First Corinthians chapter 15.
Our text will be verse 10. We read of the conversion of
Saul of Tarsus in Acts chapter 9. And here we have the testimony. The title of my message is a
free grace testimony. And this is it. But by the grace
of God, I am what I am. And His grace, which was bestowed
upon me, was not in vain. That is, it wasn't fruitless.
It wasn't worthless. His grace accomplished exactly
what He intended. It was not in vain. It never
is. Never is. Not God's grace. Paul
says, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but
the grace of God which was with me. A free grace testimony. I've heard over the years testimonies
of people who profess to be saved or have been saved by God's grace. And those testimonies went something
like this. I'm so thankful, I've heard this
many times, I'm so thankful I decided for Jesus. Or, I opened my heart
and allowed him to come in. Or, I walked forward at the invitation
of the preacher in a revival meeting. Paul's testimony doesn't
sound at all like that, does it? It's not even similar, is
it? He says, I am what I am by the
grace of God. It includes this confession.
I didn't read it, but verse 9, it has a confession. For I am
the least of the apostles. that I'm not meet to be called
an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. Christians should think little
of themselves. They should. There's no big I's
and little U's in the family of God. We're all one in Christ
Jesus. We're all not hands or eyes or
feet. But we're all are members of
that one body. So we should all think little
of ourselves, but it would be wrong. It wouldn't be right to
depreciate what God's done for us. Think little of yourselves,
but think much of Him. Think little of what you do,
but think much of what He's done for us and in us. Therefore,
Paul gives the testimony that he does in verse 10. But by the grace of God, he says,
remember our Lord's words to Ananias in Acts 9 concerning
Saul of Tarsus. Go thy way, Ananias. We read
it a few moments ago. Ananias said, Lord, I've heard
of this man. He's infamous. He's persecuted
your people in Jerusalem. He's ran them all out of Jerusalem,
and now he comes here to do the same thing, to bind men and women. It makes no difference to him.
I've heard of this man, and I know why he's come here. Remember
what our Lord said to Ananias, Go thy way. And hear these words
of God's grace, for He is, He is a chosen vessel unto me. Isn't that amazing? John, if
you would ask anyone, any believer in Jerusalem that day or in Damascus,
the least likely candidate of God's amazing grace, I grant
you that it would be, their answer would be Saul of Tarsus. Saul
of Tarsus. He hates Jesus of Nazareth. He's dedicated his life, all
that he is, all that he has. His ambition is to stamp out
that name and everybody that calls upon that name. He considers
Jesus of Nazareth to be the greatest imposter the world's ever saw. He's a deceiver in the opinion
of Saul of Tarsus. And our Lord says he's a chosen
vessel. He's one of mine. He's one that
I've loved with an everlasting love. Oh, that grace that dwelt
in God's heart from eternity reaches down to the heart of
Saul of Tarsus in time. That day on the Damascus Road
was that day of love. That time of love that Saul of
Tarsus would experience what God's love was for him from the
foundation of the world. Moreover, we read in Scripture,
Romans 8, where over whom He, that is God, did predestinate
them, each and every one of them, He also called. He calls all that God foreknew,
that is, foreloved, loved beforehand, loved from eternity. One Christian
lady said, God must have loved me before I was born because
there's certainly nothing in me that would attract His love
after I was born. I am the Lord, I change not.
If God loves us today, He loved us yesterday. and hence before
the world was ever created. Whom he did foreknow, them he
also called." Our calling, as it was with Saul, is the proof
of our election. You can't know it otherwise.
You can't have any proof of it otherwise. The proof that I'm
one of God's elect is the fact that in time He calls me out
of darkness to follow His Son. He reveals His Son to me and
in me. That's the proof that I'm one
of God's elect. You've heard the story. I don't
recall who it was, but years ago, an old preacher was invited
to a church. It may have been William Huntington,
it doesn't really matter. But the pastor told him, he was
a staunch Calvinist. Hyper, you might say. And he said, we don't want you
to preach to anybody but God's elect. Don't exhort anybody to
believe except God's elect. And he said, well, Who are they? Who are they, Carlos? Have you
some knowledge that I don't have? Or have you marked them on the
back some way so I can know who God's elect are? You tell me
who they are, you show me where they're at, and I'll preach to
them. Oh, no. Our Lord said, go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature. The evidence
of my election is I come to Christ in time. He calls me by His grace
and I believe on Him. I bow to Him. God gives me faith
in Him. That's how I know I'm elect.
I can't know it any other way. There's no more suitable testimony
For the Apostle Paul, in these words we read of in verse 10
of 1 Corinthians 15. But it's not for only Paul, but
for every sinner saved by God's grace. These words fit, don't
they? They suit every sinner that's
experienced God's amazing grace. They're suited for them. It's
their testimony too. It's my testimony too. I am what
I am by the grace of God. Just late last night, I read
a statement by old John Newton. As he grew older, his vision
became worse and worse, to the point that he couldn't even read. And there were friends that would
read to him. And he read this. Someone read
this to him. And he said, oh yes, oh yes. He said, that's so true. He said,
I'm not what I ought to be. He said, I'll be the first to
say that. And I'm not what I'm going to be. And I'm not what
I want to be. But he said, by God's grace,
I'm not what I used to be. I am what I am by the grace of
God. And that's the testimony of every
saved sinner. It's a perfect fit, is it not?
Do you not find it so? As some of you know, most of
you know, I've got four brothers, two older and two younger. You met one of them about a month
ago. But my older brothers, when they
outgrew their clothes, they would be passed down. I'd be in line
for the two older brothers. Because with nine children, I've
got four sisters too, it was tough for a coal miner to clothe
them all with new clothes every year, so they were handing me
down. And canny, they didn't always fit good. They didn't
always fit real good. I was a runt. And my brothers
were older and a little bigger, and their clothes didn't always
fit. Oh, but what? Paul speaks up here. It's a perfect
fit. It fits me perfectly. I've got
no problem with it. No complaints. It feels exactly
right. For this sinner to confess, always,
I am what I am by the grace of God. His righteousness is a perfect
fit for this sinner. It presents me before God Almighty. Perfect. Perfect. Listen to what the prophet said
in Ezekiel. chapter 16, concerning God's
rescue, God's saving of that deserted infant, that newborn
baby that was cast out into the field to die. God said, I came
to where it was, and it was a time of love. And I took you, and
I did what nobody else was willing or able to do. I washed you,
and I dressed you in the very best, and you became mine. And the result of God's work
was this, and thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy
beauty, for it was perfect. It was perfect through my comeliness
which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God." Perfect. Saved by the unmerited favor
of God. That's what grace is, is it not? It's unmerited favor. Nothing
I could do to earn it. Grace is not what I've done for
God, but what God's done for me. Remember those testimonies
I referred to earlier that people speak about what they did or
what they allowed God to do? That's not grace. That's not
grace. Salvation is not my work. It's God's work. It's all God's
work. In Philippians chapter 1, Paul
wrote, He that's begun a good work in you, will perform it
until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace is that work, the
operation of God, that raises dead sinners to life in Christ. That's exactly what happened
to Saul of Tarsus that day on the Damascus road. Christ came
to him, that self-righteous rebel, and said, live. Live. He said, Saul, Saul. And Saul
heard him. Those soldiers just heard voices. They couldn't really make out
anything from it. Oh, but Saul heard exactly those
words. He was speaking not to those
soldiers. He was speaking to Saul. Have
you ever heard that voice? Have you ever heard Christ, the
great shepherd of the sheep, call your name? If you have,
you'll never get over it. That's grace that raises dead
sinners to life in Christ and clothes them in the perfect righteousness
of Christ. You can't wear your own righteousness
in Christ, too. He won't allow it, Joe. He won't
allow it. No one's got to go. Turn, if
you will, to Romans chapter 10. Paul speaks of this very thing.
And Paul could identify with what he's saying because at one
time, as he well knew, he was in the same boat. In Romans chapter
10, verse 1 he writes, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved, for I bear them
record. that they have a zeal of God,
but not according to knowledge, not according to knowledge. They
have a zeal for their own concept of God, their own idea of God,
who they think God is. Verse 3, and they prove it by
their actions. They prove by what they attempt
to do that they don't have a clue who God is. Verse 3, for they
being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness? What a futile, wasted work. It can't be done. It's never
been done. That is man establishing his
own righteousness before God. They've not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God for, verse 4, or because Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. It stops right there. If I know
Christ, God has made Him to be unto me righteousness and wisdom
and sanctification and redemption. I'm perfect in Him. Now, using Paul's testimony,
let's consider some things concerning God's salvation. What does it
take to save a sinner? All around us today, all of our
lives, we've heard, that's an easy thing. That's a simple thing. It's as easy as A, B, C. Accept, believe, confess. It's
as easy as moving your feet at the end of the service. It's
as easy as repeating words that some preacher puts in your mouth.
That's a simple thing. Nothing easier in the world.
That's contrary to the Word of God. Using Paul as an example,
he said he was, didn't he? In writing to Timothy, he said
he thinks that God set him forth as a pattern to those who should
after believe on his Son. Conversions granted differ. in
many respects. You have an example of that with
Nicodemus and the woman at the well. Our Lord in John 3 spoke
to that self-righteous Pharisee about the need, the necessity
of being born again. But speaking to the woman at
the well, he doesn't mention that, but he does say, if you'll
ask of me, if you'll ask of me, I'll give you a drink and you'll
never thirst again. I'll give you the water of life
I'll give you my own life and you'll never thirst again. But
I'll tell you one thing, every genuine conversion, the salvation
of any sinner, any sinner, has this one thing in common. Though
they may differ in other respects, they have this one thing in common. Every redeemed sinner can say,
I am what I am by the grace of God. If I believe, it's by the
grace of God. If I repent, it's been by the
grace of God. If I vow to His Son, it's been
by the grace of God. If I know who He is, it's been
because God's revealed His Son to me. It's all by the grace
of God, no exceptions. Now look at this free grace testimony.
Paul says, I am what I am. He speaks in the present tense,
doesn't he? The present tense. The same tense
in which he spoke when he said, O wretched man that I am. In Romans chapter 7. And he's
writing as a believer. I've had people say, Paul was
talking about before he was saved. He's looking back on before he
was saved and he said, Oh wretched man that I used to be. That's
not what he wrote, is it John? He said, Oh wretched man that
I yet am. Folks said, oh no, he's speaking
of his pre-conversion days. He has to be. Oh no, he's not. No, he's not. People who think
that way have never been stripped before God. That's why they think
that way. But because the old fallen nature
is still the old fallen nature, Paul says, oh wretched man that
I am. When God converts a sinner, When
a sinner is raised from spiritual death to spiritual life, God
doesn't repair the old nature. He doesn't even improve the old
nature. That's what people try to do
for themselves. That's what religion does. It
gives men a list of do's and don'ts. Paul talked about that,
didn't he, in Colossians 3. He says, why if you're free from
the law, are you subject to the traditions of men? Touch not. Don't touch that. Don't taste that. Are you telling
me? Are you telling me you're a professing
Christian and you actually take a drink of wine? Touch not, taste
not, handle not. Paul says that's real worship. That's not real righteousness.
That's not salvation. Our Lord said to the Pharisees
in Matthew chapter 7, you're like white encephalicers. He
said you're like a whitewashed tomb. It looks good on the outside. It looks nice on the outside,
but inside, within, he said, within, you're full of dead men's
bones. Within. See, the problem's within. The problem's within, isn't it,
Christians? It's not just what I've done
here. It's what I am. I need saved
from what I am. When God saves a sinner, He doesn't
repair the old nature. He gives him a brand new nature. He creates a new creation in
Christ Jesus. Salvation requires the new birth
from above. It requires spiritual resurrection. No less than that. This is what
grace is. Our Lord said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God and ignore it. It's not what he said, is it,
Todd? No, they won't ignore it. They'll
ignore my voice. They'll ignore the preacher's
voice. Oh, but if the King of kings and Lord of lords ever
says, Saul, Saul? They'll hear. They'll hear just
as Saul did. Oh, the hour is coming that the
dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and remain dead? Oh, no. No, he said, and they
that hear shall live. They'll live. They'll have the
very life of God in them. Because I live, our resurrection
and life said, ye shall live also. I can speak to your ear. Oh, but God can speak to your
heart. O Lord, speak with that voice
that wakes the dead, and bid the sinner rise, and make the
sinner come to dread that death that never dies. That's what's
required in the salvation of a sinner, the grace of God. It doesn't require grace to be
religious, does it? Saul was very religious before
this experience on the Damascus Road. He says, I am the least
of the apostles that I am not meet to be called an apostle,
verse 9 again, because I persecuted the church of God. In Galatians
13 he said, I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, injurious. zealous for the tradition of
the fathers. And when that young man named
Saul held the cloaks of those men stoning Stephen, listen,
he was acting according to his religion. And when we read in
Acts 8 and 3, for as for Saul, he made havoc of the church,
entering into every house and hailing men and women, committed
them to prison. And then afterward in Acts 9,
and Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples
of the Lord, he really thought, catch this, Think about this. During all that time, Saul of
Tarsus was convinced. He was absolutely confident. He was absolutely sure that while
he was doing that, he was serving God. He thought he was really
doing that which pleased God. And he was as religious as he
could be. No, it doesn't require grace
to be religious. Oh, but it does require grace
to let it go. It does require grace to stop. It does require grace to cease
from my own works, to fall down before God, and to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. That requires nothing less than
God's mighty grace. to throw my own righteousness
aside like glad Bartimaeus did. Casting away his garment, we
read, he arose and came to Jesus. To do like Saul of Tarsus, he
said, my own righteousness now that Christ is mine, now that
he's revealed himself to me, my own righteousness is done. The only thing I want, the only
thing that makes me different, the only foundation I have and
need and want is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. I am what I
am by the grace of God. To cast my own aside requires
God's grace. To bring a sinner down, Have
you ever noticed Paul's growth in grace was always downward? He said, I'm the least of the
apostles. Afterward, he said, I'm the less
than the least of all saints. And then he said, no, I'm the
chief of sinners. I'm the chief of sinners. Secondly,
consider this. A true believer is said to have
been called out of darkness into his marvelous light. Remember
that blind man that our Lord healed in John chapter 9? The
Sanhedrin got wind of it. So they called that poor blind
man, former blind man, on the carpet. He comes in and they
said, give God the glory for what's happened. And he said,
OK. Jesus did. Or that man did. Christ hadn't revealed himself
as to who he was yet. And they said, we know this man's
a sinner. God doesn't hear sinners. And
the blind man, former blind man, said, well, this is a marvelous
thing. God hears not sinners, and yet he's heard this man.
It's never been heard since the world began that a man could
open the eyes of the blind. And he said, this one thing I
know. I can tell you this. I once was blind, but now I see. I see. Oh, a believer sees. We're told in Scripture that
a child of God by grace is justified. His eyes have been opened to
behold the Lamb of God. He's someone that can tell you
of whom he has believed. Like that other poor sinner.
Saved by God's grace, they was called to give it a proof of
his conversion. His answer was, I am a poor sinner
and nothing at all. And Jesus Christ is my all in
all. That sounds pretty good to me.
Doesn't it you? Doesn't it you? Someone who's
not simply joined the church, but is by God's grace been brought
to Christ and made one in Him. Accepted in to be loved. That's the believer's testimony. But God. But God. But God being the deciding factor. He's the first cause. In the
beginning, God we read concerning salvation. The same is true concerning
God's grace. In the beginning, God. And in the end, it'll be God. And everything in between will
be but God. There is no point and the life
and the experience of any believer where they can put their finger
down and say, oh, that's the result of my own work. No, no,
no. No matter what you consider concerning
salvation, from the cradles of the grave it'll be this, I am
what I am by the grace of God alone. To God be the glory and
God alone. This was the testimony of Saul
of Tarsus. But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace,
I am what I am. Who was before a blasphemer and
a persecutor and injurious, he said to Timothy, but there's
that blessed word again, but I obtained mercy. I obtained
mercy. Why did you come here today?
Believer, brother and sister, why did you come here today and
tonight? To sing, to pray, to hear the
gospel? At one time you didn't. Louie,
at one time you wouldn't be found anywhere near this place. The
last place you'd be found. And me. We'll be found anywhere
doing anything or doing nothing. We'll be better than this. I
said, religion? That's what I considered. Was
ignorant, didn't know the difference. That's for kids and old women. That's got nothing better to
do. That's what I'd say. Neither fornicators, nor adulterers,
nor adulterers, nor infeminate, nor abusers of themselves with
mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
nor extortionists, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such
were some of you. Such was I. I was. I sure was. What happened? What happened? Same thing happened
to this rebel. But by the grace of God, you're
washed, you're sanctified, and you're justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Old hymn writer expressed it
better than I can. Here's my testimony. Once my
soul was astray, from the heavenly way. And I was wretched and vile
as could be. But my Savior above gave me peace
from above when he reached down his hand for me. I was near to
despair. I was near to despair. When he
came to me there and he showed me that I could be free. He lifted
me up. He lifted my feet and gave me
gladness complete when he reached down his hand for me. What amazing grace. Last of all,
let me ask you, in closing, is this your testimony? Are you
what you are by the grace of God? Who made the difference,
you claim? If the only change you can truly
claim was produced by you, then it wasn't grace. It wasn't grace. The disciples asked their master,
our Lord, one day, who then can be saved? Will you hear his answer? He who himself was the resurrection
and the life. He said, with men, it's impossible. It's impossible. But, there it
is again, but not with God, for with God all things are possible. Yes, it's true. I'm only a sinner. But by His grace I can also sing,
I'm only a sinner saved by grace. When we go down to the grave,
may God enable us to go down exclaiming, not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory, for Thy mercy and
for Thy truth's sake. Amen. God bless you.