All of Grace (2)
Notes
Transcript
All of Grace
Question: How many of you would say that you are saved by GRACE ALONE…. NOT BY WORKS, LEST ANYONE SHOULD BOAST… BUT BY GRACE ALONE!!!
That means, that you are “Saved”, you are a Son or Daughter of God, Not because of ANYTHING YOU HAVE DONE, ARE DOING OR WILL DO…
… BUT SIMPLY BY THE SOVEREIGN GRACE OF GOD.
Now I hope that all of you… because of your familiarity with God’s Word, would say, “Of Course”…
Yep, I’ve got it…
I know Eph 2:8-9 by heart, one of my favorite verses…
Ephesians 2:8–9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
I agree that the 5 Sola’s… not because they are in addition to the scriptures…
… but because they come from God’s Word!!!
So we say that Salvation is by GRACE ALONE, through FAITH ALONE, in CHRIST ALONE, in accordance with the SCRIPTURES ALONE…
For the GLORY OF GOD ALONE!!!
So we all understand this IN OUR HEADS that we are saved by Grace Alone…
But what I have found is simply this…
… it is easier to acknowledge truth intellectually, and embrace it with your mind…
…than it is to embrace it with all your heart….
But we know that God doesn’t just look at what we say we believe…
…He looks upon the heart…
…. And trust me when I tell you this… HE KNOWS MORE ABOUT YOUR HEART THAN YOU DO!!!
You see, it is true…
Jeremiah 17:9
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Any self-awareness at all and we know that we fall short everyday….
If just the thoughts that have passed through your mind in the last 15 minutes could be put up here on the screen for all to see, you would run out of here…
… as would I.
Well, know and understand this…
…it is all laid bare before the eyes of God.
That’s a sobering thought is it not….???
So where am I going with this…??
So, as I was off on a much needed Sabbatical (which I am grateful to the church for providing that…
… And Pastor Cameron for doing a wonderful job while I was away…
.. You know I sometimes affectionately refer to him as a “Unicorn”
Because Unicorn’s are a rare commodity as is a Godly young man with a love of God and His Word who is gifted to preach and teach…
But as I was saying during this past several months…
…this truth about being saved by Grace Alone was more deeply impressed upon my heart than ever before.
You see… Without consciously being aware of it… there was an element in my own heart that was, even in a small way…
… leaning upon my works…
My work as a Preacher, as a Teacher, my prayers, everything that I was doing…
….had unconsciously become a part of my salvation….
… If you would have asked me, if my salvation, depended at all on my own works…
… I would have answered ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!
… But God does not just listen to what we say… He Looks upon the Heart…
… and He understands our Hearts better than we do….
… And the wonderful, amazing thing about God…
…is that He graciously, patiently and with great wisdom…
…continues to mold us and make us into the image of His Son…
… and He is persistently and patiently correcting the defects, He sees in us.
i.e. You know one of the promises made during the recent election was “Free Tuition” to a 4 year college…
Well, we can top that…
… You see each one of us has been given “Free Tuition” to God’s School of Faith…
… I will tell you that before you were born, God enrolled you in the School of Faith…
… Where it is not just 4 years, but for life!
So being a student in the School of Faith… My “Sabbatical” was “Sabbatical” time was more like “Summer School”…
You see in order to expose this defect, the Lord removed all of my “doing” and for a time”….
… and to add a degree of emphasis my own physical abilities became quit limited… And I didn’t like that… Not at all…
… 2020 has indeed been anything but an ordinary year, having 4 surgeries since June, all be it nothing too serious,
… but getting knocked out 4 times starts to make you feel like you’ve been getting in the ring with Mike Tyson.. LOL
But the cure required that the ailment be brought into the light…
… I needed to understand, to come to grips with…
…. not “doing”… or able to “Do”…
..had no effect upon my Salvation, my place as a Born Again child of God…
I am not loved anymore by God when I am “Doing” and I am not loved any less when just “Being”…
After all we are called “Human Beings”, not Human Doings”!!
When I was not “doing” and lacked even the physical ability to “Do”….
… I was just as safe in His hand as I ever was…
… because IT WAS NEVER ABOUT ME OR MY DOING…
….BUT ABOUT HIM, AND HIS GRACE…
Grace my friends is the “Unmerited Favor” of God…
…Not the merited favor of God!!!
And God doesn’t bring you to Himself by Grace and then hope that you will do enough or be good enough to hang onto your status as His child…
Once you are His child, YOU ARE FOREVER HIS CHILD!!
Even earthly parents, who perhaps have had ill-natured children…
.. and maybe in frustration have declared them to longer be there child…
… But the Birth Certificate never changes…
… No matter how bad the child may be or how far they have run from home…
.. that child, once it is born, is still your son or daughter, and always will be in this world, like it or not…
But what happens in our spiritual lives, because of our fallen nature, our pride,,,
.. we accept the Grace, but we must retain even a small bit of the Glory of Salvation through our own efforts…
We try to add our own works, even in some small way, in order to remain a child of God…
Isn’t that what Paul emphatically pointed out in his letter to the Galatians..???
Galatians 3:1–3
1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.
2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
Grace was no longer enough… O sure at the beginning, but now we must keep the law in order to achieve Heaven…
I certainly knew this in my head, but I had to learn it again in my heart…
… I needed to rest in His grace alone in my heart.
God had to expose this hidden heart disease…
… and He graciously did it by removing the “doing” and the ability to “do”….
…So that, I had nothing but to rest in His Amazing Grace!
If we live long enough we will all face this challenge…
Some of you “more mature” saints already know what I’m talking about.
… Finding myself unable to “Do”…
…proved to be much more difficult than I ever thought it would be…
But Praise be to God, that He is Salvation belongs to Him…
Thank God that His Word never changes but is Eternal…
Thank God that He said…
Ephesians 2:8–9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Our hope is not found, IN OURSELVES…
We do not lean upon our own understanding, our wisdom, but upon His Word
We do not lean upon our feelings… but upon His Word
We do not lean upon our works…. But upon His Word
WE LEAN UPON HIM AND HIS WORD ALONE!!!
And He said….
IT IS BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED THROUGH FAITH. AND THIS IS NOT YOUR OWN DOING; IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD,
NOT A RESULT OF WORKS, SO THAT NO ONE MAY BOAST.
Notice that it doesn’t say, “By Grace you WILL BE SAVED”…
No, YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED!!!
This is your present status, that does NOT CHANGE based upon YOU…
… AND HOW YOU FEEL, OR HOW WELL YOU ARE “KEEPING UP”…
HIS GRACE HAS NOTHING TO DO with your “Doing” or your ability to “DO” but YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED BY HIS GRACE!!!
I often find myself, talking to myself, preaching God’s Word to myself which is a healthy exercise…
… and one that I would highly recommend!!
I.E. “Well I’m not very useful and I fear that in the end, Jesus will examine me and cast me out”
“Why” I would ask? Because you “feel” that you haven’t done enough???
Or you are not praying enough, or reading your bible enough, or giving enough…
… You just “Feel” that you are stumbling toward the finish line of life and you fear that you will just collapse before you get there…
….your confidence is shaken… It is not what it once was….
.. I submit to you that your lack of confidence comes because, maybe completely unaware, YOU WERE TRUSTING IN YOU…
… And when you trust in YOU, IT IS NOT ABOUT GRACE…
…. And when you trust in YOU, IT IS NOT A FREE GIFT…
… And when you trust in you, IT IS ABOUT YOUR WORKS…
… And when it is ABOUT YOUR WORKS…
… You have a reason TO BOAST when you arrive in Heaven…
… and that my friend will NEVER BE ALLOWED…
… THERE WILL BE NO BOASTING IN HEAVEN, FOR ANYONE WHO IS THERE…
… Not From Peter, Paul, Luther, Calvin, Bunyan, Spurgeon, Sproul, ME AND YOU….
… What will be there, is the singing of HIS PRAISES and declaring that Salvation belongs to the Lord!!!
… Not ME or YOU….
No, God says…
John 10:28
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
Infirmity and Age will not, indeed cannot, snatch you from the hand of God!!!
Notice again, our text does not say by Grace you “Might be Saved” or you are “Mostly Saved” or that by Grace “YOU HOPE TO BE SAVED”…
No, BY GRACE… YOU ARE SAVED!!!
SALVATION IS GRACE FROM BEGINNING TO END!!!
You who are in Christ, who have been “Born Again”, as witnessed to you by the Spirit of God…
… ARE SAVED! Period! Without Exception! End of Story!
So, honor God, BY BELIEVING AND TRUSTING GOD!!!
You do Him no Honor if you are trusting in Self and not in HIM!!!
You were not SAVED BECAUSE YOU DID SOMETHING TO MERIT SALVATION…. That would be a “Reward” not Grace…
… AND YOU ARE NOT KEPT IN SALVATION BECAUSE YOU ARE CONTINUING TO DO SOMETHING!!!
Besides if Salvation did rest upon works…. We would all be lost!!!
But Praise God, Salvation is about Him, His Grace, His Free Gift to you!!!
Lay hold of God and His truth, even while you are able “to do”, and it will prove to be a treasure beyond anything you have ever known!
It will make your heart rejoice even when things don’t work out the way you would like…
Even when the day comes, when you are unable to “do”.
My friends it is BY GRACE “ALONE” through FAITH “ALONE”,,,
NOT GRACE ALONE THROUGH YOUR OWN DOING…
Yes, Salvation by Grace can only come by FAITH…
Salvation by Grace does not come to us by our works or by religious ceremony…
It is BY FAITH, not by Communion, not by Baptism, not by preaching or teaching or praying or giving….
It is by GRACE ALONE through FAITH ALONE…
… “And do you know who gave you the Faith to believe in the first place”???
… THAT’S RIGHT GOD… People who are DEAD IN SIN, have NO ABILITY TO EXERCISE FAITH…. To WORK UP FAITH….
… NO, God must Breathe the breath of life into these dry bones JUST AS HE DID IN EZEKIEL’S DAY… and make them alive…..
…that BY GRACE ALONE, THROUGH FAITH ALONE, IN CHRIST ALONE, AND WE ARE SAVED!!!
None of this is our own doing… IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM…
We did nothing to deserve it and we contribute nothing to keep it!!!
It is ALL OF GOD, not of our selves lest anyone should boast!!!
While I was off and happened to be at the hospital…
… by what I truly believe was divine providence, I bumped into Pastor Cameron…
… He was making arrangements to visit an Elderly saint who seemed to be close to heaven’s gates…
… and being somewhat familiar with the man, I was able to join Pastor Cameron as he visited this man in the hospital.
And this Godly man, repeated something several times that seemed to speak directly into my heart at the time…
How often I have visited someone and come away more blessed than the person I visited….
The man, very weak, simply repeated several times, “It is by the blood”…
He was simply proclaiming that truth about salvation…
.. It is by “His blood” which is given to us by God’s Grace, God’s Free Gift, for us!
God didn’t have to give it, He was under no obligation to save anyone, for we are all sinners….
… but by His Grace… by His Love…
John 3:16
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
I have never stood by the bed side of any saint who talked about all the good they did in this world…
… No, the saints all seem to have this one theme…
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”, and we are saved by His Blood Alone…
“God have mercy upon me a sinner”
It is rather amazing that when all is said and done,,,
… we are left with nothing more than a simple childlike faith in God’s Grace toward sinful men.
The great John Newton would agree for at the age of 82 he simply said this…
“My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things – that I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior”
LET’S PRAY