So hymn number two, page 175, now in a song of grateful praise to thee, O Lord, my voice I'll raise. Hymn number two, page 175, remain seated. We rest on our grateful crates, to Thee, O Lord, our voice and praise, with all our strength from time to time. by Jesus A sovereign, wonderful, and free, hath been my love to sin for me. But saves me from the jaws of hell, by Jesus, the father of Israel. And above the rest, these tongues shall swear, these tongues shall swear, my soul my life ♪ Who receives picture of grace and strength ♪ ♪ Like Jesus left on off his death ♪ ♪ And above the rest this note shall stand ♪ ♪ This note shall stand ♪ ♪ This note shall stand ♪ ♪ And above the rest this note shall stand ♪ ♪ By Jesus looked down all things well ♪ ♪ And then to that bright world I rise ♪ ♪ And join the efforts of the skies ♪ ♪ And above the rest this song shall stir ♪ ♪ By Jesus looked down all things well ♪ ♪ And above the rest His float shall stand ♪ ♪ His float shall stand, His float shall stand ♪ ♪ And above the rest His float shall stand ♪ ♪ By Jesus let down all things drown ♪ We'll sing just one verse of hymn number seven. Hymn number seven, page 177. To God be the glory, great things he hath done. So hymn seven, page 177, just the verse one and the chorus. ♪ One with the glory we claim to have done ♪ ♪ So loved He the world and keeping us His son ♪ ♪ We'll yield His life and atone Him for sin ♪ ♪ And open the life-gate that all may know Him ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice. O come to the Father, through Jesus Christ, I'm going to read in 1 Peter chapter 5 and the verse 10. In 1 Peter 5 and the verse 10. But the God of all grace who have called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus. After that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, second you. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. We'll seek the Lord's face briefly in prayer. Our gracious Father, We thank thee that we are enabled this evening to approach unto the One who is, the God of all grace. We thank thee for thy infinite favour toward thy people, favour absolutely unmerited by us. Rather, what we had merited was wrath. We thank thee for thy great grace toward Therefore, we unite with the apostle and say, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. O Lord, be with us in this gathering, we pray. Meet with each waiting heart, we ask. In our Lord's name, we pray. Amen. Amen. We're going to turn in our hymn books, please, to the opening section of the hymn book, Psalm 27. The Psalm 27. The words that we're singing are on page 24. It's the second version of the Psalm. So Psalm 27, the second version, page 24. So halfway down page 24 you'll see second version. Jehovah is my light and my salvation he, who then shall me affright, the Lord is unto me. We're singing the verse 1 and then going down to the verses 8 and 9. So the verse 1 and then the verses 8 and 9 will stand as we sing. mercy. and such as I am. Let's sing the first one again. The first one. You may be seated. We'll Our gracious Father, we thank Thee that the Lord is our light and saving health. O Lord, we thank Thee for that day when into the heart of each believer here the light of the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ shone in. We wear As Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road, we were in darkness. Some of us, like Saul, were full of boasting of all that we had done. But we thank thee for that day when in thy great grace the light shone in. We thank thee that we can truly say then, the Lord is my light. We cry out with the psalmist, Lord, teach me thy way. Lead me in the path everlastingly. We cry to thee that as we have been saved by grace, that we would be enabled to walk paths of grace. We cry to Thee that more and more that our understanding of the Gospel would increase. We thank Thee for its simplicity, that the sinner is to come and believe. Yet we thank Thee that in our Christian lives we have never learned the depths of the gospel. Yea, through all eternity we shall be led from fountain to fountain, we will never tire of hearing about Christ and his grace. We pray then this evening that thou wilt come and teach us afresh O Lord, that thou would show us a little more of the great grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the great mercy of God towards us. We pray that the heart of every believer will be thrilled in this meeting. We pray, Lord, for any among us that know thee not. O Lord, open their hearts to thy truth, we pray. We pray to Thee that those that are still in spiritual darkness, still spiritually dead, that light would be given them, that they would be brought into light. O Lord, we do thank Thee for each one that is gathered in and Lord minister to each soul. We commend the congregation as a whole to Thee. Thy knowest the need of each one. And we cry to thee that thou will give grace for every trial, give much help in every difficulty. We pray, Lord, that we will know that overcoming through our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. So we commend this time to thee, come and minister to every bleeding soul in our Lord's name. We're going to turn again in our hymn books and we're turning to the hymn 294. 294 will teach me what it meaneth that cross uplifted high. 294 will stand as we sing. Oh me. O teach me what it meaneth, and save me from sin to life, and rid all the world of my sin. Teach me that in the Lamb I am saved by your blood. Yes, fill that cup, Lord Jesus, my only blessed cup. O teach me, O Lord, in thee the glory of the Lamb, the love of rich and feeble, and exult in his name. me. And praise the Lord every day, and love him again. O teach me, for I need Thee, I have no help beside You. And change the world, the sinners, for whom the Savior died. Redeemer, I bring the world at Thee Because Thou dost invite me, I cast myself from Thee Because the cross has set me free, I know that death will die. Because I'm unconstrained, I'll face the end. We're going to turn in the Scriptures, please, to Romans chapter 5. We were singing there, "'Oh, teach me what it meaneth, for I am full of sin, and grace alone can reach me.' And one of the great things here in Romans 5 is the great grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 5. And reading from verse 12, this last part of the chapter, it brings to our attention what we often refer to as federal headship, that is, being sons of Adam, we were under his headship, and therefore lost. We needed a new head, and no mere man could be that head, for we all share this Adam nature, a new man, we needed Jesus Christ. And so he is the new Adam, the last Adam, our new federal head. And so the gospel is that we would be taken from under Adam's headship and brought under the headship of Jesus Christ. Romans 5, verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world. and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. For until the law, sin was in the world. But sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death raved from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. but not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, So is the gift. For the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offence might abound. That is, when we have the law, sin in all of its sinfulness is seen. Moreover, the law entered that the offence might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. But as sin hath reigned on to death, even so might grace reign. Through righteousness, unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. I want also to read some words, please, from Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2, verse 1. And you hath equipped who were dead in trespasses and sins. where in a time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation or our conduct in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and where by nature the children of wrath even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come ye might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works which God before ordained that we should walk in them. And we'll end there, knowing the Lord will add his blessing to the reading of his precious truth. We're going to have now the catechism, and the words are on the screen or on the back of the church bulletin. Question 180. I'll ask the question and we'll answer at least together. What is it to pray in the name of Christ? To pray in the name of Christ is in obedience to his command and in confidence on his promises to ask mercy for his sake, not by bare mentioning of his name, but by drawing our encouragement to pray and our boldness, strength, and hope of acceptance in prayer from Christ and his creation. And so the Lord has taught us that we are to pray in the name of our Lord Jesus. And in the upper room, in John chapter 14, verse 13, the Lord Jesus said, whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son, If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. And so the Lord has told us we are to pray in his name. And it is a good practice then that we would even have that form of words in our prayer, that we say, I pray in Jesus' name. But the writers here are saying that we're not merely to use that form of words as if that is all that Jesus meant. So Jesus did not just mean that we tag these words on at the end of our prayer, I pray in Jesus' name. That's all that's involved in this. Now, when we say we pray in Jesus' name, we are to have some understanding of what actually that signifies. In John 16, 24, John sixteen twenty-four. Hitherto, have you asked nothing in my name? Ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full. And so, what is this praying in the Lord Jesus name? Well, it is praying with this recognition that Jesus is the mediator but we pray in Jesus name. We are asking that our our Lord Jesus Christ. Essentially, we are confessing that we are unrighteous. Our prayers cannot be heard on the basis of our personal earned righteousness. We don't have such a thing. But prayer can only be heard on the basis of righteousness. Therefore, we plead on the basis of another. In effect, we are saying hear us for the sake of and on account of Jesus Christ. So Jesus is the righteous one in his life. He has shed his blood to cleanse away sin. This prayer in Jesus' name then is recognizing that we have no righteousness of our own, no right to be confident in ourselves, but our confidence then is in the righteousness of God. another. Remember the publican, the tax collector that went to the temple to pray and in essence his prayer was not a prayer at all. He boasted of all that he had done and boasted how in his mind he was better than this Sorry, I'm talking about the Pharisee. The Pharisee is boasting. The Pharisee is saying, I'm not like that tax collector. So the Pharisee is saying, I am so much better than he. The Pharisee was calling in self-righteousness, but the tax collector, in contrast, he said, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Hear me on the basis of another. And so we are to come not like the Pharisee, but like that tax collector of God. Be merciful to me, a sinner, hear me, because of Jesus Christ. And may the Lord help us then to pray in his name. Again, I welcome you all to the meeting this evening. It's good to see each one gathered with us, and especially if you're visiting, we give you a special welcome. In our Saviour's name, we welcome also those that join us online. We trust the Lord will bless your heart through his word this evening. Our brother Russell wasn't with us today. Russell's mother died in the last few days in South Africa. So do remember Russell in our prayers that the Lord will be near unto him. We certainly send our sympathies to him and to his wife and family. the announcements are all in the church bulletin. Just to emphasize again that the Lord's Table will be this incoming Lord's Day, so next Lord's Day morning, the Lord's Table rather, than the week following on account of my upcoming trip to the Philippines. So we're going to turn again on our hymn books please. Turning to the hymn 298. and 98, not what these hands have done can save this guilty soul, not what this toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole. Now in the tune that we're using, and we're using the verse three as a chorus each time, so we won't sing verse three as a verse, using this as the chorus each time. So after we sing verse one, then we go to verse three, Thy work alone, and just to confuse you, in order that it fits the meter, we change O Christ to O Saviour. So Thy work alone, O Saviour, can ease this weight of sin. So then after verse 2, using verse 3 as the chorus, after verse 4, using verse 3 as the chorus. So that's understandable. So 2-9-8, remaining seated. as we sing, please, and the offering will be received as we sing. If you didn't come prepared for an offering, please just let the bag pass by. 298. ♪ Look what these hands have done ♪ ♪ And save this temptation ♪ of God. and is this Thy Father, Lord, O Lamb of God, have mercy on me. Thy blood, dearly, O God, have my whole heart to Thee, and lead me out this time from this and set my spirit free. Thy Word, O Lord, O Savior, can ease this pain of sin. Thy Word, O Lord, O Lamb of God, can give me peace within. We'll start from the verses 5 and 6. I. of God. ♪ And with unfolded lifted heart ♪ ♪ I know His sacred heart ♪ ♪ I hear the Lord say to me ♪ ♪ And He says, wait, I'll say ♪ ♪ I'm not alone, oh Lord, I'm not alone ♪ We will turn please in our Bibles to Ephesians and the chapter 2. I will be referring also to the words that we read in Romans chapter 5. I will use Ephesians chapter 2 as our text this evening. Ephesians 2, at the end of the verse 5 it says, by grace ye are saved. Then verse 8, for by grace are ye saved. Meetings today and next Lord's Day are focused on four of the solas of the Reformation. And this evening, with the Lord's help, we want to come then to the second sola, a sola gratia, by grace alone. We'll seek the Lord's face together in prayer. Let us ask the Lord to grant his help in the ministry of his word. Father, we give thee thanks, O Lord, for these beautiful words that we have been singing. O Lord, we thank thee for the great grace of God. We thank thee for that cleansing blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a great gospel. Lord, we thank thee that in this gospel there is hope for lost sinners today. O Lord, we cry to thee that thou be pleased even to open the eyes of some dear sinner this very evening. O Lord, we pray that the mighty grace of God will be demonstrated in the very thing that is being spoken of here in Ephesians 2, that there will be that resurrection to life in Jesus Christ. So we pray that the gospel will delight the heart of every child of thine, minister to every living soul. In our Lord's name we do pray. Amen. Amen. During the early years of the Reformation, were in debate over various theological issues. Erasmus did the Reformation cause a great favour with his work on the Greek text and we certainly praise the Lord for how he used Erasmus to that end. And Erasmus also did oppose the great moral decay that was evident within Romanism. But despite all of that, Erasmus actually remained within Romanism. Erasmus held on to what we refer to as a semi-Pelagian view of man. That is, he saw within the lost sinner some spiritual good and some spiritual ability. Therefore, he wrote against Luther's view on the depravity of man. But even the Lord made use of this. And so though Erasmus wrote against Luther, Luther became very thankful for some of what Erasmus was putting into writing, not because he agreed with it, Very opposite, Luther felt that the more Erasmus was setting down the case in favour of Rome, that the more Erasmus was getting actually to the heart of the matter of this great dispute between Protestantism and Romanism. Luther then published one of his most famous works, The Bondage of the Will. And in that book, he thanked Erasmus, saying, you have not wearied me with those irrelevant points about potpourri, purgatory, indulgences, and other life bubbles. You and you alone saw what was the grand hinge upon which the whole hurt. And Luther was saying that the whole discussion of debate between Protestants and Rome was not over indulgences and purgatory and the like and we could talk in length about those things on our opposition to them. But those are symptoms of what we might call sickness. And Luther's saying that through the writings of Erasmus They were getting to the very heart of the issue. And so Luther said he needed to inquire what free will can do. For essentially, Erasmus was saying there is within the heart of the sinner capacity to bring himself to God. He needs help, and I'll talk about that later. But Luther was saying, no, the scripture teaches that man is absolutely deprived. Man is in need of a mighty miracle within his soul, a mighty transformation. As I said this morning, each of these solas has a different impact. And so in grace alone, faith alone, and Christ alone, there is evidently great parallel. And yet each one of these statements is distinct in its emphasis. The statement by faith alone, sola fide, is dealing with the question, is the instrument by which we lay hold of Jesus Christ, is that faith only or is it faith and words? The issue in sola gratia is this. Am I saved entirely on account of God's grace or Is it grace and my good nature? Or grace, my end? Grace and me bringing myself to the Lord for mercy. I trust as we go through the message, you will come to understand then that while there are many today that will say they believe in grace alone, they do not believe in it in the sense in which the reformers spoke of by grace alone. In fact, many among the evangelicals hold to the very view that Luther was disputing. Many among the evangelicals today will argue along the lines of Erasmus, not realizing that what they are actually teaching lies at the very heart of Roman Catholic theology. And so what Luther was arguing for is taught so clearly then in Scripture that it is by grace alone that we attribute our salvation entirely to the Lord. Salvation as Job has said, is of the Lord. And so Luther was right, this is the hinge. And so seeing this then, we see error that continues to exist today and surely our cry must be for a fresh return to the great truths of the Reformation. So we're looking at grace alone, sola gratia. I want to say first of all that grace alone is required because of the nature of man. and I'm talking about the nature of fallen man, because of the nature of man and the dominion of Satan. And so remember, this statement is answering the question, sola gratia, it's answering the question, is my salvation holy to be attributed to God, or partial attributed to God? Do I thank God or do I thank God for doing it all? This really is the question that is before us. Is it salvation is all of God's grace or is it that God did lots and then he left it up to me? Is it that God did all that he could and then he left it up to me? to finish it. So Luther was very clear, and all the reformers with him, salvation is entirely of the Lord's grace. And so if you look with me at Ephesians 2, Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins. And so Paul is looking back at what the Christian used to look like. So how did we appear before our conversion? We were dead in trespasses and in sins. So this was our former state. We were spiritually dead. In what way is Paul using the word dead? I trust that you would reply, well, he uses it to describe something that is indeed dead. Some will say all that Paul means is that the sinner is separated from God. And it's absolutely true, the sinner is. separated from God. But Paul is very clear in what he's saying in Ephesians chapter 2, that there is this great contrast. The sinner is in a state of deadness, and he is brought into a state of life. So yes, we were in a state of separation, we're brought into fellowship, but Paul is taking this a step further. We were more than separated, we were dead. we were in a most helpless state. And so the reformers argued that this spiritual deadness is revering to man's depravity, total depravity and inability. So the sinner is not just somewhat affected by the fall. The sinner is not just somewhat damaged by what happened in the Garden of Eden. But every part of man is affected by the fall. Every part of our being is affected by the fall. And so remember in the book of Romans, Paul said, there is none righteous, no not one. And none of us are the exception. There's none righteous, no not one. None that understand. None that seeketh after God. None that doeth good. No, not one. And now all of those statements are abundantly clear. And yet there are those that still argue, but, but I did. I came because of what I had in me. God's word says no. None seeketh after God. None doeth good. No, not one. The sinner is dead to life. The sinner is unresponsive to life. And he is quite happy in his deaths. Because if you look at Ephesians chapter 2, and we'll read verse 1 again and then into verse 2, you have the Quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, We're in in time past, so he's still talking about before our conversion. Ye walked according to the course of this world. According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. And so, you were dead. But while you were dead, you were walking. Now we, of course, know that dead people don't Because all the walking that we have in view in verse two has to do with this deadness. You are not walking in life. Where in a time past you walked according to the course of this world, in the sense of this fallen world, according to the prince of the power of the air, you are under the dominion and bondage of Satan. You're walking according to the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. In verse three, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. You were living this way, but it wasn't a living life. It was all. Now I emphasise all of that because I was reading someone yesterday and they were arguing against the reformed view of total depravity. They were saying that the reformed view of total depravity can't be right because the Bible talks about how sinners resist the Holy Ghost. Well that person obviously hadn't thought too much about Ephesians chapter 2. So he was arguing against deadness, saying that the Reformed view about deadness can't be right because sinners resist the Holy Ghost. But what is resisting the Holy Ghost? It's this walking according to the course of this world. Resisting the Holy Ghost is not evidence of life. It's evidence of this deadness. It's evidence of inability. It's evidence of depravity. So resisting the Holy Spirit and despising the Word of God is not evidence of a spark of good. It's not evidence that there's some good in me. It's the very opposite. Because what is resisting the Holy Ghost? It's saying, I will not have the gospel. That's all that the sinner in his fallen nature And so then, Jonathan Edwards spoke of that in his work, Freedom of the Will. Edwards was saying, yes, the sinner has liberty, but his liberty is according to his nature. So, the sinner is in spiritual deadness. That's his nature. What does he choose? The Christian, you see, by contrast, is in life. And so he has an appetite for life. Now, over in Romans chapter five, Romans chapter five, the latter part of the chapter deals with two reigns, R-E-I-G-N, two reigns. First of all, the reign of sin, which is an infusion through the reign of death. and then the reign of grace. So the sinner is being described under the reign of sin, and therefore under the reign of death. Verse 17, for if by one man's offense, death reigned by one. And so on account of Adam's sin, the sinner is under this reign. He is under a sovereign. Sin and death and Satan is his king. And his nature is in bondage to the dictates of his evil ruler, Satan. And the sinner has no ability to break himself. The powers of that ruler. This is why he needs alone. The sinner's state in himself is hopeless. Now in the eyes of Rome, that course would say, yes, the sinner is in need. So when we say grace alone, Rome does not deny that the sinner needs grace, they're happy with that word grace. But how do they define grace? They define grace as help. You see, if your case is problematic, but I still have some ability, then what you need is help. But if your state is hopeless, you need more than help. You need a miracle. And so according to the Catholic Catechism from 1996, it says grace is favor, and that much is right. So grace is undeserved favor. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help. that God gives to those who respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and eternal life. And I trust that you can see that that very description that Rome has of grace is how the Arminian today sees grace. Grace is favour, help, to respond to God's call to become a child of God. Now, of course, the Arminian might describe what follows differently than Rome, but their underlying theory is absolutely the same. Luther was saying, though, salvation is not merely grace helping me overcome my weakness. Salvation is grace only. If it were not for grace, I would still be a spiritual corpse. And Paul in Ephesians chapter two is not saying sinners just need help. Paul is saying sinners need quickening. They need a miracle. They need to be raised from death to life. Grace alone. I cannot bring about A resurrection to life, I need grace alone. So grace alone is required because of the nature of man, the dominion of Satan. We want to see that, secondly, grace alone is grounded upon the nature of God. Back in Ephesians chapter 2, I love the words of the verse 4, but God. Remember the first three verses are picturing the most dire signal. Sinners are dead. Sinners are walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, according to their own flesh. And so verse four, the testimony of the Christian is not, I was in a pretty bad condition, but I, no, my case was hopeless, but God, but God, but God who is rich in mercy, for his great love we're with, he loved us. And Paul then says this doctrine, gives all the glory to God. It's not God patting me in the back saying, well done for exercising your free will, no. All the honor goes to God, God who is rich in mercy. And so the great grace of God, it's on the basis of the very nature. Isn't this so comforting? God is not some hard-hearted God that looks on sinners in their predicament and is callous and hard. Rather, those that he has given to Jesus Christ, to them he is rich in mercy. He got us. God's nature is the moving cause of grace alone. If you go back to Romans, if you could go please to Romans chapter three. Romans chapter three and verse 24, Romans chapter three and verse 24, being justified freely by his grace, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And we'll talk more about justification, God willing, next week. But being justified freely by His grace. Now the word freely does mean exactly what is being expressed there. It has this idea of something that is a gift. So you're not justified because you've earned it, being justified freely by his grace. And so grace itself is something that is unmerited. It is this unmerited favor. And it comes then on account of the payment that our Lord Jesus Christ has made, and we'll come and see that just in the next verse. But this word freely, It is accurately translated here, but it's interesting that the word is elsewhere translated without cause. So remember how the enemies of our Lord Jesus, they hated him, and in John 15, 25, Jesus said, they hated me for England. They hated me Without a cause, that is, there was nothing in Jesus Christ that gave his enemies warrant to hit him. Now that actually casts light in Romans 3, 24. There was nothing in me that would warrant God. So it wasn't in me. If God did not look to find some good in me, how is there grace? But God, who is rich in mercy? It's in his natures. And so in Romans 3, verse 25, it says, whom God set forth to be a propitiation, In other words, the idea of an appeasing sacrifice. So through the sacrifice of Christ, God is pleased and sinners can be received and accepted. And God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier. And again, it's all being traced back to God. God is the just one, but he has provided a way whereby his just demands would be met. It's all of God's mercy. So then, grace alone is grounded upon the nature of God. You're coming back to think of the Reformation then. Grace is not infused in baptism. That is the view of Rome. That the priest would take the water, that he would apply it, that thereby grace is infused, and that's the beginning of the grace story the Roman Catholic believes in, in the life of that child. If that's the case, salvation is dependent upon man playing some role. That cannot be the case. It's dependent upon the operation of the Spirit of God. Titus 3 verse 5, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. And so the sinner is to be shown your case is awful. In yourself, it's hopeless. But in God, there is hope. There is this miracle of the newborn. There is this miracle of the granting of life. And that brings us then to the third point. Grace alone is accomplished in the triumph Grace is accomplished in the triumph of Christ. Now, there are many errors attached to the Roman Catholic view of grace. As I've said, they believe grace is infused in baptism, and grace is obtained, they say, through the Mass. Matrimony, they see as a sacrament, and therefore they say that in matrimony there is grace, being the mother of divine grace, that she has a treasury of divine grace, and so that is linked to their doctrine of acts or works of supererogation. And what are acts or works of supererogation? Well, according to the Church of Rome, there are those great abundance of righteousness. If they have enough for themselves, and then some left over. And so, this excess righteousness is put into a treasure. And from that treasure, grace then is given to other Roman Catholics that have not reached that level. And so all of that is bound up with the idea of the saints. All of that, of course, is absolute fiction. There is no mortal man or woman that has performed what God requires, much less anyone has performed beyond what God requires. For what does God require? If you're to get to heaven by your righteousness, by what you have accomplished, the standard that God has set is absolute perfection, not one single. There's none of us that can meet that demand. And some would say, well then, the case is hopeless. But that's the whole point of the gospel. We need one then. that can meet that demand. And it's not merely Mary confessed she needed a saviour, nor is it any other of the ancient saints. It's Jesus Christ. He is the righteous one. He is the one that has met the just demands of God. in his righteous life, and then he has met the just demands that God requires as far as a payment in his death. The hymn writer said, no merit of my own is anger to suppress. I couldn't work up a perfection in order to suppress the anger of God, but no merit of my own is anger to suppress. My only hope is found in Jesus' righteousness. And so in Ephesians chapter 2, we have these words twice over, by grace are ye saved. And through the passage, as we have right through the book of Ephesians, it's all bound up with Jesus Christ. Verse 5, even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ. Verse 6, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. At the end of verse seven, through Jesus Christ. Verse 10, we are his workmanship created in Christ. And that is the gospel brings us into this glorious union with Jesus Christ. I said that God requires absolute perfection. But what is the glory of the gospel? that the one that Christ legally has that, and we'll see that next week as we think of justified by faith. If you're converted, you have a perfect righteousness, not of your manufacturing, but of imputation. How does the Father look upon you legally tonight? Legally? Right. Righteous. Because you're in Christ. So, Romans chapter five, as I mentioned earlier, the case there, St. Paul's. A terrible rape. the law revealing the awfulness of our sin. We have those awful words, where sin abided. Sin abided, but praise God, Romans 5, 20 doesn't end there. But where grace abided, grace did, much more abided. So sin had such strength. But grace is greater still. We were held captive by Satan and his will. And I could not deliver myself from him. In fact, I had no desire to. But the Lord brought life. For sin and life. Grace supervised it. Grace did much more about it. So then in chapter 6 of Romans we have the great theme of being under grace. We are not under the law. We are under grace. And Paul is not using those words to describe a license to sin, Romans 6 in the verse 15, he's saying no, it teaches the opposite. You see, you were under sin, you were under the dominion of sin, and you lived then according to the dictates of your flesh. But under grace, you're under this new government. Grace reigns. So sin reigned on to death, Romans 5, 21. So might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ, our Lord. What does all this teach? Well, it brings assurance. You see, for the poor Roman Catholic, and remember, when we preach these things, we're not Despising Roman Catholics, we speak in love, longing that their eyes would be open to the truth. But the poor Roman Catholic, even the most devout Roman Catholic, has this thought in his mind, have I done enough? Is this good enough? And of course his thought is, it's not. Because even after all he has done, he still feels that it will be perpetratory. And hopefully those that are left behind will do enough then to get him out or her out of perpetratory. How different the teaching of Scripture. Grace reigns. You're under that reign, Paul says to the people of the Lord. My assurance then is not found in my merit. My assurance is not found in how well I repented and believed. For even my repentance was not repenting enough. I didn't see the awfulness of my sin as I should have. Even my believing was weak. But the point is that yes, I believed and repented, but Christ is the Savior. And again, we'll see more of that next time. My assurance is not found in how well I repented and believed. It's not found in my works. It's found in Christ. Titus three, verse seven, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope. of eternal life. And the hope there is not, as we often use the word today, hope so, rather the great assurance of eternal life. This great truth, the reign of grace, it brings assurance and it brings holiness. I used to be asleep, just sit. The Lord has not saved me to Let me go on living that way. The Lord has saved me to transform me. I'm under the reign of grace, therefore, that is to be manifested in this resurrection life. The Hymn writer said, the reign of sin and death is over. Satan hath lost his mortal power. It is swallowed up in victory. There's one tonight without Jesus Christ. Sin is abundant. If you understand the righteousness of God, that is true of you. Sin is abundant. Here is hope for the sinner, grace, There's much more bound. Come and take hold of Christ. Come, turn from your sin. Come and take hold of our blessed Lord. May you do so for your very soul's sake. We trust the Lord to bless His Word. We're going to sing in closing, please, the words of the hymn 200. The words of the hymn 200. Grace, tis a charming sound, harmonious to the ear. Heaven, with the echo shall rebound, shall resound, and all the earth shall be saved by grace alone. We'll sing the verse 1, 5 and 6. The verse 1. Verses 1, 5, and 6, and we'll stand, and then remaining, stand as a procession. Grace is a shining sun, Our God is to be heard, Then with the angels shall we stand, and on the earth shall be Jesus died for me and when my eyes are full, Jesus Christ has kept me to this day, and will come and be gone. Send my grace, O Lord, this is all I need. Jesus died for sin for me and Jesus died for me. Oh, let thy grace inspire my soul with strength divine. May all my works in Thee eschew, and all my days be kind. Our gracious Father, how we give thee thanks for the triumph of the grace of God. O Lord, These words greatly humble us. If it were not for God's grace, we would still be in the deadness of sin. If it were not for God's grace, we would still be delighted in the course of this world. We thank thee then for thy mercy towards O Lord, we cry to Thee, that what Thou hast done in our lives, Thou will do in the lives of those around us. We thank Thee that as we look at hard cases, and for all of our convincing, we cannot convince them. We thank Thee that Thou art able to please to take our feeble presentation of the gospel. I'll be pleased to take the mighty word of God. O Lord, we cry to thee that the gifts of faith and repentance will be granted and that we will see sinners being brought in saving faith to our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank thee that there is mercy with the Lord. Lord, we do rejoice in these glorious truths that we have considered together tonight. May the gospel then be with us through this day and in the week ahead, enable us to be a bright testimony for thee, and so we pray that you will be with us as we part grant traveling mercies to each one this evening, we pray. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly, of all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.