We Know, Part 5

[0:00] In your Bible, please, to John's Gospel, chapter 14. Going to be looking at a continuation of things we know.

[0:12] Many times the Apostle Paul has said, Know ye not, know ye not. And the expression that he is making there is not so much questioning whether they do know it, he is assuming that they know it, and he is reminding them of it.

[0:30] It is another way of saying, You do know, don't you? And sometimes, of course, it turns out to be, No, they don't know. But in the main, the body that he is addressing knows those things, but still is prone to forget them.

[0:45] So this morning we're going to look at that one that says, Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, which you have of God, and you are not your own, for you bought with a price.

[0:56] Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. But before we go to what Paul says, we've got to look at what John says in chapter 14, because it deals with the subject of the Spirit, and we are going to look at how that is affected in accordance with the different dispensations that are involved.

[1:18] And once more, here is a perfect opportunity to know and to understand the distinctions that must be made that come with rightly dividing the word of truth.

[1:29] Because what Jesus is going to be saying about the Spirit in John 14 is going to be applicable to believers up until the time Christ dies on the cross, the church is established, and then there are new marching orders because the ministry of the Spirit is then going to be different.

[1:50] And we will see how that develops. So in John chapter 14, I'm just going to read these few verses, if we may, down through, well, let's read.

[2:01] Let light your heart be troubled. Well, but one thing. This is the last night. This is the night of our Lord's betrayal. He is here just hours away from being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane and taken to the house of Caiaphas and Annas for the first examination that he will undergo.

[2:27] And then just a matter of a few hours later, by nine o'clock in the morning, Jesus will be on the cross. This is the night before in John 14.

[2:43] Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you.

[2:53] For I go to prepare a place for you. Now, this is the subject being entertained at the moment. He is going away. They're puzzled by that. Why is it necessary that he go away?

[3:07] Why is he going anywhere? And can we go with him? Great perplexity is involved here. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

[3:22] But the time factor will, of course, be radically different. Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you are going. How do we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

[3:37] No one comes to the Father but through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you know him and have seen him.

[3:48] Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know me, Philip?

[4:00] He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

[4:12] The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, but the Father abiding in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me.

[4:25] Otherwise, believe on account of the works themselves. In other words, Jesus is saying in verse 11, If you can't get into that, that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, then just assess the works that I have done.

[4:39] Would you just look at those for evidence? Truly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I shall do, the works that I do, shall he do also.

[4:55] Now I want you to pick up on this, verse 12. And greater works than these shall he do, because I go to the Father.

[5:07] And whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

[5:22] I must stop here and tell you what a difficult time I had with this passage as a new believer. I had not known Christ for even a year.

[5:34] I guess we'll be talking about maybe 1957. And I was voraciously reading my Bible and I came across this passage and I couldn't understand why it didn't work for me.

[5:47] Because the text says, if you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. Well, I asked for a whole lot of things as a new believer in Jesus' name, and he didn't do any of them.

[6:06] Now the confusion sets in and the doubt sets in. Is this really true? Is this something to be believed? Or what's wrong with me that it isn't working with me?

[6:21] And I was confused and discouraged and I tried it again and again. And the things I was praying for wasn't a bunch of money or houses or lands. It was good, legitimate things that I was sure that God would want, would be in sympathy with.

[6:38] But they never came to pass. And I couldn't understand that. My whole problem back then, although it was completely foreign to me, was I didn't have a clue about rightly dividing the word of truth.

[6:56] In fact, I hadn't even heard of it then. Didn't even know what it meant. Had no idea at all. And once you do, get a handle on this. And I'm satisfied, there are probably people here at Grace maybe who have been here for years who come and continue to come just because they like the fellowship, they like the atmosphere, they like the people, but they've still perhaps never really laid hold of this truth so that they see what a difference it makes.

[7:25] you need to. And for whatever tenure I have remaining here, I'm making it my personal responsibility to try to see to it that every person here really understands not only the grace message, but why it makes so much difference and to gain a real appreciation for it and of it because it is life-changing.

[7:56] In so many ways, it's almost like being saved all over again. The enlightenment that it brings, the joy that it brings, is just remarkable. So if you ask anything in my name, I will do it.

[8:11] Now, in the context, which of course has to be king, and I've explained this as I was telling the 9 o'clock class this morning, that we did an extensive series on hermeneutics, which is the art and science of interpreting the Bible.

[8:26] And it begins with CD number 25, and it's on at least four or five anyway, other additional CDs, at least two or three hundred, three-minute segments, just three minutes each, about interpreting the Bible and the principles and the rules that need to be applied in interpreting the scripture.

[8:49] And one of them has to do with the context. To whom is Jesus speaking here? He's speaking to the disciples. He's speaking to those who were gathered together with him on that last night.

[9:01] But you know, as well as I do, that we as Christians like to make everything in the Bible as much as possible apply to us.

[9:12] That kind of makes it personal. You know, we want everything that the book has to offer. And there's nothing wrong with that attitude, but it can lead you astray like it led me astray.

[9:25] And when the text says, whatever you ask in my name, that I will do. Jesus was talking to the apostles. And he was giving them the assurance and the promise that the time was coming when they were going to do even greater things than he had done.

[9:49] Now you've got to keep that in the context too. And we'll see later how and when that is fulfilled. It isn't fulfilled by us because it isn't intended to be by us.

[10:00] It wasn't addressed to us. And when we try to make it apply to us, it's just like reading somebody else's mail that was addressed to another party and you read it and you try to make sense of it.

[10:14] And because you don't know anything about the other party and their circumstance to whom the letter is written and you read it and you scratch your head and you say, I don't know what this is all about. It doesn't make any sense to me.

[10:25] It's not applicable to me. Well, of course not because it wasn't written to you. You're not supposed to understand it. The one who understands it is the one to whom it is written. Simple principle, but it's very valuable.

[10:36] So, if you, verse 14, addressing the apostles, if you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. That's a carte blanche.

[10:47] Boy, that's kind of opening the vault for whatever they want and for whatever they ask for. If you love me, you will keep my commandments and I will ask a father and he will give you another helper that he may be with you forever.

[11:04] That is the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not behold him or know him.

[11:17] But you, that is you apostles, you know him because he abides with you and will be in you.

[11:34] And note the difference here. One is he will be with you and another is he will be in you. And he's going to start out being with them.

[11:47] But something is going to develop and take place that the spirit will no longer be with them. He will be in them. Distinction in the middle.

[12:01] But I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. After a little while, the world will behold me no more. And they didn't understand that either. After a little while, the world will behold me no more.

[12:14] But you will behold me because I live, you shall live also. Surely this just sounded like so much double talk to them at the time.

[12:26] In that day, you shall know that I am in my father and you in me and I in you. Now, we've got for time's sake to make some sacrifices here.

[12:41] So we're going to go over to chapter 15 and verse 7. A little bit of a repetition of what we said earlier. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you.

[13:04] Now, I just took that as an emphasis of what I said earlier about verse 14 of the previous chapter.

[13:14] And I would be on my knees praying over these and reading these and still didn't work for me.

[13:27] Then I began to wonder, what's wrong with me? I must be, I must be some kind of a substandard Christian. Not really in tune with the Lord.

[13:40] Actually, maybe, maybe I'm not even saved. Maybe that's why this doesn't work for me. Maybe I'm, maybe I never really trusted Christ as my Savior when I thought I did.

[13:56] So if I didn't mean it then, I do now. And that's a torturous kind of existence to have, but it's one that so many younger Christians go through.

[14:08] It's called doubting your salvation. And when you doubt your salvation, you can't possibly have any joy in it because how can you, how can you rejoice in something you don't know whether you have or not?

[14:22] And not only that, but it will neutralize you and affect your witness because you do not have confidence in communicating the gospel or telling someone else about Jesus when you're not sure that you're saved yourself.

[14:35] when you tell them all they have to do is believe that Lord Jesus died on the cross for their sins and you will be saved. And they say, well, is that what you did? Well, I think so, but I'm not sure.

[14:50] You see how all of this works? It incapacitates the individual so that you just cannot function as God intends you to function. And it's all due to a misunderstanding. And of course, the adversary loves this because he does his best work and confusion.

[15:05] And there's a lot of confusion out there today within the Christian faith. And frankly, that's how and why we arrived at the title that we did for Christianity Clarified.

[15:19] So, verse 7, if you abide in me, well, maybe I'm not abiding. What does it mean to abide? It means to remain. It means to stay by the stuff. It means to stick to it.

[15:30] It means to hang in there. Maybe I'm not abiding. Well, if I haven't been abiding, I want to abide. And I was agonized over these things and it really did a job on me.

[15:42] And by words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you. By this is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

[15:56] Hmm. All right, let's come over to chapter 16 now. And I've got, like I said, to skip a lot of this because it's not where we really want to get to, but this is background material and it's important.

[16:07] Chapter 16, these things I have spoken to you that you may be kept from stumbling. They will make you outcasts from the synagogue. And of course, these are all Jews to whom he's speaking and the synagogue was a weekly ritual for them.

[16:20] But an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. And we know a little later one who is going to be thoroughly convinced of that will be a man by the name of Saul of Tarsus.

[16:39] He was convinced he was doing God service by eliminating these fellow Jews who had the audacity and the stupidity to believe that Jesus, who was crucified, was actually Israel's Messiah.

[16:59] You ever hear such a bunch of garbage as that? How could they be so stupid? How could they? We've got to take care of these. We've got to eliminate these people. And that's exactly what he set out to do. These things they will do because they have not known the Father or me.

[17:18] But these things I have written to you, these things I have spoken to you, that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them.

[17:32] And these things I did not say to you at the beginning because I was with you. But now, I am going to him who sent me.

[17:46] And none of you asks me, where are you going? But because I've said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth.

[17:58] It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper shall not come to you.

[18:09] But if I go, I will send him to you. Now note verse 12. He says, I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

[18:25] You just can't handle it. But when he, the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own initiative, but whatever he hears, this is the person of the Holy Spirit, he will speak, he will disclose to you what is to come.

[18:44] He shall glorify me, for he shall take of mine and shall disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are mine. And therefore I said that he takes of mine and will disclose it to you.

[18:57] Now if you will come please to Acts chapter 2. Let's fast forward time-wise and be advised, if you will, that the arrest and trial has already taken place.

[19:10] The crucifixion has already taken place. The resurrection of Christ has already taken place. And Jesus has spent six weeks, actually 40 days, on the earth, with the apostles and others, after his resurrection.

[19:29] And on one occasion, Paul tells us to the Corinthians that he appeared to 500 brethren at one time. It must have been some kind of a meeting and they all saw him.

[19:43] In verse 29, and again we're skipping much of the content, but time requires that we do that. He is drawing a conclusion to this Pentecostal message that he has just delivered where there has been a manifestation of people speaking in languages that they had not known and it's called the gift of languages or the gift of tongues.

[20:06] And it has his conclusion in verse 29. He says, brethren, and he calls them brethren because they're all Jews. Jews from all the different tribes, but they're all there and we know they're Jews because they're in the temple.

[20:19] And if you're not a Jew, you will not be in the temple. That's an absolute verboten. Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day.

[20:35] And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seek one of his descendants upon his throne, he, that is David, remember now, David lived a thousand years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

[20:52] And David is writing in the Psalms that he's authored and he is speaking in a very mysterious way because David says a thousand years before Jesus was born, David says, thou wilt not allow thine holy one, meaning David, to seek corruption.

[21:17] Thy holy one. Was David a holy one? Well, maybe positionally he was, but practically he certainly wasn't. He was a flawed individual just like all the rest of us.

[21:28] But when David says, thou wilt not allow thine holy one to seek corruption, if it isn't David, verse 31 says, that David looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, the Messiah, that he, Messiah, was neither abandoned to Hades nor did his flesh suffer decay because he was raised from the dead.

[22:01] this Jesus God raised up again to which we are all witnesses. Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, now look at there, there's having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured forth this which you both see and hear.

[22:22] this is exactly what happened in the early part of chapter 2 when the Spirit of God came on the day of Pentecost. That's what he's talking about. And then he says, it was not David who was ascended to heaven.

[22:37] When David said that in the psalm, he wasn't talking about himself. He was speaking prophetically by inspiration of the Spirit of God and he was referring to his Son who would be born of his direct line 1,000 years later that he would not see corruption by the resurrection.

[23:02] And then he says, the Lord said to my Lord. That sounds like double talk, doesn't it? But this is the Father saying to the Son. This is a two-way conversation.

[23:15] The Father said to the Son, sit at my right hand until I make thine enemies a footstool for thy feet.

[23:25] And that means your enemies will be under your subjugation because you will be victorious over them and it will be as though they are at your footstool with your feet upon them in a conquering kind of way.

[23:40] Therefore, this is my conclusion, says Peter. Let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, Messiah.

[23:57] This Jesus whom you crucified and these Jews are stunned out of their heads.

[24:08] They are looking at each other and saying, Oy, be! Can this be? Is this true?

[24:21] And somebody else says, it all fits. And somebody else is saying, so that's what David was talking about.

[24:33] and the Spirit of God enlightened these individuals to grasp that and they were so stunned, so shocked.

[24:44] How could we have been so wrong? Now they are willing to admit it. And you know, I've often called this the hard part of the gospel.

[24:55] it's being willing to admit you don't measure up. Admit you are lost.

[25:07] Admit your sin. Admit your inability to do anything about it. Admit that you cannot make yourself acceptable to God through no matter what you do or how hard you try or how many times you attend church or how much money you give or how many prayers you say, you cannot make yourself acceptable to God.

[25:28] Coming to grips with that, that's the hard part because it does a big job on the ego. It makes you feel incompetent, which you are, and less able, which you are, and unworthy, which you are.

[25:45] None of those things are easy to admit. They're tough, but they're essential. And that's the hard part of the gospel. And once you get past the hard part, then the easy part is you put your case in the hands of Jesus Christ.

[26:04] That's the easy part. And the reason it's easy is because he already did the hard part. That's dying as your substitute. So when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart.

[26:18] That expression is beautiful. It's just like a spear thrust right to the heart. It means it really got to them. They got it. It connected.

[26:30] And the light came on and it was a major wow. And they said, okay, okay, it all fits.

[26:40] That's what happened. That's what we did. But where do we go from here? What can we do? We can't undo it. What do we do now? And Peter said, you can change your mind, acknowledge you were wrong.

[26:53] That's what it means to repent. It means change your mind, reverse your course from believing that Jesus was not the Messiah to believing that he is and that he died on that cross in your place.

[27:07] And, if you really believe that, the baptism which you rejected before when John was baptizing, you'd be baptized with John's baptism.

[27:18] This is all part of the kingdom program. You must understand that. This is essential. It all fits and it belongs to that program back then. It does not belong to this program today even though there are those, of course, who try to make it that way and that's what they do through sprinkling, through pouring, immersing, and so on.

[27:40] For the promise, verse 39, is for you and your children and for all who are far off as many as the Lord our God shall call to himself. Now, let's go to chapter 4, Acts chapter 4 and see, beginning with verse, let's begin with verse 23.

[28:04] Again, I apologize for just, we just don't have time to take all the verses but I just want you to see the connection. Remember, we told you earlier about the things Jesus said and greater things than these shall you do because I go to the Father.

[28:17] Here is the payoff and this is where it's going to be illustrated. In verse 23 of chapter 4, and when they had been released, they went to their, this is, they'd been summoned and arrested by the authorities for preaching the resurrection of Christ.

[28:36] When they'd been released, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, O Lord, it is thou who didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, who by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David a thousand years ago, thy servant did say, why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples devise futile things?

[29:07] The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. This is all prophecy, of course. That's why if you've got a New American Standard, it's in capital letters because it indicates that it is taken from a quote of the Old Testament.

[29:23] For truly in this city there were gathered together against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint both Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever thy hand and thy purpose predestined to occur.

[29:37] And now, Lord, take note of their threats. This is their prayer. And grant that thy bondservants may speak thy word with all confidence.

[29:51] And by the way, you've got to remember that it was their speaking the word that got them in all the trouble that they were in. And what are they asking for? More of the same. Give us more confidence and more boldness, not to knuckle under.

[30:03] While thou dost extend thy hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of thy holy servant Jesus.

[30:19] And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

[30:35] No timidity here. No hymn hauling around. They just told it like it was. Let the chips fall where they may. And while we're in the neighborhood, come over to chapter 5 and verse 12.

[30:47] Acts chapter 5 and verse 12. Remember what Jesus said, in the works that I do, you shall do greater. Now, it's not just Jesus, but it's all 12 of the apostles are engaged in this miraculous ministry.

[31:02] And in verse 12, and at the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were taking place among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon's portico.

[31:17] But none of the rest dared to associate with them. However, the people held them in high esteem. They're afraid of these people. And all the more, believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women were constantly added to their number to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on any one of them.

[31:53] And also, the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits and they were all being healed.

[32:08] And there's no indication that there were any failures. No indication that, well, some people had really serious illnesses, you know, and of course, you couldn't expect them to be healed because they were terminal anyway.

[32:20] No, no. The text is making it clear. This is nothing but just flat out miraculous. And it is nothing more than a fulfillment of what Jesus said and greater works than these shall you do.

[32:33] And they are in number especially. They were all being healed. And we're going to continue this in chapter 6. If you would look across the page at chapter 6.

[32:45] Now this time, while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint rose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews. These are Greek-speaking Jews, but they're all Jews, but they were influenced by Greek culture, et cetera, against the native Hebrews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.

[33:03] And the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, it's not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. In other words, they're saying, we've got spiritual responsibilities to take care of.

[33:17] We cannot afford to be bogged down in meeting the day-to-day material needs of people. We've got greater fish to fry. We've got other responsibilities to care for.

[33:28] So what you do, they're going to delegate. So you select from among you, brethren, seven men of good reputation, full of the spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task, and we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.

[33:44] And the statement found approval with the whole congregation, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, Nicholas, Apostate, from Antioch.

[33:56] And these brought before the apostles, and after praying, they laid their hands on them, and verse seven says, and the word of God kept on spreading, and the number of disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests, these of course are Jewish priests, are becoming obedient to the faith.

[34:23] One more in Acts chapter eight, beginning with verse four. This is after the stoning of Stephen, which was very, very significant. Acts chapter eight, and verse four.

[34:36] Verses four through eight. Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word, and Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and began proclaiming Christ to them.

[34:53] Now, you've got to know who the Samaritans were. These were people that the Jews despised, because they were considered half-breeds. They were half-Jew and half-Gentile, because of the invasion of the Syrians, who, 931, I think it was, no, 722 B.C., invaded Israel, the northern, and they carried away a lot of people, and they occupied the land, they intermarried with them, et cetera, and then they became spiritual outcasts to all of the other Jews, who remained fully Jewish down south.

[35:26] But Philip's going to the city of Samarity, and he began proclaiming Christ to them, and the multitudes, with one accord, were giving attention to what was said by Philip as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing.

[35:42] And the word signs, of course, is simeon, and it literally means miracle. For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them, shouting with a loud voice, and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed, and there was much rejoicing in that city.

[36:01] All of this is in fulfillment of what Jesus said, greater works than these shall you do, because I go to the Father. And in Jesus going to the Father, as he said, the Spirit of God came in Acts chapter 2, and provided them with power and enablement to perform all kinds.

[36:22] Remember when Jesus said, you shall be endued with power, not many days hence. That's what he's talking about, and it was fulfilled in Pentecost, and it was demonstrated through all of these tremendous miracles that people were being healed of, all kinds of things.

[36:39] Now, in keeping with that, I want you to come over to 1 Corinthians chapter 3, because now we've got an entirely different situation. Something has happened to change everything, and what it is, what it is that has happened is the arrival on the scene and the conversion of Saul of Tarsus that is going to institute a whole new dramatic thing, and it will be called the church which is the body of Christ.

[37:15] Completely different. And the thing that makes it astoundingly different is whereas in Acts chapter 2, the church there, the assembly there, and verse 47 in the King James translates it as church, and I've tried to explain in times past, there are a lot of different churches in the Bible, and they don't all mean the same thing.

[37:38] All it literally means is the church is a called-out assembly for a specific purpose, and Israel, led out of Egypt, 1,700 years earlier was referred to as the church, the church in the wilderness, because they were an assembly of people called out of Israel for a specific purpose, and the mob that invaded the Colosseum in Acts chapter 19, where Paul was trying to give his testimony, and it caused a big stir, and this angry mob that was literally on the verge of creating a riot is of all things called a church.

[38:14] It's an assembly, an ecclesia, so don't assume that wherever you see the word church, it always means the same thing, because it doesn't. It literally means an assembly called out for a specific purpose, and there are different churches.

[38:26] There is the church which is the body of Christ, which is different from the Jewish assembly on the day of Pentecost that is called out, because the thing that was peculiar to it was they were all Jews.

[38:39] Every last living one of them was a Jew, or there's no way they would have even been in the temple. They were all Jews, but the significant dynamic, the thing that is going to upset everything is that in this church that God is going to form is going to be made up of Jews and Gentiles that will be put on the same level with no distinction between them.

[39:11] It will consist of men and women who will be put on the same level with no distinction between them insofar as value, et cetera, is concerned. Jew, Gentile, even slaves, slaves are going to be placed on the same level as everybody else, because in Christ there is tremendous commonality, no distinction in the body.

[39:34] Nobody in the body of Christ is more important than others. Everyone contributes and everyone is legitimately of value and a member in good standing in Christ.

[39:46] That was completely unheard of. In fact, it was so unheard of that many of the Jews rebelled against it, because the thing that had so distinguished them from everybody else was their separateness, and that's done away with.

[40:03] You mean to tell me that, you mean to tell me that we don't have to be circumcised? That's right. That we don't have to observe the Sabbath?

[40:15] That's right. That we don't have to keep a kosher diet? That's right. Blasphemy! Kill him! Away with this man! It isn't fit that he should live. He's going and teaching against the law of Moses.

[40:27] And that was what they concluded, and that started the great conflict. And eventually, it cost the Apostle Paul his life. A price he was more than willing to pay, because the truth is worth it.

[40:47] Nothing else is worth it, but the truth is worth it. Wow. Okay.

[40:59] 1 Corinthians 3. We've got something different now. Beginning with verse 10. According to the grace of God, which was given to me, as a wise master builder, I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it.

[41:17] But let each man be careful how he builds upon it. By the way, don't, can you, can you not pick up on this, that this has to be something new?

[41:30] What's the clue? What's the tip off that this is something new? It's foundation. Foundation is always the first thing to go down.

[41:44] That's the starting thing. If you're laying blocks for a building or something, you've got the starter blocks, the foundation. foundation. That's the beginning.

[41:55] You build upon the foundation. And he's indicating here that he is laying foundation for something that is brand new and had never been imagined before, never thought of, never predicted, never prophesied, never expected, never anticipated.

[42:14] Where did this come from? It was hidden, Paul tells us in Ephesians 3. It was hidden in the heart and mind of God from eternity past but was never revealed or made known until this strategic time.

[42:33] This is a brand new thing. And like a lot of brand new things when they arrive on the scene, there's a lot of controversy, a lot of rejection, a lot of confusion, and a lot of people talking about it.

[42:48] I laid a foundation and another is building upon it but let each man be careful how he builds upon it for no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid which is Jesus Christ.

[43:01] Now, if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, he's using an analogy here of things that are valuable, recognized as very worthwhile, or wood, hay, and straw.

[43:15] What kind of value do you put on wood, hay, and straw? Well, that's next to nothing. So, if each man's work will become evident, the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work and the fire, of course, will be the all-seeing eye of Christ.

[43:36] If any man's work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire.

[43:52] Do you not know? King James says, no, you're not. No, you're not. That you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you.

[44:10] If any man destroys the temple of God and that's your body, that's your physical body, God will destroy him and God will neutralize him for the temple of God is holy and that is what you are.

[44:26] The Spirit of God dwells in you. Is that true of every believer? Of course it is. Every believer is baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ and is made to be in union with Christ upon believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.

[44:49] And it has nothing to do with how you may feel about it or how you may express it. It is a reality and it doesn't make any difference if you feel it or not.

[45:00] Actually, it doesn't make any difference if you don't even believe it. It's still true. But if you don't believe it, you don't, of course, you don't get the benefit, the mileage, the comfort out of it.

[45:11] And this is one reason that we're given this information is that it might buoy us up in the faith, encourage us, and comfort us when the time comes that you're going to need it.

[45:22] And you are going to need it. Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

[45:42] When you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, whenever that was, in my case, it was many, many years ago, at that precise moment, the Spirit of God who is immaterial comes into your heart, your life.

[46:01] I won't, I use the word heart and I don't mean the blood pump in the middle of the chest. I mean he comes into the core of your being. We talk about heart and soul as being the essence, the platform of your being.

[46:16] He comes into your life and he takes up residency within you. He is there to instruct, to comfort, to guide, to provide all kinds of things, but his first and foremost task is he regenerates.

[46:36] That immaterial Spirit of God comes into your life and contacts your human spirit and makes it over again, regenerates it, makes it new so that it becomes alive to God.

[46:58] You see, all human beings, it doesn't make any difference who they are or what they believe, all human beings have a human spirit, an immaterial part of their being. It is part of what makes you a human being.

[47:11] We are made up of an immaterial spirit and a material body and those two comprised together constitute the human soul and that immaterial part of our being is what the Holy Spirit makes new, regenerates us in Christ and this is what Paul was talking about in Titus 3, 5, being born again, not of the flesh but of the spirit of God.

[47:45] Let me find it for you real quick. Titus 3, 5, he saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness but according to his mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit makes you new, makes you alive to God on the inside.

[48:10] Not only gives you new life but gives you a new destiny, gives you new interests, gives you new ability, gives you new agenda, gives you new everything. This is why he says if anyone be in Christ he's new creation.

[48:24] It's just like starting life all over again and you're doing it as a result of simply coming to grips with the reality of your own sin and the fact that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for your sin and when you trust him as your savior you are submitting yourself to him for his salvation, for his cleansing, for his forgiveness and this is a spiritual operation that is performed by the Holy Spirit on the inside of you where nobody can see.

[48:59] Your body isn't changed at all, your body is still going to age and your body is still going to die physically because as we explained at the nine o'clock hour even though you have been made new on the inside God has not changed your body and while we are in Romans right next door to Romans I want you to look at chapter 8 for just a moment because it really explains this.

[49:24] Romans chapter 8 beginning with verse 21 Paul says that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom for its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God for we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now and not only this but also we ourselves having the first fruits of the spirit what is that?

[49:58] That's when you believed on Christ the spirit of God came into your body came into your life to dwell in you permanently that is the down payment that's not the whole deal that's just the down payment you know when you go to make a large purchase of some kind it may be so significantly expensive that you don't pay for the whole thing but you make a down payment if you're talking about real estate they call that earnest money the down payment the down payment is your guarantee to the seller that you as the buyer are going to complete the deal so you give them money down to seal the deal and it's called the down payment it's also called earnest money it means it is money that you put up to show that you are earnest and serious and that you're going to follow through with the transaction rather than just tell somebody you want $50,000 for this house yeah I'll buy it okay you put me down I'll buy it alright where's the money well I don't have the $50,000 but well you have to give me something down to seal the deal otherwise I don't know that you're really serious so you have to have some skin in the game or they're going to say well how do I know you're going to come through but when you put earnest money on the line that's the buyer's guarantee that you're going to go through with it and you're going to provide the balance of the payment so when you receive Christ as your Savior

[51:42] God put down earnest money on you in the person of the Holy Spirit which is the down payment that's exactly what it means and the down payment is guaranteeing that he who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons to wit the redemption of our body well haven't our bodies already been redeemed are you kidding me do you think this body you think this body that I'm standing here in is a redeemed body boy I sure hope not no listen the distinction is the payment has been made for the redemption of your person in toto but it has not been fully applied you've got the earnest of the spirit that's it the body is yet unredeemed paid for but not realized and that's why we're still going to die physically someone says well I thought

[53:13] Christians are supposed to have eternal life well that doesn't mean you're not going to die that means that you've got the down payment of the spirit but the balance is forthcoming and the time is coming when our bodies will be fashioned like unto the body of Jesus Christ according to Philippians and then we will be a finished product right now we are far from finished we are in process we are in transit waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons to wit the redemption of our body now in I've got to conclude this with 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and this is actually going to be if you haven't already guessed it it's going to be a continuation of the spirit in connection with know you not and if you will look at chapter 6 of 1 Corinthians and verses 9 and 10 Paul says do you not know you do know do you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God do not be deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor homosexuals nor thieves nor the covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor swindlers shall inherit the kingdom of God well is there anybody that is there anybody that hadn't committed at least one of those or something close

[54:57] I dare say most of us are guilty something aren't we says that you will not inherit the kingdom of God so what are we going to do about that well all you need to do is read the next verse and such were some of you such were some of you now Paul is not talking about anyone who has ever committed any of these things is not going to see the kingdom that's not what he's saying he's saying those for whom these things are a practiced lifestyle people who are in these things and locked into these things like some of you once were will not inherit the kingdom of God those who are what shall

[55:58] I say it makes a distinction between your past and your present this is what some of you were but you are washed you are cleansed and by the way the washing is the washing of regeneration by the Holy Spirit and when the Holy Spirit regenerates someone he does not use H2O it isn't done through baptism not sprinkling not pouring not immersing not water at all it is well when the Spirit of God cleanses you he dry cleans you it is a spiritual act it has nothing to do with bathing or water or soap or anything of the kind it is a spiritual act such were some of you but you were sanctified that means you were set apart you were justified as you were declared righteous in the name Lord Jesus are you mean to tell me adulterers effeminate homosexuals drunkards revilers and swindlers are justified absolutely why do you think

[57:09] Jesus died he died to make that a reality and when you put your faith and your trust in Jesus Christ you receive that cleansing of which he is speaking here and he's saying you people you people there at Corinth you were famous throughout the whole Mediterranean for living lives of profligacy and adultery and effeminate and homosexuals and all the rest of you and that's what you used to be but you've been cleansed and freed from that and what's more these things are to be part of your past they're not to be part of your present you are to divorce yourself from those things the old haunts the old gang the old activities that's past that's gone you're no longer a part of that verse 15 do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot may it never be do you not know that one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her this is another know you not and we're going to explore that in our next session because it deals with the physical activity that takes place between a john and a prostitute when they engage in sex for sale and sex to buy and what really happens there and most people including multitudes today think it is nothing more than just a transaction just a business deal you get what you want and you pay for it and you go on your way nope it's a lot more involved than that and people do not understand the principle involved that when one goes into a prostitute he leaves and he takes unto himself a lot more than what he knows and most of the world doesn't know anything about that and yet it impacts people severely as we see in our own culture today it is remarkable these do you not know things are just absolutely spellbinding to me and very illuminating and it's sad that so many

[59:28] Christians don't know this because if you don't know it you can't be armed with it you can't use it you can't get the benefit from it you can't derive the comfort the enlightenment everything else this is so essential and as I pledge to you in my waning time here at Grace Bible Church however long I have to remain with you I just want to drill these things into you because they are so vital and so important and that's my prayer and that's my desire and that's my conclusion would you stand please father we've talked about a lot of things that we wish we understood better but we know enough about them to know how important they are and how utterly freeing and rejuvenating they are when we come into an appreciation of them we recognize that in these finite minds and bodies of ours we are limited in what we can understand and know but we want to gain an appreciation of everything that we can so as to not only live a life that is most beneficial for us but most of all is most glorified and honoring to you and father if there should be anyone here listening by way of radio or by way of hearing in person who's never made that decision has never really seen

[61:04] Christ as their all in all in their solution our prayer is you'll give them no peace and no rest until they come to see and understand that and make their decision for the Lord Jesus in his name we pray amen