Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Paul's first epistle to the
Corinthians, chapter 15 and verse 10. 1 Corinthians, chapter 15
and verse 10, particularly the first part. Read the whole verse. But by the grace of God I am
what I am. and His grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain, but I laboured more abundantly than
they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. So particularly the opening words
of this verse, but by the grace of God I am what I am. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 10. Our text begins with a but, and
it is a contrast between what has gone before. He says, Last
of all, he was seen, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ of me also,
as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles,
that am not made to be called an apostle because I persecuted
the church of God. But by the grace of God I am
what I am. And he begins what he was, what
he once was. And if you notice the account
that we read, when he is giving his account, He begins just there,
where the Jews knew his life. He didn't have to say anything.
They knew what a kind of man he was. They knew what works
he did. It was very evident. And it's
upon that basis, that start, that then he says, what I am
now, the person that I am now, is by the grace of God. The grace
of God is defining who I actually am. I'm not the same person,
I am the same person, but not the same in how I was acting
and how I was walking before. A change had been brought about
and it is ascribed to the grace of God. It may be very His company can quite often define
Him. Our Lord says that we are to
learn of Him, take my yoke upon you. That's walking very close
to the Lord. Learn of me, for I am meek and
lowly in heart, ye shall find rest unto your souls. But when
we think of the grace of God, it is that which is communicated
by God to a sinner that power and might and that which will
give him those graces and give him that spirit that shall change
that person. It shall empower him and shall
give him those things that make him like his God and like the
Lord Jesus Christ. And as we have sung in both of
our hymns really, in the testimony of John Newton and the testimony
of the Church of God, that it is God's grace that is imparted
that makes that change. And we must say of this, it's
the same with the mercy of God. We can show mercy one to another,
but there's no cost to it, as it were. But with the Lord Jesus
Christ, it is a blood-bought mercy. When Ahab, wicked Ahab,
showed mercy to Ben-Hadad and led a man live that God had ordained
to destruction. God sent his servant, the prophet,
and said, because thou hast let him go, thou shalt pay for his
life, thy life for his life. But with the Lord Jesus Christ,
he lays down his life. He pays the debt of his people.
He suffers for them. And the mercy that he shows to
his people, he has already endured in their place the wrath of God. So it's not mercy without cost,
and it's not grace without cost. It is that which the Lord has
purchased at Calvary, that which flows out from Calvary. It is
one of the benefits and the blessings that flow down to a sinner. Not only does God take one that
was destined to hell and eternal ruin and bring them to heaven,
but he fits them for it here. And how they are in an alien
world with Satan around them and in a body of death, they
are what they are by the grace of God. A miracle to make one
different in this atmosphere. You know, some people, if you
put them into a right atmosphere. They're just like these chameleons,
and they'll just appear to fit in in every place that they go
into. They just change. In fact, solemnly,
that is what Peter, when he denied his law those three times, he
said, well, your speech is betraying you. So he began to curse and
swear, as if to blend in with those that are roundabout. And
it's a solemn thing if we're just imitators of the people
of God. That's a searching word, isn't
it? You know, if we've been brought up under the sound of the truth,
we can be an imitator of the people of God. In no grace of
God, in our own hearts, we're just imitating them. Saying the
words that we know are expected of us, and wearing the clothes
that we're expected to wear, and meeting when we're expected
to meet, And that is not saving, that is not saving grace, and
that is not defining in the manner that is here. But what will be
is when we come into different areas, whether you're children
at study, school, or in a workplace, or wherever you go, you are the
same person by the grace of God. And it is seen in that way because
it is, in a hostile world, where the Lord has ordained his people.
He said, I pray not that thou wouldst take them out of the
world, but that thou wouldst keep them from the evil while
they are in the world. And that is where grace shines
against that dark background of sin from our own heart and
the world and all that is around us. And so the grace of God,
we trace it to Calvary, we trace it to what the Lord has suffered,
bled and died for his people, that he has purchased for them
every blessing that he gives them. And it's important to remember
that those things are inseparable. The psalmist said, he shall give
grace and glory. No good things shall he withhold
from them that walk uprightly. Why do they walk uprightly? Because
of the grace of God. Paul says in the Romans, if while
we were yet sinners, we were saved by his death, how much
more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life. If the
Lord has blessed us when we were sinners, passed by and bid us
live, how much more then will he help and bless us and give
us those needful graces when we are converted and so we were
traced in the grace of God when he speaks of the grace of God
that we trace it all to our Lord and to Calvary and what is purchased
for the people of God for the church of God that great provision
in the Lord Jesus Christ an exhaustless grace for his people, the free,
unmerited favor of God that shall make those that were like the
apostle, that were enemies, that were alienated, that were lost,
that were ruined, that should then define their character,
define who they are by the grace of God. So I want to look with
the Lord's help this evening at three points. Firstly, grace
given defines a Christian. It makes them what they are. We spoke this afternoon about
rejoicing and how the default position of the people of God
is that they rejoice in the Lord. Many times, through temptation
and trial, they're brought into sorrow, distress, but then they
are brought out in the Lord's time and way, and they again
rejoice in God their Saviour. Well, here it is the grace given
that defines the Christian. Paul says, by the grace of God,
I am what I am. And then secondly, the grace
bestowed. The apostle says here, and his
grace which was bestowed upon me. So there was grace bestowed
upon him. And everyone, God's children,
God bestows or puts grace upon them. I want to look at those
graces. And then thirdly, that grace
bestowed was not in vain. It has an effect. It bears fruit
in their lives. So he says, in this way, that
grace bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly
than they all, speaking of the others, the apostles, yet not
I, the grace of God which was with me. So firstly, the grace
that defines. So the Apostle Paul had told
them what he once was, what his life was, and then he says what
his life now is, the life that he lives now. He's a very different
person. People of the world, they might
say, well, why? Why are you different? What has
made your life different? Well, the apostle would say,
the grace of God. That is what is now defining
my life, making me to be what I am now. Now some of us, I'm
sure, if we really thought about it, those of you who know the
Lord, and to when the Lord dealt with you, you can see how otherwise
it might have been. You know, when the Lord began
with me, I was in my teen, 19 or so, and I was going from week
to week thinking, this is the last time I'm going to the house
of God. I didn't like it at all. And
next week I thought, I didn't want to grieve my parents, so
I'll go one more time. And one more time, and that is
how it was. It was irksome to me. I hardly
ever listened to the sermons. I just used the time just to
plan for the next week ahead. I had no longing, no desire,
no prayer at all. And then the Lord was pleased
to use, of all people, the Jehovah's Witness come to the door in the
week. And this man came with his little
son, and my mother and I were there. And we argued with him
on the doorstep. You think, how could you argue
and defend a faith that you didn't want to have yourself anyway?
But I did, and with my mother. And as he turned away from the
door, and I turned away from the door, no audible voice, but
the Lord so clearly said to me, you are a hypocrite. You hate
the things of God. You're wanting to get away from
them. You don't know them in your heart. What things you have
said to this man, you don't know anything in your heart. This
man cares enough for your soul to come in the week, not only
a Sunday, in the week to your door. And yet you want to get
away from everything. And the Lord cut me down as a
guilty sinner at that moment. And you know, immediately, I
wanted to go to all midweek services, every service, the Sunday school,
the prayer meetings, everything. I wanted to know and hear the
things of God. A couple of weeks later, the
Mormons came. I was on my own. I let them in. Come on, tell me the things of
God. I want to know the things of God. And they showed me a
book, a picture of an old man, a young man, a ray of light. They said, that's the Father,
that's the Son. And that's the spirit. These are God. There's
not three gods. Get out the house. Kick them
out the house. That's how little I knew. My father was a minister. He was a pastor at Melbourne.
And you know, when I realized I'd probably kicked them out
the house for the truth, that sunk me down even further. But
within a month or so, my father said, we're summing up. We're
going over to Tasmania. Now, if the Lord hadn't appeared
on that doorstep, I would have said, great. Go away from the
chapel. I don't even have to leave my
parents. Go away. They're going to meet in their
house. Good. You know what I said to him?
I'm not going. I'm staying here. End of my apprenticeship. I've
saved up enough on apprenticeship wages. You couldn't do that now.
First year, I bought my car. The other three, Years brought
enough to put down a deposit on a house, and for the next
10 years, family in Tasmania, and I lived on the mainland,
and it was four years before the Lord brought me to baptism,
to full assurance and faith, and the Lord blessed me in just
about every room of that house that I bought. But the grace
that the Lord gave me, cutting me down, he gave me life on that
doorstep. gave me a hearing ear. We'll
look at some of those things later. That defined me. That defined where I lived from
then on. It defined my whole life. My
whole life would have been completely different, apart from that. My
own daughter, she sat on our settee, she had plans of being
a doctor and this and all sorts. All the way from the Lord. The
Lord cut her down with ME. And through that affliction,
the Lord then used that to convert her. My son, he runs away, he's
going to go down to Salisbury, he's going to get a job there.
You know, he used to, and the wife, remember, reminded me,
she used to sit next, stand next to her in the service, then look
down, wouldn't sing, wouldn't take part, sat on our settee,
One day he said, Mum, Dad, he said, my religion's not yours.
He said, I don't believe what you believe. He said, I don't
want to go to the services anymore. Can you release me from them?
So he said to him, Lord, in fear of the Lord, we must
bring you up. In the fear of the Lord, and
so you come to the Lord's house on the Lord's day. You keep the
Lord's day while you're under our roof. And you take part in
our family worship. that you don't need to come to
the midweek service anymore. We don't want to put any pressure
on. You don't need to come. We were criticised for doing
that, for letting them off on that. But he respected it, you
know. And he continued to come. But
then when he left home, and to go he could, he was going to
go away. Again, the Lord had other thoughts.
And you see, the Lord found him out through various means, and
through open air preaching, actually, in Swarthmore and through the
church there, of which he and his dear wife are now members. And so in both of them, we have
seen, we have seen what their lives would have been, what they
were choosing out, what would have been their cause. Instead
of bringing up our grandchildren in the fear of the Lord, they
would have not been teaching them at all. My own siblings
are just like that in Tasmania. Their children, their grandchildren
know nothing of the things of God. And what it meant to me
when going down into Salisbury after he was married and we were
there on a Wednesday evening around the table, He took the
reading and prayer and gave thanks for the privilege of going out
to the house of God in the midweek. And that's what we did. And I
thought, is this the same chap that sits on the settee and wanted
to be released from the midweek service? The grace of God defines a person. It changes who they actually
are. I wonder how many of you here,
with your own selves, would say, I can picture what my life would
have been like. Not what it is now. You might be able to say with
me as well, with your children. from your husband. You know what
the apostle says here, by the grace of God I am what I am. It's a very, very powerful thing. A great thing. With him it was
a chain swirled by one day, as it were, on that Damascus road.
Not all of God's children would be able to point to a doorstep
or to a Damascus road or to change that, but quite often, if you
took a slice of five years, 10 years, and saw what that person
was then, and then what they were some five or 10 years down
the track, real change. And sometimes it's
the gradual changes that are much stronger, line upon line,
here a little and there a little. And those lessons are learnt
and they remain. Don't despise the day of small
things or a gradual work as if it wasn't the grace of because
he teaches as his people are able to bear it and he teaches
in a way that defines that person and makes them to be what they
actually are. Sometimes it can be relative
and if we haven't It's a great benefit to know
someone before, but do bear this in mind. Don't be quick to criticize
the Lord's people if you haven't known them all
their lives and you see them at one point. Many years ago
over in New Zealand, 40 years ago, I stayed with a late pastor
there at Carterton. Big, imposing man, quite a frightening
man, really. And my Dutch friend, he said
to me, he said, you know, he said, he's very, very different
than before he was called by grace. The grace has really softened
him. You look at this, this man that
really would, you'd tremble sometimes to speak to, Really? He said yes. He said he was a
foreman in ammonia mechanics. He said one of his ammonia mechanics
did something wrong rather than face him the next day, he ran
away. He said the grace of God has
really softened that man. And yet we might come across
another person that has a very gentle, easy disposition with
no grace of God at all in their hearts. It's when you see that
contrast and how the Lord is dealing with each of his people
as an individual and changing their hearts and turning them
unto himself and walking in his ways. You think of some of the
characters in the Word of God. You think of Naomi, what made
her, what she was. Breedments, her own breedments.
Those of her, loss of her two sons, her husband. Bitter, the Lord had dealt bitterly
with me. But you know, she still played
with him. What Ruth saw, Ruth wanted. She wanted that God. She wanted
that people. that though the Lord slew them,
though the Lord dealt with them in that way, yet he gave them
grace and help to bear it, to walk through it. Naomi was what she was by the
grace of God. You think of Joseph and all that
he suffered by his brothers and then falsely accused and then
forgotten in prison And each time the Lord was with him. But he was what he was by the
grace of God. It doesn't just lie as something
that some of the fallen sons of Adam had more than others
and they are able to cope with these things or able to be what
they are without that grace of God. This is why, you think of
one of the hymns, grace though the smallest, must surely be
tried, because natural grace will fail, that saving grace,
the grace of God, will not. That will be sustained in the
fire, you think of Bunyan's pilgrim, and the oil that was poured on,
hidden, that supply, that strength, that help, even though there
was the water that was poured on. You think of Daniel. An excellent spirit was found
in him. Where did that spirit come from?
Not from his fallen nature. No. What he was, was by the grace
of God. We've sung the hymn just now
of John Newton. or somebody who would have read,
Darkness to Light, or his account, Grace the Bounding, as Bunyan. But John Newton, Slave Traitor. And we sung in that first verse,
the resurrection of the dead, the life of all that live. By faith in me, the soul received
new life, though dead before. And it is the grace of God that
makes that person, that made John Newton. And it's a blessed
thing to trace this and to see that people's lives are changed. The course of their lives are
changed. The company that they keep is
different. how their attitude to the house
of God is different. Their love to the Lord is there,
which before it wasn't. And with the apostle, those that
called upon the name of the Lord, he was hailing men and women
to prison. And then he became one that was
calling on that same Lord, identified in the same way that those that
he was persecuting was identified. as those that call on the name
of the Lord. So this then is the first point. Grace given defines a Christian. It makes them to be what they
are. And may you each think, those
of you who know the Lord, may profess what you are now. what you could have been, what
you would have been. How the Lord has made a difference.
And maybe there's those of you who must say there's not been
a difference yet. May there rise up a prayer, a
desire in your soul this evening that the Lord does make a difference. moment are friends who have influence,
things on the internet, your thoughts, your affections, particular
temptations, or perhaps your love of things. When I went back
to my youth, perhaps my car was defining me, the hours I used
to spend with that, or the music in the bands and orchestras.
They kind of defined what my life, if you looked at my diary,
all of these things would be in it. but nothing of God. What
defines you? What makes your life? What fills
your life? Your closet, worship, is there
any? What defines you is before God
and me. Grace defines a child of God. But secondly then, what is the
grace bestowed It wasn't very clear, and hence he said, his
grace which was bestowed. This is God bestowing or putting
on to a sinner grace. The first grace that he bestows
is life. I pass by thee when thou wast
in thy blood and bid thee live. I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out. the life of the Lord Jesus Christ
bestowed upon them, eternal life given. And with that life, and
very often this grace will be interwoven with it, is given
a teachableness and a hearing ear. When we think of what the
apostle says to the Romans, that faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. What he says to Corinthians,
that in God's wisdom, he has made it that in the things of
God, man, natural man, can never by his wisdom find the things
of God out, but it have pleased God through the foolishness of
preaching to save them that believe. And so what is so vital grace,
and that which I believe I proved, is the Lord gave me a hearing
ear, aching void, the world could not fill, a desire to hear and
an ear to hear. And the first time I began to
hear what was being preached and hear what was being read,
and I wanted to, every opportunity. And through that hearing ear,
then the Lord taught me and instructed me. You think of a child at school
that does not want to learn. What a difficult task that is
for teaching. What a difference when there
is one that wants to learn. They stay back after school and
they want to ask him questions all the time. What a difference. That grace would be fine. Here, bored to the doorpost. The apostle, when the Lord met
with him, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? I think before
that he was I don't need to know about that, I'll just do what
I feel is right, no consulting the Lord at all. A hearing ear,
bless the Lord, if the Lord has opened your ear, my ear hath
he opened. And then it'll be like Jeremiah,
thy words were found and I did eat them, and they were to the
joy and rejoice in my soul. A soul that has been given that
grace of a hearing ear of willingness will gradually then be noticing
The Lord is using the Word to supply further grace, to instruct, and to teach, and
to improve, and to feed, and to strengthen. Every grace and
every favor comes through Jesus' blood. It comes through the Word
of God for His people. What did the Lord say to Peter?
When they are converted, when they are restored, strengthen
my brethren, feed my sheep, feed my lambs. People of God need
feeding all the time and that grace is given by the Lord. Patience, the trials, the troubles
that we go through. You've heard of the patience
or endurance of Job to continue through those troubles and through
those trials, never overlooked that. Some of us go through very
long trials and we must have overlooked the patience and grace
and endurance to not just give up and to just give everything
over, to wait upon the Lord. the fear of the Lord, which is
the beginning of wisdom, that will also be a grace that defines
us. We read that the transgression
of the wicked saith within myself, there is no fear of God before
their eyes. But where the fear of God is,
that will define us. How, says Joseph, can I do this
thing, sin, against God? And so those graces that are
given, they are actually tangible graces. They are graces that
make way for other graces. Remember the Lord has said, he
shall give grace for grace. When the Lord gives the grace
of the spirit of prayer and supplication, then he gives answers to those
prayers. and fresh graces because he's
given the grace of prayer to ask, then he gives the grace
of those revealed answers and it multiplies. And that is a
great blessing to have that, to have, when we're given real
prayer and asking for things in which the Lord then gives,
we might think we've run out of grace or run out more grace. We come into trials
and difficulties. And the grace that we had previously,
we need it replenished and strengthened again. No, we don't know what
is before any of us. And I know there's sometimes
you hear of those that are taken, and you think, how will it be
with me? I may feel very low and very
much tried at this present time if I, if I was called to die
now. But then we must realize that
the Lord gives dying grace in a dying hour and we're not to
expect it before we need the help. He gives that grace in
time of need. Not in anticipation of it, in
anticipation often it is by faith we believe the Lord will appear
in time and in our time of need. But you know like the woman with
the prayers of oil and had a meal. You know it wasn't to see a lot,
it was to be multiplied each day. The manna given each day
then to see a great big supply of it And they had to rely on
them. It would be the same with grace.
We might have our heart fail us. How can we stand that trying
day? We shall stand if the Lord gives
us those fresh supplies of grace. I want to look then at not only
the grace that is bestowed, but the effect, that it was not in
vain, not in vain. So where the Lord gives life,
where he gives a teachable spirit, where he gives a hearing ear,
where he gives these graces, and especially the secret of
the grace and power of God, that provision in the Lord, that is
not in vain. Remember, of course, with the
Apostle Paul, when he had the thorn in the flesh, the messenger
of Satan, to buffet him, and three times he asked the Lord
would take that away. The Lord said, no, he wouldn't.
My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in
weakness. Many times in our lives, the
trial is not taken away. Our lives is not changed in that
way. We must walk through it. But
the Lord gives grace to bear it, day by day. And the apostle
approved that. And I often think of the assessment
that he has when the Lord did that for him. In the second epistle
to the Red Kings, chapter 12, verse 9, he speaks of the grace
that was sufficient for him. But his response was most gladly,
therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power
of Christ may rest upon me. And you think of how effectual
this grace was. that was bestowed upon him. It
didn't leave him angry with the Lord, or replying against him,
or unhappy with the Lord's choice for him. He says, therefore,
I take pleasure in infirmities, in approaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I
am weak, then am I strong. And his assessment of it, he
approved of what the Lord has given. Very often, when the Lord
doesn't give us what we want, it's a sacred evidence of the
grace of God when we can look back and we say, thy choice was
better for us than our own. Thy way, not mine. Thy wisdom,
not mine. May we be able to trust the Lord
in that way. What I want to draw your attention
to in our text is specifically where he says, and how he says,
that that grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain. He goes on and he says, but,
and here's his but again, I labored more abundantly than they all. Now, I'm not thinking for a moment
he is saying, well, these other apostles, I'm condemning them.
They haven't labored abundantly. They haven't done what they should
have done. But he's not saying, he's not
giving this impression. The Lord's given grace, so I
don't need to make any effort or any way at all. You know,
at school, I noticed through my own schooling, you get some
students, and they're naturally very blind, and they come to
an exam and they just do one or two hour study and they get
through and they get 99%. In my case, I'd be studying for
hours and I'd go over and over and over and try and do my best
and I'd get 90%. I didn't get as good as them.
But I'm very thankful for what I got, but I really had to labour
at it. And really the apostle is saying
this, Because people won't be just fatalistic, they won't say,
well, I'm just going to live anyhow, not watchful, not grateful,
not careful, because the Lord will just give me grace and help.
The impression of the teaching the apostle is given, where that
grace is, then I labor more abundantly. The actual grace gives that impetus
and desire to do what is right in the sight of the Lord, to
be, in his case, to be spent and to be spent. He says, I count
not my life dear unto me. All that he did, all that he
labored, he says, this is the effect. It was not in vain. And
then he really clarifies it again. He says, yet not I. In other words, where the grace
of God is, the effect it will make one use that grace. Use that grace. Now, probably with this church,
because I know you're a very active church and you really
help each other, there's a good question, I think, for every
church member. How does the church of which
I'm a member Make sure you are, if the Lord's given you grace,
that you are a member, an obedient member of that church. How does
the body of Christ benefit or profit by the grace of God bestowed
upon us? The Apostle Paul could clearly
say these churches to whom he ministered and preached were
benefiting through the grace given to him. God was then imparting
saving grace and blessings to others as well. And it's a blessed
thing, where the Lord has given grace, abilities, to the members
of the church, that that body edifies itself in love. And they're not, as it were,
dead members. They are all active, crying members,
according to the grace given them. You don't expect someone
to do something that they haven't got the ability or grace to be
able to do. But where the Lord has, that
is a great privilege, a great blessing, that that grace is
not given in vain. Now sometimes when I've been
in the pilgrim home and I've seen the dear, the aged people
there, some of the carers and the patients that they have,
and how much time they spend with them getting up out of the
chair or sitting them down. And I think that does take a
lot of grace, and especially where perhaps something is an
ongoing thing. And you see in a church and amongst
the Lord's people, there are differing graces and differing
abilities to help one another. And some might not have that
particular grace and ability, and others may have. And yet
it all comes from the same source. And we know in natural, in the
world, we all depend on people that make the roads, make the
bridges, provide our electricity. We're all dependent on each other
in a way, naturally in society, but especially in the Church
of God. where the Church of God is in receipt of the grace of
God and to notice the Lord is treating us as a body in Christ
and he's bestowing us upon those things that make us need each
other and unite us and bring us together in love. And that
is a blessed thing. And then we can say that the
grace that is bestowed upon us as tracing it from the source,
saving grace, and grace to help in our trials and our needs,
that it is not in vain. It brings forth glory to God. It brings forth praise to Him. And it brings the real evidence
that we are the people of God, because what we are receiving
is from the Lord. The Apostle was very clear about
this. He's not uncertain. He's not
saying it might have come from the Lord. He said he has received
it from the Lord. And he's able to say that it
was not in vain as well. He could see both sides and maybe
be able to see that and then be able to join with the Apostle
here. But by the grace of God I am
what I am. Amen.