Romans chapter 12, verse three,
we had started off in Romans chapter 12, verse three, the
latter part of Romans chapter 12, verse three, dealing with
the measure. And I want to go back there briefly
and rehearse that. And then we will build upon the
concept of the measure. The apostle Paul is speaking
to the church. He is not speaking to the world. He is speaking to the church.
about what God has done for them in the context of grace. And
we talked about three fundamental things that is going on in that
chapter. Grace, faith, and gifts. Grace, faith, and gifts. Grace, faith, and gifts is what
the apostle Paul is talking about. And he opened up in chapter 12,
verse three, giving an admonishment to the church at Rome to be careful
not to boast in false gifts. Isn't that what we talked about
last week? He said in verse three, for I through the grace of God,
I for I through the grace given unto me to every man, I say that
is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought
to think. That was a warning. He was putting
limits on the way that the folks at Rome were thinking about themselves
or potentially thinking And I think we developed that at length last
week, how dangerous it is and how easy it is to fall prey to
thinking that we're something when we're nothing. And that
is a fundamental problem when. when we allege to be something
and are not constantly being tested either by the objective
truth of scripture as to whether or not we are genuine and authentic
in our allegations of who we are and what we possess and particularly
in the context of gifts and things like that. And we probably will
get into that in more detail tonight as we begin to embark
upon the specificity of the gifts such as prophecy and teaching
and things like that. But what Paul is doing now is
talking about the necessity of the church to recognize that
God did not call the church out of the world into this dimension
called the kingdom of God for a sort of self edifying experience. He did not call the church into
the kingdom of God for its own narcissistic gratifying purposes. In other words, you being called
by God is not about you. And I know we are quick to respond
to that, but it is second nature with us as human beings to respond
to being the object of attention is second nature. And until you
and I grow in grace and understand the will of God and God's glory
and God's purposes actually exceed the natural tendency for self
gratification what will be our most difficult task as a believer
is the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit lusting
against the flesh. The most difficult task we will
have is knowing how to walk in the spirit so as not to fulfill
the lust of the flesh. We were working on this at extent
last week in the Friday study and we talked about it more in
nuance in that Thursday meeting concerning the dynamic of an
atmosphere in church where you can still be really experiencing
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life.
All of those worldly dynamics wherein the human race fail at
the time of Adam and Eve through the instigation of the devil,
he instigated the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and
the pride of life. And so the whole world is hallmarked
by those three passions. the lust of the flesh, lust of
our part of life. And so for the world, the child that comes
out of the womb, everything is about them. When God calls you
by his grace and knocks you down and begins to show you his glory,
he actually inverses that concept, that mindset, that paradigm changes. You begin to be aware that this
world doesn't revolve around you, but it's all about God. And once you begin to understand
that, your struggle and challenge is how to find your place in
the divine system, in the agenda of God. The other struggle not
only is finding your place, but keeping your place. Because the
challenge in the church is for men and women to eclipse God's
glory and still it for themselves. This is the huge battle that
we're dealing with, particularly in your consumer-oriented mercantile
mentality in America. And so what Paul is dealing with
in Romans chapter 12, verse three is a very sober proposition that
he lays down is actually an imperative or a command. Would you look
at it carefully with me? He says, don't think more highly than
you ought to, but think soberly. The antithesis to sobriety is
drunkenness. It's an inflated infatuation
with your own self. And so he says the believer,
the Christian, must think soberly. Now, notice what he says. According
as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. You guys
see that? So what he does is he says, as
you deal with the concept of sobriety, you have a measure
by which you can actually assess yourself. And that's what our
outline talks about, right? A true assessment of ourselves
is critical to the task of the ministry is a true assessment
of ourselves. How can we, as the people of
God, assess ourselves in a right way? Well, here's what God says.
Find out what the measure is. Find out what the measure is.
And then ask yourself, what is that measure that has been given
to me? What is that measure that has
been given to me? And we've learned that the word
measure is like a meter. It's the Greek word metron. And
it has to do with rule or portion. or that line that was drawn out
to you. I'm going to use an Old Testament
example to build on this. And we're going to go back through
a couple of scriptures, particularly for those of you who are new
with us. You remember that God had promised Abraham that his
seed would possess the land of Canaan, correct? And he told
Abraham that he would have 12 sons. Abraham did have 12 sons
through Jacob that would possess the land. They became the nation
of Israel. And consequently, what God did
for Israel was to carve out 12 lots. You guys remember that? Under the ministry of Joshua,
every one of the tribes received what we call a lot or a portion. Now, I want you to hear me because
this is going to be a foundation for understanding its analogy
in the New Testament. Analogy means the carryover,
the parallelisms. When Joshua carved out the lots
for Issachar and Zebulon and Naphtali and Dan and the rest
of them, Joseph and the rest of the brethren, he carved out
those lots according to God's sovereign purpose. That means
every man had a portion that was given to him by God called
a lot or a measure. That measure was different for
every tribe. That measure was different for
every tribe. Some tribes had a larger lot
and other tribes had a smaller lot. You guys are following me
so far and What was critical for the children of Israel is
also critical for us today. And that is, we have to remember
that the measure or the lot or the portion that we have was
given by grace. Right? That's the premise upon
the way verse three and four is opening up. Paul says, I say
unto you by the grace of God, what? Given to me. See Paul had
a lot. He had a measure. You know what
that measure was? His apostolic calling. And he
said, I'm operating out of my measure, I'm operating out of
my lot, and I'm sharing with you on the basis of that which
God has given me as an authority to the church. I'm sharing with
you on the grounds of grace given to me that you must operate with
the same consciousness that I have, that what I have was given to
me is grace oriented. And also what I have was given
to me in measure. It was given to me in measure.
Are you guys following so far? What that measure is designed
for you to do is to stay within the framework of your measure. Don't exceed the parameters or
the boundaries of your measure and say that you possess something
that you don't possess. This is where we were dealing
with the Proverbs when it says whosoever boasts in a false gift
It's like clouds and winds without rain. And then we carried that
over to the constant, what we call the consistent manifestation
of false prophets and false teachers. They all boast in false gifts.
And they leave people high and dry because they can never deliver
on the promise. They promise you liberty, but
they themselves are servants of corruption. And all a corrupt
vessel can do is produce what? Corruption. An evil tree cannot
produce good fruit. And so what the apostle is saying
here in first in Romans chapter 3, 12 verse 3, is that you and
I have to assess where are we at now? What's quite interesting
is he calls it the measure of what faith. This is quite interesting
because while he calls it the measure of faith, he is actually
speaking about the gift that operates through that faith.
He calls it faith because faith is that which actually energizes
the gift that's given you. Everything we do we must do by
what? I opened up the study last week
by raising the proposition given to us in Hebrews 11 verse 6 for
without what? It's impossible what? So let's
say that you have all sorts of fabulous abilities and skill
sets, and yet you really don't operate out of a genuine, authentic
faith before God, you don't please God. You may please man, but
you don't please God. Because you're not depending
on God. You're not resourcing God. You're not acknowledging
God as the foundation, as the basis, as the source of that
gift that you're operating out of. And we talked about last
week how this also permeates the church. What about a group
of proud peacock type Christians who are actually operating in
their gifts as if those gifts originated with them rather than
being given by God. Once we lose focus of the foundation
of those gifts That is grace and the mechanism by which they
operate which is faith. We're gonna steal the glory from
God Because we've already learned haven't we that both grace and
faith are gifts of God So you can read it in your own time.
In fact, no go there with me first Corinthians 4 I want you
to see this and we'll come back here and develop this first Corinthians
chapter 4 Paul dealing with the Corinthians because they had
a So misuse their gifts that Paul spent a great deal of time
admonishing and warning them About an abuse of their gift
and a neglect of recognizing that the gifts that they had
were given to them by God and so Here's a profound statement
that he makes over in verse 6 after he warns them about what we call
preacher worship in chapter 3 and Then he goes into verse chapter
4 dealing with the nature of the call of the ministry And
he says over in verse 6 if you're there with me in first Corinthians
4 6 and these things brethren I have in a figure transferred
to myself and Apollos for your sake that you might learn in
us Not to think of men above that which is what isn't that
what he said to the Romans now? This is interesting. He said
to the Romans. Don't you think of yourself as? above that which
is written or be sober minded according to the rule of faith.
Now, don't you think of others above that which is written?
So here's something quite interesting, particularly, and I've shared
it with you before. I am utterly amazed at the radical
contrast between an apostolic disposition as demonstrated by
the Lord's apostles in the first century and so-called apostles
today. There's a radical distinction
in temperament. There's a radical distinction
in attitude, a radical distinction in perspective and in the way
they ministered in the first century. The apostles wouldn't
so much as allow you to even attribute to them any divine
working. They demanded that you recognize
that God was the one who did the work. In our present day,
you got to just about bow down and kiss the feet of your so-called
alleged apostles and prophets today. This is a radical different
temperament, ladies and gentlemen. And this actually gets into the
heart of what constitutes true ministry versus that which is
demonically oriented or rooted in the flesh. So when you read
in first Corinthians chapter four, here's what Paul says.
He said, don't think of me and Apollos as anything special. Now you guys remember last week
when we were in Acts chapter three and Peter and John had
went to the temple and they had met the lame man who was lame
from his mother's womb at the gate. What beautiful at the temple
gate. He was healed by the ministry
of Jesus Christ. And when the people tried to
focus on Peter and John, you remember what Peter said? Why
are you looking so intently upon us as if by our holiness this
man was made whole? Peter did what Paul did in the
latter part of Acts chapter 14 when the folks at Lystra had
seen how the people were being healed by Paul and Barnabas and
they said the gods have come down to us. They began to want
to worship Paul and Barnabas and Paul and Barnabas tore their
garments. ripped their garments and said, brethren, we are just
like you. Sinners say, by the grace of
God, God has chosen in his own sovereign mercy to operate through
us, but let's not get it twisted. This is not about us. This is
about God. This kind of framework is critical
if God is going to actually get glory in your life and mine,
because what God resists always is the prowl. And so what Paul
says to the Corinthian church who were boasting in their gifts,
and they were actually boasting in false gifts. One of these
days we'll be dealing more fully and expositionally with 1 Corinthians
14, where Paul warns about a misuse of the different gifts, but they
were actually boasting in false gifts. They were gifts that had
come in from a different dimension, another dimension other than
the dimension of God. And Paul warned about that. But
here's what he said. This is what he said. He said,
do not think of us above that which is written, verse six,
in order that no one of you be what? Puffed up for one against
another. Now follow me now, if we are
operating on a horizontal plane and we are actually deriving
our self-worth and our value from our connection to a particular
individual, we won't be edified, but we will be puffed up. Now
there's a difference between being built up and puffed up. Got it? So what Paul says is,
if you guys continue saying, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas,
I am of Paul, I am of that, all this can do is puff you up one
against another. But Paul didn't die for you.
Apollos didn't take on your sin. Cephas didn't rise from the dead
to justify you and bring you the glory you see what I'm saying
And so what Paul goes on to say is this listen to it now now,
this is this is a profound what we call Axiomatic truth and it
must be understood by every believer in verse 7 for who makes you
to differ from another Now watch this next statement and what
have you that you have not received What have you that you did not
receive now if you received it? Why do you glory as if it was
not a gift given to you? See it So Paul now is actually
dealing with the church of Corinth in a twisted view of the gifts
They were operating and he'll say it again in chapter 14. What
came the Word of God to you and Or came the Word of God out from
you? Were you the only ones that received the Word of God? Or
were you the ones that dispensed the Word of God to the nations?
That's a rhetorical statement. The answer is no. But that's
the kind of mindset we can fall into when we are not thinking
soberly. So go back to our text. Let's
work it with some things here. I gave you the analogy of the
children of Israel. and the different lots that were
carved out to the different tribes. And we use the tribe concept,
the patriarchal tribe concept in the Old Testament, because
God dealt with all the people groups according to the heads
of the tribes. This is the same way he does
with the family. This is the way he did it with
Adam and Eve. When Adam and Eve fell into sin, God didn't go
looking for Eve. He went looking for who? He said,
Adam, where are you? Because he was the federal head.
And so God deals with his people in terms of their federal head.
And that's why we have the patriarchal model in the Old Testament. The
apostle Paul says, let everyone think soberly according as God
hath dealt. Do you see that word dealt? Dealt. Very important word, dealt. And
it means to dispense. It means to measure out. I wanna
talk about this a little bit. According as God hath dealt out
to every man. Now there's a proverb I want
you to go to with me to continue to exegete this passage. And
that proverb's in Proverbs chapter 13. Proverbs 13, go there with
me. Keep your hand here, Romans chapter 12, and listen to what
the proverb says. The proverb is going to affirm
us and I'm going to call our attention to the significance
of this statement. Why Paul says God has dealt to every man. Proverbs
13. Let me know when you're there. Well, good, good, good. Some
of you guys are speed, speed folks, and you can get there
quickly. Will everybody there? Are we all there? Good. Good. All right. Proverbs 13. I'm gonna start at verse 13,
verse 14, and I want you to pay attention to verse 16. The first
clause, the law of the wise is a fountain of life to depart
from the snares of death. Good understanding, give it favor. But the way of transgressors
is what? Now listen to verse 16. Every prudent man deal it
with knowledge, but a fool layeth open his folly. Every prudent
man dealeth with knowledge. Now the verb there to deal means
to control or to rule or to execute with authority. And what that
means is a wise man or a prudent man doesn't waste knowledge. He or she has control over knowledge
and they actually meet that knowledge out according to an authority. They don't simply just dispense
it willy-nilly. They actually have control over
what they do. If you read the Proverbs, and
some of you may have read the Proverbs, you know the Proverbs
gives us these contrasts, the contrast between the wise and
the fool, between the simple person and the discerning person,
between the sinner and the righteous. It gives us these contrasts,
right? And as you read through these different contrasts, you
begin to learn principles of conduct. One of the things the
Proverbs talks about is the folly of the tongue. We see that here
in our Proverbs. The fool layeth open his heart.
One of the Proverbs is this. A wise man holds his peace, but
a fool layeth open or makes known everything that's in his heart.
And so the proverb talks about the radical difference between
an individual who has been given the power of words or truth or
wisdom and knowledge, and then the prudence of executing that
truth at the right time, in the right measure, to the right person
for edification. This is how you know a wise person.
and you know a wise person versus a knowledgeable person based
upon this type of conduct. A wise person knows when and
when not to speak. A wise person knows what to say,
when to say it. A person that is simply puffed
up with knowledge can't wait to tell you what they know. The
end result of the distinction between wisdom and knowledge
is that that person who has knowledge will most of the time say things
that are irrelevant to the immediate need. And when you are sensitive,
you come to realize that really all they're doing is exercising
themselves again in a personal vanity of letting people know
how much they know. They really don't care about
you. They just care that you know
that they know something. Got it? Wisdom, however, is radically
different. Wisdom is radically different.
Wisdom is the proper application of knowledge at the right time
in the right place to the right person. And I say all this to
say this, if these are the things that are operating on a practical
level among human beings who are created in the image of God,
this is precisely how God operates himself as he dealeth out gifts
to his people. He deals out the gifts in measure
to his people according to his own sovereign purpose. Are we okay with that? All right,
let's go back to our test because I want to build on this. Now,
again, I'm calling your attention to this because there is a very
malnourished understanding, a very, what I consider a very depleted
and flawed understanding in the church around gifts and around
the concept of faith as it is in conjunction with the gifts,
because the idea is sort of in the church is that, you know,
you can claim your gift. You can just tell God, this is
the gift that you want. This is the gift that I need.
Now, how are you who are in absolute need of the fullness of God's
wisdom and design for you gonna tell him what gifts to give you?
How are you gonna do that? Please explain to me, what do
you bring to the table in relationship to God to advise him how to help
you best serve him? And yet, these are the things
that are going on in our churches today. See, we're dealing with
the consumer thing again. We're going up to the big old,
you know, vending machine and we're looking at what gifts we
want and we hit this button, we hit that button, we hit the
other button, we hit the other button, and we put in our $10
of prayer and we ask God to give it to us. Right? That's a radically flawed understanding
of how the kingdom of God works. Now, if God gives you gifts according
to your will, God is a liar. If God gives you gifts according
to his will, and therefore you still operate in this flawed
system of, well, I just asked for it and he gave it to me,
you're lying. You're lying. And you're boasting
in a false gift. Am I making some sense? So what
we're doing right now is we're coming to respect the measure. Because what the scripture is
teaching is God gives the gifts according to his own sovereign
measure. He gives them according to his
own measure. And the measure also operates in the sense of
how effective the gifts are. The measure determines how effective
the gifts are. Didn't we learn that last week?
Go with me to 2 Corinthians 10. I want to show it to you again.
We'll move on. We'll develop this, but I wanted
to make sure this gets driven home because I want to make sure
we understand that what the Bible teaches concerning gifts and
the exercise of our gifts are never separated from the grace
of God and they're never separated from the concept of faith. And
in fact, they all work congruently together. And if one is flawed,
the other will be flawed as well. In 2 Corinthians 10, this is
what Paul said. And I'm going to start again
over at verse 12 and go through verse 14. Please understand,
actually, I'll close at verse 15, verse 12 of 2 Corinthians
10. For we dare not make ourselves of the number. You guys remember
us talking about that last week? The idea of making ourselves
of the number, and I shared this with you, I'll share it with
you again. What was going on in Corinth, which was a metropolitan
city, one of the one of the major seaports of Rome. And it was
very eclectic. A lot of different ethnic groups
would come into Rome, Corinth. And Corinth was part of Athens.
It was a very, very pagan, debauched atmosphere. It was very much
like San Francisco, very much like New York, very much like
Florida. Seaport states, cities, and there
was a lot going on. If you were to follow a map of
Corinth, you would find that there were temples all over Corinth.
Temples that were dedicated to false pagan gods, the goddess
Dianus, the goddess Apollo, the goddess Athena, a lot of your
Greek pagan gods and people worshiped in those temples. Here comes
the apostle with his brethren and the gospel church gets established
in Corinth. One gospel church. This gospel
church for a season gets rooted and grounded. But over time,
the paganism of the Corinthians starts seeping into the gospel
church. That's the context that we are
dealing with. And the true believers in Corinth
writes back to the apostles and says, hey, there's stuff going
on here, Paul and Barnabas and Apollos, that we never expected. And if you start in first Corinthians
chapter one, go all the way through second Corinthians 13, you would
say that church was good for nothing with the exception that
there were true believers in that church only because those
true believers were the ones who wrote Paul asking for help,
stopping this permeating effect of paganism that had run into
the Corinthian church. That's the context. Here's what
Paul says. We didn't make ourselves among
the number. One of the things that was happening in the Corinthian
church, and we talked about it. was that these false prophets
and these false teachers, these very eloquent orators, these
very sophisticated philosophers were coming in. They could spin
webs. They could talk. They were great. They were eloquent. They had the capacity to spill,
bind your understanding and mind. They didn't know God. They were
not driven by the spirit of God. They didn't preach the gospel,
but they impressed the carnal mind. The Corinthians were cost. They were very well used to these
men. They had already known them. And so these folks are coming
and calling themselves apostles. Once they saw that they had sway
with the people of current, they started exercising the audacity
of bringing into question the apostolic authority of the apostle
Paul. Then they started challenging
Paul's character, challenging Paul's gifts, challenging Paul's
motives. And the apostle now stands over
against all of these, what we call very prominent theologians
and preachers that are in the Corinthian environment. He stands
over opposite of them. And when the people look at them,
they see King Saul. And when they look at Paul, they
see little David. And when you judge after the
flesh, you're going to be inclined to say King Saul is the man.
You guys got it. But the problem is these folks
are not walking by faith. And the problem is they're not
operating on the principles of the kingdom of God because the
kingdom of God does not come with what? Observation. Neither
does God use the prominent worldly men and women. Neither does God
use the prominent worldly men and women. God has intentionally
chosen the base things of the world, the weak things of the
world, the foolish things of the world to confound the mighty
and the wise and the arrogant in order that he might get the
glory. So Paul stands over against all
of these other very prominent preachers. And he says, you know,
I know you bring it into question my authority, but you won't ever
find me on the same ticket with those preachers. You won't find
me in conferences with them. You won't find me in churches
with them. You're not going to find the
people that do ministry with me in cahoots with them because
birds of a feather flock together and you won't see it happen.
And Paul says, we won't be of that number because he, among
those people, what they were doing was circulating letters
of commendation. One of another. Oh yeah. Uh, pastor Jones, we, we love
him. He comes highly recommended by our church. Got it? Now listen to what he says. You
just listen to what he said. We dare not make ourselves of
the number or compare ourselves with some that commend who? Themselves. Have you ever seen it? And I've
seen it more than I can even begin to tell you. A preacher
coming in, commending himself. It is so unbecoming of anyone
that says they know God. to seek to let everybody know
what they have accomplished and where they preach and what they
are doing. That's totally wrong. It's contrary
to the nature of grace is contrary to the temperament of Christ,
but it's prevalent in the evangelical church. What Paul says is we
don't commend ourselves among ourselves and notice what he
says, but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves
among themselves. What? You got it. And that's
quite interesting that what he's really saying in verse 12 is
that's all they do. They don't do anything else.
They don't accomplish nothing. They just stand around measuring
each other. Now, notice what he says in verse 13, but we will
not boast of things outside of our what? There you go. That's
what I'm talking about. What Paul is saying here is what
Jesus said to his disciples And what he said to the rulers of
Israel in the gospel of Matthew and in the gospel of John, he
says, if you don't believe me for what I say, believe me for
my works sake, because my works testify of who I am. Now, how condescending is that
statement from the son of God? in the midst of an incredulous
group of rulers who said, show us that you are the Christ. Prove
to us that you're the Messiah. He said, if my works don't prove
to you who I am, you're never going to get it. And yet he condescended
to say, look at my works, because you really do know a person by
their works. You shall know them by their
fruit. Now follow this. If they have
no works, their faith is to be questioned. If a man or woman
is alleged to be called of God and serves God and is used by
God, and you don't see any credible fruit, then you have every reason
to question that person. Because what Jesus said in the
Gospel of John chapter 15 is, you didn't choose me, I chose
you. And I called you and I ordained you that you should go forth
and bear forth what? Much fruit. Now watch this and
that your fruit should remain. Now, no one can question the
apostolic fruit because it's still bearing fruit to this day.
But the question has to do with you and me who alleged to have
gifts and are operating out of faith and particularly in the
context of ministry. Are you actually boasting of
things outside of your measure? See, this is sobering, isn't
it? But it's very necessary, children of God, very necessary
because the distinct difference between true children of God
and the devil's children is that they lie and God's people must
tell the truth about God and tell the truth about where they
stand that's the radical distinction simple-minded people will buy
into boastful great swelling words is the way we read it last
night in our women's meeting in 2nd Peter chapter 2 and they
allure you through the lust of your flesh, through great swelling
words, inflated propositions, exaggerations, stories that can
never be validated. Have you ever heard that? I mean,
stories and accounts of things that are just so, so fabulous
that you just can't hardly believe it. I wouldn't. I wouldn't. You see, I've been
in the ministry long enough to know that Men are so reprobate
that they actually take pleasure in deceiving people. That's second
Peter. They sport with you in your feast
of love without fear. They don't fear God. They just
love manipulating and coercing you and deceiving you by spinning
these magnanimous stories. Are you hearing? Boasting of
things outside of their measure and so Paul said this we didn't
boast of things out outside of our measure But according to
the measure of the rule Which God had distributed to us a measure
to reach even unto you you guys got that you know, what are you
saying? Our gift given to us by grace operated through faith
and the power of the Spirit of God that's redundant really Even
reached you because many of you are saved and brought under the
influence of the gospel by our ministry So he goes on to say
this, for we stretched not ourselves beyond our measure as though
we reached not unto you for we are come as far as to you also
in what preaching the gospel of Christ. Now go back to our
text. I just wanted to lay that down.
What Paul did with the book of first and second Corinthians
was say to them, you Corinthians, I have a right to talk to you
the way I'm talking to you is because you guys were brought
to life by my ministry. It's not like I'm somebody on
the outside coming in, trying to rearrange your whole setting
and had nothing to do with your birth. And so he goes on to say
to the church at Rome, these words, we're going to get into
some very practical things now. Let everyone think soberly, according
to, according as God had dealt to every man, the measure of
faith. And then he goes on to explain
the manifestation of that faith in terms of its purpose and design
for as We have many members in one body, and all members have
not the same what? Literally, it's the word function.
Please listen to what he said. He's using the analogy of the
what? Body. And he's actually talking about
the body of Christ, because that's what he's going to say in the
subsequent verses. You're not talking about the body of the
world. He's talking about the body of Christ, right? So as we talk
about faith, as we talk about grace, as we talk about the gifts
of God, we're not talking to the world. We're talking to who?
The church. And so notice what he says. For
as we have many members in one body and all members have not
the same office, is that a given? Everybody doesn't have the same
function. Please mark that because we're going to talk about that
as well. The the incongruency of the idea
that all of us should be speaking in tongues. If any of us should
be speaking in tongues. But the incongruency of the idea
that we all should be the hand Or the mouth that just just makes
no sense. Does it now notice what it goes on to say? So we
being many are one body in christ And everyone members one of another
you know what he's just done. He's actually now brought the
issue of faith and the grace of God and the gifts of God within
the realm of its operation. He's taken the things that we,
you and I covet personally, and here's what he's saying. The
grace that God gives you by which you operate in the gifts he sovereignly
bestows upon you are not for you, but for his church and for
his glory. They're not for you. You guys got that? The gifts
are not for you. He doesn't bestow the gifts for
you. Now, if that were to sink in
and get into the core of the church universal, you would see
once again a radical change of operation because we wouldn't
have stages and we wouldn't have these big ministries where one
individual is so highly exalted. It wouldn't be that way, ladies
and gentlemen. Are you hearing me? It would
not be that way. It doesn't matter how gifted
the individual is. We still have to test that now.
Don't get me wrong. We still haven't tested it. Let's assume
the individual is alleging that he or she has the gifts and the
capacity to operate in a particular sovereign dispensed gift and
they are operating and they are allegedly saving thousands and
bringing tens of thousands under their ministry. We have to actually
examine that. We aren't there yet, but I'm
just saying to you, as soon as an individual says, I have the
gift of prophecy, you know what the Bible says? Check him out.
Check her out. Don't let any one person who
alleges a gift operate willy nilly in the church with that
gift. All gifts must be examined. Now, if we were examining the
gifts, as we ought to be examining the gifts all around the nation
and throughout the world, we find out a lot of folks really
don't have the gifts of God. They simply have good business
techniques and skill sets they learned in prison when they came
out of prison, start operating on you, hoodwinking you because
a sucker is born every moment. See? So here's the problem. The
church also In an infantile state because it is not discerning
the church has lost its capacity to discern See that's a doubt that's down
the line that would we were getting further down the line Just accept
the proposition that the gifts have to be examined right? Because
that's what the scripture says you do know that right? Try the
spirits whether they be of God or not first John chapter 4 verses
1 through 6 Every spirit that says they are of Christ is not
of Christ. So the job is to test that spirit is to try the spirit
It's the same Word that's used in Romans chapter 12 that you
might prove what the good and acceptable will of God is first
Thessalonians chapter 5 around verse 21 prove everything test
everything, try everything, and then hold fast to that which
is good. So when the Christian family or the Christian brother
or sister or the Christian church does not examine and test and
prove everything according to the scriptures, we're disobedient
to Christ. And consequently, we are setting ourselves up to
open up the door for alien doctrines and alien spirits to enter into
the body and to turn the church into something that it was not
supposed to be, which is what has happened in the 21st century.
See, this the church of Corinth, ladies and gentlemen, is the
model. The church of Corinth is the model. So here's what
he says. I want to see if we can develop this. He says over
in verse six, Having been gifts differing according to the what
grace that is given to us now. Why does he keep emphasizing
that? Why does he keep emphasizing?
Having been gifts given to us according to the grace that has
been bestowed He emphasizes that because he wants to make sure
that the believer is operating in sincerity because it's easy
to claim something that you don't have when out of inordinate affection,
you simply wanna fit in. So stay here, go with me in your
Bible to 1 Corinthians 12. I'm gonna go to Ephesians 2 and
Ephesians 4, and I wanna just call your attention to a couple
of things with regards to this statement that he is repeating.
1 Corinthians 12. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12,
there are only a few verses that I want to pull out of here to
just actually highlight what's happening in 1 Corinthians chapter
12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul
has now gone into the question of the gifts of the spirit, having
already admonished and indicted the church at Corinth for being
way out of order. By the time we get to chapter
12 in the book of Corinth, there are so many indictments that
Paul has already leveled against the church at Corinth that it's
a wonder that he even goes on with them. But because there
are true believers there he has to do this So he opens up chapter
12 dealing with the concept of the spirit and he says over in
chapter 12 verse 1 now Concerning spiritual gifts. Do you guys
see that now concerning spiritual gifts? And that's really where
we are in romans 12 concerning spiritual gifts brethren. I would
not have you to be what? That's what i've been saying
for the last almost hour Brethren, I would not have you to be ignorant
because there are a lot of people ignorant about the gifts I would not have
you to be ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles
carried away into these dumb idols, even as you were led.
You guys see that? Verse two is profound. Because what Paul did with verse
two was tell them right down the street just a little while
ago, before God called you by his grace, you were wallowing
on the floor in the name of an ecstatic experience with Diana,
Diana, the, the, uh, the prophetess. and the gods of the Athenians
and the gods of Apollos in the name of some type of pagan ecstasy. You were led. You weren't in
control. You were led. You weren't operating
in a sense of autonomy and control as the spirit of God operates
in the life of the believer. You were led. Do you guys see
that? What he's sharing with them is
when you were in pagan religion, You were tyrannically governed
by different principalities and powers according to their own
will, which they love to do. And I don't know if you guys
know anything about pagan demonology and pagan cult experiences, but
they control you and they possess you and they harass you and they
tyrannize you because they are radically different than the
spirit of the living God. So verse two opens up with Paul
saying, this is how you used to be. You know that you were
Gentiles carried away unto these dumb idols. The idea is being
a slave taken against your own will, brought into a dimension
of experience to a dumb idol, even as you were led. Wherefore
I give unto you to understand, now watch this ladies and gentlemen,
that no man speaking by the spirit of God Calleth Jesus accursed
What is Paul doing? He's answering a question that
was brought to him by the sober-minded Christians that were in the church
at Corinth Paul when a person is under the influence of the
Spirit of God Will he in the name of being filled with the
Holy Ghost? Cuss Jesus out Now I can tell
you I have heard that in this generation by those who call
themselves being possessed by the Spirit Actually blaspheming
God and after they come out of this ecstatic experience. They
say pastor Jesse. I feel so bad up You ought to feel bad You
ought to feel bad because you actually didn't discern the spirit
that you are being governed by But that spirit has shown you
that it was antichrist Because the Spirit of Christ will never
blaspheme the Son of God never Never and yet these are the kinds
of experiences that were going on then and they are going on
now Let me say this for the record because I got a feeling that
there's somebody in here. That's hearing me right now Let me say
this for the record if you are questioning or wondering whether
or not you are operating or functioning By the Spirit of God or by some
demonic spirit be very sure to know this the demonic spirit
that actually visits you tells you who they are in little hints
and glimmers. They let you know. They let you
know that you are not under the dominion of the kingdom of God.
Demons do not operate in a full parallelism with the spirit of
the living God. This is how you know that you
are troubled. You're troubled because they come to you at night
and they deal with you in ways that make you afraid. And they call you to think thoughts
that are blasphemous and wicked. And they always, always are designed
to stir up your flesh in morbid, sensual ways that are known in
the pagan world. And I get it. I talk to people
constantly who coming out of these small groups of folks call
themselves seeking the spirit of God and they're not grounded
in the word of God, not grounded in the gospel and they're wondering
why am I having all these experiences? Because there's a demon in there
actually affecting you in a wrong way and you haven't been able
to identify it because you don't know the distinction between
the characteristics and the nature of the true and the living God
versus those pagan demons that are controlling the masses of
the people. Now I know, right? I already know right now somebody's
hearing me and this is not a game. So now notice what it goes on
to say. Wherefore, I give you to understand that no man speaking
by the Spirit of God call it Jesus occurs and that no man
can say that Jesus is what but by the Holy Ghost. Now, we've
already learned that does not mean that a demon or an unsaved
person can't literally say Jesus is Lord. That's not what that
means. No man can submit to the Lord
ship of Jesus. except by the Spirit of God. No man can stand before the adversaries
of God and say Jesus is Lord without the Spirit of God. No
man or woman can stand before Caesar and the world and be ready
to lay down their life apart from the Spirit of God. Who's
Lord? Jesus is Lord. You guys understand
that? That's what they say. It doesn't
have to do with folks who can go around saying Jesus is Lord.
Jesus is Lord. I already told you the demons
can do that. And false religious folks do
that constantly. That's not the litmus test as
to whether or not the spirit of God is in that person. Please
understand that. It goes on to say now he's dealing
with the gift. Now there are diversity of gifts, but the same
what? And there are differences of
administration, but the same Lord. and there are diversities
of operations, but the same what? That's your Trinitarian formula
under the inspiration of the Spirit. Paul did that to let
us know that salvation is the function of the triune God, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost. You guys got that? He does that
frequently throughout the New Testament because of the allegation
that the Trinity is some type of demonic doctrine taught by
the Catholic Church. The Trinity is rampant through
the scriptures, both old and new. In our theology class, we
will prove that. But Paul constantly attributes
to the life and the edification of the body, the operation of
all three persons. The spirit gives the gifts, the
Lord administers the gifts, and it's the same God by which all
these gifts are being wrought. But the manifestation of the
spirit is given to every man to what? Profit with all. But the manifestation of the
Spirit is given to every man to profit with all. In other
words, the phrase manifestation corresponds to the dispensing
of the gifts. The dispensing of the gifts of
the Spirit into the church is designed for the profit of everybody. Now notice what it goes on to
say. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to
another the word of knowledge, by the same spirit you know what
he just said the spirit deals it's what we talked about right
the prudent man dealing the spirit says this gift is to you and
this gift is to you you guys got that he goes on to say and
to another what faith by the same spirit This year is not
the fundamental faith of salvation because every true believer has
faith. That's what it means to be a believer. But this year
is the extraordinary gift of faith by which an individual
can operate on a level of confidence and boldness in Christ. above
the average group of believers, particularly in the midst of
trouble. More than that, this gift of faith is actually poured
into the believer's life at the time when the believer must glorify
God by being obedient in the midst of trouble. Did I make
some sense right there? In other words, we all have the
gift of faith if we're born of God. It's a fundamental gift
by which we operate. We are believers. But as believers,
you and I are weak. We have a lot of infirmities.
And if you and I are operating merely out of our flesh, like
Peter, who was a believer, when they came to Peter and Peter
felt vulnerable, that if he would say, yes, I know this man, he
would then be accosted, put in jail and possibly die. Peter
operated out of the flesh. He didn't forfeit the fact that
he was a believer. He had not yet operated out of
the power of the spirit of God. But when it's time for you and
I to suffer for God's glory, the spirit of God will pour upon
us the gift of faith so that we stand for Christ. I know this
is true. And then when that test is over. And the Lord has gotten glory
through your life and all the people go away with their eyes
on Christ, you start saying, whoa, Lord, I know you did that
because, man, I was scared to death. I didn't know what to
say. And he just strengthened you
and gave you a stability and a clarity of mind and fortitude
and calls you to say, I believe Christ. You guys got that. All right, now it goes on to
say a couple a couple more things. To another, the faith by the
same spirit, to another, the gift of healing by the same spirit,
to another, the working of miracles, to another, prophecy to another
discerning of spirits to another diverse kinds of tongues or kinds
of tongues and to another the interpretation of tongues now
here's the explanation in verse 11 but all these worketh that
one and the selfsame spirit dividing or dealing to every man what
severally as he will as he wills. So the advised Christian
and the informed Christian does not tell people, I claimed this
gift. Are you hearing me? Because the
sovereign Lord dispenses gifts according to his own wisdom and
purpose in order that he might be glorified in the gift that
he gives you. So this is very important. Also
in order that you might give the credit to God for the gift.
Here's another thing that this text says by virtue of inference. If these gifts are given by the
Spirit of God to those who are believers in Christ, then you
have to ask the question, how is it that so many people can
come out of the world with alleged gifts that they bring into the
kingdom? Isn't that an interesting proposition? How can we justify the idea that
worldly people with worldly accomplishments and skill sets that they have
used in the world to get honor and fame for themselves? We talked
about this last week, like singing and take that singing gift from
the world and now bring it into the church. Here's what I'll
tell you just to help you out. That's not a spiritual gift.
You guys got that? I hope you understand that that's
not a spiritual gift. And ladies and gentlemen, this
is why we haven't even actually, I'll tell you, there's a target
in this study and the target is this. The target is that because
of the death of Christ on Calvary Street, the objective of the
father is to have a people for himself who look just like Jesus
in his functional mode, which is the work of the Holy Ghost.
That's the goal here. So I want you to get the bigger,
the larger compendium, the larger picture here will stay within
the framework of the nuances. But I want just in case you leave
and never come back. The goal of the spirit of God is to conform
us to Christ. Is not to say this secular artist
and bring him and put him on the stage and have everybody
enjoying his skill sets that he got from the world and he's
brought into the church. Whenever you open the doors to
the church, you've got to filter everything that comes into the
church. And understand this, the Spirit of God is not beggarly.
He's not going out there looking for worldly gifts to try to somehow
find a way to entertain you or to edify you. It's just not so. It's just not so. So here's my
proposition to you. No spiritual gift of God has
its origin or derivative in the secular world. Got it? This is how you know
because when the secular world brings secular gifts into the
church, it actually corrupts the church, not edifies the church.
Secondly, when it's done corrupting the church, it actually goes
back to the world. How many people have you met or seen or observed
over your lifetime coming out of the world? They got religious
for a hot minute. And they got everybody buying
their CDs and albums or what have you. And they realized there
wasn't as much money made in the church as they could in the
world. And so they headed on back to the world. This happens
in our hip-hop culture all the time. It's happened in our R&B
culture. If your eyes are open, you will
see how much control the devil has over our sons and daughters,
our aunts and uncles, our moms and dads, our great-aunts, our
great-uncles. The devil has control of them
because we're not discerning the difference between spiritual
gifts and carnal gifts. We're playing church. I'm not going to even ask the
question, am I making some sense? Look over at verse 18. Are we
there? But now have God set the members,
every one of them in the body as it hath pleased him. Do you
see that? But now have God, this here is
the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, has set the members,
every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased Him. And then Paul continues to repeat
the analogy. Now go down to verse 24. I'll
make another point of application in verse 24. Are we there? For
our comely parts have no need That's quite remarkable. You
know what the comely parts are? The more prominent parts of our
body. Our faces, our arms, our legs, the things we focus on
in the world. Got it? This is radical. Now watch this, because this
is why I said a moment ago, the goal of the spirit of God is
to conform the church to Christ. If the professing Christian,
by the time he dies, does not take on the form, the metamorphosis
of Christ, he was none of Christ. Is that OK? Remember, that's
how the book opens. That's how the chapter opens,
right? The chapter opens now. I beseech you, by the mercies
of God, give your body's living sacrifice unto the Lord, wholly
acceptable unto God, and be not conformed to the world, but be
ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. Metamorphosis.
Metamorphosis is the work of the Holy Ghost in transforming
us from the inside out. It's not an outward transformation
or a schema. We don't go around having put
on a new leaf, a new form. We're not trying to manipulate
people. We're not trying to calm people, are we? So we're talking
about what the spirit of God does from the inside and transforming
the believer in terms of principles and convictions and values and
perspectives and propensities and inclinations and drives and
passions so that you think God's thoughts after him and you pursue
God and you learn to say no to this and yes to that. Got it? It's going on on the inside. I can't hear you. Oh. Yeah, that's
that's another concept back in Romans chapter 11. He said the
gifts and callings of God are without repentance. That's actually
distinctly different than what we're dealing with here in the
Corinthian text. But what he's saying is when
God has a purpose, God is not going to go back on that purpose
or fail to accomplish that purpose. if he has bestowed gifts upon
an individual, those gifts won't be forfeited by virtue of a person's
behavior. God will actually forfeit them,
but not the gift. He'll discipline them or chastise
them, but the gift will remain to be occupied by others. The
gifts are given for God's glory and the edification of the body.
He's talking to Romans 11 concerning the children of Israel. And Israel
sinned many times against the Lord. He destroyed them over
and over and over and over and over again, because that was
part of the old covenant stipulation. If you obey me, I'll bless you.
If you disobey me, I will punish you seven times, scatter you
to the four winds. And that's where Israel is right
now. But the gifts that God had given to Israel in order for
God to be glorified are operating right now in the church. We are the Israel of God. And what was merely typological
in the relationship of Israel in terms of the temple and the
sacrifices and the blood sacrifices, the Levitical priesthood and
the giving of the law, all of that was fulfilled in Christ.
More than that, God raised up national Israel in order to bring
the Messiah in. Did Messiah come? The gifts and
calling are without repentance. And when he said to tell us that
it was done, he rent the veil from top to bottom and the way
into the holiest of all was made. Israel done its job. Israel did
its job. Are you hearing me? Now Israel
is commissioned the same way every other people group are
commissioned. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall
be saved. Believe not and you'll be damned.
Got it? You guys got that? And it's very
important to understand that that's what that means. It doesn't
have anything to do with the idea, particularly us. And let's
see, we've got a few more minutes because I understand the question.
I've heard it for years and years and years. I'll entertain this
one and then I'll close and we'll come back next week, two weeks
from now and deal with the nature of the gifts and how they mature
and grow and how we are to operate and then pay very careful attention
to the reading of first Romans chapter 12 the subsequent verses
because the gifts are designed for the edification of the body
and the glory of God And when God gives you a measure when
he gives you a measure that measure you and I don't know subjectively
He gives us all a measure, but you don't know your measure Are you hearing me so far I'll
say this You don't know your measure. So two things. I have
one is to have great confidence in the fact that gifts grow like
faith grow and the application of those gifts can grow like
faith can grow so that God can use us to our fullest potential
as we seek to obey him and therefore we want God to bring forth fruit
in our lives 30 fold 60 400 fold whatever that measure is isn't
that right we want God to bring forth fruit 30 fold 60 400 fold
whatever that measure is but you don't know your measure What
you do know is at what level you are operating right now.
And that's where you need to be sober. You need to be sober
about what you are accomplishing by faith predicated on grace
through the gift that God is giving you now. Well, Pastor,
I'm not doing too high. Well, don't tell somebody that you
are. Got it. Last time you seen somebody
bow the knee because of your prayers or your exhortation or
you're spending time with them. See what I'm getting at? You
know what's interesting about this? The gifts that are given
to you and me are borrowed. God's going to require them at
the end of time. And we all got to stand before
God and give an answer according to our works. Got it? the gifts of our so this is Jesus
talked about this in the parable it's called the talents the talents
they correspond with the means by which the gospel is preached
by which God is glorified and the church is edified so how
you and I are to determine who we are and how much we are all
that has to be brought into framework with the will of God and the
purpose of God in his church because it's all about his church
And am I operating in my gift in a way that's actually edifying
the Church of God? Or am I self-seeking? Am I pursuing
personal glory? Am I seeking personal aggrandizement?
I'm missing the point. And if God loves me, He won't
bear any fruit in my life as long as my attitude is twisted
like that. Got it? Alright, let me get back to this
one. This here is not what our brother
said. My brother did not say it, but there's an implication
that falls out on this. And I'm gonna close right here.
This might hurt, but So be it. There is the false allegation
or the false assumption or the false alleging that God can use
unsaved people in the church with gifts that are given by
the Spirit of God. There's a false notion that God
can take an immoral. I'm going to talk about this
on Sunday. See, cause near my getting ready to deal with some
brothers. That's trying to take him out. The assumption is that God will
use an individual who has proven himself to be immoral, unethical,
unprincipled, and, and out and out treacherous because he has
a so-called gift. I've heard this for years. I've
heard this for years, that somehow the spirit of God is not quite
wise enough to know that this person is a fool and he committed
those gifts to him. And this person now is operating
out of his gifts. But everybody knows his lifestyle
is radically inconsistent with his gift. Now, generally, these
gifts that these persons are operating out of are not the
uncomely gifts that God is talking about right here. The gifts that
they're operating out of are the comely gifts. See, the comely
gifts are the gifts everybody wants. You know what the comely
gifts are? Preaching and teaching. The comely
gifts are prophesying. The comely gifts are speaking
in tongues. The comely gifts are healings. The comely gifts
are the things that put you on center stage. Now, am I making
some sense? Okay. These are the things everybody
are aspiring to. And here comes an uncouth fellow,
a con, an individual not born again. He's another man, but
he's not a new man. And you know it. And he calls
himself a prophet or an apostle. And in our day, they're called
bishops. Now, actually what he has done
is put a fence around himself and warned you not to touch him.
And he's operating out of his con through a title that is not
consistent with a character that should adjoin that title. And so people are mesmerized
by the title and a false gift. It's the gift of gab. He's still walking with that
same limp, that same slick worldly technique. I tell our guys, I
tell our men this, I said, the pastors of God are not slick
men. The pastors of God are not slick. The men and women of God are
not slick. They're not like your hood people. They don't carry that same aura
that you can't quite get a handle on. Those are snakes. Snakes are slick. The people
of God are candid. The people of God are sincere.
The people of God are honest. The people of God are straightforward.
You see them for who they are. And if you don't see them for
who they are, you don't know them. The people of God aren't running
from anybody. The people of God aren't always
staying one step ahead of you so you won't catch them. This goes on in religion all
the time. Now, if you're God's sheep, and
not everyone is God's sheep, when you are God's sheep, in
the back of your mind is a question mark. Something is not right. but because the multitudes are
just following along, you don't have any power to press the issue
any further. And over time you lose the capacity
to discern and be objective and be critical about what becomes
blatant evidences that this individual is not operating under the influence
of the Holy Spirit. Does that help? Now, here's what
the text is. I'm going to close. I love this. This is absolutely phenomenal.
I'm at verse 24. For our comely parts have no
need. But God has tempered the body. Together. Got it. God has tempered
the body. Together. Having given more Abundant
honor to that part which lacked You see what he did Here's what
he did and this is this is really through our Lord's teaching and
Paul you Who are strong? Don't tell people I'm strong
Just be strong and Bear the infirmity of those
that are weak That's what Jesus did He told
his disciples. He said fellas when he first
called him to ministry fellas. Come on, follow me I'm gonna
make you fish as a man. Holy Ghost got him. They came didn't
argue they came You don't argue with God when he calls you you
just come Because he's sovereign they dropped their net straightway
follow Jesus now as they walking, you know what the fellows are
thinking We know he's a preacher now because we heard about him
preaching and so this is gonna be an interesting journey They're
thinking that he was going to operate and function just like
the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes and the Levitical
priesthood and so they're getting ready to go only to the clean
places and to the synagogues and to the temple what Jesus
took them down to West Oakland then he went over 200 point and
Then he went down to North Richmond, and then he went down to Skid
Row. And he was hanging out with harlots and publicans and tax
collectors, straight thugs and crooks, people that really needed
to see the glory of God in an authentic ministry. And they
said, now what's going on? Jesus said, I got to teach you
a lesson. This is the first parable. If you get this parable, you'll
understand my ministry. He says, you cannot put new wine
in old wine skins. You can't take what I preach
and operate in the same mode and conduct and function as the
Pharisees and the Sadducees. They're not going to receive
my message because they don't need salvation. They're already
righteous. Got it. And I didn't come for
them. So I'm not going to them. I've
come for sinners. You got it? Radically different. And when God tempers his church,
when he when the spirit of God is tempering his church, when
he's balancing his church, when he's harmonizing his church,
when he's bringing that body together so it functions properly,
not one part of the body is going to be so prodigious that that's
the one thing that you see. There's a balance. There's a
balance. And when there's a balance, real
sinners will find a comfort zone in that atmosphere. Got it. That's
how God works. Let's pray. Father, we thank
you for your time. We thank you for your word. We thank you for
the truth as it is in Christ. As we go our way, may these things
sink deep down into our souls. Lord, give us traveling mercies
as we go home. Watch us on the road tonight.
So many people are out drunk and partying right now, and we
can't see everything. We can't see around the corner.
Get us home safely. Put our head on our pillows,
Lord, and may our thoughts be thoughts of you, thoughts of
your glory, thoughts of your goodness, thoughts of your mercy
towards us. Raise us up tomorrow and the
next day that we might worship you. Worship you as you ought
to be worshiped in spirit and in truth wherever we worship
you. May it be done in spirit and in truth and may you get
all the glory for it. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. God bless you.