EXPOSITION OF I CORINTHIANS – PART 10
March 13, 2010
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
I Corinthians 13:13 – And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
The basic meaning of the word “abideth” is meno, and it means “to stay put.” God
puts these three abilities in each one of his local churches – They are God-given, and are meant to grow and be developed in each part of the local body by an ever increasing submission to
the Spirit by individual church members.
FAITH – God Saves Us by Grace Through Faith!
Ephesians 2:8,9 – For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: [9] Not of works,
lest any man should boast.
HOPE – God Teaches Us Hope by the Experiences We Gain in Watching Him Deliver Us Time After Time.
Romans 5:2-5 – By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. [3] And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; [4] And patience, experience; and experience, hope: [5] And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Tribulation comes, and God does not immediately pull us out of it, and it takes longer than we would like, but we develop patience in waiting for his deliverance, and we learn by that experience to wait for when God thinks we should be bailed out of the tribulation, and in all our future tribulations we then have the sure hope that God will deliver us eventually, when it is just the right time.
CHARITY – The Charity (LOVE) of God Shed Abroad in Our Hearts Should be Returned to Him in Our Service to Him. We Are the Workmanship of His Spirit for that Purpose.
Ephesians 2:10 – For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
There Is No Question that the Love of God Works in Us to Accomplish the Purpose for Which He Created Us in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 2:13 – For it is God which worketh in you both to will and
to do of his good pleasure.
The Real Question Every Believer Should Ask His Own Soul Is This – How Much Do I Love God
?
Do you love him enough to join one of his churches by Scriptural Baptism?
Acts 2:41 –Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
Do you love him enough to continue steadfastly in one of his churches after you are added to it?
Acts 2:42 – And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Do you love him enough to actually labor for him in one of his churches?
I Corinthians 15:58 – Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
God does not need the mighty, the noble, or the wise to serve him! Why? Because they would think their power, might, nobility, or the degree of their intellect is needed to be added to their salvation by their works.
I Corinthians 1:26,27 –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;
Galatians 6:3,4 – For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. [4] But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
God does not need great men and women, he wants humble men and women that do not have high opinions of themselves. God uses small things and people of low estate to work his wonders, such that no man will ever be able to glory in his presence. Let’s look at how God used some simple things to accomplish his purposes through them.
I Samuel 17:40 – And he (David) took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.
Joshua 6:3-5 – And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. [4] And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. [5] And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.
Judges 15:15 – And he (Samson) found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.
Judges 7:19-22 – So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands. [20] And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. [21] And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled. [22] And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the Lord set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Beth-shittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abel-meholah, unto Tabbath.
I Kings 17:13-16 – And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
[13] And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto
me, and after make for thee
and for thy son. [14] For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.
[15] And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. [16] And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.
Mark 13:34-37 – For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants and to every man his work and commanded the porter to watch. [35] Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight or at the cockcrowing or in the morning: [36] Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
When Jesus left his house, it was not a building made of mud, mortar, or stone.
He was the foundation and roof of it, and his scripturally baptized band of servants in flesh and blood bodies were his house. It was to this house that he gave his authority, and each individual man and woman was to follow his Spirit to accomplish work he assigned them as a part of that local, visible, building.
And t hey were to stay awake spiritually while watching for his return, not knowing t
he day or the hour of the day he would return. His house was not a universal body of believers meeting in great beautiful structures. The disciples themselves were the building, the body of Christ. The church is not a building built by man, and it is not universal and invisible, nor is it built on Peter. Jesus is the head and the foundation of each local, visible, church body, and each one is a local, visible temple, built together for a habitation of Christ’s Spirit among a holy priesthood.
I Corinthians 3:9 – For we are labourers together with God: ye (plural) are God’s husbandry, ye (plural) are God’s building.
Ephesians 5:29,30 – For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: [30] For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
Ephesians 1:22,23 – And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, [23] Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
I Corinthians 3:11 – For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
I Corinthians 3:16,17 – Know ye (plural) not that ye (plural) are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in (among) you (plural)? [17] If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye (plural) are.
Ephesians 2:22 – In whom ye (plural) also are builded toge ther for an habitation of God through
the Spirit.
I Peter 2:5 – Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.