1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul's
letter here to the Corinthians seeking to instruct them in the
ways of the gospel. Beginning there in verse 6, he
says, 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 to 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 I beseech you, brethren,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the
same thing. that there be no divisions among
you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind
and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto
me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe,
that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every
one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas,
and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified
for you? Or were ye baptized in the name
of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none
of you, but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had
baptized in mine own name. And I baptized also the house
of Stephanas. Besides, I know not whether I
baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the
cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto
us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? 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. For the Jews
require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach
Jesus Christ. 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
the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness
of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger
than men. For you see your calling, brethren,
now that not many wise men after the flesh, Not many mighty, not
many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty. And base things of the world and things which are
despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to
bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in
his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, He that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. Now, anybody that doubts that the
Lord has a particular purpose in the creation of the world
and the bringing of things to pass as they have occurred has
never read the first chapter of this letter of Paul to the
Corinthians because it plainly says here that The Lord, in His wisdom, made
the world to be just exactly like it is. Now, over in verse
21, it says, For after that, in the wisdom of God... Now,
most times you hear people talking about the fact that people don't
know the Lord because of their own lack of this or lack of that. And there's a measure in which
that's true, but the first thing you've got to understand before
you ever get to that point, and then it'll modify how you think
about that, is to remember that God made the world to be exactly
like the world is. Now, a lot of people don't believe
that. They think God made the world to be one way and it turned
out another way. And He's been trying to correct
it ever since. Isn't that kind of how the mainstream
thought is? That God made this perfect world
and He put man in it and He just wanted everything to go like
He wanted it to go. And what happened? Well, the devil came along and
he fooled Eve. Then Adam messed up and then
God's been scratching his head ever since trying to figure out
some way to get it all straightened back out. Now, dear brethren,
that's a most foolish type of a thought process, but it is
a common thought process. And you are considered to be
a fool if you don't ascribe to it. But if you read what the
Scripture says, it plainly says here that in the wisdom of God, Listen to what it says. In the
wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. God created the
world and He put wisdom in it. He put smart men in it. But He did it so He could prove
something, that the world could not know Him by that wisdom. Now that's what he said when
he said flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Flesh and blood can't inherit
it. Can't do it. Because in the wisdom of God,
it pleased God. When the Lord Jesus Christ came,
what was one of his first prayers? He says, I thank thee, O God. that thou hast hid these things
from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Now, he was not surprised that men didn't believe him, nor should
we be surprised when men scoff at the things which are true.
Because in the wisdom of God, not the secondary plan of God,
if there could be such a thing, or the backup plan. Isn't it
amazing that God had to go to a backup plan in the eyes of
most? That He had one plan that didn't
work out, but He had a backup plan. And He's trying to get
at it. He doesn't even know if that's
going to work out. But He's just hoping somebody will do something
to cooperate with Him before everything comes to an end. Oh,
how foolish is the way of men. That's what it says right here,
isn't it? The wisdom of God's foolishness to the world and
vice versa. The wisdom of men is foolishness
to God. But you see, men love their own
foolishness and despise the foolishness of God, do they not? I mean,
that's what it says. And so, you know, Paul had the clearest and grandest
understanding of the purpose of God, I believe, of any of
the apostles. Now, all of them had strengths
and weaknesses and those things because they were just men. But
in the declaration of the truth of God, the Lord used Paul to
most clearly set out the basis of Christian doctrine of any
of the apostles. I mean, we would have to admit
that because we have more of the writings of Paul than we
do of any of the other apostles. That doesn't, you know, give
him some leg up or anything like that. It was just the purpose
of God that it be so. But you cannot read the writings
of Paul and ever come to the conclusion that God is anything
less than an absolute God who does exactly according to His
will when He wants to and how He wants to, and all things are
taking place according to that purpose. And there is nothing
that is more contrary to the will and way of man than a God
that just does what He wants to do. I mean, men like having a God.
Just like they like having a dog at home. I mean, you know, you
like having a dog at home because, I mean, you know, when everybody
else is mad at you, and everything's gone wrong, and you drive up
to the house, there he is out there with his tail wagging,
and he's just glad you're there. And he's not looking for anything. He just wants to let you know
that he's glad you're there. And most people, that's what
they think about God. He's like their little dog at
home. And they go off somewhere. You know, the dog, he's back
at home. They're not interested. They're
not thinking about Him. But they're thinking in their
mind, well, but He's thinking about me. And oh, it's all right. And so they have their little
puppy dog, God, that they can come back to whenever they get
ready. But you see, that is not what
the Scripture indicates how God is. He is not a dog that you
left at home somewhere that is just waiting and hoping you will
come back and will be glad to see you when you do. But no,
He is an absolute God who gives to men such things as He wants
them to have. And it is according to His mercy
and His grace. if we have been made partakers
of His mercy and grace. Because there is not one thing
we could have ever done to have obtained it or gained it of our
own. And so when Paul speaks about
the work of Christ, he is always speaking about it from the terms
of that mindset of God. Even as the testimony of Christ
was confirmed in you, as Paul says to the Corinthians, that
he desires for them to grow up, to mature, to be flowers in the
kingdom of God, so to speak. scoff at the predestination of
all things by God, they say, well, then, you know, why do
we just sit around and just do whatever? Well, if you can just
sit around and not do anything, then just sit around and not
do anything. But you see, the work of God in the lives of His
people causes them to do things. He works in them, both willing
to do of His good pleasure. So the Lord is working in His
people and He is confirming, as it says here, even as the
testimony of Christ was confirmed in you. Now, how do you know
who it is that are the followers of Christ? Because the Spirit of Christ
is in them. They believe. Now, a man will
believe a lot of things. If you tell a man now, if you
will sign on this dotted line, if you will make this commitment
right here, this will keep you out of hell, you can get some
folks to sign up for that. But you see, what it is to believe
Jesus Christ is that which a man cannot escape from. I mean, he is the open eunuch
when he was in the chariot going back to Ethiopia. I mean, he couldn't be satisfied,
could he? With just going back to Ethiopia,
he was puzzled. He needed some answers. He wanted
something. And the Lord sent somebody to
him with the answers and showed him the truth. And his confession
was, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That made him happy. That was
a delight to him. I mean, the testimony of Jesus
Christ was confirmed in him. It was a thing precious to him.
It wasn't something he could take or leave. You know, a lot
of people that call themselves Christians think he'd kind of
take it or leave it. I mean, they can believe in a sovereign
God or they can believe in one that's hoping somebody will do
something, needs money and all that kind of thing. I mean, they
can believe in all sorts of stuff. But you see, the man who believes
Jesus Christ can't be satisfied with anything less than Jesus
Christ. I'm not interested in what men
come and tell me and try to convince me of, what I desire. is to know the Lord. I want something
more than just joining up with a bunch of folks that say this
is what the truth is, don't you? I mean, I want to know these
things for myself. I don't want to know it second
hand. And that's what it is to be confirmed by the testimony
of Jesus Christ confirmed in a man. He wants to know it for
himself. He's not satisfied just for somebody
to preach to him. We talked a little bit about
this last week. I mean, the gathering together of the saints of God
is not just so we can come hear somebody preach. Well, we're
going to preaching this week. We went to preaching. Well, we
couldn't go to preaching, so we turned on the radio and we
listened to somebody on the radio, so we're satisfied now. No, dear
brethren, that's not what the coming together of the church
is about. That's not what our life is about.
That's not what the testimony of Christ in us is about. But
rather it's about the operation of the Spirit of God in us individually
and corporately. Because when we come together,
we are the body of Christ gathered in one place. And the hand can't
say to the foot, I have no need of thee. For we do have need
one of the other, because we are put together as lively stones
in the building of the Lord, and we are part of an edifice
that are interdependent upon one another. And so it is that
the testimony of Christ is confirmed in us, now that ye come behind
in no gift, waiting for the coming of the Lord. This is a temporary
state that we're in, but the purpose and the working of the
Spirit of God in the people of God is for the benefit of the
people of God as a whole. And so it is Paul's desire for
them. And I'm kind of getting around
to what I started off with there a moment ago. People say, well,
you know, if you believe everything is predestined, then why are
you wanting to go out here and preach. I mean, won't things
just happen whether you preach or not? Well, you know, it's
not quite like that because, you see, the Lord works in His
people, and He gives His people a desire for the benefit of His
people. I mean, just like the scripture
Brother Al read there a moment ago, as Paul said, you know,
my heart's prayer and desire for Israel is that they might
be saved. He said, I could wish myself
a curse for them. I desire their benefit. And Paul
desires the benefit of these Corinthians. He says, I don't
want you to come behind. I don't want you to be second-rate.
I don't want you to come behind in any gift. I want the blessings
of God to be manifest in your midst. I want you to be built
up in the most holy faith. I don't want you to straggle
along and just show up. But he said, I want you to be
built up in the most holy faith, waiting for the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you to the end.
Now, if He confirms you to start with, with the testimony of grace,
He will confirm you to the end. Now, does that mean that everybody
that says they're going to follow Christ is going to last until
the end? I don't believe so according
to what Scripture says. Because there are many that turn
away and walk no more with Him. But you see, if it's Christ that
hath begun a good work in you, He will perform it until the
day of Jesus Christ. And what is that evidence of
that? It's because you desire Christ. A man that desires Christ, he's
going to be satisfied. Because you see, the natural
man can't desire Christ. Now, he can desire the benefits.
I mean, he can want the benefits. See, most everybody wants the
benefits. Don't they? I mean, when I was
growing up and they told me I wouldn't go to hell if I disbelieved.
Well, I didn't want to go to hell. But I wanted the benefits of
that. Now, I didn't really care too much about Christ, but I
wanted the benefits that came with it, you see. And so that's
what you've got, by and large, is folks seeking out benefits,
just like a retirement package. In fact, you'll see a sign every
now and then, the retirement plan of God, you know. It's great. The benefits are great. Well,
brethren, Job said, though he slay me, yet will I trust in
him. Wait a minute. No, no, I don't
want to sign up for that. No, I don't want him to slay
me. Look, I'm not going to follow him if he's not going to be some
benefit to me out of this. But you see, Peter, he demonstrated
the confirmation of the testimony of Jesus Christ, did he not?
When the multitudes were walking away and the Lord turned to him
and said, What are you going to? Are you all going to leave? He said, Lord. He said, To whom
shall we go? I mean, where are we going to
turn? You've got the words of eternal life. You know, as many times, I don't
know if I'm coming or going, or if I'm up or down, or if I'm
in or out. But by the grace of God, I know
that Jesus Christ is that One who is the truth of God. And upon that, all our hopes
are bent. And we can't turn to the right
or to the left. We don't want to go in without
Him. We don't want to come out without
Him. We want to be found in Christ. And He shall confirm you to the
end that you may be blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The day of Christ. What is the day of Christ? Well,
the day of Christ is a lot of things. The day of Christ is
now. Isn't this the day of Christ? Brethren, we live in the day
of Christ. This is the day of Christ. Now, in one sense, the
whole creation from beginning to the end is the day of Christ
because it belongs to Him, but I'm talking about in the unfolding
of the truth of God. See, there's never been a time
in the earth, in the earth's history, that is replete with
the full revelation of God unto men. See, all the truth that
God would reveal unto men He has already revealed in the time
and day in which we live. How do I know that? Because Jesus
Christ came and He said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father, but
by me, now is there something beyond Him? I mean, like old
B.B. Caldwell said, that's as far
as I want to go. You know, you've got people and
they run up down the road and separate the hairs on the horse's
tail and do all these things in the book of Revelation and
they're telling us all these things is going to happen. I'm
not interested in it! I just want to know Christ! And
dear brethren, the revelation of Christ is Christ! It's not
all these secrets that people know. Oh, if you'll listen to
old So-and-so, he'll let you in on the secret and then you'll
know. Well, what will you know? Brethren, if the road doesn't
lead you to Christ, it's the wrong road. I'm telling you,
if the gold at the end of the road is not Christ, if the pot
of gold at the end of the rainbow is not Christ, then it is a useless
endeavor. It is of no value whatsoever
to you. Because you see, the world by
wisdom knew not God. In all the things that men think,
and the religious look, Religion is the biggest trap that's ever
been devised by Satan to deceive men. And multitude, broad is the way
that leads to destruction. And many go in there, they're
just as satisfied as they can be with their religion. And they'll tell you in a heartbeat, I know I'm saved. I signed up. I believe this. I believe that
and all those things. And there is a multitude of confidence. And many of these religions are
built on keeping people going on the confidence. Well, you
know what you did. And I know what I did. It was nothing. And I look at
the pitiful thing that I've done and I say, well, if that's what
I'm going to rely on, I'm in a mess, a world of trouble. I
need something bigger than me. I need something outside of myself. The confirmation of Christ is
that He is that One whom we desire. And those who desire Christ,
the Scripture says He will keep them to the end, to the day of
Jesus Christ. Now there is a day of Jesus Christ.
This is the day of Jesus Christ. But there is, according to what
he has said, a culmination of these days in
which we presently dwell. And there is the entering in
of a time which is known in Scripture as the ages to come. Now guess
what is going to be the glory of the ages to come, Christ, that through the ages
to come we might glorify His name. Now that suits me just
fine. I was reading something the other
day about some guy. He was hoping he'd get in the
Hall of Fame. And his dying words were, It
was the Racing Hall of Fame. And some of the last things that
he told his wife was, Honey, don't let them forget me. Now, look, I don't know anything
about the man. I don't care, and I'm just using
it as an illustration. It don't make any difference
about that. Oh, I hope my name is forgotten
among men. And just like in one of those
old western towns where the tumbleweed rolls down the street, you know,
and the wind's blowing and the dust and it's whistling around
and ain't anybody in town. I hope my name's just like one
of those old tumbleweeds that's just going in there and that
it's forgotten. But oh, the name of Christ, the
Lord Jesus Christ, that one who bled and died for sinners, That
One who is the culmination of all of the glory of God manifested
unto men, oh, that His name might be exalted forever, that He might
be magnified and worshipped. You see, this is the thing that
God has called His people unto. It is a blessing, dear brethren,
to see the glory of Christ revealed. to see Him as He is, God is faithful,
and that He may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Because you see, the Lord loves
His people in all those that He has given a love for Him.
He gathers them to Himself. I mean, He doesn't give a man
a love for Him only to abandon him. He doesn't play games with
men and cause a man to hunger and thirst after righteousness
and then snatch it away from him. But He gives to those whom
He loves the confirmation that the glory and name of Christ
shall stand forever and this is that in which they rejoice. God is faithful by whom you were
called. into the fellowship of His Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord, called into His fellowship. Now, can
you imagine the sweetness of the fellowship that the disciples
enjoyed with Christ? I mean, can you just imagine
just being with Him, just sitting around and just being in His
presence? Now the unfortunate thing is
they in their humanity, they didn't really appreciate
it at the time, did they? Just like those two disciples
on the road to Emmaus when the Lord was unfolding to them all
these glorious doctrines. And they were, the Scripture
said, didn't our heart burn within us? But they didn't fully get
that. Dear brethren, you see, when
the Lord's pleased to show us Himself, there's not going to
be any lack to the people of God because He called us to His
fellowship. And He said, if these things
were not so, I would have told you. What a glorious thought
that all that is needful for the people of God, He will provide.
And He's faithful. by whom you were called unto
this fellowship." Now, if we are called to fellowship with
Jesus Christ, it means of necessity that we must fellowship with
His people, does it not? Have fellowship with His people.
I mean, can you despise the people of God if you have fellowship with the
Lord? See, a lot of people want to say, I'm just going to seek
the Lord, you know, on my own terms. I know Him, you know,
and me and Him have this good thing going and we're just going
to go off out here by ourselves and everything's all right. I
don't need to be around God's people. Well, that's contrary
to what Scripture indicates. I mean, the purpose of God calling
us to fellowship with His Son was to call us together because
we have fellowship one with the other. John said that by this
we know that we love Christ because we love the brethren, because
it's sweet to us. It's a time of fellowship. Why? Because it's the fellowship of
Christ. Now, see, that's what makes the
fellowship of the brethren sweet. It's not because somebody can
make pies better than somebody else or something, you know,
and that's the time we get to have it. I mean, that's not... Now, I like pie. Don't y'all
quit making the pies, but that's not the reason that we like the
fellowship. It's because of Christ. See,
Christ in you, that's the hope of glory. and Christ in the people
of God as we see it manifested. Now I beseech you, brethren,
by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the
same thing, that there be no divisions among you, but that
ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment. Now if you put two people in
a room together, do you know what you will ultimately have
if they stay there long enough? Absolutely. Why is that? Well, that's just the way people
are. I mean, you know, and the Lord made us that way. The Lord
made us that way. He made us that way to demonstrate
the diversity of His thought because you get twenty people
in a room and all twenty of them ultimately will fall out with
one another about something. Because you see, the broadness
of knowledge exceeds one person. There is nobody that can contain
the knowledge. And think about all the knowledge
that there is, is contained in Him who knows all things. And all the people in all the
world put together is like a drop in the bucket compared to that. The Lord would demonstrate to
us our sinful nature because we can't agree on things and
that's just the way we are. But yet He says here, I want
you to all be in the same mind and the same judgment. Now if
we sit here and we talk about enough stuff that's in the Bible,
we won't all agree on everything. I've discovered that over the
years. There's no way that you can get together with somebody
and somebody not have a different idea about something. That's
okay. Because, you see, I can still
be of the same mind and the same judgment in that which Paul is
speaking about. He's not talking about that we
become cloned copies of one another, that we finish one another's
sentences. Because, you see, he talks in
another place about there are diversities. among God's people. But you see, there's one thing
wherein we have absolute agreement. And it is about Christ, that
He's the only one worthy of any praise, any glory, that He's
the one who is Lord over all, that He's the only Savior. and
He is worthy of all praise. And I believe we can all agree
on that. If we are brethren in the Lord, we can agree on that.
Now brethren, what a more glorious place is there to take a stand
and come together than that? Christ alone is to be glorified.
Not my opinion, not my thought process, but Christ. And that
is what Paul is going on to tell them. He's pointing out the error
of the thoughts of men because that's the way men are.