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. Now, the cause
for which Paul sent Timothy to Corinth, he says, for this cause,
and that cause was to warn them and remind them. If you look
in the previous couple of verses, Paul's intent is to warn them
and to remind them. And he says, for that cause,
I send to you somebody that's faithful in the Lord. May I never
send anybody to you, that is, let anybody stand in this pulpit
that's not faithful in the things of the Lord in the gospel. And
so Paul sent somebody he could trust to teach, to warn and to
teach, to warn them against their vainglory, their vainglory and
their confidence in the flesh, the things he's been speaking
of. Their pride to remind them of Paul's notice the language
ways which be in Christ Ways which be in Christ and Paul said
it's that which he teaches everywhere in every church and we know what
that is The gospel of the Son of God What's the cure for glorying
in the flesh? preaching Christ What's the cure
for pride? Preaching that gospel of our
Savior that excludes boasting. That's not of works, lest any
man should boast. Paul said in chapter one, verse
10 and 11, that there were divisions and contentions among them. What's
gonna heal that? What's gonna eliminate that?
in the gospel of our Savior, and we know that. We know that
from experience as well as from the scriptures. Now, Timothy's
gonna remind them who saved them. We need to be reminded of that,
don't we? And what from, what he saved them from, what they
were before they met the Lord Jesus Christ. He's gonna preach
free and sovereign grace to them and remind them that they're
nothing. And that God chose and saved nothings, worse than nothings. It's the gospel of free and sovereign
grace that puts sinners in the dust. And that's where these
Corinthians needed to be. They had somehow graduated above
the dust and they needed to be reminded of their need for Christ
and that he's all to the believer. He's gonna preach that glorious
gospel that Paul, or the way Paul put it, that causes sinners
to rejoice in Christ Jesus alone and have no confidence in the
flesh. They had confidence in the flesh of other men in their
own knowledge, we'll see in this book. He's gonna set forth the Son
of God humbled himself and became obedient Unto death even the
death of the cross He's going to exhort them again to look
to Christ alone and never to themselves away from themselves
You have to look away from yourself to look to Christ He's going to exhort them to
unity As Paul said divisions and contentions unity in Christ
and simple godly worship It's going to remind them warn them
and remind them But notice in the verse that though there may
be different situations and circumstances in every church and There certainly
were we see different things dealt with in the letters to
the churches by Paul and others the different churches in the
book of Revelation that that those letters were sent to, that the Lord spoke to, different
situations, but the need was the same. He said, this is what
I say everywhere I go. And may that always be the case.
Because it's tempting to think that different situations,
this is something that preachers have to be aware of. You know
some things, you always do. I wish I didn't know anything
about anybody, but that would mean we couldn't be friends,
and so it's better to be friends, I think, and just know everything.
But I'm talking mostly about wherever you may travel or things,
you know about things, and it's tempting to tailor your message
maybe to some situation. Can't do it, must not do it. because the need is not to be
rebuked by speaking against what's happening
or even mentioning it. The need is to be rebuked by
the gospel. The word of God is profitable
for rebuke. Nothing will rebuke a believer
at all, anything, nothing will at all. except the gospel of
Christ. It's not gonna work for one thing
and it's dishonoring to the Lord for another. It's not preaching
Christ and it ain't gonna help you. It's gonna bow you up. The law's not gonna help. The
law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. It still is. The gospel of the Savior is what we're brought to by all of the
word of God, not the law itself. So he said, this is what I say
everywhere. The need is always the same in
whatever circumstance or situation. The ways which be in Christ. That's what he said everywhere
he went. Faith in him, learning of him, take my yoke. look into
Him, communing with Him, in the worship, resting in the Savior,
trusting Him. Those are the things that they
were to be reminded of, Christ and the things of His kingdom. Now, Paul sent Timothy ahead,
fully intending to go to Corinth himself. He said, if the Lord
will, I will. That's the right way to say it,
right? Not if you will, God will. He said, if the Lord will, I
will. That's the right way. But the language in the next
verses shows Paul's reasons for sending Timothy first, particularly
verse 21. What will ye? Shall I come unto
you with a rod or in love and in the spirit of meekness? Shall
I come to you in discipline and in correction and harsh rebuke
or in fellowship. Can we rejoice together or not? Is it gonna be something else
when I get there? And that, he sent Timothy to
see how Timothy would be received and more importantly, how the
gospel would be received Whether there would be a spirit of haughtiness
and defiance. Oh, we know all that. We understand
that. We know what you're, yeah, you
know. You can tell when somebody's
blowing you off. Not hard to tell. Or would there be a spirit of
repentance and regret for the way they had been acting a humility
before God. That would determine in large
part at least the nature of Paul's subsequent visit. How's it gonna
be? Now look at verse 18 with me
please. Now some are puffed up as though
I would not come to you. but I will come to you shortly
if the Lord will. And we'll know not the speech
of them which are puffed up, but the power. Now we know that
there were some in this Corinthian church, from all of the writings
to them by Paul, we know that there were some in this church
who were critical of the apostle himself, and even questioned
his apostleship. Apparently some had been talking
big and talking trash about Paul as though they wouldn't have
to answer for it. They were getting a little comfortable
saying some things. It's easy to say things when
it's not to somebody's face, isn't it? And Paul's absence
made them bold in their criticisms and in their lies about Paul. And he warns them here not to
get too comfortable doing that because soon they were gonna
have to answer to his face. And we have a very, I believe,
a very important lesson here that we must not miss. There is a reason that these
kinds of issues are recorded in the Holy Scriptures. In the gospel, in the worship
of the Lord, is a wonderful, peaceful, beneficial arrangement. It's quiet devotion. It's sweet
fellowship, isn't it? It's family time. It's the most
important thing that we do in this world. If the Lord's gonna
meet with you and commune with you and strengthen you and encourage
you, He's gonna do it right here. He's gonna do it where the gospel
is preached, and by that means, It's hearing from God at his
feet, not as some kind of a theologian or something, but sitting at
his feet and hearing from him as Mary did at Martha's house. It's a place of supernatural
blessing, a place of great joy in this world, an oasis in the
desert of this wretched world. Also, It's a bunch of sinners
doing stupid things. And that's what we're shown here. We're shown that in all of these
letters from the apostles to the churches. But I think maybe
the most important lesson for us in this is that these issues
of pride and promiscuity, as we'll see in the next chapter,
these terrible things that were going on in this church, they
were never tolerated in any church. The Lord spoke very harshly in
Revelation to the seven churches, and the apostle here has some
harsh language for these folks, and more so we'll see as we go
on. It was never treated as business
as usual. It was never just, oh well, sinners
will be sinners, you know. We're all a bunch of sinners,
so it's just gonna have to, we're just gonna have to get used to
it. No, we're not gonna get used to it. on the authority of this
book, we're not gonna get used to it. By the grace of God, we're
not. These things were dealt with.
They were dealt with swiftly. They were dealt with harshly. Paul said, I'm coming myself,
and I'm sure it took a great deal for Paul to get to them.
I don't know the logistics of it. I'm sure it took quite a
bit for him to get to them, but he said, I'm coming. We're gonna
find out about this now. We're gonna get to the bottom
of it. And I think we learned something from that. It's the
Lord's gracious. These things, Paul says here,
I know you're able to talk a lot, but I'm fixing to come find out
if you can back it up. I'm gonna know not just your
words like I do now. I hear what you're saying. It
got back to him somehow or another, it always seems to. Sooner or
later, He said, I'm gonna know not just your words like now,
but your power. Understand this now. This is
not a bragging contest. This is not Paul saying, I'm
bigger than you, I'm better, I'm bolder and badder than you. It's not Paul fighting pride
with pride. This is Paul fighting pride with
jealousy for the glory of God. This is Paul fighting pride with
love for these people. Paul describes these ones, and
again, always remember these letters are not, sometimes individuals
are mentioned, but he's speaking, and we had to remember that.
If you recall in our study in Revelation, we had to remember
that. He's talking to the whole church, that specific church,
but the church as a whole. So these things didn't apply
to everybody. He calls these them which are
puffed up. And he challenges them regarding
their power, which here means the ability to get results. It's ability, it's power to make
something happen, to make something successful. Being puffed up in
the flesh, now think about this. Being puffed up in the flesh,
that's a mirage. There's no substance to that.
That's just all in your mind. It's not real. It's what you're
thinking. And you're thinking wrong. There's
no substance there. Thinking you're a big shot only
exists up here. And what you say is just as meaningless
if it's contrary to the scriptures. And all pride is contrary, all
human pride is contrary to the scriptures. So Paul says here, I'm gonna
come looking for substance, not smoke. There's plenty of smoke,
but I'm gonna see if there's any substance to it. The only
real substance in this entire world is God and his truth. Everything
else is a mirage. Riches do make themselves. Will
you give yourself for that which is not? It don't exist. In light
of eternity, it don't exist. God and his truth, not your truth.
You don't have a truth. You may just call it that. Maybe
some people do call it that, but it's not. You don't have
one. There's just one truth and it's
God's. And then look at verse 20, for the kingdom of God. Now
he's talking about these individuals, whoever they were, I'm sure he
knew who they were, these puffed up ones and their talking and
their power or lack thereof, but notice he uses spiritual
things to rebuke them. For the kingdom of God is not
in word, but in power. The kingdom of God is the church.
When you think about the kingdom of God, there's a lot of complicated
ideas about that, but it's not a physical territory, we know
that. He said, my kingdom is not of this world. A kingdom
exists of a territory, but in this case, the territory is a
people. There's the king and his subjects. That's the kingdom of God. The
king now, and you know that the truth of his kingdom, the things
of the kingdom of God, I'm including that in him because he is our
truth, he is our gospel, he himself, the king himself. So it's simply
Christ and his elect. I'm not sure what you would add
to that. when talking about the kingdom of God. What this world
calls a church does not qualify because they don't have a king.
They've got a martyr, they've got an example, they have a well-wishing
benefactor, but they don't have the king of glory who saves whom
he wants to save and does according to his will in the armies of
heaven and among the inhabitants of this earth. They don't have
that. They don't have one that's worthy
of the worship of men. In God's kingdom, Christ is all.
He's all. He's submitted to as our righteousness
and our sin offering and our sovereign, Romans chapter 10.
Beautiful, beautiful language there. And that kingdom does
not consist in word only. Yes, it is by the word of God
that God saves sinners. but not just the saying of the
words. And this is important. They're
using the same Bible we're using at the whatever Baptist church
down the road or Methodist church or whatever. But it's not just the saying
of the words. There's a great amount of truth
in this one verse, and here's part of it. The word power, as
I said, is the ability to produce results. The words of the gospel
themselves will fall on deaf ears without the power of God
who gives faith in Christ in the preaching of the gospel turn
with me to Hebrews chapter 4, please Verse 1 Hebrews 4 1 Let us therefore fear. Let's
have some reverence here and give this some serious consideration. Lest a promise being left us
of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short
of it. The promise of the gospel is sure and steadfast, but Are
we gonna fall short? Is it gonna be effectual to us?
Are we gonna get in on it? Well, if we do, here's how that
happens. For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto
them, but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed
with faith in them that heard it. How do you get faith? Power
of God. It's beyond your power. You don't
have it, you can't get it, you're not gonna have any of it. God's
got to give it to you. And that's his supernatural ability. He gets results. He is the result. And he causes the results. Now
there's double meaning in what Paul is saying here in that,
yes, he is speaking of those puffed up ones words and their
power, or as I said, lack thereof. But in rebuking them, he speaks
of the power of God in saving sinners. Even in temporal things, the
kingdom of God is not in word only, but in power. Turn with me please to the book
of James chapter two. This concerns the kingdom of
God as well. James 2.14. What does it profit, my brethren,
though a man say he hath faith and have not works? If he's got
words, if he's talking big and talking good, but there's no
power. There's nothing behind it. There's
no substance to it. Can that faith save him? If a
brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and
one of you say unto them, depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled.
That sounds real spiritual, doesn't it? So sweet, you know. Bless
you, my son, and all that kind of nonsense. Notwithstanding,
you give them not those things which are needful to the body. And notice here,
that this is talking about in the kingdom of God, the way it
is, you know, the way that the Lord teaches us to be, to do,
who to be. But also, this is what religion
accuses our Lord of. They say, oh, he wants to save
you. He wants you to be saved. He
wants everybody to be saved. Why ain't you saved then? He
don't give you what you need in order to be saved. That's
a problem. That's a problem. That's not
even acceptable in sinners, much less in your God. If that's how
your God is, oh, be you warm to feel. Boy, he just really
wants you. He wants you to be successful
and happy and safe. He's the God of the universe.
He created you. He's just talking, that's it,
it's just words. No, not my God. He has power. You're gonna be willing in the
day of his power that your faith might rest in the power of God. Faith that just consists in talking
a good game is not the saving faith that God gives. It's not
the faith of which Christ is the author and the finisher.
It's not the faith that is the fruit of the Spirit of God. It's not the faith that is the
gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Is Paul
saying here, I'm coming to find out if the faith of those who
are puffed up is just in their minds and their mouths and not
in their heart by the power of God. Is that what he's saying? He's not fighting pride with
pride. He's hoping to come there and find that God, indeed, you
notice when he speaks to these churches, these scathing rebukes,
but he always says, my brethren, my sons in the Lord. Do you remember
that recently in this same book? My children, is it just what you think and
what you're saying or has God done a creation work in your
heart? Religion. Man-centered freewill
religion depends on words only. It's all about words. It's enticing
words. They use their words to get sinners
to do something for God, and that's not what needs to happen. God don't need anything from
wretched value. He don't need anything from religious
you either, that's even worse. Enticing words, subtle and deceptive
rhetoric. That's all they have. There's
no power. There's no Holy Spirit. It's
just talking a sinner into doing something for God. That's all
they got. So they gotta be real crafty
about it. Turn with me to Galatians 6.
We'll quote a few more scriptures here and try to see from the
light of scripture the truth of our text. Galatians
6.12. Paul is describing that same
religion, the religion that we see in this world and witness. He's describing them here and
he puts his finger right on the problem. As many as desire to
make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised. They scare you with the law. They say if you don't do what
you're supposed to do, God's gonna put you in hell. Oh, but
he loves you. That makes a lot of sense, doesn't
it? God loves you, but if you don't measure up, he's gonna
put you in hell. That wouldn't make sense to a
child. That doesn't make sense at all. Only lest they should suffer
persecution for the cross. of Christ, they don't care about
you, they care about themselves. They're telling you what you
wanna hear, not because they love you, because they love themselves. For neither they themselves who
are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised
that they may glory in your flesh, but God forbid. You see the context
of this? They constrain you to do something
with words. That's all they have. Enticing,
they have to be real sneaky about it because it's all they have.
There's no power. Those who preach the gospel,
they're not trying to talk you into anything. They're trying
to tell you who God is and who Christ is and what he did for
sinners. Because we know that by that means, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel because it's what? The power of God and salvation.
To everyone that believeth. If you believe, it's because
the power of God is exerted upon you. That they may glory, but God
forbid that I should glory, save in what he did. You see that? The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
you didn't have any part in that. That was between God and his
son. It's not even an offer to you. It's an offering to God by our
great high priest, the only offering God can or will accept. So you see, they're trying to
get you to do something, be circumcised, and Paul uses that over and over
in his letters to to stand for keeping the law. That was just
one aspect of the law, but he says, reading Galatians, also
in another place in Galatians, he says, you're a debtor to do
the whole, if you be circumcised, you're a debtor to do the whole
law. You see, he's, that aspect of it, that it's the law, the
law keeping is what he's expressing here. But God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. the success
of what he did, his ability to produce results. By whom the world is crucified
unto me and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus, neither
circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision. Both are
a work. If you be circumcised, you're
doing that because that's what the law taught, but it taught
that then to set forth and reveal and exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ Jesus, that doesn't
avail anything, or if you're one that says, oh, I'm not gonna
keep the law, that's legalism. That's still your doing. That's
not worth anything either. Your not doing isn't worth anything.
You're doing or you're not doing. Not worth anything. But what
is? A new creation. That's what that word is there.
A new creation. Power. You see what I'm saying?
Let there be light. God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness. You thought I was gonna preach
one time without quoting that verse. Hath shined in our hearts. It's
a new creation. Power of God. That's something
only God can do, is create. That's what avails. God making
you over again, you being born from above by the Spirit of God,
regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and given faith in the Lord Jesus.
That's what avails something with God. And the implication clearly here
is that Paul will find out when he comes in person, And what he's gonna find out
is that those who have power in their own minds and power
in their words have no real substance in themselves. That's what he's
gonna find out. He's not wondering about it.
He knows that already. They have no power in themselves
either way, but I believe he was looking here, he was hoping
yet that the power of God had Work for them, but the kingdom
of God It's not in the power of the flesh anyway If they did have something in
themselves it would be seen That's what Paul would have this
church learn the kingdom of God consists in the power of God
to save to create a new creature in righteousness and true holiness. And Paul has had this truth in
mind before he ever wrote this letter. This is what, it seems
like we're just coming to this, you know, this challenge in his
letter here in chapter four. But look at chapter one, verse
21. Chapter 121, for after that in the wisdom of God, The world by wisdom knew not
God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe by their wisdom, by their
thinking, their minds, their words, everything that man does
in religion. Oh, theologians, their brains
are smoking, you know, thinking of new things to say. The Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block,
and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ. We preach who we preach is the
power of God And the wisdom of God Look at
chapter 2 verse 1 1st Corinthians 2 1 And I brethren when I came to you
came not with excellency of speech but Wisdom declaring unto you
the testimony of God if all we had was words Now don't don't
get me wrong. We understand right that these
are the words of eternal life But that's because it's Christ
that we preach Not wisdom of words not enticing words not
excellency of speech And that's the reason why we
don't preach that way, because we determined by the grace of
God to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness
and in fear and much trembling. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. May the Lord cause us to know
and to rejoice in that we have no power. It kind of makes me happy to
think that nothing's up to me. And that we not think, give us
grace that we not ever think that we do have any power or
talk like we do. But make us to know that we are
what we are by the grace of God. God give us grace to worship
you accordingly. Save us from having a form of
godliness, but denying the power thereof. Give us grace to look to Christ,
who is the power.