Let's turn now to 1 Corinthians chapter 3,
beginning with the 14th verse of chapter 2.
Paul here separates men into three classifications, starting
in chapter 2 with the natural man, the
unregenerate man, the man who knows not Jesus
Christ.
And concerning him, he said he cannot receive
the things of the Spirit of God, for
they are foolishness unto him.
Neither can he know them, for they are
spiritually discerned.
So the natural man in darkness, not able
to see, not able to know the things
of God.
In realizing this, in praying for those who
are not saved, it is important to realize
that Satan, as Paul said, the God of
this world, has blinded their eyes that they
cannot see the truth.
So they cannot receive, neither can they know,
because Satan has blinded them to the truth
of God.
And as Paul said to Timothy, that we
might take them from the captivity of the
enemy, who is holding them captive against their
wills.
So the direction of our prayers for the
natural man would be that God would open
their eyes to the truth, that God would
deliver them from that power of Satan by
which they are held, that blindness that Satan
has brought over their minds concerning God, and
that Satan's work be bound in order that
they might be freed and become a free
moral agent capable then of receiving Jesus Christ.
It is a misnomer to declare that the
natural man is a free moral agent.
He is furthest from free moral agency.
He is bound and he is blinded by
the power of darkness.
And so the thrust of the prayers are
to deliver him from this power of darkness,
to make him a free moral agent in
order that he might believe.
Now in contrast to the natural man, you
have the spiritual man, and Paul says, but
he that is spiritual understands or discerns all
things, though he is not understood by men.
For who hath known the mind of the
Lord, that he may instruct him?
But we have the mind of Christ.
So the spiritual man is a man whose
mind is now controlled by the spirit.
Man, a threefold being, body, soul, spirit.
If the body is uppermost, then your mind
is controlled by the body needs and is
occupied by your body needs.
And you have what Paul calls in Romans
eight, the mind of the flesh or the
carnal mind, which is enmity against God.
Neither can it know him.
When a person is born again by the
spirit of God, he becomes spirit, soul, and
body.
And when the spirit is uppermost, then you
have the mind of the spirit, the mind
that is under the control of the spirit.
As Paul said here, we have the mind
of Christ.
Now, as we get into chapter three, Paul
introduces us to a third classification.
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you
as unto spiritual.
Now he's talking to those in Corinth, those
in the church in Corinth, those who are
presumably born again.
And yet they are not spiritual.
For he says, I could not speak unto
you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal,
even as unto babes in Christ.
Now the issue arises and people often question,
is it possible to be a carnal Christian?
A carnal Christian is one who has received
Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, but
does not yet have victory over the flesh.
And thus still walks many times under the
control of the flesh.
He does believe he has received Jesus as
his Lord or take that back.
He has received Jesus as his Savior, but
not as his Lord for the flesh is
still ruling over him.
And he needs deliverance from that power of
the flesh that has a hold on his
life.
So Paul describes this as the conditions of
those in Corinth.
He cannot talk to them as spiritual for
they are still carnal, but he does call
them babes in Christ.
And so he acknowledges that they are in
Christ, but unfortunately they are babes.
There is a natural development and growth physically,
even as there is and should be a
natural development and growth spiritually.
There is a time when being a babe
in Christ is a beautiful, glorious thing.
I love to see natural babes in Christ.
To me, it's beautiful when a person has
just come to the realization that Jesus is
Lord and their sins are washed away.
And that enthusiasm, that love, that excitement that
they have for the things of the spirit
is just something that's glorious to behold and
they're just fun to be around because the
things of the Lord are just so exciting
to them at that point, babes in Christ.
But there is also a necessity of growing
up into a fully matured relationship.
There are many marks of the babe in
Christ and Paul gives to us some of
the marks.
First of all, they need to be fed
with milk because they are not able to
endure the meat of the word of God.
So their first relationship is extremely experience-oriented.
And thus, as they relate their experiences, they
are usually relating them to the feelings that
they have of excitement, of joy, of thrill
as they come into the spiritual dimension and
for the first time begin to really discern
or understand the things of the spirit.
But as we grow and as we develop
spiritually, it is God's desire that we come
into a full maturity as Paul the apostle
declared to the Ephesians, that they might come
into that perfect man.
And the word perfect is fully matured under
the measure of the stature of the fullness
of the image of Christ.
And so it is God's will that we
grow up spiritually into the image of Jesus
Christ as we become fully matured.
Now, when a baby is a baby and
supposed to be a baby, it is a
beautiful, lovely sight.
I don't know of anything that can tug
at the heart of a person more than
a baby.
And the first words of a baby are
always so exciting.
The first time that your little children say
dada and they know what they are saying
is a thrilling experience.
I'll never forget.
We were living in Tucson behind the church
and it was a Sunday evening and we
just had one big room that we'd petitioned
off with curtains and Jan's crib was in
the room there with us.
And I think Kay was already out in
church and I was going into the closet
to grab my coat and Jan was over
in her crib and she said dada.
And I yelled, I turned, I screamed and
I said, what did you say?
What was that?
But of course she wouldn't repeat it.
But she had the cutest, most knowing smile
on her face like I said it.
And from that time on, she started calling
me dada.
But I could hardly wait to get hold
of Kay and tell her that our baby
said dada just as plain as could be.
And it was always such a thrill in
the morning to wake up and to look
over to the crib and when she'd wake
up, she'd say dada.
And I loved it.
But now if I
should go over to her house and I
find her lying there in bed and giving
me that beautiful smile and saying dada, it
wouldn't thrill at this point, it would pain.
Because you see, naturally she should have developed
and matured, which of course she has.
And it is thrilling to sit down with
her and just to share with her because
she has such keen insights on so many
things.
But our communication now is on a much
higher plane.
And it should be.
Because in the process of time, there should
be the maturation, the development.
Now, when a person first is born again
by the Spirit of God and they are
spiritual babes, babes in Christ, it's just always
beautiful to behold that fresh work of the
Spirit of God in their lives.
But if after 15 years, 20 years, they're
still in the crib state, they haven't matured,
they haven't developed in their spiritual growth or
maturity, then it is painful and it is
tragic to behold.
It is important that we grow up.
Now, Paul said they were carnal.
And because of that, they weren't able to
take the meat of the Word of God.
They were interested only still in milk.
Another mark of their carnality was the envying
and the strife and the divisions that existed
among them.
Envy, strife, divisions.
Marks of carnality.
And Paul said, as long as these exist,
are ye not carnal and walk as men?
For while one saith, I'm of Paul and
another, I'm of Apollos, are you not carnal?
This party spirit or denominational spirit is a
mark of carnality.
To refuse to recognize the whole body of
Christ, to break down the denominational barriers and
be able to love another man, even though
he is a Baptist or even though he
is a Nazarene or even though he is
a Presbyterian.
To be able to accept him as a
brother in Jesus Christ is so important that
I not see these differences.
And it is tragic to me that so
many people, rather than identifying themselves with Jesus
Christ, identify themselves with the particular church that
they attend.
Are you a Christian or I'm a Baptist?
Are you a Christian?
Well, I'm a Presbyterian.
Are you a Christian?
Well, I'm a Catholic.
I think that's tragic.
Rather than being able to identify with Jesus
Christ, are you a Christian?
You bet your life.
What church do you belong to?
His church.
When did you join it?
I was born into it by the Spirit
of God.
To see
the whole
these quadrants is a mark of carnality.
Some say I'm a Paul, some say I'm
a Cephas.
Paul said, who is Paul?
Who is a Paulus?
They are only servants by whom he believed
even as the Lord gave to every man.
They're only the instruments that God used to
bring you to a faith.
I have planted, a Paulus watered, but God
gave the increase.
So then, neither is he that plants anything,
neither he that waters, but it is God
that gives the increase.
So Paul said, who am I?
Who is a Paulus?
We're only instruments that God used.
You shouldn't identify with us.
You should identify with the Lord.
It is God who gave life.
All I did was plant seed.
All a Paulus did was water seed.
All we were is instruments that God used
to bring to you salvation.
But it is God who gave to you
your life.
And thus you should identify with him.
Now he that planteth and he that watereth
are one.
A Paulus and I are one.
Why are you trying to create a division?
We're one.
And every man will receive his own reward
according to that labor.
So Paul will receive his reward for planting.
A Paulus will receive his reward for watering.
And that is the beautiful thing about serving
the Lord.
He does reward us for that work that
we do, not for the results of the
work, because the results belong to him.
So I'm on a salary.
I'm not commissioned at all.
I'm not paid with a commission.
I'm only salaried by the Lord to teach
his Word.
Whatever comes of it is his.
And it's for his glory.
I cannot produce fruit in your life.
All I can do is teach you the
Word of God.
Water, really, and maybe someone else has planted
the seed.
But here we are watering, cultivating, in some
cases planting.
Great.
But it's the work of God that counts.
It's God who brings life and gives life
to the Word.
And thus, I just receive the reward for
that which I've done and the results.
And I receive the reward when they're not
anything comes of it, because I've been faithful
to do what God called me to do.
And that's the thing that we need to
really realize, that God rewards us for the
work that he's called us to do, not
for the results of that work.
Sometimes we feel so discouraged, because I've witnessed
so many people and they've never believed, you
know.
I haven't been able to lead one person
to Jesus Christ, and I've talked to so
many.
Hey, it doesn't matter.
As far as your reward is concerned, God
only asks you to talk to him.
God didn't commission us to argue people into
a faith in Jesus Christ, to get into
disputes with people over the inerrancy of the
Bible or whatever.
I find it rather pathetic that we so
often are placed in the position of defending
the Word of God.
God didn't call you to defend his Word.
God called you to use his Word.
If you were in a duel and you
pulled your sword out of the sheath, you
wouldn't say, Now you be careful, this sword
is the sharpest sword in the world.
You know, it can cut the hair of
my arm.
You know, it's the singing sword or whatever,
and it's finest steel and everything else.
You're not going to defend your sword, you're
going to use it.
Don't defend the Word of God, just use
it.
The Lord will do the work.
Paul, speaking of Apollos and himself, said, We
are laborers together with God.
You see, I planted Apollos' water, but we
are both of us working together with God.
And that to me is always a glorious
concept, to realize that I am a worker
with God, co-laboring with God in his
harvest field.
You are God's husbandry, the plantings, the vines.
Jesus said, I am the true vine, my
Father is the husbandman.
Every branch in me that bringeth forth fruit.
So really, you are God's husbandry.
He is cultivating your life in order that
you might bring forth fruit for his glory.
And then he goes on to say, you
are God's building.
You are the work of God.
You're not the work of Chuck Smith, or
of Pastor Romaine, or of any other pastor
here.
You are the work of God.
It is God that has worked in your
life through his Word.
And so, he who plants is nothing.
He who waters is nothing.
But it is God who gives life and
brings increase.
And so, according to the grace of God
which is given unto me, as a wise
master builder, I have laid the foundation, and
another builds thereon.
But let every man take heed how he
builds thereon.
I planted.
You are God's building.
So he takes it from the farm to
construction.
From the field to a building now.
I planted, Apollos watered.
I laid the foundation.
Apollos came and built on that foundation.
For you are the building of God.
But he warns, let every man take heed
how he builds thereon.
For other foundation can no man lay than
that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now, the church is the building of God
that has been built upon the foundation of
Jesus Christ.
And no other foundation can any man lay
than that which is laid.
It is a sad error of the Catholic
Church to declare that Peter is the foundation
upon which the church was built.
Taking Matthew's Gospel, chapter 16, where at Caesarea
Philippi, Jesus said, Who do men say that
I am?
And they began to say the current concepts
that people had about Jesus.
Finally, Jesus said, Who do you say that
I am?
And Peter answered and said, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God.
Or you're the Messiah, you're the Son of
the living God.
And Jesus said, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this
unto you, but my Father which is in
heaven.
And I say unto you that you are
Petros, you're a little stone.
But upon this Petra, the rock, I will
build my church.
And the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it.
So, the rock upon which the church was
built, the Catholics say, was Peter.
He is the foundation.
Not so.
Jesus said, You are Petros, a little stone.
Upon this Petra, I will build my church.
What is the Petra, the rock upon which
the church was built?
The confession of Peter that Jesus Christ is
the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
That's the foundation upon which the church was
built.
As Paul here declares, No other foundation can
any man lay than that which has already
been laid, which is Jesus Christ.
He is the foundation of the church.
He is the one upon whom the church
is built.
But, we must be careful even how we
build on that foundation.
Now, if any man build upon this foundation
of gold and silver and precious stones, or
wood, hay, and stubble, every man's work shall
be manifest.
For the day shall declare it, because it
will be revealed by fire, and the fire
shall try every man's work, what sort it
is.
And if any man's work abide which he
hath built thereon, he shall receive a reward.
And if any man's work shall be burned,
he shall suffer loss.
But he himself shall be saved, yet so
as by fire.
Christ, the foundation upon which the church is
being built.
Paul acknowledges that there are some who are
building with wood, hay, and stubble.
Others are building with gold, silver, and precious
stones.
But there is a day that is coming
in which the building is to be tested.
It's to be tested by fire.
And when that day of testing comes, then
it will be manifested, the materials that were
used in the building.
Now, I do believe that many of the
great religious systems today have been built with
wood, hay, and stubble.
I believe that we are living in an
age when somehow we have lost true faith
in God, and in the ability of Jesus
Christ to do what he said he was
going to do.
For he said to Peter, upon this rock
I will build my church.
But somehow we've come to the idea that
he cannot build his church without our help
and our genius.
And so, we're going to help the Lord
build his church, and we're going to have
fundraising campaigns, and we're going to develop tremendous
programs whereby we're going to help the Lord
build his church, because surely he wants to
build his church, but he can't do it
without our genius and our helping him.
And so, we go to Madison Avenue and
we study their techniques.
We study how to write a psychologically enticing
letter that will encourage the person to immediately
sit down and respond to our appeal.
And I'll trace my hand upon a napkin.
And when you get it, you put it
on your forehead and pray, and if you
send me $100, you can get whatever you
need.
That ought to be good for $100 from
these poor simple little people who can't think
for themselves.
Gimmicks.
Oh, how I long for the day of
purity within the church again.
That kind of purity when Ananias and Sapphira
came in with a pretense.
They got snuffed by the power of the
Spirit of God.
That kind of purity that when the tabernacle
was set up and they began the worship,
when the two sons of Aaron took false
fire and went in to offer it before
the Lord, the fire from the altar consumed
them.
There's a lot of false fire today being
offered before the Lord.
Wood, hay, stubble.
One day it is all to be tested
by the fire, and much of the work
that has been done in the name of
Jesus Christ is going to be consumed and
perish.
Be careful how you build on the foundation.
Make sure that you're using gold, silver, precious
stones.
We're the building of God.
The church is the building of God.
Christ the foundation.
But be careful how you build.
The day will come when it will be
tested.
Our works, what sort they are.
You remember Jesus said in the Sermon on
the Mount, chapter 6, Take heed to yourself
that you do not your righteousness before men
to be seen of men.
In other words, take heed that you're not
doing things in such a way as to
receive the recognition and the reward from man.
For he said unto you, you have your
reward.
So, when you pray, don't make a big
public demonstration of it.
Don't be always telling others about it so
that they know what a prayer warrior you
are.
For Jesus said, you have your reward.
When you give, don't do it in such
a public demonstration that everybody knows what you
gave, for you have your reward.
When you fast, don't put on the appearance
of sackcloth and ashes and long mournful faces
so that everybody knows how spiritual you are
because you fast.
But do these things rather to your Father,
before your Father, in secret before Him, and
you'll receive your reward from Him.
But Jesus is saying that in the acknowledgement
that you receive from man in doing things
in a public display, that will be the
only reward that you'll get from them.
That which comes from man.
So, our works will be judged.
What sort they are as the motives of
our hearts will be judged when we stand
before God.
Now, a lot of beautiful, marvelous things that
are done, we will be shocked when we
realize the motive behind those things.
You know, I've done some things that just
really, totally failed.
I mean, it was just a total flop.
But yet, the motive of my heart was
right.
So, it isn't really so much what I
have done, but what was the motive behind
what I did.
Now, Paul goes from the building to the
individual.
Know ye not that ye are the temple
of God.
Two Greek words for temple.
The word heron referred to the entire temple
complex.
It included the buildings, the courts, the porches,
even the temple mount.
Satan took Jesus to the pinnacle of the
temple, the heron.
The other Greek word for temple is naos,
which is the inner sanctuary, the holy place.
It is the word that Jesus used when
the Pharisees asked for a sign and he
said, destroy this temple and in three days
I will build it again.
He used the word naos, this inner sanctuary,
this holy place.
You, Paul said, are the naos of God.
The inner sanctuary was the place of divine
activity.
That's where God revealed himself to man.
That's where man came into a relationship with
God.
For the Shekinah dwelt in the naos, in
that inner sanctuary.
You, Paul said, are the naos of God.
Therefore, your life becomes the center of divine
activity.
Your life is the instrument through which God
reveals himself to man today.
Your life is the dwelling place of God.
Your body.
Know ye not that ye are the temple
of God and that the Spirit of God
is dwelling in you?
Every believer in Jesus Christ has the Spirit
of God dwelling in him.
The moment you ask Jesus Christ to come
into your life, the Spirit of God begins
to indwell you.
Paul said, don't you know you are the
temple of God and that the Spirit of
God is dwelling in you?
And then he goes on to declare, if
any man defiles the temple of God, him
shall God destroy.
Now, in the sixth chapter, he tells us
some of the ways by which the temple
of God can be defiled.
As he tells us there, your body is
the naos of God.
And if I commit fornication, Paul said, I
am then sinning against my body.
My body, the temple of God, member of
Jesus Christ, join unto him.
And if I then join it unto a
harlot, I am actually bringing Christ in participation
in that relationship.
Sinning against the body, defiling the temple of
God.
And the warning here is, he who defiles
the temple of God, him shall God destroy.
I believe that we need to honor and
respect our bodies as the temple of God.
I believe that we should take care of
our bodies.
I believe that we should seek to eat
nutritious food.
I think that we should stay away from
junk food as much as possible because I
believe that we can defile the temple of
God with harmful food products and other harmful
things.
But basically, though it isn't primarily physical, but
spiritual defiling of the temple of God, it
is important that we keep ourselves pure and
holy.
For if any man defile the temple of
God, him shall God destroy.
For the temple of God, the naos of
God is holy, which temple ye are.
So it is a call to a holy,
righteous life.
Let no man deceive himself.
If any man among you seems to be
wise in this world, let him become a
fool that he might be wise.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness
with God.
For it is written, he taketh the wise
in their own craftiness.
There is a growing realization that science
is a hoax and
that men of science are guilty of many
times perpetrating hoaxes as they are supposedly dealing
with absolutes.
And science is supposed to be the accumulation
of absolutes and facts.
But one of the greatest to arise, Einstein
said, there is nothing that is absolute, it
is all relative.
And so there is quite an interesting movement
now among the intellectuals as again we are
beginning to discover that not all science is
science and that there is a lot of
hoax in scientific circles.
Now, to me the biggest hoax that men
supposedly of science are trying to perpetrate upon
people is that of the theory of evolution,
supposedly a scientific theory, very credible and every
science accepts it as fact according to those
who espouse it so heartily.
Even though there are many scientists that are
arising now and say, wait a minute, you
know there are too many gaps, unexplainable things
here and evolution is not a satisfactory explanation
of the existence of life.
But there are men who claim to be
scientists who are trying to perpetrate the hoax
of evolution upon society and admittedly they have
been quite successful in the perpetration of this
hoax.
But it's not science at all.
It doesn't really possess the necessary empirical evidence
to prove it as a science.
They have not yet demonstrated how that in
a closed system you can have a spontaneous
generation of life.
In fact, we have billions of evidences that
show that you cannot have spontaneous generation of
life within a closed system.
Now, think for a moment.
If life could be spawned in a closed
system every time you went to the store
and bought a can of sardines or tuna
or peaches or whatever, you would never know
what might come out of that closed system
of the spontaneous generation of life within it.
There you have a closed system.
There you have billions and billions and billions
of cans of goods that have been sold
and we have confidence in the inability of
a closed system to spontaneously generate life and
so we do can our foods and we
seal them up in order that they might
be preserved in that state, in order that
life forms may not form within it.
Now, unfortunately there are times when they were
not correctly sealed or they were not correctly
sterilized to beginning and life forms can develop
in them and when we were working in
the market, quite often in the dog food
we would find there was a spontaneous generation
of life and whenever the cans would be
puffed and pushing out at the end, we'd
always toss them back for the salesman when
he came to give them back to him
because somehow it wasn't sterilized completely when they
canned it and there was this formation going
on inside that was pushing out the ends
of the can and every once in a
while you'd get one that would pop in
the box and you'd have to just send
the whole box back because it would just
explode and get all over the rest of
the cans.
Yet it's being offered to us as scientific
fact.
It's a hoax in the name of science
and the wisdom of this world is foolishness
with God.
He takes the wise in their own craftiness
and again, the Lord knows the thoughts of
the wise that they are empty.
Therefore, let no man glory in men.
Now, Paul is saying don't glory in Paul,
don't glory in Apollos, don't glory in man.
Man at his best is an empty show.
The thoughts of the wise are empty.
Don't glory in men for all things are
yours.
Whether of Paul or Apollos or Peter or
of the world or life or death or
things present or things to come, all are
yours.
And ye are Christ's and Christ is God's.
So, I can learn and I can gain
from Paul or Apollos or Peter or whoever
else.
Everyone has something to offer.
Of course, with some you've got to sift
through so much before you find something that's
worthwhile that it's easier just not to listen.
But all things are yours and so learn
to gain from the whole world around you.
So, let a man so account of us
as of the ministers of Christ or the
servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries
of God.
Ministers of Christ, the Greek word there is
the under rowers.
They were the guys who were down in
the bottom of the ship handling the oars.
Usually chained to the oars.
And the fellow up on top would call
the order for them to row.
And which side to row.
The under rowers.
And so Paul uses that particular Greek word
here.
We are the under rowers of Christ.
We're down on the bottom level.
We're just pulling the oars.
At the command of Christ.
But then we are stewards.
And the steward was the one who was
in charge of the master's goods.
He was the one who ordered the affairs
of the household.
He bought for the necessities of the household.
It was entrusted into him the goods of
the master, though he was still himself a
servant.
But overseeing the goods of the master.
So, Paul uses the second Greek word as
a steward.
We are the overseers of those things that
belong to the master.
Moreover, it is required in stewards that a
man be found faithful.
The one requirement, really, of stewardship is that
of faithfulness to that which I've been called
to do or that which has been entrusted
to me.
Your faithfulness to that which God has called
you to do is the thing for which
one day you will receive your reward or
lack of reward.
Have you been faithful in the call of
God on your life?
It's required of stewards that they be found
faithful.
Now, Paul said, but with me, it's a
very small thing that I should be judged
of you or of man's judgment.
I don't even judge myself.
Now, evidently, they had been saying that I
am of Paul or I am of Apollos
or I am of Peter to the exclusion
of the others.
In other words, there are people that cannot
show, it seems, a loyalty to more than
one.
Or if they have a loyalty to one,
they have to put down everyone else.
And so, in saying I'm of Apollos, they
were really putting down Paul and judging Paul.
Paul said, ah, it doesn't bother me that
you judge me.
And so, the first judgment that we do
often face is the judgment of man.
But man's judgment at best is faulty.
Because one thing that we cannot judge is
the motive by which a man did something.
Because we cannot judge motives, our judgment is
not a true judgment.
So, they really didn't know Paul.
They didn't know the heart of Paul.
And yet, they were saying things against Paul.
And Paul said, hey, I've heard that you've
been judging me.
That doesn't bother me.
You should judge me.
I don't even judge myself.
The second judgment is that of self-judgment.
Now, Paul is talking about I don't judge
myself in the sense of condemning myself.
I think that it's tragic that there are
people that are constantly judging themselves and condemning
themselves.
Oh, I'm no good.
Oh, I can't do anything right.
Oh, I'm such a mess, you know.
And they're constantly judging themselves.
Paul said, I don't even judge myself.
Now, I believe that you should do your
best and then just commit the rest.
Hey, it was the best I could do,
so it is a mess.
It's all I can do.
That was my best, you see.
And so, I don't go away and moan
and complain because, oh, I really failed.
Oh, I didn't do a good job.
Oh, I didn't say the right thing.
I did my best.
So, I just leave the rest of it
with the Lord.
Lord, that's the best I can do.
Sorry about that.
But, you know, that's the best I can
do.
So, I don't beat myself or worry about
it or fret over, oh, did I do
the right thing or should I have done
more or whatever.
Yeah, I did my best.
I did what I felt was right in
the situation.
So, I don't go on condemning myself for
what came of it.
It was the best I could do.
Now, many times the best I can do
isn't sufficient, but I can't help that.
It's the best I can do.
So, I don't judge myself in the sense
of condemning myself.
For I know nothing by myself, yet am
I not hereby justified.
Now, he's actually saying I don't know anything
against myself.
That's quite a statement.
But, he said even at that it doesn't
justify me.
It doesn't mean that I'm righteous just because
I don't know anything against myself.
That doesn't make me righteous.
But, he that judges me is the Lord.
Now, here's the third judgment and this is
the important one.
This is what I'm concerned about.
I don't care what you say about me.
I do, but I, you know, so what?
I can't help that.
I'm not even concerned about my own opinion
of myself, but I am deeply concerned of
the Lord's opinion of me.
You may judge me for what I've done.
It doesn't bother me.
I may judge myself.
That isn't important.
I stand before the Lord and He is
my judge.
And, that is the judgment that I am
concerned with.
What is the Lord's opinion of me and
what I have done.
Therefore, judge nothing before the time.
In other words, wait for the day of
God's judgment.
The fire will come and the works will
be proved.
What sort and what manner they are.
The motives behind them.
So, don't judge anything before it's time.
Don't prejudge.
Until the Lord comes, who both will bring
to light the hidden things of darkness and
will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.
And then shall every man have praise of
God.
Notice how the Lord is going to judge.
The hidden things.
The things of your heart.
The motives.
Hey, that is heavy duty.
The Bible says everything is naked and open
before Him with whom we have to do.
Oh Lord, I really didn't mean it.
Oh, you didn't?
Let's take a look.
And God will be able to project what
was in your heart and mind as you
were doing it on a screen.
You remember?
Ezekiel was taken by the spirit to the
wall and the Lord said, dig a hole
through the wall and now crawl in.
And he crawled in and inside he was
looking around and all of the pornography.
And Ezekiel said, Lord, that's horrible.
All the pornography around here.
And the Lord said, I have allowed you
to go inside of the minds of the
leaders there in Jerusalem.
That's what's going on in their minds, Ezekiel.
God can see into your mind.
God knows what's going on in your heart.
And so the day will come when God
will bring to light the hidden things of
darkness and will make manifest the counsels, the
intents, the motivations of our hearts.
And then shall every man have the praise
of God.
And these things, brethren, I have in a
figure transferred to myself and to Apollos.
Now, transferring that over to Apollos and to
me for your sakes.
That ye may learn in us not to
think of men above that which is written
that no one of you be puffed up
for or against another.
Don't become divided over the instruments of God
that God may use for His purposes in
your life.
Receive from all.
Be benefited by all.
It doesn't mean that you have to turn
against one just because you're gaining from another.
For who makes you to differ from another?
What makes you so different?
Why are you so puffed up?
What makes you different?
Well, God, I think I'm not like He
is.
Well, what makes you different than Him?
Do you have anything of value?
Do you have anything of good?
Do you have anything of worth?
Where did it come from?
You say, well, God gave it to me.
Well, then if it was given to you,
why are you boasting as though it wasn't
given to you?
You see, anything that I have that is
of any value, the Lord gave it to
me.
Anything of my life that is worthwhile, it
came to me from God.
I know in me that is in my
flesh, there dwells no good thing.
Anything that is of worth and value has
been given to me by God.
If it's been given to me by God,
then God help me not to go around
and act as though it wasn't, like I
am somebody.
Like I have a great ability or I
have a great talent or I have developed
this or that or the other.
It's come as a gift from God.
And as such, then you can't read a
glory in it as though it wasn't a
gift from God.
How many times the Lord has brought this
Scripture to my heart after something I did
turned out good.
You know, it's always exciting when something you
did turns out to be right.
Turns out to be good.
And occasionally that happens.
Now it is interesting that when it does
happen, I like to act like, well sure,
you know, I've got it.
I do it all the time, man.
Not so.
If it turns out good, it's the Lord.
What have you but what you have received?
If you've received it, then why do you
act like you didn't receive it?
Which is quite often the common tendency to
act as though it is something that we
possess rather than something that was given to
us by God.
Now you are full.
Now you are rich.
You have reigned as kings without us.
And I would to God ye did reign
that we also might reign with you.
Now Paul is speaking in a satire here.
Now you are full.
Now you are rich.
Now you are reigning without us.
This is the kind of a boast that
they were making.
But Paul said, I would to God that
you really were reigning in order that I
might reign with you.
For I think that God hath set forth
us the apostles last as it were appointed
to death.
For we are made a spectacle unto the
world and to angels and to men.
The word spectacle here is a word that
has a lot of color in that when
a Roman general would be victorious over the
alien armies, he would come back to Rome
for the victory march.
And the general would come usually on his
chariot into the city of Rome with the
crowds of people lining the sides of the
road, heaping their praise and adulation upon him.
And he would bring back with him the
trophies of war, all of the loot that
he had captured.
But at the rear of the procession, there
would be those poor people that had been
captured and were being brought back to be
the victims in the arena, being tossed to
the lions and so forth.
And they were called the spectacle.
They were those captives that had been brought
back by the general to be sacrificed in
the arena to the lions.
And so Paul says, you know, I would
to God that you did reign.
It seems to me that God has made
us apostles sort of last as it were.
We're appointed unto death.
We're a spectacle.
As these people would come by, the crowd
would all jeer and hiss and all, and
they would take them to the arena and
give them to the lions for the sport
of the people.
And so, we are made a spectacle unto
the world and to angels and men.
We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye
are wise in Christ.
Again, speaking with satire here.
We are weak, but you are strong.
You are honorable, but we are despised.
Even unto this present hour, we both hunger
and thirst and are naked and buffeted and
have no certain dwelling place.
Poor Paul, if he had only known how
to make his positive confessions, he would not
have had to be this way.
Lack of faith.
You know, Paul is still getting it.
All the carnal Christians seem to give it
to Paul.
And today, Paul still gets it.
I had one of these ministers tell me,
don't you think that if Paul could have
just had victory over his flesh, that he
would not have had to have the thorn
in the flesh?
It's because of the weakness of Paul's flesh.
God help anybody who thinks they are more
spiritual than Paul or have more on the
ball than Paul had.
And Paul, speaking of his own personal experience,
said even in this present hour, we are
hungry, we are thirsty, we are naked, we
have been beaten, and we don't have any
certain place to live, no certain dwelling place.
And we labor working with our own hands.
I don't even make enough from the ministry
to be supported by the ministry.
I have to work to support my own
needs.
But being reviled, we bless.
Being persecuted, we accept it, we take it.
Being defamed, we entreat.
We are made as the filth of the
world and are the offscouring of all things
unto this day.
Now, I don't write these things to shame
you.
But as my sons, I seek to warn
you.
So here, the heart of the Apostle hurt
over the attitude of the Corinthians.
Because somehow, they could not accept from Apollos
without having to put Paul down.
Getting into these little party, petty divisions.
The mark of their carnality.
And Paul is hurt over the things that
they are saying about him.
Hurt over the divisions that exist.
And he said, no, I don't write these
things to shame you.
But as my beloved sons, I want to
warn you.
For though you have 10,000 instructors in
Christ, you have not many fathers.
For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you
through the gospel.
Now look, you may have 10,000 instructors.
They may be 10,000 guys that are
coming along and laying some of their trips
on you.
And God help us, there's over 10,000
trips out there.
Everybody has to have an angle.
I received a letter this week from someone
who was questioning about a particular paper they
had received and they sent it to me.
Wanted me to read it over and give
my opinion to them.
And this particular paper was this guy's understanding
of the prophecy of Daniel.
And in the kingdoms that were going to
arise, he doesn't see it at all as
is traditionally accepted and taught by Chuck Missler
and every good Bible scholar.
But he has his own private little twist
and interpretation.
No one else has seen this.
No one else has been able to come
to this understanding.
But, oh, he has a special understanding in
this particular prophecy of Daniel.
And instead of there being four major world
governing empires, there are actually five.
And he has the insight into the feet
of clay.
They are actually the Arab states and so
forth.
And he goes on to espouse his theory.
Yet, Peter said, no prophecy of Scripture is
of any private interpretation.
Now, when someone comes along and says, you
know, friends, I want to reveal some new
truths to you tonight.
You know, the Bible scholars in the past,
they've just not been able to see this.
Why is it that they haven't taught you
this?
You see, here it is.
And they start then giving their unusual little
twist.
No prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation.
Some guy has some new understanding and truth
that has never been discovered before.
You can be sure it's wrong.
For God has given to us all things
that pertain to life and godliness.
And they're all bound up here in the
Word.
And they're not for any private interpretation.
Now, in order to espouse their particular doctrinal
belief, though, they've got to put down everybody
else that teaches anything else.
Anybody who teaches contrary to that immediately becomes
a false prophet.
There's a fellow here in the area that
insists on writing me.
He used to come to church here quite
regularly.
He used to be constantly declaring his love
for me.
In fact, he came in one day for
God had given him a vision that he
was to work side by side with me.
But other aspects of his visions were a
little weird.
And so because I did not concur with
his vision that he was called by God
to work side by side with me, he
then became quite upset and has left the
church and now is writing me all kinds
of letters accusing me of being a liar,
a false prophet, a Jimmy Jones, a cultist,
and poor people are all being duped, you
know, by the Chuck Smith cult according to
his letters.
Sad, isn't it?
That those who once felt called of God
to work by your side now suddenly have
revealed to them by God that your teaching
is so wrong and all and of course
they often say, well Chuck really knows the
truth but he's afraid to teach it.
They don't know me because I'm not afraid
to say anything that I think is right.
But Paul was faced with the same kind
of a thing in Corinth.
They were putting Paul down.
Though he said, hey, you may have 10
,000 instructors that have come along and trying
to teach a different slant, but you only
have one father and I begot you into
the faith.
It's sort of sad to see those
that you have brought to birth in their
spiritual walk get caught up and carried away
with some of these teachers of exotic things.
So Paul said, I beseech you, I beg
you, be followers of me.
For this cause have I sent Timothy unto
you, who is my beloved son and faithful
in the Lord who shall bring you into
remembrance of my ways which be in Christ
as I teach everywhere in every church.
Timothy, Paul said in another epistle, was the
only one that he had that was like
-minded as was he.
I have a real empathy for Paul's position
here.
Having brought these Corinthians to a faith in
Jesus Christ, having laid the foundation of Jesus
Christ, to see men coming along and building
wood, hay, and stubble hurt.
Some of the Calvary chapels that have sprung
out of our church here in their desire
to develop buildings, facilities and all, have gone
to fundraising techniques, fundraising dinners, pledges, marathons,
telethons, phonethons, phonethons.
And it hurts.
It really hurts.
Because I have sought to teach them to
walk in the Spirit and to trust in
the Lord to provide for their needs, for
when God guides, God provides.
And if you get ahead of God, then
the provision isn't there and it's because you've
stepped out ahead of God.
Wait upon the Lord.
He not only has the plan, but the
method by which the plan is to be
accomplished.
And the funding.
And we don't have to lean upon man,
nor do we have to turn to worldly
schemes or devices to raise the funds for
the work of God.
And to see them getting involved in pledges
and getting involved in promotional dinners and things
like this, it really hurts down deep.
They have not so learned Jesus Christ.
But, you know, others who come along and
say, hey, this is the way it's done.
This is the way you've got to do
it.
So, Paul was sending Timothy to reestablish him
in the truth that Paul had taught to
them.
The things that Paul taught in every church
everywhere.
Now, some of you are upset, puffed up,
as though I would not personally come to
you.
Oh, yeah, well, it's so important.
Why didn't Paul come then?
He said, but I will come to you
shortly if the Lord wills.
Now, James said, don't say, tomorrow we're going
to do this and that.
You should rather say, now if the Lord
wills tomorrow, we're going to do this and
that.
And so Paul says, I'm going to come
to you shortly if the Lord wills.
Good little insertion.
We should always live our lives with that
contingency.
If the Lord wills.
And, I will know, not the speech of
those that are puffed up, but the power.
For the Kingdom of God is not in
the words that a man can say.
The Kingdom of God is in power.
Now, what is your will?
Shall I come to you with a rod
or in love and in the spirit of
meekness?
How do you desire that I come?
With a rod to correct or coming in
the spirit of love and of meekness?
So, with this, Paul closes his discussion on
the divisions that had arisen in the church
of Corinth because of the carnality.
Now he's going to start moving into some
of the more difficult issues and problems that
were existing in the church of Corinth.
The problems of immorality.
The problems of the saints taking one another
to the worldly courts and dealing again with
the subject of the body of Christ and
that desired unity of the body as we
next week move into chapters 5 and 6.
So, read ahead and we'll continue next Sunday
night.
All things are yours.
Learn to draw and to gain from many
sources but mostly from Him.
As you take the word and as you
wait upon the Spirit may your heart be
instructed in the things of God that you
might grow up into that fully matured person
that He wants you to be.
May God be with you and bless you.
Keep His hand upon your life and give
you a good week.
In Jesus' name.