First Corinthians | Grace Be With You All

It is good to be with you this morning.

You guys sound great singing. It's always a great pleasure to

be able to worship together on the Lord's Day.

It's good to see everybody here today.

It's a great privilege and an honor to be preaching this

morning. I think most of you guys know

me, but if you're visiting, my name is Jasper.

I serve as the associate pastor here, so I have the great honor

of preaching God's Word this morning.

So I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be great.

I really thought hard about how to to make the best use of the

time because for the last several years, the Sunday after

Arkansas plays LSU, Kyle has preached and he's always had

something to say about that. And so I've been thinking about

what I was going to say about that.

But we're going to just skip right over that and say, hey,

Sherry's birthday today. So happy birthday, Sherry.

Yeah. Much better than talking about

football, right? OK Today we're going to be

finishing finishing our sermon series through First

Corinthians. So we have been in this book for

41 weeks and it has been very good.

We have learned so much through First Corinthians.

Kyle has had to walk us through some really, really difficult

texts. I'm very thankful for him and

thankful for the time that we've had to look at some of these

controversial topics through First Corinthians.

But it comes to a close today. And so if you have your Bibles

open to 1st Corinthians chapter 16, if you remember way back 41

weeks ago, we titled this series Grace and the Christian Life

because in first Corinthians we've seen Paul teaching what

life should look like as a follower of Christ, all of it

motivated and sustained by the grace of God in the life of a

believer. If you remember way back then,

we tried to set some context for you about who Paul was writing

to and what was going on. And so the church at Corinth was

very heavily influenced by the Pagan culture surrounding them.

Paul was seeking to correct a lot of things in their behavior

and in their conduct. In this letter he was given an

impractical instruction on how through God's grace, they should

live in a God glorifying manner as Christians.

Throughout the letter, there have been many encouragements as

well as corrections and rebukes. He's taught them about personal

devotion to the Lord, about life within Christian marriage, life

within community, the community of the believers, and even their

conduct in their worship services.

So he's covered a large spectrum of topics in this letter.

Throughout these teachings, Paul has been stressing that

Christians should let their actions and their way of life

reflect what they believe. The things they've been taught

and the things that they claim should be evident in the way

they live out their lives there in court.

Namely, that they've been called out of darkness and into

marvelous light, as we've said so many different times.

And they should live as such. They should live as lights in a

dark and crooked generation. They should live out their faith

and love and unity, seeking the advancement of the gospel, the

good of their neighbor, and not be conformed to the surrounding

culture, but conformed to the image of Christ.

This is what Paul has been driving home in this letter to

the Corinthians. So although Paul was seeking to

correct many issues within the church, and at times he was very

stern and very blunt with him, he does this out of a pure love,

the love as as a father would have for his son.

And Paul had great love for this Corinthian church, which we're

going to see in our text today as we conclude this letter.

So let's go ahead and look at First Corinthians 16.

We're going to be looking at verses 19 through 24 this

morning. I think these verses do a great

job of tying a bow on the series of the hole in the book.

And so I could summarize it in my own words like this.

The church lives in love, hope, and grace until Christ returns.

So I'm going to explain that more as we go.

Let's go ahead and read this together.

If you were able, please stand to your feet for the reading of

God's Word. First Corinthians chapter 16,

1 Corinthians 16:19–24

verses 19 through 24. The churches of Asia send you

greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with

the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the

Lord. All the brothers send you

greetings. Greet one another with a holy

kiss. I, Paul, write this greeting

with my own hand. If anyone has no love for the

Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord come the grace of the

Lord Jesus, be with you, my love, we be my love.

Be with you all in Christ Jesus, Amen.

This is the word of the Lord. Speak to God.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your

word and pray now that you help us to understand it and apply it

rightly. Please be with us this morning

and may you be glorified in all things in Christ's name, Amen.

You may be seated as we saw last week as Kyle preach through

verses 12 through 18. Paul wraps this letter up by

giving reports and instructions related to a few key characters.

He mentions Apollos, Stefanus Fortunatus achaicus, and I know

I pronounce those different than Kyle, but it's tomato, tomato

today. OK, so but he mentions these

people and he says to be subject to such as these and to every

fellow worker and laborer. The Paul also gives them the

charge to be watchful, stand firm in the faith, to act like

men, be strong and let all that you do be done in love.

So in these last verses of the book, we see what letting all

that you do be done in love should look like.

In these verses, we get 3 examples of godly love.

We're going to see love within the body, love in the truth, and

love rooted in grace. This was how Paul wanted the

Corinthians to live out their days as they awaited Jesus's

second coming. So let's take a look at this.

Now. Look at verses 19 and 20.

This will be point #1 if you're taking notes, love within the

body. In verses 19 and 20, we see a

greeting from the Saints and affectionate unity and love on

display. Verse 19 A says the churches of

Asia send you greetings. So when he says Asia here, he's

referring to what is the western half of modern day Turkey.

I think we have a map of this. Yeah, so he would be over here

on the right where Ephesus was. Paul was in Ephesus as he's

writing this letter, OK. And he's writing it to the

Corinthians who are across the the pond there, so to speak.

And so that's where he is when he's writing to them.

Now this is all very interesting.

If you remember some about Paul, they, they would have been the

Corinthians would have maybe been familiar with some of these

people in this region, but some of them maybe they wouldn't have

known. So it begs the question, why are

they sending their greeting? Why would all these people say

hello? Right when verse 19 B, we see

Aquila and Chris get together with the church in their house,

send you hearty greetings in the Lord.

So we have learned a little about a little bit about these

two characters, Aquila and Priscilla, as she's called in

other texts. So the Corinthian church would

have known them well. They were originally from

Pontus. They moved to Rome.

But when Claudius banned Jews from Rome in 1849, they moved to

Corinth, which is where they met Paul.

And in Corinth, they with Paul were tent makers.

And no doubt they helped Paul found and start the church at

Corinth. And so when Paul later moves

from Corinth over to Ephesus where he's writing this letter,

they moved with him. So this church in Corinth would

have known Paul and Aquila and Priscilla really well.

They were founding members of the church there in Corinth. 4

out of the six times that we read about Priscilla and Aquila,

Priscilla is mentioned first, that this could be for various

reasons. It could be because she was

converted first. It could have been her social

status, or out of courtesy, or just stylistic variation.

As most commentaries will tell you, Most scholars believe that

it was because she was of some social status, that she came

from some wealthy family possibly, which would explain

why they owned a home large enough to have a house church

in. But when we say this, we're not

talking about they had a mansion where they fit hundreds of

people, right? They had maybe thirtyish people

in their home, so that would have been a big home back then.

Most of our homes will hold 20 to 30 as we see all the time in

Home Roots, right? It's not that hard.

If they can do it, we can do it, right?

So, but here, though she's mentioned second now, I don't

think there's much to that. It really doesn't matter.

What does matter is that we see with these two their love for

the gospel and Christ's church. It was evident in their labor

for the Lord and their sacrificial giving of themselves

and their resources to see the gospel spread.

As Kyle mentioned last week, they stewarded their time,

talent, and treasure well. They used every means they had

available to advance the gospel. They simply looked at what God

had blessed them with and they used it for Kingdom work.

And that's being a faithful Christian, taking what God's

given you, the grace that He's bestowed upon you, and using it

for His glory. And these two did this really

well. It's simple, but it's faithful.

So quick word on house churches. At this time in church history,

many churches met in homes because Christianity was brand

new. They didn't have church

buildings yet. It wasn't even recognized as a

legitimate religion yet if you read many of your study Bible

notes. But we do know that they

gathered corporately when they were able.

If we see in Acts chapter 2, verse 46, day by day attending

Acts 2:46

the temple together and breaking bread in their homes.

And so when they had the means to gather more than just 20 or

30, they did that. But at this point in church

history, they just didn't have buildings in the way to do that.

So they met where they could, when they could.

They also met day by day, it says in Acts.

And so I bring all this up to point something out.

House churches, as we see in this text, were descriptive.

They're not prescriptive. Just because that's how they

were doing it doesn't mean that's how we should be doing it

today. I've heard a lot of people say

we shouldn't have corporate churches like this.

It should just be house churches.

It's what they did back then, but they didn't have a choice

back then. They were trying to do what they

could. If they would have had a

building like this, they would have gathered together.

I promise you that. So Aquila and Prisca with the

Christians who meet in their homes send their love to the

Corinthian church as well. The text says that they send you

a hearty greeting. So again, this wasn't a greeting

from a people that they didn't know.

This would be like if Sherry and I went to Birmingham and wrote

you a letter and said, hey, Zach and Carson, send their love.

You would have known these people that would have meant

something to you and it meant something to the Corinthians.

The love and affection that they had would have been familiar to

them and meant the world to them to hear from them.

Verse 20, all the brothers send you greetings.

Again, this is all the Christians in the area.

And then verse 20B greet one another with a holy kiss.

Now, again, it's very important we understand descriptive versus

prescriptive, right? We're not going to start asking

you guys to kiss one another during the meet and greet time,

OK? If we did, our church would

either shrink tremendously or grow by leaps and pouts.

This is just descriptive, all right?

This was a cultural thing. It was cultural, not a command

so much like maybe in French culture where they still do this

little Peck on either cheek, right?

It was just a greeting. It would have been a lot like if

we said, hey, give one another a big hug or a hearty handshake.

It was just saying, show one another love, be warm and

welcoming to one another. What we are seeing here in these

verses is that you might read this as you're reading through a

book like Corinthians and just skip right over all of this.

He's just saying later, right? But what we see in these verses

is the love of Christ within a body of believers.

You see, we are part of a local church, right?

Little seat. This is normative.

As I've already mentioned. We submit to the leadership of

the elders of this church, and the elders of this church are

responsible to shepherd and care for the people of this church.

The elders are not obligated to care for all the Christians in

Magnolia. That would be impossible for us

to do. And you are not required to

submit to every pastor in Magnolia.

That wouldn't be right. Local churches are normative.

This is the way God intended for this to work.

We believe in the mission of those who have been called to

take the gospel to unreach place, unreach places.

So we love and support them because see, even though we're

part of a local church, we're also part part of what's called

the Big C church, the global church, right?

We are brothers and sisters in Christ with all believers all

over the world. Our common Christ is what bonds

us together and what's what gives us unity.

And This is why we support the efforts of those who are going

all over the world to take the gospel.

We don't just focus in on here and what we're doing here.

We're thinking out there as well.

The love within the body of Christ creates an instant

connection with others all over the world.

I don't know if you guys have ever experienced this, but you

meet someone for the first time, you've never met them, and you

just have a feeling that they're a believer.

There's just a joy about them. I don't know how to describe it,

but I've had this experience before.

We just have a feeling this person's a Christian again, that

common love is rooted in our common Christ, in our shared

mission. And it's this love of Christ

that unites us. So in these greetings, you can

see love within the body of Christ.

As Christianity was just starting to spread, as little

churches were being planted and groups of believers were popping

up all over, they were united in their mission to see Christ

exalted as King. They were united in their love

for Jesus and for one another. And it's still the same for us

today. We should genuinely love our

brothers and sisters in Christ in this church and all over

Magnolia and all over the world, but especially within this

church, the people that we know well.

We should love the people that are doing the Lord's work here

and all over the world. And This is why we support that

work, work of faithful missionaries through DTN and all

over. So next we see that not only

were the Corinthians to express love within the body, but a love

for the truth. This is point #2 love in the

truth. Let's look at verses 21 through

22. Here we see a sober warning that

love for Christ is essential. Verse 21.

I, Paul, write this with my own hand.

So Paul would often compose these letters by speaking and

dictating to someone who would write the letter for him.

And when doing this, he would also write part of the

conclusion himself to authenticate the letter.

His handwriting would have been noticeably different and it

would have been recognizable to the people he was writing to.

And so no doubt that is part of what Paul's doing here is

authenticating the letter. But sometimes Paul would write

personally to make a point or to emphasize something of great

importance, which is another reason he's doing that here.

So let's take a look at the next line, verse 22.

If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed.

So when you read this line, you're reading these verses.

This seems a bit out of place. There's been all these warm

wishes and farewells and hey, so and so says hi and greet one

another with kiss. Oh, by the way, if someone

doesn't love the Lord, let him be accursed.

And then it's like, it just seems like, whoa, wait a minute,

where did that come from? And so we have to stop and pause

for a minute and think about what Paul is saying here.

Out of nowhere comes a curse. Should we do this?

Should we invite and wish curses on people?

What was Paul saying? Was he being evil, sinful in

doing this? Love for the Lord is a

foundational, essential element for all Christians.

It is what being a Christian is, is love for the Lord.

It's who we are and what we do. We talk about the gospel a lot.

The good news, well, all that is, is that we are all sinners.

We were all slaves to our sin. All have sinned and fallen short

of the glory of God, and the wages of that sin is death.

There is a penalty to pay, and it is death.

But God shows His love for us, and that while we were still

sinners, Christ died for us. God so loved us that He sent His

only Son, that whoever would believe in Him should have

everlasting life. This is the gospel on and on.

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe

in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be

saved. And there is therefore now no

condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

We love him because He first loved us.

And then you think about the greatest commandment, to love

the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and to

love your neighbor as yourself. How are we going to know who the

people are that love the Lord? By this, all people will know

that you are my disciples by your love for one another.

What will these people do that love the Lord?

He says if you love me, you will keep my commandments.

So love for Christ is what marks us.

It's what it's what sets us apart as his people.

It influences everything we do. It is absolutely critical to who

we are as believers. We can't be Christians without

loving Christ. This is why we are called

Christians. It's in our name just like with

Adam and Eve. When when God created Eve, Adam

called her woman. He was man and he put his name

embedded into her name because she came from man.

We have Christ's name embedded in our name because we come from

Christ. We are in Christ and for Christ

it's who we are. And so if anyone has no love for

the Lord, he's not of us. He is not of Christ.

He's not in Christ and Christ is not in him.

And we know that for those who do not love the Lord, they will

be accursed. They will suffer eternal

condemnation because as I mentioned earlier, we're all

sinners. Everyone sins and falls short of

the glory of God. Now the Greek word for this.

This was very interesting. The Greek word for this curse is

anathema, and it means to invoke a curse, specifically God's

punishment on someone. So this is the fate of all who

do not love the Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew Henry says. Here is a solemn warning.

Many who have Christ's name much in their mouths have no true

love for Him in their hearts. None love Him in truth who do

not love His laws and keep His commandments.

Many are Christians in name who do not love Christ Jesus the

Lord in sincerity. Such are separated from the

people of God and the favor of God.

Those who love not the Lord Jesus Christ must perish without

remedy. Let us not rest in any religious

profession where there is not the love of Christ, earnest

desires for His salvation, gratitude for His mercies, and

obedience to His commandments. Amen.

So many times we see this, we see words, a profession, a claim

coming out of someone's mouth that their life and their

actions doesn't support the fruit, does not bear witness

that that's true. And so love for Christ is

absolutely essential. And that's not just in Word, but

in deed. Also, a real understanding of

our sin and the required punishment for it and then

understanding the substitutionary atonement of

Christ on our behalf should lead to nothing less than

wholehearted love and devotion for Jesus Christ.

If you truly understand these things, how can you not love

Christ? I'm convinced that if you if you

don't love Christ, you either don't understand your sin or you

don't understand what he did for you.

Yet there are those who do not. There are those who continue in

spiritual blindness with hard hearts.

We should earnestly pray for their conversion.

But there are also those who utterly despise Christ and hate

Christ. They hate God.

We've seen it in Corinthians, and we see it in our world

today. So how should we respond to such

hatred? We see how Paul responded so by

invoking a curse, praying for God's punishment on those who do

not love the Lord. Is he being harsh?

Is he being evil? Of course not.

Yes, we should pray for everyone, including unbelievers,

that they would repent and believe.

This should be our first prayer, but we should also pray that

God's justice be done, that Christ's enemies be put

underneath His feet as a footstool.

Those imprecatory Psalms are in your Bible for a reason.

They show us what our attitude should be toward those who hate

God. Like David, we should pray that

His justice be done on this earth as it is in heaven.

Now, this doesn't mean that we pray imprecatory psalms out of

our own desires, right? But you, you should not ride a

imprecatory Psalm card and send it to the guy that cuts you off

in traffic. That is not what I'm saying.

But we should long for the day when evil and death are no more,

when the curse is finally destroyed.

This was Paul's attitude. He's longed for that day.

Look what he says next in verse 22.

B Our Lord come. So again, this might seem kind

of oddly placed at first, but it makes a lot of sense when you

think about what he's just said. You see, this phrase is an

Aramaic phrase that was adopted by Greek speaking Christians,

and it expresses something very important, which is why they

adopted it. In Aramaic, the phrase is

maranatha. So Paul is using word play here.

He just used the previous curse, let him be a curse, which is

anathema, follows it with Maranatha.

So this is a maladiction, wishing harm on someone,

followed by a benediction, which is a blessing.

OK, so he's, he's using these two things to stress a point

here. Now the the benediction, the our

Lord come. Who is that good for?

Well, not those who don't love the Lord, obviously, it's good

for those who do love the Lord. Paul is praying for Christ to

return soon, which would expedite this curse on those who

don't love the Lord. Because when he comes, that will

be the end of death, the wiping away of every tear and all the

things that we look forward to, of course, but it will also be a

day of great judgment on God's enemies.

And this, of course, will be a good day for those of us who

love the Lord, but a day of terror for those who do not love

the Lord. As I mentioned in Sunday school

last week, this is known as the day of the Lord, not the Lord's

Day. Today is the Lord's day, but the

day of the Lord is Jesus's second coming.

So Paul is praying Lord come soon.

And in doing so, it would quickly expedite this process of

cursing those who don't love the Lord.

But it would be great hope for those who do love the Lord.

So like Paul, we should pray that our Lord come quickly to

right wrongs, to make all things new.

This is in essence what we are praying when we say your Kingdom

come, your will be done on this earth as it is in heaven on the

day of the Lord. When Christ returns, it will be

to the great joy of the Saints around the world and great

terror of those who don't love God as Paul mentions in Romans

7. To be with the Lord would be

much better, right? So like Paul, we should pray

this. Paul in this prayer is stating

here that we're where our great hope comes from in the Lord's

return. This is where we find hope while

living on this earth, that Christ will return for those who

are his. We are sojourners and aliens on

this earth. This is a broken, fallen world.

But when Christ returns and his enemies are defeated, he will

make all things new. And this is a day that we look

forward to as Christians. It gives us great hope.

It gives us strength to run a good race while here on this

earth. It gives us breath and our

lungs. It's what propels us forward day

after day, knowing that He will come soon. 2nd Corinthians 417

through 18 says, For this light momentary affliction is

preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all

comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen, but

to the things that are unseen. So we put our hope in Christ's

return. And when we do this, we aren't

just well wishing. This is a foundational truth

that strengthens us and our daily walk.

And it is this truth that we should love as Christians, that

those who are in Christ will be glorified and those who are not

will be accursed. So again, Paul was very serious

in saying this. This is why he wrote it with his

own hand. He was providing great hope for

believers, but a stern warning for unbelievers.

And then finally, he ends his letter with point #3 love rooted

in grace. Look at verses 23 and 24.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.

So here we see Paul's final benediction.

You praise that God's grace be with the Corinthian church.

And this might seem again like just a small farewell, like

grace be with you. Listen to what Matthew Henry

says about this. The grace of our Lord Jesus

Christ has in it all that is good for time and eternity.

To wish that our friends may have this grace with them is

wishing them the utmost good. And this we should wish to all

our friends and brethren in Christ.

We can wish them nothing greater, and we should wish them

nothing less. True Christianity makes us wish

those whom we love the blessings of both worlds, and this is what

is meant. And wishing the grace of Christ

to be with them. So I don't know if you guys ever

heard this. I know I've said it before, I

heard it growing up. The grace is getting something

good that you don't deserve, right?

Mercy is not getting what you deserve, and justice is getting

exactly what you deserve. So we're talking about God's

grace. We're talking about blessings

that He's poured out on us that we have not earned and do not

deserve. Grace from God.

His, His favor, His love, His blessings is what compels us to

love God and to love others. Because we haven't deserved it,

we don't earn it. Even though other people might

not earn or deserve our love, we give it freely, knowing the

grace it's been given to us. This is seen in so many ways and

how He blesses us personally through health and income and

food and clothing, and then through others through

friendships and family. God has not just given us little

grace, He pours it out on us. John 116 says For from his

fullness we have all received grace upon grace, and we are

called in first Peter 4 to be good stewards of that grace.

Verses 7 through 11 say the end of all things is at hand.

Therefore be self controlled and sober minded for the sake of

your prayers. Above all, keep loving one

another earnestly. Since love covers a multitude of

sins. Show hospitality to one another

without rumbling. As each has received a gift, use

it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace.

Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves

as one who serves by the strength that God supplies in

order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus

Christ. So your time, your talents, your

treasures are all gifts from God.

They are all God's grace, and you were called to steward those

things well. In doing so, you glorify God.

This is how we glorify God is just like Aquila and Prisca.

We take what God's given us and we use it for His glory however

we can. This grace from God, these

blessings from God, is what sustains us while we eagerly

await Christ's return. When we feel like we can't go

on, when we feel like Paul, like, like, I just wish I could

go and be with the Lord. It is the undeserved grace of

God that keeps us fighting and keeps us pushing forward.

Day by day, God pours out His grace on us.

Just this morning you have been a recipient of God's grace.

You woke up and you had air in your lungs.

You woke up in a home with probably a closet full of

clothes that you don't need, all of them, probably a cabinet full

of food. You drove a car here or rode

with someone to a building that God has graciously giving us,

given us. There was coffee waiting on you

when you got here. Handshakes and hugs.

I mean, just in the last few hours, we can count tons of ways

that God has poured out His grace on us.

This church has seen it time and time again.

I'm sure that many of you in this church have received

encouragement from brothers and sisters in the congregation.

You have elders who genuinely love you and want to see you

grow, want to see you sanctified in your walk with the Lord.

I could just go on and on and on, but the point is that God

has poured out His grace on all of us and that sustains us as we

live out life on this earth. He pours it out on us most by

giving us His Son, Jesus Christ. That is the greatest grace we

could ever receive. Ephesians 28 through 9 says, For

by grace you've been saved through faith and is not your

own doing. It is a gift of God, not a

result of works, so that no one can boast.

I mentioned this earlier, but knowing my own sin, knowing my

own wretchedness, that I don't deserve God's love and grace,

how could He send Jesus to die for me?

Yet He did. He saved me for my sin.

He redeemed me. What grace?

What undeserved grace. And even more, He hasn't saved

me and then just left me on this sinful world, this fallen world,

to try to figure things out on my own.

He's given me His own Spirit to dwell in me, to help me do the

good works that He's prepared beforehand.

He's given me this church to teach me, support me, correct me

when needed. What love, what grace of God.

These are all graces in the life of a believer.

And we are very fortunate in this church to have been blessed

immensely when it comes to these things.

This grace of God is what compels us to love others and to

love the Lord. It's where our love for one

another comes from. It's what it's rooted in.

Then ending Paul's letter, he ends with grace, which is

exactly where he began the letter back in chapter 1, verse

3, where he says grace to you and peace from the God the

Father and Lord Jesus. So he started with grace and

he's ending with grace. And then finally, he ends with

an expression of his love for the church at Corinth, again

pointing out that it is a shared love in Christ.

Through all of his instruction, even when having a discipline,

the Corinthian church, Paul showed a great fatherly love

toward them. He cared deeply for them and

longed for their sanctification. Such should be the prayer of any

pastor for his church to want their good, to want their

growth, their sanctification, no matter what it takes.

Even at the risk of sounding harsh at times, Paul labored

tirelessly for the churches that he planted.

He earnestly desired their sanctification and to see them

growing into mature manhood. All that we've seen in this

letter to the Corinthians was meant to help them do just that.

It's also meant to help us grow. So much of what we have seen

throughout this book and even today is applicable to us still.

We still live as Christians in a Pagan culture and we still need

to be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, and be

strong. So here are three ways that we

can apply what we've seen today. One, love unites the church.

As we saw from the the loving greetings sent by the the people

to the church at Corinth. Our common love for Christ is

what unites us as his people. The world will know that we are

his disciples by how we love one another and how we care for one

another. And this brotherly love is what

keeps us united because first Corinthians 13 seven said love

bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and

endures all things. So this love unites us and it's

what sustains us and gets us through so new life, Community,

Church, love one another, love one another well, selflessly

when it's not convenient. Love one another.

Care for your brothers and sisters in Christ.

The second application point is that hope propels the church

forward. May our prayer and plea echo

that of Paul where he says our Lord come.

This hope is what fuels us today.

It's what gives us strength for tomorrow.

So put your hope in Christ alone and remember that He is coming

soon. One day He will wipe away every

tear. There will be no more sorrow, no

more pain. He will right all wrongs.

Let this propel you forward as you faithfully serve our Lord

Jesus Christ. And then the third application

point is that grace sustains the church.

When life gets tough, when we are weak and we're needy, we're

sick and we're poor, God's grace is what sustains us.

He's already poured out His grace on us through His Son,

Jesus Christ, but He continues to give us His grace in so many

ways. You just look around.

You look at all He's done in this church, God has shown his

steadfast love and his faithfulness to us in a variety

of ways. So this church does a great job

of stewarding this grace well, of using its time, talent, and

treasure to serve the Lord. And I'm so proud of that.

Thank you for doing that. Because in doing so, you're

helping sustain your brothers and sisters in Christ.

So remember, God's great love for you.

He's given you his grace and let that sustain you like rich food.

The church lives in hope, love and grace until Christ returns.

And so in conclusion, believers in here this morning, if you are

a Christian, if you love the Lord.

As our text has said today, these verses give us great hope

when we consider the love within the body, our love for the

truth, and the grace of God that roots us and grounds us.

We have so much to be thankful for.

Maybe you needed to hear this today because you've taken it

all for granted. Or maybe you're not stewarding

your time, talent, and treasure well.

Maybe you aren't loving your brothers and sisters in Christ

the way you know you should. Or maybe you just needed a

reminder that the Lord will come soon.

That truth gives us hope, and I hope that today has been

encouraging for you. I encourage you as believers to

honor the Lord and glorify Him in all of life, to love your

brothers and sisters in Christ, to love His Word, the truth.

Let it propel you forward and give you hope every day, and

rely on God's grace as you live out your life on this earth.

If you're in this place and you're not a believer, if you

don't love Christ and don't submit to Him as King, then

we've seen in this passage that those who don't love the Lord

will be accursed. They will be under the wrath of

God. This is a terrible and

frightening thing to consider, to be under the wrath of an

omnipotent God. But the good news is that Christ

came to save sinners like you and me.

The things of God are foolishness to the world.

It is God who is the one that removes our heart of stone and

gives us a heart of flesh, who opens our eyes so that we may

see and understand the truth. It is only through that, that we

are able to comprehend these things.

So if God is showing you the truth this morning, if the Holy

Spirit is working on your heart this morning, that I encourage

you not to ignore that. Respond in repentance and faith

today and put your trust in Christ alone.

Romans 10/9 says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is

Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the

dead, you will be saved. So I'm happy to answer any

questions about that as well as the other elders here if you

need to talk about that. If you have questions, we'd be

happy to visit with you. But I encourage you today to

respond to whatever the Lord is moving you to do.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we are thankful this

morning for the grace that you've poured out on us.

Your mercy and your forgiveness. God, we're so thankful for the

love within this church. We're thankful for the book of

Corinthians and all the things that we've learned through it.

And God, we pray that you help us to take passages like this

and apply them to our own lives, to live out our days in a way

that brings you glory and honor. God, we pray that you continue

to sustain us, to give us hope, give us strength as we live out

each day. Help us to use our time, talent,

and treasure well, to be good stewards, to make the best use

of the time, to serve you, and to honor you with our lives.

God, we love you. I pray God that whatever it is

that you're trying to tell us today, if you're moving

someone's heart, that they would respond in faith and repentance

and belief in you. We love you.

Lord, we give you all the glory and honor as we keep our heads

bowed, we're just going to take a moment to reflect and respond

to what God's showed us today, what we've heard in His Word.

So I encourage you to be open and honest with God and knowing

that you can come boldly to the throne of grace and be specific

about what burdens you and I Look to Christ as your refuge

and your help. And ask yourself, do I love the

Lord and his church? Do I long for the day of His

return? Do I cherish my brothers and

sisters in Christ and the grace that's been shown to me?

Maybe you need to repent and believe today.

Maybe you need to confess your lack of love for God and others.

Whatever the Holy Spirit is urging you to do, take time to

pray now. Spend some time with the Lord.

Father, again, we thank you for your grace.

We praise you in this place today, Lord, and we pray that

again, as we've said, that we can glorify You every day, every

moment of our lives, or continue to strengthen us, continue to

give us wisdom to know how to live out our time.

And I thank you for this series through Corinthians and all that

we've learned through it, they served to edify us, to sanctify

us, and help us grow in our faith in You.

We ask it all in Christ's name, Amen.