If you will turn to our text verse, 1 Corinthians 15:10. I think you know by now this is our text, this single verse. I will read it from the Darby Version.
But by God’s grace, I am what I am.
And His grace, which was towards me, has not been vain;
but I have labored more abundantly than they all,
yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Lord, as we think of this single verse, we begin to consider again something of the depth of the grace of God. We pray Your Holy Spirit will continue to make that real to us.
Lord, we always say it, and we mean it, because we are so utterly dependent. You alone have the words of eternal life. Unless You speak, unless You reveal, unless You open to us what Your Word is really saying, we will not understand it.
We need this morning, we tell You, the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him. Help us, quicken us, cause us to hear, and cause us to see. Then we will know—then we will know—the depth of Your grace. In Jesus’ precious name, amen.
Well, I believe you know our subject—at least I hope so. This is the second part of a four-part series. I think this verse easily breaks itself into four parts.
The first part, you have heard me share on: “But by God’s grace, I am what I am.” That was Paul’s testimony. He gave credit to the grace of God above everything, and it should be our testimony as well. That was essentially what we talked about.
Today, we are going to talk about this second phrase: “And His grace, which was towards me, has not been vain.” That will be the second part we look at today.
And then the third part—I told you this probably makes you a little bit nervous—“But I have labored more abundantly than they all.” When we think of grace, we do not think of labor, do we? We do not think of work. But there is something here.
And then finally, I believe, is the secret—the secret of the Christian life: “Yet not I.” I have never thought of getting a tattoo, but if I did, it would say, “Yet not I, but Christ.”
This is the secret of the Christian life: “Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”
So this is what we have been dealing with, and this is what we will deal with again this morning, and the other times I have responsibility for. We see in this single verse Paul’s extraordinary appreciation for the grace of God—what credit he gave to grace.
He said, essentially, “It was what made me what I am.” I meant and said it with, I hope, some real conviction: not one of us—not one of us, as successful as you might be in this world—is a self-made man. We are grace-made men. That is what the apostle Paul was saying in this verse.
I thought about it. I actually thought of a different title. I almost gave it a different title: “Grace upon grace.” How appropriate that would be from John 1. But the more I meditated on this single verse for these long months—I have been thinking about it—the more I thought about this title: The Complete Work of Grace.
I believe compressed into this single verse is something deep of the grace of God, something tremendous of the grace of God, something revealed that seems like a whole.
You know, in my profession as a structural engineer, I am not allowed to use the word complete. My liability insurance company tells me, “You cannot use that word,” because nothing we do is complete. Nothing you do is perfect. If you imply that you do, you are wrong at worst and a liar at best.
But maybe it is a little bit of a rebellious streak. When I think of the Lord Jesus, the word complete—it is perfect. The complete work of grace: here it is.
Paul talked about how it made him. He talked about the grace being towards him. He talked about how he labored more abundantly so that he could cooperate with that grace. And he said finally, “Yet not I.” That is always the Christian testimony: “But the grace that was with me.”
So that is sort of where we have been in this word. You know, I mentioned last time that grace is here in this single verse, this comprehensive verse, three times. It only happens one other time in the New Testament: Romans 11:6, when it is talking about election and the children of Israel.
But here we see grace upon grace. We see a complete work of grace. And not only do we see grace three times, but we see this word but four times.
Now, you may not think “buts” are very important. I will never forget when Brother Sparks helped us with this, and he said, “When you see that word but, pay attention to it. It is an important word.”
You think of that old idiom that says, “But by the grace of God go I.” That is what the apostle Paul is saying. But here in this verse there are four buts:
Now, I for one have made many English errors, as has been well attested to. The old English teachers used to say, “Never start a sentence with but or and, a conjunction. It is bad English.” Well, the apostle Paul did not have those professors. Thank God. Now it has become acceptable.
But think of that verse in Ephesians 2:4. I always tease John; he is going to hit me one day, I am sure of it. But that verse in Ephesians 2:4 says, “But God.” Is that not great, how it begins?
Brothers and sisters, that is the secret for all of us as believers, for this entire universe: there is one thing—but God. Thank the Lord for that little word, but.
An English writing source I was looking at said that in the past, English teachers—by the way, I have too many of them in my house—used to preach that one should never start a sentence with conjunctions like and or but, these connecting words. As one who has made many mistakes, I am glad that it has become acceptable.
Listen to what Merriam-Webster said: But, used at the beginning of a sentence, expresses surprise and shock. If we are not surprised and shocked by the depth of the grace of God, how can we be surprised? “But by God’s grace, I am what I am. Yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”
That is what we have been dealing with.
There is a verse I would like to read to you. You can jot this down. You can think about it later: Ephesians 4:7. I think of this verse, I think just the words, “But grace.”
But unto each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Each one of us. Brothers and sisters, it was not just given to the apostle Paul. It was not just given to the apostles. It was not just given to aged saints in the past. It is given to—listen to that word—every one of us: a measure of grace.
That is how great Paul’s testimony is, and how much it should be for us.
I also mentioned that grace—the common definition, a beautiful definition, one that I love, and I will never take away from—is unmerited favor. How that explains the grace of God.
But I believe when you look at Paul’s explanation of the grace of God, you see more than just unmerited favor that saved us. You see more than just unmerited favor that gave us access. You begin to see the unmerited favor of God that brought us to Himself, and His unlimited power to transform us into what we are not. That is grace.
At the end, when grace has done its work, I think we, like the apostle Paul, will say, “Yet not I, but the grace that was with me.”
So that is where we have been. We shared last time on grace, our testimony; grace upon grace, our beginning and our end. I do not want to go back over that. We shared grace, our everything, sufficient in every circumstance—in every circumstance.
Now, today we are going to continue with the complete work of grace in one phrase, one phrase I would like us just to think about and maybe try to grasp a little deeper: the grace that is towards us.
Brothers and sisters, when you think about this, think about how many things are against us for a moment. It is incredible, when you begin to think, how many things in this world are against us. As a believer in particular, how many things are against us?
I remember reading years ago, when I was newly born, that as a person living in this world, unsaved and unaware of the grace of God, you may live a relatively simple, unmolested life. But when you turn to the Lord Jesus, when you become His, and even when you enter into His full purpose, life is no longer easy.
You know the expression. I will not say it all for the sake of this company: life is hard, but then you die. Linda is shaking her head. I think she is worried about me again, that I forgot part of it. There is another part of that phrase which is not for this audience. You know what I mean.
Brothers and sisters, how many things are against us? I think there is a beautiful story in the Bible that follows the feeding of the five thousand.
What a miracle of grace: two loaves, a few fish, small fishes, a boy’s meal, and yet multiplied grace fed that crowd, and there were basketfuls left over.
Then you remember the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “Get in the boat.” You remember, at the end of that miracle, “Get in the boat and go to the other side, to Bethsaida, and meet Me.” You remember the story. I think you all probably know this story. It is in several places in the Scriptures.
It says in Mark 6:47-48:
And when even was come, the boat was in the midst of the sea, and He alone on the land.
And seeing them distressed in rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them.
Speaking of the Lord Jesus, He saw them “laboring in rowing.” Listen to this phrase; it is so graphic: “For the wind was contrary to them.”
Now, if you have ever thought about life’s difficulties, is that not a good expression? Are we not sometimes discovering that our life is laboring and rowing? Do you not discover in the circumstances of life that the wind is contrary to you? I think it is so graphic. The Word of God is so beautiful.
I believe that is why we can give thanks and say grace is towards us. Grace—great grace. Even if everything is against us, yet by God’s grace, His grace is towards us.
I believe that is the secret of this story. You remember the Lord came up to them and got in the boat. I think that is what happens to the Christian. Brothers and sisters, the Lord is not just off at a distance, unrelated to you. As our brother said in the opening, He has a direct and personal relationship with you, and He gets in the boat with you. Can you imagine? That is grace upon grace.
Then when He gets in the boat, somehow the storm calms. I think that is grace toward us.
Young’s Literal Translation says, “The wind was against them.” So much in life is against us when we think about the trials of life and everything. But think more—think more just for a moment. Think about Satan himself: he is against us.
I never quite understand the story of Job, as many times as I have read it and considered it. When Satan went before the throne of God the Father and said, “Will You just give me access to Job?” Gosh, I would have said, “Not a chance in your life.”
But God knew better. He knew somehow Job would not learn the depth, Job would not experience the height, Job would not experience the breadth, Job would not experience the length, without such experience.
Satan himself is against us. And you know, the enemy—the enemy—he really hates us. If you did not know that, you need to know that.
It says in John 10:10:
The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy:
I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
Now, that is not someone you want to invite to your house for dinner. But then it says the most glorious thing. This is grace: “I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.”
Is that not grace? Praise the Lord. Though the enemy be against us, as Paul Harvey used to say, the rest of the story is: “I have come that you might have life,” and not meager life, by the way—abundant life. That is grace complete.
I think of Revelation 12:10:
Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accuseth them before our God day and night.
I just wish the enemy would take time off—a vacation. All of us do. But he accuses us day and night. How the enemy is against us.
But the good news in this verse is that we see he will be cast out, thank God. And we see, in the meantime, the Lord has made a portion of His grace so powerful that the enemy cannot even penetrate it.
The next verse talks about how they overcame him:
And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death.
Every grace is made for the most heinous enemy, and Satan is the most heinous enemy.
Think of the world. You may like this world, but the world hates you. I do not know if I am bursting your bubble, or your idealistic bubble, this morning, but the world hates you. The Lord said in John 15, “The world hated Me, and the world will hate you.”
It hates you the moment you really begin—well, let me do a little bit of a diversion, if you do not mind. I am often doing that, by the way.
The world loves to talk about us believers as haters. You know, this is a popular thing. That is the new attack against Christians: “You are haters because you do not embrace this group and because you do not like that group. Haters, haters, hate.” They love to say, “Love wins.”
But they are the greatest haters of all. The world, the Lord said, will hate you. Do not get too cozy with the world. You have to live in the world. You are in the world, but the Lord said you are not of the world.
The way we can make it through in this world and be a testimony is because the unlimited grace of God is poured out on us. That is how we can make it. That is how we can make it in this world.
Listen to 1 John 4:4:
Ye are of God, my little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.
That includes Satan, the prince of this world. It includes the world itself. And the Lord said, this amazing grace: “Greater is He that is in you”—Himself, by the Holy Spirit—“than he that is in the world.”
Think of another thing that is against us just for a moment: sin is against us.
You remember how we read that verse last time in Romans 5:20:
And the law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly.
Is that not tremendous? Praise the Lord, that sin, with all of its darkness—the way it can ruin lives, wreck marriages, destroy people—is not more powerful than grace.
It is true, we need to recognize sin does abound. All you have to do is read your paper, watch the news, or go to the internet. But here is the but. Here is the most important thing: where sin abounded, grace much more abounded.
What a word of encouragement. It begins with but: where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, is the way it is in the King James Version; or in Darby, “Where sin abounded, grace has over-abounded.” Thank God for that. There is not a sin for which there is not grace—and superabundant grace. That is encouragement.
Thirdly—I mean, another one I think of—is self. I do not know if you have met and discovered this yet, but self, your self-life, who you are in total, is often against you. You found that out.
You have said more than once, “I really want to. I wish I had. I determined to.” But the sin that was in you, like Romans 7—you could not. That self-life seemed to always propel you in a different direction. We say we can be our own worst enemy. I think you agree with that.
I remember the Pogo cartoon. I love it. None of you young people know what on earth I am talking about. You are thinking, “Brother Pittman, what on earth are you talking about?” The Pogo cartoon says, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” There is a lot of spiritual truth in that.
Our self-life, sin, tends to give us so much trouble. It is actually taken from Admiral Oliver Hazard Perry’s famous saying in 1813, at the Battle of Lake Erie, when he said, fighting the British, “We have met the enemy, and they are ours.” But Pogo changed everything, and that is the way we remember it.
Do you not realize how difficult the self-life is? It is against you. Until there is an interaction, until there is a change, and self is off the throne and Christ is on the throne, that self-life may be your greatest enemy.
You remember when the apostle Paul was on the road to Damascus and that sun shone so bright at noonday, it knocked him off his horse. I mentioned this last week. He said two questions:
Lord, who art Thou?
Lord, what wilt Thou have me do?
These are two most important questions. When you say those words and mean them with all your heart, “Lord,” self is dethroned and Christ takes the throne.
Only grace can do that. We are too difficult to overcome without the grace of God. But the end is for us to be like the apostle Paul and to have Him on the throne.
Now, I would like you—this is an encouragement—I do not know if you will take the time, but I wish you would. I did, and it was so helpful. I began to look up this phrase, “towards us” or “towards me,” in the Scripture, and it was enlightening. Just search it. I will give you a few examples.
I love the one in Song of Solomon 7:10. This is the last of the three similar phrases. When finally the Shulamite maiden was matured in her love by the grace of God—all the dealings she went through in that book finally came to the point of mature love—she said these wonderful words:
I am my beloved’s,
And his desire is toward me.
Thank God. What a thing to discover. What a thing the apostle Paul discovered. I think this is a very, very tremendous thing: His love is towards me.
Maybe I will read a few more. First John 1:9—no, that is not the one I wanted. Ephesians 1:19 is what I would rather have you look at. I think you know this verse, but turn with me to the first chapter of Ephesians, Ephesians 1:19:
And what the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of His might.
Where would we be without the surpassing greatness of His power towards us who believe?
Look at Psalm 117:2. I promise I will not read all these to you.
For His lovingkindness is great toward us;
And the truth of the Lord endureth for ever.
Praise ye the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, all of this is because of His grace.
Look with me in Ephesians 1:7-8 again:
In whom we have our redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace,
which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence.
He has caused the riches of His grace to abound towards us in all wisdom and intelligence.
In Ephesians 2:7, it says:
That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Think about this. In the moment that we live in, this current life, the riches of His grace are being made towards us, available towards us. But think about it in the length, in the eternal aspect. In eternity, it will take the ages to come for us to begin to appreciate the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.
You will not do that in this age. You will live by the grace of God. You will know the abundance of the grace of God. But in eternity, you will discover the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness. That is how full, that is how deep, the grace of God is.
The second thing I thought about is that the grace of God is abundant and inexhaustible. You cannot say too many superlative words about the grace of God. You cannot—let me put it this way—you cannot exaggerate or embellish the grace of God, even if you try.
The apostle Paul, when you read the verses where he applied superlative after superlative in just attempting to explain the depth of the grace of God, you begin to get a sense of how great it is.
I thought of just the single fact that His grace towards us is measureless. You cannot measure it. You cannot quantify it. Try just for a moment to quantify the—uh, I am going to need help with English here—the unquantifiable. Is that a good word, or is that one I just made up at the spur of the moment?
It works for you, a history teacher. I am on board with you, brother. Was 1813 right? Thank you.
You cannot quantify the unquantifiable. You cannot measure the measureless.
I remember once I had a client. He was giving me the dickens at the time. He did not want to pay me a fee, by the way, and usually that is why we are in business. It does not always work out that way.
But I remember he was saying, “How could you do—you did not do much work here.” He was convinced we had not done hardly anything. So it was maybe not a stroke of genius, but at least it helped. I went and got out the calculation files. I took them to his office, and I laid this stack of calculations in the middle of his desk, and I said, “That is what we did.”
He had no idea. He said, “What do y’all do?” Linda still wonders what I do. All I do is calculate.
But you cannot calculate the incalculable. When it comes to the grace of God, you cannot measure the measureless, and you cannot wrap your hands around the infinite, as much as you may try. It seems to me to be the depth of the grace of God.
I love that hymn we sung. Thank you, sister, for playing that hymn. Annie Johnson Flint—I shared about it last time. I will not go into my depth—but “He Giveth More Grace.” What a beautiful hymn.
His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giv