Verse number four, Cain approached God on the basis of his works. While on the other hand, Abel approached God on the basis of his faith. So both of these men approached God because they were drawn to do so by some need in their hearts. They felt there was an empty part of their heart to be filled with something. longing for some spiritual feeling in their lives. There was emptiness. And so they brought their offerings, sacrifices to God. First of all, we talk about God's grace. And the first thing we learn tonight is God's grace has provided us the way of salvation. God's grace has provided us the way of salvation. Verse number eight again, by grace we are saved. Are you saved tonight? We're saved because we have found the way. We have received God's grace. Grace provided us the way of salvation. Should these two verses tonight tell us how to be saved? It just simply tell us how we can be saved. And they also tell us what will not save the soul, both. How we can be saved and how a soul can be saved. And it also tells us, and they also both tell us that what will not save us. In these words, Paul talks about both the positive actually and the negative side of the way of salvation. Let me again say that. We find the positive way and the negative way of salvation. Before we consider the positive side of salvation, let's consider the negative side first. Look at verse number nine. Verse number nine. The negative side of salvation is this, not of, Works. Not of works. And as I have made mention this morning, all religions would tell us, and they would always instruct people, in order for you to be saved, do this, do that. Works. But the Bible says not of works. To him that worketh not, lest any man should boast. lest any man should boast. Works could refer to the works of the law, as we have made mention in Galatians chapter two, verse number 16. And for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in the sight of God. Works should also refer to the works of religion. For example, in Romans chapter 10, look at verse one to verse number four. Works of the law or works of religion in Romans chapter 10, verse number one to four. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. You'll be surprised, I have met people and they tell me they are Baptist. And they seem to be proud, they're Baptist, and I'm happy to meet Baptist people. But I asked them, said, when did you get saved? They cannot answer properly. And some of them would say, well, when I was, I got saved when I was baptized, and it is my fear. Many of our Visayan attenders from our own missions, they come to the city to find work and then they attend our services, they would get saved there. And that is why every time I had the chance to go into the mission field, and I always find myself visiting our churches, and I always make sure that the plan of salvation is made clear. The plan of salvation is made very clear. I realize that there is a lot of difference between the King James Version, the English Version, and the Byzantium Version. It's always my hope that the Lord will give me the chance to be able to write the proper Byzantium Bible. Because there are so many mistakes there, that if you're not acquainted with the English Bible, you will get lost. And so we want to make it clear. I hope that you don't go into other places and then introduce yourself to somebody, a preacher probably, and say, well, I'm from the Bible Baptist Church, Dubbo City, and I'm a member of Pastor Ingay, and then they would ask you, are you saved? Now, if you do not know, if you cannot exactly tell you are saved, now, I guarantee you, it's not, Now, the mistake is not with the preaching, and the mistake is with your hearing. Because I always, every Sunday, make it clear that the plan of salvation is clearly taught. Now, the negative side is not of words, lest any man should boast. It could refer to the works of the law, also refer to the works of religion. Verse number one, Romans 10 verse one. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the pagans. I don't see it there. My prayer to God for, no, Israel. And it might, as I mentioned this morning, it probably shocked them. We're the most religious people in the world. We got our Bible from God, we had the law from God, and you're telling us, you're praying for us to be saved? Saved from what? These people have trusted in their works so much Now he was praying, Paul said, my prayer to God for Israel is that they might be what? Saved. And I bear them record that they have the zeal of God but not according to knowledge. But they being what? Ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness and have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God Christ, for Christ is the end of the law. End of the law. This is now a new dispensation. This is now the I'm of grace. We are not under the law. And I hope God will give me the chance to be able to preach here using our projector. on the seven dispensations of the Bible. Even a new believer, I believe that before a new believer touches this book and begins to outline this book, he has to know the seventh great dispensation of the Bible. And now, The works could be works of religion in the Bible, just in Philippians, like the Apostle Paul. Philippians 3, verse number one, in your Bible, please. We are acquainted with these verses, but we want to read them tonight because there is always power in the Word of God, enlightening power that comes from the Word of God. In chapter three, verse number one, finally, brethren, I rejoice in the Lord to write the same thing And then verse number three, we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath thereof, whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more, Paul said, circumcise the eighth day. You see, the Jews were to be circumcised on the eighth day. But about the eighth day after birth, you are, as a Jew, you're required to be circumcised. And in order to be under the law, somebody, you must, first of all, be circumcised. And yet there are people who, well, I don't want to ruin my message next Sunday, so here, and circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, of the Hebrew of Hebrews, are stating the law a piracy. And as I have made mention not too long ago, that the highest achievement a Jew can acquire is to become a piracy. That is reaching the peak of spiritual experience for them. If you're a Roman Catholic, the highest achievement is to become a Pope. Or in the Philippines, to become like Cardinal Tagle. You're somebody up there, like Cardinal Sin. But when Cardinal Sin died, all newspaper headlines said, pray for his soul, pray for his soul. They're still praying for his soul. Until now, they're still praying for their souls. Can you imagine? And so he was a Pharisee, concerning sin, persecuting the church. Verse seven, but what things were gained to me, those I counted, what? Loss. Loss, for the sake of what? The doubtless, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. Above everything you know, you must know Christ. She works, works, not abworks. This word speaks of any human effort that is performed in the hope that it will secure salvation for the one performing the action. Not abworks. Come to church, you give, you pray, and not abworks. I say again, the word works speaks of any human effort that is performed in the hope that it will secure salvation for the one performing the action. In other words, it refers to the religious works and deeds. And Paul is telling us that no one will ever be saved by any works they perform, regardless of how holy those works may appear or how many works they perform. Open your Bible, please, in Matthew 7, verse 21. Matthew 7, Verse number 21. Matthew chapter 7, verse number 21. Matthew 7, verse number 21. It says there, not everyone that say it unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied or preached in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils or demons, and in thy name have done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. This has always been the case. In the thinking of man, man has always felt like he had to have a part in his salvation. That's always the case. And people would say, well, it's, you know, in soul winning, people would easily, you know, they would easily accept, receive. And then when you give them, after that you give them the assurance of salvation, they would ask them, are you saved? Well, I still, I'm trying my part. God has his own part and my part. Why? Because that has always been the thinking of people. Always the case. Man has always felt like he had to have part in his salvation. And man-made religions are all relying on good works, self-sacrifice, self-righteousness to save them. All religions established by man have a common denominator, W-O-R-K-S. They have all common denominator, works. The Catholic Church says works. The Pentecostal says works. The Charismatic says works. Kibble says works. St. Baptist says works. The Bible says grace. This book says grace. Every religion devised by man requires him to put forth some sort of effort to practice his religion. and achieve his salvation by works, by works. And they boast on their work that no man should boast. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 29, that no man should glory in his sight. Paul tells us why works are not counted in our salvation. Lest any man should what? Boast. The word boast means to glory in a thing. Paul is telling us that if a man were to earn his own salvation, he would be able to take credit for it. He would boast of his achievement and say, well, I have been a member of the Bible Baptist Church for 10 years, for 20 years, and I've been involved in this and that. You begin to count your achievements and you begin to, you know, humanly speaking, you'd be proud of it. And said, oh, I have been a member of my church. I have been this and that, and that no man should boast. I remember this man in Luke chapter 18, verse number nine. Luke chapter 18, verse number nine. He was so proud. That is what religion makes you. Religion makes you proud. and to brag on what you have done. And that is why you have the term most holy reverend, most is imminent. You know, you look at them as somebody up there. You put them on the pedestal. You know, somebody has this honor to be recognized. and uh boast boasting on something look 18 verse number nine and he spake parable unto them which trusted in themselves and they that they were righteous and despised others two men went up into the temple to pray one a parisian one the other is a republican and the parish stood and prayed thus with himself god i thank thee that i i Am not as other men are. I, I, I, it makes you proud. Makes you proud. Some would accuse us when we say saved, we're saved. Some accuse us of being proud. No, we're not proud. We're, in fact, humble. Because the fact that we say we are saved We recognize we are sinners saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. If anyone were to make it to heaven on the basis of his own works, that person would spend eternity bragging about how he made it there. Can you imagine? Everybody sings, I'm just a sinner. And we will have our choir song there. Saved by grace. And here comes somebody. And say, well, I'm here because I was a member. Proud. No one is proud in heaven. Saved. Saved. I like that song our men sung tonight. Someday the silver cord will break. meaning your life will end. Silver cord refers to the spinal cord. Someday the silver cord will break. I like that. We will sing it to heaven. And I no more as now shall sing. Oh, but all the joy when I shall wave within the palace of the king. And I shall sing. him face-to-face and tell the story saved by grace. I shall see him face-to-face and tell the story saved by grace. You're telling everybody saved by grace. Then here comes Frank Sinatra. The end is near. Everybody's singing Saved by Grace. Now somebody get lost. Here comes Mr. Frank Sinatra. The end is near. So I face the final curtain. My friend, I'll show it clear. I'll say it. I mean, I say it clear. I'll state my case of which I am certain. I believe a life that's full. I've traveled each day, every highway and every highway. But more, much more than this, I did it my way. I'm here because I did it my way. I planned each charted course. It's a careful step along the way, by the way. And more, much more than this, I did it my way. That is why I believe Prang Sinatra will never, he will be knocked out. He has no place there because nobody can say, I did it my way. Jesus Christ did it for me on the cross. I planned its charted course, its careful step along my way, and more, much more than this, I did it my way. I did it my way. Oh, can you imagine? Thank God it's all by grace. If anyone gets there in that place called heaven, that person would spend throughout eternity bragging about his religion, bragging about his good works. God's plan of salvation is something far different, far different. God works salvation, God works salvation in us by grace, by grace. He does it in such a way that he alone gets all the glory for every soul that he saved. Only God will be glorified in heaven. Look at what will happen in Revelation chapter 4, Revelation chapter 5. Everybody is praising God. You have redeemed us by thy blood, by thy blood, the blood of Jesus. And no one, no one in heaven, no one sings anything about what he has done. It's all, it's a clear message. It's all the grace of Jesus Christ. Now look at the positive way, positive side of salvation. It's not by work, not by works, but through faith, amen? Salvation does not result from being religious, or being a good person, or doing good things. Where does salvation, the question is where does salvation come from? Paul says it comes to us through faith. What is faith? Faith, the word faith refers to a conviction of the truth of something. It's a belief, actually. Saving faith is simply coming to the place where one believes that with absolute conviction that everything the Bible says about Jesus Christ is true. He's the Son of God. His blood cleanses from all sin. His fury has never committed sin, went to the cross and died for us. All our sins, and it's very clear, God's grace allow us, it allows us not only the way of salvation, provided us the way of salvation, but God's grace allows us to see the wonder of salvation. It provides us the way of salvation, and also provides us, it allows us to see, to experience, to understand the wonder of salvation. God's grace is so wonderful and still amazing. Paul tells us that this salvation we have today given to us by grace. By grace. The grace of God means that God reaches out to those who deserve nothing from him but his judgment and his condemnation. Let me say that again. The grace of God means that God reaches out to those who deserve nothing from him but judgment and condemnation. The grace of God means that God turns his favor toward those who deserve his wrath. It means that God reaches down to those who cannot reach up to him. It means that God goes to those who will not come to him. Lost sinners, lost sinners are dead. They're radically depraved, they're totally deceived, utterly doomed in their sins, but God in his grace reaches out to save them by his amazing abundant grace. The Bible is actually filled with example of this kind of grace. Their lives clearly illustrate the meaning of God's amazing grace. Number one, in 2 Samuel 9, verses 1 to 13, you have a man named Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the best friend of David. The Bible says when he was very young, he fell and then he became crippled all throughout his life. And then David, during his time, when he was on the throne, reigning on the throne. He said, is there yet some seeds of soul that I may show the kindness of God to him for the sake of Jonathan, my best friend. And the life of Mephibosheth is illustrated there. This man was lost. He was lost. He belonged to a lost, doomed family. He was crippled, he was poor, he was worthless. And David owed him, he owed him nothing. And David, based on the practice of that day, when somebody gets on the throne, and the new king would always wipe out all the descendants of the previous, we call them today administration, the previous members of the kingdom. He could have all the right to kill Mipubusep. Mipubusep was nothing. He was hiding all his life in Ludibar. He was neglected. And yet David sent somebody to fetch him. Out of his poor, secluded home, he was brought into the palace. And he said, I don't deserve this. Who am I? I'm just a dog. So my people said, I'm doing this not because of you. I'm doing this for the sake of another. I'm doing this for the sake of your father, Jonathan. When we come to God by grace, when we come to be saved, he would not be saving us. God will not save us because we are this and that. He saves us because of his son's sake. because of what Christ, Jesus Christ, his son has done. That's the life of Mephibosheth. And then you also have the life of Saul of Tarsus in Acts chapter nine, verse one to six. Saul was a religious man. He was morally righteous, yes, but his righteousness was only based in his good works. In the eyes of God, Saul was a dirty, he was a filthy sinner. He was a man who hated the name of Jesus Christ. He persecuted the church. He deserved nothing from God but judgment. But you know his testimony was in 1 Timothy chapter 1. Look at verse number 11. 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse number 11. This is what he said about this. according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, 1 Timothy 1.11, which was committed to my trust. I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me for that. He counted me faithful because he counted me faithful, putting me to the ministry. Who was before? Who was before? Albeit I obtained mercy and that in being, first Jesus Christ my shepherd, all longsuffering, for a pattern to them that should hereafter believe on him to everlasting life. Every person in this world has been truly saved. Those who know they are saved, every person who has experienced salvation, we know there is no good in us. When we say we are saved, actually it's an honest acceptance and confession to people. And I hope if you are not saved and you listen to us, don't say we are proud. We confess honestly tonight that whenever we say we are saved, we know, we simply say, we confess that there is nothing good in us. We know that God would perfectly be just to condemn us in hell. We have no right at all. If God would send us to hell, he has all the right to do it. Because we are all depraved sinners. We are all separated from God. We're all rebellious before God. We know God is perfectly, he's perfectly just if he sends us to hell right now. We know that grace is amazing. At the same time, yes, we know tonight We can't explain what grace is tonight. What that grace is tonight. How amazing is that grace tonight? And we might be able to say it in our mouth, but we cannot explain it. God's gift is so wonderful and so amazing. By grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. The gift of God. And Now, I want to make the message even more clearer and simpler tonight. What does it mean to be saved by grace? What does it mean to be saved by grace? To be saved by grace means to be delivered from the righteous judgment of God and through no act on our part. We have done nothing about it, but by His unmerited favor, God gave us the law. Yes, Exodus 20, verse 1 to 17. The law is comprised of what we should do and what we should not be doing regarding loving God, regarding loving other people, our fellow man. And however, to break the law of God means to sin. You break it, you sin. Unfortunately, we have all sinned against God. For all have sinned in conjunction of the glory of God. And we all deserve to be judged by God according to the law. We deserve to go to hell. The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is what? Death. Romans 6, 23. And separation from sin. And we all are dead. So we are all under the righteous judgment of God because we are all sinners. We are all, we are by nature children of wrath. Grace on the other hand is unmerited favor. And we can look at three instances to illustrate. Let me illustrate that. Number one, if a thief comes to your house and steals your car and you happen to catch him, And then you bring him to the police. So you put him to jail. And that is what we call justice, right? The thief got what he deserved. So we call that justice. Let's look at it on the other side. A thief goes to your house. It's number two. And try to steal your car. You catch him but you set him free. That is mercy. First one was justice. So okay, I forgive you. So because of mercy, he does not get what he deserves. What does it mean? He's supposed to go to hell. Now thirdly, a thief goes to your house and steals your car. You catch him, but you not only set him free, you decide to give him your Mercedes Benz. You give him your car. That's grace. Grace. Can you imagine? He gets what he does not deserve. First of all, in mercy, he He goes free and he does not get what he deserves. He's not in prison. You don't send him to jail. But grace, you give him more, more, more. So to simplify the message tonight for our understanding, in justice, we get what we deserve. In mercy, we don't get what we deserve. We're supposed to go to hell in grace. We get what we do not deserve. You're not only sent to hell, cast into hell, but you have a mansion to live forever and ever. You have his divine provision. That's grace. We are undeserving. What did we do to deserve all of this? Nothing. Nothing but the grace of God. So, I have no more time. To be saved by grace means that the judgment due to us because of our sin against God will not befall us. That is forgiveness. But in addition, we get what we do not deserve, being in the presence of God. Finally, the only way to be saved by grace is by putting your trust in what penalty of the law dying on the cross because our righteous deeds are all filthy rags in the sight of God. We have nothing. We have nothing. We are all condemned. We are all running away from God. Thank God He took us in. Thank God He embraced us. Salvation is by grace through faith alone and not as a result of good works, so that God alone gets the glory, lest any man should boast. None of us would ever be able to say, you cannot attribute it to anyone, to yourself or to anyone. Some people would keep on praising, oh, I was saved and I got saved and I came to church one day and the pastor was so good. He's so good, that's why I got saved. He's so good. And you know, somebody explained to me the Bible, he's so good. And the singing was so good. I thank for those people. Had it not been for the good singing, I would not have been saved. There's only one reason why we're saved. We're saved by the grace of God. Amen. If there be any praise, if there be any amount of glory, let it go to Calvary. God and God and God alone deserves to be praised of our salvation. Come tonight. Salvation through faith alone means that we receive salvation through trusting in what Jesus did for us on the cross. Salvation is God's free gift to us. It is the gift of God, not of words. For you to enjoy a gift, you must receive it. That's how simple it is. Receive it, receive it, receive it. Jesus Christ is the gift of God. When you receive God's gift, you will be saved. Let us all stand up, please, Heavenly Father. We thank you for the word of God tonight. Thank you for your great love to us. Father God, thank you for loving us in spite of the fact that we do not deserve anything from you. The only thing we deserve is punishment of an eternal fire. Oh, separation from God, but your love, your grace and mercy, you have forgiven us and has given us more. Tonight, I pray for those who are not yet saved, that they may come to be saved tonight. In Jesus' name, I pray, amen and amen. If you're not sure 100% tonight, that if death comes to you, the cold hand of death touches you tonight, you're not 100% sure that you'll be in heaven. Seconds after death, you're not 100% sure that you have the assurance, whatever happens, you are saved. And there's only one reason you're saved, because of the grace of God. Grace of God. The grace of God still works today. The same God is still saving souls. He's still the saving business today. Son of God is still the same Savior. He never changes. And maybe you need to come tonight as God's people. Grace saves us. It also keeps us. It sustains us. God's grace is manifold, the Bible says. God's grace can be felt, can be seen, can be experienced by us in all aspects of our Christian life. You thank God for the grace of salvation. You also thank God and you need the grace of God to sustain you in your walk as a child of God, in your struggle as a child of God. You need the grace of God to sustain you all by the grace of God. God is rich in mercy. God's grace is infinite it goes beyond our every need you've never been saved tonight let the holy spirit capture your mind and heart child of god you need to see him you need to come to him and ask him to extend his grace and mercy in your life let us sing what song let's sing let's sing song number 90 jesus i come jesus i come Jesus, I come. I pray that God will move your heart and life tonight. In Jesus' name, I pray. You come to be saved. Preacher, I want to experience the grace of God. I want to experience the grace of God in my life. Come and kneel down at the altar as we sing verse one. Come on now. Come now. Come to the altar. Come to the altar if you want to be saved. Tonight is the night that you need to be saved. If you are not sure of your salvation, come to the altar.