(Through The Bible) 1 Corinthians - Part 1 by Zac Poonen

[Music] let's turn to the Word of God we turn now to Paul's first letter to the Corinthians again let's look at the first verse to see first couple of verses to see what the subject of this letter is there's a little phrase here which I'd like you to look at which I think describes the subject and theme of this letter verse two to the Church of God which is at Corinth the subject of this letter is the functioning of the local church the church in a city or a town or a village and what we see in this letter is that the city of Corinth the spirit in that city had got into the church see these two expressions here the Church of God in the city of Corinth and the spirit in that city had got inside the church instead of the church influencing the city and that happens in many many churches where the spirit in the world around influences the church instead of the church influencing society and the believers in the church get influenced by the spirit of the world instead of them influencing their relatives and people around them so that's what Paul is writing about in this letter but he has a lot of things to criticize in the Corinthians because there was so many terrible things going wrong in that church but in spite of all that he begins with a note of Thanksgiving and that's a very good example for us that even in believers in whom you may see a hundred and one wrong things there may be one or two things you can find which you can appreciate and I always say don't criticize a brother whom you have never appreciated did you hear that don't ever criticize a brother whom you have never appreciated many people try to help others by criticism and they cannot have them because the time before that brother did something wrong when he was doing some good things they never appreciated I've used this example of a blackboard if I have a blackboard here and I have a piece of chalk I can write on that blackboard and you can see what I'm writing but if I don't have a blackboard and I have only a piece of chalk and I write correct things I'm writing on air you can't see anything the blackboard is appreciation when you have appreciated a person then you take the white chalk of criticism and you write it he can see clearly what you're writing but if you have never in your life appreciated him there is no blackboard and then you criticize all your criticism may be correct but you are writing on thin air you can't see a thing and he's not helped most believers are writing on thin air that's why they accomplished nothing shall I show you a more excellent way love that birth and when you see something good appreciate it show him that you love him and then even one word of criticism that you write on the board he can see it clearly it'll go home to his heart and he'll do something about it so Paul begins like that I thank God verse four for you always I thank God because there are so many good things in you first of all for the grace of God which you received that you fellows are born again and in everything worse fine you've been enriched in him praise the Lord for that have you fellas can share God's Word so wonderfully your speech your knowledge I appreciate your Bible knowledge the way you speak about God and the testimony concerning Christ that's confirmed in you all I thank God for that I thank God verse seven that you are also zealous about spiritual gifts and not like so many other believers who don't care for spiritual gives you people in Corinth are eager to have spiritual gifts and you have all the gifts because you sought for them you're not lacking verse seven in any gift and you're eagerly awaiting the coming of Jesus Christ who will confirm you blameless God is faithful verse nine through whom you were called into fellowship with his son you can't believe that this is the church which has got so many wrong things that you read in the remaining chapters we can really learn a lesson from the Apostle Paul many of the letters he writes it begins with do you know fellas I'm praying for you and the first thing I do when I think of all of you is I really thank God that you chaps have come to Christ or even is you'll accept the Lord I know you're not perfect but there's so many good things in you I appreciate I want to teach all of you young people a lesson learn to appreciate have you heard that story of the teacher who kept a white sheet on the wall with a small dot black dot in a corner and told all the students to write down write down carefully what you see everybody wrote I can see a black dot in the corner then teacher collected all the papers and said none a few wrote I can see a white paper or you wrote what I can see a black dot this is that's our nature so much of white less than one percent of black and that's the only thing you see and that's the only thing you write that's our human nature we're like that we're like that when we look at one another there's so many good things in those brothers and those believers you don't see that we don't see it we need to train our eyes to see as God sees okay we move on and one of the things he finds fault of them he says all of you are quarreling once he's put up the blackboard now we can write on it he says one of each of you are saying I'm appalled I'm a follower I am of Cephas I'm of Christ see they were divided into what we had called denominations sitting in the same church is my favorite preacher is Paul and my favorite preacher the Paulist my favorite preacher is Peter and then there was the people who felt they were holier than everybody else because we belong only to Christ now do you think the people who said I am of Christ were actually more spiritual than others no I think they were probably the biggest troublemakers the people who said who look down on others saying you belong to Peter you belong to Paul you belong to polit you know who we belong to belong to Jesus so that means we are holier than the whole lot of you so they also belong to Jesus you need to appreciate that even though that fellow may have a denominational name he may be born again value him as a brother in Christ don't think that you belong because you belong to an anomaly which does not have a denominational name therefore you will only belong to Christ some of the people who belong to non-denominational assemblies can be the most arrogant conceited spiritually proud people you ever meet and some of those people who are born again in those denominational churches may be very humble people but they have a denominational label so Paul says has Christ being divided were you baptized in the name of Paul again he's on this theme of accept everyone was born again don't bring divisions on the basis of preachers and Paul himself avoided baptizing people verse 16 because he didn't want anybody to say that I got baptized by Paul I didn't get baptized by some ordinary believer in verse 18 he speaks about the subject which I would say it goes right through corinthians the word of the Cross the solution for a carnal church like Corinth what is the solution for a carnal Church with all its problems the word of the Cross that's the solution the word of the Cross is foolishness to those who perish but to us who are being saved it is the power of God what is the word of the Cross Christ crucified in the last chapter of second Corinthians also he speaks about it this is the answer in both letters that Paul writes to the Corinthians he speaks about the world of the cross the gospel of the Cross of weakness of rejection by the world of misunderstanding of not retaliating of humbling ourselves of not having anything to glory in from a human standpoint that's what he goes on to speak about where's 26 consider this my brothers there are not many wise people among you not many noble not many mighty and here is the word of the Cross verse 27 God has chosen foolish people to shame the wise when Jesus chose his first apostles he chose unlearned fishermen to put to shame the great Bible scholars of his day Gamaliel was a professor annas caiaphas for all bishops and what was Peter Peter was a fisherman and God picked him up what was James what was John fisherman you know what it you will know what fishermen are like go down to the coast of Kerala and you'll see what fishermen are like if you want to know what type of people Jesus picked up unlearn it uncultured Jesus picked them up but hard-working sincere with an open heart God picked Jesus picked them up to shame all these clever people in the religious Society of his time he's doing the same thing today he doesn't say that he doesn't choose any wise person he says not many most of the people God picks up are foolish weak verse 27 verse 28 the base things of the world the things verse 28 that are considered as nothing and brother sister if you feel that you fall into this category that you are one of the nobodies that's why God picked you up God has great delight in using nobodies and if you look at the history of India and the men who have the men of God through the centuries who have influenced India for Christ and proclaimed his word you'll find there were not great scholars there were simple people very simple people not highly educated and who were sincere just like in the first century God picked them up and knowing turned them in the Holy Spirit and gave him a ministry that's something which we must remember why because if a man serves God with all his scholarly ability and knowledge he will think that because I'm such an intelligent scholar God used me and he will be proud of it but God does things in such a way verse 29 that no one will be able to boast in his presence the ultimate purpose is that no human being will ever be able to boast you know the new song when we stand before the Lord is now alone art worthy whole Lamb of God thou art worthy O God thou art worthy O Lamb nobody else not fall fall is not worthy Peters not worthy mr. X and miss why none of them are worthy Lord Jesus you alone are worthy no man will be able to boast in God's presence in that day and because rich people and clever people and intelligent people tend to think that God is using them because of their cleverness and intelligence and their wealth or something like that my wealth is spreading the gospel or because I was such an intelligent person God picked me up and used me I'll never forget more than 20 years ago over the twenty five years ago I was asked to speak at the graduation ceremony of a Bible seminary and during the time I was there I spoke to a young student who came first in the outgoing class he got the prize for topping any number of subjects came first in his class he wanted to talk to me and when I talked to him he said he says I'm thoroughly defeated by sin all those years of accumulating Bible knowledge did not deliver him from dirty products the lust of the idols I said I told him how sad that is and he said actually after four years here I'm worse off than I was before my in my life I said what if what is all this Bible knowledge doing for you then you're going to be a pastor in a few years and what are you going to tell people are you going to tell them about Hebrew words and Greek words and things like that those fellows don't need to know about all that they need to know how to overcome the lust of the eyes and now to overcome dirty thought and you don't have that what are you going to teach them that's the tragedy in Christendom today scholars who are teaching all types of things which are not helping those people over there it's like people you know the man's got an injury here and they are putting the medicine somewhere else what's this he doesn't need a medicine there he needs it over here brother he doesn't need all your Hebrew words and Greek words and all that he needs to know how to overcome sin and if you don't learn that what are you gonna help you I never forget that when I met this young chap and I felt very sad for him because he was a Hindu convert he had come to the Lord and I think he just ended up his life wasting his life okay so I want to encourage you to think more seriously about your life that's more important and don't boast about your family background or cleverness anything that makes you boast will hinder God from fulfilling his purpose in your life and then Paul says let me give you my own example but you know Paul was from a very wealthy family Tarsus he was Saul of Tarsus Tarsus is a town where only rich Jewish businessmen would go I'm sure that Saul's father was a very wealthy businessman and Saul came from a very wealthy family his father had sent him as a young man to the Bible Seminary in Jerusalem where Gamaliel was the professor the top seminary of that time his father could afford that and those days it was a great honor for a man to be a scholar at a young age and Paul was a man with a brilliant mind he's not only from a wealthy family he was a man for the brilliant mind I think if Paul had gone into any profession he would have succeeded if he had gone into politics in them in a success they'd gone into business he'd have been a success if he'd been living today he'd have been a top computer programmer he would have been a success at anything but he gave it all to Jesus but he did not use his cleverness that's the point he's trying to say he says when I came to you chapter 2 verse 1 I did not come to you with all the superiority of speech and wisdom proclaiming to you the testimony of God he says I did not come to show you what a scholar I have and how much of the Bible I know and all this human cleverness he says in verse 4 mice message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom but in demonstration of the Holy Spirit and power he says because if I had preached to you with human cleverness your faith would have rested on my cleverness and not on the power of God those of you who preach the word let me encourage you and challenge you make your preaching simple for many many years that I have preached I've always asked myself this question but the little children in my church understand what I said or is it only the highly intellectual people who could understand what about multitudes of people who sit in my church for whom English is a second language they don't know all these high English words did they understand what I said that's enough if the children and the people with both standard pass can understand me all the rest will understand me but if only the certain clever people can understand me then 90% of the people haven't understood me then what have I got at the end of my message some honor as a great scholar or speaker I don't want them I want to bless them and I was a young preacher the Lord asked me a question do you want to impress people or do you want to help them I said lord I want to help them and the Lord said stop trying to impress them I said okay that was the turning point in my life now I want to encourage all of you when you get up to speak you want to impress people or do you want to help them if you want to impress them use your scholarly abilities and knowledge if you want to help them be simple speak in such a simple way that even the children and the less educated people there can understand that gospel is very simple Jesus was a very simple man when Jesus spoke children could understand when Jesus spoke everybody could understand 100% could understand him but today when a lot of people preach in Christian circles very few can understand so Paul says even though I have such a brilliant mind I'm a greater scholar than all of you put together I could have used my mind to speak in a very scholarly way better than all of you what is that I didn't do that I made it at the feet of Christ all my ability and knowledge and all that and I decided to speak in a very simple way with the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit so that the Holy Spirit could take my words home to your heart that's what I wanted not that you would be impressed with my cleverness but the Holy Spirit would bring conviction in your heart and change your life that is God that's the word of the Cross that's how the Cross works in our life but he says we have and the other thing is he says that you people were babes so I couldn't give you anything more than milk chapter 3 verse 1 and 2 you know you have to also recognize when you're preaching to people what is their spiritual level for example if your lead speaking to mature Christians who are godly men you speak in one way and you speak to people who are just babes in Christ here to speak in another way and Paul recognized that he said these Corinthians are still babes they have been believers for many years but they haven't grown so I must speak to them at their level he says I could not give you meat solid food verse 2 chapter 3 I give you milk but with other people who are more mature chapter 2 verse 6 he says we speak wisdom among them we have we can speak about deeper things when we go to them we can speak about dividing soul and spirit with them but with these people we got to speak about simple things like how to overcome dirty thoughts and how to overcome anger and very elementary things we've got to give them milk because that's all they can tolerate yet he says when we do speak even when we speak to these mature people we don't try to speak in a worldly clever way chapter 2 verse 6 not a wisdom of this age but we speak God's wisdom verse 7 so we must keep that in mind now these this wisdom of God it says in verse 9 cannot be seen by the human eye or heard by the human ear or understood by the human heart but worse then it has to be revealed by the Holy Spirit see that's where it makes no difference whether we are clever or not clever whether we are brilliant minds are not so clever Minds it's revelation by the Holy Spirit and that's why through the years you find that God is used some very very simple people and given them an outstanding ministry brought many many people to the Lord through people who are not scholars and even if you look around India today what do the grade Bible scholars do they don't go into the villages and bring people to Christ they go for these big conferences and evangelism and present papers and become directors of big organizations who are the people who are doing the real work in India the simple people who go into the villages and bring people to Christ were filled with the Holy Spirit and go out there and bring people to Christ and establish them in the Lord that's the work that's the real work so I say let the useless people go to all these conferences and let them sit on the committees and be the directors you get down and build the church bring people to the Lord that's what I want to do all my life I don't want to waste my time sitting on committees and presenting papers I want to bring people to the Lord and established them in a church that's our calling that's what Paul did and so we move on in chapter three he speaks about you know evangelism and building the church he says in verse four see some of you say I'm appalled and I am of apollos he said what's the difference we are both servants I planted chapter 3 verse 6 that means I did evangelism I went there got the ground planted a seed that's evangelism Apollo's came after me he didn't plant any seed he didn't dig any ground the seed which I had planted he watered it now some people get upset if someone else comes along and waters what he has planted he says why don't you go and plan something yourself why you come into my field is this your field or into the Lord's field I thought was a large field that's why I came to water it they bid your field and keep it see this is the tragedy of a lot of evangelism today this is my convert and that's why there's so much of duplication of work today lot of people doing the same thing instead of one doing what God has called in to another doing what God's called him to do if Paul plants isn't it good that a polis comes and doesn't plant but in waters and he nurtures that plant and lets it grow up into a solid tree that's the cooperation they had in the first century and what we have today is not cooperation but competition unfortunately so don't get don't duplicate another person's work when you have evangelism and making people disciples and building the church the way I pictured it in my mind is supposing a hundred people are carrying a log of wood and 99 people are holding one end of it and one person is holding the other end of it if you're a sensible person which end will you go and help the end where there's only one person I see in many situations 99 people doing evangelism and one person making disciples and building the church I say I want to go and help with that and not because I'm against the people at the other end they are also carrying the law but there are too many people there we got to carry the other end of the log to the mark 16 Commission and the Matthew 28 Commission so Paul and nopales worked together they were not in competition because they're con well for the Lord the church was for the Lord I planted verse 6 Apollo's watered but God was the one who caused the growth so he says all the glory should go to God and waters what am I in water what is Apollo's both of us verse 7 are nobodies we are nothing see that's why they could work together that's the secret Paul said I am a nobody Apollo said I'm a nobody and two nobodies can work together wonderfully but when one fellow things I'm as somebody and the other fella says well if you're a somebody I'm a bigger somebody than you very difficult for them to work together it's impossible but if you are nobody and somebody else is a nobody we can work together wonderfully you know if you ever build a church in any place let me give you a recommendation build a church of nobodies make everybody at nobody and you'll be a nobody yourself and you'll have a wonderful church without competition perfect cooperation if you can succeed in building a church where every person including yourself is just a zero that'll be a wonderful church so many zeros you say that they have no value but you put Jesus in front of it of one and sorry me this has got so much value it's not just heroes one with so many zeros after that that's how it is don't be an don't be a somebody the reason churches fail the reason of fighting among believers and leaders is because people want to be somebody and so he said he goes on to talk about laying a foundation and building both are necessary he first uses the picture of planting and watering and then he speaks about laying a foundation verse 10 and building on that in verse 11 on 12 onwards the foundation is Christ meaning people who salvation faith in Christ that's a random ISM then he says you got to build on it now make sure how you build what type of church are you building is it just a matter of size or quality always the big question you're going to face in Christendom is quantity versus quality remember this he says you're either going to build verse 12 with gold silver and precious stones or wood hay and straw supposing you are given a hundred thousand rupees to buy either wood hay and straw or gold silver and precious stones what are you going to buy if you want to build a huge structure you will buy wood hay and straw with that money if you're concerned about building a structure that will last forever you'll buy gold silver and precious stones with that money so we have all got a limited amount of time we don't have thousands and millions of years to live we may live 60 70 80 years maybe 50 years of usefulness for the Lord in that time what are you going to do in those 50 years are you going to build something which is big without quality which is going to be burnt up in the final day or would you rather build something small which is solid quality of disciples which even when it goes through the fire it comes out that's the test here and that's the question he says some people build with wood hay and straw and with wood hay and straw you can build a huge structure and some others build with gold silver and precious stones they don't build something so big but it's solid quality of believers disciples it's a solid church one day the Lord is going to put everything in the fire and this man's huge structure will be burned and there'll be nothing left of it but he himself was a born again person verse 15 so he saved and the other man who spent all his life despised by people he was despised because his work was not so big oh how many people in your church only so many is it I have so many nurtures how many churches have you built only so many is it you know how many churches Weaver okay let's wait till the judgment seat and see how many of these go through the fire that's the test and when the fire comes and test this in this you may find that the small work of quality disciples a few churches go through the fire and come out pure and that huge structure with thousands of churches burned what are you going to spend your life doing think of eternity think of what Jesus said go and make disciples of all nations are you producing something that will last forever and ever and ever as a question must always be in our mind is this the way God wants to build is this God Christian principles in it am I making disciples who love Jesus more than anything else oh my or am I just gathering converts who just say Lord Jesus and I believe in you but they haven't become disciples so just think at the end of your life it says in verse 14 all your work is burnt up how sad you'll feel everything that you lived for and did burnt up you're safe you go to heaven but you live in heaven all eternity with regret that you wasted your one earthly life I don't want to have that regret I want to build with gold silver precious stones quality work today okay let's go to chapter 4 it speaks here about servants of Christ in verse 2 it says the most important thing it's required of stewards that one be found faithful it says in the Living Bible the most important thing about a servant is that it does just what his master tells in two it's a very important principle in Christian work that you don't do so many things you do what your master has told you to do you gotta wait upon God and say Lord what is your ministry for me and I'm gonna do that the most important thing about a servant if I have a servant in my house I don't want him to run around doing so many things in in during the day I want him to do what I tell him to do otherwise when I want him he's busy doing something else this is how a lot of full-time Christian workers are when the Lord wants them to do something they have already made their program to do something else they have no time to wait on God to find out what is God's will for them so learn to wait on the Lord the most important thing about a servant is to hear what his master is saying and to do that and in chapter 4 it speaks about the condition of true apostles true servants of Christ who walk the way of the Cross will never be honored the Apostles are the greatest in God's church they are the elders of elders in churches they are the ones who plant churches establish elders and are a guide to the elders of churches how are they considered by the world in verse 9 God has exhibited us apostles last of all in the world's eyes the Apostles are lost they are not honored we have become a spectacle to the world now Paul is comparing himself as an apostle and the other apostles with the Corinthian Christians who were carnal he says you people are filled were saved you become rich verse 10 we are fools but you are considered very wise we are considered weak you are considered strong you are all distinguished in the world we have no honor in this world do you know that a true servant of God an apostle of Jesus Christ never has any honor in this world he's not distinguished he's the carnal christians who are distinguished in the world if you seek to be distinguished in the world you will end up as a carnal Christian he says in verse 11 we are hungry and thirsty poorly clothed a true apostle of Christ never becomes rich through preaching the gospel wherever you see a man who has become rich through preaching the gospel you can be sure he is not an apostle of Christ a man who's bought houses and lands for himself and his family through preaching the gospel he's not an apostle a man who can buy expensive cars through the money he gets by preaching the gospel he is not an apostle no he's just a carnal Corinthian Christian Paul could have made a lot of money he didn't a true servant of God does not make money through preaching the gospel he receives gifts to survive like Jesus and the Apostles did but it does not to become a millionaire and you see exactly the opposite happening in Christendom in India today that is why my respect for all these so-called preachers who talk about speaking in tongues and baptism the Holy Spirit and all my respect for them is zero zero I have more respect for some of these Roman Catholic priests who go to North India and live very simply far more than some of these preachers who say they speak in tongues and make money and become wealthy through preaching the gospel and visiting the Gulf and build houses and lands over here look at the Apostle Paul which one are you going to follow are you going to follow a true apostle or are you going to follow all these counterfeits to this present hour verse 11 we are hungry thirsty poorly clothed roughly treated homeless apostles roughly treated homeless he says we toiled working with our own hands he says we support ourselves we are reviled people make tell all types of false stories about us but we bless them we are persecuted wherever we go verse 12 but we endure people tell false stories about us verse 13 we are slandered and when we are slandered we try to conciliate to bring peace and we have become as the scum of the world the dregs of all things you know in big cities you have a sewage pipe the sewage pipe is where you flush the toilet all that stuff goes into the sewage pipe Paul says we apostles are treated like that who cares for what flows in the sewage pipe do you know that the greatest apostle that lived said this is how apostles are treated whereas you Corinthian Christians you are all scholarly distinguished respected you've got your titles in your honor and people in the world appreciate you and you feel happy that people in the world honor you and give you honor in their different places this is not us I'm sorry to say that Christendom has lost that vision of what it means to be a true servant of God and it is our job if you feel that challenge to demonstrate in this country once again what it means to be a true servant of God one who will not compromise one who does not seek for any of the honor of men one who doesn't want all the honorary doctorates that the world gives because he doesn't want honor God's not impressed with all these honorary doctorates and neither is the devil the scum of all things who wants to be like this people want to be apostles and sit on Thrones and get honor my brother sister listen to what I say don't go that way be a humble servant of God all the days of your life be an ordinary brother and an ordinary sister humbly seeking to serve God rejected by the world perhaps rejected by Christendom perhaps it doesn't matter the dregs of all things you may say Paul had psychologists will say Paul had this complex of being nobody of being martyred and all that let the psychologist say what they like he was the true servant of God don't be disturbed by what a lot of Christians today are more influenced by psychologists than by the Word of God don't worry about what they say don't be disturbed by them follow the example of this godly man and with all this rejection DeeDee was he jealous of the Corinthians they are comfortable they are distinguished there's no I feel sorry for you fellows I'm in a more blessed position and he says I want to speak to you as a father not to shame you he says in verse 14 I'm not writing these things to shame you but to correct - you can have 10,000 teachers verse 15 but not many fathers I'm your father you know a true servant of God is a father he doesn't ashamed people teachers shame the students if a student does something a teacher will put him to shame a father will never put a child who says something stupid to shame a true servant of God must be a father and he says you people can say so many wonderful things but when I come into your midst verse 19 I'm not going to listen to all these clever words I want to see how much power there is in your life I'm impressed Paul says by power verse 19 not by words verse 20 because the kingdom of God is not in words it's in power power is the thing how much power do you have that's what I want to know politics ok we go to chapter 5 where Paul has to deal with immorality in the church in corinth and it's a very good chapter because sometimes we have to deal with sin that is not repented of where people continue in sin now jesus told us that when a person sins in a church the first four chapters by the way are paul is establishing a certain foundation of a true servant of god and about the word of the Cross and then he deals from chapter 5 onwards with the various problems there were in the local church how this spirit of the city of corinth that got inside the church and part of it was immorality there was a lot of immorality in the heathen temples in corinth and that spirit had got into the church there was a man who was living in adultery with his stepmother father 2nd wife and not even repenting about it and the sad thing was the elders in the church in Corinth was so spineless people that they didn't do anything about it they didn't have any moral courage and conviction to put that man out they wanted to be popular you know sometimes you lose your reputation when you put a man out of the church they say oh there's a hard chaff and they don't want that reputation of being hard I've seen servants of God like that who always love their reputation more than the purity of the church they're always concerned about being popular they are more like politicians in the church they want to be popular they want to get everybody's vote and they are not concerned about purity in the church and when you have a politician like that as an elder or a pastor you have a church which is in chaos that's what happened in Corinth why didn't the elders put that man out isn't it doesn't everybody know that if a man is living in adultery with his stepmother that's a sin why didn't somebody go and rebuke him and correct him because they sought honor and you may find perhaps he was a rich man I have a feeling he must have been a very rich man if he was a poor man I'm sure those elders would have jumped on his head and rebuked him straight away but he must have been a very rich influential man and then they thought oh he give the large offering in the church and we better not disturb them these are the type of thoughts him pass through your mind when you lead a church and so Paul said I couldn't care less whether the fellows richer for the fellows living in sin and even though I'm not there he says I am here far away from you but I'm with you in spirit verse 4 and I have decided verse 5 to deliver this man to the devil for the destruction of his flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus and he says in verse 13 put this wicked man out of your church that is called excommunication put him out of the church sometimes we have to do that but Jesus said first go and speak to him alone Matthew 18 then go and verse 18 to 20 then the elders must go and speak to him to three and if he doesn't listen to you finish with both those steps he still doesn't listen continues in sin then Jesus said tell his sin to the whole church and put him out and treat him like a heathen so there is a place for discipline in a church just like there's a place for discipline in a home a home read children are not disciplined will be a chaotic home and a church where people are not disciplined will be a chaotic Church a home where children are not disciplined that children will take over the home and the father will have to sit in a corner and a church where there's no discipline the elders will have to sit in a corner all the others will take over the church that's exactly what's happened in many places because the elder seeks popularity rather than establishing the church on divine principles of holiness and what does it mean to hand over this person to Satan that means for the destruction of his flesh means so that Satan will bring sickness into his body all sickness is from the devil I don't have the slightest doubt about that in my mind God doesn't give sickness to anyone God may permit sickness like he permitted it in Paul's life of thorn in the flesh but he never gives it God doesn't tempt anyone but he permits Satan to tempt God doesn't make anybody sick but he sometimes allows Satan to give sickness but with a purpose sickness comes from the devil and he was praying that this man will get so sick through the devil attacking his body and he'll be put out of the church and there'll be no believers caring for him and there in the darkness spiritual darkness even though he's got so much money he'll realize what he is lost and he will repent so sometimes God uses the devil to bring sickness to an unrepentant believer to turn him back to repentance that's very very common sickness is used by God to lead people to repentance so that's what Paul is praying I deliver him or he was an apostle and he had the authority to deliver a man to Satan and permit Satan to bring sickness into his life so that the man would repent so though the world treated him like the sewage as far as God was concerned lien Authority and the devil was scared of Paul even though the world treated him like sewage in Chapter six he deals with the question of believers taking each other to court why does a believer take another believer to court because he feels that God has not helped me to solve this problem and he means that the church elders may not be able to help me so let's go to a heathen court and Paul says here it's totally wrong and those who take each other to court like this you are dishonoring the Lord you should have taken that problem to the church he's not saying believers can't have problems there will be problems among believers but the believers should take them to the elders of the church and not to a heathen court and he says if somebody cheats you as a brother in Christ okay allow yourself to be cheated verse 7 last part wine will not rather be wrong why not rather be cheated but the only other contrary you yourself do wrong you yourself go and take that fellow to court that's wrong and then he says in verse 9 don't you know that people who do such things will not inherit God's kingdom do you know that if you take other people to court other believers to court I mean you can miss God's kingdom yourself that's a sin that can put you out of God's kingdom why because you are bringing public disgrace to the name of Jesus Christ by taking that other believer to court and before non-christians who are supposed whom you want to give the gospel to to bring them into God's kingdom you are leading them away from God's kingdom by saying that Christians fight with each other when Christians are supposed to show jesus said all men will know you're my disciples when you love one another but you're driving them away back into the hands of the devil by showing that you fight with one another then God says in that case if you do that you don't deserve to get into God's kingdom yourself you better go and join all the other heathen to such people verse 9 will not inherit the kingdom of God in other words a Christian must always be concerned about the glory of God later on he says that in chapter 10 verse 31 whatever you do do all to the glory of God are you going to glorify God by taking that brother to court No then don't do it whatever you do do it to the glory of God what are you accomplishing by taking that brother to court revenge you hated me you want the judge to punish him leave it to God vengeance belongs to God please remember that then he goes on to speak about our body verses 12 to 20 is a wonderful section on the human body and there's some lovely passages here which you would it's good to think of verse 12 says all things are lawful but all things are not profitable I just want to say a few words about this there are three levels at which people live first of all unlawful or unrighteous that's where all unbelievers live then you have a line there above that is lawful or righteous matters that's where all believers should live sometimes unfortunately believers go down to do unrighteous things also but they should not that's the second level and then you have the highest level which is not only lawful but profitable see out of a hundred things 70 things may be unlawful so I don't do any of them 30 things may be lawful I can do any of those 30 things but out of those 30 things only 10 may be profitable so a wholehearted Christian does only those 10 things of haha farted Christian does thirty things a worldly Christian or an unbeliever does all hundred perhaps so this is the difference you have a choice you can live if you're really a sincere Christian you will never descend to the lower unrighteous things you'll do what is lawful but if you want to be a wholehearted effective servant of God even from the lawful thing you have to select the things that are profitable for example if we are 24 hours a day I mean if you're going to watch filthy movies and read dirty books those around unlawful assembly % of things you can't do but there are 30 percent of things you can do in the world which are lawful and good and you decide to do those things but still among that there are many ways you could spend the day you could go sightseeing you could go for a picnic you do many many things which are good and if every day you spend like that you're not going to be useful servant of God you could also spend that part of that day anyway in fasting perhaps and praying you choose the things that are profitable in reading there are many things we could read we could spend hours reading the newspaper in few minutes reading the Bible or a few minutes reading the newspaper and hours reading the Bible there's nothing wrong in reading newspaper it's good to know what's happening in the world but it's a question of proportion you may not be sinning by spending two hours reading the newspaper but then you don't have enough time to read the Bible or there could be a lot of things like that money for example like time money there are unlawful ways to spend money doing wrong things with money we should never do that but among all the right ways to spend money there may be a few ways where money can be spent profitably a wholehearted Christian spends his time and his money profitably selection selection selection this is the secret of life out of all the lawful things I can do with my time I select these are the things I'm gonna do out of all the lawful ways in which I can spend my money I select see these the ways I'm gonna spend my money that is the man who's going to count for God then he goes on to speak about the body in verse 13 to 20 he speaks about food for the stomach and the stomach for food with God will destroy them both and he says in the last part as well I will not be mastered by anything if you want to be a servant of God you should not be mastered by the love of food if you love food and you're mastered by it I can tell you in Jesus name you'll never be a useful servant of God you have to break free from that habit and that's where fasting helps us then he speaks about the body and I want to tell you some wonderful things about the body here in verses 15 to 20 it says your bodies first of all are members of Christ your body is a member of Jesus Christ so don't join it to a harlot don't let it be a joint immorality your body must be verse 30 in the last part for the Lord and here's a wonderful promise I really love this promise I've claimed it myself for many years if my body is for the Lord the Lord is for my body do you know that if you say Lord my body had to put my eyes done everything is for you then the Lord is for my body not only my spirit he's for my body he will keep my body fit to serve Him as long as he wants me to serve him the young people will faint but those who wait on the Lord and give their bodies to him will rise like Eagles in the sky and our body is also verse 19 the Temple of the Holy Spirit you have been bought with a price verse 20 that will glorify God in your body wonderful passage of the body which I want to encourage you to meditate on because we need a body to serve God and we need a healthy body to serve God many people talk about healing I want to talk about health health is better than healing prevention is better than cure it's better not to eat too much and be a glutton and get sick and then ask the Lord for healing it's better to not eat so much and be disciplined and not get sick isn't health better than healing let the Lord not be your healer but let him be your health how many times have you heard people preaching that the Lord should be your health we hear about the Lord being our healer prevention is better than cure give your body totally to the Lord and say Lord you're my health you're the health of my body and as long as you want me to serve you I'm here available I want to glorify God not only my spirit and soul I want to glorify God in my body because I've been purchased purchased by God to be his it belongs to him I have to vacate the house because he has purchased it like we may get a house once we as somebody assigned a sale need and purchased it we must vacate our body all of us and say Lord you're the owner please take it it's a sin to live in a house with somebody else has purchased and your body over to the Lord that's pretty

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Keywords: Revival, Character Of God, Free Sermons, Video Sermons, Jesus Christ, What Is The Gospel, SermonIndex, What Is The Truth, Zac Poonen

Id: wGal4skAGP4

Length: 56min 50sec (3410 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 22 2017