It’s
a beautiful January day in Oklahoma. It’s good to see everybody in. We’re
going to go right into the Book and continue on where we’ve been for the last several
programs on the But God, But Who, or But When. Regardless, you
know it’s always the “flip side.” I’ve expressed so often, that if you want to
be a serious Bible student, you must determine: to whom is it written, what
went before, and what went after. This is the whole premise of this line of
teaching. We’re going to show what comes up on the “flip side,” and then we’ll
see what a difference that makes. All
right, for the next “But God,” we’re going to go to Romans chapter 5 and verse
20. We’ll go to the flip side and then go back and see what goes before. Again,
remember that Romans is a doctrinal book. Ninety-nine percent of our Grace Age
doctrine has its roots in the Book of Romans, and that’s what so many people
fail to realize. Acts is not a doctrinal book. Acts is a record of the
transition from Judaism to grace. But Romans is strictly a doctrinal
book. We see things in Romans that you almost will not find anywhere else in
Scripture, and here is one good example. Romans
5:20b “…But
where sin abounded,” Now, I hope you can stretch that word abound
to what it really means. It just is overwhelming. It’s beyond borders, and
that’s where sin had become, even at the time that Paul is writing. You want to
remember that the Roman Empire was totally devoid of any spirituality. It was
pagan. It was under all of the gods and goddesses of paganism and mythology. Consequently,
the moral fabric of the empire was as rotten as you could expect the human race
to get. So Paul, I think, is using that background of his present day
civilization to show that this grace of God is greater even than the horrendous
sins of the Roman Empire. Let’s
go back to Romans chapter 5 verse 12 and see the very beginning of this sin
problem. Now I know, from what I gather from my listening audience and from my
own experience that we hardly ever hear anybody talk about sin anymore. Oh, it
might disrupt a little bit once in a while, but they won’t call it sin. It’s
either the parents’ fault, or it’s the school teacher’s fault, or it’s somebody
else’s fault. But they refuse to call it sin. But Paul has no compunction.
Paul, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, calls sin exactly what it is. It
is total rebellion against a Holy, Righteous God. But where did it begin?
All right, Romans chapter 5 verse 12, “Wherefore.” You want to
remember, in these first four and half chapters, this is what he’s been explaining
– the human sin problem. Remember, if you go back to chapter 1, he lays out
all the ramifications of the immoral individual. Then he goes into chapter 2
and lays out all of the sin problem of a moral person who thinks he’s pretty
good. Then he goes one step further in the last part of chapter 2 and on into
chapter 3, and he lays out the dilemma of the religious man, which of course in
his day was the Jew, and they were just as devoid of spiritual life as the
immoral man. So, sin has been the subject of this letter to the Romans for the
first four and a half chapters. All right, now he’s telling us where it all
began. All right, verse 12. Romans
5:12a “Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world,…” Now, of course, you all
know who the one man was. Adam! Now you know, there are those out there that
are trying to tell us that there were humans before Adam. Well, if that’s the
case, then the Bible falls apart, because everything in the Bible goes back to
the creation of Adam and Eve and their fall, which sent the human race under
the sin dilemma. All right, this is what the Apostle Paul is showing us. This
is where sin and death began – with Adam when he partook of the forbidden tree.
So, by one man Adam-- Romans
5:12b “…sin
entered into the world, and death by sin;…” Now, I always have to stop
and remind people that sin and death are synonymous. You can’t separate them.
Sin and death are as tied together as Siamese Twins, because sin, sooner or
later, is going to bring about death. Even in the garden experience, the
moment Adam ate of that fruit his spirit died and his physical body began to
die, even though it took 930 years before that was consummated. But sin and
death, Beloved, are synonymous. You take sin out of the picture and death goes
with it. That’s why eternal life, you see, is totally separated from sin and
death. Romans
5:12 “Wherefore,
as by man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so (Here’s
the result.) death passed upon (How many?) all men,
(None excepted, but the Lord Jesus Himself, of course. But every human being
that has ever come into the world has come in with a sin nature and death
riding with it. There’s no way that you can avoid it.) for that all
have sinned:” Now
you remember years back I put on the board, “We’re not sinners because we
sin. We sin because we’re born sinners.” It’s there
in every human being. You know, I always like to repeat and repeat and repeat,
because that’s what my letters tell me to do. I’ve used the example so often of
that innocent, little infant that’s born into the home. He is just as sweet
and innocent as anything can be. But how long is it until that little infant
shows a temper? Not long. We call them temper tantrums. Then you go on a
little further and it isn’t long until that little child knows how to lie. No
mother or father is going to teach that kid how to lie, it comes naturally.
They can lie like a rug! Then, it isn’t long until the language of the
neighborhood slips in. Have you ever noticed kids never use bad words in the
wrong place? Ever noticed that? Why? Because their old sin nature knows
exactly how and where to use them. It goes right on up as we grow up in
physical and human life experience; that old sin nature just becomes more and
more evident all the time. I
can remember when I was a kid, small enough to still sleep on my Mom and Dad’s
laps as they sat together. I didn’t mind staying awake during the song
service, but as soon as that preacher got behind the pulpit, you know what this
little kid did? I stretched out on Mom and Dad’s laps and went to sleep.
Why? I didn’t want to hear what he had to say. I know that was the case. And
I couldn’t have been even over three years old. That’s human nature. They
rebel at anything that pertains to the truth, and the older people get, the
stronger that rebellion gets. But it all began back here with one man – Adam.
All right, now let’s move on, verse 13. Now, this is kind of a tough verse
to handle, but we’ll face it for a moment. Romans
5:13a “(For
until the law…” Now stop and think. This is what I’m so thrilled about when
people are writing, and it’s proving to me that I’m getting through to them.
They’re stopping to analyze the Scriptures, which they never did before. All
right, how long was it from Adam until Moses was given the Law? Come on you
mathematicians, figure up real fast. How long from 4000 BC to 1500 BC? Twenty
five hundred years - there was no Law. Now, think about that. For
twenty five hundred years there was no Mosaic Law. So, what held the human
race together as much as it did? Now, it was awful. That’s why God destroyed
them with the flood. But, what held them together at least for the first
1400-1500 years. Conscience. Now, let me show you that from Scripture. I’ve
got to do everything with Scripture. Go back just a couple of pages in Romans
to chapter 2. These are concepts of Scripture that the average Christian never
even hears about or looks at. But you see, from Adam until Moses was given the
Ten Commandments, there was no written Law. There was no formal system of
worship. Those people before the flood didn’t have churches or synagogues or
temples. No formal system of worship whatsoever. So, the only thing they had
left that held it together a little bit was - here it is in Romans chapter 2
verse 14. Romans
2:14 “For
when the Gentiles, (or the non-Jewish world) who have not the
law, do by nature (or naturally) the things contained in the law,
these, (non-Jewish people) having not the law, are a law
unto themselves:” Well, now where does that come from? Next verse, verse
15. Romans
2:15a “Which
show the work of the law written in their hearts, their (What’s the
next word?) conscience….” Now, you’ve all heard the word since
you were little, “let your conscience be your guide.” Well, there’s truth to
it. But the problem is, the conscience can be so easily manipulated or seared,
so it’s not an all encompassing solution. But nevertheless, this is what
mankind started out with. He had the law of God written in his heart by way of
conscience, even though it wasn’t on a written page. Romans
2:15b “…their
conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts (prompted by
conscience) the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another;)”
Now, that’s all they had. Consequently, what happened to the human race
between Creation and the flood? Well, you all know the picture of humanity
before the flood. It was wicked. It was violent. It had no thought of God in
them from morning to night. Why? Conscience utterly failed, and so everybody
did what they were comfortable in doing. All
right, then came the Law. Now, when Israel received the Law, God laid out
explicitly the moral code for human behavior. Now see, here’s where I get a
little bit rankled when they get all upset about showing the Ten Commandments
as though it is a religious instrument. No, it’s not a religion, per se. It’s
God’s moral law for the whole human race. I don’t care whether they’re Muslim
or Hindu or whatever. If they basically keep God’s moral law, they’ll have a
far better community than they will without it, because God’s law is perfect.
No man can keep it, but at least there is enough substance there that it keeps
society on track. Because as soon as you have a society, I don’t care what
their form of religion is on the door, when you have a society that has no compunction
about sexual immorality, there is a breakdown of the home. When you have a
society that has no concern about human rights, you lose property rights. Now,
you say, where do you get that? Property isn’t even in the Ten Commandments.
Well, where do you pick it up? “Thou shalt not covet.” Now,
when you go on into Leviticus, what are the things that people were not to
covet? Well, they were not to covet another man’s spouse, but it doesn’t stop
there. Neither his maid servant, nor his man servant, nor his donkey, nor this…nor
that. So, what does it tell you? That based on God’s Law, there is supposed
to be the right to personal property. One of the fundamentals of our Western
civilization is property rights. As soon as that’s taken away, our system of
government will go down the tube. I don’t care if you only own $100 worth of
property, or whether you own millions, the concept is the same. It’s yours.
And the Bible stands behind that. Okay,
now come back to Romans chapter 3. The Law was not given or written until
Moses, but in that 2500 year period of time God had given man the knowledge,
through conscience, of what was right and wrong. But like I said, you can sear
conscience. You can manipulate it, so it really doesn’t control. All right,
but now God has brought in the written Law. Romans chapter 3 verse 19, verses
that we’ve used over and over through the years. Romans
3:19a “Now
we know (See? No ifs, ands, or buts about it.) that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law:” Now,
when I taught Romans, I specified that the Law, in general terms, covered three
aspects of Jewish life – the ceremonial or the Temple Worship, or what we would
call the ecclesiastical law. What sacrifice to bring and under what
circumstances. Then they had the civil law - how to deal with your
neighbor, family relationships, and so forth. Then they had the moral law,
which was the Ten Commandments. All right, the word law here, as I
understand this text, is the moral law, the Ten Commandments. Romans
3:19a “Now
we know that what things soever the law (Ten Commandments) saith,
it saith to them who are under the law:” Now, if you know anything
about Biblical history, there was only one people on earth that were under the
Law and who was it? Israel. That’s all. The rest of the Gentile world
had no comprehension of keeping the “Law,” per se. All right, so it was given
to Israel, right back there at Mount Sinai and Moses, and then pretty soon they
put together the priesthood, Aaron and so forth. The law became functional,
but only for the Nation of Israel. Now
again, I’m just reminding you of things that sometimes you never even think
of. Did God ever tell Israel – go out and bring the Gentiles in so they can be
under this Law? No, they were never told to go out and share this with the
non-Jewish world, quite the opposite. They were to keep it meticulously for
themselves. They had no commandment to go out and bring the Gentiles under
their Law. Okay, now let’s come back to the verse again. Romans
3:19a “Now
we know that what things so ever the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law (The Nation of Israel, but it doesn’t stop there.) that
every mouth… (Now, that takes in the whole human race.) That
every mouth may be stopped,” Or today, if you want to be rude to
somebody, you tell them to what? Shut up. I get a kick out of these coaches
when they’re pacing the sideline. I don’t know which ballgame it was. I’ve
watched so many lately. But, I remember seeing one of those coaches, and one
of the kids was ranting. The coach walked up, and you could read his lips.
What was he telling him? Shut up! Shut your mouth. On
the cruise – we had one lady – she’s a character so I knew the way she said it.
I said something that, oh, it wasn’t rude, but I said something, you know, to
kind of put her down. She just looked at me and she said, “Shut your mouth!”
Well, that’s the way we do it. You just simply say you haven’t got an inch of
room to stand on. Just shut your mouth. All
right, now this is exactly what this is saying, that God brought the Law to the
whole human race to shut their mouths. Well, what do you suppose
He’s talking about shutting their mouth about? Well, I don’t need Your Law. I
can get along without You, and all the other things that they put with it.
God, through the Law, says to just shut your mouth, because the Law is so
perfect. It is so Sovereign that not one human being has the right to argue
with it. Romans
3:19b “…it
saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world (Not just Israel, but that all the world, the whole human
race) may become guilty before God.” Now, that just flies in the
face of most of Christendom’s approach to the Ten Commandments, doesn’t it?
They never look at it as a guilt thing. But that’s all it is. That’s all the
Law was given for; it was to show Israel, first, their sin. Now, when they saw
their sin, then what’d they have to do? Then they had to step into the other
part of the Law and follow the directions on what sacrifice to bring and how to
get right with God, but it had to start with the Law convicting them of sin. It
was the same way, then, with the whole human race. Conscience hadn’t done its
job, so now God laid out the written Law on tables of stone to show it’s
permanent. It was never given to bring somebody to Heaven. It was never given
to bring anyone to salvation. It was given to convict, and when you convict of
sin, like I’ve already said at the beginning of the program, what’s the next
step? Death - spiritual and then physical. All right, now let’s go into the
next verse, verse 20. Romans
3:20a “Therefore
by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh (nobody) be
justified in his sight:…” My, that flies in the face of Christendom,
doesn’t it? But by the Law nobody will be justified in His sight. Why?
Because the law was not given for salvation. Romans
3:20b “…for
by the law is the knowledge of sin.” I think I may have shared this
when I was teaching Romans. I’ll never forget it, quite a few years ago now,
more than I like to admit, I was speaking to a men’s breakfast out in one of
the eastern states. It was a rather large group sitting around tables,
probably forty or fifty men. Amongst that group of men was a young assistant
pastor of one of our major denominations. The tables went out this way from me,
and I was sitting up here, and he was sitting about over where Iris is. And
when I read this verse, without making a single comment, all I did was read it,
that young man’s mouth literally dropped. And what’s the first thing I
thought? Young man, you didn’t know this was in your Bible, did you? Even as
an assistant pastor you could tell that he did not know this was the biblical
approach to the Ten Commandments. “They
are ministrations of death,” Paul says in II Corinthians chapter 3, and
that shocks people. That’s not the part that they hear. But that’s what the
Bible says – it’s a ministration…let me show it to you, otherwise somebody out
there in television is going to say, now, where does he get that. II
Corinthians 3, now, I certainly didn’t expect or intend to get off on this
track. I thought I would be ready for the next But before this
half hour was over, but we have to take it as it comes, I guess. II
Corinthians chapter 3 and let’s start at verse 5. Now, we’re showing that the
Law was a ministration of death, not life. II
Corinthians 3:5-7a “Not
that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our
sufficiency is of God; (Now it’s a semi-colon, so the thought keeps
going.) 6. Who (God) also hath made us able
ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, (Which is a Pauline
word for the Ten Commandments.) but of the Spirit: (The Holy
Spirit is what takes the place of the Law in the life of the believer.) for
the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. 7. But if the
ministration of death, written and engraven in stones,…” Now,
I’m reminded, I think I used this maybe a couple of programs back. What was
engraved in stone? Only one thing in all of Scripture and what was it? The
Ten Commandments. So, we know this is what the Apostle is referring to. II
Corinthians 3:7 “But
if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious,
(In its own time and in its own economy and in the functioning of the Law, of
course it was.) so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly
behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to
be done away:” When? When the cross satisfied everything that the Law
demanded. So, it was done away with. That’s
the one thing that Israel has never been able to comprehend, that the work of
the cross has completely done away with the work of the Law. Well, we didn’t
get very far in this one, but let’s come back to Romans chapter 5 a minute, in
the last minute that’s left, continue on. Romans chapter 5 now verse 14, so
from Adam until Moses there was no written law, conscience failed miserably,
and now we come to 14. Romans
5:14a “Nevertheless
death reigned…” I’m going to use the term that I think William R.
Newell used in his commentary on Romans, which I read years and years ago, that
“death reigned like a king.” Whenever you use that word reign
here in these early chapters of Romans, you can just emphasize that, “like a
king.” Now,
you know how a king reigns. He reigns with absolute power and authority. All
right, now we bring that into this verse, “death reigned” over
the whole human race. Reigned like a what? Like a king. It was in total
control. Death. We all, I think, have a horror for death, because it is that
which has just reeked throughout the whole human race - death. And death and
sin have always been synonymous. It’s
good to see you all back, and I see you’ve got your coffee cups. We’ll get
right back into where we left off in the last program, which is in Romans
chapter 5. But first, we want to thank our television audience for all your
cards and letters as well as your contributions. My, it just thrills our
hearts. As I’ve said over and over through the years, our mail time is the
best time of the day. So again, from the depths of our heart we thank you for
everything. We’re
going to pick right up where we left off. What we are coming to is “But
where sin abounds.” We’re laying the ground work for that – this whole
subject of sin that Paul is dealing with in these early chapters of Romans, and
what a cancer it has been on the whole human race. Sin, of course, is at the
heart of all of humanities’ problems. And in our last program, we saw that sin
wasn’t really delineated until God gave it by virtue of the Ten Commandments.
That’s where we left off. So, verse 14 is where we ended up. Romans
5:14 “Nevertheless
death reigned (like a king) from Adam to Moses,
(Absolutely, even though there was no specific written law, they had it in
their conscience, remember.) even over them who had not sinned after the
similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.”
Now, all that says is the whole human race didn’t eat of the forbidden
tree. That’s obvious. That was merely the step of disobedience that Adam took
that plunged the whole human race into sin and every form of sin followed. All
right, but Adam’s transgression was “the figure (or an example) of
him that was to come.” Now, Paul is introducing us to the whole
biblical concept, which is especially in Paul’s epistles, that sin came from
one man, and the remedy from sin comes from another man, the man Christ
Jesus. All right, now that’s what we’re going to see in the succeeding
verses. But, here’s another but. This isn’t the one I started
with, but they’re always the flipside. Romans
5:15a “But
not as the offence, (not like eating of the forbidden tree) so
also is the free gift….” Now, in a way, they’re identical, and in a
way they’re as separate as daylight and dark. The way that they are identical
is that one man plunged the human race into sin and death, and one Man did
something to overcome it. But on the other hand, we have to realize that even
though Adam sent every human being into condemnation, Christ has accomplished
everything that needs to be done to give salvation, but only those who come in
by faith will benefit from it. So, it’s not an automatic universalism - I
guess is the word - that the whole human race has been saved through the work
of the cross. It is only when they believe it. All right, now let’s just read
on, verse 15. Romans
5:15 “But
not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one
(Adam) many be dead, much more the Grace of God, and the gift by grace,
which is by one man, (the God man) Jesus Christ, hath abounded
unto many.” So, there is no excuse for a single human being to miss
salvation. There is not any lack in what God has done to bring the whole human
race to salvation. In
fact, let’s just look at what it says in other portions. II Corinthians chapter
5, because there are those who speak that the work of the cross was only for
the believer. Well, that’s not what my Bible says. I don’t like to pick an
argument with people, but I do have to point out where I disagree. No, the
work of the cross wasn’t limited to the believer. It accomplished everything
that needed to be done for every last human being. All right, II Corinthians
chapter 5, jump in at verse 14. II
Corinthians 5:14-15 “For
the love of Christ constraineth us; (drives us) because we thus
judge, (or conclude) that if one died for (How many?) all
(not just a few) then were all dead: (Dead spiritually. Well,
that’s obvious. But, He did die for every last human being.) 15. And
that he died for all, that they which live (as a result of their faith)
should not henceforth live unto themselves, (Because they’re no
longer under the old sin nature.) but unto him who died for them, and
rose again.” So, here’s the whole biblical concept that the work of
the cross was sufficient for every human being that ever lived – none
excepted. So many come back and water it down and say it was only for those
who became believers. All
right, back to Romans chapter 5, remember where we’re heading. We’re heading
to that place where we get that profound statement that “where sin
abounds, God’s Grace does more abound.” But we’re not there yet.
We’re still building up to it, now verse 16. Romans
5:16a “And
not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift:…” Now, that sounds
like doubletalk, but what Paul is saying is that as one plunged the human race
into death, One gave the offer of salvation as a free gift. Like I said a
moment ago, in one respect they are alike, and on the other respect they’re as
different as daylight and dark. All right, now read on. Romans
5:16b “…for
the judgment was by one to condemnation, (Adam, when he sinned, the
whole human race went down the tube with him.) but (Here’s a
flipside.) the free gift is of many offences (or many sins, but
it’s going to lead) to (What?) justification.”
Totally acquitted. Made as if we had never sinned. That’s what God does. Romans
5:17a “For
if by one man’s offence (The act of disobedience when he ate the
fruit.) death reigned (And again I’m going to put it in – like a
king.) by one;…” Who’s the one? Adam. Because of Adam’s fall,
the whole human race came under the subjection and the rule of sin and death.
All right, reading on. Romans
5:17b-18a “…much
more they who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of
righteousness shall reign (Again like a king, but not in death, now
what?) in life (Now the believer can have life ruling and
reigning like a king, and it was all brought about how?) by one,
Jesus Christ.) (Now, here we come - verse 18.) Therefore as by
the offence of one (the fall of Adam) judgment came upon all men
to condemnation;…” Every human being is going to an eternal doom
unless they accept God’s Plan of Salvation. Romans
5:18b “…even
so by the righteousness of one (Now we’re talking about Christ.) the
free gift (without merit - without cost) came upon (How
many?) all men (None excepted.) unto justification of
life.” Now, I wasn’t going to do this, but it was just coming to mind
and you know by now, that when I feel the Spirit leads, we’ve got to go chase
it down. Go back with me to John’s Gospel chapter 1, and drop in at verse 9
where we’re talking about John the Baptist, first, but that he was merely the
forerunner of Jesus the Christ, who we’re talking about in verse 9. Not John
the Baptist, but Christ. John
1:9-10 “That
(Christ) was the true Light, which lighteth (Some of the
people? No. How many?) every man that cometh into the world.
(Beginning with Cain and Abel and all the way down through human history) 10.
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, (He’s the Creator
of it.) and the world knew him not.” They rejected him. All
right, now let’s go to another verse that Paul uses. Go all the way back to
Titus. We’ve done this before, but I think it’s quite a while ago. Titus
chapter 2 verse 11, now this, of course, is Paul writing from his period of
time, after 60 AD. Titus
2:11 “For
the grace of God, (This message that Christ had now paid the sin debt
for every human being.) that bringeth salvation hath appeared to
(How many?) all men.” Now, I can’t tell you how that happened.
I cannot even begin, no more than I can John 1:9. How
can I explain that Christ as the Light of the world appeared to every human
being someway or another? I can’t explain it. But that’s what the Book says.
And Paul comes back now and says basically the same thing that, “this
saving grace has already appeared unto all men.” Well, if it had
appeared in Paul’s day, then I have to sit here and say, it includes us today.
There is not a human being slipping out into eternity, even today, who will
have an excuse, which brings up the next verse, doesn’t it? Romans
chapter 1, now, these are thought provoking concepts. I know they are. And I
certainly do not have all the answers. All I can show is what the Book says.
Romans chapter 1, verse 20 and this, again, goes back to what we saw in Romans
5, that from Adam to Moses, even though they didn’t have the Mosaic Law, they
were responsible. God had given them conscience. Now look what Romans 1:20 says. Romans
1:20 “For
the invisible things of him from the creation of the world (That is
from Adam.) are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are
made, (or the things of creation) even his eternal power and
Godhead; (Who He is) so that (What?) they are
without excuse:” In
other words, lost people are going to come up before the Great White Throne and
they will not have one word of excuse. They’re going to stand there condemned
and guilty and with a closed mouth, because they know they’re guilty. Well, I
guess the Lord did say, “And they’ll say in that day, but
didn’t we do this and didn’t we do that,” but basically, they won’t have a
word to say, because God has offered salvation as a free gift to the whole
human race, none excepted. Now,
I wish I could explain how that all comes about, but I can’t. But God is
Sovereign. He’s in total control, and we have to take it on the basis of His
Word. All right, back again to Romans chapter 5, if you will. Verse 18 again,
I don’t think we can repeat this too much, because even the Scripture itself
keeps repeating and repeating. Well, there’s a purpose. Romans
5:18-19 “Therefore
as by the offence of one (Adam’s fall) judgment came
upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one (the
work of the cross, the power of His resurrection) the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life. (In other words, like I’ve already
said, it is total acquittal.) 19. For as by one man’s disobedience many (or
all) were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be
made righteous.” Don’t miss the language. The disobedience of Adam is
more than compensated for by the obedience of Christ. Not all. But many.
Now verse 20. We’re getting close to my beginning. Romans
5:20a “Moreover
the law entered,…” Now, like we said in the first half hour today.
2,500 years after Adam the Law comes in, the Ten Commandments written on tables
of stone. Romans
5:20 “Moreover
the law entered, that the offence (or that sin) might abound.”
Not that the Law made people sin more, but the Law made the human race aware of
what’s right and wrong. Now, I think I made the comment in our last taping
several weeks ago, when I didn’t have a voice. You remember that, don’t you?
And how did I put it? Our kids today do not know the difference between right
and wrong. I
had a letter from some teenagers, clear up in Washington State. And it was a
dilemma. Their friends did not see anything wrong with things that are
biblically wrong. And they were church people. So, what’s the problem?
They’re ignorant of the Word of God. They are ignorant of what’s right and
wrong. It is all the way to the top of our corporations. Why all the
corruption in high places? They don’t really see that there’s that much wrong
with it any more. If you can get away with it, power to you. Buy another
yacht, that’s all. But listen, the Law entered to show the human race what is
right and what’s wrong. I think I made the comment on a program years
ago, that if the human race could keep the Ten Commandments, we could send all
our lawyers home. We could close the courtrooms. There would be no lawbreaking
whatsoever. Why?
Because the Ten Commandments so completely covered every facet of the human
experience. You know that. There is nothing in the human experience that the
Ten Commandments don’t deal with. But see, we’ve shut them out, and,
consequently, there is no conscience of right and wrong. But that was the
purpose of them. All right, so that’s why the Law came, to show men what’s
right and wrong. Now then, reading on, here we come. Romans
5:20b “But
(In spite of the horrific slide of the human race into gross sin, immorality,
corruption, theft, and murder, and while the Law condemns every bit of it, it’s
not hopeless. Why?) where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:”
Now, do you know what that means? There is not a sinner on this world so vile
but that if he will come in simple faith, believing, God’s grace is sufficient
to save him. I
debated, as I lay awake a little bit last night, whether I should use this or
not, but I think I’m safe, because I think all of us are aware. There is one
name in human history that stands above every other name as the epitome of evil
and wickedness. Who is it? Hitler. He was the epitome of wickedness and of
sinfulness. But, now here’s my point. Had that man, in his bunker, as
everything was falling in around him, had that man in contrite faith, come to
accept God’s offer of salvation, would God have saved him? Absolutely! And that’s
what this verse is showing, that “where sin abounded,” even in
the life of a man like Adolf Hitler, God’s grace would have been sufficient to
save him. Now, that should stick with you for a while, shouldn’t it? We look
at humanity today and we think, oh, there’s no hope. Yes, there is. There’s
hope for the vilest sinner. We’ve
had some in our ministry. I don’t even like to share them on the program, but,
oh, how they’ll come out of the dregs of sin and become a useful citizen.
That’s what God’s saving grace can do. All right, “Where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound.” Why? Because Christ’s work of the cross
is so much more powerful than the condemnation laid on Adam. No matter how far
someone goes into the Adamic curse, or into the Adamic life of sin, God’s work
of redemption is still greater. Now
then, for you and I who have not gone to the depths of that and we have been
saved by God’s grace, is there any reason for us to doubt. Absolutely none.
Because if God can save the worst of sinners, then it’s a settled fact He’s
saved us who didn’t go that deep. So, always remember that where sin
abounds, the grace of God is always greater. All right, now verse
21. Romans
5:21 “That
as sin (that old Adamic force to go disobedient to the things of God) hath
reigned (like a king) unto death, (physical, as well as
spiritual) even so might grace reign (as king) through righteousness
unto eternal life (But, there’s only one way.) by Jesus
Christ our Lord.” And that’s the only answer to mankind’s dilemma. It
is to put faith in that finished work of the cross. I
can’t comprehend why people oppose my line of teaching. I can’t understand
it. I suppose the next guy thinks the same thing of what he’s teaching. But I
make it so simple that when Christ finished the work of the cross, everything
that God could demand of a human being was consummated there, and all we have
to do is take it as a free gift. Why do people rebel at that? And they
do. Oh, they don’t like it. And I can’t comprehend it. Now, if I was way out
there with some kooky – now, you’ve got to do this and you’ve got to do that,
then I could say, well, they can’t comprehend it. But I’m just laying it out
here so simple that Christ offered salvation as a free gift because of that death,
burial, and resurrection. Why do they hate it so? I can’t comprehend it. I
just can’t help saying it over and over. All
right, but now we’ve got to go a little further on this. When the grace of God
is abounding on the human race, in spite of their sin, Paul asks a logical
question in chapter 6 verse 1. Romans
6:1-2 “What
shall we say then? Shall we continue in (Or, shall we continue to
practice) sin, that grace may abound? (And what’s his answer?) 2.
God forbid.” Banish the thought! Don’t even think such a thing that
the grace of God is license. You’ve heard me say it on the program over all
the years, grace is not license! Grace is not license. Grace doesn’t say,
well, don’t worry about it, go ahead and do what you want to do, because God’s
grace is going to be greater. No,
that’s not what we mean. We mean that when it comes to that point of
salvation, yes, God’s grace is greater than anyone’s sin. But when we’re
brought up out of that cesspool of sin, God does not expect us to continue a
life of sin with the excuse that His grace will bring us out of it again and
again and again. No, that’s not the teaching of Scripture. All
right, so when we come out of that cesspool--verse 2 reading on. Romans
6:2b “How
shall we that are dead to (that life of) sin, (that old
Adamic nature) live any longer therein?” Well, that’s a logical
question, isn’t it? If you’ve once come out of a horrendous background, should
there be any desire to go back to it periodically? Heavens, no! That should be
something totally behind us. I
think we can almost – well, I’m not going to. We’re too close to the end of
this lesson, so we won’t cover verse 3 right now. All right, jump on over to,
still in chapter 6, let’s go to verse 5, because my next one is going to be
down in verse 17 for the next program. But for now, to finish this minute
that’s left, let’s continue on as the person who has been saved out of a
cesspool of sin, where God’s grace abounded. Now then, Paul is explaining how
it all took place. Romans
6:5 “For
if we have been planted (In other words, in the likeness of His death
and His burial and His resurrection) together in the likeness of his
death, we (as believers) shall also be in the likeness of his
resurrection:” Okay,
now I’ve got time, I think, for one more verse. Find it quickly, Philippians
chapter 3. Drop down quickly to verses 20 and 21. This all becomes a reality,
now, because of our believing the Gospel of salvation. Philippians
3:20-21 “For
our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ: (Now, here it comes.) 21. Who shall change our vile
body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the
working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself.” Again,
we want to remind our television audience that we are just a simple Bible
teaching program. We don’t try to attack anybody. I don’t try to move people
from one thing to another, but we’re so thrilled that folks are writing and
responding that they are learning to study their Bible. I had one young man,
maybe I shared it on a previous program, I hope I didn’t, but anyhow, he called
and he said, “Les, I’ve been in church all my life,” he wasn’t very old – 26.
But he said “I always sit there with my arms crossed.” Now, I could just
picture these things, I hope you can. He
said, “I sit there with my arms crossed and whatever came across that pulpit
that was God’s truth.” “But,” he said, “I started listening to you on the
radio going back and forth to work,” in one of the Eastern states, and he said,
“I was hearing things that I had never heard before. So,” he said, “I decided
to check it out and read my own Bible.” He said, “I suddenly realized that
what was coming off the pulpit wasn’t in the Bible at all.” He said, “I’m now
thinking about leaving that particular thing, because,” he said, “They’re not
teaching what the Bible says. They’re teaching what some man thinks.” Well,
this is what we love to hear. Not that we want to take people out of their
particular church, that’s not the idea, but to be able to know that this is
what the Book says and not what some denomination says. You know, I got away
from that, thank God, when they asked me to come out of my own umbrella
denomination and teach in home Bible studies where I had all these different
denominations bombarding me with questions that in a denominational setting I’d
never heard. Nobody ever asked. So, I’ve learned. My goodness, don’t just
sit there smug and think well, this is what my church says. Get into the
Book. Don’t go by what I say. Get into the Book! We’re back in Romans chapter 6, and we’re still on “But
Now’s” or “But God” or “But…” whatever, to show how
you can take the Scripture and read up to a point where all of a sudden
everything is different. That reminds me of another verse. Go to
Philippians before we even start Romans. This is a good one, I just can’t help
it. This is my way of teaching. Philippians chapter 1 and look at verse 10.
Here Paul is writing this letter of commendation. Not condemnation. I can’t
find a single word in the Philippian letter where he is admonishing them or
condemning them, but it is all commendation. Now, look what he says in verse
10. Well, let’s start at verse 8. Philippians
1:8-10a “For
God is my record, (the Apostle writes) how greatly I long after
you all in the bowels (or in the very most inner most being) of
Jesus Christ. 9. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more
in knowledge and in all judgment; (or discernment. Now, verse 10) That
ye may approve things that are excellent;…” But you know how that Greek
word translated here ‘excellent’ is translated in many other places? ‘Different.’
Now stop and think about what Paul says, “That you may approve things
that are different.” How
different? My, it is the difference between Law and Grace. And even for
church people today, if they could just get into the Book and see things that
are not just according to their denominational dogma, but things that are
different. I wasn’t going to mention it, but sometimes I can’t help it. I get
ahead of myself. A guy called last night all excited that he was reading a
book, I think it was by Martin Luther, it was one of the Reformers, and it was
right in the middle of a football game, so he probably didn’t have my full
attention. But
anyway he said, “Les, I’m just reading something,” he said, “It is as if you
wrote it yourself. But you know what’s so unique about it? It was quoted by
an anonymous writer who was writing in 1069 BC. Now, that’s 400 years before
the reformation started.” And I’m waiting. He’s going to mail me a copy of
it. And he said, “Les, you could have written it yourself.” Now, I’m waiting
to see what it is. If it is, I just may bring it along to the next taping and
share it at least with the studio audience, if not with the television. But
see, this is nothing new – what I’m teaching – but it’s different. It’s not
according to the denominational dogma of Christ’s earthly ministry and under
the Law and all the legalism associated. This is totally different. You’re
not under Law, you’re under grace. That’s one of the verses that we’re going
to read. All right, are you in Romans chapter 6? Now, the verses we’re going
to look at to find the “But Now” will be way down in verse 22. I’m not
going to start there, but that’s what I’m heading for. Romans
6:22 “But
now, (Oh, what does that mean? That it’s a total difference from what
went before.) being made free from sin, (or the old Adamic
nature) and become servants to God, ye have
your fruit unto holiness, and the end (And that’s the most important.) eternal
life.” Because see, this is what we’ve got to make people aware of,
there’s an eternity out there. There’s an eternity that people are going to
spend one way or another. And how much better to have eternal life as to have
eternal doom? But here’s the “But” that we’re reading toward
when we go all the way back to verse 14 and build up to it. It may take two
more programs. I don’t know. Romans
6:14 “For
sin (That’s the other word for the old Adamic nature.) shall not
have dominion (or control or rule) over you: (Why not?) for
ye are not under the law, but under grace.” Now, you’ve heard me teach
this for as many years as I’ve been around – that we’re not under Law, we’re
under grace. Two totally different economies. All right, let’s go on. Romans
6:15a “What
then? shall we sin, (Now of course it’s a verb tense - shall we just
go ahead and be a lawbreaker…) because we are not under the Law, but
under grace?” See, that’s the argument all through these early
chapters. Listen, just because you’re saved by grace doesn’t mean you now have
license to sin. Quite the opposite. We are under more stringent guidelines as
a believer than the unbeliever is under his ungodly lifestyle. Because
see, I think I put it on the program years and years ago. We have two fence
lines that kind of keep us hedged in. And they’re all based on love.
The first side of our alleyway, if I can use a farmer’s language or a rancher’s
language, the one side of our alleyway is the love of God and the love for
God. What’s the other side? The love for others. And
that’s what salvation brings about. Salvation makes us a different kind of a
person. We’re based on love, which is the very epitome of the work of the
cross. So, we’re hemmed in on this side by our love for God and our wanting to
be obedient to His precepts, and we’re also hemmed in by our love for others.
That’s the whole idea of loving your neighbor as yourself. You’re not going to
do to your neighbor what you wouldn’t want done to you. Well, then our love
for God is prompted because of how He loved us. Look at it again. Romans
6:16 “What
then? shall we (continue to) sin, because we are not under the
law, but under grace? (Well, again, the answer is the same.) God
forbid. 16. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants
(or slaves) to obey, his servant ye are to whom ye obey; whether
of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” In other
words, we’re going to be a servant of one master or the other. We’re either
going to be servant of sin and live the sinful lifestyle of the world, or we’re
going to be the servant of God and His righteousness and live accordingly.
Now verse 17, here’s another “but.” Romans
6:17 “But
God be thanked, (Don’t thank yourself. Don’t thank some church or
denomination or me. We thank God.) that ye were (past tense) the
servants of sin, (of the old nature) but
(the flipside of that) ye have obeyed from the heart that form of
doctrine which was delivered unto you.” What did I say
in the first program? Romans is a book of what? Doctrine. It’s
not just a historical record like Acts primarily is. Romans is doctrinal.
Well, what do you suppose the doctrine is that Paul is referring to? The
Gospel of the grace of God. And what’s the Gospel of the grace of God? That “Christ
died for you and He was buried and He rose from dead in power and glory” and
He’s ready to impart eternal life when you believe it, plus nothing. Plus
nothing! Because He’s done it all. Now verse 18. Romans
6:18 “Being
then made free from sin, (and the old Adam’s power) ye became the
servants (or the slave) of righteousness.” Two totally
different lifestyles. You can’t mix them. It just won’t work. You can’t
amalgamate unrighteousness with righteousness. You’ve got a bad mix. It won’t
fly. So, it’s one or the other. Now, verse 19: Romans
6:19a “I
speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh:…” Now,
what’s Paul saying there? I’m coming down to your level. I’m going to talk
language that you as ordinary human beings can understand. And of course, this
is a Roman church over there in Italy, far removed. Paul, I don’t think ever
got there until he was there in prison. But nevertheless, he writes to these
people, and he’s going to bring his language down to their level. Romans
6:19b “…for
as ye have yielded your members servants (or slaves) to
uncleanness and to iniquity;…” Now, you remember what I said during
the opening remarks at the first program this afternoon? What was the moral
climate of the Roman Empire? Rotten to the core. We were just over in the Aegean Sea area a few weeks ago. And the guides like to show you, don’t they Bill? They
like to show you the directions to the houses of immorality, because that was
all part and parcel of the Roman existence. It was everyday life in their
worship of the gods and goddesses and all of its attendant gross immorality.
It was an every day occurrence. And it was into that kind of a lifestyle that
Paul brings the Gospel of Salvation. All right, that’s what he’s talking
about. Verse 19 again: Romans
6:19 “I
speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh:
(I’m going to come down, and I’m going to talk your language.) for as ye
have yielded your members (in other words, their physical bodies - you
have yielded your physical bodies…) servants to uncleanness and to
iniquity; (That’s all they knew.) even so now yield your members (Just
as stringently to the other side of the coin, and what is it? Instead of
living for the debauchery of the flesh, now live to the glory of God. Two
totally different lifestyles) servants to righteousness unto holiness. 20
For when ye were (in their past life) the servants
of sin, (That’s all they could think about, that’s all they could live
for.) ye were free from righteousness.” Hey, good thoughts, good
deeds never entered their thinking. It wasn’t part of their life. I could say
more, but I won’t. Romans
6:21a “What
fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?” Now,
doesn’t that tell you? They didn’t even want to think about that past life,
because it was so rotten. It was so filthy morally that they wanted to put it
out of their mind. All right, so Paul is recognizing that. Romans
6:21b-22 “…for
the end of those things (The end of that kind of a lifestyle was not
just physical death, but what?) is death. (Eternal doom. And
here’s my “But” for this lesson.) 22. But now (Oh, the
flipside. Coming out of a life of degradation and ungodliness and no concept
of God and eternity--) But now being made free from sin, and become
servants to God, (Now, look at the whole difference in that lifestyle.)
ye have your fruit unto holiness, (But the most important part of
all was what?) and the end everlasting life.” Now,
never forget it. My, we don’t hear it anymore. But for the believer, yes, it’s
everlasting bliss. It’s everlasting glory. It’s everlasting life. And
everlasting is just what it means. It’s from now until no end of time. But,
for the unbeliever, eternity is just as long. It’s just as endless. And it’s
going to be total regret from start to finish, because they’re all going to
have the same thought – I didn’t have to come here. I could have escaped
this. But they didn’t want to. All right, so this is what Paul is driving home,
that “But now” on this side of our salvation experience, this whole new
life. Well,
let’s see, we’ve got time. Jump over to Galatians. These are verses we have
all been through so often. But, I can’t beg for forgiveness for repeating,
these things need repeating. Galatians chapter 5 and this is as good a place as
I can think of in all of Scripture that shows one side of the coin compared to
the other side, the flipside. All right, Galatians 5 starting at verse 19,
this is the sinful side of the coin. This is the man living as a servant of
the old Adam. Galatians
5:19-20 “Now
the works of the flesh (that’s another word for the Old Adam) are
manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, (Now you see, they’re
not the same. A lot of people think fornication means adultery. No, it
doesn’t.) uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20. Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,” Not a very
pretty picture is it? As I’ve said before, would you like to live in a community
where this is common day practice? It’d be awful! Then you’re right back in
the Roman Empire. This is what they were. Galatians
5:21 “Envyings,
murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of the which I tell you
before, as I have also told you in time past, they which do such things shall
not inherit the kingdom of God.” They’re not going to be in Heaven.
They’re going the other way. All
right, now here’s the flipside. This is exactly what we’re talking about up
here in Romans with the “But now.” Verse 22 Galatians
5:22-23 “But
(the flipside) the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, 23. Meekness, temperance: against such there is no
law.” Why? Because they’re what you could hope for. My, to live in a
community, as I’ve said before, where this is 99% of the daily practice, why,
it’d be heaven on earth, wouldn’t it? Sure it would. It’s not going to
happen. But for the individual believer, this is where we have to see the
difference. Okay,
now let’s come back to Romans chapter 6 once again, verse 23. After the “But
now” that we reached in verse 23, this is the frosting on the
cake. Romans
6:23a “For
the wages of sin is death;…” Now, take that slowly. What are wages?
What you work for. It’s what you expend energy for. All right so, the wages
of living the sinful lifestyle is going to pay off. It’s going to pay in full
with what? Death. Hell. Spiritual death as well as physical. That’s the
wages of the ungodly lifestyle that he’s been talking about. But now look at
the flipside? Romans
6:23b “…but
the gift of God (That which God has offered freely, without cost, to
the whole human race, if they’ll take it.) is eternal life (not
doom) through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Eternal life! You know, I
guess the Bible has purposely not given us the description of Heaven and
eternal life. You know that? I’ve
said it so many times before, there is nothing in Scripture to give us any clue
as to what we’re going to be doing or how we’re going to be doing it throughout
all eternity. All I ever tell people is that I know one thing, it’s going to
glorious! But how and where and whatever, no, it doesn’t tell us. You know
why? In the first place, it could never be put it into words that you and I as
humans could understand. I don’t think there is any way of explaining the
glory that’s awaiting the believer in words that we can understand. So, God,
in so many words, says I won’t even try. We’re just going to have to wait
until we get there. But this much we know, we’re going to have “eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Well,
we’ve got five more minutes. If we don’t finish the next one in this half-hour,
we’ll just carry it over into the next one. Let’s go all the way up to I
Corinthians now, and we’ll get out of Romans for a little bit. Corinthians,
you remember, is a letter written to a church that had a lot of problems. I’m
going to take us to I Corinthians chapter 1. Oh, goodness, I’ve got so many in
this one. I don’t hardly know where to go. Verse 23 will be our “But.”
Verse 23, got it? I
Corinthians 1:23-24 “But
(Paul writes by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.) we preach Christ
crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, unto the Greeks (That is
the intellectual philosophers of the day.) foolishness; 24. But unto them
who are called, both Jews and Greeks, (the believing element of Jews
and Greeks) Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” All
right, now, again, we’re going to come to this from further back and build up
to it and see how this becomes another big flipside, or other side of the
coin. All right, let’s go all the way back to verse 17. We’re going to build
up to this “But we preach Christ crucified.” Now, a lot of
people would like to say but we preach baptism. Now, I’m going to make people
smile. Way back in the beginning of this TV series and that’s quite a few
years ago now, you know – 15? 14? It wasn’t long after I started that I made
the comment that my experience amongst Christian people is that there’s one
word in Scripture that can set people at odds with one another, can raise the
hair on the back of their neck faster than any other word in Scripture. And
what is it? Baptism. Because you know, so many people have got different
concepts, different practices, and if you disagree with their particular take
on baptism, boy, you’ve got an enemy instead of a friend. Well,
I’m not going to do this purposely to raise the hair on people’s necks, but all
I want to do is show, again, how Paul is putting the emphasis where it really
belongs. So much of Christendom has put it in the wrong place. And I say it
kindly. All right, we’re going to start here in verse 17, we’ve only got three
minutes left, where he says: I
Corinthians 1:17a “For
Christ sent me not to baptize,…” Now again, I’m going to pick your
brain a little bit. Not only you in the audience, but everybody out there in
television. Why did John the Baptist come to the Nation of Israel? What was
his number one priority? He was to do what? To baptize, the baptism of
repentance is what it’s called in the Book of Acts, and to prepare the Nation
of Israel for the coming of their Messiah. So, he preached a baptism of
repentance, which was part of the Gospel of the Kingdom, not the Gospel of
Grace that we’re in today. All
right, now it’s that baptism, then, that carries on through Christ’s
earthly ministry and on into the Book of Acts, and this is what Paul is jumping
up against. He did not come, like John the Baptist did, with a baptism of
repentance. Paul is making it so clear. Now, let’s finish this verse before
the time is up, I
Corinthians 1:17-18a “For
Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of
words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. 18. For the
preaching of the cross (not the preaching of John’s baptism) is
to them that perish (That is to lost humanity. So, as far as they are
concerned, it’s a bunch of--) foolishness;” That one man, 2,000
years ago, should die? Whoever heard of such a thing? It doesn’t make a bit
of sense to the unbeliever, so it’s foolishness. But don’t stop there. I
Corinthians 1:18b “…but
unto us who are saved (Now the preaching of the cross is what? It’s--)
it is the power of God.” How much power in
baptismal water? None. I don’t care what denomination you’re from. But the
preaching of the cross includes Divine power. And you’ve heard me say it on
this program a hundred times. It took more power of God’s power to set this
sinner free from the chains of Satan and sin, than to create the universe.
Now, that’s a stretch, but I’m making my point. Without that redeeming power
of the Gospel of Salvation, you and I would still be in Satan’s chains. And that’s
where it’s at. Okay,
we’re still on the “But Now’s, But God, But – whatever.” In our last
program, we just got started with the next one that we want to look at. It’s
in I Corinthians chapter 1 and I’m heading down to verse 23 where Paul said, “But
we preach Christ crucified.” You know, this is the thing that I cannot
comprehend, and I still run into it all the time. Why do people detest Paul and
his epistles? And if they don’t detest him, they at least ignore him. Why?
In fact, we were just talking about it at break time. Why is Christendom so
adamantly against Paul’s gospel of salvation? Paul isn’t elevating himself.
He’s lifting up the crucified and resurrected Christ. I just can’t comprehend
it. But it’s evident almost everywhere we go. All
right, back to I Corinthians chapter 1 and we might as well retrace our steps
in the closing minute of our last program. Let’s go down to verse 17 where,
contrary to John the Baptist who was sent to baptize the Jews with “the
baptism of repentance,” Paul goes on the other side of the coin and
says: I
Corinthians 1:17a “For
Christ (Not some man, not some organization, but Christ Himself) sent
me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel:…” Now, isn’t that
simple? To preach the gospel of salvation, and that’s all it takes. Because
when the gospel of salvation that Paul preached takes a hold of people, it
transforms lives. All right, so he was sent to-- I
Corinthians 1:17b “…preach
the gospel: not with wisdom of words,…” Not as a showoff order, not as
a pulpit pounding preacher. I think Paul simply laid out the truth in language
that anyone could understand. In fact, on our Aegean cruise, Bill, didn’t you
appreciate when the fellow dramatized Paul? I was really impressed with the
young man. He was dressed as Paul probably was dressed and believe it or not,
in one of his dissertations, he quoted almost, not quite, but almost verbatim
all of I and II Timothy. It was like a sermon. I mean, I just soaked it up. Well,
same way here. I don’t think Paul ranted and raved at people. I don’t think
he tried to show his intelligence. He didn’t try to show people how much more
intellectual capacity he had. He simply got down on the ordinary man’s level
and preached the gospel that “Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and
rose again.” All right, now let’s read on. Verse 18, this is why he
preached the gospel. I
Corinthians 1:18 “For
the preaching of the cross (the death, burial, and resurrection of
Jesus Christ) is to them that perish (the lost world, it’s a
bunch of) foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of
God.” And as I mentioned in my closing remarks in the last half-hour,
the power that it took to save every one of us in this room; the power that it
took to save all of you out there in television; it was a power exhibition. How
all of the forces of sin and death and Satan were broken when He brought us
into salvation. All right, now let’s read on in verse 19. I
Corinthians 1:19-20 “For
it is written, (Now, he goes back to the Old Testament.) I will
destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of
the prudent. 20. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where
is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this
world?” Now
again, Bill, I’m picking on him because I know he was along on the cruise with
us. You remember at Mars Hill, Bill, there was only one big bronze plaque, and
it wasn’t to any of the Athenian philosophers. It wasn’t to Archimedes. It
wasn’t to Homer. It wasn’t to any of the others. Who was it to? Paul. Here’s
this brass plaque commemorating that it was on this Mars Hill where the Apostle
Paul confronted the intellectuals of his day. Whenever you read these verses,
this is what you have to understand. All of the intellectual big-wigs of Athens came to nothing. They aren’t even remembered by the secular world for tourist’s
sake on Mars Hill. But here’s this bronze plaque commemorating the Apostle Paul.
This is exactly what I think he’s referring to. I
Corinthians 1:21a “For
after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God,” Now,
I’ve got to think. Let’s go back to Romans, and I think it’s in chapter 1.
Romans chapter 1 verses 21 and 22. Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t ridicule
educated people. That’s not the point. The only time I make it a point of
ridicule, is when they think their education is superior to the Word of God. Yes,
then I ridicule it, because they don’t know what they’re doing. And that’s
what Paul is referring to. How the philosophers that he confronted on Mars Hill
were so arrogant that they looked down at the little Apostle who was God’s
instrument for that day and what did they call him? A babbler. Today, we’d
almost say “somebody who wasn’t all there.” That’s how they looked down at
him. All right, but look what the Apostle is led to write. Romans
1:21-22 “Because
that, when they knew God, (In other words, conscience had made the
presence of God known to them.) they glorified him not as God, neither
were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart
was darkened. (Now look at it.) 22. Professing themselves to be
wise, they became (What?) fools.” Fools. Why? Because
they’re putting the intellectual things of this world above the things of the
Creator Himself. And listen, they’re just as guilty today as they were in
Paul’s day, or in the days of the flood, or as far back as you want to go. All
right, back to I Corinthians, again, chapter 1 verse 21. I
Corinthians 1:21 “For
after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God,
(Because they got puffed up in their own self importance.) it pleased God
by the foolishness (That is in the eyes of the world.) of
preaching (or proclaiming the Gospel) to save them that
believe.” And again, like I did in the last taping, can you add
anything in there? Is
there anything else in there? Does it say to them that believe and are
baptized? No. Does it say to them that believe and join the church? No.
Believe and whatever else you can think of? No. It’s not there. And I use
the example of plain arithmetic. If you’ve got a one digit number, we’ll say
five (5), and you put a plus zero (0), what’s the answer? It’s still five.
That’s plain arithmetic. Five plus nothing is five. The gospel of salvation
plus nothing is still the gospel! You can’t add anything to it. Reading on in
verse 22. I
Corinthians 1:22a “For
the Jews require a sign,…” Now, think about that for a moment? When
did signs become a part of the spiritual life of Israel? When? Way down in Egypt! Now, think a minute. What kind of signs did God use for the Jews in Egypt? Well, you remember when Moses came and had to prove that he was God’s messenger,
what did he do? He threw the rod on the ground, and it became a serpent. He
put his hand in his breast, and it became leprous. He put it back in and took
it out and it was perfectly whole. Now, what were those? Those were signs to
prove that Moses was God’s instrument. All
right, they came to the Red Sea. What happened? It opened up by the power of
God. What was it? It was a sign to Israel that they were now under the power
and control of the Creator. So, all the way up through Israel’s history, it’s the revelation of the power of God through miraculous signs and wonders.
But, it hit a crescendo, when? When Jesus began His earthly ministry. The
very first miracle, what was it? Transforming water into the best wine that
they had ever seen, heard of, or tasted. For what purpose? Again, just like
with Moses, to prove to Israel who He was. So, the Jews were just saturated
with that concept, you’ve got to show me a miracle or I can’t believe. Well,
God did, over and over and over. All right, so now Paul is rehearsing that. “The
Jews require a sign.” Those are not empty words. It was a fact of
life. They did. But, now look at the next part of the verse. I
Corinthians 1:22b “…and
the Greeks (Gentiles, they don’t look for miracles,
they’re all hung up on what?) they seek after wisdom.”
Philosophy. Now again, I’ll take you, in your mind, back to Paul in Athens. My, it tells you as plain as day that those philosophers gather up there on Mars
Hill, overlooking the city of Athens, for one purpose. What was it? To tell
anything new that they had heard or seen that would add to their wisdom.
That’s all they were concerned about – wisdom. Earthly wisdom. Man’s wisdom.
All
right, so you’ve got the two concepts now. Israel is constantly looking for a
sign or a miracle to prove God’s existence or His presence. On the other hand,
the pagan Gentile was looking for wisdom. Got the picture. All right, now
we’re ready to go on, verse 23. I
Corinthians 1:23a “But
(Paul says we don’t pay any mind to either one of them. We’re not here
proclaiming miracles and signs and wonders. We’re not here proclaiming our
intelligence in the affairs of humanity.) we preach Christ crucified, unto
the Jews (Who are looking for a miracle, he became what?) a stumbling
block,…” A stumbling block. Now
remember, the Scripture also refers to Christ as the chief cornerstone. The
analogy is that as the builders were building the Temple and the cornerstone
came in – I’ve got to watch my grammar, I’ve got English professors watching me
– as they saw these stones come in, here came one they didn’t know what to do
with. So, what did they do with it? They cast it aside. Well, the symbolism
was that when Christ, who is symbolically the chief cornerstone, when He came,
they cast Him aside in the same way. They didn’t know what to do with Him.
They cast Him aside, and He became a what? “A stumbling stone.”
Okay, that’s all the analogy that’s brought in here? I
Corinthians 1:23 “But
we preach Christ crucified, (buried and risen from the dead) unto
the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;” They
stumbled over who He really was. The Greeks look at the preaching of the cross
as a bunch of what? Foolishness. Now, do you see the two different concepts? The
Jews looked at Christ crucified as a stumbling block, something cast aside for
which they didn’t know how to use or wear. The Gentile, on the other hand,
cast it aside because it was just a bunch of foolishness. It didn’t fit their
philosophy. Oh, but now I love the next verse. Here’s the frosting on the
cake, if I may use that expression. I
Corinthians 1:24 “But
unto them who are called, (that is into salvation, the believers) both
Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God,…” Now, the power is a
reference to the what? The miracles. Now, I’ve got to take this slowly, or
you’re going to miss it. Christ, as the power of God, was evidenced in Israel’s miracles. The greatest one, I think, was the Red Sea. What a miracle that the
Red Sea opened up wide enough for the children of Israel to come through in a
matter of hours. Water piled up miles down this way and miles up this way.
What a miracle! The power of God! But now look, as a believer, you have that
same power! It’s within us. And it’s going to culminate in eternal life in
His presence for eternity. All right, now look at the other side of the coin. I
Corinthians 1:24b “…both
Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” To
us, Christ is the power of God. He’s the miracle working God, but He’s also
what the intellectual was looking for, and that was what? Wisdom. Now, turn
with me to II Peter. I wanted to get there all afternoon, and here’s my
opening. II Peter chapter 3, now we’ve used these verses over and over.
Primarily I use them to confirm Paul’s authority as an apostle of the Gentiles,
and that not just part of his writing, but every last word of it is Scripture.
And we know from other portions of Scripture that Scripture is inspired of
God. So, when Paul says something like “my gospel,” was that his
idea? No. That’s expressly what the Holy Spirit wanted him to say. Turn
to II Peter 3 verses 15 and 16. Now, this is Peter writing at the end of his
life. He’s probably martyred in a matter of weeks or days after he finishes
this letter. I think I mentioned in one of my recent programs, have you ever
stopped to think, and I’m going to keep reminding people, I tell them on the
phone over and over – have you ever stopped to think that everything that needed
to be done before the temple would be destroyed was accomplished within a year
or two of the temple destruction. Just think about that. These
little epistles at the end, I mean II Timothy and II Peter, were written just
before Paul was martyred and just before Peter was martyred, which was probably
about 68 or 69 AD. When was the temple destroyed? - 70AD - If you really think
about that, everything was now in place for the removal of the temple and all
the ramifications of the Law and Judaism and what Israel lived for. But before
it disappeared, everything was in place. Okay, now Peter writes, again
probably just a year or two before the temple is destroyed, and look what he
says in verse 15. II
Peter 3:15a “And
account (or understand) that the longsuffering (the
patience) of our Lord is salvation;…” Well, that’s what we’ve
been talking about all afternoon. How Paul is showing how God wants all to be
saved. He didn’t just die for a few, He died for all. Okay, so His patience
is salvation. Now watch it. II
Peter 3:15b “…even
as our beloved brother Paul also according to the (What? This is what
brought me here. What’s the word?) wisdom (Not men’s wisdom.
Not his rabbinical education. But those revelations from the ascended Lord and
his inspired writings in his epistles and then people scorn it? I feel for
them. My, I’d hate to be in their shoes at the judgment seat. But here it
is. Peter says you go to our beloved brother Paul.) according to the
wisdom given unto him (Well, from whom? From the Ascended Lord.) hath
written unto you;” Now,
Peter is writing to Jews, and if he’s referring to a letter that Paul had
written to them, then that tells me Paul wrote Hebrews, even though there are a
lot of arguments otherwise. I say, hey, Scripture says Paul wrote it, because
there is no evidence of any other writing. So, he must be referring to the Book
of Hebrews. All right, so he says, “According to the wisdom given unto
him, he has written unto you.” Now, look at verse 16. For you out
there that may have some friends that detest Paul and think he shouldn’t even
be in our Bible, show them this verse. II
Peter 3:16a “As
also in all his epistles, (That’s Romans through Philemon.) speaking
in them of these things; (Salvation - as we’ve been seeing all
afternoon.) in which (That is Paul’s epistles now.) are
some things hard to be understood, (Peter had a hard time comprehending
the grace of God for, especially, Gentiles.) which they who are unlearned
and unstable wrest (twist),…” And I’m even going to say,
they go further than that. They reject it. II
Peter 3:16b “…they
who are unlearned and unstable twist, as they do also the other scriptures,…”
Now,
what does that tell you? That Paul’s epistles are Scripture, just like all the
rest of the Bible. Don’t ever let anyone say it shouldn’t be in our Bible,
because Peter says everything that Paul wrote is Scripture. That’s where I
adamantly stand. II
Peter 3:16c “…they
twist, as they do also the other scriptures, (But when they do, what’s
their end result?) unto their own destruction.” They’d better
wake up before it’s too late. Okay, let’s come back to I Corinthians again,
verse 24. I haven’t gotten down to the one I wanted. I want to do that before
we close. I
Corinthians 1:24b-26 “But
unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and
the wisdom of God. 25. Because the foolishness of God (So far as man
is concerned.) is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger
than men. 26. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not
many wise men after the flesh, (Not the high IQ’s of 200 plus. They’re
very rarely called.) not many mighty, (That’s why you don’t find
royalty in the ministry very often, do you? Of course not. That’s beneath
them.) not many noble, are called: They’re not the kind that God
calls, but here it comes now. I
Corinthians 1:27 “But
God (Who deals in areas totally different than humans do) hath
chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;” Do
you see what that’s saying? I don’t have to comment on it. All I have to do
is read it to you. “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world.”
The things that the world ridicules, that’s what God uses. And what does he
use them for? To confound those who are ridiculing it. That’s what it amounts
to. Only God can do that. Then he goes on to say, “He’s chosen the weak
things.” He doesn’t use military might. He doesn’t use political
parties. He doesn’t use great outpourings of earthly power. He uses the weak
things. You
know, even his twelve disciples, if you like to go back to His earthly
ministry, did He go into the Temple and pick out twelve of the strongest and mightiest
priests in the priesthood? No. He goes up to Galilee and chooses twelve
common fishermen, and so forth, who probably barely had enough education to
read. They didn’t go through colleges in those days if they were fisherman.
But see, that’s where the Lord chose even the Twelve. In fact, Paul is
probably the exception. He was an educated man. He sat at the feet of
Gamaliel, one of the chief rabbis of Israel. But all the rest of God’s
servants were common, ordinary people. It was that that He used to confound
the wise. All right, let’s read on. He just keeps multiplying this whole
concept. I
Corinthians 1:28 “And
(He takes) the base things of the world, (The things that
the world won’t even give a second look.) and things which are despised, hath
God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nothing things that are:”
Oh, I know we don’t see it that way. It doesn’t look like Christianity is
making any impact on the world, and we’re not. But on the other hand, when a
true believer enters into this, he knows what Paul’s talking about. The true
believer has an understanding of Scripture that the intellectuals of this world
will never understand. All right, why has God chosen to do it in this
particular way? The next verse gives the answer. I
Corinthians 1:29 “That
no flesh (that no individual) should glory in God’s presence.”
So, God uses the humble things of this world so that you and I can never exalt
what we’re doing before God. Never. We are just fortunate to be the clay in
the Master’s hand, and that’s all we are. But don’t ever forget what the
Master can do with the clay. Good
to see everybody in again this afternoon. For those of you out in television,
we’ve got these folks in for four programs this afternoon. As we welcome these
here in the studio, we also welcome all of you out in television, wherever you
are, whether it’s morning or evening or any other time of the day. And for
those of you that may be new to this program, we’re just a simple Bible study.
We’re not trying to twist arms. I don’t try to move people from one situation
to another. We just want to teach the Word of God, to teach what It says
and what It doesn’t say! You
know, one of the biggest improvements in my own understanding of Scripture came
when I’d been here in Oklahoma for a few years. A gentleman who was in my class
almost wherever I was, all the nights of the week, came up to me and he said,
“Les, you’re always telling us that it’s just as important to see what’s not in
the Scripture as what is.” I said, “Yeah, of course.” He said, “Well, I can’t
find one word of church or Body of Christ language in the first eight chapters
of Acts.” And I said, “What?” He said, “It’s not in there. Everything is
Jewish.” Well,
that’s how I learn from my students. I got home that night and I searched the
Scriptures until probably one o’clock in the morning, and all I could see was –
that guy’s right! It’s just as important to see what’s NOT there. There is no
word of church language in those first eight chapters. It’s still the
extension of Christ’s earthly ministry. That’s a class all on its own, and I
didn’t intend to do that. That just comes free for nothing! But, anyway, this
is the way we teach. We’re going to point out what the Scripture says, and
we’re also going to point out what It doesn’t say. I think this is
imperative. Now,
before we even get started, you know so often I refer to a statement by an old
Bible theologian way back in the 1500’s. This time, I decided I’m just going to
put it on the screen so you can see the whole print of it. We switched it from
the old English, changed the thee’s and the thou’s and ye’s
to you and yours. Nevertheless, I’m going to have the camera on it. There it is
right there, the statement by Coverdale that, “It shall help you to
understand Scripture if you mark not only what is spoken, or written, but ask
yourself of whom, to whom, with what words, what time, where, to what
intent, with what circumstances, considering what goes before and what
follows.” Now,
if you’ll do that in your Bible Study, you’ll be amazed at what a difference it
makes. I’ve already alluded to it – the first eight chapters of Acts are all
written to Israel. The language is plain – “Ye men of Israel.” In chapter 4, verse 1 it says “Peter and John went up to the Temple, because it was the hour of prayer.” Well, that’s not church language, but
it fit for those folks that were associated with Israel. So, always remember
that this is the whole idea of dispensational teaching. Now
there again, that makes me think of something else. I walked into one of my
classes in Oklahoma quite some time ago and I was shaking hands with the
folks. One of the guys looked me straight in the eye and said, “Les, what’s a
dispensationalist?” I said, “Well, you’re looking at one.” He was kind of
dumbfounded. He said, “What does that mean?” I said, “I’m a
dispensationalist. I make no apology for it.” He said, “Well, what does that
mean?” The quote just said it. When you study Scripture, to whom is it
written? Is it written to Israel, or is it written to the Gentile church?
Who’s writing? Is it an Old Testament prophet, or is it the Apostle Paul?
What are the circumstances? All these things - that’s what you do when you
separate the Scriptures or rightly divide them as Paul says. That’s
what makes Bible study simple, understandable, exciting, and all the rest that
goes with it. But most of Christendom is just feeding off of a jumbled-up
mixture. You’ve heard me use the illustration over and over through the years
of a young man that came up and said, “Well, they put it in a blender and turn
it up on high and ladle it out to me and wonder why I get sick to my stomach.”
Well, that’s exactly what’s happening. I
had a letter again yesterday, all mixed up, and I just pitched it in the
wastebasket. I had a notion to write back and say you’re best blender I’ve
ever seen, yet. But, that’s what they do. They mix everything up, and
everybody’s in total confusion. So, the Bible goes back up on the bookshelf
and collects dust, because after all, who can understand it? But here we are;
we’re rightly dividing. We’re separating it. We’ve been doing that now for the
last 15 years, and they haven’t kicked me off the air yet! We hope they won’t. Okay,
now we’re going to continue on with our series of “But God” or “But
Whom” or “But When.” Today we’re going to jump in at I Corinthians
chapter 3. Verse 7 is the “But God” that I’m going to head for. But, like
we’ve done all the other times, we’ll go back and read what goes before. But
first read verse 7. I
Corinthians 3:7 “So
then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; (What
are the next two words?) but God that giveth the increase.” What
does that mean? No matter what we as human instruments do, it counts for
nothing until God steps in. And He does! Every one of you here that are a
believer, you know that’s what happened. God stepped in, and He opened your
understanding, and it all made sense. Except
for rare exceptions, now I know there are a few. There are a few who claim to
have been saved without an intermediary, by just simply reading the Bible on
their own. I get quite a few who find salvation in one program! Now, that
seems unbelievable, but we get phone call after phone call, “Les, just found
your program, and I’ve been a devout this or whatever the case may be and by
the end of the program God opened my eyes, and I became a believer.” Now,
that’s rare, but it does happen. For most of us, it took, probably, a little
time of instruction. It took a lot of prayer on the part of our loved ones.
But we came to knowledge of salvation, because God moved in! All
right, so the verse we’re going to head for is verse 7 “…but God giveth
the increase.” But we’re going to pick up what goes before. Just like
old Coverdale said, “What goes before? Who’s writing? To whom?” Well, Paul
is writing to a Gentile congregation, a congregation that knows nothing of
Judaism or the Law, because they’re under Grace! Just like we are! So, Paul
is writing to Gentiles, but he’s going to go back and use various Old Testament
situations for illustrations. That’s the beauty of the Old Testament. It’s
all laid out in such a way that it teaches us lesson after lesson. All right,
now in I Corinthians chapter 3 we’ll start at verse 1, where Paul writes: I
Corinthians 3:1a “And
I, brethren, (So, who’s he writing to? Believers. He’s not writing to
the unsaved world, but rather he’s writing to believers.) could not speak
unto you as unto spiritual, (as people who were mature) but as
unto carnal,...” In other words, they were still weak, fleshly-minded
believers. Now,
it’s interesting, and I suppose here’s where I should stop. Paul uses this
word “carnal” in two different scopes. Here he’s speaking of
believers who are still weak spiritually, and he calls them carnal. Come back
with me to Romans chapter 8. I do this so that in your own private study or
reading you won’t get confused. Now, in Romans chapter 8 he uses the same
word, but now he’s talking about the rank unbeliever who knows nothing of
spiritual things. It’s the same word but two totally different applications. All
right, in Romans chapter 8 verse 5, here’s the same Apostle Paul but now he’s
writing to believers at Rome, still predominately a Gentile congregation. Now,
when I say the word predominately, I’m inferring that there was probably a
sprinkling of Jews in these early congregations. It is very possible that some
Jews had come in recognizing not only that Jesus was the Messiah, but also that
He had finished the work of the cross. Romans
8:5 “For
they that are after the flesh (in other words, the things of this
world) do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the
Spirit (In other words, the person who has been born from above. He
now has a spiritual understanding. God is a part of his life.) the
things of the Spirit.” Those are the things that are the most
important. Romans
8:6-7a “For
to be carnally minded is death; (So, there’s no figment of faith in the
life of these carnal people, because they are still lost. They are headed for
eternal, spiritual death.) but to be spiritually minded is life and
peace. 7. Because the carnal mind (the unsaved person) is enmity
against God:” See, that’s never the attitude of the believer, but for
the carnal individual; he’s an enemy. He’s a total enemy. He has nothing to do
with the things of God. Romans
8:7b “…the
carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be.” That’s why we have people who have no concern about
any aspect of spiritual things, or the Word of God. They’re carnal, cannot please
God.” All
right, back to I Corinthians chapter 3 but now Paul is using the word to simply
describe less than spiritual believers. They’re saved, they’re going to be in
Glory, no doubt about that, but they just haven’t taken on any spiritual
growth. Well, of course, I think our churches are full of those kinds of
people. I won’t deny their salvation. They may all well be saved, but they
have no hunger for the Word. They have no desire to live a dedicated life and
be a testimony of God’s saving grace. But they’re saved. And if we have time
today, we’ll go on and we’ll pick them up in verses 12 and 13. Okay, but now,
come back to chapter 3 and verse 1. I
Corinthians 3:1 “And
I, brethren, could not speak unto you as spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as
unto babes in Christ.” So, there it’s very plain that
he’s not talking to carnal unbelievers, he’s talking to believers who are still
fleshly. All right, verse 2. I
Corinthians 3:2a “I
have fed you with milk, and not with meat:…” Now, I won’t make you go
back and look at it, but Peter uses the same analogy in his little epistle in
the back of your Bible in I Peter. I think it is chapter 2 and verse 2. Iris
and I memorized it when we were first married. I’ll never forget it. We
struggled with it for a week, didn’t we? We finally got it. “As new
born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word.” It
took us a week to learn that one, but we’ll never forget it. Peter says the
same thing. That a new believer starts out like a physical baby. They need milk
for their sustenance, but just like in the human realm, the baby finally gets
to the place where milk is no longer the major portion of the diet. He goes on
to stronger food. Well, that’s what we’re supposed to do. Some will take a
little longer than others, but it should be a growth process that, as soon as a
new believer comes into the picture and he hungers for the Word, he should
start showing some growth. Then after a few years he should start showing a
little maturity. Just like in the physical. Okay,
but the Corinthians weren’t. They were so carnal. One of the poorest examples
of Christianity in the whole Bible was the Corinthian church. That’s why I
can’t imagine why people want to copy them. Why copy that which is the
poorest? But they do. I
Corinthians 3:2 “I
have fed you with milk, and not with meat: (or strong food) for
hitherto ye were not able to bear it, (that is the stronger food) neither
yet now are ye able.” Even after they’ve been believers several years,
they still couldn’t handle the deeper things of Scripture. So, he says: I
Corinthians 3:3a “For
ye are yet carnal: (You’re still more concerned about the things of the
world than you are of the things of the Spirit.) for whereas there is
among you envying, and strife, and divisions,…” It was not a very
peaceful congregation. The Corinthians were in constant turmoil over some of
the most stupid things. But you know what? Is it any different today? I can
remember when we were back in Iowa. Iris was working with a bunch of people
from various denominations, and then one church, a huge congregation, split
right down the middle. What was it over? Iris, do you remember? Carpet! The
color of the carpet. See, she knew exactly what I was talking about. They
split over the color of the carpet! Foolishness! Now, if a church splits over
doctrine, that’s one thing, but most of them don’t. They’ll split over
financial situations or things that just don’t amount to much. Corinth had all kinds of foolishness in their church, and Paul was constantly trying to
deal with it. So, he says in verse 3. I
Corinthians 3:3b “…whereas
there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions….” Now, what
caused the divisions? Well,
who are you going to follow? You going to follow Jesus? You going to follow
Peter? You going to follow Paul? You going to follow Apollos? Who are you
following? They had four distinct groups in that one congregation. One group
said, well, I’m going to follow Peter. And another would say, I’m following
Paul. Others would say, na…you’re all off on a deep end, I’m going to follow
Jesus. Well, there again, it is pretty much the same today, isn’t it? All
right, so that was their strife. I
Corinthians 3:4 “For
while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; (If that’s
the case, Paul says--) are ye not (What?) carnal?”
Because, no doubt Apollos had things that could contribute to their spiritual
life, but on the other hand, Paul was the one who brought them out of their
pagan idolatry and everything. He should have been number one in their view,
but he slipped away from that, and they just began dividing the congregation.
All right, now drop down to verse 5. He’s going to make a point. I
Corinthians 3:5 “Who
then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as
the Lord gave to every man?” Now, let’s stop a minute. Again, for
those of you who have been with us all the way up through Scripture, you
remember that after Paul had established the Corinthian church and brought them
out of paganism, a couple made their appearance, because Rome had made a decree
that Jews could no longer stay in Italy. So,
if you remember, Priscilla and Aquila were two of those Jews. They were
believing Jews of the fact that Jesus was indeed the Christ, but they had heard
nothing, yet, of believing in the finished work of the cross for salvation. So
anyway, Priscilla and Aquila, you remember, came into Paul’s congregation. In
fact, it makes it quite plain that since they labored together in tent-making,
Paul evidently rented a room from Priscilla and Aquila, and the three of them
lived under the same roof. Well,
what did that mean? They talked and they talked and they talked! Well, what
did they talk about? Well, the spiritual things. And it wasn’t long until
Paul was able to impress upon Priscilla and Aquila this tremendous finished
work of the cross, the Gospel of Grace. How that it has nothing to do with
Judaism and the Law and everything. That we’re set apart from all of that, and,
boy, they just latched onto it! The more they visited with their fellow
laborer, the stronger they got. Well,
Paul had to leave, of course, and went on, I think, to Ephesus. And it wasn’t
long until another Jew arrived in Corinth who had recently been at Alexandria. Now, the Scripture doesn’t say it. I’m always up front, and I’ll tell
anybody, but I’m just assuming that Apollos was probably a graduate of one of
the big Jewish Seminaries that was down in Alexandria, Egypt. It doesn’t say that, but he was so learned in the Scriptures that I have to feel he must
have been. But anyway, in comes Apollos into the situation. And with all the
pomp and circumstance of all of his education and who he was and everything, he
thought he was pretty important. But after he had finished speaking, who took
him aside? Priscilla and Aquila. Not publicly, but they took him aside, and
all the Scripture says is they showed unto him the things of God more
perfectly, or more completely. Again, the Scripture leaves it up to
you. What do you suppose they shared with this man Apollos? Paul’s Gospel!
Paul’s revelation of the mysteries! How we’re not under the Law; we’re under
Grace. How the Old Testament economy is nothing more now than just stepping
stones to this tremendous Age of Grace. Well,
did Apollos argue? No! He just latched onto it. He went from there on as one
of Paul’s best co-workers. All right, so that’s what we have here. Apollos
had made such an impression upon these Corinthians, that even though he’d
gained it all by virtue of Paul’s revelations and from the patient teaching of
two other simple Jews, Priscilla and Aquila, he became a great apostle, I
suppose, in his own right. So, some of the Corinthians said, hey, I’m going to
follow this man Apollos, this guy’s sharp! Boy, he can preach. He’s an
orator. He knows his stuff. And others said, well, we’re going to stay with
Paul, because, after all, he brought us out of all this paganness. And then
others said, well, now I’ve learned enough from Scripture, I’m going to follow
Peter, because Peter had three years with Jesus. Can’t you just picture it? Now,
this is what the Scripture leads us to do. You know, I’m always trying to get
people not to just read it and then say I don’t know what it means. Stop and
analyze it a little bit. Put some details in there. We’ve the freedom to do
that. In fact, I’ve got time enough. One of my favorite places that taught me
to do this, and you have to, otherwise the Scripture is just going to leave you
hanging time and again. Now, I didn’t intend to do this either. I don’t know
why I’m doing it, but turn back with me to John chapter 12. This is the perfect
example that you have to logically put together some of the pieces. Because,
after all, if Scripture would give us every little detail, and you’ve heard me
say this before, this Book would be so big you’d have to have a pickup truck to
carry it around. So, the Holy Spirit sees fit to keep things, you know, as
brief as possible. But
this is a good example. That’s the only reason I’m going back here, just to
show you that you have to fill in details, John’s Gospel chapter 12. The
crowds are gathering for Passover. This is the same Passover at which Christ is
going to be crucified. So, there’s the setting, as Mr. Coverdale said, what’s
gone before, what’s going on now, who’s it written to, who’s it concerning?
Okay, we’ve got the Jews gathering for Passover, the same Passover at which
Jesus is going to be crucified. So, from verse 20, we are about 72 hours from
His death, burial, and resurrection. John
12:20 “And
there were certain Greeks (non-Jews) among them that came up to
worship at the feast (of Passover).” Now, more than
likely, they were curiosity seekers. And you can just sort of put that in
there without doing any harm to Scripture. These
Greeks were evidently just there to watch these Jews carry on at one of their
big feast celebrations. But, they’d been in Israel long enough that who had
they heard about? Jesus of Nazareth and all of His miracles and signs and
wonders – how He could feed the five-thousand, and how He had walked on water
and all these things. They’d heard it. Listen, do you think people 2000 years
ago were any different than we are today? Not one whit! Not one whit! If
someone would come into Tulsa next week and begin to perform the miracles that
Jesus did, do you think that it would be confined to Tulsa? Why, the whole United States of America would be hearing about this man that’s in Tulsa – he can walk on the water,
he can raise the dead, he can make five loaves and five fishes. Why, it would
just cover the country. Well, it was the same way then. These things just
went out by word of mouth. So, these non-Jewish Gentiles here had heard about
Jesus and all of His miracles and so forth. All right, verse 21. John
12:21a “The
same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee,…” All
right, now, logically, here’s this humongous crowd of Jews, thousands and
thousands of them. How do you suppose these three foreigners knew to go to
that man over there? How’d they know that Philip was the guy to ask? Well.
use common sense? What would you do? Well, you start asking. You know, I’m
one of those dumb men that doesn’t mind a bit to stop and ask where I’m at when
I get lost. Most men don’t want to do that, I know that, but I’m not afraid to
swallow my pride. When I get lost, I pull into some place, jump out, and say,
okay, where am I? Where am I going? Same
way here. TheLESSON * ONE PART I
BUT GOD! (Where Sin Abounded)
Rom. 5:20, Rom. 6:22, I Cor. 1:23, I Cor. 1:27
LESSON ONE * PART II
BUT GOD! (Where Sin Abounded)
Rom. 5:20, Rom. 6:22, I Cor. 1:23, I Cor. 1:27
LESSON ONE * PART III
BUT GOD! (Where Sin Abounded)
Rom. 5:20, Rom. 6:22, I Cor. 1:23, I Cor. 1:27
LESSON ONE * PART IV
BUT GOD! (Where Sin Abounded)
Rom. 5:20, Rom. 6:22, I Cor. 1:23, I Cor. 1:27
LESSON TWO * PART I
BUT GOD! (Gave the Increase)
I Corinthians 3:7 and Other
Pertinent Scriptures