We looked recently at 1 Corinthians
chapter 15 and the declaration of the gospel which Paul sets
forth in this chapter. And also the great victory in
that gospel that we have through our Lord Jesus Christ over sin,
over death, over hell. Death is swallowed up in victory,
we read. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, Paul knew what it was in
reality. in his experience to be delivered
from his sin and the consequence of that sin which is death. He could look death as it were
in the face and cry out unto it, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? He knew what it was to be delivered
from it. And he knew what it was to be
delivered from it because his sin had been taken away and that
which was the strength of sin, that which provoked his sin,
he'd been delivered from. He'd been delivered from the
law. That law, which once in his carnal mind, in his carnal
religion, he thought he was keeping. But when God by the Spirit made
it known unto him, when the gospel came unto him, he found that
Lord discovered what he really was in his heart. that inside
he was raging with sin, that no matter what obedience he rendered
to that law outwardly before other men, no matter how holy
he appeared to be, no matter how righteous he appeared to
be before man, he discovered within that that law condemned
him daily. Every time the commandment came
to him, Sin took occasion by the commandment, it flared up,
it rose up and it slew him, as he writes in Romans 7. He found
the Lord discovered what he was and it didn't contain his sin,
it didn't constrain his sin, it actually encouraged it, it
was the strength of sin. So the law, that which was made
good, that which was declaring righteousness, that which if
he was able to keep it, would have been for his good, that
became that to him which slew him. Not because there's any
fault in the law, but because of the sin in his flesh. And so all believers, like Paul,
discover the same thing. They discover that the law is
something they must be delivered from. Because all it does is
slay them. It condemns them. Even as believers,
every time they turn to the law, it discovers their sin. It encourages
it. Again, they break it within. as much as without. In their
heart, in their thoughts, in their minds they break that law
and it comes and it condemns them. It shows them that they
are nothing in themselves, they are helpless, they are weak,
they are vile. And this is what Paul learnt
when God made his gospel known unto him, he discovered just
how bad he is by nature. Just how vile he is, just how
corrupt, just what a great sinner he is in need of a great salvation. We will never understand the
gospel until God uses it to teach us how bad we are and how much
in need of mercy and grace we are. Until God brings us there,
until he shows us that we are nothing, we will forever be striving
to get to heaven by our own strength and in our own wisdom. by our
own works, with our own faith, in our own will. For that's all
Paul's religion was, all Saul's religion was, until Christ met
him on the Damascus road. He knew the Scriptures. He was
a Pharisee. He was religious. He kept the
law outwardly. He was zealous. He was striving
to enter glory. He wanted to be saved. He thought
he served God. And yet all that he was set him
against Christ, against his people, against the gospel. He went around
persecuting the church. And if all we have is religion
in the letter, outwardly, if all our knowledge of Christ of
the Gospel, of the Bible, is outward, is in the letter, is
in the mind, in the head. If all we've got is a mental
ascent to the truth, then we're in the same place. We're going
around making our own righteousness. We're striving in our own will
and our own wisdom. We're proud within even if we
can't see it. We think that we are different
from others. We think that we're serving God
when others aren't. We look on others and wag a finger
and find fault. We simply do not know what we
are. wretched vile rebellious proud
arrogant sinners before a holy god and we do not know christ
and we do not know grace what we see in this chapter and in
paul's writings and his preaching of christ and the gospel is just
how bad man is how great a sinner we are and how greatly in need
we are of salvation, of God's mercy, of his love of his grace. Either God will come as he came
to Saul on the Damascus road and speak to us and deliver us
from our sins or we will be left in them whether we are religious
or irreligious no matter how much we may know of the Bible
or of Jesus it doesn't matter if it's all in the head it's
of nothing worth it's worse than if we didn't know. We just embrace
it in the mind. We're proud of our own wisdom
and knowledge. And we don't know Christ. Unless
God comes to us and delivers us entirely by grace, we are
lost. We are lost. And this is exactly
what Paul tells us in the early part of this chapter. By the
grace of God, I am what I am. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. We read from verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have
received and wherein ye stand. by which also ye are saved, if
ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed
in vain. For I delivered unto you first
of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that
he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he
was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve, After that he was seen
of above 500 brethren at once of whom the greater part remain
unto this present but some have fallen asleep. After that he
was seen of James then of all the apostles and last of all
he was seen of me also as of one born out of due time for
I am the least of the apostles that I'm not meet to be called
an apostle because i persecuted the church of god 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 labored more abundantly than they all
yet not i but the grace of god which was with me therefore whether
it were i or they so we preach and so ye believed Yes Paul knew that he was nothing
and that his religion that he had before he came to know Christ
was nothing. Indeed it was a hindrance to
him, it set him back because he proudly looked to his obedience,
he proudly looked to his wisdom, his knowledge and thought he'd
attained when all of it had led him astray. His sinful flesh
had taken the Word of God, taken these things and corrupted them and sought to save himself by
his own obedience. But when Christ met with him, he was brought to nothing and he knew the outpouring of
God's mercy and grace upon him. Everything from then on that
he was, he received freely from God his Saviour. 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. He says earlier in the chapter
about preaching the gospel, He delivered unto you first of all
that which I also received. God gave him this message. God made Christ known unto him. He received salvation and grace
from his God and Saviour. He received the Gospel from God. He received Christ from God. And he delivered Christ in that
Gospel when he preached him to the Corinthians. and preached
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures
preached that he was buried and that he rose again the third
day according to the scriptures he preached him he preached Christ
crucified because he knew that Christ and Christ crucified was
his only hope in Christ by the grace of God
He had been made a new creature. He'd been delivered from his
sin. He'd been delivered from all
that he was. He was a new man by grace and grace alone. Until then, in his own wisdom,
in his own religion, he'd gone around persecuting the church. He didn't deserve grace. He didn't
earn grace. He didn't merit grace. He didn't
even seek grace. He thought he was sufficient
in himself. He thought he had the wisdom,
the ability, the strength to attain unto righteousness. And all he had was pride and
arrogance and unbelief. No, he didn't earn grace, he
didn't deserve it. If you look through those who, like
Paul, were brought to faith in Jesus Christ throughout the scriptures,
you'll see the same. Did David deserve grace? How much rebellion and sin we
see in David's life, how often he fell. He was an adulterer,
a murderer, a liar, a deceiver and yet God loved him and God
set his grace upon him and God delivered him and God made Christ
known under him and how much of Christ we read of in David's
Psalms and David's writings, how much of Christ David knew
entirely by grace. that Jacob deserved grace. God
chose Jacob not Esau. And yet what a wretched schemer
and liar and deceiver Jacob was. He didn't earn it. He was no
better than his brother Esau. But God set his love upon Jacob. Jacob have I loved and Esau have
I hated. God elected Jacob unto salvation. He set his love upon him. He
chose him from the foundation of the earth. He poured out his
grace upon him. And here in the New Testament
we read of Saul. And how he looked on as Stephen
was stoned. How he went around persecuting
the church how he thought he was doing God's service in putting
those that follow Christ to death. What a sinner he was. Full of religion but blind to
the truth. He didn't deserve grace. He didn't
earn it. He didn't seek it. What of you? But when grace came, when grace
appeared unto Saul, when Christ spake unto him on that Damascus
road, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? When grace came, Saul died and
Paul was born. Saul became a new man, a new
creature. The Spirit of God spake unto
him inwardly and quickened him unto life. He brought life out
of the dead. Paul, as it were, rose with Christ
from the grave. He was a new man, a new creature,
all things were new. Entirely by grace. Entirely free
faith and not of works, lest any man should boast. He was
a new creature. This is why Paul preaches this
gospel because what is true of Christ is true of all his children. I delivered unto you first of
all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures and we who know him died with
him and in him. And that he was buried and we
were buried with him. and that he rose again the third
day according to the scriptures and we rose again the third day
with him a new creature by the grace of God I am what I am by
grace Paul had nothing in which to boast nothing in self in which
to glory He was wretched and vile, blind by nature, deaf to
the word of God, dead in trespasses and sins. He was dead. He had
nothing in which to boast. All his righteousnesses that
he looked upon were as filthy rags before a holy God. What
of yours? What of mine? And yet, when Christ came unto
him in the gospel, he died in Christ, and he rose in Christ,
a new creature. All was of God, and all was by
grace. And this is Paul's cry from then
on. 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. God did it all. Salvation is
of the Lord from start to finish. It begins with grace, it continues
in grace, it finishes with grace, it's all by grace. This is what
Paul knew. This is what Paul knew in experience. He knew it had to be because
all he did had condemned him. All he did had led him to blindness
in religion, to persecute the church, to persecute Jesus Christ. So, so, why persecutest thou
me? Yes, he was dead. but now he
lives and he knew he lived by grace by the grace of God I am
what I am how about you? is that your cry? is that your
experience? is that your understanding? that
left to yourself you're a vile dead wretched sinner that's gone
astray and will go astray again if God let you that you're kept
by him alone that it's grace that found you that it's grace
that saves you that it's God's grace that keeps you and grace
alone is salvation by grace alone? is your salvation by grace alone? or are you trusted in something
you do? something you are where you are,
with whom you are, in which church you are, of what family you are,
of what tradition you are. Are you trusting in something
you are? Something you do, your works, your will, your wisdom,
some decision you've made, some prayer you made in the past,
some turning unto Jesus, some accepting of Jesus that you made
with your own will, your own decision. Are you trusting in
some worth in yourself? Are you striving to live a holy
life, a righteous life? Are you striving to obey God,
to follow in his ways? Are you seeking to get to heaven
in some way and in some measure, in your own strength? Or do you
know that left to yourself you are utterly, completely lost? is your salvation by grace alone. Until Saul met with Christ on
that Damascus road, he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He had the
scriptures, the oracles of God, he had the law. And he sought
to obey God in all his strength and in all his wisdom. He had
the law, he had the scriptures. Perhaps you have the scriptures,
perhaps you seek to obey. You want to live a godly life.
But has God used them to show you that you're unable, that
you're dead, you're lost? Yes, the law, which Saul had,
he found to be the strength of sin. It condemned him. utterly. He couldn't see it once. He thought he was obeying. But
when the commandment came within, when the Spirit of God spake
unto his soul, he saw all manner of concupiscence, all manner
of evil within his own heart, and it slew him. Strength for sin is the law.
Indeed, sin entered this world when Adam disobeyed God in the
garden when Adam disobeyed the single command that God gave
him in the garden of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil thou shalt not eat he gave him just one command when Adam
was in innocence Adam wasn't a sinner at that point like you
and I are, he wasn't full of sin, he hadn't fallen, he was
in innocence. And when God gave him just one
command in that state, you may eat of all the trees of the garden. But of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil thou shalt not eat, for in the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Just one command and sin
took occasion by the commandment. Adam rebelled and sin slew him. Just one law,
one command. caused sin to enter into man
it was strengthened by the command it entered in by that command
Adam rebelled sin entered death by sin and it slew him he died by nature that is all we do in
our hearts we rebel we resist the commandment flare up the
rebellion within us. We ultimately want to sit upon
God's throne. We ultimately want to be in charge. What we don't like and what we
rebel against is having a God higher than us rule over us as
our Lord. we want to be in charge. Why do people love the gospels
that tell them of their free will to choose or reject Jesus
Christ? Because they want to be in charge.
And such a gospel is anti-Christ. Such a gospel is utterly opposed
to the truth of God. Because if salvation's by your
will, then you are God. You are looking upon a little
God and saying, I will choose you or I will reject you. You've
set yourself above God. And that's the nature of the
fall. That's what Adam did. I will choose whether I shall
eat of that tree or not. God won't rule over me. And when we seek to keep the
law for righteousness, when we seek to take the scriptures and
try to save ourselves, we're saying, we'll do the work. I
don't need God. I'll do this work. I'll save
myself. I know best. And yet all it does is flare
up the sin within us, bring forth the rebellion, the pride, the
arrogance, and slays and condemns us. And if God uses that law
to show us what we are, we will discover that we are nothing
but sin, nothing but sinners in need of grace. in need of grace if it was possible
to be saved by the law if it was possible to be saved by our
works our obedience to the law then salvation would be by the
law as we read elsewhere if it was if there was a law that could
be given that could save us then salvation would be by the law
but there isn't because we're sinners and whatever the law,
whatever the commandment, we will rebel against it because
we want to be on the throne of God. Sin takes occasion by the
commandment, it slays us, then salvation must be, it has to
be, it clearly is by grace and grace alone. We are wretched
dead sinners in need of God's mercy. in need of mercy. By the grace of God I am what
I am. What maketh us to differ? Paul
asks elsewhere. What makes a believer differ? When he was brought to faith,
when he was brought to salvation, when Christ met him, what made
him differ? What did he have that he hadn't
received? Was it his works, his righteousness,
his obedience to God? Or was it grace? Was it grace? Everything he had,
he had received. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. It's grace that makes us differ. God looks upon a people, he's
chosen a people in Christ. He said, I will save them. I
will take their sin away. I will wash them in my son's
blood. I will deliver them. And he sent
Christ into the world. And Christ entered this world,
made a man, born as a man. God in human flesh, both divine,
human, the one man that walked this earth that was without sin,
the one righteous man, the just man that lived by faith, the
one faithful man. He came and he came to die for
sinners. He walked through this world
perfect, righteous and we all rejected him and cast him out.
We found fault with Him. We condemned Him who had no fault. We judged Him who was righteous. We rejected Him who came as our
Savior. We put Him to death. We pierced
Him with our sins. We cast Him out. And He went
to the cross. and was nailed upon it. And God
took the sins of his own and laid them upon his own son. And
God made his son to be sin for us who know him, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. God slew his own
son as a sacrifice for sin. Christ's blood was shed as a
perfect sacrifice. He suffered, he died to deliver
his own by grace, freely, mercifully, lovingly. What makes us to differ? The grace of God. Then why do
we judge one another? Why do we act like one is better
than another? when all that we are as believers
is given unto us by grace. What is there that we have not
received? If salvation is by grace and
left to ourselves, we are wretched, vile, condemned sinners. And
if we are but religious sinners like Saul was persecuting the
church in our zeal for God, in our pride, If that is what we're
like, wretched in ourselves, blind, dead, how can we judge
one another? But do we? In our sins we judge Jesus Christ. In our sins when the righteous
God walked amongst men, we judged him. Oh, how wicked the heart of man
is. But if we truly know the grace of God, then in the new
man of grace, in our spirit, we will recognize that we are
nothing and he is all. We are the chief of sinners.
We are worse than anyone around us. We know we are the least. The least. There is nothing in
us. You see, grace doesn't just deliver
us from our sin. Grace humbles. Grace shows us
what we are. You see Paul's attitude here,
having received the grace of God. What a different attitude
from that which he once had. He went around in his own pride
condemning others putting others to death and yet now he says
last of all Jesus was seen of me also as of one born out of
due time for I am the least of the Apostles that I'm not meet
to be called an Apostle because I persecuted the Church of God. I am the least of not meet to
be called because i persecuted the church of god he knew he
was nothing and god had given him everything can you say believer that you
are the least of christians not meet to be called a christian
because you persecuted christ and all who followed him. You
rejected him and them and their gospel. You hated him, you hated
them, you hated his gospel. You deserve death and yet God
did everything for you and God gave everything to you. By the
grace of God, I am what I am. Paul writes elsewhere in 2 Corinthians,
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. Christ gave everything to save
Saul from his sins. Christ gave everything to deliver
David from his wretchedness. Christ gave all to save that
schemer Jacob. Believer, Christ gave everything
to deliver you. Do you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ? That though he was rich, for
your sake he became poor. that ye through his poverty might
be rich 2 Corinthians 12 9 says and he said unto me my grace
is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness
most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that
the power of Christ may rest upon me Paul needed nothing but the grace
of God in his weakness, in his wretchedness, in his blindness,
in his poverty, all he needed, all you need, all I need, is
the grace of God that brings salvation. My grace is sufficient
for thee, my strength is made perfect in weakness, Most gladly,
Paul writes then, will I rather glory in my infirmities that
the power of Christ may rest upon me. When we're strong in
the flesh, Christ withdraws and leaves us to fall and to discover
that we are nothing. When we're weak and lost and
helpless, we discover that his grace is sufficient. Where are you? What are you facing
today? What are your circumstances?
What are your trials? No matter how deep a trial you
may be in, no matter how weak you may feel, no matter how helpless
you may become, if God brings you there he's brought you to
a wonderful place because when you're there you'll discover
his grace is sufficient. He's your strength in weakness. He's your wisdom in your foolishness. He's your sight in your blindness. He's your hearing in your deafness. He's the strength of your limbs
in your lameness. He's your life, though ye be
dead by nature. My grace is sufficient for thee. Because grace not only humbles,
but grace lives. Grace is living. Grace brings
life. Grace brings faith. Grace has
effects. It manifests itself. It lives. Paul labored more abundantly,
he said. but not him, but the grace of
God within him. There was once a time in his
life when he laboured under the law, when he laboured under his
religion, when he laboured as a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
He had a labouring and he had a zeal and he had a strength
and it looked something before men, but it condemned him, it
slew him, it was vile. It was taken him to hell, it
led him to persecute the church to persecute Christ. There was no strength in that
labour but when grace came to him in his weakness, in his poverty, It caused him to walk by faith,
it gave him faith, it strengthened faith, it caused him to labour
more abundantly than they all. Yet not I, but the grace of God
which was with me. He didn't work in his own strength,
he didn't try to produce some evidence of grace or some evidence
of faith, he didn't try to be obedient to demonstrate that
he had grace, to demonstrate that he was in the faith. The
grace that God gave him, the faith that he had in Jesus Christ
manifested itself, it showed itself, it could not be hidden.
God worked in him. As God made Christ known under
him, as God preached the gospel under him, it brought forth the
evidence of grace. It strengthened his faith, it
caused him to labour. He longed to make Christ known. The more he heard of Christ,
the more he preached Christ, the more he knew of Christ, the
more he had to make Christ known. Therefore whether it were I or
they, so we preach and so ye believe. The more he knew of
the grace of God which made him what he was, the more he had
to preach Christ. How do we preach? By grace. Of what do we preach? We preach
the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Who do we preach? We preach Jesus
Christ. Christ is our all and in all,
he's all our message, he's all our salvation. We preach him
and we preach salvation by him, by faith, by grace, through faith
alone. We preach by grace and so we
preach and so you believe. Nothing else will cause sinners
to believe but the preaching of Jesus Christ, his grace, his
mercy, his salvation, his gospel. Nothing will cause you and I
to believe but the preaching of the gospel of the Saviour
of Jesus Christ alone and the preaching of His grace and grace
alone. Is He your Saviour? Has He met
you like He met with Saul? Have you died in Him? Has He by the Spirit of God caused
you to rise in Him? Can you say with soul, from your
heart, in reality, I am nothing. In my heart there dwells no good
thing. In my flesh there dwells no good
thing. There's nothing in me. But Jesus
Christ is my all in all. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. Oh God, give us this grace to
know Christ, to know his salvation, to know his gospel, to declare
him, to rejoice in him, to live in him, to say with a certainty,
by the grace of God, I am what I am.