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If you have your Bible, and I hope you do, or grab one in the pew in front of you, go ahead and turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 1.
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And if you're able to stand for the honoring of God's word, please rise and join me as we honor the very words of God.
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We're going through chapter 1, verse 1 through verse 9.
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Paul called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus and our brother Sosthenes to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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I give thanks to my God always for you, because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you are enriched in him in all speech and in all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
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This is the word of our God.
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Join me in prayer.
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God, we thank you that you promise you will sustain your sheep, your people, you will confirm us that we have been enriched like the believers in Corinth.
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We have received the gift of speech and knowledge, these spiritual gifts in Christ, that we have grace and peace given to us through Christ.
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God, we love you and we worship you.
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And God, I pray that we would have ears to hear what you have said to your people through your word.
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In Christ Jesus' name we pray.
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Amen.
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He may be seated.
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Now I want you to think this morning, if Paul were alive today, what kind of letter would he write to the church of God in Christ in North America?
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What are the kind of things he would address to the North American church?
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Maybe immediately a couple of things come to mind.
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If he was to write a letter to the Church of God in Christ in Clint, Texas, what would he say?
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What issues would he address?
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What would he commend us in?
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What would we need to be reminded about in light of the gospel?
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Well, the good news in this instance here is that 1 Corinthians was written to the Church of God in Christ in Corinth, but he was written for believers at all times.
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So he has given us exactly what we need.
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Clint First Baptist, we have a letter from God that is relevant to our needs right now as a body of Christ here in Clint, Texas.
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And this is important because we think of all the issues that need to be addressed.
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Everything that needed to be covered is given in the entirety of God's Word.
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And 1 Corinthians is such an important book.
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Now, a couple background issues I'll address a little bit today.
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We'll look at some more as we get into chapter one in the future.
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1 Corinthians, this letter was probably written around early to mid 50s.
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So still eyewitnesses of the risen Christ around during this time period.
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The city makeup, though, is quite interesting.
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The city makeup, they had the Olympics, they had many large sports events in this area, which drew in a lot of crowds, as you can imagine.
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People coming into this area.
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It was a wealthy city, but there was also poor people in the area.
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And when we understand the background, things come to mind as we continue to read later about the potential division that may happen between the rich and the poor.
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But this was also a city, it was a port city, and they were, and you could read more about how ships would also go through certain areas of this land on wills to avoid the difficult areas in the water.
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But this city was known for a lot of immorality.
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Now there may be slings around today.
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I'm not going to repeat any of those in our culture today, but slang terms that would say uh be referring to someone who was really um sexually immoral, who is very immoral in not only in sexual ways, but in many categories.
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That was a slang term in the first century to Corinthianize someone, or you're just a Corinthian.
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And really would be a way to refer to someone who is very immoral.
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They had many Greek gods in temples.
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There would be the temple of Aphrodite, many temple prostitutes around at the time.
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So most of the church would be made of Gentile believers, and uh, but there were also Jewish background believers that were a part of this church.
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We'll look at in a little bit, um, some of the early stages of this church.
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Um, but we see somewhat as what are gonna be some of the issues this book brings up.
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Well, the church in uh church in Corinth was very much influenced by Greek culture, right?
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They were influenced by that background, that's what they came out of.
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1 Corinthians 6 later talks about that.
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That's what you once were, and he's reminding them this is your identity.
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You're in Christ, you belong to him, you don't belong to the world, you were bought.
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So there was still the creeping reality of worldliness that that ends up compromising in various ways.
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There's division, we see that in the first few chapters, and they were really taken in by Greek rhetoric.
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Is is speaking well important?
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Of course.
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But they were so taken in that they're like, Well, I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, well, I just follow Jesus, unlike you guys.
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And and Paul later on packs, what are we doing?
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Stop this.
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This is not what we're about.
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These are people that the Lord has gifted the church leaders, certainly, but everything we have, it's we're not about attaching ourselves to this and dividing.
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And so people were debating where's the true power?
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Is it in a guy who can speak so well rhetorically, or is it in the power and the simple gospel itself?
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Many people say Paul was not impressive.
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Uh, he might have been a short guy, about five, seven, like my height.
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Uh, actually, I'm tall in the Philippines, so I'll remind you of that.
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Um, love that.
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I love that country.
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Uh, and they like basketball too, which I enjoy more than soccer.
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Um, but they Paul was not impressive in many ways, we'll look at in the future.
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And they thought, well, the power of a church growing, you gotta have someone who's real charismatic.
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And Paul says over and over, the power is in this message, this knowledge, this speech.
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It's in the power of Christ in that message.
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But they have these issues of sexual immorality that will be addressed.
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Do you guys think our culture today struggles with sexual immorality?
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Yes.
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So we've been given exactly what we need here at Clinton First Baptist.
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There's issues dealing with church unity, discipline, how we even think about approaching the Lord's Supper.
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And all of these issues, really, it's capped off in chapter 15 with a long explanation of the importance of the hope of the resurrection of Christ.
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Some people were even questioning core things.
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Now we'd see all this and say that Paul, when we look in these early verses, he was still celebrating the grace of God that was shown in their lives, even though they were immature in certain areas, right?
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You want to we can look briefly here before we dive into our proper text.
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Uh, Acts 18.
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Turn to the book of Acts, New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts.
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Acts 18, we see a little bit about the church and its early stages here.
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So Acts 18.
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After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
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And he found a Jew named Macila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.
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And he went to see them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked, for they were tint makers by trade.
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And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.
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While Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.
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So he was meeting at the synagogue, pointing people, reasoning, the true form of reasoning that the Greeks, their heart was longing for, finds its fulfillment in Christ, and finds its fulfillment in the eternal law of us, who took on flesh, and he's pointing them to that reality.
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But they opposed and reviled him.
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He shook out his garments and said to them, Your blood be on your own heads.
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I am innocent.
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From now on, I will go to the Gentiles.
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And he left there and went to the house of a man named Atitius Justice, a worshiper of God.
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His house was next door to the synagogue.
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Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord.
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So a key leader of the synagogue believed in the Lord Jesus, together with his entire household.
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And many of the Corinthians, hearing Paul, believed and were baptized.
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As we noted last week, believers who have received the message proclaim that publicly in baptism.
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Verse 9.
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The Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, do not be afraid, but go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you.
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For I have many in this city who are my people.
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Aren't those some great words of encouragement?
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Like, just keep speaking, I'm with you.
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Well, we already have that.
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You may say, Well, that would be nice to have a vision like that.
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Well, we've been given in the completed canon of scripture everything we need.
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We have the same promise of his um presence, his steadfast presence.
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Now, right here, he's saying guaranteed success.
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That's encouraging.
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But you see, the Lord is doing a work here.
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He stayed a year and six months teaching the word of God among them.
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But when Galileo was proconsul of Achaea, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, saying, This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.
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Now we know from other texts like Galatians, this isn't contrary to the law.
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This is fulfillment of the law that Christ is the fulfillment what the law is pointing to.
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But they were distorted in their understanding and they're opposing him.
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Faithful gospel proclamation frequently has opposition and frequently has people that question and people that believe.
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But it's always accompanied by the steadfast presence of the Lord and an emboldening witness, a Holy Spirit emboldening witness.
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So as we share the gospel next weekend, will we have some people oppose us?
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Most likely, yes, if we're faithful.
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Will some believe?
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I don't know, but that there is a good reality that that may happen.
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But notice he says, this man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.
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But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Galeo said to the Jews, If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint.
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But since it's a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves.
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I refuse to be a judge of these matters.
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So he's trying to push this issue away, right?
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He doesn't want to deal with it.
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He drove them from the tribunal, and they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal.
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Well, Galio paid no attention to this.
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Now I think this is important here because Sosthenes basically someone has to take a beating.
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They they have Sosthenes, the ruler of that synagogue, as well.
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Now you already had Crispus believe, and it wasn't Paul that was beaten in this case, but Sosthenes is the one that's beaten.
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Now, this is very important because it doesn't seem from indication of this text that Sosthenes is a believer in Jesus.
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But what do we notice from what we just read in 1 Corinthians?
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Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes.
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A lot of accounts seem to say that the church comforted Sosthenes, probably ministered to him.
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And now he's writing here many years later, and he's writing as Sosthenes, he's a brother in the Lord.
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After this missionary effort, after this opposition, we see a brother in Christ who didn't say, Oh, I'm gonna have so much opposition, and I don't want to have all this pushback.
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I'm just gonna say Harry says, Sosthenes says, Jesus is worth it, even if I'm opposed, and was welcomed by the family of God, and now is with Paul, probably as his secretary, right here.
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And so I think we see this encouraging effort that is really an effort that can't be stopped by men.
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Something that's from man will just die and Peter out.
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But you know what the Lord has promised will endure all the way till the second coming of the Lord Jesus, the church.
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If it's from God, it's unstoppable, it'll last forever, right?
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And we see that work here, Paul and Sosthenes.
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Now, the key things we see here in this these short nine verses is all believers in Jesus are called, confirmed, and sustained by God's grace.
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Let's look at these first three verses of believers called, called people by grace.
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Now, Paul, he's a called an apostle and the brother Sosthenes.
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We see all believers called by God's sovereign grace.
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Deuteronomy seven speaks of this reality as well.
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Deuteronomy seven speaks of thus the same reality when it speaks to the Israelites.
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They weren't called because they were wiser or smarter, he says Deuteronomy seven, seven.
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It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest people of all fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath he swore to your fathers that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery.
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It is God's grace and his grace alone, not by the will of man, but by the will of God, John 1 12 to 13, that we are born again, you um and born into the family of God.
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It speaks of the same reality in Romans 9 16, where he um God's word says, So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.
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We are born again by the living and abiding word of God, not so that we could boast.
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We have all of this, God who the the the call of those, the internal call of those who by God's grace, meaning there was no way to boast.
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If you are a believer today, it's not because you were smarter or wiser, as Deuteronomy 7 and Romans 9 says, it is by God's grace alone.
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Paul, his Hebrew name Saul and his Greek name Paul, he had this dual citizenship, and he's he's writing this letter, one of 13 letters, as a man who was an enemy of God, and then on the way to Damascus met the Lord Jesus and had a radical conversion.
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I've said this before, and I'll say it again.
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Everyone who is a believer in Christ today, it is a radical conversion.
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You say, Well, yes, but I grew up in church and I wasn't murdering people like Paul.
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Well, I told the guy who was delivering the porter party for the movie night the other day.
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Um, I asked him a question if he had a personal relationship with Jesus.
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He said, No, I don't.
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My mom does.
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I used to be into that thing and kind of drift from going to church.
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I said, You know what, man?
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I don't share my testimony.
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I used to be an enemy of God.
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Now I'm a friend of God, and he was wide-eyed.
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You are an enemy of God?
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Well, that's what scripture says, all those who are outside of Christ.
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You were hostile in the flesh, dead in your sins, a slave to sin, guilty before the Lord.
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So before Christ, we were at war with God, and now in Christ, Romans 5:1 says, now having been justified with God, we now have peace.
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If we have peace with God only in Christ, that means outside of Christ, we're at war with them.
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We're not at peace with them.
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And it's the same testimony at the root as Paul.
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We once were dead in our sins and trespasses and now have peace with God.
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Like, is there a better story than that?
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You're like, it's not like we're bugging people.
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Hey, I want to tell you about like my um this product that I don't really am not really a fan of, and but I gotta sell it, gotta get a number in.
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No, no, let me tell you the greatest news ever.
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Enemies can be made friends, and that's Paul.
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He has this radical um conversion story.
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Do you have that story, that testimony that you have been saved from dark to light, like Paul?
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Now, Paul had multiple missionary trips, but Paul he had a shepherd's heart.
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He he was he was an apostle, yes, and that's a once-for-all position.
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It was the 12 apostles, and then Paul, particularly called by the Lord Jesus to shepherd the early church, and we don't have modern apostles today.
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I know you see a lot of those online apostles in front of people's name.
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That's not a position today, that's the foundation of the church.
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Ephesians 2 and 4 makes clear the Lord has given those apostles and then shepherds is continually ongoing, as 1 Timothy 3 makes clear.
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But as an apostle, he has a level of authority, but it's not just in himself, it's because his words are tied to the Lord Jesus, and what he's writing is not just the weird words of man, as 1 Thessalonians 2 speaks of, it's the very words of God, is the authority of Jesus behind it.
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So he has this apostolic authority that people questioned later and try to minimize.
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Well, he's not that impressive, and is he really as authoritative as the other apostles?
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He's called directly by the Lord Jesus, and he has this care.
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He has a care.
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Every good shepherd, every good, faithful shepherd will care about the health of the church, will care about all these issues that 1 Corinthians addresses.
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And you know, it's it's it's not a good shepherd who leaves things unaddressed.
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He wants to address them, and sometimes it's difficult, it can be awkward, but he's not going to be passive on this.
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And here with Sosthenes, strengthening him, probably writing, a former synagogue ruler, now a brother in Christ, called apostle, called brother, but called church of God, those sanctified in Christ Jesus.
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Look at uh verse two here, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.
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Now, the word here, if you've heard of the church Hagias Sophia, has anyone heard of that name?
00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:39.759
That word literally means holy wisdom.
00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.880
Now, hagias is really that term that's used here when it's talking about sanctified.
00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:47.200
This is holy or set apart.
00:19:47.359 --> 00:20:03.680
Now, we tend to use the word sanctified, and in the gradual growing and holiness in our life and our experiential holiness, the way it's actually used here is really referring to what we typically say of justification, a once-for-all positional reality.
00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:11.920
So this is those that are set apart, to those sanctified, to those holy and set apart in Christ Jesus.
00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:15.200
That's what it's talking about, this positional, set apart reality.
00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:20.960
I love how Matthew Henry says the purpose of Christianity to set us apart, to sanctify us.
00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:28.559
If you belong to Christ, you are set apart, you were called unto the Lord Jesus, you were unholy, and now you are holy.
00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:52.880
Not because you reached that status, um, as you see in many traditions, um, Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic tradition, they'll have those that are reach a status of saint, maybe have done uh very uh uh meritorious acts, and they'll say Saint Thomas Aquinas or Saint Peter will have that title, and they'll find it interesting, like to say, well, others haven't reached the status of sainthood, they would say.
00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:59.039
According to scripture, everyone who is in Christ is a saint, it just means one who's set apart.
00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:09.839
So to the saints of Clint First Baptist, we read 1 Corinthians, speaking of the saints, um, here uh in the saints in Corinth.
00:21:10.079 --> 00:21:21.440
Now, I I love how one of my uh friends who's a pastor, he laughed, and we could laugh as well, that we may not speak this way if I say uh Saint David or Saint Debbie or um Saint John.
00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:26.319
Um we could, it would be biblical and appropriate to say that um to each other.
00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:33.759
We tend to say brother or sister in Christ, um, but it is a reality that we are all saints if we are in Christ.
00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:43.920
And he says here in verse 2 every um together called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:57.519
So the saints, they're they're saved confessors, they confess the Lord Jesus, all those who have been regenerated, who have put their trust, who believe in their heart and confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, they are saved.
00:21:57.680 --> 00:21:58.880
They confess the Lord.
00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:04.720
It's not some Particular ritual that we have to do in order to achieve salvation.
00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:17.680
It's trusting in Christ in Christ alone, and all those who confess the Lord Jesus, who call upon his name, truly in a saving faith, return from their sin and trust in Christ, will be saved.
00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:20.720
Not you might be saved, you don't know, you will be saved.
00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:25.680
And it's a fulfillment of Psalms 113.1 and Malachi 1.11.
00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:27.920
My name will be great among all the nations.
00:22:28.079 --> 00:22:32.160
Now the gospel is going out to all nations, Jew and Gentile.
00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:35.200
And it is the saved confessing people.
00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:40.000
We confess every Sunday, Jesus is Lord, Caesar is not Lord.
00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:50.400
Um, on no nation, no nation's leader is Lord, Jesus is Lord of Lord, King of kings, and he has all authority on heaven and earth, and he is ruling and reigning now.
00:22:50.559 --> 00:22:53.920
We confess him as our Savior and our Lord.
00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:56.319
Now notice it says the Church of God in Corinth.
00:22:56.400 --> 00:23:01.599
It's a particular group of people who are gathered in a particular place and accountable to each other.
00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:07.440
But notice it says all in every place who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:17.279
You may disagree on some nonessential issues, but anyone around the world who truly calls upon the Lord Jesus Christ is your brother and sister in Christ.
00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:19.039
That's the church universal.
00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:21.440
And so we all share that bond.
00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:28.960
Now notice what it says here in verse 3 grace to you and peace from God our Father in the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:38.640
These aren't just random words like, Hey, hope you have a wonderful day, and um sincerely, uh my my regards, it's not just something tagged on.
00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:43.279
This is starting with that reminder of the gospel, grace and peace.
00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:54.400
Both of these come together, and that the grace of the Lord Jesus, as I've said this before, and you may find this helpful, this acronym, God's riches at Christ's expense.
00:23:54.720 --> 00:23:56.160
G-R-A-C-E.
00:23:56.480 --> 00:23:59.039
God's riches at Christ's expense.
00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:02.559
Grace is a word that literally means undeserved kindness.
00:24:02.640 --> 00:24:10.960
We get the riches of God, the perfect righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, given to undeserving sinners at the expense of Christ.
00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:13.119
That's grace that is received.
00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:15.839
Grace is received and not achieved.
00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:21.839
So evangelism tip next weekend, if you're with us, you ask, hey, why are you walking so many miles?
00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:25.920
I'm hoping that in time I will be good enough to get to heaven.
00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:27.359
I've heard many times.
00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:31.279
Grace is not achieved, grace is received.
00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:36.000
It is only by grace you are saved, not by works, so that no one can boast.
00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:40.880
And it comes through the Father and the Son and the Spirit.
00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:46.240
It is all a work of God, it is a gift of God, and to have peace with God.
00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:49.279
Peace is not just like us saying, Hey, peace, brother.
00:24:49.599 --> 00:25:00.559
Peace is having uh union with the Lord, having shalom, peace with God, and man, we're no longer at war with him because our sin has been taken care of.
00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:02.079
True wholeness.
00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:06.880
When you see peace in scripture, you need to think of a biblical way of speaking of peace.
00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:13.119
Where it's well with your soul, even if your ears don't work, your legs don't work, um, something else is broken in your body.
00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:19.359
You have peace with God, and that's your greatest need is to have grace and peace in Lord Jesus.
00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:24.880
Let's look at verses four through seven, how believers are confirmed people by grace.
00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:47.200
Look again, there says, I give thanks to my God always for you, because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
00:25:47.519 --> 00:25:52.000
So notice again, this grace is speaking of something that's given.
00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:57.920
And we have the grace of salvation, restoration with God that's received in Christ Jesus.
00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:06.960
And not how what he says here, I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given it you in Christ Jesus.
00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:12.960
Now, if you want to see a church that has a lot of issues, look to the church in Corinth.
00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:15.039
But notice what he says here.
00:26:16.400 --> 00:26:22.400
He's still making note that he's giving thanks for the grace of God that is evident in their life.
00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:32.160
If you have an issue with another believer in Christ, or you you may find uh many issues with any church, with our church or other church, there's no perfect church.
00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:42.480
The early church had struggles, but notice it's grounded in the reminder that you've received grace, you've received the grace of God that was given to you in Christ Jesus.
00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:47.279
He's starting with that reminder and that encouragement in the gospel.
00:26:47.519 --> 00:26:56.400
With if we don't have that as a continual reminder, saturated with that, if we don't remember that we've received grace, therefore I can forgive others.
00:26:56.480 --> 00:27:00.640
If I have been forgiven in Christ, then we're gonna have division.
00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:12.319
Then we're going to have infighting, and um then we'll be looking towards other issues that are not as important as the the gospel that alone unites the church.
00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:28.240
But notice he talks about other what we sometimes call grace gifts, not in a salvitic way, but evidence of the spirit's work in their life, and this is kind of introductory as we'll look in chapter 12, the spiritual gifts in the church and how they can be unifying and building up.
00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:31.200
But it speaks of the spiritual gifts in a broad way.
00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:41.279
He says, and and this is important because Psalms 84, 11, the Lord does not withhold from those who walk in integrity, right?
00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:43.759
Now, did they struggle in the Corinth church?
00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:54.000
Again, yes, they did, but the Lord He says right here, every way you were enriched, verse 5, every way you were enriched in Him, in all speech and knowledge.
00:27:54.240 --> 00:27:55.279
They were enriched.
00:27:55.359 --> 00:27:57.680
He's it's a way of saying, You guys have all the gifts.
00:27:57.839 --> 00:27:59.680
This is such a gifted church.
00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:10.799
This is a gifted church in Corinth, he says here, they have the gifts, they're all the areas of great concern um for Greeks, get it made them prideful.
00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:19.920
They they wanted to have the gifts of speech and knowledge, and these these gifts of speech, the word that's used here is the same word that refers to Christ, logos, the word.
00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:26.480
They had the gift of the the speech and and the knowledge of Christ.
00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:31.039
They had this gift, the message of a perfect gift in Jesus.
00:28:31.279 --> 00:28:33.680
They had the gift of knowledge.
00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:42.000
Now, you may have um heard of this word agnostic, meaning without knowledge, someone who says, Well, I just don't know if there's a God.
00:28:42.160 --> 00:28:52.000
Um, now there was other people who go to the other extreme, Gnosticism, but claim they have this special insight that no one else has access to, and it's this secret mystical knowledge.
00:28:52.079 --> 00:28:55.680
He's saying, No, you know, you have the knowledge you need.
00:28:55.920 --> 00:29:01.279
You have the knowledge you need, you have everything you need in the revelation of Christ in the gospel.
00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:09.119
You guys have that, and so the problem was they may have had certain knowledge, but they didn't always use it to build up.
00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:16.720
They used it kind of with an influence of the Greek culture of look at how skilled this guy is, pointing to themselves, right?
00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:18.720
I don't want you to see me.
00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:21.039
I want you to see Jesus when you see me.
00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:26.079
I want you to see Jesus when you see others use their gift in the church, and that was what they struggled with.
00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:34.480
But here's what's comforting here is that you are not lacking, and you've received all you've been enriched in speech and knowledge.
00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:36.559
Believer in Jesus here today.
00:29:36.720 --> 00:29:40.640
If you have the message of Jesus, you can speak about Jesus.
00:29:40.799 --> 00:29:45.279
You have the knowledge of Jesus, you don't know everything perfectly, but you have what you need.
00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:53.519
You have the Spirit of God, you have the Word of God, you've been given everything you need for life and godliness to share the gospel, to disciple someone.
00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:57.839
It's not that you just bring everyone so one leader can do that.
00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:01.119
My job is to equip you to disciple and share the gospel.
00:30:01.279 --> 00:30:02.319
You have what you need.
00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:05.039
Maybe thinking, well, what about what about this?
00:30:05.200 --> 00:30:13.119
Well, certainly we can continue to grow, but we have his word, we have his message, we have the spirit of God and living in us.
00:30:13.279 --> 00:30:14.079
So speak it.
00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:23.920
The one of the main reasons we have the Holy Spirit in us is to set us apart, not just to wait and do and wait until we would um go to heaven.
00:30:24.079 --> 00:30:33.119
The Spirit of God is in us to make us holy and to speak holy words, proclaiming Christ is the one who can make others holy if they look to him, right?
00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:39.119
But look at the rest of this section, how there's this confirming work in verse 6.
00:30:39.440 --> 00:30:48.640
Even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:51.279
The Spirit at work in you, showing these gifts.
00:30:51.359 --> 00:30:54.079
But this the Holy Spirit has given everyone a gift.
00:30:54.240 --> 00:30:57.599
It may be many gifts, but you've all been given at least one gift.
00:30:57.839 --> 00:31:04.400
But the evidence that you have that desire to serve the church is evidence, confirmation that Christ is in you, right?
00:31:04.799 --> 00:31:06.160
It's the confirming work.
00:31:06.400 --> 00:31:09.680
Saving faith always produces fruit.
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:12.079
Saving faith produces fruit.
00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:16.640
There's some it'll be 20, 30, or 40 fold, but there is fruit.
00:31:16.799 --> 00:31:20.240
If you have been regenerated, you have a new heart from the Lord.
00:31:20.400 --> 00:31:30.240
You look at 1 John 2 29, it talks about a life that is in a pattern of um directed towards obedience to the Lord.
00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:35.119
You are going in one direction, you don't make it a pattern of rebellion anymore.
00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:48.720
And that's the reality of those who truly have been saved, they will show the evidence, the fruit of the root of saving faith, that they are eagerly waiting for the day of the Lord Jesus.
00:31:48.960 --> 00:32:08.640
Now, one who can fake it, uh, one who may profess Christ, but they may not possess a saving faith, can say a lot of right-sounding um doctrines, but they truly, in their heart of heart, does not look for the revealing, eagerly, the revealing of the Lord Jesus, the return of the Lord Jesus.
00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:18.720
Because they they may want to be known as spiritual, but in their heart of hearts, they don't have that love for God that only comes through a heart that is born again.
00:32:19.039 --> 00:32:20.880
But look at verses eight and nine.
00:32:21.119 --> 00:32:29.119
Not only are believers called by God, they're confirmed by grace, and they are sustained by grace.
00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:30.240
Look at verse eight.
00:32:30.559 --> 00:32:42.799
He who will sustain you to the end, Jesus Christ, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, God is faithful, by whom you are called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
00:32:43.599 --> 00:32:47.759
Jesus, he calls by grace, an undeserved calling.
00:32:48.079 --> 00:32:52.559
He confirms us in his grace, and he sustains us.
00:32:52.799 --> 00:32:54.400
Isn't this comforting?
00:32:54.640 --> 00:33:01.920
Like if you think if if you're on that, you're driving on a road, if if you were to let go of the wheel, what's gonna happen?
00:33:02.079 --> 00:33:08.240
Well, some of them it's gonna veer right, some of it's gonna veer left, it's gonna do the Walmart shopping cart effect, right?
00:33:08.480 --> 00:33:13.839
Like there's all I always seem to get the one that's like the squeakiest and that turns right really hard.
00:33:13.920 --> 00:33:16.079
And everybody looks at me, or at least I feel that way.
00:33:16.319 --> 00:33:19.200
I go and I'm like, you have to continue to shift it in.
00:33:19.440 --> 00:33:26.640
Now I was staying with a friend one time in Kentucky for went in person for some seminary classes, and I drove his car.
00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:28.240
I didn't know this was a feature.
00:33:28.319 --> 00:33:34.880
Uh, you probably have this on your car, that once you hit the side um line, it starts, it pushes you in.
00:33:35.119 --> 00:33:39.359
And I was like, wow, this is a reminder of the sustaining grace of God.
00:33:39.759 --> 00:33:44.000
It's a reminder that the Lord He will hold you fast, as the Psalm says.
00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:48.319
He will hold you fast, though we are prone to wonder.
00:33:48.480 --> 00:33:55.359
The Lord will hold us fast and continue as we may as we struggle, as sometimes we are faithless.
00:33:55.599 --> 00:33:57.200
But what does the word of God say?
00:33:57.440 --> 00:34:04.000
Even though we are faithless, he remains what faithful, faithful, steadfast.
00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:10.639
And you may say, Well, but didn't the word Jesus say in Luke 12, 9, if you deny me before men, I will deny you?
00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:11.840
Yes, he did.
00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:15.679
But I think we are speaking of an ultimate and final denial.
00:34:15.840 --> 00:34:22.480
Remember, Peter denied Jesus, but Jesus was praying for him, he was interceding for him that he would be restored.
00:34:22.639 --> 00:34:25.440
Do you know that Jesus is praying for you right now?
00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:28.159
He is continuing to intercede for you.
00:34:28.320 --> 00:34:41.440
He is still our high priest, he had his perfect work and he's interceding for his people, and you will be sustained because you have a perfect interceder continuing to offer up prayers on your behalf.
00:34:41.679 --> 00:34:45.679
And you know that every single prayer of Jesus is answered.
00:34:46.159 --> 00:34:47.840
It's not like I hope it will.
00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:54.400
Isn't that comforting that as the car is guided by those little warnings?
00:34:54.559 --> 00:35:02.320
You are guided by the warnings of scripture, by our shepherd, and you are guided and sustained by Jesus Himself.
00:35:02.639 --> 00:35:09.519
You see over and over these realities that our God, He is faithful, He will sustain you.
00:35:10.239 --> 00:35:15.280
I often quote this He who began a good work in you will see it to completion.
00:35:15.840 --> 00:35:19.199
What's the good work that Philippians 1 6 is referring to?
00:35:19.440 --> 00:35:26.320
The good work of your salvation being brought into the kingdom of God, he will bring it to completion.
00:35:26.559 --> 00:35:30.960
God doesn't try to do something and something thoughts his plans.
00:35:31.119 --> 00:35:36.079
Everything God does, he does it perfectly and completes all of his sovereign plans.
00:35:36.239 --> 00:35:41.280
But what's the result that it says here in the end of 1 Corinthians 1 9?
00:35:41.440 --> 00:35:47.760
God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
00:35:47.920 --> 00:35:54.239
You weren't just called in to just say words, you were called into a relationship, real living fellowship.
00:35:54.559 --> 00:35:56.000
Jesus Christ our Lord.
00:35:56.239 --> 00:36:04.000
But back up again, he says, He will sustain you to the end, verse 8, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
00:36:04.239 --> 00:36:10.239
He will sustain you, and the goal is you will be like him, for you will see him as he is.
00:36:10.400 --> 00:36:11.760
First John 3:2.
00:36:12.320 --> 00:36:17.599
Well, we're gonna be guiltless on the day of when we are glorified, meaning we are without sin.
00:36:17.760 --> 00:36:19.039
How can we be blameless?
00:36:19.199 --> 00:36:21.840
Well, positionally, we are blameless in Christ.
00:36:21.920 --> 00:36:24.639
There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
00:36:24.800 --> 00:36:28.239
If anyone has the Son, um, he has life.
00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:31.440
Anyone who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
00:36:31.599 --> 00:36:41.199
If you have life in Christ, you are no longer condemned, you are not guilty before the Lord, because you have been united with Christ.
00:36:41.599 --> 00:37:04.400
And when you see Christ face to face, you won't even desire sin anymore, and you will be sinless only in glory, blameless in all senses, not only legally, but functionally blameless, because you will be so overwhelmed and overcome with the one who has called you, the one who called you that you didn't deserve, you didn't deserve a place at the table.
00:37:04.480 --> 00:37:07.519
And it wasn't just that you didn't deserve it, and some people did.
00:37:07.760 --> 00:37:10.000
No one deserves a place of the table.
00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:12.320
We deserve justice and wrath.
00:37:12.559 --> 00:37:28.559
But God who is rich in mercy reached down to our cold, dead heart and brought us to life in Christ, brought us to have a table with Him, and we can dwell in the house of the Lord forever, only by His undeserved grace and mercy and peace.
00:37:28.880 --> 00:37:35.840
We stand blameless or people who were guilty, we're now clean and washed in Christ.
00:37:36.159 --> 00:37:40.000
Now I want you to reflect on this reality.
00:37:40.239 --> 00:37:45.519
The Lord calls us, he confirms us, and he sustains us perfectly to the end.
00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:47.280
It's all a work of grace.
00:37:47.519 --> 00:37:48.800
It's all a work of grace.
00:37:48.960 --> 00:37:56.400
And now you say, Well, what if what if I what if I hold on to the one who's holding on to you?
00:37:57.199 --> 00:38:03.440
Yes, we are called to work out our salvation with fear and trembling as he lives and works through us, right?
00:38:03.920 --> 00:38:09.199
He's holding on to you, he's called you, he's confirmed you, and he will sustain you.
00:38:09.760 --> 00:38:10.960
So you're not gonna lose it.
00:38:11.039 --> 00:38:16.159
You don't have to keep up maintenance because he is faithful, he will surely do it.
00:38:16.320 --> 00:38:24.400
Now, if you need to respond to the calling of the Lord Jesus, you felt the spirit work, you felt the weight of your sin, you want to turn from your sin and trust in him.
00:38:24.719 --> 00:38:26.000
Let's call out to him now.
00:38:26.159 --> 00:38:31.519
The reality is he can save you, he will save those who call out to him, everyone who calls on the Lord Jesus.
00:38:31.760 --> 00:38:37.039
We're gonna end as we have in the past few months, the time of reflection based upon this text.
00:38:37.119 --> 00:38:42.079
And we'll have on the slides up here reflection questions and for you to focus on in prayer.
00:38:42.239 --> 00:38:47.360
We don't want to just be hearers of the word, we want to respond appropriately to the very words of God.
00:38:47.519 --> 00:38:51.280
And if during this time you you need prayers, I'll be in the back as well.
00:38:51.440 --> 00:38:54.079
And or you want to talk about what it means to follow Christ.
00:38:54.159 --> 00:38:57.119
Let's start that conversation right now, during this time.
00:38:57.199 --> 00:39:03.280
If you'll join me in prayer, Lord Jesus, we thank you that you call undeserving sinners.
00:39:03.519 --> 00:39:09.679
God, that it is all your grace, that you call us, that you call Paul, you called Sosthenes.
00:39:10.079 --> 00:39:13.760
Even despite opposition, that you brought that brother into your kingdom.
00:39:13.920 --> 00:39:20.559
You confirm that as we see the evidence, the fruit of you working in and through us, through the believers in Corinth.
00:39:20.800 --> 00:39:25.679
God, but not only that, by your grace, you sustain us perfectly.
00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:27.920
God, you you're you are too good.
00:39:28.159 --> 00:39:29.199
You were so kind.
00:39:29.440 --> 00:39:33.519
Your your kindness is is everlasting, your steadfast love.
00:39:33.840 --> 00:39:41.920
God, I pray that we would rest in your amazing grace to undeserving sinners like us and worship you, Lord Jesus.
00:39:42.159 --> 00:39:50.400
God, I pray that others, if they haven't called out to you now, that they would and know you as Lord and Savior and have will, peace, and fellowship with you.
00:39:50.480 --> 00:39:54.320
It's in the name of Jesus we pray and we worship you.
00:39:54.400 --> 00:39:55.440
In Jesus' name.
00:39:55.679 --> 00:39:56.320
Amen.
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:09.599
If you have your Bible, and I hope you do, or grab one in the pew in front of you, go ahead and turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 1.
00:00:11.119 --> 00:00:19.120
And if you're able to stand for the honoring of God's word, please rise and join me as we honor the very words of God.
00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:25.359
We're going through chapter 1, verse 1 through verse 9.
00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:54.159
Paul called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus and our brother Sosthenes to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:00:54.399 --> 00:01:23.840
I give thanks to my God always for you, because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you are enriched in him in all speech and in all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
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This is the word of our God.
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Join me in prayer.
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God, we thank you that you promise you will sustain your sheep, your people, you will confirm us that we have been enriched like the believers in Corinth.
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We have received the gift of speech and knowledge, these spiritual gifts in Christ, that we have grace and peace given to us through Christ.
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God, we love you and we worship you.
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And God, I pray that we would have ears to hear what you have said to your people through your word.
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In Christ Jesus' name we pray.
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Amen.
00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:14.639
He may be seated.
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Now I want you to think this morning, if Paul were alive today, what kind of letter would he write to the church of God in Christ in North America?
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What are the kind of things he would address to the North American church?
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Maybe immediately a couple of things come to mind.
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If he was to write a letter to the Church of God in Christ in Clint, Texas, what would he say?
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What issues would he address?
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What would he commend us in?
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What would we need to be reminded about in light of the gospel?
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Well, the good news in this instance here is that 1 Corinthians was written to the Church of God in Christ in Corinth, but he was written for believers at all times.
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So he has given us exactly what we need.
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Clint First Baptist, we have a letter from God that is relevant to our needs right now as a body of Christ here in Clint, Texas.
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And this is important because we think of all the issues that need to be addressed.
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Everything that needed to be covered is given in the entirety of God's Word.
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And 1 Corinthians is such an important book.
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Now, a couple background issues I'll address a little bit today.
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We'll look at some more as we get into chapter one in the future.
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1 Corinthians, this letter was probably written around early to mid 50s.
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So still eyewitnesses of the risen Christ around during this time period.
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The city makeup, though, is quite interesting.
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The city makeup, they had the Olympics, they had many large sports events in this area, which drew in a lot of crowds, as you can imagine.
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People coming into this area.
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It was a wealthy city, but there was also poor people in the area.
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And when we understand the background, things come to mind as we continue to read later about the potential division that may happen between the rich and the poor.
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But this was also a city, it was a port city, and they were, and you could read more about how ships would also go through certain areas of this land on wills to avoid the difficult areas in the water.
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But this city was known for a lot of immorality.
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Now there may be slings around today.
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I'm not going to repeat any of those in our culture today, but slang terms that would say uh be referring to someone who was really um sexually immoral, who is very immoral in not only in sexual ways, but in many categories.
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That was a slang term in the first century to Corinthianize someone, or you're just a Corinthian.
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And really would be a way to refer to someone who is very immoral.
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They had many Greek gods in temples.
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There would be the temple of Aphrodite, many temple prostitutes around at the time.
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So most of the church would be made of Gentile believers, and uh, but there were also Jewish background believers that were a part of this church.
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We'll look at in a little bit, um, some of the early stages of this church.
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Um, but we see somewhat as what are gonna be some of the issues this book brings up.
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Well, the church in uh church in Corinth was very much influenced by Greek culture, right?
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They were influenced by that background, that's what they came out of.
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1 Corinthians 6 later talks about that.
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That's what you once were, and he's reminding them this is your identity.
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You're in Christ, you belong to him, you don't belong to the world, you were bought.
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So there was still the creeping reality of worldliness that that ends up compromising in various ways.
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There's division, we see that in the first few chapters, and they were really taken in by Greek rhetoric.
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Is is speaking well important?
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Of course.
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But they were so taken in that they're like, Well, I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, well, I just follow Jesus, unlike you guys.
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And and Paul later on packs, what are we doing?
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Stop this.
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This is not what we're about.
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These are people that the Lord has gifted the church leaders, certainly, but everything we have, it's we're not about attaching ourselves to this and dividing.
00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:32.079
And so people were debating where's the true power?
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Is it in a guy who can speak so well rhetorically, or is it in the power and the simple gospel itself?
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Many people say Paul was not impressive.
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Uh, he might have been a short guy, about five, seven, like my height.
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Uh, actually, I'm tall in the Philippines, so I'll remind you of that.
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Um, love that.
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I love that country.
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Uh, and they like basketball too, which I enjoy more than soccer.
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Um, but they Paul was not impressive in many ways, we'll look at in the future.
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And they thought, well, the power of a church growing, you gotta have someone who's real charismatic.
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And Paul says over and over, the power is in this message, this knowledge, this speech.
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It's in the power of Christ in that message.
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But they have these issues of sexual immorality that will be addressed.
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Do you guys think our culture today struggles with sexual immorality?
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Yes.
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So we've been given exactly what we need here at Clinton First Baptist.
00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:37.839
There's issues dealing with church unity, discipline, how we even think about approaching the Lord's Supper.
00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:48.160
And all of these issues, really, it's capped off in chapter 15 with a long explanation of the importance of the hope of the resurrection of Christ.
00:07:48.399 --> 00:07:51.040
Some people were even questioning core things.
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Now we'd see all this and say that Paul, when we look in these early verses, he was still celebrating the grace of God that was shown in their lives, even though they were immature in certain areas, right?
00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:06.959
You want to we can look briefly here before we dive into our proper text.
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Uh, Acts 18.
00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:12.399
Turn to the book of Acts, New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts.
00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:18.639
Acts 18, we see a little bit about the church and its early stages here.
00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:24.160
So Acts 18.
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After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
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And he found a Jew named Macila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.
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And he went to see them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked, for they were tint makers by trade.
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And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.
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While Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.
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So he was meeting at the synagogue, pointing people, reasoning, the true form of reasoning that the Greeks, their heart was longing for, finds its fulfillment in Christ, and finds its fulfillment in the eternal law of us, who took on flesh, and he's pointing them to that reality.
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But they opposed and reviled him.
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He shook out his garments and said to them, Your blood be on your own heads.
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I am innocent.
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From now on, I will go to the Gentiles.
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And he left there and went to the house of a man named Atitius Justice, a worshiper of God.
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His house was next door to the synagogue.
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Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord.
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So a key leader of the synagogue believed in the Lord Jesus, together with his entire household.
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And many of the Corinthians, hearing Paul, believed and were baptized.
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As we noted last week, believers who have received the message proclaim that publicly in baptism.
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Verse 9.
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The Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, do not be afraid, but go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you.
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For I have many in this city who are my people.
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Aren't those some great words of encouragement?
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Like, just keep speaking, I'm with you.
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Well, we already have that.
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You may say, Well, that would be nice to have a vision like that.
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Well, we've been given in the completed canon of scripture everything we need.
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We have the same promise of his um presence, his steadfast presence.
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Now, right here, he's saying guaranteed success.
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That's encouraging.
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But you see, the Lord is doing a work here.
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He stayed a year and six months teaching the word of God among them.
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But when Galileo was proconsul of Achaea, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, saying, This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.
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Now we know from other texts like Galatians, this isn't contrary to the law.
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This is fulfillment of the law that Christ is the fulfillment what the law is pointing to.
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But they were distorted in their understanding and they're opposing him.
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Faithful gospel proclamation frequently has opposition and frequently has people that question and people that believe.
00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:22.720
But it's always accompanied by the steadfast presence of the Lord and an emboldening witness, a Holy Spirit emboldening witness.
00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:27.600
So as we share the gospel next weekend, will we have some people oppose us?
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Most likely, yes, if we're faithful.
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Will some believe?
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I don't know, but that there is a good reality that that may happen.
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But notice he says, this man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.
00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:50.559
But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Galeo said to the Jews, If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint.
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But since it's a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves.
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I refuse to be a judge of these matters.
00:11:57.919 --> 00:12:00.559
So he's trying to push this issue away, right?
00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:01.759
He doesn't want to deal with it.
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He drove them from the tribunal, and they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal.
00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:12.480
Well, Galio paid no attention to this.
00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:19.519
Now I think this is important here because Sosthenes basically someone has to take a beating.
00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:24.240
They they have Sosthenes, the ruler of that synagogue, as well.
00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:31.440
Now you already had Crispus believe, and it wasn't Paul that was beaten in this case, but Sosthenes is the one that's beaten.
00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:38.159
Now, this is very important because it doesn't seem from indication of this text that Sosthenes is a believer in Jesus.
00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:41.919
But what do we notice from what we just read in 1 Corinthians?
00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:49.039
Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes.
00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:55.840
A lot of accounts seem to say that the church comforted Sosthenes, probably ministered to him.
00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:02.720
And now he's writing here many years later, and he's writing as Sosthenes, he's a brother in the Lord.
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After this missionary effort, after this opposition, we see a brother in Christ who didn't say, Oh, I'm gonna have so much opposition, and I don't want to have all this pushback.
00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:28.080
I'm just gonna say Harry says, Sosthenes says, Jesus is worth it, even if I'm opposed, and was welcomed by the family of God, and now is with Paul, probably as his secretary, right here.
00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:35.360
And so I think we see this encouraging effort that is really an effort that can't be stopped by men.
00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:38.480
Something that's from man will just die and Peter out.
00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:44.399
But you know what the Lord has promised will endure all the way till the second coming of the Lord Jesus, the church.
00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:48.879
If it's from God, it's unstoppable, it'll last forever, right?
00:13:49.039 --> 00:13:52.240
And we see that work here, Paul and Sosthenes.
00:13:52.399 --> 00:14:01.519
Now, the key things we see here in this these short nine verses is all believers in Jesus are called, confirmed, and sustained by God's grace.
00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:07.279
Let's look at these first three verses of believers called, called people by grace.
00:14:07.519 --> 00:14:11.120
Now, Paul, he's a called an apostle and the brother Sosthenes.
00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:14.720
We see all believers called by God's sovereign grace.
00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:18.320
Deuteronomy seven speaks of this reality as well.
00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:25.759
Deuteronomy seven speaks of thus the same reality when it speaks to the Israelites.
00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:30.080
They weren't called because they were wiser or smarter, he says Deuteronomy seven, seven.
00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:48.879
It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest people of all fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath he swore to your fathers that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery.
00:14:49.039 --> 00:15:00.080
It is God's grace and his grace alone, not by the will of man, but by the will of God, John 1 12 to 13, that we are born again, you um and born into the family of God.
00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:12.320
It speaks of the same reality in Romans 9 16, where he um God's word says, So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.
00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:18.159
We are born again by the living and abiding word of God, not so that we could boast.
00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:28.000
We have all of this, God who the the the call of those, the internal call of those who by God's grace, meaning there was no way to boast.
00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:37.279
If you are a believer today, it's not because you were smarter or wiser, as Deuteronomy 7 and Romans 9 says, it is by God's grace alone.
00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:54.480
Paul, his Hebrew name Saul and his Greek name Paul, he had this dual citizenship, and he's he's writing this letter, one of 13 letters, as a man who was an enemy of God, and then on the way to Damascus met the Lord Jesus and had a radical conversion.
00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:56.720
I've said this before, and I'll say it again.
00:15:56.960 --> 00:16:01.440
Everyone who is a believer in Christ today, it is a radical conversion.
00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:05.519
You say, Well, yes, but I grew up in church and I wasn't murdering people like Paul.
00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:10.320
Well, I told the guy who was delivering the porter party for the movie night the other day.
00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:13.519
Um, I asked him a question if he had a personal relationship with Jesus.
00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:14.639
He said, No, I don't.
00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:15.519
My mom does.
00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:18.240
I used to be into that thing and kind of drift from going to church.
00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:19.519
I said, You know what, man?
00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:21.200
I don't share my testimony.
00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:22.960
I used to be an enemy of God.
00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:25.200
Now I'm a friend of God, and he was wide-eyed.
00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:26.639
You are an enemy of God?
00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:29.840
Well, that's what scripture says, all those who are outside of Christ.
00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:36.879
You were hostile in the flesh, dead in your sins, a slave to sin, guilty before the Lord.
00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:46.320
So before Christ, we were at war with God, and now in Christ, Romans 5:1 says, now having been justified with God, we now have peace.
00:16:46.559 --> 00:16:50.960
If we have peace with God only in Christ, that means outside of Christ, we're at war with them.
00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:52.480
We're not at peace with them.
00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:57.279
And it's the same testimony at the root as Paul.
00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:01.759
We once were dead in our sins and trespasses and now have peace with God.
00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:03.840
Like, is there a better story than that?
00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:05.920
You're like, it's not like we're bugging people.
00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:13.519
Hey, I want to tell you about like my um this product that I don't really am not really a fan of, and but I gotta sell it, gotta get a number in.
00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:16.240
No, no, let me tell you the greatest news ever.
00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:19.680
Enemies can be made friends, and that's Paul.
00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:23.519
He has this radical um conversion story.
00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:30.880
Do you have that story, that testimony that you have been saved from dark to light, like Paul?
00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:36.960
Now, Paul had multiple missionary trips, but Paul he had a shepherd's heart.
00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:42.000
He he was he was an apostle, yes, and that's a once-for-all position.
00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:52.559
It was the 12 apostles, and then Paul, particularly called by the Lord Jesus to shepherd the early church, and we don't have modern apostles today.
00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:56.160
I know you see a lot of those online apostles in front of people's name.
00:17:56.240 --> 00:17:59.279
That's not a position today, that's the foundation of the church.
00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:08.480
Ephesians 2 and 4 makes clear the Lord has given those apostles and then shepherds is continually ongoing, as 1 Timothy 3 makes clear.
00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:25.200
But as an apostle, he has a level of authority, but it's not just in himself, it's because his words are tied to the Lord Jesus, and what he's writing is not just the weird words of man, as 1 Thessalonians 2 speaks of, it's the very words of God, is the authority of Jesus behind it.
00:18:25.359 --> 00:18:30.480
So he has this apostolic authority that people questioned later and try to minimize.
00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:34.799
Well, he's not that impressive, and is he really as authoritative as the other apostles?
00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:38.799
He's called directly by the Lord Jesus, and he has this care.
00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:39.920
He has a care.
00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:49.920
Every good shepherd, every good, faithful shepherd will care about the health of the church, will care about all these issues that 1 Corinthians addresses.
00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:55.200
And you know, it's it's it's not a good shepherd who leaves things unaddressed.
00:18:55.440 --> 00:19:01.200
He wants to address them, and sometimes it's difficult, it can be awkward, but he's not going to be passive on this.
00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:15.440
And here with Sosthenes, strengthening him, probably writing, a former synagogue ruler, now a brother in Christ, called apostle, called brother, but called church of God, those sanctified in Christ Jesus.
00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:31.519
Look at uh verse two here, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.
00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:36.880
Now, the word here, if you've heard of the church Hagias Sophia, has anyone heard of that name?
00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:39.759
That word literally means holy wisdom.
00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.880
Now, hagias is really that term that's used here when it's talking about sanctified.
00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:47.200
This is holy or set apart.
00:19:47.359 --> 00:20:03.680
Now, we tend to use the word sanctified, and in the gradual growing and holiness in our life and our experiential holiness, the way it's actually used here is really referring to what we typically say of justification, a once-for-all positional reality.
00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:11.920
So this is those that are set apart, to those sanctified, to those holy and set apart in Christ Jesus.
00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:15.200
That's what it's talking about, this positional, set apart reality.
00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:20.960
I love how Matthew Henry says the purpose of Christianity to set us apart, to sanctify us.
00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:28.559
If you belong to Christ, you are set apart, you were called unto the Lord Jesus, you were unholy, and now you are holy.
00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:52.880
Not because you reached that status, um, as you see in many traditions, um, Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic tradition, they'll have those that are reach a status of saint, maybe have done uh very uh uh meritorious acts, and they'll say Saint Thomas Aquinas or Saint Peter will have that title, and they'll find it interesting, like to say, well, others haven't reached the status of sainthood, they would say.
00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:59.039
According to scripture, everyone who is in Christ is a saint, it just means one who's set apart.
00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:09.839
So to the saints of Clint First Baptist, we read 1 Corinthians, speaking of the saints, um, here uh in the saints in Corinth.
00:21:10.079 --> 00:21:21.440
Now, I I love how one of my uh friends who's a pastor, he laughed, and we could laugh as well, that we may not speak this way if I say uh Saint David or Saint Debbie or um Saint John.
00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:26.319
Um we could, it would be biblical and appropriate to say that um to each other.
00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:33.759
We tend to say brother or sister in Christ, um, but it is a reality that we are all saints if we are in Christ.
00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:43.920
And he says here in verse 2 every um together called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:57.519
So the saints, they're they're saved confessors, they confess the Lord Jesus, all those who have been regenerated, who have put their trust, who believe in their heart and confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, they are saved.
00:21:57.680 --> 00:21:58.880
They confess the Lord.
00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:04.720
It's not some Particular ritual that we have to do in order to achieve salvation.
00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:17.680
It's trusting in Christ in Christ alone, and all those who confess the Lord Jesus, who call upon his name, truly in a saving faith, return from their sin and trust in Christ, will be saved.
00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:20.720
Not you might be saved, you don't know, you will be saved.
00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:25.680
And it's a fulfillment of Psalms 113.1 and Malachi 1.11.
00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:27.920
My name will be great among all the nations.
00:22:28.079 --> 00:22:32.160
Now the gospel is going out to all nations, Jew and Gentile.
00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:35.200
And it is the saved confessing people.
00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:40.000
We confess every Sunday, Jesus is Lord, Caesar is not Lord.
00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:50.400
Um, on no nation, no nation's leader is Lord, Jesus is Lord of Lord, King of kings, and he has all authority on heaven and earth, and he is ruling and reigning now.
00:22:50.559 --> 00:22:53.920
We confess him as our Savior and our Lord.
00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:56.319
Now notice it says the Church of God in Corinth.
00:22:56.400 --> 00:23:01.599
It's a particular group of people who are gathered in a particular place and accountable to each other.
00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:07.440
But notice it says all in every place who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:17.279
You may disagree on some nonessential issues, but anyone around the world who truly calls upon the Lord Jesus Christ is your brother and sister in Christ.
00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:19.039
That's the church universal.
00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:21.440
And so we all share that bond.
00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:28.960
Now notice what it says here in verse 3 grace to you and peace from God our Father in the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:38.640
These aren't just random words like, Hey, hope you have a wonderful day, and um sincerely, uh my my regards, it's not just something tagged on.
00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:43.279
This is starting with that reminder of the gospel, grace and peace.
00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:54.400
Both of these come together, and that the grace of the Lord Jesus, as I've said this before, and you may find this helpful, this acronym, God's riches at Christ's expense.
00:23:54.720 --> 00:23:56.160
G-R-A-C-E.
00:23:56.480 --> 00:23:59.039
God's riches at Christ's expense.
00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:02.559
Grace is a word that literally means undeserved kindness.
00:24:02.640 --> 00:24:10.960
We get the riches of God, the perfect righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, given to undeserving sinners at the expense of Christ.
00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:13.119
That's grace that is received.
00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:15.839
Grace is received and not achieved.
00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:21.839
So evangelism tip next weekend, if you're with us, you ask, hey, why are you walking so many miles?
00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:25.920
I'm hoping that in time I will be good enough to get to heaven.
00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:27.359
I've heard many times.
00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:31.279
Grace is not achieved, grace is received.
00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:36.000
It is only by grace you are saved, not by works, so that no one can boast.
00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:40.880
And it comes through the Father and the Son and the Spirit.
00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:46.240
It is all a work of God, it is a gift of God, and to have peace with God.
00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:49.279
Peace is not just like us saying, Hey, peace, brother.
00:24:49.599 --> 00:25:00.559
Peace is having uh union with the Lord, having shalom, peace with God, and man, we're no longer at war with him because our sin has been taken care of.
00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:02.079
True wholeness.
00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:06.880
When you see peace in scripture, you need to think of a biblical way of speaking of peace.
00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:13.119
Where it's well with your soul, even if your ears don't work, your legs don't work, um, something else is broken in your body.
00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:19.359
You have peace with God, and that's your greatest need is to have grace and peace in Lord Jesus.
00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:24.880
Let's look at verses four through seven, how believers are confirmed people by grace.
00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:47.200
Look again, there says, I give thanks to my God always for you, because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
00:25:47.519 --> 00:25:52.000
So notice again, this grace is speaking of something that's given.
00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:57.920
And we have the grace of salvation, restoration with God that's received in Christ Jesus.
00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:06.960
And not how what he says here, I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given it you in Christ Jesus.
00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:12.960
Now, if you want to see a church that has a lot of issues, look to the church in Corinth.
00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:15.039
But notice what he says here.
00:26:16.400 --> 00:26:22.400
He's still making note that he's giving thanks for the grace of God that is evident in their life.
00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:32.160
If you have an issue with another believer in Christ, or you you may find uh many issues with any church, with our church or other church, there's no perfect church.
00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:42.480
The early church had struggles, but notice it's grounded in the reminder that you've received grace, you've received the grace of God that was given to you in Christ Jesus.
00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:47.279
He's starting with that reminder and that encouragement in the gospel.
00:26:47.519 --> 00:26:56.400
With if we don't have that as a continual reminder, saturated with that, if we don't remember that we've received grace, therefore I can forgive others.
00:26:56.480 --> 00:27:00.640
If I have been forgiven in Christ, then we're gonna have division.
00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:12.319
Then we're going to have infighting, and um then we'll be looking towards other issues that are not as important as the the gospel that alone unites the church.
00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:28.240
But notice he talks about other what we sometimes call grace gifts, not in a salvitic way, but evidence of the spirit's work in their life, and this is kind of introductory as we'll look in chapter 12, the spiritual gifts in the church and how they can be unifying and building up.
00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:31.200
But it speaks of the spiritual gifts in a broad way.
00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:41.279
He says, and and this is important because Psalms 84, 11, the Lord does not withhold from those who walk in integrity, right?
00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:43.759
Now, did they struggle in the Corinth church?
00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:54.000
Again, yes, they did, but the Lord He says right here, every way you were enriched, verse 5, every way you were enriched in Him, in all speech and knowledge.
00:27:54.240 --> 00:27:55.279
They were enriched.
00:27:55.359 --> 00:27:57.680
He's it's a way of saying, You guys have all the gifts.
00:27:57.839 --> 00:27:59.680
This is such a gifted church.
00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:10.799
This is a gifted church in Corinth, he says here, they have the gifts, they're all the areas of great concern um for Greeks, get it made them prideful.
00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:19.920
They they wanted to have the gifts of speech and knowledge, and these these gifts of speech, the word that's used here is the same word that refers to Christ, logos, the word.
00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:26.480
They had the gift of the the speech and and the knowledge of Christ.
00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:31.039
They had this gift, the message of a perfect gift in Jesus.
00:28:31.279 --> 00:28:33.680
They had the gift of knowledge.
00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:42.000
Now, you may have um heard of this word agnostic, meaning without knowledge, someone who says, Well, I just don't know if there's a God.
00:28:42.160 --> 00:28:52.000
Um, now there was other people who go to the other extreme, Gnosticism, but claim they have this special insight that no one else has access to, and it's this secret mystical knowledge.
00:28:52.079 --> 00:28:55.680
He's saying, No, you know, you have the knowledge you need.
00:28:55.920 --> 00:29:01.279
You have the knowledge you need, you have everything you need in the revelation of Christ in the gospel.
00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:09.119
You guys have that, and so the problem was they may have had certain knowledge, but they didn't always use it to build up.
00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:16.720
They used it kind of with an influence of the Greek culture of look at how skilled this guy is, pointing to themselves, right?
00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:18.720
I don't want you to see me.
00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:21.039
I want you to see Jesus when you see me.
00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:26.079
I want you to see Jesus when you see others use their gift in the church, and that was what they struggled with.
00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:34.480
But here's what's comforting here is that you are not lacking, and you've received all you've been enriched in speech and knowledge.
00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:36.559
Believer in Jesus here today.
00:29:36.720 --> 00:29:40.640
If you have the message of Jesus, you can speak about Jesus.
00:29:40.799 --> 00:29:45.279
You have the knowledge of Jesus, you don't know everything perfectly, but you have what you need.
00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:53.519
You have the Spirit of God, you have the Word of God, you've been given everything you need for life and godliness to share the gospel, to disciple someone.
00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:57.839
It's not that you just bring everyone so one leader can do that.
00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:01.119
My job is to equip you to disciple and share the gospel.
00:30:01.279 --> 00:30:02.319
You have what you need.
00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:05.039
Maybe thinking, well, what about what about this?
00:30:05.200 --> 00:30:13.119
Well, certainly we can continue to grow, but we have his word, we have his message, we have the spirit of God and living in us.
00:30:13.279 --> 00:30:14.079
So speak it.
00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:23.920
The one of the main reasons we have the Holy Spirit in us is to set us apart, not just to wait and do and wait until we would um go to heaven.
00:30:24.079 --> 00:30:33.119
The Spirit of God is in us to make us holy and to speak holy words, proclaiming Christ is the one who can make others holy if they look to him, right?
00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:39.119
But look at the rest of this section, how there's this confirming work in verse 6.
00:30:39.440 --> 00:30:48.640
Even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:51.279
The Spirit at work in you, showing these gifts.
00:30:51.359 --> 00:30:54.079
But this the Holy Spirit has given everyone a gift.
00:30:54.240 --> 00:30:57.599
It may be many gifts, but you've all been given at least one gift.
00:30:57.839 --> 00:31:04.400
But the evidence that you have that desire to serve the church is evidence, confirmation that Christ is in you, right?
00:31:04.799 --> 00:31:06.160
It's the confirming work.
00:31:06.400 --> 00:31:09.680
Saving faith always produces fruit.
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:12.079
Saving faith produces fruit.
00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:16.640
There's some it'll be 20, 30, or 40 fold, but there is fruit.
00:31:16.799 --> 00:31:20.240
If you have been regenerated, you have a new heart from the Lord.
00:31:20.400 --> 00:31:30.240
You look at 1 John 2 29, it talks about a life that is in a pattern of um directed towards obedience to the Lord.
00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:35.119
You are going in one direction, you don't make it a pattern of rebellion anymore.
00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:48.720
And that's the reality of those who truly have been saved, they will show the evidence, the fruit of the root of saving faith, that they are eagerly waiting for the day of the Lord Jesus.
00:31:48.960 --> 00:32:08.640
Now, one who can fake it, uh, one who may profess Christ, but they may not possess a saving faith, can say a lot of right-sounding um doctrines, but they truly, in their heart of heart, does not look for the revealing, eagerly, the revealing of the Lord Jesus, the return of the Lord Jesus.
00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:18.720
Because they they may want to be known as spiritual, but in their heart of hearts, they don't have that love for God that only comes through a heart that is born again.
00:32:19.039 --> 00:32:20.880
But look at verses eight and nine.
00:32:21.119 --> 00:32:29.119
Not only are believers called by God, they're confirmed by grace, and they are sustained by grace.
00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:30.240
Look at verse eight.
00:32:30.559 --> 00:32:42.799
He who will sustain you to the end, Jesus Christ, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, God is faithful, by whom you are called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
00:32:43.599 --> 00:32:47.759
Jesus, he calls by grace, an undeserved calling.
00:32:48.079 --> 00:32:52.559
He confirms us in his grace, and he sustains us.
00:32:52.799 --> 00:32:54.400
Isn't this comforting?
00:32:54.640 --> 00:33:01.920
Like if you think if if you're on that, you're driving on a road, if if you were to let go of the wheel, what's gonna happen?
00:33:02.079 --> 00:33:08.240
Well, some of them it's gonna veer right, some of it's gonna veer left, it's gonna do the Walmart shopping cart effect, right?
00:33:08.480 --> 00:33:13.839
Like there's all I always seem to get the one that's like the squeakiest and that turns right really hard.
00:33:13.920 --> 00:33:16.079
And everybody looks at me, or at least I feel that way.
00:33:16.319 --> 00:33:19.200
I go and I'm like, you have to continue to shift it in.
00:33:19.440 --> 00:33:26.640
Now I was staying with a friend one time in Kentucky for went in person for some seminary classes, and I drove his car.
00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:28.240
I didn't know this was a feature.
00:33:28.319 --> 00:33:34.880
Uh, you probably have this on your car, that once you hit the side um line, it starts, it pushes you in.
00:33:35.119 --> 00:33:39.359
And I was like, wow, this is a reminder of the sustaining grace of God.
00:33:39.759 --> 00:33:44.000
It's a reminder that the Lord He will hold you fast, as the Psalm says.
00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:48.319
He will hold you fast, though we are prone to wonder.
00:33:48.480 --> 00:33:55.359
The Lord will hold us fast and continue as we may as we struggle, as sometimes we are faithless.
00:33:55.599 --> 00:33:57.200
But what does the word of God say?
00:33:57.440 --> 00:34:04.000
Even though we are faithless, he remains what faithful, faithful, steadfast.
00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:10.639
And you may say, Well, but didn't the word Jesus say in Luke 12, 9, if you deny me before men, I will deny you?
00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:11.840
Yes, he did.
00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:15.679
But I think we are speaking of an ultimate and final denial.
00:34:15.840 --> 00:34:22.480
Remember, Peter denied Jesus, but Jesus was praying for him, he was interceding for him that he would be restored.
00:34:22.639 --> 00:34:25.440
Do you know that Jesus is praying for you right now?
00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:28.159
He is continuing to intercede for you.
00:34:28.320 --> 00:34:41.440
He is still our high priest, he had his perfect work and he's interceding for his people, and you will be sustained because you have a perfect interceder continuing to offer up prayers on your behalf.
00:34:41.679 --> 00:34:45.679
And you know that every single prayer of Jesus is answered.
00:34:46.159 --> 00:34:47.840
It's not like I hope it will.
00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:54.400
Isn't that comforting that as the car is guided by those little warnings?
00:34:54.559 --> 00:35:02.320
You are guided by the warnings of scripture, by our shepherd, and you are guided and sustained by Jesus Himself.
00:35:02.639 --> 00:35:09.519
You see over and over these realities that our God, He is faithful, He will sustain you.
00:35:10.239 --> 00:35:15.280
I often quote this He who began a good work in you will see it to completion.
00:35:15.840 --> 00:35:19.199
What's the good work that Philippians 1 6 is referring to?
00:35:19.440 --> 00:35:26.320
The good work of your salvation being brought into the kingdom of God, he will bring it to completion.
00:35:26.559 --> 00:35:30.960
God doesn't try to do something and something thoughts his plans.
00:35:31.119 --> 00:35:36.079
Everything God does, he does it perfectly and completes all of his sovereign plans.
00:35:36.239 --> 00:35:41.280
But what's the result that it says here in the end of 1 Corinthians 1 9?
00:35:41.440 --> 00:35:47.760
God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
00:35:47.920 --> 00:35:54.239
You weren't just called in to just say words, you were called into a relationship, real living fellowship.
00:35:54.559 --> 00:35:56.000
Jesus Christ our Lord.
00:35:56.239 --> 00:36:04.000
But back up again, he says, He will sustain you to the end, verse 8, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
00:36:04.239 --> 00:36:10.239
He will sustain you, and the goal is you will be like him, for you will see him as he is.
00:36:10.400 --> 00:36:11.760
First John 3:2.
00:36:12.320 --> 00:36:17.599
Well, we're gonna be guiltless on the day of when we are glorified, meaning we are without sin.
00:36:17.760 --> 00:36:19.039
How can we be blameless?
00:36:19.199 --> 00:36:21.840
Well, positionally, we are blameless in Christ.
00:36:21.920 --> 00:36:24.639
There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
00:36:24.800 --> 00:36:28.239
If anyone has the Son, um, he has life.
00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:31.440
Anyone who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
00:36:31.599 --> 00:36:41.199
If you have life in Christ, you are no longer condemned, you are not guilty before the Lord, because you have been united with Christ.
00:36:41.599 --> 00:37:04.400
And when you see Christ face to face, you won't even desire sin anymore, and you will be sinless only in glory, blameless in all senses, not only legally, but functionally blameless, because you will be so overwhelmed and overcome with the one who has called you, the one who called you that you didn't deserve, you didn't deserve a place at the table.
00:37:04.480 --> 00:37:07.519
And it wasn't just that you didn't deserve it, and some people did.
00:37:07.760 --> 00:37:10.000
No one deserves a place of the table.
00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:12.320
We deserve justice and wrath.
00:37:12.559 --> 00:37:28.559
But God who is rich in mercy reached down to our cold, dead heart and brought us to life in Christ, brought us to have a table with Him, and we can dwell in the house of the Lord forever, only by His undeserved grace and mercy and peace.
00:37:28.880 --> 00:37:35.840
We stand blameless or people who were guilty, we're now clean and washed in Christ.
00:37:36.159 --> 00:37:40.000
Now I want you to reflect on this reality.
00:37:40.239 --> 00:37:45.519
The Lord calls us, he confirms us, and he sustains us perfectly to the end.
00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:47.280
It's all a work of grace.
00:37:47.519 --> 00:37:48.800
It's all a work of grace.
00:37:48.960 --> 00:37:56.400
And now you say, Well, what if what if I what if I hold on to the one who's holding on to you?
00:37:57.199 --> 00:38:03.440
Yes, we are called to work out our salvation with fear and trembling as he lives and works through us, right?
00:38:03.920 --> 00:38:09.199
He's holding on to you, he's called you, he's confirmed you, and he will sustain you.
00:38:09.760 --> 00:38:10.960
So you're not gonna lose it.
00:38:11.039 --> 00:38:16.159
You don't have to keep up maintenance because he is faithful, he will surely do it.
00:38:16.320 --> 00:38:24.400
Now, if you need to respond to the calling of the Lord Jesus, you felt the spirit work, you felt the weight of your sin, you want to turn from your sin and trust in him.
00:38:24.719 --> 00:38:26.000
Let's call out to him now.
00:38:26.159 --> 00:38:31.519
The reality is he can save you, he will save those who call out to him, everyone who calls on the Lord Jesus.
00:38:31.760 --> 00:38:37.039
We're gonna end as we have in the past few months, the time of reflection based upon this text.
00:38:37.119 --> 00:38:42.079
And we'll have on the slides up here reflection questions and for you to focus on in prayer.
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We don't want to just be hearers of the word, we want to respond appropriately to the very words of God.
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And if during this time you you need prayers, I'll be in the back as well.
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And or you want to talk about what it means to follow Christ.
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Let's start that conversation right now, during this time.
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If you'll join me in prayer, Lord Jesus, we thank you that you call undeserving sinners.
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God, that it is all your grace, that you call us, that you call Paul, you called Sosthenes.
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Even despite opposition, that you brought that brother into your kingdom.
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You confirm that as we see the evidence, the fruit of you working in and through us, through the believers in Corinth.
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God, but not only that, by your grace, you sustain us perfectly.
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God, you you're you are too good.
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You were so kind.
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Your your kindness is is everlasting, your steadfast love.
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God, I pray that we would rest in your amazing grace to undeserving sinners like us and worship you, Lord Jesus.
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God, I pray that others, if they haven't called out to you now, that they would and know you as Lord and Savior and have will, peace, and fellowship with you.
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It's in the name of Jesus we pray and we worship you.
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In Jesus' name.
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Amen.
