Let's all stand together, number
42. All hail the power of Jesus'
name. Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth a royal diadem and
crown him Lord of all. Bring forth a royal diadem and
crown him Lord of all. He chosen seed of Israel's race,
he ransomed from the fall. Hail him who saves you by his
grace, and crown him Lord of all. Hail Him who saves you by
His grace, and crown Him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every
tribe, fond this terrestrial ball. To him all majesty ascribe,
and crown him Lord of all. To him all majesty ascribe, and
crown him Lord of all. O that with yonder sacred throng
we at his feet may fall, we'll join the everlasting song and
crown him Lord of all. We'll join the everlasting song
and crown him Lord of all. Please be seated. Good morning. We're going to continue our study
in 1st Corinthians chapter 4 this morning. So good to see everyone
safe and sound. Very thankful that the Lord was
pleased to make things easy on us. Someone texted me and said, well
the Lord was good and I said, well, had my house blown
away, could I still say the Lord was good? Yeah. Yeah. I wrote them back and I said,
well, He's always good. He just was pleased this time
to be easy on us. And I thought about that passage
and in Isaiah chapter 28 that we've been looking at, when the
overflowing scourge shall come, they shall wash away your covenant
with death. And when the Lord shows us just
a little demonstration, just a little demonstration of His
power, it causes us to bow in worship to Him, realizing that
there's a day coming. when the flood of His scourge
is going to wipe away this world and all who have their hope in
a covenant that they've made with God. And I'm so very thankful,
very, very thankful that the Lord has made us to differ and
caused us to trust the covenant that He made with us and with
Himself. And that has a lot to do with
this passage of scripture this morning that we're going to be
looking at. So I do want to ask you, I wish that you had an opportunity
to know some of your brethren in North Carolina. They are dear,
dear brothers and sisters. I've been up there to preach
for them a few times and just love them. as you would if you
knew them. They are suffering right now.
They had a horrible flood last week. Two of the brothers in
the church, this is where Rupert Reibenbach is the pastor, two
of the brothers in the church are chicken farmers and one of
them lost 110,000 chickens last week. and then those same houses were
flooded with five feet of water this morning uh... soul there
uh... they're having uh... real a real
challenge lords not making it as easy on them as he has on
us uh... but i'm happy to tell you that
they are rejoicing in christ and uh... and know that that
when evil comes to the city, the Lord is the one that caused
it. And he's got a purpose in it all. What great comfort we
have in knowing that. But pray for the brethren in
North Carolina, in Spring Lake. Somebody's emergency phone's
going off. You know, that thing is set.
I don't know if you all know this, but those alarms will go
off even if your phone's turned off, I understand. So you have
to go into your settings and check those alarms and make sure
that they're turned off, or better yet, leave your phone in the
car. All right? All right, let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for this, another opportunity to come together in this place
and to ask You, Lord, to reveal Yourself to our hearts. We pray
that You would enable us to worship You. We ask that You would send
Your Spirit and power to cause us to set our affections on Thy
dear Son and to find in Him the comfort, the hope, the peace,
the rejoicing for the accomplished work of our salvation that He
has done. Lord, we do pray for our brethren
in North Carolina, and we ask, Lord, that you would provide
for their needs. We pray that you would comfort
them. We thank you for the testimony of faith that they are expressing
even this morning. And we ask, Lord, that you would
enable us always to be thankful in all things, knowing that these
things are thy will in Christ Jesus concerning us. For it's
in Christ's name We pray, Amen. The verse of Scripture that we
often quote from 1 Corinthians chapter 4 is found in verse 7,
for who maketh thee to differ? Why are you any different from
anyone else? Why is it that when you hear
the gospel, you rejoice in it? We had Gene's memorial service
yesterday over in Sarasota at the VFW, and most of the people
there were, well, they didn't like what they
were hearing and uh... and no one that was there made
eye contact with me or spoke to me afterwards and i don't
say that to you to express any offense that i felt i wasn't
offended i say that to you in order to rejoice in the difference
that the lord has made for you and for me. What a blessing it
is and what a difference it is to preach the gospel to a room
full of unbelievers who hate what they're hearing and preaching
the gospel to a congregation of believers who love it. Who
made you to differ? What do you have that you didn't
receive? we don't we don't pride ourselves
in thinking well i'm i'm better of the lord made me to differ
the lord is the one who gave me years to hear and had he not
been pleased to do so i would hate the gospel just like those
people that i preach to yesterday hated what what i was saying
couldn't wait for me to shut up and uh... and and couldn't
get out of their quick enough uh... who made you to differ
Let's look at this chapter beginning in verse 1. Let a man so account
of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mystery
of God. The mystery of God is the gospel.
That's the gospel. That's the message of salvation
through the glorious person and accomplished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Christ who is himself the end
of the law for righteousness. Christ who came and satisfied
all the demands of God's holy law on behalf of God's elect,
the ones whom God chose in the covenant of grace before time
ever began. That's the gospel. Christ who
laid down his life and suffered the full wrath of God's justice
in order to satisfy divine justice once and for all and put away
the wrath of God through the sacrifice of himself once for
all. Put away the sins of God's people. That's the mystery. That's what
man can't see. Man can't see it because he's
convinced that there's something that God's requiring of him.
There's something that he can do. There's some contribution
that he can make in order to earn favor with God. He cannot
see that this message of salvation is a work that God did all by
himself. He did it before time ever began. Christ is called the Lamb that
was slain before the foundation of the world. The covenant that
God made with God is where we put our hope and where we put
our trust. And the finished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ is the only grounds by which we are able
to approach a holy God. and that's a mystery and paul
said i've been i've been made a steward of this ministry of
this mystery now a steward was the uh... uh... the chief servant
in a in a wealthy home that not only was responsible for all
the other servants in the home but was given full authority
over all the decisions that were made in the home So this steward
had the bank account. He paid all the bills. He took
care of all the needs in the home. And in order for a man
to be put in that position, the homeowner would have had to trust
him explicitly, wouldn't he? I mean, he just had to say this.
And that's what Paul's saying. I've been made a steward of the
mystery of God. He's given me this responsibility
and I have to answer not to man, but I have to answer to the owner
of the home. He's the one that owns it and he's the one I'm
responsible to. So Paul says it is required of
a steward that he be found faithful. Required of who? Required of
the owner of the home. and in that in in that sense
we're all stewards we've all been given that those have been
given the mystery our stewards over that mystery and it is required
of a steward that he be found faithful I was reminded again yesterday
about you know the the chaplain got up and made some some comments
and i thought you know people all they want to know they they
want somebody to stand up and tell them that god loves everybody
everything's okay uh... the deceased is in a better place
and uh... and and we're all fine and they
they want some some pious platitudes to just you know just speak peace
peace to our hearts tell us that everything's okay and uh... As a steward of the mystery of
the gospel, I couldn't do that. I had to tell them exactly, I
told them exactly what I tell you. And they hated every word
of it. it's required of a steward not
that he win friends but that he be found faithful and uh... paul when he wrote to timothy
said he said uh... preach the gospel in season and
out of season in other words when you're preaching to folks
who love it preach the same message the folks that hate it because
that's what they need to hear and uh... It's God's gospel and
it's required of us that we be found faithful. But with me,
look at verse 3, with me it is a very small thing that I should
be judged of you or of man's judgment. Yea, I judge not my
own self. We get bound up in comparing
ourselves to one another, don't we? Or comparing ourselves to
ourselves. And that's what Paul's saying.
He said, I don't compare myself to myself. I don't look to myself
to see if I'm getting better. And I'm not comparing myself
to other men to see if I am better. The one who judges me, I'm not
capable of judging myself. And you're not capable of judging
me. But God who knows the heart is
capable of making right judgments. And so he says, that's who I
commit myself to, for I know nothing by myself, verse 4, yet
am I not hereby justified? But he that judgeth me is the
Lord. I'm justified. I like that word. That word justified means that
I've never sinned. I've never sinned. Never. Not a single time. And some people think, well,
then that's the mystery of the gospel, isn't it? Because those
who don't know the gospel are thinking right now, what is he
talking about? Who does he think he is? He's never sinned. Outside
of the Lord Jesus Christ, I've never done anything but sin.
And in the person of my substitute, I'm justified before God. I stand
sinless before a holy God in the person of my Savior. And
that's what Paul's saying. We could go around comparing
ourselves to ourselves, and we could go around comparing ourselves
to one another, but God's the one who justified me. He justified
me in Christ, and He's the one that judges me. And the judgment
that God requires has been executed already in the person of my sin-bearer
on Calvary's cross. I'm free. I'm free. There's no
condemnation. Absolutely no condemnation, Romans
chapter 8, verse 1, to them who are in Christ Jesus. So if God doesn't condemn me,
how can I condemn myself? And how can I be concerned with
whatever condemnation you have or any man has against me? Verse 5, Therefore, judge nothing
before the time until the Lord come. Both will bring to light
the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels
of the hearts. And then shall every man have
his praise of God. Man looks at the outward appearance.
God looks at the heart. And Isn't that what Samuel was
looking at Jesse's sons trying to figure out which one was going
to be the next king after Saul? Which one to anoint? And all
these stalwart young men came forward and Samuel looked at
them and said, boy, that looks like a king. And the Lord said,
nope. Nope. Nope. They're not kings. And
finally Samuel said to Eli, or to Jesse, he said, yeah, add
in more sons. Because Jesse had already brought
all the ones before him that he thought were candidates for
king. And Jesse said, well, yeah, there's
the youngest boy. He's out in the yard taking care
of the sheep. But surely you're not interested in him. Bring
him in. Bring him in. And what's David called? A man
after God's own heart. Matt and God told job Samuel
man looks at the outward appearance God's looking at the heart all
or do a work of grace in my heart give me a new heart cause me
to have a love for Christ cause me to have faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ give me give me hope in Christ that's a work
of grace in the heart And that's what he's saying here. He said,
don't judge things on outward appearances. Don't compare yourself
to yourself. Don't compare yourself to one
another. Don't be intimidated by whatever accusations or comparisons
other men may be tempted to make. God's the one who justifies.
He justified us in the Lord Jesus Christ. And He's the judge that
we'll stand before in the last day. And in that day, men's hearts
will be known. Men's hearts will be known. And
what did David say in Psalm 51? He said, Lord, if it was sacrifices
that thou wantest, I would make them. The sacrifices of God are
a broken spirit and a contrite heart. O God, thou wilt not despise. You won't reject a broken spirit
and contrite heart. Why? Because that's a work of
grace. That's what God does on the inside. When he makes us to be a sinner
and causes us to see that we have no righteousness, none whatsoever
outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, and causes us to put all our
trust and all our hope in Christ. Is that your heart? If it is, the Lord gave you that. He's the one who made you to
differ. You didn't come up with that on your own. Blessed art
thou, Simon Barjona, flesh and blood did not reveal this unto
you. My Father, which is in heaven, has made it known unto you. And these things, brethren, I
have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for
your sakes." Remember, some of the church members in Corinth
were identifying with the Apostle Paul because they were Jewish
and Paul was a Jew. And some were identifying with
the skillful oratory of Apollos because they were Greeks and
they liked the way Apollos spoke. And Paul said, When you make
that distinction, you're acting like children, you're acting
fleshly, you're causing men to look away from Christ. And so
he's saying, now I've used these things as a figure for me and
Apollos for your sakes that you might learn in us not to think
of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed
up for one against another. Well, what is written about man?
What do you believe in your heart about yourself? Here's what's
written about man. Man at his very best state. That means the best thing you've
ever done. The best thought you've ever had. The most sacrificial
deed you've ever done for anyone else. Man at his very best state
is altogether vanity. empty, vain. Is that what's in your heart?
And someone said, well that's not me. That's not me. God hadn't given you a new heart.
He hadn't given you a new heart. If you don't believe that all
that is about you is sin, Paul said, in me that is in my flesh
dwelleth no good thing. Now, I quoted these verses yesterday,
and I'm telling you, I was talking to folks, and I had five men in uniform,
in military uniform, standing side by side to me while I'm
preaching. And, uh, and I'm waiting for
any minute for them to take me and, you know, drag me out of
the building because, you know, don't talk like that about us. That's not me. I'm not that way. And you're saying, yeah, that's
me. That's me. I'm a center. I've never been
able to satisfy the demands of God's holy law, not one single
time. Let man compare himself to men. Let man compare himself to himself. That's not God's standard. God's
standard is Christ. And when I stand in His presence,
I find myself to be nothing but sin. Nothing but sin. How can I be puffed up? How can
I be puffed up one against another? Paul said this is a faithful
saying, this is a word from God, this is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation. Worthy to be accepted in its
entirety and worthy to be accepted by all men. Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners among whom I am chief. God makes you, God gives you
a new heart. He calls you to see yourself for what you are
and the scripture says that believers loathe themselves. They loathe
themselves. And somebody's thinking right
now, boy, you got, you know, don't you know you're supposed
to have a good self-esteem? Oh, give me esteem in Christ. Give me esteem in Christ and
I'll be okay. I'll be, I'll be confident. I'll be secure. I'll have hope. I'll, I'll have peace if my confidence
is in Christ. So that's just, that's not the
way, that's the mystery of the gospel, isn't it? It's not the
way the world thinks. And that's what Paul's saying,
he said, you know, if you think any other way, all you're doing
is doing what the world's doing, comparing yourself to yourself
or comparing yourself to someone else. And if you see that all
of your righteousness is in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ
and all the hope of God putting away your sin is in the sacrifice
that he made on Calvary's cross, you won't be puffed up. You won't
be puffed. You will esteem others more highly
than yourself. You will see yourself as the
chief of all sinners and you'll know, you'll know that it's the
Lord that made you to differ. And that's what he goes on to
say in verse 7. For who maketh thee to differ from another?
And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? You didn't
buy it. You didn't purchase it. You didn't
earn it. You didn't deserve it. It's called
grace. You received it as a free gift.
How can you take pride in that? The Lord distinguished you to
be made different. and gave you the gift, the gift
of salvation. Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hast not received it? now paul's
going to engage under the inspiration of the holy spirit and a little
bit of psycho sarcasm here uh... and uh... it's a it's a form
of speech that the lord is using in order to make the point uh... very strong and because there
were men in the church that had crept in behind the apostle paul
in corinth that were saying that paul He's not really an apostle. He's not told you the whole truth.
The Jesus that he preaches, the Jesus of Nazareth that died on
a Roman cross, yes, He is the Savior. But Paul fell short of
telling you the whole story. The whole story is that once
you come to Christ, Christ takes you back to the law and now the
law becomes your rule of life for Christian living. And they
were denying the authority of the Apostle Paul as a spokesman
for God. Nothing's changed. I can't tell
you how many times that accusation has been made against me. And
many of you have had the same accusation made against you,
haven't you? Yeah, he's preaching Jesus, but he's not telling you
everything. There's more to it than that.
There's something you've got to do. There's a prayer you've
got to pray. There's a decision you've got
to make. There's a work you've got to perform. There's a certain
lifestyle you've got to live up to. You've got to do your
part. Christ is necessary for salvation,
but He's not sufficient all by Himself. He's dependent upon
you to make your contribution. You know, I was thinking about
that this week. Mainstream Christianity, and
I use that term very loosely, would consider Mormonism, they would consider Jehovah's
Witnesses, they would consider, Donald's not here, Donald used
to be involved in Herbert W. Armstrong Worldwide Church of
God. Mainstream Christianity would consider those to be cults
for one reason. All three of those groups I just
mentioned, there may be more, outright deny the deity of Christ. They say that Jesus of Nazareth
was a prophet, he was anointed of God, but he was not the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. He was not God. And they make
no bones about it. And mainstream Christianity would
say those are cults. What is the difference between
saying that Jesus is not God and denying the very essence
of deity? You see, all those other religious
groups that would label those groups I just mentioned as cults,
they all deny the essence of deity. In other words, they say, yes,
Jesus is God. The scripture says they honor
him with their lips, but their hearts are far from them because
if you listen to everything else they say, they say, oh yes, Jesus
is God. But as God, he runs up against
a force that he can't reckon with
when he comes up against the free will of man. or you know
as God he's dependent upon you wait wait wait wait stop right
there dependent upon me for what you see every other religious
group denies the essence of deity when they put anything on salvation
other than the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ Anytime
man tells you that there's something that God needs you to do in order
to make what he did work for you, they are denying the deity
of Christ. Flat out. Denying his deity. He's not able. He's not able
to save unless you do your part. Verse 8, now you are full, now
you are rich, you have reigned as kings without us, and I would
to God that you did reign, that we might also reign with you.
Now I said he's using sarcasm. He's talking about this attitude
of being puffed up against another person. Well, I've got gifts
that you don't have, or I'm a better person than you are. This comparing
man to man. And he says, when you do it,
all you're doing is trying to get advantage over another man. And you've puffed yourselves
up as kings. And he says, I wish that you
really were kings. Because if you really were kings,
you would know that we're kings too. God's made us to be princes
in the family of God and kings and priests. We have access to the very throne
room of grace in the person of Christ. How much more royalty
do we need than that? And he said, you're a royal priesthood. So he's saying that You know, you puff yourselves
up by comparing yourself to one another and thinking that you're
better than somebody else. But if you really were kings,
you would recognize that we're kings too. And we're all in this
together. And we all have direct access
to God through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 9, For I think that God
hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to
death, For we are made a spectacle unto the world and to angels
and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake,
but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honorable, but we are
despised. Even unto this present hour,
we both hunger and thirst and are naked and buffeted and have
no certain dwelling place and labor. Working with our own hands,
being reviled, we bless. Being persecuted, we suffer it.
Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the
world and as the offscouring of all things unto this day.
I write these things not to shame you, but as my beloved sons to
warn you. To warn you of what? Warn you
against comparing yourself to yourself. Warn you against comparing
yourself to one another. Don't do it. Don't do it. All you're doing is puffing up
the flesh. Stand in the presence of God
and you'll see your need for Christ. And in Christ, you'll
have hope. You'll have comfort. You'll have
peace. For though you have 10,000 instructors
in Christ, yet have you not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus,
I have begotten you through the gospel. Now what Paul's saying
is that the gospel, you remember Paul was in Corinth for two and
a half years, but the gospel that I preached to you when I
was there hasn't changed. It's the same gospel. These guys
have come in behind me and they've changed the gospel. by by puffing
up man but the gospel that you were that you were say by the
way let me say this I talk to folks sometimes and they say
well you know I was I was converted under a under a a free will gospel
but now I've come to understand and believe in the doctrines
of grace The gospel that you were converted
under is the gospel that you believe. The gospel that you were saved
by is your gospel. It doesn't change. When the Lord teaches you the
truth of grace, you'll get rid of that old gospel. You'll see
it for what it is. And that's what Paul said. He
said, let those teachers come in. If they're of God, they're
going to be teaching you the same gospel I taught you. And
the gospel you were saved under is the gospel. And it hasn't
changed. Verse 16, wherefore I beseech
you, be ye followers of me. Now another place Paul admonishes
the church to follow him and he follows that up by saying,
as I follow Christ. He's not, Paul would never encourage
a man to follow him as a man unless he's talking about the
gospel. He's saying, I preach the gospel
to you. I'm following after, I'm pointing you to Christ. And
so believe me, don't believe them. For this cause have I sent unto
you Timotheus, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord,
who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways, which be in Christ
as I teach everywhere in every church. I haven't changed the
gospel. It's the same. We're preaching
Christ. We're pointing men to Christ.
We're pointing men away from themselves. We're declaring wherever
we go. Wherever we go, whether we're
talking to a room full of angry unbelievers, or whether we're
preaching in an open forum, or whether we're preaching in a
church among believers, we're telling men about Christ. We're
pointing men to Christ. We're saying what John the Baptist
said, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of
the world. Don't look to the preacher. Don't look to yourself.
Don't look to one another. Look to Christ. Come unto me. Now some are puffed up as though
I would not come to you. He's talking about those who
were calling into question his authority as a gospel preacher.
And the only reason they would call into question his authority
is because they were bringing in another gospel. And so he's
saying, some among you are puffed up and they're promoting themselves
above a true minister of Christ, a true steward of the family,
of the mystery of the gospel. But I will come to you shortly,
if the Lord will. And we'll know, not the speech
of them that are puffed up, but the power." Now Paul had, as
an apostle, he had extraordinary apostolic powers that were limited
to the apostles. He could perform miracles. He
could exercise judgment as an apostle of God, as a penman of
scripture. God gave him certain authorities.
Now, those things ended with the apostles. We don't have them
anymore. But Paul's saying, when I come, we'll find out. We'll find out who's got the
power of God. And it won't be just their words. It'll be an
exercise of the power of God among you, and all question will
be removed. For the kingdom of God is not
in word, but in power. What will you? Shall I come unto
you with a rod? Or in love and the spirit of
meekness? That's how I want to come. That's
how I want to come. If you receive my letter, my
words, the Spirit of God's pleas to give you faith to believe
them, when I come, I'll be able to come in the spirit of love
and meekness, not with a rod of correction to exercise judgment
against those who would pervert the gospel. Who made you to differ? What do you have that you've
not received? All right, let's take a break. th th th