I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians. After we finished the book of
Ephesians a few weeks ago, I'd been seeking the Lord's guidance on
where to go. And I just went a few weeks,
I just didn't know. But I think that I'd like to
start in 1 Corinthians. Lord willing, we'll go through
this book and then 2 Corinthians. Before we look into the first
three verses is what I'm going to look at tonight, just that
first introduction. But let's ask the Lord's blessing.
Our Father, as we call upon You this evening, we are so thankful
that we can be here tonight, and it's so good to be able to
assemble ourselves together. What comfort to be fellowshipping
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we ask you this evening to
bless the Word. Lord, help us, teach us by your
Holy Spirit, and forgive us where we failed you for Christ's sake.
Amen. In the book of 1 Corinthians,
there's a lot of, there's just a lot of things that the Apostle
Paul deals with. A lot of problems that arose
in the church there in Corinth. And I wanted to look and try
to get some history on what came about as far as the Lord raising
up this church in this city of Corinth. And I'll read you a
few things before we look at the first three verses here on
this city. It was said that Corinth was
a city It was located on a little strip of land, on an isthmus,
connecting two large bodies of water and it was very, very accessible
by ship, you know, for commerce. But this city of Corinth was
a city that abounded with great luxury, pride, and tremendous
uncleanness. It was said that of the city
of Corinth, of all the cities of the ancient world, Corinth
was most notorious for licentiousness, just lewd, profane behavior. I mean, it was a filthy place. It was just like a seaport of
seaports. And just any and everything that
could be desired was found in the city of Corinth. Well, in
approximately 146 BC, the Roman army came in and destroyed,
conquered and destroyed the city of Corinth and all of the inhabitants
were just dispersed. And it was said that Rome was
never more enriched in the spoils of war than by their triumph
over the city of Corinth because of all the luxury that was there. For about a hundred years after
its defeat Corinth laid in ruins and it was basically nothing
more than a quarry where the Roman king got his marble for his palaces
and so it was just a place to go spoil. Had a lot of stuff
there but that's what would happen. In 44 BC Julius Caesar recognized
the military and the commercial importance of this city and determined
that he was going to rebuild it and it was going to be a colony
of Rome and he was going to inhabit that city with a lot of Jews
that were in Rome at that time and he was going to get them
out and send them to this city of Corinth. Well because of the
strategic position of this city, it being built back up, Rome
was putting in a lot of money into it, merchants started flocking
from all over the world, attracted by the commerce. by the wealth
that was to be had there. And that luxury that was formerly
there was revived and it soon became exactly what it was before. Just a place of evil and immorality. It just went right back to the
vomit that it was brought out of. Well, under the fostering
care of Rome Corinth, regaining its ancient splendor, had something
happen that was absolutely amazing. Almighty God was pleased in His
good providence to send a man named Paul to that place in his
missionary journeys and Paul crossed and came to Corinth. I mean this city of just filth
and just degradation. And soon the apostle was joined
by a man named Silas and a man named Timothy who came from Macedonia. Well, Paul was a stranger, you
know, to that part of the world and he didn't have any support. from the churches at that time
and so he associated himself with a man named Aquila and his
wife Priscilla, Jews that had come from Italy, had been sent
over. And while Paul lived in the house
of Aquila, he worked with him. making tents. And Paul, there
was a synagogue in that place, and Paul attended that synagogue
every Sabbath. And this was found in Acts 18,
4 and 5. It says, Persuading the Jews
and the Greeks and testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the
Christ. Well, the Lord was pleased to
raise up some people, some believers in that city there, but where
they came from, I mean, you have to understand where these people
were coming from. They were from, a lot of them
from that part of the country, some of them imported, but the
influence of all of that immorality, it was just all over. And the background of those people,
It was very different, and they had a very turbulent, it was
said, an independent spirit about them, and often it manifested
itself in their public assemblies. Now when we get into the book
of 1 Corinthians, we're going to come across some of these
things that the Apostle Paul had to deal with. I just jotted
down a few. One time it said Paul had to
deal with the church at Corinth when they were having the Lord's
Supper. You remember this. They were going to have the Lord's
Supper, but what it actually degraded itself into was nothing
more than just a disorderly, drunken, common meal. Remember that? Paul would tell
them, don't you have houses to eat at? You come over here and
you don't wait on anybody. You know, I don't want to get
into the whole story, but that was from that life that they
had a lot of baggage about. And he had to deal with women
being allowed to speak in public. And when it came to the use of
speaking in tongues, they had no regard for order, and the
Spirit of God was not edified, and it was probably from that
heathen philosophy. Some of them even denied the
doctrine of the resurrection. They were listening to people
and they were listening to some false prophets and thinking it
started to sound, maybe sound right to them or something like
that. Just to name a few. So when we get into the book,
of 1 Corinthians, you're going to find out there's a lot of
things. If you've read this book, Paul had to deal with them on
some things. But with such a picture of such
evil in the midst of this blessed place, of this church, obviously
the Lord's blessing was upon that assembly and the Apostle
Paul begins this evening, and this is what I want us to deal
with, on how Paul addressed these people. He'd been there, had
at least two missionary journeys to the city of Corinth, and what
he did was he addressed the people there based on their profession
of faith, based on what they professed. We come together and
you meet somebody and you don't know them. They profess to be
a believer. Take them at their profession,
you know. This is the way they, you know,
you listen to what somebody says, and you wait, and if they're
the Lord's, it'll manifest itself. If they're not, it'll manifest
itself. But Paul addressed them based on what they profess. Now I want us to just consider
what the Lord has to say to us. concerning the people there in
Corinth, and what they were going through, and what they came out
of, and what they dealt with, and how blessed of God they were
that the Lord sent them a preacher, and taught that preacher. And
that preacher, Paul, taught them, and Silas, and Timothy. Now,
let's look at starting in verse 1. 1 Corinthians 1, 1. Paul. This, you know, was Saul of Tarsus. You know that. Saul of Tarsus,
that one who as an unconverted rebel against God admitted in
Acts 22.20 his rebellion against God. He said in Acts 22.20, he
said, I was the one that was standing by consenting
to the stoning of Stephen. I kept the raiment of those. He said, I persecuted the church. Paul. Not reverend, not just
Paul. Paul. That one who is a proud
Pharisee, while he was breathing out threatenings and slaughter
against the disciples of the Lord, was mercifully, powerfully
arrested by the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. The
Lord stopped him, knocked him off his horse, bright light shined
around him. He called to him and he said,
Saul, why persecutest thou me? And Saul said unto the Lord,
he said, who art thou, Lord? Who are you? I'm Jesus, who you're
persecuting. It's hard to kick against the
pricks. On the road to Damascus, Saul of Tarsus was blinded for
three days and led by the hand into Damascus where he was going
with those letters of authority, and he was going to get all that
he found who were of the way. He was going to bring them back
bound to Jerusalem. But Almighty God stopped him,
that proud, arrogant Pharisee, and sent him into the city, and
the Lord called a disciple named Ananias. He told him, he said,
Ananias, I want you to go to this certain house, and there's
one Saul of Tarsus. Oh, Lord, we've heard of him,
how he's persecuted the church. And the Lord told him, he said,
I want you to go, you go preach to him and you tell him what
I'm about to tell you. And the Scripture says, that
Ananias went his way, entered into the house, and putting his
hands upon him, said..." Now, this is what I think is so beautiful. Ananias had heard of Saul of
Tarsus. He knew who he was. He wreaked
havoc with the church. I mean, he was going to put them
out of his misery. When the Lord told Ananias, He
said, You go. He is a chosen vessel unto Me. You go. Put His hands upon him
and He said, Brother Saul, Brother Saul. The Lord, even Jesus that
appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, has sent Me. that thou mightest receive thy
sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there
fell from his eyes, as it had been scales, and he received
sight forthwith, and arose and was baptized." Almighty God called
Saul of Tarsus out of spiritual darkness and saved him. And Paul
He confessed him in Believer's Baptism. Now, that former rebel
against God, that one that prided himself once in persecuting the
church, begins this epistle to the church there in Corinth and
says, Paul, you know how sweet it is to behold
the miracle of God's grace when God Almighty brings us down from
our high horse. Pride toned down. You know, we don't ever see it
completely erased, but it is abased. It is belittled. We are brought down. And we see
that arrogance in ourselves, and we hate it. We know it's
there. Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. I love that
word right there. He wasn't just invited. The scripture
says he was called, divinely appointed. He didn't assume that
position of an apostle himself. I mean, that was given by the
authority of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. An apostle was one that
was called and taught the gospel personally by the Lord. An apostle. Called of Christ,
taught by Christ. All the other apostles, Judas
had hung himself, gone to his place. Those other eleven apostles
that had been called, chosen by God, redeemed by grace, the
Lord Jesus Christ had taught them effectually the gospel. And they were specifically sent
and commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, this is
what I want you to do. You go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. Paul the Apostle was commissioned
also when I was talking a while ago about Ananias being sent
over to see Saul of Tarsus. When Ananias said, Lord, we've
heard of him. This is what the Lord said in
Acts 9.15. The Lord said unto him, Ananias,
go thy way for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name
before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. The
Lord commissioned him. The Lord commissioned. Paul the
Apostle. And Paul declared, calling himself
Paul, Paul called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ. You know, I
know, I've seen these television, these hucksters, you know, they'll
give themselves titles. There was one that gave himself
the title of Apostle, the Apostle. There are only 12 Apostles, 12
Apostles. Judas was a devil. One of the apostles chosen of
God, but there were twelve chosen, redeemed, regenerated apostles. Twelve of them. That was it.
Paul was one of them. Twelve apostles, called by the
Lord Jesus Christ, taught by the Lord Jesus Christ, commissioned
by the Lord Jesus Christ. You go tell him that I sent you. He's a chosen vessel unto me.
He's going to preach to the Gentiles. He's going to preach to the Jews. He's going to preach to kings.
I'm going to send him. And Paul declared that the Lord's
will, it was the Lord's will, to call him as an apostle. and
revealed to him that he had received his commission from the Lord
Jesus Christ specifically. Listen to this in Galatians 1,
11 and 12. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which
was preached of me is not after man, for I neither received it
of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of
Jesus Christ. Everybody in this congregation
here tonight that has heard the gospel of God's grace and has
been taught by the Lord heard it from another man. You heard
it from somebody. Somebody preached to you. Some
man preached to you. Not the apostles. The apostles
were taught by the Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul says, Paul called
to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. How is that? through the will
of God. God wasn't, when He called Paul,
He didn't put Paul out there to be voted on. He wasn't, you
know, when Judas went to his place, after he hung himself,
the apostles got together and they got a couple of guys. One of them was a guy named Matthias.
And they drew straws, remember that? They cast lots. And the
lot fell on Matthias to fill Judas's apostle ship. And that's the last time you
ever hear of him. Why? Because he was not the apostle
through the will of God that was going to replace Judas. Galatians 1.1 says, Paul, an
apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and
God the Father who raised him from the dead. Paul called to
be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God. and
Sosthenes, our brother." Now, there was a man that I found
in the book of Acts 18-17 who was said to have been a chief
ruler of the synagogue, and this may be the same Sosthenes. I don't know. I couldn't find
out for sure who he was, but whoever he was, right now, he
was one that was sent by the Lord to be with Paul as a help,
as a minister, as one of the preachers. But here's Paul, called
to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes,
our brother. Now who is he writing this letter
to? Verse 2, unto the church of God
which is at Corinth. Now I want you to notice, Paul
didn't write an open letter to the Corinthians. He wasn't writing
this to that city, to that just an undisclosed group of people,
whoever might be able. He wrote this letter sent by
God Almighty through the inspiration of God's Spirit to the Church
of God, which is at Corinth. The people of God's eternal affection. The people that God Almighty
had called out of spiritual darkness and separated from the world's
carnal and disrespectful thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ. Called
them out of false religion. He wrote this letter to the church.
These scriptures have been given by God's Spirit to God's people
for the purpose of revealing the Lord Jesus Christ. These
scriptures, the Lord says, these are they that testify of me. And when Paul wrote this letter,
he wrote this letter to the church that was there. And so the church
of God, those that belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, belong
to God Almighty, the Father, the Holy Spirit in electing,
predestinating grace. These that have been redeemed
by the blood of Christ, who have willingly, in the day of God's
power, cast themselves upon the mercy of God. These people... I'll hold your place right there.
I'll just read this. It's going to be Deuteronomy
14, 2. This is an amazing revelation of who God's people are. Deuteronomy 14, 2. people unto the Lord thy God,
and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto
himself above all the nations that are upon the earth." Now,
when the Lord wrote that, To the nation of Israel, the nation
of Israel is a type of the spiritual Israel. God's spiritual Israel
is a peculiar people unto the Lord Himself. Unto the church
of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified, here
the Spirit of God reveals the fullness. of the character of
God's church. They are a people that have been
sanctified. They're wholly set apart. Set apart. Ordained by God the
Father before the foundation of the world to be His shut-up
flock. They're set apart, they're sanctified,
they're hemmed in. They're in the city of refuge
Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. And all according to the mercy
and grace of God. To them that are sanctified,
set apart, but where? The Scripture says, in Christ
Jesus. You talk about secure. Now here's
the security of God's people. They're set apart. But they're
not set apart and just left to themselves. Well, we're just
going to put them over there in that room over there. They'll
just be over there. Oh, they're set apart, alright.
But they're set apart in Christ Jesus. Joined to Him in everlasting
union with Him. And it's only as being found
in the Lord Jesus Christ that we're partakers of the blessings
of God. To them that are sanctified in
Christ Jesus, and then listen to this, called to be saints. Called effectually by the Spirit
of God. The Church of God was before
the foundation of the world, set apart, sanctified in Christ
Jesus, betrothed to the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, everlastingly. And He betrothed Himself to her
and loved her and has eternally stood for her. She's always been
his. She's always been sanctified.
She's always been his bride. But when she fell in Adam, she came forth just like everybody
else, dead in trespasses and sins. And she walked in this
earth, before the Lord was pleased to call her out of darkness,
she walked in this earth spiritually dead. She didn't know God. No set-apart sheep, before they're converted,
knows God. They don't love Him. They don't
know Him. And something has got to happen
for her to know who He is. The Lord's going to have to reveal
Himself to her. He's going to have to do something for her
that she can't do for herself. He's going to have to regenerate
her. He's going to have to birth her from above. That's what the
Lord told Nicodemus. Nicodemus, verily, verily, I
say unto you, you must be born again. These that are sanctified
in Christ Jesus, they're called to be saints. Listen to Ephesians
2.10. Ephesians 2.10. This is the way
it was before. Ephesians 2.10. For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Wherefore
remember that ye, being in time past, Gentiles in the flesh,
who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were without
Christ. being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope and without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus,
ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of
Christ. For He is our peace, who hath
made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
between us." Before God's people are called out of spiritual darkness,
they're in the world without a knowledge of Christ. Oh, the
Lord's love's upon them, but they are with a mind of hatefulness
and resentfulness and wrath before Him, children of wrath, even
as others, but they're called called to be saints with all
that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our
Lord both theirs and ours. These that are called out of
spiritual darkness are just like everybody else, is what he said,
that's called out of spiritual darkness. That blessed state
into which every child of God is called It's a state of being
translated from the power of darkness into the kingdom of
God's dear Son. And then the last verse for tonight,
Paul says, Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father
and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace. You've heard what grace
is. Grace is God giving us what we
did not deserve. Himself. Life. Grace be unto you. God's grace. Grace that is found
totally in the mind, in the will, in the heart, in the purpose
of Almighty God as He is pleased to show it to undeserving sinners
of His choice Grace. I will have mercy unto whom I'll
have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. The Lord shows grace, mercy,
compassion to whomsoever He will. Grace be unto you and peace. Rest. That benefit that flows from
God's grace. Peace. Peace with God. Peace with one another. Peace
knowing that we've been justified by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Peace. And this grace and peace
is said to come from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Father who chose us in Christ
and the Lord Jesus Christ who redeemed us. The Spirit of God
who keeps us, teaches us. A sinner can have no peace with
God, nor obtain any good from the Lord God Himself, except
through the Lord Jesus Christ. We are told here where our peace
comes from. The grace of God. God's grace. The blessing, this blessing,
this gospel declares this glorious grace and peace. And this grace
and peace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from
the Lord Jesus Christ, that is the prayer of every God-called
preacher of the gospel. This is what I would desire for
all of us. The grace and peace of God. Peace
knowing that our guilt has been put away by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Peace knowing that God has reconciled
us unto Himself by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. There
are things that we will consider and have considered in these
blessed scriptures that are too far beyond our ability to comprehend. But I can tell you this, to know
that the Lord has settled our heart. and has given us some
peace, that I'm not standing here tonight trying to establish
or maintain my standing with God. I'm not trying to do that. I know I cannot do that. If I
have a right standing before God, it's because the Lord has
been gracious to me, has kept me until this day. I pray that
the Lord bless the word to our heart tonight, and as we continue
on in the book of 1 Corinthians, that the Spirit of God would
be pleased to teach us of the Lord's mercy and grace to his
people. For Christ's sake, amen.