Our text this evening is to be
found in the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, chapter
4, and verse 20. 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verse
20, for the kingdom of God is not in words, but in power. 1 Corinthians chapter Paul, verse
20, for the Kingdom of God is not in words but in power. Remember that the Apostle Paul,
we are told in the Acts of the Apostles, spent some 18 months
ministering there at Corinth in the 18th chapter of the Act
of the Apostles we read of that particular ministry. The Lord had assured him that
he had much people in that city. There at verse 9 In Acts 18,
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 words of God among them. It's a long time really for him
to be found in that one situation. We know from what we read in
the Acts that he was very active moving from place to place during
those missionary journeys. So he must have felt a peculiar
attachment to those who came to believe in the city of Corinth. And yet, subsequently from what
we read in the Epistles, we see how it was necessary for him
to defend himself, to defend his ministry amongst them. Here in the opening verses of this chapter
he says that a man so accounts of us as the ministers of Christ
and stewards of the mysteries of God, moreover it is required
in stewards that a man be found faithful, but with me it is a
very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's
judgment. Yea, I judge not mine own self,
for I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified.
But he that judges me is the Lord. They wanted to sit in judgment
upon him. They were ready to condemn him,
to find faults with his ministry. And yet they were the very seal
of that ministry. As he says later in chapter 9,
Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen
Jesus Christ our Lord? Are not ye my work in the Lord?
If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you. for
the seal of my apostleship are ye in the law. Now all of these
things of course were happening under the sovereign hand of God. was so overruled of God that
these things should occur in the church of Corinth, this opposition,
this questioning of the authority of the apostle because as a result
of these things we see in this epistle how he has to say things
concerning himself he has to speak of himself he is loath to do such a thing
and yet it was necessary and in that we see clearly how God
is setting him before us as the patent believer that's what he
says to Timothy is it not? in the opening chapter of that
first letter to Timothy he speaks of himself as a patent a true
positive type to them which should hereafter believe and as the
typical believer it is necessary that we should know something
of Paul and the experiences of Paul there are certain principles
to be drawn from this man's experience we are not all going to have
the same experience or the same depth of experience as an apostle
but there are those things that happened in his life, in his
experience, that teaches something with regards to true Christian
experience. He can write, therefore, of those
things that came upon him, those things that befell him in the
course of his ministry. He speaks very much at times
of the paradox of his experiences. We see that for example in what
he writes in the second epistle and there in the sixth chapter
and the opening verses of that particular chapter. We then as
workers together with him beseech you also that you receive not
the grace of God in vain. for he saith I have heard thee
in a time accepted and in the day of salvation have I succored
thee behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of
salvation giving no offence in anything that the ministry be
not blind but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of
God and then he goes on to speak of that ministry and amongst
other things he says this verse 9 as unknown and yet well known
as dying and behold we live as chastened and not killed as sorrowful
yet always rejoicing as poor yet making many rich as having
nothing and yet possessing all things this was his experience
this is how he learnt his ministry he was one who was taught of
God to minister but in these things he is drawing out those
various aspects of Christian experience that are true in the
lives of all God's children? Is it not a fact that there is
that which is paradoxical? The mystery of God's ways with
the souls of his people. The believer you see sorrowful
and yet always rejoicing as the believer does sorrow over his
sins, sorrows over his fallen nature. He's grieved because
of that sin that clings and cleaves to him and yet he's able to rejoice
in the Lord. How the believer feels that he
has nothing. Paul says again to these Corinthians,
though I be nothing, though I be a cipher, nothing at all, and
yet he can say he possesses all things. This is a believer, he
has nothing in himself. And yet he has, he possesses
all things in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it is, you see,
that these things must be served. That Paul might write, as he
does, to the church at Corinth and bring forth something of
his own experience. He's answering those who had
gone after the teaching of those false teachers, those false apostles
that had risen up. They were so set against him,
they were so undermining his ministry. And here in this portion that
we've read as our text, verse 20, see the connection
with what he says previously in verse 19, he says, I will
come to you shortly if the Lord will, and will know not the speech
of them that are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of
God is not in words, but in power. Who are these false teachers? What have they known and experienced
of the true grace of God? This is what he is saying. And those who follow after these
false teachers, what have they known of the reality of those
things that Paul has been seeking to set before them? He will know you sir. It's not
so much what they have to say, It's what they've known in their
own souls of that grace of God. The kingdom of God, he says,
is not in words, but in power. It's a spiritual kingdom. Or
doesn't this in some measure echo the words of the Lord himself? Before Pontius Pilate, remember
what Christ said, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom
were of this world then would my servants fight. That kingdom of God is the kingdom
of Christ. It is a spiritual kingdom. It is that which is set up and
established in the soul of a man. The kingdom of God is not in
words but in power. Well as we come to consider the
text I divide what I say into two parts. First of all, I want
to say something with regards to the danger of the mere external
of religion, of form, and nothing but a form. The kingdom of God
is not in words. When he writes to Timothy, Paul
can speak of some having a form. having a form of godliness by
denying the power thereof in 2 Timothy 3. But observe the general context in which
we find that particular statement there in those opening verses
of 2 Timothy 3. It is now also that in the last
days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their
own selves, covetous, boast, proud, blasphemers, disobedient
to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truth-breakers,
false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that
are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures, more than
lovers of God, and then we have those words, having a form of
godliness, but denying the power thereof from such turn away. He speaks then of the last days,
and what is that that he is speaking of the last days? It is of course
this day in which we are living, it is this gospel day. that's how the last days are
spoken of here in the holy scriptures we are living in that day and
he speaks of those days as perilous and they are perilous days when
we think of those words that we have just read lovers of pleasure
more than lovers of God men are proud they are despisers of that
that is good opposite is what the apostle is saying when we
point to our own day, our own generation. Now we know of course that sin
has been present in this world ever since the sin of our first
parents. We know that the world lies in
wickedness. Even there at the beginning so
soon after God had created and pronounced his creation to be
very good. We read in Genesis chapter 6
how God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth
and every imagination of the thought of his heart was evil
continually. That has been the case throughout
the generations, a wicked world, a sinful world. The world lying
in the very grip of Satan, the prince of the power of the air. And yet it is in this world that
God is pleased to do that great work of grace to establish his
spiritual kingdom. In the Old Testament that grace
was confined to the nation of Israel. That typical people, they were
clearly a type of God's true children, but they are not all
Israel, they are of Israel. there were some of the Gentiles
who were converted to the true God but in the main the true
people of God were to be found there in Israel and how God knew
them, how God favoured them remember how the psalmist there at the
end of the 147th psalm speaks of those favours, those blessings
that were bestowed upon them He showeth His word unto Jacob,
His statutes and His judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt
so with any nation, and as for His judgments they have not known
them. Praise you the Lord. You only
have I known, He says to the prophet. You only have I known
among all the families of the earth. Here is the world, it
lies in wickedness. It's full of evil men who are
in that state of alienation, setting themselves against God,
walking in the pride of their own hearts. And yet God has that
people and God is working amongst that people. But now of course,
when we come into the last days, how that work is to go out amongst
all the nations of the earth. This is what we see with the
coming of Christ. The gospel going out to the gentile nations,
the commission that Christ gives to his own apostles going into
all the world. Preach the gospel to every creature. For this is that day in which
we are living. God's kingdom is to be established
now. far and wide amongst all peoples,
all nations, all tribes, all tongues. To the ends of the earth there
is to be that widespread dissemination of the truth. And yet, as the Gospel goes out,
what is the consequence here? There are many of the Nazis who
only have a form. Having a form of godliness, but
denying the power thereof. The form, an outward show of
religion and nothing but that. I said Israel in the Old Testament
is in many ways a typical people and the true spiritual Israel
is not to be identified with all those who are the natural
descendants of Jacob And even now in this Gospel day,
as the word goes out, we are not to imagine that all those
who make that profession of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
are truly the Lord's people. Do we not see so clearly in the
Scriptures the doctrine of the remnant? I will leave in the
midst an afflicted and poor people. We read in Zephaniah, and they
shall trust in the name of the Lord. Is that remarkable little
hymn in the book? Slightly suitable really for
singing in public worship and yet what truth is contained in
number 223? The outcasts of Israel, Lord
pity outcasts, vile and vice, the poor dependents on thy grace
whom men disturb as call, by sinners and by saints withstood
for these too bad for those too good condemned or shunned by
all. This is that little remnant you
see. Though faithful Abraham must reject and though his ransomed
race he left agree to give us up thou art our father and thy
name from everlasting is the same on that we build our home. There are so many I say friends
who have nothing you see but that form that form of godliness
that they deny the power thereof. You can think, can we not, of
the Church of Rome really as a prime example. The largest
professed church in all of Christendom and yet those words that we read
in 1st Timothy chapter and 2nd Timothy chapter Three, are they
not so applicable to that church having a form, having a form
of godliness and denying the power thereof. Again when the
apostle writes to Timothy this time in the first epistle, he speaks prophetic words. In
chapter 4 he says the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the
latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to
seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy,
having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to
marry, and commanding to abstain from
meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving
of them which believe and know the truth. Isn't that applicable in so many
ways to the teachings of the Church of Rome and what it imposes?
The celibate priesthood, the denial of meats to the people.
It's the great mystery. We have of course in the scriptures
the mystery of godliness, in the incarnation, the coming of
Christ, the work of Christ, the death of Christ, the resurrection,
without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness God
was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit preached unto the
gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory
oh there is a great mystery, the mystery of godliness but
then there is also that that is spoken of as the mystery of
iniquity and we have that there in 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2 And isn't that second chapter in that second letter
to the Thessalonians a prophetic portion that speaks of the Roman
Church? The man of sin, the son of perdition,
exalting himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped,
sits in the temple of God showing himself to be God. Remarkable
portion of scripture. And Paul speaks of it as the
mystery of iniquity. Our late friend Sidney Norton
used to often say, you know, that that was the work of Satan.
God has his mystery. God has the mystery of God in
us. Satan has the mystery of iniquity.
In each case it's a mystery. And we think of how the Roman
Church is so orthodox, in many ways orthodox in its Trinitarian
acknowledging God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And yet, it is that that is false. What is it? It's a form. It's
a form. It's a system that's all on the
outside, external religion, sacramental religion, mechanical religion.
You go through certain rites and by observing those rites
you make yourself a Christian. And yet Paul speaks quite plainly
of bodily exercise which profit of little. What is the external? What is bodily exercise? He can
speak of making a fair show in the flesh. These are the sort
of terms that Paul uses. He speaks of some observing days.
He speaks of well-worship. Remember what we read there in
that 17th chapter of of Luke's Gospel concerning that Kingdom. Have a desire to know when the
Kingdom of God would come. And Christ says, it cometh not
with observation. In chapter 17 and verse 20 of
Luke, it cometh not with observation. It's interesting, the margin
tells us there, it literally says, it cometh not without which
show. The Kingdom of God is not an
external thing. We are not to confuse the Kingdom
of God with that that is all on the outside. Now we made references
to the Church of Rome but it comes closer does it not friend?
It's easy for us to make critical remarks of others but what of
ourselves? Oh we have to examine ourselves. Are we those who have
a form? A form, an appearance, a word?
It's like the power It must be or it could not be the form. Having a form of godliness, it
says, but denying the power thereof. It's good to have a form. It's
strange, is it not, that writing again to Timothy, Paul speaks
of the importance of that whole fast, he says. The form of sound
work. we need to have that right outward
form orthodox in our doctrine and so forth but we have to examine
ourselves it's more than having that right pattern that right set of words as it
were look at what he says here in
the context some are puffed up he says it versatily There were those you see who
were puffed up, there were those who were following the false
teachers and they despised the Apostle Paul. Some are puffed up as though
I would not come to you, but I will come to you shortly, if
the Lord will, and will know not the speech of them which
are puffed up, but the power For the Kingdom of God is not
in words but in power. We need to beware, do we not,
of having a religion that is really nothing more than an empty
notion that is right in the letter of it. You see we can sit here
or stand here and make judgement upon the Roman Catholic Church
or other professed churches of Christ, we can easily do that.
But let us examine ourselves. in the light of this particular
statement of the apostle concerning the nature of God's kingdom.
Remember Christ's word, His kingdom is not of this world. His kingdom is an inward kingdom.
The kingdom of God is within you, He says. It's that that
takes place in the very soul of a man. No big words. of ready talkers. No dry doctrine will suffice
broken hearts and humble walkers. These are dear in Jesus' eyes. Oh, how important it is, friends,
that we know more than that that is set forth in right words and
a correct external form that we know something of the power
of these things there are those remarkable portions are there
not that we find in the epistle to the Hebrews in chapter 10
but also there in Hebrews chapter 6 now these scriptures sometimes
come to us and trouble us maybe and make us wonder if this is
a description of our religion I'm thinking of Hebrews chapter
6 at verse 4 following Paul says it is impossible for those who
were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and
were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good
word of God and the powers of the world to come if they shall
fall away to renew them again unto repentance seeing they crucify
to themselves the Son of God afresh and put into an open shame Now, we know that those who are in Christ
are safe and secure forever. None can pluck them out of my
hand, you see. The Father which guides them
is greater than all. No man can pluck them out of
my Father's hand. That's what Christ said. They
are secure. Once in Him, in Him forever. Thus the eternal covenant stands. And so there cannot be a falling
away in those who are truly converted, those who are truly the Lords.
And yet He speaks of some here. And they are said to have been
made partakers of the Holy Ghost to have tasted the good word
of God and the powers of the world to come and yet they fall
away. And he said it's impossible to
remove them. It's impossible for these characters
to be restored. What a remarkable portion it
is. Why is it here friends? Well it's part of our scripture
that's written for our learning. We have to examine ourselves
in the light of such statements of that. You see the form, the appearance, the words can
seem to be alright but there is nothing of reality there.
The Kingdom of God is not in words but in power. Oh let us be those then who are
wary of a merely outward religion to be satisfied with the externals
and nothing more. There is then, in the second
place here, this teaching that there must also be an inward
reality, the necessity of that inward reality. The Kingdom of
God is in power, it says. Behold the Kingdom of God is
within you that's what we have there in that 17th chapter of
the gospel according to Luke that we were reading and observe
the particular context in which the Lord Jesus Christ is uttering
those words there in Luke 17 he is answering the question
of the Pharisees concerning when the Kingdom of God should come
And He says, He cometh not with observation, not without which
show. Neither shall they say, Lo here,
or Lo there, for behold, the kingdom of God is within you. And He said unto the disciples,
The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days
of the Son of Man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say
to you, See here, or see there. Go not after them, nor follow
them. Now, there is here some reference
of course to those events that were going to occur shortly in
the year 70 at the end of the chapter. The Lord indicates that much. They answered and said unto him,
Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever
the body is dithered, will the eagles be gathered together.
and that is a reference to the eagles of the Roman legionaries
under Titus when Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed in the
mine in the year 17. That's what's being spoken of
then in the historical context. But see what Christ says there
we have to seek to understand something of the spiritual nature
of his words do we not? Men might say to us, low here
or low there, see here, see there. It's the same word really. But God's Kingdom is not identified
with any physical thing, with any external thing. The Kingdom
of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost. God's kingdom is not to be confused
with physical things, with natural things. What is the glory of
the kingdom of God? It is this, is it not, that God's
kingdom is a gracious kingdom. And as God's kingdom is a gracious
kingdom, so we are reminded of the sovereignty of God's grace
as He exercises it throughout this gospel day. That is the
glory of the Kingdom of God, sovereign grace. For we have
it, do we not, in the words of the Psalmist, in the 145th Psalm,
in verse 11, they shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom and
talk of thy power to make known to the sons of men his mighty
acts and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. This is the Kingdom
of God. It is not in words, it's in power. And it's a gracious kingdom.
Verse 8 there in the psalm, the Lord is gracious and full of
compassion, slow to anger and of great mercy. The Lord is good
to all, his tender mercies are over all his works. How remarkable
it is. He goes on to say there in the
psalm, the Lord upholdeth all that fall. and riseth up those
that be bowed down this is the kingdom of God it is that that
has to do with the souls of men and when God establishes that
kingdom in the heart of a man what does God do? why he humbles
that man this was Paul's experience was
it not? as we have already intimated he could speak of himself as
a cipher. Though I be nothing. That's what he says in 2 Corinthians
chapter 12. He's been forced there to speak
of himself and of his experience but he speaks quite deliberately
in the third person. He doesn't really want to draw
attention to himself. You remember he speaks of this
man whom he knows who was caught up into the third heaven and he goes on to speak how the
Lord appointed for him thorn in the flesh to humble him and
it is in that context that he speaks of himself as nothing
though I be nothing look at what he says here in
this particular chapter in verse 4 I know nothing by myself for
I know nothing by myself. Not that we are sufficient of
ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency
is of God. He is acknowledging that of himself
he can know nothing, he can't even begin to form or fashion
a right thought. This is a man you see in whose
heart God has established his reign of grace. This is a man
in whose heart the kingdom of God has come. God rules and reigns in this
man and he feels himself to be nothing at all. And it's true
with all, is it not? You know anything of that kingdom
of God coming to them in power. He asks these Corinthians in
verse 7 of the chapter, Who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? It's all
of grace. John the Baptist says it. A man
can receive nothing except it is given him from heaven. It's God's kingdom. And therefore
that kingdom must come only in the power of God. The kingdom
of God is in power. When we come to the end of that
that the Lord taught his disciples. You remember how it concludes,
Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and
ever. The power you see is all of God
because the kingdom is God's kingdom. And the mark of that
reign of Christ being established in the heart of the sinner is
that there will be opposition. Paul was aware of that. This is why
it so fell out in his own experience that he knew opposition. Here
in verse 9 he says, I think that God has set forth us The apostles
laughed as he were appointed to death, for we are made a spectacle
unto the world, and to angels, and to men. Theatriso is the
word spectacle. Literally, the Greek is theatre.
We are made a theatre unto the world, and to angels, and to
men. They look. They look upon us.
It's as if we're on a stage and they're watching us. And what are we appointed to?
We're appointed to die. They must see what we are, that
we're nothing at all. That our dependence is totally,
entirely upon God and upon the grace of God. He's speaking there,
is he not, of that conflict that he had to endure as he sought
faithfully to execute his ministry. It goes on in verse 10, We are
fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ. We are
weak, but ye are strong. Ye are honourable, but we are
despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst,
and are naked and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling
place. live by working with our own hands, being reviled, we
bless, being persecuted, we suffer it, being defiled, we entreat. We are mired as the filth of
the world and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.
For that's the experience, is it not, of those who know what
it is to have this kingdom established in their hearts. There will be
opposition from sinner and from saints, image with many of love,
his own bad heart creates him smart which none but God can
know he feels something you see not only of an outward conflict
but also there is that inward conflict he knows it in his own
soul that which is born of the flesh is flesh that which is
born of the spirit is spirit That's the word of the Lord Jesus
Christ when he speaks of the great necessity of a man being
born again, born from the bath. The old nature doesn't change,
does it? The old nature is ever always
enmity against God, it's not subject to the law of God. Neither
indeed can it be. And Paul ties that up, he says,
the flesh lost it against the spirit and the spirit against
the flesh. Now these are contrary one to the other and you cannot
do the thing that you want. Where is kingdom of God consciousness? Where it comes in all its power,
where God establishes his reign of Christ in the soul of a sinner,
there is opposition. And the opposition is not only
from without. There is opposition in the man's
own soul. What will you see in the Shulamite,
as it were, the company of two armies? And what does the believer learn
in all of this? He learns that he must look always
to Christ. He must look continually to Christ.
The Kingdom is His. He said unto me, my grace is
sufficient for those. This is what Paul comes to. There
in that 12th chapter of 2nd Corinthians. He said unto me, my grace is
sufficient. It is, friends, the reign of
grace that is being spoken of here. And it's more than a form,
you see. It's God coming into the soul
of the sinner. It's the life of God in the soul
of a man. And where that kingdom comes,
What does God do? He subdues our iniquity. This
is what we desire Him to do. We recognise that none but He
can do that. Subduing our iniquity, delivering
us. Oh, delivering us from all our
unbelief, scattering all that unbelief. And ever the more establishing
that blessed vine of Christ in our soul. Many a time we might
be brought to this, to cry out with the hymn writer, can ever
God dwell here? It seems an impossibility. Ah,
but the power is God, you see. The kingdom of God is not in
words, it's in power, and that's what we need, is it not? That
God should come to us, in all that gracious power of the gospel,
and establish his kingdom in our hearts. The Kingdom of God is not in
words, but in power. Behold, the Kingdom of God is
within you. May the Lord be pleased to bless
His Word to us tonight, for His Name's sake. Amen. Proposing him this evening is
number 31. And two is friendship, 135. The
form of words, though they echo sound, can never save
a soul. The Holy Ghost must give the
wound and make the wounded whole. Number 31. Oh, love, where can I find you? The Holy Ghost must give the
wound and make the wounded whole. For God's election is at hand. So come forth where I stay Till
I am told by God's own hand That he hath chosen Sinners are yearned, are justified. By faith in Jesus, Lord. But when to me that blood supply,
Tis then it does me, I agree The thing to me is clear
Because the Lord has promised me That I shall persevere O Jesus, to my heart make known
that all is merited And for His people praise, Since
I have prayed to Him as such, And He has heard my prayer. Sin is black as hell by Christ
I'll say I know full well For I is mercy I have not missed
And I am blessed As Christians glorify the Lord
His Spirit joins with ours In bearing witness to His Word May the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost
be with you all. Amen.