Acts 18 in verse one. After these things, Paul departed
from Athens and came to Corinth, and found a certain Jew named
Aquila, born in Pontus, blatantly come from Italy with his wife
Priscilla, because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart
from Rome and came unto them, and because he was of the same
craft, he abode with them and wrought. for by their occupation
they were tent makers. And he reasoned in the synagogue
every Sabbath and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. And when
Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed
in the spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they opposed themselves
and blasphemed, he shook his raiment and said unto them, your
blood be upon your own heads. I am clean, from henceforth I
will go unto the Gentiles. And he departed thence and entered
into a certain man's house named Justice, one that worshiped God,
whose house joined hard to the synagogue. And Crispus, the chief
ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house.
And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed. and were baptized. Then spake the Lord to Paul in
the night by a vision. Be not afraid, but speak, and
hold not thy peace, for I am with thee, and no man shall set
on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city. And he continued there a year
and six months, teaching the word of God among them. So Paul, by God's providence,
traveled to Corinth, Where he first went to preach He didn't
get a good reception. Nobody wanted to hear what he
had to say and so he As it's yet said he shook the dust off
his feet as it were Said I'll go preach to somebody that'll
listen somebody that's interested in mercy and he did and the Lord
had mercy and promised to save many in that city and promised
Paul protection, all for the sake of God saving his elect,
where he's pleased to do so. He didn't send Paul there for God to save those that Paul
first met there, but the Lord had a people, a different people,
a specific, particular people. And the Lord was able to, or
Paul was able to settle in there and preach for a year and six
months, a year and a half to the church at Corinth. So let's
turn to 1 Corinthians chapter one, and let's look at this letter
that sometime obviously after Paul went there and preached
to them for a year and a half, he wrote this letter back to
them. And we'll begin in verse one
of 1 Corinthians 1 to see what Paul wrote to this church that
was established so clearly by God's providence and grace and
power. Paul called to be an apostle
of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes, our brother,
unto the church of God which is at Corinth. to them that are
sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints with all that in
every place called upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both
theirs and ours. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God
always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you
by Jesus Christ. that in everything you are enriched
by him, in all utterance and in all knowledge, even as the
testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come behind
in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
shall also confirm you unto the end, that you may be blameless
in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom
you were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our
Lord. Now the city of Corinth was a
very large city. It was a port city, and therefore
very large and very corrupt, a very decadent city. It was
notorious for its decadence and sinfulness, which is par for
the course. What large city is not? The more people, the more sin. I think of it sometimes as an
infestation of sinners. I don't know if you ever think
of it that way, but if you find a brown recluse spider
in your house, that's bad news, isn't it? And if you pull a wallboard
away and find a thousand of them, that's really bad news. And there's
a sense in which we shouldn't think of it like that, because
we are sinners. And the spiders don't creep out
spiders. But in another sense, we need
to understand what we are. We're an infestation on this
earth. And here's the point here. is an
infestation of evil creatures. And here comes God's worst enemy
at the time into that nest. But God has saved that horrible
enemy of his and is gonna save a whole bunch of those vile creatures
all by the preaching of the gospel, the good news of the person and
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. God, the Lord Jesus crossed a
sea once to go see a maniac that nobody wanted to have anything
to do with. You see how the Lord works. He saves the most vile
creatures on this earth. He seeks them out. He looks for
the most corrupt and depraved, the black sheep, the lost sheep,
the most vile and wretched and corrupt and destructive and disgusting. like the madman of Gadara, like
us. And I thank him, and I know you
do too, for seeking out the worst, because that's us. Paul is an apostle or a sent
one of Jesus Christ, not sent by the church, not sent by men,
but sent of Jesus Christ, an apostle of Jesus Christ. He was
called to be an apostle, not promoted by men. God's will,
not man's will, made Paul who he was and what he was. He said
in chapter 15 of this book, verse 10, by the grace of God, I am
what I am. And likewise, look at verse two. Unto the church of God, which
is at Corinth, those that he had preached a year and a half
to, where the Lord sent him, he thought, to the synagogue.
Paul's going to where people are supposedly meeting and worshiping
God. They couldn't stand him in there. But the Lord sent him
to the Gentiles and saved a couple of Jews and the Lord called Paul
to be an apostle to the Gentiles. But listen to it. To them that
are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. Paul just
said, I'm called to be an apostle. What about you? Called also. Called. Called to be saints with
all that in every place, call upon the name of Jesus Christ
our Lord. Both theirs and ours refers to
that word Lord. Jesus Christ our Lord. Both their
Lord and our Lord. That's something we'll talk about
a little bit too. They weren't designated by the
Vatican or however that works in false religion to be saints,
where it's some kind of an achievement of man. You see how opposite
and repulsive and blasphemous that is. To be a saint is some
kind of an achievement. It's some kind of a level that
men reach because of their good works and their good spirit or
whatever. Just the opposite is true. God
called the worst of the worst to be saints, sanctified, holy
before Him by His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
through the preaching of the gospel, apostles, saints, prophets,
preachers are all called, saved, taught, appointed, equipped,
used of God for his will, for his purpose. This tonight is
God's doing and God doing. What we are, we are by his grace,
and we do what we do right now by his grace. We're sanctified by God. We're
set apart for his purpose. We're set apart from this world.
Tonight, by God's grace, we're not in this wretched world seeking
our own pleasure or promotion, but he called us out, a holy
convocation. as he has since the very beginning,
to worship him, to be thankful for what he's done for us, to
hear of him, to learn of him, to worship him. And that's where
we are. Called, apostle, called, saints,
appointed by God, sanctified in Christ Jesus, holy unto the
Lord, set apart for his purpose and use, washed in Christ's blood,
covered in his righteousness. Believers are described here
as those who not only bear the name of Jesus Christ, which we
do, but we call on the name of Jesus Christ. That's an interesting
way to define us here. Everybody, Paul, here's who I'm
talking about, Paul said, when I say saints, sanctified in Christ
Jesus, holy before God. Here's who I'm talking about.
Those that call on his name. Is that what we're doing tonight?
Would that define us? We're all just a bunch of sinners
here huddled together, needing him. We need him equally. We need him collectively. We need him individually. So
let's just need him together. That's what we're doing. Call
upon his name. And notice again, the words both
theirs and ours. He's our Lord and all who call
upon his name He's there Lord too. One Lord, one faith, one
baptism, one hope of our calling. I'm not your Lord. You're not
my Lord. He's my Lord and he's yours. This family, this house, not
this building, this assembly, these servants of the Lord, We all have the same Lord. And
who are you that judgeth another man's servant? If you do, if
we do, we're so prone to that. Who are you that judgeth another
man's servant? To his own master he standeth
and fall. Yea, he shall be holding up for
God is able to make him stand. And you think about that. He's
talking about the Lord's household. And we as servants, we're sons,
we're adopted sons also. That's something we've talked
about too, but right here, servants of the Lord. To his own master,
he standeth or falleth. We all have the same master and
it ain't you, it ain't me, it's him. But look, to his own master,
he either stands or falls, but in God's house, they all stand.
Yeah, he shall be holding up. But how's he gonna stand? How's
he gonna not fall? He's holding up. He shall be holding up for God
is able to make him stand. So what a blessing to call him
Lord. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. What an honor, what a privilege
that is. God calls us, these first two
verses, God calls us, God saves us, God sanctifies us in Christ. God rules us and God holds us
up lest we fall. Does that sound about right?
Is that your testimony? Paul mentions that Sosthenes
was with him. And how often do we see in scripture,
Paul and Silas, Paul and Barabbas, Barnabas, and I forget who it
was there, where they could see the grace of God in that place
because God used those men. But always when the Lord sent
the disciples out in the beginning, he sent them out two by two.
And that's always been a blessing to me. When Paul did not have
that gift, it was a great burden to him. When he didn't have that
gift from the Lord, It was a grief to him, it was a trial. He said in 2 Timothy 4, 16, at
my first answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook
me. I pray God that it may not be
laid to their charge. Thank God for those who stand
with the Lord's preacher. Verses three and four, grace
be unto you and peace from God our Father. and from the Lord
Jesus Christ, I thank my God always on your behalf for the
grace of God, which has given you my Christ Jesus. Now, after already seeing how
utterly God has made us what we are, and look at what we are
by his grace. Called out, separated, called
out, sanctified, used of God, But Paul here prays for continual
grace, for perpetual grace, for continued grace, daily grace,
every hour grace from God, because we need God's grace all the time.
We need it as much today as we did when we first met him. Grace
and peace. And thank you, Lord, by the way.
Grace be to you. By the way, Lord, and not by
the way, I'm being facetious, I guess, or whatever you call
it. Thank you, Lord, for the grace you've already bestowed
on us. I want to be thankful. As I'm
asking the Lord for what I need, I want to be thankful. If I gave
one of my children a gift, And I saved for it, I spent a lot
of money on it, you know, and thought it was something they
would really love. And I gave it to them and they took it and
opened it and just threw that aside and said, can I have a
horse? Would they be getting a horse that day or ever? If
so, then you should write a book on how not to parent. I don't want to be like that.
I don't want to take for granted what God's already done for us.
Hitherto, that's the Lord helped me. And may he always hold us in
his hand, hold us up. Being held up, we pass over the simplest and
yet most beautiful truths. Have you ever had to have somebody
actually hold you up? I can't remember if I have or
not. It takes somebody pretty strong
to hold me up. But you talk about helpless.
If somebody actually literally has to hold you up, that's what
we are, we're helpless. But we're in the hands of the
almighty God of all grace. Thank you, Lord, for holding
us up. We need his grace right now.
We need his grace right now. When something goes our way,
we need his grace. Lord, don't make me rich lest
I forget you. When we're in need, Lord, don't make me
poor lest I curse you. When we're in need, we need his
grace. When we're rebuked, we need grace. Oh, how much grace do we need
when we're rebuked by the word? When we hurt, we need grace. When we're afraid, we need grace. And I don't mean among other
things. I mean, we need grace. That's what we need. God's grace
is sufficient. Paul was crying out for relief
from the Lord. He said, this thing is like a,
it's like a stake in my side. And God said, my grace is sufficient.
It's enough. Verse five, that in everything
you are enriched by him, in all utterance and in all knowledge,
How did and how does Christ enrich us? What do we mean by that? What did Paul, what's he saying
right there? Well, let's look in the second
letter to the Corinthians. Chapter eight of second Corinthians,
verse nine. 2 Corinthians 8, 9. How is it? What does he mean
we're enriched? For you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. Might be rich, what do you think
he means rich? Christ did what he did, that
we might be rich. You'd think, well, that don't
mean money. That's for sure, that don't mean money. And you're
right, it doesn't. But look at the context of it.
And let me ask this question. Why does God enrich us? in all
of the ways that he does, whether externally or internally, whether
temporally or spiritually. Why does God enrich us? Look
at the next verse, verse 10. And herein I give my advice,
for this is expedient for you who have begun before not only
to do, but also to be forward a year ago Now therefore perform
the doing of it, that as there was a readiness to will, so there
may be a performance also out of that which you have." You
see what he's saying in the context of Christ crucified for us. He did what he did for us that
we might be rich. And that doesn't mean he did
that so that we might have the things of this world. The richness
is this, you being forward, you being a doer, you being taking
the riches that God has given you and being a blessing to his
people, which he said is doing it to me. That's good for you. That's the enrichment right there.
Did you see what he said? This is expedient for you. It's a privilege. It's God doing
something for you. It's not look what I did. It's
not put my plaque on the pew with my name on it. That's God
doing something for me. Why would God There it's actually
talking about financial ability. Your ability to do something
about a need that exists in the church. But why would God give
you any gift of his grace? Why would he give you any gift?
The gift of kindness. I know a few people that don't
have that gift. The gift of encouragement. the gift of forgiveness, the
gift of long suffering. It's for the glory of Christ
and his gospel, the ministry of the church, not self, not
the flesh. And this is important because
it's a problem now when the Lord gifts someone, which he had this
church at Corinth, and they use that gift for praise or for self-promotion
to be a big shot. This church had that problem.
He said here in this context in verse five there, where we
just read, he said, in all utterance and in all knowledge, you're
gifted in knowledge. But Paul had to say to them later,
what? Your knowledge is puffing you up. It's love that builds up, not
knowledge alone without the love of Christ in your heart. So if
God gifts you in some way and you have to be recognized all
the time for it, There are no big shots in God's
church. There are sad people who think
they are. And it's a great burden on the
church. That's what he's preaching against
here later. And so I wanted to, right now,
this is a beautiful picture. We're gonna talk about that.
It sounds like this church was perfect. We just getting started. We're just getting started. This
knowledge that they were blessed with became a burden. It became a curse to them in
a sense because of their own pride and self-indulgence. What hast thou that thou did
not receive? Where do you think that verse
is? First Corinthians chapter four. He's saying that to these
same people. The Lord's gifted you now, but
listen to the rest of it. Who maketh you to differ from
another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? You're
greatly gifted of the Lord. But if you didn't receive those
things, if they're a gift, if they're God's grace, if what
you do is God really doing something for you, why do you glory? Why do we glory? as if we hadn't
received it. Let me say to all of us now,
because this can be, this is a terrible thing that Paul had
to deal with in this particular church, because I believe the
Lord's gifted us in a lot of ways. But let me say to you by
the word of God and from bitter experience as well, if you're
gonna glory in it, don't give it, don't do it, don't say it. Just shut down and sit down and
hear from God. We are to be stewards of God's
grace and gifts for the glory of Christ and for the good of
his church. And I'm thankful for everybody
that God uses in all of the ways that he does so, but God don't
need you and he don't need me. And anybody among us that glories
in anything but the cross is not just worthless. Worthless
would be a blessing. We are enriched by Christ crucified. Is that what we read? That we,
through what he did, might be made rich. How thankful ought
we to be We may not know what we have here from God until
we lose it. I pray God it never be so. And these believers were enriched
by God in gifts and abilities, in knowledge, they were able
to speak. They learned well what Paul taught them. The gospel
of God revealed Christ to them. And they were able to show others,
to teach others. And we saw that the way God enriches
us is by Christ crucified. But maybe let's go one step further.
How does God enrich us by Christ crucified? How does what happened
2000 years ago, how does God apply that to me? Next verse,
verse six. "'even as the testimony of Christ
was confirmed in you.'" Isn't that what we just said? Paul
went there and preached the gospel to them, and they heard it. It
was mixed with faith in them by God, who gives faith to sinners
in Christ. Even as the testimony of Christ,
the gospel, was confirmed in you. That's how we're enriched
by Christ crucified. by the word of God in us, by the gospel confirmed in us. For you and me to even be in
the game, so to speak, God has to do something in us. And he does it by the preaching
of the gospel of Christ. If we are to appreciate and understand
and thank God for what's happening here, we need to know what's
happening here. This is God gathering his people together to confirm
the testimony of Christ in us. The gospel's not just words that
inspire. I am inspired by the gospel.
It's not just words we agree with or even rejoice in, although
all of that's true of the gospel, but it is the means whereby God
blesses us with peace, with knowledge, with submission to Him, with
comfort, with understanding, with fellowship, with perspective,
with joy, with growth and grace. All in Christ Jesus. Remember
the wording of 2 Peter 3.18. You'll know this verse, but remember
how it's worded. But grow in grace. Grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Grow in grace and in the knowledge
of Christ. Is that what's happening right
here? To whom be glory both now and
forever, amen. I like the way Paul and Simon
said, let's glorify him right now. We're gonna glorify him
forever. Let's start right now. What is
the one thing needful? What is that good part? Mary
was sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus, hearing his word,
and he said, she's chosen that, And the reason she did it is
because she just has one need. It's me. It's verse seven, so
that you become come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And a while ago, I said, you
know, this is a pretty picture and Paul paints a beautiful picture
of this church at Corinth. And it's all true. But as I said,
we're just getting started with this letter. We're gonna see
the ugly parts. We're gonna see Paul deal with
the problems that accompany all sinners. And do you know what the ugly
parts are? Let's just say before we even get there, you know what
they are? They're us. They're me and you. That's what
they are. That's the problem. This pretty picture that we see
in this, First part of the letter is what God has done, and it's
beautiful. The Lord has lain us down in green pastures. That's
true here, the church at College Grove. Like it was in the church
at Corinth. He's led us beside the still
waters of his grace. Our souls have been restored
over and over. We have no want because the Lord
is our shepherd. We're beautiful for situation.
All we have to do is not mess it up. In the experience of his grace
now, we mess it up. But it doesn't have to be. It
does not have to be. It is not inevitable to utterly
destroy what God has done. We can't mess up the eternal
glory of this scene. We can't mess up the eternality
of what we just read about in Psalm 23. The Lord's our shepherd,
we shall not want. We don't lack anything that we
require before God to be accepted of Him. For Him to say to us,
well done, thou good and faithful servant. We lack nothing. Christ paid our sin debt on Calvary
and he lived for us. He is our righteousness right
now before God. We can't mess that up. But in the experience of his
care, his benefits, his church, God forbid that we mess that
up. Consider verses six and seven
again together. Look at this beautiful thing.
The gospel confirmed in us by Christ, gifted of the Lord to
be witnesses of Him. They were able to speak and they
knew to know Him so well. They were gifted in knowledge,
enjoying His grace in this world and just waiting for Him to come
back. Isn't that a great description? That's who I want to be. That's
who we are in Christ. What are we doing in this world?
Well, whatever he wants us to, as he gives us wisdom to do it.
I know we're to go and preach, and so we've gone and we're preaching
by his grace. What else are we doing? Looking
for him. Looking unto him and looking for him. And this brings us to verse eight,
who shall also confirm you unto the end. that you may be found
blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Before Paul gets
into the rebuking and the warning and the scolding even, and the
laying bare the evil, he comforts these believers in the truth
that God is gracious to sinners like them. He has been gracious. We're praying that he will be
gracious and we thank him for his grace till now. And he will
confirm you, you saints, you believers, you elect, you church,
you true church of his. He confirmed in you the gospel
and he never take that away. What did he say, Mary chose that
good part? Can never be taken away from
her. Now you may be found blameless,
even if we mess it up in the temporal experience of his grace,
which I pray to God we never completely do. But even if we mess it up, we
can't really mess it up if we trust Him. If His grace and deed be upon
us. Dear God, even if we're not faithful,
He is. Plus God. Look at verse nine. Our hope is a sure hope because
He is our hope. Be warned, but don't be discouraged. Be rebuked, but don't be dismayed. Be reproved, but don't be cast
down. We are called under the fellowship
of God's Son. And the one who called us is
faithful. Bless His holy name, may we look
to Him in all things and all ways by
His grace. Let's pray.