Alright, let's turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 14. I'm taking the title of the lesson
from the very last verse in chapter 14. And I'll title the lesson,
Divine Order. In this day of ignorance and
superstition, I see in the programs and testimonies of the people
Anything and everything goes. Just anything. It doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter what you want to do. It doesn't matter what
you want to say. Everything goes. Now, it's not that way in every
individual church, but I'm talking about the churches as a whole.
Anything and everything goes. Whatever it is you want to do,
whatever it is you want to say, whatever it is you want to be. There's no divine order except
whatever men's depraved hearts can conjure up. Women preaching
and pastoring churches. Organized denominational religion
with committees and presidents and boards and democratic government
in the churches. Singing and entertainment called
worship. Ceremonialism, legalism, Decisionism. All these things being promoted
and supported and practiced in the name of Christianity. An
Old Testament priesthood being established with everything except
animal sacrifices. And in the name of worship, anything
goes. Dancing that would rival any
nightclub. All you have to do is turn your
TV on and you can see it. Heretical hymns. Hymns dishonoring
to God. A pretense of spiritual gifts. Confusion, ignorance, and darkness. And my friend, this is nothing
new. This has been going on since
the days of the apostles. And this is what Paul is talking
about in this chapter. He is talking about this confusion. Under the ceremonial law of Moses,
God gave complete instruction as to how he was to be worshiped.
There was never a time when God left men to their own hearts
to devise a way and means to worship Him. Never! Not with
Adam, not with his children, not with Noah, In the days after
the flood, there was never a time when God left men to their depraved
hearts to conjure up ways to worship Him and just left them
to do whatever they wanted to do. Now, there was a time when
people did what they wanted to do and they followed their own
hearts, but that was a day when there was no king in the land.
And every man did what he thought was right in his own heart. And
God condemned it. God gave complete instruction
as to how he was to be worshipped. A high priest of his selection
was chosen from among the people. And his sons as priests under
him, everything concerning the tabernacle was performed by them. There were specific duties for
the common priest and certain duties for the high priest. Certain
sacrifices were to be brought on certain days. Certain days
and times were to be set apart from other days and times. Nothing
was left to the imagination of men or to their personal opinions. The details of the Old Testament
ceremonial worship were explicit in every detail. And now Christ
has come. And He's fulfilled all these
Old Testament types. The tabernacle, the sacrifices,
the high priest, you can read about it over in Hebrews chapter
9. Those things have waxed old. And He folded them up. You can
read about the Sabbath of rest, that Sabbath day. Christ is our
Sabbath. You can read about that in Hebrews
chapter 4. You can read about the old altar. A lot of churches
have altars in them. That altar was done away. Christ
is our altar. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 10. And as the means of the old economy
were detailed, so are the means of this New Testament age. They're
detailed. As divine order was given through
His messenger, so it's given at this present time. And He's
at no time ever allowed fallen men with their vain imaginations
and sinful desires to worship Him any way they want to. God's
people are called upon to assemble themselves with the saints. Isn't that what the Scripture
says? We're nowhere in the Scriptures
instructed to compromise our faith in God by going to a service
where a man teaches heresy. You're not going to find that.
It's not in the Scriptures. We're to assemble ourselves with
the saints, those of like precious faith. And God doesn't raise
up a church in every city and every community or every state.
In the book of Revelations, now I want you to just think about
something here a minute. Paul went out and he established,
he preached all over Asia. The churches are listed individually
in there. It went all over Asia. And in the book of Revelations,
our Lord only recognizes seven churches. Did you ever catch
that when you read that book? Seven churches in all of Asia. Now there were little satellite
groups out that were were born and being ministered to off of
those churches. But God only had seven churches
in Asia, and He addresses them in the book of Revelation. There were groups that were being
ministered to by pastor evangelists and missionaries, and they were
being ministered to on a regular basis. And they were not left
to themselves to prescribe their own rule and means and way of
worship. They were taught. And when Christ
our Lord ascended into glory, He gave by divine decree certain
men to minister to His church and to His local churches. In
Ephesians 4, 11, it says He gave. He did. Some apostles and some
prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers.
His prophets to tell us of the coming of the Lord. His apostles
to lay the order in the establishing of these New Testament churches.
and in this gospel age, an evangelist to spread the gospel to every
nation, and pastor-teachers. Why? For the perfecting of the
saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ until we all come into the unity of the faith and of
the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man under the
stature of the fullness of Christ. that we henceforth be no more
children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind
of doctrine by the slight of men and the cunning craftiness
whereby they lie in wait to deceive." And if you'll take time to read
Ephesians chapter 4, you'll see that if these means are not taken
advantage of, you may well find yourselves walking as the Gentiles
did in the vanity of their minds. And that's what I see going on
in our day. There is an order, a divine order
to worship in God's churches. And that order is in gospel preaching,
pastoral authority, and loving submission to Christ. This is
the order. Paul begins in 1 Corinthians
14, verse 34, on the place of a woman in the church. Evidently there
was women in this church. And they just said the same thing
these other men said who were teaching heresy, God called me.
Will you dare not challenge somebody if they say God called them?
Dare not challenge them? We don't want to do that. And
so he begins here to tell them. He said, verse 34, let your women
keep silence in the churches. For it is not permitted unto
them to speak, but they are commanded of the Lord." They are commanded
to be under obedience, as also saith the law. Anybody here not understand what
I just read? Then there ought not be any question
about women preaching in the church. You ought not have any
question about that. Clear as crystal, isn't it? It is contrary to the Word of
God. It is contrary. The Word of God
is the revealed will of God. And it is contrary to the will
of God. And it is contrary, Paul said,
even to the law of God. For a woman to preach, or teach,
or usurp authority over a man. 1 Timothy 2, verse 11. Turn over there with me for just
a second. Let the women learn in silence
with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach,
nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. And I know this is contrary to
what we call women's rights in our age, but it's according to
the commandment of God. And you're going to have to make
up your mind which one you're going to obey. You're going to
obey God or you're going to obey man, one or the other. It's contrary to the commandment
of God. It's contrary to the teaching
of His Word and the establishing of this congregation of worship
by the apostles of Christ. No exceptions. No special privileges. Now watch this. I Corinthians
14, verse 36. What? Came the Word of God out
from you? Or came it unto you only? How many times have I heard men
and women justify their calling, their ministry, and their methods
by saying that God spoke to them? God spoke to me. God told me
to do this. Paul said, is that what's going
on here? God spoke to you all by yourself? He didn't tell anybody
else? God spoke to you and now you're
going to rewrite the Word of God? Is your words inspired of
God so to the point where you can say this is the Word of God? Paul asked two critical questions
here. First of all, he asked if the
Word of God was their inspired writing. Were you called of God
and gifted of God to dictate policy or pen in a book the Word
and will of God? Joseph Smith said he was. Sure he did. Catholic popes claimed
this right to change and correct the Word of God in their age,
claimed that power of apostleship. And many other lesser known men
claimed this very thing without really thinking about it. There
was men and women claiming to be preachers and prophets of
God, but doing so contrary to the Word of God. And their only
evidence of their calling was their own profession. I think I can say that of Rex
Humbard and Jimmy Swaggart and many others. all of them preaching
heresy, all of them talking about gifts and promoting ministries
contrary to the Word of God, and all by their own private
professions of faith. God told me to tell 100,000 of
you to send me $1,000 apiece. I bet He did. I bet He did. Came the Word of God out from
you? Is that what it is today? We rewrite and correct the Word
of God. Whatever we think is so, has
to be so. And then secondly, he said, came
it unto you only. Is that how this thing works? God just speaks to one individual,
but He doesn't speak to anybody else. When God gives instruction or
promise, it's to the whole church. to the whole church. When he
says the gospel is preeminent in the ministry of the church,
there are no exceptions. When he forbids a woman to teach
or usurp authority over a man, there are no exceptions. When
he says, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, that's
what he means, not something else. We live in a day when anything
can mean everything, and everything means nothing. Now I'm telling
you the truth. There's a divine order and a
basis for that order plainly taught in the Word of God. Now
watch this, verse 37, 1 Corinthians chapter 14. If any man think
himself to be a prophet, that's what he thinks. He's convinced
of it. I'm a preacher. God called me. Or spiritual. Let him acknowledge that the
things I write unto you are the commandments of God. Paul was
an apostle. He held by divine appointment
and by divine gifts the highest office in the church. These men
like Peter and Paul and John and all these men who wrote the
Word of God, who were inspired by the Spirit of God to write,
they were one of a kind. One of a kind. Their work was
to complete the Word of God. Their work was to establish the
church in this gospel age. Their work was to make clear
the ways and means of God in these last and final days. Is
a man really called of God? Called as his ambassador, given
to the church as God's messenger to teach and lovingly rule over
his people? then let him submit himself to
these divinely inspired words." That's what Paul said. The man who ignores the instruction
of God's apostles ignores the Word of God. We don't have any
reason to fear or to follow or to respect any man who sets himself
in opposition to the Word of God. Just ignore him. Just ignore him. Verse 38, If any man be ignorant,
let him be ignorant. Let him be treated that way.
That's what he's telling you there. Any man who willingly
continues on in his rebellion, ignoring the words and instruction
of God's apostles, is to be counted and treated as an ignorant rebel. And he's to be shunned and reject
it. Now, I know men have to be taught. I know that. They must grow in
grace and knowledge of Christ, and I'm willing and I hope I'm
patient to that end. But the man who is taught and
instructed out of the Word of God but goes on in his ignorance
will not be corrected, will not be set straight, will not be
taught. That man who goes on in his ignorance
denies the work of the Spirit of God, denies a godly subjection,
and he manifests his enmity toward God. Verse 40, So then, let all things
be done decently and in order. What order? The order of God. The order as it's set forth by
these apostles in the Scriptures. You're going to be a messenger.
You're going to be a preacher. Paul said, let him submit to
these words that I write. And those who didn't, Paul ignored
them. He shunned them. May the Lord
be pleased to give us the spirit of humility and submission and
love and the knowledge to know the difference between false
preachers and real preachers and a submission to His Word.
Thank you.