language of grace. And even those who talk about
grace a great deal, because most churches do use the word, attach
it to the preposition but, and add to it their own righteousness
and merit or works. Grace is such a singular, precise,
exacting and absolute principle that it will never countenance
a rival. It will never tolerate any supplementation
or contribution to it. and it will acquiesce to no mixture
with it. Grace stands alone. Our Lord
said that He chose us and predestinated us and adopted us and saved us
and gave us all spiritual blessings and accepted us in Jesus Christ
to the praise of the glory of His grace. That's it. That's
where it all rests. All rest right there. No words
can do grace justice. No song can encompass its true
melody. No sermon or theological treatise
can expound the depths and heights and breadths of its glory. Every redeemed person abides
in grace, rests in grace, and is moved to loving service by
grace. It is at the same time the source
of comfort and conviction, of joy and tears, of desire and
fulfillment, of meekness and boldness, and those who have
experienced the wonder of it are forever enamored with it
and altered by it and can't stop talking about it. Those who have
experienced the beauty and power of grace find their mind and
heart consumed by it. And when we talk in religion,
it is the subject that is nearest and dearest to their heart and
what they will always come back to when people talk about salvation. They'll say it's all by the grace
of God. Those who know grace, their relationships
are tempered by it, are monitored nurtured and measured by it.
Their very soul is permeated with it. They are possessed with
a kind of tunnel vision, a singular mindedness that to the world
seems to border on fanaticism. Their conversation is so singularly
taken with grace that religion often refers to them as gracers
or sovereign gracers. Now that's designed to disallow
them, to mock them, but the recipient of grace cannot help himself.
He gladly takes up the banner and wears the disdain of the
world as a badge of honor. Grace is part and parcel with
God's glory. We can't speak of God's glory
and not speak of his grace. For he said when Moses asked
him, show me thy glory. He said, I will make my goodness
pass before you. I'll proclaim the name of the
Lord before you. And I will be gracious unto whom
I will be gracious. And I will show mercy unto whom
I will show mercy. We cannot address in any form
the glory of God, which is why we're here and why everything
exists apart from recognizing and extolling His grace and His
honor. I've tried over the years to
try to preach grace and I'm going to take another lick at it this
morning. I desire, I want to speak to
you this hour of the glory of God's grace. And I know that
I'm about to set sail on this mighty sea in a mighty tiny little
bark. I am all too aware that my sufficiency
to rise to the occasion cries out in mediocrity at best. But
I know also that I'm not alone in my incapacity. For no more mere mortal soul
can pretend to plumb the depths of this vast sea. Grace from
cover to cover is the theme of scripture. Grace in Jesus Christ. I know also that every man whom
God has called and sent forth to preach the gospel will this
hour or whenever they're preaching today be saying the same things
I'm going to say. I will be saying what I've said
before. I will repeat what I've repeated and say what I've said
a thousand times before in hopes of honoring God. Scott Richardson
once said that the proper motivation for a preacher is to preach in
a manner that God would sign his name to it when he was finished. That's what I want to do. That's
what every preacher wants to do. We're going to look at the Bible
and its references to grace and references to your life. and my life and the salvation
of God's people. It's all for the praise of the
glory of His grace. The first thing is this. It's
found in John chapter 1. And it's simply this. God's grace
is found only in Jesus Christ the Lord. There's no grace outside
of Him. No grace. In John chapter 1 and
verse 14, it says, And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among
us, and we beheld His glory. The glory is the only begotten
of the Father. And what is that glory? He's
full of grace and truth. Full of grace and truth. And it says in verse 16, And
of His fullness we have all received, and grace grace. Then in verse 17 it says, The
law came by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No
one knows of the grace of God or has an inkling of the grace
of God unless he knows the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how you
know grace. That's the only way. And grace
is sovereign. That's the second thing. I just
quoted from Exodus chapter 33 and verse 19 when he said, I
will be gracious and he will be. He said he would. Some would
have said, well, God didn't have to show grace. I differ with
you. He does. He said he would. And when he
said he would, he would. You can count on it. God's going
to be gracious. But he said, I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. It's up to God. to show grace
to whomever he will. Grace is sovereign. Where sin
did abound, grace did much more abound. When we talk about grace,
we often call it sovereign grace. We have that on our church sign
out there. Sequoia Sovereign Grace Baptist
Church. Why do we have that? Because
grace is sovereign God's grace flows from the Sovereign God
who does as He pleases, when He pleases, where He pleases,
with whom He pleases. He is God Almighty and thank
God He extols the purpose and the glory of His grace. What does that mean? It simply
means this, that you couldn't deserve it, you couldn't earn
it, you couldn't merit it. In fact, everything about you
and me would suggest that God would have nothing to do with
us whatsoever. He didn't save the best kind
of folks, the upright folks, the good folks. He saved the
riches and the vilest ones. Why? So if anybody ever questions
why Tim James was saved, if anybody ever wonders, they have to come
to this conclusion. It had to be by grace. It couldn't
have been anything else. Because there was nothing in
him or about him that could cause it. God's grace is sovereign. Thirdly, God's grace is eternal. It's covenant grace. We just
read that He chose us before the world began in Jesus Christ. He chose us. It's an eternal
covenant, a purposed grace. Paul told young Timothy in 2
Timothy chapter 1 and verse 9, God has saved us. That's who
saved us. We did not save ourselves, God
has saved us and CALLED us. How did He call us? According
to 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 15, He called us by His Gospel. That is how He does it. He is
not writing His name in a cloud and not calling in a whispering
little voice. He speaks through this Word. Do you want to know
what the voice of Christ is? This is it. This is the voice
you hear, not mine. This Word is the voice that you
hear. He has saved us and called us,
and He called us with a holy calling, a separate calling,
a separate calling, a pure calling, called us. He has saved us and
called us according to His own purpose and grace. When did he do that? When did
we have that grace? I grew up thinking I was sort
of the center of the world. When did I get this grace? I
had this grace before the world began. I just didn't know it. It took some fella to stand on
his hind legs and preach the gospel to me to find out that
I had the grace of God. God has saved us and called us,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Jesus Christ. When? Before
the world began. We had it and just didn't know
it. So when we talk about God's grace,
we're talking about covenant, purposed grace. God's grace is
distinguishing grace. distinguishing grace over in
Romans chapter 9 Romans chapter 9 and verse 11
says for the children being not yet born neither having done
any good or evil talking about Jacob and Esau that the purpose
of God according to election might stand not of works but
of him that calleth It's distinguishing grace. What made the difference
between Jacob and Esau? Was Jacob a good guy? Oh, his
name means supplanter. He's a sneak. He was a mama's
boy. He was a cheater. He was a liar.
He was a thief. He was all those things. Well,
how come God loved him? Grace. There's no other answer. Esau, we would have liked Esau.
He was a hunter. He could kill his own food and
eat it. We like somebody like that, and
I tell you what, people like that are probably going to be
important in the days to come. We like him. God didn't. God
said, I hate him. I hate him. And that word hatred
in the New Testament means to totally disregard. In the Old
Testament it means an actual vehement act of hatred. But the
Greek word means it's like he didn't exist. Jacob have I loved, that wretched
Jacob have I loved, and he so have I hated. God's grace is
distinguishing grace, distinguishing grace. Not only that, God's grace
is electing grace. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2,
which you're very familiar with, Paul gives thanks to the Thessalonican
believers because something has happened to them that didn't
happen to other people. In the first twelve verses of
that chapter he talks about those whom God despises and gets rid
of, those who act like their God in the church, that means
they say my will is more important than God's will, my power is
more important than God's will. Today's big deal is to enable
the spirit to act. You know, that's what people
do. I'm gonna enable the sovereign God, who is the spirit of God,
to do something. I'm going to fix it through my
prayers and my speaking in tongues and my doing this or that. I'm
gonna make God come down and act how stupid people are, but
they go for it like crazy. They go for it like crazy. God
says that people act like that in the church. They set themselves
up as God and they make the decision. He said, they're all going to
hell. God's going to give them a lie. He's going to fix their
lie in their mind and then put them in hell for the lie he put
in their mind. Because they won't believe the
truth. That's the sovereign God. And then in verse 13 he says,
but you're not that bunch. But we are bound We have to. Why are we bound? Because there
ain't no other way to talk about it. It means we didn't have anything
to do. We're bound to talk about it this way. We have to talk
about it this way. We are bound to give thanks always to God
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit That means God regarding you as His, and His alone, and
holy, and for His use singularly, and belief in the truth which
comes by the faith of God gives, whereunto He called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Selecting grace. Selecting grace. God's grace is saving grace.
God's grace is sufficient grace. God's grace is electing grace.
It's sufficient grace. Our Lord said in 2 Corinthians
chapter 12 verse 9 when Paul talked about that thorn in his
flesh that God had allowed or caused Satan to send to him. And he cried three times unto
God for it to be removed so he wouldn't be in whatever pain
he was in. And God said, my grace is, present tense, is sufficient
for you. So I hope I have dying grace.
You don't need it if you ain't dying. If you're dying, you'll
need dying grace. It is, at the present time, meeting
your need. God's grace is sufficient grace,
2 Timothy, or 2 Corinthians 12, 9. God's grace is saving grace. It's saving grace. If God sheds
His grace upon you, if God commands His grace to fall upon you, God
bestows His grace on you, that means He's saved you. By grace
you're saved, it says in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. By grace you're saved
through faith, and that faith is not of yourselves. It's not
of works. As any man should boast, it's
a gift of God. What is a gift? It's not an offer. An offer is you say, do you want
this or don't you? You say, I don't want it or I
can keep it. That's an offer and that's the response to it.
What's a gift? It's something you're given and something you
receive. That's a gift. That's a gift. It's a gift of God. What does
that mean? God has given his people faith.
He's given it to them. And what in the world do they
do with that? They believe the gospel. That's what they do. That's the primary function of
faith. Now we know faith works by love, and faith produces works,
but those works are ordained of God, for we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus on two good works. Those works are ordained
of God. But faith's primary thing is
this. and would to God we would only
do this, and do this more. Only believe. Nothing else. Nothing more. Only believe. By grace you are saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should both. And faith is, faith is given
by grace, personally by God. Personally by God in Acts chapter
18 Acts chapter 18 Verse 27 It says for he mightily
convinced the jews that publicly showing by the scriptures that
jesus Was the christ in verse 28 verse 27 and when he was disposed
to pass to acacia, okay, acacia and The brethren rode, exhorting
the disciples to receive him, who, when he was come, helped
them much which believed," How? Through grace. That's how they
believed. They believed through grace,
because God had given them grace to do so. God gives that to a
person. They believe. Why do they believe? Because God's been gracious to
them. That's the grace of God. The
grace of God. The grace of God is the believer's
only plea. The believer's only plea. Paul
said in 1 Corinthians 15, I am what I am by the grace of God, not by anything else. I am what
am I? I'm a sinner by the grace of
God. Yep. The sinner's a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so.
You don't even know you're a sinner. You have no idea that you're
a sinner unless God shows you grace. I am what I am. I'm saved. How? By the grace
of God. I am what I am. I am righteous. How? By the grace of God, He
has made Christ to be my righteousness. I have eternal life. How? By
the grace of God, He has given me life eternal. I am what I
am by the grace of God. God's grace is justifying grace. Over in Romans chapter 3 and
verse 24, when it talks about the righteous work of God and
the saving of His people, Verse 24, it says, being justified
freely by His grace. You mean it's grace that justifies?
Yes. Well, there's about 14 or 15
ways it says we're justified in grace. It all relates to what
God has done for us. But this is one of them. We're
justified by blood. We're justified by blood. And
here it says we're justified by grace. Freely by His grace. That word freely is important
because it means without a cause. That means without a cause in
us. We are justified without a cause in us by His grace. Justified
freely by His grace. Grace is justifying. What does
that mean? Grace takes this person who cannot merit any favor
of God and declares by the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ
that that person has never sinned. That's what justification means.
Before God, you never see it. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. Grace is freeing. Grace will set you free. In Romans
chapter 6, it speaks of being free from the law. Romans 6 and
14 says, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're
not under the law, you're under grace. You mean sin will not
dominate us if we're under grace? That's what it says. What does
that mean? That word dominion is an interesting
meaning. It doesn't mean power, it means
right to rule. The right to have power over
you is removed. In other words, sin still has
power. It wouldn't do God that it did
not, but it does. It has power in our lives. But it does so because we allow
it to be that way, because it doesn't have any right to do
that. That right has been removed. Sin shall no longer have right
over you, have rights over you, for you're not under the law,
but you're under what then? Shall we sin because we're not
under the law? But grace, God forbid. God forbid. It shall no longer have rights
over you. That's God's grace. That's God's
grace. It's freeing. We'll call the
Lord's free men. Free from the law, oh happy condition,
Jesus has died and there is remission. And grace is unmerited. it's unmerited, that's what the
word grace means, unmerited favor in Romans chapter four verse
four and five it says this now to him that worketh is the reward
not reckoned of grace but of debt so if you worked for it
or your works have anything to do with your salvation that salvation
would have to come because God owes you he'd be indebted to
save you God will have to save you If salvation is by works,
He'd have to save you. He can't get around it. But it
says this, Now to him that worketh is a reward not reckoned of grace
but debt, but to him that worketh not for salvation. That worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. It doesn't say that
belief caused him to justify it. It says you believe that
he justifies. That's the wonder of faith. What does faith do?
It believes what God has done. It believes that Christ is our
only hope. It believes that. It believes
that we're justified freely by His grace before we even existed
in this world. 2,000 years ago He justified
us on the cross. He said His faith is counted for righteousness.
Now that's counting, that's talking about or relating back to Abraham.
Because chapter 4, the first part is about Abraham. Relating
back to Abraham, when did Abraham believe God? Well, when was it
said that his belief or faith was counted for righteousness?
Was it when he left the Ur of Chaldeas? When God said, get
out of there, and he packed up his bags and left? You say, well,
I'm sure he had faith then. I mean, that's an act of faith,
wouldn't you say? Pack up your whole family and leave? Well,
how about when he offered up Isaac on that altar and took
a knife and was about to slay his son? Well, that's an act
of faith. It was. It was. How about when he argued with
God about Sodom and Gomorrah? He said, if it was just ten people
down there, would you save them? He had faith. He believed. He
talked to God. None of those times it says his faith was counted
for righteousness. When did that happen? Genesis
15. When God took him out and said,
number the stars of heaven, he said, I can't. He said, So shall
thy seed be. And we know from Galatians 3
that seed was Christ. When is a person's faith counted
for righteousness? When that faith is centered in
Jesus Christ. That's when it's counted for
righteousness. Now faith acts all along the child-like body.
But justifying faith, justifying faith, is when we believe on
Christ. God's grace is overcoming grace. Overcoming grace. We overcome
the world by faith, it says in 1 John. But grace is overcoming. How is sin overcome? By our militant action against
it. By saying, I'm going to stop this and start this. I'm going
to quit this sinning. How does sin overcome? Where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Sin is overcome
by grace, by the grace of Almighty God. God's grace is singularly glorious.
It's singularly glorious. Over in Romans chapter 11, Romans chapter 11 verse 5 and
6, Even so, at this present time there is a remnant according
to the election of grace, and if by grace, then it is no more
of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
But if I be by works, then it is no more grace. Otherwise,
work is no more work. He said there's a remnant according
to the election of grace. Look up that word remnant sometime
in your concordance and run it from the Old Testament to the
New. You'll find it's all about the grace of God. when God told
Isaiah to turn loose and pronounce woe upon woe upon Israel in Isaiah
chapter one and throughout the whole book, but particularly
in chapter one, when the Lord ended that treatise by saying,
you can pray all you want to, I ain't gonna hear you. You can
raise your hands, I ain't looking. You can make all those sacrifices,
I hate them, I despise them. They're weirdness to me. I said,
man, ain't no hope for that outfit. Had God not left us, a very small
remnant. We would have been like Sodom
and Gomorrah. What's the difference? The grace of God. The grace of
Almighty God. Even so, at this present time,
there is a remnant according to the election of grace. So grace is the source of election. So election has nothing to do
that you can be proud of because grace is unmerited favor. If
you didn't merit it, you can't be proud of it. God's grace is God's calling. Paul said that he was a persecutor
of the church. He went out to do it evil. He
said, but when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb, and call me by his grace to reveal his son in me Galatians
1.15 when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's
womb. You mean I was called to be a preacher before I was born?
Yeah. You was. You was. I remember sitting down
with my mom and dad and we all the time talked about the scriptures
They were believers. The Lord, I felt, I was a butcher
on a meat block on my own business. Good business, making good money.
Felt like the Lord was calling me to preach. I sat down with
my mom and dad, and I said, Mom, I don't know how to tell you
this, but I feel like the Lord's calling me into the ministry.
They said, well, it's about time you figured that out. About time you figured that out.
God's grace is God's calling. Call me by His grace. Call me
by His grace. God's grace is our acceptance.
We just read that in a text in Ephesians chapter 1. We're accepted
in the Beloved to the praise of the glory of His grace. His
grace has made us accepted. Accepted in the Beloved. God's
grace is the source of all gospel preaching. all gospel preaching. Look over to Ephesians chapter
3. Ephesians chapter 3 verse 8, he says, unto me, Paul said,
who am less than the least of all saints. Is this grace given
that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches
of Christ? Preaching, the call to preaching. the source of preaching is God's
grace unto me who is less than the least of the saints. Grace
is the melody of our songs. In Colossians chapter 3 verse 16 it says, Let the word
of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, Singing
with grace in your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. Singing with
grace in your heart. That's why we sing so much about
grace. That's why our song is about grace. Grace makes us heirs
of God. Turn over to Titus chapter three. Titus chapter three. verse seven
says that being justified by his grace we should be heirs
according to the hope of eternal life we are called heirs according
to promise in Galatians that was Paul's argument against the
law setting forth the grace of God was heirs according to promise
Romans chapter eight says we are heirs of God that means we
are God's heirs that means when he made out his will in testament
he put our names in it or heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus
Christ. It's proof of our sonship, of
our relationship with the Father. In Ephesians chapter 1 it talks
about that very thing. It says in verse 11, it says,
"...in whom we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will." This is the proof. This is the
proof. We have an inheritance. An inheritance,
heirs of God. Heirs of eternal life. Grace
makes Christ our substitute. It's grace that does that. Hebrews
chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 9 says
this, But we see Jesus made a little lower than the angels for the
suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the
grace of God should taste death. For every man, we know the word
man is not in the original, it's every one described in this passage,
the many sons he's bringing to glory. Why did he go to the cross? The
grace of God. By the grace of God he tasted
death. Wow! That whole thing, this whole
thing is about the grace of God. Grace grounds us stabilizes us
we're mostly unstable people by nature but in Hebrews chapter
thirteen in verse nine it says this be not carried away with
divers and strange doctrines for it is a good thing that the
heart be established with grace not with meads which have not
profited them that take occupied thereby established with grace
grace is what grounds us over in first peter chapter five verse
ten says but god the god of all grace who have called us under
the eternal glory by jesus christ after that he ever suffered a
while make you perfect and establish and strengthen and settle you
establish strengthen and settle you. What? That grace of God.
The God of all grace does that. And all grace is of God. We read
in the same verse in chapter 11, it says, to whom be glory,
of 1 Peter chapter 5, to whom be glory and dominion forever
and ever. Amen. We are accepted in the
Beloved to the praise of the glory of His grace. It is our song, our heritage
from God to the believer. He can say with Paul, I am what
I am by the grace of God. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen. All right.