Hope for Today

Too many people delight in avoiding responsibility. “Don’t blame me. It’s not my fault,” or “I will take responsibility for myself, never mind.” It seems to be engrained in the human personality.

If you are acquainted with the Bible at all, you know that in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, the account is given of Eve and Adam disobeying God and their responses when He faced them with their responsibility. Adam blamed his wife, Eve. She blamed the serpent. Thus it is engrained in human personality to avoid accountability.

There is another example in the Bible. When the children of Israel were encamped at Mt. Sinai and Moses went up on the mountain, they worshiped a golden calf. Now we may wonder, Where did that golden calf come from? Well, Aaron, Moses’ brother, had asked the people to bring their gold earrings and all their gold jewelry to him. Then he made a calf out of the gold, and they worshipped it. But when Moses came down off the mountain, Aaron would not take the responsibility that was rightfully his. “Well,” he said, “you know how these people are, Moses.” Aaron refused to be accountable for what had happened (see Exodus 32).

“Accountability” means to be responsible. There is another Bible example. When David committed adultery with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife, David thought he had it all hidden very neatly, but the prophet Nathan came and exposed his sin. The prophet spoke just four words: “Thou art the man” (II Samuel 12:7). In other words, “You are responsible. You, King David, are accountable.”

Let’s consider THE RULE OF ACCOUNTABILITY. In I Corinthians 4:1-5 the apostle Paul wrote some very decisive words about accountability:

1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.

2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of a man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.

4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.

5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

From these verses, I affirm that accountability brings us face to face with several PREROGATIVES of God that we must consider.

The first prerogative is:

1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.

2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

Ministers preachers and pastors are especially vulnerable. They are to be leaders in the church. They are to be, as the apostle says, “stewards of the mysteries of God.”

A steward in Bible days was a commissioned servant. He was not the owner; he was the manager. Perhaps Joseph in Egypt is the clearest example of the biblical concept of a faithful steward. When he made Joseph a steward of his household, Pharaoh put everything into Joseph’s hands. He ran the country, so to speak. The only difference was Pharaoh occupied the throne. So stewards are required to be faithful. That is what the apostle says in verse 2: “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”

But I am concentrating on the inscrutable mysteries of God. Ministers are singly subject to winds of thought. Theology seems to shift from one generation to another. In fact, sometimes it shifts dramatically in only a half-generation! Reason takes priority over faith. It is a conflict of long-standing. Ministers are to stand in defense of the Word of God, but sometimes ministers stand in the denigration of the Word of God.

I remember hearing once of a young man who thought he was very intelligent, and he said to his friend, “I believe nothing I cannot see.” In other words, he had to bring everything within the realm of the five senses. So his friend asked him, “Do you have any brains?” Ha, you see, he could not see his brains, so how did he know he had them? Thus we have the inscrutable mysteries of God.

The apostle Paul writing to the Ephesians mentioned this in a very graphic way. Look at Ephesians 3:1-7:

For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words. Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partaker’s of his promise in Christ by the gospel: Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.

I am talking about the inscrutable mysteries of God, which are not knowable except as God may reveal them to us.

The apostle Paul, in Romans 11:33-36, puts it exactly the way I have been talking:

Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever.

So the first prerogative of the rule of accountability is the inscrutable mysteries of God.

The second prerogative is:

3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of a man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.

4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.

We are very much aware that our minds are limited. We may often wish we knew more than we do. We wish we had a broader understanding of a particular subject that we may be wrestling with. We must all agree that not all the facts are in.

Evolutionists following Darwin argue that life sprang into existence from the prehistoric slime, a little ameba, a one-celled animal that came to life. Nobody knows how, nobody knows why, and nobody knows when. It is all a theory of chance.

In the fossil record we know, from those who have studied it, that there are no transitional forms from one species to another. And yet the evolutionists argue “according to the fact,” but there are no facts. It is all supposition. It is all conjecture. They cannot consider all the facts because they do not have all the facts in hand, and all the facts are not available. So they can never be sure.

I also found that personal thought shields itself. We often take the position of a victim of circumstances. We say, “Well, you see if you had been in the same situation I was in, you would have responded the same way I did.” We are fickle-minded. But that is not true of God.

In fact, the apostle Paul, talking about that, says of himself, “I know nothing of myself, yet am I not hereby justified.” The real difficulty is personal thought shields itself. Even though I can lay no charge against myself, I am not justified thereby. I must deal with this prerogative of God, the invincible mind of God. That means God never changes His mind. He is always the same. The Bible presents Him as the God for everybody. He is the universal God. He is the supreme God.

God always deals in terms of truth. Ponder what the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 2:1-2:

Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.

Do you understand? The mind of God is invincible. He never changes. That was what the prophet Malachi said in Malachi 3:6: “I am the Lord, I change not.” So the second prerogative we face in terms of accountability is that the mind of God is invincible. He never, never changes His mind.

The third prerogative is:

5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

The apostle Paul’s time is set. He warns us to judge nothing before the time. God has a calendar, you know, a calendar that He is following. Where we are on God’s calendar, I don’t know. But I know this, we are exactly where we are supposed to be because God has a calendar, and He is working it. I notice the apostle Paul suggests that the calendar has some connection with the coming of the Lord Jesus.

Notice the first clause in verse 5: “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come.” The word “until” sets a particular time frame. It is connected. God’s impeccable method is connected to the return of the Lord. That is no question in Paul’s mind. He is sure that the Lord is coming again. “Until the Lord come.”

The impeccable method of God will disclose every deed. Look again at verse 5: “who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.” The Bible teaches us very clearly that nothing can be hidden from the gaze of God. “Everything is open and naked before Him with whom we have to do,” the writer of Hebrews tells us (Hebrews 4:13). Here the apostle Paul reminds us that God is going to bring to light every hidden thing. Whatever you think you may have hidden from the eyes of your fellow humans, it is not hidden from God. He will make manifest even the thoughts of the heart.

One time when Jesus was talking to His disciples, He told them that evil thoughts come out of the heart. God is going to open the heart, the innermost subconscious mind of man. There will be some who will attempt to criticize God. They will say, “You weren’t fair with me. You don’t treat me right. I am much better than what you recognize.”

No. There will be no avail. No one will be able to criticize God.

In Matthew 20:1-15, Jesus told the parable of workers in a vineyard. The owner of the vineyard went to the marketplace early in the morning and saw men there idle, so he hired them, hired them for a denarius a day. The King James Version says a penny a day. That was a day’s wages. Then he went out at different times during the day, hired additional laborers, and paid them a penny a day. Finally, the last hour, the eleventh hour, right close to quitting time, he went out and found some more workers, and so he hired them as well and said he would give them what is right.

See how Jesus closed that parable, what He said as He closed it. This is found in Matthew 20:10-15. This is payday now, this is pay hour, you might say.

But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, saying, these last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal with us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?

Oh, the impeccable method of God! It is very important for us to consider that the judgment of God is absolutely right.

I want to share with you from another’s writings:

This shall be accompanied by revelation. There are hidden things of darkness that must be brought to light; virtues and vices of which the world has taken little or no note, but which must be brought forward and taken into account, in order to arrive at a just decision and award. There are counsels of the heart to be made manifest; for whilst men necessarily judge by the conduct, God will take into account the secret intentions and motives of those who have labored for him, both good and evil. This will be by a perfect discrimination. The hypocrite shall be distinguished from the sincere, the diligent from the idle, the time-server and men-pleaser from the true servant of God. This will be the occasion of recompense. The case of the utterly unfaithful is left out of view as irrelevant in this connection. But among the faithful, it is presumed that there are degrees of fidelity, and every man shall have his praise from God. This implies that each has a special need (reward) for service, and it also implies that praise shall be accompanied by a substantial and everlasting recompense. It is well, therefore, to work “as ever in the great Taskmaster’s eye,” to avoid judging one’s self, to be indifferent to the partial judgment of men, and to wait for the revelation and the awards of eternity.

Yes, my friend, the judgment of God is absolute.

In our accountability, we are accountable to God. So now we are face to face with these prerogatives of God:

Revealed now.

Resolute. He does not change.

Righteous.

I urge you to evaluate your relation to Him and your accountability before Him.

The United States Space Center was excited when the probe to Jupiter entered what scientists thought is Jupiter’s atmosphere. Perhaps by now, they have a report. They anxiously awaited the electronic transmission of whatever data the probe might find.

For centuries men have pondered the universe. Centuries ago the Lord called Abraham out under the open sky and said to him, “Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them” (Genesis 15:5). And God said, “So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (verse 16). Perhaps Abraham might have been able to see two thousand stars with the naked eye in the Middle East clear sky at night. We now know there are multitudes of more than two thousand.

King David was humbled by what he saw. We may say his worldview is expressed in Psalm 8:3-9:

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained. What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the Son of man, that thou visitest him? For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea. Oh, Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth.

Let’s go a little farther and see what the prophet Isaiah thought when he looked at the heavens. Isaiah 40:12-14 may express something of his worldview:

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?

We ponder, Who is God? What has He done? How valuable for life is all the accumulation of knowledge like the space probe anyway? How does it all add up?

The apostle Paul, in the midst of the Greek/Roman philosophies, has a strong word for the twentieth-century man regarding a worldview. Look at what he wrote in I Corinthians 3:18-23:

18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;

22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

23 And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

The apostle discusses several basic IDEAS as he developed THE CHRISTIAN WORLD VIEW.

The first idea is:

18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

Paul gives us a warning. “Let no man deceive himself.” That is easily done because when one is deceiving himself, he doesn’t know it. He is not aware of what is happening. He thinks he is on the right road when he is on the wrong road. It is most subtle. A man’s opinion says, “I am wise. Look what I have accomplished.”

We know that these people are advocating self-esteem. Say to yourself, “I am number one. I am number one. I am number one.” Knowledge for its own sake is empty.

A know-it-all is left high and dry. A friend of mine once was responsible to train the forklift operators in a warehouse. He told me some time ago that a person came in who had applied for the job, but when he tried to teach him, he seemed to know everything. He said, “Oh yes, I know. I know. I know. Yes, I know.” But it turned out that he did not know. He could not operate the forklift in the warehouse. So my friend told his supervisor, “Don’t send me anymore ‘know-it-alls.’ They can’t be taught.”

The craftiness of personal deception is especially true in religious matters. I have met people and talked to them about their need of Christ, and they responded, “I have my way.” That is personal deception.

Now hear what another has to say about this:

We must divest ourselves of our fancied wisdom and become fools in our own eyes, in order to be spiritually wise. This is a general law. Pride or self-conceit in regard to any branch of knowledge or art is an effectual bar to progress. We must confess our ignorance in order to attain knowledge, our weakness in order to attain strength, our folly in order to attain wisdom…How often are anxious souls kept back from entering into peace because they will not renounce their own ideas of the way of salvation! Only when they submit entirely to God’s way as little children do they enter the kingdom.

So the first idea the apostle Paul discusses is The Craftiness of Personal Deception.

The second idea is:

19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

What is the starting point? According to the apostle Paul, it is the renunciation of personal wisdom. He says, “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.” That is the needed evaluation. Evaluate the wisdom of this world, and see how it is in total conflict with the wisdom of God, quite useless. Now we must understand that we need to know the common things of life. Yes, but the apostle Paul is talking about the philosophical ideas, the ideas that underlie the whole concept of wisdom in this world. Divest yourself of worldly wisdom that takes no account of God. It is a dead-end street.

The wisdom of this world argues in circles. It can never get out of its own maze. God seizes the wise in their own reasoning. Paul explains this in Romans 1:18-21:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

What a picture!

As the apostle Paul said in I Corinthians 3:19-20, the Lord knows the reasoning of the wise. “He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.” The Lord knows the dialogues of the wise. Their “profound discussions” lead to no satisfactory conclusion. Their dialogue is when they just talk it over, talk it over, and talk it over.

Where one starts will determine where he ends. Again, hear what another says.

The speculations of men regarding God and our relation to him, however much of truth they contain, are yet on the whole vain, inasmuch as they fail to reach an adequate knowledge of him. Those who have worked the longest at the great problems of life are the readiest to confess this. One after another the world’s wise men have wrestled with them and passed them down to their successors unsolved. Or look at the schemes of men for the regeneration of the world. Education, aesthetic culture, the teaching of morality, social communism, and religion made easy, all have been tried and found wanting. None of them can redeem mankind from sin and restore them to their lost dignity. And in nothing do men seem so foolish as just in those things in which they think themselves wise. They are caught in their own net. Their schemes of salvation work their ruin.

So start with the wisdom of God! Remember, the second idea is The Choice of Personal Inception.

The third idea is:

21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;

22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

23 And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

Here the apostle gives us a whole new realization. Do not glory in men glory in God! Glorying in men leads to the dead-end street I was talking about. All things are yours. What a tremendous perception! What a tremendous concept! No longer do we need to dabble around with the wisdom of men. We now have access to the wisdom of God. All things are yours. That will erase the party spirit.

Paul, Apollos, and Cephas were mere men. Shift from them to God is the apostle Paul’s emphasis. That is the consolation we have. All things are yours, the world, life and death, things present, things to come. All are yours. What a tremendous concept! What a tremendous perception!

Paul’s world view takes in all, confined in Christ and God. That is a great release! Relish this fact, my friend. If you are a Christian, you have been released from the foolishness of men and ushered into the wisdom of God. Relish this fact.

Man’s rightful place in God’s good world was lost in the Garden of Eden when Eve listened to the serpent. Mankind was to have a more direct and intimate role in the control of the world and the managing of it. But that was lost in the Garden when Eve listened to the serpent.

Now by Jesus that rightful place was regained in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He said, “Not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). He was the perfect Man who lived the perfect life. So then our position has been regained in Him. We experience it in a spiritual way now. Eventually, we will experience it completely.

Indeed, as another has said:

All things are ours only because we belong to Christ. He has recovered for man his lost sovereignty, and in Him, we receive what He has won for us. The crown is again placed on our heads; we become
joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), who is Heir of all things (Hebrews 1:2). Apart from Him, we have no title. And belonging to Christ, we belong to God; for “Christ is God’s.”

Praise the Lord! With this new perception comes great consolation. All is ours because we belong to Christ.

Paul developed the Christian worldview by showing us these advancing ideas:

There is only one way.

We must choose God’s way.

We belong to Christ.

Put God in His rightful place, and you will experience a great release! And you will marvel that all things are yours.

The disciples gathered on the Day of Pentecost to pray. According to the account in the book of Acts, they were not really expecting to experience what came upon them that day. But the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them as prophesied by the prophet Joel and confirmed by the words of Jesus. When that took place, the disciples began to speak as the Spirit gave them utterance. You know something; they had no strategy meeting. They didn’t come together and say, “Now what shall we do? Now that the Spirit of God has fallen upon us, what shall we do?” No, that was not the course they took. They spoke as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Another example of the Holy Spirit’s ministry in the early church occurred at Antioch, when Barnabas and Saul were there with the other believers, preaching and ministering daily in the church. As they ministered, according to Acts 13, the Spirit of God spoke to them and said, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” No record of a strategy meeting here! “What shall we do? How shall we proceed?” The record simply states that the Spirit of God moved upon them. And they moved as He directed.

In both incidents, the believers obeyed the Spirit. They were in touch with Him. They were so open to His leading that He could guide them. They were so open to His speaking that He could communicate with them.

Today we hear a great deal about “planting churches,” strategizing, and trying to learn how we shall do this. What proceedings shall we take? The apostle Paul spoke of “building the church.”

Paul compared the church to a building. His blueprint is found in I Corinthians 3:10-17:

10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

In Paul’s blueprint for building a church, I find several SKETCHES of the details.

The first sketch is:

10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Paul said that he was a wise “master builder.” That is the term for an architect. He saw all the details, clearly entwined, as a wise master builder. And he said that he had laid the foundation. That, of course, is first in importance. No lasting building can be built without a foundation, a good foundation, a sturdy foundation, or a well-constructed foundation.

The single foundation is stated. There is no other. Paul said that no man can lay a different foundation than he had laid, and that is Jesus Christ.

That is a single foundation, not many. Some years ago a pastor friend of mine told me that he had an evangelist come to his church, appointed by his supervisor, who one evening stood in the pulpit and said, “The very idea that anyone would say that there is only one way to God. There are many ways to God.” Now this evangelist was wrong according to the apostle Paul. Because Paul said, “There is only one foundation.” That would mean there is only one way to God.

Once when I was in Nigeria, I went to the University of Ibadan bookstore and picked up a book about African traditional religions, written by an African. I was rather surprised as I browsed through this book to find out that the author was like the preacher in the pulpit. He said, “The traditional religions of Africa are the Africans’ way to get to God.” The only problem is they never arrive by their traditional religions. It may be their way, their attempt to get to God, but they never make it. You know what Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).

And you know that Peter said there is no other foundation. When he spoke to the Sanhedrin, Peter said, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). My friend, I must insist that there is only one foundation.

I have learned that in some countries where idolatry is practiced, there are hundreds of millions of gods. They are manmade. They are well designed. I wish I could take you to a souvenir shop and show you the shelves and shelves and shelves of idols. I have pictures of the little ones, and bigger ones, manmade, molded, shaped and carved. They take this image and set it on a shelf and say, “This is my God.” Oh, no. Yes! It’s true.

To build a church, there is only one foundation. Listen to the writings of Barnes:

The reason for Paul’s unyielding fidelity to the simplicity of his gospel message at Corinth and
everywhere else, lay in his deep sense of the fact that in whatever land or age or grade of social life a man may be found, whatever the level of his civilization or intellectual culture, “Christ crucified” can alone meet his spiritual necessities. And he would pay just a little respect to our dreams of self-sufficiency as he did to those of the men of his own times; for they have just as little solid ground to rest upon. Our nature is the same as theirs. Our spiritual needs are the same. There is the same insatiable craving within us, the same guilt on our consciences, the same seeds of corruption latent in our hearts, and the same moral dangers besetting the pathway of our life. The same eternal spirit world surrounds us, and we must confront the same “righteous judgment of God.”

Oh, my friend, do you know what Jesus said to Peter and the disciples when Peter made that great confession, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16)? Jesus said, “On this rock I will build my church” (v.18). There is only one foundation. Define it carefully, my friend, to build a church.

The second sketch is:

12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Look carefully in the Bible, and you will see what kind of material the apostle Paul spoke of. He said, “Some may build one way and some build another.” Every man’s work will be declared. A man may build on the foundation of gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble.

Look at the classification made by these six choices. They are six choices on a descending scale. First is gold, the choice metal, the one that can be destroyed the least. Silver is the second choice and precious stones, are the third choice.

These are indestructible. They don’t burn up. We might melt them, indeed, as the soldiers did when they burned the temple in Jerusalem. The Roman soldiers pried the stones apart in order to get the gold that melted and ran down between the stones. But the gold was good. We might say that is one classification of material: the refining of the material.

Then there are the other three: wood, which is combustible; hay, which is transitory; and stubble, which is a waste product. These do not last. We know in so me countries and cultures they use hay to thatch their roofs. And, of course, if it should catch on fire, the roof would soon be gone. Wood too is burnable, and combustible. Stubble is a waste product that burns.

The revealing day will test all these materials by fire work to last or to be destroyed. Barnes makes a very interesting remark about these matters:

There are many things mistaken for piety that will yet be seen to be false. There is much enthusiasm, wildfire, fanaticism, bigotry; much-affected humility; much that is supposed to be orthodoxy; much regard to forms and ceremonies; to “days and months, and times, and years” (Gal. 4:10); much-overheated zeal, and much precision, and solemn sanctimoniousness; much regard for external ordinances where the heart is wanting, that shall be found to be false, and that shall be swept away in the day of Judgment.

My friend, it is highly important to refine the material. The reward comes when the work is tested, as the apostle Paul teaches us, tested by fire.

The third sketch is:

16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Oh, these are two glorious verses. Believers are temples that house the Spirit. The image here is the Old Testament tabernacle or temple. God described them and ordered Moses to build the tabernacle in the wilderness. Then Solomon built the temple on Mount Moriah, the land that David had bought for the temple of God. The temple was beautiful and outstanding. It cost millions of dollars even in those days. The point of it all was that God said He was going to meet with His people in the Holy of Holies, by the mercy seat. The cherubim overshadowed the mercy seat, and under the mercy seat was the broken law. This, God said, was the place where He would meet with them. The apostle Paul picked up this image and said we as a church, as a body, are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells within us. The temple enshrouded the Glory of God.

Now I think we can also make some applications to the individual Christian. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, so the apostle teaches us in Romans 6. We are to be occupied, possessed, guided, and enabled by the Spirit of God. His presence is to glorify us, to set us off from the common run of people.

Then there is a warning against defiling the temple of God. The apostle says, “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.” Oh, in the churches today isn’t there an awful lot of bickering and fighting within? It’s not really very surprising that the people outside look inside and say, “What’s going on there?” There are some churches, unfortunately, where the members have become so controversial that they have had to take their cases to the civil court. That doesn’t make sense, does it?

Take care what you do with the temple of God! Be careful. Oh, what a grand privilege we have to be a dwelling place for the Spirit of God, to have the Spirit of God indwell us and enable us. The Shekinah glory of God may rest upon us. Some members may be like the rotten apple in the barrel.

But let me share with you what another said about this:

If he makes that innermost chamber the “holy of holies,” because his cloud symbol, his Shechinah glory, rests there; his presence makes the outer chamber holy, and the courts all-holy, and the altar and layers and utensils all holy. And if Christ “dwells in our hearts,” and makes them like the holy of holies, we must realize that he sanctifies all our being and all our relations; sanctities mind, affection, will, body, so that the prophetic figure should be fulfilled, and in the Christian life and Christian Church holiness should be inscribed on the very “bells of the horses.” The one anxious endeavour of a Christian life is to get all the “courts” of our body temple, wholly sanctified.

What a grand privilege to have the indwelling presence of God with us! We are the temple of the living God. The Holy Spirit dwells within every believer.

Let every church builder learn from these sketches from the apostle Paul in the blueprint How To Build A Church.

A building is no better than its foundation, and there is only one foundation for the church, and it is Jesus Christ.

Choose the best. Discard what is combustible. And build with what is lasting.

Acknowledge the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life as a Christian.

As a believer acknowledge Him. Recognize Him. Yield yourself to Him. Be what He wants you to be. That way the church will be steadfast.

The church is really a voluntary community. It is quite different from a country. A citizen of a country normally is born a citizen. He becomes a citizen involuntarily. Not so in the true church! To be a member of the church requires a choice. During the Reformation Period, the Reformers agreed between themselves that whoever was born in a Roman Catholic country would automatically be a Roman Catholic. Whoever was born in a Lutheran country would be a Lutheran. But that is not the biblical pattern.

Life in the church has requirements. The first requirement is acceptance of Jesus Christ as one’s personal Saviour. This results in a born-again experience, which is called the new birth or to be born from heaven.

The second requirement is a new life living in obedience to the Lord. In fact, the new birth spiritually results in new life.

The third requirement is a new relationship with others. There is a bonding, a relationship, a union in the body. The church, in fact, is referred to as a “called out” community. That is really the meaning of the word ekklesia as it is found in the Greek New Testament.

Yet some members of the church seem to be nothing more than bench warmers. They could be called “do nothing” Christians. In I Corinthians 3:1-9, the apostle Paul called them babes in Christ. They might be characterized as bottle-fed or spoon-fed babies. Paul further defines babes in Christ as carnal. Well, what does the word carnal mean? It means “living after the flesh, fleshly Christians.” These are Christians who have not moved on in the spiritual dimension of their experience.

I will discuss the CALAMITY OF CARNALITY from I Corinthians 3:1-9:

1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able [to bear it], neither yet now are ye able.

3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men.

4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

7 So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.

9 For we are laborers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

The apostle Paul teaches us the tragic ACTIVITIES that result from the Calamity of Carnality.

The first activity is:

1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able [to bear it], neither yet now are ye able.

Some may wonder, Is it possible that there are carnal Christians? Yes, Christians can be carnal. They are babes in Christ who should be growing, but whose progress has been frustrated. They are unable to digest nourishing food; they are incapable of taking in the truth. They are stunted, incapable of progress. Carnality, I say, frustrates progress. It is like standing on a treadmill motion but no direction.

Carnal Christians are of no practical use in the church. Here is what someone else said about it:

As babes, they are of no practical use in the church. They cannot be relied upon for service; they are not fitted for real work. In spiritual things they are weaklings. They draw upon the resources of the church rather than add to them. They are encumbrances sources of weakness rather than of strength. They require much looking after. Yet withal they often have a very high opinion of their own powers, and sometimes are exceedingly anxious to take up a great work as anxious as they soon become to put it down again. Childish instability of purpose, as well as lack of spiritual power, prevents them from being useful. And the work that is done is done after so carnal a manner that often it had better have been left undone. It is a child’s work, having in it more marring than making.

So it is obvious that carnality frustrates progress. Carnal Christians can be quite vocal, but they simply frustrate progress. They are what we can call dead weight. They do not carry their share of the load.

The second activity is:

3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men.

4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

Rivalry seems to be a part of the agenda of carnal Christians. In some congregations, people have brought in the corporate thought process. Corporation people lie and fight to get ahead, to climb the ladder of “success.” They are insensitive to whom they push over or walk on, just so they make progress. Unfortunately, some people in the church have adopted the corporate ladder syndrome, characterized by envy, strife, and division. Notice verse 3, where the apostle Paul says, “There is among you envying, and strife, and divisions.” That is the evidence of being carnal.

People are like magnets, drawing the disgruntled. They find their pleasure in generating the party spirit. “Now what do you think of pastor so and so?” But that does not promote growth. Carnality frustrates progress and generates the party spirit.

Again, another has stated it well:

It is never the best people in a Christian community who are the cause of strife. Contention and controversy are only interesting to those who are not really growing in likeness to and nearness to Christ. Schism and strife are sure signs of carnality. Men who get soul visions of the truth never can want to contend over words. It would seem that St. Paul recognized signs of remaining carnality in the regenerate members of the church, and found this to be a principal hindrance to the advance of his teaching. Such signs of the “carnal mind” are still observed by Christian pastors and are the occasions of their deepest depression and constant grief.

It seems every church has some carnal members generating the party spirit. That is what carnality does.

The third activity is:

5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

7 So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.

9 For we are laborers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

Attachment to leaders obliterates the central purpose of the church. The apostle referred to himself and to Apollos in 1:12. He also brought in Peter.

Internal bickering dissipates energy to reach out. So the apostle asked, “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?” Then he pointed out the purpose of God in these leaders. “I have planted,” Paul said. “Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” The planting and the watering were as essential then as they are today. But the most essential part is not the planter or the waterer but the One who gives the increase. God gives the increase. This must always be kept in mind.

Further, we notice that unity brings rewards to each. Paul said that the planter and the waterer are one. And so being one working according to the purpose of God, each receives his reward according to his own labor. Unity brings rewards to each. Finally, Paul said, “We are laborers together with God.”

Carnality obliterates purpose. But when we see the whole function as it truly is, then we see that by laboring together horizontally we labor with God. The product is God’s husbandry, God’s garden, or God’s building. Everyone who labors in this way labors with God.

Again, I bring you to the words of another.

It is “God that giveth the increase.” In the spiritual sphere, as in the natural, the life-giving power is Divine; but in both cases, this power usually works through human ministries. It is only in connection with diligent planting and watering that we can expect the increase.

Each minister has his own peculiar reward. All are one, inasmuch as all are servants of one Lord and engaged about the same work. Hence they are not to be set against each other as rivals. Their work is one, yet diverse; and so is their reward. No faithful servant shall go without recompense at his Master’s hand; but each shall receive his own, alike in kind and in degree. The principle that determines this is “according to his own labor.” It is not according to the fruit or result of our labor, but simply according to the measure of our labor. What reversals of human opinion are in store for us. Men applaud success; God praises fidelity. Many an obscure but faithful worker shall receive a greater reward than he who has been less faithful but more prominent and successful.

Yes, the result of carnality is the obliteration of purpose.

My friend, take careful account of yourself. I’m talking to church members as such. Assess your condition. Remember what results from carnality, from the Calamity of Carnality.

It leads to dead weight.

It fosters rivalry.

It ignores God’s will.

Find deliverance through an intimate relationship with Jesus. Amen.

Our minds are somewhat like an unfathomable lake. No one has yet been able to measure the depth of the human mind.

Philosophers have reasoned without conclusions. They have tried to determine how we think, but no one seems to know. Scientists have researched the relationship of the brain to thought processes. They also have no conclusions. Intelligence and reason set us completely apart from the animal world. We are in a class by ourselves.

The human mind is the powerhouse of all cultures. By the interaction of many minds, reason and thought construct the pillars of culture. We can say our minds provide the necessary base to communicate with God. That’s awesome. God is in the world outside of our ability to discern. Yet we can communicate with Him by way of our minds. At the same time, the distance between God and us is unbridgeable, unless God makes the initial move. Many a philosopher has run into a dead-end street because he depended entirely upon his own system of logic. In I Corinthians 2:11-16, the apostle explains the possibility of KNOWING THE UNKNOWABLE.

Now that may sound like a contradiction. But stay with me because I’m going to discuss for you how you can know the unknowable. Let’s read I Corinthians 2:11-16:

11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Here, then, Paul shows us how we can know the unknowable by discussing the several essential STAGES we must pass through.

The first stage is:

11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

Paul sets off two areas, only two. In his Demarcation of Knowing, he categorizes the spirit of man and the spirit of God. The things of man, the whole area of human learning, is one area. It’s continually expanding. We are pushing back the whole horizon of human understanding and knowledge.

Sometimes when two people meet, they say to each other, “Well, what do you know?” The answer is, “What I don’t know will fill a bigger book.”

The more you know, friend, the more you know there is to know. So the natural things are constantly evading us. The spiritual things are incomprehensible.

The things of God are outside the realm of the things of man. Please observe the closing of verse 12: “We know the things that are freely given to us of God.” The things of God are not discovered. The things of God are given. We learn them by the gracious act of God. God is ready to give what we are capable to receive. I want you to understand clearly the demarcation of knowing. The two areas are human knowledge and spiritual knowledge.

The second stage is:

13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The apostle is speaking to us, but not in the words of man’s wisdom. Spiritual truth is not spoken in man’s wisdom. Oh, we may use the same language. We may use somewhat the same words, but spiritual truth is not conveyed that way. Man’s wisdom genders pride, and, as I was saying, there seems to be constant opportunity to learn more, more, and more. But in what area? You see, as I was saying in the outstart, the mind of man is capable of great expansion.

Scientists and philosophers have puzzled over the brain for generations. How does it function? What is its major role? Well, its major role is to control the rest of the body. But we are being told here that Paul’s teaching was based on what the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. In other words, the natural man is unable to comprehend spiritual matters because he is spiritually brain dead. Christianity answers every question that requires an answer. The marvelous plan of salvation exhibits the most awe-inspiring wisdom. God is glorified and man is rescued from sin.

Now I quote from another:

When Paul expounded the doctrines of Christianity, He was not speaking folly, but set forth the truest and highest wisdom the world had ever listened to; and those who truly embraced Christianity became “wise,” seeing that they then possessed true views of God and of human life, and moreover yielded themselves to the control of an influence which would make them practically wise in everyday conduct. . . . Christianity contains the profoundest wisdom. Men laugh at Christianity not because it is foolish, but because they are.

The natural man does not have the will to receive spiritual truth. Reception of the unknowable is controlled by the will and requires a humility that man is not willing to express. The natural man is dead, in trespasses and sins. I referred to him as being spiritually brain dead. Until born again, the spirit of truth leaves man puzzled. Therefore, the second stage is to recognize the limitations of the natural man.

The third stage is:

14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

The spiritual man has an entirely new approach. The apostle in II Corinthians 5:17 said, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” All things become new. The spiritual man, I say, has an entirely new approach. The natural man reasons in circles. He never finds his way out of the maze he has created for himself. The spiritual man reasons in a straight line. Realities are properly related. He is able to see them in the light of the divine revelation of God, and, as the apostle Paul teaches in verse 16, God needs no instructor! Paul raises a rhetorical question: “Who has instructed the Lord?” The answer is “No one.”

No one knows the complete mind of God. It is impossible. Our human minds have limitations. Therefore, we are dependent upon the gift of divine revelation. We, the apostle said, have the mind of Christ! We are lifted out of the fruitless surmising of the natural man. The natural man rests in the instability of his own human reasoning.

I quote another who said:

The spiritual man is exalted and sees clearly what to the man beneath appears blurred, unsightly, puzzling, and undesirable. The carnal man has a valley view, and gazes through thick and distorting mists; the spiritual man has a mountain top view, and the more spiritual he is the clearer is the atmosphere through which he looks. Many men who quarrel with Christianity should rather quarrel with themselves; the fault is not in it, but in them. We need alteration, not God’s revelation. We must not think lightly of Christianity because many reject it; an imbecile throws away banknotes. Honesty is good, but a thief will have none of it. A blind man has a poor opinion of pictures. When the mouth is out of condition, the sweetest meats are unsavory. When God revealed the true wisdom in Christianity, he announced that it would be unappreciated by many.

I continue:

Words are a great power; they hinder or help according to their suitability. How many sermons of noble and useful thought have been thrown away because of unsuitable diction! How much truth has been suffocated under masses of verbiage! How much reproof, exhortation, and incitement, has been made pointless by being expressed in carefully rounded periods! The edge has been taken off; the sword has been blunted. How often eloquence has hidden Christ! And further, how often false doctrine has been fostered by carelessness of expression! We need a “wisdom of words”; though not that false wisdom of words which Paul so vigorously condemned. The modern church requires a “gift of tongues,” and must look for it whence the ancient gift came. The ministers of Christ should speak as the “Spirit gives them utterance.”

Thus the third stage is to utilize the escalation of the spiritual man. My friend, as a born-again believer I am admitted to the rare realm of knowing the unknowable. To attain that realm it was necessary for me to pass through the three stages Paul set forth.

Two areas are natural and spiritual

Bound by natural reasoning and going in circles

Escalated to the rare realm of the mind of Christ

If you want to be able to tap into the wisdom of God and rise above the limitations of human wisdom, you must decide to do something about your present condition.

The first step is to humbly confess to God where you are, away from Him. Invite Jesus, God’s Son, to be your personal Saviour, and to come into your life. Then your whole reasoning process will be totally altered. You will be in a position to know the unknowable by the gift and impartation of the Spirit of God.

No building is better than its foundation. When my wife and I were in Alaska several years ago, our friend Don Nelson took us up to the area of the permafrost and explained that unless the builders drive their pilings down below the permafrost, the buildings will not remain firm. Some buildings have settled unevenly because the builders were not careful to lay a good foundation by driving the pilings below the frost line.

In my hometown of Midland, Michigan, the Consumer Power Company was constructing a building to house their nuclear plant, but they discovered that the ground below the building was not firm enough. It kept settling. The people of the community became aroused because, if the building was going to be that unsure, then the nuclear plant might very well be a community hazard. They finally abandoned that building for a nuclear plant and followed another application. We can learn from them. We need a solid foundation.

We could learn something from the ancients who lived before Christ. For example, to build the pyramids of Egypt, a solid foundation was needed. The great pyramid of Giza was built around 2,500 years before Christ, and it still stands today. It covers 13 acres of ground and contains 2,300,000 blocks of granite and limestone, some weighing up to 5,000 pounds each. We have not yet learned how they built the pyramids with rocks of that size. As far as we know, the builders had no heavy equipment to handle such building stones. With that foundation, the pyramid still stands. So the foundation and the material tell their own story.

Life is something like that. It too needs a strong foundation. It requires more than human wisdom to be stable. Human wisdom is too unstable to base your life on. In I Corinthians 2:1-5 we read about THE FOUNDATION OF TRUE FAITH:

1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.

2 For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.

4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:

5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

In Paul’s words, I find three solid ROCKS upon which to build your life if you want it to stand.

The first rock is:

1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.

The apostle Paul calls the first rock the testimony or the mystery of God. Paul cast aside the wisdom of men and the excellency of speech. That does not mean he could not have used them, because having attended, no doubt, the Greek University in Tarsus, he would have been trained in rhetoric. He could have used the wisdom of men and the excellency of speech. Instead, he used one theme Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

On the surface, that may sound really simple, but it is extremely complex. It is so complex that no human wisdom could develop it. It was conceived in the mind of God, the magnificent mind of God, that the sin of the human race required the death of the Son of God. No human wisdom could work that out. It took divine wisdom. It took the mind of God to work that out.

AND IT WORKS!

When Paul’s missionary party was put in jail at Philippi, the Bible tells us in Acts 16 that Paul and Silas began to sing and praise the Lord at midnight. As they were singing and praising the Lord, there was an earthquake, all the doors of the prison were opened, and the chains of every prisoner fell off. The jailer was about to take his own life when Paul called out to him and said, “Do thyself no harm: for we are all here” (verse 28).

Listen to what the jailer said when he came to Paul and Barnabas. These are his words as recorded in the Bible. “What must I do to be saved?” (verse 30). Here is the answer to the question the jailer asked. Paul said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (verse 31). Do you know what that statement did? It shattered all human ideas and all demonic opposition. It sounds simple, doesn’t it? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” But the complexity behind it was in the mind of God. By the death of God’s Son on the cross, that jailer could be saved. The first rock on which to build your faith is the visitation of God through Jesus Christ. That lies at the bottom or the foundation.

The second rock is:

4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:

The verification of God was accomplished by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The second chapter of Acts tells us that the first-century disciples were gathered in Jerusalem. And as they were praying, the Holy Spirit came upon the waiting assembly. I don’t think they knew what they were waiting for. They were told to wait. But they probably did not know that what they were waiting for would happen that day. After that outpouring, after that verification of God, Peter laid it before the multitude. He said, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” That’s Acts 2:38. That is the verification of God.

In our text in I Corinthians, Paul said he avoided the enticing words of man’s wisdom. They were contrary to the Spirit. Let me demonstrate this with the old saying, perhaps you have heard it, Never count your chickens before they hatch. Remember that? Now in enticing words of man’s wisdom, it might be said like this: “Never calculate on your juvenile poultry until the incubation period has fully materialized.” That wouldn’t say any more. It just multiplied words. That is what enticing words of man’s wisdom does. It multiplies words.

Some years ago I was present at a professional society, and I heard a scholar who titled his lecture on the resurrection of Christ-like this: “The Historical Accuracy of the Markan Account of the Resurrection.” See, those were enticing words of man’s wisdom. He could have simply said, “I am speaking on Mark’s account of the resurrection.”

Know this: When you believe on the Visitation of God, you will experience the Verification of God by the Spirit of God. Yes, that is true because God demonstrates the truth by the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life. That’s what I call the Verification of God.

The third rock is:

5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

The Vitalization of God will bring enabling. Jesus said to His disciples, before He ascended, “Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). Wait until you receive the promise of my Father, He said. Then He said, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

That vitalization changed Peter from the denier of his Lord to a valiant proclaimer of salvation. He told the authorities when they arrested him, “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). And he was right.

That vitalization carried Peter into a Gentile’s house, Cornelius the centurion. Against all tradition, he went to this Gentile’s house and told him how to be saved.

That vitalization struck Saul of Tarsus to the ground on the way to Damascus and made him a fearless preacher. That is what it will do. That is what it has done.

That vitalization today sends the Gospel around the world. HERALDS OF HOPE, INC., is broadcasting the Gospel to three-fourths of the world. Three-fourths of the world means at least four to five billion people are within the listening range of my voice.

It is the dynamite to release the truth! So the apostle said, “I don’t want your faith to stand in the wisdom of man but in the power of God,” the Vitalization of God.

When you believe in:

you will experience

which will issue in

and release the truth of God through your life and testimony. Amen.

So with Paul, I appeal to you to base your faith on these rocks of truth and know the God who stands behind it all. Amen.

The laver at the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem has a very important place in the worship of those who come there. The worshipers come to wash. They wash their hands and their feet, they rinse out their mouths, and they wash their faces, but their hearts are untouched. Nothing has happened to their hearts.

Jesus spoke one time of how people are defiled. The Pharisees were concerned because the disciples were coming from the marketplace and had not washed their hands before they ate. So they complained to Jesus about this. Jesus taught a different way. Notice Mark 7:15-23:

There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

You see, Jesus understood that defilement comes from within, not from without. Oh, many people
would like to clean up the outside and make themselves acceptable to God. I want to tell you, friend,
you can’t do it. You cannot make yourself acceptable to God by trying to clean up the outside. The
reason is He is absolutely holy! He understands the inside as nobody else does. In fact, you cannot hide anything from Him. He has a better plan than trying to clean up yourself outside or any other way. His plan is one that meets our need where we cannot meet it.

Paul lists the works of the flesh in his letter to the Galatians, in 5:19-21:

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Now, what can we do? You and I have to confess that we have these problems, we have these situations arising. There must be a way to overcome them somehow. How shall we do it? What can we do? We have to depend upon God’s plan. I wish to show you GOD ’S SUPERIOR PLAN. It is found in I Corinthians 1:26-31:

26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

27 But God 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;

28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are:

29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

God’s plan is superior because it has certain inherent QUALITIES that we so tragically need.
The first quality is:

26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

The apostle said, “not many wise,” those who feel self-sufficient by human standards. I have to tell
you that all academic credentials are of no value as far as the salvation of your soul is concerned. As far as God’s plan is concerned, your academic credentials are worthless. “Not many wise,” the apostle says, “not many mighty.”

The powerful have no particular standing before God, no special standing. The fact of the matter is
they sense no need. The powerful feel like, “I can do it myself. I don’t have to depend on anybody
else.” That is what the Humanist Manifesto says. “I don’t need to depend on anybody else. I don’t need anybody outside of myself.” Oh, what a sad situation that is!

But the apostle goes on to say, “not many noble” well born. Some depend upon the family name.
Name is important, some people think. My family is of blue blood, of special breeding. But God says,
“not many noble.” God is no respecter of persons. He does not look on faces. The Bible gives an
example, an experience Jesus had when a man came to Him to find out how to get to heaven. This is
what Jesus told him in Luke 18:18-24:

And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother. And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

See, the first quality of God’s plan is that it is exclusive in its calling. Listen to what another man
says about that: In respect to each of these classes, the apostle does not say that there were no men of wealth, power, and birth, but that the mass or body of Christians was not composed of such. They were made up of those who were in humble life. There were a few, indeed, of rank and property, as there are now; but then, as now, the great mass was composed of those who were from the lower conditions of society.

Yes, that is true today. Don’t be discouraged.
The second quality is:

27 But God 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;

28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are:

29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

It seems like the apostle began at the bottom and descended. You might be surprised at that, but I want you to notice how he began at the bottom with the word base “and base things of the world.” That means ignoble, of little consequence in the eyes of man. You wouldn’t start there, would you? That is where Paul started. That is where God started with the superior plan, the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, not of any value. You see, we are going down. Base, despised, and then nonexistent, descending the list finally to nothing, at the end of the line. There is no other choice now. It is conclusive.

Those nonentities bring to nothing things that are! Can you imagine that? Look at what the apostle said there. And the “things which are not, to bring to naught things that are.” Nonentities bring to nothing things that are. As the result, no flesh can stand up. Listen to the apostle Paul again. He knew of it and he wrote about it in Philippians 3:7-11.

But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Amen? All that you can bring together is nothing. To experience God’s Superior Plan, we must come
with nothing and as nothing. Another made this remark:

There is no royal way to the favor of God. No monarch is saved because he is a monarch; no
philosopher because he is a philosopher; no rich man because he is rich; no poor man because he is
poor. All are placed on a level. All are to be saved in the same way. All are to become willing to give
the entire glory to God. All are to acknowledge him as providing the plan, and as furnishing the grace that is needful for salvation. God’s design is to bring down the pride of man and to produce
everywhere a willingness to acknowledge him as the fountain of blessings and the God of all. Yes, Amen!

The third quality is:

30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Oh, stay with me here. “But of him,” coming from Him in contrast to the plans of men. God’s plan
focuses on Christ Jesus. Men’s plans focus on themselves. God’s plan draws from Jesus. So these four wonderful experiences of wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption we have in Jesus. The fullness of salvation includes all of these.

It includes wisdom. Human understanding lacks wisdom-sofia. Divine wisdom is abundant.

I quote: “It often happens that obscure and ignorant men, who have been taught in the school of Christ, have more true and real knowledge of that which concerns their welfare, and evince more real practical wisdom than can be learned in all the schools of philosophy and learning on earth.” Amen. That is right. A Christian can see farther on his knees than a philosopher can on his tiptoes.

And then righteousness, right standing with God. We are all by nature alienated from God.
We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We want to get into right standing with God. This is where Jesus Christ comes in. I quote:

Thus he is in fact a pardoned and justified man, and God so reckons and judges. God’s law is honored, and the sinner is pardoned and saved; and it is now as consistent for God to treat him as a righteous man, as it would be if he had never sinned since there is as high honor shown to the law of God, as there would have been had he been personally obedient, or had he personally suffered its penalty. Amen. The righteousness of God!

Then He was made unto us sanctification. That means to be made holy. But only God is holy. By Christ, we are made holy. We give ourselves the members of our bodies to Him, as Paul wrote in Romans 6:18-19:

Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

And then redemption completed, fully, wholly, completely redeemed, soul, spirit, and body! Marvelous! Paul’s great chapter on the resurrection is proof positive of how in Christ Jesus we are made redemption.

I quote:

The sense is, “it is by Christ that we are redeemed; by him that an atonement is made; by him that we are pardoned; by him that we are delivered from the dominion of sin, and the power of our enemies; and by him that we shall be rescued from the grave, and raised up to everlasting life. Thus the whole work depends on him; and no part of it is to be ascribed to the philosophy, the talent, or the wisdom of men. He does not merely aid us; he does not complete that which is imperfect; he does not come in to do a part of the work, or to supply our defects but it is all to be traced to him.”

Yes, Amen.

Not to our names, thou only just and true,
Not to our worthless names is glory due;
Thy power and grace, thy truth and justice claim
Immortal honors to thy sovereign name. Amen.

We may rightly glory only in Him. Friend, rejoice in God’s Superior Plan because of:

We must come His way.

There is no other way. You cannot figure out your own way to God.

We have all in Christ.

Not what these hands have done can save my sin-sick soul.” Amen.

Christianity is an evangelistic faith. Because we know that people who die without knowing Christ as Saviour face a terrible eternity, we should concentrate on evangelism, winning people to Christ. We carry the commission Jesus gave to the disciples before He returned to glory. He said, “Make disciples of all nations” (see Matthew 28:19-20). That is our primary responsibility. Many talk about how we need to nurture as well as evangelize. That is true, but the last and most important command from Jesus was for His followers to make disciples. He said this is accomplished by “teaching them to observe all things” (verse 20).

It seems that far too much attention is given to building larger meeting houses. We have great, elaborate, beautiful houses to worship in. But where are the people? There is something strange about that because there is not one reference in the Bible, not even a hint, about what the meeting house should be or how large it should be, or how ornate it should be. Nothing! It is always about the body, the body of Christ.

People are more important than buildings. The church is people. We all have heard accounts of travelers in other lands, for example, China, where Christians meet in houses. The Chinese believers don’t have elaborate meeting houses; yet they have warm, wonderful fellowship because the body of Christ meets there.

Many churchmen in the West talk about kingdom building. They say we are kingdom builders. My friend, I must disagree with that. We are not kingdom builders. That is not what Jesus sent us to do. Jesus has commissioned us to win souls and to build up the body of Christ. The Bible tells us the kingdom will come when the King comes back. Amen. He went into a far country to receive a kingdom, and when He comes back, the kingdom will be here. We pray, “Thy kingdom come.” We never pray, Help us to build the kingdom, when we pray the Lord’s prayer. Therefore, let’s focus our attention on the apostle’s words in I Corinthians 1:10-17.

10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the
same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in
the same mind and in the same judgment.

11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of
Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of
Cephas; and I of Christ.

13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul.

14 I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;

15 Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.

16 And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized
any other.

17 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.

From these words from the apostle Paul, I am bringing you several positive DIRECTIVES that, if followed, will help your church grow.

The first directive is:

10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same
thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Gather around Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul is making a plea to the Corinthian believers by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s take a look at that name. The designation Lord means that nobody is over Him; nobody is above Him. Everybody is under Him because He is Lord. He has total control. He is the One who orders the affairs of the church. Then notice the word, Jesus. Before Jesus was born, the angel Gabriel appeared to Joseph and told him that he was to name Mary’s Child Jesus, because He would save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:20-21). So the word Jesus means Saviour; Lord, the One who is in control; Saviour, the One who has rescued us; and Christ, the anointed One, the One especially called and anointed to be the Saviour. That’s what the name the Lord Jesus Christ means.

Gather around Jesus and speak the same thing, Paul says. Recognize the commendable practices: speak the same thing, be united in doctrine, and don’t have any divisions. Oh, what tragedies have been wrought in the church over the years, over the centuries, because men have disagreed violently and have not spoken the same thing! You know, friend, I believe if we all come to the Bible as the Word of God without any ax to grind, we might say, we would have far more unity. We wouldn’t need to have all these splinter groups. “Speak the same thing,” Paul says. Be perfectly joined together in harmony in mind and judgment. Be kindly disposed to one another even if you do not agree on all details. There is no particular merit there is no merit at all in hacking one another to pieces.

Recognize the good. Some time ago I received some material from a gentleman who thought he was the only one who was right. It is true that the Bible is the Word of God. I stand absolutely on it. At the same time, I believe we need to recognize one another. Be perfectly joined together in harmony, in mind and judgment. Even if you can’t agree on all details, be kindly disposed. Recognize the good.

The second directive is:

11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of
Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of
Cephas; and I of Christ.

There they are, all four of them: Paul, Apollos, Cephas, and Christ. Contentions frequently gather around persons. I remember what my pastoral class seminary professor said to the young men preparing to go into the ministry. “When you leave a church,” he said, “then leave it.” In other words, don’t have your party. Don’t foster party spirit. This existed in Corinth all right, four parties.

They had the Paul party. Paul, the founder of the Corinthian church, was a defender of Gentile believers. He stood up for them. He understood how Gentiles come into the body of Christ. They can even fellowship with Jewish believers who seek to promote the Mosaic Law. In the second letter to the Corinthians, Paul commented about some people who thought his letters were powerful but his presence was weak and contemptible. So there was a Paul party.

Then there was the Apollos party. We don’t know very much about Apollos except that he was a gifted orator. When he came to Ephesus and became acquainted with Aquila and Priscilla, they taught him more fully, because he only knew of the baptism of John the Baptist. They taught him about the coming of Christ. Apollos apparently hadn’t known about it. Apollos evidently had gathered around him people who appreciated his well-honed, reasoning ability on the platform.

There was the Cephas party, also. Cephas was Peter, the spokesman at Pentecost. He was the one who opened the door when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the believers on the Day of Pentecost. Peter was the one who first took the Gospel to the Gentiles, to Cornelius in Caesarea. But Peter fell away. Peter was unable to stand in the face of some of his compatriots. They took him to be a strong advocate of following the Mosaic Law. That was the Cephas party.

Finally, there was the Christ party Jesus only. But that was totally contrary to His prayer. He desired that they all might be one when He prayed to the Father before His crucifixion. He wanted His disciples to be one even as He and the Father “are One.”

There you have the four parties. You have the Paul party, the Apollos party, the Cephas party, and the Christ party. Paul said, “Let’s come together in Jesus.” Who was crucified for you anyway? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? No, of course not! Jesus Christ was crucified for them and for us. And we come together in the name of Jesus.

Is it the man or is it the message? Oh, it is the message, my friend! Yes, Jesus Christ was the crucified One. So if you want your church to grow, neutralize the contending personalities. They may not have intended it to be so at all. Remember the prayer of Jesus, that we all may be one.

The third directive is:

17 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.

For some baptism is all-important, but baptism is not of first importance. Some emphasize the method and insist on immersion forward or backward, one time or three times. Some emphasize the place. They think it is better to be baptized in the Jordan River than anywhere else. A kibbutz in Israel has prepared a place, a lovely place, where baptisms can be done by Christians. Now people who want to be baptized in the Jordan River can be baptized there very nicely. But is the place important? Or is the method important? What is the most important? Is it the baptism or is it the message?

The apostle Paul said he did not baptize very many, just a couple there in Corinth, because Christ did not send him to baptize. What did He send him to do? Christ sent him to preach the Gospel lest the cross of Christ should be of none effect. That is the only way to atone for sin, the sin of the human race, your sin, and my sin. To cover our sin, Jesus shed His blood on the cross of Calvary. The Cross is the evidence of His death. His blood shed on Calvary was proof that He died. It was God’s choice, God’s choice for atonement.

In Romans 3:23-26 the apostle Paul spoke about the centrality of the proclamation of the Cross:

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath, set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Oh yes, my friend, I quote:

This is the message that I bring,
A message angels fain would sing,
“Oh, be ye reconciled,”
Thus saith my Lord and King,
“Oh, be ye reconciled to God.”

We have to maximize the central proclamation, the cross of Jesus Christ. Therefore, every church that wishes to grow will need to follow Paul’s positive directives:

Be one in spirit.

Stop wasting energy on factions.

Jesus Christ and Him crucified.