Would you turn back to 1 Corinthians
1. I've entitled this message from
the question Paul asked in verse 13. Is Christ divided? What's the answer to that? No. You know that. Are there denominations in the
body of Christ? We're all aware of many denominations, but did you know that there is
absolutely no scriptural support for any kind of denomination? in the Bible. In Lexington, Kentucky,
there are over 50 denominations just in this town. Within the
Baptist denomination, there are 72 recognized brands of Baptists,
all of which believe something a little bit different. each
one thinking they're a little closer to the truth. Worldwide,
there are 45,000 Christian denominations. Each one of them think they have
a little bit clearer grasp of the truth than the other, something
that distinguishes us from the rest. All denominations are wrong. Every single one of them. Baptist, Presbyterian, Catholic,
Methodist, Lutheran, Church of Christ, Church of God, Mormon,
Jehovah Witness, and all other denominations are purely man-made. There is no support in the scripture
for any denomination. You can prove denominations from
the Bible about as easily as you can infant baptism. It can't
be done. Is Christ divided? Are there denominations? Are there sects within the body
of the Lord Jesus Christ. A criticism that has been leveled
against this church on numerous occasions, and I know this from
personal experience, is you all think you're the only ones preaching
the gospel. I've had that criticism leveled
at me. You think you're the only ones
in Lexington, Kentucky that preach the gospel. Now let me say this.
I've never said that. Not once. Not once. But I will say this. The gospel's
preached here. The gospel is preached here. And if there is a religious body
that does not preach what is preached here, the gospel is
not preached. That's so. There's only one gospel. If the gospel that's preached
here, that's preached wherever the gospel is preached, if the
gospel of the scriptures is not preached The church is a false church
pastored by a false prophet. And wherever the gospel is not
preached, no one is born again. No one is birthed of the spirit. God only uses his truth. If the gospel is not preached,
the gospel of the Bible, No one is saved under the sound of that
preaching. Now, one can argue against this,
but they're not going to be able to argue it from the scriptures.
Too narrow. Too narrow. I've heard that many
times. Too narrow. Well, the Lord said,
wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction
and many there be that go in there at. But straight is the
gate and narrow is the way that leads to life everlasting and
few there be that find it. Now, would we call the Lord too
narrow? Would we call the Lord too exclusive? Those are his words. What about
when Peter is talking about Noah's days, when he says, few, eight
souls in all the world, eight souls were saved by water. Now, when I use language like
that, it's not to try to commend me or you. The issue is, what
is the gospel? That's the issue. Are there people outside of these
walls saved? I'm sure there is. I'm not trying
to figure out that. But I'm saying the one issue
is what is the gospel? Paul said, Christ sent me not
to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words,
lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. If I
use the wisdom of words to either make the gospel more attractive
or remove the offense from it, The power of salvation is stripped
from that. And that's how important this
is. What I'm talking about, I'm saying with fear and trembling,
I hope I don't have some kind of cocky, arrogant attitude.
You know, there's some people that seem to display that. Well, we got the gospel, nobody
else does. I'm not talking about that kind of attitude. I'm asking
this question, what is the gospel by which a sinner is saved? That is the issue now. It's always
been the issue. Now look what Paul says to the
church at Corinth. And I think this is interesting.
I'd never really thought about this before. You know, I was
in Florida this weekend and Greg Yomkos and I were talking and
he pointed out that in the New Testament epistles, In every
one of them, there's some kind of exhortation toward unity. In every one of them. And here
is Paul's exhortation toward unity in this passage of scripture. Now within the church of Corinth,
there was division. Look in chapter three, verse
one. And I, brethren, could not speak
unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto
babes in Christ. I fed you with milk, not with
meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it. Neither now
are you able, for you are yet carnal, fleshly, acting just
like unbelievers. For whereas there is among you
envying and strife, and divisions, are you not carnal? And walk as men. For while one
saith, I'm of Apollos, and another saith, I'm of Apollos, are you
not carnal? Now, this is addressed really
to one extent or another in every one of the epistles. This thing
of unity, oneness within the body of Christ. Now turn back
to 1 Corinthians 1. Verse 10, now I beseech you,
brethren. These were brethren. These were believers. They're
identified as such. He didn't call them unbelievers.
I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions
among you, no schisms, no denominations, but that ye be perfectly joined
together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared unto
me of you, my brethren, by them which are at the house of Chloe,
that there are contentions, there's strife, there's division among
you. Now this I say that every one
of you says, I'm of Paul, and I'm of Apollos, and I'm Cephas.
Here's what's going on. Somebody in the church of Corinth
said, I was converted through Paul's preaching. I'm one of
Paul's disciples. Somebody says, not me. I was
converted through the preaching of Apollos. Oh, he's a lot better
preacher than Paul is. And somebody said, I've not heard
the gospel through either one of those men. I've heard the
gospel through Cephas, Peter, who was directly with the Lord
all those years. And then the real pious ones,
they said, I don't follow any man. I just follow Christ. I'm
of Christ. That's what the real pious one
said. And Paul says, this is carnal. This is fleshly. This is thinking like an unbeliever. Now, I appeal, he says, by the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you speak the same thing,
that you speak what you are, one in Christ. That there be
no divisions, and if there is, drop it. Drop it. If there's any divisions, drop
them. Right now. Drop them. that you be perfectly joined
together in the same mind and in the same judgment. Now, Paul
said in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 16, he said, we have the mind
of Christ. Every believer has the mind of
Christ. If God has saved you, if God
has saved me, he's given us the mind of Christ. And Christ doesn't
contradict himself, does he? Two people with the mind of Christ
do not disagree with one another in the gospel any more than Christ
disagrees with himself. Now, if we're at disagreement,
they were in Corinth. And whenever you get men together,
things like that can happen. That's just the nature of being
a sinful man. And every single one of us, beginning
here, I won't be right. I want to be right. I take pride
in being right. I take pride in my ways the right
way. Are you really like that? Yes,
I am, to my own detriment. And you're all like that, too.
Maybe somebody not as vocal, but everybody's like that in
the sense that everybody, to some extent, they're going to
promote themselves. And so that's where you have
all the divisions that can come within a body. It was happening
in Corinth, but it happened in many other places. Look in Philippians chapter 2. Look at Paul's exhortation. If
there be, verse chapter 2, if there be therefore any consolation
in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the
Spirit, If any bowels and mercies fulfill ye my joy, that you be
like minded. Having the same love, being of
one accord, of one mind, let nothing be done through strife
or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other
better than themselves. If my attitude is what it should
be, I am right now esteeming you as better than me. And if I'm not thinking that
way, all it is is pride. I love that scripture in Proverbs,
by pride only cometh contention. That's the only place it comes
from. Now, look in Philippians 127. Only let your conversation be
as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and
see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs that you
stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for
the faith of the gospel. Turn to John 10. I want you to see the emphasis
that the Lord puts on this in John chapter 10. Verse 14, I am the good shepherd
and know my sheep, and have known of mine. As the Father knoweth
me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the
sheep. And other sheep I have, which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall
hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Turn to John 17, the Lord's great
high priestly prayer for his people. Verse 11, and now I'm no more
in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee,
holy father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast
given me, that they may be one as we are. Look in verse 20. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word,
that they all may be one. As thou, Father, art in me, and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us. that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me, and the glory which thou
gavest me, I've given them, that they may be one, even as we are
one, I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect
in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me,
and has loved them as thou hast loved me. Let me quote these
scriptures to you, Galatians 3, 28. In Christ, there's neither
Jew nor Greek, there's neither bond nor free, there's neither
male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. That's true of every believer. Colossians chapter three, verses
10 and 11, you put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him who created him, where there's neither Greek
nor Jew, Circumcision nor uncircumcision, bond, Scythian, bond nor free,
but Christ is all. Isn't there unity there? Yes. Christ is all. Every believer
without exception says in their heart, amen to that. Christ is
all. We're at agreement. He's all. Christ is all in the Bible. You
believe that, don't you? He's all in the scriptures. He's
all that God is. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. He is all in faith. We look to
Him only. He's the only message of Scripture. He's all in our preaching. We
preach Him. Now here's what it means to have
Christ as all if He's your all. You don't have anything else. You don't have anything else.
If He's all to you, you don't have anything else. He's all
you have. He's all you have to bring you
into the presence of God. Not only is he all you have,
he's all you want. You don't want anything else.
He's all you need. You do not need anything else. Peter, of the man of transfiguration. Peter, he was taught of God. He was an apostle, Peter. So whenever somebody says something
dumb, or when you say something dumb, remember Peter did it too.
As a matter of fact, he said about the dumbest thing anybody's
ever said on the man of transfiguration. He sees the Lord speaking with
Elijah and Moses, and the scripture says they spake of the decease
which he should accomplish. They were talking about his death.
Isn't that glorious to think about? These men talking about
the death that Christ should accomplish. He hadn't died yet,
but they were just talking anticipation about the death that he should
accomplish. And Peter sees this. He sees the Lord talking to Moses
and talking to Elijah. He said, Lord, it's good for
us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles.
Three tabernacles? One for thee, one for Moses. And one for Elijah. Scripture
says, for he was not what to say. How many times have you
said something just because you didn't know what to say and it
came out like Peter? And just during that speech,
a bright cloud overshadowed them. and a voice from heaven, the
voice of the father, this is my beloved son, hear ye him. And they hit the dirt. They were
afraid. I imagine they thought, maybe
we're gonna get killed for this. And then the Lord put forth his
hand and touched him. What a touch. And when they opened
up their eyes, the scripture says, they saw no man save Jesus
only. Hebrews 2.11 says, both he that
sanctifieth and they who are sanctified. Now think of that
statement. He that sanctifyeth, that's the
Lord. They who are sanctified, that's
us. The only distinction between
he that sanctifyeth and they that are sanctified is he's the
one that does the sanctifying and we're the ones that are sanctified.
But what is the result of him being our sanctification? Both he that sanctifyeth and
they who are sanctified are all of one. One. There's not a hierarchy in the
kingdom of heaven. There's not more important and
less important. There's not more spiritual and
less spiritual. There's not more used of God
and less used of God. There's not hierarchy. All that
stuff is foolishness. We're all one in Christ Jesus. One. No separation. Both he that sanctifieth and
they who are sanctified are all of one. I'm one with Christ and
I'm one with you. I'm one with every believer.
Every believer's one with me. For the which cause he's not
ashamed to call them brethren. Would you turn to Ephesians chapter
two? Ephesians chapter two, verse 14. For he is our peace, who has
made both Jew and Gentile one. and have broken down the middle
wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh,
the enmity, even the law of commandments contain ordinances for to make
in himself of two, one new man. So making peace. Look at Ephesians five. There's
several verses I want to look at in Ephesians with regard to
this. Verse 31, for this cause shall
a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his
wife and they too shall be one flesh. Now this is a great mystery,
but all this stuff I've been saying about marriage and it's
glorious what he says about marriage. He says, everything I've been
saying, I speak concerning Christ. and the church. The two being
made one is Christ and the church. What unity there is in the body
of Christ. And if I look at you as God looks
at you, I look at you as someone without fault and without sin. Somebody says, but there is fault
and there is sin. God says we're holy, unblameable,
and unapprovable in his sight. And I think God's view of things
is much more accurate than my view of things and your view
of things. Look in Ephesians chapter four,
this is such an important passage of scripture. I therefore brethren, I therefore
the prisoner of the Lord, You know, Paul was writing from prison,
and it had to be miserable. I mean, he's hungry, cold, not
sufficient clothing. It couldn't have been very fun.
The prison conditions were much worse there than they are today. He was writing from this prison
to the church at Philippi, and he says, I, therefore, the prisoner
of the Lord. You are exactly where He has
placed you. That is a good place to be, isn't
it? I, therefore, the prisoner of
the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation,
the calling, wherewith you are called, oh, to be called of God.
What a blessing for God to call my name. I'll tell you why I
call him his name because he called my name first. Zacchaeus,
make haste, come down. Today I must abide at thy house. Zacchaeus made haste. He came
down. He received him joyfully. Now
he says, I beseech you as the prisoner of the Lord that you
walk worthy of the calling wherewith you were called And what is the
worthy walk? With all humility. That's what loveliness is. Humility. You know, humility is such a
beautiful thing. And if you think you're humble,
I got news for you. Like the man who said, behold,
I've overcome my pride. Good. Good. With all humility,
lowliness. You know, the Lord was humble,
meek and lowly in heart. No one ever felt threatened by
him or sinners didn't. Religious people did. He was
pretty rough with him, but sinners never felt judged by him, threatened
by him. He said, I'm meek and lowly in
heart. And meekness, that's that attitude
toward God. Meekness is not weakness. That's
what most people think of it. That's just a weak person and
they can't stand up for themselves. Meekness is an attitude before
God that he's in control of everything and whatever he brings my way
is right. Therefore, I'm not resisting.
That's meekness before God. Blessed are the meek for they
shall inherit the earth with long suffering, patience, patience. Forbearing one another in love.
You know what that means? Putting up with one another.
In love. Knowing who I am in Christ. Knowing
who you are in Christ. And you know, I know something
about myself. A little bit about myself. You
know, I'm a sinner. I'm not saying that in a casual way. I hope I say that with a broken
heart. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinful man. And I hate
it. I hate it. And I don't want to
commit sin. And I know you hate it just the
way I do. I know you do. And therefore,
how am I to look to you, and how are you to look to me? Forbearing
one another in love. Putting up with one another,
bearing up with one another in love. Let's go on reading. Endeavoring, giving every effort
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, not contention,
but peace. Now he goes on to tell us what
the unity of the Spirit is. There's one body. That's talking
about the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the body of Christ.
There's one body made up of all the elect, the church that Christ
gave himself for. There is one body. And there is one spirit, even
as you were called in one hope of your calling, there's one
spirit, God the Holy Spirit. And if you're born again, and
if I'm born again, he birthed both of us into the kingdom of
heaven. And he gave us a new heart. And he taught us the same
things. He doesn't teach one, one thing
and somebody else, another thing. If we're believers, we believe
the same thing because we've been taught by the same spirit
and we have the same experience. Somebody says, everybody's got
a different experience. No, they don't. Every believer's got the
same experience. I mean, we are truly one in that.
And we're taught by the same spirit. We believe the same gospel. even as you were called in one
hope of your calling." Now, I have one hope. I reckon I say this
every week. The only hope that I have of
being accepted by God is that Jesus Christ died for my sins
and put Him away and gave me His righteousness, and that's
His work altogether. And that's the only hope that
I have of being accepted before God. There is no other hope.
There's one hope. If you're a believer, that's
your hope. You don't have any other hope. The only hope you
have is that all Christ is, all he is to his father. The father
has made him to be to you. And your acceptance is in the
beloved. It's not in your works. It's not in your understanding. It's not in your knowledge. It's
in Christ. There's one hope. There are not
two hopes. And every believer is united
here, aren't we? I mean, don't you think, that's
my hope. When we're getting ready to take the Lord's table together,
I thought this was so precious. We're getting together people
who really believe that the shed blood and broken body of the
Lord Jesus Christ is all their salvation. There's something
so powerful about that. You can't take the Lord's table
by yourself. I've heard of people doing it. It doesn't work that
way. It's something the body of Christ gets together to do
together, and we're sharing in this same hope. I love the way
Paul says, as often as you take this bread, you're showing forth
the Lord's death. That's the sermon you're preaching.
You're showing forth the Lord's death. He'll come again. There
is one hope. There's one body and one spirit,
even as you're called, in one hope of your calling, there's
one Lord. One Lord. The one who is the
Lord of creation. The one who's the Lord of providence.
He's the one who controls every event. Whatever happens is His
will being done. He's the Lord of salvation. That
means your salvation and my salvation is totally in His hand. And I like it being there. I
like it being there because He's of great mercies. But if that's
not your Lord, He's the only Lord there is. And He is your
Lord though. I like saying this, the Lord,
Paul said in Romans 14, nine, He's the Lord of the dead and
the living. Somebody that's dead in sins, he's their Lord. He's, you know, the goats belong
to him too. He only laid down his life for
the sheep, but the goats are his too. He's the Lord of the
dead. He's the Lord of the living. There's one Lord. What's he say
next? There's one faith. One faith. Every believer believes
the exact same thing. What about believers that don't? I have no doubt that true believers
can get into a position where they're not seeing eye to eye. I have no doubt about that. But the Lord will bring everybody
together. in his own time. And everybody
will believe the exact same thing. I think of what Paul said to
the Galatians, this persuasion you have, cometh not of him that
calleth you. Now that can happen. That can
happen. But it's still true that in our
heart of hearts, there's no disagreement with believers over how God saves
sinners Election by the Father, redemption by the Son, regeneration
by the Holy Spirit. They're all at agreement. There's one faith. It's called
the faith of God's elect. The acknowledging of the truth,
which is after Godless, it's called the common faith. That
which is common to every single believer. There's one baptism. Baptism by immersion and all
that that signifies. being immersed in the water,
submerged all the way under, and emerging back up from the
water, speaking of our only hope of being in Christ, one with
Christ. When he lived, I lived. When
he died, I died. When he was buried, I was buried.
When he was raised, I was raised. There's one baptism. I mean,
the gospel is in that simple illustration of water baptism. And there's one God and father
of all who's above all and through all and in you all. In conclusion, is this message I have brought
from the scriptures? I'm asking you, judge yourself. Is this message I brought to
you tonight, is this from the scriptures? Is this God's word? Is this what the Bible actually
teaches? Is Christ divided? No. No. Every believer is one in Christ
Jesus. Now, that being the case, there
is never a reason for believers to not be perfectly joined together
in one mind and in one judgment. Isn't that so? No reason for
it. We all believe the same thing. And what does it say about someone
who is not in agreement with that? Well, I will let this message
answer that question. And you know when people say
you all are too narrow, too not inclusive enough, not ecumenical
enough, too exclusive. Now I don't want to be more narrow
than the Bible is. Do you? Matter of fact, I want
to throw the door wide open to everybody. Come on in. Him that
cometh to me, the Lord said, I'll in no wise cast out. I want
to be wide open. I want to leave the door wide
open. I want to preach the gospel to every creature. Come, the
Spirit and the bride say, come. Let him that heareth come, whosoever
will. Let him take the water of life
freely. I don't want to put roadblocks
in the way. When we were reading of that,
when Drew was reading that passage of the cities of refuge, You
know, I've heard message where people would actually on those,
they didn't get this from the Bible, I realize that, but they
said on those roads, somebody maliciously might change the
cities this way, and they might put it the other way, and all
kinds of malicious things, and the priest was supposed to keep
the road clear. That's not in the Bible, I know
that, but there's a lot of truth to that. I wanna keep the way
clear. I want to preach the gospel clearly. I want it to be wide
open to everybody. I don't want to exclude anybody. But the Lord did say this, I
am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man cometh
to the Father, but by me. And the only way you and I can
come to the Father, this excludes all other ways, the only way
you and I can come to the Father is by Him. Now turn back to our text, 1
Corinthians 1. Now think of what Paul is saying. Now I beseech you, brethren,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the
same thing. That there be no divisions among
you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind,
in the same judgment. For it's been declared unto me
of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe,
that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every
one of you sayeth, I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, I'm of Cephas,
I'm of Christ, is Christ divided? No. Was Paul crucified for you? No. Were you baptized in the
name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none
of you, but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had
baptized in my own name. I baptized also the household
of Stephanus. Besides, I know not whether I
baptized any other, for Christ sent me not to baptize. We're
gonna consider that verse next week. Christ sent me not to baptize. This is not about results. Is this taking away from the
importance of baptism? Of course not. Baptism is very important.
But I'm not, Paul said, I didn't come to baptize people, I came
to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. The issue
is not are you the only one preaching the gospel and is so and so preaching
the gospel or is so and so not preaching the gospel? The issue
is what is the gospel? That is the only issue. And every believer knows the
gospel and every believer has the mind of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the unity that we have in your blessed
son. How we thank you that there's
one faith, not two to be confused over which one's right, but there's
only one faith. There's one Lord. There's one
hope. There's one body. There's one
God and Lord, we're asking in Christ's name, by your grace.
that you will cause every one of us to endeavor to keep the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Cause us to be perfectly
joined together in the same mind, the same judgment, believing
that our Redeemer is all and resting in Him. And Lord, as
we observe your table, Lord, we're so thankful for this opportunity
and cause us to See once again, like we've never
seen before, that the broken body and shed blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ is our salvation, is our hope, is our faith, is
our message. Keep us by your grace and bless
us in observing your table. In Christ's name we pray, amen.