if you would, to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 15. Something was on my heart this
week and I feel led to look at it for our Bible study. and also felt led to make an
article out of it for our bulletin, and that something is this. There
is no denying the fact, none whatsoever. There's no denying
the fact that men and women either love God's sovereignty or hate
God's sovereignty. When you get right down to the
clear heart of it, There is no middle ground. When men and women
don't understand it, it may appear to be some middle ground, but
once it's really made clear, there is no middle ground. Either
men and women love the fact that God elected a people to save, or they hate the fact that God
elected a people to save. One of the two. There's no indifference
to that subject. It's an extreme case one way
or the other. Either men and women love the
fact that Christ has finished all the work. Everyone acknowledges
some of the work, but either men and women love the fact that
Christ finished all the work of salvation, or they hate the
fact that Christ finished all the work of salvation, all of
it. When that is very, very clearly
set forth, men and women take hard sides on it. I want to really
set this up. Hard sides on it. Those who love
God's sovereignty cannot and they will not sit under the message
of a weak, helpless Jesus who needs you to let Him do something. They won't do it. They just will
not do it. Those who love God's sovereignty,
they hate that weak message. And at the same point in time,
those who do not believe that God chose a people, they just
flat don't believe that. They do not believe that God
chose who he would save and they do not believe that he will have
mercy on whom he will have mercy. Rather than that, they believe
that every man has a chance. That's what people believe. Every
man has a chance. They believe that God owes every
man a chance. Now God owes every man a chance
rather than salvation being totally of the Lord salvation being of
man. if he takes advantage of his
chance. That's the kicker. He's got to take advantage of
his chance. Those who believe that hate the message of God's
unconditional election. They hate hearing that it was
all in His hands. Do you remember the first time
your mind started getting around that fact? That it was all in
His hands. I grew up under the message of
the truth. I never did sit under that, but
I still had to come to terms with that. Even so, I mean, I
remember really pondering like, whoa, you mean I have no say
in the matter? I mean, it's just totally up
to him. Either he did or he didn't. His will, his purpose, nothing
of mine. I just have to wait and hear
which one was it. Well, those who do not believe
that God sovereignly chose a people and did everything he would do
before the foundation of the world, they won't sit under that
message. They will not. They just won't
put up with it. They'll, they'll say, I'm not
hearing this anymore. Those who are trusting in Christ
work alone will not tolerate the message of man's works. And
those who are trusting in man's works will not tolerate the message
of Christ work alone. So there's a dividing line, no
middle ground, no area of indifference between the message that glorifies
God. and the message that glorifies
man. And this is what was really laid
on my heart. I said all that to get to this.
It all comes down to this right here. Those who love God's sovereignty and love God's election, assess
your heart right now. How do you feel about it? Those
who love God's sovereignty and love God's election and love
Christ's finished work of salvation, those people have gotten a good
look at their own sin. And those who do not love God's
sovereignty, and do not love God's election, and do not love
Christ's finished work of salvation, have not gotten a good look yet
at their own sin. That's what it all comes down
to. That's the dividing line right there. Those people who know God, capital
G, capital O, capital D God, I mean God and love God and bow to God. They have had a true reality dose
of their sin revealed to them. And those who do not know the
capital God and do not bow to the capital God have not. They just haven't. Once a man
sees his own reign of himself, his own rule of himself, at some
point, you know, at 18, the planet says we're adults now, so I'm
ready to rule myself. I'm going to go out and reign
over myself. And then we get out there and we see what we've
done to ourselves. And once a man sees what his
own rule of himself has done to himself, once he sees that
he has ruined himself, once God reveals that, man doesn't know
it until God reveals it. But once God reveals it and he
sees how he himself has brought himself into utter destruction, This is what he will cry. If
God reveals that to him, this is what he will cry. Sovereign
Lord, reign over me. That's what he'll cry. My own reign has brought me into
destruction and death. My own thoughts, my own ways,
my own opinions, everything about me has brought me down. It just
keeps bringing me farther from you and farther from you and
farther from you. The world has just taken over. Far, so very far from God, I
cannot far be. Please reign over me. Reign over my will. Reign over
my desire. Reign over my opinion. Reign
over my thoughts. Reign over my deeds. Reign over
me unto the redemption of life. Please, please, please. Once a man or a woman sees that
if God did not elect a people to save, no one would be saved. Once a man sees that or a woman
sees that. No one would be saved because nobody has earned it.
Nobody deserves it. Once a man sees that, he'll cry,
that election right there is my only hope. Thank God for election. Thank God. That's the most loving
thing you ever did. Thank God that you would send
your son to me. Thank God. Once a man sees that
he cannot, cannot do any work to save himself, I can't do anything. Watch this. I can't do that. I can't take my next breath. I can't take my next step. As
soon as God says, stop walking, that's it. Stop breathing, that's
it. Once a man sees that he is dead
in trespasses and sins, this is what he'll cry, if Christ
does not finish the work, it's not gonna be finished. If his blood did not pay the
debt, the debt is not gonna be paid. That is what makes the
difference in whether or not a person loves the truth of salvation. or hates the truth of God's salvation
for his particular people in the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It all hinges on whether or not
God has revealed that indescribable need to him because of his sin. The writer said, a sinner is
a sacred thing. We take so for granted, we mean
it. I'm telling you, we mean it.
When we say, when this comes out of our mouth, I'm a sinner,
I'm such a sinner. Woe is me, I'm such a sinner. When we say that, we take that
for granted. Man can't say that and mean it
unless the Holy Spirit has allowed him to. That is the gift of God. That's the gift of God. A sinner
is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so. The Holy Ghost has revealed to
him what he is in the nature of his own flesh. Sin. Sin. Now that's what was revealed
to the Apostle Paul, and we know that because he said in verse
10, if you look at 1 Corinthians 15 verse 10, He said, by the grace of God,
I am what I am. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. Every sinner who has had his
sin revealed to him and has had salvation through the finished
work of the blood of Christ revealed to him, he will say, every one
of them will say, I am what I am by the grace of God. By the grace
of the sovereign electing, redeeming, calling, keeping. Aren't you
so glad he keeps his people in spite of his people? I'm so glad he chose us. I'm
so glad he redeemed us and I'm so glad he called us, but thank
God he keeps us. Every one of God's people cry,
thank God he paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left
a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. For those of us
who have had our sin revealed to us and have been caused to
fall in love with the grace of God, and we are, we are in love
with the grace of God. I want us to see five things
about it. I want us to read five scriptures. I'm going to be brief
with them, but that'll tell us five things about the glorious
grace of God. The first one is in first Peter
chapter five. Turn with me over there. First Peter 5 verse 10 says,
But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal
glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while,
make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. To him
be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Here's the first
thing. When we glory in the grace of
God, we are glorying in the God of all grace, the God of all
grace. That's his sovereignty in it.
God is the God of all of it. All of it. Grace only comes from
one source. The God of all grace. He is not
just a gracious God. He is the only gracious God that
there is. He is the God of all grace. He said, I'll be gracious to
whom I'll be gracious. He must be gracious to whom he'll
be gracious. Cause he's the only one who can.
Only one, all grace is in his hands. If it's going to come,
it's going to come from him. So what that means is we must
approach his throne. We must go to him. We must cry
out to him. approach His throne to find mercy
and grace to help in our time of need. He's the God of all
of it. Okay, that's the first thing. Here's the second thing. Go with me back to the text,
1 Corinthians 15. Verse 10, it says, But by the grace of God, I am
what I am and His grace, which was bestowed upon me, not earned,
bestowed upon. He said, it was not in vain,
but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but
the grace of God, which was with me, the grace of God that was
bestowed upon me. The grace of God is a gift. It's
a gift. Grace means gift. People all
over this world sing, all over this world, amazing grace, how
sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Past tense. And then as soon as the song
is over, they say, now, how can I earn that? How can I, what
must I do to have that? Grace means gift. You must do
nothing. It's already done. Grace is not
earned. It's freely given. It's bestowed
upon. Not have I gotten. I didn't get
saved. Not have I gotten what I received. Grace has bestowed it. I just
believed. Boasting excluded, pride I base. I'm only a sinner saved by grace,
saved by the free gift of God. That's the second thing. Here's
the third. Turn with me to first Corinthians chapter one. First Corinthians 1 verse 4 says,
I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God,
which is given you by Jesus Christ. Grace is sovereignly
given to a sinner by and through the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. God's grace is only found in
Christ. Only in Christ. He's the only
source. He's the only fountain. John
1 verse 17 says, the law was given by Moses. but grace and
truth came by Jesus Christ. Turn with me over to 1 Timothy
1. 1 Timothy 1, verse 14. It says, and the grace of our
Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ
Jesus. That's where it is, in Christ
Jesus. 2 Timothy 1 verse 9 says, who hath saved us and called
us within 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. And then 2 Timothy 2 verse 1
says, Thou therefore my son be strong in the grace that is in
Christ Jesus. So when it comes to grace, God
is the God of all of it. It's a gift that He freely gives
to His people and that gift is only found in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the fourth thing. Go with
me to Galatians chapter 2. Galatians 2 verse 21 says, I do not frustrate the grace
of God, for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. The grace of God is concerning
what Christ accomplished in His death on the cross. That's what
it's concerning. God's gift of grace can only
be found in the person of Christ because it took what He accomplished
on the cross for God to give it. God could not give grace
had Christ not accomplished what He did for His people on the
cross. And what did Christ accomplish?
Paul said, this is what he accomplished right here. Verse 20 Galatians
two verse 20 says, I am crucified with Christ. That's what he accomplished. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in
the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself. He was the gift. Gave himself
for me. Union with him. A complete, full
payment of my debt to God in him. That's what he accomplished
in the giving of himself, that gift. The last thing is really
just a summary of it all. Turn with me over to Titus chapter
2. Titus 2 verse 11 says, For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men." The grace of God that God
is sovereignly over and freely gives in the person of His Son
Through the accomplishment of His cross, that grace is what
brings salvation to every soul God gives it to. That's what
God reveals to His people. Until that moment, everybody's
trying to figure out, how do I save myself? What do I have
to do? What do I have to stop doing?
How does this grace of God thing work? How can I earn the free
gift? And when God speaks the truth
of His grace to a sinner, He sees that God sovereignly, freely
gave it in His Son, through His accomplishment, and Christ alone
earned and secured our salvation. Every soul who receives it then
will say, I am what I am by the grace of God. All right, you're
dismissed.