A scripture reading this morning,
turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter
1. And we'll be coming back to this.
I'll use this as my text this morning. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 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, call upon the name
of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs and ours. grace be to
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
was 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. May the Lord add his
blessing to the reading. I invite you to turn back with
me now to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I want to focus my attention
this morning on verse 9, concerning the believer's fellowship with
the Son of God. Sometime, I was trying to remember
exactly when it was, but sometime in the late 70s, I was sitting in a pew, as you
are this morning, listening to Brother Henry Mann preach. And
his subject was fellowship. And I'll never forget what he
said. He said, fellowship is fellers in the same ship. That's what fellowship is. If
you allow your mind to go back with me to the antediluvian world,
the world before the flood. God said he was going to destroy
the world and everybody in it. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And eight souls entered into
a vessel of God's design and God's provision And he talks about all the animals
and the people and everybody went on, but when he said, when
he talks about the door being shut, it says it's just one. He said, and he shut him, not
them, and he shut him in. Salvation's in a person. It's
in a person. That huge door. People sat back
and mocked and poke fun at old Noah, crazy old man talking about
a flood. It never rained. A mist come
up from the ground, watered the crops. It never rained. And he
said, it's going to come a flood. And I said, a flood? What's a
flood? I ain't never seen a flood. Didn't know what a flood was.
We talk about judgment, men don't know what that is. I don't know
what that is. Had no idea. But that's what
he said. And they're looking at this ark,
and they're putting it together a few pieces at a time. They're
just four men, as all there was, working with these big heavy
timbers. I mean, the women were doing what they could, but they
were building an ark, great big heavy timbers. And they're putting
it all together, and people are looking at it, wondering what
on earth this man's building. And he must be nuts. You don't
even need this thing. He's just crazy. But they come
out every day and look at him. And then the thing that really
got their goat was there's just one door. But it was huge. This thing was three stories
tall. There was three stories in the
ark. This door went bottom to top of the ark. Who knows how wide it was. Wide
enough for two elephants to walk in. It's a big door. And this thing's laying on the
ground, and they're all over there snickering because everybody's
going in the ark. And I said, well, even if the
ark fills up, how you going to shut that door? Six men ain't
going to shut that door. Anybody that's ever lifted up
a green timber knows what I'm talking about. You can't. What
are you going to do with a door that size made out of green timber?
A crane wouldn't pick it up. And all of a sudden, They walk
in and that door begins to move. And that door begins to come
up and it goes all the way to the top and goes shut. They alone shall escape the wrath
of God, walk again in a world where the wrath of God has already
been appeased. Can you imagine? Jim Hammond
Jeffers, and Noah, and their four wives. Do you picture them,
one of them up in this corner of the ark, and one of them up
in that corner of the ark, and one of them down here on the
lower floor, and this one over here, because they can't stand
to be around each other? Huh? These are fellers in the same
ship. They knew what the ship was,
they knew what it was for, And they knew that they were there
by the grace of God. Fellowship. Death and hell had devoured all
that it could, but not one inside the ark was touched. Fellowship. Fellows in the same
ship. And make no mistake about it,
Paul's writing not to every soul in Rome, or in the world for
that matter. But he says, I'm writing unto
the church of God which is at Corinth. To them that are sanctified
in Christ Jesus called to be saints with all that are in every
place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Both theirs
and ours. And this is the message I believe
God's given me for you in this hour, the fellowship of God's
Son. There is no fellowship outside
of God's Son. We're fellows in the same ship.
The key to salvation is in Christ. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Outside of Christ, he's cursed
no matter what he does or what he says. Salvation's in a person. May God the Holy Spirit be our
teacher this morning. In almost every epistle written
by Paul the Apostle, a brief summary of the gospel hope he
preached is given in a short outline, defining that grace
and peace he so lovingly opened all his letters with. Grace and
peace be to you from God our Father, from the Lord Jesus Christ. And he gives an outline of that
hope to the Galatians, he said, who gave himself for our sins,
that he might deliver us from this present evil world according
to the will of God and our Father. To the Romans, he wrote that
his gospel was concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which
was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and declared
to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness. He thanked God for the Philippians
being confident that God, who had begun a good work in them,
would fulfill it under the day of Jesus Christ. He always gives
an outline of the hope that he preached or was writing about.
And even so, here in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, he
gives us a four-point outline concerning our fellowship with
God and with one another. And the first thing he declares
is the state of them to whom he's writing. He said, to them
who are members. He's talking to those in the
church, the church of God now, which is at Corinth. There are and always has been
a church of God somewhere in this world. Always has been. In ancient times, All the sons
of Jacob out in that wilderness, he said they were in the church
in the wilderness. That's what he called it. What's
a church? That's an assembly. There was
an assembly of men out in that wilderness that made up the church
of God. God always has had a church in
this world. In the epistles of Paul, he mentions
certain churches in certain places. There's always a certain church
in a certain place. Wherever God's pleased to raise
one up. Where is that? Well, I don't
know. I know where some are. In the revelation of Christ,
He writes to the seven churches which are in Asia. We need to be constantly reminded
that our Lord walks among the candlesticks. When John saw Him,
when Christ was revealed to him in the Spirit on the Lord's day,
he saw the Lord walking among the candlesticks. What's that
mean? Well, He tells you right at the
end of that chapter. The candlesticks are my churches.
He walks among His churches. Well, you see, the Lord visits
every church. That's not what He said. At that particular time, there
were seven churches in Asia, and our Lord walked among those
churches. Well, if He has something to
say, where is He going to say it? In His churches. In His churches. Well, how do
I know that? Because he had the stars, the
preachers, the pastors, he had them in his hand. They weren't walking in the churches.
He was. And he carried them in his hand.
Wherever he went, they went. Whatever they said, he said.
And then when he gets past that and gives us illuminates that
so we can understand it. That's what the book of Revelation
is. It's a revelation of Jesus Christ.
He said, He that hath ears, now listen, let him hear what the
Spirit saith to his churches. If God's going to speak, He's
going to speak in His churches. And if you've got ears to hear,
you better hear what He says to His churches. He tells you
that all the way through. the book of Revelation. God always has something to say
to His churches. And if you'd hear from God, this
is where you need to be. What we're reading from today
is the Word of God, inspired of God, preserved of God, taught of God.
And it's directed to His church. And that's where He begins. He
said to the church which is at Corinth. That's what Paul's talking
about. Assemblies gathered to worship.
He ain't talking about all these places out here in the world.
Buildings and temples and monuments dedicated to something or someone. That's not what he's talking
about. There's only one church of God in that area and that
local church was just a small group of people and they were
in Corinth. And boy, if you read your history about Corinth, you
was in the dregs at the bottom of the barrel. It was the pits
of humanity, Corinth. Las Vegas couldn't hold a light
to Corinth. And in that place was the Church
of God. That church is at the location
or that location And it's just a small manifestation of every
tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue under heaven. When we talk about
the church of God, there's a church of all His elect, dating from
the beginning of time to the end of time. And that's a number
that no man can number. And it's a people made up out
of every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue under heaven. But at any
one given time, there's a little assembly of men and he calls
them his church. It's his visible church. It's
his local church. It's his church manifested in
this world. And these are his people. This
is where God joins together with his people. This is where God
is to be worshipped. This is where God, this is where
prayer is offered. This is where his people are
taught in the church. If I'm going to have fellowship,
this is where I'm going to have it. Or I'm not going to have
the fellowship of God. You can't have fellowship with
God and hate your brother. John said, if a man says, I have
fellowship with God, God is light. There's no darkness there. If
he says he has fellowship with God and he walks in darkness,
he's a liar. That's what John said. Fellowship is with God's people.
It's fellows in the same ship. There is in this world certain
assemblies of men and women that designate what's called in Scripture
the church of God. And there are no barriers. There's
no divisions. There's no separations in the
great assembly in heaven. But there is in this world. We
look around in this world, a church on every corner, what men call
churches. But it is of the utmost importance
to our soul to be able to distinguish God's churches from what He calls
in Revelation 2.9 the synagogues of Satan. All you're going to hear in those
places are lies empty promises. What you're going to find in
those places is all passion and no truth, all pleasure and no
dedication. That's what you're going to find.
So whatever this fellowship is, it's demonstrated in the churches
of God in this world. I don't have to I'm not left
to myself to sit around and try to imagine what this fellowship
is. This fellowship is demonstrated in every church, in every place
where God raises one up. Oh, but you say, there are no
churches like that where I am. Then why do you stay? Huh? Why are you still there? If this is the place where God
is going to bestow His blessing, why are you going to stay in
the wilderness? I dare say if somebody found
out there was gold free for the taking. Russell is laying on the ground.
Great big nugget. He's laying on the ground. It's
in the streams. You go out there in the moonlight
and see the gold sparkle. It's everywhere. Come and get
it. Come and get it. There'd be a land rush like you've
never seen in this world. Oh, there were just rumors of
gold in California, and they swamped the place. Rumors of
gold up in Alaska, and look what happened. Let me tell you something. God
says, in this pastor, in this preacher, I put heavenly treasure
in an earthen vessel. And nobody's interested. What's
wrong? Huh? What's wrong? And that's
the kind of world I think I'm gonna find a hope in? Ain't no
hope in it. No hope in it. Yet Paul tells you that God's
preachers have heavenly treasure for all who want to come and
hear. And a handful shall look to where it's at. Fellowship can only be found
in the church of God. Secondly, Paul tells us also
in verse 2 that he's writing to them that are sanctified in
Christ Jesus. What's that mean? Is that a plateau and I work
my way up to there and then I'm sanctified? The church I used
to go to, the church in Nazarene, they actually believe that. They
believe this is the second definite work of grace and if you work
hard enough and dedicated enough, you can get up that plateau,
and when you get there, you'll never sin again. Well, ain't
what Paul said. Paul said, Oh, wretched man that
I am. He was an old man. Been serving
the Lord for a long time. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this devil? You won't find that being spoken
by God's men that's recorded in the Word of God. Sanctified. What's that mean?
Well, it means three things. First of all, it means to be
set apart by God. Sanctified. Set apart. Think about that. God himself
set you apart. What's that mean? Well, go to
Romans 9 and read it. He came to the mother of those
two twins. And he said, Jacob have I loved,
and Esau have I hated. And he said it before either
one was ever born or ever did any good or evil. God set you apart. God said if
he hadn't set you apart, the whole world would have crumbled
and stayed crumbled. The whole world would have been
cursed and stayed cursed. God would have burnt this place
to cinders back in the garden. But God had a people and He set
them apart. He treated them differently than
anybody else. He said, these are mine. These
are mine. This is the sanctification of
which Paul declares in this verse, set apart in our election in
Christ that we might be holy and without blame before Him
being loved. Who did that? God did. God did. He has, according to His good
pleasure, set apart a people and declared them as loved, as
holy, and as being righteous without blame. And He did this
without compromise to His character by way of appointing for them
a representative man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I know I'll
get some argument here, but no sin was ever or could
ever be charged to his elect. You read 2 Corinthians chapter
5. You tell me what you think that
says. God was in Christ, Paul said, reconciling the world,
not everyone in it, but a cross section out of it, not imputing their trespasses
unto them. What's that mean? That means
he didn't charge sin to them. Blessed is the man to whom God
will not impute sin. He won't do it. Why? Because
He put them in His Son. Do they sin? Oh yeah. Will they
continue to sin? They will until they die. But
their sin was laid on Him. Charged to Him. He's their representative. They were treated in love and
mercy and grace, being set apart in the person of their head.
The Lord Jesus Christ. And then secondly, to be sanctified
in Christ Jesus is to be declared holy. God said he's holy. Listen
to what he said about Job. Now Job sinned. It was obvious
that Job sinned. God told him he did. But he told
Satan, he said, have you considered my servant Job a righteous man? How could he say that? God can't
lie. How could he call Job a righteous
man? Because he put Job in Christ. Listen to this. Here's a man
who left the mountaintop. He left the father of the faithful,
Abraham, divided from him, went down to the pits of humanity,
down to Sodom and Gomorrah, and lived there so he could prosper. And here he is, partaker of their
evil deeds. Lot. And here's what he said. That righteous man dwelling among
them. How on earth could he say that? Because he chose, oh Lot, in
Christ. Can you consider yourself righteous?
Only one way. In Christ. Of God. Am I in Christ Jesus, who's made
unto me, huh? Sanctification. My, so God can
look at me in truth without compromising His character and call me a righteous
man. Sanctified. Who is this that
has fellowship? Them that are sanctified. Christ, yet I come in this world
to do the will of my Father, the redemptive will of my Father. By the which will, Hebrews 10,
10, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. In Colossians 1, verse 21, he
said in you that was sometime alienated, enemies in your mind
by wicked works. Yet now as he reconciled, in
the body of His flesh through death to present you holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in His sight. Christ was delivered for our
offenses and raised again for our justification. Being justified
by faith, that is, seeing how it was accomplished and receiving
it with hope, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And then thirdly, this sanctification
is to be actually made holy. And this is a work that will
never reach its fruition until we shed this body, shed this
flesh. It's a work began in the heart
by the desire of a man to be like Christ. That's what he wants.
Wouldn't you like to have his character? Huh? His wisdom? His devotion, His heart. Wouldn't you like to be able
to say, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered
you as a hymn to her chief? But you would not. Wouldn't you like to be like
Him? He is an expressed image of the
Father. It's a wonder you can't tell
it. You can't get it into words. Well, that's the desire I'm talking
about. That's the beginning of true
holiness. It's a desire in the heart to be like Christ. We don't
buck Him because we know He's all wisdom. He's perfect wisdom.
The rebel will, Paul said, you'll say unto me, why doth he yet
find fault for who hath resisted his will? And Paul said, listen
to him, he said, Who are thou that replies to kids, God? Oh,
you going to put God on the stand? That's foolishness. It's a work began in the heart
by a desire to be like Christ. And sanctification in Christ
is the manifestation of holiness and godliness and righteousness
And it begins in us, in our faith to see it, in our hearts to desire
it, and in our hope to actually have it. Listen to John. He that hath
this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. He struggles
to be like Christ. Is there a war for you? You better
believe it. While they're fighting back,
I'm going to be like Christ. I don't want to be like me. Huh? Whatever this fellowship is,
it begins in the church. And it's based on God's work
of sanctification. And then thirdly, this fellowship
is brought about by an effectual calling. Paul said, I'm writing
to them that's been called of God. Them that are sanctified in Christ
Jesus and called, listen, to be saints. What is a saint? It says Saint John's Gospel and
we read about the saints. What is a saint? That's short
for sanctified woman. That's what a saint is. It's
a man sanctified of God. And we're called to be saints. God has a general call. It goes
out. I'm talking to everybody in this
room this morning. Could be, though, God speaking
to one. That's an effectual call. General call goes out. It goes
out. Gospel ministry goes out all
over the world. A general call. All are commanded
to believe and repent. And here's an amazing thing about
this call. It's a call to faith without
which nobody can be saved. The call is a call to blessing. It's not a call to be cursed,
it's a call of blessing. Where does the curse come from?
Unbelief. Resistance to the call. He that believeth not shall be
damned. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life. The wrath of God abideth on him.
It's a call to blessing, a call to infinite gain, a call to security
and defense, a call to peace, a call to comfort, a call to
everlasting life. And our Lord said, you want to
know something about the condemnation? You want to know something about
the curse? Here it is. Light came into this world and
men loved darkness rather than light. Why? Because their deeds were evil. Their deeds were evil. This is a call to blessing and
yet men and women look at it as though it was a call to misery.
Huh? Oh, I don't want no part of that. Really? Oh my. And here's the sad truth. Proverbs 124. He said, I called,
and you refused. You refused. I stretched out
my hand. Here's a man, he's drowning.
He's in misery. He's going down. And the Lord
reaches out His hand, and He pulls his hand up. Isn't that
what He's saying? I stretched out my hand. and no man regarded. The cold
hard truth is that no man or woman ever in the history of
mankind came to faith and repentance by way of a general call. That
call will only add to his condemnation. The scripture said, now listen,
there's none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of
the way. They're together become unprofitable.
But oh, thank God, there is an effectual calling. An effectual
calling is when the person being called realizes it's God that's
doing the calling. My mom, we lived in an old salt
box house, an old log house up in northern Ohio, and I was just
a little kid. And I'd lay up there in the bed, and I still
don't understand why, but we'd put all those kids upstairs,
and we heated with a coal stove, and they'd shut the door. And
boy, by morning, it was freezing up there, you know, but we were
on the quilts and stuff. But I was laying up there, boy,
I didn't want to get out in warm covers. I was laying up there
and Mama come to the door, Time, get up! And I just lay there. She said, Honey, Time, get up!
And I just lay there. After about the third time, another
voice come. Son, are you up? I'm up! They're
an effectual cause. And you recognize who it is that's
calling. Huh? You recognize who it is
that's doing the calling. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 2
verse 13, you think I'm making this up? Listen to this. Paul
said, for this cause also thank we God without ceasing. Because
when you receive the Word of God, which you heard of us, you
received it not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth, the
Word of God. Now listen. Which effectually
worketh also in you that believe. Effectually works. They hear
God speak. Not just a man. Although they
see the man, they hear his voice, they see his lips moving, but
they hear God. and to see it in His Word. He told them in chapter 1 that
He knew their election of God because His gospel came not in
word only, but it came in power and it came in the Holy Ghost
and it came with much assurance. And the Holy Ghost is He that
takes the things of Christ and shows them unto us. And the power
He talks about is the power in John chapter 1 verse 12 to become
sons of God and believe on His name. That's the power. And I can and do show you every
week the things of Christ, His person, His work, His appointments,
His purpose, His place of abode. But without the Holy Ghost and
the power of God, they're just words. They're just words. And then the third ingredient
necessary in the effectual calling is an assurance in the heart.
What's he talking about there? Confidence in your confidence?
No. No, he's talking about assurance
in the sufficiency of Christ. If salvation's in Christ alone,
is he sufficient to put away my sin? Is he sufficient to be
my righteousness? See, that's the question. What
think ye of Christ? And here it says, much assurance. There's nothing set forth in
God's Word with more evidence, more foundation, and more reason
and purpose than the salvation of sinners in Christ. And no reason for doubt except
our own ignorance and unbelief. So I say again, thank God for
his effectual calling. And then lastly, I see in connection
with this blessed fellowship a confirmation of God. Now, I never attended one, but
Brian has, a Trinity Lutheran Church. And I think, if I'm not
mistaken, I know for sure they baptized infants because in my
ignorance, I had my oldest daughter baptized for her grandmother's
sake. She was a member of that church,
and I took her in, Just a baby, they did their whatever they
do. But then when you're about 13
or 14, you go through a catechism. And you join the church and that's
called the confirmation. Everything that was promised
to you when you was an infant, your parents making all these
promises about you, they're received when you come of age. It's called
the confirmation. Well, that's a bunch of religious
hooey. In verses 4 through 6, Paul said,
I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which
is given you by Jesus Christ, that in everything you're enriched
by Him in all utterance and in all knowledge, even, now watch
this, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you. Larry, you didn't like what you
heard when you first came here, did you? Might not have liked
it the second time. But there'll come a day when
God confirms what I've seen in your heart. Huh? And boy, did
the expression on his face change. And I've seen it on many of you. What in the world is he talking
about, you know? And go home and look it up. All of a sudden, all of a sudden,
that confirmation comes to you. That testimony of Christ is confirmed. That's it. That's it. And that's what Paul's talking
about here. And the first thing here is the
testimony of Christ. That's the gospel. That's what
he's talking about. Testimony of Christ is a testimony
of His deity. His incarnation, His obedience,
suffering and death, it's a testimony of His resurrection. His ascension
into glory, His present reign. His intercession for the saint.
Did you know Christ is reigning on the throne right now? Everything
that's going on is under His authority. Need to be careful how we murmur
and mumble. He's in full control. Full control. That doesn't mean we're not responsible
for what we do. That's not what I'm saying. But
I'm saying when it's all said and done, you better acknowledge
that He's sitting on the throne. The testimony of Christ is a
testimony of His accomplished redemption, reconciliation, justifying
righteousness. And it came to them through the
gospel The same as it does, verse 2, to all those who in every
place call on the name of Jesus Christ. It always comes the same
way through the preaching of the gospel. The difference is to them that
receive the effectual calling of God. God confirmed that testimony
in their hearts. Listen to this, Romans chapter
8, verse 19. The Spirit itself. beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the sons of God. And if you go back
and read that chapter, you'll see that that was all come about
by who Christ was and what Christ did and where Christ is at. The very next verse, 1 Corinthians
1, 7, he says, so that you come behind in no gift. No gift. Everything that you need, Larry,
we give it to you. Oh, I can't believe. Oh, yeah
you can. Here's the gift of faith. Oh,
I just, I don't repent. Huh? He'll lead you to repent. Every good gift, every perfect
gift comes down from the Father Almighty. Paul said, I know that
this was confirmed in you because you come behind in no gift. Every
gift needed was given to you. Every evidence needed was given
to you. What gifts are you talking about?
The gift of faith, repentance, love, revelation, communication,
fellowship, and on and on the list goes. God confirms His salvation in
us by the gifts given to us. And watch this, verse 8. Who
shall also confirm you unto the end? unto the end that you may be
blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God is faithful
by whom you were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus
Christ our Lord. That's fellers in the same ship,
isn't it? Fellowship. I tell you, it's
precious. It's precious. You may not know
it. You may be here because somebody made you come. I don't know.
But if you ever learn what this means, you'll seek this fellowship. Fellowship of God. Fellowship
of Christ. Fellowship of his people. You
can't love God and hate your brother. Can't do that. That's not of God. Not of God. All right. May the Lord add his
blessings to his gospel.