By the Grace of God I Am What I Am

By the Grace of God I Am What I Am

1 Corinthians 15:9–11 KJV

“But by the grace of God I am what I am…”

Introduction — The Explanation for Paul's Life

There are some people whose lives simply cannot be explained apart from the grace of God.

The Apostle Paul was one of those people.

If all we had of Paul was Acts 7: 58; Acts 8:1 and Acts 9:1-2, we would never have imagined what he would become.

He consented to the death of Stephen.

He made “havock of the church.”

He entered houses and dragged believers away.

By Acts 9, he was “breathing out threatenings and slaughter.”

He wasn't indifferent toward Jesus Christ.

He was actively opposed to Jesus Christ.

Yet that same man would become one of the greatest preachers of Christ the world would ever know.

He would carry the Gospel across the Roman world.

He would establish churches.

He would suffer for the name he once persecuted.

He would later write to the church at Philipi: “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” — Philippians 1:21

He lived for Christ from Acts 9 to the end of his life.

So how do you explain a life like that?

One simple 5 letter word: GRACE

Paul explains IT LIKE THIS:

“By the grace of God I am…”

Grace explains where God found him.

Grace explains what God made of him.

Grace explains how God used him.

And if you are saved this morning, you may not have Paul's testimony—

but you do have Paul's same explanation.

“By the grace of God I am what I am.”

I. Grace Found Him

— v. 9

“For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”

Before Paul tells us what he is, he reminds us what he was.

And notice:

grace did not find him because of his worthiness.

Grace found him because of his unworthiness.

A. Look at How Grace Found Him

“because I persecuted the church of God.”

Paul never forgot the pit from which grace had lifted him.

He had a past he could not erase.

Acts 8:3: “As for Saul, he made havock of the church…”

Acts 9:1: “And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord…”

He had become an enemy of the very Christ who would save him.

He opposed Christ.

He persecuted Christians.

He attempted to stop the Gospel.

He hurt the church of God.

Grace didn't find Paul at his best.

Grace found Paul at his worst.

And that's what makes grace grace.

Romans 5:8: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

God did not wait for Paul to clean himself up.

God did not wait for Paul to become worthy.

Grace came to an unworthy man.

in a dirty, rotten state.

That's the nature of grace.

If we deserved it, it wouldn't be grace.

If we could earn it, it wouldn't be grace.

If we could achieve it, it wouldn't be grace.

Grace is God giving to the undeserving what they could never earn for themselves.

A. Look at How Grace Found Him

B. Look at Where Grace Found Him

(This is where verses 1–8 become so important.)

Paul has just defined the Gospel: “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”

Grace isn't just a work of a holy God toward sinners.

Grace has a foundation—the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Paul could be forgiven because Christ had died for Paul's sins.

Paul could have life because Christ had risen from the dead.

And then verse 8he says: “And last of all he was seen of me also…”

Acts 9 tells us exactly where that happened.

Paul wasn't looking for Jesus.

Jesus confronted Paul.

Paul was carrying letters from the high priest.

He had plans.

He had authority.

He had a destination.

But grace interrupted his journey.

And the Gospel Paul had tried to destroy became the Gospel that saved his soul.

Application — Grace Found Me

Paul had his Damascus road.

What do you have?

Your testimony doesn't have to look like Paul's to have the same explanation.

Maybe grace found you in a church pew.

Maybe grace found you in a Christian home.

Maybe grace found you as a child.

Maybe grace found you after years of rebellion.

The circumstances may be different.

But the Savior is the same.

The Gospel is the same.

And the grace is the same.

I wasn't saved because I finally found my way to God.

I was saved because God, in His grace, came to me

Grace found me.

In my worst condition

and In the place of rebellion

church, never get so far removed from the day God saved you that you forget where grace found you.

Because remembering where grace found us keeps us humble, grateful, and amazed.

Grace Found Him

But grace also…

II. Grace Formed Him

— v. 10a

“But by the grace of God I am what I am…”

This may be one of the greatest contrasts in Paul's testimony.

A. What He Had Been — v. 9

“I persecuted the church of God.”

That's Paul's past.

Paul does not deny it.

He does not rewrite it.

He does not excuse it.

But neither does he allow it to define what he presently is.

There's a difference between remembering your past and living in your past.

Paul remembered what he had been—

but grace had changed what he was.

A. What He Had Been — v. 9

B. What He Had Become — v. 10

“I am what I am.”

Put those two verses beside each other:

“I persecuted…”

“But…I am…”

Something happened between “I was” and “I am.”

Grace happened.

The persecutor became a preacher.

The man who scattered churches became the man who established churches.

The man who imprisoned Christians became the man willing to be imprisoned for Christ.

The man who once hated the name of Jesus became the man who said:

“For to me to live is Christ…” — Philippians 1:21

That's more than reformation.

That's transformation.

2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature…”

Grace does not simply give us a better version of the old man.

Christ gives us new life.

And grace continues shaping that life.

Who Deserved the Credit

Paul could have built quite a résumé by this point.

Missionary.

Apostle.

Preacher.

Church planter.

Theologian.

Author.

Sufferer for Christ.

Yet Paul doesn't say: “Look what I made of myself.”

He says: “By the grace of God…”

Paul understood something we sometimes forget:

Everything good in me is evidence of His grace toward me.

1 Corinthians 4:7 asks: “and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?”

What do I have that God didn't give me?

What spiritual accomplishment can I claim independently of Him?

Paul refuses to steal glory from grace.

Application — Grace Formed Me

Grace didn't stop working when it found me.

I am still a work of grace.

Ephesians 2:10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works…”

We are His workmanship.

That word gives us the picture of something God Himself is producing.

God is still working.

God is still shaping.

God is still correcting.

God is still conforming us to the image of His Son.

Grace found me as I was, but grace refused to leave me as I was.

When I look back at where I was—

and then look at where God has brought me—

I cannot take the credit.

I didn't get myself here.

I haven't kept myself here.

“By the grace of God I am what I am.”

And I'm not everything I ought to be yet.

I'm not everything I want to be yet.

But thank God, grace is still working on me.

III. Grace Fueled Him

— vv. 10–11

“and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain…”

Paul wasn't merely saved from something.

He was saved for something.

And now we discover that grace is not merely pardoning grace or transforming grace.

It is also enabling grace.

A. Grace Planted Something in Him

“his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain”

Just look at this verse:

“which was bestowed”… means to take place; to place with in.

God had planted Grace with in Paul and grace had taken root

Think about it, Grace was planted within Paul and it rooted out :

Old desires.

priorities.

affections.

and old ambitions.

It rooted with him A new purpose for living.

Before Christ, Paul had zeal—but his zeal was pointed in the wrong direction.

He was passionate.

He was committed.

He was religious.

But he was lost.

Then grace took hold of that man and gave his life an entirely new purpose.

That's why Paul says God's grace:

“was not in vain…”

The word vain carries the idea of empty, without result or effect.

Paul is saying:

God's grace was planted in him and Paul says “it produced fruit in my life.”

The man who once lived to stop the Gospel now lived to spread the Gospel.

Grace received becomes grace revealed.

Not perfection.

Not sinlessness.

But there ought to be evidence that grace has been at work.

Titus 2:11–12 reminds us: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us…”

Saving grace is also teaching grace.

Grace doesn't simply rescue us from sin's penalty.

Grace takes root and begins teaching us to live differently.

A. Grace Planted Something in Him

B. Grace Performed Something Through Him

“but I laboured more abundantly than they all…”

What grace planted in Paul eventually began showing up through Paul.

His inward transformation resulted in outward activity.

Think about what grace accomplished through this former persecutor:

Churches planted.

Missionary journeys undertaken.

Preachers trained.

Believers discipled.

Epistles written.

Persecution endured.

Prisons entered.

The Gospel carried into regions where Christ had not been named.

And Paul calls it labor.

Grace did not eliminate effort.

Grace redirected his effort and empowered it for eternal purposes.

Paul wasn't working to obtain grace.

He was working because he had received grace.

That is the difference between religion and the Gospel.

Religion says: Work so God will accept you.

The Gospel says: In Christ you have been accepted—now give Him your life.

A. Grace Planted Something in Him

B. Grace Performed Something Through Him

C. Grace Provided Him Everything He Needed

“yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”

Paul essentially says:

“I did it—but I didn't do it.”

“I laboured…”

There's responsibility.

Paul showed up.

Paul preached.

Paul traveled.

Paul endured.

Paul worked.

But then:

“yet not I…”

There's humility.

And finally: “but the grace of God which was with me.”

There's dependency.

He was the vessel.

God was the supply

Notice the language:

Earlier: “his grace which was bestowed upon me…”

Now: “the grace of God which was with me.”

The grace that came to him stayed with him.

Grace found him.

Grace formed him.

And grace went with him.

You dont recieve Grace then lose it.

Grace stays with you. It is in continuious supply

It never runs out.

Now, remember Paul reminded us: Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid.

God di not plant his grace in us

did not perform grace through us

and he did not provide grace to us so that we can continue in sin.

Grace changed Paul and it should change you.

If you are still the same old person you were before God planted His grace in you, It never took root.

remember no root no fruit!!

Application — Grace Fuels Me

I didn't just need grace the day I got saved.

I need grace today.

I cannot preach without His grace.

I cannot pastor without His grace.

I cannot be the husband I ought to be without His grace.

I cannot be the father I ought to be without His grace.

I cannot endure trials without His grace.

I cannot overcome temptation without His grace.

I cannot stay faithful without His grace.

I cannot finish my course without His grace.

I needed grace to get saved, and I haven't outgrown my need for grace since.

Conclusion

If Paul could stand before us this morning and we asked him:

Paul, how did you go from persecuting the church to preaching Christ?

He would say: “By the grace of God…”

Paul, how did you endure the beatings?

“By the grace of God…”

How did you survive the prisons?

“By the grace of God…”

How did you keep preaching when people rejected you?

“By the grace of God…”

How did you keep going through shipwreck, suffering, loneliness and opposition?

“By the grace of God…”

Paul, how did Saul of Tarsus become the Apostle Paul?

“By the grace of God I am what I am.”

And this morning, I wonder if there aren't some people in this room who could stand beside Paul and say:

That's my testimony too.

I know where grace found me.

I can see how grace has formed me.

And I know it is grace that has fueled me every step of the way.

Maybe somebody needs to quit looking at what you used to be and start thanking God for what His grace is making you.

Maybe somebody has forgotten where God found you, and you need to get amazed by grace again.

Maybe somebody is exhausted because you've been trying to live the Christian life in your own strength.

You've been saying:

“I can handle it.”

Paul says:

“Yet not I…”

Maybe the prayer this morning needs to be:

“Lord, I can't—but Your grace can.”

And then there may be somebody here who cannot yet say:

“By the grace of God I am what I am.”

You know about grace.

You've heard about Jesus.

But you have never personally received the Gospel Paul declared in verses 3–4: “Christ died for our sins…”

He was buried.

He rose again.

And the same grace that reached a persecutor named Saul can reach you.

You don't have to make yourself worthy.

You don't have to fix yourself first.

Come to Christ.

Trust the One who died for your sins and rose again.

And for those of us who know Him, perhaps we ought to leave this morning with less boasting about ourselves and more boasting in Him.

Because when it is all said and done—

If I am saved—Grace.

If I have changed—Grace.

If I am still standing—Grace.

If God has ever used me—Grace.

If I make it all the way home—Grace.

And when somebody asks:

“How do you explain your life?”

There is really only one answer:

“But by the grace of God I am what I am.”