Love divine, all loves excelling,
joy of heaven to earth come down. Fix in us thy humble dwelling,
all thy faithful mercies crown. Jesus, thou art all compassion. Pure unbounded love thou art. Visit us with thy salvation. Enter every trembling heart. Breathe, oh breathe, thy loving
spirit into every troubled breast. Let us all in thee inherit. Let us find that second rest. Take away our bent to sinning. Alpha and Omega be, And of faith
as its beginning, Set our hearts at liberty. Come almighty to deliver, let
us all thy life receive. Suddenly return and never, nevermore
thy temples leave. Thee we would be always blessing,
serve Thee as Thy hosts above. Pray and praise Thee without
ceasing, glory in Thy perfect love. Finish then Thy new creation,
pure and spotless let us be. Let us see Thy great salvation,
perfectly restored in Thee. Changed from glory into glory,
till in heaven we take our place, till we cast our crowns before
thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise. Please be seated. Good morning. We're going to continue our study
in 1 Corinthians. If you'd like to turn with me
in your Bibles to chapter 12, 1 Corinthians chapter 12. I got a text from Jim Racente
this morning telling me that he had to put Florence in the
hospital. She's at Princeton with a possible aneurysm. And
so they're trying to avoid surgery with some sort of What would they use, Fred? It's
the ultrasound treatment. And so I want us to pray for
her. Also, April 16th, is that right? Is that Easter Sunday? How many
of y'all plan on being here that Sunday? Some of you are going
to be gone. Fred, Mary Jane, you all still
be here April 16th? Okay. I wanted us to have lunch
together before all our snowbirds got away. So we'll plan to do
it that Sunday on Easter. Okay. All right. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, we're thankful. Once again, you've blessed us
with the opportunity to be in this place. We thank you for
the promise of your presence. Lord, you've told us that where
two or three are gathered together, there you are in the midst of
them. We confess to you, Lord, our
complete dependence on you to bless us with your spirit, to
give us eyes to see, give us ears to hear. Lord, we pray that you would
speak and that you would cause us to come. Thank you for your
word. Thank you for the truth and the
power of it. Lord, how we hope that it would reveal to us the
glory of Christ and cause us, Lord, to be brought in a spirit
of worship before His feet. Would you pray for Florence,
and we ask, Lord, that you would use the procedure that they're
doing now to avert the possibility of surgery. We know, Lord, that
she is in your hands, and we pray that you'd be merciful.
Pray that you'd give those that are ministering to her the knowledge
and wisdom they need to do their jobs well. And we know, Lord,
that healing is in your hand, and we pray that you'd be pleased
to do it and thank you for it. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Some of you all can remember
with me in religion how we used to take 1 Corinthians chapter
12 and Romans chapter 12 and we made a list of potential spiritual
gifts that every believer was supposed to have. And then we
employed personality tests that you could take in order to determine
what your spiritual gifts were. Y'all remember doing that? How
foolish. foolish. Actually, what we were
doing is what we always did, perverted the scriptures and
really interpreted them just in the opposite as to what they
intended to be. uh... the purpose of first corinthians
chapter twelve is not to get us to look at ourselves and to
evaluate what our spiritual gifts are but the purpose of first
corinthians chapter twelve is to cause us to look to christ
as the head of his church and to acknowledge the fact that
every other member in the church is a part of the body of Christ. It's to get our attention off
ourselves onto Christ and onto other believers. But there it
is. We always, we just didn't know,
did we? We were blind And we did what
we thought was right, and what we thought was right was completely
wrong. So I hope the Lord will give
us some understanding and some wisdom as to what the real meaning
of 1 Corinthians chapter 12 is this morning. He begins by saying,
now concerning spiritual gifts. First of all, let me say this,
as far as spiritual gifts are concerned, all the gifts and
graces of God come to us, come to the body from the head through
the spirit. And isn't it appropriate that
the Lord would fashion our physical bodies in a way that would illustrate
the spiritual truth of the body of Christ? Every member of your
body, every finger, every toe, every appendage on your body
responds to what your head tells it to do. And the link between the head
and the rest of the body is the nervous system, isn't it? and
if there's a problem with the nervous system then there's no
connection uh... between the command there there's
there's the picture crisis the head of the body we're members
of his body and uh... all the graces of god which are
too numerous to name. Only a sampling is given to us
in these two chapters. This is not an exhaustive list
of spiritual gifts. The gifts and graces of God are
beyond the ability to number them. They relate to every area
of our lives. And the purpose of this is for
us to see that we all are but members of the body of Christ,
completely dependent upon the Spirit of God to bring the message
of Christ to each member of the body, enabling us to function
together as a whole. So there was a spirit of competition
in the church at Corinth, which was contrary to grace. And the
way we interpreted these verses in the past is we only encouraged
more of a spirit of competition. Well, I have this gift and you
have that gift. It was just the opposite of what
this is about. This is the Lord teaching us
that the body works as one under the authority of the head, completely
dependent upon the Spirit of God to speak to us, to move us,
and to point us to Christ. So he says, now, brethren, concerning
spiritual gifts, I would not have you to be ignorant. How
ignorant we were. The Lord's gonna give us some
understanding now. He says, I don't want you to be without understanding. You know that you were Gentiles. Carried away unto these dumb
idols. Can you remember a time, I just
described to you a time when I was an idolater. I'm ashamed of it, but I did
it in ignorance, I didn't know. And the Lord had mercy on us
and delivered us from the error of our ways. But hear the Lord
saying every single one of you, you see, we're born into this
world. as idolaters and what's the lord
called dumb idols i love it they're just dumb idols they can hear
they can speak they have hands but they cannot touch they have
eyes but they cannot see they have feet but they cannot walk
uh... all the things that the lord
describes these idols as they're nothing more than the figment
of men's imagination they do not exist they don't exist All
the little Jesus's and all the little gods that men worship,
they don't exist. And man thinks because they exist
in his mind that therefore they exist. And the Lord says, they
were just dumb idols, weren't they? And that's what you were,
even as you were led, you were led by your idols. That's how
we, that's just, we fashion a God that is all together as ourselves. In fact, what we do is we put
ourselves, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, on the throne of God. And
we make a God subject to us, a God that we can control. And
so he says, you've been led about by dumb idols, but not anymore. Not anymore. Now you know the
truth. And when you know the truth, the truth sets you free
from those dumb idols. Wherefore, I give you to understand
that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed. No man speaking by the Spirit
of God calleth Jesus accursed. Now, to be accursed is to be
cut off from God. To be cut off from God without
any hope. to suggest that Jesus Christ
died for any one single person that's not going to be saved
is to say that Jesus Christ is accursed. Men say Christ died for everybody
and those that that say that will also say not everyone that
he died for is going to be saved. That is calling Jesus accursed. It's saying that he suffered
the wrath of God. You see, if you're going to say
that Christ died for everybody, then the only way to be consistent
with that is to say that everybody ultimately is going to heaven.
Universal salvation. If Christ actually died for everybody,
then everybody's saved. But to say that he died for everybody,
but not everybody that he died for is going to be saved, is
to call Jesus Christ accursed. It is to say that he got cut
off from God without reward and without any hope. And no man speaking by the Spirit
of God would say that. So what do we conclude? Try the
spirits to see whether they be of God. Anyone who makes such
a suggesting is not speaking by the Spirit of God. They're
speaking by a false spirit. They're talking about a dumb
idol. That's so clear, isn't it? And no one can say Now, you
can look up that word, say. It means to speak with understanding.
It doesn't mean to just articulate or verbalize the phrase, Jesus
is Lord. Everybody says that. No man can
say, Jesus is Lord, but by the Spirit of God. No one can acknowledge
that Jesus Christ is God. You see, again, to suggest that
he's made an offer of salvation, he's in the heavens, he's begging
men to let him have his way, he's pleading with men to let
him into their hearts, is to deny the very essence of deity,
isn't it? And so, no man can say that Jesus
is Lord and understand to speak with understanding the Lord said
you honor me with your lips but your hearts are far from me so
men will say well Jesus Christ is Lord but then listen to them
define lordship and and it'll have something to do with their
obedience it'll have something to do with you know it with something
contrary to what Lord really means What did Thomas say? Lest I put my hand into his side
and put my finger into the wounds I will not believe. I'm the one
that's going to determine when and how I believe and these are
the conditions that I require. And the Lord appeared and what
did Thomas do? There's no indication in the
scripture that Thomas ever put his hand into the side of the
Lord. What did he do? He fell at his feet and he said,
My Lord and my God. He worshipped him. No man can
do that but by the Spirit of God. No member of the body will
fall in worship, in worship, depending upon the Lord Jesus
Christ for all their hope of salvation. Acknowledging him
as God. saying to him, he has the sovereign
right to do with you whatsoever he wills." Now that's the only
God that we're going to worship, isn't it? Anything else is just
feigned worship, isn't it? We're just pretending. We're
going through religious habits and we're using religious words,
but we're not really bowing in submission to Christ. No man
can say that Jesus is Lord. but by the Holy Spirit. Not with
understanding. And so, what does this say to
me and you? Oh, Lord, don't let me be deceived. I know that's my nature. I need
your Holy Spirit. If I'm going to be a functioning
member of the body of Christ, if I'm going to be a member of
the body of Christ, forget the functioning part, if I'm going
to have connection to the head, I'm gonna need the Spirit of
God to enable me to know the thoughts of the head. Now there are diversities of
gifts but the same Spirit. The same Spirit. Here's the message
of this chapter. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Christ. The Christ is the Anointed One. He came in the power of the Spirit
of God to accomplish the purpose for which God sent Him, the salvation
of His people. He was anointed with the oil
of gladness above His fellows. He's the Anointed One, the Christ. And who was He anointed? He was
anointed with the Spirit of God. It was the Spirit of God that
gave the Lord Jesus Christ his connection with the Father. The
same exact spirit is the one that gives us connection with
Him. And so, he says, there are diversities of gifts, but the
same Spirit, and there are differences of administrations, but the same
Lord. You know, I was thinking about
this. This church at Corinth, I mean, they had so many problems,
just like we do, don't they? And yet, under normal circumstances,
the conflicts that exist within a group like this would tear
them apart. We have differences, we have We have our own sin. Why was the church not torn apart? Why are we not torn apart? We
have a bond in Christ that supersedes everything else. Enables us to
love and to forgive one another. and I'm you know this church
at Corinth with I mean they were in the previous chapter there
were some rich people get drunk at the Lord's table and not sharing
their food with the with the with the poverty stricken people
that were coming in there I mean they just had all kinds of stuff
going on and yet they continue to be together as a church why
because they had a bond in Christ that could not be broken could
not be broken Now there are diversities of
gift, but the same there are differences of administrations,
but the same Lord. There are diversities of operations,
but it is the same God which worketh all in all. We worship
the same God. We're not worshiping an idol
anymore. You know, as far as idols are concerned, there are
as many idols as there are people. Because everybody's got their
own imagination as to what God's like. And now those idols have
been put to death and we have one Lord and one God and we see
eye to eye and where the Spirit of God gives us agreement about
who the head is. And in religion, everybody's
trying to take over the head, aren't they? There's a spirit
of competition to see who's going to be in control. And in the
body of Christ, we all know, from the least to the greatest,
we all know who the head is, and that every member of the
body, regardless of their administration, regardless of their function,
are completely dependent upon the Spirit of God to connect
them to the head, to Christ. But the manifestation in the
Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. By nature, we're just selfish
people. We stand at the center of the universe, each one of
us, don't we? We look out of these eyeballs
and think that everything revolves around us. That's just our nature. We live in a society that is
so consumed with itself. people are yet but the Lord say
if you want to be first be the servant of all you know that you have a happy
people in the world are people are just consumed with themselves
people that are looking for the needs of a walk into a room what
can I do to encourage somebody else rather than how can I draw
attention to myself you know it's just it's just that way
isn't it It's that way. And that's what the Lord's saying.
In the body of Christ, the Lord has given each of us different
ministrations of the Spirit for the purpose of admonishing, encouraging,
and building up one another. Lord, help me to get my attention
off myself. To esteem others more highly
than myself. that that's what this whole chapters
about to be to be a part of the body of Christ so that when one
member of the body is in need you you stub your toe your hands
are gonna go to work to bandage that wound aren't you I mean
you're just gonna everything about your by you gonna stop
everything to take care of that hurting member and uh... that's that's all the lord's
saying here god make us that way i want us to be that way
don't you almost to be that kind of church For to one is given the Spirit,
the word of wisdom. By the Spirit, the word of wisdom.
To another, the word of knowledge. By the same Spirit. To another,
faith. By the same Spirit. To another, the gift of healing.
By the same Spirit. To another, the working of miracles.
To another, prophecy. To another, discerning of spirits.
To another, diverse kind of tongues. To another, the interpretation
of tongues. Now, we would take those and, okay, here's the spiritual
gifts. This is a random sampling. And
some of these gifts don't exist anymore. I know I've taught you this many
times. You know this is true. But this
was written before the church had the full canon of Scripture. And so until the church had the
full canon of scripture in the first generation of believers
while these letters were being written, the Lord gave to the
church certain gifts that would confirm the message that they
were preaching as being true. And so the gift of tongues, the
gift of miracles, the gift of healings, those were outward
manifestations for the purpose of confirming this gospel as
being true. Now we don't need those things
anymore. We have the word of God. So we
try the spirits by the word of God and we test the spiritual
by the spiritual and compare scripture to scripture. And that's
sufficient. So those who pretend to have these
gifts of healings are just, that's all they're doing is pretending. But all these worketh that one
and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he
wills." Whatever gifts and opportunities
each one of us have came directly by the will of God. By the will
of God. So, to have any jealousy or any
spirit of competition with anyone else is to accuse god of wrongdoing
isn't it well i want to be the i want to be the mouth i want
to be the i i want to be the foot i want to be the hand look
at that look at what they can do i wish i was like that is
to accuse god of wrongdoing he has distributed to every member
of the body severally as he wills or make me content with the with
the blessings and opportunities that you've given me and let
me use them for your glory and for the good of your church and
every member has a place any part of your body that's a that
that's not important to you and you want to give up a finger
or toe and ear you know no you would know every part of your
body is important isn't it For as the body is one, verse
12, and hath many members, and all the members of that body,
of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. We make up one body under the
head. For by one Spirit are we all
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether
we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one
Spirit. The same Spirit, same Holy Spirit,
according to His will, gives one Certain gifts and opportunities
and privileges gives another another and and the child of
God says Lord I'm just I'm just thankful be a part of the body.
I'm just thankful to be a part of the body. Let me function
in whatever part you've given me to your glory and let me not
be looking at the gifts and graces that you've given to other members
thinking well I should be like that. I mean, in the church at Corinth,
you see that bond and free? That bond means slaves. The church
at Corinth had members of the body of Christ that were slaves. They were property. They belonged
to someone else. You think maybe they felt sort
of out of place? You think maybe they felt, you
know, not part of the accepted group? Ostracized? Everybody knew who the slaves
were. Verse 14, for the body is not
one member, but many. Yet the foot shall say, because
I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not
of the body? It's absurd. Yeah, I want to be like the hand. And if the ear shall say, because
I am not the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not
of the body? No. And if the whole body were
an eye, Lord, you've got an eyeball. There's the body. No! No, that's
not the body. Where would be the hearing? And
if the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now
hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body as it
hath pleased Him." So to look at anyone else with a spirit
of jealousy or You know, or to look at yourself
as, you know, well, I'm just not, you know, I don't have what
everybody else has got. That's false humility. It's to accuse God. You have
exactly what God gave you. And it's for the profit of withal.
For the profit of the body of Christ. Use what you have. Quit and get your attention off
of other people. Verse 19, and if they were all
one body, if they were all one member, where were the body? The eye cannot say into the hand,
I have no need of thee, nor again the hand to the feet, I have
no need of thee, of you. Nay, much more these members
of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary. The less visual members of the
body, what's he talking about? Talking about internal organs.
You don't see them, but you need them, don't you? You need them. You know, you might not be seen
and acknowledged like you think you ought to be in the body of
Christ, but if you're a member of the body of Christ, you're
a necessary member of that body. And those members of the body
which we think to be less honorable, upon these bestow more abundant
honor, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness,
for our comely parts have no need. But God hath tempered the
body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which
lacked. Weaker members of body. In other
words, the things we cover up, the things that, those things
that aren't seen. The Lord has given special attention. What about the, I mean, why do
you think you have a rib cage? What the Lord's done, He's protected
those vital organs that are in your chest, the lungs, and the
heart, and the liver, and those things. And that's what He's
saying here. The things that you don't see,
I've given special attention to. Protected them in a special
way. Verse 25, that there should be
no schisms in the body, but that the members should have the same
care one for another. All the Lord's saying to each
one of us is, get your eyes off yourself. That's so hard to do, isn't it?
Because that's our nature. The Lord said, you remember the
body of Christ. And your function in the body
is for the care of the whole body, whatever it is. And every member of the body
is connected to the head by the Spirit of God. Do you have one member of your
body fighting against another member of your body? No, you don't, do you? To the
contrary, when one member of your body hurts, every other
member of your body gives attention to that hurt, doesn't it? Whether one member suffer, all
the members suffer with it, or one member be honored, all the
members rejoice with it. God gives someone in the body
of Christ a special gift. Rejoice with them. Just whatever
it is. Now you are the body of Christ
and members in particular, and God hath set some in the church,
first apostles, secondary prophets, thirdly teachers, after that
miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, government, diversities
of tongues. Are all apostles, are all prophets,
are all teachers, are all workers of miracles, have all the gift
of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do
all interpret? But covet earnestly the best
gifts, and yet I show you a more excellent way. In chapter 13
is a revelation of Christ, the love of God. It's all about Him. So he says,
covet the more excellent gifts. And at the end of chapter 13,
he tells us, or at the beginning of chapter 14, he tells us what
those more excellent gifts are. Follow after charity, follow
after Christ. Chapter 13 is all about Christ.
Follow after Christ and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that
you may prophesy. What's the Lord saying? What is the spiritual gift that
we need to be setting our affections on more than anything else? To
understand the scriptures. That's what it is to prophesy.
Lord, reveal to me the truth of your word, which is Christ. To prophesy is not to foretell
some future event. is to understand the prophecy
of the Scriptures. And Christ is the prophecy of
Scripture. All Scripture points to Him,
doesn't it? So that's what the Lord is saying. Seek earnestly
to understand how He's been revealed in His Word. I hope the Lord
will continue to grow us in His grace and make us that kind of
church. Don't you? Alright, let's take
a break. I need some help. I need some
help.