Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. We've been going through these
verses one at a time and a statement at a time. Dealing with these
different subjects that Paul uses so common in his introduction
in his letters where he talks about his office as an apostle. And that's important because
But when he states his office as an apostle, that's the highest
office in the church. He had the authority to rebuke
these people and to withstand them to the face over things
and to correct them and to speak to them and teach them things
in love. And all of these things are very
important. And most of the time when we
read these epistles, or at least I'm very guilty of this, I just
kind of scan over those introductions and get on down into the meat. But you lose a lot of valuable
things here. For instance, in verse 2 where
he talks about being sanctified in Christ Jesus. That's the basis
by which God Christ is our propitiation. He
is the one who makes it possible for God to show mercy to sinners. It's through and by His person
and His work. And so we don't want to scan
over anything when we look to this. And then when He gets done
talking about this being called to be saints, and sanctified
in Christ Jesus and so on, then he says grace and peace to you. So he's identified not only himself
and established his office, but he's identified those to whom
he's writing. So let's look down here now today
in verse 4. I thank my God always on your
behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ. Now, any man who holds an office
in the church and is called of God into the ministry is thankful
to God for His grace and His power in the hearts of those
he ministers to. If God doesn't work in a man
or a woman's heart, it's impossible Do you hear what I'm saying?
It's absolutely impossible to minister to them the things of
God. Absolutely impossible. I'm shut
up to the grace of God and the power of God in the hearts of
men. He must work His work in the
heart. Otherwise, the words just go
out and vanish. Now, there's talented men. Gifted
men, men of great intellectual powers. If you've read any at
all by the old writers, you know that some of these men were gifted.
They could speak. Well, we've had some in our day
that I've known personally, actually from right here in Arkansas,
that could speak five languages fluently. Fluently. I mean, speak German and he could
read. He could read in in the Greek. He could read in the Hebrew.
He understood those things. And so I'm saying that there's
talented men and gifted men and men of great intellectual powers,
but all these gifts are not sufficient to call one sinner from death
to life. All these gifts, you know, these
things seem to be important to men. We go into a man's office,
and he pastors a church, and he's a reverend, whatever his
name is. And you go into his office, and
you look up there on the wall, and here's degrees from this
seminary, and he's got a master's degree, and he's got all these
letters. That's impressive to me, but it's not impressive to
God. Not impressive to God whatsoever. And there's talented men, gifted
men, men of great intellectual powers, but all these gifts are
not sufficient. They're not sufficient to call
one sinner from death to life. It takes the grace of God and
the power of God working in the heart. I'm envious of preachers. Preachers I've met over the years
with memories, clear memories. You could tell them your name,
shake your hand, see them two years later and they call you
by name. I'm ashamed of myself. I can't get out the door. I've
already forgot your name. Over in Mississippi, I've been
going over there since August of last year. I still don't know
everybody's name in the place. I'm envious of these men. They've
got such good memories, clear memories. They just don't ever
seem to forget anything. They're clear of focus. They're
never distracted by anything. I reckon a bomb could go off
and they'd just go right on like nothing ever happened. They're
just focused. And they read and they retain
and recall things at a moment's notice. And yet in my heart,
I know that these things are not sufficient to make anyone
a new creature in Christ Jesus. It takes the power of God. Now,
let me say this, I know that the Lord uses our minds. And
the Lord uses our studies. And yes, the Lord uses our gifts. And He gifts His preachers for
that calling that He's called them to. But if left to themselves,
nothing effectual will ever happen. I don't care how talented they
are. I don't care how much they know. I don't care how many.
illustrations they can recall, and I don't care how much they
entertain their audiences and hold their attention, nothing's
going to happen apart from the power and grace of God. That's
where it is. Being called to God to minister,
they know where the power and the grace come from, and they're
thankful to the Lord always for His presence. That's what they
crave. They crave His presence. Now,
I struggle. I want to bring God's message
to you for this hour. But I struggle more over His
presence, whether or not He's going to be present, whether
or not He's going to empower that message. Because I know
where it comes from. It comes from Him. Most of their thanksgiving is
for the grace which is given to all of God's elect by Jesus
Christ. Grace and truth came by Him. They came by Him. He is grace
incarnate. And no matter what the gift is,
it comes through Him. It comes through Him. What have
you gotten that you haven't received? Let's say you can speak with
five languages fluently. Where did you get it? It was
given to you. Let's say you can understand
all mysteries. How come? And Paul deals with
these things right here in this book of Corinthians as he goes
through. He blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. One mediator
between God and me and the man Christ Jesus. One name manifested
under heaven whereby we must be saved. He's the way. Would
I show sinners the way? He's the way. No man cometh unto
the Father, but by Him." He's the truth. His name shall be
called what? The Word of God. The Word of
God. And He's the manifestation of
truth. He's the light of the world. And He is the life. He is the life. Eternal life
is to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. John said He'd
come and given us an understanding that we may know Him that is
true, that we're in Him that's true, even in His Son, Jesus
Christ. And this is the true God and
eternal life. And then he tells us later on
in this very chapter here in 1 Corinthians that of God are
we in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption, Christ in you, the hope of glory. And then he tells us this in
the book of Colossians, Christ is all. He's all. He's all. Well, what about my
walk? He's all. What about my conversion? He's
all. What about the ministry? He's
all. Christ is all. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him." And through
this man, Paul, this is what he told these Greeks and these
heathens where he was sent of God to preach. He said, through
this man, this man Jesus of Nazareth, through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. All in Him. Everything God has
for chosen sinners. is given in Christ. And ministers
of God know this, and they thank God for this grace that comes
through Him. Now let's look at verse 5. 1
Corinthians 1, verse 5. That in everything... I love it when he uses that word.
That in everything, he said, ye are enriched by Him. in all utterance and in all knowledge."
Now, let's start with this statement, in everything you're enriched
by Him. Paul told the Colossians that
in Him are hid all the treasures, the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He's the source of all enrichment. To mature in faith, The Scripture
said it's to grow in grace and knowledge of Him. To find rest
in this present evil world, we must find it in Him. Rest is
not a day. It's not a day. You'd be surprised.
You might think that's a foolish statement or something that just... Let me tell you something. Thousands and thousands of people
think they rest on a day. They think they rest on this
day. They don't work on that day, and they don't do this on
that day, and they don't do that on that day. They will go to
church, and they will worship, and then they go home, and they
don't do any kind of work on that day, and they call that
keeping of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day of rest.
Christ is our rest. We rest in Him. The rest that
the scripture is talking about here is not a rest from carnal
activity. It's not a rest from our labors
in this world. It's resting, spiritually resting
in this man, resting in his finished work, resting in his purpose,
in his appointments, in his reign and glory. This is the rest. To find assurance is to be persuaded
that he's able to keep. that which you committed unto
Him against that day. And to find help in time of need,
we look to Him who has all authority and power in His hands. And especially
concerning the church and the ministry of the gospel, Jesus
Christ is the gospel. We preach Christ crucified. We're
enriched by Him in all utterance. And we're enriched by Him in
all knowledge. God's ministers know that it's
useless to preach anything else. What else are you going to preach?
What else are you going to preach? Anything else I preach is just
entertaining sinners on their way to hell. That's all that
is. I can get up here and I can read some prophecy, some strange
prophecy to you, and I can start talking about current events
and what's going on, and I can begin to twist the scriptures
around a little bit and say, boy, look at this. Here's what's
going to happen in 2016. Here's what's going to happen.
It's all going to unfold. And get my maps out and my graphs
and get up here and begin to draw lines and point and arrow.
Boy, you can entertain an audience. They'll just sit out there and
look and read and it'll make perfect sense to you. Let's say
I could predict what's going to happen in 2016. It wouldn't
have any effect on you spiritually at all. Now every man in here, at least
in his conscience, he knows that judgment's coming. Does it really
matter if it comes tomorrow or next week or the week after?
It's coming. It's coming. And these days,
and fascinated by all these things, and you're trying to teach men
how to reform their lives and to change their lives, they're
going to have to be a change of heart first. God has to change
your heart. If He don't, you're just going
to keep on being what you've always been. This thing of change
is a heart work. It's not a head work. It's not
a will work. It's a heart work. When He changes
the heart, He'll change the head. He'll change the will. Everything
else will change when He changes the heart. God's ministers know that it's
useless to preach anything save Jesus Christ. Now listen to me
for just a minute. I want you to live a clean, a
very clean and moral life. I want you to have an honorable
reputation. I want you to be temperate and
chaste and live a clean life. But my friend, let me tell you
something. You can only do all of these things. You can do everything
that I just mentioned and still not know God. The Pharisees did. But they didn't know God. They
didn't know anything at all about forgiveness of sins. And you
can do all of these things and have the wrong motives and turn
these things into an abomination before God. Your worship can
become an abomination if you have the wrong motive. Your prayers can become filthy
rags in the sight of God when your prayers have the wrong motive. And when they're done out of
pride instead of out of an empty heart seeking mercy. We turn these things. Isn't that
what Isaiah chapter 1 is all about? He said, who has required this
at your hand? I want you to think about what
you're doing. You're up here waving your hands and you're
going through all this. He said, these things are an
abomination to me. You can do all of these things
and create a false sense of peace. Good works are fruit. which is
a clear evidence of our union with Christ. Turn with me to
John chapter 15. Let me show you something over
here. You know, I have two fig trees
on my place. You know what I have to do to
those fig trees to get them to produce figs? Nothing. They're fig trees. They're fig
trees. I don't have to do anything to
them. I just wait. Wait for the...
They'll get a little... blooms on them and they get little
figs on them and pretty soon they get ripe and the birds come
and get them all and I don't get any. But I don't have to
do anything to that fig tree to make it produce figs. Now
I can make it produce bigger figs by doing some things, but
I can't make it produce figs. And I've got some old chinaberry
trees up and down there on my lot and you can do whatever you
want to to them and they ain't never going to produce figs.
You know why? They're not fig trees. They are
not big trees. Men are not fruit-producing Christians
by birth. They have to undergo a new creation. They must be born again. Now
look here in John chapter 15, verse 1. Listen to what our Lord
tells His disciples. He said, I am the true vine,
and my Father is the husband man. He is the one. I am planted
by Him. in his garden. He's the husband
man. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh
away. And every branch that beareth
fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Abide in me, verse four. And
I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except
it abide in the vine. No more can ye, except you abide
in me." Fruit is a matter of divine union with the Son of
God. That's where the fruit comes
from. The fruit comes when we're grafted into the vine. Then it
produces fruit. Verse 5, He said, I am the vine. Ye are the branches. He that
abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much
fruit. For without me, you can do nothing." Boy, I wish I could understand
that, don't you? Without him, I can do nothing.
I can't bear fruit. I can't speak with any kind of
power or clarity or understanding. I can't study and perceive. Without
him, I can do nothing. God saves us by the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. He washes away
all of our old concepts and ideas and washes away our old ways
and means and establishes new motives and new concepts and
new foundations. Old things are passed away. And
behold, all things are become new. We're enriched in Christ
in all utterance and in all knowledge. Then look here in 1 Corinthians
1 verse 6. Even as the testimony of Christ
was confirmed in you. Turn with me to Revelation. The
book of Revelation. Chapter 19. I want to show you
something here that I seldom take time to show you in the
Word of God. I say these things a lot of times
and I don't really take you over where you can see them clearly
in the Scriptures. The testimony of Jesus Christ
is the message of the Word of God. And if I can't find Christ
in a text, I don't yet have a good understanding of the text. The
Apostle John was speaking to an angel which was given to him
the revelation of Christ. talking about this last age,
this gospel age. And when he finished speaking
of the greatness and glory of the victorious Christ, Revelations
19, 10. This is John speaking here. He said, I fell at his feet to
worship him. And he said unto me, see thou
do it not, for I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren that
have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. Now watch this. For the testimony of Jesus is
the spirit or heart of prophecy. You want to know what prophecy
is all about? All about this man, Jesus of
Nazareth. That's what it is. You go back
and read Isaiah, and if all you get is a few little moral stories
back there, you've missed it. Because Isaiah testified of him. Moses. He said, Moses wrote of
me. Abraham rejoiced to see my day
and was glad. To him give all the prophets
witness. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ
our Redeemer and substitute that's confirmed in the hearts of all
those who truly believe. They trust him. They rejoice
in him. They rest in him. They worship
him. They submit to him and they love
him. God the Holy Spirit confirms
the testimony of God's Word which is Jesus Christ Himself in the
hearts of all that believe. Believers don't spit and sputter
around questioning bits and pieces of John Gill, quoting bits and
pieces of John Gill and Matthew Henry and John Newton when they're
asked a reason for the hope that's in them. Christ in you, that's
the hope of glory. We don't need to spit and fudge
around about that. Just tell folks what it is. My
hope is in a person. It's in Him. And I tell you,
I think you're making a big mistake when you stand there and you
go back and now you're going to give Him the whole body of
divinity in your conversation when you're talking to Him. I
tell you, if you're asked a reason for the hope that's in you, what's
the difference? What do you all hope in that
other men don't hope in? What is it you say you hope in
that everybody else you say don't? We hope in the person of Jesus
Christ. That's where our hope is. And
we hope in Him exactly as God set Him forth. Now, I'm telling
you, that's where the difference is. And when a person asks you
to tell them a reason for the hope that's in you, here's the
reason. Here's the reason. He's the end of the law for righteousness. Is He not? He put away our sin
by the sacrifice of Himself. Paul said, the life that I now
live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who
loved me and gave Himself for me. For me to live is Christ. He that hath the Son hath life.
It's all about Him. There's just one thing that stands
between you and I in everlasting torment, the Lord Jesus Christ. And look where you will. You can look at eternity past,
and He's the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
And you can look into eternity future. He said, I'm Alpha and
Omega. I'm the beginning and the end. It's God's testimony of Christ
that's confirmed in you. He appeared. He suffered. He
died. He rose. He reigns. He's coming
back. It's not so much when, it's who.
Who's coming back? Salvation is not just believing
on Jesus or accepting Him as your personal Savior or granting
Him the privilege of being your Lord. That's what people are
saying when they say they make Jesus their Lord. They're granting
Him the high privilege of being their Lord. True saving faith
believes God's testimony concerning His Son. God's testimony tells
us who He is, why He came, what He did. And where is He at? Who is this One dying on a cross? He is the Son of God. He is the
Son of Man. He is the surety of the everlasting
covenant of grace. He is the means of all blessings,
the reason and beginning of all things. Why did He come? He came to do the will of the
Father. His eternal, unchangeable, redemptive will to save a people
for the glory of His name. What did he do? He accomplished
the salvation of his people. He accomplished redemption. He
wrought out a righteousness which made us acceptable to God. We're
accepted, Paul said, in the beloved. He obtained eternal redemption
for us. Where is he now? Seated on the
throne of eternal glory, victorious, having taken possession of all
the promised inheritance of God's saints. All the believer's hopes and
expectations are sealed in their seated Lord. Alright, look back
at 1 Corinthians 1 verse 7. Now this truth of God that was
confirmed in your heart, and then he says, 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. As the testimony
of Christ is confirmed in us, even so we are confirmed in Him. Confirmed in Him. He ever living. to make intercession for us.
Our names are written upon His shoulders and over His heart
to bear us up before the Lord. Just as that old high priest
back there, he had the names of the twelve tribes of Israel
on his shoulder and on his breastplate to bear them up before the Lord.
One with Him and one with the Father. It's a revelation of
this divine union and His glorious person and work which gifts us
in the ministry. Don't you listen to what Paul
told the Galatians. Here's the basis. Here's the
basis for his gifts in the ministry. This is what enabled him to be
a minister of God. He said, He revealed His Son
in me that I might preach Him among the heathen. That's what
enables a man to preach to men. It's the revelation of Jesus
Christ in him. And yes, we study and we read
and we listen to other ministers, but without that revelation of
Christ in us, we can never be fit for anything. And it's exactly
this testimony of Christ which he confirms in us and equips
us for the ministry and causes us to wait upon the Lord. Once these things are established
in the heart, you wait upon Him. You wait upon Him in daily matters. You wait upon Him in matters
that stretch out over months, and we wait upon Him for the
last day. All those promises concerning
that last day, we wait on Him. You know why you wait on Him?
Because he's the source of all things. Where else are you going
to go? You know, all those disciples,
they followed him around until one day he told them, he started
telling them, he said, now, except you drink my blood and eat my
flesh, you have no life in you. And boy, they packed up their
Bibles. They said, this man's crazy. He's talking cannibalism. And
they're all packed up. The whole outfit. Thousands of
them. Packed up. Wearing what? Twelve people still
sitting there. And he turned to the twelve and
he said, will you go too? They said, where are we going
to go? I don't care if I do run into
something I don't understand. Where am I going to go? He's the source. He's the source
of all things. And those who've had this confirmed
in their heart, they wait on Him. They wait on Him. And we especially wait for His
return, that we may see Him when He appears, just like those people
sat outside that tabernacle and waited on that high priest to
come back out. I'll tell you, if He went in
there, and took that blood and poured it out on the mercy seat.
But that didn't mean anything if he didn't come back out of
that tabernacle. When he came back out of that tabernacle,
that said God was pleased with the sacrifice. And they all watched
for him to come out of that tabernacle. And that's what he tells us over
here in Hebrews chapter 9. For them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.