Epistle of Second Corinthians #1

Background—Review of 1-Corinthians 1-8

Corinth shows the state of the churches today,
and 1-Corinthians shows why 2-Corinthians is written the way that it is

Fred R. Coulter—December 2, 2017

- Video | - PDF | Audio | [Up]

[Transcript begins at 1:22 of the audio]

Greetings, brethren! Welcome to Sabbath services!

I want us to truly appreciate what God has made possible for us today, having the instant communication that we do and like in the sermon: News, Flesh & Bone and N.T. Fraud that showed there is someone who says they have the most accurate Greek N.T. ever. We proved, by having Greek ourselves, that's incorrect. Do you suppose they could have done that 200 years ago? No way! You go down through history:

• How many people have had the whole Bible? Billions!
• How many people use part of the Bible? Probably hundreds of millions!
• How many people believe and know that the whole Bible was made for the end-time and for us?
• What does that do for us in our responsibility with God and toward God since all of this has been provided?
• Remember the prophecy that says knowledge shall be increased?
• Would you not say that we have much more knowledge today than 200 years ago? Absolutely!

Let's start out in Luke 12; this tells us what we must be doing, and really, when you understand it, more than at any other time in the history of the Church and our lives. I'll show you why.

Luke 12:31: "But seek the Kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you…. [think about being in the Kingdom of God] …Do not be afraid, little flock…" (vs 31-32).

Think about that. How many people are afraid because of the things going on around them? Like we covered in the sermon News, Flesh & Bone and N.T. Fraud, Psa. 91: If ten thousand fall at your right hand, and a thousand at your left, either way that's pretty close?

"…for your Father delights … [that's why we don't need to be fighting God] …in giving you the kingdom" (v 32).

• we have the greatest calling of all
• we have the greatest preparation of all
• we have the greatest amount of knowledge at any time for the Churches of God

And we need to be about doing God's business!

Down through the history of the Church—and we find an outline of that in Rev. 2&3, and there is a series called: Assaults Against the Church (Dan/Rev. series #12-15).

Verse 35: "Let your loins be girded about and your lamps burning." Always be prepared, like men waiting for the Bridegroom to return:

Verse 38: "And if he comes in the second watch, or comes in the third watch, and finds them watching, blessed are those servants."

What are we to watch? A lot of people say that we are to watch world news first! NO! That's second, maybe third. First of all, we are to watch out for ourselves. What's one of the very first things Jesus said we need to beware of? False prophets!

Verse  42: "And the Lord said, 'Who then is the wise and faithful steward, whom the lord shall put in charge of his household, to give to each one the portion of food in season? Blessed is that servant whom the lord, when he comes, shall find so doing'" (vs 42-43). {Note Matt. 25 about the steward who went and hid the talent instead of working.}

What does it mean to be given the kingdom? Verse 44: "Of a truth, I tell you, he will set him over all his possessions."

That's something! I don't think, even with all the knowledge that we have, and having the Spirit of God and the Word of God combined together, that we can really have a clear deep visual glimpse of what it's going to be like.

Remember what Jesus said concerning His words: Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall never pass away! Think about that!

This is why we have assaults against the Church; think about the state of the Church today, because we are going to cover and see that Corinth is the state of the Church today, and we'll see why.

Verse 45[transcriber's correction]: "But if that servant shall say in his heart, '"My lord delays his coming,' and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidservants, and to be gluttonous and become drunk."

Who has the golden cup of spiritual wine to make them drunk? Babylon the Great; the woman sitting on the beast! All nations have drunk of it.

Verse 46: "The lord of that servant will come in a day that he does not expect, and in an hour that he does not know…" This does not necessarily mean Christ's return. This could mean God coming upon anyone at any time, who is in this condition, for correction!

"…and will cut him asunder… [the end result] …and will appoint his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant who knew the will of his lord, but did not prepare, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes; but the one who did not know…" (vs 46-48).

Understand that if years ago they only had part of the Bible, they fall into this category concerning the Word of God. They didn't know a lot of it.

"…and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For to whomever much has been given…" (v 48). What is the attitude that we find with the Laodiceans? I've grown rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing!

Now, they may not express it in words directly that way, but that's what they're doing when they don't pray, don't study, don't think that studying the Bible is that important; or they put it off and have so many other activities.

 "…from him shall much be required; and to whom much has been committed, from him they will demand the more" (v 48). God demands more of us than at any other time in the history of the Church. That's why He said with the Laodiceans—He didn't put it exactly this way—'I stand at the door and knock. If you will open, the door I will come in and sup with you and you with Me.'

What does that tell you? There are a lot of people semi-converted! As we go through these things, we'll look at that.

We have to start out with the Apostle Paul, Saul who became Paul. He had orders from the high priest and was going to Damascus to arrest men and women and even have some of them killed.

Acts 9:3: "But it came to pass while he was journeying, as he drew near to Damascus, that suddenly a light from heaven shined round about him. And after falling to the ground…" (vs 3-4). It doesn't tell us if he was walking, on a donkey, or whatever, but he fell to the ground.

"…he heard a voice say to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?'" (v 4). What does this tell us? All of those who have the Spirit of Christ in them and the Spirit of the Father, if we are persecuted, or if things are done to us, that's doing it to Christ!

Notice how quickly Paul's mind was changed. I wonder, when he fell to the ground, if there was some powerful wind that just knocked him flat on the ground?

Verse 5: "And he said, 'Who are You, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the pricks'"—or the goads.

You've seen the ground thorns where they have the long thorns about six inches long, this is what it's talking about. Think about being barefooted and kicking against that. Are you going to win the battle? No, you're not!

Verse 6: "Then, trembling and astonished, he said, 'Lord, what will You have me to do?'…. [you talk about instant conversion] …And the Lord said to him, 'Get up and go into the city, and you shall be told what you must do.' Now, the men who were traveling with him stood speechless; for they indeed heard the voice, but they saw no one. Then Saul arose from the ground; but when he opened his eyes, he saw no one. And they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. But for three days he was not able to see, and he did not eat or drink" (vs 6-9).

Verse 12: "And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming and putting his hands on him, so that he may receive sight."

Ananias couldn't believe it when he was told that 'I have Saul was over here and I want you to go down and lay hands on him so he can regain his sight, and baptize him and wash his sins away.'

Verse 13: "Then Ananias answered, 'Lord, I have heard from many people about this man, how many evil things he has done to Your saints… [to the Church] …in Jerusalem."

Verse 15[transcriber's correction]: "But the Lord said to him, 'Go, for this man is a chosen vessel to Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel; for I will show him what great things he must suffer for My name'" (vs 15-16).

We find in 2-Cor. a good listing of all the things that Paul suffered.

Verse 17: "Then Ananias went away and came into the house… [baptized him] …and after laying his hands on him, he said, 'Brother Saul, the Lord has sent me, even Jesus, Who appeared to you on the road in which you came, so that you might receive sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.'"
Let's see another summation of the whole sequence of these events. Paul is before two kings and a governor and some from the Sanhedrin and other Jews down in Caesarea and he's recounting this story:

Acts 26:15: "And I [Paul] said, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said, 'I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting. Now arise, and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you as a minister and a witness both of what you have seen and what I shall reveal to you. I am personally selecting you from among the people and the Gentiles, to whom I now send you to open their eyes… [through the Word of God and the Spirit of God] …that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the authority of Satan to God, so that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance… [into the Kingdom of God] …among those who have been sanctified through faith in Me'" (vs 15-18).

Look up the places in the Bible where it talks about darkness, spiritual darkness. There are quite a few places.

• What does it tell us in Rev. 12, what Satan is doing to the world? Deceiving the whole world!
• What does it tell us in Rev. 13? The whole world worships Satan!

You see how much more it's intensified at the end-time and why Christ has to return the way that He is going to.

Isaiah 60:1: "Arise, shine; for your Light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you." When God called Saul that's what happened to him.

Sidebar on Saul: He was right up there with Gamaliel. He was right up there with the high priest and he says in Galatians that he was 'advancing more than his contemporaries to become a great potentate in Judaism.' God called him so that the Church would not be engulfed in Judaism. That's what Gal. 2 is about.

Today there are a lot of Messianic Jews. Just because they're Jews and they claim to believe in the Messiah does not mean that they have the correct doctrine. Every one that I have checked on, including Jonathan Cahn and Joseph Farrar with WND—we're told to prove all things, so I check up them—and Jonathan Cahn is not a prophet; he is an analyst. I've read all three of his books, so I know. When he looks at something in the Old Testament and sees how that was done, then analyzes something in current events today that has a parallel fulfillment., that is not prophesying; that is analyzing. I saw Cahn on TBN and he's very happy to be on TBN. The Messianic Jews are not converted, except maybe a very, very few!

• What did Jesus say about the Passover?
• What did Jesus tell Peter when Peter said that He was not going to wash his feet? If I don't, you don't have any part with Me!

If you don't keep the proper Passover on the 14th day of the 1st month by the Calculated Hebrew Calendar, you have no true part with Christ! You may be near, you may be close, but every Messianic Jew keeps a 15th Passover.

I know that this is a little sidebar, but it's important to understand. Jonathan Cahn has temple for the Jews on Friday night. He teaches the Sunday 'Christians' on Sunday. He is a descendant of the priesthood, being called Cahn. He doesn't know the Old Testament Scripture—Isaiah 56 and 58—that tells the Gentiles to keep the Sabbath. He does not tell them to keep the Sabbath and does not keep a 14th Passover, so he is not of God! He may be close; he may be near; he may know a lot of things, but he is not sent from God, because whom God sends speaks the words of God!

Verse 2: "For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth… [spiritual darkness] …and gross darkness the people…"—describing the complete deception that Satan is bringing on this world.

One more little thing for those who are new: During Christmas season is not the time to tell your relatives that Christmas is not of God. Wait until afterward and tell them with questions:

• If this is the Lord's birthday, how much money did you give?
• How much were you thinking of yourself and your children and your wife/husband?
• How much were you thinking of all of your friends?
• What's one of the worst sins that we find listed by the Apostle Paul concerning the end-time?

2-Timothy[transcriber's correction]3:1: "Know this also, that in the last days perilous times shall come; for men will be lovers of self…" (vs 1-2). You just take that and watch the news.

Isaiah 60:2: "…but the LORD shall arise upon you, and His glory shall be seen upon you. And the Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising" (vs 2-3).

That's what it's going to be like when Christ returns. It's going to be an astonishing event. A lot of these things happen in cycles. Then you have one key event in those cycles, which then becomes a key prophecy. Think about today beginning in:

Jeremiah 13:12: "Therefore, you will speak unto them this word, "Thus says the LORD, God of Israel, 'Every wineskin shall be filled with wine.'"…." That means we have good times. You may have it for a while.

"'…And they shall say to you, "Do we not surely know that every wineskin is filled with wine?" Then you shall say to them, "Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will fill all the people of this land, even the kings that sit on David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people of Jerusalem, with drunkenness'" (vs 12-13)—spiritual drunkenness!

Does this sound like today? Verse 14: "'And I will smash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,' says the LORD…." Everybody is fighting, no peace anywhere. It's also true in the Churches of God in too many cases!

There comes a point—we haven't quite reached it, yet—but where will we be in watching and doing when this point comes?

"…'I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, to keep them from their destruction.' Hear and give ear; do not be proud; for the LORD has spoken. Give glory to the LORD your God, before He causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, He turns it into the shadow of death, making it gross darkness" (vs 15-16).

Paul is finally made an apostle (Acts 13) and he and Barnabas go out and do great healings and signs and wonders and many different things take place. Now, here's where Paul comes to Corinth, and we're going to learn a lot right here, and remember he just left Athens with all the idols and tells them about the 'unknown God' (Acts 17).

Acts 18:1: "Now, after these things, Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth; and there he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with Priscilla his wife (because Claudius had ordered all the Jews out of Rome). And he came to their house. and because he was of the same trade, he dwelt with them and worked; for they were tent makers by trade. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks" (vs 1-4).

He always went to the Jews first, into the synagogues, and proselytes were also there; believers, those who fear God. Were they Sabbath-keepers? Yes! Did they hear the Scriptures? Yes!

Now, this is one of the riots that Paul started in the synagogue, v 5: "Now, when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was stirred in his spirit and was earnestly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. But when they set themselves in opposition and were blaspheming, Paul shook his garments and said to them, 'Your blood be upon your own heads. I am pure of it. From this time forward I will go to the Gentiles'" (vs 5-6).

How bad of a statement would that be to the Jews? I'll bet there were some Jews who said, 'How can he be of God, look at how nasty that he spoke to us. I am offended.' Well, you can read a lot of things that Jesus said that offended a lot of people!

Verse 7: "And after departing from there, he went into the house of a certain one named Justus, who worshiped God, whose house adjoined the synagogue." Right next to it!

Can you imagine what happened every Sabbath? Remember, Paul had a long ministry spanning pretty close to 30 years. I know that in reading through the Gospels you will see that there were times when he spent three years here, two years there, etc.

To make matters even worse, v 8: "But Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with his whole house; and many of the Corinthians… [those who attended synagogue] …who heard, believed and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul in a vision in the night, 'Do not be afraid; but speak, and do not be silent, for I am with you; and no one shall set upon you to mistreat you because I have many people in this city'" (vs 8-10).

Stop and think about that! How did that occur? Were they all attending synagogue? I doubt it! How does God work? Remember Acts 16 when Paul went over to Macedonia and the city of Philippi! He didn't know anyone was there, but the Spirit of God made it work out.

{Note sermons: Spirit of God/Spirit of Man—7 Spirits of God #s1-2} Revelation shows that the eyes of the Lord are called the seven spirits of God. That answers: How does God look down upon every man? That's the business of the seven spirits!

Paul was to stay there because God had been preparing new people without his knowledge.

Verse 11: "And he remained there for a year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them." After that Paul went to Ephesus and he stayed there three years. You know what happened there?

In this background we're going through leading up to 2-Corinthians, let's come to 1-Cor. and we'll do a short review. We will have a little understanding of the background.

Review of 1-Corinthians:

Remember, Paul starts out every epistle nearly the same way. We need to understand why he does that. He does that from the point of view that he wants everyone to know that what he's writing and saying and preaching comes from God the Father and Jesus Christ, and it is the Word of God.

1-Corinthians 1:1: "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, called by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, to the Church of God that is in Corinth…" (vs 1-2). He wrote this in 57A.D.

If you want to, go to the Chronologies #5 & 6 of the New Testament in the back of The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version. In 57A.D. Paul was in Ephesus and wrote to Corinth.

Verse 2: "To the Church of God that is in Corinth, the called saints who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, together with all those in every place…" This is a prophecy for us. Isn't that something?

All those in every place who are calling on the name of Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours" (v 2). That's a prophecy coming down to our day.

Verse 3: "Grace and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." That's is quite an opening. To show you the consistency, let's see how we have exactly the same thing in:

Ephesians 1:1: "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly things with Christ" (vs 1-3). What heavenly things do we have?

• the Word of God
• the Spirit of God
• the understanding of these things

Then when we're resurrected, we're going to have the fullness of all the blessings as spirit beings. Notice how these reach out in prophecy, as well. This is quite something. This helps us understand more how God looks at things than we do.

Verse 1: "…the faithful in Christ Jesus." That reaches out where? Wherever there are those who are faithful! All of the books we have in the Bible we need for today; they are essential for us! These are the words of God. Can there be anything more important than this?

The way that Paul is writing in 1-Cor. is that he is leading up to some things, because we're going to see that Corinth is just like today, overtaken with a lot of problems, sex sins, religious sins, false doctrines and false preachers.

1-Corinthians 1:4: "I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God that has been given to you in Christ Jesus; and that you have been spiritually enriched in Him in everything, in all discourse and knowledge" (vs 4-5). Take these two verses and think about how that applies to us today.

• Do we not have much more than they have?
• How was he preaching the Gospel back then? Out of the Old Testament!

Think about how much more we have.

Verse 6: "According as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you; so that you do not lack even one spiritual gift while you are awaiting the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who will also strengthen you to the end…" (vs 6-8).

Think about that. All of these words we can apply to ourselves today. Do we not need to be strengthened to the end?

Sidebar: We're going to have a lot of people dying in the Church of God in the next few years. Why? It's not that the Church is dying out—which some people will say—it is that they have endured to the end and now they will await the resurrection! If they die, which they will, it is a harvest! So, don't get discouraged at anything. If God can have people that Paul never knew of, that He was personally working with in Corinth, rank pagans. It makes you wonder what God is doing if we, as Churches of God, really start doing what we need to do.

We reach a lot of people through our websites. We're going to be close to, or more than, four million distinct visitors to our websites. We don't count lookie-loos. They come and look and go. The average time for every visitor is between eight and nine minutes consistently. Jonathan can tell you that is a long time for websites.

Sooner or later God is going to work with those people. But we also know that just like the Church began in houses, Church at Home is going to become the thing that will be the most important down the road. So, we're very thankful that we're able to do that; very thankful for everything that we have on the website and so forth. Plus, as I've mentioned, we have the Dan./Rev. series—no cost—all the transcripts of every sermon that I gave connected with Daniel and Revelation, and the CDs with the messages. That will help you a great deal.

But the two most important are love and grace. Those are the two most important, especially living in the evil time that we are. We have things come along to where everything about our character is tested! That's why we have to repent everyday, because we don't win every battle.

Verse 8: "Who will also strengthen you to the end that you may be unimpeachable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by Whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (vs 8-9).

Think about that! A lot of people put a lot of stress on: 'I have to stay in this Church of God even though I know they're not preaching the Truth, because of the fellowship with the brethren. It say not to fail to assemble.' Well, you'd better re-read the message to the Church at Laodicea.

Then Paul enters unto the beginning of the problems. We will find that this was a very argumentative church.

Verse 10: "Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing…" They were speaking all kinds of different things. We will see in 1-Cor. 15 that Paul said, 'How is it that there are some among you that say there is no resurrection?' That's something!

(go to the next track)

We know that parts of the book of Matthew were written early, however, when Paul went into the synagogues he didn't say he had a new book written by Matthew.

When Paul went into Berea to the synagogue; Acts 17:11: "Now, these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they received the Word with all readiness of mind and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so." They were looking at the scrolls in the synagogue.

How much of the book of Matthew did they have? They had enough at least for the Jews. They had them for the group in Antioch! Paul beginning in the synagogue did not bring these things out if he had them until later.

Let's look at the problem there in Corinth, which is very simple and almost identical to what we have today.

1-Corinthians 1:11: "For my brethren, it has been declared to me concerning you, by those of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, since everyone among you says, 'I am of Paul'; or, 'I am of Apollos'; or, 'I am of Cephas'; or 'I am of Christ.'" (vs 11-12). They were following a man.

Verse 13: "Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?"

What were they doing? They were comparing things—the way the Greeks always do—with their philosophies! Philosophy was a great problem here.

Verse 17: "For Christ did not send me to baptize… [he did baptize when there was no one else around] …but to preach the Gospel—not with the wisdom of words…" Greek is 'sophia'—philosophy; this is what the Greeks were always looking at:

• What were the words?
• How did he say it?
• What was the parsing of it?

"…lest the cross of Christ be made void. For to those who are perishing, the preaching of the cross is foolishness…" (vs 17-18)—to the ones in the world and don't believe. It's written in such a way that I covered in the sermon News, Flesh & Bone and N.T. Fraud, the seven points needed to understand. To many people it is foolishness.

I got a book that has the names and basic philosophy on one page of the great men of the world, and they all hate Christ. They all are atheists. 

"…but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God" (v 18). That's very interesting because it's in the Greek exactly as it's translated. Salvation is a process and you are being saved.

• you have been saved from your past sins, through repentance and baptism
• you are currently being saved from your sins as you grow, overcome and repent
• you shall be saved, the complete product at the resurrection

What I just read about the differences is the same thing today being of this man or the other man. There are those who followed just one man alone, who is long dead, and they think he had the whole Truth. Nonsense! God has the whole Truth!

Unless we're continuing to grow in grace and knowledge all the time, who do we think we are? Can we ever get to the time when we say, 'I know everything.' God is the only One Who knows everything!

Verse 19: "For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise…'" Look at what is happening today. Let's just take one thing alone here in America:

The sins of the Democrat Party is causing it to be destroyed in front of our very eyes! Same way with the churches. What they have is being destroyed, they're even allowing in Sunday-keeping churches to have the Koran read. They think that would be a nice wise thing to do. 'Just think they would not be offended with us if we let them come into our church and read from the Koran, and wouldn't we be fine buddies?' Until they take control! Because, behind the scenes, the leading Muslims say that 'those in the west are going to have to be forced to embrace the Muslim religion.'

All of these women running around tempting men are going to be in burqas, just like they are in Sweden. All of the men running around lusting after women are going to be put to petty little jobs that the oppressor will put them in. No one is going to mock God! No one! Doesn't matter! Will never happen!

"…and I will nullify the understanding of those who understand" (v 19). You must constantly renew spiritually, every day!

Verse 20: "Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Did not God make foolish the wisdom of this world?" Try any movement and see the stupidity of it!

Sidebar: How about the movement in San Francisco to do away with Hetch Hetchy Dam up there in the mountains. 'We must restore it to its natural way.' Water for San Francisco comes in through a giant huge pipe all the way under the bay to San Francisco. There are those 'greenie-weenies who want to get rid of the dam up in the mountains and restore it to its natural beauty. Okay, all of you women go to the creek and wash your clothes on a rock. How do you like that?

Verse 21: "For since in the wisdom of God the world through its ownwisdom did not know God…"

• they think they are rational
• they think they are philosophical
• they think they are right
• but they're blinded

"…it pleased God to save those who believe through the foolishness of preaching" (v 21). 'You actually believe the Bible!' Yes, I do! 'You're a nut!'

Verse 22: "For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom…" That's the problem! Carnal wisdom does not bring you the spiritual understanding of the Word of God!

Verse 25: "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, that there are not many who are wise according to the flesh, not many who are powerful, not many who are highborn among you. Rather, God has chosen the foolish things of the world…" (vs 25-27).

So, if you want to pull yourself up 'by your bootstraps' and tell yourself how great you are, just remember that God says we're all foolish. Even the wise, because they think they know and they don't know.

"…so that He might put to shame those who are wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world…" (v 17). That's why we have problems; we're weak. You have things to overcome. You have things to work on. You have the flesh that you give into to often. That's why there's repentance and forgiveness.

"…so that He might put to shame the strong things" (v 27). Think about what it's going to be like when those in this world—whichever resurrection they are in—understand what God has done. I imagine that there are some who will say, 'Yeah, cast me in the Lake of Fire if you want to run things with these foolish people.' It's amazing how some people think!

Verse 28: "And the lowborn of the world, and the despised has God chosen—even the things that are counted as nothing, in order that He might bring to nothing the things that are; so that no flesh might glory in His presence" (vs 28-29).

Note the book of Job. That's why Job went through what he went through. He was bragging that he was more righteous than God. 'Why don't we have a judge; I want to take God to court so I can have a judge's opinion who is right, God or me.'

Verse 30: "But you are of Him in Christ Jesus, Who was made to us wisdom from God, even righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; so that, as it is written, 'The one who glories, let him glory in the Lord'" (vs 30-31).

That first chapter of Corinthians sets the whole tone for the whole book and every single chapter deals with problems.

1-Cor. 2—When you have that, Paul says that you're carnal and you can't receive the spiritual things. Then he says that there's no way any eye, ear or mind can find the way of God without God. It has to be revealed. You need the Spirit of God; you can't do it because you're intelligent. You can't do it, because you're stupid; you need the Spirit of God. And to understand the things of God you need the Spirit of God.

1-Corinthians 3:1: "And, I, brethren, was not able to speak to you as to those who are spiritual, but as to those who are carnal—even as to babes in Christ."

What happens with little children like that? They may by enthusiastic at times, but they make a lot of silly statements and think a lot of silly things.

Verse 2: "I gave you milk to drink, and not meat…" Look at some of the things we handle here today. Look at all things that God has given us to understand. I hope we can have a 'filet mignon' every Sabbath. But that's not necessarily so.

"…for you were not yet able to receive spiritual meat; and neither are you able now, for you are still carnal…." (vs 2-3). How many people in the Churches of God are still carnal?

"…For since envy and contention and divisions are among you, are you not carnal? And are you not walking according to human ways? When someone says, 'I am of Paul,' and another one says, 'I am of Apollos,' are you not carnal? Who then is Paul? And who is Apollos?…." (vs 3-5).

Paul is saying, 'You've got to grow up!' Christ is the Stone, the Foundational Stone upon which you're going to build.'

Verse 11: "For no one is able to lay any other foundation besides that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if anyone builds upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay or stubble" (vs 11-12).

So, we have those three categories of spiritual things, and the three categories of semi-spiritual things, or carnal things. Then Paul says that you need to be careful how you're building; likewise with us. If you build with wood, hay or stubble, it's going to be burned up by fire, and fire is trials. That's what happens when people get trials and they are built on a carnal base of wood, hay and stubble. They go puff! Gone!

Then Paul gives them a little bit of meat, v 16: "Don't you understand that you are God's temple, and that the Spirit of God is dwelling in you?" There are two words for dwelling: one that means to abide, and the other is a derivative that comes from house—'oikos.' This dwelling comes from 'oikos.'

Verse 17: "If anyone defiles the temple of God, God shall destroy him because the temple of God is Holy, which temple you are. Let no one deceive himself…." (vs 17-18).

Isn't that the biggest difficulty of all. Stop and analyze what happens when people get themselves in trouble. The first thing they do is lie to themselves and deceive, and think that they can get away with it. That's why I like to watch this program every once in a while: I Almost Got Away with It. Know this: God is greater than the authorities in the world! God knows!

"…If anyone among you thinks himself to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, so that he may be wise in God's sight" (v 18). In other words, how do you do that? If you have a good mind, that's what is the matter with the Brits. They have a high level of intelligence, and with it they have rejected God.

Notice that a lot of these programs are very good in analytics and putting things together, and figuring out how things work, especially when they're uncovering an archeological project or something like that. But tell them to believe in God; the churches are emptying in the UK, as well as the U.S. Same way with the Greeks.

How do you become a fool if you have a good intelligence? I'll show you! This is something we need to understand every day! All those atheists who shake their fist at God and hate the Word of God and hate those who believe in God, they need to really learn this:

Acts 17:23—Paul says: "…'To an unknown God.' So then, He Whom you worship in ignorance is the One that I proclaim to you. He is the God Who made the world and all things that are in it…." (vs 23-24). Everything you think you're so smart about, that you know and understand, God made!

"…Being the Lord of heaven and earth, He does not dwell in temples made by hands; nor is He served by the hands of men, as though He needs anything, for He gives to all… [every human being, each and every one of them] …life and breath and all things" (vs 24-25). Stop and think about that! You can ask the smart people:

• How smart are you?
• What can you do? Oh, we can make robots!
• Can they reproduce one another? Well, we're about ready to make a machine to do that!

Verse 26: "And He made of one blood all the nations of men to dwell upon all the face of the earth, having determined beforehand their appointed times and the boundaries of their dwelling; in order that they might seek the Lord, if perhaps they might feel after Him and might find Him; though truly, He is not far from each one of us." (vs 26-27).

Now, this is how a wise person makes himself a fool before God; in other words, he does like Job did. Job had to understand that God made all of these things. And every single thing that Job did was according to the commandments of God. So, how could his righteousness be more than God's, Who lived forever? Here it is right here:

Verse 28: "For in Him we… [every human being] …live and move and have our being…"

• every thought
• every heartbeat
• every breath
• every drop of water
• every morsel of food
• every emotion
• everything that we are

God has made! And you give up the wisdom of your stupidity of evolution and learn the wisdom of God; it's right here in the Bible! "For in Him we live and move and have our being…"

That's how you become a fool in God if you think you're so intelligent. How do you think that would go over talking to all of the great minds of this world? Start with Schmidt of Google! Start with all of them. All you rich people, what's going to happen in the day that all of your money goes POOF!

1-Corinthians 3:19: "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God for it is written, 'He entraps the wise in their own craftiness.' And again, 'The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.' Therefore, do not let anyone boast in men; 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 you are Christ's, and Christ is God's" (vs 19-23).

Based upon that, why should we get all exalted. They were saying like one evangelist who used to go around to the Churches—Gerald Waterhouse—and he used to 'water the house' with his messages. He had the whole Kingdom of God portioned out to everyone possible. That was nothing but vanity and stupidity.

God is going to put whom He's going to put, wherever He's going to put them, according to His judgment and according to how we yield to Him! That's how God is going to do it.

1-Corinthians 4:7: "For what makes you superior to others? And what do you have that you did not receive?

Verse 18: "Now, some of you are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you; but I shall come to you shortly, if the Lord wills; and I will know not merely the words of those who are puffed up, but the power. For the Kingdom of God is not in words, but in power. What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of meekness?" (vs 18-21).

Not like it is today. It's almost like this: How can you get the attention of some of these Sunday-keepers to understand about the Word of God? It's amazing!

I saw Adrian Rogers who has a program on TBN; I'm finding out what they preach. It's called Love Worth Finding[transcriber's correction]. I came in on a program he did the ninth commandment: you shall not bear false witness. Good speaker, excellent presentation, spoke the truth, very convincing. You have false witness, good witness and explained what that meant. Then he explained how he explained it to his children. Then he asked his children were there some things that they thought that were not true that he said to them. They all raised their hand and said, 'Yeah, Dad, you said this, that and the other thing.' He said, 'As I told you, you have to repent if you say something that isn't right. So, I repented to my children.' What's he going to say to God when God says:

• Did you not give this sermon on false witnessing?
• Did you not do this on Sunday?
• Did you not say that it's okay not to keep the Sabbath?
• Is that a false witness against Me Who created it?
• You kept Christmas, Easter, New Years and all of this, and all of those are Satan's days!

That's going to be a Matthew 7:23[transcriber's correction]: "And then I will confess to them, 'I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who work lawlessness.'" Even though you say, 'Lord, Lord, we did this, that and the other thing.'

This guy was a really good preacher, very convincing. But I wonder how he would handle that?

1-Cor. 5—sexual immorality, incest in the Church! What brought down the largest Church of God in modern history? Sexual immorality! Do we have that today? Yes!

Then Paul shows that we are going to be judges of the world, and even of angels; 1-Corinthians 6:9: "Don't you know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor abusers of themselves as women… [the man playing the role of a woman: transgenderism today] …nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom of God" (vs 9-10).

Here's a homosexual Bible called The Queen James Version! Verse 9: "Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor morally weak, nor promiscuous, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom of God." The wisdom of the wise! Look what they have done!

Isn't this for 2-Corinthians? Yes, but I want you to understand why 2-Cor. is written the way that it is, and it's predicated on 1-Cor.!

They recognized fornication and adultery in this homosexual Bible. You've heard of same-sex marriage; you've got to be loyal. So, they allowed that. Amazing!

How do you solve all of these things? Again, Paul says, v 15: "Don't you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot?…." Think of that in relationship to false religion. Think of that in relationship to Rev. 17.

"…MAY IT NEVER BE! WHAT! Don't you know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body? For He says, 'The two shall be one flesh.' But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Flee sexual immorality…" (vs 15-18). That's what they ought to post in the halls of congress!

"…Every sin that a man may commit is outside the body, but the one who commits sexual immorality is sinning against his own body" (v 18)—because of everything that comes along with it:

• it affects your emotions
• it affects your mind
• it affects your thinking
• it affects your health
• it affects your children
• it affects everything that there is

The Proverb says that 'a foolish man that commits adultery is like bringing hot coals to his chest.'

Verse 19: "WHAT!…. [very corrective, but they didn't get the point] …Don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, which you have within you from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (vs 19-20). In other words:

• Live God's way!
• Think with the words of God!
• Conduct your life according to the commandments of God!

When we have done of all of that, what did Jesus say we are to conclude? We're unprofitable servants because we've only done what has been commanded!

How do you go above that? By loving God with all your heart, mind, soul and being! That's how you go above and beyond. We're living in a wicked world! They ought to post this, and this ought to be sent as a telegram to everyone in congress, every politician in the United States, whether on a city council or in a state capital.

1-Corinthians 7:1: "Now, concerning the things that you wrote to me, saying, 'It is good for a man not to touch a woman'…" That's true! That's been the problem! Also, there are a lot of women out there who want to be touched. It takes two tango!

"…I say this: Rather, to avoid sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband" (vs 1-2). That's the solution to the problem.

Remember all of those LIBs who said, 'Hooty-snooty Vice President Pence, he won't be alone with a woman in a room. He always has his wife with him.' Who is now wise? Pence! That's smart! He knows what has happened!

1-Cor. 8—eating things to idols.

We'll pick it up in 1-Cor. 9 in part two because we have to answer the question, which always comes up: Why do you ask for tithes and offerings? Especially when we were in the other churches, that's all they do.

• When Paul didn't get a thing from the Corinthians, why didn't he do it?
• What was his reason?

I even had one person write me and say, 'What you ought to do is take your Bible and go with nothing like the apostles did when Jesus sent them on a mission. Is that what God wants us to do? Well, we'll answer those questions in part two: Why did not Paul instruct them to give tithes and offerings? We will see that he had the authority to do it, but why didn't he?

All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version (except where noted)

Scriptural References:

• Luke 12:31-32, 35, 38,42-48
• Acts 9:3-9, 12-13, 15-17
• Acts 26:15-18
• Isaiah 60:1-2
• 2 Timothy 3:1-2
• Isaiah 60:2-3
• Jeremiah 13:12-16
• Acts 18:1-11
• 1 Corinthians 1:1-3
• Ephesians 1:1-3, 1
• 1 Corinthians 1:4-10
• Acts 17:11
• 1 Corinthians 1:11-13, 17-22, 25-31
• 1 Corinthians 3:1-5, 11-12, 16-18
• Acts 17:23-28
• 1 Corinthians 3:19-23
• 1 Corinthians 4:7, 18-21
• Matthew 7:23
• 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 9, 15-20
• 1 Corinthians 7:1-2

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Psalm 91
• Revelation 2; 3
• Matthew 25
• Revelation 12; 13
• Galatians 2
• Isaiah 56; 58
• Acts 13; 16
• 1 Corinthians 15; 2; 5
• Revelation 17
• 1 Corinthians 8; 9

Also referenced:

Chronologies 5 & 6 (The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version)

Sermons:

• News, Flesh & Bone and N.T. Fraud
• Spirit of God/Spirit of Man—7 Spirits of God #s1-2

Sermon Series: Assaults Against the Church (Dan/Rev. series #12-15)

FRC: bo
Transcribed: 12/10/17

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