Turn to 1 Corinthians, chapter
4. I want to read one verse of Scripture. And if what is said in this verse
of Scripture is driven home to us, it will be a blessing to
us. Verse 6, And these things, brethren, I
have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for
your sakes, that you might learn. in us, not to think of men above
that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one
against another." Now, I've read this verse of Scripture many
times. And I don't believe that I have
seen before the preparation of this message the impact of what
has been said in this verse of Scripture. And I pray that God
will bless this to our hearts. Paul says, These things, brethren,
I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your
sakes. Now, what had Paul said about
himself and Apollos? Now, you'll remember that the
church at Corinth had been saying, I'm with Paul. Another one was
saying, I'm with Apollos. Another was saying, well, I'm
with Peter. And the real pious one said, I don't listen to any
man. I just follow Christ. And what does Paul say about
himself and Apollos? Look in chapter three, verse
five. Who then is Paul? Who is Apollos? But ministers, instruments, by
which you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. I planted,
Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither
is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but
God that giveth the increase. Who is Paul? He's nothing. Who
is Apollos? He's nothing. Now, Paul tells
us, I've said these things about myself and Apollos, that you
might learn this valuable lesson, that you might learn in us not
to think of men above that which is written. Now, obviously, he's
speaking of the Old Testament Scriptures. And if you and I
learn this lesson, we've learned something. If we've learned not
to think of men above or beyond that which is written. Now, I want to give you an example
of this. Would you turn with me to Romans 3? Paul strings
together a bunch of Scriptures from the Old Testament to tell
us what is written regarding man. Now look what he says here
in Romans chapter 3, beginning in verse 10. As it's written. Now there is
the answer to everything as it's written. Now he's stringing together
a bunch of scriptures from the Old Testament to talk about man
as it's written. There's none righteous. He's
quoting here from Psalm 53. There's none righteous. No, not
one. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Their throat is an open grave
with their tongues They have used deceit. The poison of asps
is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. That's so much for our mouth
and our speech. Now, he says, their feet are
swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways and the way of peace. They have not known there is
no fear of God. before their eyes. Now every
one of these are quotations from the Old Testament Scriptures.
And he said, I want you to learn to not think of man, yourself
or anybody else, an inch beyond what the Scripture actually says
regarding man. Turn to Genesis chapter 6. Here's
the first description the Bible gives of man after the fall. Verse 5, And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination. He's not even talking about the
works right now, the deeds. He's talking about what goes
on through the mind, the thoughts. How many of the imaginations?
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil, non-stop. Now, that's God's testimony in
His Word concerning this man and concerning these men and
women. That's God's testimony, and He says, I want you to learn
Not to think of man beyond or above that which is written.
Now, I'm going to talk about why that's valuable. Why that's
important. But in our text, I think this
is interesting. Look back to 1 Corinthians chapter 4. He gives this as the reason.
First Corinthians, Chapter four, verse six, and he says, These
things, brethren, have I figured, transferred to myself that I'm
nothing, that Apollos is nothing for your sakes, that you might
learn in us not to think of men. I mean, remember, these are apostles.
Paul, Apollos was the eloquent man learned in the scriptures.
He says, Don't think of us above that which is written, that no
one of you be puffed up. for one against another. Now,
here's one reason not to think of men above that which is written,
so you won't be puffed up one against another. This will keep
us from having inflated views of men. And that's what the word
puffed up means. It comes from the word where
we get the word bellows, where you blow hot air on something.
It's what the blacksmith is. It's hot air is what it's talking
about. I want you to not be puffed up and have hot air against one
another. You see, this is where contention
comes from. Somebody gets a high opinion
of himself, and you know what he's going to do? He's going
to have a low opinion of somebody else every time. The Scripture
says, by pride only comes contention. And if you have a bunch of people
who have the right view of themselves, you know what? They're going
to get along. They're not going to be looking down their nose
at the other. They're going to be all down on the same level. And this is critically important
for us to have true fellowship, to have true unity and not be
puffed up one against another. Now, this church in Corinth had
a lot of puffiness in it. A lot of swollenness in it, you
know, when when something is swollen, that means there's something
poison. There's some problems, you know, when someone in a wound,
when it becomes swollen, you know, there's some kind of infection
in it. And the Church of Corinth had
quite a bit of puffiness. Look, look here in verse 18 of
First Corinthians chapter four. He says, now, some of you are
puffed up, you're filled with hot air, you're swollen as though
I would not come to you. But I'll come to you shortly,
if the Lord will, and will know not the speech of them which
are puffed up, but the power. The kingdom of God is not in
word, but in power. Now where there's puffiness,
there's all talk. There's no substance. All speech,
but nothing real. Look in chapter 5, verses 1 and
2. He says, it's reported commonly that there is fornication among
you. This is a common report, sexual sin and such fornication
as is not much is named among the Gentiles, but one should
have his father's wife. And you are puffed up, you're
proud, you're OK with this, and you'd not rather mourn that he
would have done this deed might be taken away from you. In a
puffy attitude like this, in a swollen attitude like this,
there's no fear of sin. Look in chapter eight. Verse one. Now, as touching things
offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. We know
the right answer to this. We know that an idol is nothing.
We all have knowledge. But look at this next statement
he makes. Knowledge puffeth up. Proud of what you know. I know
something that you don't know. I've got an advantage over you. Knowledge. Knowledge without
grace. Knowledge without wisdom. All it does is puff one up with
pride. But charity edifies it and builds
up. There's true building up with
charity. Look over in 1 Corinthians 13. Verse 4. Charity, oh, it suffers long. And it's kind. Charity envies
not, charity bonds not itself, it doesn't push itself, it's
not seeking to promote itself. It's not puffed up. Now, we see from these verses
of Scripture that there was a lot of puffiness in the church of
Corinth, and he's dealing with that and he's saying we need
to have a right view of man so we won't be puffed up one against
the other. Now listen to this statement.
All error, all error has behind it an inflated
view of man and his ability. I don't care what error it is.
All error regarding all things has this behind it, this motivating
it, this empowering it, an inflated view of man and his ability. You've heard that statement,
wrong on the fall and wrong on it all? That couldn't be truer. Let me give you an example of
this. Let's just take the Doctrines of Grace, the five points. I bet everybody here knows what
I'm talking about when I say that total depravity, unconditional
action, limited atonement, irresistible grace, perseverance of the saints.
Now, to be wrong on those, in any, all five of those, okay,
a denial of total depravity is what? It's an inflated view of
man. Every aspect of man is totally
and completely under the dominion of sin. He can't do anything
to save himself, and a denial in that in any way is an inflated
view of man. It's puffing him up. What about
unconditional election? Unconditional election said God
didn't have to find a reason in you to choose you. No reason
at all. He didn't look for a reason in
you. Now, a denial of that says God found a reason in you to
choose you. He chose you because of something in you. What has
that been an inflated view of man? Limited atonement. Limited atonement says Christ
died only for the elect. A denial of this is saying that
there's something you do to make what Christ did work. If he died
for everybody, there's something you do that makes his death effectual. What is that? An inflated view
of man and nothing more. What about a... I don't... No, I hate using the term capitalist.
I hate it, but I got to in this. You've heard of a four-point
Calvinist? He believes in total depravity, unconditional election.
What does he leave out? Limited atonement every time.
Now, you know what that is? That's an inflated view of man.
They're trying to say, well, everybody has Christ's death
coming to them. Christ ought to die for everybody.
That is wrong for him not to, so therefore we're going to say
he died for everybody. What's that? An inflated view of man.
What about irresistible grace? God's grace is irresistible and
invincible. Now, if I deny that in any way,
I'm saying man has the power to Accept or reject is ultimately
in man's hands. What is that? That's an inflated
view of man. What about perseverance of the
saints? If I say a true believer can fall away, I'm also saying
it's something that he does that keeps him from falling. What
is that but an inflated view of the flesh? Every error has
behind it an inflated view of man. Now, if we learn this valuable
lesson to not think above what the scripture
says regarding man, you know what else it's going to do for
us? It's going to keep us having a high and exalted view of the
Lord God. Now, whenever there's an inflated
view of man, you know what happens correspondingly? A lower view
of God. The higher you lift up the flesh,
the lower you bring God every single time. Oh, may God give
us the grace to learn this important lesson. And most importantly
of all, if we learn not to think of men more highly than we ought
to think, but not to think beyond what the Scripture teaches, it's
going to keep us ever needing the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't
it? It's going to keep us needing Him, continually needing Him. I'm poor and needy. If God gives
me the grace to see what I am, oh, how I need the Lord Jesus
Christ, where it's going to make us obey His commandment, as you
receive Christ Jesus the Lord. As you receive Him. I love thinking
about this. How did you receive Christ Jesus
the Lord when you first received Him? Now, I can't remember exactly
when it was I first received him. But I do know this. When I did receive him, I didn't
have any experience to look to. I didn't have anything in myself
to trust. I received him as an empty-handed
sinner, needing his mercy. Now that's how I received him.
Nothing else. Nothing else. Now, as you receive
Christ Jesus the Lord, So walk ye in Him. You know, it's easy
to walk with Him that way, isn't it? When you get higher is when
you start falling. It's easy to walk with Him by
His grace that way. Now, look back in our text in
1 Corinthians 4. I want to point this out. Verse
6, And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred
to myself and to Paulus for your sakes, that you might learn in
us not to think of men above that which is written." Now,
you'll notice, of men is in italics. It was put there by the translators
to make sense of the text. And in the context, I agree with
him. That's basically what he's talking about. But still, that's
not the way it actually reads. Here's the way it actually reads,
and I love the King James version because I love the way it puts
things in italics. If it's not there, they're honest enough
to put there. They think this is what it means in the context. But
here's what it actually says. I don't want you to think. Above
or beyond that which is written. Don't even think about anything.
Above or beyond that which is written." We look to the Scriptures alone as our only rule of faith and
practice, and we do not think beyond that scriptures alone
was the first watchword of the Reformation. Now, what does he
mean by going above or going beyond that which is written? And that's really what the word
above means. It means don't go beyond that which is written. What does it mean to go beyond
that which is written? Because, now listen to me, you
and I need this warning because we will. I'll go beyond that
which is written. You'll go beyond that which is
written. If God doesn't prevent us from doing that, and we need
this warning not to go beyond that which is written, what does
it mean? Well, we believe what we believe
because the Bible says it. We don't believe it because it
makes sense. We don't believe it because it's logical. We don't
believe it because it lines up with our experience. We don't
believe it because it's a strong implication, and it seems like
it would just naturally fall from this. That's not why we
believe anything. We believe what we believe because
it is written, and we don't go beyond that which is written. If it's what the Bible teaches,
we believe it, but we don't go beyond that. We don't believe
doctrines that seem to be implied by what the Bible teaches. We
only believe what is actually written. When our Lord Jesus
was being tempted by the devil, can you imagine the devil trying
to tempt the Son of God? Do you think he could match wits
with the Son of God? I guess he thought he could.
I guess he thought he could get him to fall. Here he is tempting
him. Tempting the Son of God. And
the devil, no doubt, is very smart. You and I aren't any match
for him. That's for sure. He could turn
us inside out just like he did Peter. I think of that passage
of Scripture where the Lord said, Satan has desired to have you
that he may sift you as wheat. And don't think he couldn't do
it to you so easily. So easily. But here he is. He's
trying to tempt the Son of God. And how does the Lord answer
every one of His temptations? It is written. Now, the Lord
could have got into a battle of wits, wouldn't He? You reckon
the Lord could have turned Him inside out? Well, of course He
could. Satan was no match for the Lord
Jesus Christ. I mean, Satan's smart, but Christ
is omniscient. He knows all things. He could
have so easily whipped him in any way he wanted to, but the
way he chose to deal with Satan himself was, it is written. It is written. It is written. Now let me show you a couple
of examples of what happens when you go on beyond what is written.
Turn with me to Romans chapter 6. Verse 20. Moreover, the law entered, Romans
5, verse 20, I'm sorry, Romans 5, verse 20. Moreover, the law
entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. I want you to think of the preciousness
of that statement. Where ever sin abounds it. Are
you a place where sin abounds? Where sin overflows? I mean,
you're a sewer is what that means. That's how your heart is. It's
a sewer. It's where sin abounds. He said where sin abounded in
that very place. And this is the only place where
this happens. Where sin abounds, grace. Free unmerited favor doth much
more abound. Isn't that a precious promise?
Wherever I find an abounding sinner, I find grace, God's grace,
overabounding over all his sin. Isn't that good news? That is
good news. Now, here's what logic says. Here's what human logic says.
And this is logical. Well, let's keep on sinning then
so grace will continue abounding. Paul answers that. Look in Romans
chapter 6, verse 1. What shall we say? Shall we continue
in sin that grace may abound? You know, Paul knew all these
objections we make. He said, God forbid. How shall
we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? And there's
an example of human logic going wrong. Trying to use human logic
to establish a doctrine. It won't work. Here's another
example, I was thinking about this, one of the most amazing
scriptures, it's in Luke 1.15, well all scriptures are amazing,
but in Luke 1.15, speaking of John the Baptist, it says he
was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. I mean, evidently he was born
again, born from above, when he was in his mother's womb.
I mean, that's what it says. I mean, he was. No doubt, no
doubt this man was filled with the Holy Spirit when he was.
Remember when the womb, when he heard or it was Elizabeth,
his mom, she was bearing John the Baptist. And when Mary came
and told her that she was with child from the Holy Ghost, the
Scriptures of John the Baptist leaped in the womb when he heard
that. Now, that really happened. That's
not figurative language. That really happened. He was
born from above. He was born again in his mother's
womb. Now, can I take that and use
that to imply? Well, I mean, you don't have
to hear the gospel. John the Baptist didn't. He didn't. I mean, he did not. He he was
filled with the Holy Spirit from the mother's womb. Now, do I
take that and imply from that? Well, that proves you don't really
have to hear the gospel. You don't have to preach the
gospel. You may end up being saved anyway, as long as you're
You can't establish a doctrine like that. That's establishing
a doctrine from an implication, implying something. So here's
the point he's making. Don't go beyond that which is
written. Now, you can use logic and you
can end up here. You can use an implication and
end up there. But he says, do not go beyond
or above or past That which is written to the law and to the
testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it's
because there's no light in them. Isaiah 820. Now, it is written,
it's found literally hundreds of times in the New Testament
alone. Now, I wonder if we can say this honestly. Well, I hope
I'm being honest when I say this. I hope this is really my experience.
I'm saying it is. I sure hope it is. I don't go
to the word of God to prove what I believe. I go to the Word of God to find
out what to believe. I don't go to the Word of God
to try to prove my doctrine, to prove what I already believe.
You know, to handle the Word of God like that is to handle
the Word of God deceitfully. That's deceitful. To try to use
proof texts. I'm going to prove what I believe.
You know, you can prove anything you want from the Word of God
when you pull a scripture out. I can prove salvation by words
and not by grace, but with a lot of different scriptures. if you
want to pull them out. Now, I do not. May God deliver
me. May God deliver me from taking
the Word of God and trying to use it to prove my point, rather
than going to the Word of God to find out what to believe. Now, how do you respond to the
Word of God? How do you respond to it is written? Let me show you a couple of scriptures.
I want you young people to listen to these real carefully. Turn
to 2 Timothy chapter 3. I want you old people to listen
to this too. I mean, this is so important. Verse 16. All Scripture is given, 2 Timothy
3.16. This is what the Bible claims
for itself. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. That means literally God breathed. Every word in this book is God
breathed. Yes, men wrote it. Their personalities come through.
You can tell the difference between the writings of Paul and the
writings of Peter. You can tell the difference between
the writings of John and the writings of Luke. I mean, their
personalities come out, their experiences come out. There's
no question about that. But that being said, every word
is God-breathed. Turn to 2 Peter chapter 1. Verse 16, For we have not followed cunningly
devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his
majesty. And he goes on to tell us about
seeing him on the Mount of Transfiguration, for he received from God the
Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from
that excellent glory. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. And this voice which came from
him, we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mass. Can you
imagine that? They saw the Lord Jesus literally
transfigured before them. They saw His face shine above
the brightness of the sun. They saw His body glisten right
through His clothes. His deity burst through His humanity,
and they heard the Father speak from heaven, This is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. Can you imagine that experience?
You want to talk about a mountaintop experience? And look what he goes on to say.
Verse 19. We have also a more sure word
of prophecy. More sure than that experience
we had. You know the experience you had yesterday? It might have
been a dream. That feeling you had? It might
have been a dream. Here's something that's more
sure. A more sure word of prophecy, that which is written, let's
go on reading verse 19. We have also a more sure word
of prophecy, wherein to you do well that you take heed. As unto
a light that shineth in a dark place. Into the day dawn and
the day star arise in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy
of the scripture is of any private interpretation. Listen to me.
We don't interpret the scripture. We declare what God's Word says.
Well, that's your interpretation. I'm not interpreting the Scripture.
I've heard people say, you have to interpret the Scripture. No,
you just preach what God's Word says. The Scriptures have no
private interpretation. Well, that's your interpretation.
No, we're not trying to interpret the Scripture. We're declaring
what God says. The Scriptures have no private
interpretation. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, But holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Now that's God's testimony concerning
his word. It's not my interpretation or
your interpretation. It's God speaking from heaven. Now, I want to close by giving
you four words that are very helpful, I believe, in understanding
what this book we call the Bible actually is. Remember, he says,
I want you to learn not to think, not even think beyond past that
which is written. Don't you find the need to do
that? I mean, I don't want to think a bit beyond that which
is written. So let me give you four words
that I believe give us something of the majesty of this book.
Here's the first word I want to give you. purity. Every word
is pure. It's purely the Word of God.
It's not mixed with the words of men. It doesn't contain the
Word of God, partly man's word and partly God's word. This is
the Word of God. It's not mixed with error. It's
perfect. It's not mixed with evil. It's
holy. It's the Holy Bible. It's the
pure word of God. I love what Peter says. He says,
desire and newborn babes. The pure milk, that's what's
sincere, the sincere milk of the word is actually the pure
milk of the word that you may grow thereby. Let me ask you
a question. Do you want to hear me? Do you
want to hear my opinions? You know you don't. You don't
want to hear what I've got to say, or what I think, or what
my take on anything is. You want to hear the pure Word
of God. And that's all you want to hear.
Now he says, as newborn babes, desire, crave that pure milk
of the Word, that you may grow thereby. And the first word is
pure. I don't usually do this, but
they all start with the same letter. So I like this. I came
at this with myself. This is pretty good. Because
I don't usually do that. If I get an alliteration, it's always
where I read somebody else did it, and I copy them. But this is
good. I remember one time Brother Mahan was preaching here. I never
will forget this. He said, God's called me to preach, and I'm
good at it. I thought, yeah, he is. I mean, he won't get any
argument from me there. And he wasn't saying that in
pride. He is. God gifted him for it.
Where am I going with that? Here's the second word. Person. The person of the word. This
is not just the letter, this is the person of the word. You
see, this book really is all about him. Now, one of the things
that's so mysterious and glorious about the word of God is that
just like its author, the word of God is a trinity. You can't ever separate this
whenever you talk about the word of God, the word of God is the
written word. That reveals the living word. the Lord Jesus Christ. And every
time the Word of God is preached, the Word is preached, the message. The Word of God is the message.
It's the gospel message. It's a definite content, the
gospel message. It's the Word from the Word that
reveals the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, quick and powerful and
sharper than any two-inched sword. So when we're talking about the
Bible, We're talking about the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
All Scripture speaks of Him. To Him give all the prophets
witness. Every word in this book is concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. This truly is a hymn book. His person. Here's the third word I want
to use power. The power of the word, the word
has power because it's the living word. It is not, you know, man's
words are so hollow, so when I read this book. I know God
wrote this. Can I prove it to you? No, I
can't. Does that make me? Wonder if it's real? No, it doesn't.
I know God wrote this book. I read this book. Only God could
write this book. Oh, the power of the Word. This
Word has power to beget life. Of His own will begat He, birthed
He us through the Word of truth. Being born again, Peter said,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word
of God that liveth and abideth forever. Turn with me for a moment to
Jeremiah chapter 23. This Word gives dead sinners
life and has the power to break the heart. It has power to melt
the heart of stone. It convicts. It comforts. Jeremiah
23, verse 28. The prophet that hath a dream,
I have dreamed, let him tell his dream. But he that hath my
word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat,
saith the Lord? Is not my word like as a fire,
saith the Lord, and like a hammer? that breaketh the rock in pieces. I love that description, the
Word of God. Turn to Isaiah 55. Verse 8, For my thoughts are
not your thoughts. Isn't that the truth? Neither
are my ways your ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens
are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways. And my thoughts are your thoughts. For as the rain cometh
down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but
watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth, and bud that
it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall
my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return
unto me void. But it shall accomplish that
which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto
I send it." Oh, the power of this word. Now, here's the last
description of the word, the preciousness. The preciousness
of the word. You know, Peter's faith of exceeding
great and precious promises. You know, the Lord said, the
word that I speak to you, the words that I speak to you, their
spirit and their life, they're so precious. Is this precious
to you? By grace, you're saved. Is that
precious? Is this precious, the blood of
Jesus Christ, God's son cleanses us from all sin, is that precious?
Is this precious, if any man sin, we have an advocate with
the Father. We had that advocate before the
sin, during the sin, and after the sin. There's nothing you
needed to do in order to get that advocate to do it. No, we have
that advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. Oh, every precious promise. I'll never leave you nor forsake
you. Is that a precious promise? Oh,
the preciousness of the holy, inspired Word of God. And he says, I want you to not
even think beyond that which is written. So what is the conclusion to
all this? Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 4. Verse 1. Paul gives this charge to Timothy,
I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and
his kingdom. Preach the word. There's his
charge. the Word. Don't apologize for
it. Don't water it down. Don't hide
it. Preach the Word. Whatever God
says in His Word is important. There's no such thing as something
that's of secondary importance. Whatever God reveals is of infinite
importance. Preach the Word. Don't hide it. Declare it boldly. Declare it
lovingly, declare it humbly, and preach the word. And this is the power of the
preacher, not his eloquence, not his ability to preach or
persuade men. Simply, it's the word of God
God blesses. It's the word of God. And if
you're blessed by anything other than the word of God, it's not
much you get blessed by, is it? It's the Word itself. Preach
the Word. What does God say? Does the Word declare that God
elected a people? Preach it. Does the Word declare
that men are dead in sins and can't do anything to save themselves?
Does it declare that? Preach it. Does the Word declare
that Christ actually accomplished salvation for everybody He died
for? Preach it. Oh, I love to preach the Word.
Preach. the Word, and don't go beyond,
don't go above, don't go past that which is written. That's
where people get in trouble, when they go beyond or past that
which is actually taught in the Scriptures. May God give us grace
to obey this command and not go beyond that which is written. Let's pray together.