Enriched in Christ | 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

When we think about greeting somebody or even

greeting a group of people, we tend to think

of greetings as obligatory. We tend to think

of them as not all that important. In fact, when

we come together, we often say, well, how are

you, right? And we say it very quickly, not without

a lot of thought, because the greeting is something

that we all think, well, we just rush past it.

in order to get to the meat of the conversation,

right? We want to get to the things that really

matter, but we enter into it with this quick

greeting, how you doing? Well, scripture doesn't

do that. Scripture does not rush through a greeting.

In fact, in most cases, the authors in the New

Testament letters preach entire sermons, just

in the greetings, just in the salutations. So

what we tend to skim over or just read right

past and I think we've all done this before.

We decide we're gonna read a book in the New

Testament, we open it up, and we just zip through

the greeting, right, so that we can get to the

meat. The things that we read past are often

absolutely loaded with important theology, absolutely

loaded with pastoral care. Sometimes you'll find

entire summaries of the gospel just in the opening

verses of a letter. And our passage for this

morning is a perfect example of this. It is packed

full of essential, Christian doctrine, things

that define the historic faith of Christianity,

packed into just nine verses in the greeting

of our letter for this morning. And it's sort

of ironic, when we think of 1 Corinthians, you

think, well, this is a really practical letter

for the church, and that's true. But what we're

going to find out, that it starts with the theology.

Here's the thing, and I hope this truth comes

through loud and clear throughout this preaching

series. How we live life together practically

in the local church has to be built on theology.

It has to be built on essential theology and

biblical convictions. We don't just wander in

and say, well, let's start with the practical

stuff. They have to be built on eternal truths.

So as we dive into our passage for today, we're

going to linger here in the greeting, spend our

entire message on it. And we're going to see

how Paul's choice of words here, inspired by

the Holy Spirit, how they set the course for

the rest of his letter. So grab your Bibles.

We're going to 1 Corinthians 1. If you missed

last Sunday's introduction, I want to encourage

you to go back because it really does set the

context for everything that we're going to read

over, I don't know, the next couple of years.

So go back and listen to it. And let me also

say this. I referenced a lot of pictures and

maps and timelines in that sermon. And some of

you reached out this last week and said, can

you send me those pictures? And I can do that.

I can send you a PDF with all those pictures

and all of those timelines and maps. All you

have to do is text me or email me and say, send

it my way. Happy to do that. But that message

from last Sunday really is important for context.

Now, we know that Paul is writing here to a troubled

church. That's what we saw last week. We looked

at the city of Corinth. We looked at Paul's connection

to this unique body of believers. This is a church

that exists in a very wealthy, very materialistic,

very idolatrous city and culture. But in spite

of that truth, Paul begins his letter here to

the members of this church with great confidence.

which you might not expect. He doesn't begin

by questioning the reality of their conversion.

Instead, he starts to affirm what God has done

for them in Christ. There's going to be plenty

of time in this letter for Paul to rebuke them

and correct them and instruct them, but not yet.

First, they have to be reminded of the certainty

of their salvation. They've got to be reminded

about the hope that they have in Christ and to

make sure that they understand that the certainty

that they have doesn't rest in themselves. Because

none of us can keep ourselves in the kingdom,

right? It rests in the power of God, in the one

who has the gift of salvation in his sovereign

hands. And so every one of the nine verses that

we're going to look at this morning is intended

to help the Corinthians and you and I by extension

to know who we are in relation to God. Let me

say this again. All nine of the verses we're

going to look at today. given to us so that we'll

understand who we are in relation to God. So

this is what Paul's going to tell them in this

section. This is who you are in Christ. And we

should listen for ourselves as well, because

what's true of the Corinthians back then is true

of believers today. Who are we in Christ? And

the way that Paul goes about laying this out

is actually very brilliant. He's going to start

by looking back into the past. to define how

these men and women became believers in the first

place. So he starts in the past. Then he's going

to look at the present situation to see what

their experience is right now as a local church

living life together, just like we are. And finally,

he's going to look to the future. He's going

to look down the road eschatologically to their

end and how they can be assured of where they're

going to end up. So, past, present, and future.

You're gonna see it throughout. So let's back

up to verse one. We're just actually gonna, let's

just read this whole greeting, verses one through

nine. Here's what it says. 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've 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. Now, before we read the rest of it here,

I want you to notice the absence of something

that's very important. Normally in Paul's letters,

at this point, he would say something positive

about the church there. He would say something

praiseworthy. That's usually how we start. So,

for example, I'll put some of these on the screen.

To the church of Rome, he writes, I thank my

God through Jesus Christ for you all because

your faith is being proclaimed throughout the

whole world. That's a real praiseworthy thing.

To the Ephesian church, he says, I've heard of

the faith in the Lord Jesus, which exists among

you and your love for all the saints. To the

Philippian church, he speaks of their participation

in the gospel from the first day until now. To

the church in Colossae, he says, we heard of

your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which

you have for all the saints. And to the church

of Thessalonica, what scholars think is probably

the most healthy church of all the New Testament

churches, he says, we make mention of you in

our prayers, constantly bearing in mind your

work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness

of hope. in our Lord Jesus Christ. Man, if you

wanted to be just really thrilled with what God

says about your local church, that's a really

good example, right? Did you see it? Your work

of faith, your labor of love, your steadfastness

of hope. But guess what? You don't see anything

like that in the 1 Corinthians, do you? It's

not there. Nothing really praiseworthy. But here's

what Paul's going to do. Instead, he's going

to focus like a laser beam, not on the believers,

but on what God has done among them. And this

is so important, right? What he has done, what

he is doing, what he will do among the believers

there in Corinth. So let's look at verses four

through nine now. I thank my God always concerning

you for the grace of God which was given you

in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were

enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge,

even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed

in you. So let me point that again. What you

see in these six verses are references to the

past, to the present, and to the future. And

the verb tenses... Really tell the story in this,

and we'll see that as we go along. So we want

to look at all three of those areas, one at a

time. We'll spend the most time on the first

one, on the past, because that's where Paul spends

the most time in both verses two and verses four

through six. So let's look at verse two again.

To those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus,

saints by calling, with all who in every place

call on the name of Jesus, of our Lord Jesus

Christ. So this is true of the believers in first

century Corinth, and it's true of believers today.

We should be able to ask the question and answer

the question, what happened in the past that

brought us into the kingdom of God? What happened

that brought us into union with Christ? And what

we see here are three things. Number one, we

were sanctified in him. Number two, he called

us to be saints. And number three, we responded

to being sanctified and called. By calling on

the name of Jesus as Lord. Do you see it? Let

me say it again. We were sanctified in him. He

called us to be saints. And then we responded

to that by calling on the name of Jesus as Lord.

And that order is important, right? First, God

sanctified us. In what sense? In the sense that

he set us apart to be holy in his sight. Now,

I know we talk about sanctification as an ongoing

life process of maturing in the Lord. The way

it's being used here in this verse is, no, set

apart, set apart as holy in God's sight. That

is positionally true of anybody that is found

in Christ. And that action was completed before

time began. You heard Paul say the same thing

in our call to worship passage that Dave read

from Ephesians 1. He chose us in him. This is

what Dave read. He chose us in him, meaning he

set us apart in Christ before the foundation

of the world that we would be holy and blameless

before him. Do you believe that? I hope so. And

the way Paul writes that here in 1 Corinthians

is important. He says, This is the Greek verb

hagiadzo written in what we call the perfect

tense. And the perfect tense is very important

in the Greek language. It refers to an action

that was completed in the past, but the results

of that action continue on. Okay, completed in

the past, but the results continue on. Here's

what that means. The believers in Corinth were

chosen by God in eternity past. They were sanctified

or set apart to be in union with Christ, and

that set apartness continues. It continues on.

In fact, this is such an important truth. As

believers, we are forever set apart in Christ.

We were set apart in eternity past, and we'll

be set apart into eternity future. We belong

to him. We're in union with Christ. So we are

called by God to be what Paul refers to as saints.

Hagios in the Greek, which, get this, translates

to what? What is a saint? A holy one. A holy

one. Now, he's not talking about saints as the

Roman Catholic Church canonized saints. Their

definition of saints as men and women who are

uniquely virtuous is not at all biblical. That

is simply a tradition. Paul uses the word. to

refer to just ordinary Christians like you and

I, even the Corinthians. They're saints. In fact,

this is one of Paul's favorite words to describe

believers. He uses it some 40 times in the New

Testament. Now, did you realize that you are

a holy one? Do you realize that God sees you

as a holy one? And you can see how this relates

to being sanctified. Look at the screen and you

can see how both of these words share the same

root in the Greek language. Hagios, Hagiazo.

We are sanctified saints chosen and set apart

by God to be holy in his sight. That is our positional

truth. It is true about us as we sit here this

morning. And that positional truth is secured

by God's sovereign grace and his sovereign will.

I know it's hard to believe, right? Because we

all wrestle with sin. But positionally, Christ

has declared this about us. We are his holy ones.

So the calling described here isn't just an external

offer that God makes to us as we tend to think

about calling. It's not just that we hear the

gospel. What Paul's talking about here in verse

two is an effectual action on God's part that

results in us being holy ones. It's an effectual

act. God declares it to be so. We are his holy

ones. And this type of calling, what God does

is he, in time and space, he marks us out in

eternity past. In time and space, he opens up

our eyes spiritually. He breaks through our resistance.

He awakens us out of spiritual death and he massages

our heart to life. He brings us to life. And

then he grants us the ability to turn to him,

to see the beauty of Christ, and to embrace the

truth of the gospel. Is that your testimony?

Do you remember when God did this in your life?

I remember it clearly in my college days, when

God did this work in me. And I didn't really

know what was going on. I couldn't really answer,

why am I suddenly paying attention to the things

of God? Last week, I could have cared less, and

God's drawing me, and he's doing this work in

my heart. He's massaging my heart to life. It's

amazing, right? And so God changes our affections.

From our perspective, it's a free and glad submission

to Christ. As he changes our affections, he causes

us to truly want to worship Jesus. So these two

things work together, God's divine sovereignty,

and yet we really do desire and want to submit

to Christ because God creates that. He causes

that in us, in our hearts. He brings us to life.

It's a beautiful thing, isn't it? We don't have

to pick one or the other, sovereignty or human

responsibility. They fit together biblically.

And as Paul describes here in verse two, when

that happens, when God changes our hearts, we

can incline ourselves towards him and we call

upon the name of the Lord. We call upon Jesus

as Lord, just as he predestined we would. Hmm.

Hmm. Interesting, right? Here's the amazing thing

about this. He chose to call and sanctify and

save first century Corinthians. And he chose

to call, sanctify, and save a knucklehead like

me. And like you. That's what's so amazing about

amazing grace. But that's not all he does. He

doesn't just leave us there positionally. Then

he summons us to work out our salvation practically.

To progressively, over time, turn that positional

holiness into practical holiness. He invites

us to abide in Christ. He commands us to walk

by the Spirit even as he does the work in us

to transform us into the image of Christ. And

again, those things work together, right? We

work out our salvation as God does that work

in us. And that positional holiness that we've

been given slowly becomes practical holiness.

Sometimes not as fast as we wished. Amen? But

God is gonna complete that work in each one of

us. Therefore, we walk in a way that's consistent

with the truth of our identity, what God has

said we are, what he has made us positionally.

We walk in the truth of that identity. We keep

putting off the old nature and we keep striving

to put on the new nature, being conformed to

the image of the one who saved us. Wow, the theology

in this, right? Just in a greeting, in a letter

is amazing. Now, that's not all that Paul has

to say about our past. There's more in verses

four to six. Look again at verse four. Paul says,

I thank my God always concerning you. By the

way, did you think that Paul would be thankful

as he writes to the Corinthians with all of their

problems? But he is. We might open this letter

and think, you know what, man, Paul's gonna give

these guys a spanking and they deserve it, right?

But he starts. Where we should all start, with

his theology in place. His understanding of our

relationship with God first. What he knows to

be true. And he knows that these Christians in

Corinth, though they're immature in their faith,

though that they need time and they need correction,

they are truly saints. And so therefore he can

be thankful. Thankful that God has begun the

good work there. Thankful that when God begins

a good work, he's going to complete it. And he

always does that, first of all, for his glory,

but second, for our good, right? Verse four goes

on. I thank my God always concerning you for

the grace of God, which was given to you in Christ

Jesus. So there it is. Paul is thankful that

God has lavished his grace upon these chosen

saints. In that city, these sanctified holy ones,

this grace that we speak of is nothing less than

unmerited, unearned favor and blessing from God.

That's what grace is. I'll say it again. Unmerited,

unearned favor and blessing from the creator

of which nobody on this earth deserves. Not one

of us. We have to get that straight, right? Certainly

not the Corinthians. They didn't deserve this

grace. So make sure you understand the basics

here. God's grace is a free gift. It cannot be

earned because as soon as you say, I earned that,

you actually nullify grace, don't you? You nullify

it. When you earn something, it's called a wage.

And the only thing that scripture says we've

earned as sinful human beings is what? Is death.

Romans 6, 23, the wages of sin is death. Death

is actually what we've all earned. It is what

we deserve. And yet Paul says here in verse four

that these men and women in Corinth were instead

given grace. They weren't given what they deserved.

They were given a gift. This is why we talk about

grace all the time here, right? It's amazing.

Now here's what I think Paul is aiming at as

he starts with this topic. We can now look back

at this letter. It's been 2 ,000 years, right?

And we can see some of the problems that are

happening in Corinth. At the top of the list

is, and this is maybe hard to believe, but these

immature believers are struggling with spiritual

pride. This is gonna come out throughout the

letter. They were lining up, first of all, behind

certain gifted leaders. And they were prideful

in that. Well, I follow this guy. Oh, I follow

this guy. And they were creating rivalries in

the church and dividing it. These guys were obsessed

with seeking after certain spiritual gifts that

would shine the spotlight on them. Look how godly

I am. They were boasting in their tolerance of

sin. They knew about sin in the body. They were

masking it by calling it the so -called freedom

in Christ. They were prideful in that. They're

proud of their intellectual background as Greeks,

thinking themselves to be wise when in reality

they were just being puffed up by it. So what

Paul seems to be doing here right out of the

gate in the greeting is trying to counter that

sense of pride in the Corinthians and to try

to let them know, look, if you have anything

at all, you Corinthians, it's all by grace. In

fact, he's going to say in chapter four, what

do you have that you did not receive? And if

you did receive it, why do you boast as if you

hadn't received it? So he's already, he's laying

it out right out of the gate. Everything you

have is by God's grace. Friends, this is true

of us. Everything that we have. I know, look,

we're Americans, right? Right? I pull myself

up by the bootstraps. Everything I have, I worked

hard for. Practical sense, that may be true.

You put out the effort, but everything that we

have is only because God has had a gracious hand

in your life. Even this day, the fact that you

woke up with breath in your lungs comes from

God. This worship service, we wouldn't be here

had God not done these things in our life from

eternity past, marked us out, sanctified us,

called us, saved us. None of us would be here

this morning. And we'd be in our sins, heading

towards spiritual death. But think about so many

more things that we so easily take for granted.

Our families, our spouses, our children, our

jobs, our homes, the clothing on our backs, all

the amenities that we enjoy as 21st century Americans.

Too many things to count, but we should count

them as grace. They're all gifts of grace from

the hand of our God. Amen? If you look now at

verse 5. Paul puts it this way, and I think this

is the word that jumped off the page to me when

I was praying through this passage. That in everything

you were enriched in him. Underline that word

enriched. Highlight that. You find here the Greek

word pas, which means in all things. Enriched,

not in some things, but in everything. you've

been made rich. That's what the verb means there.

If you're found in Christ, you've been made rich.

Do you feel rich? Who feels rich? Okay, this

is not according to how the world defines that

term. In fact, it's spiritual, so the world can

never understand it. If you said to them, you

walk out there and go, I am rich, they'll go,

you're crazy. Because they can't understand it.

It's spiritually discerned. But we are rich.

You've been lavished with grace by the creator.

Every sin of yours is washed away. You have a

guaranteed future in heaven. Are we not rich?

Can you put a price on that? Have you ever done

this thought experiment? Could you put a price

on what you have in Christ? Would you trade it

for a billion dollars on this earth? And if so,

that's the height of foolishness. You don't really

understand what you have if you would make that

trade. You and I are rich. Because we lack nothing

in Christ. The Lord has held back nothing from

his children. The scriptures say that we have

all things that pertain to life and godliness,

that in Christ we've been made complete. Again,

back to our call to worship passage, Ephesians

1, we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing

in the heavenly realms. So I ask again, are we

not rich? We are. Then in verse five, it's interesting

now. This is where it gets really contextual.

Paul mentions two things in particular that the

Corinthians had great richness in. He says, in

all speech and knowledge. Again, this is Paul

anticipating where he's going to go in this letter,

the issues he's going to address. Because speech

and knowledge were two things that the Corinthians

were very proud about. Speech and knowledge were

two things that were huge in Greek culture. Incredibly

important. And they think they have plenty of

it. So Paul's reminding them, all that refined

speech that you love, remember we talked about

last week how they love great orders, they love

theater, they love all this stuff. All that refined

speech that you love, now that you're saved,

now that you're called and sanctified, that speech

has to be used for God's glory and for accomplishing

his will. It's been granted to you by grace to

now speak truth into the culture that you live

in as a witness to his goodness and to your salvation.

So you might be puffed up in your speech. You

need to transform that now to speak into your

culture. And the power of the mind that you love

so much, knowledge, it also has to be used for

God's purposes. The renewing of your mind. The

changing of the way you see the world. The changing

of the way you think. The accumulation of knowledge

about things that actually matter. Things about

life and death and sin and righteousness. Apply

your knowledge to that. is where Paul is gonna

go. The human knowledge out there in the culture

is only gonna puff you up, but spiritual knowledge

found in God's word will build you up. And those

are two completely different things, right? Puffed

up or built up in Christ. Then Paul adds, verse

six, he says, in everything you were enriched

in him, even as the testimony concerning Christ

was confirmed or made certain in you. made certain

in you. God had chosen them to be saved before

the foundation of the world. Then he drew them

to himself within time and space. And at the

moment of their conversion, when his grace was

extended and they were justified in his sight,

in that moment, the truth of the gospel was made

certain in their hearts. And that should be said

of us as well. The message of salvation, how

they were saved. by God's grace alone through

faith, was made steadfast in them. It was shown

to be real and true in their lives. Paul knows

this about the Corinthians, in spite of all the

problems. You see what Paul's doing here? He's

preparing the soil for what's to come later in

this letter. He's gonna address this wide variety

of subjects, and he is preparing that soil. For

rebuke and correction and conviction and encouragement

and all the things that God wants to do in this

local church. How these truths ought to be manifested

in their lives as they live together as a local

body. So that's the past. And there's a lot to

be said. You see the list on the screen. Our

past as believers. True of the Corinthians in

the first century. True of us in the 21st century.

Now, the present. Let's look at verse 7. And

let's talk about the present. Verse seven says,

so that, and what he means by that is, right

now, at the time that you receive this letter,

you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly

the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. So in

the past, you were set apart, you were called

to saints, you were lavished with grace, you

were enriched in every way, and the result of

that is, presently, you are not lacking any gift

whatsoever. You have every gift that you need

from the hand of God. Now the word for gift here

is charisma. It's where we get our word charismatic

from. It also comes from the same root as the

Greek word for grace, charis. And that means

that even the divine spiritual gifts that are

given to believers comes to us by what? By grace.

It's the same root word. Grace, grace, and these

gifts, same root in the Greek. So we don't earn

spiritual gifts. We don't go, man, you thump

our chest and go, I ought to have X, Y, or Z

gift. They're divinely given to us by grace alone.

Again, this is Paul foreshadowing where he's

going in the letter. When we get to chapters

12, 13, and 14, it's gonna be wild. You know

what's coming, right? He's gonna talk about this

variety of charismata in detail and try to explain

to the Corinthians how they've messed this up.

But understand this, and this is a bit of a preview

to where Paul's gonna go in his argument. These

spiritual gifts are given to members of the church

for one purpose, for one purpose, for the common

good, to build up and encourage the body of Christ.

They're not given to draw attention to yourself.

They're not given so that you can be spectacular

in the church. They're not given so that you

can disrupt things or cause confusion. They're

not given to you so you can have a whole new

source of pride in yourself. They are gracious

gifts to be used not for self, not for self,

but for building up other believers and the church

as a whole. So Paul's laying the foundation for

this right out of the gate. You are not lacking

in any gift, Paul writes. That means you have

everything that you need right now to build up

that local church in Corinth. God's given you

everything. So you can now minister to each other.

You can serve each other. You can love each other.

You can encourage each other. You can bear with

one another's burdens. You can show hospitality.

You can teach and admonish one another. You can

comfort one another. So on and so on. And here

at Oak Hill, we talk about these one another's

all the time, don't we? Because it really does

define what New Testament living looks like.

Look, you can be part of some big church and

slide in and out whenever you feel like it, show

up whenever you feel like it, don't meet anybody,

get some good teaching, get a good cup of coffee

and go home and think you're a part of a church.

And I'm here to tell you that if you're not living

out the one another's with real actual people

and all the rock tumbler that goes with that,

you're not living a New Testament life. You're

living an American church life. And don't be

deceived by that. So we stress this over and

over again. Paul is gonna say, look, you Corinthians,

I know you all wanna speak in tongues. I know

you all wanna do healings. You all wanna see

miracles, fine, but how about we start with the

greater gifts? Start loving each other. Start

serving each other in practical ways. Before

you get to those things, and we'll talk about

those things, do the basics. Live out the one

in others. So the Corinthian church is a mess.

But it wasn't because they lacked spiritual resources.

God had given them everything that they needed.

And Paul's reminding of that. You have everything

you need to live a healthy New Testament life.

And as we live that life together, Paul says,

look, we should be eagerly awaiting the revealing

of the Son of God in power. How many of you guys

are starting to think more about this in these

days that we live in? In the days where all the

news is about what? War, artificial intelligence,

and UFOs. How many of you are starting to think

about it? It's hard to ignore some of the things

going on in our world right now. Now, we don't

want to be deceived. We've got to be careful.

But it's hard to ignore what's happening in our

world right now. There are ominous predictions

made by very... smart and sometimes spiritual

people about what's coming down the pike in the

next couple of years. We should pay attention

to that. I know there's been a push in recent

years for Christians to stop thinking about Christ's

return. I've heard this for, I don't know, 20

years now. Well, we gotta be careful that we

don't, we focus so much on that that we're not

focusing on practical life in the church. But

we should be careful not to ignore it. God's

given us all the warning signs in scripture.

And he's told us, look, in this letter, we should

be eagerly awaiting the return of our Savior.

We should be looking to the skies. We should

be praying for Christ to return. We shouldn't

be so obsessed with it that we lose sight of

practical Christian life, the one in others,

and things of that nature. But friends, Christ's

return is our hope, right? Our hope is to be

home, to be in the presence of our Savior. So

why would we stop watching? Find the balance

in that. Why would we stop anticipating that

Christ could come back today? The rapture could

happen today. Would any of us be surprised? Finally,

from the past to the present, let's look at the

future. Look at verses eight and nine. Verse

seven finishes, awaiting eagerly the revelation

of our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse eight. who will

also confirm you, and some translations say sustain

you or strengthen you, to the end, blameless

in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. So as messed

up as the Corinthian church was, Paul wants them

to know, if you've been called, if you've been

sanctified, if you've been lavished with grace,

if you've been enriched in every way, this is

also true. You ready? The security of your salvation

is unquestioned. What God has started, he will

strengthen and he will sustain and he will ultimately

finish. So if they're truly found in Christ,

then their eternal hope is certain. Having the

penalty for their sins paid for at the cross,

they would be, without question, found blameless

at the judgment seat because Christ had paid

the penalty, a sufficient penalty for every sin.

Blameless at the day of his return. So listen,

when we talk about this concept, we're talking

about an essential Christian doctrine, the doctrine

of perseverance. In a practical sense, we're

talking about the assurance of our salvation.

This is the biblical truth that God will hold

us in his grasp right until the day of judgment.

He will cause you and I to persevere. to the

end in our faith and our trust. And this is an

important issue. This goes to how we read the

Bible in a consistent fashion. Think about this.

If God is the sole reason that we've come into

the kingdom in the first place, he's not gonna

fail to keep us, right? If he alone saved us

and brought us into the kingdom, he's gonna keep

us. But on the other hand, if you believe that

you're responsible, for your salvation, that

your decision was the determining factor that

brought you into the kingdom, well, then it stands

to reason that you can choose to remove yourself

from the kingdom too. So choose this day. Who's

responsible for your salvation? Is it God or

is it you? The idea that we can walk into the

kingdom on our own, from our own goodness, our

own merit, our own choice, our own decision,

Goes against what scripture tells us. The fact

that we can walk away from it once we've been

in it also goes against so many affirmations

in scripture. John chapter 10, for example. Jesus

John 10 · chapter mention

says, my sheep. Who are his sheep? Those who

belong to him. Those who have been marked out,

sanctified, called, enriched. My sheep listen

to my voice. He says, I know them. Jesus isn't

surprised by the fact that you're in the kingdom.

He's not going to go, oh, I didn't expect Glenn

to be here. This is amazing. Good job, Glenn.

Sorry, Glenn. Right? He says, no, I know my sheep.

It's not a mystery to me. He says, they follow

me. Doesn't say they make a decision, do I follow

or not? He says, no, they follow me. He says,

I give them eternal life and they shall never

perish. no one will snatch them out of my hand.

No one. Or the entire second half of Romans 8,

which you should read someday. Nothing can separate

us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus

our Lord. Not even you. If God has brought you

in, first of all, you're not going to want to

go out, but even your will cannot override the

will of the sovereign creator. You have the golden

chain of salvation at the end of Romans 8. Those

whom he predestined, he also called. Not a question

there. Those that he called, he also justified.

And those who he justified, he also glorified.

There's no room given in that chain for failure

on God's part. And what's at stake in all of

this is God's sovereignty and his purposes in

election, which are unfailing. So he will see

to it that every man or woman marked out for

salvation will be saved and will persevere to

the end. The testimony of scripture is very clear

on this. And what is the basis and guarantee

of that? It's a great promise. Isn't it a great

promise that God's going to keep you believing?

There's going to be ups and downs. In your faith,

in your walk, right? There's gonna be ups and

downs. God will keep you believing to the end.

Man, I'm so glad for that. If it was up to me,

I'd have fallen away a long time ago. But God

will keep us. What's the basis? The guarantee

that we have? Well, Paul says it in verse nine.

God is faithful. It's God's faithfulness that

is the basis for this promise. The scriptures

always focus on this. Not our fluctuating faith.

but on God's absolute faithfulness. It's true

that faith on our part is required, is part of

the equation, but even the faith that is produced

in us and comes out of us is a gift from God's

hand. It's very real. My faith is in Christ.

I know it's very real, but I also know where

it came from. It came from him, and praise God

he's given me that gift. Now I can exercise it.

Our being saved is never said to be contingent

upon a certain amount of faith that we need to

have. Like there's no number, like if you're,

you see the bars that go up and down, like if

your faith goes above this line, then you're

saved. It's just never described in scripture.

It's rooted solely in the trustworthiness of

the object of our faith, who is Christ, and he's

marked us out. And he's called us and he's sanctified

us and he's justified us and he's enriched us.

And his purposes always come to pass. Aren't

you glad that it all depends on the object of

our faith, not our faith? Man, listen to these

very simple and clear words from Dr. MacArthur.

It's one of my favorite quotes of his. Because

sometimes John just speaks really plainly, which

I love. He says, listen, you got saved because

he wanted you saved. And that's how you're gonna

stay because that's how he wants you to stay.

If he called you into fellowship with the son,

then he'll keep you. If you came in by grace,

you'll be kept by grace. And if he called me

into that fellowship, he wanted me in there.

And if he wanted me in there, he's gonna keep

me in there. I mean, I can't say it any more

plainly than that. This is the good news of the

gospel, isn't it? One last thing, Paul uses an

interesting phrase here at the end of verse eight,

the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why is that

interesting? Understand that throughout the Old

Testament, the term for that moment in time is

called the day of the Lord or the day of Yahweh.

And now Paul is taking that term from the Old

Testament and giving it, applying it to Jesus

at his second coming. So this is a very subtle

but important statement of Christ's identity

as fully God. The day of the Lord in the Old

Testament, the day of the Lord Jesus Christ in

the New. That's who he is. And it makes sense.

We're told that Jesus is the exact representation

of the being of God. And he is the exact representation

in all the areas of life and death that matter

most. In creation, in redemption, and yes, in

judgment. That's our Lord and Savior. Okay, so.

There's the greeting. Don't read past this in

the future, right? Slow down. See the theology.

But now let's tie a bow on all of this stuff.

Let's just sort of wrap up with some extra thoughts.

First of all, this struck me last night as I

was working on the message. I can tell you that

Paul's words in this greeting ring a certain

bell for me personally. I'll just share this

personally. I know what it's like to shepherd

a church. that has a lot of growing up to do.

Not talking about you guys. But can I just tell

you in the early years of Oak Hill, some of you

guys know, I wasn't sure we were going to make

it. The amount of immaturity we had in the body

in those first months, the first year. And I

wasn't sure I was up to the task to pastor either.

So it's not like I was all that. The congregation

wasn't. I wasn't sure I could do this. It was

all so overwhelming. But I remember the one thing

I could bank on in those days was that God was

in control. He was sovereign over that little

church that we planted. And that he would somehow,

I didn't know how, he would equip me to shepherd

these folks, even though I still didn't know

how to do it very well. But I knew he would do

that. And when things got discouraging, I knew

that God alone would determine the future of

this church. And look at us today. We're still

here by God's grace and by his sovereign hand.

Not by me, not by any of our elders, but by God's

grace. And so here in these verses, in a very

limited way, man, I sympathize with Paul. The

idea in the ancient world of shepherding this

church in Corinth, from afar, where it would

take three months to get on a ship and go there

to visit anybody. We can just drive and meet

for coffee and text each other. It's so much

more difficult back in that day than I ever had

it at Oak Hill. How overwhelming he must have

felt. So many problems. He's got so many fires

to put out, so many corrections to be made, and

facing so much resistance from these believers.

It shows up, especially in 2 Corinthians, so

much resistance. And yet, look again. at how

he begins. I always thank my God for you, Corinthians.

What a great lesson that is. Especially for those

of us in ministry, those of us who are elders,

we always keep thanking God for every one of

you because God has started a great work and

he will finish that work. And you know what?

We just have to be faithful to do our best to

shepherd, but it's all up to God. Man, that's

encouraging. Obviously, Paul wasn't being naive

about what he was faced with. He knew the sin,

but he saw something more clearly. He saw something

more clearly than the sin in those people. He

saw that God had lavished his grace upon them,

and he knew that God would finish that work.

So he could be thankful. In spite of the messiness,

right? There were real saints there in Corinth,

and that... That truth must have given Paul the

energy to keep going forward, right? He had to

know that his ministry wouldn't be in vain. His

work was ultimately God's work and God was gonna

decide. That's a good feeling when you're in

ministry. So as we close, I want you to hear

these verses. Don't hear them just, you know,

words written to an ancient church in the first

century. Hear them as God's word spoken over

you in Christ. That's what we have to do. Remember,

we talked about it last week. We first of all

figure out what the author was saying to the

audience in that day, but then we bridge that

gap to ourselves, to our lives. And we say, what

principles can we apply in our church today?

So I want to ask you, have you ever felt like

one of these Corinthians? Have you ever felt

like, man, my life is a mess. I don't even, I'm

not sure I should even go to church. My life

is so messy. I've got so many challenges. Maybe

I'm beyond hope. If that's you, reread verses

one through nine. Put yourself there in Corinth

and remember who's writing. Paul was a persecutor

of the church, a murderer. He calls himself the

chief of sinners. Sosthenes, we saw last week,

was the leader of the Jewish synagogue in Corinth,

the leader of everybody there who was hostile

to the gospel of Christ. So if there's hope for

Paul and hope for Sosthenes, Why is there no

hope for you? Of course there is. Because God's

sovereign. He can do as he pleases. And he can

transform your life beyond anything you could

even imagine. Some of you can testify to this.

I can testify. Knowing who I was in my 20s, I

can testify to this. God can do amazing transforming

things. There is never a reason to lose hope

if you're found in Christ. Reread verses one

through nine. Understand who you are in relation

to God. If you truly belong to him, go back and

say, if I truly belong to him, I know God chose

me. In eternity past, he marked me out. He's

called me to be a holy one. He's given me that

positional truth. He actually looks through the

lens of his son and sees me as a holy one, a

saint. Know that you've been given everything

you need now to grow, every gift to grow and

to see your life transformed and know that ultimately

God is going to keep you secure in his grasp

and nothing can snatch you out of his hand. So

if you're struggling, but you know you're in

Christ, you know that you love Jesus, you've

given your life to him, you've submitted to him,

know these truths. Verses one through nine. Know

that you've been enriched in every way, that

you have fellowship with God the Son. And know

that your story is not anchored in your performance,

but in his faithfulness. That means two things

for us as we go. And this is a big one. This

is a hard one. First of all, the truths we just

read tells us that we can be honest about our

sin. We can face our sin honestly. We can face

our weaknesses, our shortcomings, our failures.

We don't have to try to mask them. We don't have

to pretend, put on that face, the church face,

and pretend that they don't exist because God's

faithful. Our hope is not in ourselves. Our hope

is in the grace that we've already received.

So we can be honest with each other, trusted

friends, trusted brothers and sisters. We don't

have to play church. You're loved by God if you're

found in Christ. You're accepted by God. Oh,

he wants you to be transformed. Don't get me

wrong. But he loves you. Second, we can step

into the calling that God has on our life. And

we can do it with confidence. To use those gifts

that he's given you to build up the church. And

to know that he will complete whatever work he

wants to do in us. So if you feel discouraged

this week, if you are tempted to give up on what

God has called you to, again, come back to the

promises in verses one through nine. Your past,

your present, and your future. And let hope and

gratitude for all that he's done for you, let

it translate into action. Even this week, live

for his glory. He's worthy of your all. God stands

ready to do a great work in you. Let us strive

to please him in everything, amen? All right,

let's seal this with prayer. Father, how good

it is to come together and Lord, to seek your

face, to come to your throne of grace and to

deal honestly with our weaknesses and our sin.

Knowing, God, that we fall short of your glory

and yet, Lord, to trust in what we've read this

morning in these important verses that in spite

of the mess of our lives at times, Lord, that

you have done these things in our lives, in our

past, that you chose us and you sanctified us

and you called us positionally holy and you saved

us and you enriched us in every way. And in the

present, Lord, you're giving us these divine

gifts so that we can live out the one in others.

And then you say, just the icing on the cake,

you say, I will hold you in spite of the mess

of things down here. I will hold you to the end

and you will be found blameless by the blood

of my son. Father, never let us forget these

things. I know this is just essential gospel

doctrine, Lord, but sometimes we take them for

granted. God, by your spirit, continue to remind

us of these things so that we might glory in

you more, so that we might devote more of our

lives in practical ways to serve you and to worship

you and to love you. And continue, God, to do

a work in this local church, just as you were

doing a work in the Corinthian church, Lord.

Do a work in this church. Grow us, transform

us, bring us together in unity so that we might

be a force to be reckoned with in this community,

even as we await for you to return, Lord. Do

a great work in this church, God. Thank you for

our time together in your word. We pray in the

name of Christ.