Verse 19 of 1 Corinthians chapter
4, But I will come to you shortly,
if the Lord will, and will know not the speech of them which
are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not
in word, but in I've entitled this message, Word
or Power? Paul uses some very biting sarcasm
in this passage of scripture I just read. Now, sarcasm can
be offensive. You know that, I know it. We've
all been offended by people's sarcasm at one time or the other,
but it can also be a very effective means of communication. And God
the Holy Spirit inspires Paul to use sarcasm in dealing with
the Corinthians at this time. And it has something to do with
the fact that they were puffed up. They had an inflated, view
of themselves. They had an inflated view of
their abilities, their importance, and their understanding. We've
all been in the room with the fellow who thinks he knows more
than anybody else in the room. Corinth was filled with people
just like this, puffed up. His reason for sarcasm is stated
in Verse 14 and 15, I write not these things to shame you. I'm
not simply trying to make you ashamed of yourselves when I'm
putting these things one against another. But my beloved sons,
I warn you for though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ,
people who've got the answers, people who think they know, yet
have you not many fathers? For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten
you through the gospel. Now, you know, he's not saying
that their divine begetting came from some power or ability in
him, but through the gospel he preached, they were begotten,
birthed by God. Now, beginning in verse eight
and Sarcasm drips in the next several verses from Paul. He
says, now you are full. Now you are rich. You have reigned
as kings without us. You don't need us. And I would
to God you did reign that we also might reign with you. He's
letting us know that this is sarcastic speech toward them. Now he speaks of himself. For I think that God hath set
forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death. For
we are made a spectacle, a theater, a gazing stock unto the world
and to angels and to men. We're fools for Christ's sake.
That's how the world counts us, but not you. You are wise in
Christ. We're weak, but not you. You are strong. You are honorable,
but we are despised even under this present hour
because of our preaching of the gospel. We both hunger and thirst
and are naked and are buffeted, beaten and mistreated, and we're
street people. We have no certain dwelling place.
Paul didn't have a place like you and I tonight have to go
home. He was dependent on other people
letting him stay in their home. He had nothing. Verse 12. We labor, working with our own
hands. He had a right to expect support
from Corinth, but he didn't take it. They didn't give it. Being
reviled, spoken ill of, we bless. Being persecuted. We suffer it. We know it's going to happen.
Paul comes into another town to preach the gospel. He knows
he's going to be tied to a pole and beat with a cat and nine
tails. We suffer it. It's part of it. We realize that. Being defamed, spoken ill of,
Paul's a pestilent fellow, a mover of sedition. He doesn't bring
division. He, I mean, he brings division.
He doesn't bring people together. He separates them. Being defamed,
we entreat. We are made, this is how the
world views us, as the filth of the world and the off-scouring
of all things unto this day. This is how the world views us,
that which is to be wiped off, that which is to be scraped off. That was the worldview of the
Apostle Paul. Now, I'm not writing these things
to shame you. I'm not just trying to make you ashamed of yourself.
You almost feel like there's a little bit of that in there,
but he says, that's not what I'm doing. But as my beloved
sons, I warn you. For though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ. Now Paul is speaking of his critics.
with their arsenal of doctrines and instructions that would go
beyond anything Paul said. You've got plenty of instructors,
teachers, men who are quick to let you know what they know and
how you need them, but not many fathers. Paul is saying God saved you
through my preaching. That's what he's saying to this
church. Remember in Acts chapter 18 when the Lord told Paul, be
not afraid, hold not your peace. I've got many people in this
city. And he stayed there for 18 months preaching the gospel
and the Lord established this church, this group of believers
through the preaching of Paul. They heard the gospel through
him. But these super apostles he speaks of in 2 Corinthians
were always hammering against him, trying to make his light
shine dimmer that theirs might shine brighter. And the Corinthians
were listening to these people. And that's what Paul is so, in
some respects, heartbroken. He says, the more abundantly
I love you, the less I be loved. He says that to these people. You got plenty of instructors
in Christ, 10,000, but you have not many fathers. For in Christ
Jesus, I have begotten you through the gospel. Wherefore, I beseech
you, be ye followers of me. Now, if a man can't say that,
he doesn't have any business preaching the gospel. Be ye followers
of me. In another place, he said, follow
me as I follow Christ. I tell you, if a man follows
Christ, I want to get in line and follow that man. Don't you? Someone
that's following Christ. I want to be his follower and
follow him as he follows the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at
this next statement for this cause. Verse 17. For this cause
have I sent unto you Timotheus, Timothy. who is my beloved son. Oh, he loved Timothy. There was
a special bond between Paul and Timothy. He loved him dearly.
For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved
son and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you intermembrance
of my ways which be in Christ. Now, don't miss that. This prepositional
phrase, in Christ, my ways which be in Christ. We just heard that
sung about, didn't we? In the Beloved, accepted am I. In the Beloved, I went to the
tree. That is such an astounding, glorious,
powerful thought. When Christ went to the tree
and was nailed to the cross, I was too, in the Beloved. My salvation is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that's what he reminds these
people of my ways in Christ, not just my ways, my ways are
worthless. My ways in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the important phrase in
Christ, all of God's purpose. All of God's person, all of God's
salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead. all the fullness of sovereignty,
all the fullness of power, all the fullness of grace, all the
fullness of immutability, all the fullness of independence,
all the fullness of omniscience, all the fullness of omnipresence
in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's so glorious. And you are complete. Lacking nothing. Plum full in
him. You know, as far as the way I feel
all the time, I feel plenty of lacking. So, I'm complete. I lack nothing in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse 17, for this cause I send
unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son and faithful in the
Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways, which
be in Christ. And notice this next phrase.
This is very important. This is inspired by the Holy
Spirit, as I teach everywhere in every church. I don't have
one message in one place and another message somewhere else.
I don't go in somebody's home and speak one thing and then
speak something different publicly. I've got the same message everywhere
I go. And if it's not the same, it's
not true. Now, verse 18. Some are puffed up. Remember in verse 6 when he says,
that no one of you be puffed up, one against Another, puffed
up, inflated, an inflated view of yourself. Well, I know I've
got an inflated view of myself. I'm sure of that. And I'm sure
everybody in this room has an inflated view of themselves.
We all think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think
and trust ourselves way more than we should. I'm sure of that. I know that's true about me.
And I know you would say the same thing about yourself and
Paul, Says, now some of you are puffed up. You're conceited as
though I would not come to you. You think he's not going to come
to us and face our criticism. He's, uh, we're too powerful.
He said, some of your swollen in your views of yourself that
you think I won't come, but I will come verse 19 to you
shortly. If the Lord will, and we'll know
not the speech of them, which are puffed up, but the power. What's that mean? What's behind the speech? You can say all the right words.
I can say all the right words. What is behind the words? Here's
the most powerful illustration I can think of. I love you can
be the most meaningless or meaningful words there are dependent upon
the action behind them. God loves you. What's that mean? God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him hath
everlasting life. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation,
the sin removing sacrifice. That's love. While you're in
first Corinthians, turn to chapter 13. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, if I have such eloquence that I can speak
on the same level as a mighty angelic being and have not charity, I'm become as a sounding brass
or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of
prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though
I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, and have no
charity, I am what? Nothing. Nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, And though I give my body to be burned as
a martyr for the cause of God in truth, as a witness, I give
my body willingly to be burned and have not charity. What's
a prophet? Absolutely nothing. It is meaningless words. The Lord said, if you love me,
keep my commandments. If a man loved me, he'll keep
my words. So when Paul says the kingdom
of God is not in word only, he's saying, or with the kingdom of
God is not in word, but in power. That doesn't mean words are not
used. I mean, preach the word. Uh,
we, we preach the words of Jesus Christ, words, audible that have
a meaning that we preach that if we don't preach those words,
we're not preaching the gospel. Uh, you can't preach the gospel
by powerful example of love, um, preach the words, but if
the words have no power behind them, they're meaningless. They are not real. The kingdom of God, verse 20, is not in word but in power. Word or power. Then he goes on to say to these
Corinthians after this, what will you? Shall I come unto you
with a rod or in love and in the spirit of meekness? And their
apostles had some kind of apostolic authority. Peter could tell Ananias
and Sapphira, you're dead, and they were dead. Paul blinded
the false prophet, Simon bar Jesus, in Acts chapter 13. Here
in chapter 5, It says in verse 4, in the name
of our Lord Jesus, when you're gathered together in my spirit
with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one
unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit
may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. He had some kind
of power to deliver somebody to Satan for the destruction
of the flesh. He said that about Hymenaeus and Philetus, remember?
He said, I've delivered them to Satan. They had some kind of power,
but they were the only ones that had it. I don't have that power.
I'm glad you don't have that power. I'm afraid I'd be in a
lot of trouble if you did. And if I had that power, I'm
sure I would exert it in certain ways that I shouldn't. But Paul
says, do you want me to come with a spirit of meekness and
love, or do you want me to come with a rod to demonstrate to
him his apostolic authority? And he can do it. All the apostles
can do that. That was in that day. And they
had tongues in that day too, and they could speak in tongues,
and they could perform miracles, and they could heal the sick,
and they could do all that. And it was only the people who
through the laying on of the apostles' hands that could do
that. You see, remember when Simon Magus saw that through
the laying on of the apostles' hands, the Holy Ghost was given.
That's when he offered money to do it. When the apostles were
all dead, that died out. And somebody says, well, I'd
like to have that power. That's usually what they think of when
they think of power, the power to perform miracles. And well,
you know, evidently we don't need it or we still have it.
Uh, I'm thankful for that. If we needed it with those gifts
would still be in operation, uh, but they're not in operation.
And when someone claims to have those, uh, gifts, he is a liar. He doesn't have those gifts.
He is not telling the truth. But back to this statement, the
kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. This is a factual statement,
the kingdom of God. What's meant by the kingdom of
God or the kingdom of heaven? It's found in the New Testament
well over a hundred times. You've read it, the kingdom of
God, the kingdom of heaven. We read this morning where the
Lord said, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom
were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should
not be delivered hence, but my kingdom is not from hence. What
is meant by the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God? Well,
sometimes it's an abstract statement about the reign or the sovereignty
of Jesus Christ, his dominion, is an everlasting dominion. And his kingdom from generation
to generation and all the inhabitants of the earth are imputed as nothing.
And he doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his
end. None can stop him. None can call
him into account. What are you doing? He gives
no account of his matters. Don't you love the authority
of the Lord to where he's so glorious in his authority? He
doesn't owe anybody an explanation. He's God. Whatever he does is
right. And sometimes it's more concrete
like this. Paul said, the kingdom of heaven
is not meat and drink. It's not do's and don'ts. It's
not rules and regulations. It's not, you can eat this and
you can drink this, but you can't eat that and you can't drink
that. It's righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. It's righteousness, the righteousness
of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God as my personal righteousness. What comes from that? Peace. If the righteousness of Christ
is my personal righteousness before God, I've got peace. I'm
not worried about judgment day. I'm going to be accepted completely.
And what comes out of that? Joy. The joy and the peace of
believing. Now the kingdom of God, whether
it's speaking in an abstract terms of his absolute sovereignty
or giving us a specific definition, it's not in word, but in power,
the power to produce results. Now, God is all powerful. And everything that can be said
of God's power is said of Jesus Christ. He said, all power is
given to me. Now, the next time you hear somebody
at work talking about powerful men and powerful women, this
person has this power and this person has that power, it might
not be wise to tell them, you don't have any power at all,
but think it, think it. They don't have any power at
all. They are pawns in God's hand. Power belongeth unto the
Lord. If you have all power, you don't
have to admit to says about me and you, we don't have any power. I think being around a control
freak is so funny because they can't control anything and yet
that's what they're trying to do. Power belongeth unto the
Lord. Omnipotence, all-powerful. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? I think of when the rich young
ruler, the Lord said, sell all you have and give to the poor
and come and follow me and he was such a good guy and he went
away very sad The Lord said, how hardly should they that have
riches enter the kingdom of heaven? And the disciples said, who then
can be saved? If there was one guy that I would
have thought would be saved, it would be him. If he can't
be saved, who then can be saved? The Lord said, with men. What? It's impossible. Salvation for any man. is impossible
if it's up to him to do something, but not with God. For with God,
all things are possible. You see, omnipotence is essential
to his being. A God that is not all powerful
is inconceivable. I can't conceive even of a of
a proper thought of a God that is not all powerful and absolutely
sovereign. If he's not that, he's not God.
Now there's some things he can't do. He can't act contrary to
his nature. Is that a limit on his power? No, but he can't lie,
can he? Scripture says that he cannot
lie. He cannot act contrary to any
of his attributes. I understand. What people mean
when they say, I don't want to put God in a box. I understand
that. Maybe I've said that. Maybe you said it. And the fact
of the matter is, we can't. We can't put him in a box, but
he's utterly predictable. He is going to be exactly as
he says he is in his word. No surprises. He's always all
powerful, omnipotent, in absolute control. Whatsoever the Lord
pleased, that did he. Our God is in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. That can only be true
if he is omnipotent. Power belongeth unto the Lord.
Now remember, the kingdom of God is not word, it's in power.
And that's talking about His power. It's not talking about
my power and your power. It's talking about His power.
Now, He will empower you to believe the gospel. He will empower you
to walk with Christ all your days. But it's His power, isn't
it? I mean, even the willingness that we have. Thy people should
be willing when? Power. Talking about power, he
can make somebody who's unwilling, willing. No man can do that. Only God can do that. He can
make that person who's unwilling, willing. He changes his will. Oh, what power there is in God,
and he demonstrates his power, first of all, in creation. I love the fact, and I call it
a fact, that God spake the universe into existence by his word. You know, I don't believe evolution
for a second. Somebody tries to promote evolution like it's
smart or something like that. Well, for one thing, I don't
see where it's defensible, but the point is God said he created
men as he created men in his own image, not to evolve into
something. He created men in his own image.
And I believe the Genesis account of creation. I believe the universe
was created in six days. And somebody says, well, how
could that be? How could that give time to develop fossil fuels
and stuff like that? The Lord created the earth just
like that. And if the six days do not mean
six 24-hour periods, but it means something else, I believe that
whatever the Bible teaches, that's what I believe. And I know the
Bible does not teach evolution. God created the heavens and the
earth. And he made things after their
kind, after their kind. How many times do you find that?
God said it and it was so. And God's power, his omnipotence
is seen when he just willed the universe into existence. What
power? His power is seen in providence. Do you know everything that happens without exception? He controls. There's not a sparrow
that falls to the ground without your heavenly Father. The lot
is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of
the Lord. You mean when I burned my toast
this morning, left it in the toaster too long, God was in
that? Yep, that's exactly what I mean.
I don't have an explanation for it, but I know God is God. He
controls everything. You can't take that too far.
That's why we are so rejoicing to know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to His purpose. He controls every event. He controls
that dust particle going through the air. He controls everything. And it's not hard for him, because
he's omnipotent. It doesn't take, oh, maybe I
can't forget this. No, it's not hard. He's God. And most especially, his power
is seen in salvation. Power belongeth unto the Lord. I think of the power He displays
in election when he chose who would be saved. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger. As it's written, Jacob have I
loved. Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Is God unfair? God forbid. For
he saith to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy.
I'll have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then
it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. Even as he said to Pharaoh, For
this same purpose have I raised thee up. That I might show my,
what? Power in thee. And that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy. Whom he will, he hardens. That would say unto me, why does
he yet find fault? If that's the case, how can he hold me
responsible? Who has resisted his will? Nay,
but old man, who are you to reply against God? Since when do you
have the moral authority to sit in judgment on God and say, I
don't agree with that? You don't have any room for that.
God is showing his power in his sovereign choice of his people.
What power was displayed when Jesus Christ agreed to be my
surety? Was there any doubt whatsoever
of my salvation when Christ Jesus, when I was given to him by the
Father, and he agreed to take full responsibility for my salvation? That's what David was talking
about when he said in 2 Samuel 23, 5, I will my house be not
so God yet hath he made with me, an everlasting covenant ordered
in all things ensure this is all my salvation. This is all
my desire, though he make it not to grow. What power is displayed
in the incarnation when the infinite God became a seed in a woman. And went through nine months
living in the darkness of his mother's womb. The fullness of God dwelt in
that seed. What power. What power was displayed
in the life of Jesus Christ when He never sinned. Declared to be the Son of God
by the Spirit of Holy And when our Lord walked 33 years
on this earth, let's talk about the first 30 years. Even his
brothers and sisters didn't know that he was the son of God. They
didn't get it. Absolute perfect holiness. Men
couldn't see it and they don't see it now. They don't know what
it is. But what power he displayed in his perfect life. Oh, I love the life of the Lord
Jesus Christ. What power he displayed in his
death. In his death, he actually made
the sins of everybody he died for not to be. He took something that is and
made it no more. What power there is in the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. What power He displayed in His
resurrection when He raised Himself from the dead. I love it when
He says, destroy this body, this temple, three days, I'll raise
it up. He didn't say the father would raise it up or the spirit
would raise it up, although they did because God, the father,
son, and the Holy Spirit never act independently. But he said,
you destroy this temple in three days. I'll raise it up. I raised
myself from the dead. What power, what omnipotence,
what power there is in his intercession. Father, forgive them. Guess what? Everybody he prayed
for was forgiven. I prayed for you, he said to
Peter, that your faith fail not. What happened? His faith didn't
fall. You see, even the fact that you and I persevere right
now, the fact that we're still looking to Christ, still loving
his gospel, still loving his person, why is that? Scripture
says we're kept by the power of God through faith until salvation. Do you know the same power? Turn
with me to Ephesians chapter one for just a moment. The same power that's used in
the resurrection of Christ is used in your spiritual resurrection.
Ephesians 1, 19, and what is the exceeding greatness of his
power to us who believe according to the working of his mighty
power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead.
and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.
The same power that was used in raising Christ from the dead
is what's used in giving you spiritual life. Now turn with
me in closing to the book of Titus, or I mean 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter three. Verse one, this know also that
in the last days perilous times shall come for men to be lovers
of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection,
truce breakers, false accusers, Incontinent, fierce, despisers
of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of
pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness. He's talking about religious
people here. He's talking about preachers. They have a form of
godliness. But deny the power thereof. From such, turn away. Now, how do you deny the power
of godliness? How do you have a form but deny
the power? Well, you can deny the source
of that power. The source of that power is the triune God.
God the Father in election, God the Son in redemption, God the
Holy Spirit in the new birth. You can deny the source of that
power, or you can deny the means of that power, the gospel. Paul
said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of
God unto salvation. You cannot be saved by a false
gospel. God never begets life through
a false gospel. And when someone tries to say,
well, it might not be true, but God can use that. No. He only
uses the gospel and that's denying the means of the gospel or denying
the reality of the power of the gospel. If any man being Christ,
he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things have become new. A gospel without the power of
God can never produce. A heart broken over sin. It takes the infinite power of
God to do that. A broken and a contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise. A gospel without the power of
God? cannot bring somebody to where they have no righteousness. It takes the power of God to
do that, to bring a man or woman to really believe they have no
personal righteousness. A false gospel will always give
you something to brag about. The power of God won't. A false faith, a gospel without
power, can never acknowledge that salvation is completely
of the Lord. It is the power of God that causes
a man to truly from his heart acknowledge with Jonah, salvation
is of the Lord. And a gospel without the power
of God can never cause a man to continue to look to Christ
alone all the days of his life. and on his dying breath, after
maybe living a life as a missionary in some foreign land, suffering
extreme hardships, when that man dies, he says, all I have
is Jesus Christ. I don't have anything to recommend
me but him and him alone. That is the power of God. Kingdom of God is not in word
only. Power. His power. And the results His power produces. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
power. For Lord, we know we have no
power. And we know you have all power. And we thank you that
your gospel is the power of God into salvation. And Lord, I ask
in Christ's name, by your power, by your grace, by the redeeming
power and work of thy son, every one of us may be believers indeed. Bless this word for Christ's
sake, in his name we pray.