Let's turn in our Bibles to 1
Corinthians chapter 15. Thank you, Art. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And when the Apostle Paul was
speaking or writing to the church at Corinth and he was describing
the gospel that he had preached to them, he spoke of Christ arising
from the resurrection and he began to speak of the witnesses
that saw him. And then he says in verse 8,
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 am 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." Now false preachers cannot in any way refute the victorious
Redeemer whom we worship. in any way refute the fact that
He has accomplished the will of God, redeemed His people from
all iniquity, that He's risen, reigning, ruling in the hearts
of His people right now, in the midst of His church. And because
they can't refute Christ and what He accomplished victoriously,
they take it out on Christ's preachers. And they often try
to malign Christ's preachers. And that's what had happened
with false preachers at Corinth. They had spread rumors that Paul
was not an apostle. So they could undermine the gospel
that he preached. Paul goes on here to show that
he was an apostle. He began to speak here saying
he was an apostle. There was no difference between
him and the other apostles with this exception. They were called
when Christ walked this earth. Paul was called after Christ
was resurrected and ascended. But they were He was an apostle
nonetheless, just like they were, because he was called directly
by Christ. And as Paul is speaking on this, he attributed everything
about himself and his work to the grace of God. He said everything
about himself and everything about the work he had done was
all by God's grace. And that's what I want to focus
on tonight. Every true believer He's what
He is by the grace of God and therefore we give God all the
glory for what we are. A true believer, we are what
we are by God's grace and therefore we give God the glory for making
us what we are. It's all by grace. Our subject
is by the grace of God. And I want to show you how believers
think of ourselves by His grace. And then I want to show you who
we glorify for our salvation by His grace. And if we have
time, we'll see who we glorify for the works that we do. First
of all, by God's grace, true believers see ourselves as we
really are. This is solely by the grace of
God. We see ourselves as we really are. In verse 9, Paul said, I
am the least of the apostles. That I'm not fit, I'm not worthy
to even be called an apostle because I persecuted the church
of God. And whenever God reveals our
sins to us, He humbles the believer. He makes you to see your sin,
makes you see what you are. He humbles the believer. Paul says, I'm the least of all
apostles. So much so, I'm not even fit
to be called an apostle. That doesn't sound like a man
who's... that argument you would use to prove to fellows that
were saying you were not an apostle, does it? God's ways are not our
ways. And when he makes a man honest
about who he is, that man will be honest by God's grace. I'm
the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle.
Paul didn't know anything of this thing that men in our day
are calling progressive sanctification. Now in our day, I've heard men
who have reformed themselves speak of getting more and more
control over their sin and getting more and more and more holy.
Is that your experience? As a child of God, saved by God's
grace, is that really your experience? It's not mine. It's not mine
at all. Paul was a man speaking by the
grace of God. And he spoke worse and worse
of himself as God grew him to see Christ more and more. Let
me show you this. Here he says, I'm the least of
the apostles. Just the apostles. I'm the least
of the apostles. Look at Ephesians 3.8. Ephesians
3.8. This is a little later. Ephesians
3.8. He writes this. Unto me who am
less than the least of all saints. I'm less than the least of all
saints. Not just the apostles now. He
says now I'm telling you I'm the least of all the saints.
And then go to 1 Timothy 1.15. Look here, 1 Timothy 1.15. This is when Paul is an aged
believer. He's old now. He's not far from
departing from this life. He says here, this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Do you see that progression? First it was, I'm the least of
the apostles. Then it was, I'm the least of
the least of all saints. And then towards the end it is,
I am the very chief of sinners. Now that's growing in grace.
That's growing in grace. The reason is he saw his sin. He said, I persecuted the church
of God. And that wasn't the only sin
he saw about himself to make him grow in grace and see himself
more and more in need of Christ. But that's an example. He said,
I'm not fit to be called an apostle. I persecuted the church. He says,
I'm not fit to be called an apostle because while these other apostles
were striving To glorify Christ and edify His people, I was striving
to speak against Christ blasphemously and to do injury and persecute
His church. Paul, when he was arrested, he
was on his way with letters to take God's people and bind them
and cast them into prison. And he was there, you remember,
when they stoned Stephen. He held Stephen's coat while
they stoned Stephen. But what I'm getting at is when
God begins the work of grace, the first thing He does is He's
going to give that sinner a true estimation of himself. He's going
to make him see your sin and all you are is sin in your thoughts,
in your words, and in your deeds. You know, when an unregenerate
sinner hears the gospel, you know why they hate our gospel?
Because they don't see their sin. That's the number one reason. They don't see their sin. They
don't know what they are. So a man sits and hears the gospel
and where you hear of God's sovereign electing grace, you rejoice because
you know if God hadn't chosen me freely by grace, there was
no way he would have seen anything in me worth choosing. No other
way he would have chosen me. If it wasn't by grace, he would
have not chosen me. But a sinner who doesn't know
what he is hears that and he thinks that's not fair because
I deserve to be chosen. Sin won't let him see we don't
deserve anything. You take a sinner who hears about
the particular redeeming grace that Christ accomplished for
his particular people. You who know your sin rejoice
because you see there's no way you could have established the
law. There's no way you could justify yourself. There's no
way you could do that. A sinner hears it and hates it
because they think they can work out a righteousness. They don't
need Christ to do it all. And when they hear of the irresistible
converting grace of God, you rejoice in it, because you know,
if God hadn't drawn me, I'd have never come to Him. If He hadn't
given me life, I wouldn't have life. If He hadn't given me faith
and repentance, I wouldn't have repented and come to Him. But
the sinner hears that, who doesn't know he's a sinner, and he thinks,
I've got the ability to come to Christ when I want to. Why
tell me I can't? You see, it's sin that makes
a man not come to That's what Christ was getting at when He
said to the Pharisees, I didn't come to call the righteous. Folks
who think they really are righteous, I didn't come to call you. I
came to call those who've been made to know they're really sinners. Really sinners. You won't find
an objection from a sinner. Not a real sinner. Only a righteous
man will object to the Gospel. A man who thinks he's righteous.
But when God begins this work of grace, the first thing He's
going to do is He's going to give that sinner a true estimation
of Himself. He's going to make us know the
truth about ourselves. That there is none righteous,
no, not one. And that there's none that understandeth
and none that seeketh after God. That we've all gone away backwards
and become totally, altogether unprofitable. There's none that
even does good, not one. And when He makes you to hear
that scripture, He makes you say, that's me, I'm the greatest,
I'm the worst of the bunch. And the more He makes you see
Christ and the light in Christ and all the perfection of Christ
and all He is for His people, the more you see the sinfulness
of your own self. You want to see a crooked stick,
lay a straight one down beside it. And when God makes you see
Christ, that's when you see how crooked you really are. If you
stood in a condemned building, it's about 4 o'clock in the morning
and it's still dark out, you're standing in a condemned building.
As it begins to break day and the dawn and just the first little
hint of light, you're going to start to see some defects in
that building. The more that light shines, and
the more that light shines, the more you're going to see this
building is totally condemned. That's what I'm saying. When
at first He gives you the light of Christ, you say, I'm a sinner.
I'm the least of all the apostles. He gives you a little more light,
you say, I'm the least of all saints. He gives you a little
more light of Christ, you say, I'm the chief of sinners. That's
growing in grace and knowledge of Christ. That's true growth. Growing with God, Growing up
with God is growing down in the estimation of ourselves and growing
to see how much we need Christ for all aspects of our salvation. And that's what He is. He is
the Savior of His people. So then, let's go to this second
thing. First of all, we see and acknowledge
our sin and our ruin by the grace of God. That's what a believer
sees about himself. Now secondly, by God's grace,
we give God all glory for saving us by His grace. By His grace,
we're made to give all the glory to God for saving us by His grace. He says there in verse 10, but
by the grace of God, I am what I am. Paul attributes all that
he is to the grace of God. And so does every true believer.
This is our doctrine. This is our experience. And this
is what we acknowledge. This is our doctrine. This is
our gospel. By the grace of God, I am what I am. This is our gospel.
And this is our experience. God makes you to experience it.
By the grace of God, I am what I am. And God makes you acknowledge
it. This is my confession. By the
grace of God, I am what I am. Now, brethren, let me tell you
something that will help you and save you some time. When
men, religious folks, start talking in doctrinal Bible terms, let
me tell you what you do first of all. You ask that person to
find that for me. Whatever it is they're talking
about, you ask them, define it for me. What does it mean? Because
you'll have two people talking about grace. Most everybody in
religion makes this statement, by the grace of God, I am what
I am. Now define that for me. Tell
me what you mean by that. Tell me what you mean by that.
They define grace as being merited, as God seeing something worthy
in me to save me. That's why He showed me grace.
That's not grace. They speak of God's grace as
being toward all sinners. That's not the grace of God spoken
of in the Scriptures. Not according to the Scriptures.
They speak of God's grace as being unable to get the job done. That's not the grace spoken of
in the Scriptures. Not at all. The grace of God
that's spoken of in this Word is God sovereignly, freely, bestowing
salvation on whom He will, not based on any good or evil in
the recipient ever. Look at Romans 9 with me, Romans
chapter 9. Look here with me now, verse
Romans 9, 10. He says, when Rebekah had conceived
by one, even by our father Isaac, for the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. How in the world could God love
Jacob? How could He love Jacob? I know
how He could hate Esau. How could He love Jacob? Jacob was no different than he
saw. God knows everything. God knows. God said, I'll look
down to see if there was any righteous, and there was none.
But by God showing this was done in the womb, when neither had
done any good or evil, He's showing you what the purpose of God according
to election is. What is election? What's God's
electing grace? What's His purpose by electing
a people unto salvation? It's so that it will not be of
works, but of God that calls. We can't glory in it, can we?
I had nothing to do with it. God chose me simply because He
would. Not by works, not by good or
evil, just because He would. That's grace. Read on down the
page. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Is that not fair? God forbid. For He said to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Paul's point right here is election. His point right here is why did
God elect the people by grace? Why did He do it that way? not
based on any good or evil in us, so that it wouldn't be of
man's will and man's running and man's doing. It would be
of God's calling. God showing mercy to whom God
would show mercy. That's the reason. And salvation
by the grace of God is totally contrary, totally incompatible
with works. They're exclusive. Look over
at Romans 11, 6. If by grace, then it is no more of works.
Your works and mine have no part in salvation whatsoever. Not
any preacher, not any. Not if it's by grace. If it's
by grace, it's no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
The moment you bring works in, it ceases to be grace. You get
that? The moment works are brought
in as needed for salvation, it ceases to be grace. Look there. But if it be of works, then it's
no more grace, otherwise works no more work. You see, you can't
mix grace and works. They won't mix. They're exclusive. Works can't have grace involved
or it can't be works. Grace can't have works involved
or it won't be grace. You see, they just don't go together.
Now Paul says here what all true believers say about themselves.
It was not because I was a Jew or a Gentile. It was not because
I was educated or uneducated. It was not because who my mama
and my daddy were. It was not because of anything
in me, period. But by God's grace, I am what
I am. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. We talk about sovereign grace. The Scriptures don't speak of
sovereign grace specifically. But they do throughout in other
terms other than the word sovereign. It speaks of... We just read
a passage that speaks of sovereign grace. God choosing whom He will
and passing by whom He will. That's sovereign grace to choose
whom He will. To have mercy on whom He will.
And that's righteous for God to do. God said, can I not do
with mine own what I will? That's right for God to do it.
We do with our own what we will. God can do with His own what
He will. So that's sovereign grace. God choosing whom He will. And then we speak of free grace.
That means nothing, nothing involved in our salvation comes from you
and me. It's all the free gift of God,
not by the works of His people. It's free grace. We didn't merit
it. We didn't earn it. It's free grace. And then we
talk about redeeming grace. And by redeeming grace, we say
that Christ fully, freely, forever redeemed all His people from
the law by one offering on the cross. He fully, freely, forever
perfected His people by one offering on the cross. That's redeeming
grace. We talk about preserving grace.
Preserving grace is God working in His child both to do and to
will of His good pleasure. It's God's will that those He
loved be saved. It's God's will that those He
loved continue in faith, continue glorifying Christ, continue at
the feet of Christ. And God works that good pleasure
in His people and makes them willing to persevere. The only
way we persevere in faith is because God preserves us. That's
preserving grace. And then we have resurrecting
grace. One day, we're going to see how
helpless we are to do all the rest of this. Because there's
no way I'm going to be able to bring my dead body out of that
grave. There's no way I'm going to be able to raise my spirit
to God. But Christ is that resurrection. And in Him, we're going to arise.
Our body, soul, and spirit will be with Him forever. That's resurrecting
grace. Forgetting to end, salvation
is by grace. Now, what is a believer by the
grace of God? He says there, by the grace of
God I am what I am, so what am I? By the grace of God. What
are you by the grace of God? Well, let me show you according
to the Scriptures. First of all, in 2 Timothy 1.9 we're told this. By the grace of God. Now, if
you're a believer by God's grace and you can say amen to this
message, and you can say, with me. By the grace of God, I am
one saved and called by God from eternity according to God's purpose. That's what I am by God's grace.
I'm one that He called and saved from eternity by His purpose.
Look here, 2 Timothy 1.9, Who had saved us and called us with
a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. That's what I am, a child saved
from eternity by His grace. By the grace of God, I'm one
that was separated and called by God in His time, just like
Paul was. Paul said in Galatians 1.15,
when it pleased God, when it pleased God who separated me
from my mother's womb and called me by His grace, by His grace. And then by the grace of God,
I'm a recipient of Christ's fullness and grace. Could you try to calculate
that? Christ's fullness and Christ's
grace. Listen to this. John 1.16 says,
Of His fullness have all we received and grace for grace. We received
His fullness and grace from Christ. All from Christ. That's what
I am. Recipient of all fullness and
grace from Christ. Reckon it will ever run out?
all fullness and all grace from Christ and never. By the grace
of God, I'm justified freely through redemption that Christ
accomplished for all God's elect. He said in Romans 3.24, being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. That's what I am. By the grace
of God, I'm justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. By grace, I have freedom from
the law and forgiveness of sins. Ephesians 1.7 said, In whom we
have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of His grace. By the grace of God, I'm one
over whom sin will never reign because I'm under grace. He said
in Romans 6.14, Sin shall not have dominion over you. You're
not under the law but under grace. It's starting to look good to
be saved by grace, isn't it? These are sure things. That's
what God said. The promise is by faith to the
end that it might be sure to them that are saved by grace.
These are sure things we're talking about here. Paul didn't say,
I might be this by grace. He said, I am what I am by grace. Listen to this. By the grace
of God, I'm a sinner saved apart from any works of old covenant
law period. Look at Acts 15.11. Acts 15.11. Peter was standing there and
those fellows were saying that the Gentile believers, they had
to be circumcised and come back under the law. Remember that?
And Peter is a Jew and he's standing there and he's pointing at those
Gentile believers and he's speaking to his fellow Jews. He's speaking
of Gentile believers who were never under the Old Covenant
law, ever. They were not under it. And now,
they've been redeemed from the curse. And this is what Peter
said about those Gentile believers, about his Jewish brethren and
those Gentile believers. Look at this. We believe that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we Jews shall be
saved even as they Gentiles." They never had the law. They
were never under the law. How in the world am I ever going
to be able to fulfill the righteousness of the law if I was never even
under the law? And I didn't even know what the
law told me. How am I going to know? How am
I going to fulfill all righteousness? You go home and read Romans Romans
9, Romans 10 where Paul says the Gentiles who didn't even
seek after righteousness, they weren't even seeking after righteousness,
they've attained to the righteousness of God. But those in Israel who
were trying to attain to the righteousness of God, trying
to obey the law in every jot and tittle, they didn't attain
it. Why? Because the Jews sought it by the works of the law. The
Gentiles sought it by faith, by God's grace. That's how. He's
not a Jew which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. He's a Jew which is one inwardly.
Circumcision is of the heart. It's of God that God might get
all the praise and all the glory. That's how a Gentile who never
was under the law fulfills the righteousness of the law. It's
through faith in Christ. That's what he was saying. We believe that we, through the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we Jews shall be saved just like
those Gentiles. apart from the works of the law,
by the grace of God in Christ. Now, by the grace of God, I'm
a possessor of all Christ's unsearchable riches. He said in 2 Corinthians
8 and 9, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though
He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that through
His poverty you might be made rich. Unsearchable riches. Sir, every now and then, I'm
on this... Back when we were looking for
a building, I got on this website. They would send me notices of
houses that's going to be auctioned off. And they just sent me one
this week. I sent it to my mom and dad and
said, here's your house. You can buy up here and move
right up here with us. This thing had so many gables in so many
directions. I think it was like 16,000 or
17,000 square feet. And I'm thinking, That's nothing
compared to what God's people have. The unsearchable riches
of Christ by grace, freely given, freely bestowed on whom God will
bestow it. And by the grace of God, I have
everlasting consolation and good hope. In 2 Thessalonians 2.16,
He said, Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself And God, even our Father,
which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation
and a good hope through grace." I have a consolation and a good
hope that's everlasting. It will never be altered as long
as I go through this life because it's all by God's grace. As bad
as things may get, as bad as my health may get, as bad as
my family may get, as bad as... No matter what, God puts it in
my way. By His grace, I'm going to have this consolation. I have
an eternal inheritance with God. I have the unsearchable riches
of Christ. I'm saved, freely justified, freely redeemed by
God, by His grace, through Christ's blood. And I've got a good hope
this will never change. This is not just, oh, I hope
this comes to pass. This is a hope that is certain.
It's sure. And God is going to see to it
by His grace that we never lose that consolation and that good
hope. And in the end, He said, you'll never be ashamed for trusting
Christ. That consolation and that hope
is going to one day be made a reality by the grace of God. And by God's
grace, I'm accepted in Christ Jesus the Lord with all His chosen,
redeemed, regenerate people. He said to the praise of the
glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved by grace." Isn't grace good? That's the only way you
want to be saved, is by grace, by the grace of God. Sovereign
grace, free grace, saving grace, unchanging unalterable grace. That's how we want to be saved.
That's the only peace and the only joy you'll ever have in
religion. Ever. It's to be fully persuaded,
fully persuaded that even though in myself I'm nothing, I can
do nothing, I can present nothing to God, I can do nothing that's
going to make God look upon me with any favor whatsoever. I can't do a thing to merit salvation. Yet, by the grace of God, but
by the grace of God, I am what I am. I tell you what now, if
you merited salvation, there may come a day when you do something
to disqualify yourself for that salvation. But if our salvation
is all by God's grace, not any good or evil in us, not by anything
we've done, simply by His will and His good pleasure, God who
is immutable, God who cannot change, God who sent His Son
to die for those He chose by His grace, that God says, I'll
never leave you and I'll never forsake you. No matter what I
do, no matter how, what happens to me, He's going to bring me
down, show me I'm nothing, show me Christ is my all, and bring
me back to rest in this grace in Christ my Lord. Now that's
just so. I'll tell you what I'm going
to do. spend a little more time on the third point, because it's
something that deals with our works in this world. And I want
to spend some more time on it, so I'm going to stop here, and
we'll take it up Sunday morning. That way I can work on it a little
bit more, because it's something that's needful in our day. I
don't want to rush over it. So let's stand together, and
we'll be dismissed. Lord, we thank you that we have
such rest in Christ and such peace, knowing that it is by
your grace alone that we're saved. Lord, it's just amazing that
you chose anybody, let alone us, and showed us this. This
is joy. This is the joy and the happiness
of the heart. that never changes, that never
alters. And Lord, it's because you by
grace chose to give it to us so freely, so sovereignly. Father, make Your people hear
this and rest here knowing this unchanging sovereign grace by
which we're saved. And Lord, if it's your will,
exercise this grace now upon one of those lost sheep that
you've chosen. Make them see it. Make them know
it. Make them understand that we are what we are by your grace
alone, by Christ alone, by his blood shed on behalf of those
you chose by grace. And Father, as we go forward,
as Brother Art asked you before, we ask you again now, make us
witnesses. Work in us this grace and make
us witnesses. Make us speak of Christ and of
your grace. Do it in a way that's seasoned
with grace and do it in a way that We might not be any more offensive
than the gospel already is to the flesh. And Lord, bless it
by your word, bless it by your grace and make your people hear
it. We don't want to do this for our sake, we want to do it
for your glory. We don't do this to brag on us, we want to do
it to brag on you. And Lord, make us to do so. Forgive
us now our sins and Forgive us for thinking that we're something
when we're nobody. Forgive us for thinking that
we have something and acting like we didn't receive everything
when that's the truth. We received everything from you
by grace. These are the sins we need to be forgiven of, Lord.
Pride. Pride. That thing you hate. Lord,
forgive us for Christ's sake. By his blood, by your grace,
we ask it in his precious name, our Lord and our Savior, Jesus
Christ. Amen.