1 Corinthians chapter 15. I hope by this message to cause you to be thankful for
God and His amazing free grace, and also to cause you to have
a heart for those who talk about grace and talk about God and
don't know either one of them. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 1, the
great apostle to the Gentiles writes, Moreover, brethren, I
declare unto you the gospel. which I preached unto you, which
also you have received, and the gospel wherein you stand, by
which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached
unto you, unless you believe in vain. For I delivered unto
you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures. That's so important. Every preacher everywhere is
talking about Jesus died for sin, died for sinners, and so
forth. That's true. It's not the Gospel. The Gospel
is how He died for our sins according to this Book. The Old Testament
and the New Testament, the types and figures and shadows All of
those things bear witness of Christ. How He would come and
die for our sins according to the Scriptures. According to
those types, the Bible says the Old Testament form of worship
was just a shadow of good things to come. All those good things
being wrapped up in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. that he was buried, that he rose
again the third day, all according to the Scriptures, that he was seen of Cephas, the
apostle Peter, then of the Troya. After that he was seen of above
five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain
unto this present, but some have fallen asleep, some died in the
Lord. After that, he was seen of James
and of all the apostles. Last of all, he was seen of me."
Oh, man, seen of me. As of one born out of due season,
I saw him last. I am the least of the apostles. very least,
I'm not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church
of God. But by the grace of God, by the grace of God, I am what
I am. And the grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain. And it never is. But I labored more abundantly
than they all. Yet it wasn't me, but the grace
of God that was working in me. Therefore, whether it were I
or they, so we preach and so you believe. Believe in the gospel
of the grace of our great God. The gospel of the grace of God. All religions which were the
name of Christian use the same Bible. They may have different
translations, but they use the same Bible, basically. And they
use the same names and the same words that we use. They talk
about God, Christ, Righteousness, sin, salvation, grace. Same words. They're pronounced
just the same by whoever says them. But we must know what they
mean. If I go around talking about
God, and then when I begin to describe Him, He doesn't fit
the description of this book. I have a God of my own imagination.
It's just an image. A lie. A deadly lie. There is a deadly problem among
religionists. These names and words each have
a biblical definition, a biblical meaning. When you say, God, fill
it up for me, please, what do you mean by God? Who is your
God? Deadly problem. Must, must know the meaning of
these words. What do you mean when you say
God? Define your God. What do you mean when you say
grace? What do you mean by grace? What is it to you? What does
it mean to you? Our business should be to find
out what it means according to this book. According to the Scriptures. That's it. It doesn't matter
what somebody may have told me or what I may have learned in
school. It's what the Scriptures say. What do the Scriptures teach
about the grace of God? Most men today, they think it's
just some kind of an offer. But men today, and I say this
to our own condemnation, our own judgment, that what we do
today, many professors, most professors, they don't question
what they hear. They don't question what they
hear. They don't inquire into these
names and words to find out what they mean. This is an age of presumption
and indifference and carelessness. Just taking these things as we
receive them without checking it out. Paul talked about the
Bereans being a very noble people, for when he preached there, the
great apostles of the Gentiles, when he preached there, they
went home and searched the Scriptures daily to find out if he was telling
the truth. Boy, you ought to search the
Scriptures to find out if this old man is telling the truth.
And anybody you hear, search the Scriptures. Christ told the
Pharisees, search the Scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life. You boast in the Scriptures,
rejoice in the works of Moses, and you don't know what he's
talking about. You don't believe the Scriptures. Because Moses
wrote of me and you won't have me. Search the Scriptures. Search
the Scriptures. Nothing in this world is so important. And yet about nothing in this
world are men more presumptuous, careless, and indifferent. May
God help us. What we have in our minds is
either knowledge or it's imagination. It's either true or it's not.
There is no halfway. What we have in our minds is
either fact or fiction. Fact or fiction. one or the other. And I mean by that what I think
about God. What I think about God is either
fact or fiction. What I think about God is either
knowledge according to this book or something I picked up along
the way, carry around in my head. It's either life or death, heaven or hell, what I have in
my mind. My heart. One or the other. Look at Titus just a moment.
Chapter 2. And to conserve time, I'll just read one verse. You
can fill in the context and check it out when you get home. See
what he's talking about. But look at this one verse. Titus
chapter 2 and verse 11. Verse 11, For the grace of God that bringeth, it doesn't say
offers you salvation, bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all
men, but it teaching us teaching us, denying ungodliness, worldly
lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this
present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. I want to hang on to that one
term, the grace of God that bringeth salvation. that bringeth salvation. Look
at that one word. The grace of God and the salvation
of sinners, spiritually dead, men and women. It bringeth life. It bringeth salvation. It brings
repentance. It brings faith. It brings Christ. It brings salvation. The grace
of God bringeth salvation. Paul said, I am what I am by
the grace of God. I labored more abundantly than
all the apostles. I, who am not fit to be an apostle,
but it wasn't really me, it was grace, the grace of God. Now, the world's definition of
grace is found in the dictionary. This is also the contemporary
thought of much of modern religion, most of modern religion. And
that is this, to quote, divine mercy and forgiveness, divine
mercy or forgiveness. And then the meaning is, Divine
assistance given men for the regeneration and sanctification. Divine assistance given unto
men for their regeneration and sanctification. That's ridiculous. How can you assist someone in
your own birth? I didn't have anything to do
with my first birth, did you? I didn't have anything to do
with my second birth. We're born. John 1.13, we're
born of God. Born not of blood, not of the
will of the flesh, not of the will of man. Born of God. James 1.18, of His own will begat
He us with the Word of truth. With the Word of truth. If you're
born of God, you know some truth. You know some truth. Faith comes
by hearing, and hearing by this Word of Truth. If you have saving
faith, you know some truth. If God gave it to you, you know
some truth, because it's built on the truth. Faith and saving
faith comes by hearing the Word of Truth. To think about this definition,
divine assistance given man for his regeneration, sanctification.
In other words, what they're saying is it's all left up to
the free will of man. Divine assistance. God will assist
you, but it's left up to you. It's left up to those who are
wise, left up to the willing, and left up to the cooperative.
You cooperate with God. His grace will help you out.
But the Bible says the grace of God bringeth, bringeth, bringeth
salvation. Bringeth salvation. Those who by their own will and
ability tap into the grace of God, that's what most folks believe.
It's an offer sent down here from the Lord. Those who take
advantage of God's universal grace, that's what most folks
believe. Well, I claimed the promise.
I made my decision. Yeah, and you're still trusting
in you too. The grace of God and salvation.
Listen to these words carefully. Listen to this old man now. I'm
telling you the truth. The grace of God in salvation,
the grace of God that bringeth salvation, it is operative, powerful,
and effectual. Operative, powerful, effectual. It bringeth salvation. It bringeth
life to the dead. It resurrects them from their
spiritual grave. You know, we sing that song,
even the Armenians, free willers sing it, but they don't know
what it means. They don't believe what they're singing. Amazing
grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Saved
me. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. I was blind, but now I see. Grace. Grace did it. God's sovereign, free, effectual
grace. Bringeth salvation. It's not
just an offer. If that's all it was, it would
be hanging out there and we'd be here dead in trespasses and
sins and perished the same way. Paul said, I am what I am by
the grace of God. The grace of God made me to be
what I am today, Paul said. He said it turned me from an
enemy of God an enemy of God into a friend. Grace did that. The grace of God brought me from
being an enemy to God to being a friend of God and a willing
bond slave of Jesus Christ. I'm sold out to Him lock, stock
and barrel. Grace did that. He said, I can see the spirit bear witness
to a lot of things everywhere I go. Persecution, distress,
beatings, mockings, all these things. But he said, these things
don't move me. Neither can I my life dear unto
myself that I might finish my course with joy. None of these
things move me. He sold out. He determined. He
dedicated. He devoted. He gave himself to
serve the Lord. He said, None of these things
move me, neither can I my life dear unto myself, that I might
finish my course with joy, and testify of that gospel of the
grace of God. Grace of God. And that's the
only gospel there is. And the grace in that gospel
is not an offer. It bringeth salvation. It bringeth
salvation. Paul said, I labored more abundantly
than they all. Yet it wasn't me, it was grace.
God's grace. Powerful, operative, effectual
grace. Philippians 1, 6, He which hath
begun, begun a good work in you, will perform it. Keep on working
until the day of Jesus. Jesus Christ bringeth, worketh,
Philippians 2, verses 12 and 13. Work out your own salvation
with fear and tremor, for it is God that worketh in you, both
the will and to do of His good pleasure. Isaiah the prophet
said, We're in good shape, Lord, for Thou hast wrought all of
our works in us. We'll never fall, for Thou hast
wrought all of our works in us. It wasn't from us, it was from
the grace of God. the Spirit of God in His sovereign,
free grace. Psalm 110, verse 3, He makes
His people willing in the day of His power, sovereign, free,
effectual, operative grace. It's not a dead day. It's not
an offer. It bringeth salvation. Well, number one, there is an eternal
election taught in this book. And what is it? An election of
grace. God wasn't looking for a good
one here and a good one there and a wise one here and a wise
one there. It's all a pure grace. You see your calling, brethren.
Not many wise do I ever call. Not many noble. an election of
grace. You find that in Romans 11, verse
5, an election of grace. Paul, Acts 9, verse 15, was a
chosen vessel unto God. Election of grace. Pure, free,
sovereign, effectual grace. Acts 26, verses 16-18, bears
witness to the same. Ephesians 1 bears witness to
the same. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places, in Christ, according as he hath
chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, an election
of grace, and given us all these spiritual blessings that we will
ever receive in this life and throughout eternity. He gave
them to us in Christ before we ever made this world. We are chosen and loved and predestinated
in Christ, predestinated unto eternal glory, predestinated
to be conformed to the image of God's own Son. And then in our preservation
and our conversion, we're chosen vessels. But this chosen vessel
must be born into the world. We're chosen before the world
was. It must be born into the world. must hear the gospel,
must believe it. And all that comes to pass in
the sovereign, free, effectual, operative grace of God. The Apostle Paul said, Galatians
1, 15 and 16, God who separated me from my mother's womb, called me by His grace when it
pleased Him to reveal His Son in me. You know, when I was born
into this world, when it pleased God. You know, when I was born
the next time, when it pleased God. You know, when Christ was
revealed to me, as David said, when it pleased God. Salvation
by revelation. That's not something I do. It's
something God does for me, reveals Himself in Christ, reveals His
glory in the face of that lowliness of me. Paul said it like this,
said, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has
shined in our hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Mary's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the work of God, the work of God. By grace are you saved through
faith in that light of yourselves. Faith is a gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Grace, grace, grace. It's by grace that faith comes,
by grace that we continue. Divine demonstration and testimony
of all who hear. Turn back just a moment in your
Bible to 1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1. This is a testimony of true believers. They testify that they obtained
mercy. You don't find in the scriptures
where it says, I made a decision, I did this, I claimed the promise
and all that kind of stuff. In the scriptures they say, I was a child of hell, child of
wrath, and I obtained mercy. 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12. I
thank God, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me,
for he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was
before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious. There's a but there again, but
I obtain mercy. God have mercy on me. found grace
like old Noah, I obtained mercy. This goes along with what we
have in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 1. Behold! Behold! Be astonished! Behold! What manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. Bestowed upon us. Not offered us. Bestowed upon
us that we should be called the sons of God because He made us
His sons. Grace brought salvation to us.
We obtained mercy, divine mercy, mercy of the Lord. They shall be glorified. That's
grace. When our hearts are opened to
the gospel, that's grace. God opened Lydia's heart and
she received the Word. That's grace. And we're kept by the power of
God through faith. That's grace. That's grace. And then there's this free, sovereign,
effectual grace. It's the greatest comfort to
the saints of God. I wouldn't have any comfort if
I trusted in my faith. Like a little thing says on this
morning, a man is just as much saved that has weak faith as
the one that has strong faith. But if you trust in your faith,
you're always going to be in trouble, whether it's weak or
strong, because it's always changing. One day you think you have strong
faith, perhaps. And another day you wonder if
you ever believed at all. Our confidence is in our God.
Our God. David said in 2 Samuel 23, I
think verse 5, he said, God told me what I ought to be and what
I should be and how I should conduct myself and my house.
And boy, it has not been that way. But I'm still saved because
God hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things
insure. This is my desire, my hope, my
salvation. Trusting in Him. I have no confidence
in me. Paul said we're the circumcision
that worship God in the Spirit. Rejoice in Christ Jesus. I have
no confidence in this place at all. In me, that is, in this
place dwelleth no good thing. No good thing. And this grace, free sovereignty,
spectral grace, is the greatest encouragement to sinners. You won't be saved based upon
what you do, what you are. You'll be saved by the grace
of God. And this word is amazing. Freely. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Romans
3, 24. Being justified freely. You know what that word means.
It's translated in another place in the Gospel of John. That they
hated Christ without a cause. And no reason in Him they should
have hated Him. The reason was in them, dead dog sinners. And that's the same word that's
freely, without a cause. Why did God ever save me? No
cause in me, none whatsoever. Why did God ever save any of
you? There's no cause in you, none whatsoever. We're saved
by the grace of God. That grace will bring us salvation. That salvation is bestowed upon
us. We obtain mercy. We obtain mercy. That's how the Bible reads. How
the Bible reads. This should be such an encouragement
to sinners. Sovereign, free grace. You know, if you were to go to a prison
where you had a hundred people on death row, they've been tried,
convicted, and sentenced. They're just waiting the day
of execution. And the governor sends out a
message, I'm going to have mercy on somebody. I'm going to have
mercy on somebody. If I was one of those hundred,
I sure hope that wouldn't make me mad. But what I'd want to
do if I was wise, I'd run out up in the front of the line and
say, Oh God, have mercy on me. Guilty. Death hanging over my
head. Have mercy, oh God. Oh, Thou
Son of David, have mercy on me. And if the governor pardoned
ten and left the rest in their guilt, he has harmed nobody. If God's pleased to save one
here this morning or one here in ten years and let the rest
go on to perish, he's harmed nobody. Spurgeon said God could, that
tabernacle where they preach to 8,000 people every time he
would stood up there to preach. He said, God could stop here
this morning and save everybody in this place. Or He could just pass us by,
leaving us in our sins to perish. And God is still holy and just
and good. He hasn't hurt anybody. All He
owes us is hell. That's all we deserve is hell.
The wages of sin is hell, death. Salvation is free. To the no
good, to the undeserving, to the hell deserving, to the lost
sinner, it's free. You're thirsty, you want it,
take the water of life freely. Oh, every one that thirsteth,
come ye to the water, without money and without price. All who hear and believe it are
saved, free. Well, I'm waiting to feel something,
and oh, it's free. Now, based upon your feelings,
based upon His mercy, His promise, His Word, The old songwriter said, all
the fitness he requireth is to feel your need of him. To feel
your need of him. And if you feel your need of
him, that's grace too. That's grace that bringeth salvation. God has brought us forth from
the womb, each one of us. when it pleases Him. Giving us
health, the measure of health that we have. It's all in the
hands of God. Giving us a sound mind. Sending
us the gospel of His free grace. The big question right now as
I close out this service is, do you need it? This center does. honest. I believe it. I trust him. And he said, Thou shalt be saved. Not maybe, shalt be saved. Substitution. Full provision
is made for us by the Lord Jesus, our Substitute. He satisfied
God for us, and we are saved in Him. He that hath the Son,
he hath life. Full, free forgiveness. Justification forever. is freely given unto sinners
in Christ through faith in His name. If you believe already,
God help you to believe more. Lord, increase our faith. If
you haven't yet believed and trusted and cast yourself upon
Christ, today is a good day.