Stewart, Don: 1 Corinthians Chapter 3

Could we turn this evening, please, to First Corinthians and chapter three? First Corinthians and chapter three. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 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, for ye are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted and Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together with God. Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. 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. Uh, but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble, 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. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy, which ye are. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you, eh, seemeth to be wise in this world, eh, let him become a fool that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, for it is written, he taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore, let no man glory in men, uh, for all things are yours. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come, all are yours. And ye are Christ's, and Christ is God. And we look to the Lord to add his blessing, uh, to the reading of his own, uh, precious word. It is a practice that you and I would very often have, that we would describe assemblies in one way or another, and maybe we would describe it as a good assembly, or we may describe it as maybe not a good assembly, uh, and maybe various hues in between. We just are like that. We do describe assemblies in a particular way. When we actually look at the assembly that was present at Corinth at the time that this was written, I suppose you would have to conclude that it was an assembly that had the most things wrong in it of all the epistles that we would read or learn about in the scriptures. When we read First Corinthians, I think you would probably conclude that here was an assembly that had the most things wrong with it. Now, it might seem like a strange thing for me to say, but I do find that a little bit of an encouragement. I find it encouraging because when we look at the second epistle that Paul writes to the Corinthians, we find that there is a significant amount of improvement that has taken place, uh, from the first letter to the second letter. And so what that tells me is this, that it is possible for an assembly to improve. It is possible for an assembly to get better. It is possible for an assembly to put right the things that are wrong, to correct the things that are in error. It is possible for us to know that improvement. When we think of this epistle as to what was wrong with it, you could probably go into every chapter and identify something of one kind or another that was an ill in the assembly at Corinth. It was true that they were marked by division. We were going to, we're going to learn about that this evening. We're going to learn, we would learn that if we read this, uh, book in its entirety, that there was immorality in this particular assembly. You will understand that there was error in relation to church practice. You will conclude that they had a misunderstanding with regards to how they should, uh, have the Lord's Supper. You would understand too, as we go to the end of the book, that they had difficulties in relation to the resurrection. Uh, they, they had problems in the fact that they took one another to court. That there's just a whole variety of things that is wrong with this assembly. And, uh, you, you look at it and you will find that all of these things are wrong with it. When it is that we look at it in our present day, we're looking at it nearly two thousand years later on, and it is possible for the same faults and failings to be present amongst us as God's people of today. And one of the things that you have to understand, brethren and sisters, when we come to an assembly is this, that an assembly stands in its own right, and therefore it is not right for us to point fingers out the ways to identify the faults and the failings that are in assemblies out there. What is important and crucial for us is this, that we look at ourselves. And when we look at ourselves, it is the responsibility of each and every individual brother and sister in the assembly to ensure that the things, if they are wrong, are put right. And it is their responsibility to ensure that the, if they are not wrong, that they don't become wrong. So when it is to, when it comes to ministry of the word of God, I believe that it has two primary functions. It has the function of what we have here when Paul wrote the epistle, to put things right. But when I look at it, it is equally important to ensure that by learning from the errors of others and the ills of others, that I don't allow things to come into my own particular assembly, so that I become a preventative in, in relation to error coming in amongst us. So there is a great odious of responsibility that is placed upon us as individuals in a local testimony to ensure that the very good things of God are preserved and known and understood. There is something else that is important. It is this, that you can actually know the way. It is one thing to know the way. It is a different thing altogether to walk it. And that is what ministry of the Word of God is all about, to first of all know the way, and then to be able to walk it. And I trust that tonight that we, as we look at these particular things, that we will try and understand something of what it is that has gone wrong as far as Corinth was concerned. That that we would then use that and use it with a view to try to ensure that it doesn't go wrong here in New Cumnock, and that I ensure that it doesn't go wrong back there in in Glenburn. So here he is, he is, uh, speaking to them, and he is going to describe the condition of this assembly. He is going to describe their condition. Now, I suppose you could describe individuals, and you would use language of they're fit, they're unfit, they're healthy, they're not healthy. Y- you would use terms to describe an individual. And, and here what the apostle has done, he's going to be using terms to describe what this assembly is like. And he says there in verse one, unto you that he had a desire to speak unto them as spiritual. So here he is, he's writing to the Corinthian believers, and he has an ambition, he has a desire, he has a longing that he might be able to communicate to this assembly as those who are marked by spirituality. That's what he wants to do, but he can't do it. He's not able to do it. Because of what? Be- because of a fault with him or a failing with him? No, it is because of a failing with them. Because he says you are not spiritual. It says ye are carnal. Ye are carnal. So he identifies here the condition that is marking them. There is a problem that is true for this particular assembly, and he is saying to them that he, they are indeed not spiritual. If it is that we were going to identify tonight what a spiritual assembly is like, I wonder what we would say about it. Well, I take it that a spiritual assembly, and therefore by, by, uh, by the fact that it's made up of individuals, then it must be true for us as individuals. I take it that a spiritual person is one who is controlled and influenced and motivated by the Spirit of God. I take it that a spiritual assembly is one that has the Word of God at its first place, has has the first place in that assembly. It is an assembly that would indeed be moved by the promptings of the Spirit of God. And I sometimes feel that as far as our assemblies is concerned, is that we are very often characterized by being in a rut, by being in a ritual, by being in some sort of form that we allow the things to be so regimented. And I believe that if we were a spiritual assembly, that that would not be the case, that there would be a spontaneity about the business, that there would be a freshness about the business, even though we might be the same, and we might have been here for ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, fifty years. I don't know how long the assembly in Newtown has been in existence, that even though you were in it for that length of time, if we were a spiritual assembly and a spiritual individuals, there would be a spontaneity about it that would be, would result in a freshness that was there constantly, week by week, week by week, but they're not like that. That they're not spiritual. It then goes on to say that they are carnal. They are carnal. And he says this about them, that they are carnal. What does carnal mean? Well, I take it that being carnal is that they are in essence controlled by the old human nature. They are influenced and harnessed by this old nature that you and I really should have left behind. We we we are acting just as men act. And as a result of that, there are things that come in amongst us that we really should have left on the door outside. And not only left on the door outside, we should should have left them outside of our lives altogether, because the assembly is not about us coming here on a Sunday and the assembly coming in together on a Tuesday or Thursday for us. It is something that we are with and part of, part and parcel every day of our lives. It is a constant thing. And you and I, if it is that we are marked by carnal, carnality, it is that we are directed in essence by animal instinct. That's what the actual meaning of the word is. And he says here about them, he says that they are babes in Christ. Now, I don't see many babes here tonight, but the chances are you're all acquainted with, with, with babes. Um, I've, I've got three— I know it's difficult to believe, but I've got three grandchildren. I know I look a young person and you, you find it difficult to understand that I've got three grandchildren, but I've got three grandchildren. The, the first one is, is about three years, three years on Christmas Day, and the youngest, a little girl, is about six months. Well, I don't think I would call the three-year-old a babe, but I think I would call the six-month-old a babe. And, and really, that is the picture that we've got here. I, I judge that this letter is being written. I can't be precise, but probably three to five years from the time that these believe- that these individuals at Corinth became believers. So, so that is the time frame. And here he is, he's saying, by the way, three five years have elapsed, and you're still babes. You're still babes. I, I wanted to bring before you truth in relation to the word of God and from the word of God and from God himself that was really meat, but- but I can't give you meat. I- I- I've still got to give you just milk. Now, I'm not expecting to be putting a bottle in that little girl when she's five. Uh, I'm expecting you to have developed. I'm expecting you to have matured. I'm expecting you to have moved on. And that really is the picture that the apostle is presenting us to, to us here. They haven't really developed. They haven't actually moved on. They haven't actually matured at all in the course of the journey of three or five years that they have been on. Now, that is a sad reflection. That is a sad reflection, and it's a sad reflection upon any assembly or any individuals of which that could actually be, uh, said about them. So he had this particular decide, and he says in verse two, I have fed you with milk and not with meat. I take it that that really is bringing before us that in, in a previous time, he would have spoken to them about maybe the basics of the gospel. He would have spoken to them about the basics of the gospel, but then he wants to enlighten them with regards to the full purpose that God has in store for them, the desire that God has for their, their progress and their development and their maturity, and for them to know something of the grand purpose of God as for us as believers in the Lord Jesus. You see, it is one thing to be saved and to know that you're going to heaven. That's wonderful. You know, we, we could sit here tonight and give God thanks just for that alone, and be able to occupy ourselves for the hour giving thanks to God for that alone. But that's not what God has in mind for us. You know, it is his aspiration that we might know him, and that we might know his son, and that that really is eternal. It, it's knowing him, and to be able to know him fully and experimentally, and being able to prove him day by day as we're going along the journey of life that will ultimately take us to heaven and home. But you see, they were not coming into the good of that because they were still marked by immaturity. And verse three, he says, now are ye yet calm. It's a little word there, you know, we, we often occupy ourselves with, with, with big words. Sometimes little words are actually more pertinent. A- a- and the word that is pertinent here is, is the little word yet. He says, ye are yet carnal. That's sad, you know, that they hadn't actually progressed in any shape or form. Now, this is the first challenge that I want us, I'm not saying that we haven't had a challenge up to now, but I want us to have this challenge this evening, because one of the things that really does lament me quite a bit is that when I look over the history of the assemblies that I've been associated, not necessarily me being associated with, but as I've got to know, as I've moved from place to place, I was down in England for a good number of years, I was saved down in England, came back up here to Scotland, so I- I- I know something about, about assemblies. And one of the things that laments me greatly is that the difficulties that we have in assembly are very often because of divisions. Now, the reason why Paul is able to say that they are carnal is because of what was visible, of what was true. How did he know that they were carnal? Well, verse three will tell you why. For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions. Now, I, I understand that in some renderings that divisions is actually not in the text, but e- even if it isn't, the, the other two of, of envying and strife, because he saw that amongst them, he was able to say, you're carnal, you're not spiritual. And, and, you know, these, these words, what do they actually mean? Well, envying is, is being jealous, you know, being, being marked by jealousy and having a des- having a desire to have what others have. You know, it is a terrible spirit to have. Let us understand, brothers and sisters, we are not equal. Never have been equal, never will be equal. There will be people who will have things that we don't have, and maybe it was best if we didn't have them anyway. That's the important thing, because if we look at things in the true way, what we should be having aspirations for is that which is spiritual, that which is of that nature, but we tend to get jealous because we see things materially, or we see things, you know, of one kind or another, and we have a jealous streak about us. And then there is strife. It has the idea of disharmony. It has the thought of contention. It has the thought of quarreling. It has the thought of rivalry. And brothers and sisters, this is where I want us to sow a challenge tonight. Maybe you don't have this amongst you, and I pray to God that you don't. But I have seen so many times, and there is a, a phrase that we often use in everyday language, you know, you, you shut the door after the horse has bolted. It's too late. And then they'll come here and, and they'll, and they'll have people on the platform, and they'll talk about divisions in our meetings when the division has already happened. It's too late. It's too late. We- it's more important that rather than mend something, that first of all we prevent it from becoming broke in the first instance. So here in this particular epistle, chapter one, it really is also speaking about divisions and schisms and so on. It seemed to be a feature that was true for this assembly at Corinth. And you and I, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is important for us to understand that we must prevent divisions amongst us. And if it is amongst us, it is an evidence of carnality. It is an evidence of a lack of spirituality, and it is something that God cannot in any way commend and will not commend. What about verse four? There's another evidence as to why he is able to identify that they are carnal. It's because he says, some of you say, I'm of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos. Are ye not carnal? What they are guilty of here is attributing greater, I'll use the term glory, it's not quite the right word to use, but I think you'll probably understand what I mean. It is, it is attributing greater glory to one servant of God than another. And to, to hold this one in regard, but not hold that one in quite such high regard. And, and so you have a first division of speakers and a second division of speakers, and you have all this sort of category. And, and that's really what he's saying here. He says, you, you cannot, because that is the way in which you are treating God's servants. Now, I want to pause again here for a moment. Not in this epistle, but if you go into the book of Ephesians and, um, chapter four, it speaks to us about the giving of gifts. And the giving of gifts is, in essence, men who have been equipped to teach, to evangelize, who pastor, and so on. They have been equipped. And one of the things that it says there in, in, in that epistle is that they have been given by a risen, glorified Lord. It is he who gave those gifts to the church. It is your, not your job, and it's not your responsibility to then sit and say, I'll go and listen to him, but I won't listen to him because I don't like him. What you're in essence saying is this, that the Lord has made a mistake in the gifts that he has given to the church because you are making a distinction when it is the risen glorified Lord who has given them in the first place. We need to be careful with regards to what we think about God's servants and how we treat, not, not, treat is not the right word, but how we view them and how we assess them and how we mark them. You and I ought to be marked by this impartiality and to value, absolutely value, the servants that God has given to the assemblies, to the church, in order for them to equip the people of God with teaching. So here they are, they are marked by, by carnality because of these attitudes. When we come to verse five, there is another pertinent point that Paul makes. He says, who then is Paul? Or, or maybe more rightly, what then is Paul? And, and what is Apollos? It would seem to me as if the, the Apostle Paul is presenting a challenge to these believers at Corinth. He says, he says, you've made an assessment about these God's servants. Now I'm saying to you, I'm asking, what actually are they really? And he poses that, is what, what are they? And he says, but ministers by whom ye believed. What in essence they are, are those who are servants. That's what they are. Paul doesn't say here, oh, by the way, I'm an apostle. And he doesn't say that, oh, by the way, Apollos is one of the great teachers. He doesn't say that. But what he says about himself, and he says about Apollos, is he just says they're just servants. They're really... I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna say this, and I, I trust you will take it in, in, in the spirit that is given and the way it is given. That's what the Lord was. Oh, I know he was more than that. I came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. You see, they were just like the Savior himself. They were ministers, they were servants, they were taking that lowly position. And again, if it is that any here are equipped by God to, and with the ability to preach the gospel, to teach the word of God, what this verse does for me and to me is this, is that it does remove the ego, or it should remove the ego. It really should remove from us any belief that we are actually something, because what we are is what God has made us. What we are is what the Lord has made us, and how we're used is the way in which the Lord has intended that we should be used. And there is, if, if, if the Lord was just a servant, and I- I'm not using that word just in, in a belittling way, but he was a servant. You and I can't have aspirations to be any greater than he was. So you and I, as, as servants who minister in this way, we must recognize as to what it is we truly are. When we come to verse six, what we have is the nature of their work. It's the nature of their work. And what is the nature of their work? It says, I have planted and Apollos watered. When we look in the Acts of the Apostles, you you will learn in, um, chapter eighteen that this, this is what it says about Paul. It says, and many Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized. There was a period when he was there and there was much contention, but there came a point when these people, b- uh, these people at Corinth, they believed and they were baptized. I, I take it that that was Paul, in, in essence, watering. A- a- and as a result of him watering in the presentation of the gospel, there was ultimately that salvation. When we come later on in the chapter, and I think it relates more to Ephesus than to Corinth, but it says this about Apollos: For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ. So further down that chapter, Paul, Apollos comes on the scene, and he's now trying to convince the Jews through the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ, Jesus was Christ. What is he doing? I take it he's watering. He's, he's, he's, he's trying to add, he's trying to, to not, um, take over from Paul, a- and not trying to replace Paul. He's complementing the work that Paul has done and been engaged in, in these various places. So he says, I have planted, but Paul, Apollos watered. But then he says this, and this is where we need to come to as well. He doesn't say, and by the way, I was terribly successful when I went to Corinth, because as a result of my preaching, there was a whole lot of people that were saved. Uh, and as a result of my preaching, there's a whole lot of individuals that got baptized, and therefore am I good? He doesn't say any of that, and he doesn't say it about Apollos either. But what he says is this, and God, and God. What? And God gave the increase. What he recognizes is this, that any service that he was engaged in that resulted in some spiritual understanding, whether it be in initial salvation or subsequent greater understanding of the purposes of God, it came as a result of an increase that came from God. We have to accept that you can plant, so to speak, and you can water. I'm talking now about you and I in our garden, and still not get any fruit. You can't do that. You can plant and you can water and still not get any fruit, because there are unseen influences that need to come to bear in order for that fruit to materialize. And I judge that it's a similar picture that we have here when it comes to the increase of God. They do their bit as servants, but it needs the unseen influence of the Spirit of God to come in to cause that fruit to be realized, whether that is in relation to salvation or whether it is in relation to the development of the child of God in the course of life's journey. But I want to leave another little tester for us at this. When it comes to the watering, it is important that we are in the place where that watering can actually take place. If it was that I planted a few carrots in the garden at home, and unlikely as it might be in Scotland that there should be a drought, a- a- and I s- and I had a desire to now go and water these carrots that are planted because there is a drought. I don't think I'd be going in and saying to my wife, dear, could you tell me where the carrots are? I- I don't think I'd have to say that because she would probably look at me very strangely and say, they're actually in the place where you planted them. You see, I'd water them where they were planted. And the same tr- thing is true spiritually. That if it is that you as an individual were saved as a result of coming to the Kumnak meeting, Kumnak Hall. You heard the gospel. If it is that you're now going to develop in a spiritual way, then you're going to receive the watering, I judge, in the place, as it were, that you were planted. And that is why it is so important and imperative for us to be in attendance at the gatherings of God's people. Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together. It is such an important principle, because it is there that you and I can come under the influence, that unseen influence of the Spirit of God, as he makes known to us by way of watering as such the truth of God's word. And then in verse seven, he says this, so then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God giveth the increase. And here is, again, just the Apostle Paul giving a view as to what he actually thinks about himself. And he just simply says, I'm nothing. I'm nothing. Again, that's good to know, and it's good to have that belief about yourself. Then when it comes to verse eight, we have, now he that planteth and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For ye are laborers together with God, ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's, uh, building. What we have here, I judge, are two things. There is the idea of labor, and there is the idea of corresponding reward. Th- this, this word labor, it has the thought of toil. It has the idea of energies being expended in order for that which is God's, uh, husbandry, which is God's cultivated field, for that indeed to know some development. So there needs to be energies expended. I, I take it that there is no such thing as light work in the assembly of God's people. And, uh, here he uses this word toil or, or, or, or, or labor. It has indeed the suggestion of great energy being expended. And again, I say to you, I say to me, how much energy am I really expending? How much am I really devoting to the service of God in the work of the assembly at Glenburn, New Cumnock, and so on? And then there is the reward. There is that recompense for services that have been rendered. There is that recompense. Now, God is no man's debtor, so anything that we do for him will have its reward. Now, something that we will understand from this is that what we receive is not dependent upon results. You will, you'll learn that from, it's not dependent upon results. When it is that you work for whoever it is, a- a- and you're in the sales side of things, you will get very often a reward that is dependent upon results. You know, so if you sell a hundred today, it has to be a hundred and twenty, you know, ne- next week, a- and if it's not, then you don't get the bonus. It's results dependent. Not with God, because we've already learned that it is God that gives the increase. But what we will learn is that he will receive his own reward according to his own labor. What we learn from this is this, that it is not results that get the reward. It is faithfulness that will receive the reward. It is the devotion that you and I divert to the service of God. And if it is that we are faithful in that, then there will be a corresponding reward of God and of the Savior. And it will not be the assessment of men, which will be dubious at best, questionable at best. It will be the assessment that is made by the Lord himself, who judges righteously and who understands rightly what it is that we have brought to the assembly of God's people. And here it is that we are expected to be devoted to this and marked by labor, and we shall indeed have reward. And ye are laborers together, for we are laborers together with God. We are, what an honor for us to be laborers with God. Uh, he says that about himself and Apollos, but I take that as true for us all. Uh, and then he says, ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. What do we mean by husbandry? The idea is God's cultivated field. This is not a field that is lying fallow. Or maybe it is true that in the farming world that you will indeed have a field from time to time, and that you will allow it just to remain fallow. It's not worked. It's given rest. But that's not what we got here. This is a cultivated field. It is a cultivated field where it is expected that planting should be undertaken, that watering should be undertaken, with the expectation that there might be growth, that there might be fruit, that there might be beauty as part of this wonderful cultivated field. What is this? Well, he says, Gia, Gia. Who's ye? I take it he's referring to the assembly at Corinth. And you and I here in, in, in, in, um, New Cumnock, me back in, in Prestwick in Glenburn, I am part of what is considered to be God's cultivated field, God's husbandry. And it is my, the expectation that I'll labor in that. It is the expectation that there will be energies expended in order that there might be something of fruit and of beauty and something that will be to the praise and honor of the Lord. And then he goes on and he says that it is a building, it is a structure that is bearing his name. There's many a structure, there is many a building in our world tonight, and they've got a name. Uh, and it, it might be the Twin Towers of, you know, a past day or, you know, Petronas buildings in Philippines or whatever it is, they've got their name. But this is God's. This has got God's name. This has got the Lord's name. And the assembly is the Lord's building. You and I are part and parcel of it. We are the stones, not bricks and mortar. We are living stones as part of this wonderful, uh, building. And then he goes on in verse ten, and he's going to develop, and I'll just try and close in the next five minutes. Won't be able to complete all the things that we're going to consider, but we'll just leave it when we come to to quarter turn. And he, he says in verse ten, according to the grace of God which is given unto me, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon, and let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. What he is bringing before us here, I judge, is the responsibility that there is upon the shoulders of those who teach the word of God, primarily. But I would also wish that the principles that we have here in the next two or three verses, that we do actually apply them to ourselves, each and every one of us, because there is a role that you and I have got to bring something to this building, to bring something to this testimony. And he's presenting to us a warning. He says, I have laid the foundation. Let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon. First of all, we learn this. There's a foundation to this building. There's a foundation to this building. What is the foundation? The foundation of this building is Christ. Is Christ. What is it about Christ that becomes the foundation? Well, I take it that part of this foundation is our understanding of his heavenly origins. I think it would bring before us the reality of a stoop in humanity. It will bring before us the truth concerning the life that he lived, the death that he died, the resurrection from amongst the dead, the ascension into glory, the future day of his coming. There is just a wonderful embrace of individual teaching that we must need to understand and know about the Lord Jesus Christ, and I take it that that really is the foundation that he is speaking about. And the problem is, there is many a people who are trying to build buildings for God on a foundation that they've changed. Now, you understand from this, this foundation is laid. It's laid. You don't lay another one, and you cannot lay another one. It is laid. You, there is nothing that you can change about the eternal aspects of the Lord and his origins. You cannot change anything about his stoop in humanity. You cannot change anything in relation to his life of of thirty and a bit years. You cannot change anything about it is laid. It is laid. Sadly, there are those who would want to distort it. There are those who would want to change it. But you and I have got a responsibility to ensure that everything that we present in the gospel and in ministry would be speaking of what the Bible tells us about the Lord Jesus Christ. There are those out there who would say that Christ could sin. That really does make me worried, if it was true, that he could sin, because there is a man in the glory tonight. If it was possible for him to have sinned in the thirty three and a bit years that he was here, then it is impossible for that man in the glory to sin today. And I'm saying to you, brothers and sisters, in this, I am depending upon that sinless man in the glory. The assurance that I have in my heart in relation to salvation is on the, on the reality and the truth that he couldn't sin. He not only that he didn't, but that he couldn't. And I have to recognize that tonight because anybody else who says differently puts a real serious doubt about the possibility of me going to heaven. Puts a doubt about it, because there is a man in the glory. It is laid. And then it goes on and further embraces before us, if any men man lay build upon that foundation, uh, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble. He he really is bringing before us here, now just bring this quickly to our call. He is bringing before us what we can bring to an assembly by way of teaching. We can bring that which is of value, that which is lasting, that which shall have indeed an effect upon God's people, or we shall in- we can indeed bring before the saints that which is of little value, of little worth, will not last. It's just something that will, at the great assessment day of the judgment seat of Christ, it will be burned up and found to be nothing. You see, there are plenty of people who could probably stand on a platform like this and be very eloquent. It's not eloquence we need. It is an appreciation of the scriptures. It's an appreciation of the word of God. And, and sometimes there will be plenty of eloquence, and there will be plenty of, of things that are said, and when it comes to the great analysis, it will be found to be nothing. You and I have got a responsibility as God's servants to bring before the saints that which will be of lasting value to individuals and to the assembly. Ah, but hold on. It is also the responsibility of those who listen to embrace it, to receive it, to accept it, to put it into practice, because you can have the greatest of teachers, still needs, still needs the obedience, and it still needs the following. And if we're not prepared to do that, then of what worth is it for the person who builds into the assembly, as this chapter instructs us to do? May God bless this word to our hearts. Shall we pray? Our God again, we do bless thee for our little meditation upon the scriptures, and we do trust that it might prove to be of benefit and blessing to us. There is indeed in this church of Corinth many things that were wrong, but we do bless thee that in subsequent years they were able to put many of them right, and we do thank thee for that. And these things are left for us on the pages of Holy Scripture in order for us to learn and understand, in order for us to be preserved, in order for us to know the way and to be able to walk in it. And we do trust our God that we might have learned something tonight and that we will indeed have desires just to put these things in practice. We think, our God, of the responsibility we have in particular and how sad it is that very often we see divisions amongst God's people, and it undermines the testimony in such a terrible way. We do pray for preservation here in Yekumnak and in all the assemblies of thy people, in order for there to be a testimony that will indeed be for the glory of thy name. We do ask thee, our God, to again just to part us with thy blessing, to remember everyone, to remember all the saints, and there are some, our God, tonight who are experiencing much trial and difficulty. There is much sorrow in heart, and there's much sadness, our God, that they're knowing, and they're going through experiences that they would not have wished, but it is their lot to go through these things, and we do pray, our God, that there might indeed be a presence, the presence of the Lord for them to be known, and that they might indeed experience that in the days that lie ahead. We seek thy parting blessing now and do commend ourselves to thee in the Savior's precious name. Amen.