Anyway, 1 Corinthians is just
the most remarkable letter, and people should have no doubt that
it's written to us. The beginning of the letter,
in verse 2, says, to the Church of God, which is at Chorob, to
those who might be sanctified if they do lots and lots of really
good things, or might be sanctified if they obey the law, or might
be sanctified by the time they get through their Christian lives.
What's it say? Are sanctified in Christ Jesus,
called to be saints. Saints, the word there is holy
ones, isn't it? With, and here we are, with all
who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ, our, of
theirs and ours, our Lord. We call Him our Lord, don't we?
The whole purpose of our church and the thing that has caused
us to be together and has caused us to continue to be together
by the grace of God is that we actually want Jesus Christ to
be seen as God. End of story. We want Him to
be seen as God. We want Him to be lifted up before
people as He who sits on the throne of this universe and rules
all things infinitely and immutably and lovingly and purposefully,
is what we are saying. We are not going to allow, I
trust, people who are associated with us in our Church to go away
saying that God has desires that are unfulfilled, or God cannot
achieve His purposes of grace and salvation in the lives of
His people. And of course the other big issue in all of creation
is that since the fall of Satan and since the fall of our father
Adam in the garden, we have been by nature people who do not want
God to be God, and we have been poisoned by Satan's venom in
the garden. The venom that he had in his
heart in Isaiah 14 where he says, I will, I will, I will, I will. I will. Let's read those verses
again in Isaiah 14. It's just really important. Because
Satan's words end up being the words of people infected by his
poison. How you are fallen from heaven,
Isaiah 14.12, our Lucifer, son of the morning. How you are cut
down to the ground, you who weakened the nations. For you have said
in your heart, these are Satan's words, but they're the words
of all unregenerate men. I will ascend into heaven. I
will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will also sit
on the mount of the congregation on the farther sides of the north.
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like
the Most High." Such is the nature of man, isn't it? As a famous
Arminian centuries ago said, I make myself to differ. And each week we put on the front
of our bulletin a verse from 1 Corinthians 1.30, a profoundly
significant verse. And it says in 29, that no flesh
should glory in his presence. The reason no flesh can glory
in His presence, because God is God in verse 28. God has chosen. No flesh should glory in His
presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who has become
for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. And then the Holy Spirit quotes
Jeremiah 9.23, that as it is written, he who glories, let
him glory in the Lord. That's what we declare about
our Saviour. That's what it is to lift Him
up, is to declare Him as God. But there's a verse that I want
to look at tonight over in in chapter 4, verse 7, and I printed
the rest of that chapter out to get it into a context for
us. And as you well know, the context
in Corinth was that there were divisions among people and people
were inclined to look at the flesh of men and to follow in
some way them. And Paul writes this amazingly
gracious letter to the saints at Corinth. And he talks about
the fact that they are stewards of the mysteries of God. And the mysteries of God are
outlined in the verses just preceding it. And so the chapter, it's
not on your notes there, but the chapter in a sense would
be better divided in another place. Therefore let no one boast
in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or
Cephas, or the world, or life, or death." Just listen to it,
all things, present, things to come, all are yours. And you are Christ's. You belong
to Christ. As Christ belongs to God, God's
children belong to Jesus Christ. It's just that wonderful intimacy
of union that God's children have. In verse 2, he has a requirement
which should be the prayer of anyone who ever stands behind
this pulpit. Just one thing that I pray for
myself, Regardless of the circumstances in my flesh and regardless of
the circumstances that happen around us, there's only one thing,
one thing is needful, isn't it? That one be found faithful. It's a little thing to be judged,
because he who judges us is the Lord. At the end of the day,
We call on people, and I plead with people, to be fair dinkum
with God. Keep your life before God clean,
and the rest of it will be cleansed by God's activity. Fix your eyes
on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith. And the
Lord will come, in verse 5, and he'll bring to light the hidden
things of darkness, and reveal the counsel of the heart. Then
each one's praise will come from God. But see, the problem in Corinth,
and the problem in all human hearts, is this whole business
of being puffed up, in verse 6. And in verse seven, we have three
questions, three questions that I try and have before me on a
daily basis if possible. And if you could have them in
your hearts on a regular daily basis, it's a wonderful, wonderful
thing if God can lay these three questions to your heart, to our
consciences. to our experience. For who makes
you to differ from another? That's the first question. Who makes you to differ? And
what do you have that you did not receive? And the third question is, now
if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had
not received it? These three vitally important
questions. And so I was just going to look
at them separately and just read a bunch of scripture with them
this evening. God makes his children different. He puts a difference between
his people and the rest of the people of this world. Remarkable
difference. We've talked about the destruction
of Jerusalem. in 486 BC, and before Jerusalem
was destroyed, God sent the avenging angels into Jerusalem to put
a mark on the foreheads, in Ezekiel 9.4, to put a mark on the foreheads
of all those who grieve and lament over the wickedness of that city,
over the religious wickedness. They sigh and cry over all the
abominations that are done within it. God's children today sigh
and cry over the abominations. But God makes a difference. It's so wonderfully typified
in the Exodus, isn't it? That God made a difference. He continued through those plagues
to make a difference between the people of Israel and the
people of Egypt. And the difference ultimately
is typified in that amazing cloud at the Red Sea, which for one
was light and life and escape and freedom, and for the other
was darkness and death. God made the difference. God made that difference. The Lord, according to Exodus
11 verse 7, the Lord put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. And God today makes a difference.
He has put a difference between His children and the other people
in this world. And He puts a difference like
the difference in the time of Exodus. It's a Gospel difference. It's the Gospel that divides
and separates God's children. As I read from a man whose name
I can hardly pronounce, Gruen Chobus, or Chobius, I make myself
to differ. How often do we have conversations
where the difference is something that we do? It's just so common
to us. It's shameful how common it is.
When we look at other people in this world around us, we are
inclined to say that their activities and their situation is their
doing and their doing entirely. And there's a real sense in which
God holds people responsible for their actions and holds his
children responsible for their actions. But God's children need
to see something bigger than that. If we're going to see clearly,
we're going to have to see what is written. Do you see what Paul
says? That he doesn't want us, in verse
6, he doesn't want us to think beyond
what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf
of one against the other." So what are the differences that
God has made? What differences has He made in your life? If
you look back on your life as a believer for however many years
it is now, What differences do you see that God has made? Remarkable,
isn't it, to think of the providential hand of God in your life. Just think about it. On Sunday,
one of the reasons for doing this is on Sunday I'm looking
at Judas, and Judas for all the world had all the privileges
of everyone else, didn't he? Just remarkable. He was considered... We had three prominent apostles,
and then Judas was number four in line. He was the treasurer
of them. What remarkable providence it
is for Peter and John to be saved, and for Judas to have spent the
last 2,000 years in hell. Ultimately, it's got to do with
God being God. as much as people of this world
find the doctrine of election and the absolute sovereignty
of God in election something that's offensive. The children
of God are made, because they bow to God, to delight in the
things that the world finds offensive. We delight in the fact that God
causes his people in 2 Thessalonians 2.13, we are bound to give thanks
to God always for you brethren, beloved of the Lord, this is
what love looks like from God's perspective, because God from
the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the
Spirit and belief in the truth. God does that. When God's children
sing in Revelation 5, we often talk about these songs,
but what do they sing? They sing about redemption. They
don't sing about what they've done in redemption, they sing
about what God does. You are worthy to take the scrolls
and to open its seals for you were slain and have redeemed
us to God by your blood. They were delighted in the fact
that what the Lord Jesus did in time is the result of what
He had promised to do in eternity. He effectually redeemed His people. He didn't come here to this earth
to try and do something. He really did redeem them. He
really did redeem His people. he really did call those who
he revered. There's that famous passage in
Titus 3, verse 3 and following. For we ourselves were once foolish,
disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures,
living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when
the kindness and the love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, not as if
we had put God under some obligation because of what we've done, but
according to His mercy He saved us through the washing of regeneration
and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on
us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour. that having been justified, finished
past activity, by His grace we should become heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. So God's difference begins in
eternity. in election. It's carried through
by the work of the Lord Jesus in redemption. It comes to us
because of the work of the Holy Spirit. And because it's God's
activity from beginning to end, we are kept, we are preserved. A wonderful passage in 1 Peter,
we are kept by the power of God through faith. for the salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time. We are kept persevering
by God and one day There will be a difference that God makes
when the Lord Jesus comes, and we've talked about that last
day, when that amazing separation for all eternity will be made. And the difference will be made
to be seen by all of the world as a difference that God has
made. and there won't be one single
person on this earth who has ever lived or one angel in heaven
who will say anything other than the fact that this is God's activity
and God is to be praised for what He has done. And what do
we have that we did not receive? That God made that difference
and He's made a difference in the lives of His people. We are
new creations. Our faith will seem feeble and
often pathetic, but it's not the power of our faith, but the
object of our faith that is the gift of God. It's God's gift. Spirit gives birth to Spirit. It is God's gift. from beginning
to end. Do we need repentance? It's God's
gift, repentance, isn't it? When they heard these things
they became silent in Acts 11, when they heard about the Gentiles
like us believing, and they glorified God, saying, God has also granted
to the Gentiles repentance to life. We know those verses in
Ephesians 2. It's a gift of God. We've already
seen that we were justified. We were justified. In Romans
4, that remarkable passage talks about the justification that
we had, won for us in eternity and established before all men
for us. at the cross of the Lord Jesus.
He was delivered up because of our offences and was raised because
of our justification. And then remarkably in the next
verse it says, therefore having been justified, having been justified
by what the Lord Jesus did and what He did alone, by faith we
have peace with God. What a remarkable thing it is
that the God and Judge of this whole universe calls people like
us His children, that we can lie our heads on our pillows
tonight and rest in the Lord Jesus. We can call God our friend. We are the faith children even though we don't see Him.
We live by faith. As 1 Corinthians 3 says, all
things are ours. What have we received? Absolutely
everything necessary for you to be where you are right now. When you go through Heaven's
door, you will have received absolutely everything that you
need to get you there. What if it's painful now? What
on earth does it matter when God, this God, is at the reins
of what happens in your life and the life of everyone else
around you? That's how we have peace with God, don't we? In
the providences of life, we have peace with God. Do we desire
to bear fruit? God's children are hungry to
bear fruit, aren't they? We're zealous for good works.
We're zealous to bear fruit, but whose fruit is it that God's
children bear? People have told you that it's
your activities. It's not what the book says. What does he say? It is the fruit of The Spirit,
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. How much do we
long for those things? They're not the fruit of human
activity, they're the fruit of the Spirit. God says that. If
the Spirit's in us, then those things will come as we gaze upon
Jesus and take our eyes off ourselves. We have the promise of God that
He's working all things for our good. We have the promise of
eternal life. We have the promise in 1 Peter
of an inheritance that's kept in heaven for us. And we have the promise and we
see the promise of God putting His children into fellowships
where he is lifted up and where his gospel is proclaimed, and
where he is seen to fulfil his remarkable promises. We hold
fast to the head from whom the whole body, nourished and knit
together by joints and ligaments, grows with an increase that is
from God. So, first question is, who makes
you to differ? God makes the difference. What
do we ever have that we haven't received? Everything that's ever
happened in our lives has come to us from the hand of our God. And why do you boast? in the
authorised version, it says glory. It's a good translation in a
sense, isn't it? Why did people glory as if they
had not received it? You see in Luke 18, that famous
passage about the man going up to the temple, the Pharisee and
the tax collector, they both went up there supposedly to pray. And the Pharisee stood and prayed
thus. The Holy Spirit says he didn't
pray to God, he prayed with himself. Ah God, I thank you. Who was
his God? He prayed with himself. He prayed to himself. I thank you
that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers,
or even as this tax collector. We might smile. Dear oh dear,
we ought to be ashamed of how often we've actually expressed
those words in our own thoughts. I fast twice a week. I give tithes
of all that I possess. He really was praying to himself.
And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as
raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God,
be merciful to me, a sinner. One of the commentators said
that he stood afar off so that there was a huge gulf of grace
between him and God. I'm not sure whether that's the
case, but it's a beautiful picture, isn't it, that he actually wanted
there to be seen to be a distance that God alone can fulfil. God be merciful to me, the sinner."
This man, according to God, went down to his house justified. Rather than the other, for everyone
who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will
be exalted. We are what we are, says Paul,
by the grace of God. We have nothing to boast in.
Nothing. It's a great comfort to have
nothing to boast in, except to boast in the Lord, who is absolutely
everything for us. He's everything that we desire. then He'll be everything that
we have, and when He's everything that we have, we'll need for
nothing else. It starts again, Jeremiah 9,
verse 23. If you can turn there, we might
just finish with the verse that the
Holy Spirit brought to us. Thus says the Lord, Let not the
wise man glory in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory
in his might. But let him who glories, glory
in this, that he understands and knows Me. Jesus said, This
is eternal life, that you know the Father, you know Him, that
he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, exercising
loving-kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight. That's where our glory is, that's
where our comfort is, that's where our peace is. Not boasting
about things that we have or we have achieved, but let's boast
about the Lord. Let His gospel be the issue that
we fight for and contend for.