Brethren, let's turn in our Bibles
to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. The Apostle Paul did what every
true believer is made to do by the grace of God. He confessed
his nothingness His total inability. And he confessed that every aspect
of his salvation was of the Lord. That's what God's grace makes
His saints do. Give Him all the glory. Now,
we saw last time, by the grace of God, Paul owned himself to
totally be the least among God's saints. to be nothing but the
least. He said in verse 9, I'm the least
of the apostles that I'm not meek to be called an apostle
because I persecuted the church of God. By God's grace, God reveals
to His child the totality of our flesh is nothing but sin. That's all it is and all it ever
produces is sin. God has to convince you of that.
By His grace, He makes us confess we're the least. That means unable
to contribute anything to our righteousness, to our sanctification,
or to our redemption. We can't contribute a thing to
salvation. And by His grace, He makes us
see we have no ability. And then he says, by the grace
of God, he says here that he was made to give God all the
glory for saving him. He says, verse 10, but by the
grace of God, I am what I am. The grace of God is God sovereignly,
freely, choosing whom He will, saving whom He will, apart from
any work or merit in the person that He saves. God's grace is
free and sovereign and not based on anything good or evil in you
and me. It's all of God, freely by grace. Now today we're going to focus
on this last part of verse 10. The last part of verse 10 here
has to do with our works. We live in a day when there's
a lot said about believer's works. This is the majority of what
you hear preached in churches today is about serving, serving,
serving, serving, serving, serving, and it's all pointing you to
you. Well, I'm going to talk to you today about your works
as a believer, but I'm going to point you to the one who produces
them. That's where we need to be. We need to be pointed to
the He who produces the works because that's where we're made
to want to follow Him and serve Him. Not by the message being
on you, but by the declaration of His wonderful works. Now let's
read this together, verse 10, the last part. 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. I've titled this, Yet Not I,
But the Grace of God. As we do for every aspect of
our salvation, every true believer gives God all the glory for everything
that we do in the cause of Christ because it's not by us, it's
by the grace of God. We say this about every other
aspect of our salvation, including anything we do in the cause of
Christ, serving Christ, we say it's not by us, it's by the grace
of God, because it is not of us. It's only by God's grace.
Now, first of all, God's grace is never bestowed in vain. Never. Look here in verse 10.
He said, His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain. Let's go to Ephesians. Go to
Ephesians chapter 1. It takes grace to make you and
I who are born into this world dead in trespasses and sins. That's how we're born. What can
a dead man do? Absolutely nothing. It takes
the grace and power of God to make you alive and make you believe
on Christ. And let me tell you what grace
it is. Let me tell you what power it is. It's the same grace and
power it took to raise Christ Jesus our Redeemer from the grave.
That's power. That's something you and I don't
possess. Look here. Ephesians 1.19, Paul prayed that
the Ephesians might know the exceeding greatness of His power
to usward who believe. He's saying, I want you to know
the exceeding grace of God's power that made you believe,
that made me believe. It was according to the working
of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised
Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the
heavenly places. Look down at chapter 2, verse
1. And you hath equickened who were
dead in trespasses and in sin. Just like it took that grace
and power of God to raise our Redeemer from the grave after
He finished the work of redemption, it took that same exceeding greatness
of power to quicken you and me who were dead in sin. You see,
His grace is not bestowed in vain. When He works, He works
with exceeding greatness of power. Now look at Ephesians 3. Just like that, it's the same
grace and it's the same power by which God makes His preacher
and His witnesses. All of us are ministers who are
born of God and taught the gospel. We're ministers of God. Now,
Paul here is talking about himself as a preacher, as a minister.
But it's the same with everybody. This is how we're made servants
of God right here. Look, Ephesians 3, 7. Ephesians
3, 7. I was made a minister. according to the gift of the
grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His
power." Paul had no choice in the matter. He said, I was made
a minister. You know that passage everybody
quotes and says, now you need to choose whom you're going to
serve. As for me and my house, we'll serve the Lord. Do you
know that's Christ speaking? That's an open quotation. Christ
has started in the first of that chapter speaking about all the
things He does in His people and for His people. And He's
still talking when He gets to that verse. And He says, now
you choose this day whom you'll serve. If you still got to make
a choice, the choice, He says, between idols on that side of
the river or idols on that side of the river. If you're still
making a choice, you're still trying to choose between false
gods. But He said, as for me, In my house, we will serve the
Lord. There is no choice. He makes
you His minister. He says here, and He did nothing
to earn it. He said it was free. It was the
gift of the grace of God. And He says here that the reason
it's not in vain is because it was given by the effectual working
of His power. That's why His grace is never
bestowed in vain. Look at Ephesians 4. Now, when
we talk about every work that God's saints do in this world,
the same grace and the same power is bestowed which causes us to
work those works. That's why they're not in vain.
That's why they're performed. It's because it's that same grace
and power. And it's by Christ our risen King, our risen Head,
our risen Redeemer. Look at Ephesians 4, 7. Unto
every one of us, talking about saints, God's saints, those sanctified
by God. Unto every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Verse
16. From whom? The whole body is
fitly joined together and compacted by that which every single member
supplies according to the effectual working in the measure of every
part. That means Christ gives the measure
of grace to you, he gives you the gift to do the work he would
have you to do, and then from him he effectually works in you
to produce that work. So it's not bestowed in vain.
His grace is not bestowed in vain. Our triune God, He declared
that nothing His Son, the Lord Jesus, would do would be in vain.
Nothing. He said in Isaiah 42, 4, He shall
not fail. He shall not be discouraged till
He hath set judgment in the earth. And even the Gentiles will wait
for His law. Those that never had the oracles
of God that are His elect, they're going to be made to believe on
Him and trust Him. You see, He's showing how that
He won't fail, how He does nothing in vain. He shall not fail. It wasn't in vain when He bestowed
grace on us on the cross by redeeming us from all the curse of the
law. Was that in vain? If you hear
this world speak, it sounds like it was. They need the sinner
to make it effectual. But Zacharias was given a vision
of Christ on the cross and made to prophesy of Christ on the
cross. And he said, Blessed be the God of Israel who hath visited
His people and redeemed His people. Past tense. He said that in Luke
1 before as yet Christ ever went to the cross. He's redeemed His
people. When He bestowed grace on us
purging our sins, Did He bestow that grace in vain? Was that
a vain attempt to purge our sin? Hebrews 1.3 says He's the brightness
of the glory of God. He's the express image of His
person. He upholds all things by the word of His power. And
when He had by Himself purged our sins, then He sat down on
the right hand of the Majesty on high. That means When Christ
cried from the cross and said, It is finished, He had purged
past, present, and future all the sins of those for whom He
died. They'll never be charged with
their sins. Their sins will never be brought up against them by
God ever. That means they're going to have
to be called, doesn't it? That means they're going to have to
be given a faith to rest in Christ, to see this, to know this, doesn't
it? Yes, it does. And it's true, they will. Every
single one He died for, He will not bestow grace in vain. He
will bring the gospel to them and quicken them in their heart
and make them to cast all their care on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what Psalm 110 declares. God said, David said, The Lord,
the Lord, the triune God said unto my Lord, my Lord Jesus Christ. Sit thou at my right hand till
I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of
thy strength out of Zion. That's this gospel. The rod of
His strength. And it's coming out of heavenly
Zion where He's seated. He's sending it. And He said,
The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion. Rule
thou in the midst of thine enemies. That means He shall not fail
to conquer His enemies. He will not do anything in vain
amongst his enemies. He will rule his enemies. And
he said, And thy people, all his people, shall be willing
in the day of his power. He does nothing in vain. You
don't have a will to serve God. You don't have a will to believe
God, don't have a will to trust God, don't have a will to give
up. We don't have a will to give up our so-called righteousnesses
and our so-called works of sanctification and our so-called benevolent
deeds and our casting out devils and our doing all the things
we think we've done. We don't have a will to give
that up. If you did, everybody would, everybody's right mind
would lay hold of Christ because this is the best news ever. But
He comes in His power. And by His grace, He makes you
willing. And that's when you have a new
will, a new heart, a new spirit, a new man created to lay hold
of Christ and renounce yourself. That's the only time. Now the
point here I'm making to you is just like every other aspect
of Christ's work, He does nothing in vain. And so when He bestows
grace on somebody concerning good works that He will have
us to do, He shall bring forth those works. They shall be brought
forth by Him because it's not bestowed in vain. Paul said,
the grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but
I labored more abundantly than they are. So, when you hear preachers
and you hear folks saying, you know, God wants this from you
and He wants that from you and He's wanting, He's just wanting
you to do this or that. No, He's not. Whatever God wills,
God performs. And He makes His people comply.
That's the God we're talking about. That's the God of the
Bible. That's the true and living God. Alright, secondly. When
God works grace in the heart of His child, He makes His child
confess that the works we do are only by the grace of God.
When He's worked grace in us, the effect of it is He's going
to make His child confess that the only way we do any kind of
good work is by the grace of God working in us. Look here,
verse 10. 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 there's no doubt, by God's grace, He made Paul labor more
abundantly than all the apostles. He did make him labor more abundantly.
Go to 2 Corinthians 11 and look at how Paul labored. You think a sinner could hold
up under this? Look here, 2 Corinthians 11, 23. He said, Are they ministers
of Christ? I speak as a fool. He said, I
ought not to even have to say this. I am more. In labors, more abundant. In
stripes, above measure. In prison, more frequent. In
deaths, often. Of the Jews, five times received
I forty stripes, save one. Thirty-nine stripes, five different
times he was caned. He was whipped with a cane. He
said, thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice
I suffered shipwreck, three times a night and a day I've been in
the deep. in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils
of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by
the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness,
in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness,
in painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst,
in fastings often, in cold and in nakedness. Besides those things,
here's the real weight. Here's the real way. This was
what weighed heavier than all that other stuff. Besides those
things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, constantly,
that which is weighing on me all the time, the care of all
the churches. There is no way, absolutely no
way, a mere sinner like you and me could ever labor that abundantly
in the cause of Christ. No way. No way. Whatever good
work Paul did and whatever good work that you and I do as believers
originated with God who ordained that work before the world was
made. Go to Ephesians 2 one more time.
Ephesians chapter 2. Look at this in verse 10. We
are His workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. We're created in Christ Jesus
to walk in some good works. To do some good works. Watch
this. Which God hath before. How long before? Before the world
was made. Which God hath before ordained
that we shall walk in. These good works that He's talking
about, every child of God shall walk in them because God ordained
them before the world was made. And He predestinated us to walk
in those works. And He's going to send the grace,
not in vain, but effectually to make us walk in them. To make
us do those works. It was God's will. It was God's
purpose to use Paul more abundantly than all the others. God determined
that before the world was made. So you know what God did? He
bestowed more abundant grace on Paul and made him labor more
abundantly. It was determined before the
world began. But that same grace made Paul
know that in himself he was a powerless sinner. That same grace that
made him do those, to labor more abundantly than all, made him
know it was not of him. He was just a powerless sinner.
He said, yet not I. but the grace of God which was
with me." The only way Paul and the only way any of God's saints
can do any good work, now let me tell you what a good work
is. It has to be from a pure motive. Pure motive. You can't cleanse your heart.
You can't purge your heart. You can't make your motive pure.
Only the grace of God can do that. And that's what makes a
work good. That's what makes the work good. It's not so much
the outward deed. It's the heart. Because if you
just looked at the outward deed, sometimes it might appear to
be a sinful deed. Remember Pua and Shapira? Remember how they lied to Pharaoh
the king? That appeared outwardly to be
an evil work. They appeared to be lying to one God put in place
in power. God said it was a good work.
Because He did it from a pure motive. To glorify Christ. So that's what makes it a good
work. And the only way we can do that through faith in Christ
and love towards Christ and towards His brethren is yet not I, but
the grace of God which is with me. That's the only way. Christ
told His disciples. Remember when He sent them forth
to speak, to preach, and He told them, it is not you that speak. If you were standing there in
that congregation, sitting there and listening to them, you would
say, yeah, they're speaking. They're the ones sitting there
preaching. It's coming out of their mouth. But Christ said,
but it's not you that speaks. He said, it's the Spirit of your
Father which is speaking in you. Oh, I want that. I don't want
to be sitting here talking. I want to be speaking. I want
the Spirit of the Father to be speaking in me. That's the only
way you and I are going to benefit And then Paul said this to the
Philippians in Philippians 2.13, he said, it's God which worketh
in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And you
know what he's talking about right before that when he said,
work out your salvation with fear and trembling? It's simply
this, in everything you're doing in the church at Philippi, Church,
you Philippians, you just bought this new building. And you're
all over there going to be working on this new building together.
Now don't get upset with one another. Don't start murmuring
at one another. Don't start complaining at one another. Because what
you're doing, what each of you are doing, the only way you're
doing it is by God working in you what He wills and what He's
pleased. So to get angry with one of them,
I'm going to have to get angry with him first because he's working
it. Well, it's wrong that what he's doing is wrong. God's teaching
him. God's doing something with him.
Wait on God. Wait on God. He's doing something.
Look how good that is. Oh, I pray. God worked it. God worked it. Wait on God. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3,
5, not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves. He said we're not sufficient
to think we have done, we're not sufficient to think we've
believed, repented, walked by faith, persevered, done any good
work, done anything of ourselves. But our sufficiency is of God. It's of God. God reveals to His
child our total insufficiency to do anything of our own will,
of our own power to teach us that all our sufficiency is by
the grace of God. Go to 2 Corinthians 12. Do you
want to labor more abundantly? Do you want to be blessed of
God to serve mightily in God's kingdom? and to do things great
for the cause of Christ, do you want to? That ought to be all
of our desire. I want to be taken up with Him
and Him alone and serve Him and the cause of Christ. Well, mark
this down. If that is the case, by that
same grace that makes you to labor more abundantly, that same
grace is going to make certain through painful, painful, painful
trials to show you that you have no sufficiency in yourself. You
see, with the great abundant grace that's going to make you
labor abundantly, there's going to come a great abundance of
affliction to make you know it's not of you. Watch. Paul was given
abundance of revelations of God. God's using Paul to write three-fourths
of the New Testament. So he had to be given great revelation
of God. Now if that was the case, and
God was going to use you and me, with sins mixed with everything
we do. So God gives you this abundance
of revelations so that you can write His Word. You know what
we'd do if left to ourselves? If all He did was give us the
abundance of revelation, we'd stick our chest out, we'd be
puffed up in pride, and look what I'm able to do. How quickly
we forget who gave the revelation, aren't we? Look what happened
to Paul, verse 7. Lest I should be exalted above
measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was
given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to slap
me and punch me and beat me black and blue. Lest I should be exalted
above measure. There was something given to
me that I hated, And I despise and I can't stop it. And I prayed to God three times,
Lord, make this depart from me. And He said to me, my grace is
sufficient for you. That's why I've given you this
to teach you. You're not doing a thing of yourself.
I'm going to keep you ever knowing. what you are, a sinner. So you know my grace is what's
sufficient for you. For my strength, the only way
you're going to see my strength, the only way you're going to
know it's of my strength, the only way you're going to know this is all of
God, is through your total weakness.
I'm going to have to show you, you are nothing. My Strength
is made perfect in weakness. Paul said, most gladly therefore. This is the result of what that
happened. When God does it, it's the result. Most gladly therefore,
I'll rather glory in my infirmities. What's he saying? I'll glory
in my total insufficiency and total inability. That's what
he's doing in our day. He's glorying in the fact he
has no ability. Yet not I. You ever hear that
in modern day religion? They tell you don't tell people
you're a sinner. They say don't tell people you don't have any
ability. Paul said, I glory in it. I glory to tell you, yet
not I, I can't do a thing. That the power of Christ may
rest upon me. That all I do in Christ's service
and in Christ's name may be by the power and grace of Christ
resting upon me alone and that everybody might know that's the
case. That's what he's saying. And though we're totally weak
in ourselves, and God alone gives grace and causes us to abound
in the works that He ordained, even though we don't have any
power in ourselves, even though He's going to show you through
a thorn that you don't have it, and keep you humbled before Him,
keep you looking and glorying only in His power and His grace.
Yet at the same time, He gives abundant grace to make you abound
in the work He'll have you do. Listen to this in 2 Corinthians
9.8. God is able to make all grace abound towards you that
you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to
every good work. Now, we just saw where that sufficiency
came from, didn't we? He's not saying He's going to
abound in you by grace towards you so that you have all sufficiency
now in yourself. So that you can go around saying,
now look how strong God's made me. Look how strong my faith
is. Look how strong my works are. Look how good I am. No. He said, I've done it so that
you'll know the abundance of sufficiency is of God. But he
does it. While he brought you to nothing,
at the same time he makes all grace abound toward you so that
you have all abundance in all things to abound to every good
work. That's how good works are performed.
Now, one last question. Why does God do it this way?
Well, we saw that it's so that no flesh of glory, but the second
reason is He causes His child to know our inability to know
our works only by His grace so that all His saints give God
all the glory and all the praise. Look at 2 Thessalonians 1. 2
Thessalonians 1. Look at chapter 1 and look at
verse 11. This was Paul's prayer for the
Thessalonians. This is my prayer for us right
here. Wherefore also we pray always for you. Now here's what
he prayed for. That our God would count you
worthy of this calling. That means that He would make
you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure
of His goodness, that He would fulfill it, that He would fulfill
all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith
with power, with God's power. Why? That the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him How's
that going to happen? According to the grace of our
God and the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, when it comes to our
election, when it comes to our redemption, when it comes to
our regeneration, our faith, our repentance, our righteousness,
our holiness, our good works, anything that involves you and
me, it's all of God and it's all given so that we give God
all the glory. God said in Isaiah 42.8, I am
the Lord. That is my name. And my glory,
my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. He said in Isaiah 43.7, everyone
that is called by my name, everyone that wears my name, I have created
him. Why? I created him For my glory,
he said. For my glory. He said in Isaiah
48, 11, for mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do
it? For how should my name be polluted? And I will not give my glory
to another. That grace made Paul to preach
that very thing. That's all Paul declared. He
said in 1 Corinthians 1-9, No flesh shall glory in God's presence,
but of God are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
that as it is written, He that glories, let him glory in the
Lord. Now, hearing all this and hearing
that everything is of God and not of us, it's all by the grace
of God, not by our will, not by our power. Knowing that we
need God's grace to acknowledge our inability and our sin. Knowing
we need God's grace to know that it's by the grace of God that
I am what I am. Knowing that we need God's grace
to do the works that please Him and serve Christ and the cause
of Christ. What ought we to do then? Let
us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace. I love that
phrase, the throne of grace. That means nothing will stop
him from giving grace to whomever he's pleased to give it. He's
the king. It's the throne of grace. Come to that throne of
grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need. And let me add this, if we can,
If we can, if we can come to God only seeking salvation and
grace and mercy and all things in Him, if we can, let us do
it declaring, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with
me as soon as I came. Don't you love grace? By the
grace of God. Yet not I, but the grace of God. Let's stand together. Father, we thank you. Salvation
is all of grace. Don't let us ever boast in anything
concerning righteousness or sanctification or redemption. Don't let us ever
boast in anything concerning good works serving you. We have nothing to boast in.
We're a puppet in whom God's made a new man and in whom Christ
dwells and works what's pleasing to him. Let us remember that
always. Lord, would you give us that
thorn and make us to be humbled by your grace to see it's all
of your sufficiency. Don't let us fall. Don't let
us be so cast down. We trust you'll temper that chastening
so that we won't be consumed. We can't stand under your hand.
And at the same time, Lord, give us grace to do every abundant,
to labor abundantly in your cause and have all sufficiency only
by your grace. Lord, make your people come to
you. There's people sitting here that don't know you and we've
prayed for them, we've longed for them, we've cried unto you
for them. Lord, make them know you. Make them to worship Christ and
praise you and give you all the glory. Lord, if you do, if that's
your will, We'll praise you for that. We'll glory in you for
that. I would do thank you. Bless us
now, Lord, with your word. For Christ's sake, your honor,
your glory, your praise. In Christ we pray. Amen.