I invite your attention back
to Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3. Our text is going to be verse
8. Ephesians 3 verse 8, here Paul writing says, unto me who
am less than the least of all saints is this grace given that
I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Paul said I am less than the
least of all saints." That struck me. We think of this man, and I believe
rightfully so, as the chiefest apostle. He said, I'm less than
the least of all saints. What a confession, honestly.
I titled this message, Grace Given to Unworthy Sinners. Grace Given to Unworthy Sinners. Paul said, unto me is this grace
given. God said, I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. Paul said, God has been gracious
to me. Now, for our message, I would
like to consider Paul's story, who he was, what God, in His
grace, did for him, and the message that God called him to preach.
All right? We're going to do a little bit
of turning this morning. Turn with me to the book of Acts chapter
7. Acts chapter 7. Towards the end of the chapter,
Acts 7 verse 54. Acts 7 verse 54. Now, this is the account of where
Stephen, a faithful minister of Christ, had been declaring
the gospel. He'd been taken, and he's about
to be stoned. All right? Acts 7, 54. When they
heard these things, what Stephen had to say, they were cut to
the heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he,
being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven,
and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand
of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son
of Man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried
out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon Him
with one accord, and cast Him out of the city, and stoned Him.
And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet,
whose name was Saul." Saul of Tarsus. This is the Apostle Paul. That's who this man is. Alright,
now keep reading. Verse 59, Stephen was calling upon God
and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down
and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge. And when he had said this, he
fell asleep. Chapter 8, verse 1, And Saul
was consenting unto his death. And at that time, there was a
great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem.
And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea
and Samaria except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen
to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of
the church, entering into every house and hailing men and women,
committed them to prison. He stood there. while a faithful
servant of God was stoned to death. And not only did he stand
there, he consented unto it. Here's what that means. He approved
of it. He approved of this murder, and he was pleased by it. And as we read at the end of
chapter 7, while Stephen prayed for him, and the others who were
there, those that were stoning him. Paul did that. Does that not
strike you? This is the Apostle Paul, the
same man. Who was he? He was a wicked enemy
of God and God's people. There was a great persecution
against the church and he led it. He let it. He hated God. It told us that
he wreaked havoc. That means he treated shamefully.
He sought to ravage, devastate, ruin the church. That's who he
was. And that's what he did. That's
what he sought to do. He went into the houses of God's
people and had them sent to prison. He was an evil man. In Acts chapter
6, we're told that the men who took Stephen, the men who stoned
Stephen, were of the synagogue. That means they were religious.
They were the chief priests. Paul was a religious man. He
was among them. He was among them that took him
and accused him of blasphemy. Paul told us in Galatians 1.13
that he was a devout Jew, a religious leader, exceeding zealous. In
Philippians 3, verse 5, he tells us he was a Pharisee, means self-righteous,
ignorant of Christ. This is what Paul warned us against,
against being confident in our flesh, against going about to
establish our own righteousness, not submitting to the righteousness
of God, which is Christ. He said, that was me. That was
me. Who was Paul? He was a religious
leader who did not know God, and we have a ton of those in
our day. Religious leader who does not
know God. You see a problem there? Paul said, I was a blasphemer. He claimed to know God. He claimed
to love God. Paul was raised having learned
the Scriptures, but he had not so learned Christ, whom the Scriptures
declare. He very evidently hated God.
He was injurious. He was cruel and lifted up with
pride. He was lost and he didn't have
a clue. Again, according to God's Word,
that's the case for many. It's the case for many. In summary, here's who Paul was,
okay? Before God saved him. He was a man bound for hell,
and deservedly so, just like me, just like you, but God. Not but He reformed and turned
it, no, but God. Look here in chapter 9, verse
1. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against
the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest and desired
of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found
any of this way, any believers on Christ, whether they were
men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And
as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there
shined round about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the
earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? And he said, who art thou, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is
hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Now look at his reaction,
verse six. And he trembling and astonished
said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto
him, arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what
thou must do. God stopped him in his tracks,
literally. He was on his way. He said he
desired papers. Well, clearly he had them. He
was off. He was headed that way. He was on his way to arrest more
of God's saints when Almighty Love arrested that
man. And my confession is, that was me. I did the exact
same thing. I have experienced the exact
same thing. Madly I ran the sinful race thinking
I was secure without a hiding place. But God came to me and stopped
me. Is that the case for you? Can
anybody else relate to this? Go on reading verse 7, And the
men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice
but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth,
and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man. But they led him
by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days
without sight and neither did eat nor drink. And there was
a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And to him said
the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, behold, I'm here,
Lord. And the Lord said unto him, arise
and go into the street which is called straight and inquire
in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold,
he prayeth. and hath seen in a vision a man
named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he might
receive his sight. Now look at this, verse 13. Then
Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man how
much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem. And here
he hath authority from the chief priest to bind all that call
on thy name. But the Lord said unto him, Go
thy way, For he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before
the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I
will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's
sake. When I read that, I think about
what we just read about. Paul consenting to Stephen's
death, arresting God's people, And I must acknowledge this.
God was sovereign over all of that. God was sovereign over
the whole thing. Over all of it. When he said to Saul in verse
5, he said, it's hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Saul
tried as hard as he could to resist. There's no resisting God. He's not in our hand. No man can say unto him, what
doest thou? We can't stay his hand. God knocked Saul of Tarsus
off his horse, literally, blinded him, and saved him. We know because the scriptures
tell us And hopefully we know by experience. Before Saul had
ever done any of his evil, we just read it, he did evil. And
we read that he persecuted the church, but the Lord said, you
persecuted me. What we've done to the brethren, we've done to
him. But before he did any evil, God
loved him. God chose him. Chosen vessel. unto the Lord, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand not of works, but
of him that calleth." Paul's works certainly couldn't save
him. God called him. God chose him. God saved him.
In Romans chapter 9, we read about vessels of mercy which
God hath aforeprepared to glory. That's what Paul was. Pray, that's what we are, too.
Look here, verse 17. And Ananias went his way and
entered into the house, and putting his hands on him, said, Brother
Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way
as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy
sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there
fell from his eyes, as it had been scales, and he received
sight forthwith, and arose and was baptized. Ananias had just told the Lord,
I've heard about this man. I imagine he had some nerves
regarding our Lord's command here. But at the Lord's command, he
went. And he greeted Saul, who again, had just had Stephen killed. Dear Saint. And he looks him
in the face and says, Brother Saul, is that not amazing to
you? Honestly, when I read that, it
just captivated me. Does that not bless your soul?
And then God physically opened Saul's
eyes and let him look into his brother's eyes. Brother Ananias. Turn back to our text, Ephesians
3. That's the first part of Paul's
story, all right? Ephesians 3, verse 8. Unto me, who am less than the
least of all saints, is this grace given. Paul was the recipient
of God's sovereign grace, unmerited favor. God's grace turned wicked,
God-hating Saul of Tarsus into a saint of God, an apostle, prisoner
of Jesus Christ. It was not anything that Saul
or Paul did. Nothing. And Paul told us that
time and time again. The one I want to show you is
back a few pages in Galatians chapter 1. Paul was very transparent about
what God had done for him all through his writings. And I especially
love this here in Galatians 1, look with me starting at verse
11. Galatians 1, 11. He said, but I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for I
neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ. That's what we just read in Acts,
right? Verse 13, for you've heard of
my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that
beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it and
profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in my own
nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of
my father's, but when it pleased God, who separated me from my
mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in
me, that I might preach Him among the heathen, immediately I conferred
not with flesh and blood. He was a self-made man, self-saved
man, or so he thought, until God's grace came to him. His
confession was this, when it please God. Lost and undone without God's
precious Son until it please God to reveal Christ, the Son
of God, to him and in him. He said, God separated me from
my mother's womb. It's like the Lord told Jeremiah,
before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. I chose thee, I
love thee. I've called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. Oh, when it pleased God to do this for Saul of Tarsus,
nothing would ever be the same for this man. He received God's
grace. He didn't choose to receive it.
God's grace came to him and drew him in. Again, can we relate
to this? Oh, I pray we can. Now, a big change took place when
God's grace came to Paul. God's grace caused Paul to be
put in his place. And God's grace will do that
to you and me, too. Right here, he said, back in our text, he
said, I'm less than the least of all saints. less than the
least of all saints. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
15. 1 Corinthians 15, verse nine. 1 Corinthians 15, nine. He said, for I'm the least of
the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle because
I persecuted the church of God. He said I'm not worthy, I'm not
fit, I'm not meet to be an apostle. He knew he wasn't worthy to be
an apostle. He knew he wasn't worthy to be a saint, a child
of God. He's not worthy. I'm unworthy. Do we know how unworthy we are
for God to have anything to do with us? Look at verse 10 though. But by the grace of God, I am
what I am. And his grace, which was bestowed
upon me, was not in vain, and it never is. But I labored more
abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God,
which was with me." Grace caused Paul to know and to truly believe
he was the least, less than the least, and absolutely unworthy
of God's favor. And this was not merely some
pretentious show of humility. I'm telling you, God's grace
changed this man. When God saves a person, He creates
a new man in that person. Christ in us. We're new creatures
in Christ. Now, Paul tells us, as a believer,
in his flesh dwelled no good thing. They that are in the flesh
cannot please God. He said, I'm a wretched man.
Oh, wretched man that I am. I need to be delivered. Who shall
deliver me from the body of this death? He said, I thank God for
Christ Jesus. Paul was a wretched man before
God saved him. But now, after God saved him,
now he knows what he is. Now he knows how vile he is.
Not how vile he was. How vile he is. Do we know? In 1 Timothy 1.15, he referred
to himself as the chief of sinners. It's believed that he penned
those words towards the end of his life on this earth. The chief
of sinners, the worst, not merely the least of the apostles, not
merely less than the least of all saints, the worst of all
sinners, which is all mankind. He said, that's me. God taught
him, that's who Christ came to save, the very chief of sinners. Grace taught him that. In 2 Corinthians
12, he said, in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though
I be nothing. He said, I'm nothing. By God's grace, he wasn't behind
the chiefest apostles, and by God's grace, he was nothing. He was nothing. I think of this
quote about every time I'm asked to preach, but that quote by
Brother Scott Richardson. What is a preacher? He's a nobody
who tells everybody about somebody who can save anybody. That's what God's grace caused
Paul to be. Oh my, yeah. God in His grace
knocked him off his high horse, laid him in the dirt, and blinded
him. I pray God would do that for us if He hasn't. And if He
has, I pray God would keep us low. I pray God, and it takes
God, would cause us to be clothed with humility, looking away from
ourselves and trusting only in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what He did for Paul, and I pray that's what He'll do for us.
Now look here back in our text, Ephesians 3, look at verse 7. Paul said, The gift of God's
grace and the effectual working of His power saved Paul and called him to the ministry,
called him to God's ministry, made him a minister, a minister
of God. Now let me say this, we don't
make ourselves ministers of God. People are putting other people,
men are putting other men in the ministry left and right,
but not God's ministry, not God's ministry. I preached in Danville
several years ago and someone in my family who is not a believer
asked my mom what seminary I went to. She said, he didn't go to
seminary. That's what everybody thinks.
We gotta go to seminary. We must be taught of God. God said that
all his people shall be taught of him. Paul was taught at the
feet of Gamaliel, a religious leader who was lost and did not
know Christ. He learned the gospel that he
preached, he just told us, by revelation of Jesus Christ. He
heard from the mouth of the Lord Jesus himself. And God speaks
to us through His Word today. He does. Can't put ourselves
in the ministry. The effectual working of God's
grace in Paul caused him to preach the faith that he once destroyed. At the end of Galatians 1, he
went preaching the gospel. He went declaring the grace of
God in Christ. And that's what these men said. They said, he
now preaches the faith he once destroyed. What in the world
could cause a man to do that? Grace. God's grace, nothing else,
nothing else. I told you, before God's grace
came to him, he was just a Pharisee, just a Pharisee. God gave him
a new message. God gave him a good hope through
grace and sent him to declare it. Verse seven again, whereof I
was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God
given unto me by the effectual working of his power unto me
who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given.
that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches
of Christ. The Lord told Ananias concerning
Saul of Tarsus, he said, he shall bear my name before the Gentiles.
Paul was a Jew. Physically, okay. Now he told
us a true Jew is not one outwardly, but one inwardly, but Paul was
of the Jewish nation of the tribe of Benjamin, the stock of Israel.
But God saved him, and God sent him to preach to the Gentiles.
Now, I won't comment much on that, but I'll say this. The
Jews and the Gentiles were separate. You remember the account where
Paul rebuked Peter for getting up away from the Gentiles to
go sit with the Jews? They were separate. The Jews, that's who
God, for many years, had given his word to. God's promises are
to the Jews, but again, they're not all Israel, which are of
Israel. God taught Paul something. God
taught Paul that there's no difference between the Greek and the Jew.
Oh, those Greeks, those Gentiles, they're unclean. We're all unclean.
The Lord taught Isaiah that we're all is an unclean thing. All
righteousness, mine and yours, filthy rags. God taught Paul
there's no difference between the Jew and Greek. There's no
difference between the circumcision, the uncircumcision, barbarian,
Scythian, bond, nor free. No, he said Christ is all and
in all. No difference. I'm unworthy,
you're unworthy, but Christ is worthy. Christ is all. Who maketh
thee to differ from another? Christ is all. What do we have
that we have not received? Christ is all. What's your hope? Happy Jack, right? I'm a poor
sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all.
Oh, he's my all in all. Now, what exactly was it that
Paul declared when God sent him to preach? He said that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Those of you whom God has saved,
I know you love that phrase just like I do. The unsearchable riches
of Christ. What a message to be called to
preach. Let me tell you, it's an honor,
the highest honor I know, to get to declare the unsearchable
riches of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said things in his writings
like, whom we preach. We preach a person. He said,
I know whom I have believed. What do you believe? What do
you believe? I believe Him. I believe He's able to keep that
which committed unto Him, which God has caused me to commit unto
Him. That's everything. I believe He's able to save to
the uttermost those that come to God by Him. I believe if he saved a wretch
like me, he can save a wretch like you. He's able. It's no
wonder Paul said, but we preach Christ crucified. Oh, he's a
stumbling block. Oh, that message is foolishness
until God causes us to believe it. That message, Christ, the
power and the wisdom of God, God will cause his people to
believe it. You come here enough. Watch out. God might just cause
you to believe it. Pray he would. determined not to know anything,
but this right here, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. There's no
other message. There's no other hope. God forbid
I stand here and say anything else. God forbid that I should
glory, saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. And let me tell you this, Paul,
he had a lot of knowledge. I'm talking before God saved
him. He had a lot of knowledge. religious knowledge. He had a
lot of accolades. People looked up to him. They
didn't just lay down their coats at some nobody, no. But once he had the unsearchable
riches of Christ, Once Paul had the Lord Jesus Christ revealed
to him and in him, he counted everything that he'd ever had
before. Loss, dung, nothing. He just wanted Christ. He said,
oh, that I may win Christ, that I may be found in him, not having
my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith. He said, oh, that I may know him. He just wanted
to know the Savior. God's grace did that for him. God's grace will do that for
us. One thing needful. We just need
to know Him. We just need to be found in Him. We just need
to win Him. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. We will see the unsearchable
riches of Christ if God ever causes us to see His grace. It's the grace of Christ. We
believe that by the grace of Christ we shall be saved even
as they. Look here, 2 Corinthians 8 verse 9. For ye know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." This
isn't talking about money. You know, we all want to be rich,
don't we? He who himself is unsearchable riches made himself to be poor. He made himself to be sin, made
himself to be a curse in order to make us who had no spiritual
wealth, us who are spiritually poor, to be rich, to be rich
toward God, to have experienced the riches of His grace, to be
righteous, accepted in Him before God. That's what God's grace
will do for you. Oh, how we need God's grace.
I want to close by reading some verses in Ephesians chapter 2.
Ephesians 2, starting in verse 1. I believe all the verses I've
read were either accounts of Paul
or written by Paul under inspiration of God. Same is true here in
Ephesians chapter two, verse one. He said, and you hath he
quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past
he 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 in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, And we were 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 he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Oh, the riches of his grace.
Are you interested in the riches of his grace? Do you find his
grace to be rich? Do you need it? Turn back a page,
or maybe you don't have to turn, Ephesians 1 verse 7. It says,
in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of his grace. Oh, how rich is
his grace. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ. Paul said unto me, who am less
than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should
preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. I'll tell you this
about God's grace. It's greater than all my sin.
And it's greater than all your sin, too. I pray God would reveal this
grace to us. I pray God would give this same grace that he
gave to Saul of Tarsus unto you and me, the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, for his sake, for his glory. Amen. And God bless
his word.