Turn with me, if you would, back
to 1 Corinthians 4. 1 Corinthians 4, in one verse of
scripture right here, The Apostle Paul got to the heart of the
truth. Our text is one verse. And it's a wonderful verse. The
Apostle Paul here gets to the heart of the gospel. He gets
to the heart of it all, the heart of the matter. And he did it by asking a question. or some questions, some very
soul-searching, pondering questions. I love it when we come across
scripture that really makes you think. Don't you love that? When you come across scripture
that really makes you think. It digs deep, it digs way down,
way past that superficial surface of religion. Just that, that
standard superficial surface of religion and really gets to
the heart of the matter. Well, that's what we have right
here. In one verse, the apostle Paul asked who, what, how, and
why. Who, what, how, and why? Let's read it together. It's
verse seven. First Corinthians four, verse seven. He said, for
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? That's
a wonderful verse. What soul-searching questions
those are, honestly. 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? That's the question. That's the
heart of the matter right there. That's what we need to get to.
He asked that coming off of verse six, saying at the end of that
verse, no one needs to be puffed up above anybody else. We just
had this chapter read to us, and that's what the whole chapter's
about. He's saying nobody needs to be puffed up at all. The end
of verse six, he said, that no one of you be puffed up for one
against another. We don't need to puff ourselves
up, we don't need to puff other men and women up. Don't puff
anybody up. Why, Paul? It's because we all come from
the exact same lump. It's because in our flesh, we
are all the same. Paul said in Romans 9, we were
all cut from the same lump. the same dead lump. That's an important thing to
realize, dead. Ephesians 2 says, to all of God's
people, it's talking to God's people. Paul said in Ephesians
1, this is exactly who I'm talking to. In Ephesians 2, it says to
all of God's people, you were spiritually dead just like everybody
else. He said, you were captive to
the adversary, just like everybody else. He said, your conversation was
in the lust of your flesh. You were a child of disobedience
and a child of wrath, just like everybody else. James chapter five says, Elijah
was a man subject to like passions, just like everybody else. You
think about these men, these prophets, and we do, we thank
God for them. And we re we're amazed by their
stories, but Elijah was a man subject to like passions, just
like everybody else. Paul said, Oh, wretched man,
that I am just like everybody else. David said, my sins are ever
before me, just like everybody else. Isaiah 53 says, all we like sheep
have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. And the scripture says, there's
a way that seems right to a man, but the end of it is destruction.
Isaiah 64 says, we are all as an unclean thing and all our
righteousnesses are filthy rags. Tough to hear, isn't it? Psalm 14 says, the Lord looked
down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did understand and seek God. They are all gone aside. They are all together become
filthy. There is none that do it good. No, not one, but don't you love that word. Thank God for the word, but turn
over to Genesis six. Genesis chapter six. Verse five says, God saw that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that
he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy
man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man
and beast and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air for
it repenteth me that I have made them. Verse eight says, but. Noah found grace. Man, the gospel's good news. Out of everybody, why did Noah
find grace? Out of everybody. You know, Noah
was a man subject to like passions just like everybody else. Noah
was a wretched man just like everybody else. Why was Noah and his family spared? Really, why was Noah and his
family spared when everybody else and everything else was
destroyed? Why? What made the difference? What made the difference? It
wasn't a what, it was a who. Verse eight says, but Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. In the eyes of the Lord, the
Lord God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Jehovah, Emmanuel, Messiah, Jesus Christ. Paul said in our text, he said,
let me pose this question to you. All right, let's get to
the heart of it. When every soul on this earth
deserves the same punishment, God is a holy God who said he
is gonna punish sin. And when all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God, And every soul deserves the same
punishment. We were all born with the same
nature. We all produce the same sin.
If mercy and grace are gonna come to us, and if that mercy and that grace
is gonna spare us from the wrath to come, who made us to differ? Who made
us to differ? Now, let's ask this question.
Do we make ourselves to differ? Because that's what superficial
surface religion says. Well, now, if you don't make
yourself to differ, well, can a leper change his spots? How am I going to do that? If we differ, it's because we
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. We are what we are by the grace
of God. What that means is the Lord did
it. The Lord, who maketh thee to
differ? Who did that? The Lord did it. If you wanna get down to the
heart of the answer, the Lord did it. Turn with me to Exodus
chapter 11. Exodus 11, Moses is giving here
the announcement of the final plague of God on Egypt, and verse
4, Exodus 11, verse 4, Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About
midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn
in the land of Egypt shall die. from the firstborn of Pharaoh
that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the
maid servant that is behind the mill, and all the firstborn of
beasts. And there shall be a great cry
throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it,
nor shall be like it anymore. Verse seven says, but against
any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue,
against man or beast, That you may know how that the Lord doth
put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel who made
the difference. The Lord did the Lord did, and
the Lord did alone. He alone made the difference. Turn with me. If you would do
Romans nine. Romans 9 verse 6, it says, Not as though the word of God
hath taken none effect, for they are not all Israel, which are
of Israel. Meaning, it's not a race, it's
a chosen people of God, a particularly chosen people. Verse 7, Neither
because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children,
but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are
the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God,
but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For
this is the word of promise, at this time will I come, and
Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebekah
also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, For the
children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto
her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. If any man finds grace in the
eyes of the Lord, it's not because they influenced him in such a
way He has to bring grace on them. It's because that's what
the Lord wanted to do. The Lord did it. Verse 16 says,
so then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. Thou wilt
say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault? For who hath
resisted his will? Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel
unto honor and another unto dishonor? Doesn't he have the right and
the power and the ability and the authority to make whatever
difference he wants to make In whomever he wants to make it.
Isn't this God we're talking about? Isn't that's what Paul's
saying. Aren't we talking about God? The answer is he most definitely
does have the power and the authority and the ability to do what he
wants with whom he wants. So here's the question, who maketh
thee to differ? Who maketh thee to differ? And
here's the answer, the Lord does. It is the Lord, let him do what
seemeth him good. All right? What seemeth him good? We know who. Now let's look at Paul's question
of what. Go with me back to 1 Corinthians
4. 1 Corinthians 4, verse 7, he said,
for who maketh thee to differ from another? The Lord does. Now he says, And what hast thou
that thou didst not receive? What hast thou? What do we have
because of the difference he made? What do we have? The simple answer to that is
all things. All things, all things in Him. Every spiritual blessing that
can be received. You want a glory in the Lord. You think about that. Every spiritual
blessing that can be received. What all do we have? All things
in Him. Go with me over to Ephesians
chapter one. Ephesians 1 verse 3, it says,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. According as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. What have we? What do we have in Him? We have
election. We have election. In Isaiah 42,
God the Father said, behold my servant. Speaking of Christ,
he said, I choose him. I put my spirit upon him. The
Father chose the Son and we are chosen in him. With him, we have
God's election. He chose us before the foundation
of the world. We have holiness. That we should
be holy, he said. Purity. Innocence, he said, will be without
blame in him. We have love. In love, in Christ
is in the father's love. All of the love of God is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse four said, as courting
as he had chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. What have
we? We have adoption into his family.
We have sonship. Made to be sons of God. The scripture
says joint heirs with Christ. Joint heirs with the Lord Jesus
Christ. Inheritors of all things with
him. I mentioned to you before the
Bible study that our brother Luke is preaching in Danville
this morning for the brethren there in Danville. Brother Don
Fortner pastored that congregation for so many years and he's gone
on to be with the Lord, but I'll never forget. I was young and
I heard him tell the story. His daughter Faith had just gotten
married to her husband, Doug. And he said that after they got
married, he made Doug a set of keys and he handed them to Doug. He said, Doug, here's, you know,
here's a key to my house. He said, here's a key to my garage.
He said, my, my car's in there. The keys are usually in it. He
said, I got some tools, whatever, whatever you need, just go in
and get it. Doug took those and he said, really? Whatever I need,
just, I can go in and get it? Anything? Don said, son, I gave
you my daughter. You don't think I'd give you
a wrench? If you have her, you have all
things. And if we have him, we have all
things. Verse six says, to the praise
of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved. What have we? Acceptance in the
beloved. Total acceptance with the Father.
He said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me and
him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. They will
be accepted. Verse seven, he said, in whom
we have redemption through his blood, The forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of His grace. In Him, what do we have? We have forgiveness through His
blood. We have forgiveness poured all
over our sin in the blood of God's Holy Lamb that was slain.
I'll tell you this, we don't wanna try to fix our sin. We
don't wanna try to do that. We do not want to go meet God
trying to fix right all of our wrongs. We do not want to go
meet God trying to make our own covering like Adam and Eve did.
They sowed some fig leaves together. God cursed the fig tree. And
that's how we'll go before the judge if we try to go covering
our own sin. This is what we want. We want
the Lord Jesus Christ to literally pour his blood all over us, all
over our sin, all over everything that we are, so that when God
the Father looks at us, He says, when I see the blood, and I know
that judgment and death and justice has come here, I'll pass over
you. That's the only hope that we
have. In that, we have redemption to eternal life. That is the
difference He made. That's the difference He made.
It's the difference of eternal death and eternal life. So, who maketh thee to differ?
The Lord Jesus Christ does. And what hast thou, what do we
have because of this difference He made? All things in Him. Every good and perfect thing. Absolute, total redemption. Everything
we fell from. Total redemption, complete forgiveness,
total redemption with the Father in Him. All right, now, how did
we get all this? Go back to 1 Corinthians 4. How did all of this come to us? How did all of this favor from
the Father and mercy from the Son, did we earn it? Did we earn this? Did we work for this, this salvation
that we have been given in Christ? Did we do anything to make ourselves
worthy or deserving of it in any way? Here's the answer. No. No, we did not. How did His goodness
come to us? Verse seven says, for who maketh
thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? We freely received it. How does this come to a center? It's freely received. Let me show you something in
Matthew 13. Turn with me over there. Matthew 13, verse 10. The disciples came and said unto
him, why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and
said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. There's a difference there. This
thing is given. It is given. It is not earned. It is freely given. Salvation
is freely given. Life is freely given. Grace is freely given. Mercy there was great. Grace
was free. It's a free gift. Look with me
at 2 Corinthians chapter four, 2 Corinthians chapter four. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 3, it says,
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost,
in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach
not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your
servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. God shines and God gives. That's how it comes. God shines
and God gives. You can turn with me if you want
to, or I can read 2 Timothy 1. Second Timothy one verses six
through nine. It says, where for I put the
in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God. which is
in thee by the putting on of my hands, for God hath not given
us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound
mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be
thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God, who hath saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to His own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. So who made us to differ? Christ
did. What do we have in Him? What
do we not have in Him? We have all things in Him, every
soul-redeeming thing that our salvation requires. How did we
get it? We freely received it. He freely
gave it to us. All right, here's the last question.
Last question Paul asked in the text. Go back with me to 1 Corinthians
4. Look at the end of verse 7. He
said, Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if
thou hadst not received it? If we have received this glorious
salvation from our God, if we have, if we have, if we are among
the ones who He chose to put a difference in. And if we're among the ones who
He chose to give Himself for and chose to die for and to put
away our sin, if we're counted among the ones that He has revealed
grace to, not works, but grace to and mercy to, If we have received
this glorious salvation, why would we glory in it as though
we had not received it? We wouldn't. We won't. Not if we have received it. If
we have received it, we won't. We will not glory in the work
and the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. We will cry, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of my Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. If any man glory, let him glory
in the Lord. Turn with me to First Thessalonians
chapter one. 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 4 says, knowing brethren, beloved, your
election of God. He said, we know your election.
We know God chose you, chose to have mercy on you. For our
gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in
the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as you know what manner of men
we were among you for your sake. And you became followers of us
and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with
joy of the Holy Ghost. so that you were examples to
all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded
out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia,
but also in every place your faith to God were to spread abroad,
so that we need not to speak anything. For they themselves
show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how you
turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. and
to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead,
even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." He said,
we know the grace of God that has been shown to you because
when the gospel came, it didn't come in word only. It came in
power and you bowed to it. And you turned from the idol
of yourself. We read about men worshiping
idols and we think, well, people really don't do that anymore.
Oh, but they do. We bow down to this idol right
here. We worship this idol. We glorify this idol. When the
gospel comes in its power to God's people, He turns them,
turn us and we'll be turned. We don't turn ourselves, He turns
us. But He turns us from our idols
to the true and living God and we bow to Him. We bow to Him
and we worship Jesus Christ, our sovereign Lord and Savior. He said in John 6, 45, they shall
all be taught of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh to me. All of them,
all of them. And we do, we do, don't we? The
commandment is come from the scripture, come to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Our response is gladly, gladly
to the one who made a difference for us and gave all for us freely. Gladly we gladly come now. I'm done. I'll close with this
last one. I promise but we got to read this. This is a wonderful
Benediction to close with go to Jeremiah chapter 9 Jeremiah chapter 9 This is wonderful. May the Lord
open our eyes and hearts to this right here. Jeremiah 9, verse 23, it says, Thus saith the Lord, Let not
the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory
in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches. but let him that glorieth glory
in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the
Lord, which exercise loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in
the earth. For in these things I delight,
saith the Lord. That's beautiful, isn't it? If
any man's gonna glory, let him glory in this, that you know
me and that I'm delighted to do these things. And we do glory
in that, don't we? We glory in what he said he is
so delighted to do for his people. What amazing grace it really
is. All right, amen. Brother Eddie, you come and lead
us in a closing hymn.