If you would turn with me in
your Bible to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, please. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I hear a great deal today about
grace. Common grace, free grace, irresistible
grace, sufficient grace, saving grace, Amazing grace. But I don't see much of grace
in many who claim to have it. Sometimes I don't see it in me
as I should. But one thing's for certain,
there is no salvation, none, apart from God's grace. We distinguish
that grace by calling it free and sovereign grace. That's the
only kind of grace there is. Free, it's unearned, it's undeserved,
it's unmerited, it's free. It's sovereign because only God
can give it and he gives it to whom he wills. Grace is unmerited favor, undeserved
approval, unearned generosity and kindness from God. There's
no gospel, no good news apart from God's grace. In verse one here, the apostle
writes, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached
unto you. Now I can, in good conscience,
say to you this morning the same thing. I declare, I preach unto
you again today the same gospel that I've preached to you for
some time now. And it's the same gospel that Brother Montgomery
declared unto this congregation for over 40 years. And it's according to Paul and
those he's preached to here, it's the same gospel that you
also received and the same gospel wherein you stand. Now, I will
say that I wish I could preach the gospel better. I'll be the
first to admit that there are preachers who can preach the
gospel better, but there's not one of them who can preach a
better gospel. and those whom I speak of preach
this same gospel. It's my constant prayer and desire
to preach the better gospel better, but none can preach it the way
that it deserves to be preached. But I can and I will confidently
say that it is the gospel of God's grace that I declare unto
you which you have received and wherein you stand. Paul said
you've received it. For the most part, I can say
the same thing. Some of you have received it
maybe only in your heads and some of you have received it
in your hearts, but you've received it. And what I mean by that,
it's been received here in this place in such a way that we don't
have any internal conflicts over what is preached here. Some have
had problems with it and they left. Some had issues with it
And God saved them. And some now love what they once
hated. This church stands for the truth.
We stood for the truth on the radio for over 10 years, for
years on the television with Brother Mahan, the cable station. We stand for the truth in this
community. Folks from other local churches know what we preach. Trust me on that. I hear things. I remember one time Brother Mahan
was preaching in Louisville, Kentucky, and a man who was attending
that meeting to hear Brother Mahan preach was heading to the
services, and he crossed paths with a man right outside of his
workplace, And it was about 5.30 or so, and this fella had already
consumed a bit too much to drink. He was in the spirit, but not
the same one that we seek to be under. He was under the spirits,
I guess you could say. And the man asked him, he said,
where are you going? And this fella told him, said,
I'm heading to church. He said, well, who are you going
to hear preach? And the fellow responded, well, I doubt if you
know him. He's from Ashland, Kentucky. His name's Henry Mahan. And the
man very eagerly said, oh, I know Brother Mahan. He said, I'm from
Ashland, Kentucky. I lived in Ashland, Kentucky
for years. I know Brother Mahan. He's the
one who preaches about the collected ones. The collected ones. And I suppose he was correct.
The elected ones are the collected ones, right? That's what he meant
to say, the elected one. God collects them by His grace. And they're elected. Collected,
elected, we're not gonna argue over that. And that's the gospel
wherein we stand. Folks know what we preach. We believe that God saves the
collected ones who are elected according to His mercy and His
grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. No salvation apart from that.
This is the gospel we preach, we declare, we receive, and we
stand in, and we make no apologies about it. Look at verse two. This is the gospel by which also
ye are saved. The gospel that Paul preached
and the message of grace that we preach in this place is the
gospel that saves sinners. Matter of fact, it's the only
message, the only gospel that saves sinners. There is another
gospel, which is not another. There's another Jesus, which
is not another. But this is the gospel that saves
sinners. The message preached in many
places saves no one. They preach works, they don't
preach grace, they preach what the sinner has to do in order
to be saved, instead of what God has done to save sinners.
Big difference. The gospel we preach, this gospel,
by which sinners are also saved. This is a saving gospel that
we preach. It's the message that's worthy
of our acceptance. That's what Paul wrote. It's
the message of how Christ came into the world to save who? Sinners. Someone must do for us that which
God requires of us because we can't. I'm not going to talk
about my works when my works fall way short of the glory of
God. I'm not going to talk about my
works and what I do when there's none that do it good, when there's
none that are righteous. Why would we talk about that?
How's that going to help anybody? How's that going to save anybody? Christ is the only one who can
save. That's why he came. Again, verse two, by which also
ye are saved. It's the power of God unto salvation. And then he says, if you keep
in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed
in vain. Now, salvation is not a one-time
thing. I was raised in a church that
thought that. They thought, you know, you get
up, you walk down front, you make a profession of faith, and
you get in the baptism pool, and then you join the church. You know, done deal. Done deal. Not so. Salvation's not a one-time
thing. It's not coming to the front
of the church. It's not being dipped in the baptistry. It's not a
one-time profession. The believer was, is, and will
continue to be saved. Peter said, if you've tasted
that the Lord is gracious, to whom coming? We still, we continue
to come. We keep coming. We keep coming. And Paul here tells us that this
gospel by which also we are saved, he said, you're saved if you
keep in memory what's been preached to you. You can't make a profession
of faith, claim to be saved, and then just forget the Lord,
the gospel that you embraced for a short moment. No. You keep
it in memory. And if you don't, then you've
believed in vain. That word means to no avail. Making the gospel useless, pointless,
and worthless to you. Then Paul identifies the gospel. Look at verse three. For I delivered
unto you, first of all, that which I also received. There
are four essential things concerning gospel preaching. The first thing
is knowledge. A man cannot tell what he himself
does not know. No more than you could come back
from some place you hadn't been. He cannot preach a redemption
nor a savior that he has no knowledge of. Yesterday morning, I taught
a preacher's class on the internet through Zoom. And that is a class
that Brother Clay Curtis has been teaching to some aspiring
Philippine preachers. And that was the first thing
I told them about preaching. is that you can't preach a Christ
that you don't know. Secondly, you can't preach a
gospel that you yourself have not experienced by the grace
of God. You cannot accurately describe
a place that you've never been and you can explain what it may
seem like by looking at the advertisement brochures But it's a guess, only
at best. You know, I remember a few years
back now, I forget the year exactly, not long ago really, when Brother
Parks was still in St. Croix, and I saw all these beautiful
advertisements for St. Croix, the beautiful beaches
and all that. I thought, I can't wait to get
there. But you know, just apart from the coast, the beaches and
all, it is a dirty place. It's a lot of crime and it's
just nothing pretty about it. But I wouldn't have experienced
that if I hadn't gone there. You can't accurately describe
a place that you've never been to. Thirdly, gospel preaching's got
to be done sincerely. I think one of the best compliments
that anyone ever gave me, Steve McCarty gave me, this was early
on, and he said, you know what? He said, you act like you believe
what you're preaching. Well, I hope it ain't an act,
Steve, but that's a compliment. because you can't sincerely deliver
a message that you yourself haven't experienced, that you haven't
received. How can we sincerely speak of
grace if we have not received and experienced grace? And then
fourthly, the gospel must be preached with simplicity, plainly,
simply from the Word of God. The gospel is simple, you know
it? He that hath the Son hath life. That's simple. Christ said,
you've not chosen me, I've chosen you. That's simple. That ought
to dismiss all the arguments over election, shouldn't it? You haven't chosen me, I chose
you. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son hath not life. That's pretty plain,
pretty simple. Paul said, For I delivered unto
you, first of all, that which I also received. Paul didn't
preach the Gospel until it was taught to him. And you can't
preach with sincerity and simplicity on what you don't know. Verse
3, The Gospel is found in how that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures. You can't preach Christ until
you know Christ. And you can't preach repentance
until you have repented. And if you ever meet Christ,
and to those of you that have, that's all you'll talk about.
That's all you'll preach on. I can remember early on in preaching,
and had Brother Todd tell me one time, he said, how you gonna
preach? You're a novice. And it made me mad, but he was
right. I was a novice. I didn't have any experience
in preaching, but you can't gain experience unless you do it.
But anyway, we should never be at a lack
of a subject to preach on. Not if we know and have met Christ. Because He's our message. Jesus
Christ and Him crucified is the message of the Gospel. If you
ever see Christ, you'll preach Christ. That's all you'll preach. You'll make Him the sinner's
only hope. You'll tell other sinners the
same thing that you yourself have experienced. There's no
salvation apart from Him. You've got to come to Him. You've
got to trust in Him. You've got to believe on Him.
Why, people today preach anything and everything but Christ. Well, I'm going to preach Next
Sunday on how to live. Oh my. How we live in Christ. That's
it. I'm gonna preach on the five
points of Calvinism. Well, if you don't preach Christ
in those five points, then you've just preached Calvinism. That's
it. You've just preached doctrine
and not salvation. Paul preached to his hearers,
first of all, that which he himself received. How that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures. Not according to
what a man told me, not according to something I read in another
book or a commentary, but according to the Scriptures, according
to this book, which is God's Word. In other words, according to
what God said. Christ died for our sins according
to what God said. What did God say? The gospel we preach is according
to God. Christ died for our sins according
to this book. This book is what God says. Verse
four, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third
day according to the scriptures, according to what God said. Christ
died, Christ was buried, and Christ rose again, and according
to what God said before the worlds were ever framed. This was the
purpose of God. Jesus Christ was the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. He was buried, He rose again,
and according to the Word of God, the Scriptures from the
foundation of the world, and even that truth is according
to the Scriptures, according to what God said. And that's
why we believe it. This is the only way that God
has ever redeemed anybody. The Gospel wasn't born at Calvary,
a lot of people think that. The Gospel was manifested at
Calvary. But Christ was the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. Before God ever spoke this world
into existence, Christ was the Lamb slain. The gospel was born in the mind
and heart of God from the foundation of the world and then providentially
manifested in time on the day that God appointed the Lord's
crucifixion. Christ was the surety of an everlasting
covenant. It was an eternal covenant that
God made with His Son long before this world was ever created. And one day the Jews said to
the Lord Jesus, well, we've got Moses. We have His testimony. We've got Genesis and Exodus
and Leviticus and Deuteronomy and Numbers. as our testimony,
the law. Moses delivered the law. And the Lord Jesus said, if you
didn't believe Moses, you wouldn't believe me because Moses wrote
to me. Everything that Moses wrote in
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy were written
about him. This whole book's about him. Beginning in Moses and all the
prophets, he expounded unto them and all the scriptures, all the
scriptures, all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. Luke 24, 27. Then on another
occasion, the Jews said, well, Abraham's our father. Abraham's
the father of the faith. He's our father. And the Lord
said, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it
and was glad. And the Jews said, what's wrong
with you? You're not even 50 years old.
And how could Abraham be glad to see your day? You weren't
around. That was hundreds and hundreds
of years ago. And the Lord Jesus said, I tell
you the truth, before Abraham was, I am. Boy, he said a lot
when he said, I am. Before Abraham was ever born,
Jesus Christ was the great I Am. He's God Almighty in the flesh. Long before Abraham was ever
born, Jesus Christ was I Am. Now these sincere and simple
truths are according to the Scriptures. They're according to God's Holy
Word. This is what God said. Christ died for our sins. The
soul that sins, it shall die. Christ died for our sins. Christ
was buried according to the Scriptures. Because of the wages of sin,
His death, our substitute and our sacrifice, Jesus Christ died
in our room and place and He was buried. And He rose again
according to what God said, according to the Scriptures. This is the
proof that God accepted His atoning work. Our Lord on the cross said,
it is finished. And He gave up the ghost. It
was finished. No need for Him to live any longer. And God said, that's enough.
My law has been fulfilled. My justice has been satisfied. And His people are saved. It's
finished. The believer is justified. And
the justice of God said, He's got to go free. You can't keep
him in that grave. Can't do it. He fulfilled the
law that was the wages of death. And he justified my holy justice. It had to be justified. I heard a story one time about
a wealthy man in a small community who paid the bail of 200 men. And that particular judge in
that small southern town had a sentence with all small misdemeanor
crimes as either $200 or 200 days in jail. And so this man
came one day and said, I'm going to pay the fine, for the bail,
whatever you want to call it, for all 200 men. And he did. It was $40,000. And about 18 of the 200 men left. The rest of them stayed. I don't
know if they just didn't believe it or whatever. Or they just
thought it was too good to be true? Or they just said, no,
I'm going to do it my way. That's probably what it was.
I don't want anybody to pay anything for me. Isn't that the way we
are by nature? But the jailer came in and said, hey, you guys
got to go. God, the justice has been paid. You've got to go. This ain't
no bread and breakfast. You're not going to hang around
in here and get free meals. You've got to go. The justice
has been paid. Oh, death, where is thy sting?
This is the point I'm trying to make. Oh, grave, where is
your 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. He paid the price. He paid the ransom. When God's justice is satisfied
and His holy law is being kept, neither have a claim on Christ
or those for whom He died for. You've got to go. The law cannot hold us accountable.
The strength of sin, the law has been kept. And the mercy
and the grace of God say, let that sinner go free. Let him
go free. Let her go free. Christ obeyed
the law of God perfectly. And in doing so, He satisfied
God's justice against us. And the grave can't hold us.
And death must give way to eternal life. And this is the gospel
I preach. And this is the gospel that you
receive. And this is the gospel wherein
we stand. And friends, this is the gospel
by which we are saved. And this is the gospel that we
keep in memory. We must. That word keep in verse
two means to hold fast to. I remember one time being on
one of those school merry-go-rounds, and we were sitting there. Faster! A bigger kid is pushing us. Faster, faster! And pretty soon,
I'm hanging on for dear life, and I'm flying out in the air,
you know, holding on. And I was holding tight. Boy, I was holding tight. If
I'd have let go, they'd have found me blocks away. I held
on tight. We hold tight to these precious
things in our heart that we prove to have not believed in vain. Who can condemn me? Who can lay anything to my charge?
Not one, not even God, if Christ died for me. That's what justice is, God doing
what is right. and still being just and justifier. Verse five, and after the Lord
was risen, he was seen of Cephas, Peter, then of the 12, and now
there was only 11 at that time, but they were often called the
12, even though Judas was gone, there was only 11. And he said,
after that, he was seen of above 500 brethren at one time, of
whom the greater part remained unto this present. They're still
around, they'll tell you. But some had fallen asleep, some
had passed on. And after that, he was seen of
James, then of, again, all of the apostles. And last of all,
he was seen of me also. as one born out of due time. Now, if you have a marginal Bible,
you might notice that phrase as one born out of due time means
an abortive birth. What Paul is saying here is I
didn't walk with the disciples. I wasn't chosen when they were
chosen. Now, you know there are no apostles today. We talked
about that not long ago. There's disciples, all believers
are disciples, but there are no apostles. You see, the mark
of an apostle was to be chosen by God, and an apostle must have
seen the Lord, and not simply with the eyes of faith, but with
their natural physical eyes. And they must have been taught
the gospel directly by the Lord himself. And Paul said, I'm an
apostle. I was just born out of due time.
My walking with the Lord, my being chosen of the Lord, my
being taught the gospel by Him is not like the other apostles. I was born out of season at a
different time. Hey, Paul saw Christ on the Damascus
road. Christ taught Paul the gospel
in Arabia, if you read the scriptures. Paul was born out of season after
the fact, but Paul said, I am an apostle. And he was, he was
an apostle to the Gentiles. And then verse nine, he said,
I'm an apostle, but I'm the least of the apostles. that am not
meet, not fit to be called an apostle. Not because I didn't
see him or because I did see him. And not because I was not
taught by him, I was taught by him. Not that I wasn't chosen
by him, I was chosen by him, just out of season. I'm the least
of the apostles and not fit to be called one. And then he tells
us why? Because I persecuted the church.
I persecuted the church of God. And here we see the humility
of Paul shining forth. Every gospel preacher ought to
be dripping with humility. Paul said I wasn't with the other
disciples, apostles. I didn't suffer with them. I
was one who was causing suffering. And I'm not fit to be called
an apostle because of what I've done. You know, some of you men
have been faithful to this church and the work of this gospel here
for many years. Paul, Eddie, Larry Brown, Jeff,
Clayton. If a new fella come in and had
the attitude, you guys ought to count it an honor for me to
be one of you. Well, they'd have it backwards.
You see, they ought to count it an honor to be one with them.
There are many who were once faithful here that have passed
on. Brother Bruce Cavanaugh, both junior and senior. Brother
Owen Brown, Larry's dad. Brother Maurice, others even
before me that I didn't know. And I suppose the first thing
that came to my mind when I considered this was The story about Brother
Winford Cavanaugh, I've told it to you before. When the Lord
saved that man, boy, it was a humble attitude that he had. He told
Brother Maurice, and the story's longer than this, but I've got
to hurry up. But he told Brother Maurice,
he came one day and he said, if this church would have me, it'd be an honor to be numbered
with you. If this church would have me,
I'd like to join this church. And that's what Paul's saying
here. I'm the least among you. What
an honor it is to be numbered among you, Peter and James and
John. I persecuted the church. I harmed
the church. I was a blasphemer. I was a persecutor. I was a zingerius. But I obtained
mercy. I obtained grace. I did this ignorantly and unbelief,
but God taught me, and God called me, and God saved me, and He
made me an apostle to the Gentiles. And here's the lesson for us.
Here's the heart of the gospel, verse 10. But by the grace of
God, I am what I am. I am what I am only by the grace
of God. Whatever I was really don't matter.
Now, a lot of people like to talk about how bad they used
to be, but it didn't really matter. What I am right now, I am by
God's grace. That's all that matters. What
I used to be was by my own doing. What I am now is by God's doing.
Where I serve doesn't matter. If I sweep the floors or stand
in the pulpit to preach, it doesn't matter. I am what I am by the
grace of God. I preached the gospel to you.
It was the gospel that I myself received from Christ. You received
the gospel I preached. You stand in this gospel that
I preached. You're saved by this gospel I
preached. But I'm nothing special. By the
grace of God, I am what I am. Just the same as you are. I am
not what I am by the result of my own doing. I am not what I
am because God foresaw something good in me. Something that I
would do good in the future? No, I am what I am by God's grace
to me and for me. No other reason. God's favor
to me is according to His own sovereign, independent, and purpose
of grace. There's nothing for me to be
proud about. Nothing for you to be proud about.
Nothing for me to glory in, nothing for you to glory in. Whether
I lead or follow, whether I'm the greatest or the least, it
doesn't matter. By the grace of God, I am what I am. This
is the song of the redeemed. This is what we sing. Saved by
grace alone. This is all my plea. Jesus died
for all His own, not all mankind. We mark that out of the book.
and put His own. He didn't die for all mankind. He didn't die for everybody.
He died for His own, His people. By His grace. I'm not what I
am because I choose to be what I am. Because if I had chosen
to be what I am, I'd still be dead in trespasses and sins.
If I'd followed my poor, blind free will, I'd have one foot
in hell and the other on a slippery slope. You know, with your back turned
to Christ, you can't walk straight to God. I've never moved toward God with
my back turned to Christ. If there's any good in us, it
was God that put it there. He made us feel our need of grace.
And it's by His grace that we are what we are. He opened our
eyes to see the beauty of Christ. He showed us our need. And if
I endure to the end, it's because He loved me to the end. We ascribe
our salvation to the free favor of God. We're not saved by any
goodness of our own. Well, you've already said that
once. I'm going to say it a few more times. Matter of fact, that's what keeps
us from being saved. And that is looking to our own
goodness. It's not your sin that is sending
you to hell. It's your righteousness that
will. We must deny any merits of our
own in order, or we can't have the merits of Christ. I had a
man tell me one time, very proudly, that he hadn't missed church
in 40 plus years. And he was looking for a reward. And you know what? He got it.
That was his reward. Our Lord said, take heed that
you do not your arms before men to be seen of them. Otherwise
you have no reward of your father, which is in heaven. Whatever
I am that is right, whatever I am that is righteous, whatever
I am that is holy, it's by the grace of God. If I'm elected
or collected, My election is all of grace. If I'm redeemed,
I'm redeemed by grace. If I've repented, it's the goodness
of God that has led me to do so. If I believe, then my faith
is a gift of God. Isn't that what the Scriptures
say? Ephesians 2, 8 and 9? Because by the grace of God I
am what I am. If I'm successful in all I do,
or whether I fail at every turn, I am what I am by God's grace.
Whether I'm happy or whether I'm sad, it's by the grace of
God. Someone asked Brother Walter
Groover one time, missionary in Mexico, said, well, Brother
Walter, are you happy? He said, happiness don't have
anything to do with it. I'm doing what God called me to do. Happiness
don't have anything to do with it. This glorious truth of God's
grace reaches to every area, every day. to every blessing,
to every victory, to every defeat. For what I am, I am by the grace
of God. Now let me give you three or
four things just real quick. First, I am what I am by God's
grace. That's my doctrine. By God's grace, He elected me.
We didn't choose Him. He chose us, as we've already
said. That's the teaching of Scripture. That's my doctrine.
That's the teaching that I received of God. I'm not saved because
I love Jesus. I'm saved because He first loved
me. That's what the Scriptures teach, isn't it? He chose me,
He loved me. My doctrine teaches me that Christ
made me what I am by His grace. God will not cast away His people,
which He foreknew. That's my doctrine. It has everything
to do with the grace of God making me and you what we are. For whom
He did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. He foreknew me by His grace. He predetermined, predestinated
by grace that I would be like Christ. I'd be conformed to Him. He, by grace, conformed me to
be like Him. He, by His divine favor, didn't
stop there. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called. How did He call us? By His grace. and whom He called them, He justified. How did He justify us? By His
grace. How is He gonna glorify us? By
His grace. When it pleased God, He separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal
His Son in me. It's by the grace of God that
I am like Christ. God's Son is revealed in me,
and Christ in me is the hope of glory. That's my doctrine.
That's what I preach. That's what I believe. It's what
God teaches from His Word. It's all by grace. I am what
I am, and you are what you are by the grace of God. Secondly,
God's grace is my experience. Every day I'm reminded that if
it were not by God's grace, I'd be a man most miserable. I can't imagine people living
in this world in which we live in without knowing God and His
mercy and grace. God's grace is not just a doctrine,
it's an experience. Not a day goes by that I'm not
unaware of my depths of depravity. In my flesh dwells no good thing.
I experience that all day, every day. The good that I would, I
don't do. And the evil that I wouldn't
do, that I do. And what did Paul say? Oh, wretched
man that I am. Not that I was, I still am. Is
that your experience? It's certainly mine. Have you
experienced what Paul experienced? Have you experienced your wretchedness?
Paul said, oh, wretched man. Who's going to deliver me from
this body of death? There's only one who can. He
said so, I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord. Is that
your experience? It certainly is mine by the grace
of God. Thirdly, the grace of God is
my comfort and my hope. There's no comfort for a sinner
like me apart from God's grace. For whatsoever things were written
before time were written for our learning that we through
patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope That's my hope
and my comfort. Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given
us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort
your hearts and establish you in every good work. Word and
work. Friends, it's the grace of God
that makes us humble. We freely have received and we
freely give. and let the peace of God rule
in your heart. How do we do that? By grace. By grace. To which also you were
called in one body, Paul wrote. The only reason that I'm saved
is because I've been made one with Christ. Only reason. And that by grace. And then he
said these words, and be ye thankful. That's what our study in Psalms
was this morning. Be thankful. It's a good thing
to give thanks unto the Lord. It's a good thing to be thankful.
Because you've seen who God is and you've seen who and what
you are. And you're thankful. Thankful. And beloved, it's only
by the grace of God that we're thankful. Grace, grace. Nothing
but grace. The grace of God and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Not by works that we should boast.
Grace is the gift of God. By the grace of God, I am what
I am.