Good morning. Let's open this
morning service with hymn number 62 from your hardbacked hymnal.
Let's all stand together. Hymn number 62, crown him with
many crowns. Crown Him with many crowns, the
Lamb upon His throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem
drowns all music but its own. Awake, my soul, and sing of Him
who died for thee. and hail him as thy matchless
king through all eternity. Crown him the Lord of love, behold
his hands and side. Rich wounds yet visible above,
in beauty glorified. No angel in the sky, Can fully
bear that sight But downward bends his wandering eye At mysteries
so bright ? Crown Him the Lord of life ? Who triumphed o'er
the grave ? Who rose victorious to the strife ? For those He
came to save ? His glories now we sing ? Who died and rose on
high Who died eternal life to bring And lives that death may
die. Crown him the Lord of heaven,
one with the Father known, one with the Spirit through him given,
from yonder glorious throne to thee be endless praise. praise, for thou for us has died. Be thou, O Lord, through endless
days adored and magnified. Please be seated. Good morning. We're going to continue our study in first corinthians
chapter thirteen lord willing we will i'm sorry uh... first corinthians chapter sixteen
lord willing we will uh... conclude our study in this wonderful personal
this morning so want us to ask the Lord's blessings
on our time together. And I want to ask you all to
remember our daughter, Jennifer. She's home with pneumonia and
very, very sick. Michael is back with us, so we're
thankful for that. Diane is back home, so that's
a good thing. Norm Wells and Rachel and Nancy,
I didn't see you Nancy earlier. I didn't know if you were here.
And Rachel's new baby, Josephine, are with us from Oregon. So we're happy that they're here. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, we're humbled that you would cause us to gather in this place
this morning. We're humbled that you would
promise your presence among us. And oh, how hopeful we are that
you would be pleased this morning to crack open the windows of
heaven and let just a sliver of the light of your glory shine
in our hearts and reveal to us the glory of thy dear son. Oh,
how we pray that you would give us assurance of our salvation.
We pray that you would show us, Lord, once again, how the Lord
Jesus Christ has put away all the sins of all of his people
once and for all by the sacrifice of himself. We ask that you would
knit our hearts together in unity. We pray Lord that you would give
us a, a desire for, for your gospel and for your work. And Lord, we do pray for Jennifer
and we asked father that you would give her strength and pray
for your hand to be upon her and to recover her. We pray that
during this time that you would be pleased to reveal your mercy
and grace to her heart. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. How pleasant and how good it
is for brethren to dwell together in unity. When the Lord saves us, He puts
in our hearts a desire for His gospel, a love for Christ, a
love for one another, a desire for His work. And it seems to
me that it's very appropriate that the Holy Spirit led the
apostle to conclude all the things that were written to the church
at Corinth with this admonition, this encouragement to join hearts
and hands together with your brethren in the work of the gospel. We'll begin in verse 13. Watch ye. Watch ye. The Lord is coming back for those
who are waiting and watching for Him. So the Lord is reminding
us of the importance of watching for the return of Christ. Is
that our heart's desire? Is that the If the Lord's given
us unity in the gospel, that will be our heart's desire, to
watch and wait in anticipation for Him. Stand fast in the faith. in the faith, in Christ. In other words, abide in me. And as my word abides in you,
as the vine cannot produce any fruit unless it's attached to
the... the branch cannot produce fruit unless it's attached to
the vine. Lord, cause me to set my affections on Christ and to
give me grace to abide in the faith. In the faith. This matter of faith, and I want
to deal with this a little bit more in the latter part of this
verse. Quit ye like men and be strong. The Lord said, lest you become
as a little child, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Suffer the little children to come unto me, for such is the
kingdom of God. I fear that there is a misunderstanding
of this thing called faith. that faith is seen by some as
some sort of a stalwart strength of character and ability. You know, we talk about some,
you know, there's a man of great faith. When in fact, faith is
just the opposite. Faith is dependence. Faith is
submission. Faith is an acknowledgment of
one's inability, one's weakness. That's why where it says, quit
ye like men, be strong. How am I going to be strong?
What is it to be strong? Well, Paul said, when I am weak,
then I'm strong. For his strength is made perfect
in my weakness. So this matter of quitting like
men or being like men and being strong is a further explanation of what
faith is. it's it's lord I I'm I'm weak
I'm I'm a little child I'm I'm completely dependent upon little
Josephine over there and her and her a little carrier it she
can do anything for herself can she and neither can you and neither
can I I we're completely dependent upon the Lord so this matter
of being strong is well turn with me to Ephesians chapter
6 Ephesians chapter 6 Look at verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord. In the Lord. And in the power
of His might. So, strength of faith is dependence
upon the Lord. It's relying upon His strength.
Lord, I can't see, I can't believe, I can't do anything for myself. Put on, verse 11, put on the
whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil. Lord, I've got to have protection.
If Satan has his way with me, he will overcome me. For we wrestle
not against flesh and blood. This matter of strength is not
pulling yourselves up by your bootstraps and flexing your muscles
and saying, I'm going to be stronger. That's flesh and blood. We wrestle
against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness
of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore,
take you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand
in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore. Stand. Stand where? Stand in
Christ. Stand on Christ. Rely upon the
Lord Jesus Christ for all your righteousness, all of your justification
before God. That's why Paul said Christ is
all and He is in all. Stand therefore, verse 14, having
your loins girt about with truth and having on the breastplate
of righteousness. My strength is in the truth of
the gospel. My strength is in the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace. My ability to stand is to stand
in the gospel. And the gospel is the peace that
I have with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Above all, taking
the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. You
see, all these means of protection that the Lord's given us are
external, aren't they? I mean, they're things that He
has to put over our weak bodies in order to protect us from the
evil one. And so, Lord, if I don't have
the armor, the full armor of God, I'm vulnerable. All right, let's go back. Go
back to our text. This matter of being strong,
being like men, it's a paradox that the natural man can't understand
because, in fact, it's a complete acknowledgment of one's weakness
and one's inability and one's dependence upon another for their
strength. Be strong in the Lord and in
the power of His might. All right, look at verse 14. Let all your things be done with
love. Love for Christ, love for his
gospel, love for his church, love for his people. Lord, I need you to make me strong,
and I need you to put the love of Christ in my heart. I beseech you, brethren, you
know the house of Stephanas. This is Stephen. They knew Stephen. Paul's writing, Stephen is actually
helping him write this letter and he says, you remember the
house of Stephen, that it is the first fruits of Achaia and
that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints.
Don't you love that? Don't you love that? You know anything about addiction?
Sure you do. Sure you do. You know how easy it is to get
addicted to anything, don't you? The flesh is just easy to be
addicted. And what an encouragement it
is that the Lord has used Stephen as an example of a good addiction.
They've just given themselves over to the care and ministry
of the saints. God puts such a spirit of addiction
in our hearts. This is a spiritual addiction. It's not a physical addiction,
it's a spiritual one. It's one that God has to put
in the heart. But what a blessing it is to
the church when God makes us addicted to the ministry of the
saints. that you submit yourselves unto
such and to everyone that helpeth with us and laboreth." This word submit means to put
yourself under. What a blessing it is to see
God's people putting themselves under one another, esteeming
one another more highly than themselves, looking up to one
another, uh... believing themselves to be in
need of of grace more than anybody else that's what it means to
be the chief of all centers god's god's made you a believer you
you know that you're more dependent upon god's grace for your sin
than anybody else and uh... what what a contrast there is
in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ made up of sinners who
are steaming one another more hot of themselves looking up
to each other versus religion where everybody's trying to get
an advantage over someone else. If you've been in religion, you
know that it's full of hypocrisy. It's just full of men trying
to prove to other men that they're more righteous than the other. Isaiah put it like this. He said,
you're holier than thou. And that's what religion is,
just holier than thou. And it's just the opposite, isn't
it, among God's people. If you're a child of God, you
believe yourself to be the greatest sinner in this group. You just
believe that about yourself. You believe yourself to be in
need of more grace than anybody else in this group. And so it's
easy for you to put yourself under and to submit. That's what the Lord is saying.
Submit to one another. Addict yourself to the ministry
of the saints. Do everything in love. And where
is the beginning of this? It's faith. It's faith. It's being strong in the Lord
and in the power of His might. What a spirit of grace. It puts
away all controversy, doesn't it? It puts away all competition. And it's appropriate that the
Lord would bring this letter, particularly to this church in
Corinth, where the spirit of competition was very strong. And the Lord is, after having
exposed all their sins, He concludes with this encouragement. Verse 17, I am glad of the coming
of Stephanas, and Fortinatus, and Achaicus, for that which
was lacking on your part they have supplied. These men came and supplied me
with my needs. These were actually the men. Perhaps you have it at the end
of your epistle. And I think I may have said recently
that Paul wrote 1 Corinthians from Ephesus, but actually wrote
it from Philippi. And this is actually part of
the text. If you have it towards the end
of the epistle, the first epistle to the Corinthians was written
from Philippi by Stephanus, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, and Timotheus. So these men actually penned
the letter. The Apostle Paul was the author and these men were the
scribes of these words. Verse 18, For they have refreshed
my spirit and yours, therefore acknowledge ye them that are
such. Acknowledge them. Receive them. Just like you would receive me
is what Paul is saying. What a blessing it is for us
to receive one another and to receive other brethren that come
to visit us from other churches. Verse 19, the churches of Asia
salute you, Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord with
the church that is in their house. So there was an assembly of believers
that met in Aquila and Priscilla's house and Paul is sending greetings
from them to the church in Corinth. and uh... they knew all these
people and they were happy to hear from them and happy to hear
that they were doing well you remember uh... personal aquila
traveled with the apostle paul uh... for some time and went
to a lot of these different churches they were the scripture says
that uh... aquila was uh... uh... was a tent maker just like the
Apostle Paul was. And so they had a mutual venture
in that as well as in the gospel. All the brethren greet you, greet
ye one another with a holy kiss. What a blessing it is to be able
to greet God's people and to have that affection for one another. We don't have it with anybody
else. I don't have with anybody else. Verse 21, the salutation of me,
Paul, with my own hand. so although these men him this
letter paul signed it uh... why the apostle paul didn't didn't
write his own let i don't know scripture doesn't really make
it clear uh... but he signed them and they knew
his signature so they knew this letter had come from the apostle
paul have verse twenty two is uh... There's a very sobering
and very humbling message from the Lord that I
hope that He will speak to every one of our hearts. The word anathema means judgment,
eternal judgment, separation from God in hell. And, uh, Maranatha means the
coming of the Lord. And so what the Lord saying is
that those who love not the Lord Jesus Christ, their crime is
so severe that only he will be able to execute judgment and
he will do it at his coming. Now it's clear from the things
that we studied in this letter that there were some men in the
church at Corinth that weren't believers. The Lord had allowed
some heresies to come into the church. He had allowed some men
to get a foothold. And, you know, perhaps the Apostle
Paul is saying, listen, we'll leave the judgment of God up
to the Lord at His coming as to these men. But how can we read this verse
without considering ourselves? The Lord is coming. And when
he comes, he's going to separate the sheep from the goats. And
he says right here that that separation is going to be based
on those who love me and those who don't love me. Do I love Christ? Do I love Him? Let me give you a test that you
can take for yourself that might be helpful as to whether or not
you love Christ. Do you love being called a sinner? Do you love being called a sinner?
Does being called a sinner remind you to not look to yourself for any
righteousness, to not put any confidence in
your flesh or in your works. Does being called a sinner cause
you to realize I'm completely dependent upon another for all
my righteousness? I love being called a sinner.
I love being called a sinner. Do you love the fact that we
worship a God who sovereignly chose a people according to his
own will and purpose before time ever began that he placed them
in the covenant of grace and hid them in Christ before Adam
was ever made I love that I hate a gospel message that says god
loves everybody christ died for everybody and now it's up to
me i hate that message that message robs me of any hope of my salvation
the only the only confidence that i have is in a god who sovereignly
elected a people according to his own will and purpose you
see I hate being told that I have a free will or that I can do
something to earn favor with God. I hate that. There are certain things that
believers hate and there are certain things that believers
love. I hate the idea that Christ made
an offer of salvation on Calvary's cross in order to save all men and
that now it's up to me to make what he did work for me I've
got to do so I hate that I hate that message it leaves me with
no hope of salvation but now a Christ who laid down his life
for the sheep and satisfied all the demands of God's holy justice
and established a perfect righteousness and put away all the sins of
all of God's people once and for all by the sacrifice of Himself
on Calvary's cross. I love that. That's my hope. You see, there can be no fellowship
with darkness. There could be no mixing works
with grace. I love a gospel message that
declares to me that our God in the day of His power is irresistible. Irresistible. You can't resist
Him. When He gets ready to open the
eyes of your understanding, when He gets ready to take out your
heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh, when He gets ready
to give you faith, you can't resist Him. Why do I love that? Because I know that if I could
resist Him, I would. I love a gospel message. that leaves me hoping and believing
on a God who is able to keep me from falling and to present
me faultless before His throne with much joy. A God who always
works in me, causing me to will and to do after His good pleasure.
I despise a gospel message that leaves me looking to myself to
see whether or not there's any evidence of my salvation. To
see whether I'm getting better. to see whether I'm showing some
level of holiness in my life in order for me to get assurance
of my salvation. I hate, I absolutely despise
progressive sanctification. It leaves me with no hope. It
leaves me wanting. Here's what the Lord says, if
any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be cursed of
God in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the one thing
that that I want for you and for me more than anything else
is to not be cursed of God in the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. whether he comes for each of us individually in death
or whether we are here when the trump of God sounds and the dead
in Christ are raised and those of us which are alive are caught
up together with them in the air. At the coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the one thing that I don't want to have anything
to do with is the wrath of God, the judgment of God. Lord, I pray that you would put
in my heart a love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Now our love for
Him is wanting, I know that. It cannot be compared to His
love for us. But we do love Him because He
first loved us. We love His gospel. We love Him,
we love His people, we love His church. He's bound our hearts
together in unity. Unity in Christ, unity with one
another. And He's made us co-laborers
together in the gospel. And I love it, don't you? Look how this letter finishes,
verse 23. Salvation always begins and ends
with grace. Grace. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you. If I'm going to love Christ,
it's going to be by his grace. If I'm going to escape the wrath
of God in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's going to be
by his grace. It's all going to be by his grace. and my love be with you all in
Christ Jesus this this love that God's put in our hearts for one
another is not a natural love we have now we know what natural
love is we we love our children way we way I'm we have we have
natural love that just is just there but this love the gods
put in our hearts for one another is a spiritual work of grace. It's just God puts it there. God puts it there. And how does the Lord conclude
this letter? He concludes it with what every
child of God would say in response to what the Lord has said. I mentioned last Sunday that
the gospel preacher's introduction to every message is, Thus saith
the Lord. And the believer's response to every message is,
Amen. So be it. So be it. Yes. Amen. I agree. I agree. God said it. That's my hope. All right. Let's take a break. Thank you.