Let's ask the Lord's blessing
this evening. Our Father, we thank You for
this time that we have to come together. And we ask Your blessing
upon the preaching and the hearing of Your Word, for Christ's sake. Amen. Take your Bibles and turn with
me to the book of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I'd like to just pick up right
where we left off, going through this blessed book written to
the church at Corinth. The Apostle Paul, and I'm going
to begin in verse 10 and go through verse 16. Paul the Apostle says
to the church at Corinth, Now I beseech you, brethren, by the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing,
and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly
joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. Now, knowing that all Scripture,
we need to be reminded of this, All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. The Scriptures declare that this
book was written, was penned by men as they were moved upon
by the Holy Ghost. These Scriptures are God-inspired
words. When these men wrote these scriptures,
they wrote infallibly. They made no error, no error. God was moving upon these holy
men, the scripture says, to write these scriptures. So when we
read these scriptures tonight, consider these scriptures, we
need to remember that these were inspired of God, God Almighty. And so now that the Apostle Paul,
he tenderly and wisely proceeds to speak to the church at Corinth,
but not just the church of Corinth, every church. He's talking to
Katie tonight. This is every church of the Lord
Jesus Christ, every local assembly of believers. This is for us. And the Spirit of God speaking
to us, we pray, bless it to our hearts. We need to hear this. We need to. We need to be advised,
and what we're going to be looking at tonight, as I've entitled
this, unity within the body. Unity. Togetherness, oneness,
and these words were written by men as God moved upon them
for the prevention of divisions or schisms within the body. He starts off and he says, now
I beseech you, now listen to this, brethren, brethren, I beseech
you, children of the same Father, Every believer in this room tonight
is born by the good purpose of the Heavenly Father. Chosen in
Christ, redeemed by Christ, regenerated by the Spirit of God, indwelt
by the same Holy Spirit. Now I beseech you, brethren,
you that are partakers, of the same grace, the same life, the
life of Christ that is within every believer. You know, we
can't be reminded too often of our relationship to one another
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember when Abraham
and Lot, there was a strife between Abraham's herdsman and Lot's
herdsman. And do you remember what strife
was over? Grass. Grass. It was over grass. And Abraham said unto Lot, Let
there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee. between
my herdman and thy herdman. Why? He said, for we be brethren. We're brethren. We're of the
same Lord, same grace. I beseech you, Paul says, brethren,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I beseech you in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ and all that that name implies. I beseech you in the name of
the Lord. That basis by which Paul beseeched
the church at Corinth. I'm beseeching you for Christ's
sake. This is for the Lord's sake,
for our good and for His honor, His glory. This is the basis
of our union. The name of the Lord and all
that that name implies. I was thinking about this and
I jotted this down just before. We got up here, and all that
that name implies. I beseech you, by the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, you remember when the Father, at His baptism, on the Mount of Transfiguration,
there was a voice heard from heaven, and it said, this is
my beloved Son, and whom I'm well pleased. And what did the
Lord say? You hear Him. You hear what He
said. Paul says, I beseech you, brethren,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. He says that you all
speak the same thing and that there be no divisions, no schisms
among you, but that you be perfectly joined together In the same mind,
that is, with affection one for the other. And in the same judgment,
that is, with the same opinion concerning the fundamental truth
of the gospel. Speak the same thing. Let there
be no divisions, no schisms among you. Perfectly joined together
with the same thought, We believe the gospel. This is the foundational
truth here at Katie Baptist Church. Has been for over 60 years. You think, when the Lord raised
up Brother Scott, what was he preaching? Same thing, he was
preaching the last message he ever preached here. I had gone, I was leaving, I
was going to, I was going back to Franklin. And I was leaving
on a, I think I was leaving on a Sunday afternoon. I called
Brother Scott when I was pulling out. He was preparing to preach
on Wednesday. And I think he told Stan, he
told Stan, you know, he never lost his wit. He told Stan, he
said, Marvin always has three points. He said, I'm going to
have nine. You know? Always preaching the
same thing. The gospel of God's grace. I
beseech you. And then the Apostle Paul says
over in verse 11, he said, For it hath been declared unto me
of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe,
that there are contentions among you. Now, here again, listen to his
wording. For it hath been declared unto
me of you, my brethren, the apostle Paul wisely exhorts them in the
name of what they are, brethren, unity within the body. He says,
now I've heard something from a very reliable source. It's been declared unto me of
you, my brethren, by them which are of the house." There were
some within the household of someone named Chloe. And obviously
it was a woman and what she had done is out of concern for the
body. Out of concern for the good of
the body, the unity of the body, she contacted Paul about some
division. some contention, some wrangling
within the church. And her love, number one, for
the Lord, and for the Lord's people, and for the unity of
the body, someone has been reported, the scripture says, by them,
which are somebody in her household. Not out of anything other than
concern. They came and they talked to
Paul and they did it the right way. They weren't being back
biters and busybodies or sowers of discord, but they contacted
the apostle and they asked him for some guidance and some direction
on this problem. And then the Spirit of God was
pleased to make known what the problem was. It says in verse
12, Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul,
I of Apollos, I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Now, the problem
was that the members And there were Jews and Gentiles. That's
the only two groups that there are in the world. Jews or Gentiles. If you're not a Jew, you're a
Gentile. I don't care where you are. You're not a Jew, you're
a Gentile. So there's Jews and Gentiles
in this assembly. And they were divided on some
thoughts that they had. And the problem was not on the
gospel. That wasn't the issue. The issue
was not what was being preached. You know what the problem was?
Who was preaching it? That was the issue. They were
bickering over their favorite preacher. Who they liked better. Now some were saying, and probably
Gentiles, this is just a summation. Some of them were saying, I am
of Paul. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. And so some of them were saying,
well, I like Paul to preach. Paul's my favorite. And some
were saying, well, I'm of Cephas. That's Peter. Peter was the apostle
sent primarily to the Jews. And then some were saying, well,
I'm of Apollos. And Apollos, according to Acts
18.24, was an eloquent man, this is what it says, mighty in the
scriptures. He was a man that was well-versed,
he was well-taught, and obviously the Lord had gifted him to preach. When God calls a man to preach,
the first thing he does, Charles Spurgeon says, he saves him.
He saves the man first. All God-called preachers are
regenerated by the grace of God. Men that are not regenerated
by the grace of God, they're not called of God. God saves
His preachers. I told you about me reading that
in Spurgeon's lectures to my students. He said, that's the
first thing that God does, you know, before He calls a preacher.
He saves him, I thought. I wonder why I didn't think of
that. But after he saves this man, he gifts the man. He teaches him the gospel. Then
he grants a man the ability to express what the scriptures are
saying. He's able to give the sense.
of what the Word is saying. He gives him a study. The Spirit
of God teaches him. Well, this man, Apollos. You
know, it was said of Paul, the apostle, that he was very, in
his speech, he was not capable as much. That's what I've read. I don't know. But some of them
would say, well, I like Paul. I like Peter. I like Apollos. See, I like the way Apollos preaches.
He uses big words. Very eloquent man. And then there
were some that said, I'm of Christ. Now it's hard to know exactly
who these were. or what they based their thoughts
upon, but it probably was one of these two thoughts right here.
Either they had been in Judea and had actually seen the Lord
Jesus Christ and thus regarded themselves as being in greater
favor. that are maybe more distinguished. I actually heard the Lord. I
was there years ago, but I actually heard the Lord preach. Or, more probably, it was because
they didn't want to call themselves or name themselves or associate
themselves with any one leader. And what they wished is to just
regard the Lord. as their head and possibly prided
themselves in the belief that they were actually more conformed
to the Lord because they weren't associated with Paul or Apollos
or Cephas. We're of Christ. We just follow
the Lord where the Lord leads us. We don't need a particular
pastor or teacher at all. We just follow the Lord as we
feel lead of the Spirit. Well, that sounds, I guess, spiritual,
but it's not. The Lord made it very clear concerning
His will in the teaching and the shepherding of His people.
Jeremiah 3.15, He said, I will give you pastors according to
mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding."
You know, the church in Spring Lake, where Brother Rupert was
for years, here this past week they called a pastor, Brother
John Chapman from Ashland. And Brother John had been going
down back and forth to preach, and I got a call yesterday or
the day before yesterday and said that they had called Brother
John. And you know, I'm so thrilled
that God raised up a pastor in that assembly. If you've never
been able to be in the church in Spring Lake, it's just a sweet
group of people right in the southeast part of North Carolina.
where Brother Doug and Judy West go, and it's just thrilling that
God would send them a pastor. But this is how the Lord leads
and guides His people. He sends them a pastor. And so
these men, they were They were bickering. And I understand that
one minister may be preferred, you may enjoy hearing. I know
how that is. There's men that I just seem
to be able to relax. I can plug in a tape, Brother
Henry, Brother Scott, and I just relax. I'm not fearful of what they're
going to say or anything. I understand that. But here's the point. Let's be
careful, very, very cautious that we give honor to those that
the Lord has honored in allowing them to preach the gospel. I'm of Paul. I'm of Cephas. I'm of Apollos. But we're of
Christ. You know, we're bound to give respect unto God's preachers. Hebrews 13, 7 says, Obey them
that have the rule of you, and submit yourselves, for they watch
for your souls, as they that must give account, that they
may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable. for you. And then the Apostle
Paul, when dealing with these ones, that there was these divisions
and schisms, and they were, you know, I like this preacher, I
like this preacher, why don't you have him more, why don't
you have, you know. Then the Apostle Paul asked this in verse
13, is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were
you baptized in the name of Paul? You know, were you purchased?
by Paul's blood? Were you chosen in Paul before
the foundation of the world? Are you robed in the righteousness
of Paul? Were you baptized in the name
of Paul? That's what he said. The body
of Christ is not divided. We're one. We're a body, and
that body was gloriously set forth even in the crucifixion
of the Lord. You remember when the Scripture
had said in Psalm 3420, He keepeth all his bones, not one of them
is broken? Spiritually talking about God's
people, not one of God's people broken, lost, injured, harmed. They came to the Lord. They were
going to kill the two thieves and the Lord. They broke the
legs of the two thieves. They came to the Lord. He was
already dead. They didn't break His bones in the fulfillment
of that scripture right there. Every believer, Paul asks that
question in verse 13. Were you baptized in the name
of Paul? In whose name are we baptized? Galatians 3.26-28 says, For ye
are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as
many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ,
there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither bond nor free,
there's neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ
Jesus. We're a body. Just imagine every
one of our individual bodies. I've said this, my hand here
likes this hand. They get along, they work together,
and they do things, and I like my feet, and I'm one unit. I'm thankful, I'm thankful it
works as well as it does. It doesn't work as well as it
used to, but I still like it. There's one body. Let's see Ephesians 4, 4-6. There's
one body. There's one church. There's one
Spirit, the Holy Spirit. Even as you're called in one
hope of your calling, that is that glory which is reserved
for us in heaven in Christ. One hope of our calling. One
faith. That is, faith that believes
and trusts the Lord Jesus Christ and puts no confidence in our
flesh. One faith. There's one baptism. One, two
meanings. One of them, just what I just
said, you know, actually being baptized into union with the
Lord Jesus Christ, and then water baptism, which is the confession
of our faith in Christ Jesus the Lord. One God and Father
of all, eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, sovereign, the I
Am, who is above all and through all and in you all. We're one. We're one. And then in verse
1450, he said, I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus
and Gaius, lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own
name." Although the apostles were commissioned to go into
all the world and preach the gospel, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So even though the apostles were
commissioned to baptize believers, Paul thanked the Lord. He said,
I thank God that providentially, that's what he was saying, providentially,
that I baptize none of you but Crispus and Gaius. Now here's
what I found out, these two men, Acts 18.8, Crispus was the chief
ruler of the synagogue, He believed on the Lord with all his house,
and many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized. Crispus, he was a ruler of the
synagogue. He was a Jew that God called
out of darkness. And Paul said, I baptized him.
And then he says in Gaius, Romans 16, 23, Gaius, mine host, and
of the whole church, salute you. So obviously here was a man that
Paul stayed in his house. God was pleased to save him.
Called him out of darkness. Paul baptized him. He said, I
thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius.
And then said, why? He thanked the Lord that he had
only baptized a few. Scripture says, lest any should
say that I had baptized in my own name. Paul was not wanting
to be charged with having a personal following. He said, I didn't
die for you. I wasn't raised for you. You
weren't chosen in me. You don't follow Paul. You follow
Christ as Paul proclaims him. John the Baptist said, I'm just
a voice. I'm just a voice crying in the
wilderness. So Paul didn't want to be charged
with trying to drum up a following. You know, well, we're Paulites. You know, we're Peterites. We're
Apolloites. You know, he was an apostle that
was held in great esteem by God's people, but he was cautious when
he came to making a name for himself. He said, I baptized
very few of you. But then he said, and it was
as if he remembered something, verse 16, and I baptized also
the household of Stephanus besides, I know not whether I baptized
any other. I remember baptizing Stephanus
and outside of that, he said, I just can't remember. The apostle
corrected himself. Paul wrote under the inspiration
of the Spirit of God. But you know what just hit me
when I read that? Here was a man writing under
the inspiration of God's Spirit. Infallibly writing. Spirit of
God caused him to write, but he never forgot that he was just
a frail creature. Oh yeah, I just remembered. I also baptized Stephanus. I
sure did. He was just a creature of the
dust. That's an amazing thing to me.
Writing under the inspiration of God's Spirit, made to realize,
Paul, you are what you are by the grace of God. Don't you ever
forget that. The Scripture says concerning
Stephanus, I thought this was sweet as I close. 1 Corinthians
16, 15 to 16. Now listen what the scripture
had to say about this man, Stephanus. I beseech you brethren, you know
the house of Stephanus, that it is the first fruits of Achaia. And listen to what the Apostle
Paul said about the house of Stephanus. They have addicted
themselves to the ministry of the saints. That you submit yourselves
unto such and to everyone that helpeth us and laboreth." I thought,
what an epitaph. They have addicted themselves.
You know, somebody that's addicted to something, they've got to
have it. Whatever it is, they're addicted
to it. They can't live without it. He said that the house of
Stephanus has addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints.
Whatever it takes, by the grace of God, addicted themselves to
the ministry of the saints. Whatever it takes for the glory
of God and for God's people. That's what I'm going to do.
That's what I'm going to do. May we all, in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, for His honor and glory, for our good, for
our peace, be found endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace. May the Lord bless these words
to our heart for Christ's sake. Amen.