It's good to see you tonight.
Again, how thankful we are that we can come together as brethren
and assemble ourselves together in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I want to ask you to take your Bibles and turn with
me to the book of 1 Corinthians. I want to do something this evening
that I don't remember ever doing, Tonight I'd like to make a little
change instead of starting in verse 1 of chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians
where we would be. I would like to just look at
verse 8 this evening and then Lord willing next time maybe
Sunday I will go back and we'll start back at verse 1. But I
would like to look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 8. The Apostle Paul said, and last of all, he was
seen of me also as of one born out of due time. Let's pray together. Our Father, this evening we call
upon you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, And we thank you
and praise and bless you for who you are. And Lord, we ask,
help us to worship, help us to hear, teach us of yourself and
of ourselves. And these things we ask for Christ's
sake. Amen. Concerning the Lord Jesus, The
scripture says in Philippians chapter 2 verse 8, He humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. He brought himself low. He abased himself. Now, that
thought right there is foreign. to us because we're a people
with a nature born in Adam that is proud and we cannot perceive
the depth of this humbling ourselves, taking another's side, one who
is worthy of honor and abasing ourselves truly in heart toward
Him. But that which is taught us concerning
His humility, He who is Almighty God, who was made flesh, He who
bowed to the good pleasure of His Father in the redemption
and salvation of His own. The scripture declares concerning
his humility, he stripped himself of honor and was exalted to the
highest honor. Now the Lord said concerning
his people, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they
follow me. They do as I do. He who is deserving of all the
honor took no honor unto himself. And we who deserve no honor,
how needful we are to be taught of our need of being humbled. Now I want us to look for a few
minutes at a statement that the Apostle Paul made. He who was an apostle, now Lord
willing we'll look and we'll start in verse 1 and go through
this, but he was telling the people that the gospel that he
preached in verse 1 was the gospel that he had received. I preached
unto you that which I received, that gospel wherein you stand,
where also you're saved if you keep in memory what I preached
unto you, unless you believed in vain, I delivered unto you,
first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried. He rose again the third day according
to the scriptures. He was seen of Cephas, then of
the 12. After that, he was seen above
500 brethren at once. of whom the greater part remain to the
present, but some are falling asleep after that scene of James,
then all the apostles, and then, he says, what I'd like to look
at for a few minutes. Last of all, he was seen of me
also as one born out of due time. Now, in my margin, you may have
a margin in the middle of your Bible there, my margin says an
abortive. I saw the Lord. Last of all, the Lord was seen
of me an abortive. Now, the true attitude of a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ concerning himself, and this we only know
by faith. We believe this, and we struggle
with this, but we know that the true attitude of a believer,
one who trusts truly in the Lord Jesus Christ and sees by faith
something of the mercy of God toward him, something of the
miracle of God's grace, to eternally love, and choose, and redeem,
and call, and regenerate, and keep this sinner. The true attitude of such a person
is this, I am not worthy of this calling. I'm not worthy of it. I am what I am. Paul says this,
by the grace of God. Verse 10, by the grace of God. I am what I am. Paul had set
forth in those first seven verses how the Lord died for our sins,
was buried, rose again according to the scriptures. And Lord willing,
that's what we'll look at next time. I'll go over that. Then
he related after his death and after his resurrection, how he
was actually seen of many. So Peter, Sephas is the Hebrew
for Peter, seen of the twelve, those that he had selected, the
Lord had selected and taught and commissioned and sent to
all the world to preach the gospel. Paul was saying after the Lord
came into this world, lived before his own law and obeyed, chose
his apostles, and stayed with them for three and a half years,
and taught them. And they walked with Him. Here's
what John says in 1 John. 1 John chapter 1 verses 1 to
3. This is what John said concerning
them being in the ministry with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, think
of the maturing. And you know as we've looked
at all of the failures that Peter had fallen. doubting and how
they all forsook Him in John 21, I go fishing, we go with
you. Though all of that, what they learned, here's what John
said, 1 John 1, 1-3, that which was from the beginning, which
we've heard, which we've seen with our eyes, which we've looked
upon, our hands have handled of the word of life. The life
was manifested, we've seen it. and bear witness, show unto you
that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested
unto us, that which we've seen and heard, declare unto you that
ye also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship
with the Father, with His Son, Jesus Christ. So Paul said he
was seeing of all of these apostles. He's seen of Peter and the other
apostles, and then 500, He met with them and he talked with
them and they sat down on the sea of Tiberias and he cooked
fish and he talked to Peter, you love me, you feed my sheep. He saw all that time that they
had with him while he was on this earth. And now Paul says,
at last, He was seen of me as one born
out of due time. One that never really met that
time of maturity, like a child that's born before the full term. Literally, this is what he was
saying. I was not as the other apostles in the sense of being
brought about to maturity in their apostles, like they were. Those who were actually blessed
to walk with the Lord, touch Him, hear Him, see Him work miracles,
witness Him work the work of His Father in the redemption.
He said they had something that I didn't. experience, humanly
speaking. I was one born out of due time,
an apostle, a true apostle, just like them. He said I was an abortive,
that is one born prematurely, not formed with maturity, one
therefore in his own estimation, not worthy. of the name of an
apostle, an apostle that was called and taught. He said, I
was converted on the road to Damascus. These men, they had these years. They had three and a half years
with him. And he said, I was on the road
to Damascus. The Lord called me out of darkness.
He converted me. on the road to Damascus and called
me to be an apostle. I thought about, you know, militarily. You take a private, somebody
in, you know, boot camp. Before they even get out of boot
camp, pull them out and say, look, I'm going to send you,
you know, to the Pentagon. You'll be working over there
as a strategist, you think. Paul said, I was one that was
born out of due time. The maturity wasn't there. That's why he said of himself
in verse 9, I'm the least of the apostles, that I'm not meet,
I'm not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church. Now I thought about that spirit
of humility. Here was a man that the Lord
had brought to the third heaven, and heard things that were unspeakable. But this man had been given a
thorn in the flesh because of the abundance of the revelations
that God had given him, lest he be exalted above measure.
A man that Almighty God was used to write a major portion of these
scriptures. But now, such are the thoughts
of those who behold themselves truly by faith. And I realize
how inadequate we are to even behold ourselves. There's so
much pride within us to behold ourselves as the vessels of God's
mercy in whatever position of service. I stand here as a pastor. You
lead the singing, you take care of the books, you take care of
this. But every person in this building
has been gifted with the gift of love. And how inadequate we
are to be gifted with that gift, that calling, to be praying for
one another, that Almighty God would call us and reveal to us
that here we are, placed in a position of honor to be a child of God? Paul said, I'm not worthy for
the position that I've been called to. Why would the Lord be pleased
as the Lord Jesus Christ prayed and said, Father, I thank I thank
you. I thank thee that thou hast hid
these things. What things? Think for a moment
how unworthy we are to possess a knowledge, a heart knowledge
of the truth of the gospel. Who is worthy for these things?
Who's worthy to be called a child of the living God, the wonders
of His good pleasure to show mercy and compassion to whomsoever
He will and to hide these things from the wise and prudent men and women that go through
this life in religion. I mean dedicated, dedicated,
dedicated And you hear what they're preaching, or you hear what they
believe, and you think, that's inconsistent to these scriptures.
And that Almighty God would be pleased to call me and teach
me these things. I thank you that you've been
pleased to hide these things from the wise and prudent to
reveal them unto babes. Why? Why would you do that? The
Lord answered it. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. Paul was saying how the Lord,
after He walked 33 years, lived before His Father in absolute
perfection, establishing the righteousness of His people. that righteousness that robes
His people, went to the cross, honored God's law, demand for
justice and judgment for His people by the shedding of His
own blood, dying under the mighty hand of His Father's wrath to
save His people from their sins, and then cried, It's finished! It's finished! All that has been
preached and prophesied, it's done, it's done. Lied in grave for three days, rose
from the dead by power and mercy and grace toward us, his people,
and then met with his apostles, 11 apostles. and commissioned them to go into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, then
he ascended into heaven, ever liveth to make intercession for
his people. And then Paul says, how is it
that one such as I am, that Almighty God would be pleased to birth
me to be an apostle out of due season, an abortive. One that
was never brought to any maturity. One that was just a nobody. And called me to be one of his
own. One that so arrogantly treated
his people with contempt. Hated all that was holy and just
and good. Hated his people. Persecuted
his people. Persecuted the Lord. He said,
I'm not worthy. I persecuted the church. How
is it that I, as a child born before full and proper growth,
would be called an apostle? An apostle. After the Lord had
come, accomplished, ascended, His men are sent out. Why in
the world would He call me? Why would He call me? Let me
ask you this, why would He call any of us tonight? Why would
he show mercy to any that's here? Here's the truth that should
stop every bit of boasting, every thought of worthiness in us,
every imagination of keeping ourselves. He shows mercy and
compassion to whomsoever he will. But for the grace of God, he'd
have passed every one of us by. We're here tonight by God's good
pleasure. Why would he please? to do so,
because it seemed good in his sight. That's the only reason. Abraham gave the answer that
every believer gives when considering speaking to the Lord. Remember
when the Lord and two angels came before the two angels went
into Sodom? And Abraham was really interceding
for Sodom. Why? Because Lot was over there.
Lot was in Sodom. And he's asking the Lord, you
know, if you find 50 righteous at 45, 40, 30, 10. But as he was interceding, now
think about this. He was praying. That's what he
was doing. He was praying. The Lord was
there. He was standing, talking to the Lord. But he was praying.
He was interceding like we do for one another, praying. And
listen to what Abraham, Abraham, We look at Abraham, this is what
Abraham thought of himself. Behold, now I have taken upon
me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes. Now you think about it. When
we begin our day, and we want to pray, we want to talk to the
Lord before the hustle bustle, breakfast before anything, before
anything. First thing, I want to talk to
the Lord. I want to pray and seek the Lord. And think of this man's attitude
of himself. I have taken upon me to speak
unto the Lord. I'm just dust and ashes. Lord,
for Christ's sake, hear my prayer. When the Lord called Moses, Moses,
Moses. We look at the history of Moses
and we think what a man of faith, what a man of honor. This is what Moses thought of
Moses. Who am I that I should go into
Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of Israel
out of Egypt? Who am I? The Lord told him, he said, you're
going to go. And Moses said, my Lord, I'm not eloquent. Neither
heretofore nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant, but
I'm slow of speech and a slow tongue. I don't know how to talk.
I've got a speech impediment. I don't know what it was. That
was Moses. Lord, I'm not sufficient for
thee. Send somebody else. John the
Baptist. The Lord said, All that was born
of woman, in Adam, obviously, there was none greater than John
the Baptist. You know how long John the Baptist's
ministry lasted? Six months. Six months. That's John the Baptist, had
his head cut off. Here's what John the Baptist said. There
cometh one mightier than I after me, the lachet of whose shoes
I'm not worthy to stoop down and unloose. Here is the place
where a sinner will find himself truly desiring to think. I want to think. I want to be
done. I want to. I desire to. Lord,
help me to be done with my old notions of trying to obtain favor
with God based upon my own self-righteousness. I know that it's not by the works
of righteousness that we've done. I know that. But Lord, forgive
me for even contemplating having been a believer for 40 years, whatever. That's
only by the grace of God that I'm here after 40 years. It's
only by God's grace that I'm still here with you tonight.
How may the Lord be pleased to teach us something of our utter
need of recognizing we are what we are by the grace of God. Paul said, after all of these
things that he was pleased to do, seen of all of these, last
of all, he was seen of me also as one born out of due time,
one that never reached any maturity. Lord bless that man that wrote
things that, you know, just angels are amazed to look into. Looking into those scriptures.
These things that God taught that man and was pleased to do
through that man. And this was his attitude himself.
I just, I never reached any maturity. I never, I was like an abortive,
born out of due time. Oh, may the Lord teach us something
of that attitude and following after him who humbled himself
and made himself of no reputation. Tonight as we eat and drink and
we remember, let's remember him that has shown us grace and mercy.
For Christ's sake, amen.