Now, if you have your Bibles,
I'd like for you to open them with me to the book of 1 Corinthians. I'm going to bring you a study
today on this subject, the fellowship of God's Son. The fellowship
of God's Son. I'm going to be going verse by
verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 1 through 10. I want to show you something
here, a very important, very important truth, the fellowship
of God's Son. Now, the Apostle Paul begins
his epistle to the church at Corinth with a truth that every
believer knows. Every one of you who are listening
to me knows this truth. And everyone who would know God
and who would seek the Lord and who would have fellowship with
the Lord must learn this truth with which Paul begins the first
chapter of the book of 1 Corinthians. In these first ten verses, Paul
declares emphatically and plainly that Jesus Christ is all and
in all. that God has for the sons of
men. In other words, everything spiritually
that God has for you and me and for every believer is in Christ. He's all and he's in all. The
gospel of salvation is concerning his son. That's what Paul said
to the Roman church. He said, I'm an apostle of Jesus
Christ. I'm a bond slave of Jesus Christ. I'm dedicated, separated to the
gospel of Christ, which is concerning His Son. God's gospel is concerning
His Son, Jesus Christ. Everything that God has for the
believer, we know this. We know this is in Christ. In
other words, the Scripture says, "...in whom we have redemption,
the forgiveness of sins. It is Christ in you, the hope
of glory. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you appear with Him in glory." And
John says, this is the record. This is the record. This is the
written Word of God. That God has given us eternal
life, and this life's in His Son. any son, and he that hath
the Son of God hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life." In other words, like an old Puritan preacher
said many years ago, it's Christ, not the cross, that saves. It's
the person, not the profession, that saves. It's the Christ,
and not the church, that redeems. It's the master, and not the
mother who's the mediator. It's the Redeemer. It's the Redeemer
himself and not the rosary to which we pray. It is the bridegroom,
it's not the brotherhood. It is the blood of Christ that
cleanseth us from all sin. It's the obedience of Christ
that gives us a perfect holiness. It is the love of Christ that
brings us to the Father. It is the faithfulness of Christ
that keeps us in the way. It is the presence of Christ
at the right hand of God as our advocate and mediator. If any
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father who is Jesus
Christ the righteous. Christ as our mediator stands
between our souls and God. Upon both parties He lays his
hands, presenting his precious blood. Christ is my rock, on
him I build. He's my life, my hope, my all. His promise shall be fulfilled. He will never let us fall. It is not Christ and my faith.
It is not Christ and my confession. It is not Christ and my works.
It is not Christ and my church membership. It is not Christ
and my feelings. It is not Christ and my experience.
It is Christ alone who saved." That's the truth with which Paul
begins this first book of the Corinthians. Everything that
God has for the sinner is in Christ, through Christ, because
of Christ and based on the person and work of his son. Now if you
will, you take your Bible today and let's go verse by verse,
just 10 verses and there's a point in each verse, a special point
which Paul makes in each verse. And I'll show you in these first
10 verses how the apostle exalts and magnifies and glorifies the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is an example of what it
is to preach Christ. You know, Paul always said, we
preach Christ and Him crucify. Well, this is what he's doing.
He's preaching Christ. Now look at verse 1. This is the way he
starts. This is the first epistle to
the Corinthian church. This is the church to which Paul
ministered, the church which he loved. The church in which
he stayed for 18 months one time, just preaching to them, teaching
them the word of God. This is the city of which God
said to Paul, you stay right there. You stay right there in
Cairns. Nobody's going to touch you, nobody's going to harm you.
I have much people in this city. You stay there and preach to
them. And he did for 18 months. And then when he went away, and
the Spirit of God led him to write this letter to the church
at Corinth, I want you to watch how he begins it. The first ten
verses. Now watch it. Verse one. He says, Paul, call
to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. We always talk about the Apostle
Paul, the Apostle Paul, the Apostle Peter, and the Apostle James
and John. What is an apostle? What is an apostle? Did you ever
look up the word Well, I'll tell you what it is. An apostle is
one who is sent. One who is sent. That's what
the word means. One who is sent on a special, particular mission. One who is sent on a mission. Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ
himself is called an apostle? An apostle of the Father? That's
right. In Hebrews chapter 3 it says,
consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, the
Lord Jesus Christ." He was sent. He said, as my father sent me. He said when he prayed in John
17, I finished the work you sent me or gave me to do. He's an
apostle and high priest of our profession. He was sent. And
he said to his disciples, as my father sent me, even so I
send you. And this is what Paul is saying
to the Corinthians. He's saying, I'm an apostle.
I'm sent on a mission. And my mission is Jesus Christ. That's my mission. I'm an apostle
of Jesus Christ. I'm a messenger of Jesus Christ. I'm sent on a mission to declare
Jesus Christ. And he said in chapter 2 of this
epistle, that he came to preach Christ and determined to know
nothing among them except Jesus Christ that's what an apostle
will do, he'll do what he's sent to do to make Christ known, to
preach Christ and every true apostle and every true evangelist
and every true pastor and teacher has one message and he'll preach
it every time he preaches and that message is Christ Old John
Flavel wrote a book called Method of Grace, and in that book he
has a sermon, one of the greatest sermons I've ever read. It has
five points. This message has five points.
Number one, he said, everything that God has for a son of Adam,
a sinner, is in Christ. Point two, and everything that
God has for the sinner becomes ours in Christ by faith. That's right. Faith lays hold
of Christ. Faith embraces Christ. Faith
receives Christ. And everything God has for the
sinner in Christ is ours because of a union with Him. It's not
from us, it's from Him. Everything I have is because
I'm one with Him. He's the head, I'm the body.
He's the vine, we're the branches. But everything's from Him. It's
in Him, of Him, through Him, by Him, for His glory. Fourthly,
and every blessing comes by the power of God's Spirit. We're
called of the Spirit of God. The Gospels were regenerated,
taught by the Spirit of God. And fifthly, the Spirit of God
uses the preaching of the Gospel to reveal Christ. You see that?
Paul is an apostle of Jesus Christ. I'm sent to preach Christ. Oh,
I noticed verse 2. And he says, I'm writing to the
church at Carlin. To those, listen, I'm writing
to the church at Carlin, to those who are sanctified in Christ
Jesus and called to be saints. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
is writing to those in the Church of Corinth who are sanctified
in Christ. What does sanctified mean? Well,
sanctified means to be holy. To be holy before God. To be
holy before God. The Scripture says without holiness,
no man will see the Lord. That's right. It means to be
perfect. It needs to be without stain, without spot, or without
sin, to be holy in God's sight. Well, you ask, how in the world
can a sinner be holy before God? Job said, how can man be clean
that's born of a woman? How can he be justified with
God? Behold the moon it shineth, not
the stars are not pure in God's sight. How much more abominable
and filthy is man who drinks iniquity like the water? How
can we be sanctified, perfectly holy, in God's sight? It says
right here, we're sanctified in Christ Jesus. Sanctified in
Christ Jesus. He is our righteousness. He is
our sanctification. I tell you, we make a mistake
when we try to establish a righteousness of our own. That's what Paul
wrote in Romans 10. He said, my heart is so heavy
for my brethren according to the flesh. He said, I bear them
record, they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they're ignorant of God's
righteousness, and they're going about to establish their own
righteousness. Christ is the end of the lawful
righteousness to everyone that believeth. Christ is our righteousness. Christ is our holiness. You see,
that's what Paul said in Romans 5. By the disobedience of one,
many became sinners. By the obedience of Christ, we
were made righteous. Righteous. Sanctified in Christ
Jesus. Justified by His blood. Sanctified
by His life. redeemed by his love, in the
body of his flesh," listen to this, in Colossians 1.22, in the body of his flesh, through
death, he'll present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable before
God. Oh, I tell you, isn't that something?
Isn't that something? Sanctified, perfectly holy in
Christ. Alright, watch verse 3 now. He
says, Grace be unto you and peace. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace be unto you
from Christ through Christ. You know, I know that most people
Try to picture God looking upon this world and all mankind in
love, in peace, in harmony. I know that's the way that God
is presented by most people today. He's just in love with the world
and everything's peaceful with God and everything's in harmony. But that's not the God of the
Scriptures. Consider, now listen, consider God's wrath and judgment
against Adam in the Garden of Eden. When he put him under a
judgment, under a curse, and his whole posterity under that
curse, and separated him, cast him out of the garden. Think
about God's judgment, his judgment during the days of Noah. when
the whole world fell under God's wrath and God's judgment and
was destroyed. Think about the destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah. Have you thought about that?
How that God's wrath fell upon the great cities of the plains
and just devoured them and everybody in them. Consider the scriptures
that says God will by no means clear the guilty. Well that's
scripture which says God's angry with the wicked. Well, that's
scripture that says, he that believeth not the Son shall not
see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. I tell you, my
friend, the scriptures picture God dealing in judgment and wrath
with sin. You go to Calvary's cross, and
you'll see God dealing with sin, imputed sin. Sin born by Christ,
not his own, but someone else's sin, our sin. If God spared not
his own son, but delivered him up to wrath and judgment and
death, do you think he'll spare the unbelievers of this world? I tell you, guilty men need grace. Where is grace found? In Christ. That's what that verse says.
Verse 3, Grace be unto you. from our Lord Jesus Christ. That's
where grace is found. Sinners need mercy. Where is
mercy found? In Christ. Enemies need reconciling. Where is reconciliation found?
In Christ. We need peace with God. And the
only way to have peace with God is to be in the Prince of Peace.
In Christ. That's right. This is the fellowship
of His Son I'm talking about. Colossians 1.20 says, and having
made peace with God through the blood of his cross by Christ
to reconcile all things unto himself by Christ I say to reconcile
all things whether they be in heaven or on earth and listen
and you and you who were enemies in your wicked minds hath he
now reconciled by the blood of his cross. Ah, where is grace
found in Christ? Where is peace found in Christ?
Look at verse 4. Continuing this, I thank my God
always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given to
you, Paul writing to this church at Corinth. For the grace of
God which is given to you by Jesus Christ, now listen, that
in everything, everything, you are enriched by Him in everything. There's nothing that I have that
He didn't give me that's eternal, that's lasting, that's worth
having. There's nothing I know that He didn't teach me. There's
nothing I am that He did not make me. There's nothing I hope
to be. that I won't find through him.
We used to sing a little chorus that talks about our dependence
upon Christ for all things. You know, the scripture says
in 1 Corinthians 1, of God are you in Christ, who of God is
made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. Now here's the chorus. Jesus Christ is made to me all
I need. All I need. He alone is all my
plea. He's all I need. My wisdom, my
righteousness, my power, my holiness forevermore, my redemption full
and sure. He's all I need. And that's what
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15 10 when he summed up his own
experience He said I am what I am by the grace of God All
right, let's read on verse 6 now Paul said even as the testimony
of Christ the gospel of Christ Was confirmed in you is preached
to you and confirmed in you So that you come behind in no guilt,
waiting, waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh,
I tell you, Christ is all. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and we're complete in Him. Everything we
have, everything from God, is in Christ, through Christ, and
of Christ. That's what Paul started out
with. He said, I'm an apostle of Christ. I'm a servant of Christ. I am sanctified in Christ. I am redeemed and accepted in
Christ. I am justified in Christ. I have grace and peace with God
in Christ. I have all things that I need
and all things that God requires and God hath made us meet Did
you ever read that verse in Colossians 1.12? God hath made us meet.
You know what that word meet is? Sufficient. Qualified. Qualified to inherit the glory
of the saints in his kingdom. God has made us fit, qualified
and meet and sufficient to inherit eternal glory. Where? In Christ. We have all things in Christ.
Now watch what we're saying here in verse 6. And we're waiting
for his return. We're waiting for his return,
for the redemption of our bodies. You know, our Lord said he would
return. He gathered his disciples about him before he went to the
cross. And he said, now, let not your heart be troubled. Believe
in God. Believe in me. In my Father's
house are many abiding places, many dwelling places. If it were
not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Now listen. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. That
where I am there, you may be also. And Paul says, we're waiting. We're waiting for the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He said he would return. He said
he would return. And then when he went to the
cross and died, was buried and rose again, and he appeared to
the disciples and to the people for about 40 days, and he took
them out on a mountainside, and he spoke to them. He said, tarry
into Jerusalem till you be endued with power, with the Holy Spirit,
and then you go preach the gospel to every creature. And as he
was speaking to them, the scripture said he was taken up from their
presence into heaven. He ascended before their eyes,
went back to the Father. And they stood, the disciples
stood, gazing into heaven, and the angels of the Lord appeared
to them and said, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing into heaven?
This same Jesus, this same Jesus, who loved you, died for you,
rose again. He's gone back to the Father
to intercede for you. This same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you've
seen him go. He's coming back. We're waiting
for his return. The Apostle Paul said, I wouldn't
have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that you sorrow not as those who have no hope. For if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so them which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with him. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel. Trumpet
of God shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise, and Christ
is coming back. You say, preacher, I hear folks
talking a lot about the second coming, the second coming. Tell
us some things about the end time. Let me tell you something.
Now you listen to me. You don't need to be concerned
about all the events, and advents, and judgments, and Armageddon,
Tribulation, and all of these things, and judgments, and rewards,
and all these things. You know what you need to be
concerned about? You need to be concerned about one thing.
Do you know Christ? Does He know you? Do you believe
the gospel? Have you laid hold of Christ
for mercy and grace and rested, trusted in Him and Him alone?
He's coming back. He's coming back. I don't know
when. It doesn't matter when. He knows. The Lord knows. Nobody else knows.
He's coming back when He pleases. And when He comes back, It's
going to be a new heaven and a new earth. He's going to raise
the dead, and we're going to be changed into His likeness,
into His image, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. And
I don't need to confuse my mind with all the things that God
has on His calendar. That's God's business, and the
secret things belong to Him. Our Lord's coming. We're looking
for Him. He will return and He'll receive
us and take us into Himself. And verse 8 says, and concerning
that day, and concerning that day of the Lord, He'll confirm
you to the end. He'll keep you. He'll protect
you. He'll sustain you. He'll comfort
you. And He'll confirm you to the
end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord. That's
all that matters. He's coming. He's coming. What happens when He comes is
unimportant. It's His coming for which we
look. His coming. And when He comes,
everything's going to be alright. Because He said, I'll come again
and receive you unto myself. That where I am, there you may
be also. And I'm going to leave it right
there and be totally happy being confident of this very thing.
that he which hath begun a good work in you, he'll finish it,
he'll perform it, he'll perfect it in the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ. It's his day. And he'll be victorious
in his day, and all of his people in him will be victorious. This
is the will of him that sent me, that of every one which seeth
the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and
I'll raise him up at the last day. It'll be alright. It'll
be alright. And that's all you need to do,
just rest in Him. Besides that, some of us are
getting up in years. And Christ is coming for us very
soon now. We don't have to worry about
tribulation and Armageddon and Valley of the Dead and Valley
of Megiddo and all this sort of thing. We don't have to be
concerned about that. We just rest in our Redeemer
and when He calls, go to meet Him. Someday somebody will say
the masters come and he's calling for you and that'd be all right
one Whether he comes in the clouds or whether he comes in the middle
of the night Or whether he comes right now Takes us home. Look at verse 9 now quit Because
God is faithful God is faithful by whom you were called into
the fellowship of his son Three people that God is faithful who
called you into the fellowship of his son. That's what all this
is. True religion is not form and
social life, it's faith in Christ and a union with him by faith.