Let's look at the book of 1 Corinthians,
please. One verse, verse 10. 1 Corinthians
15, verse 10. 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. Now the title of this message
is two little words from that verse, and those two little words
are not I, not I. You see those two words, not
I. So when you think about the grace
of God and what God does, just say not I, not I, but the grace
of God which was with me. I was 32 years of age when God's
grace came to me. I was married, had four children,
and knew nothing about God at all and didn't really want to.
But He came in a preacher, and I heard a preacher. And my heart
was opened by him, by his grace, and he showed to me what a sinner
I was, and then he showed to me what a Savior the Lord Jesus
is. And he caused me to believe both
of those things. And so what we have here by the
grace of God, I am what I am. Yet not I, not I, it was God
that did all of that. John Newton said, "'Twas grace
that set me apart in distinguishing love before the stars were made.'
It was grace that set me apart from the mass of mankind and
made me an object of God's affection. It was grace that laid hold of
me on my road to hell. It was grace that shed abroad
God's love in my heart, and by the grace of God from Alpha to
Omega, I am what I am. And then he wrote amazing grace,
how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. A wretch. I like that word wretch, don't
you? Saved a wretch like me. God saves
no one but wretches. He never has saved a good person,
but he saves wretches, those who are so far out of the grace
of God that they're known in his vocabulary as wretches. And I own up to that this morning,
that I'm still a wretch, and it's not I, but it's the grace
of God which was with me. So he came at the age of 32. I was a young man still, but
had wife and four children. I worked in a plant there in
Baytown, Texas. Worked in a synthetic rubber
plant. And we made synthetic rubber,
which tires were made from. You may be rolling on some of
the rubber that we made there. I don't know, but I worked there
13 years and then the Lord called me by his grace and immediately he showed me
that I should be telling this good story and I've been doing
that ever since. That's 40 some odd years. I've
been telling the good story that it's not I, but the grace of
God. Not I. If I'm elected, it's the
election of grace. If I am redeemed, my redemption
is all of grace. If I'm called by God's Spirit,
I'm called by God's grace. If I have repented, it is the
goodness and the grace of God that led me to repentance. If I have belief, faith is the
gift of God's grace. If I'm kept and preserved, I'm
kept by his almighty power and grace. So by the grace of God,
I am what I am, that almighty God may have all the glory. Salvation is of the Lord in its
purpose, in its planning, in its execution, in its application,
in its sustaining power, and in its ultimate perfection. It's all grace. It is all of
grace and by the grace of God I am what I am that I may never
glory in self. Whatever I know it is by His
grace. And by the grace of God I am
what I am that I may learn to rest in Him. In my experience
I see the grace of God and thank Him For his purpose, by the grace
of God I am what I am, that I may learn how to demonstrate that
grace which I have received, and that I may learn to participate
in the grace of God. The man, when dying, expressed
himself with great earnestness about the grace of God, as it
saves the lost, and he seemed to be so very grateful that it
was bestowed on one so ill-deserving of himself that all he could
say was, oh, how sovereign, oh, how sovereign, that's all he
could say. The sovereign grace of God that
comes at his bidding to certain people in this world. Grace is
the only thing that can make us like God. I might be dragged through heaven
and earth and hell, and I should still be the same sinful, polluted
wretch unless God himself renews and cleanses me by his grace. Do you get it? I'm saved by the
grace of God. Not I. Not I. I claim to be a recipient of
his grace. I claim this morning to be a
child of God. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, 1 John 3.2. Now you little girls on the back
are going to have to be still. and quit doing what you're doing,
because that bothers me very much. Sit up and listen. I claim by the grace of God to
have passed from death to life, and I claim that my sins are
pardoned and put away as far as the east is I'm a child of God, but it's
by his grace and not by anything he saw in me. This saving grace
is mine, not as a result of anything God saw in me at all, nothing
in my disposition. Nothing in my character, nothing
in my past, nothing in my present, nothing in my future that would
move God toward me except His grace. The man can receive nothing except
it be given him from heaven, John 3.27. You ought to get that verse in
your mind and heart. A man can receive nothing, nothing except it be given him from heaven. Grace first inscribed my name
in God's eternal book. So I'm not what I am by anything
I've done or ever will do. It's not grace that I took hold
of, but it's grace that took hold of me. Now what's being
preached today is that it's grace that we take hold of. In other
words, grace is supplied and you take hold of it and that's
what saves you. But Christ has come, you reach
out and you take hold of grace in him. That's what's taught
in religion today. You don't take hold of anything. It is not I that took hold of
grace, but that grace took hold of me. Christ took hold of me. There is a sign out on the highway
that says, go to church or the devil will get you. But I say
to you this morning, there's a lot of places you can go to
church and he will get you because he's in charge. Today's religion that emphasizes
man's will over God's will is anti-Christ religion. But they say some good things.
Oh, I know, but John says try the spirits, whether they be
of God. Try them by this. Who gets the glory? Whose glory is it? Is it God
Almighty or man? Does grace take hold of you or
do you take hold of grace? Is salvation of the Lord or is
it an act of the human will? Now, John Newton said again,
if there is any grace in me, God put it there. He cast the
first ray of light in my soul. He opened my blind eyes to see
Christ. He opened my deaf ears to hear
his word. He gave life to my dead heart. His word quickened me. He set the prisoner free. He
washed away the self and robed me with his spotless righteousness. He taught my heart to pray and
made my tongue to sing and he delivered me from the refuge
of lies which I had fallen under. And he has kept me to this day
and he will not in any wise let me go. Thank God forty some odd
years he has held me. And he grows dearer every day
to my heart. The Lord Jesus Christ grows dearer
to me. And I can almost, almost feel
that I am really in his presence because I will be before too
long. I will be right in his presence. And when I get there, I'll look
up into his face and into those eyes that behold me. And I will worship and I will
sing, worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. No one else is worthy
but the Lamb of God. And by the grace, I know what
I know. You don't know anything, I don't
know anything, but it's by grace that we know what we know and
this is the reason I can never boast. I hear men in conversation
boasting about what they know about this doctrine and that
doctrine. Oh no, I believe old Dr. so and so on that. And they can
talk all day about the huge, large doctrines that they have
a little knowledge of. But I tell you what, boasting is totally put away
when you say what you know. If you know anything, if you
know the A of the alphabet, it's because God has taught it to
you. Pride our base, I'm only a sinner
saved by grace. Who maketh thee to differ? Well, how do we differ? We differ
in our methods, in our message, in our doctrine, in our understanding. Who made you to differ? What
do you have? What do we have? We have an understanding
of the mysteries of the gospel, of the wisdom of God and Christ. We have a knowledge of the attributes
of God, his holiness, his wisdom, his mercy, his grace, his omnipotence,
etc. All of his attributes we have
a knowledge of. Who taught you that? Now if you
received it, Paul said, One old Puritan said this, for a believer
in the grace of God to be proud is the most inconsistent thing
under heaven, because by his own profession the truth which
he has learned was all revealed to him by the grace of God. He didn't learn anything by himself. Pride grows with the decrease
of other sins. You start laying off other sins,
you begin to get proud, and it flies with the decay of other
sins, and you begin to get proud of what you've done. You see,
Satan is subtle. He'll make a man proud of his
very graces. He'll make a man proud that he's
not proud. That's right, I'm proud, I'm
not proud, aren't you? Paul said we're not sufficient
to think anything of ourselves. God Almighty sent someone to
you with truth, and then he opened your heart to receive it, or
you still couldn't see grace. saved me immediately. He put me in touch with some
men down in Pasadena, Texas. Chris knows Chris. Went to church
in that church where the school was. But he put me in touch with
those men who had a small school there that taught preachers.
And these men knew the truth. And I knew nothing I knew neither
bad nor good. I didn't know anything. I was
hard to spell God. That's how dumb I was. But since
I knew nothing, it was easy for them with God's grace to get
me to see the truth of who God is and who Christ is and who
the Holy Spirit is and I'm so grateful to the Lord for all
his love to such a one as I. You see, he put me with those
men, they began to teach me. Has someone taught you? You must
have a teacher, humanly speaking, and you must be willing to listen
to some man, and God will use a man to teach. And if he had not done what he
did for me, I would be no different than those free-will, Hollywood,
isle-dragging hucksters that we have all over this world now. Men of the truth cross our path
as surely as our Lord crossed the path of Zacchaeus. But woe unto those who when God's
truth crosses their path and they reject it. Woe unto those. They go back into the religion
of free willism. Woe to that person. Man is responsible
for what he hears. And if any of you are here and
you want to hear The truth of God, you're in a good place.
I know Chris Cunningham, I've known him for over 20 years. I saw him learn the truth and
grow in the truth and present the truth. And he has the truth
of the grace of God. You're in a good place. Hearing
and believe what he says and believe what has been revealed
by the grace of God. It's not because we're better
or smarter than anyone else, but because God has singled us
out. He singles you out. I will teach
that one my truth. And he picked the old dirty pebble
out of the bottom of the creek and washed it in the blood of
Jesus Christ and put it in his crown and called it my jewel. And that's what you are. God
said you're my jewel. You're a jewel in the crown of
Almighty God. Isn't that the wonderful news? I'm one of his jewels. And he
broke down our natural bias against grace and taught us his word. Be a listener. Be a learner. And ask God every day, Oh Lord,
teach me today your truth. And learn it. Not only learn
it in church when you hear someone preach the truth, but learn it
at home. Read a good book. When you go
out on the job, be a witness to the grace of Almighty God. And you'll learn some things
out there. You'll learn what men think about
all of this. And I've learned some pretty
bad things what they think about it. Men don't think well of the
grace of God, both men. And so it is that I rest. I rest this morning by the grace
of God. I rest. Do you rest? I talked about comfort last night. Are you in the comfort of God?
Do you rest? When will we ever get our hearts
in tune with our heads? People say, I believe God is
sovereign. Well, why don't we act like it?
I believe I am what I am by the grace of God. Then why don't
we have that peaceful disposition that waits on the Lord? Why don't
we? I can understand the freewill
works people always being in a turmoil of uncertainty, but
I cannot understand a man of grace being like the troubled
sea. Paul said, I have learned whatsoever
state I am in to be content. Are you content? He was content
to be a servant of Jesus Christ and a servant of the church.
He was content when the Lord sunk that ship under him and
put him in the water for three days and three nights and then
brought him out. He was content when he had nothing
to eat, no food. He was content when God gave
him food. He was content in whatever state
He found himself in. He was a content man. He was
content to be a servant of Jesus Christ and a servant of the church. Moses was sent to the back of
the desert for 40 years. Would you let go to the back
of the desert for 40 years? But he went, he was sent for
40 years to the back of the desert until he was nothing. And then God produced him. The
only man that God will use is the man who is nothing. He has
nothing, he is nothing. And he knows it. John Bunyan
spent 12 years in the Bedford jail. And they said, John, if you'll
renounce this doctrine of Christ that you're teaching, we'll let
your blind daughter come in and visit you. And he said, I don't need to
visit my blind daughter. I need a visit from the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he spent 12 years in the
Bedford jail, didn't see his blind daughter. And finally when
he came out he wrote Pilgrim's Practice and many other works
of grace. Do you ever desire to do more
and be more and be somebody? But we need to learn, by the
grace of God, I am what I am. By the grace of God, I haven't
denied the gospel. Now, this would be the easy way
out, to deny the gospel. I heard one person last week
say, I hope I don't leave the truth. Now, that's a good thing
to say, my friend. Don't ever say what you will
or won't do. But ask God to keep you from
leaving the truth. And you say, as one said, Our
Lord was such a heart as mine, unless you hold me fast. I know, I will, I shall depart
and prove like them at last. Pray the prayer of the wise man. Proverbs 30, verse 8 and 9. Here is a good prayer for you
to pray. Proverbs 30, verse 8 and 9. Remove far from me vanity and
lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. feed me with food convenient
for me, lest I be full and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor and steal,
and take the name of my God in vain. Lord, give me just enough
in this life." What a good prayer that is. And if he gives you
just enough in this life, You'll be a whole lot better off. Keep
me from riches lest I forget you, Lord. And Lord, keep me
from poverty lest I steal." And you say, well, I wouldn't steal. By the grace of God, you won't
steal. Everything by the grace of God. There was a soldier that rushed
into his commanding officer's quarters. and told him that one
of the men was drowning in a pond and nobody could save him. There
were dense woods all around that covered the surface of the water. And they found the poor fellow
was manfully trying to get loose from the rope-like grace that
encircled him. But the more he tried, the more
he was trapped. And at last those plants closed
in and pulled him under and left no trace of him. And they finally built a raft
and a man holding on to a pole went down and got the band out. They brought the body back and
looked at his face, and he had those clenched teeth like they
usually would, and distortion of his countenance, and his hands
grasped large clumps of the vines, but they were too strong for
him. Now what does that illustration
say? Those strong strands of grace
are sin. Divine grace is the only thing
that can save a wretch of a sinner. But if he does not know divine
grace, his agonies of sin will make him more hopelessly the
slave of his evil, and he cannot get out. He cannot get out, and
God must come and get him out. Now, if I am what I am by the
grace of God, and surely we are. You admit
that, don't you? Surely we are. I will learn gratitude. Gratitude. Gratitude is about
a missing thing in the world today. Just gratitude. I'm so
grateful. Are you grateful? Grateful to
the Lord Jesus for coming into this world and shedding his blood
and going through all of that agony and dying on that cross. I'm grateful. I'm grateful to
God the Father for sending his Son I'm grateful to God the Holy
Spirit for bringing all this to pass and for teaching us that
this took place. You see, it's one thing to talk
about grace, it's another thing to produce grace and show grace. Humility is not something the
humble claim. But one thing that will produce
humility is when I constantly remind myself of my dependence
on the grace of God. How could I be proud? How could
you be proud? How could all of these religious
big shots be proud to brag on one another? that we have the
Reverend Dr. So-and-so with us today. He has done all of these things. He has done this and that, and
we're so glad to have Dr. Sounding Bryce with us today. And then brag on one another. How can we brag? How can we be
proud? Whatever step I take is by the
grace of God. Love grows in the soul of grace. And when I know something of
his love for me, then I can show forth his love to others. Can't
we? When I see his grace to me, I
can be gracious to other people, can't I? Be gracious to other
people. Don't be ugly minded. Don't be
hard towards your neighbors and your friends. Don't be ugly minded. Be gracious minded. If you have
the grace of God, hope is always based on grace. One man said
to another, such and such has been saved. Since God saved that
man, I'll never despair of anybody else. And the man he was talking
to said, since God saved me, I will never despair of anybody
else. Isn't that the right way to look
at it? God saved me? He could save you,
sure, if he saved me. I was the worst among you. Oh,
the worst, the very worst. May God save all of you. There's
hope for anyone if it's founded upon grace. Gratitude is based
on grace. Thanksgiving is based on grace. And if you don't think well of
others, it's because you think well of yourself. The worst man in town you ought
to think well of. Somehow. Somehow. A man died in a town. He was the bum of the town. He
never did anything worthwhile. And his name was Old Jack. And Old Jack died. And they came
and two or three people came to the funeral and they said,
now as bad as Jack was, we ought to be able to say something good
about him. And so they thought for a long
time and one of them said, I've got it. All right, you get up
there and say one thing good about old Jack. Well, he said,
I'll tell you one thing about old Jack. He sure could whistle. That's all he could think good
about old Jack. He sure could whistle. Well,
this old Jack can't even whistle, so there you are. There you are. When we all get to glory, are
we all going to get to glory? When we all get to glory, it
is all by grace. John Knox said in his last hours,
he said, I was tempted to believe I had merited heaven by my faithfulness. But thank God he reminded me
of these scriptures. What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? By the grace of God I am what
I am, and not I, but the grace of God that was with me. And as long as this man is the
pastor, it will, I know, take place. But my prayer for this
church is that it will always, always say this church is what
it is by the grace of God. This church is a great church. God planned it, God started it,
God has it to the place where it is now. And His grace will
see that it goes on. And don't you ever forget to
say, this is a grace church. Real grace. Sovereign grace. And may God help all of you.
to see that that takes place. May this always be a grace church. It will be. The government of
England resolved to build a wooden bridge over the Thames River. And they started out and they
were going to They were going to make a wooden bridge, and
so they drove 140 piles to hold the bridge up. And when they
got that down, the most severe frost that they had ever seen
came. And you know frost will ruin
wood, and it was so bad that many of those 140 piles just And so, what are we going to
do? Well, that bad was a great good
because they decided to build a bridge of stone, and that's
what's there now, a bridge of stone that will last and last
and last. Well, the point of that is this.
It is good when God breaks the reformations of unregenerate
people and leads them to fly to the Lord Jesus Christ. And may calamities come upon
all people, like that cross did, who will Show people where to
go and what to do. Fly to the Lord Jesus Christ
and may every calamity drive you all to Him is my prayer. God's with you. God's given you
the man. He's given you the woman that
stands beside that man. And I'm going to fuss at her
some more if she works as hard as she did yesterday. She worked
too hard, Vicki. You help me. You tell her, you
worked too hard, Vicki. Let's slow her down a little
bit. No, that's what she likes to do. You have a pastor, you
have a pastor's wife, and you have people. that know the grace
of God. And so you're so happy back here.
I'm glad to see all the joy when you come together to have a meal. That's the way we are down there
in UK. We're just exactly like this
church. And I believe these are the kind
of churches that God's using. They're being raised up quite
a bit in this country. And these great churches are
small. and there are many more that
are about the same size, some bigger, some smaller. But God
is doing the work and raising up his churches. And this is
one of them, a grace church, a real grace church. By the grace of God, I am what I am. May God help
you. Amen.