Spirit-Imparted Wisdom

If you would, please take your
Bibles and turn to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Six weeks ago, we inserted ourselves
into that gap between chapters 17 and 18 of the book of Acts. Finding ourselves near the very
end of Paul’s second missionary journey there, Paul had been
divinely redirected to Macedonia, where he and his ministry partners,
Silas and Timothy and others, had begun planting churches,
first in Philippi and then Thessalonica and Berea. Leaving Silas and
Timothy in Berea to continue the ministry there, Paul travels
alone to Athens. After a very short ministry there,
Paul proceeds to Corinth, a hustling, bustling conduit for a great
measure of trade throughout the world in that day. But it was
also, we’ve discovered, one of the most profligate cities of
its day. And yet this city, Paul deemed
as strategic, This was Julius Caesar’s dream city because of
its instant and perpetual connection with the rest of the known world.
If the gospel were to take root in Corinth, no doubt it would
spread throughout the region and the world. Paul soon began
working and eventually even ministering with his two new friends, Aquila
and Priscilla. We don’t know for sure, but my
suggestion to you was that they may not have been believers initially
when they met, but eventually they came to know Christ. Paul
would begin working with these friends, making tents, but before
long, they were engaged working alongside of him in his service
of the king. All brought about by this providential
meeting with the apostle Paul. Paul might have needed work,
but more importantly, Priscilla and Aquila needed the gospel.
No sooner had Paul’s ministry begun in Corinth and began to
flourish, his ministry experienced a dramatic change. But it was
a positive change, and it was meant for the establishment and
the growth of the church, and it forever changed the face of
the church. In the midst of staunch opposition
by his own countrymen, the Jews, Paul departed the synagogue and
began pouring forth his efforts with the Gentiles. That only
engendered bitterness among them, even hatred on the part of the
Jews, who desperately accused him before the Roman authorities.
But God is God, and the battle is his. And he turns Galileo’s
heart to see that Paul is exonerated completely. These are exciting
times for the kingdom of God, for the apostle Paul, and for
the people in Corinth. And yet Paul, almost astoundingly,
is compelled to bring this journey and his stay in Corinth to an
end, to sail back to Antioch and Syria. And then we saw that once he
arrived in Antioch, it was seemingly only a brief stay, a few weeks. And then he was off again on
his third missionary journey, heading for Ephesus, where he
had promised, if by God’s grace, a return. And he begins to have
an amazing ministry there in Ephesus that would last nearly
four years, and the planting of many churches in the region,
But in the midst of this remarkable season of ministry there in Ephesus,
Paul suddenly begins to receive some rumblings, some bad news,
some distressing news from his little church plant in Corinth.
The reports soon began to accumulate and confirm one another. And
it sounded as if his precious Corinthian church was well on
its way to a split. factions had developed, believers
had chosen sides, and we can’t pinpoint the exact cycle of events,
but we know that there was a good deal of information that flowed
back and forth from Corinth and the church there to Paul in Ephesus. We don’t know exactly how these things shook
out and what order, but we know that there were these series
of informative events where information about the Corinthian situation
was exchanged. Individual visits, notes, short
letters, group visits. And again, we cannot fix a precise
order on these events, but we do know the end result. The end
result was that Paul was seriously concerned about his little church,
even burdened. We propose this possible order
for these information exchanges, as I called them. The first was
that Paul heard rumblings, news of worldliness in the church. and was evidently so bad that
somewhere along the line, Paul made the decision to visit urgently
this church in Corinth. When that particular visit didn’t
bear fruit, Paul wrote them a short letter. That letter, as we know,
is now lost. Then Paul receives a disappointing
report from Chloe’s household that there were deep-seated quarrels
and disunity in the church. Paul then receives a delegation
of several men who confirmed the news. And on top of it all,
Paul receives a short letter from the Corinthian church with
all kinds of doctrinal questions that really spelled even greater
difficulty. Apollos himself also may have
been with the delegation, but he too makes a visit to Paul. And so the situation is dire,
it’s urgent. But as bad as things are in Corinth,
Paul cannot leave, not now. Paul’s ministry in Ephesus is
drawing to a close, and he purposes to visit his other churches,
but he cannot leave just now. Paul knew that he had to confront
the horrible news of this fatal error in Corinth, but because
of his ministry responsibilities there in Ephesus, there was no
way he could leave, not now. And so it’s against that backdrop,
the news, the events, the notes, the visits, the delegations,
all of it, that is what Paul what finally
prompts Paul to write 1 Corinthians. And we know well now the reasons
for this epistle. There are serious divisions in
the church of Ephesus. There are significant sin issues
as well that are becoming commonplace, accepted. And the church itself
has some serious doctrinal questions. In addition to the division and
the turmoil, the sinful behavior, the doctrinal questions, the
Corinthians also had not followed through on their promised monetary
gift for the collection for the Jerusalem church. They had not
honored their word. And any of those alone would
have been enough for Paul to write, but collectively the need
to write them was overwhelming. And so Paul takes up his pen
to write what we now possess as first Corinthians, a treatise
that will impact the church, not just the church in Corinth,
but the whole church of Christ down to our day. And so, because Like Corinth,
we too bear the marks of division, and we too are heavily influenced
by our culture, and we too are yet unsanctified, yet unprepared
for glory, and we too are in need of instruction. We have
a pressing need to consider this epistle. 1 Corinthians. I want to begin this morning
by looking at these opening verses, verses one through three, which
provide for us snapshots of the transforming power of God. I’ve
called them profiles of grace, of which I see three. Read along
with me, if you would, 1 Corinthians chapter one, verses one through
three. Paul, called as an apostle of
Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother, to
the church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who have been
sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every
place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord
and ours. Grace to you and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Profiles of grace. I’ve suggested to you that there
are at least three, and what Paul gives us here is snapshots,
just little glimpses of the transforming power of the grace of God. And first of all, we see in the
first verse, grace in its equipping and enabling of God’s servants. Grace in its equipping and enabling
of God’s servants. Look at verse 1, Paul called
as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. In these
opening verses of this monumental treatise, Paul begins, as he
does in all of his other epistles, with the opening that was customary
at the time among the Greeks, a greeting that included the
author of the letter, the intended recipients of the letter, and
some formal words of well-wish. Paul’s greetings in his epistles
fit a pattern. They are not exactly the same
in every one of his letters, but most of them contain the
same elements. But even though they fit a pattern,
these words are not mere empty formalities. I’ve heard people
refer to these opening lines in Paul’s letters as the address
label. It is that, but it’s much more
than that. They are rich and considerable
testimonies which tell us much, both about Paul, the author,
and his varied recipients. Look at verse 1, Paul. We know of this man primarily
by his Greek name, Paul, but his given Hebrew name was Saul. Many commentators hold to the
idea that God changed Saul’s name to Paul at the time of his
conversion to Christianity. And while that’s possible, there
is absolutely no scriptural proof to that idea. We see what happens
that Saul His name gives way to Paul and Paul becomes not
only more prevalent, but exclusive. In referring to this man, we
see what happens, but we don’t see how and when or why. And so it’s much more likely
that he was given both of these names at birth, both Saul and
Paul. Paul was born and raised in a
city called Tarsus. We know this from Acts 19.11,
which introduces him only as a man from Tarsus named Saul. Tarsus was a Greek, that is a
Gentile city, and so he was a Roman citizen. These factors would
providentially fit him for usefulness in his eventual ministry to the
Gentiles throughout the whole Roman world. Nevertheless, Paul
was a Jew. He was of the tribe of Benjamin,
one of the chief families comprising the party of the Pharisees. We’re
introduced to him as Saul relatively early in the book of Acts. This
man was present at the stoning of Stephen, as you know. He continues
to be called Saul not only immediately after his conversion, but even
after he had begun to truly serve the Lord. About all we know is
that the individual who had been known as Saul more and more came
to be known as Paul. We see this for the first time
in Acts 13, 9. But Saul, also known as Paul,
filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze. For a man with
a divine calling to the Gentiles, it only makes sense. that the
Jewish name would be set aside for the Roman name. This Paul
would go on to an epic ministry, as you know, in the establishment
of the Christian church. And so it is no exaggeration
at all that one historian said of Paul, no human being has impacted
the Christian church as forcefully as the apostle Paul. His missionary
activity spread the gospel across the world of his day. His letters
provided much of the theological base on which the church of Jesus
Christ rests. But Paul wants to introduce himself.
He wants to tell you a bit about himself. Look at verse one. Paul
called as an apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul here, never one
to squander his words, declares that he was summoned by God himself
in a special way. He was called. He’s not referring
specifically here to his dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus,
to his salvation. Rather, he’s referring particularly
to the divine summons and commissioning that he received subsequent. to his salvation. And he speaks
of this calling plentifully. In Acts 9.15, the Lord said of
him, he is a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before
the Gentiles. God already knew that Paul was
called to the ministry, even if Paul did not Paul himself
would go on to speak of this call to ministry, 1 Corinthians
3.10, according to the grace of God, which was given to me. In Galatians 1.15, he says that
when God, who had set me apart, even from my mother’s womb, called
me through his grace, he was pleased to reveal his Son in
me. Colossians 1. I was made a minister
according to the stewardship from God bestowed upon me.” This
word call, you know, is rich in theological meaning because
this same word is used to refer to God’s effectual call of individuals
to salvation, but here, here in 1.1, It refers not to Paul’s
salvation, but rather it indicates, as I said, a divine calling into
God’s service, where an individual is chosen, called, and appointed
by God himself, just as the Old Testament servants were divinely
summoned and appointed. Moses, Abraham, Isaiah, and others. In God’s service, there is no
self appointment. There is no designation by some
earthly committee electing someone. This appointment was not the
result of some popular vote. This was not something for which
Paul signed up or inclined himself to or sought. This was God’s
doing and God’s alone. The service of God in any capacity
is not something that an individual takes to himself. Rather, it
is the result of a divine summons, a call. This was no general calling
for Paul, as you note, but it was a divine ordained call to
serve as an apostle. Now you know that the word apostle
can be used in several different ways in scripture. It is used
in a very broad way of someone who is sent as a messenger. Someone
sent by someone in authority to someone in need of a message.
And there are numerous people recorded in the New Testament
who are referred to as apostles that were sent in that broad
sense. Barnabas, James, the Lord’s brother,
and others. But in addition to being used
very broadly, it’s also used in a much narrower sense. It’s
used of a divinely appointed messenger sent with the gospel,
an apostle, just as were the 12 men identified in scripture
as such. These were men who were by God
commissioned to office, ordained to preach the gospel. Paul’s
calling as an apostle was not earned or merited or advanced
by his popularity. The honor of serving as an apostle,
he says, was by the will of God. This was God’s doing. There was literally no human
influence at all by him or by anyone else. The fact that Paul
was an apostle was rooted in the sovereign determination of
God himself. It’s a matter of great debate
among scholars and commentators over whether Paul is already
here beginning to defend his apostleship. which was, in the
Corinthian church, indeed under attack, but I don’t see it. Not necessarily. It’s questionable
because Paul begins nearly all of his epistles this exact same
way, referring to his apostleship. And his apostleship was not universally
challenged in some of these other churches. And so it seems better
to understand this identifier is really merely acknowledging
Paul’s gratitude rather than seeing him as beginning to build
a defense. Paul here says he was called
and identified by God as an apostle and therefore he is not shy about
referring to himself as an apostle. in this secondary, more narrow
sense. Paul was called by God Himself
and bestowed with this authority. And so Paul frequently and unashamedly
claims apostleship for himself. Romans 1, called as an apostle. Galatians 1.1, not sent from
men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ
and God the Father, an apostle. 2 Corinthians, Ephesians 1.1,
Colossians 1.1, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. And so while Paul was not one
of the 12, The 12 original apostles, he was an apostle. He was an
apostle in that same rich sense, and as such, he frequently defended
his God-given apostleship. Think of 1 Corinthians 9, where
Paul asks them rhetorically, am I not an apostle? And he goes on to tell them that
you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. The proof was in
the pudding. The proof was in the fact that
he had borne divine fruit in their midst. Galatians, again,
which verse we just quoted, he says, I’m an apostle not sent
from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ
and God the Father. Paul, Paul did not hold back. on identifying himself as an
apostle. Paul is a God-ordained apostle,
establishes himself also as the author of this letter, but he’s
not alone. And several weeks ago, we noted
how remarkable this particular companion is. Look at verse one. Paul called as an apostle of
Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother. We were introduced to this mysterious
individual a few weeks ago. When we considered him then,
I explained to you, the man’s name is only mentioned twice
in all the New Testament. You have the full report before
you now. This Sosthenes was the one-time leader of the synagogue,
the same one who led a losing effort in bringing a charge against
Galio. It was such a miserable failure
that his own countrymen commenced vigilante justice upon him, beating
him in public. Because of the shame and the
embarrassment that they experienced, they took it out on poor Sosthenes. Whether he fully deserved the
blame or was only made a scapegoat, we don’t know. But as I told
you then, I believe that God used that shameful event for
his good. It’s important to note that Sosthenes
is never anywhere by anyone mentioned again in scripture. And so the
only reason that Paul would have to even mention this Sosthenes
here to the Corinthians is that something truly remarkable had
happened. The reason is that God had brought
Sosthenes, the same Sosthenes mentioned in Acts, to saving
faith. But the question remains, why
mention him here? Typically, Paul mentions only
himself, occasionally one of his higher ranking fellow servants
of the gospel, but not an obscure relative nobody named Sosthenes. Why mention him here? We know that one of the main
purposes of Paul’s letter is to address the disunity in their
midst. Think of this. Here, just the
mention of Sosthenes and the gentle reminder that even he
was now a brother in the Lord would have immediately elicited
among his readers ardent memories of his history and God’s grace
in bringing him to faith in Jesus Christ. And now Paul informs
them that Sosthenes is with him, a brother in the Lord. And he’s
no doubt enjoying discipleship with Paul, Christian service
along with Paul. But no, Paul doesn’t provide
his biography at all. Paul doesn’t give us a bullet
pointed list of his credentials. Paul doesn’t hand us, so to speak,
his business card telling him who he was. We can’t see this
in the English text. Paul tells us really only one
thing about him. In the Greek, the term brother
is preceded by the definite article. He is identified only as the
brother. not just any brother, the brother,
the brother who must have been well known to the Corinthian
church, the brother Sosthenes. This man was the synagogue leader,
but now he is the brother. And so we see, first of all,
the snapshot of the transforming power of God in this profile
of grace and its equipping and enabling of God’s servants. Not
the least of which was Paul, but also amazingly of this Sosthenes. But there’s another snapshot.
There’s another profile of grace. Not only do we see God’s grace
in its equipping and enabling of his servants, but we see grace
in its saving and sanctifying of the saints. Would you look
at verse 2, where Paul says, to the church of God, which is
at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus,
saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. Having provided the first element
of his formal greeting from whom this letter originated, identifying
himself as the writer and his brother in Christ, Sosthenes,
he moves very smoothly into the address line. to those to whom
the epistle was written. And although this letter is written
most directly to the Corinthians, Paul identifies them very generally
as the church of God. This word from which we derive
our English word church is the compound ek, out of, and kaleo,
called. It refers to the called out ones.
The ones called together out of the world, the assembly of
the saints. It’s an important word for Paul.
He uses it 21 times in this epistle alone. The church is the foundation
instituted and established by God at Pentecost, which has both
a visible and an invisible element to it. The visible element seen
locally is comprised of professing believers, some of whom are true
Christians and some of whom are not. But the invisible church
is comprised only of the truly called out, the genuine believing
people of God. And so the word church is used
at times to refer to the entire body, of people for whom Christ
died, the universal church, if you will, and sometimes it is
used to refer to the gathered believers of any one locality,
the local church. As Paul identifies here, the
church, which is at Corinth. And this church, this most precious
institution ordained by God, bought and paid for by Christ’s
own blood, is pictured variously in scripture. The church is presented
to us as Christ’s body, Christ’s bride. And these local gatherings,
these churches, are the God-given places where God may be rightfully
worshiped. Believers may be built up in
the faith. Unbelievers can hear the gospel
preached. The purpose of all of it, though,
is to bring God glory. Well, here in verse two, Paul
clearly uses this word in its local sense to refer to the church
in Corinth, to the church which is at Corinth. But he does so
beautifully here. in order to remind them that
there are not to be these so many splinters in the church.
The church is not to be given to faction because he says it
is the church of God. This, I believe, is Paul’s initial
salvo against the divisions that were prevalent in this church.
The bottom line, he says, it isn’t ours to divide. It’s God’s
church, not ours. But I would like you to look
at the church members. I’d like you to look at who the
members of this church are here in Corinth, because Paul names
them. Would you look again at verse
two? to the church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who have
been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints, by calling.” The members, here he names the
members of this particular body, indeed of any church, are the
sanctified. The members are those who have
been sanctified, and you know this word. We’ve dealt with it
many times. In its most basic significance,
it refers to consecration, having been set aside for a holy use. But it is also used in scripture
of the ongoing process that we know of as sanctification, where
God is at work in the believer’s life, sanctifying More and more,
day by day. That is what we know as progressive
sanctification. Both of these aspects of sanctification
are absolutely crucial. One cannot even begin the pursuit
of the latter, sanctification, without God having done the first,
that is, initial sanctification. Until we are sanctified, set
apart by God, consecrated by Him, God does not begin the work
of making us more Christ-like in holiness. This is the very
essence of the gospel, isn’t it? We are not saved by our personal
holiness or by some degree of righteousness or good works. We are justified, sanctified,
set apart for a holy use by an act of God declaring us righteous
because our faith in Jesus Christ. This whole understanding, which
sometimes is almost fuzzy in our minds, this whole understanding
can be seen in the consideration of the holiness of God. When we speak of God being holy,
we understand that of Him in a twofold sense. He is separated
and apart from His creation, but He is also truly holy and
free from all sin. That same twofold sense applies
to believers with regards to sanctification. Once God moves
in our life to save us, sanctifying us, setting us apart for himself,
we call that positional sanctification. But he then initiates the ongoing
process of sanctifying us in a practical sense, more and more
holy all the time. So that, It’s not unreasonable
that at any given moment, while a believer is here on earth,
he can really and truly be both sanctified and yet unsanctified
to a degree. A believer can be sanctified
in his initial salvation and yet unsanctified, not yet made
perfect, in his practical righteousness. This is an important concept
to grasp because we’re already aware that Paul has grave concerns
over the behavior of the believers in this church. There is rampant
and dishonorable sin in their ranks. And in that sense, they
are yet unsanctified. God has not yet completed the
process of making them holy. And yet Paul can speak to them
and of them as sanctified in that initial sense. He’s not
questioning their salvation at all. He’s questioning their growth
in grace. If you glance down at verse two,
you see Paul’s clear insistence that God has done the initial
work of sanctification, saving them, because he says, look at
this, they have been sanctified in Christ Jesus. And friends,
that is the only way that a sinner can ever be sanctified, it is
only through faith in Jesus Christ. Sinners are justified by faith
alone in Christ alone. But I want you to look at this
verse once again, because if the phrase, in Christ Jesus,
indicates the means, that is, how we are in this state of having
been set apart, consecrated to God, consider the result. They are saints by calling. This is a glorious reiteration
of what he’s already said, because that’s exactly what the word
saints means, set apart ones. They’ve been set apart, sanctified
in that initial sense by God himself. They are saved and set
apart for a holy use. And please, please note here,
they didn’t have to achieve some level of perfection in order
to achieve sainthood. We already know that they are
terrifically troubled and sinful, and yet they are already called
saints. They are saints by calling, that
is by God’s calling. You likely are familiar with
that threefold sense, rather threefold use of this word in
Romans 1. He uses it in almost the identical
way, three times in seven verses. Called as an apostle, referring
to Paul’s apostleship, but twice of the Roman Christians. Listen. The called of Jesus Christ, that’s
what he refers to these believers, called as saints. Remember a
moment ago when we were talking about Paul’s calling as an apostle,
and I said that the word there was freighted with deep theological
significance? That Paul there wasn’t referring
to his effectual call to salvation, remember that? He’s not referring to salvation
there, but here, with regard to the
Corinthians, He is referring to God’s great work of salvation
in sinners’ lives, whereby He effectually calls them out of
sin, out of death, to life and righteousness. This is the effectual
call. This is the effectual call that
attends the hearing of the gospel and prompts the sinner’s response. This call is effected by the
Holy Spirit. It is not, it cannot be rejected. It inevitably draws the sinner
to repentance and faith. We love this doctrine, right?
Because it doesn’t depend on us. And that’s a good thing. The same God who in eternity
past set His electing love upon us is the same God who moves
to awaken us out of the sleep of death. I love the way the
older confessions put it, so clear. Those to whom God has predestined
to life, He is pleased, in His appointed and accepted time,
effectually to call, by His Word and Spirit, out of that state
of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation
by Jesus Christ. How? enlightening their minds
spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God, taking away
the heart of stone and giving to them a heart of flesh, renewing
their wills and by his almighty power, determining to them that
which is good and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ.
He saves them. Paul isn’t talking out of both
sides of his mouth, suggesting that here they are saved and
here they are not. Paul is writing to a church that
has been sanctified in the one sense, positionally, but is not
yet practically sanctified, which is exactly where we are. The
Corinthian church was a church that had not been able yet To
fully live out their calling in Christ. Please look at the
end of verse two. Paul exclaims that the believer
does this with all who in every place call on the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He’s referring to all who have
called out to Jesus Christ for salvation. This is the call of
faith. And the Corinthians were part,
even if only a small part. of the great invisible church
of Christ. And so in that sense, the Corinthians
are no worse off than any believer anywhere. Nor are we. The Corinthians are part of the
great church of God, having been placed there by God himself. And so we see these two. Astounding
images, these profiles of God’s grace. not only equipping and
enabling grace in the servants of God, but also the much more
basic saving and sanctifying grace. And yet there is a third
image, a third snapshot of the transforming power of God. Would
you glance down at verse three, where we see grace in its source
and availability to all. Grace to you and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We’ve heard a lot about
grace so far in its activity. We’ve seen how it can take hardened
sinners and not only do an immediate work of grace in transforming
them, but also vital to the challenging work of transforming them completely. And as we’ve heard, that whether
you’re an obscure, formerly important head of a local synagogue or
the most influential evangelist that the world has ever known,
both must attribute their abilities and their opportunities to the
enabling grace of God. How encouraging, then, to people
like you and I. to discover that in this one
verse, verse three, the source of this enabling grace. It’s
there for all of us, and not only the source, but the infinite
availability of that grace to all believers. It’s an infinite supply of grace,
undeserved and yet absolutely necessary, and it must be supplied
by no other than God himself. This is Paul’s declaration when
he says grace to you and peace. It is indeed a gracious greeting,
but it’s much more. It is the declaration that not
only is God’s grace absolutely needed for the successful execution
of the Christian life, it is abundantly available for all. Charles Hodge painted a beautiful
image of this grace. He said, grace
includes all that is comprehended in the love of God as exercised
towards sinners, and the latter all the benefits which flow from
that love. All good, therefore, whether
providential, spiritual, temporal, eternal, is comprehended in these
terms. Justification, adoption, sanctification,
with all the benefits which either accompany or flow from them.
That’s grace. The source of salvation, the
source of sanctification, the source of equipping for ministry,
the source of the mortification of any and all sin, the source
of growth in any Christian discipline, the source of prayer life, the
source of ministry opportunity, the source of the improvement
of any ministry gift is only the enabling grace of God. And if grace is the divinely
supplied enablement, peace, God’s peace, should be the inevitable
end. The free favor of God that saves
and sanctifies and equips for his good service is bestowed
in his immeasurable grace, and it must produce the peace that
passes all understanding. Do you want to be a missionary?
Then you need the available and abundant grace of God. Do you want to serve Christ in
some capacity, any capacity? You need the grace of God. Do
you want to shepherd a church? You need the grace of God. Do
you want to teach? You need the grace of God. Do you want to
become a faithful evangelist, sharing the gospel? You need
the grace of God. Do you want to write a Christian
book? Do you want to do biblical counseling? Do you want to honor
the Lord in your workplace? You need the grace of God. Do
you want to have a God honoring marriage? Do you want to overcome
some deeply rooted sin in your life? You need the grace of God. Do you want to grow in your Christian
faith? Do you want to improve in your Bible study? Do you want
to develop a better prayer life? You need. The abundant and available
grace of God. And let’s be sure to include
the very beginning. Do you desire to have your sins
forgiven? To walk in fellowship with the
Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior? You absolutely need. The abundant
and available grace of God. It’s there. It’s there for all
believers. In abundant, immeasurable supply. Would you humble yourself before
him? O merciful God, we thank you
for these snapshots. Brief pictures, profiles of what
you’ve done in the lives of Paul and even Sosthenes. amazing picture
of what you have done with sinners such as the Corinthians were. And the fact that this grace,
this amazing grace is still available to us mere sinners. Who desire to somehow serve you? Desire to honor you in our life.
Lord, we can do nothing without the abundant grace of God. Lord,
if there are any here who do not know Jesus Christ as their
Savior, it is pointless. It is utterly worthless to begin
to try to do anything until God has done that initial work of
sanctification. Grant that Anyone in our midst
who does not know Christ, may this be the day of salvation.
As you lay their sin and the knowledge of their sin heavy
upon their heart, draw them to Christ. Draw them to repentance
and to faith in Jesus Christ, your initial work of grace. We
lay these things before you in Jesus name. Amen.